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November 4, 2013 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVII No. 23

The House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Wiseman): Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Before we start regular proceedings today, I have the honour of following a

strong, established parliamentary tradition as we welcome a new member to the

House of Assembly.

I have the task today of welcoming Ms Lisa Dempster who has been recently

elected in a by-election for the District of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair, and I

have been advised by the Clerk that the member has taken the Oath of Office, the

Oath of Allegiance to the Crown, as required by the Constitution, and has signed

the Members' Roll.

The Chair would like to welcome Ms Dempster, as she is being escorted by the

Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. JOYCE: Mr. Speaker, I introduce Ms Lisa Dempster, the Member for

Cartwright L'Anse au Clair, who wishes to take her seat.

MR. SPEAKER: Congratulations.

MS DEMPSTER: Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: Please take your seat.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Today I want to also welcome to our galleries two special

guests, Susan Shiner and Ruby Hann, both of whom will be the subjects of

members' statements in a moment.

I also want to acknowledge the presence of Wayne Lucas, who is the President

of CUPE, Newfoundland and Labrador Region.

Statements by Members

MR. SPEAKER: Today we are going to have members' statements from the

Member for the District of Signal Hill Quidi Vidi; the Member for the District

of The Straits White Bay North; the Member for the District of St. John's

East; the Member for the District of St. John's South; the Member for the

District of St. Barbe; and the Member for the District of Cape St. Francis.

The Member for the District of Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

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

I am so pleased today to stand and congratulate Susan Shiner, a long-time

friend and colleague in the women's movement, who last week was one of five

women presented with a Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons

Case. The Persons Award recognizes contributions to the advancement of women's

equality and celebrates Canada's evolution as an inclusive society.

Susan moved here in 1972, and has since been an inspiration to many of us.

She has volunteered with the St. John's Status of Women Council and the St.

John's Women's Centre since 1985, serving as a board and committee member. From

1987 to 2000 Susan worked at the Iris Kirby House as the Children's Services

Counsellor, and since 2000 she has been the Family Services Co-ordinator at the

Daybreak Parent Child Centre.

Susan has also extended her beliefs and principles into action in organized

labour. She is the Chair of the CUPE Newfoundland and Labrador Equality

Committee, as well as the provincial representative on CUPE's National Women's

Committee.

I ask all hon. members to join me in congratulating Susan Shiner, most recent

provincial recipient of the Persons Award.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

White Bay North.

MR. MITCHELMORE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Barb Genge, a successful entrepreneur,

engaged community leader, and champion for sustainable development for being

inducted into the Canadian Tourism Hall of Fame.

Barbe is President of the Tuckamore Lodge, an award-winning hunting, fishing,

and adventure tourism lodge located in Main Brook, which is considered one of

the best outfitting lodges in all of Canada. She believes in full economic

utilization, without abuse, of nature's resources and operates her lodge based

on these principles.

Barb is an inspirational entrepreneur and a true leader of the north,

exhibited through a lifetime of advancing the profile of tourism on the Great

Northern Peninsula. She was a founding member of the Viking Trail Tourism

Association and its predecessor, which levered millions in funding for the

Viking Millennial Celebrations at L'Anse aux Meadows.

She served fifteen years as an Economic Development Officer at White Bay

Central Development Association establishing community partnerships and

investing millions in environmental and tourism related projects. In addition,

she is a recipient of the Sustainable Tourism Award, Entrepreneur of the Year,

and PRIDE award for excellence in tourism.

I ask all hon. members to join me in congratulating Barb Genge on her

business and community success.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for St. John's East.

MR. MURPHY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to say thank you to an outstanding volunteer. Ruby Hann was the

recipient of the Alice Noseworthy Volunteer of the Year Award for 2012-2013. The

award is presented by the Seniors Outreach Program of the City of St. John's in

memory of Alice Noseworthy, a long-time volunteer and participant in the city's

seniors program.

Her family donated the award to remember Alice and to recognize other

volunteers who enriched the community. Ruby is a long-time participant of the

seniors' program and, according to her award citation, has always been there to

lend a helping hand. The citation noted Ruby's support with everything from

poster distribution to recruiting new participants.

Ruby's volunteerism extends beyond the city program; she is also an active

member at the Kenny's Park apartments, where she lives, helping with the social

club there get funding. She is known for being a volunteer who always rises to

any occasion, even when called upon unexpectedly.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. members to join me in congratulating Ruby Hann,

winner of the Alice Noseworthy Volunteer of the Year Award for 2012-2013.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for the District of St. John's South.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Next week, I will attend a Remembrance Day Ceremony in Shea Heights. On the

monument in front of the community centre in Shea Heights there are over 150

names of men and women who have served in World War I, World War II, and the

Korean War.

As we prepare for November 11, I would like to recognize our veterans, our

Newfoundland Regiment, Newfoundland Foresters, Merchant Marines, Peace Keepers,

and all of those who have served to preserve our freedoms.

We enjoy our freedoms today because our veterans have fought for those

freedoms. Many of the men and women who fought for us did not make it home.

We live in a society that allows freedom of speech, we live in a democracy;

we live in a part of the world where we generally feel safe. These benefits came

at great cost. At Beaumont-Hamel, for example, only sixty-eight of almost 800

troops answered the call the morning after battle.

As we stand with our veterans on November 11, let us remember those who left

home and did not make it back. Let us be thankful to the veterans in attendance,

and let us remember those who gave us what we most often take for granted, our

freedom.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to commend and

thank Maureen Blanchard of Norris Point for her unconditional commitment to the

community, past residents, and current residents of Norris Point.

For many years during the spring, Maureen spends hours and hours in the local

cemetery caring for graves and headstones. Many of the deceased have no

connection to her and no longer have family or friends in the area but Maureen

will not let them be forgotten.

Every community needs people of Maureen's character to care for public places

and to maintain our history. She exemplifies the caring nature of our people in

Newfoundland and Labrador, a culture that we cherish and protect.

On behalf of the families and communities, I thank Maureen Blanchard for this

dedicated service to her community and our Province.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of the House to join me in commending and

thanking Maureen Blanchard and people like her throughout our entire Province

whose unselfish service often goes unnoticed.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Cape St. Francis.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. K. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in this hon. House today to recognize a Flatrock resident and a Torbay

volunteer firefighter, Mr. Phillip Whitten.

On the morning of August 6, while coming home from work, Phillip noticed some

smoke coming from a home on the hills in Torbay. When he arrived at the house,

the side of the house was on fire so he called 911 and searched to see if anyone

was inside.

A side window was open, so yelled into it and woke up a young girl. He helped

get her out, and she advised him that her mother was still inside. He pounded on

a bedroom window, woke the mother up and got her outside. Then she informed him

that both her husband and son were still inside.

Phillip proceeded inside the house and escorted the son out. He also told the

father that the house was on fire and got him out safely as well.

Phillip is a person who does not want any recognition for what he did, but

the fact is he got four people out of a burning house and his actions surely

helped save them. Phillip takes great pride in his work and trains hard as a

volunteer firefighter.

I ask all hon. members to join with me in thanking Phillip Whitten for his

efforts and goodwill.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY: Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to reiterate our

government's vision for economic development, balanced with environmental

protection. There has been much discussion surrounding hydraulic fracturing in

recent months. I can assure Newfoundlanders and Labradorians that our

government's first and main consideration when exploring an economic development

opportunity is the health and safety of our people and protection of the

environment. These principles guide our decisions and remain our highest

priorities.

Today, I am announcing that our government will not be accepting applications

for onshore and onshore to offshore petroleum exploration using hydraulic

fracturing. This measure provides an opportunity for government to undertake a

balanced review of regulations, rules and guidelines in other jurisdictions; to

complete the technical work necessary to fully assess the geological impact in

Western Newfoundland; and, following this process, to undertake public

engagement to ensure that our residents have an opportunity to comment and are

fully informed before any decision is made.

Mr. Speaker, oil and gas exploration and development has played a significant

role in the economic growth of this Province, transforming the economy and

prospects for Newfoundland and Labrador.

Petroleum drilling and production activities throughout our Province have

proceeded in accordance with stringent regulations and rules. Our sound approach

to petroleum industry regulation and environmental protection is guiding the

step we are taking today.

Our first consideration is the health and safety of our people. In making

this decision, our government is acting responsibly and respecting the balance

between economic development and environmental protection.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for the District of Humber Valley.

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement.

Interesting enough in this very House on March 27, 2013 as a PMR, the Official

Opposition brought in a private member's resolution to put in place regulations

against fracking. At that time, all members opposite voted down that PMR.

Today, we are pleased, however, with the approach that has been taken; we

really do believe in public engagement. The people who I have talked to over the

summer, the people who actually live close to the resource that we are talking

about in Western Newfoundland, are keenly interested in getting this process

started.

I believe we have lost some time. There was an opportunity last spring to get

this process started. In a general sense, the public engagement is the way to

go. We support this Ministerial Statement. It is long overdue, I believe, and I

look forward to the process. I would like to see a date in place when this could

be finalized.

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for St. John's East.

MR. MURPHY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is good to hear the government step back finally, after all the petitions

that were presented in this House, Mr. Speaker, and I have one more to present

today. It is nice to see them step back, and actually have the time to take to

put some sanity back into the reasoning behind why government wanted to proceed

this way in the first place. It seemed like it was very rash; it seemed like it

was very unconcerned the way that they wanted to proceed with development.

They called us anti-development. Right now they are speaking the NDP platform

when they are talking about being able to step back and take the time. Let's see

what Mr. Scott Vaughan says, the environmental commissioner of this country,

when he comes out with his report on fracking in 2014.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH: Mr. Speaker, there are tragic events in the history of our

Province that not only profoundly affected the lives of those involved, but all

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. The crash of Cougar 491 on March 12, 2009 and

the 1985 Universal helicopter crash on March 13, 1985 are two such events.

As a government, it is important that we develop a memorial that remembers

and honours the individuals whose lives were lost in these helicopter tragedies.

To that end, a committee of family members, government representatives, and

labour and industry stakeholders was established with an aim of developing a

memorial that represented the families' vision for honouring their loved ones.

They wanted a monument that would keep the victims' memories alive, and make it

a place where visitors could reflect and learn more about these events.

