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March 17, 2015 HOUSE

OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVII No. 62

The

House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Verge):

Order, please!

Admit strangers.

First of all, I would like to extend a welcome back to all Members of the

House of Assembly it is good to see you all again and to also welcome to

the public gallery today, I would like to make special mention of Mr. Earle

McCurdy, the newly elected Leader of the New Democratic Party.

Welcome to the House of Assembly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Statements by

Members

MR. SPEAKER:

Today we have members'

statements from the Member for the District of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair;

the Member for the District of Kilbride; the Member for the District of

Torngat Mountains; the Member for the District of Humber East; the Member

for the District of Exploits; and the Member for the District of Baie Verte

Springdale.

The

hon. the Member for the District of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.

MS DEMPSTER:

Thank you.

Mr.

Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to pay tribute to the life and

legacy of a man who made his home in

Labrador by Choice . Ben

Powell Sr. was born in Carbonear in 1921.

In 1936, he ventured to Labrador in search of a better life, and it

was there he found his beloved wife, Effie, and together they raised ten

children.

Ben

was known as a man of the North; a trapper, fisherman, merchant, sawmill

operator, a guide and an aspired writer, publishing nineteen books about

life in the Big Land, or as he would call it, Canada's Last Frontier.

was recognized as the founding father of Charlottetown in 1950.

His lifelong dedication to coastal Labrador is marked by his passion

for its rich culture and through his many accomplishments, including the

establishment of educational and health facilities.

In 1996, he received the Order of Canada in recognition of his many

contributions to shaping the history of coastal Labrador and beyond.

Uncle Ben, as he was affectionately known, passed away on February 6, 2015,

just shy of his ninety-fourth birthday.

ask all hon. members to join me in celebrating the remarkable life of

Trapper Ben, a man to whom I owe much and will be forever proud to call my

grandfather.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

the District of Kilbride.

MR. DINN:

Mr. Speaker, I stand in

this hon. House today to recognize Danielle Arbour, a fine young woman from

the Goulds.

Danielle has Spina Bifida and Neurofibromatosis which limits her physically

in many ways. Danielle, who is

now nineteen years old, is a full-time student at the College of the North

Atlantic with plans to enter nursing school in September 2015.

She is also very involved in wheelchair sports, especially

basketball.

Recently, Danielle was scouted by the PEI Wheelchair Basketball Team which

competed in the Canada Winter Games last month in Prince George, BC,

finishing in fourth place.

Danielle was the only one from Atlantic Canada chosen for the Women's

National under 25 Wheelchair Basketball Team which will compete in the World

Championships in June 2015 in Beijing, China.

2011, Danielle was the Easter Seals Ambassador and from 2011-2013 she was

the emcee for the Easter Seals Drop Zone.

In 2012, she won the Spirit of Youth Scholarship Award at the Miss

Achievement Pageant. In

2013-2014, she was the only female member of the Avalon Sled Dogs which won

a gold medal in London, Ontario.

ask all hon. members to join me in recognizing and praising the

accomplishments of this fine young Newfoundlander and Labradorian.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

the District of St. John's South.

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Today I recognize the work of Jim Burton and Andrea Stack of Hope Air in

helping provide air transportation to those who need travel for medical care

but cannot afford it. Because of

the good work of Hope Air, there has been an 88 per cent increase in the

number of flights provided from 2013 to 2014 in this Province.

Last

year, there were 1,151 people who received free flights.

Across Canada, there were more than 9,450 flights provided during the

last twelve months as a result of Hope Air.

That is more than a flight an hour for each and every hour of the

year, Mr. Speaker. More than

13.5 per cent of all of the flights in Canada were right here in

Newfoundland and Labrador. This

is clearly a testament to the hard work of Mr. Burton and the many partners

of Hope Air.

would also like to recognize the Rotary Club of St. John's Northwest who

hold a gala evening every year with some of the proceeds going to Hope Air.

This year's event was co-chaired by Jim Burton and Charlie Stacey,

and had as guest speakers former Prime Ministers Jean Chrtien, Joe Clark,

and former Premier Brian Tobin, as well as Maureen McTeer, and John and Jane

Crosbie. Again, a testament of

the hard work of Hope Air.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

the District of Humber East.

MR. FLYNN:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today

to offer congratulations to David and Sarah Simmons of Pure Holsteins Ltd.

in Little Rapids, being named Atlantic Outstanding Young Farmers for 2015.

This

award is an annual competition, sponsored by various farming interests

throughout Canada and is based on the following criteria: progress in

agriculture career; extent of soil, water and energy conservation practices;

crop and/or livestock production history; financial and management

practices; and contribution to the well-being of the community, province and

nation.

The

Simmons own and operate 100 cow dairy farm and have made tremendous

increases in their production since 2011.

Their commitment to making a living in this honourable occupation is

a testament to their hard work and dedication.

Days are usually long and always filled with tasks and chores.

Their accomplishment is certainly proof that farming can indeed be a

successful venture for young people.

David and Sarah will, next month, compete at the national level in

Alberta in November.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all hon. members to join me in congratulating David and Sarah

Simmons as winners of the Atlantic Outstanding Young Farmers award for 2015.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

the District of Exploits.

MR. FORSEY:

Mr. Speaker, on January

21, Russell Harvey of Botwood received his certificate for the successful

completion of the Introduction to Networks Certification through the Cisco

Academy. Created by educators

for educators, Cisco Academy offers curriculum at no cost to the educational

institutions such as the College of the North Atlantic.

Training is provided through a visualization and simulation tool that allows

users to design, build, troubleshoot, and experiment with visual networks.

Russell's words, you've got an entire school years' worth of things to

learn and four months to learn it.

Mr.

Speaker, Russell has demonstrated to industry his personal drive to go

beyond what is expected and pursue industry certification in an area that is

in great demand.

ask all members of this House to join me in congratulating Russell Harvey on

receiving the industry-recognized Networks Certification through The Cisco

Academy.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

the District of Baie Verte Springdale.

MR. POLLARD:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

From

February 28 to March 7, it was the place to be!

Family, friends and tourists flocked to the Baie Verte Peninsula to

participate in the 2015 Third Annual Peninsula Shiver Soiree Festival.

Jam

packed with amazing events and experiences, such as a snowshoe hike, family

skate, gospel concert, family sliding, BBQ, dinner theatre, snowmobile

races, hockey games and lots of food, the participants shook off the winter

blues and experienced breathtaking, exhilarating moments.

addition to promoting active, healthy living through recreational

activities, the festival provided the opportunity for communities to foster

goodwill and togetherness.

The

organizing committee is to be applauded for such an outstanding job.

Members include: Jennifer Whelan, chairperson; Molly Mitchel, event

co-ordinator; Kira Rideout; Connie Clarke; Todd Parsons; Maud Noble; Lloyd

Hayden; and Nancy Brown.

addition, a big thank you to numerous volunteers, organizations, and the

business community for their support.

Simply put, without it, there would not be a festival.

was a pleasure for me to participate in the opening ceremonies and my wife

and I enjoyed thoroughly the snowmobile races on that cold, crisp day in

Middle Arm.

ask all hon. members to help me celebrate the festival's success.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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 am

pleased to rise in this hon. House to provide an update on how the

provincial government is strengthening the

Access to Information and Protection

of Privacy Act .

Mach 2, the provincial government received the ATIPPA review committee's

report and immediately began reviewing and analyzing the report and its

recommendations. We are

extremely grateful for the calibre of work that we have received from the

committee and we know the next step now is for us to act on these

recommendations and implement the legislative changes.

Mr.

Speaker, feedback from the committee's extensive outreach informed their

report. It contains a total of

ninety recommendations of which all have been accepted, including

sixty-seven which are legislative and twenty-three policy and procedural

changes. The committee not only

provided recommendations but brand-new draft legislation.

want people to benefit from these recommendations as quickly as possible,

and we are taking immediate steps just like we did last week by

eliminating the $5 application fee for access to information requests and

updating the fee schedule. New

actions we announced today include directing departments and the public to

report all privacy breaches to the Office of the Information and Privacy

Commissioner and the Office of Public Engagement, providing a toll-free

helpline for municipal ATIPP co-ordinators, and protecting the identity of

applicants during access to information requests.

Mr.

Speaker, we take our obligations under the

Access to Information and Protection

of Privacy Act very seriously.

After listening to concerns including those from hon. members

opposite, and to those of experienced journalists, some of whom are here

with us today we have been striving to find ways to improve access to

information, transparency, and to provide information in accessible ways.

Democracy requires citizen involvement.

We want to become a world leader in engaging citizens, providing the

information needed to make decisions, and creating the best governance

possible based on dialogue. I

have every confidence that this review and its recommendations will provide

residents the strongest possible framework in access to information and

protection of privacy.

Mr.

Speaker, as we continue to work together to ensure that government is open

and transparent for residents, and as we take on the challenge of managing

an ever-increasing volume of information, we will be leaders, not followers,

and we will continue to listen, to learn, and to adjust the course.

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.

want to congratulate the ATIPPA review committee on the great work that they

have done and the resulting legislation that has come out of the work that

they have done. I was pleased to

be able to present to the committee.

Indeed, I will say it was a good experience for me.

It was very thorough, very detailed, and the committee did a great

piece of work the commission did a great piece of work.

The ninety recommendations, no doubt, seem to be groundbreaking in

ensuring greater access to information for all people in our Province.

are glad to see that government is accepting these recommendations and look

forward to the debate here in the Legislature, but let's not forget that

this is the same government, the same twenty-nine members opposite, that

forced closure in this House of Assembly back in the spring of 2012, which

at the time was the longest filibuster in our history.

The Premier, and I want to quote there is one quote here.

We are not trying to put a lid or hide anything.

It is a good piece of legislation.

That was the same Premier back in June 11, 2012; these were his

words.

Saying that you are being leaders in all of this, true listeners, people who

were committed to openness and transparency in government, back in 2012

would have indeed been listening to the people in our Province.

We are glad now that the commission's report has been accepted.

We look forward to the debate and we look forward to an open and

transparent government in Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

too, thank the Premier for the advance copy of his statement, and want to

recognize the wonderful work that was done by the review committee, but I

have to say I was rather surprised to hear the Premier say that he was

listening to the concerns raised by members from this floor.

Mr. Speaker, all I have to say back to the Premier is that it is too

bad he did not hear our concerns during the filibuster we led in 2012.

