PDF Version

March

29, 2017

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVIII No. 2

The

House met at 10 a.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Osborne):

Order, please!

Admit

strangers.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Deputy

Government House Leader.

MS. COADY:

Mr. Speaker, I'm seeking

leave of the House to permit the Chair of the Select Committee to present the

committee's report.

MR. SPEAKER:

Is leave granted?

AN HON. MEMBER:

Leave.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Stephenville Port au Port.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. FINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, on behalf of the Select Committee appointed to draft a reply to the

speech from His Honour, the Lieutenant Governor, I am pleased to present the

report of the Select Committee as follows:

To His

Honour the Lieutenant Governor, the Hon. Frank F. Fagan:

May it

please Your Honour, we, the Commons of Newfoundland and Labrador in legislative

session assembled, beg to thank Your Honour for the Gracious Speech that Your

Honour has addressed to this House.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

When shall the report be

received?

MS. COADY:

Now.

MR. SPEAKER:

Now.

motion, report received.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Stephenville Port au Port.

MR. FINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is

certainly great to stand today as we officially kick off the second session of

the 48th General Assembly. I was pleased to have the time yesterday to be the

mover of the Speech from the Throne. I guess yesterday of course, as most of us

here in the House of Assembly are familiar, it is a formality and quite an

honour to have our Lieutenant Governor bring the Speech from the Throne.

This is

when we kick off our session as we begin a new year, and our second year in

government. I believe there were a number of good things mentioned yesterday in

the Speech from the Throne. I also, in my speech, alluded to a number of

initiatives that we have brought forward. What was unfortunate in seeing some of

the subsequent speakers yesterday, in particular the PC leader, the Member for

Topsail Paradise, had quite a few comments to make. He began by talking about

what a Speech from the Throne is and what a Speech from the Throne is supposed

to do.

He said

it's a day for laying out priorities. It's an opportunity for us to share our

strategies. It should be a grand vision. It should be charting a course of what

we're supposed to do, and we should be giving hope and confidence to the people

of the province. It's a time in this speech when we should be laying out

specific initiatives for the coming year.

He said

it's not about what Newfoundland and Labrador needs; it's what they need now. He

said instead of a time when we need accountability, we hear blame. He went on to

say, at a time when we need decisive action, we get waffling and wavering. He

said, it's supposed to be about the way forward, and instead it's more about

what's in the past and what's behind.

I really

struggle with hearing some of that. I know the Member was here in the House as

His Honour read his speech, and I understand that it was certainly quite

lengthy, but there were a number of things that were mentioned in that speech

yesterday that kind of contradict exactly what the Member opposite was referring

to.

He went

on to say that we abandoned our people, and there was very little mention of the

people of the province in the speech yesterday. I certainly beg to differ. He

said there was so much missing from the speech. There was so much missing from

the speech yesterday. But then only went on to specifically mention that we did

not mention Mistaken Point.

Now,

yesterday's Speech from the Throne was about a number of initiatives in

The Way Forward that we, as a

government, have laid out as a plan to get this province back on track. From all

the things that you can suggest that would be missing, we somehow yesterday

missed Mistaken Point. I do not see the relevance in that. I think the Minister

of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation yesterday was here present. He had

laid out in this House of Assembly, in the past, all the initiatives that we're

working on in that regard, as did the Minister of Fisheries and Land Resources.

I don't know how that can be the one thing that was suddenly missing from the

speech yesterday.

One of

the things that were really quite shocking was the reference to us playing a bit

of a blame game again, and there was a mention of blame. He went on further to

suggest that when we took office, we were to be full aware of the state of the

province's finances. He said they knew the state of the finances, and we knew,

and the people of the province knew.

I feel

like I'm sounding like a broken record because we've said this time and time

again. I won't belabour it, but I really need to point it out. I honestly do.

The Premier yesterday, in his reply to the Speech from the Throne, got up and

specifically referenced that he had wrote the PC leader, then former premier of

the province, in September 2015, seeking an update on the state of the

province's finances. There was no response to the letter seeking an update to

the state of the province's finances no response.

So we,

as an Opposition at the time, could only be led to believe what was laid out in

front of us. What was laid out in front of us was a deficit expected to be $1.1

billion. That was the expected deficit when we took office.

AN HON. MEMBER:

How much (inaudible)?

MR. FINN:

It was an expected deficit of

$1.1 billion and when we took office, we find out it is $2.2 billion.

I've

said this in the House of Assembly, Mr. Speaker, my colleagues have repeated

this in the House of Assembly, the Premier repeated this yesterday, so I do not

understand how the Member can stand on his feet and suggest to us and to the

public of the province that we were all fully aware of the province's finances.

Now,

with that aside and I understand that folks don't need to continue to hear

that they left us in financial dire straits and everything else, but I can't

understand the rhetoric behind suggesting that everybody knew. It's clearly

documented that there was no information to suggest we would have a $2.2 billion

deficit. Now, if this was $25 million, so be it, maybe $100 million, so be it,

but we're talking about a significant difference of $1.1 billion.

I ask

the Member for Topsail Paradise: What would you do with an extra billion

dollars? What would you do with extra $1 billion as a government to operate?

What would you do with an extra billion dollars? It's ironic that the deficit we

just paid this year, $1 billion went to interest payments on our deficit. If we

did not have to pay a billion dollars in interest on our deficit payments,

imagine what we could achieve. Just imagine what we could achieve with an extra

billion dollars.

Again,

we're not talking about an extra $20 here. To put this in context: Central

Health, for example; $130 million is roughly a third of their annual operating

budget. We're operating a province with an $8 billion budget, and we got to give

$1 billion of that to deficit, to interest payments; $1 billion of that has to

go there.

again, to stand up yesterday and address the province and address the House of

Assembly in response to the Speech from the Throne suggesting that we knew full

well the state of the province's finances, nothing could be further from the

truth. We'll have to continue saying it.

What I

do want to speak about is some of the things that we did mention. Again, the

Member mentioned this is supposed to be about laying out a plan and this is

supposed to be about the way forward. Yesterday, His Honour sat there, delivered

the Speech from the Throne and he talked about our initiatives. They're saying

that we didn't hear anything new.

didn't need to wait for a Speech from the Throne to list the initiatives that

we've been working on for the past year. Why would we wait for one particular

day to announce that? We've been working on a number of initiatives over the

past 15 months now, and most of which were announced yesterday. In my remarks

yesterday, I was pleased to speak to the near $28 million over the next five

years that we'll be investing in a multi-year marine infrastructure plan as

brought in by the Minister of Transportation and Works.

It was

also referenced in our multi-year infrastructure plan that there's a multi-year

plan for roads in this province, something that municipalities and the people of

the province have been looking forward to for years. The former administration

had all kinds of time to open up a multi-year infrastructure plan on roads.

The

beautiful thing about the multi-year infrastructure plan on roads is what this

is going to do it's going to allow our contractors and the various companies

that partake in this type of procurement to prepare. It's going to allow them to

prepare and plan properly when it comes to hiring practices. Each year you have

contracting companies that say, okay, we're going to bid on this piece of work

now, and I think we're going to take on another dozen employees to complete this

job, but we don't know if we can keep you because we don't know what we're

bidding on next. We have no idea what the government's plan is to do next.

The

stability this will give to our contracting companies that partake in roadwork

in this province is phenomenal, and they've applauded this. They've applauded

this. Just like our municipalities have applauded this type of initiative as

well.

With

respect to creating jobs; again, there's no jobs plan they indicate, and we're

going to see unemployment rates now higher than we ever seen before. I'd like to

remind the Members opposite, that having been in power from 2003 to 2015 there

were a number of economic indicators that pointed to employment rates in this

province and where they would be at this time this year. The megaprojects are

starting to unfold and we're seeing some people leave as they finish up their

work there.

All

these things were clearly documented during their tenure, Mr. Speaker. So to

suggest that we somehow in 15 months just created an unemployment rate and we

have no jobs plan. How about the jobs we're going to create with the

construction of the Western Memorial Regional Hospital? That's the same hospital

that I believe was announced six or seven times over a 12-year period. We still

haven't seen any action. In Corner Brook they call it the greatest dog park

there is, because it's just an open gravel lot. That's all it is. It's just a

grand, big, open gravel lot, and you'll see people there walking their dogs.

So we

have to come in now under a multi-year infrastructure plan, and that's one of

our pieces. How about a long-term care facility on the West Coast as well, in

Corner Brook? That's part of a multi-year infrastructure plan. So when you want

to talk about creating jobs and providing stability, and providing a vision and

being able to maintain employment, and be able to advise companies who are

bidding on contracts on roads and on our marine infrastructure, these are the

pieces we've laid out nothing new in the Throne Speech.

How

about agriculture, the legislation and the announcement by the Minister of

Fisheries and Land Resources to open up more agricultural areas? I mentioned

that yesterday. This is something that the Members opposite support. It's

something they said was in the Blue Book, but I guess they didn't get time to

introduce it somewhere in a 12-year span. They didn't find the time to introduce

an opportunity to open up agricultural lands.

How

about the capital works funding that we laid out last year? We are able to

increase some of our funding for that by leveraging funds from the federal

government. I can tell you employment in the Stephenville Port au Port region

this particular spring and summer as a direct result of municipal capital works

funding is going to be great.

We have

waterline extension projects going on in the Town of Stephenville, the Town of

Port au Port East. Port au Port West-Felix Cove-Aguathuna will have waterline

projects; the Town of Cape St. George, the Town of Lourdes. We're going to have

more work with respect to infrastructure this spring and summer, our contractors

will certainly be busy, I can tell you that, Mr. Speaker.

When it

comes to agriculture; I'm very proud to have Northern Harvest Sea Farms in the

Town of Stephenville. Northern Harvest Sea Farms is, I believe and you can

correct if I'm wrong, minister the only and first agriculture company in North

America to receive a four star rating, and they're going to embark on a $6

million expansion in the Town of Stephenville this summer. In doing so, they've

stated they will do this and they have done this from their initial construction

phase, they're going to use all local contractors to do this type of work. So

employment will be created there as well.

Mr.

Speaker, one of the things that was talked about yesterday as well was the $100

million in lost revenue as our government did not introduce the increase in HST

in January. In fact, we waited until July. We lost out on an opportunity for

$100 million. I want to remind the Member, that $100 million is one-tenth of

what you falsely led everybody to believe would be a deficit one-tenth,

absolutely one-tenth.

The

Member yesterday stated that they faced challenges as well, and, no doubt, there

were challenges over their tenure in government and, no doubt, there are

challenges that will be faced by every government. He specifically referenced

the fact that they faced challenges in 2004 and they faced challenges again in

2009. He went on to say that in 2009 their government was one of the first

governments to overcome what was known as the economic crisis that spread

throughout North America and rippled throughout other parts of the world; one of

the first governments to overcome that.

During

their time of challenges, what we seen, and I stated this yesterday, was a

government that put their hat on one industry. They put their hat on the most

volatile commodity that the world has known. So during a time when they're

stating they had faced challenges, and everything is wavering on the price of

oil, somewhere in there, that administration found a way to think it would be

logical to remove the 15 per cent tax on insurance premiums. We don't need that

anymore, they thought. Let's forget about that. How about we decrease the HST

down to 14 per cent seeing how we're doing so well. How about we go ahead and

decrease that down to 13 per cent seeing we're doing so well.

