Newfoundland and Labrador Hansard — Members' Statements — 24 March 2009 (46th General Assembly, 1st Session, Vol. XLVI No. 54)
2009-03-24
Newfoundland and Labrador — Debates (Hansard)
March
24, 2009
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS
Vol. XLVI No. 54
The House met at 1:30 p.m.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
Admit visitors.
When tragedy happens, it is comforting to know that sorrow and sympathy is
not only felt by families and friends but by Canadians right across this
country. I have received a copy of a motion adopted by the National Assembly of
Quebec, which I will now have read to the House of Assembly. I call on the hon.
the Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs to read the motion as it was
The hon. the Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs.
MS SULLIVAN: Merci.
La letter est address le trs honourable Roger Fitzgerald, Prsident,
Assemble Lgislative de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador.
"Monsieur le Prsident : Au nom de l'Assemble nationale du Qubec, j'ai
le plaisir de vous transmettre copie d'un motion adopte par ses members, ce
dix-septime jour de mars 2009, concernant la prsentation de condolances
la familles et aux prches des victimes de l'accident d'hlicoptre au large
de Terre-Neuve.
Je vous serais reconnaissant de bien vouloir porter cette motion la
connaissance de l'ensemble des membres de l'Assemble Lgislative de Terre-Neuve
et du Labrador.
Je vous prie d'agrer, Monsieur le Prsident, l'expression de ma haute
considration."
Et la lettre est sign par
Yvon Vallires
Et aussi le motion:
Motion De L'Assemble Nationale Du Qubec
QUE l'Assemble nationale se recueille en soutien la profonde tristesse
que vivent les parents, les familles et les prches des 17 victimes du tragique
accident survenu jeudi dernier au large de Saint-Jean, Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador;
en notre nom nous et en celui de tous les Qubcois, nous leur prsentons
nos plus sincres condolances; nous saluons la force et la solidarit dont
ils ont faire prevue ensemble pour traverser ces moments si difficiles.
Copie conforme de la motion adopte par L'Assemble Nationale le 17 mars
Quebec.
C'est sign par Franois Cte, Secrtaire gnral de l'Assemble
Nationale.
MR. SPEAKER: I thank the hon. minister.
The letter reads: Quebec, March 18, 2009.
"Mr. Speaker: On behalf of the National Assembly of Quebec, I am pleased
to provide you with a copy of a motion adopted by its Members this 17 th
day of March, 2009, with respect to the expression of condolences to the
families and friends of the victims of the helicopter accident off the coast of
Newfoundland.
I would appreciate it if you would bring this motion to the attention of all
Members of the House of Assembly of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Yours very truly,
Yvon Vallires
Speaker of the National Assembly."
And the motion reads:
Motion of the National Assembly of Quebec, that the National Assembly observe
a moment of reflection in sympathy for the deep sorrow experienced by the
parents, families and friends of the 17 victims of the tragic accident that
occurred last Thursday, off the coast of St. John's, Newfoundland and
Labrador; in our own name and in the name of all Quebecers, we extend to them
our heartfelt condolences; we salute the strength and solidarity they must
demonstrate to get through these most difficult times.
Certified a True Copy of the Motion carried by the National Assembly on the
17 of March, 2009, Quebec City, this 18 day of March, 2009, signed by Franois
Ct, Clerk of the National Assembly.
The following members' statements will be heard: the hon. the Member for
the District of Port au Port, the hon. the Member for the District of Signal
Hill-Quidi Vidi, the hon. the Member for the District of Kilbride, the hon. the
Member for the District of Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair, the hon. the Member for
the District of Ferryland, and the hon. the Member for the District of Port de
Grave.
The hon. the Member for the District of Port au Port.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. CORNECT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am extremely happy to stand in this hon. House of Assembly to
extend my congratulations to the Knights of Columbus and their families for 100
years of commendable services in our Province.
The Knights of Columbus is the world's largest Catholic men's
organization. It has grown to more than 13,000 councils and 1.7 million members
worldwide, thanks to the efforts of Father Michael J. McGivney who officially
chartered the Knights of Columbus on March 29, 1882 in New Haven, Connecticut.
In our Province, there are approximately fifty councils and more than 5,000
members throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. The first two councils were
founded in Harbour Grace and St. John's on November 29 and November 30, 1909.
The celebration has already begun Province wide for one whole year, the
centennial anniversary year, which will conclude on November 30, 2009.
On Saturday, November 29, 2008, I was proud to be part of the kick off
ceremonies at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Council 3742 and Our Lady of Perpetual
Help Assembly 1653 in Stephenville.
The Knights of Columbus have a solid history in our Province, Mr. Speaker.
They have been offering programs that serve to improve the lives of people who
need them the most. The Sick Children's Fund, youth, families, seniors,
communities have all benefited from their assistance. Their goal is to make
their communities a better place for all and they succeed admirably in their
goal.
So, Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. members of this hon. House of Assembly to
join with me in congratulating the Knights of Columbus for selfless and generous
efforts continuing to serve our Province. Mr. Speaker, when others care enough
to act, they make a difference that has a great impact on us all.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi
Vidi.
MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
It gives me great pleasure today to stand in the House and recognize Sara
Tilley, a writer, theatre artist and Artistic Director of She Said Yes! Theatre
Company.
Sara is one of the finalists for the Winterset Awards for her first novel, Skin
Room which was published in 2008.
Michael Crummey, another one of our great novelists in this Province, called Skin
Room "an unflinching love letter to heartache, the far north, late
nights in downtown St. John's, family dysfunction and the slim possibility of
redemption. Sara Tilley manages despair, slapstick and all registers in between
with equal skill and grace."
Other finalists for the Winterset Awards are: Randall Maggs, for Night
Work : The Sawchuck Poems and Marie Wadden, Where the Pavement
Ends: Canada's Aboriginal Recovery Movement and the Urgent Need for
Reconciliation.
Tomorrow afternoon, Sara will be reading with the other finalists at the
Winterset reading, and then tomorrow night she will be acting in a play that she
has taken
part in, a collective which is called the (In)Complete Herstory of
Women in Newfoundland (and Labrador!) This collective piece is about the
history of women in Newfoundland, spanning everything from pirates, nuns,
suffragists, Beothucks, bullfighters, singers, criminals and Viking warriors.
You may all want to go see that play if you are in St. John's this week.
I ask the members of this House to join me in wishing Sara Tilley continued
success in her work and to wish the Winterset finalists good luck.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Kilbride.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. DINN: Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to recognize and
pay tribute to the Goulds Recreation Committee, its board and staff.
In 1992, the former Town of Goulds was amalgamated with the City of St. John's.
All services, including recreation, became the responsibility of the city. After
a few years of struggle, and decline, a decision was made to allow a committee
from the community to operate recreational programming in the Goulds again, as
it had been done prior to 1992.
For the past ten years or more, the Goulds Recreation Committee has provided
good quality recreation programming for Goulds residents from ages five to
seniors. As well, the group has been instrumental in working with the city to
construct three new soccer fields, a new softball field, outdoor basketball
court, a skateboard park, children's playgrounds and an arena.
It has encouraged and supported minor sports as well as activities for
seniors and other adult groups. It continues to offer a Winter Carnival Program
each year, continuing a tradition that is over twenty years old.
Mr. Speaker, the Goulds Recreation Committee held its Annual General Meeting
on November 18, 2008 and the following people were elected to the board for
2009:
Chairperson: Michelle Downey; Treasurer: Karen Dinn; Secretary: Gina Evoy;
members at large: Tracey Powell, Trudy Williams, Brian Head, Dave Ryan, and Don
Earles.
I ask all hon. members to join me in congratulating the Goulds Recreation
Committee for such outstanding service to the community of Goulds.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Cartwright-L'Anse
au Clair.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House today to congratulate Martin Flynn of
Forteau, Labrador.
His business, MarbleZip Tours, recently received the Tourism Atlantic
Technology Award during the 2009 Lookout! Tourism Summit.
Mr. Speaker, this award was created by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities
Agency in 2004 for a tourism operator in each of the Atlantic Provinces who has
been innovative and creative in the use of technology to improve and grow their
tourism operations.
Mr. Speaker, MarbleZip Tours opened in Steady Brook last August after Mr.
Flynn, who has a background in adventure tourism, saw an opportunity to create a
zip tour experience in Newfoundland and Labrador. One of his major marketing
tools is in Web site development, and he has utilized this technology to promote
the Zipline to a very broad audience.
Mr. Flynn's ingenuity and insight led him to adding popular social
networks, such as Youtube links and a Facebook page to his Web site to showcase
the experience of zipping on a steel cable strung between platforms on trees or
towers, at heights that offer panoramic views of the landscape below.
This is an adventure that is brand new to the Province, and I would certainly
recommend it to my colleagues in the House of Assembly, if they have not already
tried it. It was a great experience, I say to you. There is nothing quite like
looking out over Steady Brook in the Humber Valley and looking over the
mountains, Mr. Speaker, as you are zipping across 200 feet of cable, I think,
across the gorge. At some heights I think it reaches 800 feet or something, or
it is 800 feet long - that is what it is, yes - at 200 feet high, so it is quite
an experience.
Premier, maybe when you are out there the next time you will be enticed to
try the Zipline across Steady Brook. You might even be able to see your district
from there, I think, if you can see over the tops of the mountains.
Anyway, Mr. Speaker, it is a great new attraction to the Province of
Newfoundland and Labrador by a young entrepreneur, and I certainly hope that
Members in the House of Assembly will get an opportunity to try the Zipline in
our Province, and join me in congratulating Mr. Martin Flynn for the great work
that he is doing in promoting a new product in this Province.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Ferryland.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. HUTCHINGS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
A few months ago, on November 10, I attended the Annual General Meeting of
the Cape Race-Portugal Cove South Heritage Inc. held at the Portugal Cove South
Community Hall.
Those at the Town of Portugal Cove South and the Heritage Inc. have done a
tremendous job in promoting the Cape Race Site, the Wireless Communication Site,
and the Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve which receives close to 10,000
visitors each summer.
The Ecological Reserve, which holds rare fossils, has been tentatively listed
on the UNESCO World Heritage Site designation. Over the next three years the
appropriate documentation will be completed and representation will be made to
UNESCO for World Heritage Site designation. It is estimated that such a
designation can increase visitation to the site by 100 visitors per day.
Mr. Speaker, the guest speakers at the Cape Race-Portugal Cove South Heritage
Inc. AGM in November were two individuals from Joggins Ecological Site from the
Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia who, on July 7, 2008, received its designation as a
World Heritage Site.