Mr. Speaker, there was a delicate balance between commemoration and

compassion that had to be achieved. The committee carefully reviewed the

submissions and chose the one they felt best achieved that balance. The proposal

put forward by Luben Boykov and Frederick Hann was selected, and I was pleased

to present the design to the families just last week. The City of St. John's

partnered with us and donated the land for the site at Quidi Vidi Lake.

The memorial design is a circular space with a spiraling stainless steel

sculpture at its centre, representative of the aerial screw prototype of the

first helicopter envisioned by Leonardo da Vinci in the late fifteenth century.

The sculpture is made of stainless steel, a material used widely in aviation and

the oil and gas industry. Along the spiral of the aerial screw, the names of the

twenty-three victims of both helicopter tragedies are cut into the stainless

steel.

A second prominent element in the design is light, representing hope, faith,

remembrance, healing, and care. This light will be visible at night everywhere

around Quidi Vidi Lake and will shine through the open cutwork of the names. A

series of five permanently illuminated lights on the ground will help lead

visitors along a path into the main circular spaces for contemplation and

reflection.

Mr. Speaker, it is our sincere hope that the memorial will not only be a

lasting reminder of the victims of those helicopter tragedies, but also a place

that speaks to the impact they have had on the lives of all who knew them. We

feel this memorial will be a site worthy of that remembrance.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Member for Humber Valley.

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the minister for the advance copy. I did have the privilege

to attend the service last week and I do want to congratulate the government, in

partnership with the City of St. John's, in choosing this site.

I believe this monument does capture its purpose and, indeed, will be a

lasting reminder of the victims and, of course, the impact they have had on the

lives of their families. It was a pleasure for me to join with the family

members who were there, including government officials.

It has been awhile coming, since Cougar 491 and the Universal helicopter

crash in 1985, but there are still some outstanding questions. It was ironic

that on the very same day we had the industry out there asking for the

resumption of night flights. I think the focus should be not really on how we

respond in these situations, but indeed how do we prevent these accidents from

happening in the first place.

Overall, I believe the memorial will achieve its objective, and I was

certainly pleased to be a part of the service last week.

MR. SPEAKER: The Leader of the Third Party.

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

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

government in the work they have done to dedicate this memorial, and I commend

them for the sensitivity to the families of the individuals we have lost in

these accidents. I also hope the memorial will serve as a lasting reminder to

the impact this loss of life has had on the community as well.

Now I hope the government will move forward with another act to commemorate

these accident victims, and I call upon government to ensure that no regularly

scheduled night flights be allowed in this Province's offshore oil industry. If

I remember correctly, Mr. Speaker, I did hear family members say the same thing,

so I ask government to listen to that as well.

Thank you very much.

MR. SPEAKER: Does the Member for St. John's North have leave?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: No leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Further Ministerial Statements?

The hon. the Minister of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am pleased to rise today in this hon. House to highlight the fantastic work

done by our municipal councils around this Province. In particular, I want to

thank councillors who recently retired from office, and I want to recognize new

councillors who have come forward to serve. I would also like to thank returning

officers for their important contribution to the election process.

On September 24, we saw almost 2,000 candidates step forward during the

municipal election to offer themselves for consideration. These individuals were

young and old, women and men, and came from all walks of life. They had one

thing in common their desire to make our communities better places.

Mr. Speaker, I can now confirm that on September 24, 125 elections were held,

and seventy-four councils were elected by acclamation. Our officials are working

with communities to provide guidance and training as new councils begin their

important work.

When we look at the gender distribution during the 2013 election, of the 804

who were elected, we saw 551 men, and 253 women taking office. This represents a

2 per cent increase in elected female councillors.

Mr. Speaker, I am also pleased to report the success of our Make Your Mark

campaign in promoting the recent election and encouraging candidates to step

forward for nomination. Our grassroots campaign focused on promotion through

Make Your Mark hashtag being used by candidates across the Province.

One significant aspect of our work with our town councils is municipal

training and support. In fact, this coming Thursday I will be attending the

Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador Convention here in St. John's. We will

be participating in a number of sessions over a three-day period to provide

updates on infrastructure developments, municipal operating grants, councillor

orientation, and our ongoing fiscal framework review.

Mr. Speaker, I look forward to working with our new councils as we build

stronger communities for our children and families across Newfoundland and

Labrador.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement, and all members on

this side also would like to thank all the councillors who put their name

forward to represent their towns in municipal elections. It is always a

privilege and sometimes a challenging job to represent the people they represent

in smaller towns with the challenges they do have.

To the people who did not put their name forward who were on council before,

we thank you for making our towns a much better place in our Province. For the

people who did not get elected, it is still an honour and a privilege to put

your name forward hopefully, those people will represent you.

I say to the minister, if you are really concerned about the municipalities

and the people who put their name forward, you should have that fiscal framework

agreement with the towns done immediately, Mr. Speaker. In 2008 it was committed

to, the towns are struggling financially. Right now they are begging to the

government to have this agreement in place, but once again we see another delay

until next year. If you are really concerned about the municipalities, do the

proper thing, make the commitment that you made in 2008 and have the fiscal

arrangement done immediately to ensure the towns will remain viable.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's East.

MR. MURPHY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would also like to thank the minister for the advance copy of his

statement. At the same time, I wish him all the best in his new department.

Congratulations, Sir.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to thank all these people who took the bold

step forward in putting their names in the hat. I know they face some

challenges, particularly when it comes to population decline. They face

challenges when it comes to raising new revenue to undertake any project that

they have to in the future. It is good to see such a level of enthusiasm amongst

these volunteers. Some of these people step forward and take these positions

without any form of remuneration. I think that is a very important point to

remember.

I would also like to thank the minister for the efforts, too, for gender

equality. It is nice to see so many women. The percentage I know was up this

year. So, again, congratulations to all involved.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Does the hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North

have leave?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: No leave.

MR. SPEAKER: It is time for Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

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

MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

On March 13, 2012, the Premier said to ensure our Province has excess Muskrat

Falls power available for industrial development she would not enter into a

long-term power purchase agreement for any excess power. By now she is saying

just do that with Emera of Nova Scotia.

I ask the Premier: Why are you offering Emera of Nova Scotia a long-term

power purchase agreement which you promised you would not do in this House of

Assembly?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we have talked many times in this House about what a wonderful

project Muskrat Falls is for the people of the Province.

Mr. Speaker, in the contract we have with Emera, we pledged to them 20 per

cent of the power from Muskrat Falls. Forty per cent of the power will be used

for ratepayers here on the Island, Mr. Speaker, and the remainder 40 per cent of

the power will be used for industrial development and increased residential

demand. We made that promise and that commitment to the people of the Province

from the very beginning, Mr. Speaker. That has not changed.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. JOYCE: Mr. Speaker, the Premier has cooked up a deal with Emera of

Nova Scotia to provide almost 60 per cent of Muskrat Falls' power at market

rates, which are currently just four cents a kilowatt. People in our Province

will have to pay at least fifteen cents a kilowatt for the same power.

I ask the Premier: Why does everyone else get discounted power except the

people of Newfoundland and Labrador?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, in the second tranche of the agreement with Emera, what we have

pledged to sell to them at market prices is the excess power that is generated

within our system.

Mr. Speaker, when you use coal-fired generation, you know exactly how much

power you need and that is the amount of power you generate. In a hydropower

situation, Mr. Speaker, you have what you call firm power, which we know we can

absolutely produce on a daily annual basis and we provide that to ratepayers,

Mr. Speaker.

Beyond the firm power, we have non-firm power, Mr. Speaker. We cannot do

long-term contracts for non-firm power because most people want that power on a

certain time.

I will be glad to continue my answer in supplementary, if I can.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE: Now we know that Nova Scotians will get four cents a kilowatt

today. Why doesn't the Premier of this Province tell the people of Newfoundland

and Labrador what they will pay for the Muskrat power?

You are telling Nova Scotia, but you will not give the people of Newfoundland

and Labrador the same courtesy. Tell us what we will pay for that power today,

as you are doing to Nova Scotians.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as I said, beyond the firm power we generate non-firm power,

which can be anything from half a terawatt to four or five terawatts a year.

Based on fifty years of hydrogeology, the amount of snow or rain in this

Province, we have been able to commit to Emera 1.2 extra terawatts of power on

average; Mr. Speaker, some years that might be 0.5 terawatt, another year that

might be three.

Mr. Speaker, if we did not have a link we would have to

spill that water. This is another opportunity to commercialize the vast

resources we have here in the Province to earn money from it. Mr. Speaker, we

may use that money to reduce power rates; we may use it to buy cancer drugs,

build schools or roads.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. JOYCE: Just for the residents of Newfoundland and Labrador, the

Premier will not tell us how much we are going to pay but she will tell the

people of Nova Scotia. Great job, Premier. You should run for the Premier of

Nova Scotia, you will win by a landslide.

Mr. Speaker, residents of Nova Scotia are seeing the benefits of a full

review of Muskrat Falls by a utility board. They are ensuring that ratepayers in

that Province are protected and getting the most of the development.

I ask the Premier: Why have you hidden Muskrat Falls from a full review by a

utility board, and will you now send this project back to our PUB for a full

review?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I will say again: Muskrat Falls is a wonderful project for the

people of this Province for the people of the country.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: It is the least-cost option for Newfoundland and

Labrador, Mr. Speaker, bar none, and we have made that argument time and time

again. The argument we have made has been validated by at least seven

independent experts on a variety of issues surrounding Muskrat Falls.

Mr. Speaker, the easiest analogy I can give is building a house and the

mortgage is costing you $1,000 a month. In that house is a basement apartment,

and basement apartments are going for $600 a month. We decide to rent the

basement apartment for $600. Will we keep it empty rather than charge somebody

the $1,000?

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

MR. JOYCE: Just to let you know, if you are building a home you would at

least let an inspector in to review the home. You would not just build it. You

have to have it.

Mr. Speaker, I recently represented injured workers who need their cases

reconsidered by the Workers' Compensation Review Division. Injured workers are

waiting months to have their cases reviewed due to a backlog in the decision

being made.

