Newfoundland and Labrador Hansard — Members' Statements; Statements by Ministers — 13 May 2014 (47th General Assembly, 3rd Session, Vol. XLVII No. 26)
2014-05-13
Newfoundland and Labrador — Debates (Hansard)
PDF Version (Day)
PDF Version (Night)
May 13,
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS
Vol. XLVII No. 26
The House met at 1:30 p.m.
MR.
SPEAKER (Wiseman):
Order, please!
Admit strangers.
Before we start today's proceedings, I want to
acknowledge a large group of very special guests in our gallery.
We have with us today, fifty members of the Paradise 50 Plus Adventure
group. They are under the capable
leadership of their President Maxine Earles.
Welcome to our galleries.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
Statements by Members
MR.
SPEAKER:
Today we will have members' statements from the Member for the District of Baie
Verte Springdale; the Member for District of Port au Port; the Member for the
District of Bonavista North; the Member for District of Cartwright L'Anse au
Clair; the Member for District of Kilbride; and the Member for the District of
St. John's North.
The hon. the Member for Baie Verte Springdale.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
POLLARD:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
A hard-working businessman of Springdale has added his
name to an elite list of safety conscious professionals.
I rise in this hon. House today to congratulate the CEO
of Newfoundland and Labrador Vegetation Control, Terry Croucher, upon his
induction into the Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation Commission's Safety
Charter as its fifty-eighth member.
The honour is reserved for the Province's top business promoters of safety in
the workplace.
Introduced in 2007 and administered by the Workplace
Health, Safety and Compensation Commission, the Safety Charter is to support the
continuous improvement of healthy and safe work places throughout the Province.
NLVC's commitment to safety began around fourteen years
ago when Terry started to focus on safety issues by promoting it in his company.
The driving force behind Terry's commitment is evident in the following
quote, At the end of the day, I want everyone to go home okay.
Croucher was inducted into the Safety Charter at a
ceremony in Springdale on Wednesday, March 24, where he was joined by community
members, WHSCC representatives, and a large number of his employees.
I invite all hon. members to join me in applauding
Terry and his company for their leadership in safety promotion.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for the District of Port au Port.
MR.
CORNECT:
Mr.
Speaker, I rise today in this hon. House to recognize the Rotary Club of
Stephenville for their determination to revive the Rotary Music Festival after a
one year break.
Under the leadership of Rosa Dollard, Debbie
Brake-Patten and Noreen Dwyer, a steering committee was formed to ensure that a
very successful festival was presented to showcase the diverse cultural fabric
of the area.
Although opportunity for youth in the community was the
main purpose of the Festival, categories for the 2014 Rotary Music Festival were
broadened this year to include musical demonstrations from the Bay St. George
Folk Arts Council.
Mr. Speaker, the winners of this year's Rotary Music
Festival were Stephen Eckert of Kippens, Rose Bowl winner and best in senior
piano; Stephenville Elementary Grade 5 Choir, best Choral; Claire St. Croix,
best instrumental; Stephenville Middle School, best band; St. Michael's School,
best choral speech; Emma Dunphy, best junior piano; and Emma Buckner, best
junior vocal.
Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. members in this hon. House
to join with me in congratulating the Stephenville Rotary Club Music Festival
committee, the volunteers, and all the participants for their dedication and
hard work in this year's festival.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for Bonavista North.
MR.
CROSS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It challenges my cognitive ability today, Mr. Speaker,
to stand and select words appropriate to describe an event which happened a few
short days ago.
On May 3, dozens of senior high students converged on
the MUN Medicine's Neuroscience Department to compete for the honour of
representing Newfoundland and Labrador at the Canadian Institute of Health
Research's Brain Bee event at McMaster University.
The competition is a showcase of young neuroscientists
demonstrating their brain power about the human brain.
Pearson Academy's eleventh grade student Jane Cooze of
New-Wes-Valley was declared the provincial champion and she will represent our
Province on May 31 at Hamilton, Ontario.
She eagerly awaits the challenge.
Paraphrasing her words it's fascinating to study how the brain
connects and interprets electrical impulses that allow us to decode colour,
movement and emotion among all of the other stimuli it receives.
Memorial University's goal is to increase the number of
skilled and passionate students who want to study neuroscience, and possibly
make a career in research and development.
All hon. members, I ask that we rack our brains
together in unison to send best wishes for a successful Brain Storm Activity to
Jane Cooze.
Your old principal, Jane, is among your biggest fans!
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.
DEMPSTER:
Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House to recognize two
very important organizations in my District of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair
Labrador South Home Care serving the communities of L'Anse au Clair to Red Bay
and Loving Hands Home Care, formally Northern Home Care Services, serving the
communities north of Red Bay to Cartwright.
This year, Labrador South Home Care is celebrating
thirty years of service while the Harbourview Manor, a seniors' home in Mary's
Harbour, is in its tenth year of operation.
Recognizing the need for seniors' care, Labrador South
Home Care was formed under a volunteer board of directors, employing one
co-ordinator and two employees.
Today, the organization employs more than twenty people, some of whom have been
with them since its inception.
The home care program was once solely funded with
government grants, but today in collaboration with government and client paid
funds, the program continues to grow.
However, the success of this program would not be possible without the
dedicated volunteers and staff who go beyond their call of duty to accommodate
their clients.
Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. members to join me in
recognizing all home care workers across our entire Province who provide a
valuable service every day for our seniors.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for the District of Kilbride.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
DINN:
Mr.
Speaker, on March 8, the Harness Horse Owners Association held its dinner,
dance, and awards presentation at St. John's Racing and Entertainment Centre.
Approximately 100 people attended this ceremony.
After a fine meal, twenty-two awards were presented,
many dedicated to the memory of people who were instrumental in building and
keeping alive the harness racing industry in Newfoundland and Labrador.
The top award winners were Shane Forward and Terry
Williams with three awards each.
Shane was the driver of the year, the driver with the most money, and the top
driver in the forty-plus starts category.
Terry was the top trainer, the most improved driver, and the top driver
with twenty to thirty-nine starts.
The most gentlemanly driver was Wayne Williams.
Sheila Ivimey won the Dave MacRoberts Memorial Award for long-standing
dedication to harness racing. Scott
Forward was honoured as the trainer with the most wins and Aubrey Williams was
the top driver in the ten to nineteen start category.
Eight awards were presented to the horses.
The horse with the fastest time was Inspired Art with a time of two
minutes and one second.
Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. members to join me in
congratulating all the award winners.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for St. John's North.
MR.
KIRBY:
Mr.
Speaker, today I would like to recognize the hard work and dedication of all the
volunteers who have committed their time to organizing the Prince of Wales
Collegiate Safe Grad this year.
On June 26 the last day of school no less than 219
Level III students in the class of 2014 will take
part in this year's Safe Grad
celebration. The committee assures
me that this will be a fabulous and unforgettable event for all the students and
their guests; however, in keeping with PWC's tradition, the exact details of the
event will remain secret until school closes next month.
This year, the PWC Safe Grad committee has managed to
raise close to $12,000 so far.
Members will no doubt recognize that this work takes a lot of organization and
volunteer commitment. Several dozen
parents and committee members have helped with the organizing this year.
Carol O'Keefe is co-ordinating the event, along with the fundraising
efforts; with Sandi Miller chairing the decorating committee; Mary Pumphrey
heading up the entertainment; and Georgina Downton leading the planning for food
and refreshments.
I ask all hon. members to join me in recognizing the
hard work of all of the Prince of Wales Collegiate Safe Grad committee
volunteers.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Statements by Ministers.
Statements by Ministers
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Public Engagement.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
KENT:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today in this hon. House to recognize a local
volunteer who was honoured last month in Ottawa and presented with the Governor
General's Caring Canadian Award, given to Canadians who selflessly dedicate
their time and energy to others.
As a student at Memorial University, Sophie Harrington
became a driving force with Enactus, a volunteer non-profit, international
organization which mobilizes university students to develop outreach projects
that improve the quality of life and standard of living for people in need.
Through Enactus, universities and colleges around the
world compete in regional and national competitions for the chance to
demonstrate the impact of their community projects at the world championship
each year. During her time at
Enactus, Sophie managed a team of seventy-three volunteers and twenty-three
projects, including Launch Pad, Canada's first student-run entrepreneurial
incubation centre, and Think Green, an initiative to help elementary school
students run their own recycling businesses.
Now, as an alumna of the program, she continues to
mentor the Memorial University team and sits on their Business Advisory Board,
and also Chairs their Alumni Advisory Board.
She continues to give back to the national organization as their
volunteer photographer and designer, and was Enactus Canada's Alumna of the
Year.
Sophie also serves on the volunteer board for Lakecrest
Independent School, has volunteered with TEDxSt. Johns, and sits on the
executive of Mile Zero Ultimate, St. John's Ultimate Frisbee League, where she
helped to grow its membership and assist it in developing a number of
initiatives to make ultimate frisbee safer and more accessible.
Mr. Speaker, recognizing the importance youth play in
helping to shape the future of Newfoundland and Labrador,
Budget 2014: Shared Prosperity, Fair Society, Balanced Outlook
provides approximately $640,000 in funding to more than thirty organizations
that support youth engagement activities and learning opportunities for young
people, and an additional $2.5 million has been allocated for thirty-four
Community Youth Networks across the Province.
These investments include our annual URock Volunteer
Awards, which honour youth and youth-led organizations.
The 2014 awards are taking place two days from now at the Glacier in the
great City of Mount Pearl I added that part.
Mr. Speaker, by celebrating the achievements of
Newfoundland and Labrador's young people, we are inspiring all residents to
contribute to the future growth and development of their communities.
I invite all members to join me in congratulating
Sophie Harrington for receiving the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award,
and for her dedication to giving back to her community.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.
MR.
MITCHELMORE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I, too, thank the minister for an advance copy of his
statement. We all have an
entrepreneurial spirit. We have that
ability to inspire others to act so we can build in ourselves, in our families,
and in our communities a healthier, more prosperous, and stronger world.
I want to, on behalf of the Official Opposition, extend
big congratulations to Sophie Harrington on being a recipient of the Governor
General's Caring Canadian Award.
Sophie currently works at m5 and is developing and engaging campaigns
Province-wide, is very well educated with two degrees, has top individual
student award for academic leadership and commitment in the Faculty of Business,
highest marks in the graduating class for the Bachelor of Arts and Political
Science, and ranked on the dean's list from 2002 to 2007.
She is so very well rounded that her photography has been featured in
The Globe and Mail .
