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June 3, 2021

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. L No. 10

The House met at 1:30 p.m.

SPEAKER (Bennett):

Order, please!

Before we start our regular business, I would like to

rule on the point of order yesterday by the Minister Responsible for Women and

Gender Equality.

There was no point of order. It was just a disagreement

between two Members.

Statements by Members

SPEAKER:

Today, we will hear Members' statements from the hon. Members for the Districts

of Conception Bay East - Bell Island, Placentia - St. Mary's, Humber - Bay of

Islands, Mount Pearl - Southlands and Ferryland.

The hon. the Member for Conception Bay East - Bell

Island.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I speak today to honour a constituent of mine. Mrs.

Bonita Spracklin became involved with the Army Cadet corps 2410, Bell Island, in

1992 as a parent volunteer because three of her children were cadets and five of

her seven children became members of the corps. She was instrumental in forming

the Parents Committee, which is now the support group. As a founding member of

the Parents Committee, she spearheaded a huge fundraiser to purchase much-needed

band equipment for the corps.

In 1994, she was encouraged to join the cadet

instruction program. She enrolled in the necessary courses to move herself

through the ranks of the cadet movement and obtain the highest rank possible,

that being captain. When she graduated with her rank of captain, she was named

top candidate for the captain's qualification course. She accomplished all this

while still raising her very young family.

She held various positions in the corps throughout her

tenure. In 2009, she accepted the position of commanding officer until her

retirement on May 2, 2021.

Captain Spracklin has the distinction of being the

first female commanding officer of the Bell Island Army Cadet corps, which has

more than 100 years service. For her 29 years she served the youth on Bell

Island and said that if she made the difference in the life of one youth then

her work had been rewarded.

I ask all Members to thank Bonnie for her service to

the youth of Bell Island.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Placentia - St. Mary's.

GAMBIN-WALSH:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, Karen Corcoran and Annie Walsh, two

students from my District of Placentia - St. Mary's are this year's winners of

the 2021 provincial Sharing Our Culture Anti-Racism Poster Contest.

Karen and Annie are students of Fatima Academy in St.

Bride's. More than 300 students took

part in the contest. Karen said that being

from a small community she hasn't seen a lot of racism in her area but sees it

happening in a lot of places around the world, the country and the province.

Karen's first-place poster for the Grades 10 to 12

category titled All Colours Are Beautiful is a drawing of four females of

different races. Karen's idea came from the attention that anti-racism has been

getting in the media.

Annie won first place in the Grade 7 to 9 category with

the colourful drawing featuring flags of the world with the words: Where I'm

from does not define me. Annie said she has a low tolerance for racist attitudes

so it was really important for her to do this as it annoys her how some people

are not accepting at all.

I ask all Members to join me in congratulating Karen

Corcoran and Annie Walsh.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Humber - Bay of Islands.

JOYCE:

Mr.

Speaker, on May 3, 2021, a well-known and respected resident of Benoit's Cove

passed away at the age of 78.

Bernard White was known as the person who always leant

a helping hand, a community leader and a man of values. He was an active member

of the Qalipu First Nation band and served four terms as the Benoit's Cove ward

councillor. He was very passionate about the Indigenous ancestry and culture and

was a strong advocate for those fighting for recognition during the membership

process.

Bernard worked diligently supporting the Qalipu band

and the issues they pursue, in particular, the issue related to the fisheries.

He also served as a councillor with the town council of Humber Arm South for

three years.

Bern was a dedicated family man and will be sadly

missed by his wife of 57 years, Leona; his children: Edward, Christina, Pamela,

Diane, Karen, Mandy; his nine grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and his

Qalipu council family and many friends.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all Members to join with me in

offering our condolences to Bernard's family. Bernard, from your immediate

family and your Qalipu family: Mi'soqo app welteskatulti'kw – until we all meet

again.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands.

LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mount Pearl has long been recognized not just for its

top-notch sport and recreational infrastructure, but for a sporting fraternity

comprised of amazing individuals who give so much of themselves to our

community. One such citizen that I wish to recognize today is my good friend Mr.

Herb Jenkins, affectionately known by many as the Senator.

Herb has been an active and vital member of the Mount

Pearl Soccer Association since the 1970s and has coached many different teams in

local, provincial and national tournaments. He was the first Newfoundlander to

become a national referee, and shared that expertise with many through his local

officiating clinics. He has also been named Newfoundland and Labrador Soccer

Association Provincial Coach of the Year and has been inducted into the Mount

Pearl Soccer Association and Newfoundland and Labrador Soccer Association Hall

of Fame.

While his contributions to soccer are many, his ongoing

contribution to our community has gone well beyond his chosen sport. This

evening I look forward to celebrating with him as he's given the honour of

becoming the fifth Honorary Life Member within the Mount Pearl Soccer

Association Hall of Fame.

I ask all hon. Members to join me in congratulating

this amazing individual.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Ferryland.

O'DRISCOLL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to recognize many groups of volunteers,

businesses and individuals in the District of Ferryland who took the initiative

to organize a cleanup in their towns and communities.

One of the major cleanups was organized in the Town of

Witless Bay where, for many years, there were several wreckages of vehicles and

RVs abandoned and left to rust on Gull Pond Road. A group of volunteers from

Witless Bay and surrounding communities, along with heavy equipment operators,

construction companies and other businesses in the area volunteered their time

and equipment to help make this event a huge success.

As well, many other individuals and groups organized

cleanups in several other towns and communities within the district. It is great

to see so many members of the district doing their part to keep our community

clean and beautiful. As your MHA for the District of Ferryland, I cannot thank

you enough.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all Members to join me in

recognizing the several volunteers in the district who came together in keeping

our communities clean.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister Responsible for Women and Gender Equality.

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, today marks the second anniversary of the

final report of the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and

Girls; an occasion made even more sombre by the discovery of the remains of 215

Indigenous children at a residential school in British Columbia. This discovery

has deeply impacted us all.

Earlier today, the federal government launched the

National Action Plan to address racism and the disproportionate levels of

violence against Indigenous women and girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals across

Canada. Since the release of the national inquiry's final report, we have been

working with our federal, provincial and territorial colleagues to develop the

National Action Plan and remain committed to continuing this work going forward.

On the local level, we will now focus our work on

talking with Indigenous peoples in Newfoundland and Labrador to address the

calls for justice from a provincial perspective. While our continued work with

our colleagues across the country is important, our priority remains the safety

and well-being of Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. Members to join with me

today in honouring the strength and resilience of Indigenous women and girls and

2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals in our province and across the country. I ask you all to

commit to being part of the change needed to ensure these individuals live in a

province free from fear of violence and discrimination.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of her

statement. On behalf of the Official Opposition, I join with the minister in

honouring the strength and resilience of Indigenous women, girls and

two-spirited and LGBTQQIA+ individuals across our country.

The final report of the Inquiry into Missing and

Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls is a reminder that we all must do our part

to address the calls for justice and to build a better country and province for

all residents to feel safe, be supported and prosper.

The discovery of the remains of 215 Indigenous children

in British Colombia is a disturbing reminder that Indigenous peoples face

disproportionate levels of violence. As provincial leaders, we must work in step

with Indigenous leaders to implement the calls for action. Indigenous leaders

and communities must guide our actions and approaches.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I would like to thank the minister for an advance

copy of her statement, and join her in recognizing the anniversary of the final

report of the Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

We recognize that reconciliation is not just about

saying the right things but also listening to our Indigenous partners and

following their lead. The provincial government must now take the next step and

work hard to implement the recommendations that came out of this report.

Collectively, we have a lot of work ahead of us. The

tasks before us call for more resources, not fewer. Let's do the right thing and

show our commitment to reconciliation with our words and our deeds.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Further statements by ministers?

The hon. the Minister of Children, Seniors and Social

Development.

ABBOTT:

Mr.

Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to recognize May 30 to June 5 as

National AccessAbility Week.

This week is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the

valuable contributions of persons with disabilities in our communities

throughout our province.

Persons with disabilities are leaders, mentors and role

models whose diverse perspectives and experiences enrich our society in every

way.

In particular, I would like to recognize the Provincial

Advisory Council for the Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities, as well as

members of the community of and for persons with disabilities who work

tirelessly on behalf of their fellow citizens.

By sharing their experiences and expertise, they have

legislation that will move our province forward in a way that promotes dignity,

fairness and respect for all.

I would also like to recognize the efforts of the many

individuals, communities, businesses and workplaces that are actively working

with persons with disabilities to identify, remove and prevent barriers to

never be overstated.

embraced, a world of opportunities opens for all. This was evident last week on

Froude Avenue here in St. John's, where the Premier, federal Minister O'Regan

and I opened new housing units, four of which are fully equipped for persons

with disabilities.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Placentia West - Bellevue.

DWYER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the minister for the advance copy of his

statement.

I join with the minister in recognizing the valuable

contributions of persons with disabilities. In each and every community there

are contributions by individuals with disabilities. Many are involved with

charities, sporting events, community programs and their involvement is a major

asset to our province.

Many disabled athletes are an inspiration for our

disabled children attempting to overcome disabilities. We remember Paralympic

star Liam Hickey returning to a motorcade after winning the silver medal in

sledge hockey. We remember Katarina Roxon, the pride of Kippens, returning to a

gold medal from the 2016 Rio Summer Paralympics.

These individuals and many others have shown leadership

at provincial, national and world events. Their leadership, their dedication,

their experiences at world events make our province proud and help shape the

It is important to recognize the contribution of

efforts by individuals, community groups, workplaces and the list goes on, in

ensuring barriers are knocked down and inclusion is a necessity. Let's continue

opportunities to succeed in life.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I, too, thank the minister for the advance copy of his

strokes. Let me say that we look forward to seeing a draft of it later in the

year, and welcome any opportunity to advance integration of all persons with

disabilities into the broader community. In particular, we ask that any

forthcoming legislation mandate the incorporation of universal design principles

into new builds, both in public and private sectors.

Finally, we also ask that government amend the

Elections Act to ensure that those with disabilities aren't disproportionately

disenfranchised ever again in the voting process, as unfortunately was the case

in the recent provincial election.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Any

further statements by ministers?

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, let me summarize some of what we learned

District, the Centre for Health Information and NL911 as separate entities,

without knowing the impact on spending, service delivery or jobs. For all they

know, it could leave the province worse off.

I ask the Premier: Why did your government choose to

make these choices rashly and blindly without knowing the facts?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As the Minister of Finance has already spoken to this,

we see there are significant deficiencies to be had. In my six months prior to

this, I saw inefficiencies within the system, duplication of services. These are

the type of efficiencies, the type of budgetary restraints that we need to put

forward to protect the future of the province, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We would have thought that these efficiencies would

have been based on analysis that we have yet to see any documentation.