I ask the Premier: How is it that injured workers are being automatically

rejected for missing the deadline by just one day, but it is acceptable for her

own officials to break legislation requirements to have the review completed?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Service NL.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. CRUMMELL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the emphasis of the Review Division is both on quality and

efficiency. The full-time Chief Review Commissioner has a cadre of commissioners

as well who are doing tremendous work for the people of the Province and injured

workers in the Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. CRUMMELL: We now, Mr. Speaker, have lightened the load in terms of

the wait times for injured workers and employers, from six months to four

months, so things are moving ahead very positively. There are still some

challenges, but we are getting to a very good place. We are very happy, very

proud, of the work that is being done, and Mr. Speaker, it is one of the most

efficient and effective systems in Canada.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. JOYCE: I say to the minister, if you think by your officials breaking

your own guidelines, breaking your own rules, while someone who is injured

cannot miss it by one day is efficient; it is time for you to go back and have a

review of your own views on workers' compensation.

Mr. Speaker, it is no secret that the minister's officials are breaking

deadlines on timely reviews with the minister's approval. The review division

left 309 workers stranded with reviews that were unheard of last year double

the number of cases in 2010.

I ask the Premier: Will you now give the injured workers the respect they

deserve to ensure their reviews are completed in a timely manner?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Service NL.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. CRUMMELL: Mr. Speaker, improved service to the injured workers of

this Province, improved service to the employers of this Province, is something

that we are very proud of.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. CRUMMELL: The metrics, Mr. Speaker, are in place to show that the

system is getting better all the time. We will take his comments under

advisement and get back to him.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Last year, government denied our Public Utilities Board the opportunity to

hold technical briefings on Muskrat Falls. Actually, they said we did not have

time. Now Nalcor officials are presenting at the technical briefings on the

project in Nova Scotia.

So I ask the minister: Why have you continued to place our ratepayers at

risk, while going at great lengths to protect the ratepayers in Nova Scotia?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY: Mr. Speaker, fundamental to the Muskrat Falls Project, is

that this is about Newfoundlanders and Labradorians first. Make no mistake about

this, Mr. Speaker. The power that is generated is going to be the least-cost

option for ratepayers into our future; it is going to be great for

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Mr. Speaker, built into that, not only are we in terms of a least-cost

option; we are going to have surplus power and we are going to have an

opportunity to add value to the project to make money for Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians.

We have gone through an extensive process; everything that Nalcor has been

doing has been validated from the federal government to Navigant, to Manitoba

Hydro, to the Bank of Canada. The list goes on, Mr. Speaker. This is a great

project for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and we are looking forward to

getting it done.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. BALL: I will remind the minister who did not validate it. That was

the joint panel review and the Public Utilities Board in our Province. As a

matter of fact, Nalcor is over presenting in Nova Scotia as we speak.

Even though this government is plowing full steam ahead on the Muskrat Falls

Project, the $1 billion federal loan guarantee is still not finalized. For the

project to receive the federal loan guarantee, it has to achieve financial

close.

I ask the minister: A year ago the Premier signed an agreement with Stephen

Harper for the federal loan guarantee; has Nalcor delivered on all the

conditions precedent and, if not, when will this be achieved?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury

Board.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. MARSHALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In June of this year, Nalcor commenced a request for the financing process

for the Muskrat Falls Project. This is a robust, competitive process, it is

progressing as planned, and it is continuing. There has been great interest in

what Nalcor is doing, positive interest from the financial markets. Obviously,

it makes the financing processes extremely interesting.

We must be careful, we must be prudent, not to release any details prior to

placement of the financing that could have an impact that could adversely affect

the people of the Province for a time frame as long as fifty years. The timing

of the placement will incur at the right commercial time, but no timing has been

selected at this point. The lead arrangement selection will be made at the

appropriate time, but not right now. This is standard industry practice. It is

necessary to (inaudible)

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. BALL: I think what I heard the minister say is we are going to wait

until they are finished in Nova Scotia and then we will have all the answers on

financial close.

Mr. Speaker, we know that government is spending $1 million a day on Muskrat

Falls, but they have not been clear on how much is committed to the project.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. BALL: I ask the minister: How much taxpayer money is committed to

your Muskrat Falls Project to date?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY: Mr. Speaker, the issue with the UARB and that process is

about clarity. We are going to enter into the markets where there is significant

interest for $5 billion.

It is important, as we enter into the market, that we have clarity on the

full project, waiting in terms of what the UARB decision will be; but, what is

important and why we are doing this, so that the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador understand, when we go into the market we will get the best deal for

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. We will keep their rates down, Mr. Speaker.

We will continue to make this project favourable. We will do it in the right

timelines, Mr. Speaker, because it is about Newfoundlanders and Labradorians,

and it is about the lowest-cost option. That is the process we are going to

follow.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. BALL: If it is about Newfoundlanders and Labradorians we just

answered the question; we are spending $1 million a day currently right now.

How much has been committed on this project in terms of tenders? How much of

a commitment have we made to this project?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY: Mr. Speaker, I do not have the exact number, but I think it

is around $235 million to date. Mr. Speaker, it is important to understand in

terms of the process, in terms in working with contractors, this is also about

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians working. There are going to be over 3,300 jobs

in Muskrat Falls.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY: There are over twenty companies from Newfoundland and

Labrador on the ground in Muskrat Falls, Mr. Speaker. As we work through a

process, as we proceed towards the end of this project, we are ramping up and

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are certainly getting the benefits.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, last week the Premier threw a big party down at

The Rooms. A big lavish party to celebrate a $280 million payoff from the

federal government for

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. BENNETT: - minimum processing requirements.

I ask the Premier: How many of our processing jobs will be lost as a result

of her payoff that she received from the feds?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I grew up in a fisher's home. I lived in a fishing community for

fifty years of my life and always had a great interest.

I was on part of the appeals committee of when the cod fishery was closed,

when people talked to us about their lives and their earnings from the fishery.

I travelled the length, breadth, and width of this Province, Mr. Speaker, and

heard from people first-hand about their experience in the fishery.

One theme that made its way through all of that, Mr. Speaker, was how much

better off we would be if we had access to a European market to sell our fish

products. Mr. Speaker, last week, or two weeks ago, we achieved what has been

the dream of many in this Province for a very long time.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, the question was: Would there be job losses or

not? I take it that there will be job losses because the last minister to go

through the revolving door at the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture said

that 9,000 people depend on seafood processing for a livelihood. The feds now

claim that part of that $280 million is to cover job losses.

I ask the Premier: How many job losses will there be? How many plants are

expected to die in the first five years after CETA, after her deal with Stephen

Harper?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, only 13 per cent of our fish now goes into the European market,

a market of over 500 million people. At the signing of CETA, 99 per cent of our

fish can go into the European market. It would be a value of about $25 million,

quickly believed to grow to $100 million. How many people will lose their jobs?

I say, Mr. Speaker, none.

Mr. Speaker, let me tell you, there is only one other province in this

country that had minimum processing requirements

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: - that was the Province of Quebec, Mr. Speaker. They

gave up their minimum processing requirements too, because when they look at the

Maritimes they see that there is no impact, Mr. Speaker, but they did not get a

$400 million transformation fund.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

MR. EDMUNDS: Mr. Speaker, gas sniffing is an ongoing crisis in

Natuashish. Sadly, children as young as six and seven years old are sniffing

gas. In the spring the minister said it was government's priority to ensure the

safety of these children.

I ask the minister: What new strategy has government implemented to help

address this crisis?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The matter raised by the member opposite, I can tell you it is a very serious

matter for the community of Natuashish. It is a very serious matter for us as a

government. We have been facing challenges for some time in recruiting and being

successful in moving the qualified and available personnel to live in that

community and work in that community.

We have now worked towards a fly in, fly out process; a pilot project which

we have been working on with our staff. We have generated terrific interest, Mr.

Speaker, from not only qualified social workers but qualified and experienced

social workers who have an interest in participating in this program. We are

working through that process and we look forward to implementing that in the

very near future.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

MR. EDMUNDS: Mr. Speaker, the incidents of gas sniffing in Natuashish

have become an epidemic. They are not marked by just the next media story.

I ask the minister: How confident are you that these new initiatives will

address and hopefully put an end to the epidemic affecting the children of

Natuashish.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Some of these issues and challenges that affect this very isolated community

have been seen throughout the years and for generations. I can tell you what we

are not doing, Mr. Speaker. What we are not doing is we are not giving up on the

community of Natuashish and we are not giving up on the children of Natuashish.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DAVIS: Mr. Speaker, we are bringing together the best expertise that

is available to us. We have qualified staff on the ground in Natuashish today as

we develop and roll out this pilot project, which will bring consistency and

apply consistency of better services to communities so we can work with the

stakeholders, we can work with the leaders of the community, we can work with

the families and the children of Natuashish, so that we can bring an end to this

problem in this community.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS DEMPSTER: Mr. Speaker, the Strait of Belle Isle ferry service is

operating on a twenty-year-old

schedule that no longer reflects the reality of

the region. The latest

schedule change is causing huge problems for both

residential and commercial traffic.

I ask the Minister of Transportation and Works: When will you listen to the

recommendations of our own transportation committee and allow for more crossings

of the Apollo ?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. MCGRATH: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the new Member for

Cartwright L'Anse au Clair to the House.

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to the Labrador ferry schedule, our department

monitors this on a daily basis. There are times, when we feel it is necessary,

to put on extra runs, and we do that on a regular basis. We will continue to

monitor and when we see it necessary to put on the extra runs, they will be

there.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS DEMPSTER: Mr. Speaker, we all remember the fiasco last year when

government failed to issue a tender for the Strait of Belle Isle in a timely

manner. The existing contract runs out in January 2014 and we are close to

repeating the same debacle of last year.

I ask the Minister of Transportation and Works: Why are you delaying the

issuing of the tender for the Strait of Belle Isle ferry service for 2014-2015?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. MCGRATH: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I can guarantee you there is no debacle going to happen in this

coming year. As an MHA from Labrador, I watch it very closely also. We are very

close now I am working with some of the contractors on having that RFP

awarded. I worked very closely as we know, the Bond is now in refit and

getting ready to come out for this spring and winter schedule.

Again, we are watching that closely, working with the contractors, and I can

guarantee you that there will be a

schedule running on a regular basis.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's South.

You have time for a quick question without

preamble, please.

MR. OSBORNE: Mr. Speaker, Accreditation Canada released a report last

week identifying affordable housing and housing conditions as an issue.