Mistaken Point Fossils were discovered in 1967 by S.B. Misra of Memorial
University during his Masters of Science thesis research. Since that time much
work has been done to protect and promote the site, as well as the site being
used for research and study by students from all over the world in the study of
pre-Cambrian period fossils.
It is indeed a tribute to the dedicated volunteers of the area who took it
upon themselves to protect this international jewel of pre-Cambrian fossil site,
and I ask all hon. members to join with me in congratulating them on their
commitment to their community and region as we continue to promote the many
attributes in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Port de Grave.
MR. BUTLER: Mr. Speaker, Corporal William Titford of Spaniard's Bay was
recently presented the Minister of Veterans Affairs Commendation.
The Commendation is given to individuals who have contributed to the care and
well-being of veterans and to the remembrance of their contributions, sacrifices
and achievements.
Corporal Titford served with the Canadian Armed Forces from 1960 to 1973 as a
supply technician and is currently a member of the Royal Canadian Legion,
Corporal Matthew Brazil, Branch 9 in Spaniard's Bay. He has held numerous
positions at various levels of the organization and actively promoted the
concerns of veterans.
Corporal Titford was instrumental in introducing the Fly the Flag of
Remembrance , and in having the Conception Bay North bypass road named the
Veterans Memorial Highway. He is currently researching and documenting the
history of more than 170 war memorials throughout the Province. Promoting and
preserving the history of the Legion and the sacrifice for freedom has become a
personal quest for Corporal Titford.
I ask all members to join me in extending congratulations to Corporal William
Titford of Spaniard's Bay on receiving this Commendation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Statements by Ministers.
Statements by Ministers
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural
Development.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SKINNER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to report a new initiative of
the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development that is focused on
supporting the growth of the Province's small and medium-sized enterprises.
Intellectual property protection is an important aspect of innovation and the
commercialization of new products and new technologies. For this reason, the
department has introduced an information session entitled, Protecting Your
Product and Technology . This session is aimed at helping small and
medium-sized enterprises enhance their understanding of the benefits of
effective intellectual property protection.
In addition to protecting such assets as a company's brand or patented
products, intellectual property holds tremendous value and can be leveraged to
produce considerable revenues. For example, IBM generates approximately $1
billion from its patents while Microsoft's intellectual property, including
the trademark of its brand, copyright of its software and its patent portfolio
is valued at more than $260 billion.
Newfoundland and Labrador's business community is becoming increasingly
progressive and innovative. Leading this charge is small business. Not from one
specific sector but from a variety of industries such as ocean technology,
agriculture, life sciences, tourism, mining, and information and communication
technologies. It is central to their continue growth to understand how they can
best protect their products and their technologies.
Through sessions at Corner Brook's Glynmill Inn on March 30 and at the
Holiday Inn on March 31 in St. John's, participants will have access to
specialized professionals who can guide them through the process of protecting
their product or their concept. Sessions will cover topics such as the various
types of intellectual property protection that range from trademarks, patents,
trade secrets and copyrights, along with the rights of businesses with or
without intellectual property protection, the importance of branding, and
government support tools. These half-day sessions are free of charge and are
open to all businesses.
As a government, we are committed to providing our small to medium-sized
enterprises with access to the tools and resources they require to capitalize on
business opportunities and to strengthen their competitiveness.
Mr. Speaker, there is no substitute for knowledge. By increasing their
knowledge and understanding of intellectual property, businesses and educational
institutions are taking important steps to grow and protect their business
operations. I would encourage businesses to contact my department for more
information. In Corner Brook they can call 637-2628 or in St. John's it is
729-4208.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Port de Grave.
MR. BUTLER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I want to thank the minister for a copy of his statement and to also commend
government and all those involved for this wonderful initiative to assist our
small and medium-sized businesses here in the Province.
I guess each and every one of us know, from our own districts, that small
business is really the lifeblood of our communities, and it is very important
that the individuals in those small and medium-sized businesses attend those
sessions where Protecting Your Product and Technology is the theme.
I encourage each and every business that meets these criteria that they would
take
part in both sessions, the one in Corner Brook as well as the one here in
St. John's.
I have to agree with the minister when he said there is no substitute for
knowledge. I believe this is a very important aspect of continuing education to
assist our businesses here in the Province, and we want to wish them every
success as they take part.
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi
Vidi.
MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement.
Obviously, protecting intellectual property is extremely important for all
businesses and especially for the small to medium, both for their development
and also for their professionalism. Having these information sessions will be a
great way to help them get the knowledge they need.
There are many other programs that the minister's department offers. I
remember last year, in the Estimates meetings, that there were a number of
programs that did not have a large uptake. Part of it, we were told, is because
not everybody out there is well informed on some of the programs. I would
suggest that the kind of sessions that are being held to inform small and
medium-sized businesses around protecting intellectual property maybe could be
repeated on other topics for small and medium business, so that there will be
increased uptake with the programs that your department has.
I would be interested in knowing down the road actually how many people take
advantage of these sessions when they do happen.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: Further Statements by Ministers.
The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am pleased today to recognize March as national Nutrition Month. This time
provides an opportunity to reflect on the mealtime choices we make for ourselves
and for our families.
We know that health food and good nutrition are key components of overall
wellness and essential to the health of our population. For our government, the
importance of living healthy and promoting wellness is well recognized.
Each year, we invest some $3.7 million to our Provincial Wellness Plan to
support people in making smart choices about eating and living healthy.
This is particularly important for our children. Reaching children at an
early age and empowering them to make healthy choices can significantly impact
their health now and in the future by helping to prevent obesity, heart disease
and diabetes.
In supporting children to eat and live healthy, our government proudly
provides $1.25 million on an annual basis for the Kids Eat Smart Club. Through
this program, thousands of children in schools across our Province gain access
to nutritious foods.
In addition, we support children and youth through a number of wellness
initiatives which promote healthy eating and physical activity such as Healthy
Students Healthy Schools, School Food Guidelines, and Active Living Schools
program.
We know that empowering individuals to make their choices on healthy living
is critical for success. So in 2006, we launched Go Healthy, a Web site with
tools and resources to support people of all ages take an active role in
achieving health and wellness.
Mr. Speaker, we also partner with community groups and organizations through
our Provincial Wellness Grants Program to address healthy eating, as well as
other wellness priorities. Through these partnerships, a number of initiatives
such as Drop the Pop, Skipping for Active Living, and community kitchens have
been introduced in towns and communities across our Province.
We also join forces with regional wellness coalitions, who are helping to
bring the wellness movement Province-wide.
Mr. Speaker, as we carry on our work to initiate a healthy change for the
people of Newfoundland and Labrador, we will continue to engage stakeholders in
promoting wellness.
Mr. Speaker, as Nutrition Month draws to a close, I would like to challenge
residents of our Province to step it up. Whether you are already started to take
action, or need to make the first move, now is a great time to start making
healthy changes that will last a lifetime.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the minister for an advanced copy of his statement.
Mr. Speaker, we are all for supporting nutritional and health programs within
our Province. We think that in doing so it helps alleviate a lot of stresses
that we often see in our health care system as people age. Mr. Speaker, we also
realize that on many occasions people cannot choose to have the nutritional
diets that they want, or the level of healthy lifestyle that they want to have
because they simply cannot afford it.
I think you only have to look today in Newfoundland and Labrador to see that
in the past year, according to this consumer price indexing, the cost of fresh
fruits and vegetables, breads and cereals in this Province increased by over 8
per cent in one year. You transfer that to a family who lives on social
assistance today in Newfoundland and Labrador, a couple that brings less than
$600 a month into their home to look after their fuel, their heat, their
maintenance on their property, their personal items, their groceries and so on,
you will find out, Mr. Speaker, that that amount of money does not cover the
food costs for them to have a nutritional diet.
When you look at the fact that vegetables in Newfoundland and Labrador
increased by 25 per cent in cost in the last year, eggs increased by 8 or 9 per
cent, these are commodities that we could be producing more of in Newfoundland
and Labrador, putting more money into our agricultural sector so that we could
ensure that these products are at least more affordable for families that need
them and for families that depend upon the social welfare system in our
Province, that they are at least given an adequate amount of money
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I ask the hon. member to conclude her remarks.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I certainly will do that.
that families and individuals who rely upon social assistance are at
least given an amount of money where they can have nutritional food choices to
be able to support themselves and feed their families.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
I, too, thank the minister for an advanced copy of his statement.
I am pleased to see that government has increased the funding it gives to the
Kids Eat Smart program. That is very good. However, I bring to the minister's
attention that the 2008 hunger count report revealed that 38.4 per cent of
children in our Province access food banks. No matter what we do with regard to
education and information, those children are not accessing nutritional meals.
We cannot have good nutrition if people do not have the economic ability to
get the food that they need. These children and their parents, their families
who are accessing food banks, are the people that we should be concerned about.
These numbers were calculated from 2007. So we are calculating these numbers
from a Province at a time when we have a growing economy.
We have to take care of this need. We have to increase money in the hands of
those who depend on income support, we have to increase more quickly the income
of people working for minimum wage, and we must have a universal school lunch
program that should not depend on the ability of a community to get involved. If
they can, that would be great, but we should make sure that there is a universal
school lunch program supported by this government, so that the children who are
going to food banks can eat nutritionally at least once a day.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: Further statements by ministers?
Oral questions.
Oral Questions
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
My questions are for the Premier.
In a recent interview with David Patterson, the CEO of Abitibi, on the
Business News Network, he stated that the Province bid for the power assets of
the company but was outbid by a competitor. Yesterday, the Minister of Natural
Resources said that talks had broken off with the company over the amount of
compensation to be paid out.
So I ask the Premier today: How much did the Province originally bid for the
assets, and why was this information not disclosed when we debated the
expropriation legislation in the House of Assembly?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources and Deputy
Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, some time ago Abitibi Bowater informed the Province that it was
considering selling its Star Lake asset and invited the Province to make a bid.
The Province through Nalcor did that, Mr. Speaker, and the bid was not accepted,
in part due to an agreement they have with their shareholder on Star Lake who
has the right of first refusal. It was certainly clear to us that Abitibi really
was not interested in selling that asset to the Province. We made a fair bid, it
was not accepted and we have moved on. It was not a matter of any great
consequence, Mr. Speaker, and we were not trying to hide anything from anybody
in terms of our discussions around the expropriation. It was completely new
discussion at that point in time.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The minister indicated yesterday that the government was not prepared to pay
$300 million for those assets. Maybe she can tell me what the bid amount was
that Nalcor submitted?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, negotiations, as I said yesterday, have been going on for a
number of weeks. Mr. Patterson in The Globe and Mail some time ago during
an interview assigned a value of $300 million to the assets. Obviously, we do
not agree with that estimate. Talks have been ongoing until last week. We hope
that they will resume again. We are certainly not going to have a public
discussion, Mr. Speaker, about our negotiating position. What we will do is try
to get the best value we can for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
That was not the question, the question was you put in a bid, the bid is off
the table. We want to know what the amount of the bid was.
