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May 10,

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVIII No. 16

The

House met at 10 a.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Osborne):

Order, please!

Admit

strangers.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Deputy

Government House Leader.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I call

from the Order Paper, Order 3, Concurrence Motion, Resource Committee.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

It is indeed, on this

Wednesday morning, an honour to stand in this House and again have a discussion

around the budget and debate, particularly the Estimates of the Resource

Committee. I had the privilege of being a Member of that Committee, and I had

the privilege of being Chair for a number of years. I must acknowledge the

present Chair, the Member for Baie Verte White Bay

AN HON. MEMBER:

Green Bay.

MR. BRAZIL:

Green Bay, sorry; I am a bit

off colour sometimes who did a great job. There was some great dialogue,

particularly I enjoyed yesterday with the Minister of Advanced Education, Skills

and his officials Labour, I should note too. The Labour division is a very

important part of that department that's been added where we got some good

information.

We had

some good dialogue. It went beyond just the budget numbers; it also talked about

some potential policies, what is working, what potentially may need to be

changed, and what we need to keep on our radar to ensure that we not only get

the best return on the investment that's outlined in the budget, but that the

taxpayers, the services that are being provided are indeed in line with exactly

what they need at this point.

So there

was good dialogue. I had a few jabs back and forth with the Minister of

Education on some things, but that's part of the process. He gave as good as he

took. The point here was to get the information out so that the general public

would know exactly what's being done and what's being voted on in Estimates.

That's

the process here; the Estimates is an outlined process where the Opposition and

Members of the Committee, other Members of the Committee who are also part of

the government side, get an opportunity to ask for clarification and

explanations, particularly any changes that may have occurred, or the approach

of how that money is going to be spent for the betterment of those who avail of

those services or the betterment of the taxpayers in Newfoundland and Labrador.

It was a

good opportunity to get that dialogue going, get some information out there.

We're still hopeful we'll get some of the other information that wasn't

available immediately so that we can go through it, and that will drive exactly

when we acknowledge the good things that the government are doing, and if we

still have some queries or questions that the general public would like

clarification on. That process works. It's an open, democratic process.

understanding is it's perhaps one of the most inclusive ones that we have

anywhere in the Western world when it comes to transparency and accountability

and getting the information that's necessary. It stays on the record forever and

a day so you can go back and debate exactly what's there.

That

process, I'm glad and I know it was a number of other departments that the

critics and other Members of the Committee had an opportunity to be engaged in,

get the information and ask for clarification. It also gives an opportunity to

get to meet some of the senior staff. Some you've only known by name because

they are the title or you've sent an email to. It gives an opportunity to put a

name with a face and understand exactly what their roles are. That becomes very

clear and it's a great opportunity.

For

somebody like me who's been around the bureaucracy for the last 30 years, a lot

of these people I've either worked with or I've known. I know their capacity. I

know they give us an honest day's work every day and they do due diligence. They

have a responsibility to ensure the advice that's given to the respective

ministers indeed reflects the needs of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador

and reflects the ability for the government to be able to provide services in a

financially responsible manner.

I want

to again thank the Committee and thank the line departments that I had the

privilege of sitting in and having debate with. I want to thank the Chair again.

I also

want to go back to yesterday here in the House. I first need to clarify

something, sorry. I was misquoted yesterday in

The Telegram around the scrum I

had relevant to the ABE program. I just want to clarify because I had some

discussion with some of my former colleagues

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. BRAZIL: in

the not-for-profit sector who offer the ABE program and do a phenomenal job,

including students who need to avail of that service, of ensuring that the

communities are engaged in offering that, and ensuring that these students are

successful and move on to a post-secondary career and then on to another role as

productive citizens in our society.

The Telegram

reporter unfortunately misquoted me. He said that the Member had said that the

not-for-profits weren't doing a good job. That wasn't at all what I had said.

When we reviewed the tape of the scrum, it's evident there; it's just a miscue

there.

What I was referring to is that the private sector and the

not-for-profit sector, if we're automatically going to jump right into changing

the system we have now, then if we're saying that's what we're doing without

looking at the data, looking at the information, having dialogue, then we're

inferring I say, we, being the department and the minister, we're inferring

that the private sector and the not-for-profit sector are not doing a good job.

I just want to clarify that. Fortunately enough, because of

my working relationship with a number of these agencies, they personally phoned

me because they were a little perturbed that they thought my knowledge

and my background with that

that I would say that, knowing the valued work they do.

Some of

the agencies I've had the privilege to work with, like the T. I. Murphy Centre,

there's nobody in this province, nobody in this country who would say anything

negative about how they offer programs and services and how they engage their

clientele, and how they support moving the students they have to the next level.

I just

want to clarify that, to get that on the record. It was just a misquote. My full

support is there for the process, that the ABE program right now is being

offered in the private and not-for-profit sector. If there's something that

indicates that's not the best delivery model, well then I'm open for that

dialogue without a doubt, because I think we have a responsibility, every one of

us, to ensure that not only do we spend our money in the right way, but we

ensure that we get the best return. The best return is that we provide the best

possible service for the clientele we're servicing. In this case, it would be

those who, unfortunately, never completed their high school equivalency or have

some other challenges around their academic needs, who could avail of a

particular service.

I just

wanted to clarify that, particularly if there are any of the agencies or

students or instructors or general public communities that offer these programs,

to know that I'm still very supportive. I had a small

part in the whole process

over a number of years as part of ABE program, and I look forward to it

expanding. I look forward to it being more inclusive for people. I'm open for

new approaches to offering the programs and services to the people in this

province, particularly in remote and rural communities because they're key

components to ensure that students in those areas, who have some challenges

around academics, have access to those particular services.

Again, I

look forward to meeting with the minister and his staff. I look forward to

hearing dialogue from him when he does a full assessment. I think it's healthy

to do a full assessment of any program we have in government, but I do caution,

before decisions are made, that the evidence based must be presented to the

general public. There must be proper dialogue with all the stakeholders to

ensure you've got every piece of information that would be relevant to making

the decision that's going to move any program forward or it's going to do it in

the most financially efficient way.

I do

encourage the minister, and no doubt, we had a good dialogue yesterday. He

committed that would be his approach, and I think it's a sound approach. I'm

looking forward, if we can improve how we deliver ABE, I'm behind it, but I

still want to emphasize the fact we have to ensure that people in remote and

rural communities have access to it and they have access to it in an inclusive,

comfortable, conducive learning model. We've had a lot of those.

If you

noted some of our ABE residents, or ABE graduates particularly, some of the

present students have won national and international awards for the ABE success.

So that's a testament to where we are.

I might

have noted in this House before, but I have a I guess a friend now, because

after seven years of this individual being in the ABE program that I was

attached to, in two weeks' time will graduate from CNA in one of the particular

trades. That's a testament to her commitment to wanting to further her

education, but it's a commitment to the agencies who went out of their way to

make sure that it was engaging, and did it at the ability she could do it as a

single parent. This is a lady who's in her later years, who now gets a chance to

get a second career, go back into being able to do something now that's

productive for what we do in these years.

She's

raised her family, very productive as a single parent, did a great job of that,

was involved in community. Now has had the ability to go back, complete her full

education, now go on to post-secondary and start another career. So it's a great

opportunity for her, but it shows how inclusive and how the delivery model that

we have for the ABE programs is working. Again, if we can improve on that,

perfect, let's take it from there.

I also

want to note, yesterday I want to appreciate for all the callouts I got

yesterday from the government side. The Minister of Service NL noted me, and my

colleague for Fogo Island Cape Freels acknowledged me yesterday, and the

Premier last night acknowledged me. It was a great day yesterday, I've got to

admit. It was a great day for the Member for Conception Bay East Bell Island.

I do acknowledge that and I thank you, it's good.

I do

want to clarify a few things as part of that, though. A lot, if not all of what

the Minister of Service NL noted of the things I talked about back in 2014 were

accurate; were the views about how we should perform better in government and

how we have a responsibility to do that. If I say something in the House of

Assembly then it's based on the information I have and it's based on the view I

think would be in the best interest. Does it always work out perfectly? Of

course not. We all go based on what we think is the right approach. Sometimes it

works out, sometimes it doesn't.

The

message here is that we need to be frugal in what we do. We need to be

responsible, and I accept that. I know the government has to do that. That's why

you're government, and I know you're facing some financial challenges, as are

everybody in Newfoundland and Labrador. My point was, and always will be, we

have to make decisions that also continue to move this province forward and

continue to give people hope on what they're doing, and continue to engage the

great business community we have here, and the great volunteer community, and

the great municipal leaders to ensure they can give that bit of extra energy,

because they know there's light at the end of the tunnel. That's what my whole

theme was about, and I think we all have that responsibility.

I will

continue to ask the government side to do that. When myself, and I know my

colleagues here in the Opposition feel you're not doing that, we're going to

call you out on it. That's how this House works. That's why it still reflects

what we're debating here, the whole Estimates. That is what it's about. It gives

the Opposition an opportunity in Estimates to dig down a little bit more to

exactly examine what's being offered.

you're going to spend $20 million, what does that mean from a program point of

view? Which agencies get to avail of that? Is it 90 per cent in salaries and 10

per cent in delivery? Is it all salaries because it's service oriented? Is it

contracts that we have with outside entities, private sector, other agencies

that can best deliver a particular service or an entity? Is it specialized

professional services that we either don't have the expertise or from an economy

of scale it's better that we not have full-time staff doing that but we can

contract out when we need it?

That

gives us an opportunity to look at how government runs. Normally there's a

streamline, there's consistence over no matter what government is in and over

the course of years. There are obviously peaks and valleys on how you do it.

Sometimes you do more work in consultants, because from an economy of scale that

works. Sometimes it's because there's only a particular expertise, there's a

one-time project that you have to bring some people in. Other times you look at

what you're spending in outside consultant fees and it's better to have that

expertise in house. You look at, we've added some staff and we've added staffing

because we can avail of those individuals on a constant basis without having to

go through an encompassing process of RFPs or Expressions of Interest or

contract processes.

That's

what I like about the Estimates, it really gives you an opportunity to dig down

to the grassroots level and find out exactly what benefits we're getting out of

the money that's being spent and it gives you an opportunity as a critic to make

some suggestions. It doesn't necessarily mean the government side are always

going to take them and heed them as something positive that they want to do, but

it does get it out there.

It gets

it out there, because some of the conversations we've had, you can note by some

of the senior staff that they're thinking, yeah, that makes sense; or, you can

tell by their reaction, we've already been talking about that. That's still in

play. So you get a good read from people's body language that things are

happening.

I do

say, in some cases I was pleased by the responses. In some other cases I still

have some questions. In some cases the staff and the minister are going to

respond and give us the information so we'll know if there's something there

that we need to ask on or if there isn't. That was part and parcel of where we

are.

I might

note, too, the Premier last night responded about and it's been said a few

times in the House and I laugh and I chuckle because I don't want to point

fingers or any of these things, because things happen in the progress of

construction, in the progress of a particular contract, in the progress of

developing certain things, and I'm glad my hon. Member over there had mentioned

about the wharf because that's how the Premier said it last night that I ordered

a boat without a wharf.