I ask the Minister Responsible for Service Newfoundland and Labrador: When

will he protect our tenants with minimal housing standards as they do in other

provinces?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Service Newfoundland and Labrador,

for a quick answer.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. CRUMMELL: Mr. Speaker, the residential tenants review is ongoing. It

is a comprehensive review. We are looking at the legislation. We are doing

public consultations, which I have just concluded. Mr. Speaker, when the time is

appropriate, we will bring it to the House of Assembly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's South.

I apologize for the last time; I miscalculated my number. This is a quick

question that you have so make this one quicker than the last one.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. OSBORNE: Can I have my

preamble on this one?

I ask the Minister for Service Newfoundland and Labrador: Will the changes to

the legislation include minimal standards to protect tenants in this Province?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Again, a quick answer, please.

The hon. the Minister of Service Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. CRUMMELL: Mr. Speaker, we are still awaiting the results of that

review, and we will bring it to the House of Assembly at that point in time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. Leader of the Third Party.

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

Emera and Nalcor's latest application to the Nova Scotia utility board is, in

essence, a new deal, and there are experts who are saying that. That agency will

rule on whether this deal meets conditions set for project sanction of the

Maritime Link, an essential piece of Muskrat Falls.

So, Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier: Will she submit this new proposal to the

PUB so they can decide if it is a good deal for the people of this Province?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I love it every time I have an opportunity to get up and talk

about what a wonderful project this is for Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Mr. Speaker, many times in this House of Assembly in

the last two years we have been accused, by parties opposite, for building this

project and trying to build the Maritime Link and bring the power to markets

that did not exist did not exist in the Maritimes, Mr. Speaker, did not exist

in New England. Here we are today, Mr. Speaker, we cannot even get out of Nova

Scotia. We can sell everything that we are producing in Nova Scotia.

This is not a new deal, Mr. Speaker. In terms of Muskrat Falls the plan

always was 40-40-20. It still is, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I ask the Premier: Why is the future of her $8 billion-plus Muskrat Falls

hydro project that we are paying for being decided by a Nova Scotia PUB charged

with ensuring their province gets the best deal for Nova Scotians, not for

people in this Province?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, that is a wonderful question, because it captures the whole

disconnect between this debate since the very first days. Muskrat Falls, first

and foremost, is being built for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Anything we are doing with Emera, Mr. Speaker, is to

commercialize the extra power we have until we need it here in Newfoundland and

Labrador, either for industrial development, hopefully in Labrador, or for

increasing demand from ratepayers in the Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL: Mr. Speaker, I am asking the Premier: Will she explain to the

people of Newfoundland and Labrador, while the people of Nova Scotia enjoy far

lower electricity rates from the Muskrat Falls Project than they are, who will

be carrying the financial burden? Explain that to the people of this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I can explain it again. It has been explained over and over

again, even by the PUB. Their experts, Manitoba Hydro, have explained time and

time again that Muskrat Falls for us is the least-cost option. We have to build

generation. We have to run transmission lines the length and breadth of this

Province. There is over a $2 billion difference between Muskrat Falls and the

next least-cost option. They have never been able to disprove that fact. If you

can, do it, please.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

On Friday, the government announced that low-income wage earners will be

waiting another year before receiving any relief through a wage increase.

I ask the Premier: Will she explain to the lowest paid workers in this

Province why she did not follow the recommendations of her advisory committee to

bring minimum wage up to a level that would meet the cost of living?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister Responsible for the Labour Relations

Agency.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am indeed very pleased to be able to speak to that particular question. We

are very pleased with the announcement we made on Friday.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KING: It puts us in a spot, Mr. Speaker, where at this point in time

the announced wage increases we have on the table puts us as only two

jurisdictions in Canada will be ahead of us based on that announcement. We are

very proud of that.

We have done a lot of other things besides the minimum wage increase, Mr.

Speaker, to support those low-income earners in our Province. I talk about the

Home Heating Rebate, the drug plan, the health care plan we provide, the

low-income supplement for seniors, just to name a few.

There is more to supporting low-income families and low-income earners in

this Province, I say, than simply raising the minimum wage. That is why we have

a complete suite of packages available.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

MS ROGERS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Government has hidden the sexual exploitation report and its ten pages of

recommendations for two-and-a-half years. Mr. Speaker, youth are being sexually

exploited for shelter, for food, and for drugs. They are in danger right now.

I ask the minister: What is she doing to protect them now?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, violence and violence prevention is an issue that we take very

seriously as a government. Our record shows that we take this issue very

seriously through our Violence Prevention Initiative which has been touted as

one of the best in the country. We have done very active initiatives when it

comes to violence.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON: Mr. Speaker, when speaking of the report itself, we have a

responsibility to take advice from the RNC. They are the experts, Mr. Speaker,

when it comes to public safety. Any mention at all of this report, it was

advised that this would have put people particularly vulnerable people in

harm's way.

I see the member shaking her head. I would expect from a member, such as the

member opposite, that she would want to protect vulnerable women, Mr. Speaker.

It is a shame to see that she is shaking

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The member has time for a quick question.

MS ROGERS: Mr. Speaker, how many of the recommendations of this report

have the minister achieved now?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister Responsible for the Status of Women.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, our government's record on violence prevention is solid. We have

brought in numerous initiatives when it comes to violence prevention.

Mr. Speaker, the easiest thing to do would have been to speak to these

recommendations. We have acted on many and will be acting on more of them when

we release violence prevention II.

The fact remains that we have to ensure public safety. We have to ensure the

safety of vulnerable people, in this instance mostly women. I would expect the

same from the member opposite. It is shameful.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The time for Question Period has expired.

I failed to notice in the gallery earlier today, when I acknowledged some

special guests, today we have a former member of this House in the gallery, Mr.

Roger Simmons.

Welcome to our House, Sir.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Municipal and Intergovernmental

Affairs.

MR. KENT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

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

report of the Select Committee as follows:

To His Honour the Lieutenant Governor, the Honourable Frank F. Fagan, CM,

ONL, CMA.

May it please Your Honour: We, the Commons of Newfoundland and Labrador in

Legislative Session assembled, beg to thank Your Honour for the Gracious Speech

which Your Honour has addressed in this House.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for Burgeo La Poile, that the

report of the Select Committee be adopted.

MR. SPEAKER: When shall the report be received?

Now?

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. KING: Now, Mr. Speaker.

I suggest, Mr. Speaker, that we would defer debate until we go through the

remaining Orders of the Day and come back into regular debate.

MR. SPEAKER: Okay. It has been suggested that we will deal with the

Select Committee's report when we come to the Orders of the Day.

Tabling of Documents.

MR. MARSHALL: Mr. Speaker, pursuant to

section 28.4

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I would ask the members of the public galleries, as they leave if they would

do so recognizing that the proceedings of the House are still in session and if

they would leave the House quietly, please.

Tabling of Documents

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

MR. MARSHALL: Mr. Speaker, pursuant to

section 28.4(

e) of the Financial

Administration Act, I am tabling one special warrant relating to the 2013-2014

fiscal year relating to the by-election in L'Anse au Clair.

MR. SPEAKER: Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS: Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 63.(3) there is a

private member's motion to be debated this week. That motion will now be read by

the Member for Humber Valley.

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

MR. BALL: Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for St. Barbe:

WHEREAS one of the key points of the Muskrat Falls development was the

ability to use 40 per cent of the power for industrial development in

Newfoundland and Labrador; and

WHEREAS the Premier and other government members repeatedly said that 40 per

cent of Muskrat Falls power would be used for industrial development in

Newfoundland and Labrador; and

WHEREAS the new arrangements between Nalcor and Emera of Nova Scotia mean

that the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has now committed excess power

to Nova Scotia; and

WHEREAS the power will be sold to the residents of Nova Scotia at rates well

below what Newfoundlanders and Labradorians will be forced to pay; and

WHEREAS residents of Nova Scotia have benefited from a full utility and

review board hearing on Muskrat Falls and will be the primary beneficiaries of

our resources.

THEREFORE

BE IT RESOLVED that this House calls upon the government to send

the Muskrat Falls Project back to the Public Utilities Board for a full public

review for the protection of our ratepayers.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile and House Leader

for the Opposition.

MR. A. PARSONS: Mr. Speaker, the motion just read by the Member for

Humber Valley shall be the one to be debated on Wednesday.

MR. SPEAKER: Thank you.

Further notices of motion?

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

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

introduce a bill entitled,

An Act to Amend the Revenue Administration Act No. 4.

(Bill 12)

I further give notice that I will move that this House resolve itself into a

Committee of the Whole on Supply to consider a resolution relating to the

Granting of Supplementary Supply to Her Majesty. (Bill 9)

I also give notice that I will move that the House resolve itself into a

Committee of the Whole on Supply to consider a resolution relating to the

Granting of Supplementary Supply to Her Majesty. (Bill 8)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motion?

The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

MS SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I give notice that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled,

An Act to

Amend the Pharmaceutical Services Act. (Bill 10)

MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motion?

The hon. the Minister of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs.

MR. KENT: Thank you once again, Mr. Speaker.

I give notice that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled,

An Act to

Amend the Municipal Elections Act. (Bill 18)

MR. SPEAKER: Any further notices of motion?

The hon. the Minister of Justice.

MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I give notice that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled,

An Act to

Amend the Proceedings Against the Crown Act. (Bill 19)

I further give notice that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, An

Act to Amend the Provincial Court Act, 1991. (Bill 16)

I give notice that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled,

An Act to

Amend the Commissioners for Oaths Act. (Bill 15)

I give notice that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled,

An Act to

Amend the Judicature Act. (Bill 14)

I give notice as well that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, An

Act to Remove Anomalies and Errors in the Statute Law. (Bill 11)

Finally, Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will ask leave to introduce a bill

entitled,

An Act to Amend the Labour Standards Act. (Bill 17)

MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motion?

The hon. the Minister of Service NL.

MR. CRUMMELL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I give notice that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled,

An Act to

Amend the Highway Traffic Act, No. 2. (Bill 13)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motion?

