PDF Version (Day)

PDF Version (Night)

May 3, 2022

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. L No. 47

The

House met at 1:30 p.m.

SPEAKER (Bennett):

Order, please!

Admit

strangers.

First,

I'd like to begin by welcoming Juanita Stone, the former mayor of Red Bay, and

her spouse, Bob, here today. Welcome to the gallery.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Statements by

Members

SPEAKER:

Today, we will hear

statements by the hon. Members for the Districts of Cape St. Francis, Bay Verte

- Green Bay, Ferryland, Lake Melville and Harbour Main.

The hon.

the Member for Cape St. Francis.

J. WALL:

Thank you, Speaker.

For the

past 10 years, on March 20, the United Nations has published the World Happiness

Report, a global ranking happiness study based upon social, economic and

environmental statistics. From that report, the International Day of Happiness

was established with the goal to make people realize the importance of happiness

in their lives.

Speaker,

today I'm happy to report that Action for Happiness in Killick Coast has begun

in my district, thanks to advocates Crystal Murphy and Cassie Manning-Dyke. Both

ladies, along with other like-minded individuals, are helping to promote a

movement of people to create a happier world together among volunteer groups,

organizations and communities.

Thanks

to their ongoing efforts, all towns in my district have signed proclamations

recognizing International Day of Happiness in an effort to raise awareness, help

encourage people to become more involved and to promote the benefits of

well-being and good mental health. That is something each one of us should pay

close attention to.

Speaker,

I ask all hon. Members to join me in thanking Crystal Murphy and Cassie

Manning-Dyke for their contribution in bringing Action for Happiness to my

district and I hope this movement will travel across our beautiful province.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Baie

Verte - Green Bay.

B. WARR:

Mr. Speaker, I rise to

recognize the late Guy J. Bailey, a well-respected businessman who passed away

on Wednesday, April 27, 2022, at the age of 89. Guy J. will be remembered as a

great community builder, having owned and operated numerous businesses for

decades.

Guy J.

Bailey Ltd. has been in operation for over 55 years, employing 100 local workers

year-round. Each of his children have his entrepreneurial and community-minded

spirit. There have been numerous businesses over the years, including Dorset

Manor, Baie Verte Gifts and Flowers, Baie Verte Recycling, Sears Outlet,

Bailey's Bus Service, a garage and, more recently, Shoreline Aggregates Inc.

In his

retirement years, Guy J. purchased and renovated a vacant church building in

Grand Falls-Windsor into a retirement home. Later, as a resident in the Deer

Lake and Baie Verte retirement homes, Guy J. was known for always sharing a

smile, leading singalongs, playing the piano and sharing the Scripture.

Guy J.

Bailey has given his family an incredible legacy of love, support and a most

generous giving heart.

I ask my

hon. colleagues to join me in offering condolences to the Bailey family and the

entire Baie Verte peninsula.

Thank

you, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Ferryland.

L. O'DRISCOLL:

Thank you, Speaker.

Today, I

rise in this hon. House to recognize the Southern Shore Senior Breakers who were

awarded the Herder trophy as the 2022 Avalon East Senior Hockey champs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

L. O'DRISCOLL:

Just two weeks ago, the

Breakers swept the Clarenville Caribous four games to none in the Herder

Memorial finals to take the prestigious Herder Memorial Trophy back to the

Southern Shore.

The team

is mainly comprised of players who are graduates from both the Southern Shore

Breakers and the Goulds Minor Hockey Association, but there are members of the

team that hail from all over the province.

Mr.

Speaker, I was honoured to be a part of a winning Herder team with the Southern

Shore Breakers and I'm glad to see Herder number six finally make its way back

up the shore. Winning the Herder is not only an accomplishment for the players

on the ice, but it also reflects on the irreplaceable hard work put in by the

volunteers and fans. Without the contributions of volunteers, senior hockey on

the Southern Shore would not be where it is today.

Mr.

Speaker, I have been told that the planning has already started to bring Herder

number seven back to the Southern Shore.

Breakers Go!

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Lake

Melville.

P. TRIMPER:

Thank you, Speaker.

As the

world responds to the escalating war in Ukraine, our province can be proud of

the contribution by Lieutenant Colonel Melanie Lake f ro m Churchill Falls.

After

growing up in Labrador, Lieutenant Colonel Lake graduated with an engineering

degree from the Royal Military College, then an impressive career that includes:

leadership roles with all three Canadian Combat Engineer Regiments; instructor

at the Forces Leadership and Recruit School; senior officer with the Chief of

Defence Staff; and three deployments to Afghanistan as part of Operation ATHENA.

Commander of the Regiment in Petawawa, Lieutenant Colonel Lake assumed command

of Operation UNIFIER in March 2021. This bilateral mission between Ukraine and

Canada provides military training for thousands of security forces and their

National Guard. President Zelenskyy recently highlighted the UNIFIER training

mission and thanked Canada for improving the defence capability of his besieged

nation.

Lieutenant Colonel Lake volunteers tirelessly with Mriya Aid to provide

non-lethal survival equipment for Ukrainian defenders and in the resettlement of

Afghans who worked with her and other Canadian soldiers to our country.

I would

ask this Legislature to thank Lieutenant Colonel Melanie Lake, a proud graduate

of Eric G. Lambert School for her leadership in support of those dealing with

extreme adversity, both on and off the battlefield.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

Thank you, Speaker.

The Town

of Brigus in the District of Harbour Main can now add another unique distinction

to its colourful history.

Randy Spracklin and his father, Scott Spracklin, have brought national attention

and have captured a broad interest in authentic home construction and

restoration with their popular television series entitled

Rock Solid Builds , which airs on the

HGTV Canada Network.

Randy described the show as being 100 per cent authentic and unscripted. The

second season just finished airing on April 7 and Randy and his team are hoping

for a third. HGTV were looking for an East Coast show and when they reached out,

Randy emailed back and, as they say, the rest is history.

The

creative talents of this father and son team, along with their eight crew

members and co-workers, is a demonstration of ingenuity, skill, professionalism

and humour – all of which is on full display for the world to see.

Speaker, I ask all hon. Members to join me in congratulating Randy Spracklin and

his team on their success and for showcasing our province's beauty and the

communities in which we live.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Municipal and Provincial

Affairs.

K. HOWELL:

Speaker, in just a few short days, municipalities

across the province will meet for the first ever Municipal Awareness Week from

May 9-13.

previous years, we have celebrated Municipal Awareness Day. This year, in

partnership with Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador and the Professional

Municipal Administrators of Newfoundland and Labrador, we are designating a full

week to celebrate and acknowledge the importance of local governance to

residents all across the province.

Municipal government is responsible for providing critical services that enhance

the quality of life for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. Dedicated mayors,

councillors, staff and volunteers are essential for the effective governance of

municipalities. Their work, supported by the collaboration and partnership and

involvement of residents is essential for active, sustainable and vibrant

communities.

Providing stability and predictability for municipalities is so important. With

this in mind, Budget 2022 provides

more than $141 million to maintain key programs such as the Special Assistance

Grants, the Community Enhancement Employment Program, the Canada

Community-Building Fund and not less than $22 million per year for Municipal

Operating Grants for at least the next three years.

Speaker, cities and towns are busy organizing various activities for Municipal

Awareness Week and I encourage my hon. colleagues and all residents to take some

time next week to recognize the contribution of all those working in municipal

sectors and to participate in activities that municipal councils will be hosting

to mark this inaugural event.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cape St. Francis.

J. WALL:

Thank you, Speaker.

And

I would like to thank the hon. minister for an advance copy of her statement.

Speaker, my colleagues in the Official Opposition join the minister in celebrating the first ever Municipal Awareness

Week. As a former mayor myself of my beautiful hometown of Pouch Cove, I

understand first-hand the important role that individuals play at the municipal

level, whether as a mayor, councillor, staff member, firefighter or community

volunteer.

Speaker,

these are the individuals who are often the first point of contact for an issue

with any level of government or to organize a sports team, a recreation activity

in their community, or to answer the call in the time of trouble. We all owe a

debt of gratitude to these individuals who offer themselves to their

communities, often for decades, with little or no remuneration.

This is

why, under the regionalization plan which was announced by the minister, we need

some fundamental questions answered: How much is it going to cost; what will be

the new services that will be provided; what will the model look like? These are

recurring questions that I have heard from residents all over the province that

need to be answered as we look upon the importance of municipalities.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Torngat Mountains.

L. EVANS:

Thank you, Speaker.

I thank

the minister for an advance copy of her statement.

We take

this opportunity to thank those who serve in local governance, all our elected

officials and employees. While municipalities are called upon to provide so many

basic services, they often lack the funding and resources to do so. Therefore,

we are calling on government to enter into more cost-sharing initiatives with

municipalities and explore new ways for them to raise the much-needed funds

themselves.

Thank

you, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Are there any further

statements by ministers?

Oral

Questions.

Oral Questions

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

D. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Speaker.

Thirty-four community organizations and health care providers have signed a

letter calling on the Liberal government to increase access to rapid tests. In

particular, for seniors, vulnerable people, and low-wage workers.

I ask

the Premier: Will this government listen to these organizations or ignore them?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

J. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

We have

a rapid test kit distribution program, which is done under the guidance of

Public Health. We get a small but steady supply from the federal government, and

those are allocated to areas where Public Health feels they will do the most

good: daycares, educational establishments, personal care homes, congregate

living settings and the like. We keep a small reserve against the next wave and

we use what we get, Mr. Speaker. This is all done on the advice of Public

Health.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

D. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Speaker.

For

those who can't afford to buy the rapid tests, this is a way to release their

anxiety and to address their particular health needs.

Speaker,

for seniors, vulnerable people and low-wage workers, access to rapid tests is

essential. Wide access to rapid tests, like in other provinces, can help people

determine their level of risk and help them keep themselves and their community

safe.

I ask

the Premier: Will this government invest in making the tools more readily

available?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As the

minister suggested, we are in constant conversation with Public Health, Dr.

Fitzgerald and her team as to how to best use these tests. I think it has been

proven that how we've used this test to date has gotten us to a good point in

this pandemic, Mr. Speaker.

Other

jurisdictions have offered them broadly and they've had to roll back, Mr.

Speaker. So some of the points made by the Member opposite aren't accurate

today. They tried to provide them broadly. They couldn't provide them broadly

and they recognized that it didn't actually achieve the goal that they set out

to do. We are constantly re-evaluating how we provide those tests to the public,

whether it's through the education system or beyond and we will continue to do

so in consultation with Dr. Fitzgerald and her team, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

D. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Speaker.

We are

hearing from thousands or Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, particularly those

vulnerable in low incomes, and I know the other Members in this House must be

hearing it too, where they would benefit from access to rapid testing, Mr.

Speaker.

The

Premier removed COVID-19 restrictions but has not provided the tools needed by

seniors and vulnerable people to navigate this new normal. In other provinces,

if a senior wants to visit family, they can take a rapid test for some sense of

assurance. There is no such option here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I ask

the Premier: Why are seniors and vulnerable populations being forced to pay out

of pocket for what they can receive for free elsewhere in Canada?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

J. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Speaker.

