Volume ·xLI Friday Province of Newfoundland FORTY -FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NEWFOUNDLAND F'irst Session VERBATIM REPORT {Hansard) Speaker: Honourable Thomas Lush Number 6 2 June 1989

The House met at 9:00a .m. MR. SPEAKER (Lush): Order, please! We would like to welcome to the galleries this morning the students of Ralph Laite Academy, Lewisporte, and their teachers, Melvin Ball and Norman Austin; also a number of students from St. Patrick 1 s Hall School and their teacher, Brother Conti, and a group of women from tha Y, interested in successful employment, accompanied by Dianne Janes. Statements by Ministers MR. SPEAKER: The hon. thE! PrEHnier.

PREMIER WELLS: I wish to adviSE! the HousE! today that the Auditor General has bE! en directed to commence immediately a review into all aspects of the Province 1 s involvement with Newfoundland Enviroponics Limited, the Sprung associated companies, and any other related companies or individuals involved in the Sprung greenhouse project. The rE!View will include an of the funding to the contractual examination pursuant arrangement involved in the facility. between all parties the establishment of The review will also address two major areas of concern:

(1) Were all funds, assets and guarantees or tax exemptions which were directed to the project or the parties involved, duly and properly authorized under the laws of the Province? L266 June 2, 1989 Vol XLI

(2) Is there any evidence that funds advanced, assets, guarantees, or tax exemptions were used in any manner other than in the,proper conduct of the business of Newfoundland Enviroponics Limited? In carrying out his review, the Auditor General will have made available to him all records of Government and Crown Corporations reJ.ated to this project, and any other sources of :information that he considers appropriate. for his examination. The results of thE! rE!ViE!W by thE!

Auditor General will determine the neE!d for any further enquiry in'l:-.o the circumstances of the commitment and disposition of som e $22 million of public funds in the Sprung project. Mr. Speaker, I apologize to the han. the Leader of the Opposition, as I told him jtH>t before I rose to make the statement. I arn new to the office and I did not have the extra copies available to hand out to him beforehand, but it was primarily because the photocopier in the Premier's Office was not working this morning. MR. SPEAKER : The hon. the Leader oF l:_he Opposition. MR. RIDEOUT: Mr.

Speaker, I am surpl"isod to learn that the Premier's Office is on the blink so quickly. SOME HON. MEMBERS : Hear, hear! MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, colleagues on House, let me No. 6 on bE!half of !:his side of very brtE!rly my \:hE! say I~ 266

that we welcome the government1s initiative in requesting -the government cannot order the Auditor General. The Auditor Genera] is a servant of this Legislature ·-the Auditor General to look into, and to look into from an accounting perspective and any other pE!rspective 1 anything related to Newfoundland Enviroponics. When the Auditor General1s work is completed I Mr.

Speaker, WE!·, as members of this Legislature, look forward to our servant reporting to this Legislature, so that all of us together as a Legislature will know exactly what the Auditor General did, w:i.ll know exactly what he found, and will be able to determine as a Legislature, following the work of the servant of this House, whether or not any further enquiry or action is required. SOME HON .. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! PREMIER WELLS: Mr. SpeakE!r I with the consent of the House, just to add something to what the hon. the Leader of the Oppos:ition just said, the reference to the Auditor General is under

Section 65 (1) of The Financial Administration Act, and in that situation \:he Auditor General reports not to the Legislature on that particular reference but to Treasury Board. I just wanl:ed to let the hon. the Leader of the Opposition know that. MR. RIDEOUT: Yes, Mr. Speaker, I understand, and I am sure that the Premier and the government, or the President of Treasury Board, will makE! sure that the report emanating from this work by the Auditor General lAlill be made available to members L267 June 2, 1989 Vol X L.I of the Legislature. point. That Oral Questions MR. SPEAKER: The han. the Leader Opposition. MR.