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, a petition to the hon. House of Assembly of the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of

the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS home care allows the elderly and people with disabilities to remain

within the comfort and security of their own homes, home care also allows people

to be discharged from hospital earlier; and

WHEREAS many families find it very difficult to recruit and retain home care

workers for their loved ones; and

WHEREAS the PC Blue Book 2011, as well as the 2012 Speech from the Throne

committed that government would develop a new model of home care and give people

the option of receiving that care from family members; and

WHEREAS government has given no time commitment for when government plans to

implement paying family caregivers;

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

House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to

implement a new home care model to cover family caregivers, and in duty bound

your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this is a situation with a lot of families. It is almost like we

are having Ground Hog Day all over again, because this is the same petition we

were going with last spring and people are still telephoning. The explanation we

are providing to people when they telephone is: Yes, government committed to it;

yes, government promised it; yes, it is a good idea; yes, government committed

funds in this year's Budget.

The estimated annual Budget is in the range of $8 million. The amount

committed was in the range of $6 million. It was reasonable to assume that three

months in which will be July, 2013 government would actually implement the

long-standing promise. In fact, that has not happened.

Now people are saying: What are they doing with the money? Who knows what

they are doing with the money? Because the money was committed, the money was

allocated, the money was voted on and the money is not being used to help these

families with their home care needs.

Mr. Speaker, it is really unfortunate and shameful that government is just

ignoring this small group of people in their plight when they have already made

the commitment. They made the promise; they were elected on the promise. They

have asked for the money in the Budget, the Budget has been passed, and still

government does nothing to help these families. This is really unfortunate, but

these petitions will keep coming because people keep telephoning. They assume

they have been individually forgotten. It is not a fact that they have been

forgotten, everybody has been forgotten.

The government is breaking its promise. Even coming before the House and

seeking money in the Budget and then not bothering to what would you do with

the excess money? Is this just to throw into the big hole to cover Muskrat

Falls? Are they taking lots and lots of money from people all across the

Province just because of the shortfalls? These are the questions that people are

asking, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have a petition to the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the

undersigned residents humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS the residents of the community of Fox Roost Margaree, of the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, must use Route 470-10 on a regular basis

for work, medical, educational and social reasons; and

WHEREAS Route 470-10 is in a deplorable condition, such that the shoulders of

the road continuously wash away and there are huge potholes on the road; and

WHEREAS the condition of Route 470-10 poses a safety hazard to residents and

visitors to the community of Fox Roost Margaree; and

WHEREAS the Department of Transportation and Works is responsible for the

maintenance and repairs in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador; and

WHEREAS the local division of the Department of Transportation and Works does

make periodic repairs to this route but these repairs are only temporary

patchwork and the road needs to be resurfaced;

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

House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to support

the users of Route 470-10 in their request to have Route 470-10 resurfaced.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this is my first petition in this new sitting of the House of

Assembly, but it certainly will not be my last one when it comes to the

condition of side roads in my district, especially this route to the community

of Fox Roost-Margaree.

It is a vibrant little community. It is a community that is actually growing.

There are a number of housing starts there, but the unfortunate

part is that it

is a deathtrap road when you are driving in there. The road actually degenerates

into parts where there is one lane.

I have had calls not just from the residents of that community, but I have

had calls from taxi services, from delivery services, from people, from

tourists, people who are trying to use this road. God forbid they try to use it

in the dark, because there is going to be an accident.

Again, I am hoping that the new Minister of Transportation and Works is going

to take a look at this. I am hoping that there will be an allocation in next

year's Budget. I know that we are at the point where there is probably going to

be very little done this year. In fact, I have another road that was promised to

be done before the fall was over. I am losing faith that it is going to be done;

that is the road to Burgeo which had a washout.

Again, this is a serious situation. There are a lot of side roads in this

Province that need work. As members from all sides of the House, we need to have

a strategy to fix this.

I am going to call upon this now and I am going to continue to do so. I look

forward to working with the new minister in this regard because it is a project

I am sure we all take seriously, we all want to see done, and I look forward to

seeing it done in the near future.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.

MR. MITCHELMORE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in

Parliament Assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland

and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS government has a responsibility to ensure that Internet access is

broadly available so people have the right to be able to access the Internet in

order to exercise and enjoy their rights to freedom of expression and opinion

and other fundamental human rights; and

WHEREAS St. Anthony Bight still remains without broadband services; and

WHEREAS residents rely on Internet services for education, business,

communication and social activity; and

WHEREAS wireless and wired technologies exist to provide broadband service to

rural communities, to replace slower dial-up service;

We, the undersigned, petition the House of Assembly to urge the government to

assist providers to ensure St. Anthony Bight is in receipt of broadband Internet

services in Newfoundland and Labrador.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, there are a number of pages signed on this one. St. Anthony

Bight is a small community, but it is just on the outskirts of St. Anthony.

There are a number of communities in my district that do not have high-speed

Internet. We should be, in Newfoundland and Labrador, looking to be a leader in

broadband, working towards universal coverage when it comes to broadband. I know

we can get there with the right strategy. The government has made great strides

in moving forward.

There are still nine communities in my district without broadband, and St.

Anthony Bight is one of those. I think it is quite unfair to certain pockets of

the population to not have access to basic broadband and higher-speed broadband

services. There is quite a divide when it comes to providing coverage in urban

areas and in rural areas. Right now there are a number of people who have just

the slow dial-up service and it is just completely unacceptable.

I really urge members here that we develop a strategy that is certainly going

to be much further reaching because there are still about 200 communities that

do not have broadband.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's North.

MR. KIRBY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland

and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS the lack of services and supports in the school system is a serious

obstacle to learning for children and youth with autism spectrum disorder; and

WHEREAS long wait-lists for pediatric assessment and diagnostic services are

preventing many children with autism spectrum disorder from receiving needed

early diagnosis; and

WHEREAS the Intensive Applied Behavioural Analysis Program is currently not

available for children after Grade 3; and

WHEREAS Applied Behavioural Analysis has been shown to be effective for many

individuals beyond Grade 3; and

WHEREAS there is a lack of supports and services for children and youth with

autism spectrum disorder after they age out of the Intensive Applied Behavioural

Analysis Program; and

WHEREAS it is unacceptable to expect parents in Newfoundland and Labrador to

pay thousands of dollars out of their own pockets to cover the costs of

privately delivered Applied Behavioural Analysis after Grade 3;

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

House of Assembly to urge government to extend eligibility for the Intensive

Applied Behavioural Analysis Program beyond Grade 3 in consultation with

parents, advocates, educators, health care providers, and experts in the autism

community.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this is something that has consistently come up to me from

parents and others in the autism advocacy community. I will not get into details

about what Applied Behavioural Analysis is, but I will simply say it is a

home-based therapy program that basically helps kids to develop behaviours and

skills through a teaching intervention. It is currently provided up to Grade 4.

Many people in my district who have children who are on the autism spectrum

have been asking for this, and I have been getting calls from all across the

Province over the last year or at least eight months for certain. I think now

that government is going through its pre-Budget planning process, this is a good

time to look at that, to consult with those people in the community, and to see

if this is something that we can do. I think if this is the direction that

government chooses to go in; it is something we will all benefit from, all

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, not just the kids who we will be helping.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's East.

MR. MURPHY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland

and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS the process of slickwater hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, injects

hazardous chemicals into rock formations to extract oil, and is polluting

groundwater and air across North America; and

potential environmental impacts of shale oil and gas extraction in Canada,

including fracking; and

WHEREAS Quebec, Nova Scotia, and a number of US States have halted fracking

and others are introducing regulations specific to fracking; and

WHEREAS it is incumbent upon the provincial government to ensure that our

natural environment is protected from harmful industrial processes;

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

House of Assembly to urge government to impose a moratorium on slickwater

fracking until it develops comprehensive regulations and ensures that each

proposed project undergoes a conclusive environmental assessment to determine

whether it is safe for the environment, the integrity of water supplies and

human health.

As in duty bound your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, again like I said earlier I was pleased to hear the Minister of

Natural Resources stand up in the House earlier and if I can quote from it, he

says, "Today, I am announcing that our government will not be accepting

applications for onshore and onshore to offshore petroleum exploration using

hydraulic fracturing." I was so pleased to hear those words.

I think that I can probably speak as well for the people who signed the

petition to press government to indeed step back and take that second look. No

doubt in March of 2014 it is going to be incumbent upon us to be listening to

Mr. Scott Vaughan, the environment commissioner of this country, when he comes

out with a very important report that is going to be talking about the issues

concerning fracking.

I am glad to stand up in this House and present this petition. It probably

will be the last time for a while, but every now and then I imagine as I get

them in still, I will be presenting these petitions as a constant reminder to

government on whose side they should be on. They should be standing up for the

people of Newfoundland and Labrador, in particular, for the people who are under

threat from this harmful industrial process.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, a petition to the hon. House of Assembly of the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of

the undersigned humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS the marine environment off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador

supports a diverse ecosystem, a multitude of organisms and species above and

below the ocean as well as supports social and economic development in our

Province; and

WHEREAS our fishery is a billion-dollar industry and employs over 20,000

people; and

WHEREAS oil leaking out of a sunken paper carrier on the Province's northeast

coast has been identified as the cause of recently discovered oil seabirds; and

WHEREAS this sunken vessel has the potential to pose an even more serious

threat to the marine environment and wildlife, and this threat is causing

concern for many residents, in particular the fish harvesters in the region; and

WHEREAS the provincial government is failing to be proactive and transparent

in protecting our marine environment from this catastrophic threat, instead

passing complete responsibility on to the federal government;

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

House of Assembly to urge the provincial government to show accountability and

transparency involving the urgent issue of this sunken carrier and its current

and potential impact upon our Province by producing a comprehensive joint action

plan with the federal government, to immediately extract the remaining oil in

the ship so that damage to our ecosystem, fish resources, and economy is

mitigated before a more catastrophic event occurs.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, it is fortunate that we have had notice by way of oil leakage

starting back in the spring in this area, this very important fishing area. It

is unfortunate that we have now lost the last six or seven months or more, and

now we are looking at going into the winter season without any effective repair

being done.

Reports indicate that the federal government sent some sort of a mechanism or

some kind of an undersea submarine unit and basically patched the hull. How

reliable is it to patch the hull of a vessel which is approximately eighty

metres, or 250 feet deep in this area, and is absolutely full of Bunker C? The

vessel was full when it was heading out of port.