This type of passion and these types of ideas and
talents illustrate what youth are capable of at home, abroad, in a team, or on
their own. The best way for our
youth to succeed is to look at the real-world challenges that exist, how others
can gain financial security, how we can equip the unemployed to find the skills
to reach meaningful employment, help aspiring entrepreneurs, and bring economic
development like Enactus does to struggling neighbourhoods.
We need to look at developing team work, leadership,
and communication skills, and that only comes from real-life experience.
Government should consider the cuts it made to its abandoned Youth
Retention and Attraction Strategy, but it should also look at leaders like
Sophie if government plans to re-establish the Youth Advisory Committee to join
that.
Thank you.
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The member's time has expired.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for St. John's East.
MR.
MURPHY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would also like to thank the minister for the advance
copy of his statement today. How
proud we all are as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, to know that Sophie
Harrington was this year's recipient of the Caring Canadians Award on the part
of the Governor General.
We have a lot of youth in this Province, Mr. Speaker,
who are out there who are shining examples, just like Sophie.
One example, just to bring up here in the House, I was down to the St.
John's City Council's ceremonies last week for the Mayor's Advisory Committee on
Youth and with all of the youth that were there who were eligible for this
award, they could only pick one.
There were a number of shining examples from the immediate St. John's area who
stood out, but there was only one winner at that particular time.
I would say that we have another Caring Canadian Award
that is going to be coming up, a future winner I will bring this to the
attention of the government in the form of a young gentleman by the name of
Darcy Taylor who also has an extensive resume, like that of Sophie Harrington.
Again, congratulations, on the part of our party, to
Sophie. We wish her all the best in
her future endeavours, as well as to the future winners.
Congratulations as well to government.
Keep putting that money towards youth.
We need it.
Thank you.
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
DALLEY:
Mr.
Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to talk briefly about Newfoundland and
Labrador's official forest fire season.
The season began May 1 on the Island, and begins May 15 in Labrador.
It extends into late September.
The Newfoundland and Labrador forest industry employs
5,500 people through direct and indirect employment and is valued at $250
million annually. For economic,
social and cultural reasons, this tremendous resource must be protected.
The fire suppression team within the Department of
Natural Resources protects our natural resources, our communities, our homes,
and our residents from wildfires. In
2013, the fire suppression team responded to 101 fires throughout the Province,
the majority of which could have been prevented.
During the forest fire season, a permit to burn is
required, at no cost, for lighting outdoor fires for the purpose of clearing
land and burning brush within 300 metres of a forest.
At this time of the year, fine fuels such as dead
vegetation in fields and other open areas appear wet; however, they can dry and
burn in a matter of hours when conditions are right.
Fine fuels play a role in most of the fires responded to each year
because they ignite easily and can spread fire quickly.
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians use our forests for
hiking, camping, and other activity.
With this privilege comes the responsibility to take care of our forest
resource. The official start of
forest fire season is an appropriate time to remind residents to be careful when
they are in the woods.
Permits to burn and copies of the forest fire
regulations can be obtained at regional or district forest management offices
throughout the Province. The
lighting of fires for cooking and camping do not require a permit, but certain
forest fire regulations must be followed.
Mr. Speaker, our firefighters, incident management
team, air services pilots and maintenance crews and other staff members are to
be commended for their tremendous efforts.
I am confident in their ability to protect our forests, our property and
our people. We can help by being
careful.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.
MR.
LANE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the minister for an advance copy of his
statement.
Mr. Speaker, this is certainly a timely statement.
We are getting into the time of year now where people are getting out and
about in the woods, whether it is camping, whether it is hiking, fishing,
hunting and so on. It is certainly
important for people to be mindful when we are out enjoying our great outdoors,
that we are mindful of our environment; not only do we make sure we leave it the
way we found it in terms of litter and so on, but also, Mr. Speaker, that we be
mindful of any campfires and so on that we may have in the woods while we are
enjoying it, so as to not destroy such a great resource that we are so lucky to
have here in this Province.
Mr. Speaker, I noted in the minister's statement he
talked about permits that you can pick up at the District Forest Management
Offices. I am not sure if these
permits are available online or not.
If they are not, I certainly would encourage the government to look at putting
them online.
Another point, Mr. Speaker, I noticed the minister in
his statement never mentioned the toll-free number that is out there.
So I am going to throw it out there.
There is a toll-free number to report forest fires 1-866-709-Fire, 3473.
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
I, too, thank the minister for the advance copy of his
statement.
I would like to recognize the firefighters, pilots,
maintenance crews and the incident management team for the work they do and the
way they do it. These are important
tasks carrying great responsibility and potential danger.
While I appreciate the minister saying he has
confidence in the firefighting services in our Province, I think there is more
that government should be doing to help prevent these fires.
I suggest that the minister look at beefing up public education regarding
what to do to prevent forest fires since the minister notes that most of the
fires last year could have been prevented.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
MR.
SPEAKER:
Oral Questions.
Oral Questions
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR.
BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Government cancelled the contract with Humber Valley
Paving on March 21. This means the
window for a subcontractor to claim under the mechanics' lien was April 20.
Meanwhile, this story did not break in the media until April 28.
I ask the Premier: Since the window on the mechanics'
lien is closed, what process can subcontractors use now to get the money they
are owed by Humber Valley Paving?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER MARSHALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, everyone involved in the construction
business, subcontractors, suppliers of labour and materials, all know that when
they perform their work on a contract or on a subcontract, a lien comes into
existence. The lien continues while
they are doing the work. Then when
they stop doing their work, the lien continues for another thirty days.
They do not have to do anything to get the lien, other than perform the
work or provide the material. Then
they have to file a mechanics' lien and that it keeps it going for a longer
period of time. Then they have to
start an action in the court, which keeps it going indefinitely until it is
resolved by the court.
Anyone who provides labour or materials would know that
it is thirty days after they provide the materials they have to file a
mechanics' lien. They know that, and
they would take the appropriate steps to protect their interest.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR.
BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am sure the Premier knows that usually in these
situations when there is work ongoing let's not forget that this company asked
for an extension and was granted an extension on this contract which would have
ended July of 2014. Since the
contract was cancelled, this left many of the subcontractors, many small
businesses that were expected to continue doing work.
I ask the Premier: Since the window is now closed on
the mechanics' lien period, how are those subcontractors going to access the
money that you have held back from this contract?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER MARSHALL:
Mr.
Speaker, as I said, anybody doing work on the project would know that they have
a time limit in which to file a mechanics' lien.
If they do not file their lien, they do not have priority.
Therefore, what they would have to do, if there is money owed to them
they would start an action in the Supreme Court and sue for the money that is
owed to them.
Every payment that the government made under the
contract, the government held back 10 per cent in Canada's lien holdback, and
the minister indicated the other day there is about $1.2 million in a mechanics'
lien holdback fund that is available for disbursement.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR.
BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Not only did the subcontractor not know that this
contract was cancelled, but the Premier did not know that this contract was
cancelled. What I am referring to,
many of those small contractors were expecting to go back to work because this
contract was extended to July of this year.
By cancelling the contract, you closed that window.
On top of that, you did not get a sworn statutory declaration from the
company saying that everyone was paid.
I ask the Premier: What process can those small
contractors use now to get access to the holdback?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER MARSHALL:
Mr.
Speaker, again, yes, I did not know until I think it was April 26 when I was
informed in Halifax Airport.
Mr. Speaker, if I had been involved in providing labour
and material to that project, I would know, as every contractor knows and
everybody involved in that business knows, they have a time limit in which they
want to file the lien. They watch
that very closely. If they are not
paid thirty days after they provide their last work and materials, then they
file a mechanics' lien and keep it going.
They would take whatever action they have to take, that they would
consider appropriate to protect their interests.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR.
BALL:
Under normal circumstances, if a government is going to cancel a contract which
is midstream, keep in mind, those contractors expected until July of 2014 for
this to happen.
Why did you not get a sworn statutory declaration to
protect the subcontractors?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
MCGRATH:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I explained that last week in the House
during Question Period. The company
itself would apply to have the mechanics' lien holdback released.
Before we will release the mechanics' lien holdback, we would then ask
them to supply us with a statutory declaration.
We do not apply for the declaration, they do.
We would not ask for that until they asked to have the mechanics' lien
holdback released. The company has
not done that, so therefore we would not ask for the statutory declaration until
they do ask for that.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR.
BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Given the uncertainty around the payment for those
subcontractors, why wouldn't the minister ask for that sworn statutory
declaration today so we can protect those subcontractors?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
MCGRATH:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, again, we have the mechanics' lien in
place. We will continue to have that
lien holdback until they request that we release that.
Once they request a release of the holdback, then we will demand to have
the statutory declaration before we release the mechanics' lien holdback.
The $1.18 million will not be released until we get that statutory
declaration.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR.
BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The minister has repeatedly referred to the legal staff
of legal advisors on this issue. He
keeps talking about that.
I ask the minister: What legal staff did you use?
Was it at your Department of Transportation and Works, or was it the
legal staff at the Department of Justice?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
MCGRATH:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, in the Department of Transportation and
Works we have one of the best legal advisors in the government.
We have him there; we deal with him on a day-to-day basis, as I said last
week.
We deal with contracts every day.
That is what the Department of Transportation and Works is all about,
dealing with contracts. We have a
legal advisor on our own staff who also gets legal advice from the Department of
Justice. We have a full complement
of legal advisors.
Mr. Speaker, I have to clarify something.
The Member for St. John's South brought up different contracts, talking
about contracts, and we deal with different contracts every day.
Two contracts he brought up and I will get up on the next question and
answer that.
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR.
BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am just looking for some clarification on this issue
around a legal opinion.
I ask the minister: Was the Department of Justice
involved in the legal opinion on this specific contract?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
MCGRATH:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, as I said, we have our own legal advisor
within the department who deals with us on a day-to-day basis and who also deals
with the Department of Justice on many of our contracts.
A lot of the contracts, if our legal advisor feels he needs more legal
advice, yes, he does go and get it.
As I was going to say, the Member for St. John's South
brought up two contracts. I do not
feel the House of Assembly
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh,
oh!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR.
MCGRATH:
do not feel the House of Assembly is the right place to be talking about
individual contracts, but I have to clarify something that was said yesterday by
the Member for St. John's South. He
brought up a contract about brush cutting.
He compared that contract to the one we have been dealing with all week.
I want to clarify to the general public
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR.
BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I ask the minister, just to be very simple.
It is a yes or no answer. Was
the Minister of Justice involved in this specific contract with Humber Valley
Paving on the Trans-Labrador Highway?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
MCGRATH:
Yes.