RIDEOUT: :i. s thE:~ of the Mr. Speaker, "in view of the fact that this Legislature voted funds for regional recreational facilities in the budgE!t YE!ar 1988-89, and in view of the fact that the legitimate goVE!rnment of the day, by Order in Counctl 332 -189, made CE!rtain decisions about the expenditure of thoSE! Funds, in particular for facilib.E!S on Fogo Island in Harbour Breton and in Wesleyville, my question, therefore, is to thE! M:in:istE!r oF JustiCE! and AttornE!Y General (Mr. Dicks).

Will the Minister of Justice immediately adv~~e his collegues ·to honour fortht~.li th the legal commitments that were made by the legally constituted government of the day and have those funds issued to those communi ties that were approVE!d in Order in Council 332 -189. PREMIER WELLS: Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER; The hon. the Premier. PREMIER WELLS: Mr. SpE!aker, I w:i.ll g:i.ue the explanation again. There is a delegation :i.n to SE!E! me t.hi.s morning, they are in the gallE!r'y now l:i.sten:i.ng, so. I assurnE! that :i.s why the hon. the Premier· is as king the question now. MR. SIMMS: The Premier! No. 6 R267

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! PREMIER WELLS: The hon. the Leader Opposition, the former the man who was Premier terrible deed was done. of the Premier, when this The situation is simply this: There was a provision in last year 1 s budget for expenditure of certain funds, a limited amount. I think there was some $600,600 or $700,000 available in the budgeted funds for stadium construction, arena construction, recreational facility construction, generally. That was not done.

There was no effort made to expend it until just very shortly before the election was called, when the government passed an Order in Council, in preparation for the election, obviously. Instead of spendi~g the money as was budgE!ted by this Legislature, the government passed an Order in Council providing for $200,000 for this one, $200,000 for that one, and $200,000 for sorne other one, so that during the election campaign, as they did, they could go out and announce it, for the purpose of buying the votes of the electors of those districts, which is exactly what was done. SOME HON. MEMBERS : Hear, hear!

PREMIER WELLS: The money was not spent. That money !JJas budgeted in June of 1988. I guess the Budget was passed in this House about June of 1988 and no effort whatsoever was made to do anything toward those three particular arenas, or recreational facilities at t:he time until just before the e 1 e c t ion was c a 11 E! d . The government of the day passed that L268 June 2, 1989 Vol XLI Order in Coun ci 1 and then waited until the middle of the election and announced these three things in those three districts to buy votes.

Now, what it did !A.Jas commit whatever government that succeeded to spending $1.8 million each of the two following years so tt1at the new government !A.Jould have no ability to determine its own budge t . W he n the e 1 e c-t i o n r e s u 1 t s were known and the transfer of power was in the process of taking place, the hon. the Leader of the Opposition, as was quite proper, undertook with me that no decisions would be made and nothing would bE! done! in l hE! course of it that did not have rny approval.

The civil servants as ked, What do we do where there arE! commitments with continuing long-term obligations? They were given a general direction, Hold all commitments that have long-term substantial financial commitments until we have an opportunity to review the budgetary process and see what. we can or cannot do, or when we can do it. Pursuant to that, and without any reference to those three, without any knowledge of the circumstances of those particular three arenas, that action was taken by the civil servants, not by any minist er or by me personally, and as a result that was done. Now, Mr.

SpE!aker, in due coursE!, and as soon as we can do it, the government will announce exactly what its policy is with respect to recreation facilities . What lhe government is going to do financially wil1 be rnade knotAJ i.n the Budget when .it co1nes dotA.Jn on Tuesday and we will all have to wait until we get the answer then. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! No '. 6 1\268

MR. SPEAKER: The han. the Leader of the Opposition. MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, there is a funny thing about the Premier. Anything the Premier does not like is either obscene or it is something­ else. It is abusive or it is obscene. I did not direct my question to the Premier. I directed it to the Minister of Justice because this is a -legal matter I am talking about here.

Will the Minister of Justice tell the House thjs: Since some of those municipalities have, as I understand it, entered into contractual arrangements necessitating financial commitments by them as a result of being informed by the legal government of the day that certain funding had beE!n improved for t~eir use, will the Minister of Justice tell the House whether or not the government will stand behind the liabilities of those municipalities that they legitimately entered into? MR. SPEAKER: The han. the Premier.