Now, the

general public would say: That doesn't make sense. Why would you do that? Well,

you wouldn't do it and that's why it's the same thing I didn't do it, nor did my

predecessor do it. What we did do is order a boat, develop a contract and put a

contractor in place.

Unfortunately, for me, I didn't get to stay as minister of Transportation and

Works, so my three months while the eight-month contract was in play, it

progressed. Then there was identification that there had to be a new approach on

how they were doing it. Fair enough. Then there was a reassessment.

I'm no

longer minister there and the minister here I know how he works, like anybody

else. He takes it and does a reassessment and says: Here's how we're going to do

it now; here's our new time frames. It's all work in play. The time frames were

still in play right up until the ferry would be ready to go after training and

all that.

Unfortunately, you run into things in contracting. Contractors are not on site,

weather conditions and that. But it's hard to finish a contract when for 4

months there's not one person doing any work on it. The issue becomes weather. I

have a problem with that, when we can't work on one particular project, but in

the same district there are schools being built in the middle of the winter.

I take

no blame for the completion of a wharf with a ferry ready to go. I do take blame

for the fact that maybe if I had stayed there I might have been able to move it

a little bit faster, but it didn't happen. So we're at a point now where we know

there's an end result. I just wanted to clarify that.

There

were three wharves done well, four altogether. The last one is being finished

now. Fogo Island and Change Islands, all done and completed; the ferry went in

and worked. Now we're going to add something else because nothing to do with the

new boats, it's to do with the previous boat about tying it up. The Member noted

yesterday the dolphin will be built.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. BRAZIL:

It's another safety issue and

also helps with the movement of the pressure of ice when they're particularly in

that job.

Bell

Island, a full-fledged contract done; we even added an added contract to it.

We're bringing in what's called a mooring system. Innovative for Newfoundland

and Labrador; not used anywhere; barely used in North America; some out in BC;

big in Europe. It does a lot of things about being able to secure the boats;

being able to, from an environmental point of view, shut your ferries off so

you're not using fuel while you're in port.

They're

in play. I give credit; the minister has those contracts out. They're in play. I

talked to the two contractors and I'm told they will fit well within the time

frames. Bell Island is gung ho. Contractors over there work weekends to get it

done.

We have

set a time frame for July 1 and the minister would better be aware of that. I'm

hopeful I'm not always confident but I'm hopeful that wharf will be done

because we have a beautiful boat that the people of Bell Island are waiting to

come to service them.

We just

now have another dispute about how many trips we're going to get to grow

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. BRAZIL:

an economy that is based on

one of the pillars of the provincial government over there, and that's tourism.

We have a beautiful site, Bell Island, right next door that has all kinds of

amenities for drawing attractions for tourists; but if we're going to spend

money in a ferry service, we need to have it so it's conducive for the

travelling public, and that means we need to have the number of trips that work

when the general public are travelling.

If it's

the working public in the mornings and in the evening, if it's the public who

have to go for medical appointments, it needs to be conducive of that; and if we

have, even if it's a timely fashion for six months of the heavy tourism season,

then we need to arrange a system and a

schedule that works for them. So they are

things that we need to pan out here.

It has

to be a collaborative approach here because regardless of party partisans,

there's an investment here. It's done. The investment is there. Whether people

agree or disagree at this point is immaterial. It's in play. What becomes

important now is how you get back revenues on your investment. Well, the best

way to do it for places like Bell Island: Make it conducive so that the general

public can get to work in St. John's and find gainful employment so they don't

get fired or laid off because at the end of the day they're missing so much work

because the

schedule doesn't work or they're late every day.

The

other is if you're going to grow one of your pillars and one of the key

pillars here by this administration is tourism. You've got a site that has total

historic benefit here. It has a draw with the underground submarine mine. It has

beautiful scenery. It has all the amenities to draw tourism. We've seen it's one

of the key points in the Avalon Peninsula for drawing tourists.

The

stumbling block has always been the ability from a travelling point of view,

people don't want to wait two hours to get to Bell Island. Now, the minute they

get there, they'll love it. They love the whole process. They said they'd come

and there'd be thousands more would come if the transportation link was

conducive. So we need to improve that.

We've

invested $60 million to bring it up to par, so let's make it work so that we get

a return on our investment. So it's all in play. Again, regardless of why, who

or whatever part of the province thinks it was a bad investment, the investment

is there. I personally think it was a good investment. Our government thought it

was a good investment. I know the people of Bell Island feel it's a good

investment and now we want to prove to the rest of the province that it's a good

investment.

To do

that, we need to have the system working to its potential. That means if you

have a vessel that can handle 65 cars, we have to make sure that it does enough

trips so that the old clich, build it and they'll come, when people know they

can come, get on a ferry, maximize the time frames in travel, maximize the

capacity then that's a benefit to everybody.

So I'll

have an opportunity to talk to the minister over the next period of time on

that.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Deputy

Government House Leader.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

certainly is an honour and a privilege to stand here today to speak on the

Concurrence Motion for the Resource Committee. I, first of all, want to

acknowledge and thank the Chair of the Committee, Baie Verte Green Bay MHA,

who did a stellar job.

I can

tell you, I spent over three hours in front of the Resource Committee reviewing

the Estimates of the Natural Resources Department and I can tell you that the

dedication and commitment of the MHAs to this process is to be noted and to be

thanked. Because I know the Opposition, my hon. colleagues on this side of the

House, as well as my colleagues on the other side of the House, certainly put in

a lot of effort in reviewing all the Estimates of the Government of Newfoundland

and Labrador and asking the questions they feel are pertinent.

I also

want to thank my team at Natural Resources. I know that we brought many of them

to the House senior executive to the House of Assembly when we had the

discussion around Estimates, around Natural Resources. I made all my executives

available to the Committee to ask the important questions that need to be asked

on those Estimates. I thank them for their diligence and commitment and their

commitment to the province, Mr. Speaker. Not just to the process, but to the

province.

Civil

servants work very hard on behalf of the people of this province and,

oftentimes, we don't thank them enough for their efforts. So I'll take this

opportunity, as I have a moment in the House of Assembly today, to say thank you

to all the public servants for all that they do.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. COADY:

Thank you.

Mr.

Speaker, I listened intently to the last speaker who talked about the ABE. I

thought it was interesting where he talked about how important ABE is. I agree

with him, it is important, but he seemed to be talking about making sure that we

have that commitment in the College of the North Atlantic. I thought it was

interesting to note that in 2013, the former administration, the PC

administration, removed that from the College of the North Atlantic. I thought I

heard him say that he would like to see it back in

MR. BRAZIL:

The opposite.

MS. COADY:

It's the opposite. Okay,

thank you for that clarification. I thought he was saying he'd like to see it

back in the College of the North Atlantic. He just informed me that it was

opposite.

Mr.

Speaker, I do want to also talk about how important and I think this is on

behalf of everyone in this House. I know that all of us are committed to giving

back to the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and service to the people of

the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, I think we're intent in that. We have

good intentions.

I know I

was raised in a household that really did commit to helping in our communities,

helping both voluntarily and otherwise, but making sure we give back to our

communities. I think it was Winston Churchill who once said: You make a living

by what you get; you make a life by what you give. I think that it's very

important that we all give to the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

I know

that this government, I'm very proud and honoured to be part of this government

and I think it's working very diligently. I think over the last year we worked

quite methodically and diligently to improve the finances of this province, Mr.

Speaker.

I was

very pleased last night to participate and to listen in on the Facebook Live

where the Premier it's the first time I think it was ever done, where the

Premier sat for some 45 minutes, took questions from people all over the

province, opening up and saying, bring on your questions. I thought that was a

great process.

particularly enjoyed Facebook Live. It was the first time I used Facebook Live.

It was wonderful to have that opportunity, for people all around the province

indeed, anyone around the globe, but most importantly people in this province to

have access, to ask the questions to the Premier. I thought he did a phenomenal

job last night of being open and giving that information to the people of the

province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. COADY:

Mr. Speaker, I was also very

pleased last week when C.D. Howe Institute came out with their assessment on the

quality of the government financial information and on government's success, or

failure, on budgetary goals.

The C.D.

Howe Institute took an assessment of this province and the financial affairs of

this province. They've given this province a B. Mr. Speaker, that is phenomenal,

where they basically said we've been very successful in meeting our targets,

meeting our goals, the quality of the financial information is there. That's

such an improvement over the last number of years. It was an E in 2016, a D in

2015, and we're a B this year. I think it speaks to this government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. COADY:

So when people say you're not

being open and transparent enough, C.D. Howe Institute has said the quality of

our financial information certainly is there, and we're being successful on our

budgetary goals. That's what we set out as government, was to put this province

on the right track to be healthy and successful, to have the money necessary to

invest in our communities and to ensure an incredible quality of life. So I was

very, very pleased to see that.

Mr.

Speaker, I want to talk a little bit about the Department of Natural Resources.

I want to give the people who are listening today and my colleagues some of the

what I'm going to call very encouraging signs in our economy. Often we hear

about how difficult things are in our province today. We're basically winding

down on a number of megaprojects. There are a lot of people who are

transitioning to other work and it's been very, very difficult, very, very

challenging.

There is

a lot of good happening in this province. I can tell you last week I was part of

a 100-person delegation; 100 people from this province who attended the Offshore

Technology Conference in Houston. Over 100 people from this province.

I can

tell you that stacked up quite well with the rest of the world, not just in

Canada but in the world, 100 people being there. There was a sense of cautious

optimism. I could tell you the difference between last year when I attended this

conference and this year was interesting to note how much people have adjusted

to the lower-priced environment in the oil and gas industry, how people have

really worked hard to ensure that we are competitive in this province and how

the industry is I won't call it rebounding but certainly reassured in terms of

our prospectivity and our opportunity in this province.

The

long-term view of oil and gas in this province remains very compelling. There

have been, as you know, Mr. Speaker, and the people of this province know, a lot

of short-term fluctuations in the oil prices. We continue to enhance our

expertise, working with the best and the brightest the industry has to offer in

this province and around the world, and advancing our strategic opportunities

and making sure that we are highly competitive in a global environment.

That's

why we brought together the Oil and Gas Industry Development Council. I was very

pleased that we were able to start the Industry Development Council. We have 10

stellar people sitting around a table talking about how do we ensure that

Newfoundland and Labrador is one of the primary locations, the premiere

location, for offshore oil and gas development in the world.

We're at

a critical point in our province with regard to oil and gas and in this

industry. It's vital that we come together to develop clear, transparent,

effective policies and a vision for how we're going to continue to grow the

opportunity in the oil and gas industry.

Working

together, we're going to position Newfoundland and Labrador as the preferred

location for offshore oil and gas development by creating good conditions that

are ideal for increased exploration and development. We want to ensure that

there's certainty and maintain an attractive and stable business environment for

operators and investors because we know that's critical to the long-term success

of the industry.

This is

an industry that has all kinds of ups and downs; it's a commodity-driven,

price-driven environment. But what we're doing really is positioning ourselves

and the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador to persistently withstand those

ups and those downs. We want to have a globally, competitive industry here in

this province. We are developing that and working towards, as I said, ensuring

that we are well positioned for not just the opportunities in the oil and gas

industry here, but around the world.

Mr.