The Economy document published with

Budget 2021 states that the province's

population is projected to decline by nearly half a per cent this year. In fact,

the document projects population losses for five years in a row.

When will addressing the steady population decline by

stimulating real job growth become a priority for the Premier?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you for that question.

Obviously, jobs are essential to, I hope, every single

Member of this House in protecting the future of this province. We have

recognized the demographic crisis. Perhaps I'm the most to have spoken about

this. I've been very open about this; this is a silent crisis that is facing the

province right now. I fully recognize it; our government fully recognizes it,

which is why we put such an important emphasis on job creation and growing our

population through immigration as well as retention, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

Economy

document also projects that employment will start declining after next year and

keep declining year after year for as far into the future as the model projects.

When will creating the conditions for job growth become

one of the Premier's top priorities?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Mr.

Speaker, we're certainly focused on the economy and creating jobs. I think

that's reflected in the budget. I believe that we've hit the right balance of

creation while solving inefficiencies within the system to correct our

structural deficit that's been left here by previous governments, including the

one opposite, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

During our debate this week, we asked a multitude of

times to outline exactly the data that would show that and the process forward.

We've yet to get that. Mr. Speaker, we're very skeptical and for an obvious

reason.

Mr. Speaker, through an ATIPP request, an individual

obtained some of the costs for the Premier's Big Reset team. The people of this

province forked over almost $100,000 for private office space and personal

accommodations, at a time where every dollars counts.

Can the Premier explain to the people of this province

why spending taxpayers' money in this way was necessary when there is plenty of

office space available in government-owned buildings?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER A. FUREY:

Mr.

Speaker, thank you for that question.

Of course, all of this work done by the Premier's

Economic Recovery Team was done on a volunteer basis. There was some cost

incurred, of course, in the operations of such an important team and such an

important undertaking. We believe that this was a good investment of our money

for the results that we achieved to be able to find efficiencies, think outside

the box and present new ideas to the people of the province so that we can

create a path forward, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Mr.

Speaker, it's day three of trying to get some details on the budget. The only

answer we got yesterday certainly needs further clarification.

Does the minister know why $2.5 million for geoscience

data in the Department of Industry is a, quote: COVID-related unforeseen

expenditure budgeted in Consolidated Fund Services under COVID Related

Contingency?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. They got it wrong yesterday and now they're trying

again.

Mr. Speaker, we put the $2.5 million as an additional

investment toward mining. I'm sure the Members opposite are supportive of that

particular expenditure. We put it under the COVID contingency because we want to

support mining coming out of COVID. We're doing additional exploration.

It is good for the province; it is good for job

creation. We have a lot of minerals in this province that the world needs, Mr.

Speaker. The whole reason why we're putting in additional money for exploration

is to be able to create jobs. I'm sure the Member opposite understands that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Mr.

Speaker, we're all for creating jobs, it's just when you see something that says

it's related to an unforeseen expenditure. Clearly, if the minister wants to put

money into mining, put it into mining and we'll be glad to support it.

Mr. Speaker, the lack of detail and non-committal

language in this budget is a major problem, but it's not just us saying that.

The president of the Nurses' Union talks about a lack of details on health care

cuts. The president of NAPE agrees and talks about lack of details in the

budget. The president of the federation goes further and I repeat: “There was a

lot of 'we'll review stuff,' a lot of political nonsense words I guess that

sound good but probably means something else. I'm very nervous about what

exactly that does mean ….”

I ask the minister: Have you had discussions with the

president of the Nurses' Union and the president of NAPE and provided them with

details of the budget?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

COADY:

Again, Mr. Speaker, they get it wrong.

Mr. Speaker, we can go back and forth all day on this.

The Labrador North Chamber of Commerce: “We are optimistic government will move

forward with reducing debt expenses, deficit and borrowing…. But addressing debt

needs to be balanced with stimulating the economy. Government should look to

Labrador ….” We certainly have in this budget, Mr. Speaker.

TD Bank: “In what will likely be well received by

investors and rating agencies, Budget 2021 commits to significantly improving

Newfoundland and Labrador's fiscal position in coming years.” I can continue and

go on, Mr. Speaker.

We will meet with all stakeholders, we will continue

the dialogue and we will make sure that everyone understands the path forward.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Clearly, Mr. Speaker, she hasn't provided the details of the budget to these

people. The words I just spoke are their words, not mine.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

WAKEHAM:

Mr.

Speaker, for three days we've asked about details in the budget, and for three

days we've been refused an answer. The people of the province deserve better.

Once again, I will ask simply: Do you know, Minister,

how many people will lose their jobs and how much money will be saved by moving

government?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Education.

OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I have to point out very

clearly that I find it ironic they don't seem to be supporting this move, when

very clearly in Estimates last year they advocated for us to do exactly what

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

WAKEHAM:

Mr. Speaker, we did not say anything about not supporting it; we simply are

asking for the details. The people of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador

deserve to know the details.

Mr. Speaker, the minister talks about evidence-based

decision-making. Well, it's a lot more credible when you show us the evidence.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

WAKEHAM:

Mr.

Speaker, the 2020 Pre-Budget Consultation document reads: “Today government is

focused on attrition, which allows for a gradual reduction of government

positions ….”

I ask the minister: Do you know if attrition is still a

practice? If so, do you know how many positions are projected to be removed this

year through attrition?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Education.

OSBORNE:

Mr.

Speaker, we will get a better understanding of what the fiscal and operational

efficiencies are when we're able to actually complete the transition.

I do want to point out, Mr. Speaker, in last year's

Estimates their side of the House said: “… we look at a school board and the

Department of Education would become one streamlined and would operationalize

and look after the schools.”

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

OSBORNE:

Mr.

Speaker, they went on to say: I think it may be top-heavy, that every single

entity is top-heavy, but if you merge them together there may be resources and

dollars that, all of a sudden, we can move to alleviate the stresses in the

system.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

OSBORNE:

can go on, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Obviously, they are looking for our assistance again.

We're looking for analysis, Mr. Speaker; they know. They're just playing games,

we're looking for analysis. The minister knows what we're looking for. Maybe by

the end of June we may get a couple answers but I'm not holding out much hope.

Mr. Speaker, the province witnessed the superb work

completed on the infamous pothole located on Bennet's Road. It has been four

years since the Auditor General recommended a structured maintenance program and

system to track roads that need work.

I ask the minister: Will you table a priority list of

roads that need work?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

LOVELESS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I won't get into, I guess, the tactics, I'll call it,

of the Opposition Leader in terms of Bennett's Road, because what that person

failed to comment on in his interview was that there was a tender that was

awarded last year for the road to be done. He left that out; I wonder why he

left that out?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I need to hear the speaker.

LOVELESS:

Anyway, to the question by the Opposition House Leader, in terms of a list, I

don't have it right now, but I did work on it last night to late hours. We will

have a list coming out very soon that I am looking forward to because there is

going to be work done on our roads in Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Obviously, he's a year late, so we'll keep waiting.

We'll wait on that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

It's hard to hear the speakers.

The hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

PETTEN:

Thanks again, Mr. Speaker.

He's obviously a year late and we'll wait like we're

waiting on answers on the budget, we'll wait on answers about the roadwork too.

I guess one of these days we may get some answers; we may get something done in

this province.

Mr. Speaker, the pictures on Bennett's Road speak for

themselves.

The minister's department has been managing the former

Grace site, which has become an eyesore and an embarrassment for the City of St.

John's. The minister's department has been sitting on environment reports and

market evaluations for years. When is the government going to finally act?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

LOVELESS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

A very good question. That has been sitting around

since 2006, so there have been several administrations that have been dealing

with this. I did an interview on that and I agree that action is required and

we're looking into it; we're looking at all options.

I am going to tell you what I am looking at: the option

that I am concerned about is to make sure that piece of land, I get the fair

market return for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cape St. Francis.

WALL:

Mr.

Speaker, in the Budget Speech government announced it would begin to tax

residents to cover the cost of road maintenance. We all remember the public

outcry over the approach that government had in collecting garbage in these

areas.

Does the minister know how much residents can expect to

pay?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs.

HOWELL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Member for the question. As we've made it

clear, regionalization is a priority for this government. We want to ensure that

access and accessible services of adequate nature are available to all residents

of this province. If we can do that through a mechanism by which we share some

of the services and everybody has an equitable investment in that process, then

that's something that this government is interested in making sure that services

are available to residents as they need them.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Cape St. Francis.

WALL:

don't disagree there, Mr. Speaker, but how much was the question.

Mr. Speaker, does the minister know how many residents

who have never gotten a tax bill from government in their lives with respect to

this will now suddenly be expected to pay?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs.

HOWELL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you again for the question. I do welcome the

opportunity to share about 9 per cent of the residents of this province who live

in unincorporated or local service districts who have, at times, been exposed to

reduced services or maybe less than adequate services. So by making this

regionalization claim and hoping to move forward on this we have the opportunity

to provide services to those people in those districts. We want to do that in a

manner which is fair and equitable for all people in the province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Bonavista.

PARDY:

The

minister speaks loudly when she says that she is going to design a plan before

she goes ahead and does something in relation to LSDs or unincorporated areas.

So that is good.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, the Premier informed media that

our province would not be offering a tourism incentive program similar to that

of New Brunswick.

I ask the Premier: Why wasn't this considered by his

government?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation.

CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

(Technical difficulty.)

SPEAKER:

You've finally been silenced.

You have to carry on.

CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the hon. Member for the question. Yesterday,

was the brightest day in our tourism (inaudible) –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CROCKER:

since 2019, the fall of 2019, Mr. Speaker. I can tell you we've heard from

dozens and dozens of tourism operators who are so happy, so relieved to be where

we are. Do you know what we've heard from them about what this government has

done and what this budget did just on Monday of this week? Thirty million

dollars for tourism supports; $25 million for broadband and cellular expansion.

Mr. Speaker, there's so much. I can keep going. I hope

there's a supplementary, Mr. Speaker, because the industry is so excited about

this program and we're back on the road to recovery in this wonderful industry

in our province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Bonavista.

PARDY:

There is indeed a supplementary, Minister.

The Premier's Advisory Council on Tourism recommended

an incentive program – which was the first question that you didn't answer – be

explored for the residents of Atlantic Canada and the region.

I ask the Premier or the minister: Why did he not adopt

this recommendation?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation.

CROCKER:

Well, Mr. Speaker, I wish the Member opposite would have reached out to the

Chair of the PAC in the last 24 hours and gotten her response to what we've done

for this industry in the last week.

