April

6, 2009

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVI No. 7

The House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Fitzgerald): Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Statements by Members

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The following members' statements will be heard today: the hon. the Member

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

Placentia & St. Mary's; the hon. the Member for the District of Kilbride;

and the hon. the Member for the District of Burin-Placentia West.

It is the Chair's understanding that the hon. the Member for Trinity North

and the hon. the Member for Burin-Placentia West have leave to make private

member statements.

By leave, the hon. the Member for the District of Trinity North.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank my colleagues for leave.

Mr. Speaker, today it is with great pleasure that I stand in this House to

congratulate the Clarenville Caribous for winning the 2009 Herder Memorial Cup

on Saturday, April 4.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: This coveted cup acknowledges senior hockey supremacy in

Newfoundland and Labrador. It is a remarkable feat, given the fact that this was

only the third season in senior hockey for the team in Clarenville. Achievements

such as these, in hockey, are only possible when you have, firstly, a talented

group of hockey players, and, secondly, strong support from a good community

organization and strong superior leadership behind the bench coupled with

tremendous community support.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud today to say that Clarenville had all of these

ingredients. Just to mention some of the individuals, the series most valuable

player, Jason Churchill, was an outstanding goalie.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Thank you.

He is a product of the Clarenville minor hockey system. The team leadership

by Captain Dustin Russell, another product of the Clarenville area minor hockey

system, provided the strong on-ice leadership necessary to inspire his talented

teammates.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge and commend the men and women who

have worked tirelessly to put together a strong organization to drive community

support to raise the money, to recruit the talent and to promote the team.

Mr. Speaker, the final key ingredient for success is the fan support. The

entire Clarenville region have packed the arena in Clarenville for home games

and have spent weekends travelling around the Province providing the moral

support and encouragement to show their appreciation for the dedication of all

the Clarenville Caribou players.

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

particular my colleague the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board

and Member for Carbonear-Harbour Grace, to join with us today in congratulating

the Clarenville Caribous on their first of what will be a series of winnings to

come, I say, Mr. Speaker. This is the first year and this will be the first of

many to come.

I ask everybody to join with me today and congratulate the Clarenville

Caribous, the 2009 Herder Champions.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Placentia & St.

Mary's.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in this hon. House to pay tribute to a young

soldier from Jerseyside, Placentia.

Corporal Jonathan Williams was presented with a Mentioned in Dispatches

bravery award from Canada's Chief of Defence Staff in a ceremony in Quebec on

December 2, 2008. He was recognized for his show of courage and disregard for

his own safety while in the line of duty in Afghanistan.

As a weapons teck commander, Corporal Williams was in charge of heavy machine

guns and, while under heavy enemy fire, had to seek higher ground in order to

neutralize the enemy and get the exposed rifle

section back to its platoon.

According to the award, it was noted that "His skill and courage under

enemy fire enabled the personnel from the rifle

section to withdraw unharmed

from their extremely perilous position."

Corporal Williams was on his first tour of duty in Afghanistan. In fact, this

was his very first tour as a reserve of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.

He was one of approximately twenty solders to receive this award, and the

first soldier from the Royal Newfoundland Regiment to receive this honour since

Mr. Speaker, Corporal Williams exemplifies the many Canadian soldiers, and

more specifically our Newfoundland and Labrador young heroes, who put their

lives on the line every day in the course of their duties.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. members to join with me in expressing our pride

and congratulations to Corporal Williams, and in conveying our best wishes to

him in his future endeavours.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DINN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have attained prominence

on the mainland over the years. Allan Doyle, Wayne Johnson, Dan Cleary, Alex

Faulkner, Brad Gushue and Ryan Clowe come to mind.

No one from this Province has achieved more national notoriety and prominence

than Brad Forward, a harness racing driver from the St. John's area who, on

March 21, won the 2009 National Driving Championship at Fraser Downs in

Vancouver, British Columbia.

This honour means that Brad will now represent Canada in the World Driving

Championships scheduled for May 14-20 in Norway. The equivalent to this

distinction is representing Canada in the Olympics, especially when you consider

the popularity of harness racing across this country.

Brad Forward was born in 1971, one of four sons of Bob Forward and Marge

MacDonald-Forward of St. John's. He got involved in harness racing and horses

at an early age at the Goulds track - then known as Avalon Raceway - because his

family and extended family were prominent in the harness racing business in the

Province.

In 1997 Brad went to the United States to start his professional harness

racing career. Shortly after, he moved to Ontario where he has been racing ever

since.

So far in his career, Brad has raced in approximately 17,000 races, has won

3,200 races and accumulated purse earnings of approximately $19 million. He has

won nearly two dozen Driver of the Year awards. In 2006, 2007 and 2008 he was

Canada's top driver in wins. He won the 2006 Male Athlete of the Year for

Windsor, Ontario, and in 2008 he was the Male Athlete of the Year for London,

Ontario.

Mr. Speaker, Brad is married to Sandra Rose of Goulds and they have three

daughters, Kaitlyn, Melissa and Jessica.

I ask all hon. members to join me in proudly congratulating one of our native

sons for his great accomplishments in harness racing in Canada; and, Mr.

Speaker, I think it would be appropriate for your office to send a

congratulatory letter to Brad on behalf of the House.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

West.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the Opposition for granting me leave today to bring

forward this member's statement.

Mr. Speaker, it is with heavy heart that I rise in this hon. House today to

speak of the passing of Mr. Melvin Lambe of Marystown. Over his fifty-nine

years, Melvin contributed to his Province extensively, but more so he was

recognized locally as a dedicated volunteer in many capacities. From his work in

the church, to his serving on school boards, as a member of the town council,

and his timeless efforts given to his local fire department and his service on

the provincial fire protection team, for all of these activities he will be

missed.

Mr. Speaker, Melvin Lambe was a dedicated friend and family man. It was

evident in the number of people who attended his funeral service at Sacred Heart

Church in Marystown. He was an energetic, enthusiastic individual, who gave

freely of his time and energies to others.

Melvin leaves behind his wife Madonna and his children, Denis, Jimmy, Dora

and Lesley. To them, I pass on my condolences.

Mr. Speaker, both myself and Mr. King, the MHA for Grand Bank, worked closely

with Melvin, and we considered him a friend to both of us. We have lost the type

of individual who truly speaks to volunteerism, hard work and dedication in

rural Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

On March 25, the Family Violence Intervention Court pilot project in St. John's

commenced at Provincial Court with Judge Gregory Brown presiding. Based upon the

principles of therapeutic jurisprudence, this court places an emphasis on safety

for victims and accountability for the offender, while addressing the root

causes of family violence in our society. The court will sit every second

Wednesday.

Mr. Speaker, the intent of the Family Violence Intervention Court is to

provide, in select cases, a timely, effective and coordinated response to family

violence. With the implementation of this court, we are taking a significant

step forward in tackling the issues associated with violence in the home. A

collaborative effort has been undertaken by various agencies, including the

Provincial Court, the Transition House Association of Newfoundland and Labrador,

the police, prosecutors, Legal Aid, along with Iris Kirby House, and the John

Howard Society, to ensure the needs of victims and offenders are met.

Mr. Speaker, when a charge of family violence is first brought to Provincial

Court, it will be identified for referral to the Family Violence Intervention

Court. The accused individual will be given a court date, information about the

specialized court and, if the offenders take responsibility for their actions,

will meet with a Risk Assessment Officer to determine if eligibility

requirements are, in fact, met. If met, defence counsel will become engaged and

a guilty fee will be submitted to the court. The judge will accept the plea but

postpone sentencing until completion of the essential family violence

interventions. While intervention is ongoing, the accused will be on supervised

bail and will periodically return to the court to update the judge. Once

completed, the accused will then return to court for sentencing.

This court is not about being soft on crime, but about finding alternative

measures to address family violence and its impacts. A team consisting of a bail

supervisor, Child, Youth and Family Services social worker, Victim Services

representative, and a family violence counsellor will be engaged throughout the

process. Services will be available to those, including children, who have been

impacted by the unfortunate occurrence of family violence.

Mr. Speaker, in Budget 2009, through the Family Violence Prevention

Initiative and the Poverty Reduction Strategy, the Newfoundland and Labrador

Government has supported the Family Violence Intervention Court with a total of

$583,000. The court is a twelve-month pilot project and an evaluation of the

court will take place upon its completion to see if the court will continue and

whether it will be expanded to other parts of the Province. I look forward to

watching this court grow and seeing the positive impact it will have upon our

community.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

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

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

Mr. Speaker, obviously family violence in this Province is an ongoing and

serious issue. Apparently, from the statistics that we have, about 80 per cent

of family violence still goes unreported in the Province. It is great to see a

new initiative. Anything that we can do by way of dealing with these new

priorities and emerging challenges we certainly need to have them.

In Judge Brown, of course, you certainly have an ideal individual as well,

well suited to piloting such a project here. We look forward, at the end of the

assessment period of twelve months, to, hopefully, some positive results. It is

a good start, and hopefully down the road we can see this successful program

expanded to other areas of the Province.

Thank you.

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

Vidi.

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

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

I certainly applaud this new initiative with regard to the Family Violence

Intervention Court pilot project. It is good that it is a pilot project, but we

always do that with the hope that it will become the program that you have

outlined, because we need this program throughout the Province, as the minister

knows.

I am pleased that the department has consulted with women's groups and

other stakeholders as you have put this pilot project together, and that you

have also looked at courts in other parts of the country. That is very positive.

I know that the women's groups out there, in particular, who are involved

with the antiviolence issues will be looking to see that the recommendations

that they have made to you are there in the project. I am sure they are. I trust

the minister and the department, that this is a very serious issue and will be

dealt with in a very open and transparent way.

The issue of violence is rampant throughout our Province and women, in

particular, suffer from that. Women face poverty, they face stress, violence,

unpaid and underpaid work, and anything that we can do to deal with what they

experience from violence is essential to making our society what we want it to

be in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Further statements by ministers?

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, Eastern Health has released information that there are

forty-three new breast cancer patients who have been identified who need to be

retested. Eastern has also confirmed that they expect these numbers will likely

increase again before the review is completed.

I ask the Minister of Health today, to tell us when his department first

learned about these new patients and what input your office has had in how this

information was released.