In fact,

while we're at it, why don't we decrease the income tax levels to the highest

earners in the province? Let's do that in '07, and the next year say: my God,

we're doing so well, let's decrease the income tax brackets again. Doing all

this, and then only to get into 2009 where you're stating yourself you had a

challenge, and during a time of challenge rather than prepare for the future and

set aside any funds, we're just going to keep decreasing taxes and just letting

it roll. And letting it roll to the point where you now have a transition in

government and you have folks on this side of the Legislature that come in and

being blindsided by $1.1 billion. To that end perhaps, I believe one of the

greatest pieces of legislation that was passed here this year was Bill 65, An

Act to Amend the Financial Administration Act.

Yesterday, we heard again that the Liberals were supposed to be open and they

were supposed to accountable and we're supposed to be accountable. One of the

biggest and best accountability measures that we've put in place is ensuring the

release of public accounts so that no administration, no matter what stripe or

colour, Mr. Speaker, if they are to transition into government, if any future

government is to come in, we now have in place legislation that will ensure

everyone in the province will know what the state of the finances are.

So to be

over there yesterday in recognizing the Speech from the Throne from His Honour,

to suggest we're only blaming, we didn't live up to any promises, there's

nothing new that we're doing, and that is what it is. It was really difficult to

sit here yesterday and listen to that, Mr. Speaker extremely difficult to

listen to that yesterday.

Some of

these initiatives, again, as I mentioned, all the time in the world to

implement. We went through the legislation and I did this just the week before

last, before the House recessed for constituency week. I went on to reference

some of the pieces of legislation we brought in and I did point out all the

pieces that they supported. All the pieces of legislation that they supported

that we have brought in this year; did not see them not support that.

In true

Opposition fashion, we continue to hear from the Members opposite that they are

unhappy with the things that we've done and we don't have any new plan. Just

like last year, Mr. Speaker, during budget debate, I have yet to hear any ideas

from the Members opposite on a new plan.

I'm

actually looking forward this afternoon to the private Member's motion brought

in by the Member for Conception Bay East Bell Island. For those looking

forward to that private Member's motion this afternoon, it's around holding a

summit for educational professionals in the province, to look at instructional

resource teachers and allocations and how do we help inclusive education. I'm

looking forward to that. It's an initiative brought in by an administration that

had 12 years to do that. They had 12 years to do that too.

It's

just a common theme that we see. Suddenly there are ideas that they're bringing

in and they're saying why don't we do this, when they had all the opportunity in

the world. The 64 pieces of legislation we passed last year, they had all the

opportunity in the world to do them last year themselves the year before.

They

must have been too caught up with the boundaries commission and the change; they

only had the House of Assembly open for five weeks. They were too caught up with

the changes perhaps, I don't know. All the pieces of legislation they supported

and thought it was great, where was the initiative to bring it in from the other

side?

Mr.

Speaker, I won't go on too much more. We're going to have a significant amount

of time to speak to Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne. Again, I'll

take a moment to thank His Honour for the Speech from the Throne. It certainly

is a great day and is a proud day to be here in this province and to have the

distinct honour to be here in this Legislature when we bring in His Honour and

we hear about the plans that the government is going to have moving forward and

that our government has. There are a number of plans that we've laid out that

the Members have clearly agreed with and they'll continue to play politics with

that and suggest that it is something that they don't agree with.

I look

forward to continuing the course of the debate, but with that, Mr. Speaker, I'll

take my seat.

Thank

you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Labrador West.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. LETTO:

Well thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I was

waiting for somebody on the other side to take the opportunity to have a few

comments on the Speech from the Throne, but I'm amazed that nobody stood up. I

was sort of taken off guard.

I just

wanted to have a few words on the Speech from the Throne yesterday. First of

all, I want thank my colleague for the District of Stephenville Port au Port

and my colleague for Exploits for putting the motion forward and doing such a

great job of introducing the debate on the Speech from the Throne.

I guess

the response has been varied, but not surprising some of the responses that

we've heard from the Opposition on the Speech from the Throne yesterday which

I thought was a very good document, a very good speech and certainly lays out

our plan for the next few months to implement some good things around this

province. But the only comments I get, I hear from the other side and from the

leader of the Third Party, for instance, is empty platitudes, meaningless

targets. When I hear these things, I don't quite understand where they're coming

from because what's happened and I'm going to have a chance to elaborate on

this. Last Friday, the Premier and the Minister of Transportation and Works

released the five-year, multi-year plan for infrastructure investments. It's a

Way Forward document.

In that

document, there are some great initiatives, good objectives, timelines attached.

So when I hear these things, empty platitudes and meaningless targets, I think

it's just for the sake of opposing rather than being constructive. Because if

we're going to get this province back on even keel, we need all of our parties

working together and all the people in the House of Assembly, as the Premier

said yesterday and he was hoping to achieve; but obviously, after the comments

yesterday from both parties, he decided to take a different route. And rightly

so, because his remarks yesterday were quite appropriate.

When I

heard the Leader of the Official Opposition, and my colleague for Stephenville

Port au Port already referred to it this morning, talking about waffling and

wavering and at a time when we need hope, we get uncertainty. Well, Mr. Speaker,

we've experienced at least two, three challenging years in this province. With

the drop in the oil prices and all the commodities, it's been challenging. It's

been challenging for us on this side of the House.

I won't

belabour the point, as my colleague for Stephenville Port au Port has so

eloquently demonstrated this morning, the state of this province and we took

over the reins of government. We were led to believe that we were coming in with

a $1.1 billion deficit. We find that not only was it a $1.1 billion deficit, but

it was twice that. When you're talking about B as in billions, when the one

becomes a two, I tell you, it's not like going from $5 to $10. You're talking a

major, major change in the financial situation of this province, and that's what

we had to face.

AN HON. MEMBER:

It was game changer.

MR. LETTO:

It was a game changer;

absolutely, it was a game changer. To say that we knew all about this while we

were in campaign mode, I think is just ludicrous.

So, Mr.

Speaker, I'm not going to belabour that point. What I want to do and I think

what we all should be doing in this House, on both sides, is looking at the good

things, looking at the positive future that we have in this province. I think

the plan that was laid out by the Premier and the Minister of Transportation and

Works on Friday goes a long way.

First,

we've often heard, for the past year, we have no plan. Yeah, the government has

no plan. Well, I looked up the definition of a plan this morning on Google, just

to make sure, just to ease my mind. I thought we had a plan, and I just wanted

to make sure that our plan matched the definition of what a plan is. It's

written on Google and Google never lies; Google is always right. A plan is a

written account of intended future course of action, aimed at achieving specific

goals on objectives within a specific time frame.

Now, if

this document doesn't fit that description, I'm at a loss. Because what this

document does is exactly what a plan is, and this is a good plan.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. LETTO:

So for the Opposition to keep

saying that we have no plan, they need to change the rhetoric because this is a

plan and it's a good one.

I'm

going to take a few minutes to go through a couple of things in the plan because

what this is, it's a five-year plan that lays out the objectives of this

government. It lays out the things that we are going to do in the next five

years. It lays out a time frame, when it's going to be done. It gives it a

momentary value that needs to be spent to achieve the plan. So for anybody to

say we have no plan, it's just ludicrous.

For

instance, under health care, we're going to spend $23 million for repair and

renovations projects in health facilities across the province; $20 million for

replacement and upgrading of the medical equipment at the health facilities

province wide; $13.2 million to advance the replacement of the Western Memorial

Regional Hospital; $10 million to construct a new electrical substation to

service the Health Sciences Centre and Memorial University; $7.5 million to

advance the replacement of the Waterford Hospital. And we've all just heard

AN HON. MEMBER:

It's a good plan (inaudible).

MR. LETTO:

It's a good plan.

We just

heard the report from the All-Party Committee on Mental Health that requires us

as a government, and something that we've committed to, we're spending 5.7 per

cent of our health care budget on mental health, which is well below the

national average. We need to increase that to 9 per cent by 2022.

We as a

government, we're committed and the Minister of Health will be releasing

another plan by the end of June that will outline and implement the

recommendations of the all-party committee; 54 recommendations which are very

much needed in this province. It's 54 recommendations that all parties in this

House agreed to and needs to be done, and it's long, long overdue. Many people

have suffered because of it, and none more than the District of Labrador West, I

might add.

We can

go on and on; K to 12 education. Now, I just had the Minister of Education in my

district, the District of Labrador West, last week for two days where we visited

all the schools in Labrador West. There are four of them, including the French

school, cole de franais, the elementary school or the primary school, I

might add the middle school and the high school and we met with all the

principals. We met with many students. We met with many, many teachers, and I

tell you I accompanied the minister on these visits, and the conversations

they had with the teachers in those schools was very frank, pointed, and they

didn't hold back, and neither did the minister.

recognize that there are some shortfalls in the system but, nevertheless,

teachers, principals understand where we are as a government and they're willing

to work with us to overcome those shortfalls. I might add, in the feedback that

I got after the minister left was very positive from the community, from the

teachers, and the fact that he took the time out of his busy

schedule in

constituency week to come and visit Labrador West was very much appreciated.

So when

we look at the expenditures in the K to12 education and Coley's Point is even

there.

AN HON. MEMBER:

Coley's Point.

MR. LETTO:

Coley's Point Primary School is in this plan, and it will be done, Mr. Speaker,

it will be done.

We look

at several expenditures around our schools, including the school in the Mobile

High School, which is a topic of discussion these days, $5.3 million to begin

construction on the extension of that school. So we are dealing with the issues

that we face in the education system, and post-secondary education is no

different when we look at Memorial University and the College of the North

Atlantic.

I want

to put a plug in here for, again, the District of Labrador West, with our

College of the North Atlantic. We are going through a study as we speak, to have

the College of the North Atlantic Labrador West Campus designated as the mining

centre of excellence. Well, that's natural. Where else would you put a mining

centre of excellence if you don't put it in Lab West? That study will not only

enhance the campus at Labrador West, it will also enhance campuses all around

this province, because all the campuses will have a role to play in that

designation. So, again, we're moving forward.

Municipal Infrastructure; we're seeing unprecedented expenditure in municipal

infrastructure, and the Minister of Municipal Affairs can certainly demonstrate

that better than I can; but, nevertheless, there are many, many dollars being

spent on municipal infrastructure. Yes, we've adjusted the cost ratios that is

true, to reflect the financial situation of the day, but we are smart enough.

We are

smart enough and we're forward-thinking enough to know that water and waste

water are priorities when it comes to municipal infrastructure. That's where the

cost-sharing ratios have not changed because we know there are many communities

around this province who need that infrastructure installed, and we will be

there to help communities get that done.

Transportation Infrastructure; now, I know that Transportation and Works, and we

know this time of the year that there are many potholes, lots of pictures flying

around of potholes and whatnot. It's that time of the year, and we do have our

crews working on that.

The one

I want to focus on, Mr. Speaker, is the Trans-Labrador Highway. I just want to

read the

section in this plan that refers to the Trans-Labrador Highway, because

it is a major project for us in Labrador. It's a project that's well along, I

must say, and I want to thank the previous administration for continuing the

investment in this much needed highway.