Mr. Speaker, $30 million for tourism supports, and we

will work with the industry. We will work with the industries, Mr. Speaker, to

see how –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

CROCKER:

Mr.

Speaker, you know they get it so wrong day in and day out. They can't even

celebrate what we've been able to do this week for tourism in our province. I

was rudely interrupted by the Member for CBS, Mr. Speaker, which is not new.

It's been a great week for our industry.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CROCKER:

Mr.

Speaker, again, I hope he's spoken to Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador

because they're as excited as I am for what we've done for tourism this week.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Bonavista.

PARDY:

can't afford another supplementary to try to get an answer to the incentive

program. I guess it's like the plan, it's somewhere.

The provincial reopening plan made no mention of Marine

Atlantic, which is a critical gateway to the rest of the country.

Has the minister had any discussion with his federal

cousins about reducing Marine Atlantic fees to stimulate tourism and the

movement of essential goods?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation.

Sorry, the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly there are a lot of people over here that

would be wiling to take that question on, but perhaps I'll answer it, given the

fact that I've got a history with that entity and it's perhaps the biggest

driver in, not only our community but I don't think people realize its

importance to the entire province, as you say, for conveyance of passengers and

the conveyance of freight.

What I can say is that we have been in touch with the

federal minister, Omar Alghabra, to talk about the possibility of getting rates

down. We know that there was no increase this year on rates for passengers going

forward. In fact, I think they may have suspended the rate increase that had

been planned for commercial traffic.

I'm also happy to say that they have just announced a

new building for Port aux Basques to put the administrative office there.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PARSONS:

the Member's question, I will say that doesn't mean we stop there. We must

continue to press the federal government to ensure that Marine Atlantic's rates

are as low as possible and we work on the subsidy recovery.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Bonavista.

PARDY:

The

provincial reopening plan also made no mention of air access to the province,

another critical gateway for our tourism industry. If tourists can't reach the

province, they certainly can't spend money here.

I ask the minister: What is being done to improve air

access to the province and when will we see an air access plan?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation.

CROCKER:

Wow. Again, getting it wrong seems to be the theme across, Mr. Speaker. He

missed the budget. He must have had a nap during the budget on Monday. It was

clearly outlined in the minister's speech.

We've met with HNL. Yesterday afternoon, while most

people were having their lunch, I was talking to PAL, Air Canada and WestJet

sharing our plan. I can tell you what: They, too, were as excited as I am with

that plan.

They will monitor going forward on their bookings.

Tourism operators told me this morning that they're getting calls. We know seats

are filling up. We have future calls coming with WestJet, Air Canada and PAL and

lots of exciting things that are happening.

Again, we outlined in this week's budget that we have a

commitment to air access. The challenge with air access will be, first and

foremost, re-establishing what we had, and then we're going to go looking for

more.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Bonavista.

PARDY:

must have missed it. My apologies.

I wonder would the minister table the air access plan

that I missed to the House?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation.

CROCKER:

The

Member opposite, if he was in contact with the stakeholder groups, would know

that the air access plan is something that was done by HNL and the airport

authorities, Mr. Speaker. It's not my plan to table.

Mr. Speaker, if he wants me to table the budget, I can

certainly table it again, because it was clearly outlined on Monday that we have

a plan for air access in Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This reminds me of the game show

Jeopardy! where you get an answer and we have to figure out what the

question was.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the responsible minister: Do you

know how much revenue will be generated from the implementation of a sugar tax?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

COADY:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I believe in the budget documents – I'm going by memory

– it's $9 million per year. I think that's what the budget documents clearly

outline.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I also ask the minister: Do you know if the revenue

from the sugar tax will simply go into general revenues, or will it be

redirected to healthier food choices, such as in schools?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

COADY:

Thank you very much. I've already answered this question, but I'm happy to do so

again, Mr. Speaker.

Taxation revenue goes to the general revenue. It goes

to general revenue, but there is program spending that we do in multiple

departments to assist with better, healthier eating choices and better,

healthier outcomes. I'll use an example, Mr. Speaker: we've given, in this

budget, a million dollars to Kids Eat Smart; we've also done a tax credit to

encourage physical activity. That's clearly outlined in the budget as well.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

So I take that answer as meaning the full revenue

generated from the sugar tax will go totally to Health.

COADY:

(Inaudible.)

DINN:

That's what I want to (inaudible).

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

They're clearly having some trouble across the aisle,

Mr. Speaker, in understanding the budgeting process, so I'll try it again.

Taxation revenue goes to general revenue and then there

are stipends that go, during the budget process, to each of the departments. As

you know from Estimates, you'll know what particular department gets which

particular funding. As I've just given the answer to, $1 million, for example,

for Kids Eat Smart; I think that is under the Health budget. We have poverty

reduction and that's under CSSD. It depends on which program you're talking

about as to which department is actually the one responsible for it, but

taxation goes to general revenue.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I wasn't talking about the taxation; I'm talking

about the total funding that we're going to get from this initiative.

Minister: Do you know how much will be saved and how

many jobs will be cut by implementing a new integrated corporate services

function for the four regional health authorities?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

The back-office functions across the regional health

authorities lend themselves to consolidation. Indeed, the Member for

Stephenville - Port au Port dedicated two years of his life to looking at shared

services, particularly on the issue of inventory and stock control.

We, on this side of the House, have not yet decided

whether or not that will be limited to the regional health authorities or,

indeed, incorporate government entities, in general, or government departments

as well. Until those kind of policy decisions are made, the discussion is a bit

premature. I'm sure we would be happy to keep you informed as we go.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Ferryland.

O'DRISCOLL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm glad to hear the minister say on the tourism that

he did get some answers and they spoke to the groups involved. Well, that's part

of doing your job I guess. With 20 questions, we finally got an answer.

Motor Registration Division is one of the busiest

registries and holds a magnitude of personal information.

Minister, do you know if there's been any analysis

completed to privatize Motor Registration?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

COADY:

Mr.

Speaker, unfortunately they got it wrong again. In the budget, we did indicate

that we'll be going out to the markets for joint solutions, meaning that we will

talk to business, we will talk to unions, we will talk to co-operatives and

we'll talk to social enterprises to see if they can provide a better solution to

how we actually operate the registries.

I listened yesterday intently to a question by a Member

opposite. In the question, he actually said there are challenges with

registries. So I'll lay it out there for that again, but that will be the

process that we will go through.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I ask the Minister of Finance: Are there plans to

extend the – or some form of the sugar-sweetened tax to other forms of food that

are sugar sweetened, or what we would call junk food, fast food, that are high

in calorie and low in nutrients?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

COADY:

Thank you very much. A very good question, Mr. Speaker.

We are taking the first step. There are many

jurisdictions around the world that do offer the sugar-sweetened beverage tax.

We will learn from their experiences, including in the United States; we'll be a

leader in Canada.

Whether we go further, Mr. Speaker, we'll do the

analysis in the next number of years to see how the implementation – it doesn't

come until April 1, 2022, but then we'll look and see if there are further

things we can do.

Again, I do emphasize, Mr. Speaker, there are concerns

around the consumption of sugar and we'll be continuing to look at how we can

improve the health of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I draw the attention of the Minister

Responsible for Women and Gender Equality to page 32 of the Estimates book,

section 2.8.02, Women and Gender Equality, line 10, Grants and Subsidies, which

if the description is accurate, is for “grants to equality-seeking

organizations, including Women's Centres, Regional Coordinating Committees

Against Violence and Indigenous Organizations ….”

Would the minister be able to explain to me why the

amount budgeted this year is $405,000 less than what was budgeted last year?

I have copies here, if people want them, with the

highlighted areas.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister Responsible for Women and Gender Equality.

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I certainly thank my colleague, the hon. Member.

I also am honoured to answer my very first question

here in Question Period in the House of Assembly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PARSONS:

certainly had a discussion yesterday. I want to again confirm for the Member and

for the House of Assembly that there are absolutely no cuts to the department of

Women and Gender Equality.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PARSONS:

of a matter of fact, the Premier campaigned on this and he came through. Almost

$500,000 was allocated to the department just last year – we see the commitment

again – to go to programs, varying-necessity programs, of course, such as the

Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner Program, which is well needed, as we know,

particularly in Labrador.

Again, Mr. Speaker, make no mistake, there are no cuts

to this department. Again, we're certainly happy to work – and the Member is

always welcome to come to the department; we can collaborate on anything he

wants to.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Labrador West.

BROWN:

The

Premier refused to be transparent about the work in progress of the Rate

Mitigation Team.

I ask: What is the plan for ratepayers if no deal can

be reached with the federal Liberal government before the clock runs out?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would contest the

preamble of the Member's question.

While the question is good, it's not about refusing to be transparent.

Obviously, if you're in the middle of a complex negotiation, you're not going to

go and show your cards to the public. Absolutely the worst thing you could do is

to go and show your hand while you're in the middle of it. That's not what we

are going to do.

What I can say, to reiterate the points that have been

made by the Premier, is that we have extremely capable and competent people that

are actively and furiously engaged in rate mitigation talks in Ottawa. We are

committed to this. We do know that there's a timeline. We will continue to do

the work that is necessary. We're confident that we can come forward with a rate

mitigation plan for the citizens of this province.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Labrador West for a quick question.

BROWN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The budget boasts about bold ideas about moving

consumers of this province from oil heat to electric heat.

Given the refusal of transparency about the

negotiations, are residents supposed to blindly trust that they won't be facing

increased costs of living because of this decision?

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I reiterate the point that I made: We are not going to

go and jeopardize the citizens of this province by laying out the plan. That is

absolutely the worst idea that you can do.

The reality is that we have been forced into a tough

position because of the Muskrat Falls Project; we are forced to engage in rate

mitigation.

I hear some comments from the Members opposite, they're

the ones that put us in this mess and what we are trying to do is to get us out

of that mess.

Again, I see some heads nodding with us. I'm glad to

finally see –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PARSONS:

that they acknowledge that we are trying to clean up their mess. What we can

promise them is that we will leave no stone unturned as we move forward.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

time for Question Period has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Order, please!

Enough from both sides.

Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs.

HOWELL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will ask leave to

introduce a bill entitled,

An Act To Amend The Coat of Arms Act, Bill 20.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Further notices of motion?

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Ferryland.

O'DRISCOLL:

Thank you, Mr. 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 for 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.

Mr. Speaker, I drive this – I'm not going to say I

drive this road regularly but I go in and I drive across it a fair amount. I do

thank the government last year for doing four kilometres, but the road is 22

kilometres long. It's about seven or eight kilometres left on the road and to do

half of it don't mean anything to the people, the truck drivers and I'm going to

say the crab workers driving the trucks as well going to and from the plants

distributing crab.