Speaker, I always find it a great opportunity to explain to the people of the

province just what kind of opportunity we have in our offshore. We are

considered one of the top frontier regions in the world today, with over 20

basins, significant new basin areas, and over 350 leads and prospects to date

from the seismic work that we're doing offshore Newfoundland and Labrador.

We've

been decades exploring for offshore oil and gas in Newfoundland and Labrador.

We've certainly gained the knowledge and understanding of the industry, and we

have had great success. We have three producing projects in Hibernia, Terra Nova

and White Rose. Combined, they've produced 1.6 billion barrels of oil.

In fact,

late last year, I think it was in December, Hibernia Management and Development

Company and ExxonMobil Canada announced that the Hibernia Gravity Base Structure

has produced its one billionth barrel of oil. One billion barrels of oil from

Hibernia and, Mr. Speaker, Hibernia's not done yet. Right now we know there's

an opportunity for 700,000 more barrels of oil, and I keep being very again,

I'll use the term, cautiously optimistic, that'll go to a billion. As you know,

Mr. Speaker, the very first barrel of oil flowed from Hibernia nearly 20 years

ago in November of 1997 and it still goes strong today.

Next up,

Mr. Speaker, is Hebron. This week I'm sure you've been hearing a lot about the

Hebron tow out. We're hoping that it's slated for tow out to the Jeanne d'Arc

Basin this month as soon as the weather clears and we're able to get the

platform. Its production is slated for later this year. Hebron represents

another important oil project for Newfoundland and Labrador. It has recoverable

reserves estimated at over 700 million barrels, and near-field opportunities of

288 million barrels. It will be another billion barrel platform.

One big

thing I want to bring to the province's attention, to the people of the

province's attention, 40 million person-hours completed without a lost-time work

incident at Hebron. Forty million person-hours completed. That is incredible.

What a global standard we have set in this province, Mr. Speaker. It

demonstrates the capability and expertise of the province's workforce and

validates the world-class capacity in this province.

I know

in speaking with ExxonMobil Canada that they have taken note, very well, of what

has been done to ensure the safety of workers in this province and are taking

some of the lessons learned and taking it around the world.

I had

the opportunity a couple of weeks ago to go out to the Hebron platform; I

actually christened the Hebron platform what an opportunity and a proud moment

in my life. But it is truly an engineering marvel that has been made right here

in this province.

Mr.

Speaker, in the interest of time, I'm going to move on to mining. It's certainly

one of our oldest and leading industries and a major contributor to our economy.

There are about 7,000 people employed. Mineral shipments are forecast to be $2.9

billion in 2017.

We have

a diversified mineral industry that provides commodities to a global world

market. I just want to talk about some of the mining initiatives. I've spoken in

the House before that IOC announced, in February, they are going to proceed with

a $79 million investment to develop Wabush 3 project that will extend the life

of the current mine, reduce operating costs and increase the production of

quality-grade iron ore.

The

construction is planned to begin this spring

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS. COADY:

with the first ore to occur

in the second half of 2018.

Tata

Steel, high-grade iron project in Labrador's northern Menihek region, represents

a billion-dollar investment in the area and has operated since 2013. They're

continuing to develop, Mr. Speaker, and looking to develop the Howse deposit

will improve and strengthen the existing operation.

We know

that the construction of the Long Harbour processing plant was completed in late

2016. We know that there's a two-year ramp up

schedule to reach full capacity at

the hydromet plant. The plant employs over 500 operational staff.

The

Voisey's Bay Mine Expansion Project which will include both Reid Brook and

Eastern Deeps deposits that are adjacent to the current open-pit mine, the

Ovoid, is under construction. It started expansion last year and will facilitate

the transition from an open pit to underground mining, which is set to begin in

2020. Once in operation, the underground mining will extend the life of the

Voisey's Bay operation until 2032.

Canada

Fluorspar

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. COADY:

initiated construction of a

surface and underground fluorspar mine in St. Lawrence on the Burin Peninsula in

2016. Construction is expected to carried out over two years, with operations

scheduled to begin in late 2017. I can tell you, the two MHAs that are

responsible for that area have worked diligently to ensure its success, to

ensure its operation.

Do you

know, Mr. Speaker, at peak employment, there are going to be approximately 350

to 400 workers? It's going to produce up to 200,000 tons of acid-grade fluorspar

concentrate. It's amazing, Mr. Speaker, the amount of effort that is being put

into our mining industry. CFI expects to employ approximately 200 full-time

positions over its 10-year plan wonderful.

September of last year, Anaconda Mining completed its mill automation project at

the Pine Cove mill. The $1 million upgrade was funded by government programs

from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, as well as from this government.

By improving existing infrastructure and using new innovative technologies, the

mill automation project will reduce operating costs, increase productivity and

focus on more value-added activities.

Mr.

Speaker, I can keep on going. Rambler Metals & Mining, another one from the Baie

Verte District, has been investigating the use of Dense Media Separation onsite

at Nugget Pond. Again, the MHA for the region of Baie Verte Green Bay has

worked diligently in making sure all was done that was possible for Rambler

Metals.

Alderon

has released results of the updated preliminary economic assessment on their

Rose deposit in the Kami iron ore property in western Labrador. The company has

indicated this marks the beginning of a project reboot, based on updated

economic assumption. The MHA from the area has certainly worked hard

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. COADY:

the MHA for Lab West, to

ensure success for the industry there.

Should

the project proceed, it will create numerous jobs during the construction period

and the 24-year mine life. These are just a few of the exciting projects in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr.

Speaker, this government is working very diligently to diversify the economy, so

it's not just on natural resources but on diversifying the economy, building on

our opportunity, creating new opportunities in new sectors.

Yesterday, Premier Ball announced a new Cabinet Committee on Jobs that will help

create unprecedented partnerships with industry to drive jobs and growth in

Newfoundland and Labrador. This is in keeping with government's commitment to

foster an environment in which business can excel and government can pursue new

actions in collaboration with industry. These actions represent and address the

opportunities and challenges specific to those sectors that we're looking at and

achieve set economic goals.

The

first two industries government will partner with were there at the table

yesterday encouraging this. That was aquaculture and agriculture, with other

industries to follow. But what you're seeing is a collaborative effort with

business organizations to grow the economy.

Achieving the targets outlined in The Way

Forward vision will support approximately 14,000 person-years of employment

annually in the province. And let me underscore, that's 14,000 person-years of

employment annually a significant goal and one which we will achieve. This is

a phenomenal effort undertaken by our government and I'm pleased to join the

Premier and six other Cabinet colleagues in this vital project.

Mr.

Speaker, you've heard other people speak in this House about the commitment to a

multi-year plan for infrastructure investments that commits nearly $3 billion

over five years in new and existing schools, hospitals, highways and municipal

infrastructure. This plan alone will result in the equivalent of 4,900 full-time

jobs on an annual basis over the course of each of those five years. Our

government is showing the people of Newfoundland and Labrador in meaningful ways

that we take jobs and job creation very seriously.

While

I'm on the topic of infrastructure and roadwork, I must take a moment to mention

something of significance to the people of my district in St. John's West. In

this year's budget we committed, the government, $21.2 million to advance the

construction of Team Gushue Highway extension. A tender valued at over $15

million has been awarded to Municipal Construction for the completion of the

next phase of the Team Gushue Highway.

Again,

Mr. Speaker, it shows commitment to the good work on behalf of the people in

this province of this government, and I'm very pleased to speak to the Estimates

and the budget today.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The

motion is that the report of the Resource Committee be concurred in.

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.'

Carried.

motion, Report of Resource Estimates Committee, carried.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Deputy

Government House Leader.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I call

from the Order Paper, Motion 1, the budget debate.

MR. SPEAKER:

Seeing no further speakers,

are we ready for the vote?

The hon.

the Member for Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's a

pleasure to get up and speak on the main motion of the budget. After speaking

several times now I've had the opportunity to get up and speak on the budget, so

it's always another good opportunity.

Mr.

Speaker, one thing that's been brought up in the House many times is the

government's new initiative of making more lands available for agricultural use.

Being from the District of Conception Bay South, which is historically a farming

district, it was built on agriculture. It's not like a lot of our communities

within the province that the fishery was the backbone of the community;

agriculture was the backbone of Conception Bay South.

To this

day, there are still a lot of farmers out in my district. Not as many as in

years gone by but it's still a very active industry. A lot of the issues I see

now with the farming industry in my own district is that it's an aging

population that's out doing the farming.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. PETTEN:

Mr. Speaker, I'm having

trouble concentrating.

It's an

aging population, farmers in my area. It's almost like it's becoming a lost

trade. Any time the government can create any new initiatives to spur on

agricultural growth and attract new farmers to the industry is always a good

thing. I want to commend government for making that possible.

There's

still a lot more work that needs to be done, especially when you look at the

Northeast Avalon. There's a lot of rapid development over a number of years, a

lot of our agricultural lands are getting developed. Our Crown lands are

somewhat not as accessible as it once was. It's a lot of demand on any available

land due to the rapid development on the Northeast Avalon.

Any time

we can make more lands available to spur the growth of this industry is a good

thing. It's something that since being elected we all try to land on a certain

thing that is not front and center in people's minds but it's something that I

think when you speak about it, it resonates in my area is agriculture. I

talked to a lot of people that are in the industry or were in the industry.

As a

matter of fact, as a child, my father was a farmer. We actually farmed for many

years, so I was very familiar with it. I lived in an area where I was surrounded

by that's where I grew up to. To this day, where I live now, I live on the

beginning, basically, of an agricultural road.

It's

something that I think is a good move. We can do a lot more. There's still a lot

of agricultural land that's held that's not being farmed. I spoke to the

minister on that as well, because it's a shame sometimes with these lands that

are being held under agriculture leases and there's not a lot of activity on

them. Farm plans are in place but there's little activity and over five, 10

years before you go back and review it. All the while you have these new

farmers, these young farmers that want to get in the industry and are having

great difficulty in doing that because of lack of land available.

On that

note, I really do think it's a good thing. One other note while I speak on

agriculture. I had spoken to the minister some time ago about agriculture in the

classrooms. I had an opportunity during Literacy Week to visit a local

elementary school. When I went in there I was struck by the Agriculture in the

Classroom program. The class I read to the children in, they had it set up. It

caught my attention just by my background of being involved with growing up

around farming all my life. I thought it was a very neat concept.

I asked

a few questions and a short time later a local farm operation in CBS contacted

me. They wanted to try to do a it's turned into a pilot but to bring it to the

high school level. We're doing it in elementary, then there's no more promotion

of it until whenever, there's no more through the schools. Doing the pilot

project at a high school level to get them as they're ready to go out into the

workforce may pique people's interest at that level and they can carry on. Not

everyone is going to go to any colleges or universities, a lot of people

everyone has their own interest.

After

speaking with the minister on this issue, he committed to look in to it. During

this year's Speech from the Throne, actually, part of the Speech from the Throne

on agriculture was to do a couple of pilots in high schools. One of those pilots

was in the high school that I had referenced in my district. So I also want to

commend the minister on seeing that through. That's another good initiative,

once again, to bring new people into the industry.

Those

initiatives I think are good. It's not all bad on this side, Madam Speaker; we

do see some good things. I do like to commend on both sides. I like to

compliment when good decisions are made.

