June 6, 2007 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY

PROCEEDINGS Vol. XLV No. 25

The House met at 2:00 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Hodder): Order, please!

Admit strangers.

This afternoon we welcome visitors from The Discovery Centre in Harbour

Grace, in the District of Carbonear-Harbour Grace, together with their

coordinator, Ms Debbie Snow and their instructors, Ms Elizabeth Baker and Ms

Joanne Mullins.

Welcome to the House of Assembly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

Statements by Members

MR. SPEAKER: This afternoon we have members' statements as follows: the

hon. the Member for Humber Valley, the hon. the Member for Terra Nova, the hon.

the Member for Bay of Islands, the hon. the Member for Windsor-Springdale, the

hon. the Member for Port de Grave, the hon. the Member for Port au Port.

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Humber Valley.

MR. BALL: Mr. Speaker, I rise in this House today to recognize an

exceptional group of young people from my district. These five young youth are

students at Elwood Regional High School in Deer Lake and recently won the

provincial Envirothon and will now have the honour of representing the Province

at the international competition in Geneva, New York.

This win is a milestone for Elwood Regional High. The provincial Envirothon

has been taking place now for seven years. Elwood has walked home with this

prestigious award for the fourth time.

Mr. Speaker, the members of the winning team who called themselves Team

Driftwood, were Kimberly Alexander, Chantel Coles, Kent Edwards, Matthew

McDonald and Sarah Spence.

This amazing group of teens wowed the judges with their presentations in the

soils, wildlife, forestry, current issues and the oral presentation categories.

The three-day competition was held at Killdevil Lodge in beautiful Gros Morne

National Park and saw about ten teams of youth from across our great Province

compete.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this House to rise with me in extending

congratulations to Elwood Regional High School in Deer Lake on their success at

the 2007 Provincial Envirothon Competition. The members of Team Driftwood are

our leaders of tomorrow and environmental stewards for our planet. They are

conscientious, meticulous and exemplify the amazing talent we have throughout

our great Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Terra Nova.

MR. ORAM: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the 780 Freshwater Royal Canadian

Air Cadets of Gambo on their thirty-eighth annual ceremonial review and banquet

which was held on June 3, 2007 at the Gambo Lions Club.

Mr. Speaker, it was my pleasure to be the reviewing officer for this

occasion. In attendance were Mrs. Lisa Moss, Air Cadet League Representative,

Newfoundland League; Mrs. Marilyn Dowden, sponsor body chairperson; Gambo Mayor

Lloyd Noseworthy; veteran Mr. Matthew Brown; Major Robert Nolan, as well as a

large number of parents and guardians.

Mr. Speaker, the squadron of thirty-three cadets meet every week for

training, which include a flag party of five, a drill team of fifteen, and a

band of seven. One of the highlights of the evening, was the announcement as to

who would be going to summer camp. There are actually twenty-one cadets going to

Ontario and Nova Scotia to the camp this year.

Mr. Speaker, one of the biggest events occurs on November 10 and 11 when the

cadets hold an all-night vigil of the war memorial in Gambo. The cadets start at

8:00 p.m. on the tenth and finish up at 11:00 a.m. on November 11. This is the

only cadet squadron that does this each year, Mr. Speaker. There was a series of

awards handed out to cadets at the banquet, as well as twenty-two of

thirty-three cadets received perfect attendance certificates.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all members join with me in congratulating the cadets

and the staff of the 780 Freshwater Royal Canadian Air Cadets, Captain Dennis

Wicks, Commanding Officer; Captain Laurie Wicks, Lieutenant Dana Barrow,

Lieutenant Eileen Preston, Elizabeth Wicks and special helper Mr. Roger Ford,

who is a paramedic, and Second Lieutenant Martin Murphy on thirty-eight years of

cadet excellence in Gambo.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. JOYCE: Mr. Speaker, I rise in this House today to extend a best

wishes to the Tour de Rock represented by ten RNC Officers from its three

detachments in the Province who have been raising funds for charity. Tour de

Rock will depart from Port aux Basques and cycle across the Province to St. John's

- a journey taking ten days.

The ten members include nine current members of the RNC and a retired

officer. I am proud to stand in the House today to acknowledge a member of the

team, a constituent of mine, Constable Shawna Park of the Corner Brook

Detachment.

Last year, members raised $12,000 for Mothers Against Drunk Driving during

the seven day event. Again, this year, MADD is the charity of choice in Corner

Brook.

The Tour de Rock will begin in Port aux Basques and make stops across the

West Coast at Stephenville, Corner Brook and Deer Lake. They will continue their

ride across the Province with stops in Springdale, Grand Falls-Windsor, Gander,

Clarenville, Whitbourne, and are scheduled to complete the Tour in St. John's

on June 15.

This year, the RNC have decided to pass the proceeds on to fundraisers in

each participating community across the Province to the charity of their choice.

Tour de Rock has raised over $50,000 since it began four years ago.

I ask all hon. members of the House to join me in wishing Constable Shawna

Park and her nine teammates of Tour de Rock a great success this year as they

help raise funds for a variety of charity groups across this great Province.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Windsor-Springdale.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HUNTER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker and fellow hon. Members of the House of Assembly, I rise today

with great pride to congratulate Hockey Newfoundland & Labrador on their

2007 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Awards Banquet.

The individuals inducted into the Hall of Fame were: Alex Blanchard, Leo Kane

and Harry Katrynuk for Player Category; Len Butt and Gerald Kelly for Builder

Category; Michael Anderson for the Athlete/Builder; and William Callahan for the

Media category.

The Brian Wakelin Executive of Year Award went to Joe Lane of the Port aux

Basques Minor Hockey Association. The Minor Hockey Association of the Year Award

went to Port aux Basques Minor Hockey Association as well.

Minor Hockey Meritorious Awards were presented to: Matt Chambers, Northern

Director; Stan Doucette, Stephenville Minor Hockey Association; Neil Ward, La

Scie Minor Hockey Association; and Albert Bud Chafe, Cee Bees Minor Hockey

Association.

The Junior Hockey Meritorious Award went to Chuck Norris. The C.J. McCarthy

Memorial Award went to Dale O'Brien from the Mount Pearl Blades. The Female

Hockey Promotion Award went to Veronica Coffey from the Labrador West Minor

Hockey Association. The Joe Byrne Development Award Honour Roll went to Joe Lane

of the Port aux Basques Minor Hockey Association. The Gold Stick Award went to

Garfield Bickford. The Ray Bowe Award of Merit went to Ralph Angela and Jim

Hare.

Mr. Speaker, Roseanne Ryder, wife of the late past president, Marv Ryder, was

presented with the President's Ring.

Minor Hockey Newfoundland & Labrador also honoured life members: Claude

and Lucy Anstey; Walter and Gladys Clarke; George Pardy; Don and Flo Johnson;

and Wayne Russell.

Mr. Speaker, I would ask all hon. members to join with me today to

congratulate all the award winners and organizers of the 2007 Annual Hall of

Fame Induction Ceremony and Awards Banquet.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Port de Grave.

MR. BUTLER: Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Jasmine Bennett, a

young musician from Bay Roberts who took home the top award from this year's

Annual Kiwanis Music Festival held in Clarenville.

In April 2006 Jasmine won the Terra Nova Shoes Senior Rose Bowl at the

thirty-sixth Kiwanis Trinity Conception Music Festival held in Carbonear, and

was recommended by the adjudicators for competition in the provincial music

festival in Gander.

A Level III French Immersion student at Ascension Collegiate, Jasmine is the

daughter of Thedie and Jim Bennett of Bay Roberts. She began her piano training

in the Music For Young Children Program when she was four years of age. Besides

piano, Jasmine also plays guitar, saxophone, flute, bass guitar and piano

accordion. She recently auditioned at Memorial University's School of Music

where she plans to study for a Bachelor of Music Performance Degree. Jasmine has

also received The Dame Vera Lynn Entrance Scholarship to MUN.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues in this House of Assembly to join with me in

congratulating seventeen-year-old Jasmine Bennett on her second Rose Bowl win,

and wish her every success in the future as she pursues her musical career.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Port au Port.

MR. CORNECT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to congratulate the students of

St. Thomas Aquinas in Port au Port East for their efforts in participating in a

very interesting fitness oriented program.

Mr. Speaker, in the month of May, 140 students, teachers and parents

participated in the Walk Across Newfoundland Challenge - a program which

encourages students to be physically active. The kindergarten to Grade 8

students have been walking in their community during and after school. They have

logged a total of 3,552 kilometres. This is equivalent to a walk from Port au

Port to St. John's and back to Port au Port - twice. That is twice, Mr.

Speaker. What an accomplishment! Because of this extraordinary effort, the

school has won a class set of thirty pedometers.

They have well exceeded the goal of the challenge, Mr. Speaker, which was to

walk across the Province one way.

To make the event more real, they erected a large map of the Province in the

school gymnasium and the students used it to track their virtual trip across the

Province.

Mr. Speaker, this is certainly in line with healthy and active living

initiatives that are introduced in our schools.

I ask all members of this hon. House, Mr. Speaker, to join me in

congratulating and thanking the students, the staff, the volunteers and the

parents of St. Thomas Aquinas for accomplishing this great feat, and to

congratulate all other schools who have participated as well.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works, and

Labrador Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of my colleague, the hon. Kathy Dunderdale, Minister

of Natural Resources, I am pleased to advise my other hon. colleagues that

earlier today Consolidated Thompson Limited announced a tentative agreement has

been reached with the owners of Wabush Mines for the purchase of the mining

operation in Labrador West.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: As members are aware, Mr. Speaker, last year Consolidated

Thompson entered into exclusive discussions with the owners of Wabush Mines -

Cleveland Cliffs, Stelco and Dofasco - in an effort to seek out possible

synergies between the Labrador West mine and Consolidated Thompson's Bloom

Lake iron ore project. Premier Williams engaged both Consolidate Thompson and

Cleveland Cliffs, Stelco and Dofasco during the negotiation process to expedite

a deal.

However, early in 2007, Consolidated Thompson announced that it had ended its

negotiations on the purchase of Wabush Mines. Our government was very

disappointed with that news; yet, we remained optimistic as the door was left

open for future talks.

Mr. Speaker, as our government firmly believed there were significant

opportunities to be realized through a partnership with the operations of Wabush

Mines and the Bloom Lake project, we were not prepared to give up or let the

prospect of such an arrangement pass by. It was our view that a successfully

negotiated arrangement would add to the life of Wabush Mines.

Mr. Speaker, the Premier personally intervened and spoke with representatives

of Consolidated Thompson in early February, at which time he impressed upon them

the benefits of continuing to hold discussions in an effort to secure a deal.

Today, Mr. Speaker, we are seeing the results of how that direct intervention

by our government helped to pave the way for an announcement that a deal has

been reached.