We have an industry in Bay Bulls where the marine

terminal is; a proposed one in Fermeuse. We have tourism; they're doing the

Irish Loop. There are two people that remind me: one towing campers and the

other guys that are driving motorcycles, and cars and vehicles as well. But when

they go in there, it's not safe to be driving at times.

I'm not saying the road is totally gone because it's

not, but in the areas that you have to drive on the left side of the road, and

it's not like a small community road where you're going 30 or 40 kilometres, the

speed limit is probably 80 or 90 kilometres. The road needs some work.

I really think that they should go in and drive it.

There has been ministers in there and they've looked at it, but, hopefully, they

can have that plan to put it in their budget to be able to complete the rest of

this road so that we can move on to get to some other business in the district.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

LOVELESS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to respond to that and say to the Member, thank

you for that petition and I'll take it under consideration because I don't want

the Opposition House Leader getting upset or anything like that. I want to make

note that the hon. Member that just presented the petition, we also had a side

conversation about that exact petition so it is not going unnoticed. I just want

to thank him for that.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

EVANS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I'll make sure my House Leader is listening to me.

This petition is for fairer electricity rates for

Northern Labrador. I presented it a couple times now, the last sitting I also

presented it.

The rates charged to Northern Labrador residents are

cost prohibitive using electric heat; therefore, the rates charged are cost

prohibitive to adequately heating their homes. The rationale for this petition

is to bring electricity rates more in line with what our neighbouring residents

of Lake Melville region pay.

Above the ceiling of 1,000 kilowatt hours, Torngat

Mountains residents pay six times the rate of Lake Melville residents, jumping

up to 18.5 cents a kilowatt hour. The 1,000 kilowatt hour ceiling prevents many

residents from being able to afford to heat their homes with electric heat.

Poorly heated houses often result in damage, creating

expensive repairs for frozen pipes, moisture damage and mould. Poorly heated

houses also create social and mental health issues that can be long lasting. We

strongly believe that changes to electricity rates are needed for Northern

Labrador residents of Torngat Mountains.

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 increase the lifeline block to 3,500

kilowatt hours.

Now, as I said, I have presented this many times and I

actually did get a response from the –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The level of chatter is getting a little too loud.

EVANS:

Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology last week. I did find his response a

little bit disappointing because there's so much value in having the ability to

heat your house. In actual fact, in my two most northern communities, a lot of

families cannot do that because of the distance to haul wood that has to be

chopped up and brought into the house. Long distances are very, very expensive.

It's impacting our seniors who don't have the physical ability, it's impacting

women who don't have the physical ability and, also, people with disabilities or

injuries or health issues.

I was wondering why the Premier wouldn't jump on this

opportunity to do some real constructive work towards reconciliation and I asked

about that. Is it because they don't want to actually help us because they're

looking at all of Labrador's electricity rates?

The Minister of Industry was very honest. He did say,

and I'll quote from Hansard: “Right

now, electricity rates all over this province are being looked at, because we

have to grapple with Muskrat Falls coming on stream and the money that we are

going to need to mitigate those rates so that everybody in this province – every

citizen – is not frozen out of their homes. That's the reality here.”

I don't think Labrador, especially my district who were

not the end-users for Muskrat Falls – there was a commitment made to us, that if

we're not the end-users and we don't use Muskrat Falls's electricity, we will

not have to pay (inaudible) Muskrat Falls.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Your time has expired.

The hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and

Technology.

PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm happy to respond to this as I have done before.

Contrary, sometimes, to what – the conversation is about not responding;

certainly, this will be the second time that I have responded to this petition.

I think just to add upon what I said previously, yes, obviously in Newfoundland

and Labrador we are looking at electricity rates across the entire province. A

lot of the questions we get every day are on rate mitigation.

We are faced with huge challenges, both in Labrador,

rural Newfoundland – everywhere when it comes to electricity, and a lot of that

is generated by Muskrat Falls. We are going to need to do some serious work.

It's going to cost hundreds of millions of dollars to mitigate the decision that

was made before we got here and it's something we grapple with every day.

Now, I will point out that this 1,000 kilowatt-hour

monthly lifeline block that was referenced here, the cost of that already right

now, I'll say, far exceeds any of the revenue that comes from it. There is

generally a revenue shortfall that is already on the go and it's called the

rural deficit.

I will point out a couple of facts here because it is

something felt by everybody. Having visited the North Coast with my former

colleague and having a chance to go around, I absolutely appreciate the

challenges that are faced by Labrador. Again, I also appreciate the challenges

that are faced all over this province. I will point out that right now when we

look at the rural deficit and some of the subsidies – I'll just point to a

couple of things: remote domestic diesel rates on the Island average 14.96 cents

per kilowatt and Labrador domestic diesel rates average 6.72 cents per kilowatt;

Island Interconnected System residential customers pay 13.06 cents per kilowatt

and Labrador Interconnected pays 3.38 cents.

SPEAKER:

The

minister's time has expired.

Further petitions?

The hon. the Member for Labrador West.

BROWN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I bring forward a petition again today. It's 208

signatures of seniors looking for senior support in Labrador West.

The reason for the petition: The need for senior

accessible housing and home care services in Labrador West is steadily

increasing. Lifelong residents of the region are facing the possibility of

needing to leave their homes in order afford to live or receive adequate care.

Additional housing options, including assisted-living facilities like those

found throughout the rest of the province for seniors, have become a requirement

for Labrador West. The requirements are 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; and

WHEREAS the means for the increasing the number of

senior residents of Labrador West to happily age in place are not currently

available in the region;

WHEREUPON 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 –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

It's getting very difficult to hear the speaker.

BROWN:

for those who require care.

Mr. Speaker, like I said last time, seniors in Labrador

West – it's a fast-growing population of seniors. These are people who some of

them were actually born in Labrador West and have lived there their entire

lives. They have children and grandchildren and they want to see their

grandchildren grow up.

Like I said before, the big part of it is they want to

see their grandchildren grow up in the community that they helped build. They

don't want to leave; they don't want to go to a facility in another community.

The nearest community that would have a facility to them is 600 kilometres away

in Lake Melville. Or, if that's unavailable, then their next option is Deer Lake

or Gander. These individuals don't want to be separated from their family. They

want to be able to enjoy their retired years in a community that has their

family and their friends surrounding them.

We are in a really interesting place in the history of

Labrador West that we actually require seniors care, some level 3 care. We do

have a long-term care facility. It does have a few beds but it is not adequate

or the correct type of care that some of these people need. We've always had

trouble with home care as well. I'm sure the Minister of Health has heard me say

it before about the constraints on the home care workers in Labrador West. We

have very few but we have a great need for it. So if any home care workers are

listening: Come to Labrador West.

Right now, we do need this extra support, we do need to

look at a facility, but we also need to look at some kind of housing options for

seniors as well. They are living in older homes that do require a lot of work,

especially if you're a widow or anything like that. It's hard to maintain a

large four-bedroom house as a single individual on a fixed income. We need a

whole broad-spectrum look at this.

The seniors in my community have been pushing, they've

been asking. They need some assistance and they would really appreciate a close

microscopic look at the unique challenges of Labrador West and providing there.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The Member's time has expired.

The hon. the Minister of Children, Seniors and Social

Development for a response.

ABBOTT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Just a quick response to the Member's petition around

seniors and seniors' housing. The Member and I have had some early discussions

around this and related issues. We, as a province, need to address the issues

that are certainly in both the

preamble and the citations in the petition.

One of the things that our agency will be doing,

through the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation, is to develop a

housing and homelessness plan for the next couple of years. The issues that the

Member raised will be addressed in that plan. In the meantime, we will be

working on any particular issues that pop up which we can address while we're

waiting for that plan to be developed.

Thank you, Sir.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the following petition I'm going to

present is – this is the background: There is something wrong with our health

care delivery in Newfoundland and Labrador when 90,000 people do not have access

to a family doctor, and also cannot see nurse practitioners so they can get

timely care, catch problems earlier and avoid worse outcomes, tragic suffering

and higher costs.

Therefore, we petition the House of Assembly as

follows: We, the undersigned, call upon the House of Assembly to urge the

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to make access to family doctors and

nurse practitioners an urgent priority, creating a province-wide program of

primary health care teams: where patients receive comprehensive care; where

family physicians can transition away from solo practice to team practice; where

nurse practitioners, registered nurses and other providers can be connected and

integrated with family doctors in team structures; where patients can have

continuous relationships with their own most responsible provider; where the

progress we have made in electronic medical records and virtual care can be

harvested for integrated team care; and where the focus can shift to wellness

and disease prevention. And also by: reducing the proportion of unattached

patients in the province to less than 5 per cent; and retaining 75 per cent of

Memorial's medical graduates who pursue family medicine.

Mr. Speaker, that petition could be read for any

district in this province, by my guess. Right now, obviously, I'm the Member for

CBS, and in CBS it is the single biggest issue facing the residents. There are

lots of issues out there, lots of needs; we all get that. The biggest issue in

my district right now – and I was asked during the election what it was – was

the family doctor shortage. It was one of the main priorities when I went to the

doors. I hear it regularly.

I get emails – I don't know how many more Members get

them; I get emails almost – I don't get 10; I get dozens a day, but I get them

regularly: I can't find a doctor; any suggestion where to find a family doctor?

How do I proceed? I can't get a prescription filled; I can't get this done. It's

about primary health care. You get that care, that prevents our acute care

facilities and our emergency rooms from being built up. That's the problem we're

faced with. You go to any emergency room, it's seven, eight, 10 hours. My guess

is the majority of those people in there, with that many people without a family

doctor, are waiting for something that could be done by a nurse practitioner or

their family doctor.

I heard the Minister of Health over there at times say

the magic number of 640 doctors is required to service the province. We can't

control the working hours, their lifestyles. Things have changed. It's not the

way it was years ago when people were doctors working six days a week. People

have lives, and I understand the quality of life is everything.

Maybe we need to have 900 doctors to be able to do the

work of the 600. It doesn't cost any more if they're only doing half the time.

We need bodies on the ground; we need boots on the ground. Does that mean nurse

practitioners? Does that mean a mixture of both? Whatever it takes.

Right now, when you call a family doctor in my

district, you're lucky to get in in four to five weeks. That's a phone call.

Heaven forbid if you need to go in in person. Most times they end up out in

emergency rooms.

I think it's a very important issue. It's one that's

facing not only my District of Conception Bay South, but the 39 other districts.