The

statement in this document that really pleases me is: The Department of

Transportation and Works will continue to work with its federal counterparts to

secure additional funding to complete Phase II and III of the Trans-Labrador

Highway. To see $55.7 million referenced in this document to continue the hard

surfacing of the Trans-Labrador Highway is welcome news, and this year I know

there are already contracts let to pave 160 kilometres from the Town of Red Bay

to Charlottetown Junction. So things are well on the way there.

Justice

and Public Safety; again, we recognize the need for that infrastructure around

our province. When we saw last year the courthouses that were scheduled for

closure but recognizing that this is a much needed infrastructure that we cannot

afford to let go. We were prepared to leave them, and one of them of course was

in Wabush. So I want to thank the minister and the department for recognizing

the importance of having those facilities throughout our province.

So, Mr.

Speaker, I just want to take a few minutes to go back to the Budget Speech

itself. Labrador West is the district I represent and we're there for a reason.

Labrador West exists because of the iron ore mines. I don't need to tell anybody

where that commodity has gone in the last couple of years, but we are seeing

some revival. Prices are going up. It's still very volatile. It depends on which

morning you get up, it could be up $5, it could be down $5; but $5 a ton is a

big move and it means a lot. What we're seeing because of the increased activity

or the increased improvement in the commodity prices and in the markets, we are

seeing new activity within the mining sector.

I just

want to highlight a couple of things. By the way, despite the lower commodity

prices last year and this is referenced in the Throne Speech mineral

shipments are forecast to be $2.9 billion in 2017. That's the highest it has

ever been, and as we improve the markets you will see that number increase. So

mining has always been and will continue to be a major contributor to the

finances of this province. It's not only in Labrador West, although we have the

iron ore mines. There's Voisey's Bay, there's the gold mines on the Baie Verte

Peninsula, as my colleague for Springdale Green Bay so proudly talks about,

and he has every right to do so. There's a Canada Fluorspar mine down in St.

Lawrence on the Burin Peninsula that's being constructed. So mining has a great

future in this province, and again it will continue to be a major contributor to

the finances of Newfoundland and Labrador.

IOC I

don't know how many people heard the president of IOC. He spoke at the Board of

Trade on Monday here in St. John's. He was very positive very positive about

the future of IOC and the future of the region, the future of the iron ore

industry in general. Because of that, IOC has now decided, made the final

decision, to move ahead with the development of Wabush 3 deposit.

The

Wabush 3 deposit is crucial to the future viability and sustainability of IOC.

What we see today, because of the development of that iron ore pit, we will see

an extension of at least 12 years of life for the mine, and that's significant.

Now, the iron deposits in Labrador West are certainly plentiful; nevertheless,

to see development of those pits is crucial to the future, and it gives people

confidence.

I've

seen that confidence we've had a couple of rough years in Labrador West. With

the closure of Wabush mines and the downturn in the industry itself, it's been a

rough couple of years. We are seeing the confidence grow and hopefully, in the

next year or so, we'll even see more of that.

Now,

people will say, well and they keep asking me: Will Wabush ever start again? I

believe it will I believe it will. As you know, I've mentioned publicly that

Monday past was the deadline for any interested parties to have their proposals

in to the monitor the monitor is the CCAA person who's controlling the

bankruptcy protection of Cliffs. They had until Monday night.

anxiously await the report from the monitor to see if there's any viable

proposal that's acceptable to the monitor that we can move forward with. We look

forward to that, and certainly with bated breath we hope that there is something

positive in that. Again, it's a wait-and-see game at this point, and I'm sure

that we will see some positive activity in that region.

The

Opposition clearly talks about we have no diversification plans. Well, Labrador

West, I think, is a poster child of that, with the data centres that have been

developed and I've spoken about this in the House before as well. We have one

up and running, we have one about to start, and we have a third one that's being

planned. They are not big employment creators but they are big users, consumers

of electricity, which is money to the coffers of this province, and it instills

confidence again in the region.

It's a

new industry for us. It's an industry in Labrador West because of our climatic

conditions, and that's what you have to build on. This is what we need more of.

We need regions in this province to build on their assets. If that's what it

takes to move forward, then that's what we have to do. Labrador West is a great

example of that, so I am very proud. I am very proud to represent the people of

Labrador West and the fact that we are prepared to look at diversification and

we're doing a real good job of it.

Mr.

Speaker, again, I will close my comments as I started. We don't have time for

the negativity. This is not a time to be negative about the future. This is a

time to be positive. We heard things yesterday and the headline in one of the

papers this morning is: a way backward instead of forward . I mean, nothing can be further from the truth, Mr. Speaker. We

have a plan, despite what the Opposition may say. We do have a plan. It's all

rhetoric. It's time for them to change the dial because we have a plan. We will

implement our plan. We will report on our plan. We are accountable to our plan

and we will complete our plan.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. LETTO:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's

such a pleasure to follow my esteemed colleague, the Member for Labrador West,

and all the initiatives that he talked about that's happening in Labrador around

mining and diversification, and to have the opportunity to respond from the

Speech from the Throne. I certainly, as a minister, believe in

The Way Forward . I believe in the Premier and our team that we have

in place here on this side of the House to really get this province back on

track. We've presented a plan that's very clear, that has measurable targets and

deliverables, which will grow and diversify the economy.

I want

to point out, though, that when I listened to the Leader of the Opposition

yesterday in his response, I was appalled. So I had to go back and I had to just

look at the documentation of the Estimates. I go back and look at the

instability that was created by the former PC administration. They had 3

premiers and a merry-go-round of ministers. When I walked into the Department of

Tourism, Mr. Speaker, there were five Tourism Ministers in just over one year.

If you

look at where the total public sector debt was in 2013, while this whole

transition of 3 premiers under their administration, there was $6.7 billion in

total public sector debt. Now, that's an interesting number: $6.7 billion. It's

much more manageable than what we have today. So 2013, 2014, 2015 at the end

of their tenure, in just three years, they grew the total public sector debt to

$12.2 billion in 2015. That's absolutely shameful. That's $5.5 billion; that's

almost double.

We had a

Finance Minister, a PC Finance Minister, that got up and said that math is not

his forte; it wasn't his best subject. Well, thankfully, we have a Finance

Minister who understands math, understands targets and understands the

importance of performance management and delivering on key targets to get us

back to surplus. We have a seven-year plan to get back to surplus.

If you

look at the 12 years of overspending that happened and the bad business deals by

the previous administration with their Muskrat Falls Project that they were

fixated on, that is now over budget, predicting that oil would be at $100 a

barrel for over 55 years, Mr. Speaker, they couldn't budget year over year.

colleagues talked about it. When they campaigned, they said there'd be a $1.1

billion deficit. It ended up being $2.2 billion. Had we not changed course, it

would have been $2.7 billion. Right now, we're at a point, during the fall

fiscal update, that we've gotten the deficit under control to $1.6 billion.

We're making great progress here.

Had the

previous administration actually planned and put forward initiatives and

contained their cost of spending, we would have been in much better shape as a

province. I say to people if you look at where we were when we took office and

you were running your household, it's like you had your credit cards maxed to

the max, you pay a little bit but you take a lot of interest as the Member for

Stephenville Port au Port said, there's a billion dollars in interest

payments, more than education right now, and that's not good.

So if

you're taking your credit cards, maxing them out, your line of credit is already

overextended and you need to go buy a car now because you need transportation

how do you go do that? You have to raise more revenue. That was the position

that we were placed in very unfortunate position, but we had to look at

increasing revenue. We're focused on getting the province back on track, growing

revenue streams, but also containing cost.

This is

why, in the Speech from the Throne, I'm so pleased to see a number of the

initiatives that are talked about around industry and economy. I work with my

team of colleagues, the Minister of Natural Resources, the Minister of Fisheries

and Land Resources and a number of others as we talk about how we create those

jobs.

In the

Speech from the Throne, it's clearly talked about that we're going to have a

Cabinet committee on jobs; there will be a job lens. There are actual targets

put in place to create 14,000 person-years in specific industries when it comes

to aquaculture, when it comes to our agriculture sector. We've already advanced

initiatives as a government that we're going to basically be able to double the

available land that's currently in production for farmers or for people who want

to get into farming and doing these types of initiatives. There's great

opportunity.

The

Speech from the Throne talked about a return to groundfish and a focus on

transition. This is quite key, and we have a number of initiatives that the

Minister of Fisheries and Land Resources has undertaken under technology and

modernization and working with our federal government colleagues to see that

there was a $325 million fisheries innovation fund where $100 million is

earmarked for Newfoundland and Labrador. Plus, we'll be able to play in the

space for the $30 million in marketing and the initiatives around marketing.

There are lots of other initiatives that have been put forward by the federal

government to invest in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Our

institutions like the Oceans Frontier Institute, that's going to create 162

jobs; yet my critic on the other side said that's a bad deal for Newfoundland

and Labrador. Very, very unfortunate that he's opposed to job creation here in

Newfoundland and Labrador, but we've seen bad business deals from the other

side, Madam Speaker.

I will

say that we're very targeted on our initiatives when we look at tourism. When we

look at how we grow tourism that we talk about product development; we talk

about increasing air access. We look at the initiatives and the industries to

grow those 18,000 jobs across the province, because a lot of those jobs are not

only here in St. John's, but they're all across Newfoundland and Labrador, and

we're seeing a lot of synergies that are happening.

One of

the things that we're pairing, as well, Madam Speaker, and you may be quite

interested as the Member representing Cartwright L'Anse au Clair, that one of

our regional innovation systems pilot projects is going to be focused on

Southern Labrador and the Great Northern Peninsula around looking at fisheries

and tourism. We have a lot of synergies when it comes to both industries. When

it comes to tourism on the Great Northern Peninsula and in Southern Labrador we

have three UNESCOs it's a great opportunity. We also have a UNESCO at Mistaken

Point. We're certainly not forgetting them.

When we

talk about the cluster and the capacity of tourism and what exists that all

cultures basically collided on the Great Northern Peninsula of over 5,000 years

of history, and into Labrador, with Point Amour, the burial mound that exists

there, there's a lot to be capitalized on: Battle Harbour, the Vikings. I mean,

they were really our first come-from-aways. We have so much to celebrate there.

Then

also, we have the traditional fishing industry. We have St. Anthony Basin

Resources Inc. We have a lot of fish processing operations. We have

international shipping on the Great Northern Peninsula. We also have a lot of

great infrastructure in Labrador when it comes to the fishery; when it comes to

looking at the investment institutions, like the credit unions that exist; when

we talk about the Labrador shrimp company that's there. Those are all positive

things, and we look forward to using our academia with the Minister of Advanced

Education and Skills, when we look at the College of the North Atlantic that

exist and we talk about Academy Canada, and how we can work together to pull

resources to create greater opportunities, greater economic opportunities.

We're

not just stopping there for that pilot project. We're doing five pilot projects

across this province. There will be a pilot project that's going to be focused

in the Corner Brook area around forestry. We have Kruger that's operating a pulp

and paper mill there. We also have a lot of agriculture research that's taking

place, and a lot of agricultural land in the Cormack and Pasadena and the Codroy

Valley area.

The

Member for St. George's Humber is very particularly interested in looking at

the agricultural opportunities. And we've seen growth. We've seen where things

like canola, which is a 19 billion dollar industry that was planted under our

watch, Madam Speaker. That was an initiative that this government undertook.