This is tremendous news for the employees of Wabush Mines, their families and

the entire Labrador West region. It will provide more stability and security for

those directly employed with the mining operation as well as for those

indirectly dependent on this operation for their livelihood. Furthermore, it is

also a significant advancement for the mining industry, specifically in

Labrador, and generally in the Province.

Mr. Speaker, I commend Consolidate Thompson and the mine owners for listening

to our encouragement and reaching an agreement toward a win-win conclusion for

both the Bloom Lake project and Wabush Mines.

I know I echo the sentiments of the people of Labrador West when I state this

is the most positive development that has happened for this mine in quite some

time. I firmly believe the cloud of uncertainty that has loomed over the future

of Wabush Mines has dissipated. A new and more certain future is on the horizon.

Great news for Labrador West, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank my colleague for a copy of his statement prior to coming to

the House of Assembly.

We, too, want to congratulate Consolidated Thompson and Wabush Mines on

reaching a deal regarding the purchase of this mining operation in Wabush.

Mr. Speaker, I do not think there was a doubt in the minds of a lot of people

that this would happen because, as you know, the Bloom Lake iron ore project was

a perfect fit for Wabush and for Wabush Mines. The attributes of this mining

operation in Wabush to be able to carry out this project was very appealing to

Consolidated Thompson, and I think all members will agree, for it would allow

them to achieve their operations at a lower cost to their company in a site that

was already constructed, which helped them save substantial capital expenditure;

so, both financially and logistically, it made perfect sense.

Mr. Speaker, this is great news for the people of Labrador West and indeed in

Labrador. It not only sustains the jobs that exist at Wabush Mines but it helps

create more jobs in that particular area of our Province and helps sustain the

mining operation in that area into the long term, which is indeed a benefit for

all of us.

Mr. Speaker, what makes me grin in this statement is how the government is

desperately trying to take credit for the consolidation of this particular deal

and the purchase of Wabush Mines.

Mr. Speaker, we know that these are two very prominent mining companies in

the country and I am certainly sure that they did not need the intervention of

the government to see the real capital and fiscal benefits of being able to do

this.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. member's allotted time has expired.

MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, may I have leave just to clue up?

AN HON. MEMBER: No leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Leave has been denied.

MS JONES: All right, thank you.

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

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

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

Obviously, it is good news that there is a tentative agreement and I, along

with the people of Wabush - I was speaking to some of them recently, since the

statement came out - look forward to a permanent agreement. As we know, all

tentative agreements are not firmly in place until they are there, and I hope

that is going to happen because the people in Wabush in particular, in Labrador

West, do need a sense of security.

I am interested in the fact that the Premier and government did play a role,

and that is good if they did, and I have no problem with that, but I think what

I would like to say to government is: Think about other roles that you can play

as well with regard to labour issues in the Province. Just as you played a role

here -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. member's allotted time has expired.

MS MICHAEL: By leave, please, Mr. Speaker?

MR. SPEAKER: Leave has been requested.

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Leave has been granted.

MS MICHAEL: Just as you played a role here, I think you should think

about the role that government has to play with all kinds of labour issues in

the Province, especially not labour rest, not labour unrest. We need labour

rest. Therefore, there is a role for government in taking a position with regard

to anti-scab legislation. I do not think government has to wait for others to

tell them what they do. I think government can take a position and let that

position be known.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Further statements by ministers?

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

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

MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Today I have more questions about the government awarding of a contract for

jobs to Quebec firms -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I do believe that there was another ministerial statement -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. RIDEOUT: It can be too late if that is the way you want to play it.

Go ahead, Mr. Speaker, and we will do it tomorrow, if that is the way the

Opposition wants to play (inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER: The Speaker understands there is no leave.

The Speaker will restart Question Period and recognize the Member for Bay of

Islands.

MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

When in Opposition during the Voisey's Bay debate, Premier Williams stated

in the House: There are insufficient safeguards that the work and jobs will go

to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. Not only are jobs going to Ontarians and

Manitobans, they are going to Quebecers as well. Shame on you!

Now with the construction of the long-term care facility in Corner Brook, we

know that the electrical, mechanical, and steel work will be completed in Quebec

for this $57 million contract.

Can the minister confirm what percentage of work will be completed in Quebec,

by Quebecers, work which could be completed by Newfoundlanders and Labradorians

in this Province? He did not know yesterday. Does the minister have the answer

today?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works, and

Labrador Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we have tabled all the information that was requested by the

hon. member, but let me say this while he yaks about this from the other side.

Mr. Speaker, it was his government at the time that signed the

interprovincial trade agreement. We have two agreements here. We have one on

internal trade, interprovincial trade, of which Premier Clyde Wells signed. We

have another one with the Province of Quebec, Mr. Speaker, in March of 1998,

which was signed by then Premier Tobin with the Province of Quebec to allow the

opportunity for contractors and for workers between the two provinces.

Mr. Speaker, the Member for the Bay of Islands has no idea what he is talking

about. There are subcontractors from this Province that are gaining benefits

from this project. There are subcontractors from this Province that are gaining

benefits from this project. Mr. Speaker, there are workers from this Province

who are working on this project, I say to the hon. Member for Bay of Islands.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Chair recognizes the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Obviously, the minister did not do his homework because he just does not

know. Just to give the minister an example, excluding the work by the

engineering firm, minimal, 50 per cent of all the work of prefabrication and

other steel work will be done in Quebec. The minimal is 50 per cent of this

project will be done.

Mr. Speaker, again, while in Opposition Premier Williams made the following

statement during the Voisey's Bay debate, and I quote: The work is instead

being awarded to a Quebec company, Gagnier Transport. Explain why there are not

appropriate safeguards in place to protect provincial companies that hire

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and carry on business in Newfoundland and

Labrador?

Mr. Speaker, there are safeguards in this Province. When submitting a bid

through the Public Tender Act companies are supposed to include a list of

subcontractors to whom they plan to award contracts. If this is not included,

this is a reason to exclude a company from the bidding process.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the member to complete his question.

MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I ask the minister: Did the Quebec company, awarded this $57 million

contract, include a list of subcontractors to complete this work? If not, why

not?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Transportation Works, and Labrador

Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, just for the hon. member across the way, obviously, he is trying

to get a hold of something that is really not there. When we look at the

subcontracts for that site in Corner Brook, we have Marine Contractors from

Corner Brook, Mr. Speaker, who are doing the engineering; rebar from Harris

Steel in St. John's; rebar installation, Corner Brook, rebar from Corner

Brook; concrete supply from Atlantic rebar in Corner Brook.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. HICKEY: We have design services, Mr. Speaker, from Sheppard Case

Architects in St. John's; mechanical, electrical, Newton Engineering from St.

John's; structural, Atlantic Engineering from Corner Brook.

Mr. Speaker, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are getting benefits from this

project, I can say to the hon. Member for Bay of Islands.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: Mr. Speaker, I will say to the minister again, in the Public

Tender Act, I think it is

section 27, a company has to list a number of

subcontractors that they have in the tender that are going to be used to be

approved by the minister.

I ask the minister: You did not name one of the subcontractors for the

mechanical, for the steel component or the electrical of this contract. Did this

Quebec company include, in

section 27, a list of subcontractors that are going

to be used? Yes or no?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works, and

Labrador Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, it was that government on the other side that

signed the agreement, the Newfoundland and Labrador-Quebec Agreement on Labour

Mobility on March 6, 1998. They were the ones who did the deal with Quebec. They

were the ones who invited Quebec companies to come into the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador.

Let me say this, Mr. Speaker, the construction industry in this Province does

not live in a bubble. We have companies that are doing business in Quebec. What

are we supposed to do, tell Joe Kruger to go back to Montreal, Transatlantic to

go back to Montreal, Air Labrador to give up a $25 million contract they just

received? Mr. Speaker, we live in a global economy and Newfoundland and Labrador

companies are participating in that economy, I say to the hon. member.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: Thank you.

I say to the Minister of Transportation and Works, Joe Kruger is using

workers from Corner Brook, the Bay of Islands and the West Coast.

I ask the minister, Mr. Speaker: If the company, Pomerleau, did not have in

section 27 a list of subcontractors for this work and if they changed the

subcontractors, will the minister immediately cancel this tender and protect the

jobs of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and award it to the second bidder? I

ask the minister: Will you protect the jobs?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works; and

Labrador Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: Mr. Speaker, I have tabled the list of contractors, I have

listed the names of contractors, that are involved in this. Mr. Speaker, let me

say this, we are cancelling no contract for the long-term facility in Corner

Brook; absolutely not. That is a facility that is long needed by the people of

Corner Brook and we are going to build that facility sooner rather than later, I

say, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, my questions are for the Premier.

Mr. Speaker, in an effort to do damage control over government's

mishandling of the ER/PR test results, Mr. Abbott was removed last week as

Deputy Minister of Health.

I ask the Premier: What role did Mr. Abbott play in the ER/PR testing to

justify his removal from that department?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: As I have indicated in this House many times in the last two

to three weeks, this whole issue of the ER/PR testing at Eastern Health took

place between - the period in question was from 1997 to 2005, and issues in and

around what happened during that period, what were the causes, what were some of

the issues that gave rise to those differences -

MR. REID: (Inaudible) John Abbott last week.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. WISEMAN: - and issues that give rise to what may have happened during

that period, will be the subject of an inquiry. Mr. Speaker, we have announced a

judicial inquiry. We announced there is going to be a very public process here.

We are going to have a judge appointed to conduct an inquiry. It is going to be

an open process, a very transparent process. That individual will have the power

and authority to subpoena witnesses, to subpoena documentation and, at the end

of the day when that individual produces a report, that report will be made

public for all of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador -

MR. SPEAKER: I ask the minister now to complete his answer.

MR. WISEMAN: - and for the people in this House and anyone else who might

have an interest. Everybody will know all of the answers in and around the

issues pertaining to the ER/PR testing from 1997 to 2005.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The minister just gave us a chronology of what happened since 1995, and never

mentioned the deputy minister or why he was fired last week.

I will ask you again; maybe you can put your headphone in so you can hear me,

because you obviously didn't.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. REID: I ask you or the Premier: What role did Mr. Abbott play in the

ER/PR testing that caused you and the Premier to remove him from his position as

deputy minister?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Mr. Speaker, I understood the question perfectly well. I

heard the question very clearly.

Let me repeat it again, because obviously the member opposite did not hear my

answer. I said, very clearly, and let me repeat, I said at that point, and I

will repeat it again, we have announced a judicial commission of inquiry. That

commissioner will conduct an open and transparent inquiry into any and all

issues in and around the ER/PR testing between 1997 and 2005, and any issues

coming from that in terms of who knew what, when, the flow of information, who

took what action. Any and all of those questions, I say, Mr. Speaker, will be

answered by this inquiry, and we will be announcing - I suspect the Premier will

be announcing, in short order - the name of that person who will be the

commissioner, the terms of reference for that inquiry -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the minister now to complete his answer.

MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I said before, any and all answers with respect to that issue will be

addressed during that inquiry, I say, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, I just hope that whoever does that inquiry does

not have to ask this minister anything, because he might be twenty years before

he gets an answer.

Again, not once did he mention why he fired, or the Premier fired, the deputy

minister last week. If he is trying to make it sound, because he was involved in

it, then I have to ask the minister the question: Why hasn't the Premier

removed you? You were over there in the capacity as minister, or parliamentary

secretary to the minister, all during this fiasco, so why are you still sitting

there?

Mr. Speaker, in local newspapers around the Province today, Eastern Health

are running full page ads to do damage control over how they handled the faulty

ER/PR tests.

I ask the Premier: How can you justify allowing Eastern Health to spend

thousands, and tens of thousands, of dollars on that type of propaganda when

there are so many other health care needs that need to be addressed in the

Province?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Let me correct two things in the member's

preamble.

Number one, Mr. Abbott, the former Deputy Minister of Health and Community

Services, was not fired. Mr. Abbott was provided an opportunity to move to

another location, another department, as a deputy minister, I say, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Abbott, made the conscious decision himself that he would pursue a career in

professional consulting, a personal practice that he had before coming with

government.

The second thing, I say, Mr. Speaker, on which I will correct the member

opposite, it is not Eastern Health going out and doing damage control. It is

Eastern Health going out and straightening out the facts and the

misrepresentation of facts imposed on the people of Newfoundland and Labrador by

members opposite in the line of questioning in this House and their comments to

the public, I say, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the hon. minister now to complete his answer.

MR. WISEMAN: So, it is very important - I continue to say in this House -

it is important to understand the facts around this issue. It is important to

understand the chronology around this issue.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the minister and all members to respect the general rule we have, the

protocols of one minute.

The Chair recognizes the hon. Leader of the Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I guess what the minister is saying is that Mr. Abbott resigned as Deputy

Minister of the Department of Health, just like I guess Ms Joan Cleary resigned

from the Bull Arm Site. She was not fired either. You never even asked for her

resignation, I suppose, did you? She tendered that.

Mr. Speaker, Eastern Health claims in this very ad that all - all - patients

whose samples were being retested were notified. Now, the minister and the

Premier know that statement is both false and misleading because they were not

all notified, I say to the minister.

Now, last week the Premier dismissed the Deputy Minister of Health. Today, he

is allowing Eastern Health to spend tens of thousands of dollars on propaganda,

misleading information that they are putting out to the public.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the member to put his question quickly.

MR. REID: I ask the Premier, Mr. Speaker: When is he going to do the hon.

thing and not fire anybody else? He should ask for the resignation of the

minister, the individual who is supposed to be responsible for what happened in

his department. (Inaudible) the honourable thing and ask for his resignation?

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Don't hold your breath, because you will suffocate,

because this minister will not be asked to resign, I can tell you right now.

Neither will the other ministers who were involved be contaminated with the kind

of filth and the kind of smear that you want to put over everybody.

You have to stop playing politics here and you have to realize that this is a

very serious matter. You can wave your ads and you can talk about propaganda and

everything else, but this government is going to get to the bottom of these

health problems, and we are going to go about it responsibly, but this minister

will not be asked to resign.

This goes back to the 1990s when your crowd were in government. It goes all

the way through the last period when you were a minister of the Cabinet, all the

way through. So, if there is going to be responsibility here, you be prepared to

accept some responsibility as well.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the Member for Humber Valley.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BALL: Mr. Speaker, according to recent reports from nurses,

Newfoundland and Labrador nurses are the second-lowest paid in the country;

second only, Mr. Speaker, to those in Quebec. We understand that a benefits

package is being negotiated with Quebec nurses that, if settled, will relegate

nurses in this Province to the lowest paid in the country. What is interesting

in Quebec, Mr. Speaker, is that the minister voluntarily identified the nurses'

issue and came forward to work with them to find a solution.

I ask the minister: Is he prepared to take this proactive step and do the

same for our nurses?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: In fact, we have done just that, Mr. Speaker. We have been

proactive. We have been aggressively working with them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. WISEMAN: In fact, Mr. Speaker, just let me share with the member

opposite some of the things we have been doing.

We have been very successful this year in recruiting numbers of nurses. Each

of our health authorities have had a real success this year in recruiting

nurses, both from new graduates and from others who are coming back into the

workforce, so we have had some real success.

Some of our authorities have put in place some recruitment incentives:

relocation bonuses, signing bonuses, assistance with accommodations when they

are moving into some of the more difficult to recruit areas.

We have put together a working group, I say, Mr. Speaker, made up of

representatives of the Department of Health and Community Services, our Regional

Health Authorities, the Association of Professional Nurses, the Council of LPNs,

and the Nurses' Union, all working together collectively trying to improve the

quality of work life of individuals who are currently in the workforce, Mr.

Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the minister to conclude his answer.

MR. WISEMAN: Mr. Speaker, it is difficult to answer such a question in a

short period of time because there has been such a long list of things that we

have done to improve the lot of nurses in this Province, I say, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the Member for Humber Valley.

MR. BALL: Mr. Speaker, according to the recent reports that we have been

hearing, that not all nurses feel the same way or feel as optimistic about the

future in the Province as the minister does. There is also a very severe

shortage, not only in the Province, but in the Labrador portion where there are

250 nursing positions. Of the 250 nursing positions, there is actually forty

that is short. Certainly, what is being created here is the impact this is

having on the nurses rights to their allotted vacation time and with reports of

nurses having to quit just to spend time with their families.

I ask the minister: Will he acknowledge that what government is doing is

inadequate to overcome the challenges and will he commit, today, to strengthen

the benefits package of our nurses, especially those in Labrador, and retain the

ones we have to recruit more?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Mr. Speaker, just to correct something in the

preamble,

Labrador is a part of Newfoundland and Labrador by the way.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Mr. Speaker, as I said a moment ago, each of our health

authorities have had success in recruiting this year. I think in Labrador alone,

there has been sixteen new nurses recruited this year. There is a new initiative

underway with Inuit students to get them into the nursing profession, a new

initiative of this government. So we are working with some of the regions of our

Province that have some challenges in recruitment, and historically, had

challenges in recruitment.

Just to put this question in context, as well, not only his

preamble, in

acknowledging some of the challenges in nursing recruitment in Newfoundland and

Labrador, he could have expanded that statement and made the statement that this

is not only in this Province, but it is national, it is international.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the minister now to complete his answer.

MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The member opposite may have listened to the news last night and heard a

nurse from Ireland, heard another nurse from Australia, both commenting on the

significant challenges they have, because it is an international issue.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Humber Valley.

MR. BALL: Well, Mr. Speaker, there is no question that the nurses

shortage is a global and, certainly, a national issue. Our concern here today is

for nurses in our own Province and the stories that they are sharing with us.

Just to build on this more, one of the more serious issues for nurses is the

extended hours that they are being pressured to work. We know of nurses who have

worked twenty-four hour shifts and this is not unusual that they work at least

sixteen hour shifts. Nurses are concerned about the ability to provide quality

care for these sick patients.

So I ask the minister: Does he consider nurses working such unacceptable

hours of providing the quality, quality care he speaks of in this House?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Mr. Speaker, there is no one in this House, not a single

person any more interested in quality care than I am. That is my responsibility

as a minister.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. WISEMAN: The actions of this government, Mr. Speaker, clearly

demonstrates our sincere and genuine interests.

In 2006-2007, we have the highest number of nurses in this Province today

than we have had in our history. In the last year - since we formed government

we have had a 3 per cent increase in the number of nurses in this Province, I

say, Mr. Speaker. These are initiatives that we have undertaken. If you look at

this Budget year alone, in Estimates when we talked about the number of nursing

positions, in Eastern region alone, thirty-nine FTEs; Central, nine FTEs;

Western four FTEs; Labrador-Grenfell, five FTEs. Mr. Speaker -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the minister to complete his answer.

MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I just want to point out, Mr. Speaker, that I think these facts become very

important because it illustrates clearly, not only the investment we have made

in the nursing profession in terms of the budget increase, the number of new

positions we have created, but the quality of work life issues that we have been

attempting to address.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the hon. Member for Humber Valley.

MR. BALL: A quality work life, in my mind, is certainly not around a

sixteen hour work shift, I might add there.

Another concern I have, Mr. Speaker, is the lack of opportunities for nurses

to engage in things like professional development and training. We have heard of

overworked nurses too busy to mentor their younger colleagues, those who are

entering the system. Today we are told of some nurses who could not even attend

the nursing conference now taking place here in the city.

So, I ask the minister: Is he concerned that the quality of patient care is

being further compromised by nurses not getting the proper training they need to

keep on top of their profession?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Mr. Speaker, we are always concerned about the amount of

education provided to our health professionals. We have just witnessed very

recently the announcement we made of $6.2 million in Child, Youth and Family

Services. A significant piece of the Human Resource factor in there was

education, continuing education, ongoing education.

In our nursing, I mentioned earlier about the quality of work life

initiatives. We have a fund of some $300,000 that we have set aside to be used

by health organizations throughout the Province to provide continuing education

as a special kind of funding. In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, if you look at

the budgets of each of the regional health authorities, there is a significant

piece of that which is allocated to continuing education. All of our newly

recruited nurses go through an extensive orientation throughout the entire

organization, but when they get in each individual nursing unit, I say, Mr.

Speaker, there is very intensive ongoing orientation to those students.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the minister to complete his answer.

MR. WISEMAN: Yes, Mr. Speaker

I think, Mr. Speaker, one of the things that the member opposite needs to

fully understand is that the issues in and around recruitment and retention are

not simple. They are complex, and we, as a government, have made a significant

effort and a -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

Again, I ask the minister for his co-operation in respecting of protocols.

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Humber Valley.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BALL: Mr. Speaker, it is well known that our population in this

Province is aging and the changing demographics will bring challenges for

improved and expanded health services. As the system looks to reduce the

hospital length of stays it also looks to the community to provide the necessary

supports.

A few weeks ago the Minister of Health and Community Services stated in the

House what would amount to about twenty-five cents an hour available to the home

support sector.

Will the minister confirm whether this money will be going directly to health

authorities or to the workers?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Mr. Speaker, just so that the member understands the process

of how health authorities are funded. As a government, we pass in this House -

and we passed last week - a significant Budget. A big chunk of it, thirty-odd

per cent of it, $2.2 billion, was for health care.

In the areas of program delivery, the service delivery is the responsibility

of each of our four health authorities. We have created a piece of legislation

that creates these authorities and gives them the mandate to deliver health care

in this Province. We funnel money to them and they in turn pay for and provide

the programs and services. We give it to the health authorities who, in turn,

provides the funding for those agencies or individual home support workers who

are providing those services.

