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October 7, 2020

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLIX No. 51

The House met at 10 a.m.

MR.

SPEAKER (Reid):

Are the House Leaders ready?

Ready. Ready.

Is the Third Party House Leader ready? Yes.

Independents ready? Yes.

Admit strangers.

Order, please!

Orders of the Day

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

MR.

CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Before we start this morning, Mr. Speaker, I will take

a moment to congratulate the Minister of Digital Government and Service NL on

the birth of her baby boy in the early hours.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

CROCKER:

I believe young Mr. Alexander arrived in the world in the wee hours of this

morning. So we forgive her absence today.

With that being said, Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by

the Deputy Government House Leader, for leave to introduce a bill,

An Act To

Amend The Credit Union Act, 2009, Bill 46, and that the said bill be now read a

first time.

MR.

SPEAKER:

is moved and seconded that the hon. minister shall have leave to introduce a

bill entitled,

An Act To Amend The Credit Union Act, 2009, Bill 46, and that the

said bill now be read a first time.

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All those in favour, ‘aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR.

SPEAKER:

All

those against, ‘nay.'

Carried.

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Justice and Public

Safety to introduce a bill, “An Act To Amend The Credit Union Act, 2009,”

carried. (Bill 46)

CLERK (Hawley George): A bill,

An Act To Amend The Credit Union Act, 2009.

(Bill 46)

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

bill has now been read a first time.

When shall the said bill be read a second time?

MR.

CROCKER:

Tomorrow.

MR.

SPEAKER:

Tomorrow.

On motion, Bill 46 read a first time, ordered read a

second time on tomorrow.

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

MR.

CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I call from the Order Paper, Motion 13.

MR.

SPEAKER:

Motion 13.

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR.

CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I certainly won't take very much time this morning to

talk about this motion.

This is a motion that was introduced about a week ago,

which will bring changes to the Parliamentary Calendar for this fall sitting.

Where we had the budget and where we sat in October, we've agreed here in this

House that our sitting would be prescribed as September 30 until October 8,

inclusive; and then from October 19 until November 5, 2020, inclusive, and that

the week of October 12 – which would be next week, Mr. Speaker – would be a

constituency week.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR.

SPEAKER:

think the minister has to move and second this motion.

MR.

CROCKER:

Oh,

I'm sorry.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Deputy Government

House Leader, that we accept Motion 13, amendment to the Parliamentary Calendar.

MR.

SPEAKER:

Further speakers?

The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

MR.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'll just speak for a brief moment to echo support for

that, and to let the general public know that this has been a unique situation

that we found ourselves in the last seven months, particularly, around how we

operate in the House of Assembly. Our standard calendars are set in advance so

that the House itself, the line departments when they look at legislation, us,

as legislators, representatives, and the staff would have an opportunity to plan

scheduling debates around the types of information that are needed.

Obviously, we had some challenges this year with the

COVID in not being able to open after we had recessed for a week back in March.

We've since then come back a number of times to do specific pieces of

legislation that were necessary to ensure things moved forward, particularly

around interim funding as part of the process that ensured bills were paid and

our employees, who do so much diligent work, particularly around these trying

times, were taken care of.

We've since come back and tried to get back to some

sense of normality in the timelines; and, contrary to what people may believe,

this sitting will actually be longer than most fall sittings, based on the

principle that we came earlier. We did a full week where we did some night

sittings. We are since then going into a full five-week rotation where we're

debating the budget.

While people might say normally you finish in December

or late November, the fact is we started early. Just so people would know,

everybody in this House are still committed to doing the timelines that are

necessary and having proper debate on any issue – particularly the budget in

this case, that, unfortunately, had to be pushed out for a number of months. We

want to show some normality that we're still doing our sitting with the same

time frames. The plan would be, come spring, to get back to what would be as

normal as possible in our Legislature here.

We wholeheartedly support this and we look forward to

the next number of week's debate in the House of Assembly representing the

people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR.

SPEAKER:

Seeing no further speakers, I'll call the motion.

All those in favour, ‘aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR.

SPEAKER:

All

those against, ‘nay.'

Carried.

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR.

CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I now call from the Order Paper, Motion 14, seconded by

the Deputy Government House Leader.

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

MR.

CROCKER:

Again, Mr. Speaker, this is a housekeeping motion this morning. It actually is a

quick change to the composition of the Select Committee on Democratic Reform.

The MHA for Carbonear - Trinity - Bay Verde is being placed by the Member for

Virginia Waters on the Select Committee on Democratic Reform.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR.

SPEAKER:

Are

there any further speakers to this motion?

Seeing none, I'm going to call the motion.

All those in favour, ‘aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR.

SPEAKER:

All

those against, ‘nay.'

Carried.

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR.

CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I call from the Order Paper, Motion 1, the Budget

Speech.

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Exploits.

MR.

FORSEY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's always a pleasure to be in this House of Assembly,

of course, and speak on your district. The District of Exploits certainly is a

great area to live in. I've lived there all of my life. I love the area; people

are great. It has a lot to offer in our district, and it's always good to sit

here and talk about the district.

Of course, Mr. Speaker, in recent years we've had some

issues in the district. One big one, I guess, is the health issues in 2016.

Certainly, the 24-hour emergency service out of the Dr. Hugh Twomey Health Care

Centre created a lot of anguish and a lot of fear for the residents in the area,

because it's a big issue. People would like to see that put back.

Also, now recently, the lab services in Grand

Falls-Windsor being moved to Gander. It has created a bit of unrest in both

districts. My district takes in some of Grand Falls-Windsor as well. Mr.

Speaker, health is very concerning, especially our primary care in Central. To

see this stuff happening is very disheartening.

I'm hearing stories in regard to the 24-hour emergency

service – people in the outlying areas of Leading Tickles, Cottrell's Cove,

Fortune Harbour and those areas. I know it can take probably 30 minutes to get

from Botwood to Grand Falls-Windsor on a good day, but you take an outlying area

like that, even to get Grand Falls-Windsor on a good day from Leading Tickles or

Cottrell's Cove, Fortune Harbour to get to Grand Falls-Windsor itself takes an

hour and a half. You don't do that in the winter months, Mr. Speaker. Even from

Botwood area itself, you don't get to Grand Falls in a rush, in a snowstorm,

that sort of thing, in 30 minutes. It's impossible. To even imply that, it

doesn't make sense.

Mr. Speaker, health issues are a big concern, like I

say, in my district. I'll keep fighting until I get something resolved in regard

to those issues because the people want that. I hear it every day. People talk

to me if I see them in the gas station, see them in the stores, phone calls,

whatever – emails. It's a top issue in our district.

Also, Mr. Speaker, infrastructure, roads – some of the

roads are deplorable. Some of the positions on the highways, like Sandy Point,

we needed some safety signs; we need some signage moved there. We don't seem to

be getting it, Mr. Speaker. Roads from Cottrell's Cove in to Grand

Falls-Windsor, Botwood, Leading Tickles – Peterview is another area – they

haven't had a thing done with their roads, Mr. Speaker, in 20 years. It was the

last time there was actually some pavement put there. It would be nice to see

some of those areas get some attention in regard to the pavement.

I sat here Monday, or a couple of days ago, and I

listened to the Members on the government side. I listened to the Member for

Lewisporte talk about the pavement he has down in his area, receiving money for

wharfs in the budget. We have a beautiful wharf dockside there in Botwood; one

of the best harbours you could ask for.

Also, when I listened to the Member for Corner Brook: a

new hospital over there, Crown Lands office building, forestry training centre,

a new shipping area in Corner Brook, a new greenhouse complex in Pynn's Brook.

I wish I could give those announcements for Exploits,

Mr. Speaker, I really, really do. God love them, they got it. It's great for

those areas. I'm not in disappointment for the people in those areas, but you

don't spend money like that. I've been begging for the 24-hour emergency service

ever since I got here, and they can get stuff like that in their districts –

wonderful.

Anyway, Mr. Speaker, it's things like that that creates

animosity within the district down our way because they see money being spent,

they see different areas getting pavement, getting buildings, monies going in

different districts, but in our area it just seems to stay dormant. There's

nothing coming there. I don't know if it's political or what it is, Mr. Speaker,

but we'd certainly like to see some attention given to our area.

Also, Mr. Speaker, the economy – well, that fits into

the economy in our area. Right now, we have a forestry in there that's pristine.

We have 280,000 cubic metres that was allotted from the old Abitibi permits. So

there's 280,000 cubic metres there, nothing being utilized for the direct

central area. Yes, Mr. Speaker, there's forestry being taken for sawlogs, for

milling and that sort of thing. It's going to different parts of the Island, but

it's not being produced and it's not being manufactured in the central part.

What I call the central part of the Island right now,

Mr. Speaker, would be the Exploits District and Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans

where most of the forestry in 10, 11 and 12 would exist. We would like to see

some manufacturer there to do something with the product to at least give us

some production from start to finish on the cutting, production and selling of

the product, to be able to utilize the product that's right there on our own

doorstep. We can't seem to get anywhere with it. Now, like I said, it's being

taken. It's being distributed throughout the Island for pulp, for sawlogs, for

lumber and other forms.

Mr. Speaker, that would be some attention that I would

like to see in the forestry sector, especially in the Exploits and Grand

Falls-Windsor - Buchans.

Farming, Mr. Speaker, is also an important part of the

district, no doubt. The Wooddale area has had a great year this year. I've been

in there a couple of times to see what they grow, and they are diversifying in

their products. It's good to see that, it really is, because food will be a way

of the future in regard to sustaining ourselves, in regard to farming. That part

of it seems to be working fairly well.

I did talk to farmers in on Wooddale, and irrigation

seems to be one of the biggest problems. They'd like to have some help in regard

to irrigation in Wooddale to help with the farming, especially in dry times when

the crops need water to exist and be able to grow good. This year has been

exceptional, of course. There's some help that needs to be given to farming in

there. They employ a lot of people in our area right now, Mr. Speaker. Farmers

are a big contributor to wages and the economy in the area.

Mr. Speaker, that's another sector that could use some

help right now, and there's more room for expansion of other farms as well. We

have dairy farms in there. We have the vegetable farms. We have some animal

farms, that sort of thing. We have a diversity of that stuff. So we can use more

money in our way, even in the farming industry to diversify that.

Again, there was a big announcement for a dairy farm in

Deer Lake. If they can be putting this kind of money to the West Coast or other

areas, Central Newfoundland is open for business with regard to spending money

in there. We have the product, we have the lands and we have the resources. We

have the people that are willing to go to work at that and make it work, Mr.

Speaker. So it would be nice to see some attention given to that and make our

area viable.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The noise level in the House is a little high. I ask

Members to respect the person who's speaking. I'd like to hear what he has to

say.

The hon. the Member for Exploits.

MR.

FORSEY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Also, this week is Fire Prevention Week. I'd like to

give a shout-out right now to our volunteer fire departments in Bishop's Falls,

Botwood, Grand Falls-Windsor and Leading Tickles, all in the Exploits area. They

do well. I must say, in the past two or three weeks we've had more fires than

normal, but those people are doing a great job to do what they do.

