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June 2, 2015

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVII No. 24

The House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR.

SPEAKER (Verge):

Order, please!

Admit strangers.

I am pleased to welcome to our gallery this afternoon

Matthew Piercey, Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Cancer Society,

Newfoundland and Labrador Division.

As well as Angela Noseworthy, Manager of Community Services for Daffodil Place.

Welcome to the House of Assembly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Statements by Members

MR.

SPEAKER:

Today we will hear members' statements from members representing the Districts

of Bellevue, Fortune Bay Cape La Hune, Baie Verte Springdale, St. George's

Stephenville East, St. John's Centre, and Carbonear Harbour Grace.

The hon. the Member for the District of Bellevue.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

PEACH:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in this hon. House today to congratulate the

2903 Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps of Norman's Cove-Long Cove on their Annual

Ceremonial Review on Sunday, May 31, 2015.

I had the honour of being a reviewing officer.

With their boots shining, suits well pressed and posture at its best, I

did not have an easy j ob.

This review is the highlight of the year where cadets

display their achievements from the past year to friends, family and their

peers. It is the knowledge,

confidence and self-esteem that you build through being a cadet that helps you

in future actions.

The Cadet Corps is sponsored by the Norman's Cove-Long

Cove town council and this was the forty-third annual review.

I want to recognize the founders of the Cadet Corps: Wilson Callan,

Gilbert Newhook, Hayward Smith, and William Blundon.

Today the Corps has thirty members and five officers.

It is the great leadership of CO Ann Mercer and four other officers who

makes this Corps a success each year.

I ask all members to join me in congratulating the 2903

Royal Canadian Army Cadets on another wonderful year of success in the cadet

movement.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PERRY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to congratulate the 2922 Vimy Ridge Royal

Canadian Army Cadet Corps of Bay d'Espoir for the success of their Annual

Ceremonial Review, which I had the pleasure of attending on May 24th.

I thoroughly enjoyed the day and commend you all for the great pride and

effort you put into your presentations.

Today, it is a pleasure to pay tribute to the following

award recipients: Best Green Star went to Cadet Nathan Manuel; Best Red Star,

Corporal Coady Inkpen; Best Silver Star, Corporal Bianca Stokes; Best Gold Star,

RSM Parker Nugent, who also demonstrated great skill as the parade commander;

Peer Choice was awarded to Master Corporal Melanie Collier; CO Choice, Lance

Corporal Kendra Hoskins; Best Dressed Cadet on Parade was Corporal Coady Inkpen;

and Citizenship Award went to Corporal Bianca Stokes.

I also commend Corporal Bianca Stokes, Corporal Coady Inkpen, and Cadet

Christian Snook for their perfect attendance.

Congratulations also to all fifteen of these fine young men and women on

their rank positions.

I ask all members to join me in congratulating the 2922

Vimy Ridge Cadets for your tremendous dedication, and hope you all continue to

enjoy the countless rewarding experiences and lifelong friendships the corps has

to offer.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Baie Verte Springdale.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

POLLARD:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Son of Peter and Delores Young of Springdale, Indian

River High School student Riley Young, captured the coveted Mayor's Cup during

the Midget E Easter Minor Hockey Championships.

The Mayor's Cup is awarded to a Springdale player who

excels at the tournament, displaying all the ingredients of a true team player.

Hosted by Springdale, Riley's goal scoring ability propelled his team to

a bronze medal finish.

Die hard hockey fans and supportive parents and

grandparents were treated to some very exciting and tense moments as all the

teams gave it their best shot.

Displaying not only outstanding sportsmanship, but also

sheer grit, determination, and superior hockey sense, Riley made his parents,

teammates, and the entire community extremely proud.

His tenacity, hard work, and positive attitude was exemplary.

Not only is Riley a dedicated player, but he is also extensively involved

in high school sports while maintaining a 90-plus average.

In addition, he volunteered his time, talent, and

energy in church activities and community events.

His dream is to work in sports journalism and to see the Leafs the

Stanley Cup.

Honourable colleagues, Riley Young of Springdale, the

Mayor's Cup recipient.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible) St. Barbe.

MR.

SPEAKER:

do not have the Member for St. Barbe on the list.

MR.

J. BENNETT:

Replacing the Member for St. George's Stephenville East.

MR.

SPEAKER:

Was

the statement passed in, in advance?

MR.

J. BENNETT:

Yes, it was, days ago.

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

MR.

J. BENNETT:

The

takeCHARGE of Your Town initiative started in 2010 and its goal is to encourage

residents and municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador to reduce their energy

use.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR.

J. BENNETT:

Following over thirty submissions from towns across Newfoundland and Labrador

for 2014, two winners were selected to receive a grant of $7,500.

One was Port au Choix in the District of St. Barbe, specifically the Twin

Town Sports Complex.

The Twin Town Sports Complex will be adding controls on

heaters and pumps that will save energy and save money.

It will also provide a model for the region that other residents,

organizations, and businesses will use to increase their energy efficiency.

The Twin Town Sports Complex does not benefit only

those who use it, but the community and region as a whole.

This facility generates activities and attracts people to the area,

making a huge contribution to the local economy.

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

join me in congratulating the Town of Port au Choix Twin Town Sports Complex on

winning the takeCHARGE of Your Town initiative and the grant.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am honoured today to recognize a vital institution in

my District of St. John's Centre, a home away from home for people fighting the

biggest battle of their lives.

Daffodil Place opened its doors in 2009.

The fine people at the Canadian Cancer Society recognized people coming

to St. John's for cancer treatment often face the additional struggle to pay for

accommodations and food while they were here for weeks or months at a time.

The people of the Province responded and today Daffodil

Place serves 351 communities. Since

2009, 3,526 guests have stayed. The

occupancy rate is in the high nineties and there is almost always a waiting

list. The Cancer Society does all

this through ongoing massive fundraising efforts.

Overall, their programs focus on physical activity and helping patients

take control of their own recovery.

The fantastic Defy Cancer Program helps people transfer

back into the community when treatments are finished.

A grief therapy program gives end-of-life care.

Folks undergoing cancer treatment get three meals a day, drives to

appointments, and emotional and practical supports like wigs and temporary

prostheses. This is community at its

best, Mr. Speaker.

To the wonderful folks at Daffodil Place, their army of

volunteers, and everyone who donates, bravo and thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Carbonear Harbour Grace.

MR.

SLADE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to

recognize Melissa O'Keefe of Carbonear who recently joined the Carbonear

Volunteer Fire Department. Why is

that so special you may ask? Melissa

becomes the first female member of the Carbonear Volunteer Fire Department in

twenty years, and only the second female in the department since its

incorporation in 1841.

Melissa, a twenty-nine-year-old mother of one son,

Ethan, graduated from Carbonear Collegiate in 2003 and may have been inspired to

pursue a career in firefighting from her aunt, Sonia Williams, who is the former

Chief of the Harbour Grace Fire Department and a twenty-year member for the

department.

Melissa joined the fire department in November of last

year and has been actively involved in training for her new volunteer role.

She is one of the growing numbers of females joining volunteer fire

departments across the Province. Of

the over 6,000 volunteer firefighters in the Province today, approximately 6 per

cent of them are female members, and that number is increasing year over year.

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

congratulating Melissa O'Keefe as a member of the Carbonear Volunteer Fire

Department and wish her a safe and rewarding career in firefighting.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today in this hon. House to celebrate the

success of the Premier's Youth Advisory Committee's first face-to-face retreat.

Last week, the Minister Responsible for the Office of Public Engagement

and I had the opportunity to meet with twenty-one members of the Committee from

throughout the Province. They met

here in St. John's.

The Office of Public Engagement led the weekend's

activities and reflections, which included exploring ways to collaborate and

work more effectively together through public engagement.

They discussed what it is like to work in the political system, and

examined the Committee's role in the expansion of Bridge the gAPP, which is an

app originally launched by Eastern Health earlier this year to help young people

address critical issues such as stress, relationships, drug use, and suicide.

Mr. Speaker, our goal in reactivating the Youth

Advisory Committee is to empower youth, and to recognize they have a voice.

As we discovered through last weekend's events, the Committee is already

engaged in ensuring the youth voice is heard in our Province.

For example, just days before the retreat, one of the

committee members was a panelist on CBC Radio's Crosstalk.

He spoke very eloquently about the importance of immigration, and how we

all benefit from newcomers who view Newfoundland and Labrador just as

passionately as the people who have lived here their entire lives.

Other committee members are pushing the public discussion in areas

connected to their efforts as part of a number of sub-committees, including the

costs associated with education, career guidance and planning, and diversity

awareness and inclusion.

Mr. Speaker, upon meeting the committee, what impressed

me the most is how each member wants to know how they can collectively make a

difference.

It speaks to the strength of this committee's

convictions and also to the calibre of the members that various provincial

government staff reached out to ask how they could incorporate a greater youth

perspective in their work immediately following a presentation by these young

people.

Mr. Speaker, as I referenced after meeting with the

committee on Friday, this weekend retreat of twenty-one young Newfoundland and

Labrador women and men was an opportunity to see first-hand the passion,

intelligence and empathy of our youth.

We will certainly be looking to this committee as a valuable source of

insight as we create plans and initiatives for the future of Newfoundland and

Labrador.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR.

BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the Premier for the advance copy of his

statement. Of course, we know that

youth play an important role in shaping the future of our Province.

They have ideas that need to be heard and used in the decision making of

government.

The Youth Advisory Committee consists of youth sixteen

to twenty-nine years old from all regions of the Province and it is important

that they are provided the necessary resources to accomplish what they have been

asked to do. When I see all of the

members who have been chosen to serve on the committee, I can plainly see that

the future of our Province is in good hands.

They come with strong skills, impressive experience in volunteer work in

their own communities and regions, and they come with a lot of energy.

I want to particularly recognize Raylene Mackey of the

Goulds, who serves as one of our Pages in the House of Assembly and volunteers

on over ten different organizations in our Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

BALL:

also notice that some of them are serving on municipal councils.

I am sure we will see many of them in provincial politics in the very

near future. Colin Corcoran as past

Mayor of Riverhead, as an example; Mallary McGrath is a town councillor at

Branch; and Donovan Taplin is a councillor in Wabana.

Mr. Speaker, I want to wish the Youth Advisory

Committee all the success in their deliberations and we look forward to their

suggestions and their advice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

ROGERS:

Mr.