If he needs to understand the accounting process, it goes through the health

authority. It ends up in the hands of the health provides.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the hon. minister to complete his answer.

MR. WISEMAN: They are the principal benefactors of the money at the end

of the day, I say, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: A final supplementary, the Member for Humber Valley.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BALL: Mr. Speaker, we all that was the process back in 2004 when the

Premier himself intervened in the VON strike in Corner Brook.

The 2007 Budget makes provision to provide the extra twenty-five cents, as he

said, to health authorities.

I ask the minister: How does he plan to address the home support workers

working in other areas, including some other agencies?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: I am not sure I fully understand the question, to be frank

with you, Mr. Speaker. If he is talking about how the money flows to agencies,

agencies are contracted by families to provide services to the mothers, fathers,

aunts or uncles, whoever it might be. The agencies then are paid, because they

are contracted to provide the service. They are paid for that contractual

arrangement. The money that pays them comes from the health authority. The

health authority -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. WISEMAN: - in this particular case, the funds that the health

authority pays the agency provides for the direct compensation of the home

support workers. It provides for other benefits such as an EI fund and the

Workers' Compensation.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the minister to complete his answer.

MR. WISEMAN: The rates, I say, Mr. Speaker, the contractually negotiated

rates, reflect enough money to pay the home support workers.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.

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

My question today is for the Minister of Environment and Conservation.

Last night, this House passed our first Sustainable Development Act, long

overdue in a Province so dependent on natural resources development. This act

came after a consultation process which included referencing other relevant

legislation in the country.

I ask the minister to explain why the act, since it closely follows the

Manitoba act, and since his department's discussion paper included principles

and guidelines, does not include principles and guidelines, the heart of any

piece of legislation?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can undertake for the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi to find out the

answer to that question. I am not directly familiar with the answer to that, but

I will certainly find out for you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS MICHAEL: Well, Mr. Speaker, I guess I may have a bit of a frustrating

time this afternoon because all of my questions are for the Minister of

Environment and Conservation, but I will plug ahead and I would like to see a

response to my question in writing.

My next question, and maybe the minister speaking for him may know the answer

to this, even through the government chose not to include principles and

guidelines in the act, and the act is passed and that is not there, and that

runs counter to what is typical in sustainable development legislation and

policy across the country, it still would be very useful to have principles and

guidelines prepared earlier rather than later.

I am asking the minister if the minister will prepare a set of principles and

guidelines to present at the first meeting of the round table, that is the

showpiece of the legislation, so that the members of the round table have some

clear direction with regard to government's expectations?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. T. OSBORNE: Mr. Speaker, the Sustainable Development Act was followed

by an extensive consultation process throughout the Province by a number of

stakeholders, a number of individuals, organizations and groups that had

extensive input into the Sustainable Development Act. It is a very comprehensive

act. It covers a wide range of areas related to the Sustainable Development Act,

Mr. Speaker.

At the first meeting of the round table, as the member suggests, I am sure

they will review her concerns, but I can assure her that the Sustainable

Development Act is very comprehensive, very detailed, and covers a wide range of

areas, and I am sure that the objectives of the act will cover the principles

that you are asking about as well.

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

MS MICHAEL: Mr. Speaker, it is precisely because of the broad

consultation that I was so surprised that there were no principles and

guidelines in the act, because the discussion paper included them and people

responded to them. I responded myself. I put my response in writing, as well, to

the minister. That is why I am so shocked that the legislation does not have any

content with regard to the principles and guidelines.

A final question. The legislation says that the minister will draft the

indicators for measuring progress towards sustainable development. Mr. Speaker,

even though our act gives the minister alone the job of defining indicators, he

will obviously need to consult widely about their content, so my question for

the minister is: Will he be open to allowing the round table a more central role

in defining the first draft of indicators, not just respond to a draft he passes

them, given that the members on the round table will represent all stakeholders

and not just the government?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. T. OSBORNE: Mr. Speaker, generally speaking,

an act passed in this

House will be followed by regulations. Generally,

an act does not include

principles or guidelines.

An act is legislation. Once gazetted, and once the

regulations are put in place, guidelines and principles are generally contained

therein.

Once the round table meet and discuss the progress that is made, and follow

the progress that is made as a result of the new Sustainable Development Act

which, I may add, this government is very proud of - it does follow an extensive

consultation, it was founded based on extensive consultation - I am sure that,

when we look at the progress that has been made, and measure the progress that

has been made, Mr. Speaker, if there are further changes that are required as a

result of that we will make those changes.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The time allocated for Question Period has expired.

The Speaker wishes to rule on a matter raised in the House on Monday, June 4,

regarding the use of unparliamentary language. During Question Period, the

Premier, in reference to the Leader of the Opposition, made the following

statement as recorded in Hansard. "He issued an incorrect release,

deliberately providing incorrect, inaccurate, misleading, untrue information to

the people of Newfoundland and Labrador."

Marleau and Montpetit, on page 522, gives guidance to the Speaker in this

matter, "Remarks directed specifically at another Member, which question

that Member's integrity, honesty or character are not in order. A Member will

be requested to withdraw offensive remarks, allegations or accusations of

impropriety directed towards another Member."

The Speaker rules the words, "deliberately providing incorrect,

misleading, untrue information", used by the Premier in his statement to be

unparliamentary and asks him to withdraw.

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER WILLIAMS: No problem, Mr. Speaker, I withdraw those remarks.

AN HON. MEMBER: Thank you. (Inaudible).

PREMIER WILLIAMS: You are welcome. You are very welcome.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

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

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have had some discussions earlier - yesterday, actually, or late yesterday

- with the Government House Leader concerning the private member's resolution

for today. There was one that we submitted under the usual rules on Monday past;

however, because of the imminent announcement, apparently, by Minister Hearn

with respect to that issue, we felt it would be redundant to actually debate it

here today, so we agreed that we would draft another private member's

resolution, with leave, and proceed to do it today.

I spoke with the Government House Leader and with the Leader of the NDP, and

that was deemed to be okay, and it deals with health care.

MR. SPEAKER: The Chair would ask the floor, has leave been granted?

AN HON. MEMBER: Agreed.

MR. SPEAKER: It is recognized that leave is granted.

MR. PARSONS: It is being moved by the Member for Humber Valley, seconded

by the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.

I will just read the resolve section.

BE IT RESOLVED that this House of

Assembly urges government to take immediate and decisive action to deal with the

recruitment and retention of health care professionals in this Province.

MR. SPEAKER: I thank the hon. the Opposition House Leader.

Further notices of motion?

Answers to Questions for Which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

MR. PARSONS: Actually, it is a point of order, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: A point of order has been raised by the hon. the Opposition

House Leader.

MR. PARSONS: Thank you.

I have been in and out today, some medical issues ongoing. Anyway, just to

point out that there seems to have been some issue, while I was out of the

Chamber, concerning a certain Ministerial Statement. I was not here, and was not

party to it, of course, and did not know what had happened.

Just for the record, there seems to have been some confusion today about

Ministerial Statements as well. I raise it as a point of order because we always

try to keep the Speakers, of course, and the Table staff in the loop when it

comes to what is happening.

There is a process whereby Ministerial Statements are normally delivered to

the Opposition at least thirty minutes before the day's commencement, and that

happened today, but it went off the rails a little bit, I guess. I actually

thought, because as Opposition House Leader I get a copy of all of these when

they come in, that I was given a copy of only two. I was personally given a copy

of one by the Minister of Justice which dealt with new interpretive services,

improvements. There was one from Minister Burke, I do believe, and one from

Minister Hickey, but all three of them weren't in the envelope, there were

only two in the envelope. That is why I actually thought there were two

Ministerial Statements today and not three. There seems to have been some

confusion.

That is aside from the issue of what happened here, who withdrew leave and

who didn't. There has been some breakdown in the process, that three didn't

find their way to our offices in the same order, because we were prepared to

respond to Minister Osborne and Minister Hickey. There was some confusion about

Minister Burke's in any case.

MR. SPEAKER: Speaking to the point of order, the Government House Leader.

MR. RIDEOUT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Just a brief response.

I acknowledge what has been said by my colleague, the Opposition House

Leader, and I understand there was some staff person who was ill on this side as

well. That may explain the foul-up in terms of what was in the package.

All that had happened on the floor, of course, is that, when we realized

nobody had stood to carry on with another statement, we had requested that

perhaps we revert to statements, and leave wasn't given. That is fine, we will

carry on - I know the Opposition House Leader wasn't in his seat because if he

was that probably wouldn't have happened - but we will just carry on the next

parliamentary day.

MR. SPEAKER: Speaking to the point of order, the hon. the Opposition

House Leader.

MR. PARSONS: Mr. Speaker, given the confusion, I think, on all sides, if

the Government House Leader and the minister in question want to proceed with

the ministerial statement we have no problem taking it out of order and getting

it done today, if there is a timing issue here; no problem whatsoever.

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

MR. RIDEOUT: I thank the hon. Opposition House Leader for his suggestion

and his co-operation, Mr. Speaker, but I think we are at the point in Private

Members' Day now, unless by leave, where we would want to carry on with

something else. We will do the statements the next parliamentary day and carry

on with the normal business that should be carried on with on Private Members'

Day.

MR. SPEAKER: The Chair recognizes that while the matter does not purely

constitute a point of order, there is a protocol we follow and the House

leadership are the proper persons and members to work out these arrangements.

I would also remind the hon. the Opposition House Leader about the protocol

regarding addressing members by their portfolios. This afternoon, he was rather

consistent in that particular matter, but I am sure it was inadvertent. That

happens sometimes, the Chair recognizes that.

Orders of the day.

Oh, I am sorry. The Chair had called Petitions, but the Chair didn't

recognize anyone standing at that time -

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER: There is time for one petition.

The hon. the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune.

MR. LANGDON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

For a moment, I lost my train of thought.

I have a petition here again today on behalf of the people of Ramea. I just

want to read:

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the

House of Assembly to urge government to revisit their current position and

subsequently approve a groundfish licence for Ramea.

I will not go into all of the detail that I said yesterday, but, Mr. Speaker,

it is very important for the rural communities, rural, rural communities and

island communities, that they be treated somewhat differently than the norm and

the mainstream of the Province.

I think that in the situation here in Ramea, if we are going to sustain a

community then they deserve a groundfish licence. They already have an operator.

They have people who already deliver fish to their community, to be trucked to

all parts of the Province. That particular amount of fish that have been caught,

or would have been caught by the fishers out of Ramea, would provide a valuable

amount of work and employment for the people of that community. If that

groundfish licence could have been attained for the community, along with other

licences, then it could become a multi-species plant and a number of people

could find work there.