The

Premier and the minister responsible for ATIPP now responsible were part

of the government in 2012 that rammed Bill 29 through this House, ignoring

the general outcry, which led to the amended ATIPP Act, which the statutory

review committee had to dismantle and rewrite.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further statements by

ministers?

The

hon. the Minister of Aboriginal and Labrador Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. RUSSELL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, I rise in this hon. House to pay tribute to a businessman and a

former Minister of Labrador Affairs, Melvin Woodward, who passed away

yesterday morning at the age of eighty-one.

Mr.

Woodward was born on the Northern Peninsula in North Boat Harbour, but as a

young man he made the move to Labrador because he saw great potential for

Labrador. He was a successful

entrepreneur who grew the Woodward Group of Companies from one truck in the

1960s to a business with $750 million in sales.

employed 800 people in the six companies, including Woodward's Oil Limited,

Woodward's Limited, Coastal Shipping Limited, Woodward's Motors Limited,

Labrador Marine Services, and Arctic Fuel Delivery.

Mr. Woodward hired locally, and he treated his employees as if they

were family.

Mr.

Speaker, Mr. Woodward was well-loved by all those who knew him, and those

touched by his generosity and his contributions.

My family, as I am sure many others, spoke in admiration of Mr.

Woodward's beginnings and his success story, and we all looked up to him.

Mr.

Woodward has been an important part of the community of Happy Valley-Goose

Bay, and believed strongly in giving back to his community.

Mr. Woodward has always been supportive of our youth through

sponsoring numerous sporting events, and he has supported countless other

community events, including medical and environmental fundraisers as well.

Mr.

Speaker, Mr. Woodward's accomplishments were many.

In addition to his service to the people of the Province as MHA and

Minister of Labrador Affairs, Mr. Woodward, always generous in service to

others, was also a founding member and head of the Labrador North Chamber of

Commerce, a director for the Bank of Canada, a member of Memorial

University's Board of Regents, as well as many other public and community

service roles.

2003, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from MUN on his

distinguished public service and outstanding contributions to the

development of business and the economy of this Province.

Yesterday, Newfoundland and Labrador lost a valuable member of our society

and an inspiration for many people, including me.

Mr. Woodward was a true Labradorian whose legacy and accomplishments

will live on in Labrador and, indeed, the whole Province.

will be greatly missed by all who are fortunate to know him.

I, along with all Members of this House of Assembly, send our

condolences to Mr. Woodward's wife of fifty-seven years Sibyl, his three

children, five grandchildren, and their families.

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.

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

On behalf of the Official Opposition, I want to extend my sincere

condolences to Mr. Woodward's wife, Sibyl, and their three children, Peter,

Tana, and Mel Jr.

personally know him. I have had

the opportunity to meet and know Mr. Woodward for many years, both as a

successful entrepreneur and a true humanitarian.

I also had the opportunity to share some time with him and take

advice on some other political situations in our Province too, I would say,

Mr. Speaker.

Born

in North Boat Harbour in 1933, Mel went of course to Happy Valley-Goose Bay

in 1957. As he told the

graduating class at Memorial in 2003, there was no doubt in his mind, and

for all who knew him, he went there to make money.

As the minister said, he did it by starting out with a single truck.

Both

him and his wife Sibyl, they worked extremely hard in making a very

successful business to the tune of some $750 million and some 800 employees

currently. In many ways he is

credited with re-establishing Newfoundland and Labrador.

I can tell you, he was very keen in doing business in the North.

While he has been known to be successful in business, he is certainly widely

known for the support of his community and our Province.

It is my privilege to stand here today and recognize the great life

of Mr. Mel Woodward, a true friend.

Rest

in peace Mr. Woodward.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

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

I am honoured to be able to stand here on my own behalf and that of

my caucus today in offering condolences to the family of the late Mel

Woodward. He truly was an icon,

not only in the Labrador business community, but the provincial business

community as a whole, which I think was recognized by Memorial University.

His

vision for the potential of Labrador, which drew him there, and his love of

its people should not be forgotten.

He became indeed a true Labradorian, and I hope his example serves as

an inspiration to others for generations to come.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Child, Youth and Family Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. S. COLLINS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

rise in this hon. House to recognize National Social Work Month a time we

honour those who have chosen to dedicate their lives to improving the

quality of life in our cities, towns, and communities.

Each year, the month of March celebrates social workers across the

country and the positive impact that they have on those they serve.

Newfoundland and Labrador, more than 1,500 registered social workers

practise in all regions of the Province in settings such as health care,

senior care, foster care, adult and youth corrections, child protection,

adoptions, child care, mental health and addictions, community-based

centres, government departments and universities, along with private

practices and consulting businesses.

The

theme for this year's National Social Work Month is

Social Work: Profession of Choice and was chosen to convey the

personal commitment by social workers throughout the country to their

profession, as well as highlight the many changes they help bring about for

individuals and society as a whole.

Each

day, in our Province, social workers endeavour to improve the safety and

well-being of our residents, and their commitment and dedication deserves

the focus that National Social Work Month places on their profession.

I continue to witness first-hand, Mr. Speaker, the significance of

their work throughout all regions of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Oftentimes, their services are delivered in extremely challenging

situations or under circumstances that require an extremely high level of

professionalism and individual strength.

That is why I want to personally extend my heartfelt gratitude to the

many men and women who work tirelessly each and every day to provide

guidance, protection, and support to our most vulnerable populations.

During the month of March, social workers will have the opportunity to

participate in a variety of activities taking place throughout the Province

such as professional development sessions and networking and career events

to promote the social work profession.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all hon. members to join me in recognizing the many men and

women in our Province who have chosen to dedicate their lives to this noble

profession, and work every day to strengthen our families and communities.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. Barbe.

MR. J. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement.

The theme of National Social Work Month 2015 is Social Work:

Profession of Choice. The choice to

pursue this selfless profession reflects an inherent desire to help others.

We are indebted to their devotion to help foster well-being in our

communities.

Social work is not easy work.

Social workers pour their hearts, their souls, and much of their lives into

their work. Therefore, Mr.

Speaker, when the Premier floats an idea of privatizing certain parts of

government, that includes social workers.

So, I would call on the Premier to be very careful of his comments.

They may be well-intended comments but if he is talking about

privatizing some parts of government, then he is talking about the same

1,500 people that his minister is paying tribute to today.

Mr.

Speaker, social workers are not miracle workers; consequently, they cannot

do everything in every aspect of all of their clients.

I would like to reiterate a recommendation of the Child and Youth

Advocate that has been rejected by government, and that is that in child and

youth services this government has taken a position that there should be one

social worker per person and not vary the specialities, but I call on

government to allow specialized care

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. J. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's Centre.

MS ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

I want to thank our social workers, especially front-line workers who

witness every day how poverty and gaps in services affect people's lives.

Social workers do a broad range of work: administrators,

policymakers, councillors, and even politicians I have a degree in social

work.

pre-Budget consultations, the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of

Social Workers once again identified several priorities: our housing crisis,

the need to raise minimum wage, the need for renewal in primary health care

delivery, the need to put social workers back in the schools because of high

rates of mental health (inaudible)

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

remind the member her speaking time has expired.

MS ROGERS:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Oral Questions.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER:

Further statements by

ministers?

did not have you on the list.

The

hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

the hon. Minister of Transportation and Works standing to give a Ministerial

Statement?

MR. BRAZIL:

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

could ask him a question too, if he would like.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Transportation and Works.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am

pleased to rise today to inform my hon. colleagues about the latest

milestones in the government's ferry vessel replacement efforts.

This past Friday, I had the pleasure of joining our Premier, the

Member for the Isles of Notre Dame, officials and residents of the

communities of Fogo Island and Change Islands to name the new ferry, the

MV Veteran , which will arrive in

the Province in fall 2015.

The

MV Veteran , Mr. Speaker, will serve Fogo Island and Change Islands and is named

in celebration of all Canadian men and women in uniform, past and present.

This name reinforces the pillars outlined in

Honour 100 , which was launched in

2013 to commemorate the centennial anniversaries of the First World War and

is organized into five pillars anniversaries, education, legacy, outreach,

and research and development.

would also like to inform my hon. colleagues that the observation deck and

two passenger lounges of the MV

Veteran will be named in recognition of four notable individuals who

have contributed to the communities of Fogo Island and Change Islands.

These individuals are A.R. Scammell who was born on Change Islands

and was a prominent figure in Newfoundland and Labrador's arts community;

Captain Fred Chaffey and Captain Patrick Miller, who both operated the ferry

service for Change Islands and Fogo Island; and Margaret Cobb, who worked as

a nurse on the Easter Seal and

later on Fogo Island for many years.

The

MV Veteran is currently under

construction at Damen Shipyards in Romania and its addition to the

provincial fleet of ferries this coming fall will significantly improve our

ability to deliver more reliable service to residents and businesses in

Change Islands and Fogo Island.

The new ferry will be a fourteen-knot, eighty-metre ice-class vessel with

roll-on, roll-off capabilities, and will be able to carry 200 passengers and

sixty vehicles.

The

naming of the MV Veteran , Mr.

Speaker, is not only a tribute to the service of Canadian men and women in

uniform who serve our great country.

It is also a celebration of Captains Chaffey and Miller, Mr. Scammell

and Ms Cobb, who each made tremendous contributions to Fogo Island and

Change Islands and this region of our Province.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all members of the hon. House to join me in recognizing their

contributions and the sacrifice of all women and men in service.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's South.

MR. OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

would like to thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement.

We, in the Official Opposition, share in government's celebration of

naming the Fogo-Change Islands ferry the

MV Veteran .

Veterans deserve that recognition and so do the notable individuals

who have parts of that vessel named after them.

share in the belief that the people of Fogo-Change Islands and Bell Island

deserve new vessels and a reliable ferry service year-round.

It is a milestone, but the people of Labrador deserve that same

milestone. The people on the

Straits of Labrador have seen trouble with their service and that trouble

continues. There have been

people stranded, and those people in that region of our Province deserve the

same milestone announcement.

They deserve the fifteen-year announcement that they have been waiting for

and they have been calling out for.

Hopefully, we will see the improvements to that service very soon.

cannot control the ice conditions up there, Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt

about it, but we do control the resources that we can provide to those

people.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's East.