The

rapid test policy approach is determined by Public Health. We also have what is

one of the more liberal PCR and rapid PCR testing programs. So if a person is

concerned about their COVID status or exposure, they can follow that flow chart.

If they need a PCR, rapid or otherwise, it will be provided and it will be free

of charge. If they do not need one, Mr. Speaker, they do not need one.

The

rapid test kits that are available, are available where they will do the most

use for the most people and we keep a small supply against the next wave, Mr.

Speaker.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

D. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would

think the most vulnerable would even accept a Liberal test if they could get

one, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

D. BRAZIL:

Taxi operators are struggling

with rising costs of fuel and high costs of insurance. They are asking for

support but so far the government is not taking action.

I ask

the Premier: What are you doing to support taxi operators so they will be ready

to welcome visitors during Come Home Year?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and

thank for you that question.

As I

said in the House before, we are happy to meet with the taxis, and we did. The

minister and I spent half an hour with several of the members of the taxi

community and we talked with them about solutions, about how to better their

employment opportunities for their drivers, how to streamline it within the

department of motor vehicle registration and how to make it more affordable for

their drivers to get access to the employment opportunities that they provide.

I'm

happy to say it was a positive meeting, we both took away action items and the

minister has agreed to further those action items, Mr. Speaker. It was a

positive meeting with a good outcome.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

D. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Speaker.

I hope

we move this in a timely fashion, because the Come Home Year is coming here and

it's very important to us promoting our tourism here and the expats want to come

home. But more importantly it's to the thousands of people who work in the taxi

industry and what that means to our economy. That's more important at this point

right now.

Speaker,

taxi operators are treated differently than anyone else and have only one option

for insurance. This means higher costs for companies, which trickles down to

higher costs for seniors and people who rely on taxis for trips to grocery

stores or to medical appointments. It's one more way the cost of living

continues to increase in our province for those who can't afford it, or can

afford it the least.

I ask

the Premier: When will you act to support the taxi industry and those who rely

on it, particularly around the cost of insurance?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I

said in my previous answer we've worked with the taxi community to ensure that

we can help, using government tools to make it more affordable for them and the

taxis that are on the road. We appreciate the service they provide; we

appreciate their contribution to the economy; we appreciate their contribution

to Come Home Year and their importance in that.

That's

why we had the meeting with them, when they requested it, and we are actioning

several items that came out of that, Mr. Speaker, which will ultimately make it

more affordable for them and the drivers on the road. It was the ideas they

suggested, not the ones that we brought to the table. We're happy to act on

them, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Topsail - Paradise.

P. DINN:

Thank you, Speaker.

Just

recently the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association spoke to the huge

backlog in surgeries in this province, approaching 7,000 in St. John's alone.

The Medical Association has called on government to set a target date for

bringing this backlog down to pre-pandemic level.

I ask

the minister: Will he agree to establish a target date that can give some

assurance to patients that there is hope of timely surgery?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

J. HAGGIE:

Thank you, Speaker.

From

personal experience, waiting for surgery can be a worrisome time and we are

certainly keen to do anything and everything that's reasonable to help remediate

this. This is a situation that affects all of Canada; there are 35,000 people in

Regina alone on a surgical wait-list at the moment.

We are

in the process of setting up a meeting between my department and the Medical

Association to share that information so we can get everybody on the same page.

We need to work with the clinicians, with the physicians and Eastern Health to

prioritize those patients, to come up with a plan, to put the resources in place

and to get this off the ground. We're committed to do that, Mr. Speaker.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Topsail - Paradise.

P. DINN:

Thank you, Speaker.

The

Official Opposition has called for updates on surgical wait times on multiple

occasions. The minister today is downplaying that severity. He talks about other

provinces. We're concerned about this province. I was elected by the people of

this province to look after the people in this province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

P. DINN:

The minister has written the

NLMA agreeing to meet on this problem, and it's a long-standing issue.

I ask

the minister: Why does it fall on the physicians to update on this surgery

backlog, rather than his own department?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Yes, Mr. Speaker, certainly I

can appreciate and empathize, as the minister has, with people who are on

wait-lists. Certainly, I can feel that frustration as a former surgeon myself,

having to tell patients that their surgeries are delayed.

That

said, we already have a meeting scheduled with the NLMA this week to further

discuss this particular topic, Mr. Speaker. As we've done in the past, we're

willing to work collaboratively with the NLMA. This is not an adversarial

relationship. We all want what's best. We all want to eliminate the barriers for

patients to get the care that they require, whether that's surgical or

nonsurgical services, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Topsail - Paradise.

P. DINN:

Thank you, Speaker.

It's

encouraging to hear that they're going to meet. I mean, this just didn't happen

overnight. This should have been happening long ago, meeting to deal with this.

The

backlog of surgeries had a real impact on people both physically and mentally.

The NLMA has called for an online dashboard to report the number of backlog

surgeries in our province and asked for it to be updated monthly.

Will the

minister commit to this request?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

J. HAGGIE:

Thank you, Speaker.

Certainly, sharing of data is key in this exercise. In actual fact, prior to

COVID, I had a very initial meeting with the NLMA around the numbers and the

data. I think it's important that we all get on the same page. Our different

sources of data may have some gaps and overlap.

In terms

of how this is reported, the NLMA may have a view on how they would like that

done and we would certainly not want to put anything up there that would cause

them challenges, beyond what they face already.

As the

Premier says, this is a collaborative approach, we've met with them, as we did

with the College of Family Practitioners earlier this week, and everybody is on

the same page. We need to work together to fix this and we're prepared to do

that.

Thank

you, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

Thank you, Speaker.

I have a

quote from last year from the Minister Responsible for Women and Gender Equality

regarding pay equity legislation. It's something that we certainly are committed

to do.

I'm

going to keep this question a simple yes or no: Will the Minister Responsible

for Women and Gender Equality table pay equity legislation in this sitting of

the House of Assembly?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister

Responsible for Women and Gender Equality.

P. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am

happy to say this is the first time I've ever seen women's issues raised at

prominently as they have been for this sitting. I am happy to see that and to

thank the hon. Member, of course.

As we

know, pay equity has certainly been the topic of conversation throughout this

sitting. I'm happy to say work continues. It's across government. The Department

of Justice is involved. Treasury Board is involved and, of course, Women and

Gender Equality and the labour division. So it's something that is ongoing.

I also

want to remind the hon. Member that simple pay equity legislation is not a

silver bullet that is going to change or solve overnight the gender wage gap.

That is the unfortunate. I think everybody is missing the definition. I

encourage everybody to read up on the

definitions of pay equity and the gender

wage gap.

What is

important is that we are doing concrete things to get women into the workforce

and to negotiate –

SPEAKER:

The minister's time has

expired.

P. PARSONS:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

Speaker, the minister

seems to defer authority to other departments. So let's see who has the

authority.

I ask

the Minister Responsible for Labour: Will you table pay equity legislation in

this sitting of the House of Assembly, yes or no?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Environment and Climate Change, and Responsible for Labour.

B. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I

thank the hon. Member for the question.

As my

previous colleague had said, it is a discussion that we are always having with

respect to departments. It's multidepartmental. It's an issue that is facing

many jurisdictions across this country and across this globe. We're going to

continue to work together to try to find solutions to better improve the aspects

for pay equity right across this province and, hopefully, get to a place where

it's equitable across all parts of our province.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

Speaker, again, empty

words about ongoing discussions.

I ask

the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board: Will you table pay

equity legislation in this sitting of the House of Assembly, yes or no?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

S. COADY:

Thank you very much, Speaker.

This is

a very important topic. It is an important topic for women and I do believe for

men as well. I will say, Speaker, that the Job Evaluation System that has been

long adopted within government ensures a level and equal playing field across

all of government. So the Job Evaluation System has been well established within

government for, I would say, at least decades. I think that is very important to

ensure that we have equity and equality across employment throughout the civil

services.

Thank

you, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

So, Speaker, still no

commitment to table pay equity legislation it appears.

Speaker,

I've also been hearing from employees of Eastern Health, for example, who work

alongside males with the same roles and responsibilities, and one women in

particular feels she's paid less because she's a woman. I've also heard from an

executive-level employee of a government Crown corporation who feels she also is

financially discriminated against because of her gender.

I ask

the minister: Why are you ignoring concerns of these women?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister

Responsible for Women and Gender Equality.

P. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I

will read this into the record, of course, for the hon. Member: Newfoundland and

Labrador has reactive pay equity legislation in place and it's via the

Labour Standards Act and the Human

Rights Act. The Human Rights Act is complaints-based legislation that prohibits

discrimination in employment, including pay rates and gender.

So there

certainly are recourses that can be taken here in this province. Again, as my

hon. colleague said, there is no discrimination for wages in the public service.

I will

say, the onus is on everyone: private sector, public sector, across Newfoundland

and Labrador and the country, for that matter, to do what we can to help close

the gender wage gap. Because the gender wage gap is what the Member's referring

to, it's not pay equity. Pay equity is not the silver bullet and will not make

the gender wage gap close overnight. We all know that, we see that here in

Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Ontario and across the world.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SPEAKER:

The minister's time is

expired.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Stephenville - Port au Port.

T. WAKEHAM:

Thank you, Speaker.

It's

important that the people out there watching this on our TV channel realize

that's why it's called Question Period, because you just don't get any answers.

Speaker,

right now, people in this province are struggling with the high cost of living.

I simply

ask the minister: Why does she refuse to listen to her own constituents and to

people of Newfoundland and Labrador who are asking for a home heat rebate

program?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

S. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

certainly want to always have a respectful workplace in this environment.

I will

say this is a very serious and difficult situation for the people of the

province, indeed provincially, globally and, nationally, a difficult situation.

We all know what's happening around the world, and coming out of a pandemic has

exasperated the situation. That's why we put $142 million in the budget to

assist people.

The

Member continues to refer to the home heat rebate program that was rolled into

the Income Supplement and the Seniors' Benefit, which both have been increased

by 10 per cent.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Stephenville - Port au Port.

T. WAKEHAM:

Speaker, the minister talks

about a program that was rolled in when the price of home heat fuel was about

70-something cents a litre. It's three times that right now. Home heating fuel,

gasoline prices, rising food prices, they're all hurting people of the province.

The five-point plan or the cost-of-living plan that was introduced pre-budget,

that's not working, that's not making it work. The budget, it's not hitting its

targets.

So,

again, I ask the minister: How high must fuel prices go or home heating prices

go before the minister will intercede?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

S. COADY:

Thank you very much, Speaker.

I will

say that $142 million has been contributed back to the people of the province,

and that is significant. Would we like to do more? Of course we would like to do

more; of course we would like to do more.

I've

heard the Member opposite refer to Alberta, for example. We're doing every bit

as much as Alberta is doing when they eliminated their provincial gasoline tax –

this is equivalent to the provincial gasoline tax.

Will we

continue to see what more we can do? It really depends on the revenues of

government, Speaker. As you know, in this budget, we have no revenue increases,

no fee increases, no tax increases, Speaker, all that. And we still have a

$351-million deficit and a $17-billion debt.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Stephenville - Port au Port.