The

former administration didn't have the vision to look at all the diversity and

all the opportunities that we have in agriculture, because they were just

fixated on oil. Oil is not a bad thing. We want to see more exploration, more

development and more activity. The Minister of Natural Resources has been

working very strongly on that and seeing good things happen in the oil and gas

sector, when you talk about the offshore development and things that are taking

place.

So we're

really looking at connecting from a supplier-development point of view as to how

some of the businesses and the local benefits, and how we can grow that piece of

pie. That's really important. It's all about having a good plan.

If you

look at Gander, Gander and area has always had a lot of potential around the

aerospace industry, looking at all the institutions that are there from the

college, the flight training; you have the aviation museum; you have the

airport. You have a lot of connectivity when it comes to supply and service

businesses, and potential to look at aerospace, how we grow that, and how we

build on our R & D capacity.

We saw

where Provincial Aerospace Ltd. secured a major contract with the federal

government and Bombardier. These are good things that are happening in our

economy that we've seen in the last number of months that are going to create

well-paying jobs for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians here, Madam Speaker. It is

not all doom and gloom; I can certainly tell you that. Although other people,

people on the other side will certainly only speak to the negative.

Then,

when you move forward to the Burin Peninsula, look at the potential for

industrial development that exists on the Burin Peninsula. You take in Argentia

and you look at the Clarenville, Arnold's Cove area, and you look at all the

activity that's there. It's a great golden triangle that it has been referred

to, and there is a lot of employment that's happening in those regions, a lot of

great infrastructure. So we're going to work to capitalize on the technology

aspects, how we can create synergies and how we can grow and create more jobs.

I was

very pleased to stand in this House not that long ago to announce the loan that

we had provided to Canada Fluorspar. That's going to create hundreds of jobs in

the construction and the development phase. They're long term for St. Lawrence.

Significant benefits to the economy. There's going to be shipping jobs as well

out of Marystown. It's all about building capacity and growing.

Then we

see with the Avalon Peninsula, when we look at ocean technology. So much

potential with Holyrood and their Oceans Initiative that they have, when we talk

about the Marine Institute, when we talk about the OceansAdvance and the

cluster, and that the federal government now is investing in these cluster

projects of upwards of $950 million over five years. We're resetting the

innovation agenda here. We've been consulting. We've been talking and we're

implementing priorities and plans that are going to grow the economy here in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

Having

targeted growth is quite key, and that's why the business innovation agenda will

certainly help see more tech companies. We have some really successful

businesses here in Newfoundland and Labrador that are securing international

contracts. They're playing in that space of sensor technology, whether they're

Solace Power in Mount Pearl North or whether they're Kraken Sonar that's playing

in this multibillion dollar defence and ocean technology space where their

technology is far superior to the big players that exist. We're doing great

things here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

When we

look at the arts and we look at the cultural community, we invest and we invest

heavily into arts, more than the national average, Madam Speaker. We're quite

excited to see that in the film industry; in film last year,

Frontier which is referred to

in the Speech from the Throne. The film industry last year created 600 full-time

equivalent jobs, had $46 million in production value alone.

That's not counting the post-production that NIFCO, given

their great operation and what they do, they have stellar equipment when it

comes to attracting operations and people coming from outside the province to do

post-production work because it's comparable to equipment that exists in

Montreal. We have the best on

the East Coast, Madam Speaker. We have a lot of talent. We have a great talent

pool that exists. We've built up capacity and we want to see film continue to

grow.

We've

seen where our music industry has received accolades year over year. MusicNL,

our industry association representing the musicians, we support them. We support

their operations. We support the programs to help grow that talent pool, and

they've been adding new members. It's quite exciting to hear and to talk about.

When we

look at our museums and our art galleries, and seeing the tourism stats, seeing

that the numbers are up significantly; they were up 34 per cent last year at

museums alone. When you look The Rooms, our cultural facility, when you look at

the numbers and the fact that we have a permanent we have the largest World

War I permanent exhibit in the country, and it's quite an honour to have that.

That raised $13 million in private sector, and a million dollars from the

federal government to pull off that initiative. Quite exciting.

Come From Away ;

we're really excited to see that Come From

Away came back to Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador, to celebrate the

kindness, the generosity, the hospitality and the warmth of the people of the

region during one of the world's most horrific events in recent memory. That

performance, that musical has gone to Toronto, it's been in California, it's

been in Seattle, it's been in Washington, D.C. and now it's on Broadway in New

York.

Just

last week I had the opportunity to be there in person, to talk to those key

operators in travel and trade. Some people who have not done business in

Newfoundland and Labrador and people who are currently doing business that are

coming back, whether it's the East Coast Trail and the pristine reason that they

want to have that outdoor nature experience, and the East Coast Trail is a

valuable asset.

We've

seen people come for the East Coast Trail and invest $500,000 in the Venture

Capital Fund here in Newfoundland and Labrador, because they know that

Newfoundland and Labrador is a good place to do business. We have competitive

taxation when it comes to the small business taxes here in Newfoundland and

Labrador. We've seen when we were down at

Come From Away , that people are excited to want to come to regions of the

province, whether it's the Twillingate Lewisporte area, whether they want to

go to Fogo Island Inn.

We see

where businesses are looking to reach out and create those packages and those

opportunities, and we're certainly there to support, Madam Speaker. We're there

to support a number of initiatives, whether it's in our tourism marketing or

whether it's in our product development plans, or whether it's working with our

partners as to how we grow and reach our vision of $1.6 billion by 2020. We're

going to get there. We can get there.

We've

been supporting a lot of initiatives when it comes to the tech sector, Madam

Speaker, through research and development and activities and initiatives here in

place. We want to work and create business incubators and accelerators, whether

they're at our College of the North Atlantic or in community. There are a lot of

great initiatives that are happening. The Speech from the Throne is clearly

setting that direction.

Yesterday, I met with the Community Sector Council and we talked about social

enterprise. We talked about the value of social enterprise to the community and

the economy, whether it's Choices for Youth or Stella's Circle, the Hungry Heart

Cafe.

We saw

where MUN Enactus partnered with the social enterprise Choices for Youth for

Project SucSeed, where you're linking up agriculture; you're linking up food

security. You're looking at being able to provide food in the North when it

comes to Nunavut, when it comes to coastal communities, when it comes to

isolated and rural areas. This is a great solution to a number of problems that

exist with growing fresh and healthy product in a lot of rural isolated

communities across the world.

So we're

really proud of the initiatives of our young people and the opportunities and

the solutions they see to be able to capitalize on that. Those are things we

want to continue to support and develop, foster at a very young age. This is why

I'm very pleased to see in the Speech from the Throne that there's support for

early learning and childhood educators, and support through subsidies to help

lower-income people ensure they have the ability to have their children at

daycare to avail of those programs and supports.

It also

then opens up a pool of labour as well, because we hear far too often that

businesses, whether they are small business or medium business, that there's a

mismatch of labour and sometimes it's the fact that people have barriers to

employment. We have to remove those barriers. So as a government we're taking a

very proactive approach to making sure that more people are able to enter the

workforce.

We're

focusing on immigration. What a great opportunity to bring more people here to

this province to help combat our declining population. When we look at the

potential of adding entrepreneurship, visas and the potential from an

immigration point of view, that when people come and create business, let them

grow, let them scale up. We're going to be focusing on business in Newfoundland

and Labrador where there's high growth potential where we can create those

long-term sustainable jobs.

We're

not focusing on these boom-and-bust megaprojects and economies that were fixated

in a solution by the previous administration because, if you look at that, how

we got there in 2013, 2014, 2015, public sector debt, the total public sector

debt just listen, while the Leader of the Opposition was under the helm

running this province $6.7 billion all the way up to $12.2 billion $5.5

billion in debt, basically doubling where we are now, maxing out the people's

credit card, maxing out that line of credit and forcing very difficult decisions

to be made.

We, as a

government, all of us on this side of the House, and we ask the people on that

side of the House too, to support The Way

Forward , support the Speech from the Throne, support the budget that's

coming down next week because we're going to grow the economy here in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MADAM SPEAKER (Dempster):

The Speaker

recognizes the hon. Member for Virginia Waters Pleasantville.

MR. B. DAVIS:

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

It's an

honour to rise in this hon. House again here today to deliver an Address in

Reply to the Throne Speech. I'd be remiss if I didn't say a big welcome to a

young friend of mine, Nick Hillier, who is in the House today taking in the

debate. So hopefully, he sees some great debate here hopefully, not one sided.

It's

hard to believe that almost over a year has gone by since we last had a Throne

Speech. I think that most of us on this side of the House, especially us rookie

MHAs; it has been a year of tremendous growth for us. Both out in our districts

and in this Legislature, we've had a unique experience of leading government in

the transition.

We took

over in 2015 when the PCs had been in power for 12 years the government that

left behind a sluggish, an inefficient and downright huge government. When we

took over, we knew sweeping changes we wanted to make and we got right to making

those changes. But changing direction on something that is lumbering and as huge

as the government the PCs left behind takes time. Full steam ahead, full speed

ahead on the reckless course that they set; it was a course that was led towards

nothing but ballooning debt and financial ruin.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MADAM SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. B. DAVIS:

Thank you.

You

should put your jersey back on. You were quiet when you had the jersey on.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MADAM SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. B. DAVIS:

That's right; you speak next.

I like listening to you.

MADAM SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I remind

the Member to direct his comments to the Speaker.

Thank

you.

MR. B. DAVIS:

Sorry, Madam Speaker. I

apologize to you.

The

worse part of this was the PCs didn't recognize and do anything to prevent it.

Instead, they were content to kick this problem to the province's future. When

we got into government, we immediately started to fix things. But I would like

to say changing direction takes time, and especially when it's a runaway

speeding train of debt that they left us.

It's

fair to say that we learned a number of lessons in the first 12 months as well.

We took crucial steps toward getting Newfoundland and Labrador back on the right

track. So when I think back to a year ago when we brought down the 2016 budget,

I feel a sense of accomplishment as well as some disappointment. We are in a

much better situation than we were 12 months ago, and we've made astounding

progress. The decision we made to raise taxes and fees and reorganizing the

delivery of service, we knew we're not going to be winning any popularity

contests, but they needed to be done. We were willing and they were not.

But when

we're facing the reality that if we did nothing, then we'd have to choose our

own popularity first, we were guaranteeing our province would never find a way

out of this hole. We did these actions knowing that we would suffer greatly in

the court of public opinion, but we also did them knowing that if we did

nothing, then we weren't going to fix this province at all. That was a year ago.

It's been a hard year for many, and this fact is not lost on me or any of us on

this side of the House, despite what Members opposite say.

Madam

Speaker, we've asked Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to shoulder a considerable

burden. We've asked them to sacrifice in the service of betterment of our home.

We stand by these decisions now, as we did back then. But every one of us on

this side of the House recognizes that there is a lot that the people have done

for our province.

We also

recognize the return for their sacrifice. We owe them nothing short of doing

more due diligence and careful consideration, considered work, at all times, and

in all sectors of our government. We owe them that action, immediate and

decisive action. Standing here addressing the hon. House a year later, I can

proudly attest to our track record of action on behalf of the province and its

people.