MR. MURPHY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

here today. Congratulations to

all the residents of Fogo and Change Islands who will have a new boat in

their midst; it was well deserved and hard earned and came after years of

asking government to address their needs.

well, Mr. Speaker, it would have been nice to have an update from the

minister on the status of the $25 million tariff that this Province was

forced to pay the federal government for the new boat because it was built

in Romania. So perhaps he can

stand here tomorrow and tell the people of this House what they are going to

be doing with the $25 million when they get it back from the federal

government.

Thank you very much.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Further statements by ministers?

Oral

Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Official Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, last year government delivered its Budget on March 27.

The year before that it was March 26, but this year the Premier has

not said when he will introduce his Budget.

ask the Premier: When will this year's Budget be introduced to the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

thank the hon. member for his question on this.

We know that it is on the minds of people.

The Minister of Finance has said repeatedly that we would not be

bringing down our Budget until after the federal government brings down

their budget, which we do not have an exact date now but we know it is

expected to be some time in the first or second week of April.

Following that time we will bring down the provincial Budget.

recent weeks, Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance and other ministers in

our government have been travelling throughout Newfoundland and Labrador

consulting with the public, consulting with Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians. We have been

encouraging people to participate in the consultative process, either in

person or online, and we have been asking people to share their views on the

Budget process that we are currently undertaking.

can tell you it is a comprehensive process that has been undertaken, Mr.

Speaker, and I look forward to receiving and presenting that Budget in

April.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, in other provinces, of course, we have had seven or eight right now.

In Atlantic Canada, New Brunswick has already gone ahead and

announced dates to the people.

All we ask for is what the date will be when people would get the Budget, I

say, Mr. Speaker.

The

Premier has said recently that everything is on the table, but when he cut

ministers last week one thing he did not do he decided to keep with his

five paid Parliamentary Secretaries.

ask the Premier: Newfoundland and Labrador is the only Atlantic Province

with paid Parliamentary Secretaries; why are you insisting and keeping those

paid positions in place?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

Yes,

last week I did action to reduce the size of our Cabinet, and I would like

to use the opportunity to thank outgoing ministers for service to

Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to thank them for their service to the people of the

Province, and to us as a government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, I want

to take steps to reduce Cabinet, who oversees the departments and the

operations, the delivery of services and programs to the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador. I

wanted to ensure that we did not make reductions or cuts that would have a

negative impact on any of those programs or any of those services.

I wanted to have confidence that the change in Cabinet that I made

last week would not have an impact on the people of our Province.

With

the cuts and reductions we made, and I announced last week, I still have

that confidence that we are not reducing services, we are not reducing

programs. Any further cuts, Mr.

Speaker, I would not have the same confidence.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What

we are suggesting here is not the cuts, but the fact that the Parliamentary

Secretaries are paid. In other

Atlantic Provinces these are not paid positions, I say, Mr. Speaker.

The

Premier is also floating the idea of privatizing aspects of our health care

system.

ask the Premier: Explain to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, what

specifically are you considering when you say privatizing health care?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

With

regard to the commentary by the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Speaker, when

we make changes we have to be very careful in how we do that.

I can tell you from my own experience that Parliamentary Secretaries

in our Province I cannot speak for other provinces and other governments

and how they operate, but I can tell you in my government and in our

Province, Parliamentary Secretaries provide a very critical support and

assistance to ministers in our government.

They

are active in their departments.

They play a very active role.

They do important work, Mr. Speaker, on a regular basis.

They are in the departments on a regular basis, very close to the

ministers, and quite often spend less time in their own districts as a

result of that.

have made these adjustments last week, Mr. Speaker.

I believe they are the right thing to do.

I believe that it is incumbent upon me to take steps that are

reflective of the other changes that I have taken in the House of Assembly,

which are numerous, in reducing the seats and pension reform and so on.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Yes, I guess

Parliamentary Secretaries do play an active role in health care.

Maybe it is the privatization of health care that is maybe the job

they are doing right now. I will

go back and I will ask the Premier again, give him one more option or one

more opportunity to answer the question.

You

floated the idea about privatization of health care services.

Will you specifically explain to the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador what it is you are talking about, what it is you are considering

privatizing?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

will set the facts correct and I will tell you exactly what happened.

Mr. Speaker, in speaking engagements that I have participated in, I

encouraged people of Newfoundland and Labrador to participate in the Budget

consultation process. I threw

out a number of statements, commentaries, and discussions that would be

beneficial to have during that Budget consultation process.

One

of those was the question about private business.

What role does private business play in the delivery of programs and

services in Newfoundland and Labrador?

Is there a larger role or a different role that public service

private service, sorry, should provide?

we look at currently what happens in Newfoundland and Labrador, we have

numerous examples where there are partnerships of private business who

participate in the delivery of programs and services throughout the

Province, Mr. Speaker. What I

said was, as part of the consultation process, let's have a discussion about

that, and is there a bigger role.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

can remember the interview that the Premier did.

One of the things he mentioned and obviously there were other

things on table. He was very

clear in saying that everything is on the table.

One of the things he did mention was long-term care.

ask the Premier very pointedly, or maybe he can answer the question, yes or

no: Are you considering privatizing any of the services within health care?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

Again, to set the record straight, in the interview he is referring I was

asked are there some current examples of what takes place now.

I used long-term care as an example because right now there are

private businesses in Newfoundland and Labrador that provide long-term care

services to the people of our Province, Mr. Speaker.

There are dentists who provide services to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians

as private businesses. There are

doctors who provide services to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians as private

businesses. Your local family

doctor is a private business, Mr. Speaker.

There are numerous examples where private business currently exists in

health care, Mr. Speaker. The

question again that came from my discussions and my commentary: Is there a

larger role for private business?

If there is, we should have that discussion.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Well, thank you.

It is the fact that we are going to have discussion which leads right

into my next question.

November 4, last year, Statoil began an eighteen-month drilling program in

the Bay du Nord discovery. This

program will finish in May 2016.

The vice-president of Statoil said that they need information from the

eighteen-month program before they can make a decision if indeed Bay du Nord

can be developed. However, the

Premier has mandated his minister to conclude a deal on this development in

2015, in the mandate letter.

ask the Premier: Why are you mandating your minister to get a deal done in

2015 when Statoil even admits it will not even know if there can be a

development until May 2016?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY:

Mr. Speaker, it is very

clear I think, if we look at our track record, our ability to work with big

companies, big oil companies, our ability to lay out a plan and a vision to

develop the offshore, to develop those resources for the benefit of

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

My role as minister, and certainly the responsibility that the

Premier has given me, is to ensure that I represent our government and

continue to try and develop those resources for the benefits of

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

can assure you, Mr. Speaker, regardless of what is in the mandate letter, we

are engaged in a process with Statoil.

To be clear, we will not do any deals at all that are not in the best

interest of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

We have started the process.

We have resources. We

want it developed. We want to

benefit Newfoundland and Labrador, but we will only do it if it is right for

the people, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, I guess the minister writes his own mandate, by the sounds of it.

By mandating a deal with Statoil for 2015, the Premier severely

weakens the Province's negotiating position.

In negotiations, you never tell the other side you need a deal by a

certain date. It is bad

negotiating and it is bad management.

ask the Premier: Why are you mandating a deal with Statoil in 2015, months

before the drilling program even finishes?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY:

Mr. Speaker, I think it

is important; the Opposition are always looking for information, they always

want to know what we are doing and we share information with them, Mr.

Speaker

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. DALLEY:

We let them know what we

are doing, Mr. Speaker, and we want to let the people of the Province know

that as we are in this fiscal challenge that we are in right now, there is a

very bright future on the horizon and we have that mapped out through our

Energy Plan, we have it mapped out with large companies, and with the

seismic work we are doing there is tremendous prospectivity in the offshore.

announcing that we are proceeding with discussions with Statoil, that is not

saying we are going to do a bad deal.

The people of the Province will remember the deal that we did with

Hebron when the Premier of the day stood up and said forget it, we are not

doing it. It is not in the best

interest of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr.

Speaker, I can tell you today, when we will send a message to Statoil, if it

is not in the best interest of Newfoundland and Labrador, there will be no

deal.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

I thank the minister I

am not so sure if he was part of the discussions around Abitibi either.

Speaking of letting the people know, Mr. Speaker, the oil industry has been

asking for a generic royalty regime for years.

We understand government is now working on one.

Speaking about, as the minister just said, letting the people know, I ask

the Premier: Have you developed

a new generic royalty regime and, if so, when will you make it public?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY:

Mr. Speaker, then there

are other times I guess when you look at their wanting information and their

concern about business, yet they stand up and then they want information

that could in fact jeopardize any opportunity we have for a good deal for

the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

will say to the member opposite, you can look at our Energy Plan, the full

detailed document, where we reference the generic royalty regime that have

helped I guess plant the seed and develop our offshore to this point; but I

can tell you there is tremendous prospectivity, there are tremendous

opportunities out there, and we have always said when we develop this

industry to a point where we are ready to even seek more and more benefits

for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, we will develop a generic royalty that

makes sense for future growth and future opportunity.

are doing that, Mr. Speaker.

When it is ready, when we can make it public, we certainly will.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of

the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There is concern in the Province that government's deal with Statoil will be

weak on local benefits. People

are concerned about that. So I

will remind the Premier of the importance of local benefits and jobs to the

people of this Province, especially given the loss of 7,600 full-time jobs

in our Province in the last year alone.

ask the Premier: What are you doing to protect local benefits and jobs with

the Statoil deal?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY:

I say to the Leader of

the Opposition, we do not need any reminders about ensuring that the

benefits of these opportunities come to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

We can go back to the Liberal deal when they were going to develop

Muskrat Falls and all the benefits were going to go to Quebec.

Mr. Speaker, we have a history in this Province.

We can go back to Churchill Falls and where the benefits go.

Mr.

Speaker, our government is not going to make deals that do not benefit

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

We have benefits agreements, and we are always looking for ways to

improve those benefits agreements.

We work with the industry, Mr. Speaker, we work with NOIA, and we are

committed to do so.

appreciate the fact they want more benefits, and that is our commitment as

well, Mr. Speaker. Make no

mistake about it, as we work with Statoil and other companies interested in

coming to this Province, we will make deals, we will work with industry, and

we will ensure that we have work right here for Newfoundlanders and

Labradorians.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Virginia Waters.