As I was saying, the Member for St. John's South
brought up
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh,
oh!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR.
MCGRATH:
a contract on brush cutting and he compared it to the contract we have been
talking about now for over a week. I
want to clarify for the people who are here today and for the people in our
listening audience that the contractor with that brush cutting contract we did
not cancel that contract. That
contractor came into us. He
terminated his contract. Not only
that, Mr. Speaker, but once he terminated his contract we also found out they
had falsified documents that were necessary to get the contract, thus the
penalty of twelve months.
The other contract that was cancelled was cancelled by
the bonding agency.
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh,
oh!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon. the Member for Virginia Waters.
C. BENNETT:
Mr.
Speaker, the Minister of Finance said at Budget time that her government has a
record they are very proud of and that they had a plan for strong fiscal
management.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh,
oh!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
C. BENNETT:
You
have to question these statements knowing that last year this government spent
$84 million in consulting fees, $3 million more than they planned to spend on
the provincial roads program this year.
I ask the minister: Why are you spending so much money
on external consultants?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
JOHNSON:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yes, Mr. Speaker, I did say at Budget time that we do
have a sound track record when it comes to fiscal management.
We are very proud of our record.
We are very proud of the investments that we have made into education,
into health care, into Child, Youth and Family Services, and certainly into
roads.
Oftentimes, we do have expertise that we use within
government, very valuable expertise, we value our public service, we do not
question where lawyers come from or not come from, which department; but there
are times when you do go for outside expertise, which is also very valuable as
well.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for Virginia Waters.
C. BENNETT:
Mr.
Speaker, $84 million is a significant amount of money.
That is more than the government spent on environment, fisheries, IBRD,
tourism, Newfoundland and Labrador Housing, and on roads in this fiscal year.
I ask the minister: What controls are in place to
measure the return on the money you are spending on external consultants?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
JOHNSON:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, we have a very dedicated public service
that evaluates every single dollar that is spent in government.
We have a Treasury Board; we have Cabinet.
We make sure that every dollar is spent very wisely.
She seems to have an issue with the money we are
spending with external consultants.
Perhaps she could identify which specific area she would not have spent that
money and would not have invested in the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for Virginia Waters.
C. BENNETT:
Mr.
Speaker, this government has talked about competencies within the public service
time and time again, and I would totally agree that we have many talented people
working in the public sector. Even
yesterday the Minister of Transportation talked about the great work they do
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh,
oh!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
C. BENNETT:
ask the minister: Why are you paying so much money to external consultants
instead of relying on your own internal experts?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
JOHNSON:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
There are oftentimes when a need comes up for an
external consultant; in fact, one I can think of most recently is where we hired
a consultant to look at a review of how to spend money better in government.
That $3 million contract brought $20 million in savings to the Treasury,
Mr. Speaker. Is she suggesting that
we not do that and not find ways to save money?
Again, I ask the member to table, to specify, which
particular contract she would not have done to improve services and to improve
everyday life for the people of the Province, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.
MR.
JOYCE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I say to the minister, save the $500,000 on the
radiation, because the minister already announced we need two machines in Corner
Brook now, as I have been saying for years.
Mr. Speaker, officials from Transportation and Works
contacted the Official Opposition office prior to Budget 2014 requesting the top
three priorities for a transportation capital works project in each Liberal
district.
I ask the minister: Can you provide an update on the
status of these requests?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
MCGRATH:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, during the Budget process every year, we
do suggest that MHAs give us their top priorities to roadwork that they feel is
the top priorities in their districts.
We get that from all forty-eight, and then the officials within the
department will sit down and they put them all together.
We look through them to prioritize them from there, and then we will send
out notices to all of the MHAs as to what work will be done within this year.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.
MR.
JOYCE:
Mr.
Speaker, the minister has touted his efforts about getting tenders out early for
capital projects, but we have yet to see any announcements for districts on this
side of the House.
I ask the minister: When can we expect to see
announcements of work in Liberal districts, or does the early tendering process
only apply to PC districts in this Province?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
MCGRATH:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I empathize with the member across the way.
Obviously, he only listens to the news that he wants to hear.
On March 28, I announced that a tender would be called for road
improvement initiatives throughout Western Newfoundland; some include areas
represented by the member opposite.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh,
oh!
MR.
MCGRATH:
There is no basis for the Opposition's claim here whatsoever.
Some of the ones, just to go down through them, repairs
to sections of Ring Road in Corner Brook district across the way.
Route 430, Deer Lake to Cormack I believe that is in a district across
the way you are welcome. Route
440, at Hughes Brook Hill and Pond Road from Rocky Harbour to Norris Point, you
are welcome. Repairs also included
for Route 420
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh,
oh!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR.
JOYCE:
Mr.
Speaker, announcements are not tenders.
They announced the hospital in 2007; there are still no tenders for it.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh,
oh!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR.
JOYCE:
I ask the minister: When are you going to treat the roads in the Liberal
districts, which are unsafe, the same as you do the members opposite in the PC
districts and call the tenders so we can get the work done this year?
Just because you said you are going to do it, does not mean you are.
When will they be called?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
MCGRATH:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, Route 420, Jackson's Arm intersection;
Route 421, upgrade to a
section of Gallants Road; Route 403.
I will end by giving the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair a good
reason to be smiling across the way, a big tender coming out for eighty
kilometres from Lodge Bay going towards
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh,
oh!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR.
MCGRATH:
Cartwright Junction, a Liberal district.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.
DEMPSTER:
Mr.
Speaker, I have to tell the member across the way something we are not smiling
about today. On the eve of one of
the busiest weekends of the year, we see the ferry service across the Strait of
Belle Isle once again disrupted due to lack of icebreaker assistance.
I ask the minister: What is your department doing to
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh,
oh!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
DEMPSTER:
restore this vital service across the Strait of Belle Isle?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
MCGRATH:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, as we all know and I have said it several
times, this has been a very harsh, long, hard winter, especially with the ferry
systems throughout the whole Province.
We have had to deal with extreme ice conditions, Marine Atlantic
included. Not just the Newfoundland
ferry system but Marine Atlantic, several days where the ice was too thick to
get through. We are experiencing
that.
I think the member across the way from Cartwright
L'Anse au Clair has to acknowledge that I have certainly done my best to get the
ferry running on a regular basis between St. Barbe and Blanc-Sablon again.
Unfortunately, I have no control over the ice.
If I did, trust me, there would be palm trees growing in St. Barbe right
now. We have no control over the
Coast Guard with the icebreakers.
That is federal jurisdiction, but we will continue to (inaudible).
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.
DEMPSTER:
Mr.
Speaker, we just heard my colleague talk about $83 million for consultants,
$4,000 or $5,000 for a tea party, and $1,200 for a Twin Otter across the
Straits. Mr. Speaker, people are
missing medical appointments, commercial traffic is at a standstill, and
businesses are suffering. There are
no air seats available, everybody is stranded.
Why are the people dependent on this service, primarily
the people of Labrador, consistently treated differently than anywhere else in
the Province? One hundred thousand
people a year rely on this service.
Why is she going to Corner Brook and doing a crew change and fueling up?
Why are you not lobbying the federal government to make sure that is done
down in St. Barbe so we are not continuously disrupted for days on end?
We are the only place in the Province where that continues to happen, Mr.
Speaker.
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
MCGRATH:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, again, the contract for the ferry service
from Blanc-Sablon to St. Barbe deals quite often on weather conditions.
I think it was about three or four years ago that this government we
have been monitoring it for the last decade as to whether or not year-round
service was available. The weather
conditions had changed quite a bit and so we did put in a year-round service,
but that year-round service is put in on weather permitted.
As I said, this has been a harsh winter.
When you put in a service like that, you also put in
the infrastructure to provide services, such as refueling services, in the best
possible positions. That is what we
have done.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for St. John's South.
MR.
OSBORNE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, May 24 weekend is upon us and many
families will be heading out to the provincial parks for the first weekend of
the season. Camping is certainly a
family affair for all people of all ages.
I ask the minister responsible: What family programming
will be offered at our provincial parks for this coming season?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
SHEA:
Mr.
Speaker, our parks are opening this weekend and there are many people who take
advantage of being able to spend some quiet time with their families in these
beautiful parks throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.
The people who use these parks, along with the staff in the parks, can
determine how they would like to spend their time and what activities they would
like to participate in, but I certainly think everyone who takes the time to
have their families out there for the weekend will certainly have a very
enjoyable experience.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for St. John's South.
MR.
OSBORNE:
Mr.
Speaker, the park
interpretation was discontinued in last year's Budget without
notification, slipped under the radar, and will not be offered in our provincial
parks again this season. That means
no programming for children, no movies, no crafts, no guided hikes, no
educational sessions, and no
interpretation.
I ask the minister: Why would you downgrade the parks
to eliminate such vital programming?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
SHEA:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, many families and many individuals take
the opportunity to enjoy the parks we have throughout Newfoundland and Labrador
and have wonderful experiences when they go there.
While they are in the parks, they are able to use the natural areas we
have there, whether it means they are going to do some canoeing or some boating,
they are going to do hiking. They
are going to have times with their families and their friends, whatever they
would like to participate in. The
services are there for the people to enjoy.
I know I have been in the parks myself.
Many people bring in lots of equipment, what they would like to use, and
how they like to spend their time in the parks.
They will go there again this year, Mr. Speaker.
They will have every opportunity to use the services that are there to
use, whether they bring their bicycles, their canoes, their kayaks, or whatever
they like, Mr. Speaker. They will
certainly be able to have an enjoyable (inaudible).
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for St. John's South.
MR.
OSBORNE:
Mr.
Speaker, there are no park organized
interpretational services any more.
That government cut it out.
Both provincial and private parks across the Province have seen a resurgence in
family camping.
Now that you see the drastic effect of these cuts on
our provincial parks and the camping experience, I ask the minister: Will you
reinstate the
interpretation programs at our provincial parks?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
SHEA:
Mr.
Speaker, when people visit our parks, when people take their children out or
individuals go out, they are able to enjoy what is there and what is offered,
whether they go on hikes. I know in
Barachois Park they can hike the mountain that is there.
There are ponds and lakes.
They can canoe, kayak, or take their bicycles.
Mr. Speaker, there are even people I have been in campers where they
have the best of technology, watching movies and TV, something that you would
not unless you go and see that these are big, expensive campers with that.
It is not just tenting any more.