Speaker, I thank the fantastic twenty-one young people who gather in good faith

to improve the lives of young people in Newfoundland and Labrador.

They know words are not enough.

Government must commit to concrete solutions, real economic diversity so

youth have a future in their own communities, a plan preventing and ending youth

homelessness, and more school counsellors so students can get help with career

choices and mental health issues.

Government's reductions in jobs through attrition sends

a message there is no room for youth in our public service.

Cuts to MUN, signal to youth they are not a priority.

If government really is committed to youth, real engagement should mean

real change.

Bravo to the Youth Advisory Committee.

We look forward to hearing more from them.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

WISEMAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, this government is committed to supporting

families and communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

We also recognize there are many instances where families face a crisis.

We are committed to supporting our Province's families through these

difficult times as well. That is why

we have implemented the Job-Protected Unpaid Leave Policy for the public

service. This policy means the jobs

of parents are protected if they need to take some leave to focus on their

families in times of trying circumstances such as dealing with a critically ill

child, or with a crime-related child death or a disappearance.

Mr. Speaker, these circumstances are unimaginable and

ones that we hope no one ever has to face.

In the unfortunate event though that a family is faced with these

situations, this government wants to support families in this Province and

alleviate the added stress of worrying about their employment.

The Job-Protected Unpaid Leave Policy allows working parents to address

the needs of their families, secure in the knowledge that their jobs are being

protected.

The provisions of the Labour Standards Act are not

binding to the Crown which necessitates the development of a stand-alone human

resource policy to ensure employment protection and job-protected, unpaid leave

is extended to public service employees.

As a result, the new policy reflects the Labour

Standards Act and creates the following two new job-protected, unpaid leave of

absence options for the public service: the first one, critically ill child care

leave, which provides up to thirty-seven weeks of unpaid leave for the parent of

a critically ill child to provide care or support to that child; and secondly, a

crime-related child death or disappearance leave, which provides up to fifty-two

weeks of unpaid leave for the parent of a child who disappears as a result of a

probable Criminal Code offence, and up to 104 weeks of unpaid leave for the

parent of a child who dies as a result of a probable Criminal Code offence.

Mr. Speaker, the leave period will not be considered a

break in service. Therefore, upon

the return from unpaid leave, employees will not lose any benefits that had

accrued at the commencement of the period of job-protected unpaid leave.

The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is

committed to supporting our employees and providing them with the assistance

they need to address any of these family needs.

Our vision for a prosperous Newfoundland and Labrador is demonstrated in

our commitment and investments in the health and well-being of our children and

families.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Virginia Waters.

C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of his

statement today. Many of us in this

House, through our own family experiences, or through the extended community

that we participate in certainly understand all too well the issues that face a

family when they are challenged with the critical illness of a child, or in some

cases, the sad reality of a child that has been abducted or lost to a family.

Mr. Speaker, I can certainly say, as somebody who is

celebrating her first anniversary here in the House, I was surprised to realize

that government employees were not protected as part of the Labour Standards

Act. I guess I am still learning

about that, but I am very pleased to stand and support the minister's statement

today. Many people in this House of

Assembly have worked many hours, including my hon. colleague across the hall, on

facilities that support families who are in crises.

Providing home away from home, or even providing services is critical to

those families.

Mr. Speaker, I am certainly pleased to stand and join

the minister in recognizing the importance of providing our public sector

employees with the same protection that many of those individuals who work in

the private sector now enjoy. No

family, no parent, including the parents who are in this House of Assembly, want

the information that their child is ill, and they certainly want the space and

time to be able to serve the needs of their family and the needs of their

children at the right time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for the advance copy.

I especially thank him because when the Labour Standards Act was changed

in December 2013, we were delighted to speak to this legislative change that was

happening across the country, both federally, and then because of federally,

other jurisdictions, to provide job security for parents who take leave due to a

child's critical illness or criminal disappearance or death.

We are surprised that it is nearly eighteen months

later that government has developed a parallel policy applying to the public

service. While it is better late

than never, I hope that no one in the public service was disadvantaged in the

interim when this job-protected leave was available to other employees, but not

to them.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am pleased to

rise in the House today to recognize the organizers of the OCEANS '14

international conference on their recent Destination St. John's Tourism Award

for 2014 Convention of the Year.

From September 14

to 19, 2014 the annual Marine Technology Society/IEEE Ocean Engineering Society

OCEANS Conference was held in St. John's. The

conference featured world-renowned scientists and a wide variety of exhibitors

from around the world.

Darrell O'Neill of

the Ocean Technology and Arctic Opportunities branch of the Department of

Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development, and also serving as Chair of

the Local Organizing Committee, accepted the Award of Distinction at a ceremony

at City Hall last week.

Mr. Speaker, my

department, together with ACOA, provided support for a dedicated Project Manager

position, who worked with the Local Organizing Committee and the managing

societies, to make this international conference a major success and one of the

largest conferences ever held in our Province.

The department

provided additional support to OCEANS '14 through the marketing branch, which

developed various advertising campaigns, branding, and conference logo.

The department was also strongly

represented on the local steering committee.

Mr. Speaker, this

recognition is a significant achievement. Officials

in my department work diligently to execute the vision of Newfoundland and

Labrador as a hub of knowledge, skill, and industry growth, to great success.

Mr. Speaker, the

world now comes to us here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Our Province is on the world stage, and

is a desired location for international conferences.

Yesterday in St. John's, the

International Conference on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering opened and

next year, in October, we are hosting the Arctic Technology Conference.

This event is the world's most focused

and comprehensive Arctic event.

Mr. Speaker, our

ability to host first-rate international conferences is a testament to the

successful partnerships formed between governments and industry.

OCEANS '14 brought

international travellers to our shores, showcasing Newfoundland and Labrador as

a centre of industry excellence. It also

had the added benefit of economic spinoff for our local tourism and service

sector.

I ask all members

to join me in congratulating the Local Organizing Committee on this notable

recognition from Destination St. John's.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Humber East.

MR. FLYNN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the

minister for an advance copy of his statement.

I am pleased to join my colleague in congratulating the organizers of the

OCEANS '14 conference on receiving the St. John's tourism award distinction

convention of the year.

OCEANS '14 featured 1,800 participants and 150

exhibitors, and is said to be one of the largest industry conferences ever held

in the city. Newfoundland and

Labrador is an ideal site for such a convention, given its location in the harsh

North Atlantic. Harsh environments

are a challenge for the ocean technology sector, but as the convention slogan

stated: challenge becomes opportunity.

Such conventions bring people from around the globe to

our Province; therefore, critical to the tourism industry.

Government has recently taken, however, steps backward in bolstering

tourism to our Province such as their decision to layoff product development

staff on the West Coast and in Labrador, as well as a failure to persuade Marine

Atlantic to keep our rates down on the ferries, given that we are down 30 per

cent since 2002.

We have a long way to go yet, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's East.

MR.

MURPHY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I also thank the minister for the advance copy of his

statement here today, and congratulations to all of the people involved in the

OCEANS '14 international conference on a job well done.

Congratulations, as well, on the award of Destination St. John's.

I think we are all pleased this Province is considered

a centre for industry excellence.

Our industry is based in one of the most hostile work environments on the planet

and also one of the most biologically rich and diverse.

That makes it all the more important.

I hope the government is also working on being a leader

in the areas of environmental worker safety as well.

Never has our environment been under so much pressure as what it has been

these ten years, Mr. Speaker. I just

hope the government will be ever vigilant to that fact.

Thank you very much.

MR.

SPEAKER:

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR.

BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It was announced yesterday that Teekay Offshore

resources would be taking over the shuttle tanker services for our offshore oil

fields. It is a fifteen-year

contract that will see three existing oil tankers replaced by 2018.

I ask the Premier: Since the majority of the crew on

these current tankers are Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, what assurances do

you have that these jobs will be filled by people of our Province?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

DALLEY:

Mr. Speaker, it was announced yesterday that Teekay has the new contract in the

offshore. Today in

The Telegram there is a

half-page spread of their advertising jobs for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Under the Cultural Trading Act, as well as under the

Atlantic Accord Act, in full and fair opportunity, there are provisions there

that the new vessels will be Canadian flagged and must be Canadian crewed.

We have protection there, Mr. Speaker, and by all indications, Teekay

will set up office here in St. John's as well and run their operations from here

in St. John's.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR.

BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, the company only says that the current crew are

the most welcomed to apply to any of the open positions.

It does not say that the current crew will keep their jobs.

They have the experience in this environment.

I ask the Premier: Do you have any commitment from the

company that the current crew of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians will keep

their jobs?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

DALLEY:

Mr.

Speaker, given the announcement yesterday, we have a meeting planned with Teekay

in the coming days. Again, to

reiterate the fact that it is Canadian flagged and Canadian crewed.

They are advertising out of our local paper today, Mr. Speaker.

Looking to protect the jobs of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians will be

of the utmost interest for us; but, as well, understanding and respecting the

provisions under the Atlantic Accord Act with respect to full and fair

opportunity.

Also, given the fact the experience and the work that

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are currently doing in the offshore, Mr.

Speaker, I am confident that the people of this Province will have the

opportunity to work on those tankers.

We will certainly reiterate that when we meet with Teekay in the coming

days.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR.

BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, we also understand there are offshore exploration

vessels tied up at St. John's Harbour waiting on the C-NLOPB to grant regulatory

equivalencies. These vessels have

been tied up for over a week due to the confusion on the federal transitional

regulations.

I ask the Premier: How many of these vessels are

contracted to Nalcor?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, in relation to the transitional

occupational health and safety guidelines from Transport Canada to some vessels

working offshore, incidentally, seismic vessels, we have worked through the

Labour Relations Agency, received requests in regard to exemptions to operate in

regard to the amount of hours they are allowed to be expended in regard to

workers on those vessels.

We have worked through some of those exemptions with

the C-NLOPB. There are others that

are with the regulatory arm of the C-NLOPB, with the safety officer down there.

We continue to work through them and certainly hope to find a resolution

to it very quickly.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR.

BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Since these come with tremendous costs if these vessels

are waiting for those regulations and those changes, I ask the minister: How

many of those vessels are now contracted to Nalcor?

This impacts directly to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

How many of those are contracted to Nalcor?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

DALLEY:

Mr.

Speaker, what the leader is referring to is an extremely positive story.