MS C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

Stats Canada has reported the Province has lost 7,600 full-time jobs in the

last year. In fact, despite

predictions of job growth by this government, there are 10,000 fewer jobs

today than two years ago. These

are not just numbers; they are people.

People of the Province are worried.

ask the Premier: How did you manage to spend $20 billion of oil royalties

and not create sustainable job growth to get more people working in the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN:

I am always delighted

when the member opposite stands and talks about how much money we have

actually spent, because it clearly gives us an opportunity to talk about how

we have spent that money, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. WISEMAN:

We just heard the

minister stand and say that we will develop our resources for the benefit of

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

So ask the thousands of people who have benefited from the

significant investment we have made in poverty reduction whether or not that

was money worthwhile spending, Mr. Speaker.

Look

at the people who have benefited from the tremendous investment we have made

in the freeze on tuition at Memorial and the College of the North Atlantic.

Would they say there was a benefit from that expenditure?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN:

Again, Mr. Speaker, that

is money that came from the development of natural resources, critical

investments we have made in social programs, and significant investments we

have made in infrastructure.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Virginia Waters.

MS C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, there is

a bit of theme here today; it seems the Premier will not get on his feet and

talk about jobs, but last week on Twitter the Premier said our Province will

be okay. We are in our sixteenth

consecutive month of job losses.

This sixteen-month drop in job losses is tied for the third longest period

of job losses since 1975.

ask the Premier: What specifically has this government achieved in utilizing

large-scale projects to create sustainable job growth to get more people

working in our Province?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN:

The member took advantage

of the opportunity to attend a couple of the pre-Budget consultations did

not contribute anything, I might add, but had a chance to attend and listen.

She would have seen very clearly an overview that was done during the

introduction of those consultations that mapped out and showed the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador the progression that we have made, the successive

year-over-year progression we have made towards developing our resources,

creating employment, enhancing the economic opportunities for

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

From

2003 to 2014 are many indicators depending on how you look at it, Mr.

Speaker, it does not matter what indicator we look at of how we have shown

progressive growth over that period of time.

Compared to the rest of the country, we have led the Nation in many

economic indicators in growth and prosperity.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Trinity Bay de Verde.

MR. CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, according to its activity plan, government's Business Investment

Corporation makes and manages investments for the purpose of creating

employment opportunities for the people of the Province.

ask the minister: How many jobs are being created by the corporation's

investments, and where?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Business.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Mr. Speaker, I thank the

member for the opportunity to speak to our investment in business and to the

plan that we have been following for the last eight or ten years to

diversify the economy in Newfoundland and Labrador.

say to the member that the investments we made are across multiple sectors,

the tourism sector, in particular. I

am proud to say that on our Vision 2020, the path forward that was

developed, a shared vision with the industry stakeholders, that we are more

than half way there. It is now

more than a billion-dollar industry.

continue to invest in the tourism industry.

We have invested significantly in the film industry, Mr. Speaker.

Republic of Doyle is a

shining example of the success story that we see in this Province as a

result of an investment by our Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. KING:

We invest in the ocean

tech industry, Mr. Speaker.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible).

MR. KING:

I hear the member

heckling. They are absolutely

stable jobs. They support the

oil and gas industry, with more than 500 businesses affected by the oil and

gas industry that our government has developed and invested in.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The

hon. the Member for Trinity Bay de Verde.

MR. CROCKER:

I did not hear any

numbers in the minister's reply.

Mr.

Speaker, on March 31, 2014, the investment portfolio of government's

Business Investment Corporation consisted of $22.5 million in loans.

The most recent audit reveals $11.5 million are past due.

ask the minister: How much of taxpayers' money has been written off as bad

debt?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

just want to respond to some of the hecklers from across the way who were

criticizing the investment in the

Republic of Doyle . I say to

members opposite, the Republic of

Doyle put Newfoundland and Labrador on the world stage in our ability to

compete in the film industry.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

We make no apologies for

that investment and for the doors that have opened up.

Further, Mr. Speaker, if I might continue, the member wants to know

about where we have invested.

More than 1,000 jobs created in the aquaculture industry

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

that several members across the way argued and fought against, and still

do, Mr. Speaker, as a policy of the Liberal Party that they are against

aquaculture development. I say

this government continues to invest in the Coast of Bays region in

particular, and we will continue to do so.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Trinity Bay de Verde.

MR. CROCKER:

Mr. Speaker, I will read

my question one more time. On

March 31, 2014, the investment portfolio of the government's Business

Investment Corporation consisted of $22.5 million in loans.

The most recent audit reveals $11.5 million, or 50 per cent-plus are

past due.

ask the minister: How much of taxpayers' money has been written off as bad

debt?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

encourage the member to keep it coming because I love talking about rural

diversification. Ninety-eight

per cent of the Province is now connected by broadband connectivity, Mr.

Speaker, which has allowed the growth and development of small and

medium-sized enterprises in this Province.

Our

government has chosen to invest in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

We have invested in the technology sector, Mr. Speaker, I say.

The technology industry association in this Province recognized the

support of the Newfoundland government and the vision that we have shown

over the last five years to grow the technology industry in Newfoundland and

Labrador.

Mr.

Speaker, we invest in the wild fish industry.

We have invested in technology in fish plants, which has created

sustainable jobs for the long term in the industry.

We have done that because we have shown a vision of where we want to

lead this Province into the future, unlike members opposite who seem to be

wavering all over the place with no particular vision as to where they want

to go.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's North.

MR. KIRBY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

minister obviously does not know the answer.

I will see if I can get a better result this time.

The

CBC is running a series called DaycareDebt, which exposes this government's

failed legacy on early learning and child care.

Parents in this Province either pay the second most expensive child

care fees in Canada or they are forced to quit their jobs because child care

is not accessible to them.

ask the minister responsible: How much revenue is our Province losing out on

by forcing these parents out of the workforce?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, there is nothing as important as child care to this government in

terms of making sure that we are putting in place a strategy with programs

and services that will see to it that the parents of these children are able

to find affordable, sufficient, quality child care.

Mr.

Speaker, we are investing $42.5 million as part of a ten-year strategy, and

we are in year three of that strategy.

We have developed a number of initiatives to help us achieve the

results that we need and want to achieve in this Province.

Mr. Speaker, we have made great strides in doing that.

have seen accolades from various other sectors that have told us that the

improvements we are making have been noted across this country as leadership

improvements.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's North.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, that is two

ministers in a row who do not know how deep the fiscal hole they are digging

is, Mr. Speaker.

national report, It's Time for

Preschool , shows that most provinces in this country release an annual

progress report on early learning and care in those provinces.

Newfoundland and Labrador is not amongst those provinces, so an

annual status report on the progress of child care in this Province is

something that should be a priority for this government.

ask the minister: When will you release a progress report on early learning

and child care in this Province?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, I make no attempt to hide anything in terms of what we are doing

around early childhood education and early childhood leaning.

It is an area where, as I have just pointed out, we have in fact

achieved great growth in Newfoundland and Labrador and we will continue to

do so.

One

of the areas in which we have, again, been noted for as showing leadership

has to do with governance and moving early learning into the Department of

Education, Mr. Speaker; a vision of our Premier that has allowed us to look

at the sequencing of education from early days, from birth right on up

through the education system, Mr. Speaker.

are seeing results from having the synergies of all of our staff working

together, and I anticipate we will see more results from that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, the

current Minister of Justice was the minister who cut the Family Violence

Intervention Court in 2013. In

December 2014, the Premier gave the former Minister of Justice, Judy

Manning, the mandate to reconsider the court Province-wide.

ask the minister, the same minister who cut the court in the first place: Do

you have the same mandate to bring back the court Province-wide?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Justice and Public Safety.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

mandate is not a lot different than the entire government's mandate, is to

help participate in a budget process that will see us making wise choices in

the best interest of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

As I have said on many occasions in this House of Assembly, the

family violence court was a decision that was taken by me as the minister at

a point in time. I was very

clear on record in Hansard on multiple occasions that it was about making

the wisest use of the funds that we had available in the Department of

Justice.

Directly to the member's question, the family violence court will be

considered as part of the Department of Justice's submission into the budget

process. There are many other

initiatives we will be looking to support as well: the investment in

policing services with the RNC and RCMP, for example, and maintenance and

equipment. That will be

considered as part of those submissions.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

The

Premier says everything is on the table with the upcoming Budget, yet today

his Deputy Premier spoke of new staff needed for implementing the new ATIPP

legislation.

ask the Premier: Will he assure us upcoming Budget cuts will not undermine

the statutory review committee's recommendations which cost this Province

$1.1 million?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

have said quite clearly, and publicly as well, that we would accept all the

recommendations and implement all of the recommendations, legislative and

also policy recommendations. We

recognize it is going to take additional staff to ensure that implementation

takes place, Mr. Speaker, but I can clearly say to this hon. House here

again today that we fully, fully accept the report done by the ATIPP panel.

We thank them for their recommendations and we are going to fully

implement all of those recommendations, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

Minister Responsible for Public Engagement says his new ATIPP legislation

will be the best in the country, yet he praised Bill 29 with equal

enthusiasm in 2012.

ask the minister, as I told him that very same day in 2012: Why did you

think you could fool people with legislation found to be as odious as that

bill has proven to be?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, we have

been quite clear as a government, and I have been quite clear in my position

and have been all along, that we make decisions and we take steps that we

feel are in the best interest, but we also have to be willing to listen to

what people have to say. We have

listened to the Opposition. We

have listened to the general public.

laid out a process to review not just Bill 29, but our entire ATIPP

legislation, to do a full and comprehensive review.

We committed to implementing all the recommendations as a result of

that review, Mr. Speaker, and we stand by that we stand by that.

We want to have the best legislation possible.

We have gone down through a process which we believe and I believe is

going to create that, that we will have the best legislation anywhere in

Canada, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

ask the Premier then: Will he assure this House that they will get it right

this time and the legislation will be able to be implemented when

proclaimed?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, the

minister laid out this morning the plan that he is currently leading in the

response to the report that we have all recently received.

We are going to bring legislation to the House of Assembly here this

spring. We are going to debate

the legislation. We are going to

pass the legislation, I would suggest, Mr. Speaker, and then we are going to

move in having the best access to information and protection of privacy

legislation anywhere in Canada.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's East.

