May

25, 2010 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVI No. 26

The House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Fitzgerald): Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Today the Chair would like to welcome fourteen students from TEACH, the

Avalon home-school group. The students are accompanied today by their

home-schooling parents.

Welcome to the House of Assembly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Speaker would also to recognize thirty individuals from

the Baccalieu 50 Plus Group from the District of Bellevue. The group is

accompanied by president, Gerald Drover; vice-president, Eric Stevens;

secretary, Lucy Legge; and bus driver, Dot Penney.

Welcome to the House of Assembly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

Statements by Members

MR. SPEAKER: The following members' statements will be heard: the hon.

the Member for the District of Bonavista North; the hon. the Member for the

District of Bellevue; the hon. the Member for the District of Kilbride; and the

hon. the Member for the District of Bay of Islands.

The hon. the Member for the District of Bonavista North.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HARDING: Mr. Speaker, I would like to take the opportunity to

acknowledge the recent success of the Lester Pearson Memorial High School Astros

male volleyball squad.

On January 16, the team from New-Wes-Valley, under the supervision of coach

Craig Loder and manager Barry Wakely, provided a tremendous exhibition of

athletic talent and skill en route to claiming the 2010 Senior High Volleyfest

banner. The Astros squad was one of sixteen teams entered in the competition and

their tenacity and hard work resulted in an undefeated run to the championship.

Despite the flawless record, the team from Lester Pearson was tested

throughout the tournament. The greatest obstacle came in the finals, when they

found themselves trailing by seven points to a very capable and determined group

of students from Tricentia Academy. Like true champions, when tested, the Astros

bent but did not break and in the end they rallied to claim the title in

dramatic fashion.

Mr. Speaker, athletics are an important part of our educational system as

they help foster the growth of confidence, teach the importance of teamwork and

fair play, and instill a strong work ethic in our youth. These young athletes

displayed all these traits at this recent tournament and they should be very

proud of their accomplishment as they continue to build on the impressive

sporting legacy that has been established over the years by the students at

Lester Pearson Memorial High.

Mr. Speaker, at this time I would ask all members of this hon. House to join

with me in congratulating the Astros from Lester Pearson on their recent

achievement in claiming the 2010 Senior High Volleyfest banner and in wishing

them continued success in all of their future academic and athletic endeavours.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Bellevue.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. PEACH: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise here in this hon. House today to give recognition to Dildo Island.

Just recently, March 3 to be exact, Dildo Island was designated a "Place of

Provincial Significance" by the Newfoundland's government Provincial Historic

Commemorations Program. Dildo Island was recognized because it represents more

than 2,500 years of occupation by various cultures.

Dildo Island is located just off of Dildo Point in Dildo Sound at the bottom

of Trinity Bay.

Today there is no population on Dildo Island, but archaeologists have found

clear evidence that people have been drawn to the island over thousands of

years. The many seabirds, sea mammals, and fish, as well as many types of plant

life that can be found on and near the island made it fertile hunting grounds

for nomadic hunters and gathers.

Dildo Island has an intriguing history of human settlement going back over

2,000 years to the Dorset Eskimo. In addition to this, the island was the site

of Newfoundland's first cod hatchery, which was constructed in 1889 by a

Norwegian, Adolphus Nielson, to improve the cod stocks of Trinity Bay. At the

time, it was just the second fish hatchery to be constructed in North America,

as well as being the largest in the world.

So, I ask the members of this hon. House to join me in the recognition of

Dildo Island for its designation of a "Place of Provincial Significance".

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Kilbride.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DINN: Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, May 15, 2010 the Kilbride to

Ferryland Family Resource Coalition celebrated its tenth anniversary. Several

hundred children and parents came to St. Kevin's Parish Hall in the Goulds to

join in a full day of fun filled activities.

The Kilbride to Ferryland Family Resource Coalition is a community-based

registered charity providing family resource programming to families with

children primarily zero to six years of age living in the communities from

Kilbride to Cappahayden. The coalition operates Family Resource Centres in

Kilbride, Goulds, Bay Bulls and Ferryland.

Programming is designed to promote self-help and mutual aid, enhance

parent-child relationships and promote healthy prenatal and child development

and includes drop-in playgroups, toy library, parent education and parent

support groups and healthy baby clubs.

Since opening its doors in 2000, the coalition has provided programs and

services to more than 2,300 families with 114,549 participant visits, 355 babies

have been born through the healthy baby clubs. Just over the last year, 250 new

families visited the four resource centres.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. Members of this House to join in congratulating

the Kilbride to Ferryland Family Resource Coalition, its board and staff on its

tenth anniversary and to thank the coalition for its ten years of dedicated

services to our communities.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Bay of Islands.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LODER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in this hon. House today to recognize Anita Wheeler of the Town of

Meadows.

Mr. Speaker, on Friday, May 7, Anita graduated from Academy Canada with a

two-year course in Therapeutic Recreation.

Mr. Speaker, Anita, over the two years, studied hard and had the stress of

not knowing the safety of her husband, Robert, who was serving with the Armed

Forces in Afghanistan - who, by the way, Mr. Speaker, has returned home safely.

Anita was recognized by Academy Canada at the graduation by being presented

with the Presidents Award. This award is presented to a student who displays

leadership, professionalism, a positive attitude, a strong sense of school

spirit, a good overall average and willing to participate in school activities.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members here today to show appreciation to Anita

Wheeler, a lady who will no doubt do a commendable job in her new career.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in this hon. House today to recognize Vision Health Month, which is

designed to raise awareness about the importance of safeguarding vision health

and promoting good eye health.

Mr. Speaker, more than 836,000 Canadians are living with some form of vision

loss, which includes approximately 15,000 Newfoundlanders and Labradorians; an

additional 4.25 million Canadians have some form of age-related macular

degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma or cataracts and if left

untreated, most will be at risk of significant vision loss.

A regular eye exam remains the best form of early detection and prevention to

help control and treat eye disease.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to encourage my hon. colleagues to think about

vision health all year-round, but especially this week, as Thursday has been

designated "Shades of Fun Day" by the CNIB who have provided all members with

a pair of sunglasses today. Everyone is encouraged to slip on these sunglasses

to protect your eyes from harmful UVA and UVB rays.

The CNIB, Mr. Speaker, offers an important service for people in our Province

who lose their eyesight or live with partial vision. They provide specialized

services for people of all ages, including support and training on independent

living skills, assessment and training on the use of low vision aids to

compensate for vision loss, safe and independent mobility both within and

outside the home, access to a wide variety of consumer products, training in

assistive devices, early intervention services for children and access to one of

the world's largest lending libraries of books in audio, Braille or e-text. CNIB

challenges conventional attitudes pertaining to vision loss, delivering a

progressive message about ability, not disability.

Mr. Speaker, the Williams Government recognizes the importance of vision

health, and proves that commitment through an annual grant of $664,200 to the

CNIB to help support rehabilitation and blindness prevention programs. As well,

Mr. Speaker, just recently, our government invested $200,000 in the CNIB to help

the organization expand its programs, and enhance services for those who have

been referred to the CNIB for vision rehabilitation in rural Newfoundland and

Labrador.

I encourage everyone to get regular eye exams, care for their eyes by wearing

sunglasses that have UVA and UVB protection, and learn more about protecting

their own vision.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement.

Mr. Speaker, we too want to join the government in recognizing the month of

May as the Canadian Vision Health Month. Certainly, the CNIB introduced this

first ever Vision Health Month as a national campaign to promote eye health and

raise vital funds for the organization's programs and services. I think we have

all met people or know people in our lives that have had vision impairments, and

some of them, Mr. Speaker, have been legally blind. We know the kind of

impediment that that puts on them, the challenges that it places on them, and

when they have good programs, good services, access to affordable care, it

certainly makes a huge difference.

Mr. Speaker, I remember this one lady who was legally blind, and actually had

not even heard of the CNIB at that stage, and when she did and had made contact

with them, then started receiving all the information and supports that they

offer. This was a lady who enjoyed to read so much and was unable to any more in

her life, but because of the help of the CNIB sending out the information, the

brochures, the books and so on, she gained back something in her life that was

very valuable to her and it certainly helped her deal with things on a much more

pleasant basis, Mr. Speaker.

We know that 75 per cent of vision loss is preventable, and I think that is

important, and the reason that we raise awareness around Vision Health Month is

to ensure that any time there is a disease out there that is preventable,

whether it is blindness or something else, that we take precautions to guard

ourselves against it and to promote it in society.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi

Vidi.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I too thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement. I am very

happy to stand and recognize May as the Vision Health Month in our Province and

nationally as well, I think. I congratulate the CNIB on its initiative to put

this month in place and for the many events and activities that they are

carrying on designed to educate people right across the country about how to

preserve their sight. Any funds raised during this time, of course, will support

continued vision health research, public education and programs, and services

for blind and partially sighted Canadians.

I would like to congratulate the CNIB locally for many of their educational

sessions, especially those which are called community clinics and point out they

actually have one scheduled for tomorrow night on age-related macular

degeneration, a condition which affects a lot of people in this Province. It

will be featuring an ophthalmologist and retinal surgeon from Eastern Health

taking place tomorrow night at the Kenny's Pond Retirement home.

I would like to note, Mr. Speaker, that we need to be concerned about eye

health for everybody. I really like the minister encouraging all of us to take

care of our health. I would like to note that adults receiving income support

and their children are able to get money towards eye exams and glasses, but

other low-income people are not so lucky. So I encourage the minister to look at

how we can make money available for low-income people who are not under income

support but money so that they too can take care of their vision.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Further statements by ministers?

The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in this hon. House today to inform members present and the public of

the events of the Cold Harvest 2010 annual meetings, conference and trade show.

These are annual activities hosted by the Newfoundland Aquaculture Industry

Association or NAIA. As well, this year the national conference for the

Aquaculture Association of Canada was held in St. John's, in conjunction with

the NAIA conference. Together, the two conferences attracted 350 delegates from

across the Province, the country and throughout the globe, including

representatives from Norway, Ireland, the United States and Iceland. As well,

there was representation from all provinces and territories.

Our Province is an important growth centre for aquaculture in Canada and

internationally right now. The Newfoundland and Labrador aquaculture industry

reached record levels of production in 2009. The market value increased to $92

million last year, representing a 45.9 per cent increase over 2008. To build on

this phenomenal growth, our government has invested significantly in the

aquaculture infrastructure and research in Budget 2010: The Right Investments -

For Our Children and Our Future. These include investment in the Centre for

Aquaculture Health and Development, biosecurity initiatives and the Aquaculture

Capital Equity Program.