T. WAKEHAM:

Speaker, I'm amazed that the

minister can stand up and say there are no tax increases, when they are about to

implement a sugar tax and we just had an increase in the carbon tax. Again, the

minister loves to give excuses as to why she can't take any action. A lot of

times she blames Ottawa.

I ask

the minister: Have you talked to your federal counterpart about making changes

to the carbon tax, or making changes to the HST so we're not paying tax on tax?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

S. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, I

certainly will say again, a respectful workplace environment is required in this

House of Assembly.

I will

say that, yes, I have spoken with the ministers across the country, all the

Finance ministers across the country. I've spoken with the federal Finance

minister as well and deputy prime minister about these very important issues. Of

course, everyone is concerned across the country on cost of living and the cost

of fuel. Everyone in the country is concerned about that. I'd say everyone in

the world, if you listen to the news coming out of the United States, Speaker.

But I

will say that, yes, at the Council of the Federation table, the premiers across

the country did petition the federal government on the carbon tax. It is a

federal tax to address climate change and they declined to move on that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

B. PETTEN:

Thank you, Speaker.

Speaker,

we're into the month of May and few, if any, provincial road tenders are out.

The minister allowed the last five-year road program to expire and promised a

new plan last fall.

When are

we going to see it?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Transportation and Infrastructure.

E. LOVELESS:

Over the next few days.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

B. PETTEN:

He almost eliminated the rest

of my questions, but I'm going to keep going, because he promised this several

weeks ago, it was imminent and contractors are still waiting, Mr. Speaker. I

think this bears repeating.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

B. PETTEN:

Speaker, I've not seen so few

tenders out in the first week of May. Contractors are anxiously trying to plan

their construction season. We're into May. While people on their crews are

facing no income and employment insurance benefits are running out.

Again,

how does the minister expect small businesses and families to survive when he

can't get the tenders out to do the work?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Transportation and Infrastructure.

E. LOVELESS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

A very

important question, but there are tenders that have already gone out the door.

We've consulted very closely with the NLCA, which is important communication.

I've talked to contractors as well. At this moment, everybody seems to be

pleased. When we roll out the roads plan, I'm sure people will be getting to

work. There will be jobs in this province.

I say to

the hon. Member, if you're going to ask me a question you need to listen because

it's important. Jobs will be created when the standards come out –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

E. LOVELESS:

– over the next coming weeks.

We look forward to the work that's going to be done on our roads in Newfoundland

and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

B. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

He must

be talking to the roads people up in Ontario, not the crowd around here, not the

Newfoundland crowd we're talking to. They're pretty upset. Actually, they're

reaching out to us. I'm not sure who he's talking to but they are talking to the

right people. We can bring it up here in the House of Assembly and bring it up

in the right venue.

Speaker,

the minister has about an extra $10 million this year and there's no shortage of

need. Just ask the residents of the Baie Verte Peninsula, Terra Nova, Indian

Meal Line and Route 60.

Again,

companies are ready; workers are ready. Why are you not, Minister?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Transportation and Infrastructure.

E. LOVELESS:

I make no apologies for doing

due diligence. The Member opposite knows the challenges and so does some of his

caucus Members, because I've had a lot of conversations over there with their

districts.

We have

a challenge in Baie Verte, yes, we do. He didn't mention Route 360, which is my

district as well. There's a challenge down there. There are challenges in many

areas of the province. We have work that's required, but the need far exceeds

what we have in terms of –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon.

the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

E. LOVELESS:

So he stands in eagerness of

hearing an answer but when he gets the answer that he don't want to hear, he

doesn't listen to it.

We look

forward to the roads plan. There will be roadwork done throughout the province,

but we're doing due diligence because we want to be responsible with taxpayers'

dollars.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Terra

Nova.

L. PARROTT:

I remind the minister that

conversations and research isn't action. Action is needed on a lot of roads

throughout the entire province, with the exception of the three previous

ministers.

Speaker,

the Minister of Health boasts about collaborative care. I have an individual who

lives in Charlottetown in my district. His family physician was in Clarenville.

Every specialist he's ever seen has been under Eastern Health. This individual

has lost his family physician. He reached out to Eastern Health for a

collaborative care clinic and he was told he could not access a collaborative

care clinic based on where he lived.

How does

this make sense?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

J. HAGGIE:

Thank you for the question,

Speaker.

Patient

Connect NL is the registration portal. It's currently active for Eastern Health,

and that is currently a geographically defined area. Patient Connect NL for

Central and Western will be up and running within the next six to eight weeks.

At that point, the gentleman can seek registration through there.

In terms

of interim measures, 811 is available. There are nurse practitioners available

for virtual consults. There are hubs in Gander, there are hubs in Grand

Falls-Windsor and we will be working with Eastern Health to set up something

similar in the way of collaborative team clinics in Clarenville.

More is

coming, Mr. Speaker and there's money in the budget (inaudible).

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The

minister's time has expired.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Terra

Nova.

L. PARROTT:

I'd encourage the minister to

call 811 himself. I would also say this person, individual, has been under

Eastern Health's care from the time he was born up until now, and now he's being

denied access. It makes no sense whatsoever.

Mr.

Speaker, I have countless seniors and professional drivers in my district who

have contacted my office stating they cannot renew their driver's licence. There

is no accessible transportation in my district. They cannot renew it because

they cannot access a physician. They can't get it through 811 and they can't get

it through a collaborative care clinic.

Mr.

Speaker: How does the minister think that this is acceptable?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

J. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Speaker.

The

agreement with the Medical Association and the physicians of this province

relate solely to insured services that are covered by MCP. Drivers' medicals are

not. The NLMA have never brought this up as becoming an insured service.

Certainly, the Member highlights an issue. We'd be happy to work with him and

his constituents if he would provide us with details and we'll see what we can

do to help them.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Torngat Mountains.

L. EVANS:

Thank you, Speaker.

Yesterday, the minister said in the media that equal pay legislation is not a

silver bullet and referenced Ontario, who has already put the legislation in

place, as having one of the largest gender gaps in the country. However, for

every dollar earned by male counterparts, women in Ontario earn 89 cents. But

here in our province, women only earn 66 cents on the man's dollar.

I ask

the minister: What message does she think she's sending to women and

gender-diverse groups in this province?

P. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I

thank the hon. Member and thank you for the attention on these topics. I would

ask the Member to check her facts to see if those statistics are indeed

accurate.

But I

will say, I would be remiss, Mr. Speaker, if I didn't reflect upon the Member's

statements yesterday, how I was very disheartened and disappointed to see her

comments to denounce child care and the advancements that have been made. What a

slap in the face to women it certainly was.

She is

completely out of line with her party because I know that the party she sits

with has been a long-time advocate for accessible, affordable child care in this

province. And, Mr. Speaker, it is indeed good child care that is going to help

get women back in to be competitive in the workforce, which is one of the

barriers that we are taking down as a Liberal government here in Newfoundland

and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Torngat Mountains.

L. EVANS:

Mr. Speaker, I actually take

offence to that.

I was

pointing out the difference between child care for all families and single

parents and, basically, equal pay so women don't, actually, earn 66 cents on the

male dollar. Really, honestly, I take offence in what she is implying and

basically is putting women against women. It's putting women against women and

that's not my intent, Mr. Speaker.

This is

a very serious issue that the whole province needs to actually stand up and say:

women need to be treated fairly.

Mr.

Speaker, the government says they are paving the way for other provinces to take

the lead in new initiative. Yet, currently, the only province in Atlantic Canada

without pay legislation and currently has the largest gender gap in this country

is our province.

So I ask

the minister: Isn't 40 years long enough to close the wage gap?

Thank

you.

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister

Responsible for Women and Gender Equality.

P. PARSONS:

Thank you and, again, Mr.

Speaker, I appreciate the attention to the topic.

Again,

it's going to take concrete steps – what we're seeing. This government invested

$750,000 not a year ago into Sandpiper Ventures, a capital venture that is

strictly aimed – it is mandated to support women in the tech sector, the growing

tech sector, I might add, here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Again,

child care: this gets women back in – and the reason why we see such a large,

wide gender wage gap is because women are the caregivers and we know that.

Traditionally, since the world began, women are the ones who take care of

children and take care of aging parents. So we need to do what we can to get

people, to get women back in the workforce.

That is

exactly what we are doing with the Premier's gender round table and, of course,

every initiative that we are making we are committed to doing everything we can.

Those conversations and that work is ongoing every day. I hope the Member can

understand it and she is welcome to come over and join the conversation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl - Southlands.

P. LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, we've recently heard in the media the Privacy Commissioner talking

about the fact that he's had to go to court to fight this government on the

ability to be able to see information which, by all accounts, should be public

information. The government is hiding behind client-solicitor privilege on

everything.

I can

remember being on this side of the House when Members over there were showing –

as of Bill 29, blacked-out pieces of paper and so on. And now they're doing the

exact same thing.

So I ask

the government: Will you take the advice of the Privacy Commissioner and stop

hiding behind client-solicitor privilege and make changes to legislation, if

necessary, to eliminate that loophole that's currently being used by this

government?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety.

J. HOGAN:

Thank you, Speaker.

As the

Member points out, that matter was before the court and it continues to be

before the court, as it is headed to the Court of Appeal in this province, so I

won't comment any further on that, other than to say that the Trial Division

decision did follow the precedent set by the Supreme Court of Canada. I respect

the decision of the Trial Division and we will respect the decision of the Court

of Appeal as well.

With

regard to any issues ongoing with ATIPPA, we received, in the last several

months, a report from former Chief Justice Orsborn to review the ATIPPA

legislation. The Department of Justice and Public Safety is currently reviewing

his recommendations, which includes recommendations on solicitor-client

privilege. When that review is done we will bring any proposed amendments to the

House of Assembly for discussion.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl - Southlands.

P. LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

reason why it's before the court is because this government brought it before

the court. Prior to that, it was not an issue. So they've created the problem,

now they're hiding behind what they created.

Mr.

Speaker, I've had numerous people continue to reach out to me about provision of

rapid antigen tests. Almost every province in the country are providing them

free of charge to the general public, you can pick them up at public libraries

or clinics or retail locations. Not so here in Newfoundland and Labrador, and

citizens who are already stretched with the price of gas, the price of food, the

price of home heat have an additional burden placed upon them to have to pay

anywhere from $15 to $20 for a rapid antigen test. Many of these people want to

do it because they obviously have immunocompromised family members and so on

that they want to protect.

I ask

the government: Will they reverse this decision and make rapid antigen tests

available to the general public?

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

J. HAGGIE:

Thank you, Speaker.

We have

a very open policy for PCRs and rapid PCRs, and the flow chart on the website

allows any individual who's concerned about their health to go through that. If

they need a PCR – rapid or otherwise – it is available at no charge. There is no

cost to the individual.

someone doesn't need a test according to that flow chart, then it's not

medically necessary in the views of Public Health and we do not provide it. If

people choose to spend their money on rapid tests, that is an individual choice,

over which we have no opinion one way or another.

We have

a limited supply which we are using in guidance of Public Health and we continue

to keep a small stockpile against the next wave.