Madam

Speaker, I want to go to a topic that I know me and my colleague from Ferryland

have thought about and we spoke about many times, is Mistaken Point. We're into

May; we're pushing the middle of May. There's some movement being made on

Mistaken Point. I guess it's still something we're keeping a close watch on.

recently as a couple of days back, I met with officials on various issues. That

is something that I asked questions about as well because Mistaken Point is a

UNESCO site. It's a World Heritage Site. It's the first World Heritage Site

that's going to be provincially managed. The rest are managed by Parks Canada.

This will be one that we're managing ourselves. It's a huge compliment. We

should all have a sense of pride to be recognized. We have four in the province.

I know, Madam Speaker, you have one in your own district. I have visited that in

Red Bay and it's quite beautiful.

To have

this opportunity and not be ready for the visitors, not being ready for

because I've said many times, the world is coming and we're not ready because

people plan their vacations. People plan their trips around these sites. They

look them up; they locate them and plan their trips around visiting World

Heritage Sites. It's what they do.

Mistaken Point, some of the oldest fossils in the world exist there. There's a

unique interest into that stuff. It may not be for everyone. I've visited the

site and it is a beautiful area. A lot of people will be planning their trips to

come to Mistaken Point, and if we don't have the infrastructure, the staffing,

if we don't have all of the conditions that are required under UNESCO, I think

it would be an embarrassment to the province to not be ready. I know there's

work being done right now.

The only

unfortunate thing is the former administration and my colleague from

Ferryland, it's in his own district and he's a big advocate and champion for it

as well. There were a lot of things moved for it to get the designation. We were

designated last July of 2016.

In May

of 2017, there are a lot of things done that we felt should have been done prior

to now. So we're kind of behind the ball to get this stuff rolling. I am glad

there seems to be some attention being paid. The minister is aware of the issue,

but I want to reiterate and keep it alive because this could turn out to be a

wonderful thing; it could turn out to be not so wonderful if we don't meet the

proper requirements.

There's

a local aspect to it. On the local aspect, Madam Speaker, the local community

as you're quite familiar with Red Bay in your own district the locals of very

proud of that site to be in your own area. There is a lot of local knowledge.

Parks Canada, I know from visiting these other sites around the province the

local community are a very part of this UNESCO site. They take great pride. It's

an ownership. It's a passion. People out there have been involved with the

Mistaken Point application and process for many, many years, and to this day,

there is hardly a day goes by that they're not reaching out to someone about it.

It's their passion.

meeting the requirements under UNESCO, something that we should keep in mind too

is to keep the locals engaged and to listen to their concerns. I do believe that

their voices are starting to get heard and listened to within the department.

Again, I thank the department for that, but I'm concerned that it's gone on a

long time with no action. I guess it's no small part to a lot of lobbying and

attention that we've brought to the issue here in the House of Assembly and in

the public domain, that we're getting some headway with it.

I guess

it's somewhat of a caution that I just don't want to see something like this,

such a good thing, could turn into such a bad thing in the sense that we

wouldn't be ready. I do encourage government to keep pushing for it and the

Minister of Fisheries and Land Resources to make this a priority.

As we

know, what happened with the dismantling of the Department of Environment,

natural areas was shifted over to Fisheries and Land. There were new ministers.

People had to catch up. There was a lot of realignment within government and

that didn't help the matter either. So I do encourage government to keep pushing

to make this because this can be something that we can all be very proud of.

We have

four in the province. It's not an easy designation to attain and when you attain

it, there are certain conditions that you have. This is not for ever and a day

that you have this designation. You have to do your piece of work to keep that

designation or you could be deregistered. I'm sure anyone in this House who is

familiar with UNESCO understands that concept as well.

Madam

Speaker, there is another issue. I guess it's to do with my critic role. It's

pertinent to what we see out on our roadways today: the state of our roads. This

year, in particular, has been a challenging year, to say the best. I have never

seen so many potholes. Potholes are the main thing. I guess you have some

shoulder issues too, but it's a topic of the day everywhere you go, the

condition of our roads.

I do

believe that it's something that we all talk about, but I think that it's

something else and I have talked to the Department of Transportation and Works

about this. We have to find better ways. Right now we spend millions of dollars

on cold patch yearly. I don't know if anyone else have noticed but most of the

cold patch I see ends up on the shoulder of the road, or in a parking lot, or in

the middle of the road, and it's not working.

One

innovative way I noticed the Town of Paradise actually put sandbags down in

some potholes through the winter season when you could not get them repaired,

because there is a cold time in our winter that it's virtually impossible

without a hot patch.

I do

believe, and I've talked to many about this as well everyone acknowledges that

our climate is freezing cold, water is getting under it, it's creating these

potholes which are an annoyance for everyone. There wasn't a day that went by

this past winter when you didn't hear someone complaining about a blowout. It

was happening to everyone. People are not too pleased in a cold night and you're

going out and you're on the side of the TCH with your rim and your tire busted.

I do

encourage and again, I have spoken to officials within the Department of

Transportation and Works who've assured me that they are looking into this as

well. I think attention needs to be kept to the issue. I think as government,

whether it comes from our contractors or even private people that know better

ways, we need to be more creative in what we're doing to fix our roads.

You can

do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result. I think

that's what's starting to happen. For years, we do the cold patch during the

winter. We repair the roads as best we can during the summertime when your

asphalt plants are available. Then you go back; it's one vicious cycle. I do

believe there has to be a better way to this.

There's

one thing too, asphalt recyclers and I know we have some within the Department

of Transportation and Works. There has to be a way to get that asphalt that they

can produce to whatever area of the road that needs to be fixed. That seems

pretty routine; I've talked to officials about this. They have no way to

transport it to the actual area that they need to bring it, to keep the asphalt

heated.

So I

bring up those things, because I do believe that it's worthy of some

conversation. This is not a new thing. Year after year after year, we talk about

the same thing. People will say they go to other places and they don't notice

the same problems with the roads. So again, I know there's some testing being

done in certain areas on the Trans-Canada, different asphalt mixes. I do believe

that we need to be more creative, innovative in our thinking, probably think

outside the box to try to come to better solutions. Whether that be a better

quality cold patch, find a way to get the hot asphalt during the winter months

to fix these holes, it will create a lot less anxiety on the motoring public and

it would alleviate a lot of outrage, because we hear it every day. A lot of it I

can't say I blame them.

Madam

Speaker, again, I'll go back to another part of my role and it's something that

I think I should bring it up whenever I get the opportunity, because being the

critic a lot of people have reached out to me. It's about the Crown Lands move

to Corner Brook. I've talked about this many times and many angles, but I guess

what I want to emphasize today is people that are being impacted by this are

still reaching out to us. They reach out to Members opposite because I get the

emails; they're copied on them some Members opposite are. They're expressing

some valid concerns. They still don't know. We are in May; this move was

supposed to happen July 1. They do not know if they're going, how many of them

are going. Ironically, the department does not know that either. As recently as

the other day we're being told there are 30 positions that may not be people;

30 positions are being affected.

So here

we are now and I brought this up before and I think it's worth mentioning

again. Those people are still in limbo. They're still sitting home wondering,

should I sell my house, should I try to relocated, get another home out in

Corner Brook, will my wife or my husband have to try to change jobs, the family

model with your children, you name it it's a lot of stress on those people.

So where

we are now pushing the middle of May and they have still not been told. That's,

I guess, disingenuous would be one word, but there needs to be more respect paid

to those people. As recently as two days ago, I know my colleague, our leader,

for Topsail Paradise, he was also copied on this email. And it came from

someone anonymous. There's a real person behind that, but they're not going to

show their name, tell their name because they don't want to put the

bull's eye on themselves .

They have a lot of concerns and they express those concerns. The Premier is part

of that email trail and the minister, but they express their concerns.

When I

read that, regardless if you're on this side, that side, whatever side you're

on, if you read that and it don't hit a certain part of your psyche there's

something missing there, because they're crying out for answers. They have

concerns. I really and truly and I'm not saying the minister is a horrible

person or anyone is, but I truly wish people would look and listen to their

concerns. At the end of the day, the decision may not change. Sometimes it's not

about the decision, it's about how you deal with the decision, how you react to

people's concerns about the decision.

It's

like the saying goes, it's not what you say, it's how you say it. The same thing

applies here. If they're going to do the move they're going to do the move, fair

enough. Be respectful to the people that are going to be impacted. Talk to them,

explain your rationale, explain the options. Alleviate some of their concerns

because these people are really crying out for answers, and, Madam Speaker,

they're not getting those answers.

I'll

bring it up here in the House today, and I've mentioned it to the minister many

times. I think it's important to keep it to the forefront because these people

are looking for someone to speak up for them and to advocate on their behalf.

So I

implore government to talk to those people, to address their concerns and just

listen to what they have to say because they are concerned. Again, it is valid

concerns and I hope that government takes their concerns seriously and give them

the respect they deserve.

Thank

you very much, Madam Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MADAM SPEAKER (Dempster):

The Speaker

recognizes the hon. Member for Harbour Grace Port de Grave.

MS. P. PARSONS:

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

It's

always a great privilege to stand up here, of course, to represent your district

I represent the strong District of Harbour Grace Port de Grave and to

speak to the main motion, and to speak to all legislation that we pass through

our Newfoundland and Labrador Legislature here.

Just to

pick up now, of course, to speak to budget and to speak to spending, and just to

respond to my hon. colleague across the floor. Just some over lining, some facts

here, too, to mention, Madam Speaker, that are important. From 2003 to 2015, our

province experienced revenue growth that was unprecedented in its history.

However, this period of revenue growth also saw an excessive increase in

government spending.

What's

important to note in examining PC spending, is its correlation with the accruing

deficit, Madam Speaker. Although the PC government as we know, we hear it

every day in Question Period, we hear it in debates likes to remain ignorant

to the

part it played in creating its unstable financial situation the province

is currently facing. What is important to remember is today's spending and

deficits are tomorrow's taxes.

The PC

government was also aware of this reality, yet chose to recklessly spend and

jeopardize the fiscal future of our province. We know this, Madam Speaker,

because we're experiencing this every day. As MHAs, we're hearing this

first-hand from our constituents who come to our constituency office and tell us

about the struggles they're facing each and every day.

The

Auditor General, Madam Speaker, multiple think tanks and business organizations

prior to this administration taking office. Over the past decade, the previous

government spent at a rate that was 20 to 36 per cent per capita higher than

other provinces. You just compare that to populations, we'll say it was our

Atlantic provinces. Arguably, we are the smallest with the exception to Prince

Edward Island.

planning six deficits in the past 12 years while unpredictable oil royalties

grew, the former administration created a culture of spending and the absence of

good fiscal planning. These are the facts. It's just hard to sit here and to

listen to the debate that goes back and forth in this House of Assembly every

day when we have certain Members and parties, Oppositions and Third Parties not

taking responsibility for the part they played.

Let's

not plead ignorance to what's happening in our province, what's been happening

in the past decade. Let's all work together. That's what the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador elected each and every one of us to do. All MHAs here

in this House were all elected here by our constituents and we have the honour

and the obligation to be forthcoming, to take responsibility, to be honest and

to work together. Why can't we all just get along, as that famous song says?

Now,

Madam Speaker, I also want to reflect upon some important things in my district.

