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June 13, 2019

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLIX No. 4

The

House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Trimper):

Admit strangers.

Order,

please!

I'd like

to welcome the Members back to this House of Assembly, and I'm very pleased to

say we have some special guests joining us today.

We have

in our audience the Junior Canadian Ranger, Conne River Patrol, and because

they've come a long way I'm going to read all of their names. We have Joy

Northcotte, Delaney Benoit, Carla Benoit, Caleb John, Nicholas Jeddore, Jonah

Jeddore, Storm Hinks, Raymond Jeddore, Meghan McDonald, Kerri Keeping, Katie

Benoit-Drake and Chandler John.

Chaperones with this fine group are: Corporal Bob Benoit, Master Corporal Claude

John, Anita Jeddore and Gerard Joe. I also see up there in the audience with

them is Judy White, Assistant Deputy Minister of Intergovernmental and

Indigenous Affairs and Chair of the Newfoundland and Labrador Human Rights

Commission.

Welcome

to all of you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Statements by

Members

MR. SPEAKER:

For Members' statements

today, we will hear from the hon. Members for the Districts of Torngat

Mountains, Humber - Bay of Islands, Mount Pearl - Southlands, Mount Pearl North,

and Fortune Bay - Cape La Hune.

The hon.

the Member for Torngat Mountains.

MS. EVANS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

today to recognize the first graduates of the Inuit Bachelor of Education degree

program.

This

program is the first of its kind offered by Memorial University's faculty of

education in partnership with the Nunatsiavut Government. In addition to earning

a Bachelor of Education degree in primary-elementary education, the graduates

earned a certificate in Aboriginal and Indigenous studies.

The

program's Labrador Inuit educational context and the Nunatsiavut Government

Inuktitut language program makes it unique and very priceless to the

preservation of the Labrador Inuit culture and language. The 10 graduates will

play a pivotal role in leading the education system towards cultural and

language renewal.

To quote

Dr. Sylvia Moore, assistant professor at the Labrador Institute: This

partnership with Nunatsiavut Government is an example of Memorial University's

work with Indigenous governments in the province, she said. Such collaboration,

particularly in teacher education, is crucial. I was fortunate enough to talk

with the students about the excitement they felt and to share in their hopes and

their dreams.

please join me in congratulating the following graduates of the Inuit Bachelor

of Education degree program: Roxanne Nochasak, Doris Boase, Catherine Mitsuk,

Marina Andersen, Julie Flowers, Jennifer-Rose Campbell, Jodi Lyall, Cheryl

Allen, Tracey Doherty and Felicia Edmunds.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Humber - Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this

hon. House to recognize Jackie Barrett, a remarkable athlete from my district.

Jackie

joined the Special Olympics as a swimmer in 1987 before switching to

powerlifting in 1995, and what an impressive sporting career ever since.

Originally from Nova Scotia, he moved to Newfoundland in 2008 and is

affectionately known as the Newfoundland Moose for his impressive lifts. Jackie

has dominated powerlifting over the years, accumulating 20 gold medals,

representing Canada at the Special Olympics with 13 first place finishes and

smashing records, including the Newfoundland Men's Master-1 Super-heavyweight

record; and, in 2015, he set three Special Olympics world records.

He is a

recipient of the Male Athlete of the Year award both in Newfoundland and

Labrador and Nova Scotia, and in 2015, he received the Special Olympics Canada

Dr. Frank Hayden Lifetime Achievement Award.

November 15 of this year, Jackie will be the first ever Special Olympics athlete

to be inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame. Jackie retired in 2015

but continues to mentor and volunteer with the Corner Brook Special Olympics.

I ask

all Members to join me in congratulating Jackie on this prestigious honour and

wish him the very best in his future endeavours.

Thank

you Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl - Southlands.

MR. LANE:

Mr. Speaker, it's my

privilege to stand in this hon. House to recognize the tremendous success, which

was the 37th annual Frosty Festival in the City of Mount Pearl.

Once

again, this year's festival included various activities for citizens of all ages

and interests including: A Night at the Oscars - Frosty style featuring the

Spirit of Newfoundland; a Pedestrian Parade of Lights; two community breakfasts;

Frosty's Big Birthday Party; a lip sync contest; a concert and dance featuring

the Masterless Men, the Irish Descendants and the Navigators; an Irish pub

night; a seniors bingo; a jiggs dinner and variety show; Battle of the Brains

trivia night, and a dinner theatre, just to name a few.

Mr.

Speaker, as I'm sure you can appreciate, any festival of this magnitude would

not be possible if it were not for the hard work and co-operation of a number of

community partners. I would therefore ask all Members of this hon. House to join

me in congratulating the City of Mount Pearl, the Frosty Festival Board of

Directors, various community groups and organizations, corporate sponsors and

all of the community-minded volunteers who contributed to the great success

story, which was Frosty Festival 2019.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for the District of Mount Pearl North.

MR. LESTER:

Mr. Speaker, I

rise today to recognize Mr. Charles Starkes,

one of seven World War II veterans honoured at the 75th D-Day commemorative

ceremonies held in Halifax.

On D-Day, June 6, 1944, Mr. Starkes was just 22 years old and was a

torpedo man on the aircraft carrier that took

part in the allied invasion of

occupied France.

He recalls their cargo decks were loaded with equipment needed by the

forces when they landed on the beaches. Starkes said the coastline was visible

during the day as barges continued to come alongside to carry their cargo

ashore. He said, he and his young crewmates, most of them early 20s, were not

afraid and were glad to be a part of it.

The bravery shown by Charles Starkes and his comrades that day was beyond

measure. These young men were willing to give everything they had for their

country and for each other.

Closer to home, Mr. Starkes was also

one of the original members of the

Singing Legionnaires. He

is still a member today and

has rarely missed a performance in 52 years. As a matter of fact, while Mr.

Starkes would love to be here today, he was pre-committed to singing with the

Legionnaires at St. Patrick's Mercy Home today.

I ask

all those present to join me and pay tribute to Charles Starkes for his brave

efforts in preserving our freedom and independence.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Fortune Bay - Cape La Hune.

MR. LOVELESS:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this

hon. House to acknowledge Brendan Collier of St. Alban's.

Brendan

is well known to his community of St. Alban's and over the years held a strong

belief in helping and serving his community in many ways.

Brendan,

along with many others, began and laid the foundation for the Bay d'Espoir

Medical Clinic that is still in operation and continues to serve residents in

that community and surrounding areas. He was one of the first employees to begin

working at this clinic and held a position as a maintenance worker for 30 years.

addition, Brendan was, and remains, an avid volunteer for various organizations

throughout his community, such as cadets, St. Alban's Fire Department, Beavers,

Cubs and the Lions Club. He enjoyed his music and was well known for playing in

the Party House band.

Brendan's leadership was so outstanding, he received the Pathway of Heroes award

at the town's volunteer evening on May 15. He is well respected by his family,

friends and his community.

I ask

all hon. Members to join me in congratulating Brendan Collier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by

Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

in this hon. House to congratulate Stella's Circle and Dr. Patricia

Lingley-Pottie, President and CEO of the Strongest Families Institute, on

receiving Champions of Mental Health Awards from the Canadian Alliance on Mental

Illness and Mental Health, this past May in Ottawa.

The

alliance, I might add, is co-chaired by Florence Budden, an instructor with

Eastern Health's Centre for Nursing Studies.

Stella's

Circle, which received the Community (Organization) Award, offers programs in

housing, counselling and employment for people, the majority of whom have mental

illness or addictions.

Dr.

Lingley-Pottie, who received the Innovation – Researcher or Clinician Award, has

dedicated her career to improving the mental health and well-being of children,

youth and families.

Most

recently, she partnered with Newfoundland and Labrador to launch I CAN (Conquer

Anxiety and Nervousness), an e-health program for individuals ages 18-30.

This

province contributed $170,000 towards the development of I CAN, which

complements our suite of online supports, such as Therapy Assistance Online,

Bridge the gApp, BreathingRoom and MindWell-U's 30 Day Mindfulness Challenge.

Both

Stella's Circle and Dr. Lingley-Pottie are working to ensure safe spaces for

mental health discussions within our communities.

I ask

all hon. Members to join me in congratulating them on receiving their respective

awards.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Opposition House Leader.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, I join the Minister of Health and Community Services today in offering

congratulations to the Champions of Mental Health award winners.

These

awards are presented by the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental

Health recognizing Canadians who work and help to advance the mental health

agenda across the country. This year, we are proud to have two award winners

from this province.

Stella's

Circle plays an important role in providing services to many who face barriers

to full participation in their community. It is great to see this organization

be recognized for the important work that they do in our community.

Congratulations to Dr. Patricia Lingley-Pottie, president and CEO of the

Strongest Families Institute for her award. Her work of improving mental health

and well-being of children, youth and families must be commended.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MR. J. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank

you to the minister for an advance copy of his statement. Congratulations to

both Stella's Circle and to Dr. Lingley-Pottie on their awards. Naturally,

Stella's Circle award is recognition for the work of all the people. On a

personal note, when I was president of an organization setting up its own

affordable housing, Stella's was very instrumental in doing that for us.

It's

good to see the province is providing Dr. Lingley-Pottie with more funding

towards online supports for people with mental health issues and, often, this is

the first point of contact for people looking for help. It's a testament to the

resources that people of mental health need in the community.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further

statements by ministers?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal Affairs and the Environment.

MS. DEMPSTER:

Thank you.

Mr.

Speaker, I rise today to highlight the achievements of Chief Jodie Matthews of

the Pacquet Fire Department. Chief Matthews has been chosen by the National Fire

Protection Association to receive its 2019 Rising Star award for her dedication

to educating the public, saving lives and protecting the community.

Chief

Matthews was selected based on her demonstration of providing consistent and

innovative outreach in her community and actively using and implementing

National Fire Protection Association resources and programs in her community.

extend our very best wishes to the chief as she travels to the organization's

annual conference and expo next week in San Antonio, Texas to receive her award.

Mr.

Speaker, it is worth noting that Chief Matthews is one of a small number of

female fire chiefs in our province. We are proud to support women in fire

services and encourage women to enter into this critical field.

Our

government remains committed to investing in quality fire services and working

with fire departments to ensure that residents are safe and protected. I would

like to extend a big thank you to all the firefighters in the province for their

dedication and the sacrifices they make to protect families and communities.

I ask

all hon. Members of this hon. House to recognize this special achievement by

Chief Matthews as we wish her congratulations on receiving this prestigious

award, and on being a role model for young women and men across our province.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans.

MR. TIBBS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the minister for the advance copy of her statement. On behalf of the Official

Opposition, I join with the minister in congratulating Chief Jodie Matthews on

being chosen to receive the 2019 Rising Star award by the National Fire

Protection Association.