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Members of this House, Mr. Speaker, may recall - and if they

do not recall my saying it here, they would recall it as testimony that unfolded

before the Cameron Inquiry - that last year my office and me, in particular, as

the minister, directed that a more robust search be conducted of the data bases

within the system, to ensure that we were able to identify each and every person

who may have been impacted between 1997 and 2005 as a result of their ER/PR

tests. We commissioned the Centre for Health Information to start that process.

They were very much engaged last year with us in identifying the 1,013 that we

released back in March of last year.

As 2008 unfolded, we realized that there were still people who were coming

forward and saying that they were a part of that group and wondered what their

status was.

As a result of that direction we provided last year, the Centre for Health

Information have now been aggressively doing a much more robust search of the

information systems in the Province to identify any and everybody who may have

had and ER/PR test conducted during that period.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the hon. minister to conclude.

MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What we are seeing today, Mr. Speaker, is that exercise unfolding. They have

been working on it diligently for a number of months and we are now starting to

see the reports coming out of the Centre for Health Information.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One of the key elements of this process has been ensuring that information is

released and communicated properly. What we saw on Friday was a press release

from Eastern Health showing up at 4:00 in the afternoon with no media briefings

or press conferences, and very little detail attached to it.

I ask the minister again because it was told this morning that your

office had been informed and knew about this since Wednesday. I ask: Why was it

not communicated to the public more appropriately, in a more effective fashion

than it was, instead of waiting until the end of the day on Friday?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: I will not try to explain the actions of Eastern Health's

communication strategy on Friday. I, too, would concur that late Friday

afternoon, to make a release available to the public and not have anyone from

Eastern Health available to provide comment, is not something that I would have

directed. It is not something that I condone. It is not something that I agree

with. Let me be perfectly clear about that particular piece.

Yes, I was aware that they were going to be doing that release. The

conversation that my office had with Eastern Health was midday on Thursday, and

the understanding and direction was pretty clear: that this information needed

to get out immediately. The fact that they were late on Friday afternoon

releasing it, I had no control over, Mr. Speaker. That was their call, their

decision to release it. I received the notice of the release just moments before

it was out. I was out of the Province on government business, meeting with my

colleagues in Halifax and with other health regions.

Mr. Speaker, that was their call, but I would agree with the member opposite

that getting a release out late Friday afternoon and not having anyone available

from the organization to comment on it is not something that I would agree with

either.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, I think this release was filed under

false pretenses. It was filed under a headline that said: Moving forward with

Cameron recommendations.

Then, buried in that press release were the information and the evidence

regarding the faulty testing of thirty-eight patients in this Province, many who

have already been reported as being deceased.

I ask again: Why was the headline misleading? Why was this information not

conveyed in a straightforward, up front manner that warranted the kind of

disclosure that it should have had?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Again, Mr. Speaker, I want to tell the member opposite and

the members of the House, Eastern Health write their own press releases. They

release their own communiqus. I was aware of the information that they had. I

was aware on Thursday that they were going to be releasing it. My understand was

they were going to be releasing it quickly. I then went out of the Province on

business, only to find that I got a copy of the release at the same time it was

being released to the public.

I say, Mr. Speaker, again, I am not condoning the manner in which it was

released; nor did I sign off on the content of that release. The fact that no

one was available to provide some context for it, some comment on it, on Friday

afternoon was inappropriate.

This morning, I understand, Eastern Health had officials available to provide

response to the media and others who had some questions in and around the

content of the release, and some detail around it, Mr. Speaker. I understand

some of that information got shared, but again I say, Mr. Speaker, in response

to the question, I did not sign off on the release. They issue their own

communiqus through their own executive management team.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, I suggest the minister take a drive down to

Waterford Bridge Road and have a conversation with Eastern Health.

At 11:00 o'clock this morning, in a public disclosure, they are saying that

the approach they used in communicating this, the way the information went out,

was a joint effort between your department and Eastern Health and others that

were impacted. I am hearing a completely different story this afternoon.

Mr. Speaker, 30 per cent of the patients who were affected by this statement

were never, ever, contacted, and many of them received a phone call only an hour

or so before the information was made public. In our view, Mr. Speaker, nothing

has changed and this shows complete contempt for patients.

I ask again: Has anything been learned by those involved, from the inquiry

into the Cameron report and the recommendations that were filed?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: The whole issue of lessons learned in this process and I

would like to think, Mr. Speaker, that as a health system, with the significant

changes we have already made and some investments we have made I know our

government has learned a lot of lessons from this process. We have taken a lot

from the Cameron inquiry itself. We have taken a lot from the involvement we

have had as a department, from the last couple of years, in examining what went

wrong here. So we, as a government, have taken a lot from this exercise and we

have learned from that and our response in this year's Budget and our response

in last year's Budget and the actions we have taken, I think, reflect that

level of understanding of what actually we need to do to strengthen our system.

Now, with respect to the manner in which information gets communicated, as I

said a moment ago, I am not trying and I will not attempt to defend or to

justify the manner in which this got dealt with on Friday. It was appropriate

that we provide a public disclosure. One of the things that we learned from this

Cameron inquiry was that, as soon as we start identifying problems, we need to

start communicating it with the patients involved and we need to start

communicating with the general public, and we need to do it in such a fashion

that it does not start to seep out gradually. That is what Eastern Health was

doing on Friday -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In this culture of secrecy that Eastern Health seems to have fostered around

this entire issue it is the only way I can explain it, when you bury

important information in documents that are mistitled and inappropriate Mr.

Speaker, where do those patients go now to get answers? What can they expect to

see from these people in terms of response, in terms of details? When can we see

the patient navigators being put in the system so at least patients have a

comfort level of knowing that they have somewhere to go to access appropriate

information?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: There are two parts to the member's question, Mr. Speaker.

The one with respect to the navigators, to assist people through the system,

those positions were announced in the Budget and that money will be flowing to

the health authorities immediately so that process can start.

With respect to the other piece, I understand now that there is a 1-800

number that Eastern Health has put in place for patients who have some questions

to be able to call and get some answers and get to talk to someone. I understand

that was initiated late last week, and I understand that over the weekend some

people did, in fact, make some calls and did have some discussions with someone

within Eastern Health as to how this might affect them and were they impacted by

that and be able to get some answers to some questions for them.

With respect to the future, Mr. Speaker, clearly - I want to repeat this

because it bears repeating, I believe - I want to make sure that the member

opposite understands, and the people of Newfoundland understand, if any

reference was made this morning to this being a joint effort, this was not a

joint effort. The Department of Health and Community Services received advice of

the memo that went out, the release that went out. We received a copy of that,

just like members opposite would have gotten a copy. That would have been a

draft by Eastern Health themselves. It was not a creation of our department.

What was a creation of our department, I say, Mr. Speaker, was the decision

to do this robust search that was commissioned and directed to have been done

last year, and we are now starting to see that. My conversation and my

department's conversation with Eastern Health in the recent past was on

Thursday of last week when clearly this message was to be delivered to the

people of Newfoundland and Labrador in a public way. That was the direction and

that was the understanding that I had with Eastern Health last Thursday.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Because the Cameron inquiry is a very complex document - it has over 470

pages of information very vital to the people in the Province - Mr. Speaker, I

would like to ask government to consider doing some kind of public information

sessions around the Province whereby people are explained these recommendations,

they understand them, and they can actually watch the transformation that is

taking place in our health care system as a means of restoring that confidence.

I ask the minister today: Are you prepared to put in place a team of people

to hold those public forums and questions and answers to that people better

understand this document and what the recommendations mean for our health care

system?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Mr. Speaker, by all means, we are keenly interested in

ensuring that the lessons learned from this Cameron inquiry are not just lessons

we learned as a government, not lessons that the health authorities learned, but

that the people of Newfoundland and Labrador take some valuable insights from

this piece of work that has been done, because there are some meaningful

recommendations in there that will serve not just the health system but the

people of the Province well into the future.

I compliment and commend the member for bringing forward a recommendation in

her question, and we would be only too glad to put in place a mechanism that

ensures that the recommendations in that report, in the Cameron inquiry, are

well known and well understood by the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. That

is learning process, Mr. Speaker, so thank you very much for your suggestion.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the House of Assembly passed legislation to expropriate

provincial assets of AbitibiBowater and hand the assets and the employees, to a

certain extent, over to Nalcor.

I ask the Premier today, if he can confirm for me that, once an operation

becomes void under contract law, that contract with workers also becomes void.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

Mr. Speaker, I am not sure I understand the Leader of the Opposition's

question. Maybe she would like to rephrase it for my benefit.

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

MS JONES: Minister, government passed laws to expropriate assets of

AbitibiBowater, one of them being the energy division, and they transferred it

to Nalcor Energy. My question was: Under contract law, once that became void,

does it also mean the benefits that would have been paid out to those workers

would have become void as well?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

I am not sure if I understand the Leader of the Opposition when she talks

about the contract becoming void.

Certainly, when the assets of Abitibi were expropriated, the assets became

owned by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. Abitibi would continue to

exist as a corporate entity, would continue to own its other assets, and it

would still be obligated to carry out any contracts it entered into.

Maybe, if the hon. member would be a little more specific, I will do my best

to answer your question.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Once the assets were expropriated, and the employees were transferred over to

Nalcor for operations, the Premier was very clear. He made a statement, he said:

Government is going to make sure that all the workers will be properly

compensated in one way or another.

I have to ask: In the negotiations with Abitibi, around expropriation, was

the issue of severance payments for transferred workers on the table, and can

government commit to ensure that the appropriate compensation will be paid out

to all those qualifying workers?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural

Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SKINNER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, there are a number of situations that the task force has

identified and is working through, relative to the expropriation of the assets

of AbitibiBowater.

The transitioning of employees who may be going with Nalcor, and other

employees who are not a part of that transition: those issues are currently

being investigated, options are being looked at, and at an appropriate time

there will be decisions made relative to the options that are available to

government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There were over twenty-two employees whose jobs were expropriated along with

the facilities of the power generation plant. Mr. Speaker, these workers are

being told today that, you will not be eligible to receive severance packages

from Abitibi. All except for three of those workers are being told today that,

you will not get the holiday pay that is due to you.

I ask the minister: What assurances were negotiated in the transfer of those

assets to ensure that these workers would get the severance and the holiday pay

that was due to them from the company that they had worked for, for the last

number of years?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural

Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SKINNER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that some twenty-three or twenty-four

employees have been transitioned to the company Nalcor. When the hon. member

says that the employees have been told, I am not sure who she is referencing has

told them that. It is my understanding that Abitibi has indicated to the

employees certain things that they now feel they have no responsibility for.