Mr. Speaker, whether you are in a tent, or whether you
are in a modern camper and you bring your family there, they can have a very
worthwhile experience. They can use
the parks for what they have to offer and they will certainly enjoy that
experience, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
More and more people are grappling with the challenge
of ensuring their elderly loved ones are getting proper care.
I ask the Minister of Health and Community Services: In
the spirit of openness and accountability, will he post online regular, timely
updates of wait-lists for long-term care beds under the four regional
authorities?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the member of the Third Party for her question
today. Long-term care is a matter
and a focus. It has been a focus for
our government for many years. In
fact, in 2012 we released a ten-year strategy that was focused on Close to Home,
a long-term strategy care for long-term care and community support services.
I can tell you that since her question yesterday, I
went back to the department and had a closer look at the numbers, the demand for
long-term care. I can tell you part
of the strategy that we are engaged in is a strategy to improve services to the
aging and seniors and people before they reach the need for long-term care, so
we can extend the period of time before they actually need to go into long-term
care, assist them and promote a higher and better quality of life for them prior
to the need to go to long-term care.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
MICHAEL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I really would appreciate knowing what those programs
are. It certainly is not home care.
Mr. Speaker, in response to my concern regarding a
vulnerable patient moved to Long Pond away from family and community support,
the minister responded by noting the drive to Long Pond is only sixteen minutes.
I ask the minister: Is he not aware that many seniors
on fixed incomes can neither afford cars or $100 round-trip taxi rides, and
there is no public transportation available?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I think it is important to clarify some of the
information that the member opposite has been referring to.
I know last night, while she was on one of the radio call-in shows, she
referred to it as Long Harbour; as a matter of fact, she did that two or three
times. I am sure she is talking
about Long Pond as part of Conception Bay South.
Conception Bay South boundaries the City of St. John's
boundary; you can leave the City of St. John's and enter directly into
Conception Bay South. They are
literally next door to each other.
I can assure the member opposite, and assure the people
of the House, and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador that through long-term
care we make every effort to ensure that when a person reaches a stage in life
where they are required to enter into a long-term care circumstance, that it is
done as close to their home as it possibly can, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Leader of the Third Party.
MICHAEL:
Yes, I am speaking about Long Pond, but we have to look at individual
situations, which the government is not doing.
Last year the Minister of Health announced the opening
of the protective community residence in Bonavista, which allows people with
mild dementia to live independently, adding to those built or planned in
Lewisporte, Corner Brook, and Clarenville.
I ask the minister: What is his department's plan for
providing protective community residences for people with mild dementia in other
parts of the Province?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
DAVIS:
Thank you again, Mr. Speaker.
This is a very important conservation and debate that
we are having here in the House today.
I can tell you that there has been a tremendous amount of work done in
the development of the ten-year strategy.
As I referred to, there was a very comprehensive process of consultation
with seniors. I can tell you, we
strongly value the input of seniors.
We value the work that they do in their own communities.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
DAVIS:
value the work that organized groups do within their own communities throughout
Newfoundland and Labrador as well, because they all contribute to the quality of
life of the people of the Province and the seniors of the Province.
We will continue to invest in those types of
organizations. We will continue to
invest in programs throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.
We will also continue to invest in the needs for infrastructure.
We look at the long-term needs for long-term care
throughout the Province and I can tell you, even though the population is
rising, those numbers will stay
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.
ROGERS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I predicted, the new group home in Stephenville will
not be ready by government's May 19 target date.
The lives of the youth in care have been thrown into utter chaos.
I ask the minister: Why did he not have a plan to
ensure a smooth transition for the moving of these vulnerable young people?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
JACKMAN:
Mr.
Speaker, at the present time the service provider is indeed seeking to work with
the town to find a suitable placement for these youth.
I would certainly encourage all involved to recognize the challenge that
these young people face. I certainly
hope that the provider and the community can find the agreement that will see
that service provided to these youth.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.
ROGERS:
Mr.
Speaker, five days from now is the deadline and they do not even have a house
bought, let alone furnished, let alone renovated and rezoned and staff hired and
set up and ready to receive these youth.
Mr. Speaker, government's callous, ill-thought-out decision to privatize
the care of the Province's most vulnerable youth is failing even before it
begins.
I ask the minister: Why is the bottom line more
important than our moral and legal obligation to provide quality rehabilitation
in a safe environment for our most vulnerable youth?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
JACKMAN:
Mr.
Speaker, a term that I used before, I am not going to let the NDP think that
they are the only ones who have a monopoly on caring.
They are not the only ones who have a monopoly on caring.
Mr. Speaker, to suggest that our bottom line is dollars
and putting that ahead of the care for children, that is despicable.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh,
oh!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR.
JACKMAN:
That is totally, totally despicable.
Mr. Speaker, these homes, they will find their way
forward. If there is a further
timeline required, we will look at that.
At this particular time, there are teams that are in place, they are
making the provisions, they will do the transition, and we will make that as
smooth as possible.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for St. John's Centre, for a quick question without
preamble.
ROGERS:
Mr.
Speaker, I ask the minister: How can the privatized rate of $13 an hour, a
babysitter's rate, attract experienced specialized care?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services, for a quick response.
MR.
JACKMAN:
Mr.
Speaker, I can only speak to the reputation of Blue sky.
If she is questioning the service that they provide, I would ask her to
take that up with the service provider.
We are not questioning it.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Time for Question Period has expired.
Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.
Tabling of Documents.
Notices of Motion.
Notices of Motion
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Government House Leader.
MR.
KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I give notice, under Standing Order 11, I shall move
that the House do not adjourn at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 15, 2014.
Further, I give notice, under Standing Order 11, I
shall move that the House do not adjourn at 10:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 15,
MR.
SPEAKER:
Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.
Petitions.
Petitions
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.
MR.
A. PARSONS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I have a petition.
To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and
Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents
humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS private and community ambulance operators
provide ambulatory and paramedic services to the residents of Newfoundland and
Labrador and are compensated for these services by the Government of
Newfoundland and Labrador; and
WHEREAS the contract for ambulance operators expired in
March of 2012; and
WHEREAS the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
completed a review of ambulatory services in the Province, which review was
completed August 2013, and released in October 2013;
WHEREAS ambulance operators agreed to hold off from
negotiations with government until the ambulance review was complete, and showed
good faith; and
WHEREAS government's current position in negotiations
has been heavy handed, and will see cuts in ambulance services across the
Province;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly
pray and call upon the House to urge the government to negotiate a fair deal
with ambulance operators that ensures the safety of our ambulance professionals,
as well as the patients in our Province.
As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Now, Mr. Speaker, this is one that I have presented on
one prior occasion here in the House, but I am going to have to continue to
present it because this issue will not go away.
You have a number of concerned individuals here.
Primarily, you have ambulance operators who are sitting there, and we
know that government is playing a divide and conquer game with them.
We asked questions in the House of Assembly Estimates session, and of
course it was all deferred to Finance, even though we know that the department
has actually been having the negotiations with the operators.
So it is divide and conquer there.
We have the paramedics themselves who are left out in
the wind because they have no say in this.
They could not really participate in the review because they were not
given the opportunity. They were
told to come on in, drive on your own dime and on your own time, to contribute
to this. We did not go out and get
what they had to say.
At the end of the day, we have the people of these
communities especially in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, and I especially
have them out in my district that are here, they are going to have less
emergency coverage when it comes to ambulance services.
That is not something that any of us should have to deal with.
We have a government that sits here and tries to
obfuscate, they try to confuse the matter and talk about routine services, but
when it is not routine is what we are talking about.
We are talking about emergency services and red alerts.
A red alert is when there is absolutely no coverage in an emergency
situation. We have it.
It is too bad as it is; it is only going to get worse.
Unfortunately, I believe with this government we are
going to see a situation where they react rather than be proactive, and it is
going to result in a detrimental, serious consequence, possibly including death,
to one of our residents. It is
absolutely unfortunate that this government continues to play this game with
this group. We are asking them to
play fair; negotiate a contract that works for the people of this Province.
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR.
A. PARSONS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for the District of Bay of Islands.
MR.
JOYCE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I stand today, Mr. Speaker:
WHEREAS we are concerned over the deplorable conditions
of the pavement of Hughes Brook hill Route 440; and
WHEREAS many residents of the Towns of Hughes Brooks,
Irishtown-Summerside, Meadows, Gillams, McIvers, and Cox's Cove travel this road
on a daily basis; and
WHEREAS after repeated requests for repairs in the
pavement, the road has continued to deteriorate; and
WHEREAS the ruts in the pavement are creating a safety
hazard; and
WHEREAS we feel that the condition of the road presents
an accident waiting to happen;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly
pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland
and Labrador to give serious consideration of making repairs to this road.
Mr. Speaker, today we have a petition from a lot of
people from Meadows concerning the road.
I asked questions today in the House of Assembly.
The minister stood up with a flippant answer that he already made the
announcement.
Mr. Speaker, an announcement is not a tender.
The minister can stand up and play the games, whatever game he wants
because if the tender is not called soon the work will not be done.
There have been a number of accidents out in these ruts.
It is a major concern, it is a safety concern.
It is a bluff.
There is no doubt it is a bluff when you look at all this here.
If I change my name to Eddie Coleman would I get it done in six days?
Mr. Speaker, that is the kind of condition we are getting.
PREMIER MARSHALL:
not smear the Coleman's (inaudible).
MR.
JOYCE:
Here is the Premier now all upset.
Mr. Premier, you are talking about smearing someone's company, I am talking
about the safety of the people in the North Shore.
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
Direct your comments to the Chair, please.
MR.
JOYCE:
am talk about the people of the North Shore.
I will do whatever I have to do to get that work done, Mr. Speaker.
I am worried about people's lives here.
The Premier can say what he likes to me, Mr. Speaker, I
am smearing some company. If that is
what it takes for me to get this work done, I will get the work done.
If the Premier drove out the North Shore drive on
that road. Go speak with the
councils where last year it was supposed to be done and not done.
This year the minister said we already made the announcement.
If you do not get the tender done, it may not be done this year.
If it is not done this year, you are putting lives at danger.
Do not ask me to sit down and not speak on this, I say
to the Premier. I ask this, and the
Premier said I am smearing the Coleman family.
How about the people who had an accident last week over in Hughes Brook?
Why aren't you concerned about the people who went off the road because
of the ruts? Be concerned about the
residents. Be concerned about them,
because I am.
If it takes me to stand here every day with a petition,
I say to the Premier, I will do it because I am not worried about some company.
I am worried about lives.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.