Receiving such an award is tremendous honour. Not only does Chief Matthews

provide an essential safety service in our province, but she works diligently

every day to ensure that the service her fire department provides is as high

quality as possible.

Chief

Matthews is a role model to so many in our province. I hope that the attention

bestowed upon her through this award motivates individuals of all ages, genders

and backgrounds to consider becoming a firefighter in their community.

I'm sure

I can speak for everyone in this House when we have well wishes to all emergency

service personnel to stay safe while they're working in their respective roles.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for St. John's Centre.

MR. J. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again,

thank you to the minister for the advance copy of her statement. Congratulations

to Chief Jodie Matthews of the Pacquet Fire Department for receiving the 2019

Rising Star award. As one of only a few women to serve as fire chief in our

province, Chief Matthews is a strong inspiration for more women to consider

joining and taking on leadership roles in their local fire departments.

I would

like to thank all firefighters in the province for the vital role they serve in

our communities and I join my fellow Members in congratulating Chief Matthews on

receiving this prestigious award.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Further statements by

ministers?

Oral

Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Mr. Speaker, would the

Ministry inform the House what is the present

schedule for impoundment of the

Muskrat Falls reservoir, including start date and completion date? And if this

is earlier than previously thought, are there any implications for the date of

first power?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Impoundment is something that is being worked on. As you know, we're making

progress with the finalization of Muskrat Falls and making, I would say, good

progress in finalizing that project. The date of impoundment is now being

considered with an aspect to the IEAC recommendations, Mr. Speaker. I'll inform

the House when the date of impoundment has been determined.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Can the minister state when

the present anticipated date is?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Mr. Speaker, that date has

not been finalized at this point. We are anticipating it in the near future but,

as I said, we are also considering changes and requirements under the IEAC.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

In the near future.

The

government is entering talks with Indigenous groups in an attempt to reach

consensus measures to mitigate methylmercury. According to the expert panel

report in April of 2018, there's already a consensus on capping of wetlands but

not on soil removal.

What's

the estimated length of time to execute a program of capping once a decision to

execute capping is made?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

Member opposite is correct, that we have had an independent environmental action

committee looking at the requirements that Nalcor will be required to do to

ensure the concerns around methylmercury are addressed. I can inform the House

that, of course, a lot of the work that Nalcor has been doing of late is in

recognition of the requirements of the IEAC.

The

Member opposite asked specifically about capping. We determine the extent of

what is required and, of course, the depth and the necessity of that capping;

therefore, that is one of the questions that is being put to the IEAC in advance

of impoundment.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Prominent geoscientists

continue to express concern about the stability of the North Spur.

Given

the potential catastrophic consequences to life and property, does the

government see merit in having an independent expert review panel, or review,

completed prior to impoundment?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you.

Mr.

Speaker, this is a very important question. I can inform the House that there

have been over 30 studies done on the issue of the North Spur; over 30

engineering studies completed on this. Dating as far back as 1965, Mr. Speaker,

there have geotechnical work done on the North Spur.

I can

also inform this House that everything for the North Spur, all the containment,

all the work that has been done is under the dam safety regulations, and they

have to be adhered to and are a requirement of any permitting. I can tell you

that Municipal Affairs and Environment is monitoring that dam safety at all

times.

I will

inform the House that we will continue to monitor and consider what needs to be

done for the North Spur.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

Geotechnical science has

rapidly evolved since 1965, of course.

During

the general election, concern arose amongst Hydro workers that a sale of

transmission assets is pending between Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro and

Newfoundland Power.

Is there

a basis, in fact, to this rumour? And what is the current status of any such

discussions?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

Member opposite would be aware that the Public Utilities Board is doing a

tremendous amount of work around rate mitigation, around how we're going to be

able to pay for Muskrat Falls. Everyone in the province knows that we have a

rather significant bill coming.

Those

that decided to build Muskrat Falls did know that at the end of the day the

ratepayers were going to bear all the costs. As this government has said

repeatedly, we will not allow that to happen. That's why we brought the Public

Utilities Board back in. As part of their deliberations, they have been

considering all aspects of what can or should be done.

I will

inform the House, approximately 80 per cent of distribution lines are owned by

Newfoundland Power at present. One of the comments in the Public Utilities Board

report was around this.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. CROSBIE:

No one would understand the

impact that such a transfer of assets between Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro

and Newfoundland Power better than the present CEO of Nalcor. However, we assume

that due to conflict of interest issues he's not involved in any such talks.

In which

case: From where does the minister get her information about this?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

I appreciate the opportunity

to continue my explanation.

This is

coming from the Public Utilities Board. In their initial report of mid-February

of this year, there was some consideration of this as a potential for helping to

mitigate rates. There has nothing been advanced of this by government. The

deliberations from the Public Utilities Board are still ongoing with regard to

rate management, Mr. Speaker.

I can

inform the Member opposite, without a doubt and without hesitation, that the

president and CEO of Nalcor is not involved in any discussions or talks around

this.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

MR. WAKEHAM:

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

The

Minister of Finance has stated that he has a plan to return the province to

surplus, which includes a reduction in expenditure of $617 million.

I'd ask

the minister to demonstrate where the $617 million will come from? Will he table

the details behind his fiscal forecast, including a breakdown of savings by

department?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

Member opposite should know, or ought to know, that budgets are done an annual

basis. It's a one-year projection on where we're going to be. We continue to

work on achieving those savings, Mr. Speaker.

We've

identified, previously, based on the legislation we put in place in December,

that we were looking to our agencies, boards and commissions and looking to work

more closely with them to identify some savings. We've got a shared services

model that will save government tens of millions of dollars annually, once it's

fully implemented. We've got digital government that should save government

money. We're consolidating collections within the Department of Finance. Some of

that's already happening. Payroll within Finance, we're consolidating for some

of the other agencies, boards and commissions. That's already happening.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

MR. WAKEHAM:

Mr. Speaker, this is Public

Service Week, and I'm a firm believer in the work that our public service does

to provide services and programs to this province. I'm also a believer that they

should be acknowledged for their work.

In my

district there are three individuals who have waited over two years to have

their reclassification heard or processed.

Is the

minister aware of what the standard wait time is for reclassifications?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister

Responsible for the Human Resource Secretariat.

MR. OSBORNE:

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I am. It's a very important issue. I thank the Member for

raising it because it is important to our public service.

I've had

several discussions with our union leaders about this very issue. In fact, we've

put additional resources in place to try and look after the backlog that's been

in place for a number of years.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

MR. WAKEHAM:

Over the last couple of days we've been asking about attrition in the Estimates.

One department gave us a dollar target for '19-'20 but could not tell us how

many positions would be removed, noting that that would be determined throughout

the year. A second department was able to tell us both the dollar figure and the

number of positions.

Can the

minister please explain why departments are addressing attrition differently?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister

Responsible for the Human Resource Secretariat.

MR. OSBORNE:

Certainly, Mr. Speaker, I'd be happy to address that question.

We have

done a different attrition process than the former administration. The former

administration essentially said that for every 10 people that retire, only eight

come back. It's very rigid. It doesn't give departments the flexibility to

determine what positions are needed and what positions are not.

We've

placed the attrition target as a fiscal measure. Departments have the ability,

deputies, to examine each position as they retire to determine whether or not

that position is essential. It's not necessarily based on positions, Mr.

Speaker. When you base it on positions, you could have all clerk typists

eliminated in order to meet the number of positions without any proper, thorough

analysis.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

MR. WAKEHAM:

Mr. Speaker, can the minister please table government's attrition plan for the

next five years, detailing the savings in dollars and positions by each

department?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can

certainly give an indication as to the previous two years. We put a two-year

plan in place. We're nearing the end of that two-year plan at the moment. We

will then evaluate the success of the plan. My understanding is it's been very

successful. We've reduced the number of positions in core government by over 900

over the past three years. Once we have an opportunity to evaluate what our

targets should be over the next two to three years, we'll develop another plan

from there.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Cape St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

The

mackerel quota for Atlantic Canada has been reduced by 20 per cent this year.

The mackerel fishery starts off in the Gulf. By the time it gets to our shores,

the bulk of the quota has already been taken.

Will the

minister stand up and take action to ensure our harvesters get their fair share

of the mackerel quota?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Fisheries and Land Resources.

MR. BYRNE:

Mr. Speaker, I would like to

first thank the hon. Member, who serves as my critic, for his first question in

the House and welcome him back, as we all do to each other, to the House of

Assembly to begin this session.

The

question of mackerel is very important, not only to the people, to the fish

harvesters of the Northeast Coast, but on the West Coast as well. I have reached

out not only to DFO and to its ministry, but as well to harvesters. There are –

pardon the pun – two schools of thought. There is an option that I asked to be

explored, which is should Newfoundland and Labrador get a separate, discrete,

balkanized quota. There was some thought that as the mackerel migrate to

Newfoundland and Labrador, if it were to come in a larger volume, larger school,

a larger quantity than in the past, we could actually limit our chances for a

successful harvest or a larger harvest. So we are working on solutions, but it

is a very important issue.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Cape St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

The

price of snow crab was set in April at $5.38 a pound and suddenly dropped at the

end of May to $4.90. The price has just gone back up to $5.70. But harvesters

want to know why the drop in the price, given there is no indication that the

market pricing has dropped.

Can you

give an explanation of that, Minister, please?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Fisheries and Land Resources.

MR. BYRNE:

Mr. Speaker, there are

mechanisms in place at the fish price setting panel, the research that they

conduct and they're independent decisions that they take. What we can note from

the hon. Member's question is that there are several mechanisms. He highlights

the fact that there are several mechanisms in place for both parties to the

collective agreement, to the collective bargaining process, both harvesters and

processors, to be able to assert or put forward their points of view.

The

original price today in 2019, there has never been a higher price for snow crab

in the history of the snow crab fishery in Newfoundland and Labrador than in

2019. Because market fluctuations do occur occasionally, there is a price

adjustment, but there's still a mechanism in place for both harvesters and

processors to be able to challenge that, and it was successful.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cape

St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I do

understand the mechanism that is in place. I know it's the highest price this

year, but it's also the most reduction that harvesters have ever seen.

MR. SPEAKER:

I remind the Member to

address his remarks to myself.

MR. K. PARSONS:

In some areas where you will

see that harvesters, four years ago, had 29,000, this year they're reduced down

to 8,000. Harvesters want to know why there's not more transparency in the

pricing of crab. Can you give them that answer?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Fisheries and Land Resources.

MR. BYRNE:

Mr. Speaker, a proposal has

come forward from the FFAW to allow, as they term, an increased transparency. I

have met with the Inshore Council of the FFAW just a few short weeks ago, where

we met for three hours. One of the predominant questions or issues that we

talked about was allowing this to occur.