Mr. Speaker, once again, I will call upon the government to revisit that

situation. To look once again at the small rural, rural communities and island

communities to see where one policy does not fit all so that people in this

community, in this instance, might find employment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

Private Members' Day

MR. SPEAKER: As noted by the Opposition House Leader, the private member's

resolution under debate this afternoon stands in the name of the Member for

Humber Valley.

The Chair will dispense with the

WHEREAS clauses, and the

BE IT RESOLVED

section reads as follows:

BE IT RESOLVED that this House of Assembly urges government to take immediate

and decisive action to deal with the recruitment and retention of health care

professionals in this Province.

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Humber Valley.

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I guess the ongoing shortages in our health care system, as many would say,

has been discussed earlier today in Question Period. This has been somewhat, I

guess, a global, maybe even provincial in nature. Shortages have been existing

in our health care system for quite some time, as we all know. As I said earlier

in the House today, I guess our primary concern is actually what is going on in

our own Province.

To read the resolution as we presented it. It says:

WHEREAS there is a chronic shortage of nurses and other health care

professionals in this Province; and

WHEREAS many health care professionals are overworked and in some cases have

been denied vacation time; and

WHEREAS health care professionals are being asked to work unreasonably long

shifts; and

WHEREAS in many cases pay for health care professionals in this Province are

among the lowest in Canada; and

WHEREAS there have been several incidents where the health care system has

not provided proper health care services due in part to the shortage of health

car professionals; and

WHEREAS unions and other professional associations have raised concerns about

the current crisis and the possibility that it will further deteriorate in the

future; and

WHEREAS the current efforts to recruit and retain health care professionals

in this Province are not adequate to address the problem;

BE IT RESOLVED - as the Speaker says - that this House of Assembly urges

government to take immediate and decisive action to deal with the recruitment

and retention of health care professionals in this Province.

As I said, Mr. Speaker, the shortage of health care professionals is

something that we have all heard about throughout the country for sure, but to

merely just sit and accept the fact that our systems are short of our

professionals, really does not satisfy - I know the members on this side of the

House - our concerns.

We look to what would be the advantage of someone working in our Province.

Why would a health care professional come to the Province to work? What is it

that we do here, or do we have here that would be advantageous for someone to

stay home and work in this Province, or actually move in from some other

jurisdiction?

In yesterday's Globe and Mail we saw some tourism stats where many

people spoke - where it was suggested that the country as a whole is seen to be

very attractive to many people living outside as a place to actually visit. As I

said in this House before, not only is this Province a great place to visit, it

is indeed a great place to live.

What we offer is somewhat of an attractive lifestyle. This is a benefit, of

course, we must be able to take - we must see this as an opportunity and take

advantage of. If we are truly to take advantage of this, we must, of course, be

competitive in some other areas. They would be in terms of compensation

benefits, workplace issues that sometimes we have to deal with. We cannot be a

better place to live and have all of those attractive lifestyle issues if people

are being denied vacation, people are forced to work part-time hours instead of

full-time, because what this leads to, Mr. Speaker, is the inability to make

plans for people's lives. We have heard in recent weeks about people who

cannot plan vacation time for this upcoming summer.

So, what is the impact? What is the impact that the shortages have on the

workplace itself? What is the impact on our workers? We all know now, we have

seen recent reports that it certainly adds to a lot of stress in the workplace.

I was reading an article, actually just this morning, that we are the second

highest in the country of workplace stress among our health care professionals

and this is something in my mind that becomes a little alarming and certainly

something that government needs to address. We need to address it quickly

because, as we all know, if people have an opportunity to move, they will if

their workplace is stressful.

The other concerns that I would have, Mr. Speaker, in terms of our workers

and how the shortage in the workplace affects their lives, is just the

productivity of the workers. Workers are becoming tired. We heard earlier in

Question Period about workers being forced to work sixteen hours a day. Some

workers, for instance, in the Clarenville area, which is in the Eastern Health

Authority, one particular nurse told us a story of having to work a twenty-four

shift. Of course, we all realize that this may be an isolated incident but,

indeed, it is something we should never expect from any health care worker. So,

this less productivity and tired workers is actually having an impact on the

service levels and the care levels that we can actually provide.

The other thing, Mr. Speaker, about the shortage in health care

professionals, is that right now many professionals, including nurses,

physicians and pharmacists, and many others, are looking for ways they can

actually expand their role so that we can better utilize those health care

professionals. Nurses for sure, and LPNs, we all know have always looked for

areas where they can expand their roles so that we, as a health care system, can

better utilize their education and their training. This is very important to

them, but if we do not have the necessary human resources available, it is very

tough for those professionals to expand their roles. This, again, is another

impact that the shortage of health care professionals are having on the health

care system of today.

Then, Mr. Speaker, we have to look towards patient care. We ask ourselves, is

the shortage of health professional having any impact on patient care? There is

no question in my mind, Mr. Speaker, that patient care is compromised if we do

not have the necessary health care professionals. We have seen that throughout.

We have seen, I guess, Mr. Speaker, where people look towards the reduction of

length of stays and those sorts of things, obviously, because there are times

around bed closures and those sorts of things. We just do not have the necessary

human resources or staffing levels required to have those services available.

The other thing, Mr. Speaker, I asked is: What would be the impact of the

shortage of health care professionals? What impact would this have on our

communities?

When I look towards economic growth in our communities, I see things like

health care and things like education. These are almost pillars that we would

grow our communities from. If someone is to look at a place to live, a couple of

questions, I think, that most people would ask are: How accessible are our

health care providers? What is the education system like?

When we experience shortages in health care providers, or health care

professionals, there is no question, people will give second thought to take up

way, to those services.

Mr. Speaker, as I said, a shortage of health care professionals, not only is

it impacting the types of level of care that we provide, and the types of

service that we provide; it actually also impacts the way our communities can

grow because, as I said, health care services are certainly one of the major

pillars and foundations of community growth.

I wonder, when I look at this situation of health care shortages, I ask: What

is it that the Province can control? What is in the control of the Province? The

controllables', what are they? There are a couple of things that certainly

come to my mind. We can control, for instance, how many full-time workers we

have versus part-time workers. From time to time we have heard, in particular,

nurses are not satisfied just to work part-time forever.

I think what happens here is that they need to be given that option. Some

people might be okay to work casually or work part-time, but some others want to

work full-time and take advantage of the benefits that are associated with

full-time work, things like being able to plan their days off, things like being

able to take

part in a pension plan, and so on and so forth.

We have heard of many nurses, in particular, out there right now who had

problems attending birthday parties for their kids, and actually getting someone

to backfill a shift for them. In this day and age, Mr. Speaker, we do not see

this as being acceptable at all. People should be able to plan for time off, and

to do things with their families.

Mr. Speaker, we have heard now of consultations where nurses in particular,

again, as I said, have asked for meetings with various levels of government to

sit and discuss the staffing levels. Particularly in the Burin Peninsula we

heard stories of nurses identifying this problem, I guess, up to two years ago.

So, if this problem has existed for two years, this is something that should

have been addressed much earlier. This should not be left, and it should not be

left ongoing so, when we get to the eleventh hour, we have people not being in a

situation where they could plan for their summer vacations and so on.

This adds stress. How you would feel, how would any of us feel, if we had to

go to their kids with just two or three weeks left in school, still not knowing

if they are going to be able to get proper vacation time this summer? This, I

think, is certainly an unfair expectation and something that needs to be

addressed, as I said.

This consultation process between the health authorities staff and indeed

government themselves is certainly something that I would encourage, and

certainly something that needs to be done on a regular basis, and more of,

because right now it is certainly not successful.

Mr. Speaker, we talked a bit today about the shortages in nursing in

particular, but the shortage indeed is widespread. That is the reason why I

guess this statement talks about health care professionals as opposed to just

nursing alone.

We are experiencing shortages in physicians. We are experiencing shortages, I

know, in the profession that I spent almost thirty years at now, in pharmacists

again. These people, this is having an impact certainly on our recruiting and on

the long-term plans, I guess, that we would like to put in place for the

Province.

Mr. Speaker, I would also look at the impact. We have talked a bit about the

impact on the workers. We have talked about the impact that this is having on

communities. We talked a little bit about what is in our control. Mr. Speaker, I

guess I would like to talk a little bit about the impact that this is actually

having on the residents of the Province. What impact is this having on the

people who actually live in our communities, the people who are the residents of

Newfoundland and Labrador?

One thing for sure, Mr. Speaker, in terms of the shortages of physicians,

what we are seeing is longer wait times, people who do not have timely access to

patient care, to physicians, or even, sometimes, to nurse practitioners and

those sorts of people. This first line, this front line health care provider,

this even in my own district where there are some uncertainties in the number of

physicians that would be available even this summer.

The longer wait times is an issue. We are certainly seeing this amongst many

specialists. We are seeing this in diabetic education, for instance, Mr.

Speaker. We have a shortage of specialists. Some of the specialities we have not

been able to fill vacancies for a number of years now. This, as I said, leads to

longer wait times. What it also leads to is travel to appointments. Sometimes

people have to travel longer distances to appointments and this, of course, adds

cost to the residents in our Province.

What is the impact on the residents of our Province? We are seeing an impact

in terms of transportation costs. We are seeing an impact on longer wait times.

The other thing that we are seeing is the turnover rate. We are seeing many

professionals - in particular, physicians, I might add, who have come to our

Province and they just do not stay. They come for a brief period of time. Many

of them just come for a couple of years and then we see a resignation. Then we

have to wait again for someone to come in and take their place.

So, what we are losing here in this high turnover rate - what is important

about this, in particular, with physicians, is this physician-patient

relationship. It is very tough to foster that, and we all know how important

that is for patient care. We all know the confidence that people get when they

have a health care professional, in particular, a physician, that they can

identify with. The relationship is built and people become very familiar and

very confident with their physician, in particular, as I say, Mr. Speaker. What

happens, too, when those people leave, they just do not leave where we have many

construction workers and many people who are working in Alberta right now, is

that they work in Alberta and some of them decide to live in the province, but

that is not what we see. That is not the trend that we see within the health

care profession. Our health care providers, when they leave they uproot their

families and they are gone.

The other thing that we have heard much of in the last few days, and we have

all experienced this, I am sure, through friends of ours and constituents in our

own district, is what happens in an emergency room. When we have a shortage of

physicians in certain areas, what happens is a backlog gets created in our

emergency rooms. We are having people who are experiencing five and six hour

wait times in emergency rooms. There was a news

article done just, I guess, a

couple of weeks ago, where someone told a story of having to wait for up to ten

hours in an emergency room, and I do not think any of us sees this as something

as acceptable. Not only are long waits in the emergency room happening in rural

areas or in smaller areas, Mr. Speaker, they are happening right here in St.

John's.

Just about a month ago, I guess, Mr. Speaker, it was Nursing Week and it was

a celebration. I think there were some statements raised in this House about

Nursing Week. As I said earlier in Question Period, right now our nurses are the

second-lowest paid in the country. I guess depending on what happens in Quebec,

they could be indeed the lowest paid in the country.