I want to pay tribute and recognition to the veterans for the world wars. The

Battle of the Atlantic, of course, was recognized this past week across our

province. I spent this ceremonial in Bay Roberts, a very strong municipality in

the District of Harbour Grace Port de Grave.

It was

lovely. I mean there was a lovely parade and there were crowds, Madam Speaker,

that came out to pay tribute and to see. The Legion members from across the

region, from other Legion branches such as Carbonear, Bay Roberts, Brigus, as

far away as Dildo came to Bay Roberts to see those young cadets who are

dedicated to preserving our culture, our history.

Let's

not forget, we are here in this Legislature, Madam Speaker. We're here

practising our democracy. We're here planning for our health care and enjoying

our rights and our freedoms. It all happened because of what those people did

across seas in those world wars. I asked, actually, when I brought greetings for

the ceremony I asked: Put yourself there, think about what they experienced

over in Beaumont-Hamel and at the Battle of the Atlantic; what their families

experienced home here while they were waiting and hoping for their loved ones to

return.

everything we do, whether it's to go to the grocery store, to go to the bank, to

go and avail of our health care here in this province, even our young children,

our education systems, let's remember why we're doing it and how it was made

possible. Again, I would like to pay great recognition and great thanks to our

volunteers, our Legion members, our young cadets, of course.

I also

want to elaborate; my hon. colleague, the Minister of Natural Resources, also

talked about over the next five years Building Forward allocates nearly $3

billion for new and existing schools, health care facilities, roads, bridges,

municipal infrastructure and much more.

course, the passionate topic that I often speak about every time I rise in this

hon. House is the topic of the replacement of the long overdue Coley's Point

Primary school, located in the Town of Bay Roberts. Well, I'm happy to say,

Madam Speaker, there is finally a plan. There's a four-year commitment on paper

in this very program for the final replacement of Coley's Point Primary.

Again,

just to remind everybody, our viewers at home, my constituents, my hon.

colleagues, I'm working with the ministers relentlessly on this. Of course, this

is an over 65-year-old structure, Coley's Point Primary school. There's no

asphalt on the parking lot. Staff have often come to me with concern, and

parents. There's a lot of confusion with the busing and the traffic while

parents are dropping off their children to school. These are our youngest

children, our most vulnerable children in our educational system. This is a K to

three; the young kindergarteners now experiencing full-day kindergarten there at

Coley's Point Primary to Grade three. That's a major concern.

There's

also a big staircase. If you were to visit the building, and those familiar with

the structure and I invite all of my hon. colleagues to come sometime and

visit Coley's Point Primary. If you're in the area drop by, swing by and see for

yourself, there's a staircase. It's deplorable at this point. It's a concrete

staircase for foot traffic of parents bringing their children to school. Again,

there's no asphalt. The building is overcrowded.

There's

no cafeteria, Madam Speaker. Can you imagine? These children are in their

working spaces on a daily basis and when the recess bell rings or when it's

lunchtime, they have to eat their lunch on those desks.

remember when I was in school coming up through the system. I attended St.

Columba School in Harbour Grace, Holy Redeemer School in Spaniard's Bay. Of

course, later on then to Ascension Collegiate in Bay Roberts when I reached my

high school years, but when you're that young you need to get out around. You

need to stretch your legs. You need to get out. The mandated playground area

outside has also been reduced now due to the portables that have to be brought

onsite.

I know

the ministers here on this side of the House I often talk with and work with

the Minister of Education. The Minister of Transportation and Works, I've been

visiting his department quite frequently the Premier. They all know, and I'm

happy to say, you know what? They're working with me to make this happen. It's

for those young constituents out in Coley's Point Primary. It's for those

parents; it's for the staff that spend endless hours on a full-time basis in

that building.

I'm

happy to say the land prior to the election was expropriated. This is something

that people in this area have been lobbying for, for years years and years and

years. I can't stand here and tell you why it's been overlooked. We can surmise,

we can predict, we can guess. But I'm telling you as the Member for Harbour

Grace Port de Grace District, as their MHA this is an issue that I will not

let die absolutely not, Madam Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. P. PARSONS:

I will talk about this issue

until ground breaks. I'm happy to say that this year there is a commitment.

There is a $750,000 commitment in this fiscal year. The details are still being

worked out as to exactly what that money will be spent on. One would think it

would be to pay for the purchase of land, because as we know, that hasn't been

done at this point.

The land

has been expropriated. There are a couple of sketches as of what the school

could look like and there was a sign erected but to date, that's about it.

That's ultimately about what's been done on that. There were promises made over

the years.

Coley's

Point Primary school has a voice in this Legislature now, Madam Speaker. I talk

with my colleagues regularly here and they support this initiative as well. So,

again, it serves the student population of just under 400. The communities that

are represented for Coley's Point Primary are the children from Port de Grave,

Hibbs Cove, Bareneed, Country Road, Coley's Point, Shearstown and Butlerville.

Some children come from Clarke's Beach as well to attend.

It's a

main hub and it happens to be located in the busiest town, municipality in the

region. Bay Roberts is arguably the hub of the Conception Bay North Region. Like

you say, it's certainly a busy area with an expanding population. So I look

forward to that.

Also,

the Minister of Education has informed me there's an additional $200,000 this

year to accompany that $750,000 for Coley's Point. So that's just under a

million to get that ball rolling. I'm excited to see steel in the ground, to see

the ground break. When that day comes, let's all be part of it because it's for

the benefit of those children who go and who are attending school, it's for the

staff.

It's

something, like I say, Madam Speaker, I'm passionate about; I'm going to be

speaking about. I certainly appreciate the support on all sides of the House for

Coley's Point Primary because everybody agrees, I'm sure, that there's talk

about schools and priorities and other districts.

The

Member for Ferryland talks about the issue in his district. I can concur with

that. I can agree because this is a very, very important priority, our children.

Investment in our young people is an investment in the future of Newfoundland

and Labrador, Madam Speaker.

Also, it

is Municipal Awareness Week; that's been talked about here by my hon.

colleagues. I'm happy to say the Minister of Municipal Affairs is a pleasure to

work with, he really is. He's what I would call one of our veteran MHAs, our

veteran ministers. He's there to help out, to give advice the parliamentary

secretary the same thing.

We work

together on this side of the House. It's about teamwork, because you can't

there's no I in team. You can't make a difference on your own, per se. It's

working with a team, hope and hard work. That travels all the way down from

Ottawa, Madam Speaker, from our great prime minister, our MPs that represent us

very well for Newfoundland and Labrador, to right here in our very own House of

Assembly in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I'm

happy to say that just over $1 million has been granted to the municipality of

Bay Roberts for waste water and water infrastructure upgrades. So that's

wonderful. It is hard fiscal times, but I will say, Madam Speaker, this

government is getting things done, and it's important to note.

Also, at

this time, too, we want to reflect upon our municipalities, and within our

municipalities we know there are a lot of volunteers that come forward. These

aren't necessarily paid positions for town councillors that put their names

forward.

We know

our volunteer firefighters, for example and I have many strong, courageous,

volunteer firefighters throughout the District of Harbour Grace Port de Grave,

also the neighbouring District of Harbour Main, and Carbonear Trinity Bay de

Verde. In CBN we're one big team. When one falls on hard times we all come

together in Conception Bay North, Madam Speaker.

I want

to take this time in particular to talk about the volunteer firefighters in

Upper Island Cove. To know the people of Upper Island Cove is to certainly love

them, because they are unique. I can safely say they stand out in their

cohesiveness. They certainly stick together as a community. Their volunteer

firefighters are second to none.

As I

say, they all do a great job, but in particular I want to talk about this

particular group. A lot of them are trained in health benefits, first aid, CPR,

as are many volunteer firefighters, but these guys respond to a lot of health

calls an ambulance would normally respond to, but given their geography and

the Member opposite, the Leader of the Opposition would know Upper Island Cove

all too well as his in-laws come from there. I understand he spends some time

out there. I've seen him at festivals myself, and it's great to see our

colleagues out and about.

As you

can appreciate, the unique geography in Upper Island Cove Upper Island Cove

tends to Bryant's Cove and Bishop's Cove, and given the geography, they often

are there they're there within minutes after a call comes in; much faster than

the ambulance given to the geography.

Something they've been lobbying for and advocating for for quite some time, for

years and years prior to the election when I was out there, of course, when I

was seeking the nomination and then when I became the official candidate, a big

concern for them was a fire truck. It's not simply a pumper or a regular

run-of-the-mill fire truck for putting out fires. This is a medical unit. This

is a unique medical unit. It's been a big priority for them for quite some time.

I've met with them multiple times on it.

I've

also had a meeting with the fire chief, Mr. Harvey Mercer, and a town

councillor, Darren Mercer, who's also a volunteer firefighter with our

provincial Fire Commissioner, Mr. Derek Simmons, to again stress the urgency for

this. The minister is quite aware, I'm sure his parliamentary secretary is also

quite aware that this is a huge priority for the Town of Upper Island Cove,

Bishop's Cove and Bryant's Cove. It is something that I'll be advocating for and

I'll be very vocal about, but I'm confident, Madam Speaker, working with the

team here, and my experiences have been good. Given our time and our challenges

and whatnot, we are getting things done.

Again, I

want to thank the relentless volunteer hours that all of our volunteers

throughout all the municipalities put in and contribute to what the towns are

really all about and what they become.

Speaking

of towns, I'm going to move on now to the Town of Harbour Grace. Anybody who's

taken a drive through Harbour Grace, beautiful historic Harbour Grace, you can

see the Kyle , there's an airplane out

there. A common joke that we talk about for Harbour Grace is there's a boat that

doesn't float and an airplane that doesn't fly.

I want

to mention as well, famous Amelia Earhart landed on the airstrip in Harbour

Grace out there, but coming through Harbour Grace

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

MS. P. PARSONS:

Yes, there are also songs.

There are books written. I recognized a constituent, Mr. Pat Collins, here just

yesterday in our Legislature for his outstanding work. As I mentioned, a lot of

the books that he's put forward involve historic facts about Harbour Grace and

whatnot: The Spirit of the S.S. Kyle ,

look no further.

It's

important; we're relying on tourism, Madam Speaker. Tourism was one of our

leading industries, and we have a lot to be proud of.

I was

actually a tour guide while I was in university in Halifax, at Mount Saint

Vincent University, on the Harbour Hopper. If you've taken a tour on the Harbour

Hopper in historic Halifax, it was my job then to talk about the historic facts

of Halifax and Nova Scotia. At the end of every tour, I would always say: Now,

ladies and gentlemen, if you want to experience a real East Coast experience,

visit Newfoundland and Labrador.

matter where I went, I always promoted my great province. I was happy to return

after I completed my post-secondary education to bring my skills and education

back here because we're all Newfoundlanders here in this House, and

Newfoundlanders who are abroad, there's always that gravitational pull that you

feel to get back home.

I'm

dedicated, of course, to doing everything I can for the District of Harbour

Grace Port de Grave and our great province as a whole. Having said that, I

look forward to when we see the Trans-Labrador Highway paved, Madam Speaker.

Again,

back to tourism; it's important now because Harvey Street, a main thoroughfare

through the Town of Harbour Grace leading into Carbonear, leading up to

Riverhead, up to Tilton, through Spaniard's Bay, it is the Conception Bay

Highway and it's a major priority as well for residents in that town.