PREMIER WELLS: Mr. look will the Speaker, the government will at the total situation and do whatever is appropriate in circumstances. MR. SPFAKER: The hon. the member for Humber East. MS VERGE: Thank you, Mr. SpE!aker. I have a question for the Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs (Mr. Gullage). When the Minister spoke in this Legislature on Monday, he said, and I quote, ''Certainly our ci t:i.E!S arE! in good L269 June 2, 1989 Vol XLI shape as far as capitaJ. works arE! concerned. 11 We have three cities, and I am sure the Minister is very familiar with two of them, St.

John 1 s and Mount Pearl, since his district of Waterford-Kenmount straddles those two cities. But I am wondering what he knows about Corner Brook. WouJ.d the m:lnister indicate now whether he thinks t:he City of Corner B_roo k, w~i. th 15 krn of gravel road, 32 km of open ditches and hardly any sidewaJ.ks, is 'in good shape'? MR. SPEAKER: The han. the Minister of Muncipal and Provincial Affairs. MR. GULLAGE: Mr. Speaker, my comrnE!nt on Monday tJJas to draw a comparison betWE!E:~n the thrE!e cities in thE!

Pr·ouinCE! and the various rural communi ties that arE! in dire straits and in great need of water and sewer - SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. GULLAGE: and roads and other services, and I thought that comparison tJJas a good one. I am very much at..~Jare of the CoJ~nr::~r Brook situat:ion iHld I think the han. member will be pleased when the program For capitaJ. works is brought forward. MR. SPEAKER: The han, the member for Humber East. MS VERGE: Mr. SpE!akE!r, I am gJ.ad to hear the minister's final comment, expressing optimism about funding for Corner Brook. Mr. SpeakE!r, I arn wondering if thE!

Min:i.stE•r wjlJ. be visiting the city of Corner Brook soon t.o familiarize himself with the Corner Brook East Development scheme, an urban No. 6 R269

renewal project mounted by the City of Corner Brook more than ten years ago on which about $5 million have been spent, but $6 million are required to complete the work. This is to correct the problems resulting from no planning when most parts of Corner Brook were settled in the 1920s resulting from the hilly topography and resulting from the fact that the provincial government back in thE! 1950s and 1960s did not give the City of Corner Brook the financial assistance warranted after amalgamation when four towns came together in 1956.

Will the Minister be visiting Corner Brook and familiarizing himself with the needs there? MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Muncicipal and Provincial Affairs. MR. GULLAGE: Y e s , M r . S pea k e r . Las t wee k the Mayor of Corner Brook, the City Manager and a couple of councillors were in to see me. We had quite a detailed discussion on Corner Brook and on that particular project. It is like St. Jo~ll1 1 s, for example, where areas have been annexed, and problems have resulted where the upgrading of services have to take place over a number of years.

I realize the Corner Brook situation, in particular that project, is a difficult one requiring a great amount of funding over the next few years. I have, in fact, made that cornrni tm(~nt to the Mayor, that I do plan to visit Corner Brook as soon as we have time. over thE! Summer. as soon as the House adjourns and in particular vis'.i t that proj E!Ct. I know it is idE!nU.fied by Corner Brook as probably l:he major injtiative that has to be attacked L2'70 June 2, 1989 Vol XU over the nE!Xt severaJ. years, so I tJJill be visiting Corner Brook and seeing that particular project. MR.

SPEAKER: The han. the member for St. John 1 s East Extern. MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Fisheries. I believe, and many people besides myself believe, that there is evidence that the birth rate of our stocks ar·~~ not increasing fast enough to offset the fish that are being kiJled, and it is not known for su1~e what the mortality rate is . There is also a theory that out there there is approximately 600,000 tons of spawning fish, and for a healt:hy fishery we net~d at lE!ast 1. 5 million tons.