Mr. Speaker, we know that Abitibi has stated publicly that they will be
taking the Province to court under a NAFTA challenge if government does not pay
the $300 million. We also know that the company has retained legal counsel in
this matter.
I ask the Premier today: Have you been given any further indication that
Abitibi will be suing the Province, other than what we are hearing in the media?
If so, have any of those details been received by the government?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
When we began our talks with AbitibiBowater we were very clear under what
conditions we were going to conduct those talks, what the issues were on the
table. We can only assume that AbitibiBowater came to the table in good faith
and was trying to negotiate in good faith to assign a value to the assets and
resolve the issues, the three primary issues that we put on the table.
They always held in reserve the right to a NAFTA challenge. That is their
right. We have no indication at this point in time whether they are going to
actively pursue that right, but they certainly have the option to do so.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
If there is a NAFTA challenge, the federal government would also have an
interest in that case.
I ask the minister: Has there been any discussion or consultation with the
federal government on that matter?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, I had a conversation with Minister
Stockwell Day some time ago, who indicated that they wished to have a discussion
with us about it, and we had a brief discussion about it. They also asked if, in
fact, we would be entertaining or having any discussions, or would be prepared
to have any discussions with the company, being AbitibiBowater, which, in fact,
we have done, so we followed those particular instructions.
We have been talking to federal officials, and it is my understanding as well
that the minister has also been talking to federal officials.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
If I could ask: Is the federal government supportive of the position that
Newfoundland and Labrador has taken in this case, and would they be going to
support us in any court challenge or would it be the opposite?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
For the Leader of the Opposition's information, so that she has an
understanding of the process, the federal government is the body that will be
charged with dealing with a NAFTA challenge, so it is their responsibility to
respond to whatever challenges AbitibiBowater brings forward.
I have had a discussion with the Minister of Natural Resources Canada on this
issue. I have had discussions with Minister MacKay on this issue. As well, I
have had meetings with Minister Day on this issue. The Premier has said to them,
as well as I have been able to reiterate on behalf of government, that we will
support them in whatever way is appropriate if a NAFTA challenge is brought
forward.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank you, Minister, for that clarification.
Mr. Speaker, there are obvious environmental considerations involved in
Abitibi's operations, whether that be with the mill, the timber or the power
development project.
I ask the Premier: What assessments have government done to look at the cost
of the cleanup and the restoration of areas that have been affected by
environmental damage?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS JOHNSON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, our department is doing an inventory of all of the environmental
issues. That could range anywhere from logging camps to bridges and to the mill
itself. Certainly, the mill will have to undergo an environmental assessment
process through the decommissioning of their mill, as was done in Stephenville.
The member can rest assured that all environmental issues will certainly be
addressed.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Maybe the minister could also give me the time frame for which you think this
assessment will be done.
Mr. Speaker, as a further supplementary, if there are any environmental
liabilities that need to be looked after, has government gotten any assurances
from Abitibi that they are prepared to accept their financial obligations and
responsibilities to ensure that those environmental cleanups take place?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS JOHNSON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The inventory is actively ongoing. In fact, we have received some information
from members of the general public about some items out there, that we were not
aware of, and we certainly welcome that. Certainly, we are going to hold Abitibi
accountable to the environmental issues that are out there, so you can rest
assured they will be addressed.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yesterday, I asked some questions with regard to potential bankruptcy and
what it would mean for severance and pension benefits for workers. I ask the
government today: Have they received a breakdown of the amount of severance that
is owed to displaced workers at the Grand Falls-Windsor mill?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, we are working both with the CEP in gathering that information, as well
as some of this information has to be counter checked through the company. We
are doing our very best to ensure that we have the right numbers, and we are
feeling confident that we are there at this time, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
AbitibiBowater has until tomorrow night to restructure their debt or they
will be forced into a bankruptcy position. Yesterday, the minister did not want
to talk about hypothetical situations, but the reality is that most of these
former employees or displaced workers are already hitting a panic button over
this, and I think the minister understands that.
I ask again today: What is government doing to prepare for any fallout if
there should be a bankruptcy within the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours?
What is the backup plan for government?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, this has been a process that has been ongoing with this company and
with the people of the Grand Falls-Windsor region for well over two years. We
have, at any time, at any number of times during that period, expected this
company to collapse. What we are doing is our due diligence. We have excellent
communication with the people in the region, particularly with the unions. We
understand what their concerns are. There are direct lines of communication
between me and the people in the region, between the chair of the task force and
the people in the region, and we have three MHAs in the region who are fully
engaged.
We are not going to hit the panic button. We understand what is going on. We
understand what is going on in the industry. We are watching very carefully. We
understand what all of the circumstances have the possibility of bringing
forward, and we are also preparing for a number of eventualities.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
If the minister's paycheque was on the line maybe she would be hitting the
panic button.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, let me ask the Minister of Health of Community
Services -
AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).
MS JONES: No, she did not. I write my questions myself, Minister Hickey.
Who writes yours for you? Who writes yours for you?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Health and
Community Services.
We know in the Cameron Inquiry that he failed to read his briefing notes and
be informed on some very significant issues that were facing cancer patients in
the Province. Yesterday, on the news, I was appalled to learn that the minister
was not aware that there was a need for dialysis equipment in Labrador West,
when they have for two years been raising money in that community, when there
have been feature articles in the media about it, and when I have a letter, Mr.
Speaker, in my own office asking me for a donation as an MHA. He, as the member
for the area, sitting behind
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I ask the hon. member to pose her question.
MS JONES: I ask the minister today, Mr. Speaker: How do you expect to
provide and allow for confidence to be building in the health care system if you
are going to be so out of touch with issues like this one in Labrador West?
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Mr. Speaker, what I said yesterday in the media was in
response to some questions around dialysis services in Labrador West. What I
indicated clearly was that as a health department, as a minister, we had not had
any representation from the community at large or from the health authority. We
have four health authorities in this Province, I say, Mr. Speaker, and they have
a really significant purpose in the delivery of health services in the
respective parts of the Province.
The Labrador Grenfell Authority has a responsibility in Labrador and the
Northern part of the Island portion of the Province. They, as a part of their
planning exercise and a part of their exercise in putting forward to government
requests for either funding or support for program initiatives, have not
approached our department or me, as the minister, or government in any way,
about having dialysis services in Lab City.
You may recall, Mr. Speaker, about a year or so ago I joined my colleague and
we opened a new dialysis service in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I ask the hon. minister to complete his answer.
MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Dialysis services, as a range of other programs that we introduce in a
variety of areas of the Province, come about as a result of local regional
planning from our health authorities who, in turn, make representation to
government.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, dialysis services are required in other areas of
the Province as well. I don't know if the minister is aware of this, but in
Port aux Basques, for example, there are people being forced to move out of that
area to Corner Brook right now in order to seek dialysis services. So, there are
significant gaps in the system.
I ask the minister if he is aware of that particular need and what action
will be taken by the department to deal with cases like this.
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Mr. Speaker, it is interesting, you know, the question got
framed initially in what I knew as a minister. What was interesting is she
referenced the Cameron Inquiry. What was really interesting, one of the pivotal
turning points identified by Justice Cameron was a Dr. Ejeckam letter in 2003.
That 2003 letter happened on their watch, I say, Mr. Speaker. We weren't in
government at that time.
When we start talking about what ministers know and what ministers do not
know, at an operational level, as a minister, we would not necessarily have any
idea what is happening on a day-to-day basis at an operational level at many of
our authorities, so it is a natural, normal process for us to rely on health
authorities to identify health needs in respective areas of the Province.
Now, with respect to the issue of Port aux Basques, I met with the council in
Port aux Basques last year in Corner Brook. We had a discussion around the issue
as I understand it now, some representation of the community as well as the
health authority
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is interesting; the minister mentions the Dr. Ejeckam letter. Never let
the facts stand in the way of a good story, hey, Minister?
The first, you know, that we had ever seen that letter was when your Premier
waved it in the House of Assembly, and you know from that report that it was
never, ever submitted
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I ask members for their co-operation.
I ask the hon. Leader of the Opposition to conclude her question.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Province has lost its only infectious disease specialist, Dr. Bader, and
while Eastern Health states that they believe they have secured the services of
Dr. Bader on a locum basis, we are hearing from the medical community that is
not the case.
I ask the minister: What is the current status of these efforts, and what are
you doing to reassure the people of the Province that their health needs are
being met, and reassuring their families that (inaudible) infectious control
doctor provided for?
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I will try to be brief, but I do want to thank the member for confirming my
point in my earlier question. I thank you very much for that.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Just for the benefit of her colleague who sits next to her,
we are having discussions. As I understand it, Western Health is having some
discussions with representatives from your district about dialysis services in
Port aux Basques, which is a follow-up to a discussion that I had with the town
as well.
Now, to the next question, the issue of an infectious disease specialist in
the Province: As I understand, in the information shared with me as recently as
this morning, Dr. Bader is, in fact, available to do some locum coverage. I
understand he is available to do some consultation by phone, and he is
travelling to the Province periodically, every three or four weeks or every
five weeks, I think it is.
In addition to that, there is another specialist, a former Dr. Bowmer, who is
in Newfoundland and Labrador, who comes back for locums as well, and we hope to
have the new recruit on the ground
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, if that is the case, I ask the minister: Why did
you let the people, who were sick and suffering from AIDS, stand outside on the
steps of Confederation Building today trying to advocate for such physicians in
this Province, and not go out and provide for them the answers that they were
looking for?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Mr. Speaker, individual organizations, or individuals
themselves, or groups, should take advantage of an opportunity if they want to
protest, or lobby, or to have a gathering on Confederation Hill to deliver a
message to government. That is their option. I would not discourage that.
However, the group, this morning, the AIDS organization, were contacted by my
office and indicated that we would be prepared to meet with them. A meeting has
been set up with them, so we will be following up directly with them.
I was not available to meet with them this morning; I had earlier
commitments. They understood that. I shared that with them, but we have set a
date, I think it is April 15 we are getting together. Myself and officials from
my department will meet with the organization and we will talk with them about
their issues, their concerns.