We had a

very, very frank discussion with each other. There were no back doors. Both the

processors and the harvesters would have to be involved in this. Obviously, we

would have to respect commercial confidences. We'd have to make sure that the

information that would be collected would be aggregated and collected in a way

which was defensible, not only from a common sense point of view but from a

court of law point of view. But one of the things that we do know is that

transparency is always good.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Cape St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

I remind the minister not

according to most of the harvesters.

This

week, another harvester raised concerns about having to dump valuable halibut

bycatch. Despite being adjacent to the resource, 3Ps inshore harvesters can only

access 2.5 per cent of the total allowable catch for halibut. Why isn't the

minister fighting for increased halibut quotas for inshore harvesters?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Fisheries and Land Resources.

MR. BYRNE:

Mr. Speaker, we have seen

some increased quotas in halibut, especially on the West Coast. The question I

think that he really wants to zero in on is whether or not bycatch can be

retained. This is a common-sense issue, but all elements, all factors of this

have to be considered.

One of

the reasons why the federal government – not this government, but the federal

government, DFO, has chosen not to allow bycatch retention is because, in

occasion, in past, there have been instances where instead of catching an

incidental through bycatch, there is a concern or fear that there would be

directed harvesting or directed fishing towards the species that would be

considered a bycatch.

I would,

and have implored the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and have already

engaged with them to create a better model for allowing bycatch that stays

within conservation limits.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Cape St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

thank you very much.

I'm sure

the minister understands that elsewhere in the world, and EU just recently

passed that all catches at sea will be landed now and the same thing in Iceland.

So why aren't you proposing the same proposal for our harvesters here?

Last

week we heard of a fisherman that had 7,000 pounds of halibut, while he was

catching hag, in the same fishery and that is about $35,000 or $40,000 to that

fisherman. So why aren't you fighting for those people?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Fisheries and Land Resources.

MR. BYRNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I've had

the privilege, the luxury of being able to be in Iceland, where that's one of

the jurisdictions where bycatch is regulated and controlled in their alternative

methods to be able to deal with bycatch issues.

One of

the things that got pointed out to me was that, in Iceland, they do not have 450

landing ports. They have a very discreet, smaller number of landing ports to be

able to control this, to monitor this, to regulate this. I think what the hon.

Member for Cape St. Francis has said to the House, he would be very much in

favour of reducing the number of landing ports in Newfoundland and Labrador to a

level consistent and equivalent to what is existing in Iceland.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Topsail - Paradise.

MR. P. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

Member for Humber - Bay of Islands raised concerns yesterday about whether or

not local workers will build the new hospital in Corner Brook, despite

assurances from the Premier and the president of the Liberal Party.

I ask

the Premier: What is his government doing to ensure that Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians receive the maximum benefit from public infrastructure projects

like the Corner Brook hospital and the new mental health facility?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Transportation and Works.

MR. CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I thank

the hon. Member for the question. Mr. Speaker, if you look at the projects

ongoing in the province right now, if you take the new long-term care centre in

Corner Brook actually that's being constructed, as of May 31, there were 145

tradespeople on site; 128 of them are Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, Mr.

Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CROCKER:

That's 90 per cent. Mr.

Speaker, we would not achieve – highly unlikely we could achieve a community

benefits agreement that would guarantee us 90 per cent of Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians on a job site.

Mr.

Speaker, if you think about the new hospital that's going to be built in Corner

Brook, we've had recent meetings with TradesNL to discuss ways to make sure

Newfoundland and Labrador workers are there. We've also, through the

Newfoundland and Labrador Construction Association, hosted a

business-to-business seminar in Corner Brook last fall that was attended by over

100 Newfoundland and Labrador companies.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

MR. P. DINN:

Mr. Speaker, we've heard that

workers building the new Canopy Growth facility in St. John's have been flown in

from Quebec. Did the agreement with Canopy Growth stipulate local hiring?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

When it

comes to any particular matter that we have agreement, the Department of TCII,

with a company, we make sure that there is adherence to the contract. When it

comes to a particular matter, they hire local people when they are able to do

so, and that is the case in this situation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

MR. P. DINN:

Mr. Speaker, in our policy

platform, we committed: To receive maximum benefits of public funds when public

facilities are being constructed, Community Benefits Agreements will be included

in the contractors' bid packages.

Will the

Premier or the minister responsible follow our lead and implement a policy for

Community Benefit Agreements for this province?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Transportation and Works.

MR. CROCKER:

Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon.

Member for the question. We are actually ahead of them, Mr. Speaker, because we

were having meetings with Trades NL back in January and February around

Community Benefit Agreements. So we've been ahead of them. That's not the first

time we've been ahead.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. CROCKER:

Mr. Speaker, I'll go back to

the comments earlier regarding the infrastructure currently being built in

Corner Brook. Let me tell you, right now, on May 31, 90 per cent of the people

on that job site were Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. That's a greater number

than likely any Community Benefit Agreement would ever achieve.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

MR. P. DINN:

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the comments; 90 per cent is certainly a high number,

but I would love to see us with 100 per cent.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DINN:

What are we doing to ensure

that 100 per cent of Newfoundlanders get these opportunities?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Transportation and Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I would

like to remind the Members opposite that while we had a shipyard in Marystown,

they were building ferries in Romania, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CROCKER:

Mr. Speaker, we will not take

lessons from the Members opposite with regard to building stuff in Newfoundland

and Labrador. What I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, is you have to be very careful

when you talk about agreements because we have Newfoundland and Labrador

companies building infrastructure in other parts of Canada.

We've

achieved an average of 90 per cent Newfoundlanders and Labradorians on the

Corner Brook long-term care centre and we will work to achieve the same on the

new Corner Brook hospital.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon.

the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

MR. P. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm

talking about employment here, job opportunities and the equal movement of

workers from one province to the other. I would argue that is a one-way street

in many instances and I'd like to see the government opposite to do more to

ensure that local Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are getting the jobs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Transportation and Works.

MR. CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm not

sure if he doesn't realize that those boats, if they were built in Marystown,

would've been local workers.

Mr.

Speaker, the reality here is we want to work with Trades NL. We want to work

with Newfoundland and Labrador contractors, sub-contractors that will be

building the new hospital in Corner Brook.

We're

going to have a project here that's going to add about $500 million of

construction activity to the West Coast. We want to make sure that every single

Newfoundland and Labrador worker has an opportunity, and along with Newfoundland

and Labrador companies.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Bonavista.

MR. PARDY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Information released by the media shows that from 2015 to May 2019, there were

268 instances of inappropriate, non-consensual touching, and 316 incidents of

other inappropriate sexual behaviour in our province's schools.

Give

these staggering and concerning numbers, how is the minister addressing this

issue?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. WARR:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

certainly appreciate the question from my colleague. It's very disturbing to

hear of such incidents, and preventing them must be top of mind in all that we

do both in our schools and our communities.

We're

working closely with the school board district to ensure a safe environment for

all students. The fact that these reports are coming out gives me a sense of

relief, the fact that they are being reported. We will do certainly everything

that we can as a department to ensure the safety of the students.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Bonavista.

MR. PARDY:

Mr. Speaker, the executive

director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Sexual Assault Crisis and Prevention

Centre said that the vast majority of sexual assaults go unreported, adding:

“It's in every school, it's in every classroom.”

suggest to the minister that our school system has an issue. What training,

supports and actions will the minister implement in time for September?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. WARR:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again,

we work closely with the school district to ensure a safe environment for all

students. There has been training for district staff, important amendments to

the Schools Act, and there has been active, district-wide sexual violence

committee.

Sexual

health education is part of the curriculum. Regular reviews of how the

curriculum should be enhanced to help build awareness are ongoing, and again,

we're engaged as a department in this very serious matter.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Third Party.

MS. COFFIN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We were

told in Estimates that government has had some conversations with financiers

about building the fixed link tunnel to Mainland Canada as a public-private

partnership.

I ask

the Premier: Is this true; and, if it is, how could he even consider allowing

vital national infrastructure to be placed in private hands for profit?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, I

will say that there have been a number of meetings that would've occurred with

the MPs, some of which within the Infrastructure Bank as an example, and the

interest that would be there. This is a link as part of the MOU, I would say,

that we've recently signed back a few years ago with the Province of Quebec

about how we best improve infrastructure in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The

particular fixed-link right now, the next step would be for a feasibility study

to be done to determine what the cost would be and what the mechanism would be.

There's some work already that's been done. So right now the next step for us

would be a feasibility study before we finally determine how this fixed-link

would be built between Newfoundland and Labrador and mainland Canada.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Leader of the Third Party.

MS. COFFIN:

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of

Finance told the media yesterday that household incomes, the median wage and

employment numbers are higher than they were in 2015, yet his own budget data

shows the unemployment growing over the next few years.

I ask

the minister: How does his claims in the media square with the numbers in his

budget documents?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

numbers I referred to are for 2018-2019 numbers. But, Mr. Speaker, we do have a

megaproject that's coming to conclusion, Muskrat Falls, which will have an

impact on employment numbers in this province.

Having

said that, Mr. Speaker, we are proud to say that the numbers that were put

forward as a projection in 2015 for 2018 were more than 3,000 jobs higher in

this province than those numbers. And that's despite the fact that we had no

understanding or knowledge at the time in 2015 that Fort McMurray would have

such an effect as it is having on our province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Leader of the Third Party.

MS. COFFIN:

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of

Finance said in the media that the consumer price index is outpacing

expectations.

I ask

the minister: Does he understand that this means everything is getting more

expensive for everyone, and how does he reconcile this with making life more

affordable?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MR. OSBORNE:

Well, first of all, Mr.

Speaker, I will say that we expect the consumer price index to have an effect

every year. I wouldn't say that it's outpacing expectations. What I will say is

that the consumer price index has an effect on the services that government

provides, on the cost of services, on the cost of equipment and materials that

government purchases. Every year the consumer price index will have an impact on

the budget in Newfoundland and Labrador.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for St. John's Centre.

MR. J. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In his

budget speech of April 2019, the Minister of Finance said since forming

government we have made a commitment to reducing the size of the public service,

which we believe can be achieved without mass layoffs: attrition.

I ask

the minister: Are his attrition policy decisions based on numbers, or is it a

needs-based policy with the welfare and needs of the people and the public

servants first and foremost?

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MR. OSBORNE:

Mr. Speaker, like everything

we do in government, it is a balance. We take a very balanced approach to

ensuring that we reach our fiscal targets with providing the services that are

essential to the people of the province.