Mr. Speaker, my department was glad to have opportunity to co-host the joint

Cold Harvest and Aquaculture 2010 annual conference from May 16 to May 19. As

well, we invested $50,000 to support event planning and hosting of this year's

conference. These events represent important networking opportunities for the

entire aquaculture industry, as reflected in this year's theme: Successful

Partnerships for a Sustainable Future.

During the conference, I attended the opening to welcome the delegates to St.

John's. I had the opportunity to meet with the members of the NAIA board of

directors. At that time we discussed issues such as the growth and marketing of

the mussel sector, biosecurity and infrastructure needs. I also attended the

closing gala and banquet where the Aquaculturist of the Year Award was presented

to Geoff Ball of B&B Forest Products in Northern Arm.

Mr. Speaker, aquaculture is a key component of our government's strategy for

creating employment and economic benefits in rural areas of our Province. We are

pleased to see the international aquaculture industry visiting the Province as

we continue to grow. We certainly encourage them to come back to Newfoundland

and Labrador at any time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of The Straits &White

Bay North.

MR. DEAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Certainly, acknowledge the importance of aquaculture in terms of our fishery

and recognize it as the growing sector of the fishery in our Province and

congratulate the NAIA Committee for hosting its recent conference and so on. We

commend the government for the investments that it has made in certain areas of

the aquaculture fishery.

To see someone being chosen as - Mr. Ball as the Aquaculturist of the Year

Award is to be commended as well. At the same time, of course, we would be

concerned about our fishery in general, I am sure that our minister would share

those same concerns. The MOU process, the shrimp cuts that we have recently

seen, and of course plants in our Province that are not open. So, as we give

strong leadership to the aquaculture sector of the fishery, and as we invest in

that, I would encourage the minister and the government to give strong

leadership to the remainder of the fishery and to invest where needed to ensure

that rural Newfoundland has a viable future, and we recognize just how important

that fishery is; so, again, good news.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi

Vidi.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I too thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement, and I am

delighted to stand and congratulate NAIA and everyone who took

part in the

conference. It sounds like it was a worthwhile event. I am glad to see the

Province's aquaculture industry growing, and it is something that is happening

internationally.

I would say to the minister, as one point I would like to make, that we need

to stay in touch with new information that continues to come out with regard to

the industry in relationship to the environment. I think we have to stay on top

of that. The other thing, to echo my colleague from the Official Opposition, I

too encourage the minister to stay deeply involved in working with the industry

and with the union who are involved in the traditional fishery. We still have a

massive ocean out there that makes fish naturally. We have to make sure that is

encouraged as much as possible. I still am upset by the fact that this year's

Budget had $24 million invested in aquaculture and $3 million in the traditional

fishery, and I would like to see that starting to be turned around Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much.

MR. SPEAKER: Further statements by ministers?

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, multiple sclerosis is an incurable progressive disease that

causes pain, fatigue, and gradual paralysis. In November, MS patients were made

aware of a condition known as CCSVI, in which the veins in the back of the neck

and the chest become blocked and fail to allow blood to drain properly from the

brain. This condition and latest research suggest that while CCSVI does not

cause MS, it is seen as a causal factor and contributes to the progression of

the disease in many cases.

I ask the minister today: If this test is available in the Province to

diagnose CCSVI, and if so, why is it not being offered to MS patients?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, some time prior to the Budget I met with the representatives of

the MS Society, or group, we discussed some of their needs and there was money

set aside in the Budget to deal with the issues that were raised.

I was reading something yesterday, Mr. Speaker, about this new research, and

it is my understanding that the researcher himself, and it may be an Italian

doctor I am not sure right off that he was concerned whether or not patients

should rush out at this point in time to avail of this new procedure. So, there

is a lot of work to be done. Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that this is

being reviewed right now in Canada, and it is something that still is really

questionable as to whether or not it will serve the purpose that it was

initially thought to serve.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Many people who have MS are now speaking out on this issue, Mr. Speaker,

because they want to have access to the test for CCSVI. Just last week we talked

to a thirty-six-year-old man who travelled to Vancouver to have the test done

because it was not available to him in Newfoundland and Labrador. On that same

day he told us there was another Newfoundlander at the clinic in Vancouver

having it done.

So, given there is a demand for this test: Why are patients and their family

being denied access and forced to travel to other regions of Canada to receive

the test?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am aware of the individual who the Leader of the Opposition

refers to. I also received e-mails from a number of other individuals.

As a government, Mr. Speaker, we are committed to providing the best quality

health care we can in this Province and we have done that in spades, I would

suggest, by the investment of a $2.7 billion Budget this year. However, we are

dealing with science and when science accepts that certain procedures are

worthwhile we will certainly look at that.

It is my understanding, from the reading I did yesterday, Mr. Speaker, that

this procedure is still questionable as to whether or not it actually works and

will achieve the purpose that was originally thought. So, we will monitor this

very closely. My officials are watching it, and I can assure, Mr. Speaker, the

Leader of the Opposition and MS patients in this Province that anything that we

can do to alleviate their condition and help their condition we certainly will,

but again, it has to be based on science and research.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The minister should know that a vascular surgeon did present to a

Subcommittee on Neurological Disease in May of this month, in the last couple of

weeks, in terms of what the benefits are of having this particular testing done

in Canada.

I would ask the minister, because he still has not told us, if this test

could be available in Newfoundland and Labrador? Although we know it is not

being conducted, we would still like to know the answer to that, and we would

also like to know if government is prepared to support the procedures that are

required to treat CCSVI in this Province?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, Mr. Speaker.

We have physicians in the Department of Health, and we also have physicians

who work with the various regional health authorities who look at procedures as

they are brought forward and determine whether or not they will be approved.

Now, again, I could be wrong on this, and I will check and get back to the

Leader of the Opposition, but it is my understanding yesterday, Mr. Speaker,

that this procedure that she is referring to has not been approved by any

province in this country right now as a proven technique for treating this

disease. So, it is a question of when and how it is approved. If it is approved,

Mr. Speaker, and it is shown to work, we will be very open to funding it and to

providing the testing.

Again, it is my understanding that as of this point in time, that the

original research has not proven to be reliable and that further research is

being carried out to determine whether or not the original premise is correct.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What we do know is that people in this Province today are spending their own

money to travel to the Province of British Columbia. They are spending money to

pay to have this test done to determine if there are blockages, and some of them

are even seeking to have the surgery done in Poland.

I say to the minister, based on the fact that there are presentations to the

federal committee, Mr. Speaker, on neurology diseases in the country, and based

on the fact that people in our Province are going elsewhere to have this done:

Will you at least undertake to tell us whether this particular procedure can be

offered in Newfoundland and Labrador, and if so, if your government will move to

provide it for people?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, Mr. Speaker.

When I met with the representatives of the MS Society I was very sympathetic

to the plight they found themselves in. I listened closely to what they had to

say in terms of the needs they required and we addressed some of those needs in

the Budget. I recently, Mr. Speaker, met with another doctor who was very

familiar with MS.

I can liken this, Mr. Speaker, to the Prescription Drug Program. Oftentimes

we will get requests for drugs that are experimental or drugs that are not

proven at this point in time by research to be effective, safe and reliable. So,

there is a body that reviews these drugs, for example, and determines when they

will be added to the drugs that we will provide. Well, a similar procedure has

to be adopted, or process has to be adopted, Mr. Speaker, in relation to any

medical procedure. What we have is, from my understanding, a researcher or

scientist who says there is a link between this particular procedure and dealing

with MS.

Now, Mr. Speaker, if that link is proven to be correct - and it is my

understanding that across North America right now tests are being carried out

and research is being carried out. I will probably even address this later on

this afternoon in the House, Mr. Speaker, and update the public of this Province

as to the steps that have been taken and what we, as a government, are willing

to do.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In our discussion in the House of Assembly related to the Province's

preparedness for an offshore oil spill, the Minister of Natural Resources has

continuously stated that we are prepared to deal with such an incident. It was

reported last week that Chevron warned regulators five years ago that it would

be unable to clean up a major spill offshore. They also confirm that the same

challenges exist today with their Orphan Basin project, the deepest offshore

well in Canada.

So I ask the minister: How can you say that we are ready to deal with such a

disaster when the company doing the drilling has said the very opposite?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources and Deputy

Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the regulation of our offshore is a responsibility that is

shared between the federal government and ourselves, the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador. The arm that deals with the regulation is our board,

the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, Mr. Speaker, and

they have requirements for oil spill prevention and in terms of a reaction to an

oil spill. Those procedures go through a public process, a private process, and

they are made known to the public at large.

They are risks that we undertake in this Province, in this country, and

around the world. There is no guarantee that this activity is risk free. It is

not, Mr. Speaker. We understand the risk; we mitigate the risk as best we can.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We know the process. We are wondering about the preparedness, Minister, of

dealing with a disaster.

Mr. Speaker, in the report Chevron also estimates that only 2 per cent to 12

per cent of an offshore oil spill could be retrieved under typical environmental

conditions. They stated that physical recovery of spilled oil off the coast of

Newfoundland will be extremely difficult and inefficient.

I ask the Minister of Environment: In light of those statements, what

confidence do you have that our marine environment would not be severely

impacted by such a spill?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, again, as I said in my earlier answer, this is about known risk

and what we can do to mitigate that risk.

We understand the impact of an oil spill in our offshore and we have a fairly

good understanding of what might happen in that instance. This lies within the

purview of the C-NLOPB, our regulator. As I have said before, we have a Chief

Conservation Officer. We have a tiered response plan in case of a spill, and,

Mr. Speaker, we have a very strong spill prevention program as well.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We have yet to hear the Minister of Environment speak on this issue at all,

and all we hear from the Minister of Natural Resources is passing the buck to

someone else.

Now, Mr. Speaker, we know that the C-NLOPB announced last week improved

monitoring of the Orphan Basin drilling project; however, when approved, this

project did not require a comprehensive study to be completed as was the normal

process.

I ask the minister why the rules would be relaxed for an exploration project

that is in deeper water than has ever been drilled off our shores.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the minister

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS DUNDERDALE: Again, a point of clarification for the Leader of the

Opposition I have to do this every day, Mr. Speaker. Our Minister of

Environment is not responsible for the offshore. That all falls within the

purview of the federal government, Mr. Speaker, through the board of the

C-NLOPB. I am surprised you do not know that.