I understand as well, with respect to the service that is provided to them in
their clinic, that Eastern Health had already communicated that to them and that
their weekly clinic they have is continuing as we speak.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Obviously there are still some communication problems, I say,
Minister.
Minister, back about a year-and-a-half ago you said that you would address
home support services in the Province; in fact, you would do a review of those
services, the long-term care homes and the personal care homes. In fact, last
April you informed me that we could expect a strategy to be completed as early
as the fall of 2008. Well, the time has since passed and I ask the minister if
you can give me an update on the progress of that report, and when we will see
something tabled.
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Mr. Speaker, I can report that we are making great progress.
We have done a lot of work. There have been a number of people who have been
involved in this exercise, and I would like to be in a position in the very near
future to make some further announcements to the House. I am sure the people of
Newfoundland and Labrador will be quite impressed with the work that we have
done and the future direction that we are mapping out for long-term care and
community supports in this Province, and in particular the whole home support
piece.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Maybe I could ask the minister to give me a list of those people who were
consulted, because I have talked to a number of home care agencies who tell me
they were not consulted, and also with the Newfoundland and Labrador Home
Support Enforcement Agency. Basically, I have been told that there has been one
collective presentation on home care. If that is the case, Minister, I ask: Why
were you not prepared to work directly with those who are engaged in the front
lines of the system and hear their views as well?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As we have gone through this process well, I can only speak for the time
that I have been minister - during the last two years since I have been in my
portfolio, I have had numerous discussions with a variety of not just
individuals but organizations who are involved in health services in this
Province, whether it is the Regional Health Authorities, agencies who are
involved in the direct delivery of services, or individuals themselves who are
involved in the direct delivery of services; but, most importantly, numerous
individual families and individuals who are receiving home supports themselves
have been very much engaged in the discussion.
I make reference particularly to the consultations we have done on healthy
aging a few years ago, where we spoke to about 1,000 people, over seventeen
communities. I suspect that is probably the most extensive consultation any
government has ever done in this Province on any one single issue.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I ask the hon. minister to conclude his answer.
MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I stand here today quite proud of the consultations and discussions we have
had on issues around aging in this Province; 1,000 people in seventeen
communities, that is extensive and impressive.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Port de Grave.
MR. BUTLER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, a standing ovation.
Mr. Speaker, on March 10 Memorial University released a report calling for an
end to the provincial government's involvement with their presidential
selection process. The report was prepared following the Premier and the
Minister of Education's decision to veto the candidate chosen by Memorial's
presidential selection committee.
I ask the minister: Can she give me an update on the present condition of
that report? Is it with the Premier, with the provincial Cabinet, or is it being
reviewed by the Department of Education?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education and Government House
Leader.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS BURKE: Mr. Speaker, as Minister of Education, I did receive the report
from the ad hoc committee, as the member had suggested. Along with that report
and the recommendations in that report there was a request by the Chair of the
Board of Regents that we engage in discussions with the Board of Regents
regarding that report.
I can say that I have met with the Board of Regents, and they will be
outlining what they feel would be an appropriate way to discuss the report. They
will be getting back to me with their outline of how they want to engage in
discussions by mid-April. So I expect by mid-April I will hear back from the
Board of Regents with a plan outlining how they want to proceed with the
discussions.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Port de Grave.
MR. BUTLER: I thank the minister for her answer, Mr. Speaker.
The report recommends that Memorial University's Board of Regents be given
the authority to select a president of Memorial University, as well as its
chairperson.
Having listened to her answer, Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister: Would
government act to change the existing legislation governing Memorial University
such as to accept those recommendations and can we expect such legislation
changes taking place before a new president is selected?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS BURKE: Mr. Speaker, with regards to the selection for a President of
Memorial University, the Chair of the Board of Regents outlined a process that
will be followed to select the chair at this time and he laid it out in a very
clear, concise manner. It is a very open and transparent process and it is
certainly one that government agrees with. So, that process will continue.
What I had been asked and I want to clarify, based on the report from the ad
hoc committee that came into government, we were asked to engage in discussions
and we will certainly do that. As I said, I met with the Board of Regents as
recently as yesterday and they will get back to us about how they want to
proceed with discussions. That has been the request that came with that report
from the Board of Regents and we certainly will follow up with the Board of
Regents.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi
Vidi.
MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
My question is for the Minister of Health and Community Services.
Mr. Speaker, yesterday the minister said to the media that he was aware of
only one person who needed dialysis in Labrador West, and that was according to
the information he had from the health authorities for that area. Just this
morning my office has been speaking with three families from Labrador West who
have somebody getting dialysis and with different organizations from the area
who list the need for dialysis at ten people. Obviously, there is something
wrong with how the records are being kept.
Mr. Speaker, recommendations thirty-nine and forty from the Cameron report
deal with developing a Province wide electronic medical record system to be
developed. Such a system would put in place a data base that would give the
minister the full information he would need that would help him determine the
health needs of people in this Province. I ask the
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I ask the hon. member to pose her question.
MS MICHAEL: I ask the minister, Mr. Speaker, will he take immediate
action to make sure that these two recommendations in particular be put in place
right away to ensure that the needs of the people of this Province are being
dealt with?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Mr. Speaker, I just want to qualify the member's
introductory comment. The media reported my having said there was one. What I
actually said was that I am aware that there are two individuals currently
receiving dialysis in an institution. One is now doing it in Corner Brook, wants
to return to Labrador West. Another is doing it in St. John's and wants to
return to Labrador West. I was also aware that there are two individuals getting
home dialysis in Labrador West. So that was my commentary to the media. I have
no control over how they reported it.
Now with respect to the issue, the subject of her question, with respect to
the electronic health record. We had indicated in response to the tabling of the
Cameron report back in early March that we would be acting on those
recommendations. We have already started a process, several years ago, in fact,
Mr. Speaker, to move us towards a complete electronic patient information system
in the Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi
Vidi.
MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Obviously, the system that we have is not adequately working because the
people we have spoken to are receiving dialysis but it seems like because they
are outside of Labrador West getting it they are not being seen as being from
Labrador West, but they are outside because of that.
Mr. Speaker, Labrador West has a population of over 9,000 people who are
without a dialysis machine. They all do not need it, we know that, but a
population of 9,000 that does not have it in their place. People are making
accommodations, even as we sit here today, to move to the Island portion of the
Province or to Goose Bay.
We have been hearing the story of Mr. Connors for the past few days through
the media. He does not want to have to leave Labrador West but he will need
dialysis three times a week and will have to move to Goose Bay.
MR. SPEAKER: Order please!
I ask the hon. member to pose her question.
MS MICHAEL: I ask the minister, Mr. Speaker: Will he commit to having
communications with the regional authority for this area to determine putting a
dialysis machine in place?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Just so the member opposite understands the process in terms
of determining where people are now getting dialysis service. We have a complete
list. We have 417 people, I think it is, currently receiving dialysis service in
the Province. We have a list by name and where they are receiving the service,
and our records would indicate their home address. So the information I was
sharing came from that database that we would have used to determine as I
shared with you a moment ago, two getting intuitional base and two getting home
dialysis. That is where the information would come from.
I would be only too glad to have a conversation after the session today about
the ten that you have because I would like to reconcile the names that you have.
Obviously, you have ten names there and I appreciate if you gave permission to
share those names with me so I can reconcile those ten with those that we have
in our database. So I would appreciate that very much.
MR. SPEAKER: Order please!
I ask the hon. minister to conclude his answer.
MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
With respect to the discussion with the regional health authority, I already
started that process, I say, Mr. Speaker, to engage them, to look at dialysis in
their region and whether or not the information I am hearing in the public
domain
MR. SPEAKER: Order please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi
Vidi.
MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
I am glad to know that the minister has started the discussion. I think the
reconciliation is absolutely essential and I will see if I have permission from
the people we have spoken to, to give names to you, but I would like to have
that conversation.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER: The time allotted for questions and answers has expired.
Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.
Tabling of Documents.
Tabling of Documents
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury
Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Pursuant to
section 26(5)(
a) of the Financial Administration Act, I am
tabling two Orders-in-Council relating to funding pre-commitments for the
2009-2010 to 2011-2012 fiscal years.
MR. SPEAKER: Further tabling of documents?
MR. KENNEDY: Yes, another one, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury
Board.
MR. KENNEDY: Mr. Speaker, thank you.
Pursuant to
section 26(5)(
a) of the Financial Administration Act, I am
tabling twenty-seven Orders-in-Council relating to funding pre-commitments for
the 2009-2010 to 2018-2019 fiscal years.
MR. SPEAKER: Further tabling of documents?
I hereby table the minutes of the House of Assembly Management Commission
meetings for meetings that took place on November 18, 2008, December 3, 2008,
and January 27, 2009. I might add that these minutes have already been posted on
the House of Assembly Web site.
I also table the 2008 Annual Report for the Office of the Information and
Privacy Commissioner.
Further tabling of documents?
Notices of Motion.
Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.
Petitions.
Orders of the Day.
Orders of the Day
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.
MS BURKE: Mr. Speaker, I wish to call Order 1, Committee of Supply, and I
move that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole on Supply to
consider certain resolutions for the granting of Interim Supply to Her Majesty,
Bill 76, and resume the debate that we commenced yesterday.
MR. SPEAKER: The motion is that this House do now resolve itself into a
Committee of Supply and that I do now leave the Chair.
All those in favour, 'aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.
MR. SPEAKER: All those against, 'nay'.
The motion is carried.
On motion, that the House resolve itself into a Committee of Supply, Mr.
Speaker left the Chair.
Committee of the Whole
CHAIR (T. Osborne): Order, please!
The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN: Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Chair, it gives me great pleasure to have this opportunity to get up and
speak to this bill. It speaks to a bill that provides for the operation and the
continuation of government, I suppose is the best way to put it, but all of us
who take
part in these proceedings recognize that it gives us an opportunity as
well to speak to various issues from across the Province that come to our
district.
I have listened to some of the speakers who got up yesterday and spoke about
issues and programs that are in their departments. Others got up and spoke quite
eloquently about the role members within their communities play, from a
volunteerism role to the fire departments and so on and so forth.
I suppose, when I stand here today, you stand in two roles. You stand here as
an MHA representing a district, mine being the District of Burin-Placentia West,
and you speak in the role as a minister of a department, the Minister of
Tourism, Culture and Recreation. I have often heard it said that finding the
balance, I suppose, making sure that you tend to the needs of your district, but
also making sure that you attend to your responsibilities as a minister of a
particular department.