Despite what we are seeing in the global downturn in prices, the global

industry, particularly around the seismic work that feeds into future

opportunities and future developments, these companies are focused right in the

offshore of Newfoundland and Labrador.

It is a tremendous positive story.

In the latest round of bids, Mr. Speaker, ExxonMobil

were successful with their partners.

I understand that these vessels are primarily it is my understanding that they

are contracted to ExxonMobil to do their work as they proceed for the future.

Again it is a very positive story about significant

investment, not only from major players in the industry, but also the companies

that are out there looking for new opportunities.

We are excited to have them here.

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.

There is no doubt that this could have a positive

impact on Newfoundland and Labrador, but the positive impact is really more we

will see that more when these vessels are working.

The cost of these vessels can be up to $200,000 a day and they have been

tied up for over a week. With a

request for the regulatory equivalency made, the C-NLOPB posts the information

for thirty days before making a decision.

I ask the Premier: Since this is causing unexpected

delays, what impact will this have on Nalcor's exploration program and what are

the additional costs associated with the delay?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

DALLEY:

Mr.

Speaker, the issue the Leader of the Opposition refers to is being worked on by

the C-NLOPB and a company. We hope

to get some resolutions and see some resolutions so that these vessels can get

out and do the work that they are contracted to do.

Specific to any costs to Nalcor, Mr. Speaker, I would

have to check and see. I do know

they are contracted by ExxonMobil.

There is multi-client work going to happen here.

I will check and see if there are any costs to Nalcor and if there is, I

will certainly report it back.

Once again I would like to reiterate the fact, Mr.

Speaker, that this is very exciting for the Province.

Despite a downturn, we are going to see some 3-D seismic work go on that

is going to feed into tremendous opportunities for the people of the Province in

the future.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Virginia Waters.

C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Last year, the Women's Policy Office underspent its

budget by over $1 million or 24 per cent.

I ask the Premier: How do you justify underspending

this budget by over $1 million, the price tag for two family violence prevention

courts?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can tell you that the Violence Prevention Initiatives

underway by the Women's Policy Office are significant projects, Mr. Speaker.

They are important projects to the people of the Province as well.

Mr. Speaker, as you go through projects and you have

timing on projects from time to time, there is more work or more analysis that

needs to be done on them, and sometimes that moves it off of budget periods and

move you through budget periods from one year to the next.

Not to lose focus on the Women's Policy Office and the

important work that they do, because they have very strong relationships with

groups representing women throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, and they do

great work on behalf of those groups and in partnership with those groups and

for women in the Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Virginia Waters.

C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, government has been operating without a violence

prevention action plan for three years now, and responsibility for the Status of

Women has passed through five Cabinet ministers in the last year alone.

This underspending speaks to the priority this government places on

women's policy issues.

I ask the Premier: How do you justify a quarter of your

budget last year being underspent?

Is it a lack of leadership, or do you consider improving the status of women and

violence prevention a discretionary spending item?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

the contrary, Mr. Speaker, this is certainly not discretionary spending.

It is very important investments and very important spending that takes

place. As we have seen, some of the

initiatives that have taken place are as a result of planning and work done that

has been led by the Women's Policy Office in partnership with groups around the

Province.

So for the member opposite to suggest that there is

anything less than absolute importance to the Women's Policy Office that is

why we put it there, that is why we continue to support it, and that is why we

have a Women's Policy Office in this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Trinity Bay de Verde.

MR.

CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Last September, just one day before this Premier took

office, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business reported small business

confidence in Newfoundland and Labrador was the highest in the country.

Now it is among the lowest.

Government's failure to boost business confidence is obvious, and their planned

HST increase will only make things worse.

So I ask the minister: How can you say the Budget is

good for business development, when business owners disagree?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The member opposite is very much aware of the difficult

financial and fiscal circumstances that face not only Newfoundland and Labrador,

but other provinces and the country itself, Mr. Speaker.

What we have done is we have created a plan to work our way through a

very challenging time the same as we have done before.

It is us over here who have the experience and the background, and

demonstrated the good result of

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

working through some very difficult times as a Province.

The member opposite only needs to go back to 2008 and 2009 when

Newfoundland and Labrador was the fastest Province to move through that

turndown, and

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

to be successful and come out even stronger and better when we turned that

corner.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Trinity Bay de Verde.

MR.

CROCKER:

Mr.

Speaker, eighteen months of consecutive job losses and raising the HST which is

another job killer, is that a plan?

Mr. Speaker, the CFIB report also shows that only 13

per cent of small business owners plan to hire staff in the next three months,

when this is supposed to be the hiring season.

This is the lowest we have seen, post-recession, I say to the Premier.

I ask the minister: Besides their job-killing HST hike,

what plans does this government have for small business in our Province?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we are working very hard to sustain the

very strong economy that we have built in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The member opposite only needs to look back in the past when there have

been massive decisions made by government when they faced very difficult fiscal

times.

Let's go back to the 1990s, Mr. Speaker, when members

opposite laid off 2,000 people.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

The

member should look at what happened back in those days, Mr. Speaker, when

businesses not only stopped hiring, they shut down and people left the Province

and moved away. I tell you, we are

going to make our best efforts to ensure that does not happen to Newfoundland

and Labrador.

We are not laying off thousands of public servants like

members opposite did, Mr. Speaker.

We are going to stick with our public servants, we are going to stick with our

economy, we are going to partner with business, and we will have a better

tomorrow for our Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. George's Stephenville East.

MR.

REID:

Mr.

Speaker, the College of the North Atlantic is currently in the process of moving

programs from one campus to another and has, in some cases in the last few

years, eliminated programs. The

justification given in many cases is low enrolment.

I ask the minister responsible for post-secondary

education: Is he aware of concerns about the lack of proper promotion of these

programs?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have to tell you we are very proud of the work that

the College of the North Atlantic has done here in this Province, Mr. Speaker,

and also the education that they are providing for thousands of Newfoundlanders

and Labradorians, and also Canadians.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Mr.

Speaker, from time to time the College of the North Atlantic does make changes.

They make changes to programs.

They look at where the demand is in the market, what programs are in high

demand, where our economy and where businesses in the Province need additional

training and need additional students.

There are other places where there has been a

substantial amount of training done and there is less of a demand, Mr. Speaker.

We expect the College of the North Atlantic to roll with that, to adjust

their programs, and deliver services that are in demand for our Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. George's Stephenville East.

MR.

REID:

Mr.

Speaker, the concerns that are being raised is that the college is not being

competitive enough in promoting their programs and that they are not

Also, concerns have been raised that acceptance letters are not being

received in a timely manner.

I ask the minister: Will he direct officials in his

department to look into these deficiencies and, if necessary, address them, Mr.

Speaker?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

What I just heard the member opposite say is that the College of the North

Atlantic is not investing enough in promoting the college and the courses and

the programs. Mr. Speaker, a very

interesting position for the members opposite to take, considering last week

they criticized us for trying to draw attention and to bring people to

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

government websites that are knowledgeable about what government services are

available and what this year's Budget contains, Mr. Speaker.

Last week, they were criticizing we are spending too

much on promotion; this week, they are saying we are not spending enough, Mr.

Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

The

College of the North Atlantic, Mr. Speaker, does a great job in delivering very

important programs and services to post-secondary students in Newfoundland and

Labrador. They provide a good quality of

programs. I tell you when students

leave the College of the North Atlantic, they go on to long-term careers many

of them right here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon. the Member for St. George's Stephenville

East.

MR.

REID:

Mr.

Speaker, the concern here is that rather than spend money promoting programs at

the college in a proper way, government is spending money on politically

motivated self-promotion.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

REID:

That is the problem here; it is the way that this money is being spent.

I want to ask the minister, the Premier, or whoever

wants to answer: What are you going to do to address these concerns that people

are raising about the promotion of programs at the college?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Mr.

Speaker, to be clear, he has just reiterated once again that when we, as a

government, promote what is contained in the Budget so we educate the people of

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

help to provide information to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador so they

know

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

what is in the Budget and every time we have done anything publicly to talk

about the Budget, we encourage people to go to our website, Mr. Speaker.

We do it through

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I ask members for their co-operation.

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Every time we have done it, we have directed people to

the website where the Budget is so that they can peruse the Budget in detail and

see the information.

Mr. Speaker, every day constituency assistants for

members of this entire House of Assembly receive calls from constituents.

Very frequently, one of the highest demand calls that constituency

assistants receive is looking for information on programs and services. We are

directing the people right to the website to help them understand better what is

available for them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Humber East.

MR.

FLYNN:

Mr.

Speaker, there are over 150 tourism establishments across the Province operating

without a licence. This week, being

National Tourism Week, the industry has concerns for the safety of the patrons

who are staying at these unlicensed tourism accommodations.

I ask the minister: What steps is this government

taking to ensure the compliance of life safety regulations by operators with

unlicensed accommodations?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Mr.

Speaker, I say to the member opposite, and I thank him for his question.

It is important to make sure that regulations and standards are in place

that provide quality services, Mr. Speaker, because we have more people coming

to our Province than we have ever had before.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

are heading into our tourism season.

We know that bed and breakfasts and inns, tourist-based opportunities

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

They do not like to hear me talk over there, Mr. Speaker tourism industry,

people who are creating jobs, providing economic drivers for tourism, creating

great opportunities for visitors to enjoy what our Province has to offer, and

they are growing in leaps and bounds.

We should ensure they are all properly registered.

That they provide the standards and qualifications that they should have,

and we are working hard to make sure that happens.

We have a growing industry, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Humber East.

MR.

FLYNN:

Mr.

Speaker, I am not questioning the great product we have in this Province and

some great operators, but this is a life and safety issue.

Recently, three people were rescued from a fire at a

hotel in Marystown, which was operating without a valid accommodations licence

from government. Government is

responsible for inspecting and licensing tourism establishments, including

ensuring they have a complement with fire safety regulations.

I ask the minister: When will you begin enforcing your

own regulations for the safety of its occupants?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I said, it is important that we have regulations,

that we have standards. Standards

and regulations quite often it is not only about the quality of the product,

but it is also about the safety of the individuals who utilize those services,

if it be accommodations as the member opposite has referred to.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage anyone, and everyone in the

Province, that anywhere they go, if they see a circumstance they do not believe

is right or does not meet the requirements of legislation, pick up the phone and

contact someone to make sure it can be looked after and checked into.