It is approximately 680,000 litres of oil. That is a litre of oil for every

resident of this Province with 180,000 litres left over. If that breaks open

if it breaks open in the wintertime, with ice all over it, it would be an

absolute catastrophe to the area. The provincial government has been content to

stand back and say: Oh, this is a federal responsibility.

Well, it may be constitutionally a federal responsibility, but what is the

Province doing to impress upon the federal government the importance of

protecting our ecosystem and our fishery in that area? What exactly has it been

doing? Absolutely nothing, Mr. Speaker.

Most recently there was a sheen of oil over the surface. On inquiry of the

minister, I was advised that it was approximately one litre. Well, how on earth

the minister could know if it was one litre, did it come from there, or where

did it come from. This Bunker C is heavy, it is cold, it is hard, and it should

be able to be removed now. This is not something that we can forget about

forever. Ultimately, the vessel will break up. Ultimately, they will not be able

to patch this effectively. Ultimately, we will have a disaster.

It is only an accident if you do not know it is going to happen. We know it

is going to happen. It is complete negligence on the part of the provincial

government to do nothing and not pressure the feds.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Before we get to Orders of the Day, I want to introduce our

two new Pages who have started with us this year. This lady right here is

forgive me if I mispronounce your name Fatimah Rathore .

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Here we have, this lady here, Morgan Gear.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Obviously, we have Michael and Devin back with us again, and

four of them are students at Memorial University. Welcome to our session again.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

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

MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Minister of Finance and President of

Treasury Board, to ask leave to introduce a bill entitled,

An Act To Amend The

Services Charges Act, Bill 5.

MR. SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that the hon. Minister of Finance

shall have leave to introduce a bill,

An Act To Amend The Services Charges Act,

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

Is it the pleasure of the House that the minister shall have leave to

introduce Bill 5 and that the said bill be now read a first time?

All those in favour, aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

MR. SPEAKER: Motion carried.

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board to

introduce a bill, "An Act To Amend The Services Charges Act", carried. (Bill 5)

CLERK: A bill,

An Act To Amend The Services Charges Act. (Bill 5)

MR. SPEAKER: This bill is now read a first time.

When shall the bill be read a second time?

MR. KING: Tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER: Tomorrow.

On motion, Bill 5 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

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

MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I move once again, seconded by the Minister of Service

Newfoundland and Labrador, to ask leave to introduce a bill entitled,

An Act To

Amend The Highway Traffic Act, Bill 6.

MR. SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that the hon. Minister of Service

Newfoundland and Labrador shall have leave to introduce a bill,

An Act To Amend

The Highway Traffic Act, Bill 6, and that the said bill be now read a first

time.

Is it the pleasure of the House that the minister shall have leave to

introduce Bill 6 and that the said bill be now read a first time?

All those in favour, aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

MR. SPEAKER: All those against, nay'.

Motion carried.

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Service Newfoundland and Labrador to

introduce a bill, "An Act To Amend The Highway Traffic Act", carried. (Bill 6)

CLERK: A bill,

An Act To Amend The Highway Traffic Act. (Bill 6)

MR. SPEAKER: This bill has now been read a first time.

When shall the bill be read a second time?

MR. KING: Tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER: Tomorrow.

On motion, Bill 6 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

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

MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, at this time I move that we move back into Address in Reply to

pick up where we left off previously in Orders of the Day.

MR. SPEAKER: Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion that the

report of the Select Committee be now approved?

The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Intergovernmental Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

They are keeping me busy today, Mr. Speaker, and rightly so. It is a great

pleasure to take my place once again in the House of Assembly this afternoon to

talk about some of the good work that has been happening in the departments that

I am now responsible for and in government generally.

What a year it has been, Mr. Speaker. When I look at some of the good news

that has come to our Province in the last little while, it is significant. The

federal loan guarantee, for instance, which will mean $1 billion for

Newfoundland and Labrador. The Premier stood her ground against all kinds of

pressure in order to get an agreement that was good for the people of the

Province.

We have also heard about the White Rose Extension Project which was announced

just in recent weeks, which will mean up to $7 billion of revenue for

Newfoundland and Labrador.

AN HON. MEMBER: How much?

MR. KENT: Seven billion dollars, Mr. Speaker.

We have heard a lot of good news in recent weeks about the settling of public

service contracts, which is good news for the hard-working women and men who

work in our public service in Newfoundland and Labrador. There has been some

reference to it in the House already today. After five years of hard work and

tough negotiation, the Premier and this government has brought good news to the

people of the Province through the CETA deal. A lot of good things are happening

throughout government and throughout the Province.

As the new Minister of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs and the

Minister Responsible also for Fire and Emergency Services, I am pleased to have

a chance today to talk about some

AN HON. MEMBER: Clean up the mess.

MR. KENT: To clean up the mess, according to my predecessor.

Unfortunately, I do not know who I have upset, Mr. Speaker, but every time there

is a seating configuration done for this hon. House I end up right in view of

the former Minister of Municipal Affairs. In the past few weeks, he has been a

good advisor and a good coach. I do not know if I want to say good mentor yet

because he occasionally leads me astray I think too, Mr. Speaker.

It is an exciting time in our department, as he well knows, and as my

colleagues know as well. I have had opportunity in the first few weeks that I

have been on the job to have conversations with many members of this House on

both sides. Certainly MHAs have been diligent in making me aware of some of the

needs and challenges facing the communities they represent in their various

districts. The officials at Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs have a good

handle on what is happening out there and what the needs are in terms of

infrastructure in communities large and small in this Province.

There is a lot happening and a lot to talk about. In fact, just this morning

I had an opportunity to join my colleagues, the Minister of Child, Youth and

Family Services, the MHA for Mount Pearl South, and the Premier herself, in

Mount Pearl, in my district, for a very special announcement pertaining to

Campia Gymnastics. We announced a $1 million cost-shared investment from the

provincial government to construct a new 12,000 square-foot gymnastics facility

not only for Mount Pearl, Mr. Speaker, but for the entire region.

In fact, only 30 per cent of the thousand young people who are using the

current Campia facility, who are part of the Campia Gymnastics program, only

about 30 per cent of them are actually from Mount Pearl. There are a large

number of young people from Paradise. There are a large number of young people

from St. John's. There are a large number of young people from Conception Bay

South and other municipalities who benefit from the programs that are provided

by Campia Gymnastics.

I think that investing in our youth, in families, and in seniors is

critically important. This new facility is going to allow Campia to accept more

participants into their programs. It is going to allow them to reduce their

waiting list, and that is positive news for indeed the entire region. This

facility, which we have been talking about for years in Mount Pearl, is going to

be a place that can host provincial and regional, and perhaps even national

competitions.

We had a chance to unveil the plans today, with the help of the Premier. I

know there is a lot of excitement in Mount Pearl and Paradise, in particular,

today as a result of this announcement. It has been a long time coming, but it

just goes to show what is possible when communities work together and partner

together. Thanks to the hard work of Campia Gymnastics, the City of Mount Pearl

and the provincial government, we have been able to make this happen. So,

congratulations to everybody at Campia.

They will now embark on a fundraising campaign. The total project is going to

cost about $2.3 million by the time all is said and done, so they still have

some funds to raise. Today's announcement confirmed that there is about $1.8

million in place, which means there is still some work to do. I hope that Campia

will get great support from families and from businesses as well in the region.

Mr. Speaker, overall, as a government, we have made tremendous progress on

funding municipal infrastructure for our municipalities. This Budget, in this

current 2013 year, provided the second year of a two-year, $130 million

municipal infrastructure fund. Since April, we have approved over 112 new

municipal infrastructure projects, both under the regular Municipal Capital

Works Program and under the Multi-Year Capital Works Program as well. The

provincial contribution to those 112 projects is $31.3 million since April 1,

Mr. Speaker.

There are currently more than 500 projects underway in this Province that

relate to municipal infrastructure. This is an unprecedented investment, a must

needed investment. Over the past decade, I am pleased to say, we have really

done a good job in playing catch-up to address the infrastructure deficit that

we inherited as a government.

Making sure that citizens of Newfoundland and Labrador in every community

have access to clean and safe drinking water is one of my highest priorities,

and I know it is one of the highest priorities of my department and this

government. There is work continuing on significant water and waste water

treatment projects in Corner Brook, Bishop's Falls, and in St. John's as well.

In fact, in the spring of this year the former minister cut the ribbon for a new

$15 million water treatment facility in the Town of Marystown on the South

Coast. That is certainly

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible) Burin Peninsula.

MR. KENT: On the Burin Peninsula, as I am being reminded. Thank you,

Minister.

Also, during our recent Budget we announced the continuation of Municipal

Operating Grants for municipalities with less than 11,000 residents, and we

committed $22 million for 2014 MOGs. We have established a new formula that is

based on a remoteness index, as well as the number of occupied dwellings in the

community.

The new formula is transparent. The new formula is certainly equitable. It is

sustainable, and it is understandable for all municipalities. In fact, my

officials will be leading a session at the Municipalities Newfoundland and

Labrador Convention this weekend so that municipal leaders from across the

Province will have an opportunity to learn more about the new formula.

It is just this week that I have signed letters and distributed to all

municipalities in the Province to advise them of the funding amounts going into

the next fiscal year for them. No communities in Newfoundland and Labrador will

see a decrease in funding. The majority will see an increase in funding for

their Municipal Operating Grants, which is good news for municipalities.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENT: Some have inquired: What will that mean for our largest

communities? For the seven communities with populations larger than 11,000,

which include St. John's, Conception Bay South, Mount Pearl, Paradise, Corner

Brook, Gander, Grand Falls-Windsor, we set up a $25 million Capital Works fund

over the past year which has been made available to those communities. It has

funded many exciting projects, such as the Campia Gymnastics facility which was

announced this morning. We recognize that our largest municipalities, which

serve a large percentage of our residents, have significant infrastructure needs

as well.

Even more significant than all of this tremendous funding is that during the

Budget this year we announced we would begin working with Municipalities

Newfoundland and Labrador on a comprehensive review of the provincial-municipal

fiscal framework. It was referenced in Question Period today, and the Leader of

the Opposition said: Well, get on with it; get it done.

This project is complex and it is a critical one for municipalities large and

small throughout this Province. In the few weeks I have been in the department,

I can already see that it is a large focus for our officials. We are working

collaboratively with Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador and I predict that

this effort is going to take us about eighteen months to bring to a conclusion.