I think

we can say very clearly that on this side of the House, Mr. Speaker, we've

always taken a focus on the people in our province who deliver our public

services. Any decisions that we've made on reducing the size of the public

service, Mr. Speaker, we've done so making every effort to ensure that we don't

shock the delivery of public services and we don't shock the economy.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MR. J. DINN:

Has there been an analysis

done by which you determine the needs of the people, the needs of the public

service in reaching these fiscal targets? Has there been an analysis?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MR. OSBORNE:

Mr. Speaker, I don't think

anybody in the province would dispute that in 2003 we had about 40,000 public

servants; in 2015 we had about 49,000 positions in the public service.

Mr.

Speaker, we've always taken a very strong focus on those who deliver public

services. Deputy ministers have a great deal of say in our attrition. We put

fiscal targets in place. Every position who retires, deputies and the

departments analyze that position, Mr. Speaker, to determine whether or not the

position is absolutely vital or the job can be spread out over other people.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The time

for Oral Questions has ended.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling

of Documents.

Tabling of

Documents

MR. SPEAKER:

I have one.

accordance with

section 2(1)(4) of the

Elections Act, 1991 , I hereby table the Chief Electoral Officer report for

the Windsor Lake by-election.

Further

tabling of documents?

The hon.

the Minister of Service NL.

MS. GAMBIN-WALSH:

Mr. Speaker, I wish to table

the annual performance report 2018 for WorkplaceNL.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further

tabling of documents?

Notices

of Motion.

Answers

to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Humber - Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I stand

here today to present a petition:

WHEREAS

the successful proponents of the new hospital in Corner Brook are scheduled to

be announced this spring with construction anticipated to begin in the fall and,

as this is estimated to be a four year construction period, and as there are

experienced local tradespeople and labourers in the area;

THEREFORE we, the

undersigned, petition the hon. House of Assembly as follows: To urge the

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to encourage companies that are awarded

the contracts for the new hospital to hire local tradespeople and labourers, at

no extra costs to the taxpayers, so that they can work in their own area,

support the local economy and be able to return home to their families every

evening.

Mr. Speaker, I

stand and present this petition on behalf of the people of the whole of Western

Newfoundland and all of Newfoundland and Labrador. There are people who signed

this petition from the Goulds, Victoria, Ferryland, Fermeuse, Colliers,

Avondale, CBS –

SOME HON.

MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Can we

have some order, please? It's difficult to hear.

Thank you.

MR. JOYCE:

– from CBS. So they're from all over the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

I know yesterday

the Premier announced that public sector employees will be hired at the

hospital, which is great.

I remember when

we were in Opposition there was a big protest out in front of the Confederation

Building. I went out on behalf of the Opposition at the time because we made a

policy statement, because I know what happened with the government at the time,

that we would hire public sector employees, which is great, which is great news.

Mr. Speaker, what

I'm asking here, and I said it last year, I was going to work on this. I said it

before the election. I said it during the election. I said it after the election

and I'm saying it in the House, that I'm raising this issue on behalf of the

people because I was elected to do so.

I'm urging

government to try to encourage the companies to get them to hire local people.

We do it all the time. I say to the Minister of Transportation and Works, I was

always encouraged that he was working with TradesNL to get people hired. So I

don't know why anybody's surprised here in this House of Assembly or across the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker,

there was one issue that was raised that I just – we have a non ending spree of

the government. I never asked the government to spend the money. Last year, the

iron workers were going to put in $90,000.

I know one of the

Members got a lot of iron workers in her union; $90,000 so that – $100,000,

sorry, so that it wouldn't cost any extra money to the taxpayers or to the

company. That's the kind of collaboration I'm talking about. Instead of just

dismissing it and saying it's too expensive, let's sit down and let's see what

we can do to hire local workers. There are ways to do it.

I know the

Premier mentioned about some companies, one company in particular from the

Humber - Bay of Islands that said, okay, if we do this then he can't go bidding

outside of Corner Brook. At least he got an opportunity to bid across

Newfoundland and Labrador. Without collaboration, we won't have a chance to get

local workers.

I encourage

government to do what they can.

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank

you.

The hon. the

Minister of Transportation and Works for a response, please.

MR. CROCKER:

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the hon.

Member for the petition. Mr. Speaker, back last fall the Member for Corner Brook

and I actually were in Corner Brook and he hosted a business-to-business session

where we had, I think, close to 100 subcontractors, small Newfoundland companies that were actually brought into a room to do a – almost like a

speed dating with the two proponents that were selected to bid on the new Corner

Brook hospital.

We've

met with TradesNL to discuss what ways we can ensure that Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians are the ones building the infrastructure in the province, Mr.

Speaker, while realizing the fact that we do still have a lot of tradespeople in

our province that travel outside this province as well for employment.

Mr.

Speaker, as I said earlier in Question Period, on May 31 approximately 90 per

cent of the people that were working on the new long-term care centre in Corner

Brook were Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

The

reality is here, Mr. Speaker, come this fall we're going to have about $600

million worth of activity in the Corner Brook area employing hundreds of

tradespeople. There are going to be great community benefits, Mr. Speaker, not

only for the workers and the subcontractors and the large contractors on the

West Coast, the reality is we have some large contractors on the West Coast of

this province that do work in the Atlantic Provinces as well. So we have to be

very careful when we talk about restricting where our contractors should or

shouldn't work.

Mr.

Speaker, we've done very well on the long-term care at 90 per cent, and we will

actually work with the companies to achieve that type of number again with the

new acute care facility.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Bonavista.

MR. PARDY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I gladly

present a petition on behalf of the parents and students of Heritage Collegiate

in Lethbridge. They recently received its teacher allocation for the next school

year and it was given a holdback teaching unit. The school is currently meeting

School District board says if the school loses one student between now and

October, then that holdback teacher unit will not be released to the school.

It is

worthy to note that the class in particular has 33 intermediate students ready

to start up in September, just slightly less than the size of this hon. Chamber.

You can imagine what the physical space, let alone the challenge for the

instructional environment would be.

If this

teaching unit is taken from the school, the student's access to core subjects

will suffer greatly in the Lethbridge area. If the board does not change its

decision, then one of two things happens: either the teacher will not join

Heritage Collegiate staff until October when the enrolment for the year is

confirmed; or, the teaching position at Heritage Collegiate will be permanently

lost for the entire school year, impacting students and their access to a sound

education.

The

petition reads as follows:

We, the

undersigned, call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of

District to release the holdback teaching unit for Heritage Collegiate for the

benefit of the school students in the coming school year.

In May

2007, the Teacher Allocation Commission submitted its first report,

Education and Our Future: A Road Map to

Innovation and Excellence . It made 35 recommendations. The pertinent

recommendation said teachers assigned to school boards on the basis of the

following class size maximum: Grade seven to nine, 25 students. In class size

and student diversity, two sides of the same coin, the Canadian Teachers'

Federation reported on a national teacher survey and research review. They found

that class size matters but so does class composition.

I would

say to you, Heritage Collegiate is one of the few schools that offer a

semesterized program, and just to end, in 2016 the Auditor General noted:

“Despite being directed by Cabinet to evaluate the Teacher Allocation … three

years after it was implemented in 2008-09, the Department of Education and Early

Childhood Development has not completed the assessment and has not reported back

to Cabinet.”

To end,

I would think it's time to review the teacher allocation model –

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you, Sir.

Your

time is over.

MR. PARDY:

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development for a response,

please.

MR. WARR:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the hon. Member for his petition. Certainly, he did share with me his concern

over Heritage Collegiate, and certainly I respect his position.

Preliminary teacher deployments are determined in May in accordance with the

collective agreement and then finalized in September as enrolment numbers and

grade configurations may change.

We're

making significant investments in teaching resources under the Education Action

Plan, hiring 350 teacher resources over the next three years in new and existing

schools across the province, with over $60 million being invested this year and

$180 million over five years.

I've

assured the hon. Member that I will look into his issue, we had that discussion

again today and I make that commitment to you.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands.

MR. LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Let me

say, I wholeheartedly agree with the petition here from my colleague in Humber -

Bay of Islands on local workers.

The

background to this petition is as follows: There have been numerous concerns

raised by family members of seniors in long-term care throughout Newfoundland

and Labrador, particularly those suffering with dementia, Alzheimer's disease or

other cognitive and debilitating conditions, whereby loved ones have experienced

injuries, have not bathed regularly, have not received proper nutrition and/or

have been left lying in their own waster for extended periods of time. We

believe this is directly related to government's failure to ensure adequate

staffing at those facilities.

THEREFORE we petition the hon. House of Assembly as follows: To urge the

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to instate legislation which includes

the mandatory establishment of an adequate ratio of one staff to three residents

in long-term care, and all other applicable regional facilities housing persons

with dementia, Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive debilitating conditions

in order to ensure appropriate safety, protection from injuries, proper hygiene

care and all other required care. This law would include the creation of a

specific job position in these facilities for monitoring and intervention as

required to ensure the safety of all patients.

Mr.

Speaker, I don't know how many times I've presented this now, a lot, and I'll

continue to do so on behalf of the group, Advocate for Senior Citizens' Rights,

who have had – they have thousands of people who are part of their group and we

receive thousands of signatures. Today, primarily, the signatures here today are

from Gander Bay and Clarke's Head.

Mr.

Speaker, I could get into the same spiel as I do every day, but I would

certainly say to – and the minister could either ignore me, as he does a lot of

times, or stand up and accuse me of insulting staff at the long-term care

facilities and saying they're not doing their job, which is absolutely not true,

but what I would say to the Minister of Health and Community Services, I would

ask him why not sit down to the table with Ms. Goulding-Collins and the members

of her group, Advocates for Senior Citizens' Rights, sit down to the table with

them and have a discussion. Then I don't have to be standing up here presenting

this day after day after day and they don't have to feel like they're being

ignored day after day after day.

Sit down

with them, have a meeting. I would be more than happy to facilitate such a

meeting. I would be more than happy to attend such a meeting. I'm sure some of

my other colleagues in the other parties would be willing to sit down as well. I

see the Leader of the Third Party has said she'd be willing to sit down as well

and talk about what the issues are.

These

are our parents, our grandparents and one day, God willing, if we live long

enough, it will be you and I and this is an important issue.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further

petitions?

The hon.

the Member for Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, Foxtrap Access Road in CBS is a vital link to the TCH and the

Peacekeepers Way, as well as being a heavily populated area. This road is in

need of immediate repairs. It needs asphalt resurfacing as well as shoulder

repairs. This road is listed for resurfacing for 2023 in the five-year roads

program, not soon enough and needs immediate attention.

THEREFORE we petition the House of Assembly as follows: We the undersigned call

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

to provide immediate repairs to the Foxtrap Access Road.

brought this petition to the House many times in the past sitting and I'll

continue to do so, I guess. I've have a good conversation with the minister and

officials in his department about getting some work done with it, but the thing

with this is the people who live in this area have made this an issue. It was

their initiative that got these petitions. It wasn't normally, we look for an

issue, they came to me and they're very concerned about it.