So, Mr. Speaker, this needs to be addressed. There is no way that we are

going to be able to recruit and retain nurses in this particular Province if

their pay is not competitive. There is no question, we are hearing this from the

nursing profession. They do not feel their pay fully reflects the work that they

do for us right now. We are hearing stories of workloads, very high workloads,

working shifts without breaks, extended shifts, as I said earlier, up to four

hours added to the end of a twelve hour shift, which would be like sixteen hours

for someone to work in somewhat of a very high stressful situation. That is very

difficult to ask. Not only are they asked, but in some cases people are actually

pressured to stay because they cannot go if the staff is not readily available

to come in and work the shift that would follow. This is not happening - and we

are hearing it, and I am sure everybody is hearing the fact that nurses, in

particular, are pressured into staying and are pressured into adding hours at

the end of their shift, which is something that I cannot imagine. Having to do

this on a regular basis, I am sure, would be very difficult.

We brought up earlier about the positions in Labrador, where we have 250

nursing positions -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. member's allotted time to make his introductory comments have

expired.

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will have time, I am sure, at the end of this to clue up. I will

conclude my statements for right now.

Thank you.

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am not going to stand here today and suggest that everything in our health

system is rosy. I am not going to stand here and suggest that we have an

abundance of every discipline that we find in our health system, but I do want

to enlighten members of the House and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador of

some of the real facts in terms of our current status.

Mr. Speaker, right now, today, as of March 31, 2007, we have the highest

number of physicians we have ever had in this Province, the highest number. Is

that enough? Maybe not. Are they located in the right places? Maybe not. Are

there some places where we do not have an adequate number of doctors? Yes, that

is correct. In terms of our success, in being able to attract physicians to

Newfoundland and Labrador and to keep them here, in March of 2007 there were 985

physicians in this Province, 481 general practitioners, and 504 specialists. The

highest number in our history.

In 2006-2007, we achieved the highest number of RNs in this Province. We

reached a total of 5,727, the highest in the history of Newfoundland and

Labrador. Since we formed government, we have increased the number of nursing

positions in this Province by 3 per cent. We have increased the number of social

workers in this Province by 9.2 per cent. If you look at this year's Budget

alone, just look at what we have done. If you look at the Eastern region,

thirty-nine FTEs. Now, to get thirty-nine FTEs, you probably recruited some

forty-seven, forty-eight individual positions. Central, 9.75 FTEs. Again,

eighteen or nineteen new nursing positions.

If you look at this year's success, Mr. Speaker. This year alone, Eastern

Health - the member opposite mentioned the process of working casual versus

permanent. Eastern Health alone, just one authority, converted 168 casual

positions to permanent full-time and they hired 100 new grads. Central Health

hired thirty permanent RNs. Western hired thirty-nine full-time RNs. Labrador

Grenfell Health hired sixteen RNs.

I say, Mr. Speaker, we are having some real success. Are we able to always

retain ever single person we recruit? Not necessarily so. The whole issue of

recruitment and retention is always a challenge. Look at the number of lab

technologists that we have recruited. There has been an increase in the number

of overall lab technologists since we formed government. I could go through a

list of others that we have had some success in recruiting. Are we continuing to

work to do so? Yes. Is the job complete? No. Is there more we can do? Yes. Are

we doing more? Yes, absolutely.

I just want to share some of these initiatives, Mr. Speaker. One of the

things that we have here in the resolution - the resolution calls on government

to start doing something. I say, Mr. Speaker, we started a long time ago. We

have been in government since 2003 and in that period of time we have made

tremendous strides in this effort.

I just want to share with the members opposite some of the things we have

done. I shared some of it earlier, as we talked about some of the things we have

done with nursing. We have put in place a working group, as I said earlier, with

the nurses' union, the ARNN, the Department of Health and Community Services,

and our Regional Health Authorities, put together a working group, focusing on

just that, that whole issue of recruitment and what it is we are trying to do.

If you look at the kind of structure we put in place. Now today, Mr. Speaker,

we have in place a team of individuals looking at quality work life issues. One

of the things we are doing, is we now have - within that group I just described,

there are three sub-committees. One looking at human resource planning, the

other looking at scope of practice, and the other looking at leadership.

I said earlier, we had a quality professional practice environment project on

the go. A project that we fund annually out of the Department of Health and

Community Services looking at quality of work life issues, I say, Mr. Speaker.

Just some of the things that we are doing to look at improving the quality of

work life. As I mentioned earlier, as a part of the current collective agreement

there are some $300,000 spent annually in quality initiatives to improve the

quality of work life.

Looking at what we are doing with the physician side, I say, Mr. Speaker. We

have made some tremendous strides in physician recruitment. Members call upon us

to initiate an action. Let me share with the members opposite what we have done.

For some time now, I say, Mr. Speaker, for the last year and a half or so,

together with the Department of Health and Community Services, the

Vice-President of Medical Services with each of our health authorities, together

with the School of Medicine, we have been working collectively, collaboratively,

developing a human resource strategy for positions in the Province, asking

ourselves: How many should we have; what kind of specialists should we have;

where should they be located; what is an adequate number of physicians to have

in a certain region of the Province; how many should we have on the Northern

Peninsula; how many should we have in Conception Bay; what about the Burin

Peninsula, how many should we have there; what kinds of specialty services

should we provide. All those sorts of things, Mr. Speaker, are becoming a part

of this strategy that we are talking about, that we have been working on for

some time, that we will have ready before the end of this year, because we are

working in collaboration with each of the health authorities.

Not just physicians, not just nurses, we have physiotherapists, occupational

therapists, speech language pathologists, medical physicists, just to name a few

of some of the other areas and some of the other disciplines where we have had

some challenges in recruiting in the past. There are small numbers of them, they

are very difficult to recruit, but for some time, I say, Mr. Speaker, the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador has had seats that we sponsor, that we pay

for, at Dalhousie University, to provide people in the areas of occupational

therapy and physiotherapy so that they are able to come back to the Province.

We have bursary programs, I say, Mr. Speaker. We have invested new money in

our bursary programs to ensure we provide financial incentives for individuals

from Newfoundland and Labrador to attend these universities and colleges around

the country, to get the appropriate training to be able to come back and to work

with us in this Province, I say, Mr. Speaker.

When the members opposite call upon us to take some action, I acknowledge -

and I look at the resolution, I say, Mr. Speaker - that there are some areas

where we have had some challenges. Yes, we have some vacancies today. Yes, we

are recruiting nurses. Yes, we are recruiting physiotherapists. Yes, we are

recruiting occupational therapists. We are doing some recruitment in all these

areas, Mr. Speaker, with success, I might add. We do have some challenges,

though, in retaining individuals in certain locations. That is nothing new

today, that is not unique to this Province.

Look at Alberta. Alberta, because of the big population boom they are

experiencing, are short about 1,500 physicians today. It is a challenge for them

to recruit them. The richest province in the country having some difficulty, Mr.

Speaker, recruiting physicians.

Mr. Speaker, as I said when I started, I will stand here today and

acknowledge that, as a Province, as a government, we need to continue to do some

of the great work that we have done in the recruitment of many disciplines

within our health system.

As I look at the resolution, Mr. Speaker, I see words like chronic shortages,

suggesting that they have been long-term. I say, Mr. Speaker, I look at words

like crisis. Again, the fearmongering that we have seen in this House in recent

times, and actions that are not adequate, or suggesting that we need to start

immediately to take action, Mr. Speaker, that kind of language in a resolution

would suggest that this government has been irresponsible. It would suggest that

this government has not done anything.

I say, Mr. Speaker, nothing could be further from the truth. We have invested

large amounts of money. We have undertaken some major initiatives, in

collaboration with unions, with professional associations, in trying to address

the ongoing health needs of the people of this Province and we have it, Mr.

Speaker, with some success.

I am going to propose an amendment to the resolution that the members

opposite have put forward. That amendment more adequately reflects the current

day reality. That amendment to this resolution more adequately reflects the

initiatives that this government has currently undertaken but, more importantly,

Mr. Speaker, the amendments that I am proposing more accurately reflect to the

people of Newfoundland and Labrador what is actually taking place in this

Province and not what members opposite would tend to believe, or try to convince

people that this government has not done anything.

Mr. Speaker, if we look at the resolution itself, I am going to propose that

we amend the first recital by deleting the words "is a chronic

shortage" and inserting the words "are periodic shortages".

I also propose, Mr. Speaker, that we delete the recitals listed from 2

through 5, so the second, third, fourth and fifth recital we delete all

together, Mr. Speaker.

Then, when we get to the sixth recital, I am suggesting that we delete the

word "crisis" but we would insert the word "challenges",

because there are challenges but we are not in crisis, Mr. Speaker, and that is

important to restore confidence and for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador

to understand that they do have a capable, competent workforce providing quality

care to them.

Next, Mr. Speaker, I suggest that we delete the seventh recital as well,

where it says, "Whereas the current efforts to recruit and retain health

care professionals in this Province are not adequate to address the

problem".

Finally, Mr. Speaker, the resolution itself, amend the resolution by deleting

the words "take immediate and" and inserting the words "continue

to take".

As I say, Mr. Speaker, the way it is worded now suggests that we are doing

nothing. It suggests, Mr. Speaker, that this government has sat idly by for the

last three years and has done absolutely nothing. I say, Mr. Speaker, nothing

could be further from the truth because we have, in fact, been engaging many

stakeholders in this Province in a very aggressive recruitment initiative and we

have invested the necessary funding to have achieved the success that we have

experienced, Mr. Speaker.

I propose these amendments. I shared them with the Table Officers, and I

would ask for your ruling to determine if these amendments are in order.

MR. SPEAKER (Fitzgerald): The Chair has a copy of the proposed amendments

as put forward by the hon. Minister of Health and Community Services.

The House will take a brief recess now so that the Chair can consult with the

Table Officers and return very shortly to deem whether this particular

resolution meets the test of the day.

This House is now in recess.

Recess

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair will read the amendment as put forward by the Minister of Health

and Community Services.

The proposed amendment reads, "Amend the first recital by deleting is

a chronic shortage' and inserting are periodic shortages'

"Delete recitals 2-5 as follows:

"Whereas many health care professionals are overworked and in some cases

have been denied vacation time;

"Whereas health care professionals are being asked to work unreasonably

long shifts;

"Whereas in many cases pay for health care professionals in this

Province are among the lowest in Canada;

"Whereas there have been several incidents where the health care system

has not provided proper health care services due to part of the shortage of

health care professionals;

"Amend the sixth recital by deleting crisis' and inserting challenges'

"Delete the seventh recital as follows:

"Whereas the current efforts to recruit and retain health care

professionals in this Province are not adequate to address the problem;

"Amend the resolution by deleting take immediate and' and inserting

continue to take'."