We want to do it right. We want to ensure that stakeholders across the

Province are consulted. We want to hear from municipal leaders. We want to hear

from the leadership of local service districts. We want to hear from people in

unincorporated areas in Newfoundland and Labrador. We want to talk to anybody in

the Province who benefits from municipal services in the Province.

It will be an extensive consultation. We will work closely with

Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador. I look forward to talking with

municipal leaders throughout the Province this weekend to share with them some

of the progress we have made, but also to seek their input into what is really

going to be a game changer for local government in Newfoundland and Labrador.

As I heard the former minister say many times, everything is on the table. We

are going to look at how services are delivered. We are going to look at how

services are shared in regions. We are going to look at every aspect of local

government through this process to make sure we can come up with the best

possible framework to address the needs of all of our communities in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

Over the next couple of years that work will be a priority for my department,

and it is work that is well underway. I look forward to talking about it a lot

this weekend in the corridors of the Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador

Convention. We are renewing municipal infrastructure. As I have said, Mr.

Speaker, we are building stronger communities.

There many people, most of whom are volunteers around this Province, involved

in helping build stronger communities in Newfoundland and Labrador. As I said in

my first Ministerial Statement earlier today, we saw about 2,000 residents of

this Province step forward in September to offer themselves for public service

through the municipal election. Putting your name on the ballad is a big deal,

as members of this House can attest, and to see so many residents of this

Province step forward I think says a lot about the strength of our communities

in Newfoundland and Labrador.

We saw lots of diversity in age of the candidates. We saw lots of diversity

in terms of gender. In fact, we saw an increase in the number of women elected

in Newfoundland and Labrador in this recent municipal election, which we were

very pleased to see, and it certainly is not enough. We certainly hope that

number will be much greater in four years' time.

We will embark on another Make Your Mark campaign. I believe strongly that

the Make Your Mark campaign cannot be something we think about every four years.

We need to be working with communities around the Province today and over the

next four years to encourage more people to consider playing a leadership role

in their community.

So I am pleased, certainly, with the results of the recent municipal election

campaign. We still have a lot of work to do and we will work co-operatively with

Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador to advance that work.

I talked a little bit about water and water treatment, which is a high

priority. We are also making some real strides in the area of the Provincial

Solid Waste Management Strategy. By the end of this current fiscal year,

2013-2014, over $147 million will have been invested in the Provincial Solid

Waste Management Strategy. About $84.7 million of that amount has been provided

by the Province, and we have about $62.5 million coming from gas tax revenue as

well, Mr. Speaker.

As a result of these investments that we have made in the Provincial Solid

Waste Management Strategy, approximately two-thirds of the Province's population

is disposing of waste in one of two lined landfills with leachate collection,

almost 50 per cent of the population has access to recycling facilities, and 60

per cent of the Province's dumpsites have been closed.

We have made major progress in terms of the implementation of our Provincial

Solid Waste Management Strategy. It continues to be a high priority for us, and

it is one that I will be paying close attention to in the weeks and months

ahead.

We also announced an investment of $15 million for a new materials recovery

facility. It is going to be constructed in Central Newfoundland at the Norris

Arm site, which will allow residents of the Central Region to participate in

recycling activities as well.

We have also announced $3 million of funding for the construction of a

transfer station in the Eastern Region. This facility is going to accept both

residential and commercial material, and it is going to be transferred to the

Regional Integrated Waste Management Facility, which, of course, is located at

Robin Hood Bay.

I am pleased to say that we have numerous regional services boards in place

that are doing good work to advance our Waste Management Strategy in

Newfoundland and Labrador. Just this spring, my department announced two new

regional services boards for Burin and the Bonavista, or Discovery, regions.

With these additions, we now have a total of six regional services boards in

place and they obviously play a critical role in advancing our Waste Management

Strategy.

Early in the summer, the department assisted in the opening of the Lab West

waste management facility. This event was also an important milestone for waste

management in that region. The new facility includes a landfill and material

recovery area. It has the capability to run recycling and composting programs in

the future as well.

Mr. Speaker, in the first few weeks on the job I have also learned a lot

about Fire and Emergency Services, which is part of my new responsibilities.

There is an incredible amount of work being accomplished by a very small team of

people in Fire and Emergency Services. The work that they are doing and the

accomplishments that they are making are quite astounding.

Through Budget 2013, $1.5 million has been allocated for the purchase of new

emergency response vehicles in communities throughout the Province. Those

communities that will be receiving new emergency response vehicles as a result

of this Budget investment include Burin, Cox's Cove, Grand Le Pierre,

Greenspond, Lethbridge, Point Leamington, Triton, and St. Lawrence.

When we look at history, Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to tell you as well that

since 2010, sixty-two emergency response vehicles have been allocated to

communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. That represents a total

investment of over $12.8 million.

Approximately $380,000 in funding from Budget 2013 has been invested in

equipment, new fire and emergency response equipment for over thirty communities

throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. I will not read the list of the thirty

communities, but I will tell you those purchases included items like breathing

apparatus, bunker gear, communications equipment, and other necessary equipment

that is so important to our Fire and Emergency Services personnel throughout the

Province also, many of whom are volunteers.

We have about 6,000 volunteer firefighters in our Province, which is an

impressive number when you consider the size of our population and the number of

communities. So this funding is critical to helping those volunteers carry out

their important work in volunteer fire departments in every corner of

Newfoundland and Labrador.

Since 2010, approximately $2.8 million in funding has been invested in 344

projects related to providing fire and emergency response equipment throughout

Newfoundland and Labrador.

Through Fire and Emergency Services we also do a great deal of training. We

deliver training programs to municipalities, to local service districts, and to

other emergency management partners as well. These training programs are really

important in bolstering the capability and capacity of emergency response

partners throughout the Province. FES-NL spends approximately $100,000 in

funding to support training initiatives each and every year.

Mr. Speaker, in 2012, the new Fire Protection Services Act was enacted. That

modernized and updated the old Fire Prevention Act that some members of this

House would certainly be familiar with. The new regulations associated with the

act require working smoke alarms in all new and existing homes and cabins, and

in all sleeping areas of dwellings.

The clocks fell back this past weekend, and I certainly discovered last week

that Daylight Savings Time is one of the things that I now have to be concerned

about as the Minister of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs. The clocks

falling back also serves a reminder for residents to check their smoke alarms,

their smoke detectors, and to check the batteries. If you did not do so on the

weekend, here is another reminder to make sure your batteries are changed

regularly, which is an important measure in terms of fire prevention.

Fire and Emergency Services, the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of

Fire Services, and the Insurance Bureau of Canada partnered to deliver a public

education campaign to promote these new regulations that we brought in, in 2012.

The Alarmed and Ready NL Challenge has already seen tremendous results with over

2,000 smoke alarms distributed to approximately fifty communities throughout the

Province. A second phase of this program is underway and we suspect it will have

comparable results.

Also in 2012, Mr. Speaker, we commissioned a feasibility study related to the

development of a Province-wide basic 911 system. As a result of the study, the

provincial government is moving forward to implement a basic Province-wide 911

system. I am pleased to report to this hon. House and to the people of the

Province that we are on track to deliver that Province-wide basic 911 system by

the end of next year.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENT: As part of that process, we will be exploring how best to

develop a next-generation 911 system in areas throughout the Province where

conditions permit.

Significant progress has been made in recent months. I have met with

officials to discuss our progress with the implementation of our plan, and I am

pleased to say we are on track. We have confirmed decisions on the governance

structure and the user-pay system that will be utilized. A project lead has been

hired by Fire and Emergency Services to do the necessary work to get the system

in place. This basic 911 system for Newfoundland and Labrador is a really

positive step forward.

Mr. Speaker, I know I am running quickly out of time. We are making priority

investments, some of which I have had a chance to mention here today. These

investments in areas such as municipal infrastructure and some of the other

areas I mentioned will do great things for communities and for families in

Newfoundland and Labrador. I look forward to future opportunities during this

session to rise in this House and talk about work we are doing with communities

throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BENNETT: Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak today about the general

state of affairs in the Province. I have had an opportunity over the last four

or five months to travel around. I have been involved in a certain leadership

activity. It is a really good way to get to see a province, and I really

encourage members opposite to arrange their own leadership contest, and the

members here, they should arrange theirs. That would give them an opportunity to

travel around and see how the Province is really working, or not working.

Mr. Speaker, it is safe to say that based on what the polls are saying, that

confidence in government is shot. People do not believe government knows what it

is doing. They believe government makes up for not knowing what it is doing by

being secretive. That is the prevailing sentiment. That is the prevailing

feeling. That is what people are saying.

Mr. Speaker, when I have this discussion with people about what is happening

in the Province, they say: well, government must be really complicated. I say

no, government really is not that complicated. I did not say it was easy. I did

not say it was not tough, but I did say government is really not that

complicated. You have 500,000 people. You have so much revenue. You have so much

expense, and you have people who have fixed costs.

Government has certain program spending in place already, and only a certain

amount of discretionary spending to deal with. Those usually are where the wants

and the needs come in, and not everybody's wants and needs can be satisfied.

People understand that. People believe that.

What has happened in the last little while because we have had a boom and

bust type of economy, an oil driven boom and bust economy, is there has been no

consistency in how government has approached governing, has approached

budgeting, and has approached spending. This has caused a rapid growth in the

size of government, followed by this year, a pretty tough budget whereby the

reins were hauled in. People who had expectations before now have had those

expectations shattered. Maybe the mistake was less in shattering the

expectations than it was in creating unrealistic expectations, which

realistically could not have been satisfied.

A few years ago this Province crossed a threshold after approximately sixty

or so years in Confederation whereby we became a have province. Mr. Speaker,

that seems to have been presented or understood as meaning we have all kinds of

extra money. In fact, becoming a have province does not mean and did not mean we

had all kinds of extra money. Mr. Speaker, what it actually meant is it is

almost like a young person leaving home and becoming responsible for their own

expenses.

That means instead of expecting a subsidy from the federal government, which

actually is a subsidy from other provinces that were have provinces, that we as

part of the Canadian fabric, the Canadian Confederation were entitled to receive

certain payments, payments whereby we could maintain a certain level of benefits

that are deemed to be appropriate in Canada. That means we did not have extra

money, it means we had to be even more careful about managing the money that we

did have.