Mr. Speaker, the regulations were not relaxed. We are currently undergoing a

thorough review, a thorough review of our oil spill prevention and response.

That will be done within ninety days. Mr. Speaker, we will see at that point if

we need to do further strengthening of our rules.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I guess that sums it all up when the Minister of Environment is not

responsible for anything to do with the environment in offshore oil and gas

projects in this Province. Now that makes a whole lot of sense I would say to

the Minister of Natural Resources.

What we do know is that the C-NLOPB has said that they will do more

monitoring and they will do more visits to the site. However, I ask the

minister: Why are we not requiring that there be independent monitors and

observers on these platforms because what they have not told is how that is

going to be done and who is going to do it?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Mr. Speaker, again we have a perfect example of the

calibre of knowledge from which these questions come. They do not even know what

the mandate of the Minister of Environment and Conservation is for the people of

Newfoundland and the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, three of the four members of the Official Opposition sat in

government, approved projects - something they like to boast about on a regular

basis here in the House - and they do not know what part of the offshore that

the Province is responsible for and what part that the federal government is

responsible for - shameful, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is quite obvious the minister has no answers herself. She has no

knowledge, so you attack the messenger, attack the one who is asking the

questions because they have no gauge on what is happening out there offshore

today and if we are prepared to deal with a disaster in this Province if one

should occur.

Mr. Speaker, it was reported over the weekend in The Globe and Mail

that British Petroleum, the company responsible for the oil spill off the coast

of Louisiana, is now going to try a top kill approach to stop the oil which

involves pumping heavy mud into the oil well to stop the flow. If this fails

they are saying their backup plan includes a junk shot in which golf balls,

shredded tires - of which we have lots we know knotted rope and other

materials are used to clog the well.

I ask the minister: Does she see this as a backup plan to deal with a

disaster in the oil industry in Newfoundland and Labrador if one should occur,

or is she prepared to put forward what the actual plan and the options are?

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Deputy Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, of the many attributes that the Leader of the Opposition might

have, expertise in oil spill response, I will guarantee you, sir, are not one of

them.

Now, Mr. Speaker, we have a board and expertise within that board that deals

with that whole piece. We are watching carefully what is happening in the Gulf.

If she is watching half as closely as we are, she will know, at least from the

anecdotal information at this point, that it was human error that caused the

spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Mr. Speaker, we have the C-NLOPB who has lay on an extra layer of vigilance

and surveillance, and we have an independent review of our oil prevention and

oil spill response. At the end of all of that piece of work, Mr. Speaker, we

will see if further amendments need to be made.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The minister's answers today say it all. They have no idea how they would

deal with a disaster offshore in this Province. Two weeks ago everything was

fine, now we have the main company, Chevron, out there saying that in the case

of a disaster they are unable or unprepared to deal with it, Mr. Speaker, and we

get no answers from the government.

Mr. Speaker, the Premier stated on May 3 that the impact of a spill on our

ocean environment would be limited because of the viscosity of the oil off our

shores.

I ask the Premier today if he could clarify what he meant by this comment.

Would the oil simply sink to the bottom affecting the ocean floor, would it rise

to the top affecting the sea birds, or would it just destroy all fish habitat in

the ocean, Mr. Speaker?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, it would be helpful if the Leader of the Opposition associated

herself in some way with the science that has been done around these issues

before she asks the question.

Mr. Speaker, in terms of an oil spill offshore, the greatest vulnerability

will exist to the bird population. Mr. Speaker, based on forty to fifty years of

wind study it is shown that oil

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS DUNDERDALE: - because of the wave action and the coldness of the sea,

Mr. Speaker, breaks up and disperses.

Mr. Speaker, we had an oil spill in 2004 on the Terra Nova. Mr. Speaker, that

oil dispersed, broke up, and went away. Ocean floor studies have been done, Mr.

Speaker, there is no evidence of oil from that oil spill on the floor around our

Terra Nova project.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of The Straits & White

Bay North.

MR. DEAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, today we understand a Twin Otter will be flying to St. Anthony

to remove parts and equipment related to the air ambulance move to Goose Bay.

Two of the recommendations of the Drodge report included a new airplane to be

stationed in St. John's and a medevac team to be stationed in Happy Valley-Goose

Bay with the aircraft. Neither of these recommendations will obviously be

implemented in the foreseeable future. So therefore, there is no basis for

interfering with our present air ambulance program.

I ask the minister: If you are accepting the recommendations of this report

in its entirety, how are you able to move the plane out of St. Anthony before

the other necessary pieces are in place?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As we have indicated on numerous occasions, we are satisfied that the

placement of the air ambulance in Happy Valley-Goose Bay is the best placement

that serves the majority of people and in the best interest of the people of

this Province.

Mr. Speaker, we announced a new medical flight services team in this year's

Budget, along with a new plane. The plane in St. Anthony will be moved to Happy

Valley-Goose Bay. I have explained in this House on a number of occasions, that

it takes anywhere from six months to a year to recruit and train a medical

flight services team. That we will embark upon that process, Mr. Speaker, and we

are looking at other options as we go along here in terms of trying to ensure

that there are medical flight service personnel available.

I can indicate, and I have given instructions to my officials, that until the

court case is heard on Friday that there will be no parts, nothing will be moved

until a ruling is made by the court in that respect. So, Mr. Speaker, at the end

of it all, this is a matter that we have already discussed in detail. There is

nothing that has been brought forward that will change our mind and the plane

will move in the very near future.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of The Straits & White

Bay North.

MR. DEAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I think it is worthy to note that what makes that move work, so to

speak, in that report is the availability of this new aircraft and the medevac

team.

Mr. Speaker, the Premier is quick to use the courts when it involves Abitibi

and Hydro-Quebec but unwilling to allow the process to - when he is being

challenged, and the minister just indicated that nothing will move or that is

correct until that case is heard, but we submitted an access to information

request for information relating to the Drodge report, and we were presented

with a significant bill, which we agreed to pay for the information, but now we

are being told, in contravention of the time frames legislated in the Access to

Information Act, that we will not be provided access to these documents until at

least June 19.

I ask the minister: Why are you hiding this information, and are you hoping

the plane will be gone before it is released?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, Mr. Speaker.

First, I have no idea what the member is talking about in terms of hiding

information. We have been totally upfront with all the information relating to

the air ambulance, Mr. Speaker. We have provided Mr. Drodge's report. I

indicated the cost of the report recently, and I have outlined, Mr. Speaker,

that there are certain discussions ongoing now in terms of the implementation of

the Drodge recommendations and how we operationalize the report.

Mr. Speaker, any information that is accessible by the Protection of Privacy

Act is something that the Liberal Opposition is certainly entitled to. As for

the deadlines or what is being imposed upon them, Mr. Speaker, if they do not

like that, my understanding is that the Privacy Commissioner can deal with that,

but I can assure the member opposite that there is absolutely nothing to hide

here. We have received the report from the Lab-Grenfell employees. We reviewed

that in detail, Mr. Speaker, and again, as I have indicated, the plane will move

and it will move very shortly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of The Straits & White

Bay North.

MR. DEAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Northern Peninsula Region, along with many other rural areas

of Newfoundland, continues to be hit hard by decisions that are being made by

this government. Now residents in the Anchor Point and Black Duck Cove area are

expressing concern about shrimp resource landed on the Peninsula but trucked off

the coast, upwards of twelve hours away, while two local plants remain closed up

today.

I ask the Minister of Fisheries: Can he explain to the people of the area why

this is being allowed to happen, this injustice that really is affecting their

livelihoods and is compromising their living?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, I had hoped that the hon. member would

recognize that a fish product landed in one particular area has no restrictions

to stay in that particular area. We ship cod all across this Province.

Mr. Speaker, if my memory is correct, last year at one point shrimp was

shipped in from Port Union, I believe, on to the Northern Peninsula, and we had

shrimp that came in from Nova Scotia on to the Northern Peninsula. As of today,

Mr. Speaker, we have the plant in Anchor Point, I believe the maintenance people

were in there, and that should be open soon. Black Duck Cove, I believe that

will be open today or within the next couple of days, and the two OCI plants on

the Peninsula, Mr. Speaker, are up and operating.

So, we know that there has been some delay in the fishery starting because of

the price setting panel. Mr. Speaker, that is something that we spent a fair

amount of time with this year and we hope that we will not find ourselves with

delayed opening of the season in the coming years, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of The Straits & White

Bay North.

MR. DEAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, part of the problem is the issue of the protection that was put

in place back in the 1990s to ensure that shrimp was not trucked off the coast

but instead processed by the plant. This cap was lifted by this government

during the failed attempts to impose the RMS.

I ask the minister: Are you prepared to reinstate this protection to ensure

that shrimp does remain in the region in plants, at places like Anchor Point and

Black Duck Cove, have the raw material they need when the season opens?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, as I have indicated, many of these plants are

some of them are open and others will be open in the next few days.

What will be the policies in the future, Mr. Speaker? I cannot speak to it

right now. We certainly hope and we put a lot of faith in this MOU process

whereby we should address a number of issues, in particular around the structure

of the fishery, where plants are located, so on and so forth.

So, Mr. Speaker, we will wait and see what the outcome of that is, but right

now we are pleased that the plants are opening up. We are disappointed in the

delay that it has taken because of the price setting mechanisms that are in

place, but, Mr. Speaker, we will wait and see what results will come of our MOU

process.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of The Straits & White

Bay North.

MR. DEAN: Mr. Speaker, I raise the issue of DFO's northern shrimp quota

cut in the House last week and the devastating impact that it will have on the

Northern Peninsula, especially since NAFTA will lose its special allocation of

Area 6. This will mean an income loss of over 350 fishing enterprises in this

region alone.

Given that this quota cut is an extremely important issue for all members of

the House, I ask the minister: Is he prepared to strike an all-party committee

of this House to exert pressure on the federal government to alter its last-in

first-out approach and base this quota instead on the principles of a fair

decrease and on adjacency of the resource?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, on April 26, on hearing about this possibility,

last-in first-out option, I wrote a letter to Minister Shea. Since then I have a

call put in that I want to go to Ottawa to meet with Minister Shea. Today, I

will sign a letter to send off to her again expressing disappointment that this

was the decision that was made despite our submission that we did not agree with

that.

We still think that all sectors of the shrimp industry that are involved in

this cut, the cut should be shared evenly. Mr. Speaker, I will make that point

in my trip to Ottawa. As to future actions that we will take, that will remain

to be seen, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quid

Vidi.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

My questions today relate to the AbitibiBowater sites environmental cleanup.