I call upon government to give this some serious consideration.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I call from the Order Paper, Motion 1.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Humber - Bay of Islands.

JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm going to stand to speak on the amendment that was

introduced yesterday in the House of Assembly by the Official Opposition. This

is the amendment that's usually put in on a regular basis by all Opposition to

have another chance to speak on the budget itself, and I will take that

opportunity again to speak today on some issues that have been brought to my

attention and on behalf of the people of Humber - Bay of Islands.

First of all, I just want to, again, thank the people

of Humber - Bay of Islands for their support and for the continued support of

all of the residents in Humber - Bay of Islands through their volunteer

activities, the town councils and the other activities that are put through on a

volunteer basis in Humber - Bay of Islands. A lot of youth groups and I know

there is softball over in Gillams, and look at Meadows with the hockey rink in

Meadows and the rink in Cox's Cove. There's a lot of volunteer work done in the

district and I just want to thank all of the individuals that do that.

Mr. Speaker, again, when I was home last weekend the

biggest issue I heard again was with the last election. I went around to a few

places last weekend and it was brought to my attention on a number of occasions

about the issues of the last election. I know I had a very frank discussion with

the minister yesterday, a very good discussion I had with the minister, and

thanks for being upfront and forthright, and that's always respected to have a

very frank discussion.

Mr. Speaker, I will continue to raise concerns on the

issues of the election. The biggest concern I have – and I know my colleague

from Mount Pearl - Southlands put it up – what if we put in the legislation,

what if there's a new election act put in place, what if we do it? What if it's

the best election act in Canada, what if? But what if we have a Commissioner for

Legislative Standards who refuses to follow the act, what happens? What Happens?

LANE:

Nothing.

JOYCE:

That's my biggest concern, that we have an Officer of the House of Assembly who

is answerable to this House of Assembly, who has the attitude, and through his

actions and through the inaction of this House of Assembly and the Management

Commission in this House of Assembly that he can do what he like.

He can take votes over the phone – no one else can. The

seniors in Humber - Bay of Islands can't do that, but he can. He can walk away

with the act. He can hand-deliver ballots, but out in Corner Brook you're not

allowed to do that. The DROs out in Corner Brook weren't allowed to hand-deliver

ballots, you had to get them put through your mail. But he can take them, walk

around and hand them around.

The most glaring thing in the last election, Mr.

Speaker, that you find is you see the extension every time; every time there was

an extension. I always asked the question – and, of course, I'll be upfront, the

dealings I had with the former Premier and the Commissioner for Legislative

Standards – what was going on behind the scenes that we don't know about? What

was going on behind the scenes? I know full well, in writing, before the former

Premier was involved with the Commissioner for Legislative Standards, was this

Premier involved? Was the Liberal Party involved?

The reason why I question that is I know the past, but

the other reason why I question that, the big reason why I question that, if you

really want to represent the people of this province, especially the seniors, a

lot of people with disabilities who couldn't vote, when you have a government

who just got elected and there's no action taken against an Officer of the House

of Assembly who admitted – admitted – taking ballots by phone; admitted

delivering ballots, admitted doing it and there's no interaction, I have to

question: Why is there no action taken by the government?

There are two reasons: one, they're elected so let's

just bury it; two, there's information that if there was ever an investigation

done which was asked by this House of Assembly, if there was ever an

investigation done there would be information brought out that would be very

embarrassing to some people that was associated. I'm convinced. I am convinced

because I said before and I –

LANE:

am too.

JOYCE:

What?

LANE:

am too.

JOYCE:

am convinced because I can assure you, as sure as I'm here, that when the

Opposition Party and the NDP asked for a meeting and there was a meeting agreed,

and then all of a sudden a letter from this guy, whoever is with the Liberal

Party, he says, they shouldn't meet; there's no meeting, there's something going

on. There is something going on.

Why an Officer of the House of Assembly, when you have

seniors holding up to a window their driver's licence and have someone with an

extension rod, clicking the camera and we don't think there's anything wrong

with that. Where seniors even come to my door, coming to my door with their

information asking me to get a ballot filled out because they don't have a

computer, and we're just going to brush that under because the Liberals won the

majority and we're scared what we might find out. We're scared what we might

find out. It's appalling actually. It's actually appalling.

I'll tell you a story about that, Mr. Speaker. We sent

in about 150 or170 ballots by fax. People never got it. The day before, I

started calling and I'll admit I gave their direct number to the Chief Electoral

Officer. I gave the direct number; people started calling. Do you know what

happened when people started calling directly? The day before it was suppose to

be finished, do you know what they said? Oh my God, that's on the desk here. I

don't know why that wasn't processed.

All of a sudden, oh my God, someone got it. They just

called me; the ballot is on the way. Well, the deadline is tomorrow. The next

thing, you know what happens? The extension is made again because there were 150

to 175 ballots found on someone's desk siting there, that for a week to 10 days

I was trying to get – where are they? How come?

I finally wrote Bruce Chaulk. I have the email –

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I remind the Member not to (inaudible).

JOYCE:

The

Commissioner for Legislative Standards. Sorry.

I wrote the Commissioner for Legislative Standards and

said here's where they were faxed from, here's where they were faxed to, here's

the date and here's the confirmation. All of a sudden, boom, they all started

receiving them the next couple of days. That night, 9:30, 10 at night, people

were getting calls at home saying we just found your information; we're going to

start sending out your ballots. Everybody in this room can tell me that's

proper? That's fair?

I don't care. If the Commissioner for Legislative

Standards can come in and justify everything that was done, that it was proper,

there was no interference with it – he made mistakes with it – let's take it and

move on. But until we, as a Legislature, do call in the Commissioner for

Legislative Standards to find out why he was allowed to deliver ballots, yet

back home the DROs weren't allowed to do it – they're not allowed to do it

unless they get an official request for it. They're not allowed.

We can't even go into a seniors' home and say there's a

senior who wants a ballot. No, not allowed. That senior has to call in to get

that person to come to their home. But the Commissioner for Legislative

Standards can walk around to a few of his friends or his buddies, he said, and

all of a sudden, protect himself I would say – protect himself if this ever came

up in the House. Those people who received the ballots can't talk about it

because you received a ballot; you compromised yourself. Smart guy – a very

smart guy.

This is my last point on this. I will never give up on

it because I've seen the look in the seniors' faces; I've seen the anguish. If

we, as legislators, Members who have a fiduciary duty to hold the government

accountable, do not get the Commissioner for Legislative Standards in this room

so we can ask him questions, so we can get to the bottom of this or have an

independent investigation done outside, we are not doing our duties; we are

failing. I always said, if you're going to fail on something that's so important

as a vote, what else are you failing on and what else do we need?

Do you know, Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General here

could do a report on anybody, any department? We're allowed to get that person

or entity in front of the Public Accounts, but we can't get the Commissioner for

Legislative Standards. There's something wrong.

LANE:

Who

reports to us.

JOYCE:

Who

reports to this House.

If we can't have him in front of the Public Accounts,

the government is not going to allow him to come to the House of Assembly, so

what happens? The seniors that turned around and couldn't vote, the ones who

never received ballots, the ones who had to hold their driver's licences up, the

ones who came to my door – and I'm sure everybody in this Legislature went

through the same thing trying to help people out, to fill out ballots and try to

get their ballots in. If we don't get answers for all those people there, we are

failing.

I can tell this government, and make no bones about it;

it shows lack of courage to get to the truth, whatever it is. It may not change

the outcome, because I don't think anybody wants to go through another election

right now, but it does show lack of courage by this government when they will

not get to the truth and to the bottom. If everything can be justified and if

there was no inside dealing or backroom dealing with the Liberal executive, with

the co-chairs of the Liberal Party of Newfoundland and Labrador or the Premier

of this province, then let's accept it, but at least we have to get the answers.

If we don't get the answers, we are failing. The

seniors that we had to try to get ballots for, the ones who never got it and the

ones who couldn't even register in the first place, Mr. Speaker, we should stand

up and apologize to them because we did not follow through on the people who

died in wars so we can vote. We're letting this happen.

Honestly, I stand so strong on this here. If we can

prove that there was absolutely no fault to why the Commissioner for Legislative

Standards can deliver ballots, but they can't do it in Corner Brook, why you can

accept some over the phone and no one else can – there's a rumour people went up

to the office the last day and voted at the office – why there are so many

ballots not even sent out –

LANE:

The

scrutineers.

JOYCE:

Why

the scrutineers weren't even allowed to – just to let you know, and the Member

for Mount Pearl - Southlands brought it up, I was the one who demanded. Until I

demanded in emails that we were allowed to have a scrutineer and he was breaking

the act, that's when he finally said: Okay, we'll do it remotely. The only thing

you could see was the actual rejected ballots. You could not see – it is right

in the act. It is in the act that you could look at every ballot. If you go on

election day, where you're a scrutineer, every ballot is taken up and shown:

Here, everybody agree? Put it in the pile. That's in the act.

Canada goes around this world and trains people to do

that. They actually train people how to run an election. They train people, yet

here in Newfoundland and Labrador the Commissioner for Legislative Standards can

break that act. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with what they did, but I

can tell you they broke the act. The minute you break the act you should be

accountable to this House of Assembly.

I heard from the Commissioner talking about, well, b'y,

it was a pandemic election. I asked one question and I asked this in writing. I

put this in writing to him. How many of us had Zoom meetings? How many of us saw

documents with Zoom meetings? What's wrong with having a Zoom with the

scrutineers and holding the ballots up to the camera? It's done everywhere;

we're doing it now. We're doing it remotely as we speak right now, but for some

reason the Commissioner for Legislative Standards has taken it upon his own

initiative to say it's a pandemic, I'm allowed to break the rules.

That's why I say to the Minister of Justice and Public

Safety, I'm sure there is going to be great legislation coming in to change the

Elections Act. I'm sure of that. There is no doubt; I think the Opposition and

the independents will ensure there will be great legislation. What is the

safeguard? If we don't hold the Commissioner for Legislative Standards, who did

not follow the legislation – what is going to be in it that is going to be

different that it can't happen again? That is the question I'd like to ask. Why

aren't we, as legislators, holding him accountable for it? If we don't do it –

and I'll say it in my last word on that – I can tell every parliamentarian

that's in this House of Assembly, we are not doing our fiduciary responsibility

of holding Officers of this House of Assembly accountable.

I ask one more question: What if we knew – and this is

just hypothetical, very hypothetical; I'm just using this as an example. What if

we knew an Officer of the House of Assembly broke the law and stole $5,000? What

would happen? They'd be gone through the door. There'd be a motion in this House

the next morning.