Also, volunteer organizations, Mr. Speaker, the Lions

Clubs, Kinsmen clubs, Knights of Columbus, Elks clubs, church committees and

church organizations. With the COVID issues this year, even those organizations

have been picking up some of the slack in regard to getting food out to people

that need it, people who could use it. So those volunteer organizations, Mr.

Speaker, have been stepping up to the plate this year. I'd like to put a good

shout-out to those people and thank them very, very much. They are a great part

of our district.

Boys and Girls Clubs, Mr. Speaker, there is one in

Botwood and one in Norris Arm. What they do is phenomenal with the youth. They

have a lot of youth programs. They keep the youth busy; they keep them inside.

They keep them off the streets and being inside working with programs, working

together, working with the clubs and society. They do wonderful work.

Only probably a month ago, I was in Norris Arm and I

went door to door distributing cold plates they did for the seniors on that day.

So that's the kind of work the Boys and Girls Clubs do. Even that, a little bit

of extra money for Boys and Girls Clubs, they really need it. They really could

use a little bit of extra help in their areas.

So, Mr. Speaker, it is things like that that makes me

want to see more activity in the district. Again, getting back to the health

care in the district – tourism, Mr. Speaker, is another interest spot that could

be well tapped into in our area when you're looking at investments. The Exploits

River itself, the salmon river there in the summertime, it's a beautiful area –

one of the pristine areas of the province. We get a lot of people just to visit

that area and do fishing there.

There's more interest that can be put into tourism in

that area with regard to getting more people from the Island part of it.

Especially with staycations this year, it's probably one of the great things

that somebody could have taken advantage of and spent some time in our area and

do some fishing, spend their money in our area. We have lots of things to do.

We have Leading Tickles; we have Fortune Harbour in the

outlying areas. They have great tourism potential. When you're looking for the

shorelines, when you're looking for the rugged coast, when you're looking for

scenery, it's there. There are lots of things we can tap into in regard to the

tourism part of it, and I'd like to see more interest put into that.

There are lots of ways that the budget can be extended

to the Exploits District. There are lots of ways we can use the money; lots of

ways we can tap into making things happen in our district. Mr. Speaker, we'd

love to see some of that, but right now it doesn't seem to be happening.

Back to the health care issues, Mr. Speaker. Yes, we

have a long-term care unit in Botwood that's supposed to be open this October –

well needed. Well needed, Mr. Speaker, and we did need that. We have an aging

population out there that we need more and more beds for, and they will come in

handy. We'll probably fill them up before the time comes to even get it done.

Also, we have one going up in Grand Falls-Windsor. The

same thing, another 30 beds there – well needed. It also gives another example

of why we need the 24-hour emergency service and why we need the lab services in

Grand Falls-Windsor, because we have an older population. We have another 50-bed

unit combined, which we do need extra services to compare for that.

Mr. Speaker, on the health issues again; like I say,

I've heard stories of the 24-hour emergency service where people had to drive

from – I heard of a 92-year-old grandmother, Mr. Speaker. This one is really

disheartening. It was earlier this spring, a 92-year-old grandmother from

Peterview. They called my office early in the morning asking me why this had to

happen. I didn't have the answers for them; I wish I did.

At 92 years old, left Peterview – she's five minutes

away from Botwood – at around 7:30. She couldn't go to Botwood, because

apparently on the 24-hour emergency service in Botwood if you go there at 7:30

they'll send you directly on to Grand Falls-Windsor anyway. So a 92-year-old

grandmother, her granddaughter took her up. She sat in the emergency room in

Grand Falls-Windsor, at 92 years old, from 7:30 in the morning until 5 a.m.

before they finally discharged her, sent her home, back over the highway in the

dirty weather, the blizzard and snow.

The next morning the granddaughter called me; the

grandmother was basically hysterical. She really didn't know what happened to

her. She got treated, she got looked after, but this didn't have to happen. This

is only one story. I have stories upon stories upon stories, and people calling

the office wanting me to get it fixed.

Mr. Speaker, the promises have been made. The

evaluations are supposed to be done, but until it actually happens people don't

care about promises. They really don't care about evaluations; they just want to

see it done. I would like to see it done as well, because that's another part.

If you're going to recruit doctors in the outport areas, outlying areas,

emergency service is going to be a big benefit in recruiting those physicians

and recruiting people to come to the Exploits District.

In regard to people moving to the Exploits District,

Mr. Speaker, that will depend on our health care. It will depend on our economy.

It will depend on our sports items. It will depend, again, on our tourism. So

all that part of the Exploits District which can be there, needs to be put in

place. It needs some emphasis put on all those sectors so that we can draw

people and keep our young people in the area.

Mr. Speaker, I did mention that we do have an aging

population, but we still have some young people there that want to stay there,

want to stay in our district and want to contribute to our district. They love

the area and they want to raise families in that area, but right now we have to

try to provide some proper health care for them. We have to try to provide some

adequate road services. We need to find some economy in the area.

I've mentioned, Mr. Speaker, the ways that we can do

it. We finally have to group together with government, municipalities,

individuals, businesses and make this viable for the Exploits District, because

we really need it. It's a great area to live. I love it there. I'm not going

anywhere. I'll be there until I need long-term care, hopefully.

Mr. Speaker, as for now, I would like to see more

attention put into that area. I did the Forestry Estimates last night and there

seems to be some, like I say, aspects of the forestry happening. They're taking

the products from Central Newfoundland and they're moving it to other parts of

the Island. It's not what we really need, Mr. Speaker. We need an industry

directly in our communities, directly in our districts, again, from end products

to the sellable products that we can create more employment.

Again, Mr. Speaker, mining is certainly another

industry. Marathon Gold is working in our district. That's going to be a very

viable industry to us.

With that, if we had our mining and if we had our

forestry back – again, if we had more employment created through that, more

money put into farming, the Exploits District, Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans,

all that area could be a well-maintained area and it could be a beautiful place

to live. It is a great place to live. I'd just like to see more money put in the

budget to expand on our area, Mr. Speaker.

With that, Mr. Speaker, thank you for your time. It was

great to sit here and talk about my district.

Thank you.

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

MR.

HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

It's a pleasure to sit and take some time to talk about

the budget. As in the past, I will probably split my remarks into two. One will

be around the Department of Health and Community Services, which I am fortunate

to have as a portfolio, and then the second portion would be around some of the

really good things that are happening in the district and the really positive

news from the current budget we're debating to see things through over the

immediate short and medium term.

I think, from the point of view of prefacing any

comments around Health, COVID-19 has changed a lot of things and continues to

impact the way everybody does business on a regular basis. I think it's worth

just pausing at the moment to once again say thank you to the health care

providers, to the essential workers as well, who aren't traditionally regarded

as such, who may work at the local store or the local gas bar in the district

and across the province as we, as a province and lately as part of the Atlantic

bubble, have really shown Canada and the rest of the world how things can be

done.

It's not a cause for complacency, but I thing it is a

cause for appreciation for the efforts of essential workers, the efforts of

health care providers and the diligence of the people of this province as we

work through a very difficult time. It's a time of uncertainty, and those

uncertainties do continue to generate anxieties and we in Health are doing our

best to help allay those, along with support from my colleagues across

government.

In terms of Health, we went through the Estimates

process last week and for the fourth, if not the fifth, budget with which I've

been associated, the Department of Health and Community Services has kept

expenditures to a fraction of the increase that you see from inflation. Indeed,

we have gained some favourable comments from the Conference Board of Canada as

being possibly the only jurisdiction in the country to have not just achieved

that but maintained it. That was a curve we flattened long before COVID came

along.

In Estimates this year, the global expenditure for

Health is probably the lowest since I took office, and for some considerable

time before – which is interesting, because we've done that at the same time as

maintaining a lot of services and expanding on others in a fairly significant

way, all with the aim of improving access to health care.

From the point of view of Health, I think in terms of

long-term investment, it's worth drawing everyone's attention to significant

infrastructure projects that are on the go. The Green Bay Health Centre is nigh

complete and will be ready to be commissioned in the very near future. We've

made huge strides in innovative ways of funding construction of long-term care

facilities.

The facility in Corner Brook is a model of how things

can be done and how things will be done as we move forward. We've cloned that on

a slightly smaller scale for districts in Central, including Grand Falls-Windsor

and Gander. Both of those are on time, on budget and have been the subject of

some considerable discussion between the project teams and the end-users.

As we get to the stage of final fitting out, those

establishments which will be the homes for the people who go there are being

made as homely and as user-friendly, client-centred as possible. They've even

altered the portico over the main entrance on the advice of a family member who

likes to pick his wife up and take her for rides. It's screened from the rain,

and he won't get wet when he puts her chair in the back of his car. It's that

level of detail that we're seeing, Mr. Speaker, at no additional cost. Indeed,

the cost of this project is contained.

The Member opposite was referencing the Hugh Twomey

Centre; $20 million there, Mr. Speaker, in traditional design-bid build; $20

million in staff to go with it for a protective care unit. An area of great

demand across the province, but particularly in the Central area as we deal with

the increasing numbers of patients who are suffering from dementia.

I really feel the need to take issue with some of his

comments, though, about the acute care facility in Corner Brook and point out,

that promise was made well before we took office. I think there may have been

14, or maybe even 17 announcements of what – until we took office – was the

biggest dog park in Corner Brook.

The facts of the case are, Mr. Speaker, there is steel

up and that building is going up. It, again, is on time and under budget and

will be an example of a state-of-the-art acute care facility when it opens on

time and on budget.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

HAGGIE:

That was a promise they made, we have fulfilled.

We have the new adult mental health and addictions

facility, site work is underway. For those people concerned about the memory of

Agnes Cowan, the matron of the General Hospital, her memory will be preserved in

a way that will be entirely fitting to recognize the contributions this lady

made to health care in St. John's, in this province.

I could go on even longer about health care

infrastructure, but I think I would like to switch at the moment and talk about

the wonderful people of my own electoral district, the District of Gander. I am

fortunate in it is one of the geographically more compact, rural areas. It runs

from Appleton and Glenwood in the west to Gambo in the east. It encompasses a

55-minute journey along, essentially, one road. I'm very fortunate that it is

quite straightforward to visit the communities in there which, from west to

east, are Glenwood, Appleton and Gander. There's Benton, a smaller community a

little way off, and then there's Gambo.

Over the course of last budget and the ones before,

there have been considerable investments made by this government in projects

within Gander, some of which are ongoing. When I talk about Gander, I have to be

specific. Some of them are peculiar to the town. There is a partnership there

for the wastewater treatment plant, which is federal, provincial and municipal.

That, again, is on budget and on time.

There is a municipal building which was put up in Gambo

through a partnership between the municipality and the provincial government to

complement the new fire hall they have. I'm working hard with my colleagues to

see if we can get a new vehicle for their fire hall. Obviously, I'll take my

turn in the line up, but I'm giving them earache. The road there has been paved

all the way through, which will be of considerable benefit to the neighbouring

District of Fogo Island - Cape Freels as this is a main arterial route through

to that district off the Trans-Canada Highway.

We have, obviously, the long-term care facility in

Gander, which I visited recently. I mentioned some of the highlights of that in

my comments about health care infrastructure.

The schools in Gander have done well. The academy in

Gander is one of the oldest schools in the province. I think it was constructed

originally in 1954, and then some years later there was a full-size gymnasium

put on there which has the capacity for two full competition size courts. So

it's a little out of keeping with what would now be regarded as code for an

elementary or a kindergarten school.