The Premier says that we are better off because we have the AbitibiBowater

assets, and the Province will use those assets to counter any liabilities

incurred. So he says we are in a net positive position, Mr. Speaker. By the

Premier's own admission, the mill is not really much of an asset; the real

assets are the forest resources and the hydro power.

So I ask the Premier, Mr. Speaker, to explain to us what the government is

going to do to turn these so-called assets into real benefits that will put our

books in the net positive situation that he talks about, taking into account the

cost of the environmental cleanup.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, I am sure the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi

Vidi understands that anything that I may say in answer to that question would

only help the Abitibi case in the NAFTA dispute. It is not available for me to

do that, to be quite honest with you. What she does also clearly understand,

though, is that without the expropriation of those assets we would have nothing.

So, if you start to stack any of those liabilities, whether they are

environmental liabilities, whether it is the generous severance that we paid to

the workers, whether it is costs that we have had to use in order to represent

the interests of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, we would have nothing

to offset against it. By way of example, and this is a very simple example, the

land that we recovered, the land alone that we recovered for the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador - forget the water rights, forget the timber rights -

is three times the size of Prince Edward Island.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi

Vidi.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Premier knows that hydro from the Abitibi assets cannot

currently be incorporated into the provincial power grid because of technical

issues. This means that Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro cannot gain access to

the power unless huge investments are made to upgrade the grid. The Minister of

Natural Resources is on record saying that she is waiting for another major

business to arrive in Central Newfoundland that can use the power; that was her

hope. Mr. Speaker, how long are we to wait? Five, ten, twenty years?

I ask the Premier: How long are we going to have to wait before these assets

are turned into real benefits, instead of pinning everything on phantom hopes?

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Deputy Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as Abitibi went through its crisis, struggling and stumbling on

its way to bankruptcy, where it finds itself today, the overwhelming plea we

heard from the people of Central Newfoundland in particular was: Please, do not

let them go with our natural resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Give us, give our children, and give our grandchildren,

the opportunity to earn their living once again from the land and from our hydro

assets.

Mr. Speaker, we are not writing off Central Newfoundland. We may not have an

industrial customer at the moment looking for that power, but that day will

come, Mr. Speaker. When that day does come, we will have the assets to do

something with, to drive economic development in that part of the Province, Mr.

Speaker, once again.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi

Vidi.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Since that is so important - I agree it is - I am asking the Premier: Are

they out looking for that major industrial customer to make that happen? That is

the question I am asking.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Deputy Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we had an Expression of Interest where we looked at a number of

proposals for economic development around the fibre, particularly in Central

Newfoundland. While we have not had the results that we are looking for

particularly from that Expression of Interest, Mr. Speaker; I am happy to say

that we have had an Expression of Interest from Germany last week, principals

in, looking at what we have to offer in Central Newfoundland. We are very

hopeful about that prospect, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The time allotted for questions and answers has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi

Vidi.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Because of yesterday, Monday, being a holiday, I ask leave to read my private

member's motion for tomorrow, Wednesday.

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Leave is granted.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to move the following private member's resolution:

WHEREAS despite government's Video Lottery Terminal action plan there are

still more than 2,000 machines located in bars and restaurants around the

Province; and

WHEREAS Atlantic Lottery Corporation has itself admitted that VLT access is

"too wide"; and

WHEREAS according to the Gambling Prevalence Study there are close to 3,000

problem gamblers and close to 7,000 moderate risk gamblers and most of these

nearly 10,000 gamblers are VLT players; and

WHEREAS the 2007 Newfoundland and Labrador Student Drug Survey found that 12

per cent of Grade 12 students played VLTs, a rate twice as high as in the other

Atlantic Provinces, and that 7 per cent of all junior and senior high school

students played VLTs, also the highest rate in Atlantic Canada; and

WHEREAS most of us know of someone who has lost their paycheques, life

savings, jobs, or even their families, due to VLT addiction; and

WHEREAS VLT addiction is a burden on government and society in terms of

health care costs, lost productivity, and the need to support broken individuals

and families; and

WHEREAS government is receiving $75 million in VLT revenue every year, which

comes from a very small number of addicted VLT players who are losing their

savings to VLT machines;

BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Assembly urge the Government of Newfoundland

and Labrador to increase funding to help problem gamblers; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the House of Assembly urge the Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador to establish a new plan for an accelerated reduction

leading ultimately to the elimination of VLTs.

Seconded by the Member for Burgeo & La Poile.

MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motion?

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MS BURKE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

From the Order Paper, Mr. Speaker, we will call Order 2, Concurrence Motions,

and under that we will call (

a) Social Services Committee.

MR. SPEAKER: I would like to ask the hon. the Government House Leader

which Concurrence Motion she is calling.

MS BURKE: From the Order Paper, Mr. Speaker, it is listed Order 2, under

Orders of the Day, and it is (

a) Social Services Committee.

MR. SPEAKER: The motion is that the report of the Social Services

Committee be concurred.

The hon. the Member for the District of Ferryland.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, it is certainly a pleasure today to rise and speak to the

Concurrence motion, the Social Services Committee.

Again, I know when I reported to the House, I just want to recognize the

members of the committee for their input into the departments and into the

Estimates: the Member for Port de Grave; the Member for Port au Port; the Member

for The Straits & White Bay North; the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair;

the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi; the Member for Cape St. Francis; the

Member for St. John's North; and the Member for St. Barbe.

Mr. Speaker, we looked at the Child, Youth and Family Services Department,

the Department of Education, the Department of Human Resources, Labour and

Employment, the Department of Health and Community Services, the Department of

Justice, and the Department of Municipal Affairs.

Mr. Speaker, that process allows a general discussion here in the hon. House

by the committee to the individual departments, certainly the ministers and the

officials, in terms of the budget process, in terms of looking back at the last

fiscal year, what the estimate was for that particular year, what the actuals

were for that year in terms of expenditures, and certainly looking to the next

fiscal year 2010-2011, what the expenditures, or the expected expenditures, are

of that particular department. Certainly, it is wide open in terms of what

expenditures were for the last fiscal year, what the estimates are that is

discussed here in the House, and certainly going forward for the next fiscal

year what those expenditures are and how do they relate to government and

certainly government initiatives, strategies, the direction. Obviously that

process, in terms of the Budget, certainly complements the whole Speech from the

Throne in terms of the general direction of the government, whether on an annual

or certainly over a longer period of time.

So we had a good discussion back and forth in terms of particular issues and

questions. A couple of departments I would just like to touch on and talk about

some of the issues that were touched on. As well, this is part of the budgetary

process, so you could certainly go off and talk in a broad sense in terms of the

Budget, and I will certainly do that in regard to this government and some of

the initiatives.

Mr. Speaker, the first one we looked at was Child, Youth and Family Services.

The original estimate, when we looked back last year, was approximately $133

million a little over. The actual was $125 million. Then looking to 2010-2011,

Mr. Speaker, approximately $164 million to set up that new Department of Child,

Youth and Family Services, which certainly was an initiative of this government,

and one that we recognized that needed to be done and we are certainly moving

forward with it.

Some items we talked about there are some general things in terms of support

for various agencies, grants and subsidies, youth mental health was an important

issue, certainly looking at private living arrangements, independent living

arrangements. Obviously foster homes we have spoken about that over the past

year certainly in the Legislature in terms of the importance of that. I will

speak soon, just briefly, in terms of the initiative this government is making,

in terms of foster care and the options that are available to those children who

are in need, who are at risk, and certainly what this government is doing to

deal with that. As part of that, we talked about the recruitment of new families

in terms of the foster care program and the initiatives that were taken on that.

We talked to the regional health authorities and certainly recruitment over the

last four years. We talked about the numbers, as I said, in terms of youth

involved in foster care. Some of the new initiatives, in terms that we move

forward, certainly new legislation in terms of Child, Youth and Family Services

and some of the initiatives that we would be moving forward on that may come up

in this sitting of the House.

Mr. Speaker, Child, Youth and Family Services we spoke about it and the

Budget reflects it is all about children, certainly, youth and our families.

Certainly, the protection and well-being of our children is first and foremost

and is the top priority for us to make sure our children are protected in

today's society.

We have a total budget of approximately $167 million in terms of this

department and that is directed at continuing to develop and provide client

service and drive improvements through the system.

Part of this initiative, Mr. Speaker, when the new minister was appointed was

to get out and consult, to speak with staff all around this Province in terms of

dealing with these issues, social workers and professionals in the field out in

the front lines to talk to them and to hear directly what the issues were, where

the challenges were, where we had to rebuild, if you will, make changes to make

sure that this is meeting the needs of our children and of our youth. I know,

personally, I had the opportunity for the minister to be in Ferryland. We met

with staff up there, professionals there and heard a social worker, and others

just heard first-hand, I guess, in terms of the challenges, what they deal with

and suggestions certainly in terms of what needed to be done to improve it. The

minister took those and as she moves forward is developing certainly a new

system within her department, new direction to make sure those needs are being

met.

Some of the things that were talked about in terms of the issues that were

heard, we heard about an organizational model that needed to be - a new

organizational model we are going to introduce based on a consultation we did as

a government, meeting and discussing. We talked about a new computerized need

for them - we heard of the need for a new computerized case management model to

allow those in the system to more effectively deal with caseloads and do their

work and be assigned to them.

As well, we heard from social workers across the Province regarding issues

and what they did in their duties, that oftentimes they were taken away due

sometimes to administrative work or other activities that were taking them away

from the core function that they needed to do. This is all part of that

reassessing the model to make sure that we can reach out to those staff all

across the Province and to make sure they can do, take the time, have the funds,

have the technology that they need to do the job they need to do to ensure our

youth are being cared for as they need to be cared for, especially those at risk

and those that need that attention, Mr. Speaker, which is so important. This

allows, as I said, focused attention on serving our children and youth and that

is the initiative of the new department and the direction that is being taken to

make sure we get there.

A key goal as we move forward under the department is to ensure that we

revitalize the child protection system, certainly update it, bring it to where

it needs to be today. That is going to be guided by improved and progressive

legislation in terms of meeting those needs and making sure we have in place the

parameters that allow the system to be built to ensure that we put in those

protective requirements, if you will, to make sure that all children are duly

protected.