By looking at the budgeting over the last handful of years and the way the

size of government has exploded, and some of the wastes documented by the

Auditor General, it looks like we got carried away with the chequebook. It is

almost like a young person on leaving home, maybe graduating from high school or

university, getting a first job, ran off and got a whole pile of credit cards,

bought an expensive car, expensive apartment, never mind a house, and all of a

sudden realized: I cannot spend the money three times. As a matter of fact, if I

spend it even once I will have nothing left. Spending really did get out of

control and the size of government grew exponentially. It was something that was

not reasonable to do or to try to maintain.

Mr. Speaker, I believe the thing that most people in our Province want first

and foremost is a government they can rely on as being sound, prudent, fiscal

managers. People all around the Province need to know that when they pay that

tax cheque, when they pay HST, when they look to government, when they look to

what all of us are doing here primarily the governing party, but all of us are

doing here, is that we know what we are doing and we are proceeding on a sound,

fiscal framework. That means we have an obligation to reliably and reasonably

project revenues and then spend according to our means over the long term, not

over the short term.

People are more and better informed now by way of electronic news, daily

newspapers, and the Internet. People have a better idea of government than they

ever did have in bygone years. You cannot slide things past people and have them

not figure out that you are up to something, or you are not doing the job

properly.

I say to people, if somebody in government tells you we cannot explain it to

you, or the explanation is so complicated that you do not understand what the

person in government is telling you, that means one of two things. Either they

do not know what they are doing and they cannot explain it to you in the first

place, or they do know what they are doing and they do not want to explain it to

you in the second place. Those are the only two possible reasons an explanation

to a regular, run-of-the-mill, average resident of this Province cannot be

understood from government. Those are the only two reasons.

Mr. Speaker, after sound, fiscal management, the thing that is on most

people's minds is health care. Everybody knows, everybody in this House knows,

and I suspect a lot of people outside of this House know that the health care

budget consumes approximately 40 per cent of our revenue. If you take the health

care budget if you take 40 per cent of the money you had to start with at the

beginning of the year that has to be committed to health care, that is a huge

whack of money, and health care is far less than perfect at this point. People

are dissatisfied, to a large degree, with the results they are getting for the

health care spending.

Clearly, if government would actively audit every single health care dollar,

bigger seems not to have turned out to be better. Health care decisions that

could have been made locally seem not to be made locally. The consolidation of

health care into fewer, larger health care authorities has not demonstrated

better benefits.

Furthermore, this government invests little to nothing in preventive

medicine, preventive health care. Granted, if there is a pressure today to do

current procedures, whether it be hips, knees, heart surgeries, all sorts of

current pressing health care concerns and we are already at 40 per cent of our

budget, we cannot continue to go on steadily increasing the amount we spend;

therefore, we need to find a way to identify efficiencies in health care to have

a proper independent review audit of our health care system.

Whatever dollars we can pry loose by maintaining a current percentage of our

budget today so if the budget goes up, health care spending goes with it. The

budget flattens out, and budgets tend never to go down. If it flattens out, we

need to stay committed to the same percentage of our budget for health care and

then pry loose some dollars for preventive health care.

By that I mean the ones that are perfectly obvious, smoking cessation. Every

dollar we collect in taxes from smoking generates far more than that dollar in

health care costs. The results will not be immediate. The results will not be

between now and the next election, but there will be results in improved health

care with smoking cessation. With people who adopt healthier lifestyles, in

addition to that, healthier lifestyles that include maybe more exercise.

Thirty or forty years ago the federal government was very concerned. The ad

or commercial used to be, when I was a much younger person, that the average

twenty-year-old Canadian was only as fit as the average sixty-year-old Swede or

Norwegian, because people in Nordic countries had a better and healthier

lifestyle. We pressed participation, participation, participation. We seem to do

so little of that anymore.

The biggest area I can see in urban areas where they have malls with

participation is older people who feel they cannot afford to heat their homes,

and probably cannot, so they turn down the heat and go to the malls so they can

walk for hours on end to get some exercise and they save on their fuel bill.

That actually is happening in Canada's newest have-Province. We need people to

be more fit. We need to encourage more fitness and more fitness programs. We

need people with healthier lifestyles through weight reduction.

We have a crisis in lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and

cancer, a whole range of them. If we would focus health care savings in those

areas, over three, four, five or longer years, we would reap benefits and the

population would be better off generally.

Mr. Speaker, then there is education. People are very concerned over what we

have had happen and this government has done to our school boards and to our

educational system. The outcomes on testing for fifteen-year-old students have

declined steadily under this government for the last ten years.

Ten years ago when we were a have-not Province, when we were barely scraping

by, no money, no money for infrastructure, no money for very many services, we

had a government struggling with all sorts of difficulty, 15 per cent of our

Budget went into education. We are not putting 15 per cent of our Budget into

education any more. The number of students has declined, but ten years ago when

what is now this government, this party, was trying to get elected, they said in

their Blue Book that any savings due to declines in population will be

reinvested back into education. They have not been.

As a matter of fact, one of the big issues with education is the way this

government approaches education. This government approaches education as an

expense. I say, and most people agree, that education is an investment, not an

expense. If it is an expense, you try to minimize the expense day after day

after day; you try to cut corners and save dollars. By doing that and not

treating it as an investment we are getting poorer and poorer outcomes in our

students in numeracy, literacy, and science which are critical pillars in a

person's long-term education.

Mr. Speaker, if you pay for your education today, you benefit from it for the

rest of your life. As a society and as a Province if we pay front-end for a

better education today, we have a population that is more productive, healthier,

lives longer, less expensive to govern, and a better population generally. If we

cut corners on education then people are less able to effectively navigate

through life, they are less productive, they are more difficult to employ, and

they require more government services. So the front-end investment in education

is absolutely paramount, and this government is trying to save money in the

wrong direction.

The consolidation of the school boards is not going well. People as far away

as Labrador are absolutely in shock because Labrador itself really ought to have

its own school board. Those decisions ought to be made locally. Even in

Labrador, you still have at least four distinct regions. You have Lab West,

which is essentially a mining town, industrialized town, with a compact, large

and growing population. You have Central Labrador, Lake Melville area, which has

some of the pluses of growth and some of the negatives of growth, and there is a

significant Aboriginal population in Lake Melville area. So, there is a

competing type of issue and concern.

There is the North Coast of Labrador with very, very cold winters and small

communities and absolute isolation, and then there is the Southeast Coast and

the Straits area of Labrador, which is an entirely different region. For that

matter, if Labrador were spread over maybe Europe, Labrador would probably be

four countries; yet we have a part of a school board that is governed from St.

John's.

It was a real irony to me when I heard recently that the appointed trustees

decided to have an election and they elected their Chair. What is the point of

electing a Chair if the people in the first place were appointed? It is not much

better than the Senate being an appointed body, who are all appointed, all

political appointees, and now they elect who is going to be the Chair. It gives

the appearance of some sort of democracy, but it is not.

Clearly, the people who have the biggest interest in the outcome of the

education system are the students, and the people who are the most participatory

are the parents of the students. Those parents really ought to be considered;

they ought to have input. Clearly, the decision on a school board really should

be reversed.

Mr. Speaker, another area that I never thought that I would see in my

lifetime in this Province is public safety. This Province more than twenty-five

or thirty years ago would have probably a murder every year or every other year,

very low crime rates, and now we have holdups practically on a daily basis, we

have armed robberies in convenience stores in St. John's, and now armed

robberies in Gander, armed robberies on the West Coast, armed robberies in

Labrador. We have biker gangs taking over. We have organized crime.

This government's response in its Budget was to cut the number of sheriff's

officers in the St. John's region from forty-two to twenty-one without even any

sort of an insight that sheriff's officers who deal with the courts are the

people who have to deal with the most dangerous criminals. People that the judge

says you are too dangerous to get out on bail, so we are going to keep you in,

and then this government was so short-sighted that it cut the number of

sheriff's deputies handling dangerous criminals in the St. John's courts by 50

per cent.

Mercifully, that decision was reversed very quickly. Regrettably, it shows a

lack of insight into the criminal justice system. Mr. Speaker, this government

really needs to get serious about organized crime, it needs to get serious about

violent crime, and it needs to take public safety as the much greater concern

that it is.

I spent most of the month of September calling on people door-to-door,

visiting them in their homes. You have people who never locked their doors for a

long, long time elderly people. They are very afraid. They are afraid of

someone stumbling in off the street, maybe kicking in their door. They wonder

who is going to protect them.

Mr. Speaker, if a government cannot look after your health, does not look

after your education and cannot protect you from dangerous criminals, what kind

of government do we have? That is why this government is so low in the polls,

because that is the perception and the statistics bear the perception.

Then, Mr. Speaker, we can get on to the roads. When I travel in places like

the Cape Shore, it has some pretty bad roads. So does the road out to La Scie;

the trees are almost out to the pavement. People are rightfully concerned

because of the condition of the roads. Part of the road going down to Harbour

Breton is pretty bad. Some of it is okay; a lot of it is pretty bad. These

people complain about the roads and so they should.

Then you drive the Trans-Labrador Highway, and the gravel road from Red Bay

to 150 or so kilometres along the Trans-Labrador Highway is worn out. Not only

is it a gravel road, the ballast is coming up through; trucks are flying by at

breakneck speed.

Granted, there is some paving on the Trans-Labrador Highway. This year they

finished from Labrador West to Churchill Falls. I was actually going through

when they were doing the last kilometre or so. I really believe that this

government needs to make a much more serious commitment to building the gravel

road in Labrador before we spend too many dollars on the Island in paving. There

needs to be equity in how transportation and roads dollars are spent.

If government would provide a timetable and say we know you have concerns and

yes, we had infrastructure problems, yes, we have been at it for ten years, and

yes, we still need another three, or four, or five years to get there and

provide the people with a timetable that says we are not going to do your road

this year or we are not going to do your road next year. In three years from

now, three-and-a-half years from now, four years from now, we will do your road.

Government then needs to call tenders early enough in the season so we are not

getting way into the fall season with roadwork getting done, because by calling

tenders early now, maybe under CETA, if it comes through, since government

procurement has been given away to th