If you

were to take a drive right now through Harvey Street as I mentioned in the

House prior, I could compare it to game of Mario Kart because you are literally

avoiding pothole and road destruction and whatnot. It is something that has been

long a priority for these guys.

We had a

meeting in here just recently with the Minister of Transportation and Works and

I'm confident that there will be a plan underway. Roads: Look no further, you

turn on the radio every morning and roads are a major priority, a number one

priority across our province, but Harvey Street is certainly no exception nor is

Cranes Road, which is another main thoroughfare through the District of Harbour

Grace Port de Grave going from Spaniard's Bay into Upper Island Cove. Those

are certainly two big hotspots that I will certainly keep vocal on. I'm

confident by working with the ministers and whatnot we're going to get things

done.

Again,

Madam Speaker, I look forward to Coley's Point Primary; it is near and dear to

my heart. I'm happy to say the $750,000 this year accompanied with the $200,000,

that's just under a million this year that I know I'm actually planning a

meeting now with the department again. Let's get down to the details. Let's hold

our feet to the fire because as we know in histories of all legislatures around

our country, many times there's money earmarked for projects and events, but the

important thing is that we see it through.

We know

money was announced previously, by the previous administration for Coley's Point

Primary, but unfortunately nothing materialized with regard to physical work to

the project. Madam Speaker, I am dedicated; it is a number one priority. The

constituents in the district know this, of course, and it is something that I

will talk about. I know you guys are going to be just as happy as I am and the

people out in Harbour Grace Port de Grave that we no longer have to speak

about the beginning and the moving forward on Coley's Point Primary school.

Also,

back to the tourism aspect, we have our annual festival coming up; we're calling

it the Songs, Stages and Seafood Festival which is an annual festival in the

Town of Bay Roberts. It kicks off on May 24. I am happy to say last year I had

the minister attend with me; we had a grand time. There was $15,000 committed by

our government to this project to promote it, to enhance it, to improve it. I'm

happy to say the minister has informed me that again there will be another

commitment of $15,000 this year for the Songs, Stages and Seafood Festival in

Bay Roberts.

features the province's finest chefs and our seafood cuisine. There's live

entertainment. There are lots of historic trails to tour while you're out there.

I invite everybody to come and take the Madrock tour and visit the Madrock Cafe

for the best toutons. They have been voted the best toutons in the province,

Madam Speaker. You know what they say you can have a touton or you can do

without 'em. I don't think there are many people that pass the Madrock Caf and

not indulge in the toutons out there.

The

Songs, Stages and Seafood Festival is happening May 24-28. The Small Plates

reception is a Friday reception. It's a more intimate reception held at the

Legion. It's a course of seafood cuisine that comes out. There's live

entertainment. Then they have the barbecue happening on the following day at the

Bay Arena. Again, the Bay Arena is another great hub in the District of Harbour

Grace Port de Grave. I'm happy to say that there's $25,000 that they will be

awarded for upgrades through their own efforts, through the efforts of the

people in that community and how they pulled together. Of course, that was for a

recent hockey competition.

Again,

Madam Speaker, I look forward to the advancement on Coley's Point Primary, I'll

be speaking on it again, and I'll take my place right now. It's always a great

privilege to represent the people of Harbour Grace Port de Grave.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MADAM SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl Southlands.

MR. LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm glad

to be able to stand and speak now for the third time on the main motion of

Budget 2017 . There is a lot I could

say about the budget, I've said a lot, and there's much more I could say; but I

do want, once again, to take some time to reference a story which is in the news

on CBC again. This story says I'm going to read some of this for the record,

because to me it's very important: Former Muskrat Falls engineer calls for

forensic audit to examine absurdly low cost estimates.

It says,

A senior engineer who worked on Muskrat Falls says Nalcor Energy should be

subjected to a thorough forensic audit to find out how the Crown corporation

arrived at the ridiculously low' initial cost projection for the hydro

megaproject.

The

unit prices used to generate the estimate were far too low and did not represent

the reality of harsh construction environment of central Labrador,' the engineer

said.

The

risks were vastly understated and the contingencies absurdly low.'

The

engineer whose identity CBC News has agreed to protect, because he is not

authorized to speak publicly about his work on the project believes that the

purpose of this estimate was not to generate an estimate for project

implementation, but secure project sanction.'

It goes

on and then Mr. Marshall, of course, is quoted here. Mr. Marshall is basically

saying that he's open to a forensic audit. He's saying it wasn't done on my

watch, it happened, and if somebody wants to come in and look at how we arrived

at these ridiculously low numbers, go ahead, is what Mr. Marshall says,

basically.

As we go

further down, Madam Speaker, we go back to the engineer. It says: The former

senior engineer on the project says a forensic audit would answer some questions

about how this could happen.

will accomplish first, where did the $6.2-billion [estimate] come from? That is

the key,' he said.

will challenge the very premise upon which the project has been approved.'

He said

he is coming forward now albeit anonymously because the situation got to his

conscience. That's what he said; it got to his conscience.

It is

terrible,' he said. Because I have no other way of putting it, other than it

just destroys your soul, it does. I have never seen anything like this.'

This is

not the first time I have raised this issue in the House of Assembly, Madam

Speaker. I'm assuming this is the same engineer I'm assuming, I don't know

because he's anonymous, but I'm guessing it's the same one that was referenced

in an Uncle Gnarly blog a while ago which I referenced in the House basically

saying the same thing.

For

months now and, again, I will say as I had said before, I stood up at one

point in time and I voted to sanction this project. I did so in good faith as

I know all my other colleagues at the time did, I'm sure they did based on

certain pieces of information.

Now,

we've seen that this has gone way beyond what was ever put out there to the

public, whatever was put out there to the House of Assembly, to all of its

Members. Now, since then we've seen a number of revelations. We've seen this

revelation from this engineer. I would love to be able to sit down with this

individual, whoever he is, and verify it. That's the only thing that kind of

concerns me is that the anonymity is there. I understand why perhaps there would

be but it would be great if this person, whoever it is, would come out, identify

themselves and that we could I'd love to talk to the person. We'll see what

happens.

But you

have that happen; you had DarkNL. We know coming from the Liberty report we

found out that the reason why DarkNL occurred was because they weren't doing

basic maintenance at Holyrood. Instead of handing out pink slips, there was

really no explanation other than we're handing out big old bonuses because

that's what we saw. Not pink slips, we saw bonuses.

We've

had allegations made by the former chair of the board of Nalcor upon his

departure, allegations of conflicts of interest. It was interesting. As I've

said before, those allegations only came out on his way out the door and

referencing conflicts that he said he knew had existed prior to then. If he knew

the conflicts had existed back a year ago, why didn't he bring it forward then?

He only brought them forward when he got into a battle with the government of

the day and decided now, all of a sudden, there was a conflict of interest.

If these

things are not concerning to Members in this House, I don't know what would be

concerning. I have written the Premier on two occasions. I have written the

Auditor General on two occasions. I've met with him on two occasions. I've

written the prime minister. I've raised it in this House of Assembly. Yet, there

still does not seem to be a will to open the books. There still does not seem to

a will to do an audit, to do a thorough audit.

Mr.

Marshall, as I said, is quoted right here as saying bring it on. He's suggesting

bring it on. He doesn't have an issue with it. So if he has no issue with it, we

have all this information out here, why don't we do it? I'm calling upon the

government once again, let's get it done and find out if things have been done

properly or if indeed there was false information put out there and so on. Let's

get to the bottom of it. Whatever it is, we owe that to the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador; we really do.

I'm very

passionate about this because I am one of the people regardless of what I say

after the fact that will go down in this House of Assembly as voting for this,

as voting for it based on what I was told. I really feel betrayed to be honest

with you; that is how I feel. I'm sure other Members, in their quiet moments,

probably feel the same because I know for a fact that other Members who were

here at the time I can't say everybody; I can't speak to what discussions may

or may not have happened around the Cabinet table because I wasn't there. I

don't know. But I can tell you around the caucus table that everybody voted for

this based on the information and they thought they were doing the right thing,

including me.

I'm not

too happy about how things have turned out. I'm certainly not happy when I hear

things like this that's saying there was falsified information and so on. That

is very, very serious allegations. Why we would not want to get to the bottom of

that is beyond me. So I put it out there again, I think we need to the bottom of

it.

That's

not a reflection on any of my colleagues. I just wanted to say that for the

record. They only went by what they were given.

AN HON. MEMBER:

By who?

MR. LANE:

By the people at Nalcor, the

people in charge of the project and so on, people within the department and so

on, giving that information.

MS. MICHAEL:

You could have asked

questions.

MR. LANE:

Yes, I say to the Member for

Signal Hill Quidi Vidi, you could have asked questions. There were questions

asked. As a matter of fact, I can remember when the issue of the North Spur came

up which is still an outstanding issue today. I can remember when that issue

came up. I can recall going to Nalcor's AGM at the Holiday Inn and the question

was asked about the North Spur to the then CEO who referred it to the man in

charge of the project. The man said: We're aware of the North Spur. We have an

engineering solution in place and it's contained within the DG3 numbers, which

at that time was at $6 billion, not eleven point, whatever it is now almost

double.

That was

said in a public meeting. So, yes, there were questions asked. There were

questions asked about methylmercury. That issue came up and we were told there

was no concern. Yes, methylmercury can have an impact but we're very confident

that the mitigation will be put in place and there's nothing to worry about. Of

course, now we see, only a number of months ago, where, as a result of protests

and hunger strikes and everything else, more action is taken on methylmercury

mitigation, which never would have happened other than the protests and so on.

So, yes,

there were questions asked. I asked questions. All my colleagues, at the time,

asked questions. But if you ask questions to the people who are in charge of the

project, the people who are the engineers and the experts, supposedly, in that

field and you ask questions and they give you the answers, you have to go by it.

Unless you're going to sit there and say: No, I don't believe you. You are lying

to me.

MS. MICHAEL:

(Inaudible.)

MR. LANE:

The Member for Signal Hill

Quidi Vidi, or whatever the district is, is saying she didn't believe it. Good

for you. I'm glad. You were right in the end for not believing them; that's what

I'm saying.

Anyway,

we will move on and I will just simply say that it's still not too late to get

to the bottom of what went on. The information is there; let's get to it.

Now,

back to the budget and I'm down to about nine minutes. I just heard the Member

opposite a Member who I have a lot of respect for, by the way, and I know she

works very hard in her district talk about working together and I agree with

her, we should be working together. I've heard other Members, I heard the

Premier talking about working together. I heard the Minister of Service NL

yesterday talking about working together. The Member for Burin Grand Bank, I'm

not sure if he wants to work together. I'm not sure. I think he might want to

work together. I think he might.

Anyway,

if we want to work together I agree with you; I really think we should be

working together and the people believe we should be working together. Those are

hollow words unless we actually do it. I would challenge the government, what do

you mean by working together? I would ask you to define what you mean when you

say working together. Because if working together means everything the

government says we all stand up and agree with it and applaud it and say way to

go, great job; if working together means we don't challenge any legislation at

all, that we say yes, b'y, she's perfect like she is; even if we see issues, no,

we're not going to bring that up because we're going to work together; if that

means we're going to agree with everything in the budget because that is working

together; if that's what it means, then I guess we're not going to work

together.