Outside

of that, it's obviously a concern to me. There are two schools on this road,

outside of the people who live there, there's a church and two schools. The

school buses travelling this road they actually have to move over the centre

line because the shoulders of the road has deteriorated in areas that's really

bad. There are a lot of cross cuts. Outside of being the link to the

Trans-Canada and Peacekeepers Way, it's one of the busier roads in the town.

It's a provincially owned road and it will remain that because it's a trunk

road. It needs those repairs sooner rather than later.

I know

it's on the list and the minister has told me many times when he's discussed it

with me, but I can't impress it upon him enough that something serious could

happen there. The big concern is it's a safety issue. Traffic is moving over the

yellow line to avoid the ruts on the shoulder of the road. It needs immediate

repair.

I'll

leave it at that. The minister – we'd had many conversations, I'll let him

respond.

Thank

you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Transportation and Works for a response, please.

MR. CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I thank

the hon. Member for the petition. Mr. Speaker, the hon. Member is correct, we

have had many conversations on this

section of road. It's actually a piece of

road that – he asked me a while back to, actually, on my way into the city some

time, just take a detour down and see for myself, which I did, Mr. Speaker.

There's no doubt, this

section of road is heavily travelled and is in need of

repair. It is identified in the five-year Roads Plan.

Mr.

Speaker, we've been successful in the five-year Roads Plan. One of the things

we've done in the five-year Roads Plan is announce 75 per cent of the projects

leading into the next construction season. Mr. Speaker, one of the reasons why

we do this is to allow some room for emerging priorities in situations that

occur from time to time.

I can

assure the Member opposite that, as we review going into the next construction

season, this is certainly something that we will certainly have a look at again.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Government House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I call

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER:

Orders of the Day, Sir.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

From the

Order Papers, I would call Motion 4, the Budget Speech.

MR. SPEAKER:

The Budget Speech.

The hon.

the Member for Fogo Island - Cape Freels.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAGG:

Mr. Speaker, it is indeed an

honour to stand here today, but before I start to speak about the budget, I want

to thank my family and friends, my wife and daughter, in particular, who helped

me through the last election phase and everybody who voted for me, and my good

friends across the way who cheered me on along the way.

To stand

in this House – and I know as the new people there, and even now you get jitters

when you stand up, the feeling that you stand up here to talk on anything that's

of great importance to this province is an opportunity very few get to have.

I would

think – and I know we can't use props, Mr. Speaker, but everyone has a copy of

our budget – this has to be the most important document ever debated in this

House each and every single year. You can almost turn to any page, Mr. Speaker,

and it's going to hit something very important of what's in this document.

We just

went through – or I went through seven hours sitting through the Estimates

Committee. The Estimates is when you really, really get to understand the

budget. That's when the ministers, I do believe, and their staff, are at their

best. They have to be, because the questions that come across, it's like a

three-hour long Question Period for the minister and his staff.

As we

debated here yesterday in the PMR, the questions and the answers, the questions

do get answered and most everybody nod approval when it's all said and done that

they were very pleased with the outcome. So, the document of the budget is a

very important document for this province, and every province I would think.

When you

look at: Working towards a brighter future. You can't ask for a much better

theme than that for your province, because in '49, when we first joined

Confederation –

AN HON. MEMBER:

How old were you then?

MR. BRAGG:

I was only a young boy then.

The Member opposite is asking me how old I was in '49. I was a young snot, as

grandfather would say, then.

In '49,

when they started and brought in the first budget, I can only imagine what they

went through because they had nothing to judge anything on, but in our budget,

you use your experience from years past, looking forward to years ahead. It's

not only an opportunity to evaluate the money you've spent in the last few

years, it's also an opportunity to look at the things you want to do in the

future. How we want to leave our mark on this province for our younger

generation.

I think

the budget is probably, as I see it, the most important document ever to stand

in this House. If you look at it, will we do everything in this budget that

everybody wants? The easy answer to that is going to be, definitely, no. Because

there's no way you can do everything right for everybody and please everybody,

because taxation is the one thing – if you look at it, taxation is something

that very few people want to pay.

Let's go

to our levy. The levy has been the one thing that has been – I guess it's the

thorn in everybody's side. Members opposite talk about how often they heard it

at the door, we heard it at the door, but we didn't put the levy in just because

it was on a whim. It's because we were given a financial nightmare when we took

over in 2015, to look forward to in 2016, for something to have to change.

Budgeting comes down to a couple of ways: (

a) you increase revenues; or (

b) you

decrease your costs. Deceasing costs most times is decreasing services. So, a

simple budget is almost simple mathematics. If you made $100, you can't spend

$200 without figuring out a way to pay back the other $100.

I spent

30 years working with the Town of Greenspond in dealing with a budget. In that

30 years – and anybody here who ever served on a municipal council will know

what I'm saying. If you're going to raise the taxes by $20, the seven

councillors who sit around the table, I won't say they lose their mind, but you

can see everybody's back rise right up. Because they're saying, well, we can't

do that because poor old Aunt Maude living up there on a fixed income, we got to

be thinking about Aunt Maude. Can she afford that extra $15 or $20 we're going

to tax to her?

that's where this budget comes through. It's not a document that's just thrown

out there and by a whim we fold and throw figures back and forth. It's a

document that the figures are there because the expenditures are needed. Again,

we'd love to have more.

We talk

about our oil development and the royalties from that. I live in rural

Newfoundland. I would like to think the small community I live in of 300 people,

what a great way for our community to survive if they struck oil across the

causeway. How many times do we say it? What's going to save Greenspond? Strike

oil, somebody said. Someone else said find gold. That seems to be the trend of

thought for the rural communities, but this budget will keep us in our rural

communities.

Our

urban centres are surviving on a lot of our rural communities, but the rural

communities really depend on the budget maybe more so than anything. If you look

at the Northeast MHAs and their challenge, they don't suffer the same

consequences that I do. Their roads, their health care, their schools, it's all

there. It's all within – you can throw a stone to it.

In the

district I represent there are 700 kilometres of pavement, and in that 700

kilometres of pavement there are probably 7,000 potholes. Last night someone

used the expression, I think it was the Leader of the Third Party: a whisper of

pavement. I just about folded over with laughter with that thought. She said

they put out a whisper of pavement. I thought it was the quote of the evening,

to be honest with you, because sometimes if you got 700 kilometres and a

truckload of asphalt, you can only put a whisper. You don't get the chance to do

the major upgrades.

I drove

down Kenmount Road earlier today, and there's nothing only construction crews.

I'm just thinking, God it's good that the city got this kind of money to handle

this kind of a road, but when you look at 700 kilometres, you have two or three

Works depots, you have summer holidays, you have bad weather – we have more

challenges in the rural part of the province than we do in those urban parts to

get things.

To put

it in perspective, Mr. Speaker, if the crew in Lumsden want a load of asphalt,

and the asphalt plant – the closest one is in Grand Falls. That's a two-hour

drive. So in order for the operator to get back on site, you have to leave work

at 5 o'clock in the morning to get back again by 8 or 9 o'clock. So that's a

challenge there.

This

budget is – like I said, I can't say it enough. This is the most important

document this province will ever deal with.

We're in

a minority situation, which I'm sure everybody will agree, the best way to spend

your money is the right way. I would hope, that's where we're going to come from

here. The consensus here is that we're making the best effort possible to spend

our money in the right possible places.

It's

going to be good to look forward to debate in the next week or two or three, or

whatever it takes to bring this budget down. I haven't even struck my notes yet,

Mr. Speaker, because I'm probably all over the place here now.

Are we

going to do everything perfect? Absolutely not. There's no way. There are people

who have been – I don't know, I guess there are people who were condemned years

ago for trying to do the perfect thing, but we're going to try and do it as best

we can; through consultations, through ongoing talks all the time. Because if

you just sit back and don't pay attention to anything, you'll never know how a

budget goes.

Again,

I'll go back to my – put on my town clerk hat days when we were in. If you look

at snow clearing, I know last night we did Transportation and Works. They were

talking about the salt and sand that goes on the road. You can only anticipate

it and estimate for it. Not one of us, I don't care, the best meteorologist out

there is not able to tell us what the weather forecast is going to be next year.

So you can only estimate what it's going to be and the volume of salt you're

going to need.

I know

from the town's perspective, we always went back three years. If you go back

three years, it gave you sort of a pattern and a costing of what you would need.

So, if you look at it, the last two years you may not have had an inch of snow

but you may have had all freezing rain. With all freezing rain, Mr. Speaker, it

means salt and sand. Snow is simply fuel. If you can only bring in a boatload of

salt.

Last

year we had, on the West Coast it must have been one of the longest winters in

history, because I think it started Labour Day and went – going to go through

until next week some time, because we're still waiting for the temperature to

rise. The importance of this to our rural communities – and I say our rural

communities because I represent an area, again, on the Northeast Coast of this

province, which I would like to think is sort of a four-season resort.

The

Member there for the centre of the city, I used to joke with him and say: I live

where you would love to come and vacation, because any time of the year, on the

Northeast Coast, is a great time to visit. If you come out now, yeah, you may

get the rain and fog; the big attraction now is the icebergs.

If you

look at the tourism, if you look, again, my district, on Fogo Island, one of the

most world-renowned, recognized places to stay is the Fogo Island Inn. Where

else in this province can you spend $2,000 a night to stay in a hotel room? It's

not the $2,000, because no one has ever argued the price because the experience

is priceless. You can't put a price on the experience.

If you

ever get the opportunity to go over, even if you just toured the rooms, you sit

down, it's all this glass front the faces the North Atlantic. So, any time of

the year – it's like looking at a fire. You know when you have those backyard

fires and you sit and you can't get your eyes off the fire because the flame is

always going different. Well, that's the ocean, and that's the view out that

window.

There's

no TV in the room because you don't need it, you're there. You get out of the

tub and there's the big glass wall. Now, unless a polar bear comes down by you,

you're as safe as in your mom's arms, sort of thing, out there. There's just

nothing like – so it's an experience.

We have

people visiting – and I hate to pick on Fogo Island, but I'm so proud of what

they've done. What Zita Cobb and the Shorefast Foundation has done over there.

That's just for tourism alone. You could go there any day. There's a small

airstrip on Fogo Island. Again, it's all in our budget that keeps putting that

there. No doubt, the people's money bring them to Fogo Island, but the ability

to get here: our ferry.

The

former minister takes a ribbing about the ferry that was built in Romania and

the wharf was never built to match the ferry, but now we've got all that

together and we got all the wrinkles, it seems to be, worked out of that boat.

No one can argue with me now that that is one of the best services, with

exception to yesterday, Mr. Speaker, when we had a mishap, no one can argue with

me now that is not the best service that we've had on Fogo Island and Change

Islands in the last 40 years.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAGG:

It is, but it's because of

the hard work of their Member that keeps that boat going. Don't forget that.