Thank

you, Speaker.

SPEAKER:

Time for Question Period has

expired.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I will

now rule on the point of privilege raised by the Member of Humber - Bay of

Islands on May 2, 2022.

Chapter 3 of Bosc and Gagnon, 3rd edition, it states that: “A complaint on a

matter of privilege must satisfy two conditions before it can be accorded

precedence over the Orders of the Day. First, the Speaker must be convinced that

a prima facie case of breach of privilege has been made and, second, the matter

must be raised at the earliest opportunity.”

reviewing this matter, I am satisfied that the Member for Humber - Bay of

Islands has met the second condition noted above. That is, the matter has been

raised at the earliest opportunity.

The

other condition outlined in the authorities is that the Speaker must be

convinced that a prima facie case of breach of privilege has been made.

Parliamentary Immunity in Canada ,

2016, Joseph Maingot provides a practical definition of parliamentary privilege:

“If someone improperly interferes with the parliamentary work of a Member of

Parliament – i.e., any of the Member's activities that have a connection with a

proceeding in Parliament – that is a matter involving parliamentary privilege.”

In order

for me to find that a prima facie, or on first impression, breach of the

Member's privileges, the Member must be clear as to how his privileges as a

Member have been impacted; that is, how his work as a parliamentarian has been

impeded.

I draw

Members' attention to

Part II of the House

of Assembly Act , which is the law passed in this Legislature to address

issues around Member's conflict of interest. The statute is very clear. All

Members must file their financial disclosures and the Commissioner has the right

and the responsibility under the law to request the information he deems

necessary to assist Members in fulfilling their statutory duties. The

Commissioner also has the legal authority to issue a report to this House where

such information is not received.

The

Commissioner has issued such a report under the authority of the

House of Assembly Act and it is this

report that is the subject of the Member's point of privilege.

The

Commissioner has a duty and responsibility given to him by the Legislature under

the duly enacted law. He has issued reports regarding compliance of the Member

with statutory requirements. In his point of privilege, the Member argues that

the report impacts his reputation. However, any impact on the reputation of a

Member further to such a report may be a consequence of the operation of the law

itself. It is not a breach of that Member's parliamentary privileges.

I note

that the tabling of this report triggers a requirement by the House to deal with

this in a prescribed time frame. In light of that, I feel it is incumbent on me

to clarify three misleading comments made by the Member in his point of

privilege.

One, in

his argument, the Member cites the Conflict of Interest Act. This is incorrect.

The applicable legislation is the

Part II of the

House of Assembly Act . I note that the relevant provisions of the

act are outlined in the Commissioner's report and they include

definitions that

are somewhat different from those cited in the Member's point of privilege.

Secondly, the Member stated that, “I must remind the Members of this House of

Assembly that the findings of the Joyce

Report of 2018 were proven false by a Supreme Court decision.” This is also

false. Out of respect and in deference to the court, I must clarify that there

has been no Supreme Court decision regarding

The Joyce Report of 2018.

In the

point of privilege, the Member for Humber - Bay of Islands discusses personal

financial information and references a private interest in a company. I would

like to bring to the attention of Members that no such reference was made by the

Commissioner. Further, the Commissioner's report does not disclose the Member's

personal financial information.

Conflict

of interest is a serious matter, particularly for elected officials. The

statutory financial disclosure requirements of the

House of Assembly Act are fundamental

to the conflict of interest analysis that this House, by law, we asked the

Commissioner to complete this report. All Members, including myself, are

familiar with and must abide by these requirements. They are intended to provide

the public with confidence in us as elected officials and to protect the

integrity of our political system. A report respecting the compliance of a

Member with these requirements does not, in and of itself, breach the privilege

of that Member.

Therefore, I rule that there is no prima facie point of privilege.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling

of Documents.

Notices

of Motion.

Notices of Motion

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

S. CROCKER:

Speaker, I give notice on

tomorrow I will move the following motion:

THAT

this House concur in the report of the Commissioner for Legislative Standards

entitled the Joyce Report, April 12, 2022 ;

AND THAT

the Member for Humber - Bay of Islands is directed to submit the required

information to the Commissioner for Legislative Standards within seven business

days of the adoption of this resolution;

AND THAT

should the information not be submitted, in accordance with paragraph 45(1)(

c) of the House of Assembly Act , the

Member for Humber - Bay of Islands be suspended from the House of Assembly;

AND THAT

the said suspension be without pay and shall continue until such a time that the

Commissioner for Legislative Standards advises the Speaker that the statutory

obligations referenced in the report have been met.

SPEAKER:

Further notices of motions?

Answers

to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Labrador West.

J. BROWN:

Thank you, Speaker.

The

reason for the petition, again, is to increase the support for Labrador West

seniors.

Reasons

for the petition:

The need

for senior accessible housing and home care services in Labrador West is

steadily increasing. Life-long residents of the region are facing the

possibility of needing to leave their homes in order to afford to live and

receive adequate care. Additional housing options, including assisted living

care facilities like those found throughout the rest of the province, for

seniors have become a requirement for Labrador West. That requirement is

currently not being met.

WHEREAS

the seniors of our province are entitled to peace and comfort in their homes

where they have spent a lifetime contributing to its prosperity and growth.

WHEREAS

the means for the increased number of seniors in Labrador West to happily age in

place are currently not available in the region.

WHEREUPON we the undersigned, your petitioners, call upon the House of Assembly

to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to allow seniors in Labrador

West to age in place by providing affordable housing options for seniors and

assisted living care facilities for those requiring care.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

J. BROWN:

Once again I bring this

petition to the House on behalf of the seniors and the residents of Labrador

West. Those who have signed it actually have said to me one day I'll be a senior

in Labrador West. So once again we're asking that the residents of Labrador

West, their concerns around seniors' care, housing and that be addressed in a

timely fashion.

These

people built Labrador West. They continue to live there. They have their

families there. They have their lives there. It's just a cruel thing to think

about that some of the people, in the back of their mind, are going: At some

point I'm going to have to leave this region, be away from my children, my

grandchildren, their friends and the community that they helped build.

It's not

just the next community over like you'd find somewhere on the Island where

you're 10 minutes away, five minutes away, so on and so forth. This is hours

upon hours away if you're driving. In some cases, it's thousands and thousands

of dollars for airline tickets if the grandkids want to go see Nan and Pop.

So this

is the thing that we're facing in Labrador West is the lack of care. Home care

is basically non-existent, we do not have a personal care home and what we have

in long-term care right now is very insufficient of the currently growing need.

There

was a report done in the early 2000s that talked about there was going to be an

explosion of seniors in Labrador West, and the report was absolutely correct. We

have a massive amount of senior population in the region, and they don't want to

go. They don't want to be forced out of their homes, out of their community,

because of something that every other place in this province gets to enjoy the

fact that many other regions have the ability for personal care homes, care

attendants and all that.

So this

is what we're asking for now, to be treated fairly and equitably among that.

Thank

you, Speaker, for this.

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Terra

Nova.

L. PARROTT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, the reasons for this petition are as follows:

The

residents of South West Arm are troubled with the unsafe conditions of the road

and lack of maintenance to the roads that are maintained by Transportation and

Infrastructure.

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

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

Newfoundland and Labrador to repair and maintain the roads to a standard that

are safe for travel by all residents of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr.

Speaker, South West Arm is a pretty important part of my district. It's made up

of multiple communities. When you drive down that highway, you quickly see how

unsafe it's become. I say tongue-in-cheek, but it's a very true story that the

guardrails are asleep. There's no way that it could be anything else because,

obviously, Transportation and Infrastructure would have removed them, if they

had just fallen over. They must be just laid down sleeping. Because they're all

lying down. And it's extremely dangerous conditions.

You're

talking about some of the sharpest turns – literally, a hairpin turn they call

the S turn – and the guardrails are falling down. And they've been that way for

four years. There has been multiple pictures sent; the road is in massive

disrepair, potholes. What's most troubling to me is that we've gotten to a point

where we have fish trucks that refuse to go down over the road to collect fish.

Now,

millions and millions of dollars worth of business happens down there, and the

fish trucks will not go collect the fish. You've got to think about that. How

can we just allow that to happen? I mean, it's an entire region of the province.

On top of that we have a school down there, Southwest Arm Academy. Partway up

the road to South West Arm, students go to Clarenville and then the rest of them

go down to Southwest Arm Academy. The kids that go to Clarenville, they miss

about half as much school as Southwest Arm Academy.

That's

because the roads are not maintained. Now, I've had a conversation with the

minister and he knows full well we have staff from Transportation and

Infrastructure that have reached out to my office and told me their concerns

with the road, the lack of maintenance, the type of sand that's used for winter

maintenance, but it's more about the potholes and what they could do. The other

thing is that we have individuals who work with the department who drive that

road every single day to and from work. They understand the issues; they've

highlighted the issues. The department is doing nothing about them.

So we

have a Department of Transportation and Infrastructure truck that drives from

the end of South West Arm to the depot and back on a daily basis, every single

day. So it's impossible for me to believe that Transportation and Infrastructure

doesn't understand these problems. Plus, my office has sent hundreds of

pictures, videos and all kinds of drone footage to get this fixed. Not a

response; it stays the same. Signage is falling over, but what's most troubling

is how dangerous this road is. It should not take somebody getting incredibly

hurt or killed in order for this to get fixed.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Bonavista.

C. PARDY:

Thank you, Speaker.

These

are the reasons for this petition:

The

safety of 400-plus workers at the OCI plant in Bonavista who cross the poorly

marked crosswalk on Campbell Street in Bonavista, a minimum of four times a day,

is a major safety concern. Adding to this issue are the poor sightlines for

drivers when approaching the crosswalk. Many thousands of tourists as well

travel this street during plant production season, with the vast majority of

whom are unaware of the area's safety risk.

We, the

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

Newfoundland and Labrador to immediately address the safety concern at this

crosswalk by erecting amber lighting and, thus, creating a safer environment for

the workers crossing this busy street.

I would

say, Mr. Speaker, there are many demands on TI for safety issues on our

roadwork. We have 400-plus employees, 65 of which are senior citizens, who work

at OCI. Four times a day they cross the plant to get to their parking lot, back

and forth. Sometimes we default that when we look at the Janeway and compare it

to the Miller Centre, we see that there's quite a dichotomy of facility and

services sometimes that's provided in those two elements.

I would

say we have a safety issue of which pertains to a senior population that we have

in Bonavista. The sightlines on this street are very poor. If you ever travel to

historic Bonavista, you know that many tourists travel there for the first time

and many would be passing through Campbell Street to head to Church Street in

the heart of town. The sightlines aren't great. The paint we use on our

crosswalks doesn't last. I'm not sure, if I speculated, lasting two weeks, but

they certainly don't last a season and sometimes they're not painted until the

end of the tourism season.

Amber

lighting – I would like for the TI officials to have a look at this particular

crosswalk, have a look at the crosswalk, do an analysis of it and then see what

the safety issue would be while the plant is in production. Because our goal

would be to make sure that people remain safe, those that are driving the

economy in the District of Bonavista, and I think the amber lighting will

certainly help improve the safety of those at the OCI plant in Bonavista.