The trawlers are prying on this spawn~ng ground, killing and catching the fish that have to come together to fertilize. In other areas, Mr. SpE!aker, such as Yarmouth, thE!Y want action and I will I"E•ad herE! just one paragraph with your indulgence. 11 Inshore dragger fisherman already hard hit by reduced fish quotas chose to inflict some more pain on themselves Thursday. Dragger fishermen told the federaJ Department oF Fisheries and OCE!ans.

DFO, here that they wantE!d the Brown 1 s Bank shut down and they wanted it extended for two more weeks. 11 The Brown 1 s Bank area is scheduled to reopen for fishing on June 1, but haddock on the bank will not have finished spawning. We want the department to keep that area closed from June 1 i:o June 15 to give the haddock a chancE! to s p at.~m and d ~i s p E' r s e fro rn the bank. My question to l:he rrdnister is: WouJ.d he eXE!I~t aJ.] possible pressure on the federal government to pJ.ace a moratorium No. 6 f~2'70 ,

on the spawning area and stop the draggers from killing and raping the fish in that area? MR. W. CARTER: Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The han. the Minister of Fisheries. MR. W. CARTER: That is a very good question, Mr. Speaker. I should remind the hon. member, of course, that· the allocation of quotas and the designation of fishing areas is the sole responsibility to the federal government. I agree with him that some protection must be accorded spawning grounds. In fact, before I carne to this position I had expressed some very strong views as to how that can be don·e.

I arn going to be meeting with the Minister of Fisheries, hopefully, probably next Wednesday and that is one of the matters that 1.uill be on the agenda.··-And I will make sure that thE! han. mernber1s representations will be made known to him. MR. PARSONS: A supplementary, Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The han. the mE!mber for St. John 1 s East Extern. MR.

PARSONS: Could I ask the minister, then, because of what is happening in other areas, would he speak to the Fishermen1s Union and the other m a j or pro p o n e n t. s in t hi s f i s h ~i. n g off-shorE! and ask thE!ITI, pE!rhaps, if they would voluntarily do what other areas are doing? MR. W. CARTER: Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKE!~: L.271 June 2, 1989 Vol XLI The han. the Minister of Fisheries. MR. W. CARTER: Mr. Speaker, I have already had meetings IAJit.h the officials of Fishery Products International, with the union, and 8:00 this morning with the pres.:ident of the Canadian Saltfish Corporation.

That was one of the i tE!InS that we did discuss and I am again happy that the han. member brought it up in the House. It gives me a chance to at least let the House know what we have done in that regard. MR. PARSONS: A final supplementary. MR. SPEAKER: The han. the member for St. John1 s East Extern. MR. PARSONS: I would likE:~ to ask the Mintster of FisheriE!S as well, secc!ing t:hat we are so close now to thE! cd.p .. l in fishery, can the ministE!r tE!ll t.hE! House what has transpired up to now? And because of thE! monwtary situation, wher'E!

I think thE! yen has pE!rhaps decreaSE!d in value at about 15 per cent, I am wonder·ing wj 11 this be adVE!rse to thE! tota] amount of the catch and what the fishE!rmen wiJ1 rE•ceive For l.he catch? MR. W. CARTER: Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the MinistE!r' of Fjsh(~riE'!S. MR. W. CARTER: Mr. Speaker, I have also di.scuss1~d that matter wjth the Union. And I can te11 thE! hon. mE!rnber and the House now that negotjatjons are ongoing betWE!C:1n the Union and the Japanese buyers. The Japanese were concerned about the No. 6 R271

overproduction last year in caplin. In fact, I believe there was a 10,000 metric ton overrun last year. That possibly will have some little bearing on the price that will be paid this year, but hopefully it will not. I am told as well, Mr. Speaker, that tne total allowable catch for Newfoundland fishermen this year will be 71,500 metri~ tons, and that thE! market that wiJ.l be available will be in the order of 30,000 tons to Japan and ~round 2, 500 tons to Taiwan. As to when the price will be negotiated I have no idea. It is a mat:ter that is in hand now between the Union and the people in the marketplace.