I'm so

proud of that. I'll get back to the inn and the experience with the inn because

you have to go there. I would encourage everyone who's in this room today to

find the time this summer to visit my district. If you can't stay at the inn,

which I understand because I think it's booked up now to 2022, which is not too

bad for an inn out in the North Atlantic. But if you just go there, and I talk

about the experience, so I'll just walk you through how some people have

marketed our province.

If you

fly in from any part of the world, you get to Gander. When you get to Gander,

and I guess my term for the people that pick them up, they have a limousine

service with a town elder. That town person picks you up at the airport, puts

you in – and if there are two people in room, there are two people per limo. If

there are four, they'll put in four, but if you're alone you have the experience

by yourself. That person has all the experience of the history and culture for

that area.

So what

a great way, you're from God knows where, but if you're from, I don't know, the

centre of St. John's – or centre of St. John's, not so much, you might've seen

the salt water – but if you're from Toronto or Vancouver and you've never seen

the North Atlantic, so this person will walk you through it. And as you know we

have our own accent, so we're pretty thick on our accent out there. We try not

to change it because that's what people like us for. Because we are one of the

friendliest groups ever, and the elders are always good at talking. Not that I'm

too bad myself, but the older I get, if I get any more, I'd say my wife is going

to put a sock in my mouth, just saying, but what an experience.

Then

they got there, they get them on the ferry, they put them on, take them

upstairs, they keep talking to them, they cater to them. When they get them to

the island, you know a lot of us locals have a shed party. They have a shed

party – religiously have a shed party to get the people out so they see the

culture. Our own prime minister was there. He got to go ice fishing a couple of

years ago – that was mid-August when he did the ice fishing – and any time that

you go over, on the runway you might see a small jet there, private jet that

flies in, so the experience that is.

But if

we weren't committed, as a government, past and present, to the rural

communities, that opportunity would never exist. The ability to visit that part

of our province would be unknown. So because of what we've done, our road

structure, our ferry structures, our health care facilities, because again, in

my area, I have two – it's not major health care facilities but major for rural

Newfoundland – there's the Fogo Island Health Centre and the Dr. Y. K. Jeon

Kittiwake Health Centre which, although the Y. K. Jeon is probably the oldest

cottage hospital in this province, it is far from run down, it's probably one of

the best maintained and employs great employment so, again, that's all a

budgetary thing.

But over

there on Fogo Island, and on the Northeast Coast – I'm going to move off Fogo

Island for a bit. I'm an island guy myself; I'm from Greenspond so that's a

pretty island guy. I'm going to go from Fogo Island and bring it over to

Greenspond. And I never realized my clock was running down. So if you talk about

a small community on a mission, I am so proud to be from the community I'm from.

When I

started this, you talk about – I'll now go from the budget to what it is. In

2016 we closed the school in Greenspond. I was one of the guys who started that

new school, as we called the new school in the late '80s, and then we closed it.

We had two kids and then none for the next couple of years. This year, in

Greenspond, there are 10 kids going to kindergarten – now, 10 from a community

of 300.

I don't

know what we doing, Mr. Speaker, but we're on the right track to a brighter

future with those 10 kids in that small community. So if I get back to the

school, we closed the school and for a couple of years it sat idle. So then it

was up – and it came up in my mind last night in the Estimates of a building

being sold. The building got sold about a year ago. We had an investor come in

and, I'm told, this guy and his wife has invested close of $750,000. There are

six rooms up there now, 1,000 square feet each. If you can go online, Facebook,

you can look at the rooms. They are absolutely second to none. They look over

the ocean. So now in season – it may not be the view of the Fogo Island Inn, but

it's the view of a similar community on the other side of my district.

There

are six rooms there. They're bringing in a chef for the restaurant. There's a

saltbox corporation that's opening up – I think they're the ones that started

it. They bought an old house and renovated it and exposed it to the ocean. Since

that time, there are seven if not eight that you can rent this summer in

Greenspond, including the new place in the school, the other six. So that's 14

units that are there for rent right now that would rival anywhere, I would

think, in this province. Per capita, if you have an argument with your spouse or

you're looking for a place to sleep, Greenspond is the easiest place to find a

place right now.

Just to

see that, Mr. Speaker, just to walk down the road and look up and see the work

on that building and what that's bringing, and then they started up a boat tour

business there. The former Member for Bonavista used to say we're not doom and

gloom. But we are the example of where this province is not doom and gloom in my

very own community. The people there, they're hard-working people, a fishing

community.

I used

to kid, the Civic that I drove around in up to two weeks ago was the oldest

vehicle in our community. No one owned an old vehicle. I can remember when it

was a time when you went out and the causeway came across and if you had a

wooden box on your truck you were taking a dip, but that day is long gone.

If you

come out and you visit my district – I invite everybody to come by, swing by

Greenspond. One time I used to say, stay with me if there's nowhere else to

stay. You can stay in any second house almost in Greenspond now, because the

accommodations there are second to none.

AN HON. MEMBER:

I want to stay with you

(inaudible).

MR. BRAGG:

You can still stay with me,

so the Member says. Yeah, you can still stay with me. You can't stay with me on

July 20, just so you know. That's going to be a busy weekend for me.

Mr.

Speaker, the opportunity to rise in this House and speak on the budget and be a

part of the group of people that's here, that's going to shape this province and

this end of the country, I am so proud to be able to do that.

I see my

time is running down. I wish I had the time to get to all the notes I had there,

but it's like my wife said: Derrick, sometimes can you just not say anything. So

I guess the time has come for me not to say anything more.

Mr.

Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity to speak here today.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Ferryland.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. O'DRISCOLL:

Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker.

It gives

me great privilege to stand in the House of Assembly and thank the people for

the magnificent and stunning District of Ferryland.

I would

also like to congratulate all the Members that were successful in their own

districts. It goes without saying that you put forward a great effort in order

to be here, and the people believed in you.

Just to

get back to the MHA that just spoke from Fogo Island - Cape Freels, you can't

always judge a book by its cover, by the way.

personally would like to thank all the volunteers in my district and anyone else

that helped me in any way, I am truly grateful. Also, being Public Service Week,

I would like to thank all the public service workers for doing such great work

in the area. So I'd certainly like to thank them.

Mr.

Speaker, while knocking on doors in my district, I ran into a wide range of

issues, especially from seniors regarding the coverage of drugs with the

Newfoundland and Labrador Prescription Drug Program. Insulin strips is a big

concern with the seniors. With somebody that gets 50 strips a week, it's hard to

explain when you're knocking on a door that they got Type 2 diabetes and they

need to check their insulin once or twice a day and 50 strips just doesn't cut

it. That cuts into their old age pensions and their income. It's a big factor in

everything they do and their lifestyle. So we'd love to see that be looked at,

certainly, in going forward.

Also, I

ran into a young lady that fell out of the age group, I guess, for the insulin

pumps, and it's certainly a big issue going forward. She expressed it in a

letter and it's pretty tough to read. She certainly had some good points going

forward in regard to Medicare costs that could happen; heart and stroke, all

that stuff. So it's very important to people to make sure they get the proper

coverage.

Housing

was also an important issue as well. I went to a place – when you walk into a

house, it's pretty awestruck when you open up the door and they invite you in

and they have their oven open to heat the house. When you're in your district

and you're fighting for your people, it's pretty hard to watch.

With all

that being said, we certainly hope, as Members, we can do everything we can to

help all our seniors and all the people in our area. Hopefully, we can rectify

some of those situations because that's why they voted for us and what we're

here to do.

When

listening to hon. Minister Sherry Gambin-Walsh talking the other day about her

son with autism –

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. O'DRISCOLL:

– and to hear of the programs available for autism is great.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. O'DRISCOLL:

Sorry.

MR. SPEAKER:

I just remind the Member that

you're not to address other MHAs in this House by their name. You should use

their title.

Thank

you.

MR. O'DRISCOLL:

The hon. minister talking

about her son and his autism, and to hear of the programs available for autism

is great. Programs are needed for autism, and to hear those stories are pretty

eye-opening.

I dealt

with a different issue being an instructor of power skating, which I instructed

in my area. I had a group of 90 kids that I taught for three hours a week in

regard to skating, and I ran into a couple of autistic kids that were in my

program. It can go awry pretty quick. If you haven't dealt with it, it's a

pretty difficult situation, but with the help of my daughters, one is a teacher

and another one who ran our summer program, we dealt with it and got everything

back in order.

So to

watch that happen, it was pretty heartfelt when I listened to her yesterday talk

about her son. I certainly understand that. Training and funding in the Autism

Action Plan is certainly a great idea.

Regarding fishing, I came from a fishing family, I guess. The fishing moratorium

was announced on July 2, 1992, which happened to be my birthday. It wasn't a

great day to celebrate in our family for sure. I had three brothers and a mom

who all worked in the fish plant and if they weren't old enough to work, they

were cutting tongues.

struck the area, the economy pretty hard, and being a great group of

Newfoundlanders that we are, we certainly moved on and survived and moved

forward. That's what happens. That's the way Newfoundlanders are, they learn how

to adapt.

One big

issue in our area was the schools, for sure. I'm sure you've heard it along the

way from our previous minister, the problem with overcrowding. We'll get to move

grade five and grade six students this year from one school in St. Bernard's to

Mobile Central High to alleviate some of the problems, but not solve their

problem. Now we have two less grades but overcrowding is still an issue.

Also, to

compound the problem, the teachers that got bumped from their positions and the

classes that remain, instead of having one teacher, now have four teachers with

25 per cent allocation. Meaning for four teachers, one class note doesn't give

much stability to the kids and knowing their teachers.

Also, in

the area we have a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I see that a tender has been

awarded for the area to do some upgrading. In that area you will – hopefully,

along the way we'll get some more but that is going to be a great tourist

attraction. If you're ever looking to go to a tourist attraction site, if you're

going to do it this summer, I would recommend that you get out and book early

because it's getting booked up pretty quick. Being a new Member, and I have not

been there – but being a new Member I'm going to be visiting, and she's telling

me to book early. So if anyone is planning on doing that this summer, I would

suggest you get ahead, do that and plan that early.

Also, as

well, the Southern Shore has an arena which was opened in 1988, and it's a

non-for-profit organization. However, with the new changes the government has

implemented regarding a carbon monoxide issue that came up in an arena here in

St. John's last year – which has to be dealt with, obviously – this has placed a

large financial burden on a non-for-profit organization.

It goes

without saying, it's a hub for the area. Hopefully, along the way we can work

and make this arena get back. It has to be done by September, but it's going to

be in the range of $15,000 to $30,000. So it's something that we have to get in

and get working with the councils. It's not a council building, but it is what

it is. We have to see what we can do to get that arena up and running for

September.