MR. MURPHY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This

government has promised a new funding formula for municipalities in this

coming Budget. Given that the

Premier has said that everything is on the table when it comes to his

reference about cuts to programs, is the new funding arrangement going to be

scrapped even though it was promised?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

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 2013 we entered into an arrangement with Municipalities

Newfoundland and Labrador, and all municipalities of Newfoundland and

Labrador, let's look at our fiscal arrangement and look at a new way forward

in regard to that. We had

sixteen months of very good consultations with a wide range of stakeholders.

We have accumulated all that information, recommendations were

adopted by MNL last fall at their AGM, and we have gone through a process

obviously, that is part of the Budget process.

We have made a commitment.

We would certainly do what we can in terms of the fiscal arrangement.

Last

Friday I met with the Executive Director of MNL.

We are in close consultation with him.

We will move it forward, and at the point and time of the Budget we

will announce what that will be, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's East.

MR. MURPHY:

Mr. Speaker, the

assurance from this government of coming cuts has municipalities in doubt

about funding for such things as basic water and sewer infrastructure.

Is a

cut to Municipal Operating Grants going to be on the table?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Mr. Speaker, if you

go back and look at the investments this government has made in municipal

infrastructure, in MOGs over the past number of years, in 2008 we were the

government that brought in the new funding ratios, that have invested

hundreds of millions of dollars in municipalities in Newfoundland and

Labrador.

was this government that changed the MOG formula just a couple of years to

see 80 per cent of municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador see an

increase in their MOGs. It was

our government that has invested in Municipalities Newfoundland and

Labrador. We will continue to do

that within our fiscal capacity, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The

time for Question Period has expired.

Before we proceed with the rest of the routine business of the day, I would

like to ask members if they would like to join with me in honouring and

recognizing the Member for Bonavista North is not here today.

We do not usually refer to the presence of people in the House of

Assembly but given this, we have all lost people who have been close to us.

When you lose a child, I think it is something that tugs at

everybody's heart strings.

would like to give everybody an opportunity, if you wish, to stand in a

moment of silence and to remember Jeremy and to send our best wishes and

prayers to Mr. Cross and his family.

[Moment of silence.]

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you very much.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees

Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance.

MR. WISEMAN:

Mr. Speaker, I give

notice that I will move that the House resolve itself into a Committee of

the Whole on Supply to consider a resolution for the granting of Interim

Supply to Her Majesty, Bill 44.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further notices of

motion?

The

hon. the Member for Baie Verte Springdale.

MR. POLLARD:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

give notice that I will move the following private member's resolution,

seconded by the Member for Bonavista South:

WHEREAS the Northern shrimp fishery is an extremely important fishery in

Newfoundland and Labrador; and

WHEREAS both the inshore and offshore sectors have a history in this

fishery, and are both important drivers of economic activity in the

Province; and

WHEREAS the inshore sector, adjacent to the Northern shrimp resource, has

been involved in the fishery since 1997 and was given permanent status in

2007; and

WHEREAS the application of the Last in, First Out (LIFO) policy in the face

of quota cuts has had an extremely disproportionate impact on the inshore

sector; and

WHEREAS Last In, First Out (LIFO) policy is a policy which is only applied

to the Northern shrimp fishery; and

for Northern shrimp will result in widespread economic ruin for hundreds of

rural communities in Newfoundland and Labrador and the thousands of our

people who earn their living from the Northern shrimp resource;

discontinue the LIFO policy and replace the allocation policy for Northern

shrimp with a new sharing arrangement that is fair to both valued fleets.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

per Standing Order 63, I give notice that the motion just read by the Member

for Baie Verte Springdale shall be the private member's motion to be

debated here tomorrow, Wednesday, Private Members' Day.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further notices of

motion?

The

hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

MR. KENT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Happy St. Patrick's Day.

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

An Act To

Provide The Public With Access To Information And Protection Of Privacy,

Bill 45.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further notices of

motion?

The

hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

An Act To

Amend The Provincial Court Act, 1991, Bill 43.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further notices of

motion?

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's Centre.

MS ROGERS:

To the hon. House of

Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament

assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and

Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS the Family Violence Intervention Court provided a comprehensive

approach to domestic violence in a court setting that fully understood and

dealt with the complex issues of domestic violence; and

WHEREAS domestic violence continues to be one of the most serious issues

facing our Province today and the cost of the impact of domestic violence is

great both economically and in human suffering; and

WHEREAS the Family Violence Intervention Court was welcomed and endorsed by

all aspects of the justice system including the police, the courts,

prosecutors, defence counsel, Child, Youth and Family Services as well as

victims, offenders, community agencies, and women's groups; and

WHEREAS the recidivism rate for offenders going through the court was 10 per

cent compared to 40 per cent for those who did not; and

WHEREAS the budget for the court was only 0.2 per cent of the entire budget

of the Department of Justice;

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

House of Assembly to urge government to reinstate the Family Violence

Intervention Court.

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, it has been about two years now since the current Minister of

Justice had decided to cut funding to the Family Violence Intervention

Court. Again, it is shameful,

absolutely shameful. We do know

the court was doing the work that it was supposed to do, that it was an

effective court.

Mr.

Speaker, there were all kinds of reasons the government flip-flopped on

its reasons for cutting the court, but we do know it was one of the most

effective tools in dealing with the root causes of domestic violence.

Now one of the things that government said is because it did not

serve the whole Province.

Well, Mr. Speaker, drug court, which is an effective court right now, is

only situated in St. John's.

They did not cut drug court, nor should they cut drug court.

It is a very effective program in dealing with the social and

economic issues of violence and issues for people pardon me, Mr. Speaker,

I meant mental health court. We

know that mental health court is a very important tool in our justice

system, as was the Family Violence Intervention Court.

have asked this government a number of times, have they done an assessment

as to the impact on the whole justice system, on the whole court system by

having cut the Family Violence Intervention Court.

So far we have not received any information about that.

Mr.

Speaker, again, the Premier issued his mandate letter to the Minister of

Justice, the past Minister of Justice, about the Family Violence

Intervention Court saying: In consultation with stakeholders, I expect you

to explore and propose for consideration possible models for providing

Family Violence Intervention Court throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, we know that that is possible.

Thank you very much.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

remind the member her speaking time has expired.

The

hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

the hon. House of Assembly 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 the Town of Goose Cove still remains without broadband services; and

WHEREAS residents rely on Internet services for education, business,

communication, and social activity; and

WHEREAS wireless and wired technologies exist to provide broadband services

to rural communities to replace slower dial-up service;

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

providers to ensure the Town of Goose Cove is in receipt of broadband

Internet services in Newfoundland and Labrador.

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, I will certainly acknowledge there have been great strides made in

finding ways to cover broadband Internet across Newfoundland and Labrador,

but there are still significant gaps when you have towns like Goose Cove,

which is just eight kilometres from St. Anthony, the largest economic centre

on the Great Northern Peninsula, and they not have access.

It limits the opportunity the town has to attract new business

revenue, to grow and create opportunities so that it has more

self-sufficiency and less reliance on government funding, and that it can

create new opportunities for their residents, for their youth in terms of

education and in terms of commerce.

just makes sense to look at providing a town like Goose Cove, that is so

close to another municipality that has so much business and commerce

activity, providing that extra tool would create new opportunities, as it

would for Bide Arm, which is now part of the Town of Roddickton Bide Arm.

have presented a petition like this, similarly, and I will continue to do so

because it is a good investment and it can create significant opportunities

for our rural communities. If we

are not investing and advancing telecommunications networks then we are

failing the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. HILLIER:

To the hon. House of

Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament

assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and

Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS Route 2 on the Conception Bay South Bypass Road is the second

busiest highway in the Province; and

WHEREAS we must ensure the safety of the residents who use the access road,

especially when driving at night; and

WHEREAS brush clearing can reduce the risk to drivers from the local moose

population;

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

allocate funding to include brush clearing for the Manuels Access Road.

Mr.

Speaker, this is a petition that I brought forward last fall.

I was told at the time that I had missed two tender calls for brush

clearing for this year and that if we stand by we might get on the list for

tenders for next year.

There is no doubt, Mr. Speaker; I have run across the list of nine contracts

which have been let for brush clearing throughout the Province for this

year. For instance, Route 410,

Baie Verte Highway, fifty hectares.

As the Member for Baie Verte would say, check it off, that is a Tory

district. Route 2, Pitts

Memorial Drive, TCH to Kilbride, Topsail District to Kilbride, a Tory

district. Route 80, Hant's

Harbour to Brownsdale, twenty-three hectares.

Trinity Bay de Verde, just missed the by-election, it was a Tory

district then. Route 220,

Fortune to Point May, twelve hectares; Grand Bank District, a Tory district.

Mr.

Speaker, I guess if we go down through this, I have nine contracts for brush

clearing, all of them in government districts.

One of two things must be happening, Mr. Speaker: either Liberal

districts do not have any trees, Liberal districts do not have any moose,

Liberal districts do not have any highways, or this is pure political

patronage.

Mr.

Speaker, now that I know the system I am working within, I will ask the

minister: When all the Tory districts have their brush cut, could they

reserve a little spot for me in Conception Bay South?

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

St. John's East.

MR. MURPHY:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

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 Tordon 101 contains the chemicals 2,4-D and picloram; and

WHEREAS the chemical picloram is a known cancer-causing carcinogen; and

WHEREAS the provincial government has banned the cosmetic use of the

pesticide 2,4-D; and

WHEREAS safer alternatives are available to the provincial government for

brush clearance such as manual labour, alternative competitive seeding

methods, and/or the mechanical removal of brush; and

WHEREAS the provincial government is responsible for ensuring the safety and

well-being of its citizens;

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

House of Assembly to urge government to cease the use of chemicals covered

under its own cosmetic pesticide ban and begin using safer methods of brush

clearance that will not place citizens in harm's way.

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, I will start off my comments on this one by simply saying that if

you look outside the windows right now it hardly seems prudent to be

spraying chemicals, but the simple fact is this is budget time, and budget

time brings forth the time when government has to bring forth a lot of

things for pause for thought.

One of the things they have been talking about is saving money.

One of the things they talk about is using the foresight and having

long-term planning in place in order to save that money.

Well, Mr. Speaker, when you are talking about dumping cancer-causing

chemicals into our environment, we could be saving money by using

alternative methods to prevent conditions in some of the people of this

Province. We know there are

alternative competitive seeding methods, for example, that can be used; but,

at the same time as saying that, we can also create green jobs at the same

time when it comes to brush clearing.

we know government does have alternatives.