ROGERS:
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of
Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the
undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS the Family Violence Intervention Court provided
a comprehensive approach to domestic violence in a court setting that fully
understood and dealt with the complex issues of domestic violence; and
WHEREAS domestic violence continues to be one of the
most serious issues facing our Province today
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh,
oh!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
ROGERS:
and the cost of the impact of domestic violence is great both economically and
in human suffering; and
WHEREAS the Family Violence Intervention Court was
welcomed and endorsed by all aspects of the Justice system including the police,
the courts, prosecutors, defence counsel, Child, Youth and Family Services, as
well as victims, offenders, community agencies and women's groups; and
WHEREAS the recidivism rate for offenders going through
the court was 10 per cent compared to 40 per cent for those who did not; and
WHEREAS the budget for the court was only 0.2 per cent
of the entire budget of the Department of Justice;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly
pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge government to reinstate the
Family Violence Intervention Court.
As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, I would ask the members perhaps listen.
It is my chance to speak.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh,
oh!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
I ask members to take all of their private
conversations outside the Chamber.
The Speaker has acknowledged the Member for St. John's Centre who is delivering
a petition. I would ask all other
members to hold their speeches until they are recognized by the Speaker.
The hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.
ROGERS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am standing speaking on behalf every
one of these signatures are people from Corner Brook, who know how important the
Family Violence Intervention Court is.
They actually want it extended to make sure it is available to people all
over the Province because they know.
They are experts. They know the
Family Violence Intervention Court worked.
Mr. Speaker, during Estimates for the Department of
Justice and the government keeps saying it was a budgetary decision we found
millions of dollars that were unspent last year and moved to other unintended
expenses, millions of dollars. We
are talking about $500,000. It is
about, actually, in some cases saving the lives of women and children.
Why is this government not reversing this decision?
They know it is the right thing to do.
Is it because it is about saving face?
This is not my Family Violence Intervention Court.
This was a Family Violence Intervention Court that belonged to the people
of the Province and was endorsed by every conceivable stakeholder who works in
the area of violence against women.
What is wrong with this government that they cannot take the highroad on this?
They have a moral and a legal obligation to provide services for women
and children who are victims of family violence.
What is stopping them besides their own hubris?
This is criminal, Mr. Speaker.
It is absolutely criminal.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.
DEMPSTER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of
Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the
undersigned humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS the Strait of Bell Isle is a very important
transportation link between Labrador and the Island of Newfoundland; and
WHEREAS both commercial and residential traffic is
continuously increasing because of the opening of the Trans Labrador Highway and
increased development in Labrador; and
WHEREAS the existing ferry service can no longer
effectively handle the traffic; and
WHEREAS there have been many interruptions in the ferry
service, especially during the 2014 winter season;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly
pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland
and Labrador to complete a comprehensive feasibility study for a fixed link
across the Strait of Bell Isle that would include a geological assessment and a
full cost analysis.
As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, there were many, many issues ongoing this
winter with the ice in the Labrador Straits.
Hatch Mott MacDonald back in 2004, Mr. Speaker, did a preliminary study
which identified that a fixed link would be a viable option once Route 138 was
completed. Until that is done, a
fixed link that joins our Province with the rest of the country and we have a
permanent transportation system in place, we cannot consider ourselves equal to
the rest of the country.
It goes far beyond that.
Right now, Mr. Speaker, businesses in the district are impacted with
this. I just talked to a business
with six trucks sitting on the other side in St. Barbe stranded.
When you make reservations in advance, when the ferry moves in three days
now, they will only be able to get one piece on.
Mr. Speaker, this winter there have been days on end
when you could not buy a carton of milk in the district.
We are talking about 30,000 people.
We are talking about 100,000 passengers who move on this ferry every
year.
We know back when the former Premier was there, Mr.
Speaker, I have quotes from the Globe and
Mail where he said what needs to happen now is Quebec needs to complete 138
and Newfoundland needs to construct a fixed link.
Yet, Mr. Speaker, we know when Quebec responded that they were
interested, the Newfoundland and Labrador Administration at that time changed
and there was no follow up done.
This has been a very trying year for marine traffic.
Mr. Speaker, a fixed link will reduce the cost of
goods. It will impact everybody in
the Province. Right now, we know
that the NL consumer association is saying that everyone in the Province is
paying between 4 per cent and 25 per cent more for their product because of the
delays, the costs, and the spoilage due to the present ferry system.
In a completed feasibility study, the key thing will
identify that present subsidies being paid by this government, by the Quebec
government, and the federal government over a twenty year (inaudible)
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The member's time has expired.
The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.
MR.
MITCHELMORE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of
Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the
undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS Route 438 is the primary highway for residents
of Grandois, St. Julien's and Croque; and
WHEREAS the current gravel road conditions are
dangerous for travel, given size of potholes and debris embedded in the road;
and
WHEREAS it is government's obligation to provide basic
infrastructure to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians; and
WHEREAS this is the primary link for residents to
health care and essential services and the enhancement is needed for safety
reasons.
We, the undersigned, petition the House of Assembly to
urge government to allocate funds under the provincial roads maintenance program
to upgrade this
section of Route 438.
As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, I talked about this particular road in the
district; it is about thirty kilometres.
It is a former woods road, basically, where there are tree stumps, former
logs, that have had gravel thrown over it and they are starting to reappear.
The petitioners here are not asking to have these
thirty kilometres of road paved.
They are just asking for, on a continuous basis, especially in the spring, to
have maintenance happen so that here are improvements because they do have to
travel this road on a daily regular basis.
Many of the workers here commute to Main Brook or they commute to Conche
to work in fish plant processing facilities there.
All their other services, all the business, all the commerce, all the
government services take place outside of their community.
They would like to commend what the Department of
Transportation and Works has already done. They have already put different mud
and silt patch down and a little bit of rock, but there needs to be more done.
There needs to be that commitment, that we do have the stone there, that
we can do regular maintenance to these gravel roads that have a small population
and need to see that improvement.
So I am putting this petition forward based on
petitioners in my district, in Croque, Grandois and St. Julien's.
I think that it is a small marginal cost when you look at maintaining a
basic piece of infrastructure. I am
not talking for asphalt here this in particular case, just regular upgrades and
maintenance to their road.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.
MR.
LANE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
A petition to the hon. House of Assembly of the
Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of
the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS there are extreme overcrowding issues in St.
Peter's Elementary and Mount Pearl Senior High; a direct result of poor planning
by the Department of Education; and
Board to deal with this now crisis situation will have a devastating impact on
many students, families and teachers in Mount Pearl Senior High, Mount Pearl
Intermediate, St. Peter's Elementary, and Newtown Elementary; and
WHEREAS there are other less disruptive solutions which
can be introduced to alleviate this overcrowding issue, primarily capital
investment as a preferred option; and
the financial flexibility by the Minister of Education to explore more suitable
options; and
WHEREAS the government has intervened in board
decisions in the past, such as in 2005 in Bishop's Falls during a by-election
where they reversed the closure of Leo Burke Academy;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly
pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland
and Labrador to intervene in this matter, commit appropriate resources to the
As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, I am after presenting this petition now a
number of times, and I have many more to present.
Almost on a daily basis, I am getting more petitions coming in.
As a matter of fact, I have to meet with a young student in my district
this evening that has a number of them he wants to present to me as it relates
to this particular issue.
Mr. Speaker, as I have said in the past, this need not
have happened. Had the Department of
Education and certainly the then Eastern School District acted upon the
overcrowding concerns over the last number of years instead of just letting it
slide, letting it slide, letting it slide to the point now where we have all the
speciality space taken up at St. Peter's Elementary, all of the speciality space
taken up at Mount Pearl Senior High, we have had to chop it all up into
classroom space. Now, even with that
done, we have even more kids coming and nowhere to put them.
Now we are hearing, of course, that in addition to St. Peter's Elementary
being all chopped up to pieces, now this solution is going to see Newtown
Elementary likewise, chopped up into pieces.
That is definitely not acceptable, Mr. Speaker.
The wrong decision was made here.
I am calling upon the new Minister of Education to do the right thing.
I am calling upon the new Minister of Education to actually listen to the
students, to actually listen to the teachers, to actually listen to the parents
and the families in Mount Pearl, do the right thing, intervene in this matter,
have this decision revisited and provide the appropriate funding so that the
board can make some sensible decisions.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Government House Leader.
MR.
KING:
Mr.
Speaker, as per Standing Order 32, Orders of the Day, I move, seconded by the
Minister of Environment and Conservation, that the House now move to Orders of
the Day.
MR.
SPEAKER:
has been moved and seconded that we now move to Orders of the Day.
All those in favour, aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR.
SPEAKER:
All
those against, nay'.
Motion carried.
Orders of the Day.
Orders of the Day
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Government House Leader.
MR.
KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Pursuant to Standing Order 11, I move, seconded by the
Minister of Environment and Conservation, that the House not adjourn at 5:30
p.m. today, Tuesday, May 13, 2014.
MR.
SPEAKER:
has been moved and seconded that this House do not adjourn at 5:30 p.m. on
Tuesday, May 13, 2014.
All those in favour, aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR.
SPEAKER:
All
those against, nay'.
Motion carried.
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR.
KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Once again, pursuant to Standing Order 11, I move,
seconded by the Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services, that the House not
adjourn at 10:00 p.m., Tuesday, May 13, 2014.
MR.
SPEAKER:
has been moved and seconded that this House do not adjourn at 10:00 p.m. on
Tuesday, May 13, 2014.
All those in favour, aye'.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR.
SPEAKER:
All
those against, nay'.
Motion carried.
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR.
KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Under second reading of a bill, I call from the Order
Paper, Order 9, second reading of
An Act To Amend The Student Financial
Assistance Act, Bill 16.
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills.
MR.
O'BRIEN:
Yes, Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Minister of Environment and
Conservation, that Bill 16,
An Act To Amend The Student Financial Assistance
Act, be read a second time.
MR.
SPEAKER:
is moved and seconded that Bill 16,
An Act To Amend The Student Financial
Assistance Act, be now read a second time.
Motion, second reading of a bill,
An Act To Amend The
Student Financial Assistance Act.
(Bill 16)
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills.
MR.
O'BRIEN:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am happy to get up in my place in regard to this
amendment. It is a piece of
housekeeping; in essence, that is exactly what it is.
We have, over the last number of years, done some substantial things for
our students in Newfoundland and Labrador, all in the post-secondary side, Mr.
Speaker, in regard to Memorial University, the Marine Institute, the College of
the North Atlantic, and as well in the private sector.