I go back to the quote that I have heard a number of people say: It is a lot
more difficult to govern than it is to be in Opposition. I don't think that
could be further from the truth. If you look to question period as one that
people seemingly attend more - when we look in the galleries we see a lot more
people in the galleries during Question Period than we do at this particular
time.
AN HON. MEMBER: That is understandable.
MR. JACKMAN: My colleague behind me said, that is understandable, and
indeed it is, because it is that opportunity for thirty minutes when the people
in Opposition get to put questions to government.
As someone was speaking earlier today in Question Period, I was jotting down
a few things. You talk about the many issues that are put before government! We
have the number of questions that have been put to the health minister. I think
any of us in our roles as MHAs will recognize that the Department of Health
seems to be an endless request, that the demand put before government to deal
with health issues and health infrastructure is huge. As you put in place one
piece of infrastructure or one piece of equipment or you address one need of
various individuals out in our communities, there seems to be another one right
on the heels of it.
If you look at the questions that were put to the Minister of Natural
Resources and the Minister of Environment and the Minister of Education, then
you have to look at it from the side of government, that you are the people that
sit as part of a caucus and a Cabinet that have to manage their way through all
of those issues making the best decisions that you possibly can.
Will they be always right? Well, you certainly hope that they will. Will they
satisfy everyone? Not very likely. Because, as I have said, as you deal with one
issue and you attempt to bring a resolution to that, then another issue arises.
So from the perspective of being on the government side as opposed to sitting
in the Opposition side, the two roles are very different. I would say to people
viewing and to people opposite, that your role in Opposition is to pose
questions, much easier than it is in the role of a government whereby you have
to address and attend to and make the best decisions you can.
If I go to my district - and I have to say, I speak of the MHA for Grand Bank
and the MHA for Bellevue because the three of us share a peninsula. All three of
us have our districts partially or wholly represented on the Burin Peninsula. If
there is one thing that we have done, and there is one thing that I have been
saying from the beginning, is that the Burin Peninsula is kind of a community
unto itself and if we are going to make inroads and progress there we have to
make sure that we jointly work together. I can tell you that in the past couple
of years the three of us have gone to numerous meetings as a collective group,
and I can assure everybody here that we will continue to do that. The ultimate
goal in the end is to make the peninsula a better place in which to live and a
better place in which to make a sustainable living.
If I look to that and look at the changes, I mean there have been numerous
changes that have happened. I can remember that we moved to the peninsula in
1968, the fish plant was a boom. You could pop down there and on most weekends
anybody could pick up a bit of work. I am telling you one thing now, that that
has drastically changed. The fishery as we know it is completely, it is very
different. I say one of the things that seems to remain constant is the raw
material. They look kind of the same but I can tell you that the facilities and
the workforce and the way the fishery is rolled out, the way in which the
products are produced are very different now than they were back in the mid
1960s and on into the 1970s.
Our peninsula has certainly been impacted by the oil industry and the oil
related work that has resulted from that. I can go back to the days when the
draggers were built there, and people took pride in the ships that were built.
They will tell you that some of the best draggers that went on the sea were
built in Marystown. Then you went into the supply vessel production. Of course,
the last project that came out of it was the production of the FPSO, the Sea
Rose, which was a monumental effort on the peninsula but I think for the entire
Province. So you have moved into a different type of industry. Now, do I think
that we, as a government, are instrumental in moving that agenda forward?
Certainly we are.
We have just recently approved a project to get into ferry replacements.
Within the next few months you will see that work underway and then people that
have moved away, hopefully, will return to become employed in that. I am
certainly looking forward to more work as we move into the Hebron work and the
types of projects that will come out of that. Then I certainly expect that we
will see much more work happening in the Marystown area. Then, of course, that
gives strength to the entire peninsula as we see people returning to work there
and some of our youth who are going through the programs now that they will
become employed there.
I think it all comes back to what I was talking about before, that the
government, being leaders in governing, that we did set the agenda. We said that
in dealing with the oil companies we wanted the better deals, not the best
deals. We wanted to get better deals than the best deals that we said from the
beginning. Our motto was that we were not going to give away any more, that we
were going to reap the benefits for the people of the Province and that is, in
fact, what we have done. We have taken strong, firm stands on a number of these
issues. Sometimes some people have doubted it, but I think after you look at the
end result, people will say that it was for the betterment of the people of the
Province. We will continue to do that, whether it is in the dealings as we are
dealing now with Abitibi in Grand Falls-Windsor. We, as a government, have to
make the best decisions that we feel are better for the people in that
particular region, just as we have taken them in terms of our resources and as
we have taken stands as it relates to the federal government. We are going to
make our decisions based on the best results for the people of this Province
and, as such, we will continue to do that.
Mr. Chairman, I am looking at the clock and I only have a minute left here.
My intention was to get into some departmental stuff here, but it does not look
like that is going to happen. So we look forward to the twenty minutes that we
will have. I can tell you from a departmental perspective, I have said to the
folks in my department and in some of the engagements I have spoken at, that I
think my department is the face of the people of this Province. As such, as we
get into our promotion, our tourism ads and so on and so forth, there is so much
to speak about, the cultural side of it.
Mr. Chairman, at this particular point I certainly will not get into issues
as it relates to the department but I just want to end by saying that from a
district perspective and from a peninsula perspective I think the moves that we
as a government have made, the stands that we have taken, will hold us well in
good stead on the Burin Peninsula and we will see in the future that the Burin
Peninsula will be one of the strong areas, economically and culturally, in this
Province. I look forward to the opportunity and getting up and speaking later on
and addressing some of the issues as they relate to my department.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
CHAIR: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
We are debating the bill on Interim Supply today and of course any time that
we debate bills like that it gives us leeway in the House of Assembly to talk
about any number of issues.
Mr. Chairman, I guess we are on the eve of a Budget and a Throne Speech in
Newfoundland and Labrador which will set out the course of direction for
government over the next year. Of course, any time that you are on the eve of a
budget there is always a lot of expectation out there in the Province, as I am
sure the Minister of Finance knows more so than any of us. In following some of
the Budget consultations as the minister travelled around the Province and
receiving some of the briefs and information that was submitted to him, I guess
there are a couple of issues I would like to highlight that certainly came out
as a part of that process.
One of them, I guess collectively, that was seen by municipalities around the
Province was increases to the municipal operating grants. I think almost in
every region, the minister would agree, where he held his consultations there
were municipalities and municipal leaders - whom one of the members across the
way spoke so proudly about yesterday that were before the Minister of
Finance asking that municipal operating grants be restructured and that more
money be flowing into municipalities in the Province.
Mr. Chairman, they asked that for a number of reasons. Obviously, the cost of
running towns in the Province has escalated, just like the cost of every other
service and commodity. In many cases their population has been shrinking,
especially in rural communities around the Province. When we are seeing spikes
in terms of in-migration or population increases, it is usually very much
focused on the urban centres in the Province, areas like St. John's or like
Corner Brook. We are certainly pleased to see that but we are not as pleased
when we start seeing numbers decreasing in the smaller municipalities around the
Province. That is what we have been seeing, and it does not matter if you are on
the Burin Peninsula, the Bonavista Peninsula, the Northern Peninsula, if you are
down in the Burgeo area or the Gander Bay area or the Connaigre area, it is the
same story. That is, that many of these people are seeing people moving out of
their communities, they are seeing a lot more of two people in a house as
opposed to family dwellings, and all of these things have an impact on the
amount of taxes that they collect. So, a lot of municipalities are actually
raising the amount of money they collect; but they are raising it on people who
are living on fixed incomes, in a lot of cases, in their communities, and they
know that there is a limit in terms of how much they can ask people to pay as a
municipal tax. Because of that, because of those limitations and the cost of
running municipalities increasing, they are finding themselves in a situation
where they do not have enough money to provide for the kind of services that
they want, whether that be fire services, recreation services, municipal waste
disposal, street lighting, all the services that we like to see in our
communities - beautification, road paving and upgrading and so on - everything
from libraries right on down, Mr. Chairman, in many cases. They are having a
tough time.
So I say to members opposite, if you want to stand and praise the work that
municipal leaders do in our Province, show them that respect and increase the
Municipal Operating Grants to municipalities in the Budget on Thursday. Show
them that you really do appreciate the work that they do, and that you are
prepared to give more back to them so that they can maintain their
municipalities and the services that they have.
Mr. Chairman, that was one common issue that came out in Budget
consultations, that I am aware of, right across the board, but there have been
other issues as well. Mr. Chairman, they have to do with issues in different
areas of the Province, and I am going to talk about an issue in my own district
today, that I know that the minister is very much aware of because it was
presented to him in Budget consultations. I have had an opportunity to discuss
it with him myself, and I have also had an opportunity to discuss it with the
Premier, and that is the cost of diesel electricity to commercial and industrial
customers in my district. In fact, Mr. Chairman, businesses right now on the
Coast of Labrador, both the North Coast and the South Coast, pay up to four
times more than other businesses throughout Labrador. So, for example, if you
run a business in Happy Valley-Goose Bay or Labrador City you are paying, in
most cases, less than five cents a kilowatt hour for electricity to run your
business, whether that is a garage or a hotel or restaurant or a manufacturing
plant or a grocery store - it does not really matter - but, when you get to the
North Coast of Labrador in places like Hopedale and Makkovik and Postville and
Nain, or on the South Coast in places like Cartwright and Port Hope Simpson and
St. Lewis and Mary's Harbour and Charlottetown, those communities, they pay
nearly twenty cents a kilowatt hour for electricity.
In one year we are going to see a highway that is going to open up into Happy
Valley-Goose Bay from Southern Labrador and we are going to see competition for
business between those areas. Is it fair that one area, who is forced to operate
on diesel generated power, has to pay four to five times more for their
electricity than their competitor who is going to be in just another region of
Labrador?
I think it is a very legitimate issue. It is one that is causing financial
hardship for a lot of businesses in my district, and in Northern Labrador as
well. It is one that government could easily fix by increasing the amount of
subsidy that it provides for diesel-generated communities who depend upon that.
They did it for residential customers already.
Going back a couple of years ago, when cases were made by myself and by
members in my district to the provincial government and to the Premier that
there was a need for this subsidy for residential customers, they did agree to
do it, and it has made a tremendous difference. Not only has it put people in
that area on an even keel with the rest of the Province, when it comes to
electricity rates, but it certainly has allowed people to have that little
financial break, and that was very important to them. It has not allowed them to
access more electricity because, as you know, we are limited in the amount of
power that we can provide in all of these diesel-generated stations, so
communities are capped to a certain degree in the amount of power that they can
use.