I know it is also in the mandate, for example, from the Minister of

Transportation, that he will be made to put together a plan for road

maintenance, for example. We

know that is in his mandate letter.

I would expect that the minister would pay attention to the use of

chemicals in harming our environment and try to stay away from the use of

chemicals and use the alternative methods that would be designed more to

preserve human health rather than to jeopardize it.

Mr.

Speaker, on behalf of the people of St. John's and other areas who signed

this petition, I present this to the House of Assembly for consideration.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Carbonear Harbour Grace.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SLADE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS on average, there are over 700 moose-vehicle accidents in the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador each year; and

WHEREAS approximately 10 per cent of those accidents result in serious

injury or fatality; and

WHEREAS moose-vehicle accident mitigation measures like moose fencing, brush

cutting, and hunting quotas have reduced accidents in other provinces, in

particular, New Brunswick;

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

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

increase moose-vehicle accident mitigation measures, including moose

fencing, brush cutting, and increasing quotas, and to provide financial

assistance to those most seriously injured as the result of said collisions.

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, I had a gentleman call me and ask me to present this petition on

their behalf. These people are

from the Whitbourne area. I will

tell you, it is quite a story actually.

This gentleman was a wildlife officer.

He worked for the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Unfortunately, he came in contact with a moose one day and now he

sits as a paraplegic. Of course,

we know that moose-vehicle accidents in some cases kill people.

We know in a lot of cases they maim people, which is what happened in

this case here.

Mr.

Speaker, I think the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador should be doing

more. We just went through the

process of these moose lights, they call them, or whatever the case may be

satellites. Anyway, it did not

work. It sat there on the

Province's highway for a long time and it simply did not work.

What it basically did was give people false hope.

need to do so much better for the residents of our Province to make sure

that we are doing everything that we can possibly do so that we do not have

to deal with those situations.

Like I said, that gentleman there was a wildlife officer.

We just need to do more, and I understand that the government had a

moose strategy paper on the move.

I do not know if that is going to be released or was it released,

because I am not aware it was released, a moose strategy.

Anyway, Mr. Speaker, I just want to present this petition on behalf of

anyone who has ever come in contact with a moose out there.

On that note I will sit down, but you can rest assured there will be

more coming.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Humber East.

MR. FLYNN:

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 2009 Throne Speech clearly states the government has provided

free textbooks to students; and

WHEREAS this is an investment in education; and

WHEREAS unfortunately, students attending independently funded schools have

been deprived of equal access to this assistance; and

WHEREAS the Department of Education is perceived to show discrimination

towards parents who exercise a choice of schooling for their child; and

WHEREAS all schools operate under the guidelines of the Schools Act;

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

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

beginning immediately, to ask the Department of Education to provide free

textbooks to all students who attend any school that follows the

requirements of the Schools Act, 1997 (amended)

Chapter S-12.2.

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

This

is dated February 20, 2015.

Mr.

Speaker, very quickly, since I have been elected, I have had the opportunity

to meet with a number of

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. FLYNN:

people in the district

who were quite concerned with this.

As a matter of fact, there were eight put forward with 255 names on

it. I am asking the minister to

take time to sit down with these people and see if you could work out a deal

that these kids are not penalized based upon the choice that their parents

made for them. Right now it is

pretty discriminatory. They are

not allowed to participate in a competitive drama festival and so on, and I

really think the minister should be involved.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr.

Speaker.

have a petition. To the hon.

House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament

assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS hundreds of residents of the Southwest Coast of the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador, including residents of the communities of

Margaree, Fox Roost, Isle aux Morts, Burnt Islands, Rose Blanche-Harbour Le

Cou, Diamond Cove and La Poile, use Route 470 on a regular basis for work,

medical, educational, and social reasons; and

WHEREAS there is no cellphone coverage on Route 470; and

WHEREAS residents and users of Route 470 require cellphone coverage to

ensure their safety and communication abilities; and

WHEREAS the Department of Innovation, Business and Rural Development

recently announced significant funding to improve broadband services in

rural Newfoundland and Labrador; and

WHEREAS the residents and users of Route 470 feel that the department should

also invest in cellphone coverage for rural Newfoundland and Labrador;

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

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

users of Route 470 in their request to obtain cellphone coverage.

Mr.

Speaker, I have been entering these petitions ever since I got into this

House of Assembly and they concern two routes, Route 470 and Route 480.

It has just been in the news this morning that on Route 480 we had a

situation that thankfully turned out to be positive when we had two vehicles

stuck overnight on the Burgeo road, one of them for up to twenty-four hours,

stuck there because of weather conditions.

The

first thing I want to do is throw a bouquet to the Department of

Transportation and Works and the ground search and rescue.

The work that they did to rescue these people was exemplary and they

should be recognized for such, for putting their lives at risk, and we

appreciate that.

Going back to the issue at hand, we had a situation where the rescue attempt

was hampered because you cannot talk to anybody on that 150 kilometres

stretch of road and you cannot talk to anybody on this road on Route 470.

We had the same situation last year, a huge storm; Transportation and

Works had to take their equipment off the road and you cannot talk to

people. You have people sleeping

in their car in minus 20 overnight and they cannot call anybody.

It is 2015 and we have not seen anything.

I am

going to give the minister an opportunity to hopefully address this during

the session of the House, whether it is Wi-Fi coverage, whether it is the

possibility of new technology to expand the service and it is not just

here in my district; it is in a lot of districts on both sides of this

House. I am hearing today that

we are very lucky that these individuals got out alive.

A lot of this could have been avoided if you could actually make that

phone call. It is not acceptable

in this day and age. We need to

do something and work together to make this happen.

The

previous minister did not do anything, would not answer any questions, so I

am going to give this minister the opportunity and let's see it happen

hopefully sooner rather than later.

Again, thank you to those workers who made this rescue happen, including the

RCMP.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

move, seconded by the Minister of Finance, that we move to Orders of the

Day.

MR. SPEAKER:

The motion is that we

move to Orders of the Day.

All

those in favour, 'aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay'.

Carried.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government

House Leader.

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Earlier today, under Notices of Motion, the Minister of Finance and

President of Treasury Board gave notice of his intent to bring forth a

motion on debate for Interim Supply.

I would like to ask leave of the House to introduce that motion today

and start debate thereafter.

MR. SPEAKER:

Leave?

AN HON. MEMBER:

Leave.

MR. SPEAKER:

The minister has leave.

The

hon. the Minister of Finance.

MR. WISEMAN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

wish to inform the House that I have received a message from His Honour the

Lieutenant Governor.

MR. SPEAKER:

All rise.

Administrator of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, I transmit a

request to appropriate sums required for the Public Service of the Province

for the year ending 31 March 2016, by way of Interim Supply and in

accordance with the provisions of sections 54 and 90 of the Constitution

Act, 1867, I recommend this request to the House of Assembly.

Sgd.: _________________________

Administrator Justice J. Derek Green

Please be seated.

The

hon. the Minister of Finance.

MR. WISEMAN:

Mr. Speaker, I move,

seconded by the hon. the Government House Leader, that the message together

with the bill be referred to the Committee of Supply.

MR. SPEAKER:

The motion is that the

message, together with a bill, be referred to a Committee of Supply and that

I do now leave the Chair.

it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All

those in favour, 'aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, 'nay'.

Carried.

motion, that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole, Mr.

Speaker left the Chair.

Committee of the

Whole on Supply

CHAIR (Littlejohn):

Order, please!

are considering the related resolution that Bill 44,

An Act For Granting To

Her Majesty Certain Sums Of Money For Defraying Certain Expenses Of The

Public Service For The Financial Year Ending March 31, 2016 And For Other

Purposes Relating To The Public Service.

Resolution

That it is expedient to introduce a measure to provide for the granting to

Her Majesty for defraying certain expenses of the public service for the

financial year ending March 31, 2016 the sum of $2,784,047,800.

CHAIR:

Shall the resolution

carry?

The

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

MR. WISEMAN:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

way of background, before we get into debate and some commentary on the

substance of the bill, I want to provide some introductory comments about

what Interim Supply really is.

Each

year the government, this House, this Legislature approves a Budget

presented by government and that Budget covers the period running from April

1 to March 31 of each year. That

is our fiscal year. So

government today has the permission of this House to continue spending money

until March 31, 2015. That

expenditure was laid out in the Estimates last year when we debated the

Budget in this House.

The

Estimates lay out what each department is allowed to spend in each expense

category identified in the Estimates.

This Legislature gave government the authority to keep spending

according to those Estimates, according to the vote that was taken in this

House. That gives government the

permission to continue to spend up to March 31, 2015.

This

is now the middle of March. So

what would happen legally is come March 31 government would no longer have

permission to continue spending money.

They could not continue to pay their employees.

They could not continue to provide Income Support payments to

individuals who are in receipt of Income Support.

Basically, the business of government would shut down.

We no longer would have the authority of this House to spend money,

to commit money, to engage in contractual obligations, to issue tenders, to

do anything at all. Any action

the government would take that would cost money would become illegal if we

do not get permission to continue on with business as usual and have some

level of authority to spend money.

Every year government will come to the House of Assembly with what is called

an Interim Supply Bill. They

will ask this Legislature to approve sums of money in various categories

that will allow each department of government to continue to operate to the

end of June. So what Interim

Supply does is ask the House to approve a sum of money to allow government

to continue to function and operate to the end of June.

Between now and the end of June government will introduce its full

Budget. A full Supply Budget

will be introduced in the House, and when we do, we will recognize that we

have already dealt with some portion of it.

Today I am introducing a bill to the House and asking this House of Assembly

to approve and let me read for you, Mr. Chair, let me read for you clause

2. This is the Interim Supply

for 2015-2016 fiscal year. It

says, let me read, From and out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund there may

be issued by the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board sums

not exceeding $2,784,047,800 and the sums so issued shall be paid and

applied by the individual Heads of Expenditure in respect of the financial

year beginning April 1, 2015 and ending March 31, 2016 towards defraying

the charges and expenses of the Public Service of Newfoundland and Labrador

as set out in the Schedule.

Mr.

Chair, if you go to the second page of the bill there is a

Schedule and it

lays out the Heads of Expenditure.