Thank

you very much, Speaker.

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Ferryland.

L. O'DRISCOLL:

Thank you, Speaker.

The

background to this petition is as follows:

The

Witless Bay Line is a significant piece of infrastructure.

Whereas many commute

outside the Avalon on a daily basis for work as well as commercial, residential

and tourism growth in our region has increased the volume of traffic on this

highway.

Therefore, we petition the House of Assembly as follows: We urge the Government

of Newfoundland and Labrador to upgrade this significant piece of infrastructure

to enhance and improve the flow of traffic to and from the Trans-Canada Highway.

Speaker,

I have mentioned this many times, as you know, in the House bringing up Witless

Bay Line and the conditions of the roads. This time of the year we have crab

trucks that are transporting crab from the Southern Shore – right from Petty

Harbour, right to Trepassey, St. Shott's area that they drive across Witless Bay

Line. It's a shorter distance for them when they are leaving these fishing

ports. It's critical that they have some good infrastructure to go on.

I mean,

you drive these roads and it's incredible how bad they are. I think one of the

first times that the survey for the conditions of the roads in Atlantic Canada,

when it first came out, I am going to say the first time it happened, the

Witless Bay Line was on the top 10 list. So it was an original list that

eventually started. It was one of the first roads that were on it from

Newfoundland and Labrador and it hasn't changed since then. We've done a couple

of kilometres in there – four kilometres – and there's more work needs to be

done.

We have

people that use it for towing trailers and campers across the Witless Bay Line

and they decide to go out around, go out through the Goulds, go out the Goulds

Bypass, come in the Trans-Canada rather than go across the Witless Bay Line. So

there is something that should be looked at.

I know

that they are in there putting some cold patch down, but it's only a temporary

fix. Then the winter comes and the plows hit it and all of a sudden all the cold

patch is gone again. So it's something that I would love for the minister –

hopefully it's in his budget this year – to be able to do something with the

roads in the district.

Thank

you so much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Stephenville - Port au Port.

T. WAKEHAM:

Thank you, Speaker.

These

are the reasons for this petition:

The

Local Service District of West Bay and the Town of Lourdes have an agreement in

place for the extension of water services to West Bay. They applied for funding

through the Canada Community-Building Fund but when the water service was

tested, it didn't meet the federal standard resulting in the rejection of the

application. The water service does meet the provincial standard and the

communities still agree in principle on extending the water supply into West

Bay, pending funding.

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

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to secure funding through the Department

of Transportation and Infrastructure to ensure safe drinking water for the

residents of West Bay.

Speaker,

one of the principles of the Health Accord talks about the social determinants

of health. One of the social determinants of health is clean drinking water.

Unfortunately, the community of West Bay has no drinking water. In 2022, the

Local Service District of West Bay has access to no drinking water. They do not

have a water system.

The Town

of Lourdes has a system that was designed with enough capacity to take on the

community of West Bay. They have an agreement in place to make that happen. What

they need is the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to provide the funding

necessary for this to take place.

Every

summer, they wind up carrying water from household to household just to do the

basic necessities of life. There's a real opportunity here, when we talk about

regionalization and moving forward for two communities who have an opportunity

to share a water system, to make that happen.

I urge

government, whether it's Municipal Affairs, whether it's Transportation and

Infrastructure, to make this happen. Let's fund the water system, the extension,

so that the people of West Bay can have access to clean drinking water.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

S. CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, I call from the Order Paper first reading of Bill 55.

Mr.

Speaker, I move, seconded by the Minister of Digital Government and Service NL,

for leave to introduce a bill entitled,

An Act To Amend The Life Insurance Act,

Bill 55, and I further move that the said bill be now read a first time.

SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded that

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

entitled,

An Act To Amend The Life Insurance Act, Bill 55, and that 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.

SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

Motion

carried.

Motion,

the hon. the Minister of Digital Government and Service NL to introduce a bill,

“An Act To Amend The Life Insurance Act,” carried. (Bill 55)

CLERK (Barnes):

A bill,

An Act To Amend The

Life Insurance Act. (Bill 55)

SPEAKER:

This bill has now been read a

first time.

When

shall the bill be read a second time?

S. CROCKER:

Tomorrow.

SPEAKER:

Tomorrow.

motion, Bill 55 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

S. CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move,

seconded by the Minister of Digital Government and Service NL, for leave to

introduce a bill entitled,

An Act To Amend The Condominiums Act, 2009, Bill 56,

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

SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded that

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

An Act To Amend The Condominiums Act, 2009, Bill 56, and the said bill be now

read a first time.

Is it

the pleasure of the House to adopt this motion?

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

Motion

carried.

Motion,

the hon. Minister of Digital Government and Service NL to introduce a bill, “An

Act To Amend The Condominiums Act, 2009,” carried. (Bill 56)

CLERK:

A bill,

An Act To Amend The

Condominiums Act, 2009. (Bill 56)

SPEAKER:

This bill has now been read a

first time.

When

shall the said bill be read a second time?

S. CROCKER:

Tomorrow.

SPEAKER:

Tomorrow.

motion, Bill 56 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

S. CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I move,

seconded by the Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs, for leave to

introduce a bill entitled,

An Act To Amend The Urban And Rural Planning Act,

2000, Bill 58, and I further move that the said bill be now read a first time.

SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded that

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

An Act To Amend The Urban And Rural Planning Act, 2000, Bill 58, and that the

said bill be now read a first time.

Is it

the pleasure of the House to adopt this motion?

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

Motion

carried.

Motion,

the hon. Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs to introduce a bill, “An

Act To Amend The Urban And Rural Planning Act, 2000,” carried. (Bill 58)

CLERK:

A bill,

An Act To Amend The

Urban And Rural Planning Act, 2000. (Bill 58)

SPEAKER:

This bill has now been read a

first time.

When

shall the said bill be read a second time?

S. CROCKER:

Tomorrow.

SPEAKER:

Tomorrow.

motion, Bill 58 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

S. CROCKER:

Thank you, Speaker.

I move,

pursuant to Standing Order 11(1) that this House not adjourn at 5:30 p.m.,

today, Tuesday, May 3.

SPEAKER:

Is it the pleasure of the

House to adopt the motion?

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

Motion

carried.

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

S. CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Speaker.

I move,

notwithstanding Standing Order 9, that this House shall not adjourn at 5 p.m. on

Wednesday, May 4, 2022, but shall continue to sit for to conduct Government

Business and, if not earlier adjourned, the Speaker shall adjourn the House at

midnight.

SPEAKER:

Is it the pleasure of the

House to adopt the motion?

All

those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay.'

Motion

carried.

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

S. CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I call

from the Order Paper, Motion 1.

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl - Southlands.

P. LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have,

I think, four minutes left over from yesterday that I didn't get to use.

Mr.

Speaker, the first thing I just want to say is I just got a message here from a

constituent. This is just information for the House and the minister responsible

for Tourism, I guess, about this Turo, which is being promoted. It's the Turo

program. I've had someone reach out to me who said that they went to their

insurance company about having their car as part of this Turo program and

they've been told by their insurance company that they could end up with their

car insurance cancelled.

I'm not

sure if the minister and the government is aware of this issue. He is suggesting

that there may be some kind of an amendment or something required to some

regulations to allow this to happen, perhaps, or maybe it's just not going to

happen. But I know that the government has been, I believe – the minister has

been and others – promoting this idea and so on. While it may have seemed like a

good thing, apparently there's a significant challenge. So nobody is going to

put their car forward for tourists, if they're going to get their insurance

cancelled as a result. I thought I would just put it out there for the

information of the House in case they weren't aware.

Obviously, I only have a couple of minutes left here so I'll just go back to

where I was my first time I spoke and it kind of ties into the emergency debate

that my colleagues in the Official Opposition put forward, the motion for

yesterday, and certainly it has dominated Question Period.

Just to

add my voice on behalf of people I represent, Mr. Speaker, there are two things

I have been bombarded with: issues around health care, family doctors,

collaborative clinics and I could go on and on and on about that one, perhaps I

will have another opportunity, but the other thing is the cost of living.

Government keeps going back to the five-point plan.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The

level of conversation is too loud.

P. LANE:

And just to, I suppose, add

the voice of my constituents, not just me and my personal opinion but people who

I represent. I am getting the calls and the messages, as are all Members, and

government needs to realize that the five-point plan helped some people: people

at the very, very lowest end.

Again,

if you are a senior citizen, as an example, who worked your whole life, maybe

you have a few RRSPs, maybe you have a small pension or something, you got

nothing. There's noting in it, like zero, zilch. If you are somebody who is

working at a minimum wage job or a little better than a minimum wage job and

you're barely struggling to survive: you got nothing. A lot of people – this

house insurance, they don't own a house. They don't have tenant insurance. It's

doing absolutely nothing for the average working person.

That is

what, I believe, my colleagues over here, all around me, have been saying over

and over again. I'm sure we understand it. I understand that we're strapped

financially, I get it, but it is one thing to try to get the province on an even

keel and there is another thing about having to care for the people that are

living in this province. People are really struggling to survive, they really

are.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I can't

hear the Member speak.

The hon.

the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands.

P. LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for

the protection.

Mr.

Speaker, when we talk about these issues and we look at the soaring price at the

pumps. I mean, my God, we're well over $2 a litre at the pumps. Whoever thought

that would happen? The cost of home heating fuel, the price of groceries, people

are really, really struggling. Particularly the people who are not at the very

bottom, who receive some help, but that group that are just above. We need to do

more for them. It hasn't been done in this budget, and I encourage the

government to please do so.

Thank

you.

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Lake

Melville.

P. TRIMPER:

Thank you, Speaker.

I want

to, in my next 20 minutes – when the 20 minutes shows up on the clock; there we

go – speak about connecting this province. I've talked about some of these

issues before, but I thought I would try to tie a variety of themes that are

very important to the District of Lake Melville – and my 20 seconds are almost

up but thank you to my colleague.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

P. TRIMPER:

There we go; we'll get there.

I remember the Leader of the Official Opposition did this one time; I watched

him do it.

Anyway,

thank you very much. I want to talk about connecting the province and some

priorities, some things that we're making progress on. There is, of course, with

such a huge piece of geography, so much need.

I want

to talk about a little trip I just did. I left my district a little while ago.

There I am in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, and, of course, to get to Happy

Valley-Goose Bay, while I didn't start in the Torngat Mountains, I need to speak

about the importance of proceeding with this North Coast highway. Whether we

call it a prefeasibility study or a feasibility study, we need to recognize that

the people of Torngat Mountains are looking for a connection to this province.

So much

that we're dealing with in this budget debate is about the cost of travel, to

get folks from the North Coast out to Happy Valley-Goose Bay, which is the hub

for Labrador, and on into larger centres. Most of the time this is by air and

the challenge that we have in doing that, and how important a road access would

be.

It's

interesting my colleague from Torngat Mountains; we actually worked together

some 11 years ago, over the span of some two years on that very project. This

was a private sector initiative. It was a company she was working for; I was

working as a consultant. We know the route. We know so many of the issues. It's

actually very straightforward between Happy Valley-Goose Bay, North West River

and on into Postville and Makkovik. This phase, there's no reason why we can't

get started at it, and I can tell you a lot of the work already exists.