As well, a culture of accountability to make sure all of are accountable in

the system for decisions that are being made, and the availability is there,

whether it is staffing, technology, whatever is required, that all of that is

there so we can strive for excellence. Certainly, that is what we strive for in

the Child, Youth and Family Services programming, Mr. Speaker. No doubt, that is

where you want to be. You want to strive for excellence and certainly this

government has recognized that, recognized and invested to ensure that we get on

the road to do that.

I have mentioned a couple of key components. Certainly, technology is key,

human resources, child protection services. Just to give a couple of examples of

the kind of investments and what we are talking about: $400,000 to design the

first phase of a multi-phase project that establishes a new computerized case

management system for social workers and for managers. That will be implemented,

Mr. Speaker, over a three-year period at a cost of $15.4 million, and certainly

tailored to the specific documentation and strategic objective needs of the

Department of Child, Youth and Family Services. So, that again is derived from

the consultations and discussions we had front line - certainly the minister and

her officials. As I said, I had the opportunity in my district as well to meet

and to hear first-hand what some of the challenges are and how we can work as a

government and a department to certainly improve those.

We have $3.1 million set up with more than 600 staff and fifty locations on

the provincial government technology network. I talked about technology and how

important that was to enhance what we are doing, and this certainly allows us to

do that, and continue the process in doing it. That will allow for the

assessment, design and execution of a transition plan for new employees,

purchasing new software licenses and hardware, desktops, computers all the

things you need to do to ensure with the case management model that we can

certainly meet the needs and make it more efficient, so that those on the front

lines can actually do the job, their core functions that they are required to

do, and certainly have the supports around them to do that. That is what we are

doing with the investments in this Budget.

Child Protection Services, we have $21.8 million to help cover the cost of

residential services for kids at risk. So the department is certainly looking at

it as well, and the government is certainly looking at innovative solutions to

address the shortage of foster homes with the long-term goal of creating a

continuum of appropriate placements for children at risk, Mr. Speaker.

Again, we are investing in the Foster Families Association to support

capacity within the organization, and as I said, to build foster families and

certainly that knowledge and expertise there to help build and help support

them, which is such a key component of Child, Youth and Family Services in terms

of that protection component and having that short ability to place those

children who are at risk, so as we move forward in their care, that is of

benefit to them, which is so important.

Just over the last three years, in terms of the department and initiative, we

looked at, as I said, a new department structure and a leadership put there in

terms of a new minister to drive that change; meeting directly with frontline

staff, as I said, across the Province, and gaining insight and directing the new

department in a strategic direction to meet those needs and to hear first-hand

as a government what we heard through the consultative process.

As well, I mentioned in terms of enhancements to the legislation, to be more

child focused and ensure that every policy that is developed or outlined or

discussed or directed is certainly rooted in best practice, because we want to

have the best practice. As I said, it is a road to excellence. In terms of doing

that, it has to be best practice and that is certainly where we are headed. No

doubt, there will be challenges as we move forward but we have accepted the

challenge and we are moving forward to ensure that the youth are protected and

we have programs and services available to them.

As I said, as well, we looked at a computerized case management system; we

are moving forward with that. As well, a new organizational structure that, no

doubt, the department and minister will unfold as we move forward, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, that was important, I think, to speak on in terms of the

Estimates in Child, Youth and Family Services and what this government is doing

and accepting recognizing that in terms of consultation and going out and

speaking, we recognized there were things we needed to do. We are investing in

it to do it and we are moving forward strategically to make sure those needs are

being met.

Mr. Speaker, as well, we touched on Human Resources, Labour and Employment,

that department in terms of the Estimates Committee. We look back in the

2009-2010 Budget, roughly $292 million in terms of expenditures. That was

revised to actuals of about $290 million. Then again this year, we are looking

at $299 million, or almost $300 million in terms of investment. That is almost

an increase of $10 million, Mr. Speaker, in Human Resources, Labour and

Employment. So we are moving forward, recognizing a number of services and

programs that need additional investment, and we are working towards them. I

will just touch on a few, Mr. Speaker, as I go through here.

We have discussed a whole range of issues, from labour market mobility to the

new labour market agreement, the devolution agreement from the federal

government, Service Canada, which is now the Labour Market Development

Agreement. As well as a labour market agreement, through agreements which puts

in control of the Province a large portion of funding that the Province can now

use and officials within Human Resources, Labour and Employment can use for

market attraction to meet the needs of the market today in terms of training. It

is not on a national scale any more. It is specific to this Province, to this

Island, to Labrador, and it could even be specific to regions of the Province in

terms of: What is the labour market looking for and how we can direct that

funding to make sure we are meeting those needs? It could be in the skilled

trades. It could be in a particular skilled trade, Mr. Speaker. It could be any

variety of areas, but this allows this devolution, in terms of the Province and

the funding to direct that, and I have seen first hand the benefits of doing

that.

We see some initiatives through the Youth Retention and Attraction Strategy,

that this can be used as well in terms of directing and assisting young people.

Both programs, one assists those who are EI eligible, the other component, the

LMA, looks at those who may not have any high attachment and is really

beneficial in the part that it can reach out to those who before never really

had that ability to access training but now through this have that ability.

Oftentimes, they could be underemployed, they could be under trained, and this

gives a real opportunity to reach out and to access funding for programs, for

training, that can enhance their ability in the marketplace and allow them to

enter that marketplace and build a better future for them and their families,

which is so important, Mr. Speaker.

We had a lot of discussion on that, Mr. Speaker. As well, we talked about the

targeted initiative for older workers. Another program that reaches out to those

from fifty-five to sixty-four years of age as well who are underemployed, or

maybe under trained.

In terms of initiatives, I know in my area last year, the Southern Avalon

Development Association had an initiative, very successful. I had the

opportunity to attend the graduation of those people who went through and they

spoke very highly of it, in term of their self-confidence and in terms of being

able to access a variety of new skills, whether it was carpentry, technology, or

computers. They did some training in the hospitality, tourism industry; funding

of approximately $300,000. I attended in Trepassey and heard first hand the

benefits, how successful that was, Mr. Speaker. So, a whole range of initiatives

that indeed served well.

Mr. Speaker, as well, we had some discussion on the Community Youth Networks;

certainly very important across this Island, in terms of - funded through Human

Resources, Labour and Employment. Again, this year we are increasing funding in

that area and looking I know first hand. I have visited some around the

Island, as well in my district, from Bay Bulls to Cappahayden in terms of the

Community Youth Network. A couple of years now they have been operating and the

tremendous work they do in reaching out to our young people in terms of making

services available to them. Right now, it operates out of both Mobile school, as

well as Baltimore, working on a couple of initiatives in terms of allowing them

to get to a building, I guess, in terms of on the southern part of the district.

Again, in Bay Bulls, in a new lifestyle centre, regional centre, there will be a

youth component in that building which will allow them to operate out of that

building, which will be so important to them as well, getting access to our

youth. As well, through that and our early learning initiative, we will have a

sixty child day care space there as well, which will follow our early learning

initiative for the region, which will be certainly welcomed and good news.

As well, the Youth Retention and Attraction Strategy I mentioned; we have a

variety of initiatives under that. Again this year, we have $5.8 million for the

strategy; an increase from approximately $3.9 million last year, Mr. Speaker.

There has been a continuous - last year in terms of initiative under the Youth

Retention and Attraction Strategy in terms of announcements, especially with

regard to the labour force, the apprenticeship program in terms of making that

bridge from post-secondary to that first employment. It could be a wage subsidy

or whatever it is, that we continue to invest in these. They are so important

and can give so much return to our youth.

As well, with the apprenticeship program, sometimes with the slowdown

first-year apprentices often have trouble getting the hours needed in terms of

their apprenticeship to move through the program. Again, initiatives put in

place to allow that to assist with it.

I know at Memorial this year, we did additional funding at Memorial. I think

it was the engineering school where we invested additional monies to get that

experience for engineers, to get out there; much needed experience to provide

that assistance.

Once again, too, when you speak of that strategy you cannot speak without

talking about our post-secondary and what we are doing. The Minister of

Education, in his department in terms of a freeze on tuition. Maybe we do not

see it all the time in terms of the investment but that is huge. It will

certainly make us one of the top in the country in terms of the price to go to

post-secondary. Again, with the interest on the provincial portion of the

student loan, another great initiative that was removed stands.

So those are investments that we are making in youth and making in

post-secondary. It is so important to self-reliance and moving forward and

making sure we are prepared in terms of expertise and what is required out there

in the marketplace. We are doing that and moving forward with it.

Just to clue up, Mr. Speaker, my time is getting short here, but I want to

just touch on another couple. Health and Community Services - tremendous

investments again - the minister mentioned earlier in the House the tremendous

investment we are making overall in terms of new initiatives. One that comes to

mind that I just wanted to mention was the drug program. I have heard certainly

in my district and from all over in terms of the provincial drug program. Again

this year we have moved the threshold in terms of access to the program. Due to

the increase in minimum wage, some people were not able to access it, but this

certainly looks at it. The Foundation income support plan 46,000 are involved

with it - $56.4 million. You go down to the 65Plus Plan, the Access Plan, Select

Needs, Extended Drug Card Program a total of 122,000 people, Mr. Speaker,

availing of that on the Drug Plan. Again, with the change in threshold this

year, there are expected to be another 12,000, Mr. Speaker, who would avail of

this program. I know first-hand how important that is to all the residents of

the Province, and this government continues to improve and certainly continues

to invest where we need to invest.

Mr. Speaker, those are a couple of areas in terms of the Social Services

Estimates Committee. Again, I thank all those who were involved and I certainly

look forward to the debate later today and hearing other hon. members speak to

the Estimates.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (T. Osborne): The hon. the Member for the District of Port de

Grave.

MR. BUTLER: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

It is a pleasure today to be able to stand with a few comments with regard to

the work that was carried out through the Social Services Committee. Being a

member of that committee, I have to say there are six departments there but I

only attended one, which was the Department of Human Resources, Labour and

Employment. Being a critic for four different departments, I had two of these:

the Government Services Committee, and one other one with the Resource Committee

later on.

In my opening comments I want to commend the Chair, all members of the

committee for the work that they did, and also each individual minister for

those departments, and the staff that came along.

I think one of my hon. colleagues mentioned the other day that they feel the

process through the Estimates Committee far outweighs probably Question Period

and other debate here in the hon. House. I tend to go along with that, because

you have ministers who get up in Question Period and they more or less skate

around the answers, but when we come to the Estimates there is a different

setting, a different feeling, and the individuals, with their staff as well, I

have to say, provide the answers to the best of their ability on all topics that

are brought forward.