One of the triumphs, I think, of the remodeling of

Gander Academy has been to preserve that gymnasium and renovate it, because

there was still plenty of life left in it, and make it the core of a new Gander

Academy. That allows partnerships with local sports and recreation groups. It

allows partnerships with the town and the convention and competition season, and

so will become an economic boon, as well as a health and wellness asset for the

community.

The school, again, local contractors and local

companies involved. They have essentially demolished one half and are rebuilding

that to a state-of-the-art K-to-3 school. Once that portion is done, the

remaining piece will be demolished and replaced with, again, a new

state-of-the-art area.

Gander is one of the few communities, unfortunately, in

the province that has seen a significant increase in population between the 2011

and the 2016 census. That is not simply an aging demographic in Gander. There

has been a significant increase in younger families coming to the community.

This has brought with it pressure on the schools, which we have recognized as a

government.

I give a shout-out to my colleagues in Infrastructure

and my colleagues in Education for helping me advance that and ensure that our

real young children will have the best start that they can when they do go to

school. There's $46 million across the province in this year's budget to deal

with school infrastructure, and Gander Academy's funding is baked into that, to

finish that job.

In terms of other excitement in the district, we've

seen under the last mandate the Beaver Brook mine reopen to mine the pillar and

veins of antimony. It is a valued metal for work in vehicles and in

environmental protection, because it is a key part of the catalytic converters

that you see on the environmentally friendlier versions of new cars. We'll

continue to work with them to make that as long-lived a project as it can. It

certainly brought a significant boost to the school, again, in Glenwood, which

is an all-grade school and saw a real boost in enrolment as a consequence of the

mine reopening.

Another good piece of news is that New Found Gold has

started development work near Appleton. The cores they showed me were very

impressive. There is a mine in Australia called Fosterville, which is said to be

the most productive mine for gold in the world in terms of the amount of gold it

can generate per metric ton mined. The core they showed me, they assured me, in

actual fact, is several times more concentrated than Fosterville. If this

proves, it could be a really significant economic boost to the mining sector in

this province. They already have up to $250 million of capital potentially

available to them to complete that.

In addition to that, they brought in a lump of rock

they had found locally near where they drilled, which of itself had gold in it

worth well over $8,000, what they call float. This is extremely exciting, both

for the province and for the communities where, again, a significant boost in

jobs due to the prospector-friendly approach my colleagues in what was Natural

Resources and what is now Industry, Energy and Technology have taken over the

last five years. It was great to meet local entrepreneurs getting money from

international sources to make developments in my own district. It was very

exciting indeed.

In terms of other programs in Gander, we have midwifery

within the James Paton Memorial, which is the first site of what I hope will

become many as we build on that program and roll it out across the province. It

is another choice for women in sexual health, reproductive health and childbirth

and early childhood care. It is proven, it works and it is very popular amongst

those women who have used it.

It, in discussions with the groups in Labrador, brings

back echoes of traditional healing which can then be incorporated in a

culturally appropriate way for communities in Labrador. We've seen that already

start to happen with Labrador-Grenfell with a birth there recently.

In terms of other programs, my colleague in what was

AESL and what is now Education, through the College of the North Atlantic, have

introduced extra sites for licensed practical nurses, conscious of the demand

for care as our population changes and we alter the skill mix to match the needs

of those people. We now have a fully subscribed 24-seat LPN program at the

College of the North Atlantic in Gander.

In addition to that, the college received a significant

boost last year with the previous minister committing to double the number of

seats in the aircraft mechanical engineering program as well as seed money to

acquire new state-of-the-art glass cockpits, which are in turn environmentally

friendly. They reduce the weight of aircraft. The local aircraft company,

Exploits Valley Air Service, has partnered with them as local agents for this

kind of technology and incorporated it into their aircraft. The weight saving is

said to work out at 320 tons less carbon emitted by an aircraft per year. That

is a really green initiative and I commend them for it.

We have expanded Doorways and, of course, communities

in my district have benefited from that. We are looking because of local demand,

unfortunately, to expand our addictions hub in a spoke fashion out to Gambo to

deal with issues in that community; but also, those arising in neighbouring

communities nearby in the District of Fogo Island - Cape Freels where we know

we, unfortunately, have significant demand for those services.

Mr. Speaker, rather than continue with a shopping list

of items from Health and from issues in my district, I think it would be useful

to try and weave those together at the end of my comments to point out that this

is an example of a holistic approach, both in Health and a district-centred

approach across the province in terms of how this government, now and in its

previous iteration, has made conscientious efforts to invest in rural

Newfoundland and Labrador.

It is all too easy under some circumstances to say:

Well, you know, we'll all go to town and we'll hide behind the overpass and wait

for the economy to fix itself or COVID to go away, or whatever the worry of the

moment might be. Newfoundland and Labrador's culture, its history is written

through the achievements of small groups of dedicated individuals scattered

across the outports of Newfoundland and of the coast and of the centre of

Labrador. It is the sum of those little stories that makes the history of

Newfoundland and Labrador and its culture what it is. This government is

committed to rural Newfoundland and Labrador and it is important that everybody

realizes that that is where our strength historically has been and I would argue

will continue to be for the foreseeable future.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I thank Members here for their

attention and their patience while I have gone through my comments. I would

commend this budget to the House. It is a budget for stability in unstable

times, for certainty in uncertain times and I would encourage everyone in this

House of any shade – independent, orange, blue or red – to support it.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Labrador West.

MR.

BROWN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's a privilege to speak on behalf of the people of

Labrador West. It's my lifetime home. I've lived there except for a small stint

in Goose Bay, but I like Goose Bay, too. It's nice to sit here and talk about my

district and all of the wonderful things that go on there, the things we can

improve, the things we can do better and the things we can look at to improve

the lives of everybody.

My district is probably up there as one of the more

unique districts. We're the most far-flung west as you can go, and right now I'm

sitting as far east as I can go within this province. So we're all the way over

there. I can get a little further over, but it's home and it's where I grew up.

I love the people there, I love being there. It's just an amazing place. There

are just so many amazing characters and people and features.

When Labrador West does well, the whole province does

well. It's the largest mining district in this province. It has the largest iron

ore deposits in North America. It has centuries of iron left in the ground, so

I'll be long gone and there will still be people mining iron in Labrador West.

Unfortunately, when people look at it they think of it as temporary. It's a

mining town; it's going to go away soon. When one of the largest employers and

mining company there looks at it and says: You got about 200 years of iron left.

We need to have some sense of permanency. We need some sense of investment, some

sense of people are going to be there for a long, long time yet. That's what I

would like to see, is more long-term investment in the region for the people of

the region.

We have seniors who don't want to leave anymore. At one

time my grandfather left. My grandfather is a resident of Fogo Island - Cape

Freels now, but he was there in 1959. He was one of the first people up there.

I'm told he even told off Dr. Moss, one of the famous geologists up there. Those

are people who come up there. My late grandfather on my mother's side, when work

started drying up on the Island he went to work for the railway; also a former

resident Fogo Island - Cape Freels.

People from all over make Labrador West home. It has a

very unique sense there. People from every little outport on the Island, to

villages in Quebec, to people from Portugal, the Philippines and India have made

Labrador West their home. It's a melting pot of this province. It's so beautiful

that we have so much diversity and culture.

I know Lisa always torments me saying I stole a lot of

her residents, but –

MS.

DEMPSTER:

(Inaudible.)

MR.

BROWN:

Yes. The hon. Member for Cartwright - L'Anse au Clair, it's fine because that's

where I met my wife.

Labrador West is so unique, it's so challenging, it's

so different, but it's so beautiful at the same time. I want more for the

residents when it comes to permanency.

Like I alluded to earlier, we have a lot of seniors who

want to stay, and by stay they mean right to the end. They don't want to go to

any long-term care home or anything on the Island. They want to go into a

long-term care home that has a view of the mountains. They want to be home, and

that's fine. So that's something we really need to work towards, is we need to

take care of the people that have been there since 1959. A strong investment in

seniors' care would be a strong investment for Labrador West, which is a strong

investment for the economy of this province.

We have a trades school there, but the funny thing is

the trades school there, you can't do a trade in heavy equipment mechanic or

heavy equipment operator. Those are the two biggest jobs in the mine; yet, you

can't get to do a trade in those trades in my district. We have a beautiful,

brand new college that has lots of space and lots of opportunity for growth in

that.

You can't train as an LPN in Labrador West, but we have

a hospital that when it was designed it was designed with the ability to teach,

and it's just paces away from the door of the college. These are small

investments into a region that will build a stronger economy for this whole

province.

I couldn't believe it, when we were all in lockdown

sitting home but getting emails from the mining company saying we need more

workers. The market is on fire right now, we have so much potential here.

Labrador West put out its best production in the history of the region in the

last three months during the lockdown. Those mines have never produced so much

iron and pelletized iron in its entire history, but during this time we did

extremely well.

The opportunity is now to invest in the region and to

invest into those communities to have it so that we have a sense of permanency.

Labrador West will be here long before and long after we're all gone. That's why

we need to stop with the temporary and more with the permanency because the

market will fluctuate, there's no doubt about it, but having infrastructure and

having the people and the skills in the region may be able to give it a better

chance to get through the low times.

We have a great opportunity for tourism in Labrador

West, my district. The two towns are right on the Quebec border, but from there

for me to get to the next community, which is in the hon. Member for Lake

Melville's district, is almost a three-hour drive through absolute wilderness.

That's what people want. That is the tourism market right now. People want to

see something that's been untouched, something that's absolutely beautiful – the

last remnants of what nature actually is. The potential for Labrador West is so

great right now for tourism that it's unreal.

Now with the completion of highways in Quebec that will

be – they have a few sections of gravel left to pave themselves. You'll have a

paved road from Montreal right to St. John's. That will open up so many tourism

doors that it's unfathomable. We're the last tourism place that has least

investment right now. Labrador West is a whole new game. It's a whole new

opportunity that we can change the dynamics of tourism in this province and

offer a full range from historical, to nature and everything in between. These

opportunities are there right now, but it's a sense of permanency; it's a sense

of investment into economic growth. I think these things will improve our

economy and build a stable base for this region.

Anything that you put into one region benefits the

regions around it as well. Any investment in my district will have spinoffs for

Cartwright - L'Anse au Clair, Torngat Mountains, Upper Lake Melville. We all are

connected through family, through economic means. Labrador is very tight-knit

community. It's so unique compared to other regions in this province, in the

world. It's really interesting.

Even in my role as MHA here, the amount of times I've

talked to my colleagues in Labrador, I never thought that was it, but we have

to. We have no choice. We're in a very remote place and we have to pull

together, because that's just what Labrador is. It's just one big community.

There are only 30,000 of us. There are towns on the Island that have more people

than in the entirety of the Big Land. We're really just one big community,

really one big family, if you start really working it out.

Investments in one region benefit investments in other

regions. I hope that my colleagues in other parts of Labrador get similar

investments in their communities because, at the end of the day, it makes us all

stronger in Labrador. We all face similar challenges. We all face doctor

shortages. More investments in Labrador-Grenfell Health in doctor recruitment

would benefit all four of us.