Some of the areas we have invested, which one of them
was highlighted in this Budget, were the reducing of student debt in that we are
now going to convert all student loans to grants over the next two years.
That will be about a $14.7 million investment over those two years and
approximately $50.6 million over the next five years.
Mr. Speaker, as I just said as well, about 7,000
students will avail of the upfront grants.
We have invested in regard to the tuition freeze.
Again this year we invested about $5.1 million to continue the tuition
freeze. That has put the total
investment of the provincial government, since 2005, at the total of about $283
million to maintain that tuition freeze in Newfoundland and Labrador.
That puts us as leaders in the country in regard to how we supported our
students, and how we have engaged our youth.
That is not referencing what we have done in regard to
the labour market training programs that we have.
It is mainly populated in regard to student population by youth in our
Province, Mr. Speaker, who would avail of those particular programs in CNA and
the private colleges to become skilled tradespeople in the Province, and avail
of the opportunities and the economic growth that we see in our Province.
In saying all that, Mr. Speaker, in regard to those
investments and this one in particular, there is the $14.7 million investment
over the next two years with a $50.6 million investment over the five years.
It is incumbent on us as a government to protect the money that we spend.
In this case here, this amendment will enable us to draft some
regulations around the particular amendment and put some policies in place to
address that issue. That is the
protection of the investment that we have made in our students.
Most of the 7,000 students who will receive the upfront
grants will make great use of them.
Most of them, if not all of them, when they receive it and we are going to try
to get that very soon after they attend the particular post-secondary education
facility that they would choose to further their education, they will actually
get that very quickly. As a matter
of fact, within the first week that they actually come to St. John's or if they
are from St. John's that they register.
Then they will spend that money, Mr. Speaker.
We must remember that most of the cost to a student is
in the first couple of weeks after they get here in regard to Memorial
University. They have to buy
textbooks. They have to buy certain
things they need in regard to pursuing their education.
They have to invest in probably a laptop or whatever it may be, Mr.
Speaker. The bottom line of what I
am saying is the amount they get in regard to that grant is usually spent within
the first number of days that they get here.
In saying that, Mr. Speaker, we might have a number of
those students who might for some reason or another decide university is not
right for me, I do not want to be at this.
So off they go and they do not pursue a post-secondary education.
We have to have an ability to recover that grant.
It is really important for a number of reasons why we should recover that
grant.
Number one is the student should not have it because
the student is not in school. The
second thing is when we recover it, it enables us to revert that number into the
pot again and service more students, other students who might avail of that
grant as well. So we recover the
money, it goes back into the pot and is reverted into the system again to other
students we might want to cover off.
It is very important that this is clearly understood.
The other piece at this time that I want to reference
is and I (inaudible) my officials.
I want to make absolutely sure that when we develop those regulations and
policies, that there is a mechanism in place for appeal.
Because there might be some extenuating circumstances where a student
might not be able to go forward.
They might be diagnosed with some type of a sickness and might have to suspend
their intention in regard to pursuing a particular post-secondary education
faculty, and then decide they might come back at a later time when they are in
better health.
I think that particular person should have the
mechanism in place where they should not have to pay.
Because they would not have foreseen such a circumstance that they would
have a challenge in regard to pursuing their dreams.
I think we should be able to help them.
So I made sure that an appeal process was in place.
It is important to point out as well, Mr. Speaker, that
this amendment only deals with creating legislative authority to develop that
regulatory process and required policies to enable us to recover that amount of
money. I do not anticipate for a
second, Mr. Speaker, there is going to be a whole lot of action in regard to
recovery process. I think
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, our students in the high school system are
absolutely pursuing their careers and their dreams.
I see that all the time. I
think there are more and more of our graduates coming out of the high school
programs, going into the college system, or going into Memorial University,
Marine Institute. Our numbers are
up, and I see it day-in, day-out.
It is great to actually go to a graduation or a prom or
a cap-and-gown ceremony. Actually,
when they are announcing the person's name walking across the stage, in my case,
in Gander, that is done the Christmas after.
They have already done one semester in their chosen career path and they
mention where they are. It is great
to be able to sit, listen, and see these people with the expressions on their
face as they go across that stage.
Not only are they proud to have achieved what they have achieved in their high
school programs, but as well they have gone on to the post-secondary side and
they are pursuing that particular dream they have.
Mr. Speaker, I am not going to talk too long on this
particular amendment. I think in my
mind we have invested heavily in regard to our students.
We have engaged with our students right across this Province.
As a matter of fact, I have met with the student body on maybe three or
four occasions since October alone.
I like to listen to what they say.
They give me suggestions in regard to what they see as their challenges and what
I could do as the minister responsible for post-secondary education to relieve
some of those challenges.
One of the things I heard loud and clear was that they
need loans converted to grants. That
would reduce their debt tremendously and give them an opportunity at life.
Coming out of the system with less debt, they are able to pursue their
other dreams in regard to owning a vehicle, to buying a house, to pursuing other
interests such as vacations, or whatever it may be.
I think we have done well in regard to our government
in enabling students to do just that.
I really believe that in my heart and my soul, especially when you hear
people from elsewhere in Canada who reference Newfoundland and Labrador as being
the leaders in the country.
I know in this case here, in regard to the conversion
of loans to grants, there was a celebration day at Memorial University.
They invited all MUN students to come and celebrate a great day.
I was not there. I was not
able to be there. I was elsewhere in
the Province, but I know there were others there, people from in this House
here, on this side of the House and on the other side of the House, who went.
I think it was a great day.
It was a great day for students and a great day for Newfoundland and Labrador
really a great day.
I think, in regard to the investments we have made as a
government since 2005 in our students, it is a wise investment.
We hear and heard long, a lot of people have referenced the students as
our future. Well, the bottom line of
it is that we have recognized that; they are the future.
That is the reason why, not only have we invested in programs to reduce
their debt, we have also invested heavily in regard to their infrastructure.
They absolutely need quality education, and I think Memorial University
is absolutely providing that. I
think the College of the North Atlantic is absolutely providing that, and Marine
Institute is absolutely providing that type of standard that we all expect in
Newfoundland and Labrador.
As a matter of fact, one of the reasons and a lot of
people think that the only reason that we have an influx of students from
outside the Province pursuing their dreams at Memorial University is just
because it is cheaper, but it is not that at all.
Memorial University has some quality programs.
We even have professors who are coming from away replacing professors who
do not want to be there anymore.
Anyway, Mr. Speaker, that is something else.
As a matter of fact, I could probably make a speech on that alone.
I will not, because it has nothing to do with this amendment.
I see that you are smiling and letting me away with a little bit of a
grey area here, and I appreciate that, Mr. Speaker.
I had to reference it because
MR.
SPEAKER:
You
are shifting beyond grey; you are getting pretty black there now, so bring
yourself back.
MR.
O'BRIEN:
will bring myself back now, Mr. Speaker.
I think it is good to reference those things in regard
to this amendment. The people of the
Province, I think, recognize that we have invested heavily in our post-secondary
education system. I really think
that it is a wise investment, but I think as well, as this amendment speaks to,
that we have to protect that investment.
Even though we invest, we cannot have it abused and we have to make sure
that we have a recovery system in place just in case a person might take
advantage of it for some reason or another.
As well, I want to reference one more time before I
take my place in this House and I welcome any other comments from across the
House or by my own colleagues on this side of the House in that I also firmly
believe that you have to have an appeal system in place just in case there are
students who might be challenged in some way or another, legitimately
challenged, that they did not foresee when they came here to Memorial University
from wherever they came from in Newfoundland and Labrador, including the
Northeast Avalon and the Avalon to pursue their dreams, that they should be able
to be relieved of that particular grant if that challenge is legitimate, Mr.
Speaker.
With that, again I say that this is really an amendment
that is a housekeeping amendment, that piece here in the House.
It is an important piece because it protects the investment of the
dollars that we would invest in those particular students and Memorial
University, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you.
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for St. John's North.
MR.
KIRBY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is a pleasure for me to stand and speak to this Bill
16,
An Act To Amend The Student Financial Assistance Act.
I would just like to say off the top, thank you to the officials from the
Department of Advanced Education and Skills for providing us with a briefing
regarding the legislation. It was
extremely helpful, not only to get information regarding this legislation, this
particular investment, but also to get a better understanding of some of the
other issues that the financial aid division is facing, and some of the
logistical issues when it comes to the disbursement of student loans and so on.
It is very, very helpful.
I would like to say that as somebody who has a history
of student advocacy that really goes back I suppose to my twenties, I believe
this is good legislation. This is a
good policy and it is a long time coming.
I just want to go back over a little bit of the history
here. We have an interesting history
of student financial aid in Newfoundland and Labrador.
If we look back to the late 1960s, we even had a policy in place where
not only was there no tuition, but students received sort of a salary, a
bursary, that paid them to go to school, much like what a grant would really
entail today.
There has been a lot of change through the 1970s,
through the 1980s, and the 1990s, a lot of pressure on this Province, especially
at times when the federal government has had financial difficulty.
Difficulty with filling the Treasury and periods of economic hardship in
this Province, to say nothing of the period following the cod moratoriums in
1992 when student financial aid and tuition, post-secondary education in this
Province came under significant strain.
Students have been lobbying for this particular policy
for some time. As was pointed out
last night in the debate here in the Legislature on the Budget, they have shown
themselves to be quite effective over the years in lobbying for progressive
changes to student financial aid and other policies associated with
post-secondary education in this Province.
I have to point out the minister was talking about
students coming here from elsewhere.
The last large-scale study I oversaw at Memorial University prior to my election
in 2011 culminated in a report called Matriculating Eastward and it looked at
Atlantic Canadian students coming to this Province to study, and coming to
Memorial University in particular, as a result of our policies on tuition.
In the subsequent years since I got elected, a graduate
student by the name of Melanie Greene has done a very good job of putting that
research out there. In fact, she
just had a second
article published in an academic journal now reporting some of
the results of what the tuition policies have done to attract students here,
coming here physically and also studying via distance.
There has been a lot of work done and she continues to hammer that out.
I am just going to come back to that in a while, but
during the 2011 election, in the lead-up to that, the Canadian Federation of
Students, Newfoundland and Labrador produced a document around financial aid and
other changes they were hoping for.
The three political parties adopted pieces of that particular platform document,
the students' platform document, into their own political policies.
In the end, all three political parties advocated doing this.
After the election in 2011, I know the former Minister
of Advanced Education and Skills along with the then Premier went down to
Memorial University. I guess it was
around their day of action, which was trying to draw attention to student issues
on campus. The Premier and the
former Minister of Advanced Education and Skills then signed a pledge on this
particular issue, on the issue of access to post-secondary education.