All tourism operators are fully aware, and I have

talked to many of them

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

who believe they all need to share in responsibilities to ensure that life

safety is always in place for people who are visiting and utilizing those

services, Mr. Speaker, and also they work together to provide a better product.

The higher the product that is provided, then the better reputation

Newfoundland and Labrador is going to have globally and the more visitors are

going to come visit us.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

MR.

J. BENNETT:

Mr.

Speaker,

section 67 of the Children and Youth Care and Protection Act says that

youth needing protective intervention can sign a youth services agreement to get

supports and funding from CYFS. If

that youth was in custody or care of CYFS on their sixteenth birthday, they can

receive supports until their twenty-first birthday.

If they were not in care and custody of CYFS on their sixteenth birthday,

they can receive supports only until their nineteenth birthday.

I ask the minister: Why does he provide supports to

some youth until age twenty-one, but to others only until age nineteen when all

of them are considered by his department to need protective intervention?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am very pleased to say over here that our government

wanted to make sure that services, assistance, and supports to very vulnerable

youth did not just end at the age of sixteen, Mr. Speaker.

That is why we support the advancements of programs of youth beyond

sixteen.

It is not that many years ago, Mr. Speaker, that when a

young person reached the age of sixteen, they were no longer entitled to

services from Child, Youth and Family Services.

At the time it used to come under the health care authorities.

We took the steps to create a stand-alone

department to provide those services.

We have advanced

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

advanced those services to youth beyond sixteen.

Yes, there are conditions, Mr. Speaker.

I tell the member opposite, I know from my own personal experience that

as a young person ages and passes the age of sixteen, it becomes much more

difficult to ensure they stay within those programs.

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

MR.

J. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will ask the Premier the question again.

I know the Finance Minister is not good at math and maybe the Premier is

not good at ages.

Section 67 of the Children and Youth Care and

Protection Act says that youth needing protective intervention can sign a youth

services agreement to get supports and funding from CYFS.

If that youth was in custody or care on their sixteenth birthday, they

can receive supports until their twenty-first.

If they were not in care and custody on their sixteenth birthday, they

could only receive supports until their nineteenth birthday.

So the question is: Why does the Premier provide

supports to some youth until age twenty-one but to others until age nineteen,

when all of them are considered by his department to need protective

intervention?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Mr.

Speaker, to put it in perspective, what used to happen was when a young person

turned sixteen, the services and programs that were available to them came to an

abrupt end. It stopped happening.

What we have done, Mr. Speaker, is we now advance those

services. So if a young person who

is receiving care and support at the age of sixteen, and let's say, for example,

they have a serious interest in furthering their education, then those services

will continue with that youth so they can continue to support their

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

will support their efforts, Mr. Speaker, to continue with that education.

Bringing that person right up to the age of twenty-one affords them an

equal and beneficial opportunity to complete a post-secondary education as well,

with grounded supports and assistance around them.

That is why we changed it and provide better services than have ever been

provided before (inaudible).

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

MR.

J. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, the question was about age discrimination between

twenty-one year olds and nineteen year olds.

The question is: Why does this government provide

supports to some youth until age twenty-one, but to others only until age

nineteen, when all of them are considered by this government to need protective

intervention? Why the

discrimination?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Mr.

Speaker, I just referenced it, and I will reference it again for the benefit of

the member opposite, because this is about children and youth who are

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

about children and youth who are receiving services, Mr. Speaker, from Child,

Youth and Family Services. Instead

of just cutting them off, like used to happen, it is a chance to continue with

those programs and services so that youth can continue to benefit from those

services and programs, especially when they are engaged and they want those

services.

Now, we see circumstances, Mr. Speaker, where sixteen

or seventeen year olds do not want the services.

They do not want to be engaged with government at that point in their

lives. We cannot bring them into the

program and force them to come in kicking and screaming.

This is about those who want to continue in programs because they

benefit, and it is paying off because more are graduating from school, going on

to post-secondary education and getting careers in Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

MR.

J. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Clearly, the Premier, former Minister of Child, Youth

and Family Services, needs a briefing on the department that he used to be the

minister of, because he does not seem to understand the question.

The question is: Why do you extend support services to

some people until age twenty-one,

whereas others can only receive the same

support services until age nineteen, even though all of them are deemed to be in

need of protective intervention?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

am glad I get another chance to continue that discussion, Mr. Speaker, because

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

because it is a very important and serious matter for

this government. It was important

enough that we took the steps to make those changes to ensure that people

continue to receive programs and services beyond the age of sixteen.

We have also seen times again, I tried to tell this

to the member opposite earlier. That

I have seen cases as well where children and youth want to leave those programs.

They leave those programs and services.

They do not want to be there.

We know members opposite have shown a concern in the

past about, well, why do you let them leave those programs?

Members opposite have asked questions about it before.

This is about continuing those supports.

We have some great programs and partnerships.

Choices for Youth is a great example of great work they are doing with

youth in Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

The Premier recently noted that minimum processing

requirement cod exemptions given to OCI under a pilot project were to allow them

the opportunity to find new markets and new mechanisms to build the industry.

I ask the Premier: Has the company provided information

about the new markets that the exemptions enabled them to explore and, if so,

can the Premier table it?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Just to clarify as well and the minister, I am sure,

will provide further details for the member opposite momentarily. Minimum

processing requirements are one of two jurisdictional authorities that we have

as a Province and as a government here in the fishing industry.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

PREMIER DAVIS:

What we do is partner with businesses, we partner with industry to allow them to

seek out new markets and new opportunities for our fishing industry, and they

have proven to be very successful ventures in the past, Mr. Speaker.

It is a good opportunity, but what is important on MPRs

is that we control the MPRs. Even

though the federal government wanted us to give up MPRs as part of CETA, Mr.

Speaker, we are not doing that. We

are going to keep control of that for the best interests of our fishery and our

people right here in the Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MICHAEL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am taking that as a no to my question.

Therefore, I ask the Premier: To what purpose did

government grant these exemptions if no validating information is returned in

exchange?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

GRANTER:

Mr.

Speaker, we have had a great deal of discussion over the last little while with

regard to MPRs, especially around OCI and the Fortune plant.

We have worked diligently with the community of Fortune and the plant

workers of Fortune. I met with union

officials this morning and a union representative from the FFAW here in St.

John's. Minimum processing

requirements last year we issued 500,000 pounds of cod exemptions in the

Province, and only a small percentage of the MPR exemptions were used last year.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's East.

MR.

MURPHY:

Mr.

Speaker, you ask any emergency responder and they will tell you that the new 911

service here in the Province is two-tier.

There is a difference between a call taker and a dispatcher.

Why doesn't government recognize the failing of the

Province-wide 911 system as it is at present, and fix it so that all have an

equal dispatch service in the Province?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister Responsible for Fire and Emergency Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The member would know that he is being a little bit

disingenuous in the way he has phrased his question in the

preamble there.

There is not a two-tiered system that the Government of Newfoundland and

Labrador has implemented; in fact, there is a common 911 system for the entire

Province, Mr. Speaker.

The member is referencing certain parts of the Province

where municipalities have taken it upon themselves to enter into an arrangement

to further enhance the service in their particular area.

That is well within the right of municipalities throughout the Province,

I say to the member opposite.

Mr. Speaker, 911 as we deliver in this Province is

generic and common to all people throughout all parts of the Province.

As a matter of fact, as I have said a number of times before, government

is now moving to the next stage to work on Next Generation 911.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's East.

MR.

MURPHY:

Mr.

Speaker, consumers want a 911 system in this Province; that, there is no doubt.

They expect a system that uses dispatchers, not just call takers.

There is a difference, and both the minister and the public know this.

We cannot be fooled. The

public cannot be fooled on this.

I ask the minister: If consumers are looking for

immediate 911 dispatcher access, not call-taker access, shouldn't they get what

they are paying for, for the seventy-five cents a phone line?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister Responsible for Fire and Emergency Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

KING:

Mr.

Speaker, I say to the member opposite that he has the luxury of standing on that

side of the House every single day, as he does, and demand actions from this

government on budgetary items every single day.

We have a list here in one of the drawers as long as your arm of the

members from the Third Party demanding action every single day on budgetary

items.

I say to the member opposite if you ever get the chance

to sit on this side of the House, you will recognize very quickly that

governments are constrained by the budgetary policies of government, Mr.

Speaker. We made a Blue Book

commitment several years ago to bring in 911 and we have met that commitment.

As I have said a few moments ago, we have also made the commitment to

work towards Next Generation 911.

Very clearly, people in the Province are receiving what this government

committed to, which was common, generic 911 service for the entire part of the

Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The time for Question Period has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motion.

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. John's North.

MR.

KIRBY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the

undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS many parents have expressed concern about the

impact of overcrowding at Beachy Cove Elementary on students' mental and

physical well-being; and

WHEREAS many parents have questioned the impact of

major space restrictions at Beachy Cove Elementary and the ability of the school

to continue delivering quality curriculum in their growing student population;

and

WHEREAS many parents have expressed concern about

government's prolonged timelines to plan, tender, and construct the approved

intermediate Grade 5-9 school in Portugal Cove-St. Phillips;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly

pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge government to provide all the

necessary resources in Budget 2015 and beyond to have the Portugal Cove-St.

Phillips intermediate Grade 5-9 school constructed, commissioned, and

operational for students in September 2016.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, I suppose there are about another fifty or

so signatures on this petition. I

note the government issued a press release yesterday saying that the school is

going to progress. Interestingly

enough, we have another one of these schools purposely designed for expansion.

I like to call them the rubber schools that the government is building.

You just sort of stretch them out after a while and they will be big

enough. Sort of like Beachy Cove

Elementary has been, another school designed or built for expansion.

It could be expanded by adding modular classrooms in the parking lot and

so on and so forth.

We will certainly be here.

As long as I am here let's put this way in the House of Assembly I

will be holding whichever government to account on this particular issue.

I do not think a lot of people in our communities, whether it is Portugal

Cove-St. Phillips, or Torbay, or Paradise and so on, believe the bill of goods

they are being sold by this government, that somehow all these schools are going

to be ready for 2016, no problem. As

I said before, there are lots of instances where this government has built

schools that are too small, they are too late, and basically too short of the

promise that was originally made.

We still have lots of these petitions coming.

People in the community are going to be holding the minister, the members

in those areas, and this government to account for their commitments on these

particular schools. We know that

wherever kids live around the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, they

deserve to have the same level and the same quality of education as others.