Investments in nurse practitioners – I'll tell a quick

story. When my wife moved to Labrador West with me, just before we moved in

together, actually, she said: I need to go see the nurse. I said: Go to the

nurse? She said: Yeah, we'll go to the nursing station. I said: No, this is

Labrador West, we go to the hospital. So I stopped and thought about it and I

just laughed it off, you came from the coast, you had nursing stations. But then

I thought, that's not a bad idea. Why don't we go see the nurse? If you got a

cold of a sniffle go see the nurse.

I thought about it, and it's not a bad idea, in my

opinion, to go see the nurse for something that is not life threatening or

anything like that. My wife only seen a doctor once every couple of years, she

always used to go see the nurse. I stopped and thought about it and it's not a

bad idea, go see the nurse. It was the model that worked for Grenfell. I can see

it as a model to work for the rest of Labrador.

I know the minister talked about midwifery. I know

midwifes would do a world of good in my community. We've always had our issues

when it comes to sexual health, childbirth and early childhood years in our

region. I know when my wife was pregnant with our first child, seeing the

specialists, and all that, was always hard because either it was vacant, or they

just got there or they just left. I think midwifery is a good step, too, and

same thing, it worked in the past why can't it work now? Why fix something that

wasn't broken?

I'm glad to see that there is some movement in this

world of midwifery, and I applaud them for it because early childhood, sexual

health and childbirth is a very important part. We have to do everything in our

power and as a province, as well, to increase our population because we want to

see our province grow and strive for a better future. So we'll start right from

the beginning, at birth.

Labrador West is interesting in a sense, too; it's kind

of funny that we're begging for more power. We need more electricity. We're

tapped out. We've grown so much that we've used up every last kilovolt we had

and these investments in infrastructure would make us grow and strive as a

better region. We have so much extra mining potential. We have other potential

projects that are shovel ready to go, that can employ 500 or 600 people, and

that's just after construction. The construction ranges from 1,000 to 1,500

construction jobs. These projects would do wonders for the economy of the entire

province. I know it's not oil and gas, but right now a project's a project.

Putting people back to work, even temporarily, would be a huge boost for our

regions and our economy as a province.

These are things that move forward – Wabush themselves,

the Town of Wabush, just put a massive expansion on their business park to meet

demand of businesses and industry that require more space for more shop space

and for more trades to meet the demands of the mining industry. The mining

industry in Labrador West, I like to call them dragons, they just keep eating

and eating and eating because they need more manpower, more electricity, more

resources. They're just two big dragons in our region that just require so much

more and we're trying to give them everything we've got, but we need that little

bit of investment into the region to get it over the top and hit home.

What comes with that, obviously, with big booms and

economies and everything, comes the problems. It's not lost on anyone in this

room that Labrador West has always dealt with a higher than average rate of

mental health issues, addictions issues. With big job sometimes comes big

demons. Addictions always keep rearing their head, especially in my office home

in Labrador West.

Before I got here for the first sitting there early

September, I helped three people go to rehab. Rehab wasn't in Goose Bay, rehab

wasn't there; rehab had to be on the Island. That's a big concern for me. I

think we really need to have a push to have rehabilitation services in Labrador

– Labrador East or Labrador West – but a more comprehensive service in one of

those two regions to help people of Labrador, especially my District of Labrador

West, to achieve the goal of completing and finishing rehabilitation to find

their better self and to help fight those demons that live with some people.

I really absolutely plead that we really look at

rehabilitation services and a more comprehensive program for Labrador so that

Labrador West residents, and residents from all Labrador, can help fight those

and do it in a region that is home.

I find people that do it outside of Labrador sometimes

have a lot more issues when they come home. Many of them would rather do it in a

place they're more comfortable, an environment they're more comfortable with,

and to a Labradorian, that's home. That's something that's always with me and

that's something I always want to push for is that mental health and addiction

services, but the addictions side right now we need to look at a Labrador-based

solution.

We always have to keep striving for those investments,

those things that help our communities. That's why all of us are in this room

right now, Mr. Speaker. We want to make sure that our people are taken care of,

places that we call home are taken care of. With that, I want to make sure the

people of Labrador West are able to avail of services and stuff as much as

possible within Labrador.

When I talk to people, I ask them have they ever

visited Labrador. Most people tell me no. Well, I say, every single Labradorian

has visited St. John's because most times we have no choice. If we want to see a

specialist or anything like that, we have to come to St. John's. All 30,000 of

us have been to St. John's, but the other portion of this province, not even a

fraction have been to Labrador.

I invite everyone to visit Labrador at least once in

their lives. It's a beautiful place. It's the place I call home. It's the place

I love so much. I think most Labradorians feel the same way, and I think people

from the Island portion of the province will fall in love with Labrador too if

they just stop in for a visit.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the

people in Labrador West that have worked really hard over the last few months

keeping everybody safe, making sure that our communities stayed safe and

COVID-free as possible. People put a lot of time and effort and work into it.

Some people within the public services, people in the private service, but also

volunteers. A lot of volunteers gave up their time and their energies to do a

lot of little good for a lot of people.

We've done extremely well. A lot of people still had to

work, obviously. None of the mines went into any care or maintenance modes. They

produced like they never produced before. All those people out there, from the

shop floor to the hospital floor, pulled their weight and they're all worth

their weight in gold, because they did the best they absolutely could.

Labrador West achieved so much. We did very well in the

face of a lot of it. I know we have our unique challenges, especially when it

comes to rotational workers and stuff into the region, but we did very well.

Labrador West did very well and I'm very proud of them all. They're excellent

and I can't thank them enough. They worked so well.

I'd like to finish off by saying I'm the luckiest

person in the world because I represent the most beautiful district in the

world. Thank you, Labrador West, for everything you guys have done. I'll end

with that.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands.

MR.

LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It certainly is a pleasure to have the opportunity to

speak this morning in the House of Assembly to the budget. I'll say for the

record, as I did in the Finance Estimates to the Minister of Finance, I will be

supporting this particular budget.

Given the fact we are in the middle of a pandemic, I do

understand the need for stability. Despite our fiscal circumstances, there has

to be some level of stability as we navigate this pandemic. I didn't see

anything in there that I would consider over the top, either on the expenditure

side or in terms of cuts that would have an impact at this time. In that regard,

I'll support it. I think it's fairly well balanced and it's sort of a

stay-the-course budget, if you will, during a difficult time.

With that said, though, Mr. Speaker, I listened to

Members and this year's budget is no different than every other budget. You'll

hear Members, particularly on the government side, whoever the government is,

and they will start listing off: we're spending $2 million here, $10 million

there and we're building this, we're building that and so on. I understand that.

The things they're doing, I'm not against a lot of the things.

Who's going to argue that we need to maintain our

health care facilities, we need to maintain our schools and other

infrastructure, that roadwork does need to be done and so on. I'm not knocking

that, but at the same time we must all remember that all these things we're

announcing and going on with these big lists, this is all the people's money.

Nobody is writing personal cheques here. This is the people's money that is

being spent.

In our case, we have to recognize the fact that this is

borrowed money. Much of the money we're going to borrow – we've already borrowed

$2 billion. I think we're going to have to borrow another billion, so that will

be $3 billion borrowed this year. I think we need to put that in perspective.

The same thing when we have Members on the other side

who are asking for things, saying: How come my road is not done? We need this at

our school, we need this in our town, this town needs water and sewer, this town

needs this and this town needs that. I don't knock the Members for asking; I do

it myself. That's part of your elected role as an MHA.

I can assure you anytime there are any programs,

whatever the programs might be, whether it be for the municipality – if it's

something for a municipality, I will always do my part to make sure that Mount

Pearl gets its share. I make no apologies for that. That's what I'm elected to

do.

I'll make sure, as well, that if there are things that

can flow to St. John's, particularly the Southlands portion and so on and it's

available, then I'm going to be absolutely advocating and hoping that we get our

share and it's successful. The same with Galway and so on. So nobody is really

doing anything wrong by advocating for these things. It is part of their role,

but at the end of the day I think we need to recognize the fiscal situation we

are in as a province.

As I indicated, Mr. Speaker, we have borrowed, and in

total it's going to be something like $3 billion with a b this year; which I

believe brings our net debt to north of $14 billion, $14.5 billion or something,

I believe. Somewhere in that neighbourhood. That's the net debt. That's not

counting, I don't believe, any pension liabilities, and it wouldn't be counting

Muskrat Falls, any debts on the books there.

We have people, obviously, that are still concerned by

rate mitigation, wondering what's going to happen in a year from now. We've

heard the government say we have a plan. The former minister of Natural

Resources said we already released a plan. Well, the plan that was released

talked about electrification of buildings and at some point we'll all be driving

around in electric cars and all that stuff. That's all good for the future. I'm

not knocking that. I'm not saying that won't happen and they're not committed to

that, but it's not going to happen overnight.

The only way we're going to really have rate mitigation

and keep rates at 13.5 cents per kilowatt hour is a deal with the federal

government, a renegotiation of the loans on Muskrat Falls. That's what it comes

down to. It'll be a renegotiation on the loans and/or other investments by the

federal government. There's no other way. It's not going to magically go away. I

do understand they're in discussions and they can't talk about everything that's

happening, but that is another thing that's still hanging over our heads in

addition to, like I said, the year-over-year deficits and the mounting

provincial debt.

Now, of course, we have on top of that – if things

weren't bad enough, now we have the issue with COVID-19, the impact that's had

on businesses, on individuals and on our economy. It's had a devastating impact

on a lot of businesses and people. There are some businesses, depending on what

kind of business you are in, that were fine. They weren't really impacted. There

are some people that, actually, this has created a bit of a boom for them,

COVID-19. Depending on the type of business you're in, this created a big

windfall for them, but the overall picture has not been good.

Now, of course, with the price of oil, something else

which is totally out of our control – and we can't blame that on the government.

You can try to for political reasons if you wanted to, I suppose, but

legitimately you can't blame that on the government. They have no control over

what Russia and Saudi Arabia do to impact the price of oil, but there we have

it. As an economy that is a resource-dependent economy that still has a great

dependency on oil – albeit we're saying from a GDP perspective that percentage

has gone down and so on, but we still heavily depend on oil prices. These are

things that are having an even greater impact on an already challenging

situation.

I guess where I'm coming to from this, Mr. Speaker –

and I haven't heard a lot of discussion around this and I think that needs to be

much of the focus of our discussion as we talk about the budget – is where we're

to fiscally. Sometimes I feel like Nero, was it, that was fiddling while Rome

burned. That's kind of how I feel sometimes. It's like we're sort of oblivious

to where we really are in terms of our finances. That's how I feel sometimes:

everything is fine; we're chugging along. We are chugging along, I suppose,

we're surviving, but at the end of the day this is a very, very serious

situation.

There are a lot of people that would have liked to have

seen some solid action as to how we're going to grapple with this crippling

debt, with these year-over-year deficits. I do appreciate, though, as I said

from the start, the fact that because we're in the middle of a pandemic and

everything else that's going on and the devastation we've felt on our economy,

this is not the optimum time to make that even worse. Anybody with any – I don't

want to say anybody with any common sense, because people are obviously entitled

to their opinions and they differ. I think if you try to look at it from an

objective point of view, if I can put it that way, I don't think it would make

sense to do anything at this point in time to further jeopardize an already

fragile situation.