In 2016,

we passed 64 pieces of legislation in this House of Assembly, right here 64

pieces in our first year. Just for comparison sake, in 2015, the PCs: just 15.

Past practice will dictate future results. And if that's any indication,

obviously the legislative agenda that we brought forward as this government is

far-reaching in relation to what you the PC Party did before. But that's not the

only thing. In the last five years of the PC administration, they passed an

average of just 35 pieces of legislation.

It's

true; I'd hang my head, too, considering how much we've accomplished in the

first year, in very difficult times. For the most part, their legislative record

spoke of an aimless government, with no particular objective in mind other than

retaining favour of the voting public.

I find

it hard to believe to still hear on the call-in shows and read on Twitter from

the Members opposite to say we have no plan. My colleagues prior to me addressed

the plan. It's there in black and white. You may not want to read it, but it's

there, with measurable outcomes.

The

former premier has a habit of rattling off alternative facts and avoiding

responsibility for the fiscal situation that our province is in. Let us not

forget that less than two years ago, the former premier stood up and told the

entire province that we were $1.1 billion in debt. Well, obviously, my colleague

for Mount Pearl Southlands said he was hoodwinked on Muskrat Falls. I would

tend to agree the province was hoodwinked on the $1.1 billion deficit, because

we know, on the accounting side of it, that that was far worse than that.

colleague for Stephenville Port au Port mentioned about the fact that if it

was $100 million, maybe $200 million, maybe even $300 million more, we could

probably have dealt with it without having to do the far-reaching activities

that we had to do on this side of the government, that none of us wanted to do;

but, considering that it was an additional $1.1 billion that was not told to the

people of this province shameful.

It's

okay for the Members opposite to be like the ostrich party and bury their heads

in the sand and not take responsibility for anything that they did. They stand

in this House from time to time, when we bring in some nice pieces of

legislation, or we bring in Suboxone or Naloxone, and stand up and say: I was

going to do that. We started that. But we delivered it, that's the difference.

Talk is cheap; action is where the rubber hits the road.

So in 12

years you have a lot of talk and a lot less action, in my mind. From my opinion,

I think the rhetoric as my colleague from Lab West said should tend to stop

and focus on the fact that, listen, you can take credit for some good things

that you did. I'll agree there were some good infrastructure spends, there were

some good schools that were built and that's all good things, but you have to

also stand up for the things that are now coming back to roost, like Muskrat

Falls. You have to stand up on what your record is, because that's your legacy

project.

AN HON. MEMBER:

A ferry without a wharf.

MR. B. DAVIS:

Or a ferry without a wharf,

yes.

We've

talked about our plan a bit here this morning already. We have an ambitious

legislative agenda to deliver on the empty promises made by the PCs in some

cases, and we're going to deliver on that in spades.

One of

the pieces of legislation that we brought in was Secure Withdrawal Management

for Young Persons Act. A good piece of legislation, very well needed. We also

talked about the creation of an Office of the Seniors' Advocate. Even though

it's a luxury, is what the PC Party thinks, we don't agree.

We think

the Office of the Seniors' Advocate is great. We need that. Our aging population

is occurring. We have the oldest population in this country, and we can't think

of a better way to endorse that philosophy than putting an Office of the

Seniors' Advocate in place to address those concerns and make sure we have that

lens on legislation and things coming forward.

We also

have presumptive cancer legislation for firefighters that came forward. We

delivered on a signature piece of a commitment in one year, on many of these

signature pieces. You had the honour of 12 years serving in this House talking

about it, because if I remember correctly, presumptive cancer legislation was

first talked about in 2003, and that was early in your mandate.

There

was a lot of talk about delivery on it, a lot of firefighters consulted, and we

delivered on it within one year. We talked about it in our campaign. We

delivered on it, not only for career firefighters but for volunteers as well

which risk their lives each and every day in our communities right across our

province, from coast to coast to coast, and in Lab West.

So I

have no doubt that in 2017 this hon. House will bear witness to delivering on

another raft of broken PC promises, and they will continue to stand on their

feet in this hon. House and claim that they were going to do it and take credit

for it. We can let them do that, that's fine, but the people see through that,

because it's all about delivering.

The Way Forward

detailed our government's vision for sustainability and growth in Newfoundland

and Labrador. It's a roadmap for our province, the future for prosperity and

opportunity and a high standard of living for everyone we hope. This plan is

based on extensive consultations with Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and took

place as soon as we took office. It incorporates feedback and suggestions from

people all across our province.

In the

consultation process we developed a series of goals for the future of the

province. The Way Forward lists

concrete, measurable commitments, many of which have been discussed already, our

way of remaining accountable to the taxpayers of Newfoundland and Labrador.

We are

stepping away from the smoke and mirror approach of politics of the former

administration. The Way Forward is

working. Only this past week our Premier announced phase 2 of

The Way Forward , focusing on growth in

the private sector employment. Along with the announcement of specific phase 2,

the Premier announced phase 1 completed; structural savings of about $45

million. Is that enough? No. We have a lot more work to do, but it's a great

start.

On top

of already the many millions of dollars that our Minister of Finance and her

team have already shaved off the deficit, the minister and her officials have

realized these savings without compromising the delivery of services and

statistical outputs, and we know that sitting in the Department of Health. I

believe the new policy on zero-based budgeting is exactly the cure a government

that has grown too large needs.

sustainable and vibrant economy in Newfoundland and Labrador is possible, and I

believe such an economy can support a strong and dynamic private sector. Our job

as a government is to create the conditions that will help private enterprises

succeed, and that's what phase 2 will do.

Phase 2

is projected to create 14,000 person-years of employment. It's an astonishing

number.

AN HON. MEMBER:

How much?

MR. B. DAVIS:

Fourteen thousand years, a

tremendous figure in and of itself. And yes, it is based on credible numbers and

realistic targets. The Way Forward has

a strong focus on accountability, and we're asking the people of Newfoundland

and Labrador to keep us to our word. We are confident in our plan and we're full

speed ahead on it.

We have

asked a lot of the people but we are seeing results, and it won't be always like

this. Even now we're seeing progress. Even now we're seeing encouraging trends.

When prosperity returns, and for sure it will, because of the resilience and

strength of our people

AN HON. MEMBER:

Someday the sun will shine.

MR. B. DAVIS:

That's right, when we are in

the ideal financial position to make most of the opportunity we have.

I want

to take a little bit of time and just talk about my district. I have a few

minutes left, so I'd like to take a little bit of time and talk about my

district.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

MR. B. DAVIS:

Well, I'll always stand in

this House and be willing to stand and hopefully the people that are listening

will hear what I say, and if they ever have questions, please reach out to me.

Virginia Waters Pleasantville is a beautiful district. I would say one of the

most beautiful in our province.

MS. HALEY:

Next to Burin Grand Bank.

MR. B. DAVIS:

Next to Burin Grand Bank, I

guess, yes; and scenic Gander, of course, and perfectly centered Grand

Falls-Windsor Buchans.

So there

are a lot of beautiful districts in our province, and hopefully we'll get an

opportunity to go out there. I've seen many of them, but I'm very lucky to

represent the district I have, one of the most diverse economically, as well as

nationalities as well in the entire province. It's culturally vibrant

enhance the quality of education in our schools. Vanier, Virginia Park

Elementary and St. Paul's Junior High, each of these schools are examples of

excellent work that our educators do to support and uplift our children.

It has

been a joy for me to witness the development of the new school at Virginia Park,

as well as putting it back on track. I'd like to thank the Minister of

Transportation and Works for putting it back on track. It was off the rails for

a little while but I'm happy it's back on track there now and it looks like it's

going to be ahead of schedule. It may not be below budget, but it's definitely

going to be ahead of

schedule from where we thought. So I'm hoping we'll be

cutting the ribbon on that soon enough, but I know the due diligence our

minister has put in place to make sure this works, and we're very pleased to see

that in the community.

I firmly

believe this will be the anchor for the community now and into the future. It

promises to be an excellent facility for the children of Virginia Park and the

surrounding catchment area. I have the personal benefit of being a volunteer at

the school and it's one of the highlights of my time in office. I love

interacting with the children, staff and parents. They form a great cohesive

community. I can't wait to see the community grow into their new school.

Madam Speaker, organizations such as: the 150 RCAF

North Atlantic Wing, the Virginia Park Community Centre, Mary Queen of Peace

scouting clubs, St. Mark's church and CLB unit, Cygnus Gymnastics, are many

examples of incredible community outreach and volunteers within my community,

and it's an honour to represent these groups.

These groups deserve to be supported in the great work

they do by our government and we have been supporting them. All the ones that

I have mentioned have received support from government and we're very happy that

we can do that. Government can never match the multiplier effect that volunteer

hours and enthusiasm volunteers bring to their work. The passion that these

volunteers have for their community translates into action and, in turn, great

impact to the families in the district.

It has been an honour to serve on the All-Party

Committee on Mental Health and Addictions. I have to applaud my committee

colleagues, from all sides of the House. We've done a heck of a job of putting

together and crafting a report and recommendations respecting the newly shared

stories and struggles of individuals that we consulted with.

Thank you to each and every one of the people who chose

to share their difficult stories. This report is for them. I believe we are on

the verge of great changes in the way mental health services and addictions

supports are administered in Newfoundland and Labrador, and I think this report

will point the way there.

Madam Speaker, I've also had the great pleasure of

working with the Minister of Health during my time as his parliamentary

secretary.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

B. DAVIS:

I've been consistently amazed by his level of compassion and dedication to his

job

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

B. DAVIS:

and the file that he has a huge breadth of scope of knowledge on. I can't think

of anyone more qualified to be running the province's complex health machinery

than the man who has the job right now.

My time is getting short but, to wrap things up, I'd

just like to say after the first fiscal year in the Government of Newfoundland

and Labrador, I'm confident that our government, because of the actions and the

results that we've accomplished over this past year, we're in a good situation

right now.

There's a long way to go, no doubt, but we're in a much

better situation than we were when we took over, some 15 months ago. We have a

plan that's backed up by creditable figures and, even six months in, we're

seeing those results from this plan. This is the government that will lead

Newfoundland and Labrador back to a solid economic foundation, and I'm more

confident now more than ever that that'll be the case.

We're not prepared to stick our head in the sand; we'll

stand up for the things we've made, the decisions we've made. I would just ask

my colleagues from the other side of the House to pull their heads up out of the

sand and actually stand up for what they believe in as well, and fight for what

they did. Make sure that everyone knows the issues that you've stood for, let

them stand for themselves as well.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MADAM SPEAKER:

The Speaker recognizes the Minister of Education and Early Childhood

Development.

MR.

KIRBY:

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

It's a tough act to follow the Member for Virginia

Waters Pleasantville, but I'll give it the old college try. It's a privilege

for me to stand here representing my constituents in the District of Mount Scio.

There are only 40 of us here in the House of Assembly. Every time I get a chance

to talk to students in schools, I often tell them that they're only 40 of us. In

a population of about a half a million, we're the folks who have the privilege

of having these seats for a four-year period. It's a real privilege to be here

and to have this opportunity to give voice to concerns and issues that are

raised with us as Members of the House of Assembly.

I've been visiting a lot of schools over the past year

or so, basically since I became minister. I think one of the great things about

being Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development is that I get the

opportunity to visit a lot of schools. I've visited a good many schools around

the city since Christmas. I've visited schools in the Member for Cape St.