One of the biggest concerns people have today is (

a) whether or not these schools are going to be actually built, in place,

constructed, commissioned and open for September 2016, and whether or not these

expansions that they are talking about are something that are going to be needed

immediately or something that is going to be relatively straightforward to do.

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I remind the member his time has expired.

MR.

KIRBY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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 Belle 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 and 2015 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 Belle Isle that would include a geological assessment and a

full cost analysis;

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, eventually, at long last, most of the ice

from this past winter seems to be gone.

We still need to continue to talk about the need for this important study

because the ice will come again, because that is where we live.

Mr. Speaker, the minister a few minutes ago talked

about the people who get up on the Opposition and ask for things that have a big

cost dollar value attached to it, but this is about vision.

This is about planning. This

is about are we going to continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in

ferries while all around the world in places like Norway they are looking at

models and they are looking at tunnels.

The Minister of Finance the other day said he thought it was good.

He thought it was a good idea for a fixed link, but the time was only

coming now in the next ten years.

Just the other day in debate the Minister of

Transportation said that I like to stand on my soapbox and I like to sound

passionate. Mr. Speaker, I could not

believe it. I have an obligation

here on behalf of the people. Why

would we lock ourselves into a ferry service for the next twenty-five years when

we are clearly going to continue to have the same kinds of problems?

We have an RFP that has been pulled off the table.

We do not know when we are getting a new ferry.

Ten years is enough to lock us into that, and then we need to be looking

at a fixed link. We need to be doing

a full, comprehensive feasibility study to see if in fact this is an option for

the Strait of Belle Isle, or if it is not.

I will continue to stand and bring forward the concerns

and the interests of the people who use the ferry from both sides of the

Labrador Straits, and indeed around the rest of the Province.

Thank you.

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

To the House of Assembly of the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the

undersigned residents humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS privatized nursing homes lower operating costs

by paying lower wages, de-unionizing, laying people off and cutting staff in

these facilities; and

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I ask members for their co-operation.

The hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate that on behalf of the people

whose petition I am reading.

WHEREAS studies have established that for-profit

nursing homes are associated with lower quality of services and poorer resident

health outcomes, including an increased risk of hospitalization; and

WHEREAS Auditors General of the Provinces of Nova

Scotia, New Brunswick and Ontario have reported that P3s cost taxpayers more;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly

pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge government to immediately stop

the privatization of long-term care.

As in duty bound your petitioners will ever pray.

I am very pleased to stand again, Mr. Speaker.

These petitions have been coming in to me for a while.

These signatures today are once again from Central Newfoundland.

All of them, actually, are from Grand Falls-Windsor, people who are

concerned because they are reading the reports that I have been referring to

here in the House of Assembly when questioning the Premier.

They are reading the reports that say privatization of long-term care is

not working. Reports that are done

on a number of levels, some of them are done with regard to the actual care of

people in long-term care homes. We

have one province, Saskatchewan in particular, where deaths of people in homes

are being investigated.

The petitioners are also aware of the reports of

Auditors General of at least three provinces, and I am aware of a fourth one,

whereas it is being shown that it is actually not cost effective to have the

private sector involved, that in actual fact it is more expensive.

Very often the construction of facilities are costing more money than if

they had been done under traditional contracts.

As well, the type of care that is happening inside the homes is lower

than that run by the public sector, by government.

The main reason is obvious, Mr. Speaker, that the private sector has to

make money.

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Do I continue, or is that order for the floor?

MR.

SPEAKER:

You

have another thirty seconds.

The hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi has

another thirty seconds.

MICHAEL:

Thank you very much.

The disruption of the floor, okay.

So, to say we do have a study showing that the care of

people is also suffering. In

Saskatchewan, deaths are being investigated.

It is very disheartening for the petitioners and for me to hear

government denying that these reports are there and refusing to recognize it.

Other provinces know privatization of these services should not be

happening.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Trinity Bay de Verde.

MR.

CROCKER:

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 community of Northern Bay is a significant

tourism attraction in the District of Trinity Bay de Verde; and

WHEREAS the site of a commercial building that was

destroyed by fire several years ago; and

WHEREAS the remains of this fire still exist along

Route 80 in Northern Bay;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly

pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland

and Labrador to ensure the necessary cleanup occurs.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this is my second opportunity to enter

this petition, or a similar petition.

It is interesting because I am entering it on behalf of the residents of

Northern Bay, but when I look at the addresses of the people who signed this

petition, it is people from all along Route 70: Ochre Pit Cove, Gull Island,

Adam's Cove, Western Bay, Bay de Verde, Burnt Point, Broad Cove, Victoria,

Kelligrews, Cape Spear, Lower Island Cove, St. John's, and Job's Cove.

Mr. Speaker, that is just to name a few on this petition of well over 100

signatures this afternoon of people who are concerned with the environmental

mess, eyesore, and threat that exists today in Northern Bay.

Mr. Speaker, just last week the minister had his

officials on site. We have not seen

any concrete action yet of what is going to be done with this site.

Tens of thousands of people visit Northern Bay Sands each and every

summer. It is one of the largest

tourism attractions in the district.

These people come from all over the Avalon Peninsula and other parts of the

Province.

Mr. Speaker, this has been an issue that has been

raised by the people of Northern Bay with the previous member and they continue

today to raise it with me. We are

asking the Department of Environment to do this clean up as soon as possible.

There is no need to put up with another tourism season of this eyesore

directly across the entrance of Northern Bay Sands.

It is simply not acceptable.

Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I ask the minister to

direct his officials to take the necessary action to have this property

immediately cleaned up.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

MR.

HILLIER:

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 of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS the Town of Conception Bay South is the

second-largest municipality in the Province with a population of approximately

26,000 people; and

WHEREAS recent dangerous incidents on community streets

have highlighted concerns of high speed and

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR.

HILLIER:

inadequate traffic control in Conception Bay South; and

WHEREAS residents, organized groups and the town

continue to raise awareness about pedestrian safety along main streets and the

lack of police presence in Conception Bay South;

We, the undersigned, petition the House of Assembly to

urge government to review the level of policing in Conception Bay South with an

objective to increasing police services and improving public safety.

As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this is several times I have brought this

petition forward. I know any number

of groups within the town have taken this petition to be signed.

I first want to point out, as I have in the past, that

in no way am I criticizing the work that the RNC currently does in our town.

In fact, they continue to present themselves in a very professional

manner as they go about their daily work. Mr.

Speaker, I am more concerned, I guess, that the issue is tied more to the degree

of policing and the perception of residents and the visibility of police in the

community.

This petition came about to focus on the main issue

that deals with speeding and dangerous driving on three highways that run

through Conception Bay South: Route 60, Conception Bay South Bypass Road, and

Foxtrap Access Road. It is only

recently we have had several serious accidents on the Conception Bay South

Bypass Road, for whatever reason, whether it is construction issues or, more of

a concern, the speed and dangerous driving of people on that highway.

Mr. Speaker, I know recently the mayor has called for

more police presence on that highway.

It is not only on the highways.

It is in the neighbourhoods as well.

I know when I was growing up in Conception Bay South, we learned to ride

our bikes on the street. We did not

have to go somewhere else. We did

not have to ride them on sidewalks.

We did not have to go to parking lots to learn to ride our bike.

We rode our bikes on the streets.

Mr. Speaker, that is a concern today in that

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I remind the member his time has expired.

MR.

HILLIER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.

MR.

MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House

of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament

assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and

Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS government

has a responsibility to ensure that Internet access is broadly available so

people have a right to be able to access the Internet in order to exercise and

enjoy their rights to freedom of expression and opinion and other fundamental

human rights; and

WHEREAS Bide Arm

was bypassed under the Broadband and Rural and Northern Development Initiative,

which saw high-speed Internet added to thirty-six communities on the Great

Northern Peninsula in 2004; and

WHEREAS nearly a

decade later, Bide Arm still remains without broadband services despite being an

amalgamated town with Roddickton; and

WHEREAS residents

rely on Internet services for education, business, communication, and social

activity; and

WHEREAS wireless

and wired technologies exist to provide broadband service to rural communities

to replace slower dial-up service;

We, the

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

providers to ensure Bide Arm is in receipt of broadband Internet services in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

The petition is

signed by residents of Bird Cove and Roddickton.

Mr. Speaker, Bide Arm has a good business community there.

When it comes to looking at expanding services and how you can promote

and advertise, whether it be through James Randell & Sons Ltd. or D's Beauty

World, or looking at the trucking companies that exist or the Western

Newfoundland and Labrador Developers Co-operative that exits there ,

Ashton House, you talk about the ability to be able to connect with business and

to thrive; you need the basic service of broadband Internet.

It makes a lot of sense to offer that service.

If you talk about the industry, Bide Arm and Roddickton

has been surrounded by forests and predominantly heavily involved in the

forestry. If you do not have access

to good telecommunications, then you cannot look at diversifying your economy

and creating good jobs for the people in the region.

Government has really failed by not pursuing after

broadband one, two, and now the potential for broadband three not to see a

town, a municipality like Roddickton-Bide Arm to be able to fully have broadband

Internet. It shows contempt.

It shows disgrace. It is

absolutely terrible that a Town of Roddickton-Bide Arm would not have broadband

Internet in this day and age. I call

upon the government to support this initiative.

Thank you.

MR.

SPEAKER:

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

MR.

KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR.

KING:

this time I move, pursuant to Standing Order 11, that the House not adjourn at

5:30 p.m. today, Tuesday, June 2, 2015.

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

motion is that the House not adjourn at 5:30 p.m. today.

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR.

SPEAKER:

All

those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR.

KING:

Thank you again, Mr. Speaker.

I move, pursuant to Standing Order 11, that the House

not adjourn at 10:00 p.m. today, Tuesday, June 2, 2015.

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

motion is that the House not adjourn at 10:00 p.m. today.

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR.

SPEAKER:

All

those against, 'nay.'

The motion is carried.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR.

KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I also want to give notice to members that the

Estimates for Executive Council as well as the Office of Public Engagement will

be debated here in the House in Committee of the Whole this coming Thursday,

which is June 4, I do believe.

With that, I would like to call from the Order Paper,

Order 3(a), Concurrence Motion to debate the Resource Committee.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The Government House Leader Concurrence Motion, which

one?

MR.