That subsidy itself, while it went a long way to helping people in the area,
only cost the government about $6 million a year to be able to do it, which was
a very small amount of money when you look at the amount of profit that they are
still making today on the Upper Churchill not as much as we would like to
make, but if you look at Guaranteed Winter Availability, and you look at the
fact that we are selling recall power that was designated for Labrador industry,
it is being sold and monies like $50 million a year are being put into
provincial revenues in this Province, it is a small thing to do to give back $5
million or $6 million of that $50 million or $60 million in profit to the people
in Labrador so that they can at least be on a fair and even keel with the rest
of the Province when it comes to paying for electricity rates.
Mr. Chairman, we want to see a similar thing done for those who need to use
commercial power and industrial power on the North and South Coast of Labrador
as well. We think that government, again, can easily do this at a relatively low
cost that would allow for competitive operations for businesses throughout
Labrador. I think there should be one commercial and industrial rate for all
Labrador customers who need to use it. I do not think it should be segregated
based on the source of power that they have or where they live. The reality is,
when you look at projects like the iron ore mines in Labrador City and Wabush,
and you look at the Voisey's Bay project in Northern Labrador that is bringing
up to $250 or $300 million a year of profits into the provincial revenue, the
people who are living next door to that project are paying the highest
commercial rates in the Province. It is unfair. It is really, legitimately
unfair.
Every day we live near the Lower Churchill project. We hear government's
plans to develop the Lower Churchill, but no plan to provide for lower cost
energy to commercial and industrial customers who need it in that Labrador
region and that is wrong. I think, if you are going to be fair to all people you
need to be fair when it comes to the rates they pay, so that they, too, Mr.
Chair, will be at the same advantage that other people in the Province, that
other industrial and commercial customers in Labrador, have. I think it is only
fair.
I know that the minister is well aware of this issue. I submitted a brief to
his department only recently in addition to the other meetings and conversations
that we have had. I know that the Premier is very much aware of it as well. Mr.
Chair, if there is one thing that we will be looking for in this Budget for
people in Labrador, it will be a break on diesel generated power. I guess we
will wait and in a few days we will see what happens.
I understand that my time is up and I will certainly have other opportunities
this afternoon.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
CHAIR: The hon. the Member for Topsail.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS E. MARSHALL: Mr. Chair, I am very pleased to be able to stand in the
House today and speak to Bill 76, the bill on Interim Supply.
I do want to say, Mr. Chair, that the bill is for quite a large sum of money,
it is $2.2 billion. I always say that the devil is in the details, so I want to
break down the $2.2 billion a little bit and speak to how Interim Supply is
going to affect the district of Topsail.
Mr. Chair, last month the government rolled out its infrastructure program
and it was $800 million. It is this program that has quite a significant impact
on the District of Topsail. Two particular areas I would like to speak about
would be the area of education - there was $155 million announced in the
infrastructure program and that has quite a significant impact on my district -
as well as the area of municipalities, the municipal infrastructure program, in
total $103 million. Of course, Mr. Chairman, my district received quite a
significant benefit from this part of the infrastructure program.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to start off by speaking about schools in the
district of Paradise. One of the things that is happening in Topsail district is
that we are effectively a growth area in the Province which is unlike almost all
other areas in the Province. The population in Topsail district has increased
significantly over the last number of years and, of course, is exerting a lot of
pressure both on the educational system, the schools in particular, and also
municipal infrastructure.
Mr. Chairman, this government has been quite responsive to the needs of the
educational programs in the District of Topsail. I would like to deal
specifically with the Town of Paradise because that forms the greater part of my
district.
Mr. Chairman, right now there are two schools that exist in the Town of
Paradise. One is the Holy Family School and the second school is Paradise
Elementary. There are two elementary schools. As most people know, we now refer
to Paradise Elementary School as the old Paradise Elementary School. It did
close down because of environmental and other issues. Of course, the students
who attended that school are now being bussed to the School for the Deaf in St.
John's. The community has had to really adjust to sort of a different
educational route in that many of the students are leaving the community during
the day to attend school outside the community.
The old Paradise Elementary School has been closed, as I say. The government
has looked at this issue and has decided that the best way to address it is to
build two new schools within the community of Paradise. The Holy Family School,
Mr. Chairman, is still operational and we are hoping that with the addition of
the two new schools all of the students will return to the community of
Paradise. Mr. Chairman, there is really a transition that is occurring now
within that community.
Mr. Chairman, for the Holy Family School, the government has decided to put
about $2 million into expanding this school. There will be four new classrooms
put into the school as well as a new cafeteria. As a result of this, they will
be able to have more students attending that school.
With regard to replacing Paradise Elementary School, as I have indicated,
there will be two new schools to replace the old Paradise Elementary. One of the
schools will be located on Karwood Drive, which is really in the heart of
Paradise. There is a second school planned for Elizabeth Park and that school
also will accommodate students from that neighbourhood.
In recent weeks, Mr. Chairman, we have seen some movement towards getting
these schools, construction started so that completion will occur next year.
Last week the tender was awarded for the first Paradise school. It was awarded
to Marco Construction and we are expecting construction on that school to start
probably within the next month or so. It is estimated that that school will be
completed by the fall of 2010. So, Mr. Chairman, that is only just a little over
a year away that we should have a new school in Paradise.
The second school, Mr. Chairman, which we now refer to as Paradise Elementary
School two, is going to be located in Elizabeth Park. With the infrastructure
program that was announced last month, construction of this project has been
accelerated. We are hoping that that school will be occupied shortly after the
fall of 2010, which is good news to the students and the parents.
Mr. Chairman, I would like to say that when the tender was awarded last week
for Paradise Elementary School number one, the tender was also awarded for the
school in Torbay for my hon. colleague from Cape St. Francis and he was really
pleased to participate in that announcement. We are expecting that the tender
for the second school will probably be awarded within the next month or so. We
are hoping that when the schools are completed, the extension to Holy Family as
well as completion of Paradise one and Paradise two, that there will be 1,500
students attending school in Paradise. So, Mr. Chairman, it is really a very
exciting time within Paradise looking at the new schools that are going to come
on stream.
Mr. Chairman, there is an old saying that it takes a community to raise a
child. I am thinking too that it takes a community really to construct a new
school. In order for the new schools to proceed and construction to start and
for the schools to become occupied, there have been quite a number of players
involved so far in the school and in the planning for these two new schools and
for the extension at Holy Family.
I would like to mention some of the people who have been putting a
significant amount of time in on the new schools and the extension and just to
acknowledge their contribution to getting these projects underway and at the
stage that they are now. I would first like to acknowledge the parents and the
students. The parents have been very patient and very supportive, because it is
the parents who see their children leave the community everyday and go into St.
John's to be educated.
I would also like to acknowledge the role of the school council. They have
been very active right from the beginning, representing the views of the
parents, of the students, and the community at large. They have been working
very, very closely with the school board and also with the Department of
Education.
Mr. Chairman, the Town of Paradise has been very actively involved with
regard to the new schools and the extension. I specifically would like to
mention the town planner, because the community of Paradise is growing so fast
that there has been a lot of discussion with the town planner with regard to
population growth, where the new subdivisions are going to be, where all the
children live, and where are the best places for the new schools to be
constructed.
I would also like to acknowledge the contribution of the school board, who
has been very helpful, always to the school council, to the school, to the MHAs
with regard to planning. I would like to acknowledge the contribution of the
minister and her staff at the Department of Education, and also the officials
and the Minister of the Department of Transportation, who will now oversee this
project.
Mr. Chairman, just to sum up; I think that the schools is probably the
biggest issue in my district. I have worked very closely with my colleague from
Mount Pearl North, who also represents part of the community of Paradise, and
also the MHA for Conception Bay East & Bell Island, the Minister of
Municipal Affairs, to make sure that these projects remain on
schedule and that
the Town of Paradise receives the educational programs and the educational
infrastructure that it needs.
I would like to briefly mention I am just looking at the time, Mr.
Chairman, and I see I just have a minute left but I would like to indicate
that the Municipal Infrastructure Program that was announced last year and will
continue on this year, the cost-sharing ratio has changed from 50-50 with the
municipalities that I represent, to 70-30, and this has been very well received
by the municipalities involved, especially the community of Paradise, which I
represent, and the community of Conception Bay South. Both areas are very high
growth, population wise, and there is quite a high demand for municipal
infrastructure. Both towns have indicated that the new cost-sharing ratio has
been very beneficial to their towns and have allowed them to develop municipal
infrastructure, improve municipal infrastructure, which if the old cost-sharing
ratio had stayed in place, they would not have been able to do.
Mr. Chairman, for both Paradise and Conception Bay South, the two areas where
most of the funding is going is into the area of water and sewer and also into
the area of roads.
Mr. Chairman, I see now that my time has expired. I do have some further
comments I would like to make on municipal infrastructure, but I will save them
for a later time.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
CHAIR: The hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I am pleased to get another opportunity to speak within the context of our
Interim Supply Bill that we are discussing here in the House these days.
I was very interested in what I heard my colleague, the MHA for
Burin-Placentia West, say when he spoke at the beginning of the debate today. It
was almost like he was complaining because the Opposition is constantly harping
on the government when people's needs are not being met. He sort of implied
that there is always something else happening. Well, that happens to be life.
Like in a family, we always have to be ready for a new sickness. We always have
to be ready for something to happen to the house that we are living in. We
always have to be ready because there is a new expenditure that maybe we hoped
would not happen. Part of life is things are always changing, things are always
falling apart, and things have to be fixed. I am afraid that is the way the
whole of society is, that there are major needs in society that always have to
be dealt with. It is not a matter of we will deal with this one now and that one
tomorrow. It is a matter of dealing with all of the issues that deal with people's
health, that deal with people's lives, that deal with the well-being of our
communities and of our society.
I do not want to paraphrase anything that the MHA said, and tomorrow I will
get to see Hansard and see what exactly he said because I may want to, at other
times, comes back and challenge the notion that I heard in what my colleague
said.
The reality is that in a society we have all kinds of things going on. When
it comes to people's health, and that was one of the areas that my colleague
most referred to, we have major health issues in the Province of Newfoundland
and Labrador; major health issues. Health is going to take up a big slice of our
budget. It takes up a big slice of the budgets in other provinces. It takes up a
big slice of the federal budget. It has to, because health is just endemic to
life. Having good health, have bad health, is part and parcel of being alive. We
all know the complexities of the diseases that people suffer from in this
Province and everywhere.