Francis's district; in the district of the Member for Fogo Island Cape Freels;

the Member for Grand Falls-Windsor Buchans; the Minister of Transportation and

Works; the Minister of Health and Community Services in Gander, I've been in his

schools in his district; the District of Terra Nova; the District of Humber

Bay of Islands, and Corner Brook. And most recently last week, I visited all of

the schools in Labrador City-Wabush.

There is no doubt that there are a lot of issues that

we have to deal with in the education system. Some of them are new and some of

them are long standing. It's good to talk to teachers, to talk to principals,

talk to student assistants, school staff, students themselves, to get a better

understanding of what the issues are in different areas, because they certainly

vary a lot.

Yesterday, I was really inspired to hear the Premier

respond to the Speech from the Throne that we heard yesterday. One of the things

that he said really put the hook into me; it really spoke to me. I've often said

in the House of Assembly that my parents were small business people. My parents

had a small convenience store. My mom was basically a shopkeeper. She worked

there for about 35 years, she was on her feet, working in the store. I just look

back at how hard she worked to provide employment, not only for herself and

provide for our family but to provide employment in the community and also to

pay into government coffers through a taxation that small business people have

to pay.

I was thinking about how many people I have encountered

through my work as a Member of the House of Assembly who are very much in the

same position. Yesterday, the Premier spoke about how important it is for us to

place a high value on that money that people pay in to the provincial Treasury,

because, certainly, the people who make that money and pay it in, place a high

value on it. And not just people like my mom, shopkeepers; people who are in all

matter of small business.

The amount of time they spend on their feet, just to

think about how much time they spend standing at a counter, on a job site, in

their business, on a shop floor, the amount of time they spend on their feet and

how hard they work to make those few dollars that they have to make to support

their families, and how much time they spend working after hours, after the

store closes, the business closes for the day, how much time they spend after

hours working on the affairs of their business. Because a lot of small business

people, they are dealing with HR issues, they are dealing with taxation issues,

they are dealing with all sorts of issues, payroll and so on, that really is in

invisible often to the person who is patronizing their business.

How much time they spend away from their family; how

many vacations they miss small business people oftentimes don't have the

opportunity just to shut it down and go somewhere else, because they're often

the primary person who is responsible. How many sacrifices those people make to

make a few dollars to try to make a go for it; how much time that they spend

away from their kids so they can support their children, support their families,

and help build our communities.

I think that's really a big part of what the Premier

was talking about yesterday. Those few bucks are precious to the people who are

making them. We have to aspire to spend them in the most responsible manner

possible and unfortunately,

for a period of time not to cast blame that was not being done.

As the

Lieutenant Governor, as he sat there yesterday where you're sitting, Madam

Speaker, he in the speech pointed out that we did have that culture of spending

as opposed to what small business people have to have, which is a culture of

saving and valuing every penny. We owe them; we owe them that much that we have

to take responsibility to treat those dollars as we would if they were our own.

One of

our responsibilities now is to clean up that $2.7 billion mess that was sitting

there when the election in 2015 was over. We also owe folks in this province, as

the Premier said yesterday; we have a responsibility to fix the Muskrat madness.

We have to make sure that when Muskrat Falls goes operational that senior

citizens in Newfoundland and Labrador are not burdened with power bills that are

twice what they're paying today. Whether it's seniors, low-income folks,

middle-income folks, community centres, arenas, halls, municipal facilities,

folks cannot afford to pay double the price of power that we see today. So we

have a great burden of responsibility today to fix that mess that is Muskrat

Falls.

So many

people told us at the time that we should not have been going down that road.

That oil was not going to stay above $100 a barrel for 35 years, or some sort of

wickedly, fantastic vision that someone had. It was not going to be that way.

Experts in energy production and electricity use told us that, academics told us

that. We had the public utilities board questioning all of this. We had an

independent panel that studied it and said there was no market for the

electricity and on and on and on. There was so much caution.

remember the Member for The Straits White Bay North, he gave a really, really

powerful speech over there on the other side of the House in the very sort of

twilight hours about the danger of this, and it's quite memorable.

So we

have that burden of responsibility. Yesterday the Premier spoke to that, and I

think he spoke to the people of the province about how we need to find a way

forward through all of this. It's a fog, but I'm from the Burin Peninsula, it's

probably one of the places in the world that gets the most fog. We find our way

through the fog. It's difficult sometimes to navigate, it's not always easy,

it's not what we want, it's challenging. It doesn't make us feel happy sometimes

but we find our way through the fog, because we have no other choice.

I'm

optimistic. I'm not going to turn my back on the people of this province. I am

not going to give up on people like my mom, on small business people, on people

who work hard and trust in us to make sure that they have the public services

they need, that they have the health care services they need, that their

children get a decent education like art, like we all had an opportunity to get.

I'm not giving up on them, we're not giving up on them, and the hon. Premier is

not giving up on them. I think he spoke quite clearly about that yesterday. We

are going to persevere. We are going to fix these problems, however large they

are.

We have

a plan. We had a report card on the initial part of that plan this week, and

there's more to be done. We are going to work with all of our partners,

everybody who wants to collaborate with government for the purposes of job

creation, whether it's in aquaculture, agriculture, energy itself, mining, all

sorts of areas, the fishery. We are going to work with those folks to do what we

can to make sure that our children and I have a small child in school myself

have better opportunities than we had ourselves. We have a responsibility to do

that.

We have

been doing quite a bit over the last year. There's no question, last year's

budget was difficult but there was a lot of good things in last year's budget.

As I've

said so many times before, in the 2015 provincial election all three political

parties in this province who were running candidates promised to implement

full-day kindergarten. Then after the election, first the PC Party and then the

NDP said no, no full-day kindergarten for our kids. No full-day kindergarten.

Again yesterday, we heard the Leader of the Opposition, the former premier, once

again speaking out against full-day kindergarten.

I've

been in schools. I've been in almost three dozen, I would say, since the new

year began. There's no doubt, there are growing pains with full-day

kindergarten. There are growing pains with any new program that government

implements. It doesn't matter what kind either. There are always going to be

problems.

One of

the key problems with full-day kindergarten, as I've been able to ascertain from

directly speaking to full-day kindergarten teachers all across the province, one

of the primary problems is they didn't get curriculum materials on time. Well,

guess what? There are grade one teachers and grade two teachers and grade three

teachers, and I could go on, there are teachers at every grade level who didn't

get curriculum materials on time. Guess which year that happened, this year? No,

Madam Speaker, every single year that's an issue.

That's

students in a province with a vast geography as ours that you're going to have

that problem. That's a legitimate concern. We are addressing them, but that's

probably the most significant issue outside of supervision.

Some

teachers have told me, it is true, that you have more students in school for a

longer period of time than you're going to have more supervisory responsibility,

no question. That is part of it. That would happen if we had enrolment

fluctuations; that would happen if we had reorganizations of schools as we've

often had. That is a fact. There is no question about it, but that does not

negate all of the positive things that educators who are worth their salt know

about this program.

Every

province in Canada had the wisdom to implement full-day kindergarten before we

did. Now the PC Party and the NDP party want us to stay mired in the past, for

our children not to have the same opportunities as children in the rest of

Canada, then that's their business. We have moved on. We have full-day

kindergarten, and right now there are over 4,600 children in the province who

are getting a better start in life because of full-day kindergarten.

Yesterday, the Member for Conception Bay East Bell Island was up on his feet

talking about inclusive education. Sure one of the primary benefits, according

to all of the literature you can read on full-day kindergarten, is that children

who have special needs, exceptionalities of one or another that need to be

addressed, get earlier diagnosis if they're in school earlier in a full-day

program. Sure there are jurisdictions in this country that have full-day

kindergarten for four year olds. They call it junior kindergarten, but the PC

Party and the NDP party want us to be stuck in 1960s. Well, that's not good

enough for children in this province. That is not sufficient.

Another

thing we did last year in the budget is we added additional resources for

inclusion. We added 27 new inclusive instructional resource teachers, IRTs, who

work with kids with special needs. We added additional resources for student

assistant time. We did that last year in the budget, more teachers and more

student assistants. Now, that's a fact. Now you can say something contrary if

you want, but those are the alternative facts that one of the Members was

talking about a little while ago. It doesn't have to be true, you can say it but

that's not the fact. The fact is last year we added substantial new resources

for inclusion in our schools.

Another

thing we did last year, because we had a school board election. Now, for years

the PC Party denied the people of the province their right to elect their

trustees for their school district. And for whatever reason, I have no idea

and they talk about political patronage here every day they decided they were

in a better position to choose the trustees. So they picked the party faithful

by and large, there are some exceptions, but by and large they picked the people

they wanted to be trustees for the new school district and they just put them

there.

They

told the people in Newfoundland and Labrador, we know better than you. We're

going to pick the trustees for you instead of doing what every other

jurisdiction does, which allow people to elect their own trustees. We had the

school board election. Now we have two school boards that are democratically

elected. Now, it wasn't perfect, but what is. There are a few growing pains

along the way. We live, we learn.

The next

time there's a school board election I'm sure there'll be issues, but there will

also be improvements. To be honest, there was such a lengthy period of time

between having a school board election and having the one last fall, that no

wonder we had issues because it was that long ago that we actually had school

board elections.

Another

thing that was done, when we were in Opposition, I remember this very one day, I

had a conversation with the Premier about what we should do to address some of

the fundamental issues that are problematic in the school system. We had a

conversation and we decided to do something. He decided to do something that has

not happened in more than a decade in this province. We'll say it's probably an

opportunity that only comes once in a generation when it comes to the House of

Assembly. He formed a Premier's task force on improving educational outcomes and

gave it a broad mandate to look at some of those issues in our schools.

This

week, the task force finished their consultations. So January, February, March,

for three months the Premier's task force on improving educational outcomes has

been going across the province talking to, I would dare say, thousands of

people. Hundreds and hundreds have shown up to public meetings. There have been

submissions from a host of different groups in education.

There

were lots of teachers who completed the online survey from what I understand,

and they will be providing a report to the Department of Education and Early

Childhood Development in June or July, hopefully June, but sometime in the

summer. We will then operationalize those recommendations of the task force in

an education action plan. Those changes that are needed in the school system

will be implemented for September 2018.

I have

had a good number of conversations with the task force members. I've told them

to sort of think big. Think about fundamental change. Try to address those

issues that are most problematic in the school system.

A few

weeks back the Premier and the Minister of Transportation Works announced a

five-year infrastructure plan which included the replacement of a school in

Coley's Point

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KIRBY:

which the previous

administration failed to do over more than a dozen years in office. It's a

facility that's 60-plus years old. Well overdue for replacement, and we are

going to get that work done

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KIRBY:

because the people in that area deserve it.

The

member for the area, the Member for Harbour Grace Port de Grave has been

constant in her advocacy for the replacement of the Coley's Point school and

certainly it's something that is a high priority for government. We will get it

done.

There's

a lot more I could say, obviously, but I'll leave it at that. I look forward to

more opportunities to discuss the budget once we see it on the floor.

Thank

you, Madam Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MADAM SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Madam

Speaker.

It's a

great pleasure to rise to reply to the Speech from the Throne given by

Lieutenant Governor yesterday. It's interesting to have a little bit of ceremony

in the House once in a while, a little bit of colour, the dress uniforms of the

various services who accompany His Honour.