One of the key ones that I will be making a few comments on however, I will

touch on some of the others will be the Department of Human Resources, Labour

and Employment, having been the critic for that particular department.

Mr. Speaker, there are many issues that we brought forward with regard to

that department. As I stated the other day, first of all we usually go through

the line items, which are the amounts that are being spent by the various

divisions within the department, and also through that department we touched on

workers' compensation and the work that they do. Mr. Speaker, that is one very

important component of the department because we know all too well the

involvement with the employees throughout this Province and the work that the

employers have to carry out with education on the safety issues that we see here

in this Province. Unfortunately, many times individuals do get injured on the

job, through no fault of their own, and have to seek compensation because other

avenues of funding are not available to them for a period of time and they have

to go through the workers' compensation process; however, Mr. Speaker, there are

times after a thirteen-week-period when the funding comes not to end but the

format changes and many of them end up possibly having to go to appeals with the

commission and going to the Chief Review Commissioner. However, there is a

process there, and I think that is very important. That was explained to us

during the process, that this is very important to the injured worker, to know

that if something should happen with regard to workers' compensation that they

have an internal level of appeal first and then, after that, they go to the

external level.

Mr. Speaker, some of the other issues that were mentioned had to do with the

questions we asked with regard to the Poverty Reduction Strategy. We hear so

much about the Poverty Reduction Strategy, the work that has been done, the

long-range plans, and how other jurisdictions are looking to our Province to go

with a similar format. Mr. Speaker, that is very important.

The minister also announced, and I think it was noted also in the Throne

Speech this year, to release and consult with Newfoundlanders again on the

second Poverty Reduction Strategy action plan. I think that is very important,

because several years have gone by now where this has been discussed, changes

have been made - many changes for the betterment - however, there are still

problems that people encounter throughout our Province. We hear that coming

forward from time to time.

It was only this week we went to breakfast with the religious coalition here

in St. John's and one of their main issues has been poverty, down through the

last several years. They are always bringing issues forward to government. As a

matter of fact, at that function they asked whoever would want to, to get

involved and contact them because they had four other key points that they would

like to put forward which they believed would help in the Poverty Reduction

Strategy.

Mr. Speaker, there have been many changes; we know that. Some of the

questions that we put forward, we have received responses along those lines with

regard to many issues that affect people, whether it is school fees, free

textbooks, changes in the medication system and so on. Many times some of the

people that you are referencing here say yes, that is true, we received that,

but some of the lower income families say that did not put any funding on our

table for food and that because we were receiving this along the way from other

sources before.

That will take me to the issue that comes up fairly regularly with regard to

food banks here in the Province. Mr. Speaker, we all know and as we were told

at the Estimates meetings much of this had to do with the world economy, the

lack of jobs at that particular time, and the changes that were made not only

here in our Province but in other jurisdictions where our young men and women

would have to go to work.

Mr. Speaker, all of this is in relation to a survey that was put out by Food

Banks Canada entitled HungerCount 2009. Some of the figures are staggering, even

though they probably do not affect us as much as they do some other

jurisdictions, but 70 per cent of the twenty-eight food banks in the Province

report an increase in usage. We know some of them have increased quite a bit.

This data has been put forward by a reliable source, the Community Food Sharing

Association, Mr. Eg Walters.

Mr. Speaker, we know what brought about some of this. It was due to the

Newfoundlanders who were out west, and many of them were laid off when the

changes came in the economy. Housing prices went up and people were found in a

position that they did not have the funding available then for food, and also

the crisis that was in the fishery, and that is still ongoing today. We know the

fishery has started, but there are many changes that have happened. We also saw

the closing of the pulp and paper industry in Stephenville and Grand Falls. All

of this combined, Mr. Speaker, made quite a difference with regard to the usage

of the food banks.

We know, Mr. Speaker, that here in the Province - I know back a few years ago

I used to get involved with the food bank in Bay Roberts, and bring a lot of the

items from the major centre here in St. John's out to that particular food bank.

I must say, out in that area I think they still have 100 people - that takes in

from Marysvale to Bay Roberts - in that particular area that used the food bank

this past year.

Also we get complemented by shipments of product that come in from outside

which comes from the Food Banks Canada to supplement our collection here in the

Province. I guess we hope that the day will come when this will not have to

happen, but I believe last year - and a lot of this has been donated, the

transportation to and from by Oceanex and CN Rail in other provinces, but also I

think the acquisition and the distribution of the food last year cost in the

vicinity, if you had to put a dollar value to it, in excess of $16 million. So,

Mr. Speaker, that will give you an idea of the usage that we see with regard to

food banks.

Mr. Speaker, we also spoke about and asked questions not only with the

poverty reduction, the second action plan and the food banks but also we asked

questions with regard to the effects on the minimum wage here in the Province.

We are pleased to see that the minimum wage now will be $10 an hour and that

makes quite a difference for many people in our Province. In some areas, in some

of the smaller areas - and I have also heard it mentioned in my area - what it

has done, some of the smaller businesses were unable to keep up with that and

they have either laid somebody off or they reduced the hours and kept everybody

on. It is unfortunate when you see a good thing happening, something a little

negative happens on the other end, but I guess that is the situation we find

ourselves in, Mr. Speaker.

The other thing we mentioned was with regard to the Labour Standards Act for

employers and employees. As noted, we were advised that this is ongoing and I

think that is a tremendous good piece of business to know where we stand here.

Also, jobs were mentioned with regard to in-migration and out-migration. We have

heard figures released recently that the figures are changing around with regard

to in-migration, and that is wonderful. Many of the people, I believe, that are

coming to our Province - that does not say that everyone that worked out west

has come home because I know in my area quite a few of them still commute back

and forth. I think it is so many weeks on and just a week or so off. We do know

that the numbers have gone up by 0.5 per cent to 2,484 in-migration, and that is

the largest number, I think, of increase since 1983.

Mr. Speaker, it would be interesting - and I asked the minister if they had a

breakdown on what the percentages would be up to 2,804. Were they people who had

left this Province to find employment and now have returned home and found a job

here, or are they people who worked away and just retired and came home to stay?

Mr. Speaker, I know many of the figures and facts that we asked for, we did get

a commitment from the department to provide those to the members on the

committee.

Just to touch briefly on, I think one of the very important issues that have

happened since the last election is the formation of the Department of Child,

Youth and Family Services because I think there is nothing more important than

what that department can do. They have a tremendous job to size up and review

all the situations that we hear talk of throughout this Province that have

happened to our younger and middle-aged teenagers and young youth in this

Province who find themselves in very difficult positions.

I know there are cases in my area where children have been removed from a

household. I believe, and even some of the workers believe, the system that was

in place, some of those were returned to an environment that should not have

happened at so early a stage. I am looking forward to the work that will

transpire through that department. I am sure that nothing but good can come out

of it for the youth of our Province.

I just want to touch on health and community services. I know, Mr. Speaker,

we see tremendous changes, tremendous involvement. We hear talk of the figures,

the budget in 2004 was $1.3 billion and this year's budget was $2.8 billion. Mr.

Speaker, we have heard the comments that have been made in the media and

throughout, and probably here in this House, that health care is in a crisis in

this Province. I do not know if it is in a crisis or not, Mr. Speaker, but I do

know that something should be done to see what is going on, to see that influx

over a six-year period of $1.5 billion go into health care, and then on a daily

basis we hear so many issues throughout this Province by our residents in each

and every district. That is not a fault on government, I do not blame that on

the department, but there is something totally wrong, something has to be done.

One of the issues that I noticed - and I have mentioned this several times

here in the hon. House. In my district alone, we have three or four clinics

there with one or two general practitioners, but many people in that area still

do not have access to a general practitioner. Many of them have to travel here

to St. John's and Mount Pearl to see a general practitioner. What happens,

whether it is on a weekend or on an evening where they do not have a doctor, all

of a sudden something happens in that household to one of the residents, they

call the clinics: I am sorry, we are closed until Monday morning. In case of

emergency, go to Carbonear.

I do not care what the situation is, how minor or how major it is, those

individuals look at it that whatever the issue is, it is an emergency to that

individual. They flock to the emergency units, whether it is at Carbonear, the

same thing is happening here in St. John's. I do not know what can be done. I

know we hear the minister and the department say that we have extra doctors over

the last year-and-a-half, the retention is working we are being told. That is

all good, but something has to be done in that regard because I think that is

where a tremendous cost to our health care system is going by people having to

go to the emergency units and you do not know when that call is coming. It was

only about four weeks ago I had to go there myself, but when I went there the

clinic was full of people, some of them waiting for four or five hours. That is

what you have to do if you want to see a doctor at any given time when a

situation arises.

Mr. Speaker, with regard to health care, that is a very, very important

issue. Again, we hear so much about the nurses, the shortage of nurses and the

graduates who are coming out now are staying here in the Province, and that is

all good. I know for a fact, in Carbonear, I have spoken to many of the nurses

there, the age of retirement is coming upon them and I know government is trying

to, I guess, convince them to stay on a little longer, but many of those people

have gone through tremendous stress carrying out and providing a service to the

people of this Province.

The wait-list, again, is another issue to see specialists. In many areas - we

are fortunate in my area that a wait-list to see a general practitioner is only

a matter of a day or two, but to see a specialist, people that I know now who

have been diagnosed with various illnesses have to wait so high as four, five

and six months to see a specialist.

I guess I cannot help but mention a long-term care facility which was one of

the issues that has come forward. I know last year there was an announcement of

$500,000 and in this year's Budget there was $4 million announced in

preparation, I guess, for the site and getting ready for the tender for the

Conception Bay North area in Carbonear. That has been good news, Mr. Speaker. I

am looking forward to this year's Budget to see a larger influx of funds there

to say that facility will be advancing fairly quickly. I know it is a total

cost, I think, of $108 million. The time frame for its completion, I think, is

in 2013 or 2014. So, I can assure you, everyone is looking forward to that. The

facilities that are there have served their purpose. The staff who are there,

they are doing their best under the situation.

Just briefly, I want to touch on it has been a very hot topic through the

Department of Health, and that has been the air ambulance situation. I, along

with others, met the residents from the St. Anthony area when they were here on

the steps of the Confederation Building putting their message forward to

government. I cannot help but see the little girl that was there with her

placard, asking government to reconsider. That is all those people are asking,

but I know the minister has said it is a done deal, the plane will be moving

shortly. Hopefully, something can come out of that, that those people will be

considered for the service that they had provided to them for many, many years.