At the end of the day, at some point in time, hopefully

we're going to come out the other end of this pandemic and there will be a

vaccine, God willing, sooner rather than later. At that point, we have to be

very, very serious about dealing with the situation we find ourselves in. It's

fine to say diversify the economy, that's important. A great buzzword. It's more

than a buzzword because it is something that needs to happen and we have seen it

to some degree.

I recognize the fact that government has made

investments in agriculture, as an example, to try to not just increase food

security but, obviously, that's a way to try to create more jobs and diversify

the economy. They're trying to do some things with our forestry, which is all

good, of course. Aquaculture is another one. I do have some concerns on the

environmental side and the impact on our wild species. I'd be lying if I said I

had no concerns, because I do.

It's important that if we're going to do it we do it

right, as I heard my colleague for St. John's Centre say in Estimates last

night, and I totally agree with him. If we're going to do it we have to do it

right and we have to do it in an environmentally sustainable way as best we can

to protect our wild fish stocks. There's no doubt that there is a tremendous

benefit in terms of direct and indirect jobs emanating from the aquaculture

industry, and there are more on the horizon – there are more on the horizon.

I think of Marbase. I went to a presentation, it was

the Mount Pearl-Paradise Chamber of Commerce, last year and Paul Antle was the

guest speaker. He did a presentation on Marbase. I have to say there were very

exciting opportunities there, there's no doubt about it, for the Burin

Peninsula. This could be, as he indicated, duplicated in other parts of the

province. There could be two or three Marbases, if you will. There is

opportunity there.

We do need to continue to invest in these things, do

what we can to diversify the economy. IT, as has been talked about, the tech

industry, tremendous opportunities there. I'm not saying anything that

government doesn't already know and isn't already doing to some degree. I just

ask that they stay the course in those areas and be strategic in how we invest.

The education system is going to play a role, certainly, into the technology

sector, right from young age and into the post-secondary.

Even with that diversification – and that doesn't

happen overnight – the oil and gas industry is still going to be very important

for us as the world transitions into clean energy. When you think about our

offshore oil, as has been said, from a quality point of view we have some of the

best quality resources, as I understand it, in the world. The world will not be

totally off oil any time soon. I know there are people out there, people in our

province that you see protesting from time to time who say shut her all down and

let's put an end to it. That's not reality. That's pie in the sky.

It's important, obviously. I think many people around

the world recognize climate change. I'm certainly not a denier of climate

change. I don't think anyone in this province can be a denier of climate change

when you think of some of the storms we've had over the last number of years,

the impacts in terms of flooding and infrastructure and so on. It is a real

thing and we have to be mindful. The world, I think, to a great degree

understands that and there is that global shift, but it isn't happening

overnight. It's going to take time. Oil will be part of how the world operates

still for a number of years to come.

In terms of oil, as I said, we have some of the best

product and resources out there in terms of oil. So we need to take advantage –

and we have a lot of it out there. I think everybody recognizes based on the

seismic that was done. I give credit to the former administration on being

proactive with that seismic work, I have to say, and give credit where it's due.

I think that work has led to a lot of the drilling that's taken place because of

that proactive step. I acknowledge that.

We're going to need oil and we have some of the best.

So we need to do what we can to position ourselves that when things turn around

with the oil prices, hopefully turn around at some point in the not-too-distant

future, we need to be positioned to take advantage of the resources that we

have.

I certainly encourage the minister of – I forget the

name of the department now – I'm going to say natural resources, everyone knows

who I'm talking about, whether it be the Come By Chance oil refinery and

certainly the projects we have in our offshore, we need to do everything we can.

As the Premier said, I believe, when he was out speaking to the protestors: no

stone goes unturned. I certainly hope so.

The reality is that we also need our federal government

to step up to the plate when it comes to our oil and gas industry.

Unfortunately, we haven't seen enough movement, as far as I'm concerned, not

fast enough. The $320 million, that's all good, but we need to see more action

by our federal government to get these projects on track. We haven't seen it. It

seems like there is, I do agree, there seems to be an ideology, if you will, in

Ottawa right now that is anti-oil, and that's tough.

It's tough for us because at the end of the day we've

got seven MPs. That's one of the issues we have here in Newfoundland and

Labrador, regardless of what stripe they are and what stripe the government is,

you've got seven people, seven MPs from Newfoundland and they're sitting across

the table from about 130 or whatever it is from Ontario, and another 70 or 80 or

whatever it is from Quebec, what kind of a chance do you have to move your

agenda forward if it doesn't align with the other crowd? It's very, very

difficult.

I'm not making excuses for them, because to my mind

they have been too silent for my liking, but that is a reality nonetheless. Our

minister is the minister of Natural Resources for the country and he is

apparently BFFs with the PM. So I would hope that influence could come to bear

and we could see some more solid movement towards getting our oil and gas

industry up and running here in Newfoundland and Labrador and get those people

to work, because that's going to be a critical piece for us as we move forward.

Certainly, in the short and medium term as we transition into other things.

Going back to where I started, while that's important,

while diversification is important, creating jobs where we can, ensuring that

Newfoundlanders benefit first from our resources in terms of local benefits

agreements and so on, which I think is very important not to have work going to

people from other provinces, as much as we can. All that aside, on the revenue

side, increasing revenue, we also have a spending problem that's been identified

now for a long time; identified by the Auditor General and many other people

that, like it or not, it has to be dealt with.

I just hope that when we finally get to a point, we get

through this pandemic, that we're able to seriously sit down and, in a united

front, try to wrestle with these year-over-year deficits and this huge debt. It

has to be done. They're complex, there's no doubt, complex issues. They have to

be outcome based. I think we have to start at what are the outcomes we're

looking for and how do we get there in the most efficient way possible. There

are going to be some tough decisions. When that comes, I think we have to all

agree that we're not going to play politics, that we're going to all work

together to do what's best to get our province back on track.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker; I'm out of time.

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Bonavista.

MR.

PARDY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think as everyone has stated, it's always a pleasure

to be able to speak in this hon. House about their district and the matters that

you think can affect the course of action going forward.

For many a people who haven't been in the District of

Bonavista, the District of Bonavista begins at the newly incorporated Town of

George's Brook-Milton. In 2018, George's Brook-Milton was incorporated as the

province's newest town. I think, as a piece of trivia in our province, at least

now you have the knowledge to know that that is the gateway to the District of

Bonavista.

It's nice to just frame out the district before I

begin. It starts at George's Brook-Milton, ends at the historic Town of

Bonavista and the furthest point to the east would be Burgoyne's Cove. If you

haven't visited the plane crash site in Burgoyne's Cove then that's something

that should be on your to-do list. The furthest western point would be Bunyan's

Cove. Bunyan's Cove is really the furthest that would be adjacent to the Port

Blandford stretch, and that encompasses the district.

As most of you would know, the big announcement we had

this year was that we would be on the UNESCO Geoparks heritage status site – a

huge achievement for the District of Bonavista. Over the coming years, we'll

know exactly what those geological features are, even though they've been

assessed by UNESCO and the team that they put forth.

So when you start in Trinity and you stretch along 281

kilometres of coastline ending over on the other side in Bonavista Bay, a place

called Tickle Cove, you have unique geological features of which we are very

proud of. I think many parts of the world are going to be coming to visit the

District of Bonavista as a result of its geological features and how rare they

are.

Mr. Speaker, one thing that surprises me, and in a

little over a year in this Chamber, I'm surprised at the number of people that

watch the House of Assembly from their homes. That's something that I hadn't

done in my working career is watch the affairs of the province play out, but as

I went around the district I'll have people like Gil Bonnell and Doris Blackmore

in Trinity Bay North, Catalina, who watch the House of Assembly. If you move a

little further up from Gil and Doris, you'll have Melvin and Doris Freake, very

important individuals in the Town of Catalina and they gained significance as

the grandparents of the well-known hockey play in Bonavista, Michael Ryder. So

these are Michael's grandparents who reside in Catalina, but they watch the

House of Assembly; others like Rex Lodge in Port Union.

Probably a female mayor who served as one of the

longest serving mayors in our province, Betty Fitzgerald in Bonavista, is an

avid watcher of the House of Assembly to keep her finger on the pulse of the

province. Without going through an extensive list, but at least it gives you an

indication of the breadth of the people that watch, especially in my district.

Glenn Ploughman in George's Brooke-Milton, and then we have Randy and Bev

Goodyear in Burgoyne's Cove. These were just the ones recently who stated about

watching the House of Assembly.

With their permission, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to discuss

and have the focus of the remaining time on education. I spent a career in

education and I'm very fortunate to be able to participate and have a voice for

where I think we ought to be in education; what we're doing correct and some

things of which I can put into the official minutes in education. There are many

positives in the K-to-12 education system. There's a lot to be proud of that we

have, but the ground is ever changing and society is changing and we have to be

able to adapt quickly to what our needs are in education.

On September 15, I presented some figures to the House.

They were budget figures for the House of Assembly for health care and

education. I just want to go back to those figures. The Minister of Tourism,

Culture, Arts and Recreation wondered about the data, he may have checked it out

by this time.

If we look back in 1990-91, our spending of our budget

for health care in '90-'91 was $712 million; education was $707 million. That

was the first year that the proportion of the budget for health surpassed

education in the history of the budgets that we would have in our Chamber and in

government. That is 1990.

If we spring ahead to 2020, health went from $712

million to $3.1 billion. Education was at $707 million; it is now at $836

million. You can see the difference between those two things.

I stated on September 15 that education was

underfunded. It is, but I just want to qualify a little further to know that in

the unique times that we are – and the hon. Member who spoke before me talked

about the expenditures, where we are in the province, and I fully realize that

is where we are. The gist of what I present today or what I'll speak on is

talking about efficiencies that do not cost money and things that we maybe can

find within for the betterment of the province and the people we serve, and also

for our coffers.

Here's one of the quotes that the Conference Board of

Canada has stated: “Education is … seen as the most powerful route to improving

the private and public prosperity and well-being.

“Educated people not only earn higher incomes but also

contribute disproportionately to business innovation, productivity, and national

economic performance. There is a strong and direct relationship between

educational attainment and economic growth.”

If we were looking at investments, I can't think of a

better investment, according to the Conference Board of Canada and many, than

education.

So the goal and the question would be how do we keep

money we can't afford to spend on schools focused on the classrooms? On

September 15, I shared with you my new preferred quote, and it came as a result

of the Royal Society of Canada, and I want to repeat that again because I think

it has a lot of value. It says: “The moral test of government is how it treats

those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight

of life, the aged; and those in the shadows of life,” – and that would be – “the

sick, the needy and the handicapped.”

On September 15, I talked about – or we talked about

the long-term care facility in Bonavista, the Golden Heights Manor. A dedicated

staff with over 20 on sick leave and an inability to get other resources, casual

employees, into the manor. One can say – and we don't have to stretch our

imagination to know – that if you can't get employees into a long-term care home

to service the needs of the residents in there, then one can only assume that

the level of care would be suspect and diminished. I would say that is the

situation with the long-term care.

The Minister of Health and Community Services stated,

which I commend, that they have a committee struck in Bonavista and he will

inform the House on the productivity of that committee. I would say from

September 15 to current, I do look forward to that report and probably even

getting an update on how that is progressing in Bonavista.