As I indicated in a previous answer, as the Chair of the Task Force, we have

work underway looking at the obligations that Abitibi has to its workers. The

fact that those workers are now employed by some other entity does not

necessarily relieve Abitibi of its obligations.

That is being looked into, and as I indicated, as soon as we have information

further to that we will report back on it.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There are seventeen workers who are directly employed today by Nalcor. They

are being told by Abitibi that, it is not our responsibility to pay you out

those severances and holiday pay that was due to them.

Mr. Speaker, again my question comes back to the government. When the asset

was expropriated, when the jobs were expropriated and transferred to Nalcor,

where these employees ever informed that, you may not now get your severance

packages or the holiday pay that is due to you by this company?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural

Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SKINNER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again I say, Mr. Speaker, the determination that Abitibi has made is not

necessarily one that is correct. We have undertaken to do some work on this. We

understand the benefits that the employees were to receive. It is our position,

at this time, that the decision by Abitibi may be premature. As I indicated, we

are looking into that matter and when we have the appropriate due diligence done

on it we will be able to report back with the options that are available.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There are five of these employees who were told by government that they would

be transferred, with the diesel generation operations, to work for Nalcor who

never got a position.

I would like to ask the minister today: What assurances or security are going

to be provided to these five workers who right now are being told by Abitibi, we

do not owe you any severance, we do not owe you any holiday pay, and they are

being told by Nalcor, we do not have a job for you?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural

Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SKINNER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as a part of the transition process, there were contractual

arrangements under the agreements that the unions had, the various locals had.

My understanding is, right now there are, if I remember correctly, three locals

that are involved, three various union groups. There were bumping rights and

succession rights and those kinds of things that employees could utilize, and

some of those employees did, in fact, utilize that. Some people did exercise

their bumping options. Some people, because of that, who were in certain

positions, were bumped out of positions as the contracts allowed them to do.

Again, it is my understanding, Mr. Speaker, that this is legal according to

the contractual arrangements that were signed off by the unions and the company,

and Abitibi, as far as we are concerned, should still live up to any obligations

it has to any employees it has who are displaced.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. BUTLER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There continues to be a number of problems associated with school bus safety

in our Province. There is no policy or procedure manual which the Highway

Enforcement Officers can consult during the carrying-out of their inspections,

and the forms which are presently being used to do inspections are not

consistently and fully completed. I know this year in the Budget the government

announced $300,000 to enhance school bus safety regulations.

I ask the minister: How is this money going to be used to improve school bus

inspections?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Government Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: Mr. Speaker, to answer the hon. member's question, first

off I would like to say that school bus safety is paramount to this government

and, I suppose, in any government because we are talking about the safety of our

children in regards to being transported from their homes to the schools. In

this process, we have had a blueprint commitment in regards to looking at the

issues, and certainly we have engaged with the Department of Education. We have

identified a number of areas that we can have a look at. We costed it at about

$300,000, which was reflected in this year's Budget.

We will engage the stakeholders in regards to consultations and we will also

review our forms policy and review those forms, make sure that they are

consistent and make sure that we are consistently inspecting and we are actually

submitting to the officials in my department the right information.

That is a process that we will undertake. It is under review and we will be

engaged to partner with the Department of Education in regard to this because it

is very important to the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. BUTLER: Mr. Speaker, we know that school bus inspections in

2007-2008, eighty-six of the 864 school buses, or 10 per cent, were identified

with brake defects. While this is alarming, it was also noted that while this is

happening the brakes are not being properly recalibrated, and without this the

meters cannot accurately measure the performance of the brakes. This was noted

in the Auditor General's report in 2004 and again in January 2009.

I ask the minister: How does government expect to improve school bus safety

without taking the necessary steps to ensure accurate testing?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Government Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: Mr. Speaker, in regard to the inspecting of school buses,

school buses in this Province are the most inspected vehicle on the road today

in this Province. We inspect regularly. As a matter of fact, I think, between it

all, we inspect once ourselves and twice by the inspection stations themselves.

In regard to the issue at hand, I am and have followed it keenly in regard to

my interest level to school bus safety in the Province, the system is actually

working. Yes, we do have school buses over a certain age. We have brought down

the overall age of a bus in Newfoundland and Labrador, since we took government,

from fourteen to twelve. The wear and tear on any given bus, you might have a

brake problem today, have it fixed, and maybe you might have another one

tomorrow. What you have to look at in regard to the reporting system is if it is

the same bus or if it is another bus.

Certainly, we have a no tolerance at play here in regard to when we inspect

the bus and we identify that a bus may need some work on their brakes

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for the District of Port de Grave.

MR. BUTLER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker

It has come to our attention, I say to the minister, that back in December

there was a report completed on a bus in our Province where it was stated either

that the inspection showed that the brakes were in good working order or new

brakes had been installed. This was in December of 2008. Yet, when this incident

happened in January 2009, to my understanding, the cause of the accident had to

do with the brakes.

I ask the minister: What is he prepared to do to ensure that accurate testing

is done and the proper reporting is taking place?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Government Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: I would not be able to comment in regard to the specific

situation that the hon. member has described, but I certainly will come back to

this House with a report on that, and make sure that everything was in order. We

endeavour to inspect school buses, and all schools buses, on a regular basis.

Plus, as I said in my previous answer, we have a no tolerance approach to school

bus safety, and the inspection regime that we have in place. If we find an issue

in regard to a defect related to brakes and some other items, too, that we

consider to be of high risk to the safety of the children in this Province, we

pull the bus at that particular time.

We do not give them three months to get it done. We tell them that they have

to do it now, regardless if we, as a mechanic, would say that the item in

question could go on for another three months, but get it done within a three

month period, that you might have a mechanic say in regard to your own vehicle.

We have a no tolerance approach, and we pull

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi

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

My question is for the Minister of Health and Community Services.

During the Cameron inquiry the whole Province witnessed evidence of poor

communication skills and knowledge within Eastern Health, and in her report

Madam Justice Cameron referenced the need for due diligence by the minister when

listening to information that comes from Eastern Health.

I ask the minister: Did it occur to him, or to his officials, to ask how and

when the disclosure of the information about new ER/PR testing results was going

to be made?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: As I said, Mr. Speaker, in my earlier comment in response to

the Leader of the Opposition, officials in my office had a conversation, as well

as myself, with Eastern Health people on Thursday. My understanding was that the

very next day which would have been Friday that information would have

been made public.

I was not aware of the time of the day that it was going to be made, and the

manner in which it was going to be released which we heard addressed in this

House a few moments ago, that it was quite late on Friday afternoon and, in

fact, there was no comment associated with that, or to be accompanying that

release.

Yes, I was aware on Thursday, and my understanding was that on Friday that

information was going to be released to the public.

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

Vidi.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate what the minister says, but obviously we are dealing with an

agency, an important agency in this Province, one of our regional health

authorities, Eastern Health, which is showing us that they do not have the

skills and the knowledge to get involved in patient disclosure and public

communications.

I ask the minister: What is he going to do about ensuring that training

begins immediately to show these people how to do their work? Because they did

not get the message of the Cameron report.

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: I can advise the member opposite, and the House, that I have

had a recent conversation over the weekend with the Chair of Eastern Health

Authority with respect to how we would move forward with having a better

understanding of public disclosure, how we need to focus on communication with

the public and patients in the future. Upon her return to the Province we will

be getting together personally to have that discussion with our officials and

our department, together with officials within Eastern Health.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

Vidi.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think we have here a case of old wine and new wineskins. This was my fear when

the Cameron report came out, that people are so used to behaving in a certain

way that they are not going to change.

I am asking the minister: Will he be recommending that there be distinct

training for all people who have to be involved in public disclosure, with

patient disclosure and public communications? They need more training.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, I have to say, I am in full agreement with

the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi and the Leader of the Opposition. This is

disgraceful. It should never have happened, to do a release on a Friday

afternoon under an improper heading.

It is mentioned in the Cameron report, and I was just looking at it, where

they were basically saying they were telling the truth but not the whole truth.

That is happening again, and it is not satisfactory and it is not good enough, I

can tell you right now. So, yes, things are going to happen over there. We are

going to go back to them and give them some direction with regard to

communication.

As well, Cameron has also indicated that there was a failure of the

management system over there. This has now happened again. That is not

satisfactory. Fortunately, as a result of the protocols that are put in place by

the Department of Health, and us asking the right questions, and continuing to

press them and pursuer them further, more information has come out.

This matter was brought, by the minister, to Cabinet on Thursday. Our media

instructions at Cabinet were: Let's get this out, and get it out right away.

On that basis, the minister made the direction to Eastern Health and what did

they do? They come out on a Friday afternoon with no support behind it. They

issue a press release that has a misleading heading on it, and that is just not

good enough.

I agree with both of you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

Vidi.

MS MICHAEL: I need to say, Mr. Speaker, I am absolutely delighted to hear

the Premier be so forthright and make this statement, because we have to show -

everybody has to show - the people of this Province that they can trust what is

coming out.

We are told by Eastern Health there is more information coming, that this is

not the end, so we need an assurance from the minister that the next time they

will get it right for the sake of the people in this Province.

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The member opposite is right, and as I said earlier, this was a piece of work

that we commissioned last year to dig more aggressively, to make sure we

identified everybody. Now that the information has now been compiled by the

Centre for Health Information, or getting to a point where they are now able to

provide some reports. As of this morning we have asked Robert Thompson, who you

might recall chaired the taskforce on adverse health events, who was guiding

this process last year, if he would be available to assist us with now guiding

the new information coming out and to be able assemble that and provide a very

frank and open discussion and communication as we now get this new information,

as it comes from the Centre for Health Information. We will collate that and

Robert will, and his group, pull that information together again and we will

have some semblance of order as to how we communicate that to the public.