KING:

Excuse me, Mr. Speaker, on the Order Paper it is 3(a), the Resource Committee.

MR.

SPEAKER:

Resource Committee.

The motion is that the report of the Resource Committee

be concurred in.

The hon. the Member for Bonavista North.

MR.

CROSS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I guess I would just like to say it has been

three-and-a-half years of standing in the hon. Chamber.

Like the Member for Bay Verte Springdale said the other day, you are

still pinching yourself to realize that you are living the dream.

You are still here and having the privilege to be able to stand to

represent people when you stand up to speak.

I also realize, Mr. Speaker, mentioning that

three-and-a-half years first when we came into the House in the spring of that

year, the Government House Leader read the names of the members who would be on

different committees. I suppose I

had a little bit of knowledge, and I heard my name read to be on the Public

Accounts Committee. Then I relaxed

and said, oh, I am on the Public Accounts Committee.

I sat back and relaxed. Then

all of a sudden, a few short minutes later, he said the Member for Bonavista

North is also on the Resource Committee.

I sort of did a double beat then because I did not realize what that was

precisely.

It is probably only when you do get into the Estimates

committees on the Budget that you understand and get a chance to be able to pay

attention, to study what is happening when the minister comes into the House

with all kinds of officials from his department, the actual Resource Committee,

or other committees.

There are three committees altogether, Mr. Speaker, and

they meet after hours, or before hours on Parliamentary days.

They meet for three hours, and the members of the committee generally

it is the Official Opposition and the Third Party.

Even though there are members named to the committee from the Opposition,

usually the Opposition members substitute in, into their critic areas.

If Advanced Education and Skills is up, then you are sure the lead person

who is asking questions on that day would be the critic for Advanced Education

and Skills, and so on throughout the Estimates meetings.

Also from that, Mr. Speaker, you understand and you

realize each and every line. We get

a huge book I would hold it up but I am not into that part of the prop.

It is a book that is 300 to 400 pages long and it has every single item

of expenditure that the government would spend money on in the current year.

It also has a list, Mr. Speaker, of what the government

spent in the last year in the revised estimate.

You have a plan. At the end

of the year you will either spend more or spend less.

So the second number is listed there for the members to observe, and then

the current year's spending.

Many of the questions coming in are eagerly there to

say, well, you planned to spend this much last year, you actually spent this

much more or this much less, why is your number like it is for this year?

That is an example, Mr. Speaker, of many of the questions that come

forward.

Again, it gives a prime example of how scrutiny can go

into the documents that follow the Budget.

Right now we are in the point of this current year, I had the

opportunity to not only sit on the Resource Committee, but I Chaired the

Committee. I sat at the table and

directed the activity of the Committee as it went.

Mr. Speaker, I have to report now on the activity of

the Resource Committee for this year.

Most of the comments I will probably make in the next few minutes will be

related to that. Then I will have a

few general comments at the end about how certain parts of the Budget fit, not

only the Resource Committee, but all parts of all committees as they have met.

As I said, it has been four years now, so the situation is there.

I was happy to, like I said, control the flow of the questions that went

back and forth this year.

Another thing I would like to let the people know is

that Hansard records all of this activity.

Any member of the general public can request a copy of Hansard and they

can see the actual activity that happens.

It is not televised, but it is recorded, and copies are available for

anybody there.

You will also notice, Mr. Speaker, the departments.

The departments that fit into this category first I probably should

tell you who was actually sitting on the Committee.

I will find that in a minute.

It eludes me right now but we will fit this through.

The different departments that fit into this aspect of

the resource sector, Mr. Speaker, are Advanced Education and Skills, Fisheries

and Aquaculture, Forestry and Agrifoods, Environment and Conservation as well as

the Office of Climate Change, and Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural

Development. If you had noticed the

theme through all five of these departments of government is they are all

connected with the resource sector.

That is hence the name of this Committee, the Resource Estimates Committee.

If you look at the entire Budget as it is spent, Mr.

Speaker, and the $8.1 billion investment or expenditures that will happen this

year in our Budget, approximately 25 per cent 27 per cent, I believe of the

entire expenditure of government is expended in the resource sector.

The largest of the three sectors of the Estimates committees would be the

social sector. Obviously, that

includes health and education.

Therefore, it takes up about 56 per cent of the entire expenditures of

government. It has probably many

more departments as well that fit in there.

In the resource sector, if we just look at the

breakdown I want to sort of outline the breakdown of expenditures per

different department as it fits. If

you realize in an $8.1 billion Budget, about $800 million is about 10 per cent

of that Budget. So Advanced

Education and Skills has a total expenditure of $879 million.

That is slightly more than 10 per cent of the entire budgetary spending.

Natural Resources, the second largest of the

departments that we scrutinize, has an expenditure of $795 million.

Again, that is approximately 10 per cent.

Some other departments, although they are very

important in the scheme of things for our entire Province and how things go, Mr.

Speaker, departments like Environment and Conservation spent $27 million in

total for the administration of the office and some of the programs that are

carried out by that department. So

that is far less than 10 per cent.

In fact, it is only about 3 per cent of the entire Budget.

So you can imagine where some of this fits.

Forestry and Agrifoods, the expenditure is just shy of

$70 million. Business, Tourism,

Culture and Rural Development has about $130 million-plus of expenditure.

Fisheries and Aquaculture takes up about $23 million of the expenditure.

I alluded to Advanced Education and Skills and all the

resource sector. Just for people in

the general public to think about some of the aspects of Advanced Education and

Skills and how that fits to, why would it command such an amount of the

budgetary expenditure? Well, when we

were in Estimates, one of the notes I wrote down at the chair as I was talking,

is when the minister was sat at the desk here, one of the first questions he was

asked in opening comments, he said: I would really like to think this is the

department of the government that helps citizens.

There is 10 per cent of the Budget there that is set up for that.

So, basically, AES ensures that Newfoundland and

Labrador has highly educated grads and skilled workers.

Part of that is through the complement of the supports that are put in

place, Mr. Speaker. Post-secondary

education, obviously, we know that Memorial University takes the bulk of what is

expended in post-secondary education.

It has the most dollars there.

The College of the North Atlantic is to make sure that

we are developing trades, Mr. Speaker, that fit the needs of our future

workforce and the college applicants that come in.

Student Aid is a part of this, apprenticeship development programs,

career development and training supports, and then assisting communities,

whether it be through disasters or problems in industry, where industries are on

a downturn and the Department of Advanced Education and Skills move in and

assess the needs and the supports that are necessary to support the community

through its rough times, to offer counselling services, to retrain people, and

assistance programs for that, as well as the disaster relief programs that may

be offered. So that is an area that

covers a vast amount. A lot of

questions came through all the different varying stages of how we deliver the

funds in these categories.

Environment and Conservation: Given the need to protect

and enhance our environment, it talks about management of biodiversity, all of

the endangered species, wildlife, inland fish, water, and climate change.

The Office of Climate Change was a portion of that Estimates.

We also look at the control of pollution, again, through water resource

policies, impact assessments, industrial emissions, waste disposal and waste

disposal took up probably the most of the time that was allotted there.

Again, it got into not only budget line items, but it was a quite a vast

amount of debate, basically, or opinions or questions probing questions that

led to more policy topics as I went through.

Also covering Environment and Conservation is

regulatory protection of inland fish and wildlife, as well as provincial parks,

wilderness reserves, and these areas.

So, there is a vast degree of information that flowed through there.

The Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture the

minister and his officials came in and, of course, they are given the care of

extracting the optimal sustainable benefit of fisheries and aquaculture for our

entire Province, Mr. Speaker.

Although when you look at it and say well, our fishery is a billion-dollar

industry, we do not spend the billion dollars in fishery, but most of what we do

spend is there for the administration and planning and programming and research

in our fishery.

Research and development takes a fair amount of that.

I guess the profit of some of the research and development that went into

our fishery, after the moratorium from some twenty years ago, is our study and

research into aquaculture and how that industry has moved to revitalize the

fishery in the Province and has become a vital component of the fishery.

It is not the entire future of it, but it is a very vast component of the

fishery.

We also looked at Forestry and Agrifoods, Mr. Speaker.

In that aspect, they look at the management and stewardship of our

forestry and the management and development of agrifoods policies as we go

through. Natural Resources, again,

was one Estimates where when we met it would have required I can remember

three years ago in my actual first Estimates Committee I think I ever attended

was in an evening and it took six-and-a-half hours to get through the Estimates

in Natural Resources. It did not

take us this long this year. Maybe

the Chair was pretty efficient and got things through.

I would say that it is a very important part of what we

look at as part of our character now.

Mining and energy, the two aspects of our natural resources, other than

the other natural resources that come in this category that already have their

own portfolios, but around the Island from Baie Verte to Buchans, to the Burin

Peninsula to the Northeast Central area, just shy of Gander where some mining

activities are on the go, you have Lab West and Voisey's Bay and, as a result of

that, getting into our secondary processing we have Long Harbour, Come By Chance

and areas like that, that really take up a fair amount of time from this.

Also, when we look at energy we look at the Bay

d'Espoir development, we look at how Holyrood is continuing on as long as we

need it, and what we have to put into that, as well as the Churchill River with

the most recent development we are doing now in Muskrat Falls and what impact

that is going to have for our future.

You can see that this can be a very, very debatable topic as it gets in

Estimates. It is something that you

could have some lively questions on.

It can be an easy move away from the budgetary items as it goes through, Mr.

Speaker.

I think, just to outline for our viewers or citizens,

we recognize now that this is how this Committee worked and what was there.

In a few moments you are going to hear from some of the members of the

Committee or people in the critic areas for these.

The list of people who sat on this Committee were: the

Member for Grand Falls Windsor-Green Bay South, the Member for Signal Hill

Quidi Vidi, the Member for The Straits White Bay North, the Member for Fortune

Bay Cape La Hune, the Member for Labrador West, and the Member for Carbonear

Harbour Grace. This was the group of

people who made up that Committee.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR.

CROSS:

the next two to three hours as we debate the Estimates Committee, or to the

Concurrence so actually we are bringing in the findings of the Estimates

Committee which voted to accept without amendment, now we are bringing in and

concurring that with the budgetary debate and bringing that forward so it all

fits into the big picture. These

people will probably be some of the people that you will see on your screen, I

say to the people at home, in the next two to three hours.

They will be offering their comments on what happened in these meetings

and how it fits.