Yes, people are going to be concerned. Yes, you are going to have people like
the group that was organized by the AIDS Committee outside on the steps of the
House of Assembly today demonstrating as is their right. I still have to say, as
I have said a number of times in this House, I think it is awful that a group
like that has to be outside in the cold in a horrible wind in order to just talk
about something that is their right, to talk about their needs. I was out there
today, I was out there with the group, and, you know, it was something to see a
patient of the infectious disease specialist who is no longer in the Province
standing there telling us that she had HIV/AIDS and talking to her major concern
about her health. What is going to happen to her health, recognizing, because
she has lived with it for so many years, the complexity of the disease that she
is dealing with, recognizing the complexity of the care that is needed, the
treatment that is needed to keep her in good health, recognizing that not
anybody can step into the fray and take that up? Any doctor who might come into
this room with us today would tell us that you just cannot walk into some of
these areas, and infectious diseases is one of them, and just be able to take a
manual and read it and know how to treat the person.
I was told today by the AIDS Committee, by people on those steps, that there
is a person right now in the Health Sciences who is dying and he is under
tremendous stress because he does not have faith that he has a doctor treating
him who really knows how to treat him. People on the steps out there today are
under stress, they are under stress because of the disease they are suffering
from, and now, because they can't get a straight answer from Eastern Health,
they are under stress with regard to knowing how much they are going to be taken
care of. They can't fine out what the contingency plan is.
My office has been calling Eastern Health. We have had three different phone
calls and we still do not have a straight answer on the contingency plan. The
last thing we were told was that when patients call in to make their new
appointments then they are going to be told. Well, that is not good enough
because that really is stressful for the people who need the specialist. They do
not know how they are going to be taken care of.
It would seem to me that, after everything that we heard during the Cameron
Inquiry, the one thing that Eastern Health should have learned is, the patient
is number one and we have to communicate with the patient. So, one would have
imagined that when they knew they still did not have somebody to replace the
infectious disease specialist, and they saw March 13 looming, they should have
been on the phone and they should have been communicating with all of the
patients.
We do not have thousands of people to deal with; Eastern Health does not have
thousands of people to deal with. The AIDS Committee has seventy people
registered with it, and it oversees the care of 120 patients. Surely, it would
not be impossible for Eastern Health to get on the phone and to call those
people and tell them how they are going to be taken care of.
Eastern Health said in December, they told people in December, that they
would make arrangements using internal medicine specialists and family doctors.
Well, these patients are really concerned because they do not have confidence
that internal medicine specialists and family doctors have the knowledge that is
needed to deal with their complex infectious diseases. This is not something
small. This is not something that one can put on a back burner. This is not
something that we can say: Oh, gee, all of a sudden we have something else we
have to deal with.
You know, when they found out back in December that they were going to have
to deal with the issue of no infectious disease specialist then they should
have, I think, been acting with more concern. I do know that Eastern Health has
been trying to get more specialists in, so that process had already begun before
they had the resignation of Dr. Bader, but we have to try to figure out: Why did
Dr. Bader resign? This is a really important issue, because if we do not find
out why specialists are resigning we are not going to be able to recruit,
because we need to know the reasons why they are not staying.
There was no specific reason given for his resignation, although the Director
of Medical Services for Eastern Health has said that Dr. Bader has chosen a
position that fits his lifestyle and career objectives. Well, you know, we need
to know what those objectives are and what his expectations were for his
lifestyle; because, if those expectations are not being met here in Newfoundland
and Labrador then specialists are going to continue to just leave us. So, what
are they doing?
If this statement by Dr. Guy implies that Dr. Bader left here because there
were going to be better conditions somewhere else, that he was going to have
better working conditions, that he was going to have better income - and that
certainly was the case with some of the pathologists that left Newfoundland and
Labrador - then we need to deal with that.
So, we have a long-term problem here. In the short term we have an issue that
I want Eastern Health to deal with better. They have to do better, number one,
in communicating, and they have to be clear about what their contingency plan
is, so that those who are affected by it can tell them whether or not it is
going to meet their needs in the short term. In the long term we have to do
something about getting more specialists. One of the things, I think, is that we
have to have better recruitment and retention initiatives in place to attract
qualified professionals to us and keep them here, but I think we also need
incentives for medical students to study infectious disease as a speciality.
Medical students from here or from outside but who are willing to spend time in
Newfoundland and Labrador so that, after they are qualified, we have enough
incentives in place that they will also want to stay here, but we have to start
being very aggressive with regard to training specialists that we need and
having incentives to keep them here in Newfoundland and Labrador.
I notice that my time is up, Mr. Chair, so I will leave it at that.
Thank you very much.
CHAIR: The hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. FRENCH: Thank you, Mr Chair.
It is an honour for me today to stand up and say a few words on Bill 76. Just
to re-emphasize for our listening audience exactly what Bill 76 is, I guess in
parliamentary terms we call it Interim Supply. Mr. Chairman, what we are doing
here today is approving a sum of money which touches on a variety of different
departments. That sum of money is to, I guess, start government off before the
Budget is actually passed.
This week, when the Minister of Finance brings down a Budget, all sorts of
good news and exciting things happening in Newfoundland and Labrador will be
mentioned, I am sure. Mr. Chairman, before that we have to have money to
operate, and March 31 is the end of the fiscal year. Of course, like I just
reiterated, there is going to be a sum of money approved to touch on all
departments and all expenditures that government is going to use in the coming
months, Mr. Chairman, before the actual Budget is approved.
I was recently in a church service, actually, and the minister went from St.
Peter, he said, to crab's legs, and didn't know how he got there. Well, Mr.
Chairman, I guess in this forum today you can talk about anything, certainly,
from St. Peter to crab's legs, but what I would like to talk about, if I
could, the Member for Signal HillQuidi Vidi just talked about health care,
and we are not all cold fish in this place. We all have families who are
involved in health care, who work in health care, and who need health care on a
regular basis, but one of the things that she talked about in particular was
physician recruitment, and I thought it important that, although we hear a lot
of negatives out there from time to time, especially from the Opposition,
certainly from the Member for Signal HillQuidi Vidi, the sky is not always
falling, I say, Mr. Chair.
I would just like to, for the people out there listening today, and for
members of the House, I would just like to remind them of something that the
Minister of Health actually talked about last year. I think it is a very
significant piece of information and something that I am not so certain that the
everyday person out there - unless you were plugged in directly to the
Department of Health or one of the health boards, you probably would not realize
it.
Mr. Chairman, just to give you a piece in time last year: from March 31 to
September 30 of last year, we had a net gain of forty physicians in this
Province, forty brand new physicians came to this Province. As a matter of fact,
Mr. Chairman, on September 30 of last year we had 1,029 physicians working in
this Province, the most ever in the history of our land. The most physicians
ever in the history of our Province worked last year - that was 1,029 - and that
was after forty people were recruited, just in that short time frame.
I guess, Mr. Chair, you can say that happened because of a number of reasons.
I guess one of the reasons that it happened is certainly the $7 million
investment in physician recruitment and retention that this government committed
in the last Budget. So, Mr. Chairman, to say that we do nothing, to imply that
we do nothing, nothing could be further from the truth. Like I said, in the last
fiscal year we committed $7 million to recruitment and retention in this
Province, and it is certainly one of the reasons why, from March to September,
we had forty new physicians recruited.
As well, Mr. Chairman, the Provincial Physician Recruitment Office is
established and doing a remarkable job, and I certainly take my hat off to them.
They have a lot of work to do, as do recruitment offices right across this
country and indeed through North America. It is certainly good to know, Mr.
Chairman, that we came out forty to the good for that short timeframe last year.
I want to personally thank them for the work they do, certainly on behalf of the
people of the Province.
Certainly, Mr. Chairman, it would be remiss of me if I didn't mention as
well the excellent work of Memorial University's Faculty of Medicine in
helping to retain our graduates. That is a significant piece of work that our
medical school does. Of these forty physicians who were recruited through that
time, seventeen family medicine physicians, seventeen of these graduates, came
from Memorial's Faculty of Medicine.
Mr. Chairman, they are not practicing here in St. John's only, or in Corner
Brook only. They are practicing throughout our Province in places like Happy
Valley-Goose Bay, Baie Verte, Port aux Basques a member of the Opposition is
from Port aux Basques, he will know that there is a new doctor in the area
and places like Bonne Bay up the Northern Peninsula.
Mr. Chairman, to give the impression that nothing is happening in this
Province when it comes to recruitment and retention of physicians, nothing could
be further from the truth.
Mr. Chairman, I would just like to talk a little bit about the MUN Faculty of
Business and some of the bursaries that we have been able to give out, and
retain and recruit these people for the Province. Almost all of the seventeen
family medicine physicians who graduated from Memorial received family practice
bursaries from the school for one year of service basically, Mr. Chairman. They
would commit to one year of service for a $25,000 bursary. They will commit to
stay in Newfoundland and Labrador for that one year. Mr. Chairman, the bursaries
given out last year, those seventeen bursaries, are equal to thirty-one years of
family practice for this Province.
Mr. Chairman, I have to reiterate that when people say the sky is falling,
that this government is doing nothing, it is absolutely false and they have to
be taken up on it. It is unfortunate sometimes when people hear of isolated
incidents and then they turn them into a systemic problem. That is not always
the case.
Mr. Chairman, before I finish on this, I would just like to say that last
year the government approved all sixty-three eligible applicants for the
three-year medical bursary program for the fiscal year. Twenty-eight of these
physicians will start here in this Province this coming summer.
Mr. Chairman, just to give you another example of how this government has
gone in recruiting physicians it is a hard job, I kid you not, but we have
done remarkable work in trying to do just that.
I had a number of items here to speak on and I realize my time is running
short, but that is one thing I had to mention after the Member for Signal
Hill-Quidi Vidi left the impression that this government does nothing for the
recruitment of physicians in this Province.
Mr. Chair, I have a couple of things that I want to talk about, including
foster families and some of the work we did, and the significant announcement
for foster families yesterday. Before I do, I have to touch on a district issue.
The Member for Topsail talked about it earlier, where we saw a commitment of
$800 million in infrastructure. The Premier, the Minister of Finance, and the
Minister of Transportation and Works, as well, held a press conference, I guess
it is over a month ago now, where they laid out an $800 million infrastructure
project. One of the biggest, I guess, areas that was given money was our school
system. I guess there is no one as familiar with problems in the school system
as me, having had two schools closed in my district from September to January;
the last one opening just a month and a half ago. I know about that personally,
because my own child was affected and had to leave Foxtrap and Conception Bay
South and be bussed to St. Mathew's in St. John's. I know of what I speak
and I understand the disruption in families and students and staff in
particular.