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

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motions.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for The Isles of Notre Dame.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY: Mr. Speaker, I would like to give notice of the following

private member's motion:

WHEREAS all members of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly

support a humane and environmentally sustainable seal harvest, and is committed

to its further sustainable development; and

WHEREAS the Newfoundland and Labrador sealing industry provides direct

employment for over 6,000 people, and has a significant economic, social, and

cultural value for many coastal communities in Newfoundland and Labrador; and

WHEREAS the European Union is considering a proposal to ban the trade in seal

products based on perceived moral arguments which are in clear violation of the

World Trade Organization Agreements; and

international trade and economic interests by maintaining market access for

Canadian goods and services; and

WHEREAS the USA Marine Mammal Protection Act was enacted in 1972 to address

conservation concerns over marine mammals, including seals; and has been used to

ban the trade in Canadian seal products; and

WHEREAS the proposed EU exemption for seal harvesting by Inuit for cultural

and ceremonial purposes only, offers no economic benefit to the Inuit of

Labrador; and

WHEREAS the Canadian seal harvest is an environmentally sustainable industry

and an abundance of seals based on science and on internationally-recognized

conservation principles; and

WHEREAS research on the modern sealing industry by international veterinarian

experts concluded that seals are harvested in a humane manner; and

WHEREAS the commercial harvesting of seals is an important component of

ecosystem health and diversity; and

WHEREAS the implementation of trade bans on seal products will have serious

consequences for the commercial viability of the seal harvest, and on the

livelihood of those who make their living through a legitimate harvest of a

renewable marine resource; and

WHEREAS global leaders, including the European Union, at the G-20 Summit in

November 2008, spoke against protectionism and agreed to a declaration, calling

on countries not to impose any new trade barriers in light of the current global

economic crisis;

BE IT RESOLVED that all members of the Newfoundland and Labrador House of

Assembly support the Newfoundland and Labrador sealing industry;

Union to respect the G-20 declaration not to impose any new trade barriers

during these times of global economic instability;

BE IT ALSO RESOLVED that the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly

of the United States of America calling for an amendment to the Marine Mammal

Protection Act to permit trade in seal products from seal populations that are

environmentally sustainable and managed according to international standards for

conservation and animal welfare; and

to proceed with its proposal to ban seal imports, as such a trade restriction

would be contrary to international trade rules and would do nothing to encourage

either sustainable use or humane sealing practices.

MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motions?

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

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

MS BURKE: Mr. Speaker, we call from the Order Paper Motion 1, moved by

the hon. Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board, that this House

approves in general the budgetary policy of the government Budget Speech.

We will continue with the Budget Debate, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural

Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SKINNER: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

It is my pleasure today to get up and speak to the Budget that was recently

brought down by our government. A lot to talk about, Mr. Speaker, and I

understand that I have twenty minutes. I doubt very much if I will get through

all that I need to get through in that period of time, but I will certainly do

my best, and hopefully in other debates I will have an opportunity to come back

to some of the points that I would like to make.

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk a little bit about the Budget implications

relative to things that happen in our districts. I am going to refer, obviously,

to my own District of St. John's Centre, and some of the activities that

happen in the District of St. John's Centre because of the investments that

have been made in the Budget that we had brought down last week.

Mr. Speaker, the first thing I want to speak to is, just today, as an

example, noon time, I went to a local service organization, it is called the

Longside Club and it is an organization that assists people who have some mental

health issues, it assists them in stabilizing their lives, it assists them in

finding employment, it assists them with some training, some literacy issues and

so on. They called me up a week or so ago and said: Shawn, we are having a

graduation. Would you come up and see some of the students that you have seen in

the past and see them off as they graduate from our facility? I did go up, Mr.

Speaker, and I spent about half an hour there today with those students. What

they do, in terms of graduating, is they graduate from a life skills and cooking

skills program. Some of the investments that this government made in their

program, in terms of literacy investments and infrastructure investments,

infrastructure like stoves, freezers and mixers and so on. I talked to the head

chief up there today and I said: How are things going now that you have been

able to get some extra equipment and you have been able to do some things? He

said: Shawn, you will not believe the difference. He said: The equipment that we

have and it was small numbers, hundreds of dollars, maybe a few thousand

dollars. We were not talking big investments, but the kinds of investments that

this government made in just that one group, I just want to show how the dollars

that we spend translate, hit the rubber, and how they translate out into the

community.

On Fridays, they do a lunch. He said now we are able to, on Fridays 400

lunches that they prepare. He said the students are able to have everything hot

and ready to go. They take pride in what they do. They are using the equipment

there in terms of some of the mixers and so on to make sure that they have the

dough kneaded up for the fresh buns that they make, the potatoes are all mashed

up and so on. Those people now, Mr. Speaker, are able to learn and use skills in

that facility, that once they attain a certain level of proficiency they are

able to move out into the community, find employment, and be able to sustain

themselves and look after themselves. Typically, these people would be people

who would be receiving income support, and they no longer need to receive income

support.

Just as one simple example in my own area, Mr. Speaker, I wanted to talk

about the impact that we have, when do things, on organizations like the

Longside Club.

I also want to reference, Mr. Speaker, the benefits of our budget relative to

school infrastructure. In the District of St. John's Centre, students attend

schools like Booth Memorial High School, Bishops College, Bishop Abraham, which

is a K-6 school, Holy Cross Junior High, Holy Cross Elementary, St. Teresa's/

Ecole Ste-Thrse, Brother Rice, Macpherson, and Holy Heart of Mary, all

schools that are in and around St. John's Centre, that students in my district

attend and go to.

Some of those schools that I have been in over the last number of years have

had classrooms that they have had to shut down because of the leaks: water

coming down through the light fixtures, tiles falling down in the classroom.

Some of those schools have had to have students wear coats in the classroom

during the winter months because of the cold wind blowing in through the

windows, because of the water and the snow actually blowing in through the

windows.

Some of those schools have had people who have not been able to eat their

lunch in the cafeteria because the cafeteria has been flooded when it rains,

because of the condition of the roof.

The lack of investment in our school infrastructure over the last number of

years has led to a very deteriorated situation in the District of St. John's

Centre and, I would suggest to you, in a lot of other districts, and we have had

to do something about that.

I am very happy to say that our continued investment into school

infrastructure has allowed us to repair roofs, has allowed us to repair windows,

has allowed us to make sure that we have been able to have gyproc put up,

asbestos has been removed from schools, students are in a healthy, safe, warm,

dry environment, and I have been told by the teachers, and I have been told by

the principals, that the behaviour problems that they used to have, have

lessened because students now are not as distracted and are more comfortable.

The amount of work that the students are doing, and the grades that they are

achieving, has improved, because they now have a place that they can go, that

they are warm and comfortable in, and they are not distracted by water dripping

in a bucket next to them. The monies that we have invested in schools are

leading to these kinds of outcomes.

Lots of times, when we deal with Budget debates, we talk about the monies

that we are spending, but I think it is important that we focus on the outcomes

that we are receiving for the money that we are spending. Those are just some of

the outcomes that I see, and that I have been told about in my district.

New school infrastructure: we have a number of schools that have been

announced in the Budget. One of them happens to be in the District of St. John's

Centre, St. Teresa's/ Ecole Ste-Thrse, which we will now move forward on

constructing. It is a sixty-year-old facility. I have been in it numerous times.

My own children attended that school. It is in poor shape.

The staff of the Eastern School District, the staff of the school, the

principal up there, the parent group, have all done yeoman service to try and

keep the school in the best state of repair that they can, but it is a

sixty-year-old facility. It needs to be replaced, and I am glad to say that we

have made the investment now and we will have a new school replacing St. Teresa's

over the next couple of years.

Those are the kinds of investments. When we talk about the tens of millions

and the hundreds of million of dollars, sometimes I think we become a little bit

desensitized to what those numbers mean because they are just numbers. I think

it is important that we understand the outcomes that we receive from those kinds

of investments.

I will also speak about, in the District of St. John's Centre there is an

organization called The Hub. It is an organization that does a lot of work with

people who have mental health issues, who are physically challenged and people

who have other disabilities and other forms of mobility impairment.

The staff at The Hub receive some monies from the provincial government

through the Department of Human Resources, Labour and Employment, through the

Department of Health, and maybe the Department of Education - I am not so sure

about that but the investments that we make in an organization like The Hub,

for instance, allow them to do all kinds of wonderful work. There are people,

for instance, in the District of St. John's Centre who go to The Hub for

socializing. They are living in bed-sitters. They are people who are forced to

live in situations where there are bed-sitters. There are people who are living

in dark, dank, wet, mould and mildew type of accommodations because there is

nothing better that they can find, but they get an opportunity to come out of

that environment and go to an environment like The Hub where there are other

people around. They can be given a cup of hot tea. They are given a lunch. They

are given a dessert, a treat. They can have a game of cards. They can have a

game of bingo. They can sit down and socialize, talk to one another. They can

read a book or a newspaper. They can do whatever it is they would like to do,

but it gives them something to look forward to and it gives them some quality of

life.

Don't underestimate, Mr. Speaker, the value of that kind of interaction for

people in our community. Not everyone is fortunate enough, as we are, to be able

to get up in the morning and have something to go to, whether it be a job or

whether it be some volunteer work, or other people around us who support us and

who help us through difficult times, people who we can talk to, people who we

can engage with, people who we can have some interaction with. Not everybody in

our Province has that opportunity. It is important that government's

investments allow people to have that kind of flexibility, and allow people to

have that kind of opportunity, and allow people to have that kind of structure

that they can go to whereby they are able to have some better quality of life.

The people I speak to, who go to The Hub and, let me tell you, some of

those people have a tough time getting there. I am talking about people who are

mobility impaired. They are taking wheelchairs in the middle of the winter and

getting to The Hub on their own. There are people who have prosthetics and

people who have crutches who are walking over snowbanks that you and I would

find difficult, as able-bodied people, but they are doing it because they want

to get to something that is of value to them, something that they find is

important to them.

The investments that we are making, Mr. Speaker, the hundreds of millions and

tens of millions of dollars, sometimes I believe we become desensitized to what

actually happens with that money. It is the hundreds of dollars and thousands of

dollars, sometimes, that we put into some of our service groups, our

community-based groups, that is important for the quality of life of people, so

I am glad to see that we have some of those things, Mr. Speaker, in the past

number of years.

I am glad to see that this government, in a time of economic turbulence, in a

time of global turbulence economically, did not cut our budgets. We got

criticized by some people for that because we ran a deficit. We continued to

invest. We continued to put money into the services and products and

infrastructures and programs that we felt were important to the people of this

Province, and we got criticized for that by some people. Not by all people, but

by some, but I am happy and I am proud to stand here today and say that we

continued to make those investments because it allows us to invest in the people

of the Province who need the kind of support that I just described to you a few

minutes ago.

Another thing that is happening, Mr. Speaker - again I will refer to my own

district, the District of St. John's Centre - we have an expansion and some

investment that we are making in the St. Clare's Emergency Department.