The Chair has had an opportunity to confer with the Table Officers and refers

members to Beauchesne's 4 th Edition , 203, page 172

(8) which states, "An amendment, substantially the same as the original motion,

but omitting considerable matter of recital both of fact and law of said main

motion, is in order."

The Chair deems this amendment to be in order.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the Chair has seen the wisdom of my

recommendation and has accepted the amendments because, as I said earlier, Mr.

Speaker, the resolution as it now reads, as amended, more accurately reflects

the current day reality and more accurately reflects the efforts of this

government and what is currently taking place in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Before I conclude, Mr. Speaker, my concluding comments will be clearly this:

I want to assure the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, and I want to assure

those individuals who work in our health care system, that we support and we

will continue to support the great work done by our health professionals in this

Province. We will continue to provide a competitive compensation package for

them. We will continue to strive and work with them to improve the quality of

their work life and to make improvements in the workplace to ensure that they

are not only pleased to come to work with these health organizations but will

want to continue to stay and work and grow, professionally and personally, in

those communities and with those institutions and with those employment

settings.

To the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, they can be assured that the

people who are recruited to provide health services in this Province are second

to none. They are capable, competent, qualified individuals who are dedicated to

their profession, dedicated to their patients, dedicated to their communities

and to their colleagues. That is the kind of individuals that we recruit. That

is the kind of individuals we want to retain. That is the kind of health service

that we have in this Province, and that is the kind of health system.

So, I salute each and every one of those individuals who are a part of our

great health system and I commit to working with them and the organizations that

represent them, whether professional associations or unions, to continue to

build on the successes that we have had and to continue to enhance the quality

of their work life.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Grand Bank.

MS FOOTE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I stand today to speak to the motion on health care professional shortage in

our Province introduced by my colleague.

Clearly, what has been done here today in terms of amending our motion,

certainly from our perspective, speaks volumes in terms of how this government

really feels about what is happening in our health care system today.

As I listened to the minister stand here and talk about the professionals

that we have working in our health care sector here in Newfoundland and

Labrador, and how much the government appreciates them and their hard work,

everything he says, if he truly believes that, he would never have suggested to

delete some of the recitals in this motion today.

We believe, like the minister says he does, that the people who are working

in our health care sector are hard-working individuals, they are professionals,

and because they are, they need to be rewarded for their hard work. They need to

be considered when decisions are being made about how much they should get paid,

how many shifts they should have to work, the type of benefits they are entitled

to, what their hourly wage should be. Those are all things that go into

considering what we need to do to not only retain our professionals that we have

in our Province today in our health care sector, but as well in recruiting them.

Now, what the minister has done here today on behalf of the government is

nothing short of being criminal, to suggest that we delete number two, where it

says, "..many health care professionals are overworked and in some cases

have been denied vacation time." That is terrible. It is absolutely

terrible, Mr. Speaker, because our health care professionals are overworked and

they have been denied vacation. How can you, in all fairness, stand in this

House of Assembly today, speaking to this motion, and ask to have that

particular recital removed from the motion?

Whereas health care professionals are being asked to work unreasonably long

shifts. My colleague raised it in the House of Assembly today in a question that

was put to the minister. We have knowledge of a nurse who had to work

twenty-four hours around the clock. This nurse had to work twenty-four hours,

yet the minister asked to have this particular clause taken out of the motion:

Whereas health care professionals are being asked to work unreasonably long

shifts. Now, is that a failure by the minister and this government to

acknowledge that this is happening? To me, it sure sounds like it.

Whereas there have been several incidents where the health care system has

not provided proper health care services due in part to the shortage of health

care professionals. Again, something that the minister has asked to have removed

from this motion. The President of the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical

Association and others have already said that a lot of the errors that are

occurring may very well be attributed to the fact that there is a shortage of

health care professionals. These are the people who are on the front line. They

know better than any of us here what the real situation is, yet the minister has

the nerve to stand in the House today and remove that particular clause from the

motion that we, as the Opposition, have introduced.

Whether or not the minister wants to believe it or not, this is reality in

our Province today. This is what is happening in the health care sector in

Newfoundland and Labrador. To amend the first clause, which says:

Whereas there

is a chronic shortage of nurses and other health care professionals in this

Province. To amend that to say, instead of a chronic shortage of nurses, that

there is a periodic shortage of nurses. It must make any nurse who is watching

this today cringe.

I would suggest to the minister that he might want to go and check the

dictionary, because I can tell you, from nurses that I have spoken with, nurses

who called our office, friends of mine who are nurses, that they believe there

is a chronic shortage of nurses. To listen to the minister stand here today and

go on and on about the investments in health care as if everything is coming up

roses. Now, he did say: Well, no, we do not believe everything is perfect. Well,

I guess on behalf of all of the people who contacted our office, I would like to

tell him, no, it is not. It is not perfect. I know it is hard for everything to

be perfect, but you can do a lot in terms of making a difference in the working

conditions of these professionals.

What I find so hard to understand today is with everything that has gone down

in our Province, in terms of health care, whether it is with what has happened

on the Burin Peninsula with the radiologist's work, whether it is what has

happened in Gander with the work of another radiologist, or whether it is with

respect to the faulty hormone receptor tests, how any minister can stand today

and speak about all of the investments they have made in health care since they

have become a government and try to use that somehow as a justification for why

they should not vote for this particular motion.

What they have done today, as a government, and what he has done, as a

minister, is taken a motion that reflects what is happening in our Province -

and you do not just have to talk to health care professionals to know that this

is reality. Talk to people who are using our health care sector and you will

find out very quickly that this is, indeed, reality today in Newfoundland and

Labrador.

Our health care professionals are overworked. There is a shortage of health

care professionals in our Province. Again, I would ask you to speak to those on

the front lines, speak to the doctors, speak to the nurses, speak to the LPNs,

speak to whoever you have to, our x-ray technicians, and they will tell you

there is, indeed, a shortage; contrary to the picture that the government is

trying to put forward here today.

I do not know how many people realize it, but today there are 70,000 people

over sixty-five in our Province. We have heard time and time again that we do,

indeed, have an aging population. If you think the demands on our system are

great now, just imagine what they are going to be five, ten, fifteen years from

now. This is a time when we need to make sure that we have a health care system

that is ready to respond to all of the issues that are going to come when our

aging population becomes even larger.

This is a serious, serious matter for us in Newfoundland and Labrador, and

unfortunately it would appear, from listening to the minister today, and the

amendments he has made to this motion, the government does not realize this.

Instead of getting up and acknowledging that there is a shortage, a chronic

shortage of nurses, they want to refer instead to a periodic shortage. Instead

of acknowledging that there is a current crisis in our health care sector - I

can tell you, the people who have been impacted by what has gone on here,

whether it is individuals who have had breast cancer, whether it is those who

have had X-rays done, or ultrasounds done, or MRIs done, all tests that have

been done that have to be read by a radiologist, all of the individuals who have

been impacted by what has happened here in the last while believe there is a

crisis here in our Province in our health care sector. The government has every

opportunity to take charge here, to acknowledge that there is a serious issue

here, and to help restore people's confidence in our health care system.

Instead of trying to hide from it, instead of trying to do something about

it, instead of acknowledging that this is a difficult time in our health care

sector - instead, they amend a motion to try and suggest that things are not as

difficult as not only we believe as the Official Opposition but what people in

the Province believe.

There are so many things happening in our health care sector today that it

behooves all of us to treat this seriously; because, you know, everything else

can be going fine but if we do not have our health then it does not matter what

else is going on in your life. If you do not have good health and you have to

avail of our health care system, you want to know that the advice that you are

being given, the diagnosis that is being given, and the treatment that is being

based on that diagnosis by your family doctor, is the right one.

If we have a shortage of nurses, if we have a shortage of physicians, if we

have difficulty with making sure that the diagnosis that is being done is

accurate, then no one - no one - can take any level of comfort from the health

care system that we are availing of.

The minister says there is no chronic shortage of nurses. Oh, yes, there are

pockets where we do not have enough nurses - that is the minister's take on

all of this. If you do not acknowledge that there is a serious issue here, then,

to me, that shows a total lack of respect for those on the front lines in our

health care sector who are telling you time and time and time again that there

is a serious issue here.

It is about respect. It is about respect for those who go into our health

care system and work twelve-hour shifts, and when they get off at the end of the

twelve-hour shift they are told: I am sorry, you have to go back and work

another twelve hour shift; or, we have nurses who work eighteen-hour shifts, or

we have nurses who cannot get a vacation. These are all serious issues and these

are people - the type of work they do in our health care sector is such that we

do not need to have people working who are overtired, people who are going to be

administering medications, people who are going to be taking your blood

pressure. We do not need people who are overworked to be working in our health

care system, and that is something we should all strive to make sure does not

happen.

Today is a great opportunity for the government to acknowledge that there are

serious issues here and, instead of amending the motion we have put forward, to

acknowledge that these are serious issues and, by working with all of the

organizations involved, all of the professional associations involved, find

solutions.

The minister can talk all he wants about putting in a working group, working

groups, to work with these various professional associations. If you do not

acknowledge that there is a serious issue here, and if you do not do something

about stripping away benefits from these very people who we hope to have around

to deliver quality health care in this Province, and if you don't acknowledge

that we need to pay them comparable wages, then you can have all the working

groups in the world and you can work around the clock but you are not going to

find solutions.

I listened to the President of the National Nurses Association that is

meeting here. I listened to her last night on the news. She said, you know, here

is an opportunity for Newfoundland to lead the way, to be creative in how it

negotiates and what it negotiates with their professionals, with their nurses

and with their doctors and with other professionals in the health care sector.

Lead the way, set an example for other provinces. Wouldn't it be nice to be a

leader, instead of having our people leaving Newfoundland and Labrador and going

to some other part of the country where they can get better benefits, certainly

a better wage package. We are even losing our young graduates because, of

course, they have education expenses. We are losing them to other provinces, we

are losing them to the States, where they can get paid much better wages and

they can pay off their loans a lot sooner.

We really need to look at our health care sector. We really need to look at

whether or not we should do something different for those in our health care

sector, for our nurses and for our doctors.

We talk about what we pay a radiologist here. It is about half of what they

get paid in other parts of the country, particularly in Ontario.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I remind the hon. Member for Grand Bank that her time for speaking has

expired.

MS FOOTE: Time to clue up, Mr. Speaker, please?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. member, by leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. member.

MS FOOTE: Thank you for the few minutes just to clue up.

It is a serious, serious issue that we are facing in this Province, and

whether or not the government wants to acknowledge that it is a crisis

situation, that is up to you as a government. All we can do is bring forward the

concerns that have been brought to our attention, continue to point them out,

hope that you are listening and hope that you are taking it seriously.