One thing I would say to you, while we probably all

acknowledge that the number of hours provided are low, but it's conceivable that

the overtime being paid out and the inability to provide the appropriate care is

probably leading to additional costs that maybe we ought not to have encountered

in the first place.

The Member for Baie Verte - Green Bay would be aware of

this because he and I discussed that in his previous portfolio. I feel

privileged to talk on education sometimes because the first school in the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador was in Bonavista. I would thank Eliza

S wyers , which is a mutual friend of the Member's and mine, for bringing that to

my attention because I just didn't know.

We know that in 1726 the school opened in Bonavista and

that was the first school in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. They

opened it, the archives would say, for the poor children in Bonavista. They

wanted them to be able to read. The entity that brought that first school to

Newfoundland and Labrador was a society that was called the Society for the

Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. It was under the Anglican Church out

of the UK, at that point in time.

In education, for the remaining time that I have, one

thing I would state: if we increase our wellness in the Province of Newfoundland

and Labrador or increase our preventative and proactive measures, research would

state that we ought to see a reduction in the need to address the illnesses and

the sicknesses that are presented.

I'd like to look at the school system that we currently

have in our province. I would contend, and stated before, that we need to focus

more on the wellness of the students of whom we have in our care. If you look at

the Newfoundland and Labrador Program of Studies, it gives minimum requirements

of percentages that we need to have in the province for our school system. For

example, physical education, which is tied mostly to the wellness piece, 6 per

cent of a 300-minute day ought to be, a minimum, on physical education. Others

language arts would be 24 per cent; math would be 16 per cent. Remember these

are minimums.

Back when I was teaching, we were looking at Alberta

and BC to provide us for their curriculum. We looked at them as being models of

the curriculum that we inherited and adopted into our system. One thing that BC

and Alberta had was they had quality, daily physical education where those

students in their schools would get at least 10 per cent – at least 10 per cent

– of physical education. Ours was six. That's a significant difference. Six

would equate to 18 minutes a day; 10 would equate to 30 minutes of physical

activity a day. That's pretty significant when we look at the wellness in our

system. Does it cost more to go from six to 10? It absolutely does not. Could

there be improvements in the wellness of our population by increasing from 6 to

10 per cent? I would say, without a doubt.

So quality, daily physical education is the piece that

we didn't adopt from Alberta and BC, but we did want their curriculum because

they were showing on international assessments and results to be doing quite

well; therefore, we certainly didn't want to miss anything. But I would say a

piece that was significantly missing was the wellness of the students who were

going to be partaking in the international assessments.

I would say to you, 6 per cent, 18 minutes a day. I

checked one of the largest primary schools in the Eastern region. This

particular school would have four 30-minute periods in an eight-day cycle; four

30-minute periods in an eight-day cycle would be 120 minutes out of 144. They

are below the 6 per cent. We had mentions of a gymnasium before that was being

constructed and talked about the wellness piece as a result of the new

gymnasiums being built, that particular school is below 6 per cent. I would say

until we get a handle on the wellness piece, and it doesn't cost extra

resources, then I would think we don't change and we don't make that impact on

the wellness of our students.

One thing I would say to you, the early childhood

education piece, when we look there is a study, and I cite from this study, it

relates to early childhood education and the importance of it, it comes from

Finland: “Three years of age marks the most crucial phase in terms of

establishing a physically active or sedentary lifestyle. The patterns of

behaviour and living that are established up to the age of three will stay with

us into adulthood.”

I would say when it comes to the early childhood

education, it is very significant that we have it regulated, regulated within

reason – and I'm sure there are issues with that, but, hopefully, we can have

the universal daycare maybe even utilizing much space that we have in rural

schools in order to be operating out of our own public schools, the early

childhood education.

Just to touch on the wellness piece. I know the Member

for Terra Nova is aware of this. We do not permit the staff that are in our

schools to access and use the wellness rooms that may exist in our schools. It

may be due to conflict of interest legislation.

With $3.1 billion of our cost in health care and we're

looking at wellness as being a theme with our children, surely goodness we ought

to be able to have our staff be able to utilize the wellness rooms that would be

in our schools, because an investment, I think, in wellness will certainly pay

dividends in our health care expenses going forward.

I know my time is getting short. Another thing when we

construct structures and buildings. We are a northern climate. We have children

from September to June. We'd like for them to be outdoors, but sometimes it's

not always possible to have our children outdoors. Therefore, we may be in a

climate where we make sure we have enough play space for our students in order

to play and be active in, to maintain their wellness.

I came from a school in the District of Terra Nova

where I was principal for 16 years. We had a gymnasium that was 11,000 square

feet – three gymnasiums. We always called it the winter games complex; thus, it

was arose from winter games. Three gymnasiums in one – we had as many as 12

volleyball teams that could play in that gym and I think we had a very active

school because of the facility.

The only thing I would say to you, this House of

Assembly has 3,000 square feet. When we build new schools like Coley's Point,

which has 4,000-square-feet gymnasium, I'd like to see the template for the

additional construction of having gymnasiums that would be the size of the one

in Clarenville Middle School, enable the wellness and to aid in the wellness of

children going forward.

Mr. Speaker, thank you for your time and for the

opportunity.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women.

MS.

DEMPSTER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Interesting debate happening here this morning in the

Legislature as we debate the budget. Normally, this would be in May, Mr.

Speaker. I have a number of years of experience of long nights, Monday through

Thursday, and then normally we did the graduation circuit in May, so this is all

kind of different, but an interesting discussion.

The theme of our budget this year: “Today. Tomorrow.

Together,” and certainly, in this unusual time, going through the province's

first ever public health emergency, we have found that we are all in this

together. I think the one thing that we've all sort of taken away since March is

how many things we thought were important are not important and our health is

the most important.

I'd like to start, Mr. Speaker, by commending the

Deputy Premier and the Finance Minister – a strong female on our team – for

doing a great job in bringing down the budget. It's been a really difficult

time. We've seen expenditures going up related to COVID-19 and, of course,

revenue was down as things were shut down out an abundance of caution for the

safety of the public. That's not a good trend, but, at the end of the day, I

think folks from all around the province felt that it was a pretty decent

budget.

Interesting conversation from my colleague the Member

for Mount Pearl - Southlands, I listened closely as he talked about needing to

do things differently; Opposition asking for things from day to day that they

need in their district. While there's truth in that, Mr. Speaker – and I guess

one of the things we've certainly learned as a government since late into 2015

as we came in and inherited quite a fiscal mess and there was not a lot of

money, we had to learn to do more with less. So it's about looking at, how did

we do things up to this point and how can we do that better or how can we do

that more efficiently. I believe there are many, many examples we can point to.

I represent a district in Southern Labrador and when I

reflect, and I have to be honest – and I'm here now seven-plus years, probably

the only reason I got involved in public life – I never aspired to be where I am

– was because I knew that I came from a land that was so rich, yet when it came

to service we were so, so lacking. We were not treated fairly.

There has been a lot of talk, Mr. Speaker, around oil

and gas. It's really unfortunate; we've had the perfect storm connected to this

global pandemic and shutdowns. We were a province that was heavy resource based

and we're seeing that we need to find innovative ways going forward. We cannot

always depend now on oil and gas. Our hearts are certainly with the families

that are impacted. We will commit to working with them to find our way through

but we have to move away now and look at other options, and one of those options

will be mining.

Mr. Speaker, when I look at, in 2019 I believe the

total mining forecast contribution to the province was $3.7 billion. Guess where

95 per cent of that came from? Mr. Speaker, 95 per cent, $3.6 billion – maybe

you have the 5 per cent, I say to my good friend and colleague, the hon. Member

for Baie Verte - Green Bay – came from Labrador, and there is potential to build

on that.

While we're challenged, we have about an $8 billion

budget that we bring in, and while there are many, many asks, Mr. Speaker – and

I was in Opposition, and I was one of these people that were asking, because

prior to this government taking office we lived through 12 years of a Tory reign

where we had the most money in the history of this province, but my district in

particular, which is what I – it's always a challenge to know what you're going

to speak to because you have three hats – is we were weighed in the balance and

we were found wanting again and again.

Mr. Speaker, if I have some folks watching today, they

will agree with me that when you enter Cartwright - L'Anse au Clair now, the

drive is a very different drive than what I started on in 2013. It's not just

about spending money, it's about investment and it's about getting return on

that investment.

We had that megaproject across the river there and as

much as there were many things we were unhappy about – behind

schedule and over

budget – it did generate a lot of money into the economy at the time. I'm not

sure how they would have moved in all their equipment and things they needed if

the road had not been built, Mr. Speaker. It is about investment.

When I look back to when I started in 2013, I was

driving on 40-year-old pavement in the Labrador Straits. Ambulances and buses

were driving 20 and 30 kilometres. The road was basically reconstructed with

cold patch. We've been steadily working on that.

We're not talking about side roads or potholes in

Garden Cove. Let's be clear, we're talking about the main trunk that goes

through Labrador, the main artery. I'm extremely pleased to be a part of a

government where the last money for the Trans-Labrador Highway went out the door

in April of this year, so the end is in sight over the next two construction

seasons.

We hit a bit of a milestone on the weekend when

Johnson's connected with the 80 K coming out of Goose Bay. So 55 is now done and

we're hoping they're going to get another five in this week. Temperatures are

beginning to drop and we don't want to compromise the quality of the pavement,

but then we'll have 140. Mr. Speaker, while we have to find new ways to do

things and we have to be fiscally prudent with the taxpayers' purse, for a long,

long time we didn't get our share. We certainly contributed and we continue to

do so.

I sat down, Mr. Speaker, with the president of IOC

about a week ago. Seventeen hundred employees – what they contribute to the GDP

of this province, what they contribute to the Provincial Treasury. Right now

their sights are set to be good for about 25 more years with the ore coming out.

Then we look at Voisey's Bay. Right now they're looking

like they're set to about 2034, so not short-term things. Sometimes I know that

even with my colleagues I must grow and wear very thin on them, but you have to

put it all into balance, Mr. Speaker. You look at the contribution and then you

look at the need.

We were pleased with this budget. Everybody cannot get

everything they need, but Labrador is certainly benefiting from our government's

commitment to grow the economy in tourism, in mining, in agriculture and in

forestry. Just in my district, Mr. Speaker, when I look at places like Red Bay

World Heritage UNESCO Site, we've been able to do things like signage in that

community; we've been able to improve roadwork in that community.

Then, we head on up another 85 kilometres and you have

the gateway going out to Battle Harbour. When I started, that used to be a

gravel road drive. There were a lots of motorhomes and things that would stop in

Red Bay and not go further. We have a real jewel in the crown in Battle Harbour,

a step back in time to when cod was king. It's completely restored. It's an

island in the middle of the ocean. You have your 9,000-thread-count sheets and

it's a lovely setting. You have the amenities.

We've only begun to market, Mr. Speaker, some of those

places that we have. In order to market, in order to open up to what my

grandfather often referred to as Canada's last frontier, we needed to make those

investments to get the return on the dollar. We went from 1,500, 1,700 tourists

in Red Bay to 10,000 people, Mr. Speaker, and we haven't begun to tip the ice.