Now, anybody who has been to our hospitals knows that they are very busy

places and certainly heavily subscribed and heavily utilized. I have been to St.

Clare's emergency centre many times, Mr. Speaker. Sometimes for my own needs

or my family's needs, and sometimes for people I have had to take there when I

have been coaching sports and those kinds of things and people get injuries. It

is a facility that is always in use. Whether I have been there at 10:00 o'clock

in the morning or 10:00 o'clock at night, there are always people there

waiting to be serviced, and they give great care, great quality of care, at St.

Clare's.

I had family members who worked there for many years. My grandmother and my

mother, for many years, were attached with St. Clare's hospital and I am quite

familiar with the kinds of service and the service level that they provide up

there, Mr. Speaker, but we have made an investment in our health care services

in that area and it is an area that was needed. It is an area that, when we talk

about putting $1 million or $1.5 million into the emergency room at St. Clare's

hospital, I do not know if people really understand what that means. It means

that the people who are going there now with their illnesses and with their

problems are people who will have a better place to go in terms of the waiting

area. They will have a better place that they will be able to go in terms of

some of the equipment that will be provided, some of the wheelchairs and some of

the other things that people need when they go there. It would also help in

terms of hopefully people not having to wait as long because there are

investments being made in some of the human resources that are happening there.

So, Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to take a couple of minutes in the short time

that I had to talk a little bit about what is going on in terms of the Budget

investments, those hundreds of millions, billions of dollars really, and what it

means in terms of a district and what it means in terms of people living in a

district.

Mr. Speaker, the other thing I want to refer to - I am going to move away

from my district for a second because, as I indicated, I have a short time to

speak and I want to just talk a little bit about some of the investments that

are being made sort of pan-provincially. Now, it is important we understand that

the economic outlook that we did as a part of our Budget indicates that although

we are in a global recession, although we are in a global time of economic

turbulence, things are still moving a long in the Province. We have challenges.

I am not looking at this with rose coloured glasses. We have challenges. We have

areas of the Province that we need to certainly do some work in but we also have

areas where things are going well. It shows in terms of our general

pan-provincial economic indicators that we are looking at, that for instance,

our housing starts - and that is an indicator. When I was on municipal council

we always looked at the housing starts. That was a good indicator of how the

economy was going across the Province.

Our housing starts are expected to remain strong. We are expecting over 2,600

new housing starts this year. That is important, Mr. Speaker, and I am not just

talking about in the Avalon area. I have been out to some of the districts of

some of the other members here and I have been in places where they are talking

about twelve, fifteen, twenty new houses going up in an area where they have not

had ten houses built in the last ten years and they are having twelve, fourteen

and fifteen being done now. There are a number of districts where I have heard

that being said.

As well, Mr. Speaker, our retail sales growth as a Province is expected to

increase 1.2 per cent. Again, when you are talking about economic performance of

a province, that is an indicator that you would use to see how you are doing in

your economy, and our numbers are increasing there Mr. Speaker.

As well, our personal income and our disposable income are both expected to

grow, Mr. Speaker. Our personal income is expected to grow by 3 per cent and our

disposable income is expected to grow by 3.7 per cent. So the indicators, Mr.

Speaker, are not all negative. The indicators are still looking positive, and

even with the turbulent times that we are facing, we are still in a position to

be able to soften the blow of some of what is happening because of some of the

decisions that we have made in the past relative to our investments that I

talked about earlier in our infrastructure, our investments in our education

system, our investments in our people, and some of the tax policies that we have

taken on as a government in terms of tax relief and tax reduction.

The other thing that I wanted to mention, and when we talk about

pan-provincial indicators, is that we have had in this Province, for the last

four years we have had four consecutive surpluses as a government. We this year,

as I indicated, brought down a Budget that would have a deficit in it. A

deficit, I believe, it was somewhere around $700 million, if memory serves me

correctly; $750 million is the forecast. Well, Mr. Speaker, that needs to be

taken in balance. We have had four years of surpluses. We are heading into a

year where we are forecasting a deficit but the price of oil being as

fluctuating as it is, that could change. So I do not think we need to be all

doom and gloom because a deficit is being forecast. We have a long way to go

before the year will be completed. A lot can happen. The price of oil can

certainly change fairly quickly as we saw last year, as it spiked up and spiked

down, and that would certainly make a big difference to the forecasted Budget at

the end of the year, whether it is a surplus or a deficit.

The other thing, Mr. Speaker, that I wanted to mention and I think is really

important. I think it is important that we continue to reiterate this because I

think it says something about the direction this Province is heading in. Our net

debt this year is going to be about $7.9 billion, Mr. Speaker. When we came into

government it was around $11.9 billion. That is a significant change, $4 billion

of change in about six years. Now, I would like to take those kinds of big

numbers, as I did earlier, and bring them down to what does it mean to me? What

effect does it have on me, as an individual, living in the Province?

Well, Mr. Speaker, five or six years ago the net debt per capita in the

Province was roughly $23,000. I do not remember an exact figure, but I can tell

you it was around $23,000 per person. Every man, woman and child in this

Province carried a debt burden on their broad shoulders of $23,000. What our

policies have done, Mr. Speaker, our economic policies and our investment

policies and our tax policies have done as a government over the last five or

six years, is that net debt now has been reduced down to $15,500, about $8,000

per man, per woman and per child less in this Province. Not only is that

important, Mr. Speaker, in terms of getting the debt down by showing that we are

heading in the right direction because we are able to pay down our debt, the

other thing that is important is that by getting the debt reduced down by that

much, it has freed up hundreds of millions of dollars of money for government

that we would normally be paying on debt payments, and paying on interest on

debt payments that we now do not have to pay on the interest on the debt. We can

now put that money into some of the other programs and services that I talked

about earlier.

The policies of this government, in terms of economic stimulation, in terms

of infrastructure investment, in terms of tax policies, have brought us in the

right direction. The indicators show that. The provincial indicators show that.

The debt indicators show that. The ratings that we have from the credit rating

agencies have shown that, because our ratings are doing up. We are being told by

groups like the St. John's Board of Trade, the Chambers of Commerce around the

Province that the kinds of things we are doing are the things that they would

like to see us doing.

So, it is important, I think, that we reflect upon that. I think it is

important we reflect upon the amount of money that this government spends, but

it is important that we reflect upon what that impact is on the individuals in

the Province. It is important that we let people know where their money is going

and how it is benefiting them.

Now, Mr. Speaker, in the short time that I have left I would like to just

speak, if I could, to a couple of other quick points. Our reliance on oil

revenues, people think that we are relying on oil revenues, and we certainly

are. You make hay while the sun shines. Because we have oil now, and because we

have an opportunity to exploit that resource, we should be taking the money that

we can from it.

Make no mistake, Mr. Speaker, and I will get up at another time to continue

this conversation, to continue this debate, we have a diversified economy. We

have all kinds of good things happening in the ocean technology sector, in the

information technology sector, in the agrifoods area, in our other natural

resources that we have. We have all kinds of opportunity there. There are big

numbers, big dollar amounts being invested in those things by private companies

as well as by government, and there are hundreds and hundreds, and thousands of

people being employed. We can see it through the aquaculture, as an example, and

there will be a lot more growth in that area as well.

Mr. Speaker, I see that my time has very quickly finished up. I thank the

hon. members opposite. If they will give me a few more minutes, I would

appreciate that, but I do want to finish up by saying that I think it is

important that we recognize, and its important for the people who watch the

House of Assembly to understand, that the investments that are made by

government in Budget are meant to be very strategic in terms of addressing a

wide variety of concerns and issues that occur throughout the Province. We have

to be thinking about, as I said before, our health policies, our education

policies, our infrastructure policies, and all of that trickles down from a

minister's perspective.

When I make those kinds of decisions, or make recommendations on decisions,

all of that trickles down, in my mind, to: What impact does it have to the

person living in the house, the person on the street, the person living in

Avondale, the person living in St. Lunaire, or the person living in St. John's?

Wherever it is that they may live, how is this going to impact them?

We try to make the kinds of decisions

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I remind the hon. minister that his time for speaking has elapsed.

Does the hon. minister have leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. minister, by leave.

MR. SKINNER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I certainly will not take advantage of my leave; nor will I try to wear down

your patience.

I will conclude my remarks by saying that I do appreciate the opportunity to

speak in Budget debate. I do hope that people understand that the decisions made

by government are decisions that are made trying to understand the effect we

have on the citizens of the Province, and I hope that the people of the Province

understand, based upon some of the indicators that are accepted across the

country as being indicators that determine the strength of your economy, that

our economy is strong, this Province is on sound footing, and we are heading in

the right direction.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. BUTLER: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Before I continue on with the debate, the other day I spoke during the

sub-amendment - which was unfortunately defeated the sub-amendment with

regard to non-confidence in the government, so today my few comments will be

with regard to the non-confidence part of the motion. Mr. Speaker, before I do

that, I want to refer back to a couple of member statements that were made here

today.

First of all, my hon. colleague from Kilbride, Brad Forward, I happened to

know the gentleman many years ago when we used to be at the Avalon Raceway in

Goulds and take

part in harness racing out there. It is good to see this young

man progress the way that he has over the years, and to win the awards that he

has done.

The other thing, my hon. colleague from Trinity North, I cannot say I was the

happiest person in Mile One of Saturday night but I was there and I also want to

congratulate the Clarenville Caribous. I have to say, they are a wonderful team,

well disciplined, and a tremendous goalie. Having said that, I also want to pay

tribute to the CeeBee North Stars who had a wonderful time over the previous

three years, in winning the Herder, and it was won there many years ago back in

the 1960s, but I have to have to say they put up a gallant fight and the better

team prevailed in this particular championship.

I want to pay particular attention to, I think it is eight or ten of them who

come from the great District of Port de Grave: Paul Brown, Chris Crosbie,

Bronson Dawe, Keith and Ryan Delaney, Matthew French, Brent Lynch, Chad Parsons,

Randy Reardon and Gary Sparkes, and to all the members of the CeeBee Stars,

congratulations on an excellent year and we look forward to another year in

2010, I guess the next championship will be, and we hope that you will be there

for us again.

Mr. Speaker, when I finished the other day I was referring to, I guess, the

different projects throughout our Province that we find in a declining position

due to the world economy. I was touching on some places like Stephenville, the

FPI issue, and only today we heard again about the tremendous impact that maybe

- hopefully it will not happen, but in Lab City the Iron Ore Company. I know

they made an announcement that probably five weeks they would be shut down this

summer, and now they are talking about the possibility of thirteen weeks. I am

sure that is going to be an additional blow to that particular area, but

hopefully it will work itself out.