Back to

my drive; the other day, my wife, my wonderful dog Cracker and I, we jumped in

the vehicle and we started driving out from Happy Valley-Goose Bay. For those of

you who know the route, once you leave Happy Valley-Goose Bay, it is 410

kilometres before you see any kind of service; whether it be a washroom,

telephone service that you can count on, maybe some other kind of emergency

support.

I ask

you, where else in the province might you go, venturing down a little road, for

410 kilometres? Just imagine you leave from here and you go well to the other

side, probably to my colleague from Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans, I think 410

kilometres might get you out there somewhere. So just imagine covering that

entire distance with no support if in the event something happens. And we're

talking some pretty heavy-duty country and absolutely no opportunity for

support.

We still

need to think about it. I've been advocating for, I call them pit stops,

emergency support, communications, maybe even just a little bit of food, and, by

the way, a washroom. What the heck is wrong with having a washroom somewhere

along on that highway? That was obstacle number one.

By the

way, we went a day earlier because – and this was just weeks ago – of the

snowstorm coming the following day actually was of sufficient size and

configuration that it again shut down the highway in the vicinity of Cartwright

- L'Anse au Clair District from Lodge Bay I think to Red Bay. That road was

again closed. I was looking at images on her phone this morning. It's still

dealing with severe snowbanks. That's challenge number two.

We then

camped out in Forteau, along with some other folks who were waiting for five

days before they could cross the Strait of Belle Isle. The reason why we

couldn't get across is because the ice concentration, pressure, configuration

has been so extreme this year that even with the escort of an icebreaker, it was

an amazing experience.

Now,

we're not talking the heavy sea ice that we see in Northern Labrador, but it was

of sufficient strength and concentration. And if anyone follows me on Facebook,

you can see that our ferry stopped several times and the icebreaker had to come

around. As I posted there and as I'll say in this hon. House, it is really time

to get serious about looking at an underground tunnel to connect the two chunks

of geography that are our province. I can just imagine the economic boost that

would occur. There's so much financial argument to proceeding with that, and I

can tell you from the perspective of somebody who travels that route often, it

would pay dividends in terms of so much other support for this province.

crossed over, landed in St. Barbe, and then I was actually making my way down to

see relatives in Nova Scotia. We started driving down along the Southwest Coast

of Newfoundland and we were stopped again for a day because of the extreme

winds. Now, the infrastructure is there and I'm not sure what we do with

140-kilometre-an-hour winds, but suffice to say there was a tractor-trailer

overturned that was a solid reflection of the strength of the winds and the

conditions.

We live

in a heck of province and there's no question we are being challenged by the

changes that we're feeling in our climate, by the existing conditions and

logistics and so on. So all I'm saying to government is really we need some

vision, we need to look forward, and we really need to start thinking about some

investment now and how much that could save us over the long run.

Some of

the other issues that relate to this and just a little while ago in the House –

it's a bit abstract, and frankly I don't think it's going to cost a little

money, but I wanted to raise it again because there was interesting feedback

that I received, and it's this idea of how we communicate in terms of when we

are communicating.

Labrador, for example, functions with two time zones. That's not counting the

confusion that we have, especially down the southwest part of Labrador, down in

Blanc-Sablon area, which is in another time zone, and then I look to my

colleague from Labrador West who also deals with the Quebec zone. There's not

much we can do about that, but could we at least consider putting all of

Labrador in one time zone? Next, could we consider moving everybody to standard

time?

Stop the

shift from this twice a year jolt of jet lag that I think most of the province

feels, as we adjust to that hour difference, stay on the same time throughout

the year. Yeah, there are going to be some adjustments, particularly in the

morning and in the evening. I believe we'll get used to it, and I note that the

United States are certainly looking like they're moving in that direction. I

suggest that we pay close attention.

Finally,

I'm just going to throw it out there. It's certainly not a sword to die on, but

I think it's one that we could consider. If you again watch me on all kinds of

communications and meetings, all of us receive notices that there's going to be

a particular briefing at 2 NL time tomorrow. I still wonder what NL time is. Are

we talking Newfoundland time? I'm sure they're not talking Labrador time, but

again, it's that confusion and how many missed appointments, missed flights and

so on. So these are some of the things about connecting our province together.

Another

aspect that I speak often of and I just want to mention it again. I share with

the minister – I was here last evening at Estimates. We talked about the Medical

Transportation Assistance Program and how vital it is, particularly for

districts in Labrador, but also in rural parts of Newfoundland. If you don't

have insurance coverage to get you to the health care that we are obligated,

that we are proud of in this country to be able to provide, this is a real

burden. It's not just a financial burden; it's a health burden. I'm very sorry

to say it's caused and led to mortality.

I know

of people who have cancelled appointments for such serious situations as cancer,

perhaps cardiac attention and so on. They just can't even afford the difference

in what we pay them. I look forward to whatever we see from the implementation

plan of the Health Accord. Many of us have a lot of confidence in the co-chairs.

I do believe they are listening. I do believe this may just be a report that

never sees any dust. I do hope it's truly an accord that we can all work with

and agree to. It's not going to change things overnight, but I believe there is

so much that's critically urgent right now, that I look forward to seeing it

roll out.

Air

ambulance is one. I was just dealing with a very challenging situation for the

last five days with a gentleman out of Churchill Falls, and I'd like to thank

all those that participated. If I had to list the number of departments that

were involved, I was thinking – and organizations – probably four or five that

were required to get this one individual out. Not necessarily a medical

emergency but it was one that we required medical assistance for. I'd like to

thank and acknowledge everyone who was involved. You know who you are.

One

issue that I think all of us as MHAs recognize and realize is the importance of

sport. I'm hearing it in government and I welcome that and some support in terms

of recognizing the cost of recreational pursuits and so on. But, as we know,

it's the next generations, those that are in school, who so embrace, thrive and,

let's face it, get them on a really good road for a healthy life, by getting

involved in sports, particularly in high schools.

Labrador, I can tell you, we are constantly running into problems that seem to

be increasing. Once things settle down for me this week, I know I have to get

back to some folks in the Lake Melville District who have come to me very

concerned because, again, they can't afford to take teams – and these are teams

with athletes with high skills – that are trying to get out to Newfoundland for

competition and they can't afford it.

The

subsidy is wholly insufficient and it's causing – well, it's preventing any

opportunity. I note – and I don't want to throw it out as an attack or a

criticism, it's a reality – we have the concentration of our population, we're

only 6 per cent of this provincial population in Labrador, we get that, we

understand that. So more on occasion, we probably have folks representing

Labrador schools and communities who are going to travel to the Island for

competitions.

But I

can tell you there's a general reluctance for those teams to come to Labrador.

We'd love to see you. But it's increasingly more of a trend in terms of teams or

events, or even sport associations, and I can name a couple of them, who have

declared that they will no longer host and hold provincial competitions in

Labrador because of the expense of travelling there. Well, they recognize it,

and I can tell you we deal with it every day.

Again,

these are all important points about how we can try to pull this province

together, and it's incredibly frustrating.

I'm

thinking that if the Health Accord can really do what it is intended with its

implementation document, so much of this is going to be about, as I say, pulling

us together, but also recognizing that it should not be an extreme disadvantage

to live in any part of this province. I often hear people say things like, well,

you choose to live there, whether it be in Lake Melville or even the more

isolated communities of the North Coast in Torngat Mountains.

Well,

guess what? People who are in these communities – I look to my colleague from

Lab West – we, collectively as a community, are heavily involved in very

important, lucrative economic drivers for this province. And as we are so often

arguing – the three of us sitting here on this side of the House – for greater

attention because it is those same people that are running the Voisey's Bay

project, the iron ore mines of Labrador West, the Muskrat Falls Project, if and

when it gets up and running, will be very important in terms of providing

electricity for so much of Newfoundland and so many other aspects of our

economy.

We need

to recognize that if we are going to develop these resources, and develop them

wisely, we need people who are going to live adjacent to those areas. And all we

are asking for is some adjacency consideration for people to feel proud about

where they live, not to feel that they need to be propped up. I think, frankly,

we can get there but it is going to be all about good communication.

With

that, Speaker, I think I am going to stop on that point. I really appreciate the

opportunity to talk about how we can tie our province together.

Thank

you.

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Humber - Bay of Islands.

E. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am

going to have a few words before I won't be able to. I know a lot of people

would like for me to stop bringing up issues concerning the Humber - Bay of

Islands and Corner Brook but that isn't going to happen.

So I

just want to stand up, Mr. Speaker, and speak on the issues I have been speaking

about for a while: cataract surgery. We see the backlog again, the number of

people backlogged, and why this government and the Minister of Health and

Community Services will not allow to free up time at the hospital and now have

to force them to go to Stephenville even though the equipment is not up to

standard.

received another letter from the Minister of Health and Community Services

talking about the report. There is a report that was done up, and this is the

cuteness of it. The report was done up and you're talking about how much it

costs per surgery. The report that the minister referred to in the letter, it

said it was something like $540. I haven't got the letter right here in front of

me but it was something like $500 or $560, not the $1,160 or $1,260 that was

reported.

But here

is the detail that was left out, that is concerning one eye. Most cataracts are

done with two eyes. So when you add that price together, it is the price that is

in the report. So to put it into a letter that here is the actual cost to have

these surgeries done at a public facility is half what it costs, when you know

there needs to be two eyes. That is the kind of stuff.

I know

the Member for St. George's - Humber is listening, call some of your

constituents, call the Apex building and see what I am saying, if it's not

correct. I know the Member for Baie Verte - Green Bay did and I know he knows

what I am saying is correct. Phone the Apex building and get the same

information.

So when

the Minister of Health and Community Services puts in a letter, trying to say

that here's the report that was done and here's what it costs to do it in a

public, and knowing that's only for one eye and there's always two eyes that are

going to be done when doing cataracts, is just wrong.

There

are 800 seniors on the West Coast now; they're going to start surgeries in

Stephenville now. You should ask have they got the full equipment. You should go

out and ask. I'll guarantee you that you will stand up and say this is wrong.

Ask them do they have the full packs to complete the eye surgery. Ask them.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

E. JOYCE:

Pardon me?

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

E. JOYCE:

Ask them what?

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

E. JOYCE:

I can't hear you.

AN HON. MEMBER:

Ask them why they didn't have

it.

E. JOYCE:

Why they didn't have it? Is

because the machine is outdated and the reason why the machine is outdated – and

now the packs that they made for the outdated machine at the Sir Thomas Riddick

Hospital, they don't make the packs anymore. They are actually gone off to try

to get more packs. So what they have to do is take half of one pack and half of

another pack, throw half out of this pack, half out of the other pack, to make

one full pack. I say to the Member: If you want a number, I'll give you the

number to confirm everything I am saying here.

For this

government to talk about here is the amount of money that we got and here is

where we're going to take care – and there are 800 seniors that could be done,

their eyes. This is why I cannot vote for this budget. I just can't vote for it.

On my conscience, I can't vote for it.