I am hoping it wi1.l. be negotiated soon. And contrary to some reports that I have hear·d that maybe the price this year t..vill be somewhat slightly less than last year because of the overrun last year in production, I am hoping that will not be the case, and that at least fishermen wilJ. get. as much as they got last year. That is my hope, but I have no way of influencing what happens. Like the han. member I can onJ.y hope that the best price will be obtained for them. MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: ThE! hon. thE! l.E!ader of the Opposition . MR. RIDEOUT : Mr.

SpE!aker, lt1t mE~ direct a supplementary to the han. Minis l:er of FisheriE!S, bE! CaUSE! I remember so clearly about this time last YE !ar thE! hon. gentJ.eman as king ITlE! I: he same qw:!stion. Would the minister teJ.l the House what contingE!ny plans hE:~ has lllcl.de and L.272 June 2, 1989 VoJ. XLI have ready and have canned just in case thE!re is not an agreeiTJE!nt on caplin prices this year? MR. W. CARTER: Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The han. the Minister of Fisheries . MR. W. CARTER: Mr. Speaker, that is something, quite frankly, that we haVE! not addressed yet.

I have only beE!n minister - for - what? two or three weE!k. It is something that we will have to addn:!S s, but hopefulJ.y it. wiJl not come to that. Having talked to the PrE!SidE!nt of thE! Union on WednE!sday, I gUE!SS it was, I am confidE!nt that they will bE! abJ.E> to negotiate a satisfactory price. MR. WOODFORD : Mr . Speaker . MR. SPEAKER : The hon. the tnember for Humber Valley . MR. WOODFORD: Mr. Speaker, my question is addressed to the Minister of Forestry and Agriculture (Mr. FJ.ight). In J.ight of the fact, Mr.

Speaker, that for some time the agricultural industry in the Province, more spE!C"ifically the dairy industry in conjunction with the Newfoundland M.i.lk Marketing Board, has bE!E!I1 ask:.i.ng For sornP time, over the last few yl:!ars, for a schooJ. mjJ.k program to be instituted in the Province, and bE!cause studies done probabJy somE> three or four years ago by the Newfoundland Dietetic Association show that children in this Province are Jacking in calcium intake to the tune of probably 50 per cent. or· 60 per ceni:. --·I knot~J in c:'lges two to eleven it ·.is 1.32 No. 6 R272

servings per day, eleven to seventeen 1.34 -and the recommended calcium intake by students in those catE!gories, from two to eleven, would be two to three servings per day of milk products or fluid milk; and eleven to seventeen would be three to four servings, and because of those studies and because I had announced, as Minister of Agriculture, that the school milk program would be instituted back in April in the Province, would the minister now tell me what the status of that request is? MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Forestry. Ml~. FLIGHT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will tell the han. member that he Js absolutely righi: in all the statistics that he quoted. I have a problem, though, uJi th his stating that he had made a commitment or had committed his government to a school miJk program. I understand all that happened was that the minister, in his role as MHA or, indE!E:~d, in his role as Minister of RAND, had simply told the Milk Marketing Board or the miJ.k produCE!rS t~hat he himself supported that kind of a project and that kind of prograrn, and that he would indeed recommend to his colleagues that that happE!n. But that is the extent of it.

There I..I.Jas no commitment, nor did he make an officiaJ. commitment or an offj ciaJ. representation to the government to institute such a program. I want to tell the hon. member that I have, since becoming minist1:!r of the dE•partrnE!nt, i'nE!t w~ith the industry, mE~t wit.h thE! Milk Mari<Ed:.ing Board, and have had my offidals in thE! Dc::~partment of L273 June 2, 1989 Vol XU Agriculture apprise the aspE!Cts, and I considE!ration to l:he school milk program. Forestry and me of most of am giving due request for a MR. WOODFORD: Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the member for Humber Valley. MR. WOODFORD: Mr.