Mr. Speaker, another issue just to touch on briefly, I guess it is through

Municipal Affairs, having attended the Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador

Convention last fall, there are still issues that they bring forward. They are

pleased with the funding 90-10, but many of the smaller communities still find

it very hard to come up with the 10 per cent. Now that might sound strange, but

many small communities still find that. They were used to the other formats that

were in place, and the funding has been reduced down for many years now and

there is not that much funding there for them.

The other issue that they did bring forward and we hear about it, and I am

sure this touches many departments outside of the Concurrence committee that we

are referring to here today, and that is the control of wastewater. It was only

recently we saw an

article in the paper, the city here in St. John's, how much

it is going to cost to really get the program up and running to the point that

the federal government are brining in those regulations. I thought the mayor

said it would increase for the people here; a $250 increase is what they would

have to pay.

Mr. Speaker, the concern that was expressed at the convention last year is

that the smaller communities are going to have a really tough time when it comes

to the wastewater situation. Many of them just do not have the money to get

involved with the environmental issues that they have now. I know the message

went out, and I think the now Minister of Transportation and Works - who was in

an acting position for the Minister of Municipal Affairs at that convention -

heard it loud and clear from those people. That that is the issue that they want

discussed. The federal government are coming down with timelines on this but

they find themselves in a very difficult position.

So, Mr. Speaker, as I started out - and my time is just about up - I believe

that the Estimates Committees are a good source of information for all committee

members, whether you are on the government side or in the Official Opposition.

Each and every year I look forward to them because you get a lot of valuable

information that you can provide to your constituents. If you get messages that

you do not think are up to par, you are given the opportunity to be able to

stand here and let the people know that you will still bring their concerns

forward.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is indeed a pleasure for me to stand today and have the opportunity to

have a few comments about the Estimates Committee work. Like a number of members

who have spoken before me, I certainly want to recognize the value of the work

of the Estimates Committee. For me, it was the first time this year going

through the process, and I have to say it is a learning experience; I am sure

not only for me but for the members of the committee who participate.

One of the things, Mr. Speaker, the Estimates process does is it gives you

the opportunity as a minister of a department to make sure that you understand

in significant detail the workings of the Budget in the department, the kinds of

protocols and processes are in place that allow decisions to be made. It really

helps you to dig in and understand the issues in great detail. Of course,

through the Estimates process members of the committee have the opportunity to

go through, not only your Budget line by line and ask questions on any

particular item that they choose, whether it is the result of a decrease in the

Budget from one year to the next or an increase or status quo, whatever the

members choose, Mr. Speaker, they have the opportunity to ask you questions and

to probe you as a minister on the workings of the department.

So, I want to say up front that I found the process very interesting from my

perspective and certainly very beneficial. I gather from, at least the members

who have spoken thus far, that they too found the process very beneficial.

I want to make a couple of comments today about a number of different topics,

but one of the things that I am certainly very pleased with as the Minister of

Education is the Budget this year is a record high of about $1.3 billion, Mr.

Speaker. That is a significant investment, matched only by the Department of

Health. I think, without speaking to the Department of Health, because my

colleague, the minister, can do a great job with that and he will do so when his

time comes. I think it is important to point out to the people of the Province

that our investments in both the health and education sectors signifies to the

people of the Province, Mr. Speaker, where our commitments are as a government.

Certainly, we have made education a very, very important part of our mandate a

cornerstone. We recognize very clearly the role and the importance and the value

of education, to not only the future for individuals who go through the K-12 and

post-secondary systems, but a more educated and affluent population in our

Province can only mean continued and improved growth and development for the

Province as a whole.

So I am very pleased with the budget that we did receive. Just by way of

illustration, Mr. Speaker, in 2003-2004, the investment in this Province per

student was about $7,400 on average. In 2003-2004 it was about $7,400. Today, in

this Budget, Mr. Speaker, we are budgeting $12,200 approximately; an increase of

almost 65 per cent since 2003. That is a very significant increase, Mr. Speaker,

a very significant increase. The result of that increase I am going to talk to

you a little bit about in a few minutes because there are some very, very

important initiatives that have occurred.

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I am going to digress. I want to talk for a couple

of moments about an issue that is very important to our government. It is about

an issue that made the news on any number of occasions over the past twelve

months. Of course, most recently, for members who saw the newspaper through the

weekend, it made the news on the weekend. That is the issue of autistic children

and the services that government and the Department of Education, in particular,

provides, because it is an issue that is extremely important.

I have stood here in my place in the House on many occasions, not only

Question Period, but on a private member's motion last year we had the debate. I

have said on many occasions, as I will say today, that I truly do understand the

way parents feel about that. As I said before, I, myself, have a family member

who is autistic and I know the struggles that my family and siblings have had in

trying to, first of all, come to grips with the fact that you have a child who

has a significant challenge beyond what many other children face in trying to

learn, to grow and to develop as a child, into a young person and into adult.

Those parents, Mr. Speaker, have the same hopes and aspirations that all of

us have as parents. Whether the child is autistic or has a learning disability

of another nature, Mr. Speaker, all parents have the same hopes and dreams. They

want to do the best for their children. They want to make sure that every

opportunity that is possible is provided to their children. Mr. Speaker, at the

end of the day, like all of us, they want to do the best they can to make sure

that their children become productive members of society and hopefully pick a

career and have the opportunity to do something in their life that leads them to

a healthy life, an active life, a rich life with lots of good experiences and

opportunity to develop strong family ties.

Mr. Speaker, I raise that issue because it is not only the

article in the

newspaper and a number of parents who were interviewed there, but certainly they

recognized, for anyone who read the article, the parents recognized that

Newfoundland and Labrador is one of the leaders in Canada today. We are one of

the leaders in the country when it comes to the supports and initiatives that we

have taken in providing supports for autistic children. I want to talk about it

because the item is so important to us, Mr. Speaker, that we did public

consultations. We went province-wide, my parliamentary secretary, the Member for

The Isles of Notre Dame, along with a number of officials, travelled across the

Province during the past year and we did public consultations where we invited,

not only members of the teaching profession, professionals who are in the

classroom on a daily basis and other professionals who provide support to

classroom teachers and support to the students, occupational therapists, speech

language pathologists, we also invited the Autistic Society, Mr. Speaker, but

also parents.

The whole thrust of the exercise, Mr. Speaker, was, number one, we wanted to

demonstrate our commitment to these people and to the whole area of autistic

services. We wanted to be able to show that we indeed were very committed. We

understood, and we still do understand the challenges that these people face,

but we were also committed to making the necessary changes that we were able to

make to make the system better. I have to say, Mr. Speaker, it was certainly a

worthwhile exercise; there is no question about that.

If I could probably sum up where we have come from that exercise, we really

focused on three areas. That is providing supports to students, providing

supports to teachers and the system, and providing supports to parents and

family members. We have done a number of things thus far and we have a number of

other initiatives that will be rolling out in the new school year for September

2010, Mr. Speaker, but suffice it to say, we have certainly focused our efforts

on, first of all, providing resources to the system, recognizing as we were told

through our consultations that there are daily challenges that teachers and

their support staff find when they are dealing with these students. So, we

recognize that and we started to provide some professional development

opportunities. We are providing resource kits to schools for teachers and other

staff members who feel they need further support beyond the professional

development opportunities.

Mr. Speaker, we also recognize, as I said in my opening comments, the

challenges that parents face in transitioning their children, perhaps is the

best way to put it, from a four-year-old who is receiving applied behaviour, ABA

support at home, transitioning them into the pre-kindergarten program, the

kindergarten program, and then the full day of school in Grade 1. One of the

biggest issues that were identified to us through the consultations was one of

communication. Parents often struggle, in terms of trying to help their child

get adjusted into the system, in their understanding of what is expected of

them, and in some cases, Mr. Speaker, in the school's ability or understanding

of what needs the parent has as well. We recognize that, Mr. Speaker, and that

is why, as I said, we put a number of initiatives in place that hopefully will

provide further supports to parents.

In the coming months, heading into September of 2010, there are a number of

other things that we will be doing, Mr. Speaker, with the sole purpose of

recognizing some of the challenges that parents face, and educators face, and

most importantly, the challenges that these students face when they come into

the system. The changes that they go through from being at home with the parent

and other support workers to now being a part of a larger classroom environment,

surrounded by classmates, and the changes that they are seeing put upon them as

a result of that.

One of the things that we did do, Mr. Speaker, in this past Budget - and this

will be my last comment on the topic for now - is we increased the student

assistance supports that are available for the system. We did that recognizing,

as we were told by teachers and parents, that autistic children can pose

challenges to the system and challenges to their classmates and the teacher's

ability to make good, positive things happen in the classroom. There are

challenges there that require some extra supports.

In this past Budget, Mr. Speaker, members will recognize that we have

allocated funding to the tune of greater than 25,000 hours of extra student

assistant time. That is intended, as I said, to support not only autistic

children and the classes that they are in, but certainly that was the first

priority we identified when we made that allocation in the Budget. So, I am

certainly very pleased, and in light of the

article I thought I would take a few

moments just to update my colleagues in the House of what has happened on our

review of the austistic program, and of course to say to hon. members here, that

other things will be happening as we head into September of 2010.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to take a minute to touch on another issue that is

very important to us as a government, and that is Grenfell College. Perhaps I

should say in the past tense now, what used to be Grenfell College. I had the

privilege to attend, what was termed by Dr. Pike, the Acting Vice-President of

Memorial for the Corner Brook campus, what was termed by her as the last

convocation of the Grenfell College as it existed. It was indeed an honour and a

privilege to be there, not only to join the students in that very important day

in their life. As many of us in this House have experienced, when you graduate

from a university or some other post-secondary program, it is indeed an honour

and a thrill, and a big day, an important day, not only for the students, Mr.

Speaker, but an important day for family members as well. For the moms and dads

whom I have talked about already today, who worked so hard and want so very

badly for their child to do well. So it was great to be there and to join them

in their experience.

Mr. Speaker, it was equally an honour to be there and to have the opportunity

to listen to Dr. Pike and to many others who spoke both formally at the

convocation, and informally to me afterwards, about the high regard in which

they feel government holds Grenfell, and how pleased they are with a number of

the many initiatives that we have announced in not only this Budget but in the

long-term plan to help Grenfell grow and become the institution and the campus

of Memorial University, Mr. Speaker, that all of us here envision it becoming.

Grenfell has a good, core, solid base of program offerings out there, Mr.