Time

after time after time I have brought this up. I gave them options. I asked the

Premier to call, the Premier never called. The information that is put out there

using a letter, doing one eye instead of two and saying here is what it costs at

a public facility when the report is there. I can even try to track down a copy

of the report. It's over $1,100 with the lens now being including, because

before you had to pay for the lens. Now, with the lens, it's over $1,200. And to

put in a letter it's only $560 or $570, it's just wrong. Just making false

excuses to deny seniors their eyesight.

I can't

comprehend it, the reason why. The only reason why: a personality conflict right

there. I heard the Minister of Health and Community Services go out and talk and

say they could do it at the hospital in Corner Brook. As I mentioned before,

there are two days at the hospital in Corner Brook. There is one person who does

glaucoma for the whole Province of Newfoundland and Labrador – the whole

province.

Anything

I'm saying, the minister could stand up and I'll even give him my time. The

whole Province of Newfoundland and Labrador – now, what they're saying is that,

okay, start cancelling the glaucoma across the Province of Newfoundland and

Labrador, start cancelling it and start doing cataract surgery so you could get

your wait-list down. And glaucoma is much more serious than cataracts. That's

what the minister is saying: Cancel it.

And the

other one is retina in the hospital, because at the Apex building they don't

have the ability to do retina or glaucoma – they could, if they were allowed,

but they're not even allowed. They can get the equipment, but they're not

allowed to do it and they don't have the equipment, so it has to be done at the

hospital.

So what

the minister is saying and this government is saying to people of this Province

of Newfoundland and Labrador with your eye surgery: Cancel glaucoma, start doing

cataracts to knock down your wait-list. Go to Stephenville where the equipment

is outdated. They don't even have the packs for the equipment; they have to

substitute stuff in and out. Let the people now start right from Baie Verte,

starts out, right on until Corner Brook, start going to Stephenville. Corner

Brook residents, start driving to Stephenville.

I have

had numerous calls from the Premier's own district and he won't even stand up

for them. It is sad. It is actually sad that here is the Premier of this

province, a doctor himself – I'm not disputing any work he ever did and all his

volunteer work; I'm not disputing that – but when you get in government, all of

a sudden, whatever happens to many people in government is that they change.

They change. And you know that, Mr. Speaker; you're aware of that. You've seen

that, haven't you, how people change? Yeah, you have. People change. People

change when they're in government because they need this great position, they

have to get up in this position or we have to stand up and defend something.

But for

the Premier of the province who's a doctor himself, he has all the information

that these cataract surgeries can be done – the cost at a public facility versus

at the Apex facility is much cheaper. The cost to actually do the surgery is the

same no matter where it's at, but the actual cost to perform the surgeries is

much lower. There's a wait-list of 800 seniors that they can start and do it

much more efficient.

So I'll

say to the Member for Baie Verte - White Bay, sorry.

AN HON. MEMBER:

Green Bay.

E. JOYCE:

Green Bay, sorry. All I

remember is Springdale over so many years. We go back a long ways. All I can

remember is Springdale with the Member and I spent a lot of time in Baie Verte

over the years. He's over there waving to me and saying what a great soccer team

we had, the Curling Rangers.

But, Mr.

Speaker, on a serious note, I just want to let you know, right now you may get

calls from people – I don't know who's on the wait-list; I really don't. I just

know the numbers. You may start getting calls now that people can't come to

Corner Brook; they have to go on to Stephenville to get the cataracts. It won't

be done in the Apex building because not allowed.

Go to

Stephenville, it costs you more. It costs you more in travel. People from Humber

Valley, the Premier's own district now, have to bypass Corner Brook, go on to

Stephenville – that's only when they can do it, by the way. This is the big

thing with the Apex building. If they want to work weekends on their own and

call the staff in, they can work weekends. If they want to work nights, they can

work nights. They can work whenever they want, but at the hospital it's a set

time on a set day; Stephenville, the same thing. They can't work past a day or

two in Stephenville because then they have to start calling people in. If you

are working at the Apex building, your own building, where you have your own

staff, you can work weekends, nights, to clear up the backlog.

The

minister knows. The minister is well aware of this here. This is how you create

the backlog by saying okay, we can only do it a day a week at the hospital. That

creates the backlog. But if you get rid of that backlog and then go with the

quota that's given out by the Health and Community Services, you would never

have a backlog because you have a certain number that you have to get done.

Can you

imagine? It's mind-boggling when you dig into it. It's mind-boggling. If any of

us here in this room right now had a broken leg or a broken arm, as quick as we

can get in, we get it done. Anybody here, quick as we can get in, we can get

done. If you got cataract surgery, there's a quota. You will not go past the

quota. There's a wait-list right now of 800 – I don't know if they started in

Stephenville yet. Come April 1, you have a quota. I don't know what it is,

1,700, 1,800, whatever it is. You have the quota for Western Newfoundland,

excluding St. Anthony.

So once

that quota is done, if there's a list – the backlog – you can't fulfill the

backlog. If it is leg, arms, anything else, you can do it. But cataracts, they

won't. I even wrote the minister and brought this up, but guess what? Still the

big backlog. If you had a leg, an arm, it's no problem.

And the

other thing I brought up on numerous occasions, Mr. Speaker, is the laundry

services for the new acute care hospital in Corner Brook. It's gone; taken out.

I wrote the minister and asked him. He said: Yeah, well, in July, two ministers

got together in consultation. I said: What two ministers? I wasn't there. Oh, it

was consultations in between. I said: No, because I was in there. Here's the

speech you gave in Corner Brook. Ah well, in collaboration it cost $100,000 per

square foot; we can't afford it. Why didn't you tell the people that? The

election –

AN HON. MEMBER:

I think the Member for Corner

Brook was campaigning on it.

E. JOYCE:

Campaigning on it.

The

election in 2021, in January and February 2021, they were out saying the laundry

was in, during the election in Corner Brook and Humber - Bay of Islands and the

West Coast. And that affects four of our districts. I have the print of it,

during the election.

The

actual RFP closed January 24, 2021. They knew, but out campaigning, saying how

dare someone say the laundry is not included in the new acute care hospital. How

dare –?

P. LANE:

Who said that?

E. JOYCE:

The Premier himself was out

saying it.

P. LANE:

Go away. Who else?

E. JOYCE:

The Member for Corner Brook

was out saying it.

you're going to do it, do it. At least have the honesty to tell people you're

going to do it, that you did it. Don't be out campaigning during election

because the election was prolonged, and saying, oh no, it's in, it's in, when

the RFP closed January 24. The laundry's 75 jobs gone. But if you're going to

move it out, at least have the honesty to go and tell the people. That was a

commitment that the Liberal government, which I was a part of, made that all the

services within the Western Memorial Hospital would be in an acute-care

hospital.

That was

a commitment. We made that commitment to the unions. I walked out on the steps

there on the Confederation Building and 500 or 600 – and I made that commitment

on behalf of the government. We lived up to that commitment until we found out,

by luck, that it was taken out, that is was actually taken out.

So if

anything I am saying here – if someone wants to dispute it, stand up and I'll

show you documentation about the RFP. I'll show you the statements that were

made in Corner Brook during the election. This was the kind of stuff – when I

hear things about cataract surgery, when I hear information about cataract

surgery, I have got to go check because I can assure you, there's a different

side of it.

And this

is why I'm going to find it so hard to vote – I won't vote for the budget, on

principle alone, when I know there are 800 seniors that can be done like that –

start today. Let's do it in the Apex building. I don't care who gets paid. I'm

not worried about personalities. I just want those seniors – I cannot vote for

the budget, just on principle. Some of those seniors that we're talking about

today lost their licence, can't drive; in their house and can't get out. Many of

them cannot even read their medication and here we are standing in this House

talking about the great deficit we've got.

Here's

the issue with it: It don't cost any money. If you went into the Sir Thomas

Roddick Hospital and opened up that building seven days a week and you paid to

do the surgery, you're going to get paid. They're going to hire the staff, the

nurses, all the people in the OR, all the check-in people, they're all going to

have all that, the surgeons are going to get paid. If they did it in the Apex

building, they're going to get paid a lesser amount for the building, but the

money is there.

There is

no money; it's not costing no money. It's just the personalities – just

personalities. It boggles my mind about why this is not done. This is an easy

fix; a very easy fix but it won't be done. And as long as I get the opportunity

to speak on this here, I will.

Also

about the nurse practitioners: a great opportunity in Corner Brook. I heard the

minister when I asked the question about the nurse practitioner. He said we're

meeting with the union, the Nurses' Union. Meet with the nurse practitioners;

meet with their association. That's who you need to work with. Don't go standing

up and saying you're going to work with the nurses. Go and meet the nurse

practitioners who can help this out in Corner Brook.

There

are thousands of people in Western Newfoundland now, people waiting six, seven,

eight hours in the emergency room. Nurse practitioners could help out so easy.

So instead of standing up and saying: oh, we're going to discuss this with the

nurses. Go and meet with the nurse practitioners association. There are three

set up in Corner Brook now. The last count I heard they had over 4,000 people

going through the doors, paying out of their own pocket.

AN HON. MEMBER:

Thirty-five bucks a shot.

E. JOYCE:

How much?

AN HON. MEMBER:

Thirty-five.

E. JOYCE:

Thirty-five bucks a shot,

paid out of their own pocket.

That's

how many that Lawrence passed on to someone to pass on to me, how many people

they've seen and they are only opened up two or three months ago – 4,000. That

is probably higher now. I mean, that's a lot of people in Western Newfoundland.

That's a lot of people.

Mr.

Speaker, I am going to bring up the Minister of Transportation and

Infrastructure for a second. I spoke to him, probably three weeks ago about an

issue out in Copper Mine Brook about the gabion baskets. I got to say that the

gabion baskets were done soon after because it was a treacherous situation. I

just want to recognize that, the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure

did that.

The

Copper Mine Brook area where – I just wanted the people to listen from Lark

Harbour because the word will spread that I went over yesterday to speak to the

minister about Copper Mine Brook and the drop in the road and he had it on his

desk, the letter that I wrote him, he was reviewing that.

I just

want to let people know that the serious concern of the Copper Mine Brook and

the gabion baskets, when I brought it to the minister, he addressed it. And,

yesterday, when I went over to discuss about the letter I write, he had it on

his desk reading the letter. I just want to recognize that and let people know

that the minister is aware of it and hopefully where it is so bad, it is very

dangerous, that something will be done. Thank you, Minister, for the safety of

that area.

Mr.

Speaker, I only have another two minutes left and I am going to speak on the

helmets again on Side By Sides. I have to speak on that.

I can

tell you, the minister never came out and said: we're not putting it in. But

when I left this House and the reason why I voted for it, I had firm belief that

it was going to be done.

AN HON. MEMBER:

We all did.

E. JOYCE:

The minister did not come out

and say it's going to be done, but when you say: I understand, I got it, let me

put it in the regulations, seriously considering it. It is going to come out in

the regulations.

S. STOODLEY:

Any day now.

E. JOYCE:

Pardon me?

S. STOODLEY:

Any day now.

E. JOYCE:

Any day now you're going to

change it?