But if

we're truly serious about working together, then let's do it. Let's start

looking at all-party committees as an example, legislative committees, to review

some of the legislation, particularly the bigger pieces of legislation, the more

controversial legislation. Let's form a committee of Members from all sides to

review that legislation when it's being drafted, before it reaches the floor of

the House of Assembly so that we can all have some input and some suggestions.

That

doesn't happen. It's never happened and it doesn't happen. Generally what

happens and this is not critical of this government. It was no different the

other way when it was the other administration. Government says well, we're in

charge, we're going to bring in the legislation and that's it. If the other side

raises concerns or issues or tries to put in an amendment, they all get shot

down. Because you can't give it to say that, geez, we never thought of that.

That was a good idea. You can't give credit to the other side that maybe they

thought of something that you didn't or raised a point that you never thought

of; can't do that.

So if we

were working together, as has been suggested, and we actually had legislative

review committees made up of all parties and so on to do those reviews before it

reached the floor of the House, maybe we could all agree in quiet so nobody has

to be publicly acknowledge that you thought of something that I didn't. Maybe we

could work together to craft legislation that everybody is generally happy with

in a committee setting. And at the end of that process, you might clear up a few

items and you might decide to disagree. You might decide to say we can agree to

change this and this and this, but this issue here, we're firm this way and you

were firm the other way. We'll argue it out on the floor of the House of

Assembly and at least we'll have that public debate, but a lot of the good

ideas, perhaps, that we could all agree on get resolved. That is what working

together would look like I believe.

We had

new procurement legislation brought in on the House of Assembly floor. We all

agree with procurement reform. We all agree with that. We all voted for it and

we all agreed with it. It was long overdue. It was a good idea. The only problem

we had was that everything, pretty much, is in the details contained in the

regulations. We have no idea at some point in time in the next year or two

those regulations will be drafted and enacted. They might be the best

regulations in the world, or they might be totally flawed. At the end of the

day, nobody over here has any input whatsoever none.

If it

does turn out to be bad regulations then

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

MR. LANE:

I say to the Member for

Labrador West who is heckling again because it's funny how when you're saying

stuff he likes, he is very quiet and everything, and the minute you say one

thing that's either bit critical or even constructive criticism, all of a sudden

he has to start yapping. It's amazing.

He says

well and I will address this point maybe you should have stayed over there.

But I would say to the Member that even if you were over there, the problem with

our system is that you still don't have any input because you know, as well as I

know, that when the legislation comes on the floor, not only does it not go

through a committee process of all parties, it doesn't go through the backbench

at all. Cabinet will take it and just bring it to the floor and everyone else is

expected to support it. They had no input. They didn't even know what was in

there and they're expected to act like a bunch of trained seals and pound on the

desk. That's what they're expected to do.

That is

the system. That is not critical of this administration versus the last or the

one before that. That is the system unfortunately. That is the system. The

system is flawed and we need to change that. If we want to start working

together, then we need to change the system so that we can work together.

Members

in the backbench of the government, whatever government it is, it doesn't matter

what government it is, they should have input. They shouldn't find out about

cuts in their district when they turn on VOCM. That's when it happens most

times. You turn on VOCM and you find out all of a sudden this is happening and

that's happening and you didn't know about it. Nobody asked for any input.

That's wrong; we need to fix that.

Like I

said, in terms of the actual parties, the government versus the Opposition and

so on, we need to be working together on legislation, as I was saying before I

got interrupted, on the procurement legislation. We have new procurement

legislation. All the details are going to be in the regulations. Nobody knows

what it's going to be.

If we

were truly serious about putting good procurement legislation that at some point

in time, before those regulations went out, there would be input from all sides

because that is such a serious piece of legislation and such serious regulations

that will govern the spending of billions of dollars billions. There should be

input from the other side to say: These are the regulations. What do you think?

Do you have any concerns? Is there anything you can see that we're missing,

anything you can see that could make this better for the people of Newfoundland

and Labrador? That's what we would be doing.

Again,

that is not being critical of this administration; it's critical of the system.

Members don't need to go taking it personally. It's not a personal shot at

anybody over there. It's the system. We want to work together; let's work

together. There are so many other things, Madam Speaker, I could and I would

love to say about the budget.

There

are good things in this budget. The biggest concern that we have is that we have

a continuation of all the taxes that we had from last year's budget. We cannot

pretend that last year didn't happen because it did and it continues to happen.

That's a serious issue that we all have on this side. Beyond that, there were

some good things. There were some good initiatives like zero-based budgeting and

so on, which I do agree with. There were some investments I agree with.

MADAM SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. LANE:

It's not all doom and gloom.

Thank

you.

MADAM SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I remind

the hon. Member his time for speaking has expired.

The

Speaker recognizes the hon. Member for Harbour Main.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. PARSLEY:

Good morning, it's a pleasure

to rise in this hon. House to speak to

Budget 2017 . Any time you get up and represent your district, it's an

honour.

Last

year, as we all stood in this House to bring down

Budget 2016 , it was quite the budget,

with a lot of cuts, a lot of surprises to try to put our province back on track

with a plan that we knew, in order to function, we all had to work together, and

that means on both sides of the House, to put this province back to the people

who are so proud and still are.

None of

us knew the financial state we were in. We knew we had to take swift action and

that's what we did. So we're hoping to bring in surplus, to be on track by 2023,

and to put back the heart into the people of this province.

Some

things I am proud of during this year and that's complemented in our budget of

the All-Party Committee on Addictions and Mental Health, and to see most of

these recommendations be part of our

Budget 2017 . Our people are working very hard. Like I said, once again, we

should really, really thank the people who worked on this committee because a

lot of work went in and it certainly paid off.

As a

former municipal leader, I was glad to see some of the issues for clean drinking

water committed in the budget for $43.5 million towards infrastructure, $70.6

million in federal contributions. We, as a government, are so proud.

The

Member for Cape St. Francis spoke yesterday from the heart and he spoke about

municipal things. I have a lot of respect for him and the things that he spoke

about were, this year being municipal week, we have some good points. I can tell

you there is no greater reward than to be able to volunteer for your town and

see your community and your people grow. You step up to the plate. This year

being a municipal election year, I would like to remind everyone to go forward,

put your name on the ballot. Like I said, there's no greater reward to watch a

town grow and prosper because of your work and commitment.

Most of

us in this House of Assembly were either involved in municipal politics or

mayors and we know the hard work and dedication. Through that hard work and

dedication, it's wonderful. I had a group in this week from my own District of

Harbour Main who met with our minister. When they walked away I got an email

later on that evening, how impressed, how proud they were that he listened and

he's willing to put forward a plan, a plan that they can go on and operate and

keep our town going and be the town that it needs to be. This is the kind of

commitment. When you see four or five people in the middle of an afternoon

coming into the House of Assembly at 3 o'clock, that means they had to leave

their job. They had to get permission to come in and meet, but that's what

commitment is.

That's

like the commitment here in the House of Assembly. Once you put your name

forward and you run and you get elected as a Member one of my colleagues from

Harbour Grace Port de Grave and Mount Pearl Southlands mentioned that we're

in this House for a reason. We're in this House to get along. We're in this

House to get work done. That's one of the biggest things I focus on every day,

of getting things for our district. To be able to go back to our proud people

after a day here and say, look, we managed to get this, we managed to get that.

We got a bit of money here, we got some money there. That's what commitment is.

I have a

few notes here that I've scribbled down. This past Saturday evening I had the

pleasure of attending the Cadet Southern Cross out in Holyrood. We had a number

of cadets. We passed out awards. We spent the evening with them.

Actually, I had one of the young cadets in this House this week, young Brady

Power, who was an example of what young people today are doing. He came and had

the pleasure of spending the afternoon here in the House, and was so proud. He

walked away feeling so good about it all.

So when

you have a commitment to later on that evening I attended the Harbour Main

volunteer dance. They had 118 certificates to pass out. Last week being

Volunteer Week, it was quite an accomplishment. It's not only there; it's

throughout the great District of Harbour Main, with Seal Cove, Upper Gullies,

right into North River. Each one of these had events, groups, organizations and,

unfortunately, you cannot get to them all.

former colleague here went to the Battle of the Atlantic in Bay Roberts on

Sunday, I went to Harbour Main. These are the kinds of commitments when you have

a Member that's close to you. I have a Member also in CBS. We sometimes are in

the same room doing functions together, and that's part of government I guess.

The

other thing I really wanted to talk about is our seniors. I was so glad our

government committed to keeping our seniors plan in because most of our seniors

today depend on that. You'll get a phone call: When are the cheques in the mail?

We're waiting to pay our phone bill; we're waiting to do this. This is a

commitment that government made and it's a good commitment, because our seniors

are the backbone of our communities. They made us who we are today. They were

the ones who battled the fields and put in the hard work so today we could

become who we are. Without our seniors today we have nothing.

To do a

project in school, no matter what it is, the children are coming back to ask

grandma and grandpa what it was like back then. Of course back then, that's

anything like that was.

Like I

said, I spoke to a councillor this weekend in Holyrood who told me they hired a

bus and travelled out to Bull Arm to tour the site before the rig was towed out.

That was big. There were 75 or 80 of them on the bus.

I just

realized this morning, June 1, Holyrood and CBS are hosting a tradeshow and

entertainment for our seniors. I think the Red Cross might be involved with

that. That is so wonderful because it shows that people are getting out, they're

doing things. That's so important.

The

other thing I'd like to elaborate on is our fire departments. Our fire

departments are so important. I attended the fire department banquet in Avondale

last Saturday night. There were an awful lot of volunteer firemen there,

firewomen, but do you know what the most important thing about all that was?

Someone had told me, 30 years they were in existence then, operating basically

on their own. The women's association turning over something like 2,200. This

group of women do whatever they have to do to support the fire department. They

sometimes don't have to look for government, they did come to me this year for a

few things, but they do it on their own, and that's so important.

Everybody who's called to that fire department, they're on call 24-7, especially

with the TCH there in Avondale, Holyrood. There was a fire there in Harbour Main

a couple of years ago. Harbour Main, Avondale, they all attend the same one; the

one down further are all into a different category.

It's so

important that the men and women of our province work together because by them

working together, it gives us the pleasure of working for them here in the

House. We have great ministers here in this House. No matter what we're looking

for, we go to them. They almost feel like saying, don't come near me; but we're

always looking for something for our constituents.

I'd like

to talk a little bit now for a second on tourism. Just bear with me for a

second. Our Minister of Tourism has been we have a lot of great things in our

district. We have the Brigus Blueberry Festival where people for a whole weekend

prey on the Town of Brigus. They're from all over the world. They come home.

They actually plan their weekends to be here for that event.

There's

Cupids where John Guy landed. I mean that's the whole of the district. Some

others are Holyrood squid jigging festival. I just saw the lineup just recently.

They're already booking; people are coming home to it. It's a four-day event.

It's designed for families, for seniors, everything. These are some of the

cultural things in the district.

I'm sure

Avondale has the racetrack where NASCAR was just introduced last year. I

happened to be a part of that, that afternoon when they opened it up in there.