What is the difference of taking away someone's right

to vote, which people died for, and we're not dealing with it? It's going to be

a black mark on this Legislature and this Assembly and the Members in this House

if we don't get to the bottom of it. If the Commissioner comes in here and he

can explain and give all the information, what happened, and explains, that's

fine, let's all just stand up and say okay. But until that's done, until the

person can say why he broke the act and why he thinks he had the authority to

break the act, we are not doing our duty as legislators. I, for one, every

opportunity I get I'll speak about that, and I will have lots of opportunities,

I can assure you.

I know I'm not on the Committee, and I understand that.

Me and the minister had a great chat about that and I thank the minister for

that. I accept that, not a problem. Not a problem. No issue with that

whatsoever. But I can assure you, I've been in this Legislature for a long, long

time, when there's something that concerns the people of Humber - Bay of

Islands, and they were so sincere and hurt, I will bring it up. I am ashamed,

like I told the people, I am ashamed to be a part of a Legislature that will not

hold an Officer of the House of Assembly accountable. It is shameful.

I take responsibility because somewhere along the line

I am part of this Legislature. We hear the minister saying let the courts take

care of it. I can tell the minister that that's the legal part of it. But I can

tell you the person knocking on my door with his information for his wife who

can't get out of the House will not be solved in court. The only way that's

going to be resolved is in this House of Assembly. If we don't do that we're

failing those people and we are failing the right to vote. What's going to stop

it the next time?

We stand up hear, and I hear people talking about

thanking – and we all should – our veterans for the service so we can vote. What

would our veterans think if they knew that we had people, seniors, who supported

them in the Second World War and the First World War and the Korean War and

other things – a lot of their relatives – found out that their siblings, their

grandkids could not vote because there are irregularities in the Elections Act

that weren't followed; that this election was not given proper care, was not

given proper due care by the government at the time, by the Chief Electoral

Officer at the time and they couldn't vote and they were begging to vote? What

would they say? Do you know what they would say? They would could in here and

they would let us know what they really think. Because I can assure you that

they would not stand for it – they would not stand for it.

I'll close on that, Mr. Speaker. I'll have an

opportunity in Petitions to speak about this part again. I know this is a budget

debate and I know this is an amendment to the budget. Mr. Speaker, usually when

there's a budget you can speak to any issue that's pertaining to your district.

One of the biggest issues that I hear on the regular basis, and still hear it –

and I'm not complaining because I happened to win and I'm here. Win or lose;

I've won more times, I've lost before in sports and I lost in politics. Winning

or losing is not the point. The point is when you leave, can you leave and say

you did the best that you could do.?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

JOYCE:

last words to the government: You won the election, why are you so afraid to

have an independent body who will bring the Commissioner for Legislative

Standards in this House of Assembly so we can get to the bottom of this and so

we can go back to the siblings of veterans, who died in the war, and say: Here's

what happened, but here's what we're going to do to make sure it doesn't happen

again? Until we do that, we're failing the people of Newfoundland and Labrador

on the most democratic right and that is to vote.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Your time has expired.

JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Lake Melville.

TRIMPER:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I'm very proud to be able to speak to this budget and

to the amendment that's before us today.

Before I start – well, I guess I'm starting – but I

would like to draw attention to all the Member in this House of Assembly. Many

of you have probably received an email or a message from a lady named Rosalie

Belbin out of Red Bay, and I promised her today that I would start my speech:

Hello, Rosalie, to you.

For those of you who have been very lucky to visit her,

I would encourage others to do it. I drove down the other day with my wife and

my dog Kracker, it was a good eight-hour drive and we stopped into Rosalie's.

There is a shrine to you, all of you. There are little photos there, there are

messages and probably the one that you all need to beat is a bobble head that

Mr. Ches Crosbie gave her that sits on her counter. The Member for St. George's

- Humber, his photo is there, and there are other memorabilia.

I would encourage you to try to up the ante and see

what you can do to get to the front of her shrine to all of us, because she is

watching there. She is a dedicated follower of this House of Assembly. You got

to support your fans. I put that out there, Rosalie, to you.

I will now turn to something I think that has

captivated, in a very sombre way, myself and I think everyone in this House and

I think right across the country, that's the revelation of the sudden discovery

of 215 young lives in a mass grave next to a residential school in Kamloops, BC.

I think we just have to try to grapple how can this happen in our country. What

could people have possibly been thinking, with the basis and the times and the

things that we deal with now, our own sense of values? That shock has certainly

– you can feel it, you can see it. I think it's up to all of us to see what we

can do to make sure that such an incident, not only never happens again but that

we do something to try to address the pain and the sorrow that so many people

have felt.

One thing that I've heard from many wise people – my

background is environmental sciences and we often talk about sustainable

development and I'm always trying to explain that. Many years ago, somebody

pointed out to me that – this is from an Indigenous perspective or analogy – I

found it was probably the best definition of sustainable development when they

said to me: When you make a decision you have to think seven generations out.

You'll often hear this. Carolyn Bennett says this a lot, I notice, in her

commentary in her role as a federal minister.

I think if we just think about where we were 100 years

ago when these residential school systems and up to, frankly, not that long ago,

the shocking implications of generation after generation after generation, and

you hear these terms intergenerational trauma. I know myself in my years in

Labrador, and when I first started meeting and speaking and hearing stories from

people, it ranged. It ranged from people who found it such a traumatic

experience they couldn't even speak about it.

For others it was less arduous and it was certainly

something that they found difficult, you can imagine; you can't imagine any of

us leaving our homes, leaving our families at a very young age, some of them

three, four, five years of age, and went off to school in our situation, for

example, one that I know well is the one in Northwest River. A lot of children

from the Coast came there. For some it was a good experience, for others it was

very difficult, but for all of them it was a traumatic separation from their

parents and their families. We really need to figure and find our way through

this. I hope we can find the strength and give it the attention it really

deserves.

Given we're speaking about a budget amendment, I did

want to talk a little bit about the budget. I'm going to step back on the budget

a little bit, and I commend the government at least – I'm hearing this overture

– they're going to move, with legislation, to work towards a balanced budget.

I just draw reference to an analogy that I'm very –

it's not an analogy, it's just a good comparison. Here's a statement from March

9, 2021, from the Nunatsiavut Government, and here's their opening line: “The

Nunatsiavut Government's 2021-22 balanced budget, delivered today during the

first-ever virtual sitting of the Nunatsiavut Assembly ….” Key word: balanced,

right off the bat. I feel it's very good, it's going to be important that we

reach and achieve this idea of a balanced budget. Because, frankly, thinking

again, seven generations out, why are we racking up a deficit now that our

children and their children and so on are going to have to deal with? Frankly,

that's what we are faced with.

I think we would all argue that we currently have a

spending problem. I would put it out there that I would suggest it's really an

historic spending problem. It's been the inability or the lack of attention, or

that short four-year, or even less, mandate that we're all under. We have to

start thinking longer term. We have to start thinking about these determinations

and these decisions and what it means for those to come.

I remember when I sat in Cabinet, which I enjoyed very

much, I just imagine that very first budget in 2016 and when the, then, Finance

minister came and explained to us what each of us needed to do and the serious

cuts that were required, the drastic action that was needed to just hold off

those who were looking for their money.

At that time, I think, our interest payments were

something like 10.5, almost 11 per cent. Well, we're just marginally higher than

that now; still struggling with it being the second line item in our budget. It

comes before Education; all that we do to educate our children, ourselves, as we

go on to secondary or post-secondary education. We have this deficit payment

dealing right smack in front of us, and as we've come to learn through Dame Moya

Greene, it's much worse than we even imagined.

Another criticism I have on the budget, and I guess

what I'm alluding to, is it would be nice to see a balanced budget; the sooner

we get there, the better. There is going to be pain and we're just going to have

to realize, again, why we're doing this. We have to take the politics out of it,

we have to take our own personal survival out of this. We have to recognize

where we are in history and we have to support this province as it goes forward

and everyone else who will occupy it in the years to come.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

TRIMPER:

I'm

always looking at words and how people write things. I would love to get my

hands on whoever writes our Budget Speeches. I know the Finance Minister does a

great job speaking to it, but just think about all the questions that all of us

have received since Monday at 2 o'clock. It's relating to confusion around the

numbers that we're hearing. I have it in front of me, several examples, and I'm

just going to grab one – one that I'm very appreciative of, by the way.

Just a little side story: Back in 2007, there was a

very serious recommendation put before government, at the time, that there was

needed to have a facility to provide mental health services in Labrador,

recognizing the challenge. That was 2007. The person who wrote that contacted me

a couple of nights ago – it was a really nice message – and sent me their quote

from 2007 with that recommendation. I put a little Post-it the other day,

because last Saturday we finally started pouring concrete on the new six-bed

mental health wing. It's going to be culturally, and from an Indigenous

perspective, designed and incorporated with a lot of themes that I feel would

really be a great start.

He was recognizing that and he said: Wow, 14 years

later, there we are. Well, I looked at these – I guess they're little key

messages and so on, and then I look at the Budget Speech. It draws reference to,

this year, that there's going to be “$4.8 million spent for the completion of

the new mental health unit in Happy Valley-Goose Bay ….” All great, but I have

to tell you how many people contacted me to say: Is this something new? What is

this? I thought we were already building something.

I would like to see us organize this whole budget from

– and, again, I recognize the $4.8 million; this is what was committed to last

year in the budget when it was started. What we should be saying is: As part of

the ongoing construction, $4.8 million is going to be allocated this year. What

I'm trying to do is say: Let's carry on and support all of those good things

that are happening, but if there's some new initiative, let's put that in there;

let's put in a cap. box or something. If I didn't have six years of experience

in this, I would be finding myself going to each one of these items and saying:

Is this new? What does that mean? I can only imagine what some of the new

Members are trying to go through as you sort this out.

I was very lucky on Monday, as part of the lockdown, to

have two members from the Minister's staff, which were invaluable for me. It was

the best two hours I've spent this week with them, because they were able to

help clarify so much of what I was reading. I would urge that in future budgets,

let's separate out: Here's something new, sugar tax; here's something that is

part of what we promised over the last year or two. We're just telling you now:

We're carrying on with that.

I have many other examples, but I feel that would be a

good way for us to help take away a lot of the confusion. We could just focus

on: Where is this government going? What's the new policy shifts? Where are they

allocating the money? I think that would be a great help.

I did want to mention – I brought up a couple of the

items this morning in Estimates – and I'm using the word nimbleness: We've got

to be quick. Look at how this jurisdiction, how the world responded to a

COVID-19 pandemic. Within weeks we had shutdown, we had locked down; we had

shifted to number one priority: make everyone safe. If we could only find that

same kind of nimbleness and quick reflex to be able to respond to other

situations that come upon us.