You come a little further up and we have Cartwright, which is the gateway to

Mealy Mountains' park, and lots of potential there.

The Makkovik, I think about my former colleague, Randy

Edmunds, and how many times did he mention to us the dock in Makkovik and the

need that was there. I believe at one point he was down with the divers himself

as an MHA and using his own boat to do some work around Makkovik. To see that in

this budget, we've been able to allocate over $4 million to bring infrastructure

improvements to that dock, Mr. Speaker, I think it's absolutely wonderful.

One of my colleagues this morning in the House talked

about mental health. Mr. Speaker, I would say it's something that all of our

offices are dealing with. When I look at over the last seven years the types of

calls and constituents that come into my office and how it's changing. In the

beginning, because our infrastructure needs were so great, in particular in

Cartwright - L'Anse au Clair, folks would be in because the road wasn't fit to

drive on or folks would be in because we were held back with broadband. That's a

file that I worked extremely hard on with my federal colleagues.

When the last round of funding was announced federally,

Mr. Speaker, the largest project in Atlantic Canada, $12.6 million, came to

Labrador, as it should. We had hotel operators that were getting up at 4 o'clock

in the morning and going online to check their email to see if people were

booked into their hotel. Hard to believe, when you listen to the conversations

here in the House, how far behind we really were at this time. I'm pleased to

have played a little, tiny part of that, working closely with the strong

leadership in our community. Cell service, Mr. Speaker, we talk about tourists

coming into the area; everybody wants to do things in real time. What happens

when you visit a community like Red Bay and you're looking for somewhere to use

a phone or you want to make contact back home? Through a partnership between the

provincial government, the municipalities and the NunatuKavut Community Council,

we've been able to announce cell service for six communities in Southern

Labrador.

My hometown was the second one to come online. Coming

in from hauling our nets this summer, Mr. Speaker, my phone starting ringing in

the boat. That's something we take for granted in here, but it was really quite

something. I had taken my phone, maybe to take a few pictures, and it started

ringing. It was somebody that was looking for something.

Those are all examples of progress we've done through

partnership, and I'd be remiss if I did not mention NunatuKavut Community

Council. We've been working very closely with them and they have made tremendous

investment into our communities. We have examples where government cannot afford

to put all of the money into these communities, Mr. Speaker, but we can do it

through partnership.

When you look at the programs and services we roll out

as a government; obviously, folks having access to drinking water, for example,

would be a top priority. That's our highest formula of 90-10. Then we get into

fire equipment and it's 80-20; we get into buildings and it's 60-40; we get into

roads and it's 50-50, but it's doing things through partnership. It's being able

to do more with less; there is no doubt, as we think about the very challenging

fiscal situation this province is in.

Muskrat Falls, when I look back to 1949 – it certainly

predates me – 30 per cent of the net debt from that one project. Mr. Speaker, my

mind went to that yesterday. We held an emergency debate here around Come By

Chance – and our thoughts and our prayers are with the families that are finding

themselves in a very difficult situation now connected through Come By Chance –

an arrangement there between two commercial entities. That agreement is

completely separate from government; yet, at the end of the day, government I'm

sure will, as the minister said, engage in dialogue and help them.

Folks were calling on us just hours after hearing the

announcement, step up and do something. Mr. Speaker, when we're talking about

taxpayers' money, when we're talking about the public purse as we are here

managing in the people's House, those decisions have to be well thought out.

They have to be informed decisions. We have to know the full picture, Mr.

Speaker, because we can look at examples of where we made decisions.

Folks here all the time say: We can't look back. It's

true, we cannot change the past but we can certainly learn from the past. When

we have a project that was sanctioned at $6.6 billion, Mr. Speaker, and now

we're up to over $13 billion; when we talk about Aunt Nellie and Uncle Joe that

are worried about keeping the lights on, it's because decisions were made like

that, they were rushed.

Mr. Speaker, I get a little wound up about that and I'm

going to pull myself back, but it's just because I lived through it as an

Opposition Member in this House. During those couple of years I lived through a

very tumultuous time. I lived through a time when many of my constituents were

actually being pulled off from a gate in October 2016 in a protest and some of

them went to jail because they knew that what happened was wrong. So we have to

learn from those things.

There are lots of good things happening, but I did want

to mention the mental health issues. As we have been finding our way through

this pandemic, a lot of the fear, the concern, the anxiety, it's real, Mr.

Speaker. It's been said here a number of times before, we're living in a

different time. I think, sadly, it's true. We're seeing more mental health and

addictions issues on the rise more than ever before. I was a part of the

all-party committee and for 18 months we travelled around the province. We met

with community groups and organizations. We also met with people with lived

experiences, and those are stories that will stay with me always.

When this government made a decision that it was time

to replace the Waterford Hospital, an old institution around from the Victorian

days, it was recognized that we no longer need to have one big building here on

the Avalon but we need to work harder at putting services out to meet people

where they are. Mr. Speaker, this government saw fit. They recognized some of

the issues in Labrador, in Central Labrador in the hub. This government has

committed to begin work on a new six-bed mental health unit. Very, very positive

news, Mr. Speaker. Every day we're hearing from someone, some family that has a

son or a daughter that's struggling and they're reaching out for help. Again, I

was very pleased to be a part of a government that saw that need, but also saw

that we don't need to continue to do what we've always done.

Doorways, Mr. Speaker, in my 18 communities we only

have one facility where we have a doctor and that's the Labrador South Health

Centre in Forteau. They do fantastic work there. It was this government that

actually recently provided them with a new X-ray unit that was needed. So that's

the only place we have a doctor. When you come down the coast into southeastern

Labrador, it's all community clinics. So, right now, thanks to the great work of

my colleague, the Minister of Health – he's like the Energizer Bunny on steroids

most of the time, I don't know where he gets his energy and finds the balance;

he's been quite busy – folks can walk in without an appointment now even in

remote coastal Labrador and have that counselling appointment.

Mr. Speaker, I remember in my early days in this House

there would be a lot of conversations around psychiatrists and access to

services and long wait-lists. What we have actually found and the direction

we've moved in, maybe somebody does need that first appointment with the

psychiatrist, but then research shows us that folks do very well with supports

like counselling. I was pleased to see that is the direction that Health and

Community Services have moved in with the RHAs, working closely with my

colleague, the Minister of Health, who has done a stellar job, a stellar job in

helping us find our way through this pandemic.

Sometimes we get questions on decisions that we've made

around COVID, working closely with the province's chief medical officer of

health, but the facts are, Mr. Speaker, everything speaks for itself. When you

turn on the news in the evening and you look across the country at other

provinces and territories and you see how well Newfoundland and Labrador is

doing, that speaks volumes for itself with the job, how well of a job they have

done.

I've been travelling a fair bit around this province

since I took on my new roles of the office of the Minister Responsible for the

Status of Women, Labrador Affairs and Indigenous Affairs and Reconciliation. Mr.

Speaker, the one consistent thing, whether I've been in Corner Brook on the West

Coast, whether I've been in Goose Bay, whether I've been in Central, whether I

was up in my district which I just went through Labrador last week, from the

border in the south to the border in the west, again and again and again I heard

what a great job the medical officer of health and your government have done

helping us find our way through COVID. That was very encouraging to hear.

I do want to toss a bouquet to the people of the

province; it's been a very difficult time. But day after day when the briefings

were held and the public health measures and the prevention infection measures

were rolled out; people adhered to them, Mr. Speaker. It's one thing for

leadership to say this is what we want you to do but people have to adhere.

People made sacrifices in this province for six or seven months now for the

greater good and we certainly, as a government, appreciate the sacrifices.

I didn't even get in, Mr. Speaker, to the contributions

that this budget have made to some of the portfolios that I am now responsible

for but I do hope that I'll have another window to do so because there are a lot

of great things happening. I want to thank again the people of Cartwright -

L'Anse au Clair for their continued faith in me to be their Member. It's a

privilege every single day.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

MR.

CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

With the agreement from the Members of the House, I

think I have, we'll recess for lunch, but before we do, Mr. Speaker, I want to

thank the Member for Humber - Bay of Islands, in parliamentary tradition, this

afternoon he's offered to remove himself from the votes where the Member for

Mount Scio is unavailable this afternoon, so we thank him for that, in

parliamentary tradition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

CROCKER:

Mr.

Speaker, I now suggest we recess for lunch.

MR.

SPEAKER:

It's been moved and seconded that we do now adjourn until 2 o'clock.

All those in favour, ‘aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR.

SPEAKER:

All

those against, ‘nay.'

Carried.

Recess

The House resumed at 2 p.m.

MR.

SPEAKER (Reid):

Are

the Government House Leaders ready?

Third Party, yes?

Order, please!

Statements by Members

MR.

SPEAKER:

Today, we will hear statements by the hon. Members for the Districts of

Ferryland, Cape St. Francis, Harbour Grace - Port de Grave, Conception Bay South

and Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans.

The hon. the Member for Ferryland.

MR. O'DRISCOLL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Today, I want to recognize the owners and staff at

Alderwood Estates Retirement Centre.

Alderwood Estates Retirement Centre is a family-owned

business in Witless Bay. The staff at the facility go far and beyond for the

residents. They are kind and compassionate and make each resident feel at home.

The families of the residents at the facility say that

they have great peace of mind knowing that loved ones are there and are well

cared for. They refer to the staff and other residents as their family.

The facility has an amazing recreation program. They

celebrate each and every resident's birthday with a song and a dance. They make

sure that all residents have access to fun and safe recreation programs that are

all hosted in-house, and as well attend many outside events.

Over the past number of years, the staff and residents

have organized and hosted a haunted house during Halloween. This has become a

very popular event. Many kids and adults of the communities nearby look forward

to this event each and every year.

I ask all my colleagues to join me in congratulating

the kind and caring staff of Alderwood Estates Retirement Centre on a great job

well done.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Cape St. Francis.

MR.

K. PARSONS:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Today, I want to recognize District Drugs, a

family-owned business that has been operating in Torbay and serving the people

of the beautiful District of Cape St. Francis since 1963.

Mr. Jack Hogan was the original owner, pharmacist and a

true community leader. Jack and his family has sponsored and supported every

activity in the area, whether it's from schools, churches or community

organizations. Mr. Speaker, it would be difficult to find out the number of

teams that Jack Hogan personally has organized and District Drugs has sponsored

throughout the years.

Jack's son, Keith, joined his dad as a pharmacist and

took over the business 25 years. Keith will be retiring this fall and selling

the business. Even now, the Hogan's commitment to the community remains, as the

family wanted the new owner to be a pharmacist, but be part of the community.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Jack, his wife

Elizabeth, their son Keith and the Hogan family, as well as the staff of

District Drugs – some of them who have been there for over 42 years. I want to

thank them for everything they have done to serve the people, support our

residents and communities over the past six decades. You have gone above and

beyond, and I want to wish you all the best in your retirement.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

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

MS.

P. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, I'm very excited to recognize Dawson Mercer of

Bay Roberts, who was drafted 18th overall in the 2020 NHL draft last night by

the New Jersey Devils. This is only the 7th time that a Newfoundlander and

Labradorian has been drafted in the first round.