Let me tell you, the work they do and the monies passed over to different

organizations, it's a credit

AN HON. MEMBER:

Eastbound Hoedown.

MS. PARSLEY:

Yes, the Eastbound Hoedown. I

haven't been to one yet. You know what, these are great things. When we can

stand here as a government today and support these initiatives and keep people

going, that's what's bringing into our province the tourism piece. Our minister

has talked about it so much in the past while. Tourism is the backbone.

We talk

about the fishery, we talk about other things, but when you see the spinoffs

from tourism, the gas, the snack bars, everything is revenue coming in. That's

what's so important to small towns; like I said, Avondale. Seal Cove has its own

history out there, but going back down to Brigus, Cupids, these are big.

I'm

hoping some of the initiatives this year we passed out Avondale Heritage and

Conservation, we passed out over $11,000; Cupids Legacy, $32,960; Brigus

Historical and Conservation Society, we passed out $22,000; Turk's Gut in

Marysvale, $1,060; Oceans Holyrood Initiative phase, $43,481 and more to come.

That's what you call commitment from government.

Without

that commitment I know in our budget we had to tax the people. It wasn't a

great place to be last year. It truly wasn't a great place to be in your

district. It certainly is a great place to be today because I can tell you since

the budget was brought down I've attended all these events I just named and

there's no one comes back at me. You get a few grumbles, yes, but you'll always

have that. You'll always have complainers; you'll always have people who just

want to sit there and complain. Do you know what? That's a part of life. But,

for the more positive, positivity is the answer, especially right now where

we're moving on to a better a direction.

I'd like

to talk too about our seniors for a minute, if we got a minute here. Our seniors

are really, really active. More active than some of us, I think. Anyway, getting

back to it, I'm very pleased with what's happening. I'm hoping to be able to

deliver more grants, more monies last year around December we went to every

event for the seniors. It was a great, great time.

The

clean drinking water is another thing. This was in their infrastructure, and let

me tell you, there's nothing as important as clean drinking water in our

province. If you don't have clean drinking water, you don't have towns and you

don't have anything. So I'm really pleased about the money allotted for that.

Now,

before I kind of finish up I'd like to talk for a minute on the non-confidence

motion that went nowhere. I'm over here on this side of the House, I'm not

usually one to get up and slander or say things to my colleagues over there,

because I respect them all, and we all came to this House to do a job. I'm sure

each and every one of us have the best intentions, it's our role to get up and

sometimes not to be nice, but I don't have it in me, I'm sorry. But I am going

to talk about this for a moment.

The

Opposition are still enraged by the fees this week. They moved a motion of a

non-confidence vote in the government. The Member for Mount Pearl North argued

the government should fall, saying the House condemns the government for

maintaining all but one of the 300 taxes and fees increased that they imposed on

people in our last years' budget. That exception was extra provincial gas tax,

which will be cut from an additional 16.5 cents to 4 cents by December.

With a

solid Liberal majority, a non-confidence motion was barely the end. The motion

was easily defeated, and the government survived for another day. It may be

great politics, but when it comes to policy, the idea that the government can

simply wipe away unpopular taxes is a fantasy. When government needs money, it

really only has three ways to get it. It can raise taxes, borrow it from lenders

or cut what we spend.

So what

are our alternatives? We cannot borrow any money; we're just getting our credit

rating back. We can't put any more pressure on our province or our people. We

can't lay off. We're trying to run this government with a group of people, and

it's not an easy thing to do when you get up every morning and you worry about

the people of your province or you're going somewhere and you're wondering,

okay, what's going to come next.

We are

on the right track. Our Finance Minister has led us into a position where we can

stand proud. I think she should be proud for the budget that she delivered in

2017. It was a great budget; it wasn't like last year, so maybe we're on the

right track. And if we continue to support our towns, support our people and

support one another, most importantly in this House, we can get a lot of work

done.

Our

all-party committees are important. The

Way Forward plan, it's coming together, and we need time. We need time now

to go back into our districts, talk to our people and see what the alternatives

are. Once again, I'm going to

AN HON. MEMBER:

Talk about the Internet

(inaudible).

MS. PARSLEY:

Oh yes, the Internet;

broadband is important in my district. The people of Colliers and Kitchuses have

been fighting for a long while for Internet. There are families down there who

have children a couple with autism. There's no way they can get on the

Internet; there's no way the children can research their projects for the next

day for school. The parents have to come home in the evening and drive them to a

library. We are in the process now of hopefully, with a partnership with the

federal government, of looking at that. Everybody has a right to Internet,

everybody has a right to be informed and that's what is important.

I'm

going to take my seat right now. Like I said, it was an honour to stand up and

speak here in this House today.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (Warr):

The hon. the Member for Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Indeed,

it's an honour to stand again this morning as we debate the 2017-2018 budget. I

got a lot of views that I want to share, a lot of things I want to talk about as

part of this budget and the impact it's going to have. But I also want to keep

it relevant to last year's budget because not only are we debating this year's

budget and the impact it has on people, but we can't let people forget about

what happened last year and the accumulative effect its having on people now.

It's

having an effect; people are still having to live with the dramatic increases in

taxes, fee services, cuts to services. We are still seeing out-migration as a

result of that, and it's unfortunate.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We have

a responsibility when people send you an email or they handwrite a letter to

outline their concern. As I said earlier, most citizens realize government has a

responsibility. There are certain decisions that have to be made. But what's

being told to us and what people are sharing with us are their heart-wrenched

experiences that are really having a negative effect on their lives. It's

affecting not only their lives, but it's affecting everybody around them, their

ability to do the parts that they would in a respective community.

Their

fear for families older couples are telling me they don't know if they're

going to be able to see their grandchildren grow up here because the economy is

at a point now where it's just not viable for the kids to stay here. They don't

have access to certain things. That becomes a worry.

The

older population are worried about their access to health care, their ability to

be able to pay their own bills down the road and all the other extra services.

Also, their hope was that they'd have a better quality of life as they got older

and that becomes a concern. Most are willing to pay some extra money for even

the base services that we have; they're willing to do that. But when they see

nickel-and-dime services being cut that have a dramatic effect on people, then

that becomes an issue.

The

issue here is around quality of life and the simple things that people think are

ingrained in what we accept here as being necessary. We're not talking big

elaborate things. People are not talking about that we light up every highway

from here to Port aux Basques, that we have four lanes everywhere. These are

things people would like for safety, but they realize we can only sustain

certain things over certain periods of time. With a small population, the tax

base can only be where it can be and government can only spend in certain areas.

I know

being a former minister and my colleagues here and I know the ministers over

there, their budgets are nowhere near what they would need to run their line

departments and the services they'd like to provide. Nobody ever argues that

point. The argument has been and the outcry and the backlash has been around the

cuts that have been made over the last 18 months and the impact that it's had.

Particularly around the fact that the cuts are not only having a direct impact

to those that it affects, it's having a cumulative effect on growing our

economy, sustaining quality of life, ensuring that the population is here so

that the older generation has somebody to care for them and provide basic

services. That becomes some of the challenges that we're facing here.

That's

what I wanted to go back to again. Because there may have been a lull a couple

of months ago that people were going back to the mainstream activities that they

did and they were adjusting to the cuts and levies which they're now seeing in

their income tax claims as part of this process now, but people were also

hopeful that this budget would give them back something, would eliminate some of

the hardships. Then they could say: Yes, we did our part. We understand

government had to do certain things. We didn't agree with it all but if it's got

us to a better place and now we can get back to the quality of life and the

services we need, then that's a win-win.

The

problem and the disappointment here is they didn't see any of that. None of that

occurred. There wasn't any other plan that here's what we've taken away but

because of the process and the plan we put in place, the diversification of our

industries and the attraction of new partnerships and contracts, we've been able

to alleviate some of those expenditures by improving the economy. We've improved

the economy because we've managed to secure outside investors or new industries,

or we've taken a lead on certain things that we promoted that we haven't in the

past, but that hasn't happened. As a matter of fact, it's gone the opposite.

haven't gotten to a point where businesses are confident on what's being done

here. We're not at a point where the average citizen is willing to spend their

savings because they don't know what else is about to come. We're not at a point

where small businesses are willing to expand their businesses because they're

not sure; they first have to plan for the rainy day.

The

rainy day used to be, unfortunately, if something happened in your business. The

rainy day here with small business, what I'm being told, is what's the next tax

grab that's going to come from government? What's the next regulation that's

going to cost them a fortune? We're not talking about safety and personal

well-being of people. They're things that any industry and all citizens realize

as we grow and we modernize that certain things have to be put into play. These

are just things that are being added.

I heard

my colleague get up yesterday and ask a question about the iceberg tax. When it

gets to that level then there's a real concern here of what the focus is by

government, what the plan is, and where they're going with it. If they're

getting that nickel and dime, and spending that much time to come up with a tax,

an added 5,000 or 6,000 per cent for a few companies that may harvest some

icebergs, that are creating jobs in a lot of cases in some rural communities.

They're paying taxes to the local municipalities; they're also, in certain

cases, hiring Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and they're also helping promote

not only their industry but our tourist industry, because it's part of who we

are. It's part of how we promote. We're a unique destination and people should

come here.

We're

going to put them on the edge of driving them out of business. Because I doubt

if most of these are extremely lucrative, million-dollar businesses, but they do

their part to ensure there's sustainable employment for the employees they have,

that the communities benefit from it. No doubt they're investing in buildings;

they're investing in these types of things.

So when

we started hearing these are new taxes, I thought we were over the taxing. I

thought last year 300-plus tax and fee increases was enough, but we did get a

reprieve on one. Over a period of time we're getting part and parcel of

reprieves there. We'll get something June 1, and we'll get something December 1.

That's a welcome. I don't think anybody is against that. What they're against is

the other 299 and maybe 300 now, if you add in the iceberg tax.

There

has to be a process here. People need to have some hope. The hope here that

we're going to move things forward and here's our plan to do it. We can have a

task force and a committee on jobs. That's fine, but 18 months later that

process should have been put in the day you started governing of what your

process was going to be.

There

was a great talk about diversification. Again, I keep going back to all the

niche words and the niche phrases, the Throne Speeches and all that. It had me,

it had me included. I was saying, yes. I was a cheerleader for you guys. If you

can do all this, good for you guys, this will help our province. None of it

materialized, absolutely none of it. Not one thing came to fruition that was

positive for here.

You have

a great partnership with the feds. You're leveraging money, but these are

standards money. This is a part of what Newfoundland and Labrador is entitled

to. It's just you're going to frontload it versus the next number of years, then

there'll be less money to be able to draw down on. So that's fine, and that's

your choice. I have no problem. We had a different choice, we spread it out. We

spread it out over years. Some governments do it that way, that's fine, but

don't tout that there's all this extra money coming here because it isn't. It's

the allocations for each of the regions, allocations for the provinces.

Now, you

would have impressed me if we had something that said equalization in 2017-2018

was going to be $1.2 billion, like some of our other Atlantic friends. Then I

would have been impressed and I would have said good job. A good relationship

between the federal Liberals and the provincial Liberals, good to see the seven

MPs have gone to bat for us. Good to see that while they were knocking doors for

you, they also had a plan. When they got elected they'd ensure that if we went

on t