Also,

another big attraction in our area is tourism – tourism for sure – will be our

Witless Bay Line. It links to the Trans-Canada Highway; however, it is not

considered a priority road. It may be used on a daily basis for people coming

across Witless Bay Line to come over to the boat tours all along the Southern

Shore, to take

part in all the whale watching and icebergs as well.

Also,

the Southern Shore line is used as a hub for crab fishermen and processors to be

trucking crab back and forth across Newfoundland. Without that, it just cuts

into time, money and expenses to do that. So, hopefully, we can get to that and

solve that somewhere along the way.

Also, in

my work at Hickman's, you see the economy and we talk about the budget. The

economy certainly does affect the selling of cars. I've been there for 22 years.

In the last three or four years, with the budget being the way it is – people

don't stop buying cars, all right. They just slow down in buying cars. People

always need to get new vehicles and upgrade their vehicles, but instead of

having it for four years, they might stretch it out to five years. They might

stretch it out to six years, but it is a factor when you're selling and you're

doing it for a living. So it does cut into your living and it does cut into

people's lives as well.

Sometimes with a budget, that's how it affects people. Not so much right away,

but over a period of time they're watching their dollars and they're not

spending as much as they should – as we would like to see, I guess. So, it's a

big factor in everything we do in here in this House, and hopefully we can keep

that in our minds.

Again,

thank you very much. I appreciate your time.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (Reid):

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would

adjourn debate on the budget, please.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

At this

time I'd like to call from the Order Paper, Motion 8, moving as follows:

That the

composition of the Striking Committee be as follows: the Member for Burgeo - La

Poile; the Member for Burin - Grand Bank; the Member for St. John's West; the

Member for St. John's Centre; and the Member for Mount Pearl North.

And I

further move that the composition of the Standing Committees of the House of

Assembly for the 49th General Assembly be as follows:

The

Public Accounts Committee: the Member for Cape St. Francis; the Member for

Harbour Grace - Port de Grave; the Member for St. George's - Humber; the Member

for Fortune Bay - Cape La Hune; the Member for Fogo Island - Cape Freels; the

Member for Stephenville - Port au Port; and the Member for St. John's East -

Quidi Vidi.

The

Privileges and Elections Committee: the Member for St. George's - Humber; the

Member for Fogo Island - Cape Freels; the Member for Burin - Grand Bank; the

Member for Conception Bay East - Bell Island; and the Member for St. John's East

- Quidi Vidi.

The

Standing Orders Committee: the Member for Burgeo - La Poile; the Member for St.

John's West; the Member for St. George's - Humber; the Member for Windsor Lake;

and the Member for St. John's Centre.

Finally,

the Miscellaneous and Private Bills Committee: the Member for St. George's -

Humber; the Member for Harbour Grace - Port de Grave; the Member for Mount Scio;

the Member for St. John's East - Quidi Vidi; and the Member for Conception Bay

South.

I would

do so, seconded by the deputy, deputy House Leader or the Minister of Health and

Community Services.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I won't

take a whole lot of time. What I'm doing now is something that's par for the

course for every new Parliament that is reconvened, which is the composition of

committees which, as you can tell, for those that are watching, are committees

that are made up of membership from all sides of the House. Usually, it's a case

of the government will submit their names for the positions on committees,

Official Opposition, as well as the Third Party.

All of

these committees are important. Some, I will say – perhaps I shouldn't, but some

are more important. Or perhaps the best way to put it, the most diplomatic way

to put it, is that some are used more than others.

Public

Accounts Committee is certainly one that's extremely important, one that's been

in place for some time. They have an important role where they look across

government, but especially when it comes to the House of Assembly, an

opportunity to look at the accounting, look at different matters. I think in the

last number of years they've looked at – I think they looked at the ferries, I

think they looked at the school boards, perhaps, and I know they looked Humber

Valley at one point. They have the ability – and the Chair would know this, I

think he sits on the committee – to call witnesses and to investigate

information. So it's a committee that has relevance and importance during each

session of the House.

Privileges and Elections Committee is one that I think had fallen into, we'll

say, disuse over a long period of time. I'm not aware of it having met for a

long period, but we will say that during the last session of the House this

committee was used and dealt with the issues that we faced in the last

Parliament. In fact, I believe that committee, once reconvened, will be coming

back to this House again with resolutions to be passed as it relates to the

conduct of Members and as it relates to procedures going forward.

The

Standing Orders Committee, I won't belabour this. We had a long, and I thought

very productive debate on Standing Orders of this House. This House and its

Members are governed by Standing Orders. The Standing Orders Committee is a

group that's made up of Members of all sides to come together, look at our

Orders, and in some cases try to find ways to improve them, to update them and

to make this House more responsive to today's needs.

Finally,

the Miscellaneous and Private Bills Committee. I'm not sure if this committee

has met in some time. In fact, I don't know – I have very little to say about

this committee, in that it's one that has not had much use over a long period of

time.

Again,

being a bit of a parliamentary geek, I'm interested to see what this committee

has done over the years, but I can say that in the last two sessions I'm not

sure how much use they've had. That's something that I would suggest to the

Members that are on there, including perhaps the Member, the Chair, knowing his

background in this, maybe there's something we can find for this committee to do

to improve the working conditions here and improve the work that we do.

On that

note, I will take my seat and look forward to comments from my colleagues across

the way.

Thank

you.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Opposition House

Leader.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's

indeed an honour to stand in this House again as we talk about the importance of

what goes on in this Legislature. Also, echoing what the Government House Leader

has said about the importance of the structure here of committees and the

importance of having all parties represented on those committees. Because

contrary to popular belief, there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes when it

comes to operating the House of Assembly, which in turn operates the general

expenditures and policies and programs of Newfoundland and Labrador.

We get

elected, obviously, as representatives of our districts. We get elected to

advocate on behalf of our constituents; but, more importantly, or equally

important, we also come in this House to ensure that on a bigger scope, even

things that may not be directly relevant to a particular district or our

constituents, that we have a stake in ensuring that the policies and the

programs and the services and the expenditures are relevant to being able to

provide the best standard of living and quality of life for the residents of

Newfoundland and Labrador. To do that, there has to be a multitude of committees

that look at what are the best ways to move things forward. Sometimes it's about

democratic reform, which we've had discussions about.

Yesterday, to again echo what the Government House Leader had talked about, we

did have a good open discussion, an open debate, and came to a consensus of what

we could feel from an all-party perspective and independents, a way to move to

the next level of having a more open and democratic process in the House of

Assembly.

All

these other committees here are very important because they have different

components and different roles. The uniqueness is that in any caucus you try to

look at appointing somebody to that committee who either has a direct relevance

and importance because of their background, or it's something that is near and

dear to them when it comes to wanting to be able to move something forward.

For some

people it's about the legislative process, and that's what intrigues them. For

some it's about financial accountability, and that's what we talk about in one

of the committees here, the Public Accounts Committee, for example, which, in

principle, does two things. It oversees all the expenditures of government. It

is directly, either a right arm or vice versa. The Auditor General is the right

arm of this committee to ensure that there are safeguards around expenditures

and accountability of all the monies that are spent by every level of

government, boards and agencies alike.

So, this

committee has an opportunity there to ensure that policies and programs and the

safeguards are put in play to ensure everybody's comfortable on how the

expenditures of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador is being not only spent,

but being accounted for. I've had the privilege over the years to be on the

committee.

Actually, this is the only year – after, I guess, today – since I've been

elected, that I'm not on the Public Accounts Committee. I've had a great

opportunity to learn how government actually functions from a financial point of

view, and how boards and agencies, where they're autonomous and where they need

to be brought closer to government and in line with policies and programs and

services, and particularly about their accountability.

For

those who may not know it, and you may see it, this becomes almost like a court

hearing. The Public Accounts has the opportunity to call agencies or boards or

line departments to the House of Assembly in which they're grilled on questions

regarding their operations, their structure, their policies –

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

MR. BRAZIL:

Yeah. Well, exactly.

As the

hon. Member, who was a colleague of mine on the Public Accounts in the past,

just noted, it's a watchdog for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. We hold

these agencies, boards and departments and then certain civil servants to

account.

The

benefit from there is there's a report presented to the House of Assembly. So

it's on record as to, not only what has been identified by the Auditor General

or what we have, as a Committee, referred to the Auditor General to do an

investigation on, but it's a set of recommendations that we're expecting them to

adhere to. If they don't, then there are certain ramifications that can be

brought back to this House, and these agencies or boards or departments are held

accountable.

So we do

have a structure here. Outside of what people think, we do. From an elected

point of view, there are other responsibilities that people have.

Over the

course of your four years, you'll probably get a chance to sit on various

committees. Some, as was mentioned, are more encompassing. Some will be stagnant

until there's a need for them, but they all have an important role in ensuring

that this House of Assembly is ran properly, that the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador have faith in what we do here, and that everybody's accountable; us, as

elected officials, and the full-fledge operations of government.

I'm

looking forward to the new set up with the committees here. We also have the

ability here to strike other committees that are necessary on a given time.

We've

come a long way in the process of looking at all-party committees and what that

means. We've been successful in a couple of counts of getting things to move

forward.

We're

also now into something totally unique. Sending a piece a legislation, before it

comes for debate in the House, to a select committee that will have a look at

it, will bring in particular experts to dissect what the legislation is, come to

a consensus, maybe make some changes, some set of recommendations, then bring it

back. Keeping in mind, all involved should have a better understanding of what

that legislation is intended to achieve, and then have an open debate.

Hopefully, the debate is already 90 per cent complete because all parties and,

hopefully, all Members here have had an opportunity to have some input.

It's a

way of, actually, instead of having to speed up things or not getting the proper

time frames in debate, you can have that done in advance, and bring in any

experts that may be necessary in advance of that. When we get to the House of

Assembly, people can see the effectiveness of that process.

I'm

looking forward to see how that rolls out over the next number of months, but

it's unique. It's the first time we've done it in this Legislature, but it's not

uncommon to other legislatures. So we're going to take that, make that work, and

I would hope – and I think everybody here – that would be the template for how

we move legislation forward.

The

debate doesn't become controversial or combative. It becomes, we've come to a

consensus. We found what we feel is the best way to move forward. You may not

always agree with everything that's in it, but you've come to a consensus on how

you're going to present that piece of legislation to the House. So I'm looking

forward to that. I'm looking forward to working with Members on all the

committees we have in play here in the House of Assembly.

Mr.

Speaker, I just want to end by saying it's a privilege to be on any committee. I

do ask that all Members take it seriously and give their utmost, 100 per cent to

be able to contribute. Don't be afraid to ask a question. There's no question

here that people might think is embarrassing. You need to know exactly what your

responsibility is going to be, and if you're new, ask that.