It starts out with the Consolidated Fund Services, it runs to

Executive Council, and continues to identify all of the heads of

expenditures. When we table the

Budget in the House we will have a document called the Estimates.

The Estimates document lays out the heads of expenditures and each of

those heads of expenditures have an allocation.

The House will decide that this head of expenditure is allowed to

spend this much money over the course of the next fiscal year.

What

we have in this

Schedule is a listing of all of those Heads of Expenditure.

For example, in the Department of Transportation and Works we are

asking that this Interim Supply Bill include an amount of $479,513,300.

That is the amount this House has been asked to give permission to

the Department of Transportation and Works for them to spend over the course

of the next three months as we debate and deal with the full budget.

Each

department is listed I am sorry, let me correct myself again.

Each Head of Expenditure is listed in the Schedule.

All the dollar amounts are assigned by the Head of Expenditure, and

the total on the bottom is a reflection of what I just said a moment ago,

which is $2,784,047,800.

Mr.

Chair, as I said a moment ago, that happens every year.

Every year the House will be asked to consider an Interim Supply, a

pretty normal and natural practice.

Over the course of the next number of days, members of the House will

get up and talk about this year's Budget and talk about the Interim Supply.

You are going to hear, I suspect, Mr. Chair, all kinds of

commentaries. In the House of

Assembly, certain bills come towards the House.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

MR. WISEMAN:

When they do, the Chair

of Committees, the Deputy Chair of Committees, and the Speaker will

frequently remind members to be relevant to the bill; but in this instance

here, over the course of the next few days, you are going to hear a lot of

stories being told, you are going to hear a lot of discussions about any

number of things that may not have anything to do at all with finances

nothing to do at all with finances.

fact, I suspect, over the next number of days I am talking about $2

billion here, over $2 billion.

Over the next three or four days, I doubt very much if 5 per cent of the

commentary that we will hear will have anything to do with money.

There will be a lot of discussion about a variety of things.

Some of it might be politics and some of it might be about posturing

for the upcoming provincial election sometime in 2015.

this is an opportunity for members to get up, and particularly from the

Opposition what we will be hearing over the next number of days is a

berating of government's decisions, a berating of government's expenditures.

Everything that government may have done wrong in the last ten years

you will hear paraded out over the next few days, but one thing will be

missing.

What

will be missing from the Opposition is their solutions to any of the

problems. We will hear a lot of

moaning about what is wrong. We

will hear a lot of criticism about what government may have done wrong, but

we will hear very little although I did say we will hear a lot of campaign

posturing, but we will hear very little about policy.

Very

few times will members of the Opposition get up and say do you know what I

think the government should do next year in improving our fiscal position,

or what should government do we will get lots of asks.

They will get up and they will list off all the things that they

would like to do. I would be

interested in hearing a lot of that because members of the Opposition

attended many of the pre-Budget consultations, sat and wrote a lot of notes,

did not contribute anything to the conversation at all.

So,

as of today, the people of this Province, and the government as a result of

its pre-Budget consultations, have no idea at all what the Opposition

parties would like to see, would like to do, or any thoughts that they have

on how the Province should manage its finances.

I do

not think that is going to change very much in the next few days as we

debate Interim Supply. We are

still not going to gain that kind of insight at all, but we will hear a lot

of criticism. So I am just

forewarning the House and forewarning the people who may want to tune in and

listen to the debate over the next number of days of what they may see.

Always remember, despite what you might be hearing, there is a bill before

the House that is asking the House to approve Interim Supply which allows,

fundamentally, government to continue to do the business of the people of

the Province and allow departments to continue to provide programs and

services and have the authority to pay for those programs and services.

When

we look at this amount of money here, the

schedule talks about

$2,784,000,000. Each department

is listed here. When we start

talking about Advanced Education and Skills or we start talking about the

Department of Education, we are going to be talking about money that is

necessary to allow us to continue to make the strategic investments in

poverty reduction, for example.

Both those departments, together with others, but both those departments in

particular have a big piece of their work that they do which contributes

towards our Poverty Reduction Strategy.

In the absence of having the funding approved to allow them to

continue to do that, we would not be able to, as a government, continue to

do the great work that we do on behalf of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians

and the people who live here.

when the Department of Education looks at their $316 million $316,708,000

that is in this Interim Supply that allows the Department of Education to

continue to provide free textbooks.

That allows them to have an ability to continue to fund the

elimination of all fees that students pay in this Province.

It was not all that many years ago that students who went to school

in Newfoundland and Labrador had a number of fees associated with it.

The members of this House can recall, no doubt, as their children

went to school in September they came home after the first day with a list

of all the things you needed to bring now the second day and, by the way,

bring in your cheque for this much because here are the fees.

You need a fee for this, a fee for something else, and by the way,

you have four or five books you have to buy and here is how much they cost.

So when you come back the second day, bring back the money.

Now,

that was a normal thing to do in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I think as parents we all did it.

We all did that. What

happened, though, is we recognized as a government that that was not fair

and was not equitable. To many

people that was a tremendous financial burden on many families in

Newfoundland and Labrador. So we

made a conscious decision that we were no longer going to charge those fees.

When

people sit in this House and they debate Interim Supply, for example,

recognize that what you are doing is you are allowing the Department of

Education to continue to do the things that they do, continue to invest the

money in the development of children in this Province, and allow them to

supply and provide for the elimination of school fees.

It allows them to provide for free textbooks.

So recognize that when you are standing in the House over the next

few days, debating this bill, and you are talking about a variety of things,

reflect for a few moments, though, on what this bill is really about and

what this money is used for. I

just use that as an illustration.

On the other side, that is a social program, a social investment.

The

hon. Government House Leader in his department here is asking that we would

provide an initial $46,302,000 to allow his department to continue to invest

strategically in the kinds of initiatives that he supports, as he talks

about creating a support for business diversification, looking at how we can

actually invest strategically in key business enterprise and key sectors of

our economy to create greater economic prosperity, to create more

employment. That is the reason

that department is set up. It is

not just so that he can have a large group of staff there to develop policy

and to provide advice to government; his department is a key department in

driving economic development and economic activity in Newfoundland and

Labrador.

when you are standing in the House and debating Interim Supply over the next

few days and you are looking at $46 million going to his department and you

wonder why we are doing that, the reason simply is that we need as a

government, we need as a Province, to continue to make strategic investments

in economic diversification, supporting companies, supporting business as

they grow and prosper and create employment opportunities for

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

That is the kind of decision that you are going to be making in the

next number of days as you debate Interim Supply.

could go down through every single one of these heads of expenditure here

and give you an example of the kinds of things that each of those

departments will be doing with their Interim Supply that you, hopefully, by

next week, will vote in this House to give permission for us to continue to

operate as a government.

wanted to provide those introductory comments for the members of the House,

but also for members of the general public as they start to listen over the

next few days about a debate that may seem kind of strange on times,

rambling on a variety of topics; but, clearly, it is about Interim Supply

and giving government the permission to continue to operate, giving various

departments in government the permission to continue to provide services and

provide programs to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and, at the end of the

day, have permission to pay for and taking us to the end of June.

Mr.

Chair, my time has now expired, but I look forward to, over the next few

days, continuing to contribute to this debate.

No doubt, I will have an opportunity to respond to many people

opposite as they raise issues that may or may not be on topic, may or may

not be accurate, I say, Mr. Chair, but thank you for the time to make my

comments.

CHAIR:

The hon. the Member for

Bay of Islands.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Before I get into the debate, it was mentioned by the Speaker about the

Member for Bonavista North and his family going through a very tough time.

Jeremy was a son who the member spoke about very fondly in this House

on many occasions. He spoke

about taking him moose hunting.

spoke to the member last night and the member and the family are

comfortable. They did the best

they could for their son. They

are very appreciative of all the calls they got from the House of Assembly.

I on this side also, like all the House, would just like to pass on

our condolences to the family and say to Eli, you were a very proud father

as you should be.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Chair, I am going to

speak on Interim Supply. The

minister just gave us a little roundabout.

I would just like to ask the minister one question: Where is the $1

million it cost to show that Bill 29 was a complete disaster by that

government?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

Where in this Interim

Supply is the $1 million of wasted money, Mr. Chair?

One million dollars wasted because now you have to come out and say

what you did was wrong.

Mr.

Chair, I always said when you bring in something that was supposed to be

open and you have to force closure just to get it through the House of

Assembly, you know it is a problem.

This report vilifies the government, which they should have.

It shows that the people of the Province and everybody who was

against this Bill 29 all across Canada were right, that this was not opening

up the government but closing it, Mr. Chair.

I am

glad that it was done. I would

love to see in Interim Supply where it is a waste of another $1 million just

to say we told you so.

AN HON. MEMBER:

How much?

MR. JOYCE:

One million dollars.

Mr.

Chair, as we go through and we debate now on these issues, we have a major

deficit. We have a major deficit

in this Province. It is

mismanagement. I honestly feel

that it is mismanagement.

Mr.

Chair, I just wanted to give you a little quote because what is said over on

the West Coast is not always brought over on the East Coast.

You want to look at mismanagement.

I would love for anybody on the opposite side, anybody in the

government, to stand up and justify this.

Here

is a quote that was made a little over a year ago when I was kicking up

about the hospital, fighting for radiation in the hospital.

It was the former Minister of Finance who said this a little over a

year ago, the former Premier: We are flush in cash; we have $2 billion in

cash.

Why

doesn't someone on the opposite side stand up and tell us where did the $2

billion go? Where did it go?

A little over a year, $2 billion he was bragging, in cash, Mr. Chair.

Where did it go? Why

doesn't someone on the opposite side from government stand up and say was

Tom Marshall telling the truth at the time?

Well where did the money go?

Here is a great opportunity, Mr. Chair.

Now

we hear the members of government say, what would you do?

I tell you what we would have done.

We would have never allowed us to get ourselves in that situation,

Mr. Chair. We would have been

responsible. We would have stood

up and we would have been honest with the people.

look at Muskrat Falls. We had to

go through Muskrat Falls. How

much money is being spent? I ask

you, Mr. Chair, how much money is being spent on Muskrat Falls?

Can anybody in this House come out and say how much money is taken

out of general revenues for Muskrat Falls?

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible).

MR. JOYCE:

That is what is being

spent. How much is being taken

out of general revenues? There

is not a person in government over there who can answer that question.

They could not even answer us.