S. STOODLEY:

No, the regulations will be

out.

E. JOYCE:

Oh, that is a nice flippant

answer to the people who are going to be out: any day. Why don't you go out and

meet with the residents? How many people wrote you?

S. STOODLEY:

I gave you my cellphone

number.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

E. JOYCE:

My God, relax, relax.

Why

don't you go out and meet with the people who want you to meet with them?

S. STOODLEY:

I gave you my cellphone

number.

E. JOYCE:

Why don't you go out and meet

with the people?

S. STOODLEY:

I gave you my cellphone

number.

E. JOYCE:

Why don't you go out and meet

with the residents?

S. STOODLEY:

I gave them my cellphone

number.

E. JOYCE:

Oh, yeah, gave your cellphone

number.

There

are people asking for a public meeting with the Premier and the minister, and

refusing a public meeting – unheard of. I even wrote you and asked you on behalf

of – Brad Gallant wrote you and asked you for a public meeting. What did you

say? Got to go through your MHA.

So will

you commit to a public meeting on the West Coast now? Would you commit to a

public meeting?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon.

the Member for Humber - Bay of Islands.

E. JOYCE:

When you won't commit to a

public meeting to justify a decision that you made, you don't feel strong enough

in your own position. That's my personal view.

Brad

Gallant is waiting for your response for a public meeting.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The

Member's time has expired.

E. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Torngat Mountains.

L. EVANS:

Thank you, Speaker.

I'm just

going to briefly speak on the budget. For me, Speaker, sometimes I do struggle

to, not find things to talk about, not issues to bring forward from my district,

sometimes I struggle because there are so many issues for my district. I look

around the province and I actually ask myself: How did we get here?

It's

pretty obvious here that there's very little consideration given to people in

rural, remote areas, especially in Northern Labrador. I was going to present a

petition again today but I didn't get a chance. It seems like all my petitions

are about serious needs that existed over the many decades, the many generations

since we joined Confederation.

As the

MHA for Torngat Mountains, six communities in Northern Labrador, each one of

them are recognized as Indigenous communities. It's really hard.

It's

kind of strange, too, I just started talking and now the banter is starting to

pick up again.

But why

do I have to put petitions in place? Like, for example, the petition I was going

to present today was on marine shipping. I wasn't going to ask for something

new. I was going to ask for the marine shipping to be reinstated from the

Island.

Now, why

would I have to ask for that? It's because, first off, the marine transportation

services to the North Coast of Labrador, to my district, were done without the

consultation, the full consultation of the Nunatsiavut Government, which is

actually recognized as self-government. In actual fact, the Nunatsiavut

Government has accused this provincial government of actually enacting changes

without consultation and actually being in violation of the Land Claims

Agreement.

It's

quite sad, too, you know, I don't have the ability to spend $11.5 million on

paving in my own district. Maybe if I did, I would be sitting in the House and I

would be talking over everybody who's trying to speak.

In my

district, in actual fact, there's –

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon.

the Member for Torngat Mountains.

L. EVANS:

In my district, we're looking

at another budget, and we actually have trouble getting food into our

communities. We have trouble actually travelling in and out of our communities.

If this was anywhere else in the province, I don't think this would have

happened.

First

off, I don't think that they would have taken away marine services for

transportation of food, building materials, all our community needs, while a

Member of government was sitting and representing our district. That's really

unheard of. So what kind of consideration was given to my district? None. None.

So we're asking for it to be taken back.

One of

the things that came out of the Truth and Reconciliation that was talked about:

genocide. Not cultural genocide, genocide. Since Canada was actually

established, we looked at residential schools. But I have to say, Speaker,

where's the residential schools that existed? Are they on the Island? No, they

weren't on the Island. So everybody is talking about reconciliation and

Indigenous groups now, putting it all in one big pot and talking about it over

and over again.

But the

problem in my district, where we have Innu and Inuit that were seriously harmed

and actually have suffered real intergenerational trauma – has suffered real

intergenerational trauma. What is intergenerational trauma? It's trauma that

actually is year after year, generation after generation. And what's happening

is there's never been any help for the people in my district. Yet, we were

blamed.

When

those videos came out from Davis Inlet, that was really something that was taken

and, basically, they just blamed the Innu. But no one really talked about the

harm that was done to the Innu. That, in actual fact, it created so much harm

that they were struggling. They were struggling as youth, as parents, as

grandparents. They were all impacted: same thing with the Inuit.

I gave a

Member's statement just recently on Boas Jararuse. As a young man with a young

family, he was forced to resettle, relocate, from Hebron. They were collected in

the church, the Moravian Church. I call him Uncle Boas out of respect. Uncle

Boas always talked about the fact that they did it in the church because they

knew that the people, the Inuit, wouldn't speak out against this decision.

They

were relocated; sometimes families were broken up. It's so important to

understand that it's not just the residential schools that harmed the Inuit and

the Innu of my district; it's basically the forced relocation with the Innu.

They were put on an island in Davis Inlet. That was one of the strategies there,

was to keep them from going off on the land.

There

are so many different ways that the people have been harmed, but no one really

wants to talk about that any more. In actual fact, the phrase intergenerational

trauma has been used so much, people are tired of it. They're sick and tired of

hearing about intergenerational trauma. But the biggest problem is this

government has not done anything other than superficial, pretentious things.

Now,

there's really value in symbolism. I understand that and also there's value in

re-educating people about the harms that were done. But, at the end of the day,

people can't eat murals that cost a lot of money to actually put in the House of

Assembly. People can't eat murals. Statues: statues are not going to help you

feed your children and heat your house. How can we get out of intergenerational

trauma when this Liberal government continues to do these things without

actually addressing real change?

It was

this government that took away the freight boat and now has added burden of the

trucking. If that was anywhere else on the Island, if that was on the Island, it

wouldn't be heard of. It wouldn't be tolerated.

Do you

know something? For example, me, I'm here, as the MHA, and I have to tell you I

really don't like being the MHA in this House of Assembly. I don't really like

actually a lot of things that I see. I really don't.

Do you

know something? I understand why people write books after they retire from

politics, because, in actual fact, I don't really know how to say something

without getting kicked out of House, if I were to speak the real truth.

But, in

actual fact, until real change comes to the Innu and the Inuit of Northern

Labrador, this government will actually have blood on their hands because our

people will continue to die.

watched somebody die on a video. I watched it on a video. Me and a fellow MHA

watched it. It was somebody who was harmed through intergenerational trauma, had

fallen into addictions. And to slowly watch that person die in this day and age,

in this year – I watched it. That is the consequence of inaction. That's that

the consequence of the superficial, pretentious garbage that comes out of the

mouth of some of the Members who are supposed to be looking after the Indigenous

people.

Who are

the Indigenous people? Well, I can take you into my communities, if any one of

the ministers actually bothered to go anywhere else than Nain and fly in on the

morning flight and get out on the afternoon flight, if you ever, ever come up

into my district.

Now, I

tell you, there were a lot of Liberals that went into Makkovik that went over

trouting and fishing with my cousin who took them out. And, you know, when I was

campaigning one of the biggest complaints was that the only time they saw those

Liberal, whoever they were, because no one knew who they were, was when they got

off the plane and when they rushed back with their coolers full of trout and

salmon and fish to catch the flight out of Makkovik. People in Postville didn't

see them; people in Rigolet didn't see them; people in Hopedale didn't see them.

Yet, we

are continued to be harmed by these crazy prices that we have no control over by

the lack of services that we never, ever got.

One of

the fallacies in this province is that the Indigenous people of Northern

Labrador, the real Inuit, the real Innu who exist today that continue with their

traditions and their language, they actually destroyed the infrastructure that

was given to them, that basically undermined the services that were given to

them. That's why they're all up there sniffing gas. That's why they're all up

there killing themselves. That's been said. I've actually had it said to me many

times.

And do

you know something? Some of the people that killed themselves, suicide, were

relatives of mine: relatives of mine, friends of mine. People that died, people

that were murdered, the murdered women and Indigenous girls, whatever the fancy

acronym for that is, that actually cost the federal government so much money to

have the inquiry into. What's being done about that? Who was murdered? I can

tell you who was murdered. I've actually had relatives of mine murdered, friends

of mine. My brother's girlfriend was murdered. One of my best friend's mother

was murdered. We don't talk about that.

And I

think I mentioned in the House the one person that people know in this province

who they didn't know – everybody knew Dana Bradley. Everybody knew the name Dana

Bradley in this province. No one knew the name Henrietta Millek, but she was an

Inuit woman from Northern Labrador that was down here and was murdered – my

sister's roommate.

I have

got to tell you, it really impacts people. When I was growing up and when I went

to university, I actually sat down one day and I was trying to remember all of

the people I knew that committed suicide in the communities. I had to go through

all my fingers and I was going through the years and I missed people – people

that were close to me.

The

thing about it is until services and infrastructure are actually brought into

Northern Labrador – and do you know what really, really bothers me? One of the

things that would actually change life in Northern Labrador would be a road or

would be an extension in improvement of the airstrips that would improve

transportation, as I keep bringing up in my petitions.

Do you

know who was going to pay for most of that? Practically all of that

infrastructure would be paid by, by the federal government. And one of the

reasons why this province doesn't want to do that is because after it is built,

they would have to maintain it. That was said to me and my response is maintain

it like you do the rest of the roads in the province – like the rest of the

roads in the province. Really? Honestly?

That's

why we never ever got adequate – and for me, it's really hard. Honestly, most of

my days, looking back in physics when we did university physics, college

physics, it talks about inertia. And the definition of inertia is a body in

motion will remain in motion unless it is acted on by an outside force. A body

at rest will remain at rest unless it is acted on by an outside force.

And the

thing about it is if we had people in this House that was interested in the

greater good of everybody in the province and actually worked on that instead of

just their own agendas, instead of getting all the paving in their district or

actually just looked at oh, I can talk to Dr. – I can't say his name – I can

talk to the Minister of Health about my particular patient's issue and then I

can go back to him and that will boost me up. Oh, look, that will get me votes.

Instead of saying that this is a chronic issue that's experienced by many, many

people in the province that needs to be addressed for the greater good. You

might not get the attention, you might not get the recognition but, at the end

of the day, the people in the province would actually do a lot better.

Where's

that? That's not here. There are very, very few times that I actually see that

come forward. That's the biggest problem I have with this House of Assembly. The

self-serving rhetoric that goes on, it's ridiculous. Here I am, and I'm no

better. I'm just a little, old woman that came out of the North Coast. I mean,

really, honestly.

But you

know something? When I ran, I expected more. I expected better; I did. I had

some delusion. Honourable – this House isn't honourable. It's not filled with

honourable Members. We may not have criminal records, but I tell you some of the

action that we do have consequences that are far reaching. In my mind, it might

as well be criminal.

Actually

pretentious, superficial words, and nothingness that comes out of people's

mouth, really, is unacceptable. For me it's difficult to deal with that: health

care. How many people do I know in Northern Labrador – most of our patients that

have cancer, or had cancer, were diagnosed too late for treatment, even in 2022.

My sister-in-law – she had a family history – was misdiagnosed and eve