Any of

the people that have been around will be more than open to give you a bit of

advice or clarification. Particularly, I have to note, the staff we have that

work with our select committees, they are second to none. They don't try to

impose their view. What they'll do is they'll give you the logistical

information to do the research view. They'll give you good advice.

Sometimes if you start straying the wrong way, they'll give you advice and say

this is the process that normally would be used; or, if we're not quite sure how

to move forward, they'll say: look, we've done a jurisdictional scan, here's how

it's done in 10 other jurisdictions. Then that gives us a template to be able to

move things forward.

So, I'm

just happy to be able to support the composition of these committees, and look

forward to the great work they'll do over the next number of years.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Humber - Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm just

going to stand and talk for a few minutes about the committees. There's no doubt

of the need for the committees to be in the Legislature and the vital role they

play.

Over the

years, I think most of us sat on a lot of these committees. A lot of these

committees do – I know the Public Accounts and I know the Member for Conception

Bay East - Bell Island, we had many discussions on a few of those committees and

it's healthy debate. That's what brings this Legislature sometimes to a better

place.

You

notice on the committees – of course, I just got to bring this up as part of the

Standing Orders also – that two independents aren't on any of the committees.

This is what we have to do, to bring it up to the Standing Orders. We have to

find some way to make all representation. We have to bring it up to the Standing

Orders.

I know

the people opposite, the government side, Mr. Speaker, they're over there

applauding me for this because it's a great idea. It's a great idea to bring

this up, to make sure that all people, all Members that are elected – and I

thank Members for their encouragement for that, to bring all Members involved,

because we do represent a large majority. I know in Humber - Bay of Islands,

where the representation has said that they sent us an independent, almost 70

per cent is independent, they want their voice heard on all committees.

So I'm

just raising this point. There's no issue on the committees. I agree that every

person who's on the committee is qualified to be on the committee. They're going

to bring value to the committee. The committees have a vital role in this

Legislature, but I think with the Standing Orders, Mr. Speaker – and I

understand you're the Chair of the Standing Orders. So there would be no better

person to speak to, you're the Chair.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

MR. JOYCE:

Oh, the Government House

Leader is Chair of Standing Orders. Well, there would be no better person, as he

was just –

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

MR. JOYCE:

Yes, and he just applauded me

for bringing this up because that's something else that he also wanted.

So,

myself and the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands, we'll be writing the Chair

of the Standing Orders to get us included. Hopefully, then we can get on

committees, because we do have experience in the House of Assembly and we are

elected officials like every other person in this House.

This is

great for the committees, but I think if we're going to be inclusive, if we're

going to ensure that we're going to include all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians

– the next election there may be four or five independents, we don't know, but

we have to make room in the Standing Orders for the future because we always

said, and we said a couple of times here today, that this is not just for today,

this is for future years down the road.

Once you

receive a letter from both of us, I say to the Chair or the Government House

Leader, that you would bring it to the Standing Orders Committee and that we can

work on this so that we could have an equal voice in this House of Assembly.

Just to let the people know in both districts that we represent, that we do vote

on the budget. We do vote in the Legislature.

The

Standing Orders is that we can't get on these committees, but a lot of these

committees, Mr. Speaker, when you get in you don't see the work they do. They

come out as a committee, but your input is valued within the committee. You'd be

a part of it, so you can add to the committee. It's usually not a voice that

you're independent from the committee, but you add your input in the committee,

your expertise and your value that you have.

I just

want to raise that again. I'll look forward, once we write the letter, that we

will be included. There are always provisions there that can be, once we come

back to the Legislature. I thank the Government House Leader for his

encouragement to do this, and I'm sure all Members agree that everybody should

be represented on all the committees, not just from the main parties. Everybody

who's on this committee is qualified. There is no issue with any Member on the

committee. I just think either the committee got to be expanded a bit or the

independents got to be included and just have other people move on other

committees.

So, I'll

take my seat. I just wanted to bring that up again on behalf of the people of

Humber - Bay of Islands who, again, put their support and confidence in me, and

I'm very pleased with that. I know that there will be people watching this and

saying: well, you're speaking up on behalf of the people. Because their voice

has to come through me in this Legislature, and I have all intents of being most

– any

part I can be involved in this Legislature, I will be.

So,

thank you again for the opportunity, Mr. Speaker, and I thank all the people for

their patience. I look forward to the involvement of the independents in a lot

of these committees in the very, very near future.

Thank

you.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl - Southlands.

MR. LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

At the

risk of sounding somewhat repetitive to what my colleague had to say –

MR. JOYCE:

Partners.

MR. LANE:

He said partners. Well,

listen, he's a lot nicer than what I thought he was, to be honest with you.

We're starting to grow a little closer together as time goes on.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. LANE:

Anyway, with that being said,

my colleague makes a lot of great points. The reality of it is – and we've kind

of alluded to this in other discussions – that the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador, in two of the 40 districts, decided they wanted to have an independent

Member represent them.

In the

last election, there were nine people who ran as independents; two were elected.

Who knows what will happen in the future. I'm not going to predict the future,

none of us can. A day is a lifetime in politics, as we all know. Right now we

have two Members that were duly elected that represent a significant portion of

our population.

We all

know the importance; we've talked about the importance of the budget and we're

doing the budget debate here today. I can tell you that a lot of people in my

district, because I know the Member for Fogo Island - Cape Freels – Bonavista

North as far as I'm concerned, anyway there's Fogo - Cape Freels and something

else, or maybe it's just Fogo - Cape Freels – he was talking about the

priorities and the issues in his district, which I can appreciate.

represent a different demographic. There are issues in my district and a

perspective from my district that some other Members in some of the urban areas

would share. I can tell you that the big issue in my district over the last

couple of years, and I'm not saying this just to rehash

Budget 2016 and so on, but my district

was probably the poster child, if you will, for the taxes, fees and levies and

so on. Because of the makeup of Southlands and the part of Mount Pearl I

represent, a lot of professional people, a lot of nurses, a lot of teachers,

small business owners and so on, those were the people and the families that got

hit really hard with the levy and the taxation and so on.

Now,

what I heard – and I continued to hear even in this last election – was that

they found it very upsetting to be hit by all the taxes when they're not seeing

on the other side enough cutting, enough expenditures on the expenditure side,

and looking for government to find efficiencies and so on.

I will

say that when it comes to the attrition plan and zero-based budgeting and some

of the work that's been done in Transportation and Works as it relates to

consolidation of the fleet, disposing of unused assets and a number of measures

like that, I think they're on the right track. Albeit, we have to be careful

when we start cutting that there are essential services and things that simply

can't be cut. Like the Minister of Children, Seniors and Social Development,

particularly when it comes to the protection of children, we can't be slack. We

can't be cutting necessarily there, but there are areas we have to find

efficiencies.

They

want me to represent them and to bring those thoughts forward, which I do in

budget debate, but what about when we talk about agencies, boards and

commissions? Like, the Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation comes to

mind and Newfoundland and Labrador Housing. We talked about it today. It was a

small part of the budget, but you didn't really delve into the weeds. It was not

like we were doing a line by line on their staffing and so on.

That

kind of stuff does get dealt with, though, by committees, where the committees

can call in these agencies and ask those questions and look to where they're

trying to find efficiencies and what money is being spent on. The same

taxpayers' money – the same money going into those agencies, boards and

commissions is what's going into core government. Members who are part of those

committees have the opportunity to, as I say, call in those agencies and boards,

ask those questions, ask tough questions and see where the people's money is

being spent.

In the

case of my district, which was really hit with the taxation and the expenditure

side, as I said, was very important to the people in my district. Their Member

doesn't have an opportunity to participate, to find out what's going on at the

NLC or NLHC or Nalcor and so on. I don't have that same ability to do that right

now. I think it would be very important to them that their representative

should. I'm sure my colleague here for Humber - Bay of Islands, the people in

his district would feel the very same about issues important to them.

So,

regardless of what committee it may be of this House, if we're going to be truly

inclusive, if we're going to be truly democratic, then we have to look at the

reality of the situation. That we have two duly elected independent Members, and

there has to be mechanisms put in place so that we can participate.

Maybe we

wouldn't be voting, in theory. Maybe we wouldn't be voting, but at least we

should be invited to the meetings. At least we should be able to ask questions.

At least we should be able to provide feedback to the committee before the

committee votes on it and brings something forward here to this House of

Assembly for us all to vote on, because everyone else in the House will have

their representatives.

So when

something comes forward or a report comes from one of those standing committees,

and everyone in the House, 38 Members will be able to vote on that knowing full

well that their representative was part of that, part of making that decision.

They would understand everything that went on. They would understand their

concerns, the pros, the cons and what their Member brought forward to them as to

what their position was for 38 Members – not 40, and that is wrong and that is

undemocratic.

certainly urge all Members, particularly the Government House Leader who's

bringing this forward – and I see him nodding his head in agreement, and I know

he wants to co-operate, I really do. We'll send the letter in. I can assure you,

the letter will be in. There'll be a hundred letters if we need to.

colleague here is tearing up the first draft there now. He's working on a second

one – but we'll put in the letters. We'll put in the request. We'll do whatever

we need to do, but we want to ensure that we are part of the process. And don't

worry about the fact: oh, how are you going to be on all these committees. Let

me worry about that. We'll figure out how we get to all the committee meetings.

That's not saying we'll be to all the committee meetings, but at least we need

to know when they are, what's on the agenda, and if we decide to go, then we

have the opportunity to participate, ask questions, bring our perspective

forward before decisions are made by the committees going back to this House.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

If the hon. Government House

Leader speaks now he will close the debate.

The hon.

the Government House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker,

and I appreciate the comments from my colleagues across the way.

I say to

my friend for Mount Pearl - Southlands, if you saw me nodding there, it's

because I almost fell asleep at the repetitive speech I just heard.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. A. PARSONS:

I say that in jest; I say

that in jest.

I do

have some questions to ask, because they talk about how they're independents,

but then they say we are going to write a letter. We are going to write a

letter. So I don't know if I'm getting one letter or two, and don't plagiarize

each other.

I say

that in jest, Mr. Speaker, because I understand what the two independent Members

are saying. They're not asking questions that are new. These are points we have

heard before from independent Members, and I have no issue with that being

considered.

coming back to the purpose of this resolution, it's for this House to vote on

the membership of the committees. And what I would say to the Members opposite

as it relates to the formation of the Standing Orders Committee, a couple of

points. We haven't had a request to attend a meeting. By all means, that's a

start. That's a start, and it will take time.

We have

had independent Members in this House before; Members that have sat here for

years. Right now, we've been here – it's been less than one month since the last

election. So what I would say is that evolution takes time. We cannot do it

right away. It does take