Mr. Chair, I have to say I want to thank the school board because they did a
remarkable job in handling that. You know, we are quick sometimes to knock the
Eastern School District when they do something wrong, but I have to say I was
more than delighted with how they handled the situation. I am proud to announce
today that they are all back, all the students are back. Air quality tests have
been done, Mr. Chair, in the schools and the reports are very, very good. When
the windows are finished being replaced in Frank Roberts there will be another
air quality test done just to confirm the previous test that was already done.
Mr. Chair, I want to congratulate all involved. It is good, certainly, to be
back to a little bit of normalcy when it comes to raising kids and having them
in the school system.
Mr. Chair, just before I sit down - I realize my time is running quickly -
part of the $800 million that I referenced recently, Mr. Chair, included two
significant additions in my area. As most people in the Province know Conception
Bay South is a growth area. We are having significant growth and we are
certainly delighted with. However, there are times when our infrastructure has
to keep up with the demand. I guess government has realized that from an
education perspective and recently announced the addition of new classrooms and
a challenging needs suite at St. Edwards School in Kelligrews, a school that is
probably hovering around 100 per cent capacity right now.
As well, my colleague from Harbour Main-Whitbourne - although Upper Gullies
Elementary school is in his district certainly some of the students from my
district feed into it. I was certainly delighted to work with him on talking to
our Minister of Education who I sincerely want to thank for bringing those two
schools - I guess it will expand them in numbers. Like I said, I have had calls
recently about students waiting to do a French program at St. Edwards School in
Kelligrews. It is certainly a numbers issue. As governments, I guess we have
instituted smaller class sizes over the last couple of years, and certainly that
takes its toll on facilities when you have expanding numbers.
Mr. Chair, I want to take my hat off to government for listening to the
people of my district, me included, and adding on to our school system.
Mr. Chair, my time is up. I certainly hope that some of the speakers coming
behind me I will certainly sit down touch on the wonderful announcement
yesterday for foster families in our Province, a significant increase.
Certainly, I hope to get the chance to talk about that in the next couple of
days.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
CHAIR: The hon. the Member for the District of Port de Grave.
MR. BUTLER: Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
It is a pleasure again today to be able to stand and take another few minutes
with regards to debate on Interim Supply, and to touch on some issues that I
look forward to hopefully coming out in this year's Throne Speech or in our
Budget debate.
Yesterday, I touched on a couple of issues with regards to the Department of
Education. I hoped to have seen something happen this year with regard to the
elementary school, the Coley's Point primary school. It is a forty year old
structure that definitely needs replacement. Government knows that. I think the
school board is putting forward a tremendous battle to have that project
considered either this year or in the very near future.
The other thing I wanted to touch on today, Mr. Chair, is with regards to, I
guess, the issue I asked questions on this afternoon, the MUN presidency issue.
We all know how this unfolded last year, with regards to the issue of selecting
a president for our university. Many people, through the faculty here and the
various organizations and associations, in conjunction with other universities
throughout the country, took offence to probably what they deemed to be called
political interference at that time. It was good to know today, when the
minister, in her response, mentioned that she had met with the Board of Regents
I thought she said yesterday, or recently anyway - and had plans to meet
with them again in the very near future.
We know that the Board of Regents and the university Senate put forth four
recommendations for government's consideration. One of them was to change the
act so that government could no longer approve the selection of the president. I
know the minister is well aware of that one.
Another one was to have representation from the academic community. There are
people on the Board of Regents who represent the students, the alumni, so they
felt that there should be somebody there from the academic community.
The other issue is an independent election for the chair and the vice-chair
by the Board of Regents.
The fourth recommendation was involved with the board members who are
selected or elected to the Board of Regents being removed before their term of
office had expired. That was my last question I had today, so I do not think I
will follow-up on that with only one left on that issue.
It is good to know that the minister said she is meeting with the Board of
Regents and other officials and looking over their four recommendations. Our
hope is that legislation will come forward, hopefully in this session of the
House. We know that it is under
section 51 of the MUN act, where they can change
the legislation so that the university will have more self governance on their
behalf. Like I said, those recommendations are put forward and we are hoping
that we are going to see legislation in this session, if not in this session
later on in the fall, that will look after those.
Mr. Chair, the other thing: I think the new chair of the Board of Regents,
Mr. Simmonds, has stated that one of the questions I asked the minister today,
and during consultation on this, is wondering if they would bring about those
changes before the next president for the University has been selected. We know
they are discussing that, but I think the feeling is that this will happen after
the new president is selected. I have heard other people in the community say
that they felt like this is more or less closing the barn door after the horse
is gone - now, whether that is the right terminology or not. Hopefully, that
will be reconsidered and we will see where it will go from there.
The other thing I want to touch on again, and I know I did not bring up a
petition today with regards to the long-term care facility for the Conception
Bay North area, but it was an issue that I spoke on yesterday in my ten-minute
timeframe, but I ran out of time on it. This is a very crucial point for that
particular area of our Province. It encompasses four provincial districts,
probably five, because I think people, even from the Placentia area, come to
that facility. The two facilities that are there now, the Interfaith and the
Harbour Lodge, have served the people for a number of years. The Interfaith is
the old hospital that was in Carbonear before the new hospital was built there.
Those facilities now are totally outdated. The people in the community, the
various groups, the councils, the Carbonear council, they have spoken out and
the professionals who work in those facilities do the same thing. They are
saying it is time that we should move on and hopefully get a new facility.
The government also knows the need that is there because last year the
Minister of Health and Community Services put forward to Cabinet, from
documentations we received, that he suggested that $1 million should go into
this facility and get the work started on it. Unfortunately, it did not happen
last year. We are looking forward and hoping that is going to take place this
year.
Another issue I want to touch on, and I know it was brought forward by this
government, I think it was back first when they got elected in 2003, or early
2004, was an Outdoor Bill of Rights. It is an issue that has surfaced again in
our Province. From time to time we hear people speaking out. I guess only
recently we heard people talk about it when the enforcement of the trail permits
requirements expanded beyond the T'Railways to include licensed trails on
Crown land in the Eastern, Central and Western part of our Province. Some of
those people take exception to that. I guess where they are really coming from
they are saying there was no public consultation or not consultation enough
where they all could get involved to have their say.
When we come to the, I guess the Outdoor Bill of Rights, it goes beyond our
trails because my understanding is when government was looking at this Outdoor
Bill of Rights, it would encompass a large area because we know here in our
Province, and I think I am correct in saying that some 80 per cent of our land
base in this Province at the present time is Crown Land, or fairly close to
that. Many people have various issues. It will not only look at the part of the
T'Railways, I think the studies that are ongoing, when it comes to
environmental issues, on the caribou issue, the whole bit, it all encompasses on
our Outdoor Bill of Rights and how the people of our Province look at the
social, cultural and environmental issues.
I know from time to time there are incidents. I was talking to an employer in
the Conception Bay North area only a couple of weeks ago. We know that it is a
very environmental issue, and that is up in the Central Avalon region where
lichen has been found on some of the woods there. In that particular area, I
know the figures I have been quoted as saying is that some 300,000 cord of wood
in that area has just blown down. One of the employers in the Conception Bay
North area were given permits to go in and clean up this blown down wood. They
had a use for it. They were making pallets and other products from it. That was
stopped, I guess for environmental reasons because of the lichen that was on
those trees. It is my understanding that from time to time this issue has gone
beyond, I believe, with regards to how it should have been handled. I have been
told that particular area - when it comes to the 200,000 cord of wood that is on
the ground there now, it is not growing timber. It is wood that is down and it
is just going to rotten away and of no use to anybody; that 200,000 cord of wood
could be anywhere from fifteen or more years of employment for fifteen to twenty
people in that particular business. That is a lot of work. We are always talking
about bringing people home, looking for work for our people who are here now,
but hopefully this year the Outdoor Bill of Rights will be another issue that
will be coming forward.
Mr. Chairman, from time to time, I know during the minister's consultations
during the Budget process waste management came up quite a few times. I am
hoping that there is going to be some increase because the MOGs is an issue that
came forward from small and large communities throughout our Province. I know we
did a survey with the municipalities and dozens of them have reported back
saying this is a major issue. They appreciate the 90-10, but some of our smaller
communities cannot even come up with the 10 per cent. So what is happening with
regards to their waste management, if their MOGs were increased to the point,
this is where they can come up with the few extra dollars that they need;
because waste management, let me assure you, is a thing that everybody agrees
with. Nobody is against recycling and looking after our waste and making sure
that it goes to the proper landfills, but many of them are finding it very
difficult, very, very difficult to come up with the extra cost. Some of them are
even saying now that the cost of them picking up their garbage in their
communities has doubled, and in some areas it has even tripled, and for a
smaller community this is very important to them. Like I said, they agree with
the environmental issue, they agree and know what has to be done, but even if
they receive more funding it would be a way and a means where they could come up
and help with this issue.
So, Mr. Chairman, I know my time has elapsed. I thank you for the opportunity
and hopefully I will be able to get back again later on.
Thank you.
CHAIR: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.
MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I am happy to participate in the debate on the granting of Interim Supply. I
want to take this opportunity today to have a few words about the situation in
Grand FallsWindsor and the challenges that lie before the people in that
region, as well as the government, as we try to find a way forward. It has been
a long and rocky road this past three years with regard to Abitibi's
operations in Grand Falls. As people know all around this Province, the pulp and
paper industry has been in a downturn worldwide and the industry has been under
tremendous pressure. We have felt the impacts of that pressure right here in
Newfoundland and Labrador. We saw the closure of the Abitibi mill in
Stephenville. We have seen the permanent idling of a machine in Corner Brook and
now, of course, we have seen the closure of the mill in Central.
This is a journey that I had the privilege of sharing with the people of
Grand Falls-Windsor and the surrounding communities. It is an issue that I have
been personally engaged in since I was given the ministry of Natural Resources,
it will soon be three years ago. It has created enormous pressure for the people
who work in the mill but also for the people in the community who rely on the
operations of the mill for the success of their companies and their communities.
In the early days, after its merger - Abitibi merged with Bowater - the
company came to the union and said: We need to find $10 million in savings if we
are going to move forward in this Province. I have talked a number of times
publicly about the way that the union took on that piece of work and responded
to the request from AbitibiBowater. They quietly went to work in a forty-five
day period and found not only $10 million in savings but $12 million in savings
for the company in their effort to sustain operations in Central.
This government, Mr. Chairman, fully understood the pres