Look

at it, Mr. Chair, here we are spending all this surplus and cash that

apparently Tom Marshall said we had and we are going to give cheaper rates

to Nova Scotia while taxpayers in this Province we are talking about

poverty reduction, the people who are on low income are going to subsidize

the people in Nova Scotia because they are going to get lower rates.

That is fiscal management.

Mr. Chair, if you want to know why people are starting to lose

confidence in this government, it is not hard to see.

Mr.

Chair, I want to talk about the hospital in Corner Brook.

I know I have stood up and talked about this hospital on many

occasions. I talked about it on

many occasions. I find it funny;

the Minister of Health went out during the by-election in Humber East, stood

up in the by-election, went out in the public and if you knew how many

people laughed at his comments there is no delay in the hospital.

We are on schedule. It

was supposed to be built in 2012, functional in 2012.

There is no delay. What

is the big problem?

Mr.

Chair, back then I pushed for radiation.

I make no bones about it; I pushed hard for radiation.

I took the concerns of the people who had cancer out on the West

Coast, in Labrador, and the Northern Peninsula who had to drive across these

roads no matter what the weather conditions were, had to find

transportation, had to find accommodations in here, had to be away from

their loved ones, had to go through cancer treatment here in St. John's, and

I stood up for those people because it just was not right.

I was vilified by this government.

I was vilified. I did not

know what I was talking about, Mr. Chair.

Here

are some of the reasons that were given by the government at the time.

Here are just a few of them: unproven model of singular radiation

unit; radiation should be offered in the tertiary care facility; challenges

with recruitment and retention of specialized staff; numbers do not justify

the service. Plus, Mr. Chair,

there were some fictitious polls being done about how people would not use

the services in Corner Brook.

Mr.

Chair, when the report came out from Altus, do you know what it said?

It is a necessity. It is

a necessity in the new regional hospital.

It took us another $500,000 of government funds just to prove and I

have to give Tom Marshall the credit.

I will tell you where Tom Marshall changed his mind, Mr. Chair.

I do not mind saying this publicly.

There was a centre over in Nova Scotia in Sydney.

We were speaking to this guy who said yes, we had a single unit in

Nova Scotia. After three or four

years, the demand was so high we had to get a second unit.

walked over to the Premier at the time, Tom Marshall, and I said Tom, not

for me, phone this person. Tom

Marshall on the weekend picked up the phone, phoned this person in Sydney,

Nova Scotia. He said Premier,

yes, we had a single unit. Tom

Marshall came to me and said Eddie, I was told it could not be done; we will

get a study done.

have to give Tom Marshall credit for one thing, taking the information that

I gave him and the people of Western Newfoundland were saying it all along

and the Opposition because I remember when myself and Dwight Ball and the

Opposition stood up in Corner Brook and announced that we were going to put

radiation in Corner Brook. The

next day the government had a full list of press releases saying why we are

just playing politics with it all.

Mr.

Chair, Tom Marshall phoned this person and when the person came on, here was

the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador who asked him these questions and

Tom Marshall started this study.

Not only are they going to put a radiation unit in there, not only are they

going to put a radiation unit, the numbers that we supplied the government

will support a second unit in 2025-2026 for the people of Western

Newfoundland and Labrador.

This

is why this Legislature is important.

This is why when we want to talk about Interim Supply and we want to

talk about budgets and also in the report, I have some questions, Mr.

Chair. In the report it says our

hospital is going to be operational in 2019 because of the information

supplied by government. It is

time for this government to be upfront with the people of Western

Newfoundland and Labrador. The

earliest construction that this hospital can be is 2016.

In the report it says the hospital should be built by 2019.

It is absolutely impossible, Mr. Chair.

It is impossible.

said by 2025-2026 we are going to need two units.

There are going to be two bunkers put in there.

Give them credit, there are going to be two bunkers put in the new

hospital, Mr. Chair. By the time

the hospital is up and functionally running, we will be close to needing a

second radiation unit in the new hospital in Corner Brook, because this

hospital will not be ready until 2021-2022, the absolute minimum, Mr. Chair.

can go through a list of press releases that were sent out by government,

Mr. Chair, but I am not going to do that.

All I do is urge the government.

If you are bringing in Interim Supply and you are bringing in a

Budget, follow your commitment that was made in 2007, 2011, 2012, 2014, and

again this year, that there will be funds put in there for the new hospital

in Corner Brook. It is urgent,

Mr. Chair, trust me. If anybody

over here took a walk through the new regional hospital now you will see why

at every opportunity I will speak about this new regional hospital.

Mr.

Chair, before I sit down on the new hospital, I want to thank all of my

colleagues for their support and the time they gave me in the House.

So many times I know I was a bit forceful when I wanted to bring up

this issue. I want to thank my

colleagues for allowing me to do that.

I have to say the action committee, Israel Hann, Gerald Parsons and

all of them, they took it to another level.

I just want to recognize them also, Mr. Chair.

say to the Minister of Health, Mr. Chair, they are still waiting for the

meeting that you were supposed to have with them back in November during the

by-election. I know they called

several times waiting for the meeting that you were supposed to have with

them. Obviously, you forget now

you made that commitment, but they are still waiting for the meeting.

They

are still waiting for the functional plan that you were going to give them

two weeks after that meeting.

They are still waiting for that.

So you can see how people become a bit cynical when the minister waltzes out

there and tries to give a good song and dance during a by-election, knowing

full well he is not going to follow through on it.

Mr.

Chair, I just want to have a few words on that.

I am going to speak on 911 for a second.

This is another issue, and I know the new minister is going to be in

on it. I am going to try to have

a meeting with the new minister on this to explain some of the discrepancies

of 911 across the Province. I

will just give you an example with the St. John's Regional Fire Department

as they break it up per call for fire departments and others.

Mr. Chair, fire departments in St. John's pay an average of $30 a

call for dispatch $30.

For

some reason this government is allowing the City of Corner Brook two 911

operators, two dispatchers who are sitting down side by side, Mr. Chair.

I just want people to picture this, two people sitting down.

If a call comes in, the same two dispatchers will take the call.

If you pay $2,500 minimum, you will dispatch and you will take that

call. If you do not pay the

$2,500 it goes to the next person, in the same one, and you just get call

forwarding, but the two people who are sitting at the table for the 911 are

paid by the seventy-five cents, are paid by the 911 corporation.

They are paid.

will just get back to Corner Brook, Mr. Chair.

The Towns of York Harbour and Lark Harbour for dispatch for fire

department, if they go through this if this government allows their buddy

Charles Pender and the city council to go through this here, the Towns of

York Harbour and Lark Harbour will have to pay $1,125 per call, per

dispatch. They have two

dispatches, now they have to pay $2,500.

Here

is what Neville Wheaton I do not mind saying it because he said it

publicly. Here is what Neville

Wheaton said at public meetings.

The former minister, Judy Manning, was at the meeting.

Here is what he said. If

you want to talk about a condescending attitude, and this government is

allowing this. Here is what he

said: we can charge them $25 a call, we can charge them $30 a call.

It is not worth the paperwork for the city to do so; we will charge

them $2,500. That is what

Neville Wheaton said, the fire chief in the City of Corner Brook.

That is what he said.

is charging the Towns of York Harbour and Lark Harbour over $1,100, $1,225 a

call, whatever it is. It is

$2,500 per town and over and above, Mr. Chair.

How is that fair? I ask

the minister, stand up on your feet here today and tell me how that is fair

when a dispatch in here costs $30 a call stand up.

The two people who are giving the calls are paid fully by the 911

corporation.

Guess what? Here is the kicker,

Mr. Chair. Here is the absolute

kicker on this. The money that

is being charged for dispatch over in Corner Brook goes in the City of

Corner Brook coffers. It does

not go into the 911 corporation.

If everybody from Goobies west wants 911, they all have to pay $2,500.

It goes in the City of Corner Brook while the taxpayers are paying

seventy-five cents per phone who is paying for the two dispatchers.

Is that correct?

How

can you tell me that is a way to treat people?

Here is an opportunity for the minister to stand up.

Anything I am saying here today, stand up and deny it, Mr. Chair.

Here is your opportunity.

What I am saying is factually correct because the minister here is giving

out

CHAIR:

I remind the hon. member

his time has expired.

MR. JOYCE:

so much misinformation.

I wanted the information here today.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

CHAIR:

I remind the hon. member

his time has expired.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The hon. the Member for

Exploits.

MR. FORSEY:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

is always a pleasure to stand up in the House and be able to speak on some

legislation or Interim Supply, whatever the issue of the day is, Mr. Chair.

would certainly like to pass along my condolences as well to the Member for

Bonavista North, as well as everyone here in the House today.

Mr.

Chair, I would like to touch on first the new Lands Act review that is

proposed by our government and Municipal Affairs.

This new act is very important to the people of the Province,

especially out in Central Newfoundland, because we have so many different

restrictions and interference by other agencies, Mr. Chair.

The

department will now do a review of the Lands Act.

It needs to be done. We

will modernize the act and make the Crown lands application process simpler

and more efficient. I know the

people of the Province are welcoming this particular review.

When the consultations are finished, then it will come back to the

minister and come back to the department, and then it will come to the

House, I am sure, for amendments to the legislation.

The review will be led by consulting with a broad range of

stakeholders, including municipalities, legal representatives, developers,

as well as the general public.

couple of quick facts on this particular review.

The Department of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs are

initiating this review to modernize and update the Lands Act.

The Lands Act guides the management and administration of provincial

Crown lands. Here is the key,

the provincial Crown lands, Mr. Chair.

We do have a lot of requests, a lot of applications submitted to the

different regional offices for lands, whether it is for business, whether it

is for residential, cabins, whatever the case may be, and there are always a

lot of issues with regard to restrictions.

The act is outdated, really, and needs to be modernized.

Consultations are being led by a review committee consisting of individuals

with considerable knowledge, experience, and education in the areas of law,

policy, and process improvement.

When the consultations are completed, a What We Heard document will be

released. Now this particular

document will be reviewed again by the department and, hopefully, the

recommendations will be brought here to the Legislature and amendments will

be made that are going to make it easier for the people of the Province when

they are submitting applications to Crown Lands.

Mr.

Chair, just for a point of interest and I know I have had calls at my

office alone for information concerning this; there has been a lot of

interest generated from this particular review.

In Central Newfoundland, where I would probably be more affected in

the District of Exploits and in the Central