Instead of what the minister said today, by standing on his feet and amending

a motion that speaks to the very issue of what is going on in health care in

Newfoundland and Labrador, instead of doing what he did today, I call on the

government to acknowledge the seriousness of the situation we are facing and to

do something about it.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Terra Nova.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. ORAM: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is indeed a privilege to speak on this motion today.

I was sitting there thinking, as members were speaking, about this particular

motion. You know, there is a part of this motion that is actually pretty good.

It actually makes a lot of sense, I say to the Member for Humber Valley. When

you take all of the politics out of this, it is actually pretty sensible. In

fact, what I plan on doing in this next few minutes is actually showing how, at

the end of the day, this particular government is doing what we are asking for

in the last part of this motion, and that is, "Be it resolved that this

House of Assembly urges government to take immediate and decisive action to deal

with the recruitment and retention of health care professionals in this

Province."

I am going to show you how we are actually doing that. I do appreciate

anything that comes up, and any time we decide to talk about health care in this

Province, because, your know, it is strange but back a few years ago the number

one priority in Canada's minds in terms of what they felt their government

should do for them was health care. Now, of course, we know in recent months

that has actually changed - now it has become the environment - but I still

think that health care is among the top issues within our society today.

As I said, I am very pleased to speak on this motion and I have a few

comments to make about what we have been listening to today. As I always do,

every time I speak in this House, before I start talking about what we are doing

as a government and where we are headed as a government, I like to first of all

talk about what happened in the past. You know, before we go and look at the

future let's look at what was done in the past for health care in this

Province.

Well, what did health care actually look like in previous years? I can tell

you, Mr. Speaker, when you talk about health care and you talk about nurses, I

guess I am not much of an expert but I certainly live with a nurse because my

wife is a nurse, actually, Mr. Speaker. I remember back in the late 1980s when

she first got involved in nursing, and early 1990s and so on, I remember times

being very tough back then as well, Mr. Speaker. I remember, because Karen

worked at the hospital in Gander, James Paton, a lot of mornings it would be bad

on the road so I would have to drive her into Gander in order to get her in to

work because it would be bad for her to have to drive in. I remember going to

pick her up after work, Mr. Speaker. I remember driving into Gander, parking in

the parking lot, because she would get off at 7:30 p.m. Of course, we know it

was a twelve-hour shift and she was supposed to get off at 7:30 in the night.

Well, the fact remains, Mr. Speaker, that 7:30 p.m. would come and she would not

come out through the door, and 7:35 p.m. would come and she would not come out

through the door, and 7:45 p.m. would come and she still would not get out

through the door, and 7:50 p.m. would come and she still would not get out.

Sometimes 8:00 o'clock would come and she would not get out. Sometimes, Mr.

Speaker 8:15 p.m. would come and she still would not get out.

Why was that, Mr. Speaker? Back in the days when this government was not in

power, why was that? I will tell you the reason why, because they were very,

very busy. There were times when you had to deal with things that were going on,

on the floor, that you just could not walk away from, you could not leave.

Yes, there was a shortage of nurses back then as well. The fact of the matter

is that there was a shortage of health care workers back in the late 1980s and

1990s, and maybe even before that, Mr. Speaker, I am not sure. I cannot speak to

that because I do not have knowledge of that, but I certainly do have knowledge

of the times when my wife actually worked at James Paton Hospital. I can tell

you that it was very, very difficult.

I remember a time when we wanted to go on a family vacation to P.E.I. back in

the early 1990s. My wife had put in for holiday time, in the early 1990s - this

is a fact; she is a nurse, I say to the Member for Humber Valley - I remember

having to put those plans off. Do you know why? Because she could not get the

time off. At that time, she could not get the time off. There was no way that

she could get the time off because there was nobody to cover her shifts at that

time.

Again, I speak of this with first-hand knowledge because I remember our kids

being very disappointed because we actually could not go on that particular date

when we wanted to go to P.E.I. Is that unfair? Sure, it is. Is that difficult?

Sure, it is. It was hard on our family to have to do that. The fact remains

that, back then it happened. Does it happen today? Well, for his government to

say that it does not happen would be silly.

The problem that I have, though, with this motion is that, when we look at

the first

whereas and it talks about the chronic shortage of nurses and other

health care professions in this Province, I agree that at times there are. There

are, at times, problems with trying to provide enough staff to take care of the

people in this Province who need health care. It is a difficult situation. I

suspect it will always be a difficult situation.

The fact is, or the thing we need to talk about is, what is this government

doing to try to fix that? Is this government doing anything to try to fix that?

Well, first of all, if you look at our budget, from 2003 to 2007 our budget has

increased in health care $600 million. So, the first thing that we have done,

and we have realized as a government, it is very important that we put more

money into health care. The fact is that, in hiring folks, you have to have

money to hire them. You have to have money to retain them. I am pleased that

this government has put $600 million into health care.

Our retention rates, we have improved our retention rates of the physicians

we are recruiting. Approximately 80 per cent of MUN graduates that we recruit

are in practice in this Province after five years. There is another example of

retaining health care professionals in this Province. Those are all positive

things.

Again, as the minister already acknowledged, things are not perfect, no. We

know that. In fact, I think if we listened to, as the Member for Grand Bank had

said a little while ago, there was somebody on from the association of nursing,

and the Irish Nursing Organization, and they had actually said that this is not

just an issue in Newfoundland and Labrador; this is an issue throughout the

world. Certainly in Ireland, certainly throughout Canada, there is an issue.

Then if you look at the fact that throughout Canada there are jurisdictions that

obviously pay more than Newfoundland and Labrador for nurses but, guess what?

Here is the thing. Guess what? The fact is, even though they pay more, and quite

a bit more - I admit, quite a bit more because they do have more money than

Newfoundland and Labrador. The fact is that we do not have the riches that a lot

of provinces have in Canada. As unfortunate as that is, that is a reality, but

the thing is, even in places like Ontario, guess what? They find it hard to

retain nurses. They find it hard to retain medical professionals even when they

are paying the big bucks. The fact is that we are moving towards that.

If you look at registered nurses, and I am dealing with registered nurses

because I have to tell you - and I know all members on all sides of the House

will agree with this. I believe that nurses work very, very hard in this

Province. Nurses care for people, and I have seen it firsthand. I have been in

hospitals where I have seen nurses work very, very hard, and they do. We

acknowledge that as a government and I am sure this whole House acknowledges

that today. I am sure every side of this House will acknowledge that nurses work

very, very hard and they are on the front lines. The fact is, they are on the

front lines. They are providing services to people. I can tell you now, there

are certain people who are cut out for certain jobs. I would never be able to be

a registered nurse, I say. It would be very difficult for me to do that because

it takes a special type of person to be able to be a nurse.

What is this government doing for nurses in this Province? First of all,

registered nurses in Newfoundland and Labrador reached an all-time high in

2006-2007 with 5,727 practicing RNs. An all-time high, Mr. Speaker. That tells

me today that this government is moving in the right direction if we are now

seeing more nurses in the system than we ever saw before. That is a positive

step. It shows some positive ground that this Province is making. It shows some

good ground this government is actually making to retain and to bring nurses

into our system.

What else do we see? Approximately, 198 Bachelor of Nursing graduates are

expected in 2007. This does not include fast track students. In the fall of

2007, twenty-six graduates are expected from the Fast Track program and nine

graduates from the Nurse Practitioner-Primary Health Care program. Again, it

shows the commitment that this Province has, this government has to providing

more and more nurses to the system. Are we fixing everything today, Mr. Speaker?

Absolutely not. Would we like to fix everything today? Absolutely, we would.

The Member for Grand Bank, just a moment ago, had said that the hon. minister

was actually asking the questions and answering them. I guess I am doing the

same. We all recognize the fact that we have not done everything that we would

like to be able to do but we are moving forward. We are trying to make steady

progress here, Mr. Speaker.

This is the thing that I liked - when I read this today I felt really good

about it, in fact. Currently, there are sixteen Inuit students completing the

Integrated Nursing Access Program. Students who successfully complete the

program will qualify for application into year two of the BN program in 2007.

What does that do? What that does, Mr. Speaker, I believe, is it puts everything

into perspective in terms of Labrador. It ensures that we do have nurses. We

have medical professionals who are actually in Labrador, who are coming from

their homeland, who are studying nursing, who are going to go back to their

homeland, go back to rural Newfoundland and Labrador and they are actually going

to be able to work and they are going to be able to do things that are great in

rural Newfoundland and Labrador for the nursing profession.

Mr. Speaker, if you look at other things that we are doing. Eastern Health

has converted 168 casual positions to permanent full-time and they have hired

100 new graduates. I want to speak about that for a minute because, again, that

is a very important piece of all of this that this government is doing. That is

an important piece of our plan that we have for the medical system in this

Province.

Again, I want to go back to when my wife was a nurse. I remember when she

finished nursing school, it was very, very difficult to get a full-time job, Mr.

Speaker. There were lots of jobs around but they were casual positions. There is

no young person who can start their life off based on just a casual position. I

remember that was a big decision she had to make, should she leave the Province

to look for a full-time position or should she stick around for a casual

position. Mr. Speaker, I am talking about the early 1990s. I am talking about

the late 1980s when this happened. This is not a thing that has come up all of a

sudden in Newfoundland and Labrador since this government has taken power,

certainly not that. This is an issue that has been around for a long time. At

the time, she did take a casual position, but it did work into a permanent

position.

When you look at things that this government is doing, like providing 168

casual positions and turning them into full-time positions, again, that is a

good stride. That is a good thing that we are doing as a government. It is a

step forward. It is a move that is positive for the medical part of this

Province today.

Central Health has hired thirty permanent full-time RNs. Western Health has

hired thirty-nine permanent full-time RNs. Labrador Grenfell Health has hired

sixteen permanent full-time RNs. That is, again, good news for the Province and

it shows this government's commitment to health care in this Province.

Again, Mr. Speaker, I will go back to the motion for a moment. When we look

at the last part of the motion which - again, I do not think anybody in this

House would disagree. I do not think anybody in this House would say that we

should not urge government, that we should not take immediate action to deal

with the recruitment and retention of health care professionals. I believe

everybody on this side of the House believes that. I believe that through the

initiatives that this government has brought in, through the initiatives that we

continue to work on, that we are actually making sure that this is a reality. We

are doing this right now. It is not to the speed maybe that we would like to

even see it. We would certainly like to be able to see more and more nurses,

more and more professionals, more and more health care workers in our system.

The fact is, that it takes time, Mr. Speaker, and we are working towards that.

Budget 2007 acknowledged $1 million to be cost shared with original health

authorities to support an eight week orientation program for new nursing

graduates in front line practice. Again, another good initiative.

Budget 2007 provided $1.6 million in incremental funding to complete the

hiring of thirty-nine public health nursing positions approved last year.

Government is trying to put money where it is mostly needed, Mr. Speaker. We

are moving forward in the right manner. We are doing things that I believe are

the correct things to d