Speaker. As I have said, and others have said on many occasions, that one of the

things we want to see happen as a government, is we want to see the Corner Brook

campus of Memorial grow and flourish, because we recognize a number of things,

Mr. Speaker. Number one, we recognize the value of the Corner Brook campus and

the programs it offers and the activities it engages in. We recognize the

importance of that to our Province, first of all, Mr. Speaker, as a whole, but

we also recognize the value of that campus to the West Coast of the Province,

and to Corner Brook in particular.

We certainly understand - as people on the West Coast do, Mr. Speaker - that

as the Corner Brook campus continues to grow, and it will continue to grow, Mr.

Speaker. It will continue to grow, because one of the things we have done as a

government in the budgetary process, when we increased their base budget by 38

per cent, one of the things that we have identified as the primary focus is on

marketing the Corner Brook campus. Marketing it worldwide, the quality programs

it has there and the quality student life it has to offer, and the small town,

if I could use that term, atmosphere of Corner Brook that many students would

thrive on and would love to be a part of. It is the marketing and it is the

recruitment, Mr. Speaker, of new students. It is the recruitment of new students

to Grenfell. We are certainly very confident that we have now provided the tools

to the Corner Brook campus to help it get on its way, to move forward and to

focus on those couple of priorities. Mr. Speaker, if we can continue to support

the Corner Brook campus and if they can take the tools that we have laid out as

a government in the last six to eight months in particular, when we announced

the direction that we wanted to take, I am quite confident that we are going to

see a thriving institution over there. We are going to see the Corner Brook

campus grow and we are going to see it make a significant contribution to the

Province and to the West Coast in particular. It is a good initiative, one that

we are very proud to support and very proud to stand toe to toe with the people

on the West Coast as we work through this process of getting a secretariat in

place and recruiting a full-time vice-president for the Corner Brook campus of

Memorial and moving forward.

I am going to take a couple of moments now as my time winds down, Mr.

Speaker. I wanted to touch on those couple of initiatives because I felt that

they were very important not only to us as a government but very important to

people in the Province. I want to take a few moments now to go back to the K-12

system in the last few moments I have because we have seen not only significant

investments, Mr. Speaker, but significant changes in what we are doing at the

K-12 level.

While I do not have time to go through all of them, I want to touch on a

couple, in particular our support for programs at the K-12 level. There has been

a shift in mindset, if you will, Mr. Speaker, over the past period of time as we

recognize not only the need to change some of the programs that the system

currently has, but we have also recognized that it is time to bring some new

initiatives into the system.

I want to touch on a couple very briefly. The Excellence in Mathematics

Strategy was a very, very positive initiative that we continue to support in

this particular Budget to the tune of about $11 million for the whole

initiative, Mr. Speaker. We do that because we recognize the importance of

numeracy skills and ensuring that the students in our system, who come through

our school system, have the base knowledge and base mathematical and numeracy

skills that they are going to require as they progress through the K-12 system.

That was a good initiative that we continue to support.

The other one I will touch on quickly is the $13 million investment in the

skilled trades at the high school level. As members would be aware, we have set

out to renovate every single high school in the Province to ensure excuse me,

schools that offer the high school program to ensure that they have the

facilities they require, the actual physical facilities, the space, the room to

offer the program. As an example, Mr. Speaker, we made more than a $1 million

announcement for New World Island Academy in this past Budget because we

recognized that school had some space challenges. So we have not only done the

physical changes, Mr. Speaker, to the schools themselves, but we have also

invested in the required equipment to make sure that the students who are doing

the high school program throughout this Province all have an opportunity to

avail of that wonderful program and to help prepare themselves as they start

assessing the kinds of career choices they want to make and what they would like

to do with their life as they leave high school.

In my last minute or so, Mr. Speaker, I want to talk for just a quick moment,

to shift gears once again, on an issue that has been topical over the last

couple of weeks for us as a government and in the Province, and that is the

issue of the overpayment and the error in overpayment in the State of Qatar by

College of the North Atlantic. I want to touch on that one just to give everyone

a bit of an update on that, Mr. Speaker.

As members would recall here in the House, we took swift action when we found

out that an error was made by the college and we immediately disclosed to the

public what had transpired. All of the information that was available to me and

to government we certainly disclosed and made it very clear to the public that

the college had made an error and that it was our intent, first of all, to make

people aware of the error, and secondly, to try and get to the bottom of it.

Mr. Speaker, it is only in the last couple of days or so that I issued a

press release announcing that we had selected an individual who would lead the

external review process that has already begun. We have identified three main

objectives, Mr. Speaker. The first is, obviously, to verify the amount of money

in question and whether or not that is exactly $5 million or close thereto. So,

the first item that we have to do is we have to verify that and get a firm

number. The second is that we have to look at all of those contracts up for

renewal and make sure that any contracts renewed will now fall in compliance

The third item, Mr. Speaker, is we want to get a better understanding of what

the process was in the college system that led to this error. So, we want a

review done of the decisions and the actions that were taken that led to this

overpayment.

Mr. Speaker, those are the three broad terms of reference. The external

reviewer that is leading the process, of course, has the flexibility and the

latitude to ask other questions as he sees fit in working with the auditors who

are working on the file.

Mr. Speaker, I know my time is up, by leave for a couple seconds to conclude?

MR. SPEAKER: Does the hon. Minister of Education have leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: Leave.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. Minister of Education, by leave.

MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank members opposite. I will

just be a moment.

I thought it was important that I speak to Qatar for a few moments because I

know it is an issue that people are interested in. Any time there is a sum of

money that is missing or an error made people want to know what happened. We

recognize that and that is why I am doing my best, Mr. Speaker, in my capacity

as minister to share as much information as I have on a timely basis with all

members of the House and members of the general public.

With that said, I thank the members opposite for the leave and I will

conclude my remarks.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am certainly pleased to rise today and speak to the Social Services

Committee of the Estimates for the House of Assembly. Mr. Speaker, while there

are number of departments that are included in that particular committee's

estimates, I did sit on two of the Estimates to explore the numbers of the

budget in the Department of Health and Community Services and also in the

Department of Child, Youth and Family Services.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Education just spoke, and spoke about a number

of the education initiatives that government has been involved in. I guess I

would like to take a few minutes to talk about a few of those myself.

First of all, Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about the air quality testing for

schools in this Province because this is an issue that we have found in the last

number of years where we have had a number of schools in the Province that have

been closed for a period of time due to bad air quality. The air quality in

these schools was not picked up through any regular testing methods or through

the screening process that the schools use. It was not until there were either

illnesses being detected with children, or there was some kind of renovation

work that was ongoing in that school or in that building that would have alarmed

people or alerted them to the fact that there might be other problems. It was

only then that the school board and government brought in further testing for

air quality in a lot of these facilities. What we found, Mr. Speaker, is that

many of the schools required work, extensive work in some cases, and as a result

of it the schools had to be closed, children were found alternate facilities to

be able to go to school for periods of time.

There is a whole list of these schools, Mr. Speaker. In fact, it became such

an issue that the Auditor General, last year, in 2009, decided to have a look at

air quality in schools. When you look at many of the issues today that are of

public interest to people, a lot of inspections are actually done and posted

online. Information is very readily available, especially when you look at

things like food establishments and so on; yet, in buildings in which thousands

and thousands of children in this Province go to school we do not have full air

quality testing, we do not have the results of those tests posted online. So if

my child, Mr. Speaker, is going to a particular school in the Province, whether

it be Topsail Elementary or Holy Cross or Bayview Collegiate or whatever the

case may be, I should be able to go online and find out when the air quality

testing was done in the school that my child is attending, and what those tests

show me.

Government has been reluctant to do this, and I do not understand the reason

for it; because, when you look at the fact that dozens of schools in the last

number of years had to be closed as a result of bad air quality, and because

children were getting sick or because of some other problem, then to me that is

reason enough to inform parents out there in the Province as to the quality of

the schools that their children are attending, and what the air quality is in

those schools.

Mr. Speaker, when the Auditor General did his report back in January of last

year he found, through enhanced school inspections, that there were a number of

deficiencies that existed in schools right across the board areas. All of those

things included everything from roof damage to poor drainage to water damage due

to piping problems, to leaking in windows and doors, to a lot of moisture being

found in some schools, to asbestos problems that they felt there was some

suspicion of, ventilation issues, temperature issues, carpets in use in the

schools, and so on, so there were a lot of different issues that were explored

as a part of that process.

Mr. Speaker, I think there should be a standardized process for doing this

testing in schools and have it available to the public, and I would ask the

minister to look seriously upon that because it is not a case any more of where

we have just one incident of where we have had bad air quality in public schools

in this Province. There have been many, many incidents of this happening. I

think, in terms of giving parents another level of health and safety for their

children who are in those schools for five or six hours a day, for a number of

weeks throughout the year, I think that information should be made available to

them. That way, if there are problems, if this testing is being done on a

regular basis, it is very standardized and it is an enhanced process, Mr.

Speaker, then you would be able to identify as well if there are problems that

are continuing to rise, or problems that may be continuing to surface, that you

would at least find them in advance.

Mr. Speaker, if this was not a serious issue the Auditor General would not

have picked it up and decided to do this. Obviously, it is a concern for the

public. It is one that the government members opposite have continued to dismiss

as part of this process, Mr. Speaker, and we feel that it should be added and

that it is something they should take more seriously.

Mr. Speaker, we will continue to raise that particular issue.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Minister of Education, on a point of order.

MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I just want to correct a couple of things the member opposite is alluding to

there on air quality testing. First of all, all of the air quality testing that

has been done in this Province has been made available to the public. The member

seemed to suggest the contrary, but in actual fact every single test, Mr.

Speaker, that we have had done on air quality has been shared with the body of

individuals who are duly constituted to represent the parents in that school,

and that would be the school council.

Secondly, Mr. Speaker, the member again seemed to suggest and if I am wrong

she will correct me, but seemed to suggest that government have been the ones

avoiding air quality tests. Mr. Speaker, people need to understand and be

reminded, as I have said here in this House many times and my predecessor has,

that it is the experts who do the air quality testing who have actually said

that air quality testing in every school does not work. In fact, the process

that we are engaged in now is the process that works, and it is called enhanced

inspection.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

There is no point of order.

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am sure I will continue to be interrupted in the hour that I have to speak

to this particular committee.

Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is that many of these inspection reports,

especially in the years from 2006 and 2007, according to the Auditor General, a

number of these reports seventy-two of them, in fact were not completed. I

say to the minister that even though there might be