When we talk about the Iron Ore Company and Wabush Mines, and then we talk

about the new oil refinery that was to be built in Placentia Bay, and that has

been placed on hold, and the extension to the oil refinery that is already there

in Come By Chance, all of those issues, Mr. Speaker, have a tremendous impact on

our economy and on the men and women of our Province who find work in those

particular places.

We have heard it said this government has said, and rightly so - that the

world crisis that is happening is not of their doing; but, Mr. Speaker, like I

said the last time I spoke, the revenues that we see flowing into this Province,

or the greater percentage of, are probably not of their doing. They are from a

former time, former Administrations, I say, Mr. Speaker, but then again we give

credit where credit is due. Like the Premier said, he has tweaked some of the

projects, and extra revenue is coming in, and all of that has to be done.

A gentleman said to me the other day, and I guess he must listen to the

debates all of the time, he compared what happened when this Administration took

office. He looked at it as a young family just starting out, just starting out

in life, had a few children, both of them working, making ends meet but no

tremendous amount of revenue coming into their household that they could enjoy

the extras. He said, you know, it is just like someone bought them a lottery

ticket and, fortunately enough, they won the lottery. He said, then they could

progress and do things that they never dreamed they could do. He said that is

the way I looked at it when this government came on stream. Give them all credit

for what they are doing now. When they took over, no doubt, there was a deficit

at that time, but the revenues began to flow. He said it is similar to them

winning the lottery. Mr. Speaker, with a $750 million deficit this year, if the

prices of oil do not go up, they may have to win another lottery. We never know

that, and time will tell, Mr. Speaker.

They also mention that when they took over power in 2003, why there was a

deficit at the time. They are saying now, because we have a deficit, they could

do that or they could cut jobs or increase taxes and fees and what have you, but

I am sure they all remember in 2003 there were many jobs that were cut, and

probably rightly so, something had to be done, and I can assure you there were

many increases. Every tax, every fee in this Province was increased. We all

remember the debates we had, even the polar bear tax. Mr. Speaker, I think at

that time there was only one thing that was not taxed that particular year, and

that was the free on the bingo card. That stayed the same.

Mr. Speaker, we know those things had to be done. Those things had to be done

from time to time, and fortunately we find ourselves in the position we do

today. My colleagues, we stand and give credit where credit is due but we will

bring forward the issues that other people want us to bring forward.

It is good to hear my hon. colleagues opposite - not only opposite, there are

some of them here to my left as well - that when they stand they bring up the

issues that maybe the government could not deal with at this time. We know

everything cannot be done, but we have to look at it and say whatever has to be

done, or the concerns that the people are bringing forward, because I am sure we

are not the only three members in this House who are getting calls and issues

being expressed about what they would like to see brought forward in this House.

For a moment I want to touch on jobs and the population increase and

out-migration, and tie the three of them together, because in this year's

Budget I think the figure was that there was a population increase of 1,400 for

the first time in sixteen years. What I did, I went back to my district and

sized up the new people who came into my district. There are seven families, two

in a family, who returned home because they went away years ago, they retired

and they came home to live in our Province. That is fourteen. In that district

there are four families who have moved to live in Newfoundland from the USA.

They have never been here before but they came here to visit and they bought

homes here; four families, two in each one. That is another eight. There is one

family that I know there are probably others - another family who came home.

They were away working and they heard that there was work here and they came

home. So out of that total there are twenty-four. Two of them came back to go to

work again in their home province. Twenty-two of them came back here to live

because they have either retired in Canada or retired in the United States. If

you multiply that by forty-eight districts, I would venture to say - my district

is not the only one. Every member can sit down and figure it out, that is the

1,400 people, or close to it, who came back, but the government will have you

believe that the 1,400 that came back, they came back because there was work

here for them. We would love to see that happen, but I am going to tell you, the

1,400 that came back, based on the scenario that I have done, a lot of them came

back here to retire. That is good; we want to see them come home.

Then again, I know last week in Question Period I asked the Minister of

Transportation, would there be any cuts this year, and he assured me that there

would not be. That is good; I hope that is the way it is going to turn out. I

think he was being honest and above board when he told me that.

The people who live in my area that work with the Department of

Transportation, they have concerns. They have been approached by their

supervisors saying that in the Bay Roberts area where there was twelve people on

summer maintenance last year, that will be reduced to eight this year.

MR. HICKEY: (Inaudible.)

MR. BUTLER: I know, and I agree with the hon. the Member for Lake

Melville, the Minister of Labrador Affairs. He said there are no changes. All I

am trying to do is put this to rest, and the minister made sure that he said

that.

Those people, right now, they are under the impression that the twelve who

were on summer maintenance last year will be reduced to eight.

I want to say to them, by the means of this House of Assembly, that that is

not correct. The minister has stated very clearly: There will be no reductions

in the number of individuals through summer maintenance this year.

Mr. Speaker, the other thing we have to look at, and all too often we hear

about bringing all our people back home to work, there will be so much work here

for them and maybe we cannot come up with the numbers to take care of the

workforce that we need. That is all wonderful, but we hear so much about job

losses, jobs that are vanishing. Only recently I read an article, I think it was

in this weeks Telegram , that in the United States, just in March month

alone, some 663,000 jobs just vanished. They are up now over 5.1 million job

loss. In Canada, 295,000 jobs were lost in the past four months. They claim that

for the month of March there may be another 57,500, but some of the experts are

saying that number could go as high as 80,000.

Mr. Speaker, we know that times are changing. We know, and it has been

recorded, the economic update for the APEC members when they talked about in

their last publication about the impact from the recession. They have stated

very clearly that in New Brunswick, since October, 2008, 3,900 jobs have been

lost. They have also stated, based on the labour force survey that in

Newfoundland there has been a loss of 3,100 jobs since October. The new figures

will be coming out shortly.

Mr. Speaker, it was only last week - I think, the Minister of Municipal

Affairs in today's statement in regards to regionalization, and I concurred

with her that it is a wonderful project. I saw her being interviewed after, I do

not know if it was here in the building or where it was, and the reporter asked

her what were the advantages of regionalization and why would towns do it. The

comment she made, and it is accurate, nothing against what the minister said,

she said a lot of those smaller communities are being affected because their

numbers are declining because of out migration. Whether it is out migration from

a small community in some part of this Province to St. John's, or some of the

larger hubs, whether it be Corner Brook or Gander or Grand Falls, it is a major

impact on those smaller communities.

Like I said, I think I mentioned this before, we sent out a small survey to

all the municipalities in the Province since our last sitting of the House of

Assembly. A tremendous amount of information has flowed back. If I am not

mistaken, I thought one of the people at the office said that Municipalities

Newfoundland and Labrador wanted to get some feedback on how the municipalities

responded to this particular survey.

I can tell you one thing, and I am not going to use any community or names

because I do not think that is fair to them, but there was one community, and

they named that particular area of the Province, and it is accurate, tourism is

a major factor there. It is a beautiful area of the Province, not that any area

of our Province is not beautiful, but this particular area is massive. The

concern that they had, and they agree with the wonderful advertisements the

government has on about the white clothes flowing on the clotheslines and the

fresh air, all a wonderful job of bringing people to our Province, but the

concern that they had, is that clothesline with the white clothes on it is not

in a downtown major town or city of our Province, it is out in those small rural

areas. What they are saying, if one thing does not rebound, if one thing we do

not take more action towards, which is the fishery, those towns will eventually

die and the tourism will go with it because that is why the people flock to this

Province and go to the rural communities. That is why the people are there,

because of the fishery. If the fishery should fall totally by the wayside, then

that industry, our tourism industry will fall with it.

We have heard the Premier say from time to time that we are not affected to

any large degree by the economic downturn throughout the world. That may be true

and that is good if we are in a better position than somebody else, but then

again, I think the comments were: We have to steer the course and hold our own.

If the reports that I just mentioned, 3,100 jobs gone in five months and we went

last year from a surplus in excess of $1 billion down to a deficit this year of

$750 million then maybe, just maybe, it is having an impact on us. I cannot see

from the figures that we hear in the United States and the concerns that they

find themselves in Canada in the other provinces, that it is not going to affect

us possibly to a greater degree.

For the next few minutes I want to touch on some of the issues that people

are bringing forward to us and still have concerns with. I want to look at

health care and the Cameron recommendations to start with. The report - and I

agree with the Premier, what he said here today, the way that issue was handled

on Friday past is not acceptable. He stated very clearly, they would see that

something should be done about it. I have heard the minister state previous to

this, that the health care system that we have today is not the same health care

system when this happened back a year or two years ago.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell you stories, and I know one to be 100 per cent

accurate, of a lady who had testing done back in April of 2008, and it was seven

months after, with the fighting of both of her doctors, to get that particular

result and she was diagnosed with having cancer. That is since all this

happened, the Cameron Inquiry was ongoing. That is only just one incident, and

that is not acceptable. I hate to think this, but there was another young lady

in my district, her husband called me when the Cameron Inquiry was ongoing,

wondering if his wife could become involved with this inquiry. I do not know,

because the lady has passed away. Maybe she is part of this new report that came

out of the forty-some-odd people that were mentioned.

Mr. Speaker, the other issue that we are asked to bring forward from time to

time, and I am sure I am not the only member who hears this, is from our seniors

with regard to the pensions they receive. I think something has to be done for

them. I saw the gentleman who represents them on Budget day. He was saying he

was disappointed but at least he had a meeting, or he had a meeting arranged

with the Minister of Finance. Hopefully, Mr. Speaker, something will come from

that.

We also have concerns, and I know I brought it to the floor of the House of

Assembly many times, about our doctors. I am sure the majority of us were

listening to Open Line about a family who moved from St. John's to Carbonear.

While she was out there, she still thought that her doctor was here in St. John's.

They came in to see him and he made it very clear to her: No, you have moved

from here. You are living in Carbonear, and I am not your doctor any more.

Everyone can guess what happened after that, because the doctors in

Conception Bay North area cannot take any additional patients. Here is a husband

and wife, both of them having major medical problems, being dropped by their

doctor here in St. John's and now are unable to find a doctor in Carbonear.

They finally went to the walk-in clinic in Carbonear and were told: I am

sorry, we cannot see you either. We cannot look after your needs. They went to

the emergency unit - and the lady was on Open Line, I do not know if it was last

night or the night before, explaining it - apparently now there is one doctor

who comes to the hospital who has agreed to see them.