Speaker, I suppoSE! mNnbers opposite are saying now that it was announced in ApriJ. during thE! election campaign. I admit to that, but thjs is a motherhood issue. It is probably ironic and coincidenta] that it IAJas announcE!d at that time. It is something that addresses and helps every mE!mbc::~r of this House, not only .in thE! urban center·s of thE! ProvincE! but also in the rural areas as IAJelJ., and that cornprisE!S somE:~ 80 per cent of our population. rt is something that has bE!E!n clsked fo1~ for years. It is a motherhood issue.

I wouJ.d say the cost involved is somE!thing to the tune of approximately $300,000. So I would ask the minister again to make sure -I appreciate his anstAJE!Y' to thE! first qUE!stion, that he will be looking into it~-Lhdt hr:~ and hjs CabinE!t co1JeagUE!S IAJ:iJ] give that ser-.ious considE!rat:Lon on Tuesday for the sake of the monies involved and whdt it woul.d do for the school chiJ.dren of Lhis Province and the industry as a who] e. MR. SPEAKER: ThE! han. t.he Minister of For·es l·.I"Y and Agriculture. Ml~. FLIGHT: Mr.

Speaker, rnernber that industry and No. 6 I can assure the request his concern the hon. by the wi]] be I'! 2 '73

given every consideration. We will look at it and when W~"?. are fully apprised of exactly what the proposals are that the milk industry is making - there is no question it is a worthy projE!Ct - it will get every consideration. I would 'like to po.int out to the han. member, though - again he is right, it is a noble program, it is a desirabJ.e program - that the need has been just as great over thE! past four or five YE!ars as it is today. The industry has been asking for that particular program for years, as he knows.

What I am wondering is, if it is so :important, and indeed :it is, why was it not implemented over the past four or five years? Why did it become an election issue? SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. WOODFORD: Mr . Speaker . MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the member for Humber Valley. MR. WOODFOIW: I can answer that question for the hon. minister. I cannot answer for what happened in the last three or four years, I lobbied on bE!half of the industry as well as anybody else, but when I did get the opportunity to put a school milk program in place, I said I would do just that. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! Ml~.

WOODFOIW: Now, in the light of the fact that I did answer that question, I did do what I u.Jas supposed to do tA.IhE!n given l:he opportuni l:y and put in thP position to do so, I ask the l_27lJ. June 2, 1989 Vol XU minister once again to shoe on the other foot. do the same thing? SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. SPEAKER: put the Will he The han. the Minister of For·estry and Agriculture. MR. FLIGHT : Mr. Speaker, I want to assure thE! han. member that I IAri 11 giVE! every consideration to that program.

When I am fully apprisE!d we 1Ali11 make a decision as to whei:hE!r or not we can, indeed, implement such a program in the short term. I can assure i:he hon. gentlt::!rnan of something else, Mr . Speaker, because I have a great deal of respect for the hon. ITlE!I'rlbE!r'' s concerns and his knowlr::~dge in this area, that he wi11 haVE! a chancE• to have input into any school mi.lk program that is implemented by this government. Thank you. MR. POWER: Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the member for Ferryland . MR. POWER: Mr.

Speaker, the Throne Speech, and certainly all the recent Liberal policy statemE?.ni:s that tJJe haUE! seE!I1, have E!Titphasized thE! n e c e s s i t y of thE! Iii be r-rd a p r o j E! c t taking place as quickly as possible. Even the Prern.it :!r' s OtAJn word s , after he s p o k a in thE! debate after the Throne Speech was prE!sented, said that w:i thout. it u.w are going to fall a gr eat deal short of the economic actjvity that we need in this Province. Could the Minister of Mines and No. 6 ":2'/lJ.

Energy (Dr. Gibbons) please give us an update on eetings that have been held with the federal government and the companies to date on this very key issue? MR. SPEAKER: The Minister of Mines and Energy. MR. GIBBONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we are, as the han. member said, committed to ensuring to do everything in our power to keep the Hibernia project moving ahead without delay. Naturally, there can never be any certainty. As we are all aware, the company, Mobil, is presently going through a study of the topsides and we do not know yet what potential changes might come out of that study.