I'm just going to put out an example, I raised it this

morning with the minister and we had a good discussion with it, but I'd like to

bring it broader here to the floor.

Has anybody tried to go and buy a two-by-four lately?

You might have noticed that the price of a two-by-four or plywood sheets, these

things have tripled, quadrupled in price. I think a sheet of plywood now is

running about $100. It is up about four times what it was last year.

Look to what's going on in Alberta. Alberta has just

shifted itself – it has a structure where it has its own Crown lands and they

just changed legislation to allow a doubling of their stumpage and their royalty

rates. That's the amount of money that the Crown is paid or someone who owns

those trees, that are going to go into wood products, that they would actually

be able to recover.

The markup that we're seeing is not at the stumpage or

the royalty rate. So whoever owns the trees, whoever cuts the trees is not

making the money. The bottleneck is in the processing, it is in that secondary

facility aspect of the whole process before the retailer buys that two-by-four

or that sheet of plywood.

Why can't we follow Alberta's lead? They just doubled

their stumpage rates so they're making a nice windfall now with the high

building material prices. It is not affecting what the retailer pays because if

you look at some of the examples, and I sent it to my colleagues in Opposition

and to the minister this morning, out of Alberta a lot of these factories and so

on, their profits are through the roof. What they're finding is that because of

supply and demand, the fees are way up but their commodities that are going into

that process line are still very low, relatively. They could easily absorb it.

Our own wood products, we are underselling them.

It was raised this morning, it was suggested that maybe

we should lower them. In fact, that's not where the problem is. The problem is

in the factories, so many of them are shutdown, they're getting back in gear and

– anyway, I see it as an opportunity.

One the other day I brought up about Nalcor, myself and

my colleague from Labrador West had what we call the height-of-land summit the

other day. I would invite everyone in this room, if you've not ever been to

Churchill Falls to please go. I thank Nalcor Energy very much for hosting us.

Both the Labrador West MHA and myself spent a good day and a half exploring a

whole bunch of ideas. We both have a lot of experience in that facility. Some 23

years ago, I was working on an earlier version of the Lower Churchill Project

when we looked at the idea of putting – get this – not Gull Island in place, but

extra turbines at the powerhouse.

That capability, that opportunity, is still sitting

there; a heck of a lot riskier than getting into perhaps another hydroelectric

project like Gull Island. It's essentially drilling in the rock in that

powerhouse granite; again, another opportunity for revenue. I'm not hearing a

lot of discussion about it but I did want to put it out there. I asked the

officials about it when we were in Churchill Falls just two weeks ago. They

confirmed that opportunity is certainly there. There are some other ways and so

on that could be meant and done to generate additional revenues, and I think we

should take a serious look at it. That's the kind of nimbleness that I feel we

need to talk about.

I wanted to go over to health care and this idea of

regional health authorities from the PERT from Dame Moya Greene. I thank those

who expedited an opportunity to sit and chat with her for about an hour and a

half a few weeks ago. I found that very helpful. I also found it very

insightful. I see the PERT report, frankly, as a smorgasbord of ideas, but I

would also suggest that given the time, given who they are and so on, it's clear

to say – and as my colleague from St. John's Centre has pointed out – there are

inaccuracies in that document.

We all have to be careful as we read it to say, okay,

that's an idea, but before we go any further, we better do some careful

analysis. Let's not let some idea get the traction that it may or may not

deserve until we're sure of exactly what is there. They didn't have years to put

this together. They were a bunch of folks, frankly, who were mostly outside of

government relying on people to provide them information in some cases that was

out of date, as was pointed out.

Back where I was going with health care services, which

I'm very concerned about and I think we all are. Face it, if you're running a

constituency office, that's occupying a lot of your time, trying to help people,

guide them through and trying to make sure that vacancies for specialist

positions are being filled, that people can have access to the care they need to

literally save their lives, to make sure that they're going to be okay. We have

a myriad of issues right now in Labrador that are just so frustrating and so

challenging.

I saw some reference in the budget to some new monies

for MTAP. I'm not sure if it's changes to the program; I'm not sure if it's

additional monies that will help those who need to travel for those services.

The officials in the room didn't think that was the case, but I guess we'll see

when more details come out. We have a number of serious vacancies, which are

causing great hardship. I thank the co-operation I am getting from

Labrador-Grenfell Health, from the senior team, in working through them.

I just want to list some of the key problems. No one

has a solution right now, but I just want to share with you some of the

challenges we have. We just had, unfortunately, our pediatric psychiatrist

leave. It was a position that was never based there, but we had a person who was

providing that service. I have many families who are in great hardship right

now. The authorities are working on it, but I'm just hoping that we can find a

solution and a resolution soon, because mental health, as we know, is a great

problem. Unfortunately, for children, we don't have a lot of people who are

specializing in that particular aspect and parents are very terrified of what

that might mean.

We don't have an ability for children to even go to a

dentist in Labrador; we have to fly them out. Ophthalmology service is another

one that's just so frustrating. I find to see the cost the government incurs for

somebody to have to fly out to St. John's or Corner Brook for, often, a

procedure that is in the vicinity of 10 to 15 minutes in duration, and the

thousands of dollars that we pay through MTAP – that the people themselves have

to pay, approximately, some of them, as often as every month and a half – it's

just, oh, my gosh.

Why can't we get a specialist to locations in Labrador?

We're having so many people travel. I've spoken about this before, but one

period of time I kept track and one-third of the MTAP files we were handling

were for people going out for this 10- to 15-minute procedure alone; thousands

and thousands of dollars. How much would it have cost to bring that specialist

in and just have them provide that service?

I have to underline nurses. I listened to a discussion

this morning about the number of schools that are involved in providing training

for nurses and so on. If we can find a more efficient way to do that, I welcome

it. Our nurses are overworked. We have so many that we need and I think we

should really think about how we can make better use of them. I'm seeing great

movement in that. I know the Health Minister very well. I've listened to his

plans and ideas and I'm just going to do whatever I can to encourage him. But I

just want to underline, in this time that I have, just how serious this is. It

is literally life and death and we need to figure this out.

I guess I'm just going to summarize: I still see these

four crises before us. There are lessons that we are learning from the pandemic.

I feel our province is not lucky. We've actually done a great job; luck had

nothing to do with it. We had a great team in place. We all came together. We

all rallied together. That was an all-party Committee like no other that

supported each other.

The demographic challenge – I heard it referenced a few

minutes ago – is a big one for us; our fiscal challenge is what we're certainly

talking about. Then I go to the big kahuna, climate change, and what this means

for all of us. Again, thinking seven generations out, I want to make sure that

people will look back at the 50th General Assembly and say thank God they

started really doing some good action there and showed some leadership.

Thank you.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Cape St. Francis.

WALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's indeed a privilege for me to speak today in this

hon. House as I represent the residents of the beautiful District of Cape St.

Francis. This is the first time I've had the chance to speak here on

Budget 2021 .

Before I begin, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to recognize this

week, being May 30 to June 6, as being Early Childhood Educators' Week for 2021.

We salute the early childhood educators and child care providers across our

province. I am doing that especially in my district. They certainly have an

important role in the development of our children. They certainly set forward

the foundation for lifelong learning and to enable them to grow and to become

happy, healthy and productive members of our communities. As 40 MHAs sitting in

this hon. House, that's who we want to work with, those types of people in our

communities.

I want to take a quote from the hon. Minister of

Finance; it's from her Budget 2021 . It

says: “Healthy, sustainable communities are essential building blocks for

Newfoundland and Labrador.” It's from the hon. Minister of Finance and President

of Treasury Board. I'd just like to build on that, if I could. I know that all

the children throughout our province are those essential building blocks. I know

that we all agree with that and support our children. Of course, it just gives

more weight to the role that early childhood educators and child care providers

do play throughout our whole province.

This morning, I had the privilege of visiting one of

those daycares: Busy Bees daycare, a family home daycare in the Town of Torbay,

run by Ms. Erica Corcoran, who is the owner-operator, but also a board member of

the Association of Early Childhood Educators of Newfoundland and Labrador. I had

the opportunity to meet outside under a safe, social-distanced visit with the

children in her care. They were excited to see Joedy show up to have a

conversation. One of the children lives next door to my parents and even asked –

he's at the age of two – how's Uncle Bob?

It's great to know that you have that connection with

the children in the area, especially with the child care providers. I'll be

continuing to visit other places in my district over the next couple of days.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to represent the beautiful

District of Cape St. Francis. I don't have as many towns in my district as my

colleagues from Bonavista or from Stephenville - Port au Port. I have five towns

in my district, with approximately 14,300 constituents. I can certainly tell

you, Mr. Speaker, that I have an awesome district, and I'm not afraid to say it.

We have five towns – Pouch Cove, Flatrock, Torbay, Bauline and Logy Bay-Middle

Cove-Outer Cove – in my district. They are growing communities, Mr. Speaker, in

need of upgraded infrastructure when we're coming to looking at municipalities.

That's why I was glad to see in

Budget 2021 , under Stronger Communities and Municipalities – and, of

course, being a former mayor, having that municipal background certainly gives

you a different lens of looking at things. I do appreciate what was put in the

budget for municipalities – “$7 million dollars under the Municipal Capital

Works Program over three years to support projects that prioritize water,

wastewater, disaster mitigation, and regional collaboration.”

I realize the importance of that, Mr. Speaker. When I

became mayor in 2013, our first issue that we tackled head on was our clean

drinking water. I'm very proud to say that under two governments, we were very

successful in completing the water-filtration project in our town, which now

services approximately 72 per cent of the residents with clean, filtered

drinking water. It was started under this type of funding, and it's very

important to have that there to support. It doesn't the project; it supports the

project; it starts it off. You do your testing. You do what's needed to be

required in order to move the project forward. I appreciate that that is there

in the budget.

Of course, the other $70 million for community

infrastructure over three years under the Canada Infrastructure Program, the

multi-year funding of $70 million and the $147 million under the Canada

Community-Building Fund, which is, of course, the gas tax program: All of these

are essential for municipalities to survive.

I know that I have lots of colleagues here who have

municipal backgrounds and they would agree with me, the importance of this,

relating to municipalities. I'm glad to see that it's in the budget. I do

applaud the minister for that. Of course, being a former mayor, we'd love to see

more. Of course, everyone would love to see that; however, I do understand the

parameters we're working under, but I do appreciate that it is there in the

budget for municipalities to make them stronger, to make them more vibrant and,

of course, for the benefit of all the residents, so I do applaud that.