Mr. Speaker, it is a major issue. I know the minister has said, and rightly

so, there are some thirty or forty doctors who have come on stream in our

Province, but those are issues that people ask us to bring forward.

Another major issue that came up during the Budget consultations, and also

during the survey that we had returned to us, was from municipalities with

regard to the MOGs versus the 90/10 funding. Each and every one of them, Mr.

Speaker, are asking this government to return, or increase, the MOGs. Because

what they are saying is the 90/10 is an excellent program when it comes to

dealing with the capital cost, but what they are looking for is funds for

operational purposes. That is what they used to use their MOGs for.

Community after community, town after town, is asking government that they

reconsider that. I know the Minister of Finance has more or less said to them,

look, it is either the 90/10 or the MOGs. The 90/10 is excellent but they cannot

use this money for what they want to use it, so they are asking government to

have another look at the MOGs.

Mr. Speaker, the municipalities have other issues as well. I know it came

from the municipalities convention, and the minister has agreed to look into

this one, is about the Crown lands that are in municipalities. Probably it comes

under the Minister of Government Services as well, when it comes to Crown lands.

That is an issue where they wanted the Crown lands within a municipal boundary

turned over to them so they can do what is appropriate, so that they can expand

and try to encourage other business initiatives to come to their town. We know

that some 80 per cent of our land base in this Province is Crown lands, and the

municipalities are asking that this would be considered.

Mr. Speaker, I know the clock has gone out, but I will keep going until you

tell me to go down. Anyway, the municipalities do have those issues, and another

issue they have is looking for new legislation to be brought forward with regard

to car wrecks the definition on car wrecks. I know that is being looked at,

but it is a major issue with many of the municipalities because the legislation

does not state clearly what a car wreck is, and therefore they cannot use their

judgement on cleaning that up.

Mr. Speaker, having said that, I think my time has expired so I will take

leave and come back later.

MR. SPEAKER (T. Osborne): The hon. the Member for the District of Mount

Pearl North.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It gives me great pleasure to stand in this hon. House today to acknowledge

some of the good work of this government, to talk about some great things that

are happening in my District of Mount Pearl North, to talk about some good

things that have happened over the last number of months, and also to speak

specifically to the recent Budget and how it impacts not only the Province but

specifically the constituents I represent in the District of Mount Pearl North.

Mr. Speaker, I want to first and foremost congratulate the Minister of

Finance and this government on a tremendous Budget.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENT: We all recognize, as community leaders and as government

leaders, that we are living in very challenging, tough economic times, but I

think, because of the leadership of this government, the people of Newfoundland

and Labrador will be better positioned to withstand those challenges and to

excel in this challenging economic climate.

When we look at the economy in 2008, in Newfoundland and Labrador, we saw an

increase in our Gross Domestic Product, we saw a decrease in our unemployment

rates, and the outlook for 2009 even in light of what is happening in the

world around us the outlook for 2009 is still very strong.

Without quoting a whole bunch of statistics, I will share with you a couple

of examples that I have experienced recently.

Just today, just this morning, Mr. Speaker, I had a conversation with a local

bank manager in my district and he was telling me over the last number of weeks

he seen a dramatic increase in applicants who are starting small businesses in

the communities that I represent, Mount Pearl and Paradise, and in this region

and elsewhere in the Province. There are lots of good things happening and there

is certainly still a fair amount of positive momentum despite the economic

challenges that we see. He is seeing it from a small business perspective, which

is really the engine of our economy. I think that is a very positive sign.

In addition to that, as I am travelling in my district and meeting with

residents, I am learning that there are a number of families, week after week,

month after month, who are moving back to Newfoundland and Labrador because of

the opportunities here. I am seeing new houses being built everyday and growing

neighbourhoods in Elizabeth Park, for instance, part of which I represent in

this House.

There is a lot of positive momentum, and I think the decisions that our

government has made over the last five years and the kinds of decisions that we

continue to make as outlined in this recent Budget will bode well for the future

of communities like Paradise and Mount Pearl, and also for the future of

Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, one of the big issues that I am talking to residents about,

speaking of Elizabeth Park, is the construction of two new schools in the Town

of Paradise. I certainly want to, once again, thank the Minister of Education

for her commitment to the school system in Paradise. It is one of the fastest

growing communities in the country, and for this reason there is a big demand

for adequate school facilities to meet those growing needs.

First of all, the tender for the first new elementary school for Paradise has

been awarded and things are still well underway and on track for school opening

in the fall of 2010, which is great news for the residents of Paradise. The

first school will be built in the District of Topsail, which is represented by

the hon. member to my left. As well, plans are well underway for the second

school, which will be located in my district, in Elizabeth Park, and which will

meet the needs of families in that neighbourhood. We hope that the tender will

be awarded later this year, and plans are still well underway for that project

as well.

The good news here is that the town council, the mayor and the members of

council, the school councils, the Eastern School District, the Department of

Education, my colleagues, the other members who represent the Town of Paradise

and myself, we are all working closely together to make sure that these projects

stay on track. It is a high priority for me. I know it is a high priority for

the other members who represent Paradise in this House and it is something that

we will continue to actively work on and monitor very closely.

The commitment in Paradise alone exceeds $28 million. This is going to mean

great things for the future of that community and for the young families in that

growing community.

I should also note, as well, that there has been an extension in the works

for Holy Family Elementary which will also serve families in Paradise, and this

is great news as well.

Mr. Speaker, in challenging economic times I think it is very important that

we invest in infrastructure, and this government is incredibly committed to

doing just that.

Over the last number of months a commitment has been made to the City of

Mount Pearl in the amount of $20 million. These infrastructure monies are going

to be invested directly into road upgrades, necessary infrastructure

improvements that are necessary in that area. Also, there is going to be a major

investment into recreation facilities to meet the needs of that community.

We are going to see later this year construction begin on a brand new arena,

a second ice rink that is going to be attached to the Mount Pearl Glacier which

will, in effect, replace the Smallwood Arena, which has served the community

well but has certainly been in operation longer than any of us would have

anticipated and is in need of replacement. The removal of that facility will

allow for a further expansion of the other uses at the Smallwood site, soccer,

baseball, softball. There is a need for increased parking and other recreational

spaces at that site and we will see that happen as well. So, this arena

construction is going to take place. Thanks to the support of this government,

the City of Mount Pearl has been able to undertake projects like that.

An issue that I am even more excited about though is the construction of a

much needed new aquatics facility for the City of Mount Pearl. We are going to

see a first-class aquatics facility, an eight-lane facility with all kinds of

bells and whistles and amenities to meet residents' needs. I hope construction

on that facility will start in the not-to-distant future as well. Over the last

year this government has made the commitment to Mount Pearl to provide the

funding to allow that project to proceed. I met with council recently, along

with my colleague, the Member for Topsail and the Minister of Intergovernmental

Affairs, the Member for Mount Pearl South, and plans are well underway.

We are also very committed to supporting our cultural community and

supporting the arts. I am pleased that as part of this recreational

redevelopment that will happen on the Reid Centre site adjacent to the Library,

the Track and Field and the Mount Pearl Glacier, we are also going to see the

addition of a theatre which I have been arguing for many years is much needed in

a community the size of Mount Pearl. We have an active arts association, the

Association for the Arts in Mount Pearl. We have lots of musicians and actors

and artists and performers, all of whom call Mount Pearl home and a community

theatre is something that has been needed for quite some time. So I am pleased

that that will find a home at the redeveloped Reid Centre complex as well.

The total project, when you factor in the arena, the swimming pool, as well

the theatre and some of the other improvements that will be made on the site,

the commitment exceeds $38 million. It is a huge project. It is going to have

great benefits not only for the residents of Mount Pearl but for the residents

of the region and the residents of surrounding communities.

I look forward to continuing to work closely with Mount Pearl Council and my

fellow MHAs to bring those projects to fruition.

Mr. Speaker, over the last number of months, I have also been pleased to see

this government invest in other community initiatives in Mount Pearl and

Paradise.

We have a very active seniors' community, and, in fact, not unlike every

other community in the Province, our seniors' population in Mount Pearl and

Paradise is growing. We have to modify our plans in order to better meet the

needs of that growing demographic.

This government has provided wellness grants and other forms of funding to

our Seniors Independence Group to allow them to continue to promote healthy

active living among seniors, to allow seniors to remain independent and remain

active in the community. There is some great outreach work being undertaken by

the Seniors Independence Group to ensure that our seniors are an active part of

our community.

We have seen community capital grants awarded to the Town of Paradise. We

have a great new community centre in Paradise and there is great recreational

space around that facility. This government is committed to working with the

Town of Paradise to continue to see improvements made in, as I said, the fastest

growing community in the Province, and one of the fastest growing in Canada.

We have also seen a grant provided through the Department of Health and

Community Services to the Knights of Columbus in Mount Pearl which is working

very closely with Mary Queen of the World School in my district to provide a

literacy program to some young students in our community.

These kinds of investments in social development are making a real difference

in the lives of children and youth and families in the District of Mount Pearl

North, and I feel that they are worthy of recognition in this hon. House.

Mr. Speaker, if we are going to be successful as a Province, and if we are

going to continue down the path towards prosperity that we have embarked upon,

investments in education are going to continue to be paramount.

I mentioned the investment in the schools in Paradise, but it doesn't stop

there. We have seen improvements over the last number of months in scholarship

programs for students, new lab equipment for schools, and other improvements.

Mary Queen of the World, as I mentioned a moment ago, has had some capital

improvements made to its roof and the structure of the building. We are going to

see an extension, as a result of recent infrastructure announcements, to St.

Peter's Junior High in my district. So, there are a lot of good infrastructure

investments being made in education, which I believe are very critical to the

future as well.

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk specifically about some other impacts that this

recent Budget will have on Mount Pearl North.

There are initiatives in this Budget and in the last Budget which impact

virtually every Newfoundlander and Labradorian. When you take a look at tax

reductions, for instance, even in this latest Budget we are seeing new tax

reductions, as part of the Poverty Reduction Strategy, which will positively

impact low income earners in this Province.

Since 2007, this government has initiated tax measures exceeding $776

million. This is putting dollars in people's pockets, it is generating real

economic activity, and it is something that impacts virtually every citizen of

this Province.