What I want to probably expound on in the three or four

minutes I have left is I would really like to look at a follow-up from things I

started in my last address a few days ago about the Budget where I talked about

some of the targets and some of the needs of where we are, so it is in the plan

for the next four or five years, Mr. Speaker.

Through the Estimates Committees, many of the questions came in and said

well, here is where we are looking at attrition, or here is where we are looking

at some of the other things, and how it impacts on our budgetary numbers

starting in this current year.

Some of the things I was talking about the other day

and started to talk about in targets I sort of rushed through a little bit

because it was pretty near the end of my talk on the main Budget motion, Mr.

Speaker. I just wanted to allude

back a little to it today. I just

want to follow. The lead-up and the

lead-in to this is the fact that obviously it is no secret that we have suffered

a couple of years of really, really tough economic times.

The biggest cause for this, even though it is probably not the sole

cause, is the lower resources that we are getting, the lower income that we are

getting through the world prices of either oil or the resources the ore that

we are selling and how that impacts and enters into our budgetary picture.

Mr. Speaker, the plan forward over the next five years

there are many references through all of the Estimates Committees for all

this. It looked at the fiscal

performance targets that we needed to look at.

There are five points that the Minister of Finance outlined when he

delivered the Budget. I want to

repeat them today because they have very much a strong impact on where we look,

where we look to carve, and where we look to increase expenditure in because

in this current Budget we did not just say okay, we are not going to spend any

money, because that would really, really, really stop our economy, Mr. Speaker.

We had to balance the choice that we made through whatever we need to do

in how we can garnish income, but how do we expend, or how do we borrow.

So the five targets, Mr. Speaker, as listed by the

minister in his Budget Speech said debt expenses as a percentage of gross

revenue will not exceed 13 per cent.

So if I start to look at this then if we look at the last twenty-five years.

If we go back to 1991 and we look at fiscal performance indicators of

whatever, then 13 per cent it was not until 2008, Mr. Speaker, that we

actually brought our debt expenses, the percentage of gross revenue below the 13

per cent threshold.

It is like in a graph, as any line graph goes, it waves

up and down and up and down, but it has been hovering near 13 percent and

whatever. So over the next five

years, we made a commitment we are not going to cross that barrier of 13 per

cent. As the projected outlook goes

and all these documents, all the members on both sides of the House have these,

then that is showing how the plan is for the next five years, that line will not

exceed the 13 per cent threshold.

The net debt, as a percentage of nominal GDP, will not

exceed 40 per cent. Mr. Speaker,

there is another graph in here that shows it is the same thing.

If we go right back to 1991, and I would say it stops at 1991, but it did

not say it went up over the 40 per cent mark in 1991.

I would say that mark was way back in the waves like the mountains as you

come along. We are well up there,

Mr. Speaker, above the 40 per cent.

Again, in 2007-2008 we came down below the 40 per cent

mark, net debt as a percentage of our nominal GDP, and we have stayed down

there. The projection is to continue

through the duration of the plan that the minister outlined for this part of the

Budget.

Now, if we look ahead we can only look ten seconds as

far as my comments are because my time is up, but I would like to expound on

that. Maybe I will get a further

chance.

I thank you, Mr. Speaker, for listening to me today.

I thank you for the people of Bonavista North for listening to me, and

everyone else have a good day and finish the debate.

Thank you, Sir.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER (Littlejohn):

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is always a pleasure to follow the member.

He is a very hon. member, Mr. Speaker, and it is always nice to hear what

he has to say.

I am going to go on the Estimates and some of the

things I heard today about the departments. I

have been in this House a long while, Mr. Speaker, and I heard some things today

that just flabbergasted me. I know

the Member for Humber East brought up today, questions to the Premier.

The Premier stood up today, he wanted to be the big guy.

He wanted to be out front, I am going to handle everything.

He brought it out about licensing units, facilities in the Province for

tourism that have not been licensed, and on a fire and safety emergency.

What did the Premier of the Province tell the Member

for Humber East? If you know any of

them, call us. I was flabbergasted.

Mr. Speaker, I was flabbergasted.

Here we have Service NL that is supposed to enforce these regulations;

here we have the Department of Tourism that is supposed to certify these

locations. We are talking about

people. The Member for Humber East

gave an example of three people in an unlicensed establishment that just barely

made it out. What did the Premier, the Leader of this Province say: If you know

any, call us and let us know.

I have to say, Mr. Speaker, I have been in this House a

long while and I know there is a lot of bantering going back and forth, but when

you get the Premier of the Province to stand in this Legislature, and everybody

in Newfoundland and Labrador can hear it, can see it, can look at the replay and

see it, and not look at his minister and say: Minister, let's put a stop to

this. Let's go search these out.

Let's find these out. He says

to the Opposition: Let us know.

Mr. Speaker, this is a very serious issue.

Here we are under Tourism standing up and promoting: oh, yes, we are so

proud to talk about how much tourism has increased.

We have an increase of people coming into the Province.

Here we are talking about a fire and emergency safety issue, and the

Premier brushed it off as not a big deal.

Mr. Speaker, I have to say, there are times when the

Premier wants to stand up and be the front guy.

I guess people are telling him you have to be more out front, but if he

is going to be out front he has to know what he is talking about.

He has to take these issues seriously, because these are life and safety

issues.

So I say to the Premier of the Province, if you do not

have confidence in your ministers to go and find out where these establishments

are, if you do not have regulators to go out and say: okay, if you do not follow

these life and safety measures, we are closing your building down.

He should not be standing on his feet.

That is just one part.

I know the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Rural

Development today was also Minister of EMS.

He made a statement today from a question from the Third Parry.

The minister stood up here today and made a statement saying that every

day members opposite stand up and ask things about the Budget, when we asked

about the 911 dispatch. The minister

stood up and said every day you are asking us to spend more, spend more, spend

more.

Mr. Minister, the 911 is self-sufficient by the

seventy-five cents of the people of the Province.

We are not asking you to spend any more.

We are asking you to spend the money that the people in this Province are

paying for. That is what we are

asking for. We are not going out and

saying spend another million dollars.

The people of the Province are already paying for this.

I am not sure if the minister is aware of this, but I

can show him. Not only in the Budget

that they presented the former Minister Judy Manning presented to me not

only are they paying for their services, but the $400,000 a year $454,000, I

think is the exact number that the government put in to start 911 is being

repaid to government. It is being

repaid. It is actually being paid

back to government.

Mr. Speaker, just for the minister's benefit, and just

for the government opposite, because obviously they have not read it, they have

not seen it, or they do not understand it they can pick which one.

Even with 911 being paid for by the seventy-five cents, even with the

$454,000 a year I think it is for four or five years being paid back to

government, even with the money being taken out for the Next Generation, there

is still $189,000 surplus in the 911 fund, a surplus.

We have the minister standing up and saying we are asked to spend more

money because the people want a dispatch system.

Mr. Speaker, I am just in shock by what I heard here

today. I am just absolutely shocked.

I am only on one department yet, I am only on one department.

You wonder why people of this Province think this government has to go,

the way they treat people. Just

think about that.

Here are volunteer firefighters out there who want to

go to every call they can take; 80 per cent, 90 per cent, sometimes even higher,

are all medical. They want to get

called. They want to be there to

save their fellow residents. They

want to be the first responders, yet we will not do it because the minister: oh,

you are asking us to spend money. We

are not. We are asking you to spend

the money of the seventy-five cents that the people are already paying for.

I also heard the minister today, Mr. Speaker, saying we

have it like Nova Scotia, you have what you are paying for.

Page 32 of the Pomax report clearly states that when this 911 was being

developed back in 2012 the Member for Gander was the minister, and I supported

him at the time for bringing it in because it was a great concept.

Page 32 of the report evaluates that it is a 911 dispatch system.

They use the RNC in Corner Brook, Lab West, the RNC up in Labrador, and

the St. John's Regional Fire Department.

That is what it was based on page 32.

I also know it was brought up here today, like Nova

Scotia. Page 9 of the report, Nova

Scotia has a dispatch system. It has

a dispatch system. So when I hear

statements put across the House just because people, oh, we are going to say it

because it is true. I have to stand

and correct them, because this is an issue for all the people of the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador. This is

not a Liberal, this is not a PC issue, and this is not an NDP issue.

This is a life and safety issue.

This is something I have been advocating.

Mr. Speaker, I have to give the minister the minister

agreed to sit down with me and go through it.

I thank the minister for that.

I am hoping that when we are all finished, we can come to a conclusion

and put the dispatch system in that was originally put forward by the Member for

Gander. I know it took him two or

three years to develop that when he was the minister.

That is what we should have in the Province.

If there is a good reason why we cannot, let's sit down

so someone can explain it to me and someone can explain it to the volunteer

firefighters who I know. One of

them, Mr. Speaker and I do not mind using his name is Colin Tucker.

He is one, Colin Tucker. He

is the fire chief in Meadows. Colin

Tucker is a man who not only is the fire chief; he is trained to the point where

he does work for EMS. He goes out

and trains other volunteer firefighters in Western Newfoundland.

You tell me he is wrong about the dispatch system?

Colin Tucker took it upon himself and the minister

can call him, I can give him his number.

He called Nova Scotia and said we are getting conflicting views, are you

dispatch? They said yes, we are

dispatch. Yet we had the former

minister and now we have the government saying we cannot have dispatch.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to go on to the next part of

Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.

I ask what rural development?

How much rural development do we see in rural Newfoundland and Labrador these

days? How much?

We have seen one down in Roddickton that the government tried back in

2008 and 2009. The problem with it

is that they relied on gas and oil so much the rural development just took a

sidestep to it because they were flush in cash.

Mr. Speaker, do you know the most damning thing that I

find about all this? Tom Marshall,

when he was out in Corner Brook when he talked about the hospital two short

years ago. I remember his statement.

I was bringing up about the hospital.

Two short years ago Tom Marshall being flippant, out there trying to

belittle people like me who are talking about the Corner Brook.

What did Tom Marshall say in Corner Brook?

Money is not the problem. We

have $2 billion in cash. It was two

short years ago.

Where did it all go?

If you see the speeches that he gave as Minister of Finance, he said the

oil cannot last; the prices will not keep up.

So when I hear the members opposite stand up here on their feet and say

no one predicted it, well I can tell you that you are wrong.

Your former Premier and your former Finance Minister predicted it.