With the

indulgence of the House, I would like to take a few moments to talk a little bit

about my own district. As minister, usually my time in the House is taken up

with departmental activities, but I think it would be only sensible to emphasize

some of the things from the Throne Speech and also some of the activities in my

own district over the last little while.

It is

actually 80 years ago this year that construction began on what was then the

Newfoundland Airport, and it's interesting how threads come together. One of my

colleagues not that long ago, retired from James Paton in Gander. He moved to

Gander from Botwood where his father was responsible for operations of the

seaplane base there.

For

those of you are interested in history, that was the transatlantic stopping

point for flights at that time. Mr. Blackie Sr. moved to Gander where his lad

grew up seeing lots of pale blue uniforms from the RAF and the RCAF because not

long after Captain Frazer landed his Fox Moth in Gander in 1938, the political

situation in Europe deteriorated and war was declared.

Peter

Blackie grew up there and eventually went and did pre-med in Memorial, as it

then was, Memorial College I think, and went to Dal to do medicine. He was the

first of many people actually who left Gander to get an education and then

returned where he served his community, and continues to serve his community

with distinction. He was actually recognized by the Canadian Forces a year ago

with the Queen's Medal, the highest commendation a civilian can gain from the

military for having provided nearly 50 years of continuous service to Canadian

Forces at the base in Gander. He had a ceremony, a more civilian ceremony as it

were, involving the base and one of three search and rescue who he is still the

flight surgeon for all these years later.

His

career path really mirrors, in large part, the trajectory of Gander. He was

heavily involved with aviation. It became the pivotal point for the North

Atlantic ferry command and later became the stop for early transatlantic jets.

Indeed, having an interest in aviation, it was one of the few places in Canada

of which I was aware before I immigrated. I'd heard of Gander as a teenager,

where I really didn't know and couldn't have told you where Ottawa or St. John's

was.

Interestingly enough, his children, one whom became a pediatrician, but there

other is Rob Blackie who was alluded to by the Minister of Culture who was one

of the active producers of Frontier

series, went into film. It seems to be a tradition in that generation in Gander

because Brad Peyton, another of his contemporaries, was active with

San Andreas and his mom, again, worked in health care.

So there

is this mix in Gander of aviation, tradition and a more forward-looking

generation involved in cultural activities. The reference in the Throne Speech

was really to build on Gander's deep roots, indeed it's raison d'tre, which was

aviation, and speaks about aerospace and defence as a centre for innovation for

the province moving away from traditional businesses and traditional industry to

develop and diversify our economy. It is certainly something that we've learned

from the mistakes of previous generations. We need to move away from single

business lines, be it wood, cod, mining or oil, which has led us down a certain

path of expectation which was never realized.

The

aerospace industry in Gander has likewise waxed and waned; it is recovering now

on a sustainable footing. It's one of the airports in the country which is

posting small but regular surpluses, and has a very active board and a business

plan going forward. It still has the lowest number of down days due to weather

of any Atlantic Canadian airport; has the longest runway in Atlantic Canada

even longer than Stephenville, for my colleague over the way, from a technical

perspective.

So it

has a secure foundation in aviation. The Chamber of Commerce and local business

and the Airport Authority are very active in promoting that, and I think were

delighted, certainly from the feedback I've received from the chamber, to see

that announcement in the Throne Speech about a centre for innovation for

aerospace in Gander.

It goes

without saying that the publicity from

Come From Away has drawn renewed attention to not just Gander, but the

surrounding communities within my own district and neighbouring Districts of

Lewisporte Twillingate, for example, where the hospitality of those folk on

that very difficult day, some years ago, has finally found a new way of being

recognized through the arts and through entertainment.

speaks well to the possibilities for Gander in the future as a destination of

itself, and not merely just as an airport, as a portal to other places. There

are all sorts of possibilities there now building on the success of the

entertainment piece, and I know my colleague from Tourism and Culture is active

in trying to pursue that, and I certainly will be going back to the hospitality

industry locally to see what we can do in advance of this year's tourist season.

rather than just being simply a portal to get into the province, I see huge

possibilities for Gander as a destination in and of itself, including the

surrounding areas. The fishing on the Gander River, the activities in the woods

around Gambo and Benton, there are enormous possibilities there.

again, it's not an opportunity I get very often as a Minister of the Crown to

stand and talk about my own district, but they are the people who put me here,

and I think I do them a disservice not to recognize that fact as often and as

vigorously as I can.

It was

interesting, however, to move into the realm of the government portfolio. My

colleague behind me, my vary able parliamentary secretary, without whose

assistance this last 16 months would not have been as straightforward as it

could have been, I certainly appreciate his wise counsel and active help, to

reciprocate his very kind comments from earlier on.

mentioned 64 pieces of legislation, and I think what struck me with the

initiatives I've brought to the House, both in terms of legislation and policy

changes, is the immediate almost jack-in-the-box response from Members opposite

who pop up and said, well, I thought of that; we were going to do that.

If you

pick, for example, the patient safety legislation, that sat in the Department of

Health for three years, and it ran against an obstacle, which was an obstacle of

principle, an obstacle of practical implementation. They ran out of energy; they

ran out of interest; they parked it.

The same

thing happened with the MCP insurance act, which is one the earliest bills I had

the privilege to introduce into the House. They ran into some obstacles; they

parked it; they put it on one side and ran out of interest and energy. It never

got anywhere. There were other pieces of legislation where they ran into

tangles, and I'm thinking now the secure management piece of legislation. They

ran into concerns, perfectly valid and ethical, but they couldn't be bothered

finding the energy to work their way round them. But yes, they thought of them.

Well, in

the last year, the last 16 months or less, we have taken those pieces of

legislation, we have actively sought out solutions to the problems that they

abandoned, we fixed the legislation, brought it before the House and received

enthusiastic, if not unanimous, support for all of them.

So I

would contrast the thinking with the doing. Really, I think it's very, very

unfortunate that someone feels so bound to try and claim credit for things that

really and honestly they can't claim credit for. Essentially, as I say, they

stalled because they ran out of energy and effort over the last three years. I

think this is the hallmark of a tired regime who resort to idleness when the

challenges become too great.

Yesterday, in the first of the Address in Reply around the motion to craft a

response to His Honour, the Premier got up and used a phrase, which I hadn't

heard before, which was: Facts tell and stories sell. I had actually heard it in

a different way, that narrative beats numbers any day, but that's kind of a more

scientific jargon.

What

we've seen, I think, over the last little while is a concerted effort by the

Members opposite to craft an alternate reality, to craft a story that really

isn't based in any fact or reality that you can appreciate objectively. What

they've tried to do is to do this, to downplay their inability to deliver, but

also to distract attention from another phenomenon I mentioned in the previous

session of the House, which is the fact that somehow none of where we are today

has anything to do with anything they did or didn't do in the last 12 years.

It's

this huge disassociation. It's as though, for the

Star Trek fans, this crowd beamed in on the 1st of December to a

situation of which they were totally ignorant and had no part. I would suggest

they may have been totally ignorant, given the policy direction that we

inherited, because none of it could have been based on any thought or planning.

To come

in and suggest, somewhat disingenuously, that we would have a deficit of $800

million or $1.1 billion and then having omitted to provide any updates when

asked, certainly not before an election campaign, when you actually inspect the

books, you find that deficit is north of $2.7 billion. Somehow none of this had

anything to do with them; none of this had anything to do with any of their

policies or the lack thereof for the last few years. Given, again, that they had

$25 billion in oil revenue, a time of peak oil, peak oil price, and 12 years in

which to craft something. The only thing that I can assume is they were lazy.

They're not stupid people, they never have been. No one could ever accuse them

of that, and I certainly wouldn't, but really, they were thoughtless. They did

not think ahead beyond a certain point.

The

Minister of Tourism and Culture, I think referenced part of the problem. They

had this revolving door of ministers. They had three-and-a-half premiers in a

very short space of time, and there was no direction and no leadership. I think

their answer was to spend money they didn't have and kick the fiscal can down

the road for the likes of my grandson, for example. I think really that whole

tenor of discussion yesterday is intellectually offensive, if not actually

physically so.

The

facts of the case are The Way Forward

is a very clear document with a very clear plan, but the thing it has which has

been singularly lacking in terms of the previous 12 years is this is a plan that

is actually:

a) being implemented; and,

b) its progress is being monitored and

reported on at regular intervals.

Only

this week, we had the first of those reports earlier than anticipated because

those deadlines, those targets had by and large all been met before the May 9

deadline; with the exception I think of four or five, which would be met by the

May 9 deadline. I think it is a testament to the organization and the commitment

of this side of the House to produce actions rather than ideas that will sit

there and disappear, evaporate at the first challenge. We've worked our way

through these things.

Under

The Way Forward you have seen the

issue of the public sector employees begin to be addressed by putting in place

appropriate governance, and we started by example. We started by putting our own

House in order. We have between the flatter, leaner approach for core government

and the reorganization put in place a much leaner organizational framework for

government. It will have two benefits. One is it makes government more efficient

and more effective, and the second thing is it deals with inefficiencies which

have cost us money. We've hemorrhaged money over the last 12 years.

Our

problem as alluded to by stated clearly in actual fact, not alluded to by

the Member for Stephenville Port au Port is not one of revenue. We have the

highest per capita revenue of any jurisdiction in Canada and have had for some

time. What we also have, however, is a disproportionately higher per capita

spending compared with any other jurisdiction in Canada. In my own department,

the telling figures, $7,130, that's what we spend per Newfoundlander and

Labradorian per year on health care. The Canadian average as a comparator is

$5,998, yet we do not see any value for that extra money.

Our

outcomes are no different. Well, that's wrong. I misspeak, Mr. Speaker. Our

outcomes are different than the rest of Canada. Our outcomes are worse. We have

an unhealthy population with multiple, chronic disease and a far higher

incidence of multiple chronic diseases than any other jurisdiction. Our outcomes

are actually worse for that investment; yet, after 12 years there was no attempt

to deal with any of that in any meaningful way.

When you

come up with a good idea and implement it: oh, yes, we thought about it, we

thought about it. Well, you may have thought about it but you didn't get off

your bums and do anything about it. It didn't happen, and in the last 14 months,

16 months it has happened. So really and honestly, again it is very difficult to

sit here quietly and listen to the jack-in-the-boxes on the other side pop up

and claim credit for every good idea whilst at the same time dissociating

themselves from all the bad ideas that they actually did unfortunately

implement.

If they

had been as vigorous with their bad ideas as they were with the good ideas they

want to claim credit for, we'd probably not be in the mess we're in at the

moment; but, unfortunately, they were selective in what they ignored. As a

result of that, we last year were left with some very difficult decisions. At

the end of the day we were in a hole, fiscally, and the lenders were simply

saying, you need a plan because if you don't have one you're not going to get

any money. We got a plan. We implemented it and we were told off for doing it.

We had

difficult choices and we accepted that. We said and nobody applauded after our

budget last year because we knew the impact it would have to have on the folk of

this province, but there was no reasonable, practical alternative. We got the

money, we got favourable interest rates, but even with those favourable interest

rates, we are spending just shy of $1 billion every year to keep the lights on.