Dawson's hockey prowess has been long known in the Bay

Roberts region and his talent and dedication to the game has seen his stock

skyrocket in recent years. Dawson has skated in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey

League since 2017, playing for Drummondville, then Chicoutimi, with him

improving each and every season. Those improvements led him to being selected to

the Team Canada 2020 World Junior team – and as we know, they brought home the

gold.

He is a hockey player that has the skills and skating

ability to make his mark on the NHL, and the people of his hometown couldn't be

more proud.

I ask everyone to join me in recognizing Newfoundland

and Labrador's newest NHLer, Dawson Mercer.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

MR.

PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, on October 5, I had the pleasure of

attending the Community Garden opening held at the Manuel's River

Interpretation

Centre, along with my colleague from Topsail - Paradise. This is the second such

Community Garden in Conception Bay South, the first being the Gateway Garden

which opened last year at the new CBS Arena.

These gardens are great community initiatives and have

been lots of fun for families and people of all ages. The Community Gardens give

residents the opportunity to learn about growing food and food sustainability.

It's a place where community comes together to enjoy benefits of gardening and

to take

part in special events.

Agriculture is what Conception Bay South was built on,

not the fishery, mining for forestry, et cetera. It's good to see our community

going back to our roots and keeping in touch with our past. We should always

honour our past traditions and keep them alive for future generations to come.

Congratulations to the CBS Community Garden committee

and all the volunteers for taking

part in the Community Garden grand opening.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans.

MR.

TIBBS:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Today, I honour an absolute legend of Grand

Falls-Windsor, Mr. Billy Bollard. Billy was born on November 1, 1942 and made

the most of his life in service to his community.

A kind and gentle man with an amazing sense of humour,

Billy was one of a kind, making many people laugh over the years. He was active

throughout his life, swimming at Beothuk Park and speed skating at the stadium

where a voice could always be heard: Look out; Billy's coming to the rink. He

loved his family and worked alongside his dad loading topsoil to help put his

brother Tony through dental school.

Billy Bollard's true passion was having a clean

community. He would leave first thing every morning and not return until dark

picking up trash and recyclables throughout the town. Our town is a better place

because of Billy and he was honoured with the mayor's award.

Billy passed away on September 2, 2018, and he will

never be forgotten as one of our greatest citizens. Billy's famous saying was:

Not bad b'y; should be worth something. Billy b'y, you weren't bad yourself as

your worth to Grand Falls-Windsor is priceless, Sir.

God bless you.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Immigration, Skills and Labour.

MR.

BYRNE:

Mr.

Speaker, I'd like to inform the House and highlight the significant success our

government and its partners throughout the province have achieved in increasing

immigration.

In 2017, we launched the province's Immigration Action

Plan, with a goal of 1,700 new permanent residents annually by 2022. Since then,

Mr. Speaker, immigration has increased nearly 40 per cent. In 2019, Newfoundland

and Labrador welcomed 1,850 new permanent residents and our government increased

its 2022 target to 2,500 new permanent residents annually based on our ambitions

and our successes.

Well, Mr. Speaker, we all know that COVID-19 has

presented challenges, challenges which extend into our immigration outcomes. As

one would reasonably anticipate with borders closed, COVID-19 has severely

impacted the manner in which people can safely move into Canada and into

Newfoundland and Labrador, and this includes potential immigrants.

Despite these challenges and a delay in application

processing times by the federal government as they reassessed and reorganized

resources to meet some of the internal domestic COVID challenges of our country,

our Office of Immigration and Multiculturalism continues to process applications

from employers hiring newcomers who want to invest their time and talents right

here at home.

We are pleased to continue welcoming newcomers, who

make an important contribution to the social, cultural and economic growth of

Newfoundland and Labrador, including promoting innovation, creativity and

diversity of thought.

The skills and work experiences that immigrants bring

to Newfoundland and Labrador enable employers throughout the entire province to

fill key gaps in roles and skills and allows us to compete in global

marketplaces. This is what's really truly important: Immigrants create

businesses and job opportunities for long-time residents as well, building upon

a history of innovation in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, I invite all Members of this hon. House to

join me in thanking our partners for their ongoing efforts to help our province

welcome new residents and make them feel at home.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. Member for Topsail - Paradise.

MR.

P. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the minister for an advance copy of his

statement.

Mr. Speaker, I echo the minister's sentiments on the

importance of immigration to our province. As it stands now, our province is

projected to continue to lose population well into the future. The loss of

population is one of the most important and fundamental issues facing our

province.

Under population forecasts produced by government, we

are the only province or territory that will experience population declines

under every scenario. Our population is aging and it's the oldest in

Confederation. We need to attract and retain as many young people as possible to

help us right this ship. To do this, government needs to create conditions not

only to attract these people, but to create an environment that allows them to

raise families here.

The reports and surveys commissioned by this government

have been clear, that long-term meaningful employment is key to bringing both

expats home and increasing immigration. This government has failed to create the

conditions for well-paying jobs and, as a result, we will continue to see

hard-working Newfoundlanders and Labradorians leaving for better prospects

elsewhere.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS.

COFFIN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and the minister for an advance copy of his statement.

It's nice to know we are attracting newcomers to our

province, but are we keeping them? Our population is declining, which tells me

we are not attracting and retaining nearly enough. In fact, there's less money

in the budget for immigration this year than last.

Let's properly fund and support the programs designed

to help individuals settle and become integrated into our communities and try

simple things, like suggesting those from sunnier places take vitamin D

supplements.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Children, Seniors and Social Development.

MR.

WARR:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Today I recognize five amazing people who were honoured

by our government last week during the annual Seniors of Distinction Awards

ceremony.

I had the pleasure of announcing the 2020 Seniors of

Distinction on October 1 as part of marking National Seniors Day and the United

Nations' International Day of Older Persons.

This year's recipients are Doris Butt, Lloyd Colbourne,

Rosemary Lester, Paddy McNeil and Emma Reelis. While each of these individuals

has contributed to our province in different ways and have different life

experiences, they all have one thing in common; and that is, they have made a

tremendous impact on their communities and our province.

The volunteer contributions of Doris Butt, of Corner

Brook, span the Atlantic provinces and include fundraising, church groups,

sports teams, Girl Guides and serving as a foster parent.

Lloyd Colbourne has served as a member of almost every

committee in his home town of Robert's Arm, including the fire department, the

Economic Development Association and the Public Library board.

Rosemary Lester came here from the United Kingdom, and

is a committed volunteer in the area of health care and seniors' well-being,

dedicating years to improving the lives of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Paddy McNeil, of Pasadena, is a retired RCMP officer

and life-long volunteer, who started the Paddy's Wagon Food Bank Pickup during

COVID-19, as well as a group that helps people of all ages learn to play the

guitar.

Emma Reelis is an Inuit Elder from Nain, who works at

all levels of society to contribute to the cultural, health and well-being of

the Indigenous communities of the province. We are honoured that Emma offered an

opening prayer at last week's award ceremony.

Mr. Speaker, I invite my colleagues and all

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to join me in congratulating the 2020 Seniors

of Distinction.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Opposition House Leader.

MR.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I would like to thank the minister for an advance

copy of his statement.

I join the minister in recognizing Doris Butt, Lloyd

Colbourne, Rosemary Lester, Paddy McNeil and Emma Reelis. Seniors are a valuable

part of our communities.

Last Thursday we celebrated National Seniors Day and

the United Nations' International Day of Older Persons. Each of this year's

recipients of the annual Seniors of Distinction Award are deeply involved in

their communities. Whether it be sports, fundraising, Girl Guides, volunteer

firefighting or whatever, each of these recipients play a vital role in keeping

community spirit alive even through these tough times.

Mr. Speaker, myself and the PC Opposition join the

minister in congratulating the 2020 Seniors of Distinction Award winners.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

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

MR.

J. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

statement and join, along with our caucus, in recognizing National Seniors Day

and the UN's International Day of Older Persons and, most of all, in celebrating

the remarkable contributions of this year's Seniors of Distinction.

At times when media and society at large portray

seniors as frail, in need of care or bound for long-term care facilities, it's

important to remember that many families, communities and service organizations

could not function without them. They are, indeed, the backbone of our society

and, indeed, of our province.

I join the minister, again, in celebrating their

accomplishments.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Further statements by ministers?

The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and

Recreation.

MR.

DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We can fully see how proud MHAs are of their

constituents. I'm excited in this hon. House to recognize Dawson Mercer, who has

been selected 18th overall by the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the

National Hockey League's entry-level draft last night.

The 18-year-old Bay Roberts native is the 42nd player

from this province to be selected in the NHL entry-level draft, and the seventh

to go in the first round. A member of the Chicoutimi Saguenéens in the Quebec

Major Junior Hockey League, Dawson is considered one of the top junior-aged

players in the world. His ability and skill is expected to make him a pivotal

player of Team Canada's entry at the World Junior Hockey Championship this year,

where he will aim to win another gold medal as part of Team Canada.

Mr. Speaker, the Mercer family in the Conception Bay

region is well-known for their abilities on the ice. Father Craig was a senior

hockey star in this province, brother Riley is currently a goalie with the

Drummondville Voltigeurs in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and sister

Jessica plays in Triple A hockey here at home.

Mr. Speaker, Dawson's family must be overjoyed as he

certainly is living out his dream. His family must also be very proud of the

fact that so many in the hockey community speak of Dawson's maturity, his

magnetic personality and leadership qualities on and off the ice. Athletes from

Newfoundland and Labrador are making an impact, and this is the second

consecutive year a hockey player from our province has been selected in the

opening round of the NHL entry-level draft, as St. John's native – and a

constituent of mine – Alex Newhook was chosen 16th overall by the Colorado

Avalanche in 2019.

I ask all hon. Members in this House to join me in

congratulating Dawson Mercer on his selection in the opening round of the

entry-level draft for the NHL and being an inspiration to hockey players across

our province and right across the country.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans.

MR.

TIBBS:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the minister for an advance copy

of his statement.

On behalf of the Official Opposition, I wish to

congratulate Dawson Mercer on being selected 18th overall in the National Hockey

League draft last night. While this year's NHL draft was done virtually, instead

of in person, the excitement and support in the province for Dawson is no less.

In fact, I know many households in Bay Roberts area and throughout the province

tuned in with anticipation to support Dawson.

While I look forward to hearing about Dawson's future

professional hockey career, I also want to take a moment to recognize the many

coaches, volunteers, supporters and his family who helped Dawson achieved his

dream. Those 6 a.m. morning practices have resulted in another Newfoundlander

and Labradorian entering the NHL.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to the future when we can

congratulate Dawson on his very first NHL goal.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Labrador West.

MR.

BROWN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the minister for an advance copy of his

statement.

For a long time, our province has been home to many

professional hockey players. The Members and staff of the NDP caucus would like

to congratulate Dawson Mercer on his first-round pick in the NHL draft.

I would also like to send a message to all youth in

this province that are chasing their dream of professional sports: it is

possible.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Further statements by ministers?

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR.

CROSBIE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Terra Nova FPSO is still resting in Conception Bay.

Bay du Nord is deferred. Come By Chance refinery may close permanently and we've

been informed that Husky is laying off workers as we sit, and will make a

decision within days whether to mothball the West White Rose structure.

In the face of massive job loss, does the Liberal

government have a comprehensive jobs plan for the energy sector?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Deputy Premier.

MS.

COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

These