Mr. Speaker, he predicted it.

He said this was going to happen.

Instead of diversifying the economy, Mr. Speaker, they

lived on oil and they spent. They

always ask: What would you do different?

I gave a speech here two weeks ago.

I was up to $380 million of wasted money and I can keep going.

That is not even counting Nalcor.

That is not counting Muskrat Falls and how much money has gone in there.

That is not even counting that absolutely not even.

That is excluded from that.

What we have to do, Mr. Speaker, as a Province is we

have to get back to diversifying the economy.

We have to get back to rural Newfoundland.

We have to start industry, but we have to do it in a planned and

sustainable way. I am going to talk

about Holson Forest Products up in Roddickton in a little while, and talk about

how not to do a project with government funds.

I just want to bring those few points up that were just

brought up in Question Period today.

I say to the Premier of the Province he always brags that he was an RNC

officer, Mr. Speaker. I give him

credit, he served the public. How

many times did I hear him say people should not make their own arrest, they

should call the RNC. Here he is

telling people now if you know of someone who is out there with a fire and

safety issue, call us.

What do you have the ministers for?

Why do you have regulations?

Why do you have inspectors? Why do

you have them? If the Premier cannot

stand up and say to the ministers we have to put a stop to this because of fire

and safety, there is something wrong.

There is absolutely something wrong when the Premier has to stand up and

say call us if you know there is an issue.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to speak about the Holson

Forest Products down in and I heard some comments made on this recently from

the government. I was on Public

Accounts and I went through the whole business plan of this.

I just wanted to let the general public know this is nothing about the

owner. I said it in Public Accounts

and I will say it here now, the owners of Holson Forest Products were set up to

fail. They could not succeed the way

that government put it in place.

They could not do it and I will tell you why.

If you have a product, first of all, you have to make

sure you have a market. They never

had a market. I just want to let the

people of the Province know before government approved and we were told it was

by Executive Council. They had to

bring it up. They bypassed

everything and brought it up to Executive Council.

Before the application was approved, before they got the stamp, there was

$8 million spent. They allowed them

to spend $8 million.

That is on the public record.

I ask the government and I ask anybody who wants to stand up, how can you

go to people in Roddickton, Holson Forest Products, how can you go up and say we

are going to put this amount of money in your plant?

We want you to diversify up here on the Northern Peninsula without having

a marketing plan. If they did have a

marketing plan we are talking about poor planning.

Just say you had a marketing plan.

The second thing that was never, ever pushed in there: How are you going

to get your product to market? How

are you going to do it? The federal

government wharf that was there was torn down.

They had no way of shipping it; absolutely, no way.

When they were trying to go to St. Anthony, they never even had the

storage facility to put the products in.

To the people of Holson Forest Products, you were

doomed to fail because there was no proper planning.

The bigger thing about this and I have it here is the recycled power

plant. You want to talk about due

diligence, Mr. Speaker. I know the

minister here stood up and said it was the Liberal government, which is

absolutely false and he was man enough to stand up and correct that.

I give him credit.

The amount was undisclosed of what was paid for it.

There is talk, but the government will not release that either.

It was sold to a company in Quebec.

Here is what the company in Quebec a Nalcor asset that they had here

is what the company said: They did not say how much it paid for the equipment it

is buying from the company, but did note in a release it is making an important

savings of $7 million on the estimated cost of $17 million.

So what they are saying is the estimated cost, Mr. Speaker, and that was

an asset of Nalcor. That was an

asset up on the Northern Peninsula that was sold to Quebec, the people's asset,

the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, here is the other part of all of this.

The land that it was on, there is still supposed to be an evaluation done

on the environmental liabilities of it.

It is still not done. We stood in

this House and asked the Minister of Environment to give us the inventory of

contaminated sites in the Province.

Can you imagine? This government

stands up and talks about the environment and they cannot stand in this House of

Assembly and the minister kept on saying the Member for St. John's West

stood up there on a regular basis it is coming, it is coming.

They cannot give you an inventory of what contaminated sites there are in

the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Now, that is the minister. I

can see why the Premier will not ask the Minister of Service NL, Mr. Speaker, to

go out and do an assessment. He

cannot even get the contaminated sites, which are all there.

So all they have to do is send officials out, get it done.

We have been waiting now for years for an inventory.

We still cannot get it done, Mr. Speaker.

Here is another site that the money whatever it was we still do not

know, sold to Quebec, a contaminated site, and we are asking who is paying for

that site? It is supposed to be

taken out of the funds from my understanding, taken out of the sales.

We still do not even know what the cost of that contaminated site is.

You are wondering why people feel that this government is not living up

to their responsibilities. That is

just two departments. In this here

there are many other departments.

Mr. Speaker, how can the people of the Province have

confidence in the government? Look

at the Abitibi site. It is just

amazing what is happening in this Province.

This government is being so secretive or incompetent, I am not sure

which. When a minister of this

Crown, who represents all the people of this Province, stands up and is going on

it is coming soon, it is coming soon.

You will have it in days, you will have it in a week, and you still do

not have it for the people of the Province.

Even the Auditor General was asking for it.

The Member for St. John's West is supposed to stand up here and say, yes,

it is coming soon. We are still

waiting for it, Mr. Speaker. That is

the kind of importance that this government puts on the environment.

That is the kind of importance they put on the liabilities of this

Province.

We can go through each one of these departments one at

a time. I will use Natural Resources

as a prime example. I just heard the

member say that oil prices Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt we do well with oil.

The question is when you do well, what are you going to do with it?

I will tell you the funniest one that I heard, Mr.

Speaker. We were talking about the

large amount of money coming in from oil, $25 billion they spent.

All of a sudden we heard the Premier; in 2021 now we are going to set up

a fund. We are going to have a

little rainy-day fund we are going to tuck away.

For the first ten years, twelve years, no talk about that, no need, let's

spend, spend, and spend. Let's throw

it all into Muskrat Falls. Let's

just spend it all. Let's go with the

$30 million that we spent up in Parson's Pond to drill the hole and see if you

can find some oil, but now, all of a sudden in 2021 we are going to put away a

rainy-day fund. The sad part, he

expects the people of Newfoundland and Labrador to actually believe that, to

actually believe that statement that we are going to put it away.

Mr. Speaker, I know my time is getting near.

There are a lot of other departments here that hopefully I will have time

to speak about later. If not, I just

want to let the people of Newfoundland and Labrador look at the comments that

were made here today, look at the comments that were made in this House today.

Get the facts, Mr. Speaker, because when you get the facts you will know

that this government is on autopilot and they are not doing the best for the

people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PERRY:

Thank you so much, Mr. Speaker.

It is certainly a privilege and an honour for me to

rise in the House of Assembly today and speak to the Concurrence debate.

I am very pleased to be a Committee member of the Resource sector

Estimates. I usually find the

Estimates to be a very interesting exercise and very informative.

As our Chair who spoke a little while ago, during the Estimates he said

he found them even more interesting than usual in his role as Chair.

He certainly did a great job, so I commend him for that.

I guess I wanted to explain a little bit first of all

to the people who are watching at home a little bit about what this Budget

process is and what Concurrence is.

Every year, it is a standard process here in the House of Assembly.

Once the Budget is brought down, it is read into Hansard by the Minister

of Finance. Following that, the

Finance critic of the Opposition gets two times the amount of time that the

Finance speaker used in his speaking, or a minimum of three hours, whichever is

greater. That is the standard

process.

Usually not usually, what always happens in that

standard process is the Opposition critic then lays down a motion called a

non-confidence motion. Then

following that, another member of the party in Opposition lays down what is

called a sub-amendment. Through that

process each and every person in the House of Assembly, if they so desire, gets

twenty minutes to speak to the Budget.

We would then speak first to the sub-amendment, we vote

on the sub-amendment, you move into the non-confidence motion, and then from

there you go back to the main Budget, Mr. Speaker.

It equates to a lot of time and a lot of speaking in the House of

Assembly.

I, for one, by far prefer when that speaking is about

fact and about policy.

Unfortunately, that is not always the case and it can be a bit challenging to

sit in your seat sometimes and listen to some of the rhetoric that comes through

the Budget process, but most of it is indeed very educational and very

enlightening. I would like to think

that the people who watch this in their homes actually do learn a bit more about

what is in the Budget and what the government of the day is proposing to do, and

any issues that members opposite may bring attention to.

It is important for everybody to see all aspects of that, Mr. Speaker.

The reason why I particularly like the resource sector

is because that is the category where I see the majority of job creation

actually taking place in Newfoundland and Labrador.

It is the hands-on side of things, it is where you see the diversity in

our economy, and it is where you see some great things happen in terms of

innovative developments, ongoing interests in things like fishery and

aquaculture, forestry and mining.

Some they are absolutely exciting sectors to be looking at, Mr. Speaker.

One of the things I wanted to speak to in all of that

is how I have heard it several times in this House of Assembly when the Member

for Trinity Bay de Verde got up today to speak to his petition, and as well

the Member for Virginia Waters has stood in this House from time to time and

said that Newfoundland, for the last eighteen months, has had job losses.

That baffles me, Mr. Speaker.

I do not know where their research is being done, but I have right here the

facts and I am more than happy to table it in the House of Assembly.

It is from a credible, reliable source,

The Canadian Press , posted on May 18, 2015.

Guess what, Mr. Speaker?

In Newfoundland and Labrador we were the only province to post a gain in

jobs, 2,200 new jobs in Newfoundland and Labrador during the months of March.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PERRY:

Can

you believe it? March, that was just

two months ago, not eighteen months ago.

Statistics Canada said 2,200 jobs were created in Newfoundland and

Labrador.

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Virginia Waters, on a point of order.

C. BENNETT:

Mr.

Speaker, I correct the member opposite.

What we are talking about is 18,000 job losses year over year, month over

month, same comparison. I would ask

her listen more in debate.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

There is no point of order.

The hon. the Member for Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

PERRY:

(Inaudible) we would love to see them.

As I said, I would love to see you table the information.

I do not know where you are getting your facts.

You just clarified how you are putting some spin on it, but here are the

real facts: 2,200 jobs created in Newfoundland as its unemployment rate declined

to 12.6 per cent, down sharply from 13.3 per cent in March.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PERRY:

Tabled for the House, Mr. Speaker, so they can be aware of the good things that

are happening in Newfoundland and Labrador.

One thing I am very proud to say, that we as a governme