The

level of debt we are carrying, going forward, is such that if we were in

Venezuela, where they have the same, they'd turn the lights off for 12 hours a

day. Puerto Rico tried to declare bankruptcy with a smaller per capital deficit

than we do. We have managed to avoid that, only by making difficult decisions.

The

revenue levers were pulled. This time now we have to start dealing with our

other major problem, which is the highest per capital expenditure of any

jurisdiction in Canada. That is our challenge and that is something we won't

think about. We will think about it, consult and deal with it.

On that

note, Mr. Speaker, I'm going take my seat.

Thank

you for your time.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (Osborne):

The hon. the Deputy

Government House Leader.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move,

seconded by the Minister of Justice and Public Safety, for leave to introduce a

bill entitled,

An Act To Amend The House Of Assembly Accountability, Integrity

And Administration Act, Bill 2, and I further move that the said bill be now

read a first time.

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded by

the hon. the Deputy Government House Leader that she shall have leave to

introduce a bill entitled,

An Act To Amend The House Of Assembly Accountability,

Integrity And Administration Act, Bill 2, 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.

CLERK (Barnes):

A bill,

An Act To Amend The

House Of Assembly Accountability, Integrity And Administration Act. (Bill 2)

MR. SPEAKER:

Bill 2 has now been read a

first time.

When

shall the said bill be read a second time?

MS. COADY:

Tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER:

Tomorrow.

motion, Bill 2 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Deputy

Government House Leader.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move,

seconded by the Minister of Justice and Public Safety, for leave to introduce a

bill entitled,

An Act To Amend The Intergovernmental Affairs Act, Bill 4, and I

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

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded by

the hon. the Deputy Government House Leader that she shall have leave to

introduce a bill entitled,

An Act To Amend The Intergovernmental Affairs Act,

Bill 4, and that the said bill be now read a first time.

Is it

the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

CLERK:

A bill,

An Act To Amend The

Intergovernmental Affairs Act. (Bill 4)

MR. SPEAKER:

Bill 4 has now been read a

first time.

When

shall the said bill be read a second time?

MS. COADY:

Tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER:

Tomorrow.

motion, Bill 4 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Deputy

Government House Leader.

MS. COADY:

Recess the House, Mr.

Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The motion is to recess the

House until this afternoon.

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 (Osborne):

Order, please!

Admit

strangers.

In the

Speaker's gallery today, we have Nicholas Hillier who is job shadowing the

Member for Placentia West Bellevue.

Welcome.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Statements by

Members

MR. SPEAKER:

For Members' statements

today, we have the Members for the Districts of Lewisporte Twillingate, Fogo

Island Cape Freels, Conception Bay East Bell Island, Placentia West

Bellevue, Virginia Waters and Topsail Paradise.

The hon.

the Member for Lewisporte Twillingate.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. D. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in the

hon. House to recognize Prime Berth Twillingate Fishery & Heritage Centre, on

Twillingate Island. A personal dream of owner David Boyd, with the support of

his wife Christine, Prime Berth, a private museum, was built from the care and

hard work of Mr. Boyd.

The

interpretative fishing centre offers a large collection of fishery artifacts,

hand-build exhibits, a reconstructed whale skeleton, historic photo gallery and

personal writings that share the history of the Newfoundland inshore fishery.

One

aspect that truly sets Prime Berth apart from other museums is their authentic

fishery experiences. Visitors can join Captain Dave on the water and try their

hand at cod and squid jigging, mackerel hauling and lobster trap baiting.

Afterwards, they can watch a demonstration on how to clean a cod fish in the cod

splitting show and, later, be entertained by local folk songs.

Prime

Berth has recently received three major awards including: Top 6 Museums in

Canada by TripAdvisor; 2016 Manning Awards for Excellence in the Presentation of

Historic Places; and 2016 Sustainable Tourism Award by Hospitality Newfoundland

and Labrador.

I ask

all hon. Members to join me in congratulating David and Christine Boyd on their

achievements and wish them much success.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Fogo Island Cape Freels.

MR. BRAGG:

Mr. Speaker, I'm so proud to

rise and highlight the valuable volunteer work from the people of my district.

On Saturday past, I attended the 37th annual firemen's ball and awards night at

Centreville-Wareham-Trinity and Indian Bay.

Over 300

people came out to show their support. Several awards were given out for five to

35 years of service, but two things stood out over all the rest. Firefighter Ted

Green received an award for 35 years of service, plus a local garage received

added attention. Parson, CH & Sons Ltd received a standing ovation for their

commitment to the fire department. Co-owner Robert Parsons, who is also the fire

chief, his brother Deon, assistant chief, has everyone who works with them

signed up for the fire department.

It was

noted that they have left people stranded on the hoist, while they all ran out

the door to respond to an emergency.

The

community applauded their dedication. Although these people were highlighted,

they were not able to overshadow the strong commitment by all community

volunteers

I ask

everyone to join me in thanking these volunteers.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, I stand today to recognize a special event that took place in my

district this past weekend. I speak of the Legionnaire's appreciation day

organized and financed by Tourism Bell Island to show appreciation to all

Legionnaires but particularly those connected to Bell Island.

The

event included greetings from dignitaries, special presentations and

entertainment, which included high school students in World War II uniforms,

dancing with their partners to the music and dance styles of the era. There were

a number of other entertainers but what stole the show was to have the singing

Legionnaires, who are nationally recognized, travel to island and perform. I

have to note some of these members are World War II veterans.

It was a

pleasure to have Command President Frank Sullivan, along with Portugal Cove-St.

Philip's Legion President Len Collins in attendance.

special moment for me when was I learned that over 30 descendants of World War I

war hero, Spaniard's Bay native and life-long Bell Island miner Corporal Matthew

Brazil who is a recipient of the Distinguished Conduct Medal, royal military

medal and the Croix de guerre, France's highest honour to be bestowed on any

military individual, had travelled to Bell Island from all over the province to

celebrate.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all to join me in showing their appreciation for all

Legionnaires.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Placentia West Bellevue.

MR. BROWNE:

Mr. Speaker, with great

remorse and regret, I stand before this hon. House today to pay tribute to and

celebrate the life of a friend to all, Paul Bolt.

On March

14, we learned the sad news of Paul's untimely passing, at the young age of 46.

Most would know Paul as a tireless advocate for rural Newfoundland and Labrador,

as the mayor of Grand le Pierre for many years, and a man who did not mind

stepping up to the plate to serve, whether it be on council or other

organizations geared towards community development and growth such as the

Fortune Bay East Development Association.

He was

especially proud of the local Burin Peninsula Brighter Futures

chapter in Grand

le Pierre where children flourished and thrived, which he helped to secure for

the area where he often brought me to visit.

Mr.

Speaker, Buddha taught us: Even death is not to be feared by one who has lived

wisely. Paul Bolt lived wisely. He was a kind, gentle and compassionate man

that has been lost.

I extend

my sincere condolences to his family. We have lost a leader to many, and a

friend to all.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Virginia Waters Pleasantville.

MR. B. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

in this hon. House today to highlight some of the fantastic achievements earned

by St. Paul's Junior High students.

The

school sent two teams to the Junior High Provincial Math League competition and

one team earned first place. Congratulations to Ranjeevan Illango, Chunhao Hann,

Tristan Paranavitana and Safwaan Shams. The other team composed of Brynn

Furlong, Mahiba Khan, Avani Adluri and Kathleen Curran also did an amazing job

scoring three out of four in the final relay round a feat which few others

teams accomplished.

Who

Wants to Save a Life? is a fast-paced provincial game which heightens awareness

of occupational health and safety, sponsored by WorkplaceNL. St. Paul's won

gold, as well as a $5,000 prize and a set of iPads.

Finally,

Jake Billard, a grade seven student, represented the province in the Atlantic

Diving Competition held in Halifax. Jake competed against youth up to the age of

17 years of age. He competed in six events and won six golds. As a result, he

hopes to represent the province at the Canada Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba and

will also compete in the Speedo Junior Development Nationals held in Victoria,

BC.

I ask

all hon. Members to join me in congratulating these incredible students.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Topsail Paradise.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Duke

of Edinburgh awards is a self-development program available to young people aged

14 to 24. The purpose of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award is to encourage young

people to set goals and challenges, work towards achieving them and then be

recognized at the end for sustaining the commitment they have made.

There is

no competition between participants; the only people with whom they compete are

themselves. Self-motivation is fundamental to the program. The criteria for

gaining an award are based on each participant's individual improvement and

potential at the starting point of the award. The award program has three

levels: bronze, silver and gold, each requiring an increasing level of

commitment and effort.

Mr.

Speaker, I would like to recognize 10 students from Holy Spirit High School in

Conception Bay South who recently received their bronze level. On December 20,

the Member for Conception Bay South and I presented the awards to: Reegyn

Crickard, Hannah Daley, Jack Bistrow, Hillary Oldford, Erica Bennett, Samantha

Hallett, Nicole Hunt, Caitlyn Coles, Megan Coles, and Erin Burt.

Mr.

Speaker, I'm very pleased to ask all Members of this hon. House to join me in

congratulating these students on their recent achievement.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by

Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to

rise in this hon. House today to share the optimism and confidence about mining

prospects in Newfoundland and Labrador, as demonstrated by the many people I met

earlier this month at PDAC the annual Prospectors & Developers Association of

Canada's Mining Convention and Trade Show.

Mining

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

more than 7,000 people employed and mineral shipments forecast to reach $2.9

billion in 2017, Newfoundland and Labrador is currently ranked 16th on the

Fraser Institute's 2016 International Mining Survey as one of the most

attractive jurisdictions worldwide for investment attractiveness.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. COADY:

Our diversified minerals

industry provides a wide variety of commodities to the world market. This is

because in Newfoundland and Labrador we have armed ourselves with public

geoscience, nimble regulation and support for prospectors and junior mining

companies through the Mineral Incentive Program all in order to create the

greatest opportunity for exploration and development. As committed in

The Way Forward vision, we will build

on these efforts to increase activity in the mining sector by engaging in

targeted promotion and core digitization, which will support broader sharing of

the province's core sample information to companies worldwide.

tandem with this year's PDAC conference, the provincial government has released

the most recent collection of reports from the Geological Survey which collects,

interprets and disseminates knowledge and geoscience data with a goal of

enhancing the province's geoscience knowledge base. The data is used mainly by

the mineral-resource industry to inform and enhance exploration and investment

efforts. The most recent collection of reports can be found on government's

website, as well as Natural Resources.

Mr.

Speaker, with over 900 exhibitors and 22,000 attendees from 125 countries, PDAC

offered Newfoundland and Labrador companies the opportunity to make valuable

connections. We shared the breadth and depth of our local expertise and

demonstrated to the world that our mining industry and its people are skilled,

experienced and ready to do business a goal, I am happy to report; we made

very clear to industry at this year's PDAC conference.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

certainly thank the minister for the advance copy of her statement. Mr. Speaker,

our province's mining industry is a major contributor to our economy. It creates

jobs of over 7,000 residents, and its exports help to stimulate our economy each

year. It's encouraging that mineral shipments are forecasted to reach $2.9

billion this year, and that our industry was ranked 16th worldwide last year by

the Fraser Institute. I encourage the government to continue the programs of the

mining industry and to continue the many programs and investments which our

previous govern