In my district, Mr. Speaker, I have five schools: Cape

St. Francis Elementary in Pouch Cove, Holy Trinity Elementary, Juniper Ridge

Intermediate, Holy Trinity High in Torbay and in Logy Bay -Middle Cove-Outer

Cove I have St. Francis of Assisi. I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, I've served on

school council in the past, over five years and I know that we have strong

school communities. I know we have strong school councils. We do have wonderful

volunteers that enable our children to have great school experiences.

I'll go back to the hon. minister's

Budget 2021 . The line that I

appreciated seeing in the speech was: During this work – and the work would be,

of course, to reinvest in the classroom to take “the appropriate steps to

Department of Education.” The line I liked to see was: “… we will closely

communicate with the school communities throughout the province.” That's

important, Mr. Speaker.

As I said, I served on school council for over five

years. I know the school council volunteers that are on the committees of my

five schools in my district. That's important, they want to be included in the

conversation.

Again, I thank the hon. minister for putting that

forward. It's sobering to see the bar graph there as well with respect to the

number of students and the level of investment. It's important for me. To be

honest, it's an evening conversation at my dinner table. My wife, Tina, is a

kindergarten teacher at Cape St. Francis Elementary.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

WALL:

Thank you.

I do know the challenges that come with teaching, but I

also know the rewards. They are to be supported and to be commended especially

during this pandemic with what they're going through. But I'm glad to see that

investment is there for schools and I look forward to the Minister of Education,

as well, rolling out that plan to see how this is going to operate. Of course,

we have the best targets in mind, which are the staff and, of course, the

children for their better education.

Mr. Speaker, Route 20 runs through my district, as we

all know. I would encourage anyone that's here to take a drive through my

beautiful district. All municipalities in my district, Mr. Speaker, do need

upgrades to the roadwork and to the infrastructure.

I would like to take this moment to thank the former

Member, Mr. Parsons, for the work that he's done over the last 12½ years. I do

want to acknowledge that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

WALL:

There is work that is going to be done this year that was, of course, by his

work is going to be completed this year. We do appreciate it and the residents

are looking forward to the work beginning. Some of it has begun so I would thank

the hon. Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure for the preliminary work

that has been started.

But, Mr. Speaker, I do have 138 kilometres of town

responsibility roads in my district as well. As I said, my district is well

travelled. There is a lot of vehicular transport coming through my

municipalities of the five towns and the roads are well used, no doubt about it.

We have to keep that in mind with respect to the responsibility that the towns

do have for the upgrade of that 138 kilometres of road.

I have spoken with all of the councils in my district.

I have met with all the councils, my constituent assistant and I, to open that

dialogue. I know each one of them, I know the staff in the towns, which are

great under my municipal background and that bodes well to have a good working

relationship at this level, and as I said when I first spoke in the House, to

work with all hon. Members to move forwards the needs of my district so I will

continue that, Mr. Speaker.

I was glad to hear the hon. minister speak about

tourism, when he spoke several times this week about tourism. My district, being

close to the City of St. John's and to amenities that are there, we don't have

the level of tourism that we do have in other districts, but I can tell you we

do have one gem of a draw in our district and that is the East Coast Trail.

Out of the total of 336 kilometres of East Coast Trail

in our province, 67 are in my district. I can tell you, again from my former

municipal career, I've had the opportunity of speaking with hundreds of people

across the province and around the world who walk the East Coast Trail in my

district. The response that I was given was there was no finer scenery in the

world.

It is certainly being missed right now with the

pandemic, every municipality throughout the province, every province in the

country is dealing with that, Mr. Speaker, as we all know. I would encourage

everyone who has the opportunity to take a moment to walk the East Coast Trail,

to come to my district to view the beautiful scenery we have and the shoreline.

Again, I should mention – I'd be remiss if I didn't –

the five towns in my district all have MOUs signed with the East Coast Trail

Association. Each town provides either monetary or in-kind service to the East

Coast Trail Association. When needed, if there's a flood or if there's snow

damage or what have you, the towns do work with the East Coast Trail committee

members to ensure that the East Coast Trail is safe and that it's open for

people to use. I just want to put that there. I'm very proud of the five

municipalities having those MOUs signed with the East Trail Association as well.

Mr. Speaker, we touched on seniors and aging. I have to

say, I attended Estimates last night with my colleague from Placentia West -

Bellevue. I'm not sure if the minister is here or not. Yes, he is. I said this

to him last night, so I'm not trying to swell his head today, but I have to say

it was very encouraging to sit in Estimates last evening as a new MHA, and the

reply I got from the hon. minister was: and as a new minister. It was

encouraging to be in Estimates last evening to hear what the minister had to say

with respect to his department and seniors. I think there's a budget line item

of just over a million dollars for Grants and Subsidies for seniors, which, of

course, we all know is well needed.

To have the level of commitment and the level of

engagement from the minister, I have to say, was very encouraging. I applauded

him last night for that and I have to say I applaud him again today.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

WALL:

Mr.

Speaker, I will give credit where credit is due. I shall give credit where

credit is due. I'm not afraid to do that. I thank them again for that last

night.

Of course, every municipality, every district has

seniors. As the former Member had before, I have a soft spot for my seniors as

well. I'll do what I can when I can for them, the most vulnerable of our society

who make up a large demographic of each and every district here in this hon.

House. I do applaud the amount that's there for seniors and from the CSSD

Department. I do look forward to working with the minister on anything that

comes forward from my district with respect to seniors.

Mr. Speaker, I would be remiss if I didn't take a page

from my colleague from Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans yesterday when he spoke on

rotational workers. I do know that each and every district has many rotational

workers in their areas, but I'll tell you, I've spoken with many hard-working

men and women throughout my district who work across this country, who work

around this world; I've spoken to them during the election and I've spoken to

them since. We have to support them. They're supporting our province with their

tax dollars, with their spending.

It's encouraging to see their resilience. We all know

the difficult time that those rotational workers went through. While at the

doors, I thanked them personally and I would like to do that here now, on

record, to thank the rotational workers and their families. It's a difficult

time, no doubt about it.

I've had the privilege, Mr. Speaker, of never having to

leave this beautiful province. I've been here for my entire working career and

so has my wife. So I don't have that experience of working away and having to

come back and forth, but I do know that I've had family members in that

category. My brother, Raymond, works out in Fort McMurray; he's been doing so

for almost 20 years. I see how taxing it is on him, personally, and I see how

taxing it is on his wife and two children. You would think that as the years go

by it would get easier, but it isn't; it's getting harder each year.

We have to remember all of the rotational workers in

our districts, to applaud them, and for the families, the sacrifice that they

are making with respect to their mothers, their fathers, their brothers and

sisters who are working away. So we remember the rotational workers. When you

have the opportunity to have a chat with them at the Tim Hortons or Sobeys or

wherever you're to, have the opportunity to say thank you. Thank them for what

they're doing and, of course, for supporting our province as well.

Mr. Speaker, being a former municipal leader and

working closely with the volunteer groups in my Town of Pouch Cove, at the time

– and now, of course, I'm working with the volunteer groups in my district – I

want to touch on volunteer emergency responders and the important role they play

with respect to the operations of each municipality.

Province wide there are approximately 295 departments

and roughly 6,500 volunteers for emergency response. Now, I sat in Estimates

with the hon. Minister of Justice and Public Safety. I was a little disappointed

to know that there was $300,000 cut from the Grants and Subsidies for Fire

Protection, from $3 million to $2.7 million. I realize the importance of that

$300,000, because that could be the make or break for departments in several

districts, no doubt about it. I understand, again – as I said about the Finance

Minister earlier – the parameters we're under, I do, but I was disappointed to

see that there was a $300,000 cut.

Over the last year or so I've had the – and, please,

correct me if I'm wrong.

HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

WALL:

Yes, thank you.

I've had the opportunity, over the last year and a half

or so, to travel across the province, my wife and I. When we went to different

areas, we made a point of dropping in to the fire halls; we made a point of

looking at the infrastructure that's there. It is concerning, no doubt about it.

Aging infrastructure in our emergency response: That's something that we all

have to grapple with, no doubt.

I will say that I'm very proud of the emergency

response in my district. The Pouch Cove Volunteer Fire Department, of course,

have an annual budget of roughly $200,000 from the Town of Pouch Cove. The

Torbay Volunteer Fire Department, funded by the Town of Torbay, has an annual

budget of $561,000. It's encouraging to know that the municipalities do –

HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

WALL:

appreciate it. If I'm wrong – I hope I'm wrong, Minister.

I do appreciate the level of commitment that both

municipalities, Pouch Cove and Torbay, have for their fire departments. They see

the importance of updated equipment and infrastructure. They also notice the

importance and realize the importance of training that's involved, and mandatory

training, I might say, with respect to offensive and defensive firefighting. So

we have to be mindful of that.

We certainly applaud our emergency response volunteers.

They're on call 24-7 and I can speak to that personally. My son, Zach, is 22

years old. He's been a member of the Pouch Cove Volunteer Fire Department for

the last six years; he started at a very young age. He has his five-year pin,

which I'm very proud of; he's working on his sixth year. I've been awake at 2 in

the morning when the pager goes off for a structure fire or a car accident or a

Code 4 medical call. I might add, as well, both departments are certified by

Eastern Health to answer Code 4 medical calls, which does speed up the time for

such a call in our area.

Mr. Speaker, I know my time is winding down. I could

say so much more. I do thank – and I'm looking forward to that response, Madam

Minister. But I do appreciate from my shadow Cabinet, with respect to what's

there for my district. I do look forward to working with, of course, both sides

of the House for the betterment of the constituents of Cape St. Francis.

It's certainly a pleasure for me; it's an honour. I

appreciate the vote of confidence that the residents have put in me. I look

forward to speaking again pretty soon.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

SPEAKER (Warr):

The hon. Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands.

LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm glad to have a second opportunity now to speak to

the budget. Before I get to the budget, there are a couple of issues I just want

to raise very quickly. First one, I just want to say to my colleague in Humber -

Bay of Islands, I could spend my 20 minutes as he did but I'll just simply say:

Ditto. I agree with everything he had to say about the election and our failure

in this House of Assembly to act upon the travesty that took place. He is right,

he is absolutely right, and for me one could be somewhat cynical and say: Well,

the Member's had issues with the Commissioner for Legislative Standards. I've

had no issues with him and I still have no issue with him. Nothing personal, no

issue here with me whatsoever, but right is right and wrong is wrong.

Everybody knows on both sides of this House, whether we

want to admit it or not, that there was big-time issues in this last provincial

election. Things were not done properly, the Commissioner even admitted so

himself, publicly, on one issue for sure. It should be i