Maybe the minister signed it as well.
I remember it was widely reported subsequent to that the former Premier
opining about her wanting to see the elimination of tuition altogether, more or
less going back to where the Province was in the 1960s.
Now, not much was done after that.
I worked with students across the Province to produce a petition, which I
presented a number of times here in the House of Assembly, around grants, not
loans. I presented that several
times. I am certainly not taking any
credit myself for this getting done because I believe the students themselves,
through their own advocacy efforts, deserve all of the credit here.
I note that in an
article last July, the then Acting
Minister of Advanced Education and Skills, I believe he declined to be
interviewed by The Telegram newspaper,
but there was an
article in The Telegram
last July. I remember reading it
when I was out on a camping trip. I
believe I was out on the beautiful Bonavista Peninsula, out in Lockston Path
Provincial Park, and I remember reading in the newspaper about this particular
issue. I guess the reporter who
wrote it expressed some skepticism, as did the Opposition Parties, as to whether
or not this particular policy was ever going to see the light of day.
I know that the then Acting Minister of Advanced Education and Skills
pointed back to their platform document and said that this policy would be
subject to financial considerations.
I guess really it was subject to financial
considerations because one of the key considerations would be whether or not the
government would decide to borrow $1 billion this year to finance its election
platform Budget. So, obviously, that
financial consideration was considered and government decided to borrow the
money. Now we have this policy and a
number of other things that the government is now trotting out through the door
and bringing to the floor, as it struggles in the face of declining opinion
polls and other difficulties that the government has, as a result of it having
to stand on its record.
Of course, we see that across the country when it comes
to the evolution of government, to sort of the wax and the wane and the ebb and
the flow of the political process.
Basically, one of the things that is going on here is
that while it appears that this policy is going to be because I think there is
some misunderstanding. I think there
is some difficultly sometimes trying to communicate things to people.
Because when things are announced in the Budget it seems like it is
imminent, like the Corner Brook hospital, for example.
It seems like it is imminent.
It seems like it is going to happen this year, or very soon, and this is not
going to happen this year. This is
going to happen, be fully implemented, on August 1, 2015.
In August of this year, the grant portion will be increased by $20 and
the loan portion will be reduced by $20.
In the following year, it will come into full force.
Obviously, that is going to be a challenge to
implement because you are sort of just more or less tweaking it this year and
then bringing it fully in. So,
instead of a policy where you come in and you change it and bring it in, this
phase-in process will obviously add an extra step.
If you know anything about Information
Technology, because we did pass a bill here in the Legislature I am wondering
if it was last year, if it was not last year it was the year before with respect
to the electronic disbursement of financial aid.
A lot of this stuff is keyed in now and it is
really efficient, I have to say that.
The public servants who co-ordinate all of this, oversee it, get down to
the nitty-gritty and do the hard work here, they did an excellent job and these
loans are provided to students on the first day of class as a result of that
bill. We pass in harmonization that
has taken place with the federal student loan program.
I am sure there are people here, lots of MUN
graduates, a lot of Memorial University graduates here in the Legislature, you
remember lining up to get your student loan in the Thompson Student Centre.
It could be weeks into your semester before you get a few bucks to buy
your books. Sometimes you would not
get a chance to get a deal on your books because you are waiting for money.
We do not have that problem anymore and it is a good credit, I think, to
the previous piece of legislation that we passed.
I do not think that was really obvious at the time, but that is one of
the great things that have happened.
Currently, when it comes to the loan and grant
combination system that we have, the students receive the loan portion upfront
and then the grant portion is disbursed to them six to eight weeks following the
commencement of their academic term.
Whether that is at Memorial University of Newfoundland, the Grenfell campus, the
Corner Brook campus, whether at Marine Institute or the College of the North
Atlantic, one of the campuses there, or one of the private training institutions
that is more or less the way it works now.
That is the way I assume it is going to happen
in the coming year. While there will
be a change in the amounts, the $20 up and the $20 down, in the subsequent year
when this comes into full force in the academic year that begins in September of
2015, the full amount of the grant will be dispersed right away.
Students will receive the full amount right away.
Well, immediately we sort of create questions about oh well, what if
and look, by and large, for the most part, there is not going to be wide-scale
abuse, I do not think. I do not
think people are nefarious or ill intended in that way.
There are certainly exceptions to every rule, but we have to trust people
on their merit and on their word and on their signature.
So, everybody will receive the funds upfront.
Now, in the event where someone does not continue into the semester, they
drop out for some reason that happens all the time; students drop out for a
variety of reasons. They might drop
out because you are just are not suited, you are just are not interested in the
program that you are enrolled in; that happens.
Students drop out for a variety of other reasons: illness, bereavement,
issues that are family related, and a variety of different intervening
circumstances can come into place. A
lot of the times we hope that students are able to persevere and be resilient
and continue, but inevitably life intervenes sometimes and people do have to
step back and discontinue their studies.
If that happens and that is why I think there is some
confusion with respect to the wording of this bill.
What the government is doing through its policy is converting the loans
into grants; but if you read the explanatory note on the bill it says that it
will allow the minister to make regulations with respect to converting grants
to student loans. It seems like
they have it wrong in the explanatory note;, but you have to understand what is
going to happen is, in the event that someone receives the full amount of the
grant upfront and they discontinue their studies and there is not a way to claw
it back or the person does not pay it back, if the person enrolls again in
January or after Christmas or what have you for another term and they get a
student loan, then you can claw back the amount that was over paid.
If somebody received a sixteen-week grant, they were in school for eight
weeks, they had to pay rent and they had to have food and they probably bought
supplies and books and what have you, but they did not have that weekly expense
cost that is accounted for in the loan and grant program or in the grant
program. They did not incur that
cost for eight weeks. That money has
to be paid back somehow.
You can pay it back.
You can write a cheque and pay it back.
You can have it clawed back on the disbursement of the grant that you get
in the subsequent semester; or let's say you do not enrol in the next semester,
maybe you do not go to post-secondary again at all for years or ever again, you
have to try to find a way to recoup those funds that were paid out of the public
purse through this grant. What would
happen then is the minister has the authority, through regulation, to convert
that grant into a loan so it can be returned and repaid as if it was a loan.
I think that is the sort of contradiction.
When we looked at the explanatory note on here, it
seems to run counter to what the policy is doing.
This piece of legislation is more or less enabling the minister to make
that conversion in order to ensure that those who are ineligible for the grant
disbursement, pay it back through as if it was a student loan in the event there
was an over award and there is not another mechanism to get it repaid, whether
through an adjustment, or we would say a clawback in the subsequent semester, or
through an immediate repayment.
That is basically it.
I think it is relatively straightforward.
I would add a cautionary note however, and I have said this here in the
House of Assembly before. I think it
is worthy of mentioning again.
Everyone here will have to agree that policies such as
this we all agree are good policies should be based on evidence.
Students feel like yes, they have the evidence by virtue of their own
experience in the post-secondary system, that it is an arduous process of paying
for education and paying for loans and all of that.
They have personal experience that provides that evidence.
I do not dispute that. There
is a need to conduct further follow-up studies.
Remember I told you the last large-scale study that I
worked on at Memorial University, we looked at the tuition fee policy, and we
looked at how it was attracting students from outside of the Province.
Because there was all of this evidence that there were declining
enrolments or stagnant enrolments at universities in other Atlantic Provinces in
the Maritimes while ours were going up.
We had this population of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick
students, and some PEI students, that were going up.
So we went out and we interviewed them.
We talked to them. We asked
them why. We tried to connect the
dots. We tried to see whether or not
what we thought based on the enrolment data was in fact the case.
That is what we should do here.
When we are taking taxpayers' dollars and investing it in new programs
like this one, whereby we are more or less paying out into a grant for students
to go to school, we should try to find out what the outcomes are, especially
through surveys, interviews, focus groups, and those sorts of things.
Not just surveys, too; you can analyze the registrarial
data. You can look at who enrolled,
who showed up, who did not show up, how they progressed, and how quickly they
progressed. We always talk about
timely completion, whether students complete their college or university program
within the recommended period of time for completion of that program.
In the case of a Bachelor of Arts, that would be four years.
Is that happening? Is it
making it easier? Are they
finishing? Is it making things
longer or shorter? Do we have more
graduations? Do we have fewer
completions? There are all sorts of
questions to be answered here.
What about the transition to the workforce?
Is it easier? What about the
impact on their household spending?
Does it make it easier for them to get a mortgage?
Does it make it easier for them to get a car loan?
Does it make it easier for them to have their own children, get an RESP,
and save for their child's post-secondary education themselves?
Those are all sorts of important questions.
I think the unfortunate thing that has gone on in the last decade or so
is that a lot of those programs we had, and study and analysis, the
ambitiousness towards evidence-based policy, has really receded.
We do not do that anymore. I
do not know why. Some people say:
Oh, well, you do not want to know.
You do not want to know what the answer is because you want to think you are
right. I do not know.
I do not really believe that.
I think we want to know that these policies are sound,
it is a good investment of taxpayers' money, and we can look at data, whether
that is, like I said, through surveys, registrarial data, or interviews with
post-secondary students and graduates.
We look at all of that say: Yes, see?
Maybe that will enable us to take the next step into other areas that are
reasonably progressive because the data will show what sorts of tools we need
and what policy instruments we need to enact and to create in order to further
build the post-secondary system, create more access, attract students from
elsewhere, and so on and so forth.
I think one of the areas we really ought to be looking
at is who is really left out. We
have had a lot of universal programs, some based on needs such as this one, but
what is happening with students with disabilities?
What is happening with our Aboriginal youth?
What is happening with our rural youth versus our urban youth?
There are different groups in our society of Newfoundland and Labrador
youth who are differently impacted by the challenges of the post-secondary
system.
Then what is happening with older learners?
Are policies such as this one helping them?
Is this something that is helping them to participate at a greater rate
in college or university? Because if
we look at that Outlook 2020 document, we see all these jobs are becoming
available but we know the vast majority of jobs that are going to be available
over the next decade require some form of post-secondary education, whether it
is a certificate of qualification in a trade, or a college diploma or
certificate, or some certification from a university.
We know those jobs are going to be open, and we know
our young people and our not-so-young people need to be trained.
We know when there are major adjustments in our economy, in our workforce
and they are happening in some sectors, it is still happening we know that
we need to enable people to go one or another direction to change their career
path, because we know people have many jobs throughout the course of their
careers today. Not like when many of
us were going through our careers. I
am a little younger, so maybe it has been a little different for me, but I am
not looking at you, minister.