In terms of municipal infrastructure, in this Budget specifically, for

2009-2010 we are seeing an investment in Mount Pearl and Paradise in municipal

infrastructure dollars and operating grants, debt servicing subsidies. The

commitment exceeds $14.6 million for the two municipalities. This is going to

result in some major activity that I know residents will see first-hand. One of

the most visible examples in my district is Park Avenue. There has been some

major underground work done over the last year. The road is a challenge, at the

moment, to navigate from one end to the other. I am pleased to report that

council is committed to fully repairing and restoring Park Avenue during this

year. That is going to have a positive impact for citizens as well.

Those infrastructure commitments are critical in large municipalities such as

Mount Pearl and Paradise, and our government is committed to working closely

with those communities to make things happen.

Mr. Speaker, I am confident that when it comes to dealing with these

challenging and economic times we are doing the right thing. Some of the leading

economists in the Province and in the country have endorsed our plan. The recent

announcement of $800 million of infrastructure investments is going to impact

every citizen in Mount Pearl North and every citizen in the Province.

We are seeing major investments: $277 million in transportation

infrastructure; $156 million in educational facilities; $167 million in health

care facilities and equipment; $103 million for municipal infrastructure. As I

said, Mount Pearl and Paradise will benefit directly from these investments.

We are also seeing considerable investment in the area of justice, which I

will speak to in a moment as well. This will generate real economic activity, it

will create jobs, and these are long-term sustainable investments that are going

to bode well for the future.

I want to talk specifically about health care. It is an issue that is near

and dear to the hearts of everybody in the Province. We have seen a record $2

billion investment in health and community services from this government. Some

of that investment will directly relate to implementing recommendations coming

out of the recent Cameron inquiry. This is absolutely critical, and it is a

process that I know the Minister of Health and Community Services, our Premier,

his ministers and our government are extremely committed to. I think that is

reflected in the kind of transparency, the kind of openness, the kind of

leadership that was shown in Question Period today, Mr. Speaker, by the Minister

of Health and Community Services and by our hon. Premier, and that kind of

leadership is critical at this time when there are lots of needs in the health

care system that still need to be addressed and this government is investing

dollars in the right places and resources in the right places and putting the

strategies in place to ensure that we get to where we need to go.

We are seeing an investment of over $21 million in enhancing laboratory

services, and services for cancer care and health information management. That

brings it to a total of $75 million since 2007.

We are seeing investments in Human Resources as well in the health care

system. One thing I am particularly pleased to note in this Budget is an

additional $3.5 million this year to hire thirty new salaried physicians, more

doctors in our clinics and in our hospitals in communities in Newfoundland and

Labrador. I was also pleased to see a real investment in the future, $1.6

million to expand the School of Nursing by another ten seats; the School of

Pharmacy by another twenty seats; and the School of Social Work's bachelors'

program by fifteen seats; the masters' program, as well, by another fifteen

seats. There is also the creation of a fast track program for social workers.

We are seeing investments in the right places and the strategy, I think, will

pay off for us in the long run. We are also seeing an additional $50 million for

diagnostic medical and other equipment this year.

One initiative that may not seem real significant in the scheme of things,

but I know is one that I have spoken to many constituents about, is the parking

situation at our hospitals in this region. I was delighted to see, in Budget

2009-2010, the commitment for a new parking garage at the Health Sciences

Complex. Numerous residents have spoken to me about the challenges when they are

visiting relatives and friends in hospital, or when they are visiting the

hospital for tests and procedures. Parking is a challenge at the hospitals in

our region, and we are committed to doing the right things to address those

problems and make the situation better for those who are accessing our health

care facilities.

Mr. Speaker, as an MHA representing a district, as I said, that does have an

aging population, I do talk to residents from time to time about the home care

challenges that exist in Newfoundland and Labrador. I was very pleased to see in

this Budget a $7.5 million investment for the implementation of a new financial

assessment process for determining eligibility for home support services. We

have also seen an increase in the personal monthly allowance. We have seen an

increase in subsidy rates for home care workers, which I think is a very

positive step in the right direction. We are also seeing an increase in this

Budget in the subsidy amount for personal care homes, which will impact a number

of facilities located in my District of Mount Pearl North as well.

Mr. Speaker, as someone who has spent most of his young career working on

behalf of children, youth and families, I was thrilled to see the commitment in

Budget 2009-2010 for the creation of a new department with the responsibility

for child, youth and family services. I think this is a real tangible

demonstration of how important issues pertaining to children, youth and families

in our Province how important those issues are to the Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador.

We are going to see a $5.2 million commitment this year for program growth

and for further development of multi-disciplinary teams that will directly work

with child, youth and family services. I am looking forward to seeing this new

initiative unfold. As the minister has said recently, in various media reports,

it will take time to put the implementation plan in place, but this commitment

is a great step. As someone who has advocated for children, youth and families,

I am absolutely thrilled to see us moving in that direction.

I was equally pleased to see a commitment to improve the foster care rate

structure. Recently, myself as well as my wife have had opportunity to meet with

families who are going through the process of becoming care givers, becoming

foster parents in our Province, and I have learned, through working with

families in my own district, and working with families that are involved in the

foster care system, that there is an incredible need. Even today, there is an

incredible need for more foster homes, not only in this region but throughout

Newfoundland and Labrador. Increasing the rates for foster families will

certainly help address this need. I think it is important, though, Mr. Speaker,

that we acknowledge that as a community we have a responsibility to meet this

need.

We have children in need in our community, who are in need of places to stay,

foster homes to take them in during times when they are in need, and I think as

a community we have a collective responsibility to step up and encourage more

people to get involved in the delivery of foster care, and that is something

that I will continue to promote and work on in the weeks and months ahead.

Mr. Speaker, I touched earlier on the efforts of this government to reduce

poverty, and I think it is clear that our Poverty Reduction Strategy is working

and it is having a meaningful, tangible impact on communities and on families

and on individuals in Newfoundland and Labrador.

In this Budget we are seeing efforts made to remove financial disincentives

and barriers that make it difficult for people to work and re-enter the

workforce. We are seeing improvements in early childhood development.

I have talked to numerous child care facilities and daycare operators in my

district, and I know that there is a need for increased investment, and I was

pleased to see steps in this direction in this Budget.

We saw a $3 million commitment in this Budget to improve access to early

childhood development, which includes an increase in subsidy rates for regulated

child care, and to strengthen and expand family resource programs in various

communities in the Province.

This investment in early childhood development, in early childhood education,

is absolutely critical. It is important from an economic development

perspective, but it is even more important from a social development

perspective, and I am very pleased that our government recognizes this and

continues to make these investments in the right places to reach out and to

provide support to society's most vulnerable.

Mr. Speaker, the District of Mount Pearl North also sees real benefits from

the investments in the justice system, and there were even more improvements

announced in Budget 2009. Over the last year we have seen increased

contributions made to the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary. We have a brand new

facility that serves the western part of the region that is located in Mount

Pearl, in Donovan's Business Park. We have more police officers on the street.

We have more cadets enrolled at the program at Memorial University. We have

increased investment in drug enforcement programs. I know from driving the

streets of my district, I can see the benefit. I can see the increased police

presence and I know that our city and our town enjoy a very close, positive

working relationship with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary. So we are going

to see increased investments in justice this year. More support for the Royal

Newfoundland Constabulary, which I was pleased to see, and improvements in

infrastructure and security at Her Majesty's Penitentiary, which is an

important part of the justice system as well.

Mr. Speaker, there is much more I could talk about. There are all kinds of

initiatives in Budget 2009 that will impact residents of my district. I want to

applaud our government, our Premier for his leadership, the members of Cabinet

and my colleagues in the House of Assembly for working together to deliver what

is a Budget in tough economic times that is going to have real positive impact

on communities in Newfoundland and Labrador, like Mount Pearl and Paradise,

which I am proud to represent.

I hope, Mr. Speaker, at some point soon, I will have an opportunity to stand

again in the House and address more initiatives that are contained in this

recent Budget.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.

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

I am very pleased to stand today and have my first opportunity to speak to

Budget 2009. It is always good to have the opportunity to take things that

government is proposing and have discussion on them and raise new ideas that

maybe were not there in what government first said. It is good for all of us to

have this opportunity to listen to one another and to learn from one another.

This Budget has a lot in it that is positive; there is no doubt about that. I

think we still have to acknowledge the very special time that we are at here in

Newfoundland and Labrador because of the oil developments that go on in the

offshore. Yes, we have a Budget that has a small deficit. I emphasize small

because it is, in a Budget of $6.7 billion, it is a small deficit. I think what

is important for people to remember is that this government does not have to

borrow in order to take care of the deficit, that the government actually has

reserves, has the money to cover that deficit without borrowing.

We are at a point in time in our history where we have never had this kind of

issue before. If we had deficits in the past the money had to be borrowed in

order to cover that deficit, and that does not have to happen this time. What is

more, if the price of oil per barrel goes up even by $20 a barrel above what the

Budget has estimated or estimating, and it could go up by $20 a barrel halfway

through the year, that deficit would probably get wiped out anyway. It will not

even have to be covered.

This government is in a very good position. It is in a position that no other

government in the history of our Province has ever been before, in terms of the

revenues that we have. Let's all recognize that together and let the

government recognize that as well. None of us produced the oil that is out

there. It took a lot of people and a lot of negotiations to get to where we are.

So that is positive.

The other thing that this government has, which we found out during the

finance estimates meeting last week, is $1.8 billion in the Consolidated Cash

Flow. That is quite significant as well. I understand that if needed, some of

that could be used to cover the deficit, but if not, it is there for other

reasons. There are different things that money can be used for during the year,

but that is a tremendous amount of money to have in the Consolidated Cash Flow,

$1.8 billion. The average person picking up the Budget and reading it will not

see that figure there anywhere, will not know that there is $1.8 billion out

there sitting, making money too, obviously, because it is going to have interest

being paid on it. So we are at a point in time where we are literally floating

in money, which is really quite fascinating.

This Budget, which has a lot of good things in it, is important, not for what

is in it and what it says. We also have to look at what is not in it and what it

does not deal with. That is my role. The government members stand up

obviously, they are going to speak to what their government put in the Budget

and they are going to back that and support it. That is right, that is the way

it happens, but it is my role to stand up and look at what I think might be

missing from the Budget, what I think could have been better in the Budget, and

that is what I am going to do here today.

It was very clear to me, and it is becoming clearer every year I think, this

government obviously does have a vision, and every government should