In any case, I think I will close it off there.
I think it is really important to have evidence-based policy.
It really enables us to have even better legislation and policies.
I do support this, and I will be happy to vote in favour.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER (Verge):
The
hon. the Member for Port au Port.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
CORNECT:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is indeed a pleasure and honour to stand in this
House this afternoon to debate Bill 16,
An Act To Amend The Student Financial
Assistance Act.
Mr. Speaker, as the explanatory note says, This Bill
would amend the Student Financial Assistance Act to allow the minister to make
regulations with respect to converting grants to student loans.
Mr. Speaker, if you look at this piece of legislation
this afternoon and you read the analysis, under
part 1,
section (f), it says,
the Student Financial Assistance Act is repealed and the following substituted:
(
f) respecting the recovery of student loans, awards and grants given in error
or in excess of an amount permissible under this Act including the circumstances
under which all or part of a grant is to be converted into a student loan.
Mr. Speaker, in our efforts to continue supporting affordable and
accessible post-secondary education here in this Province, our Budget just
released a couple of months ago now provides $14.7 million over two years to
eliminate the provincial student loans, an approximate investment of $50.6
million over five years.
Mr. Speaker, when we look at the student assistance,
student aid package here in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, we are
the envy of the country. Students
from outside the Province look at this Province as the most affordable and
accessible place to get post-secondary education.
I would say we are probably number one on the radar.
This legislation will amend the Student Financial
Assistance Act to allow for the recovery of student grants that had been deemed
ineligible through a system of repayments similar to the student loan.
Mr. Speaker, as the minister alluded to previously in his remarks, the
minister said that every year approximately 7,000 students receive upfront
grants, assistance to help pay for their post-secondary education.
This legislative amendment this afternoon will allow for the recovery of
any grants that are deemed to be ineligible.
Mr. Speaker, these changes that we are debating this
afternoon and hopefully we will get unanimous consent from the House of
Assembly and all members of the House because this will certainly aid students
in our Province and outside of our Province who are coming to do schooling here
in our Province. These changes will
help the provincial government retrieve ineligible portions of a grant and
utilize those funds to assist students in their post-secondary education and
career goals.
Mr. Speaker, it is very important to note and to point
out that this amendment only deals with creating the legislative authority to
develop the regulatory process and required policies.
Once the amendment has been approved, regulations and policies will be
finalized.
With the complete elimination of the provincial student
loans and replacement with up-front, needs-based grants, students will see a
significant reduction in the amount to be repaid as a student loan.
Let me give you a couple of examples, Mr. Speaker.
For example, a student attending the College of the North Atlantic
completing a one-year program will benefit by having his or her average student
loan monthly payments reduced by 42.1 per cent.
Saying that, when we convert it to dollars, means they will go from $113
per month to $67 per month.
Interestingly enough, a student at Memorial University
of Newfoundland completing a four-year undergraduate program will benefit be
having his or her average student loan monthly payments reduced by 44.4 per
cent; from $300 per month to $167 per month.
This amendment will also allow for the arranging of a payment
schedule
that will be similar to a student loan.
Mr. Speaker, I want to tell you and I want to tell the
people in the Province, as well, that since 2005 our government has invested
more than $282 million to freeze tuition, making Newfoundland and Labrador
students the envy of the country. It
is the hope of our provincial government that these types of initiatives will
strongly encourage students to pursue their post-secondary education in this
Province and that they will choose to stay here and play a role in the
Province's continued success. We all
know, Mr. Speaker, that the job outlook in Newfoundland and Labrador is very
strong and, in the coming years, we will need a well-educated workforce to meet
the labour demand.
When we look at the student assistance programs and the
student aid programs that we have in our Province, we also have to look at the
investments that have been made in the post-secondary institutions as well.
To have an educated population, to have people go on to post-secondary
education, we need to have institutions that will meet those demands and meet
those market demands and meet those education demands as well.
So, Mr. Speaker, what we have done through Budget 2014
I am just going to highlight or name some of the investments.
In the College of the North Atlantic, $1.5 million to support
high-demand, high-priority programs.
At MUN's Fisheries and Marine Institute, $1.9 million to increase base funding,
that is year three of a three-year initiative at the Fisheries and Marine
Institute, to continue the expansion of educational programming, research and
student services for continued growth in the ocean sector.
Mr. Speaker, we look at MUN Faculty of Engineering and
Applied Science, $1.1 million investment to continue the expansion of the
Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science at Memorial, year three of an
eight-year initiative in the priority areas of ocean, Arctic and offshore energy
to support major project development and encourage private sector industry
partnerships. This investment, Mr.
Speaker, will also support increasing enrolment of undergraduate and graduate
students at the faculty.
When we talk about students, we look at the initiatives
we have for students in regard to summer employment.
Mr. Speaker, our government
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
I would ask the member to make his comments relative to
the bill that we are discussing.
MR.
CORNECT:
Mr.
Speaker, when we look at our investments in students in the Province, we are
very proud of our initiatives. We
are proud of our record, and we remain committed to supporting post-secondary
students and institutions in the years ahead in the Province of Newfoundland and
Labrador.
Thank you for the occasion to speak on this bill this
afternoon.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.
DEMPSTER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I, too, as the provincial critic for Advanced Education
and Skills, am happy to stand and speak for a few minutes to Bill 16,
An Act To
Amend The Student Financial Assistance Act.
Any time, Mr. Speaker, that we are investing in
students and helping make life easier for students, I believe that is paying
dividends back. When you look back,
you see that this was a commitment made by this government back in 2011, so we
have been waiting a little while. It
was a Blue Book commitment that stated we would eliminate the provincial student
loan over four years and replace it with an up-front, needs-based program.
Mr. Speaker, we know that the Canadian Federation of
Students and many of our post-secondary groups have been calling on this for
some time. We are very happy to see
now that it is coming down and that it will be phased in over a two-year period.
Investing in post-secondary education of citizens, we
know that it just makes good sense all the way around because there are many
studies already that show that education is a primary determent of health.
So, you see the two are closely linked.
Replacing the provincial portion of the student loan with a needs-based
grant; by doing that, we are going to be lowering the financial burden of our
students and allowing them to get on their feet when they come out of school.
This, in turn, will help to make a stronger economy here in Newfoundland
and Labrador. This is a very
positive step.
By coming out and having less debt, they then have more
money to purchase a home. Things
that young families need when they are starting out, a car.
It will have a positive trickle-down effect, I believe, on the effects to
health care as well, given the links that we know are there that exist between
education, income, and health.
We know there is a direct link between low education
levels and very low income. Often
people with very low income have the poorest health.
By investing I say into the post-secondary students and helping them, it
is going to pay dividends back.
Mr. Speaker, we know a full grant system will help to
bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.
That is a very positive thing for the Province.
Low-income students face increased barriers.
I saw that many times in my two decades of working with students in rural
communities. By helping them
graduate school now without being saddled with debt of astronomical proportions,
I believe it is socially and economically responsible.
It is responsible for government to do this.
I am very, very happy to see they are implementing a plan, carrying out a
commitment they made a number of years ago.
Mr. Speaker, given the rural reality of our Province
more than half of the Province made up of rural students in rural communities
have to incur much more expense than those living closer to the service, closer
to the post-secondary institutions.
I am going to reference to my district.
Everyone here in the House has heard me stand up many times and talk
about our transportation issues and the high cost.
You can imagine a student who wants to go home for Christmas and wants to
go home during Easter or something like that.
Mr. Speaker, I remember back in the late 1980s when I
was here at Memorial, most of the people in my class were going down south for a
week on Easter break. They were
doing that at a much lower cost than what I was trying to get home to Labrador
for. I was paying $500 for a return
ticket all those years ago back in the late 1980s.
By replacing the student loans with a needs-based
grant, it is certainly going to help the people in rural communities, Mr.
Speaker. Students who come from
many, many situations where both of the parents are on fixed income and so there
is a limitation there with the support they can provide to the students.
Mr. Speaker, we know that Budget 2014 committed to
this. Also, if we look back we see
that Budget 2012 and Budget 2013 alluded to this.
When you look a little deeper, you see the amount of student financial
services in the last year has actually taken a little dip from prior years.
Mr. Speaker, just to explain for the people who might
be watching and wondering how the provincial Student Aid program works, we know
that depending on your assessed need you could receive up to $140 per week of
study in provincial loans and grants.
The first $60 of the $140 is a repayable student loan.
Then we know that if your assessed need for the provincial portion
exceeds $60 per week, the remaining amount, up to the maximum of $80 per week,
will be issued in the form of a non-repayable grant.
We know the eligibility is determined when you apply
for a student loan for full-time studies.
I think it is a very positive thing, Mr. Speaker, that this grant is then
deposited upfront, right into your bank account.
My colleague referenced the lining up and having long waits to collect
your eligibility certificate in the past in order to get your funds.
It is true that when you come in, and especially
students from rural, there is a lot of money you need out of pocket in the first
few weeks. When you come in and you
are securing an apartment, Mr. Speaker, the damage deposit that you pay.
Sometimes right now in the city, because it is very difficult to get an
apartment and the cost is high, students from my district are actually having to
start paying for an apartment perhaps as early as June or July.
They are really taxed. The
income into those homes, some homes that have two and three students entering
into post-secondary the one time, the financial support is just not there.
These are the kinds of families that by replacing the student loans with
the needs-based grants are going to be helped tremendously from this.
I want to say, Mr. Speaker, the tuition freeze was a
wonderful thing in this Province. We
know that was something that was implemented by a Liberal government back in
1999. That has certainly helped.
Now I am happy to see that we are taking this one step further.
In addition to a tuition freeze, we are going to completely work toward
eliminating the loans all together.
Mr. Speaker, I do want to mention that the Canadian
Federation of Students has estimated that for an investment of approximately $13
million per year, the remaining provincial loan could be replaced with a full
provincial loan program of non-repayable grants that would help over 7,000
students per year. There is a point
of clarity and we can ask that later when we are asking questions because that
number I just quoted does not quite jive with the government's commitment to the
Canadian Federation of Students in 2011 of the $18.9 million over four years.
Mr. Speaker, I am just going to speak for a moment on
the impact of debt on students. Debt
is responsible for lower levels of university and college completion, not to
mention, Mr. Speaker, the financial stress that is disproportionately borne by
those from low-income backgrounds.
As I mentioned, especially in rural communities where families live on fixed
income, it is unbelievable what some people are getting by