The study will be completed in July and after that time we may tJJell have to address certain changes in the negotiations. On the other hand, there are meetings that have continued. Just this week our fiscal team had meetings here in the city, not with the federal side but meetings regarding Hibernia. We are committed to continuing these discussions. We hope we can have a conclusion of this this Fall, but we cannot bE! sure, it may bE! later than this Fall. If it is later than this Fall, there may well bE! a furUwr delay, but, if things can be done by this Fall, everything will continue on

schedule as we see it right now. MR. POWER: Mr. Speaker, a supplementary. MR. SPEAKER: The han. the member for Ferryland. MR. POWER: L275 JunE! 2, 1989 Vol X L.I I guess OI1E! of the! most difficult. chores that any goVE!rnmc::~nt of Newfoundland will have to do is dealing with international oil companies. I know when I was part of an administration trying to get the Atlantic Accord from the federal government it was pretty tough. And the!n whEHl you have to deal with the oil and gas companies, they seemingly wanted to bring as little an industrial benefits package to Newfoundland as possible.

Now I know the Liberal opposition at the time reluctantly supportE!d the Atlantic Accord and said we could have got ten a better deaJ and we should have gotten a better deal, so it was reJ.uctant support. One oF thE! rnost important parts of the Atlantic Accord is the industrial benE!fits package.

If the main support frame component is going to change, has this present government taken a very tough stance with the oil companies to te1l themt that :i.f t.ue are not going to get the industrial benefits package that we on this side negotiated, then we want either comparable or replacement industrial benefits for this Province? Because that is one of the most important parts of the Hibernia development. MR. SPEAKER: fhe han. thE! Minister of Mines and Energy. MR. GIBBONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. ThE!rE:~ j s no question that is the case.

The main support: frame, as we know, makes up about 10 percPnt of the industrial benefits, and that was suppoSE!d to bE• done in Newfoundland. IF t:here is a No. 6 R275

decision, after that consulting study is completed in July, if there is a decision by the company that they want to change that, we want at 1 e a s t the e q u i v a 1 en t b a c k in return. There is no question, that we want to maximize the benefits. We do not want any lessening of the benefits in Newfoundland. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. WARREN: Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The han. the member for Torngat Mountains. MR. WARREN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker . My question is to the Minister of Health. Mr.

Speaker, the _Regional Grenfell Health Services Board has been carrying out a study on the operations of thE! health board from Roddickton in White Bay to Na:in, Labrador. One of the concerns of the board is that the board is too large to do an adequatE! job in administering the board. I want to ask the Minister of Health wjll he take the advice of the consultants who carried out the study and have a separate board for Labrador? MR. SPEAKER: The Minister of Health. MR. DECKER: Mr. Speaker, finally, after this House has been opened for such a long time, thE:~re is a little bit of interesi: in health over· HlE!r'e.

Two hundred and eighty million dollars went through in Interim Supply and thE!re IJ.Jas no ·t onE! L2'76 June 2, 1989 Vol XU question on health, Mr. Speaker. So I thank the member for at least showing some concern. Now, the G r en f e 11 s i t u at ion : As the member· truly pointed out, there has bet::~n a study done into the whole setup of the board. That report has not yet bE!\'.~n discussed with me as MinistE!r of Health. Meetings have been set up with the director of the GrE!nfE!l1 Association, Dr.

Roberts, and we hopE! to get togethco~r, later thj_s month or early in July, when we will be discussing the whole content of the report. I think it is only fair to Grenfell and to the people of Labrador for at ]east to have that rE!pOlnl discussed tJJil:h the Minister ·of Health and with Grenfell before we publicly announce whether or not we are going to carry out the 1necornrnendations of thE:1 report. Some of those recommendations could be totally unrealistic or they could be the answer to the problems which the han. rnE!Inbe!r .is pointing out.

It would be totally unfair for rne to get: up today and say, yes, we are gojng to carr·y out the recommendations of thE! report until at least we have had time to SeE! the report and unt-.il it has been pr·esented in lhe proper way, Mr. Speaker. The mE:~rnber might as we11 get used to that because we are going to do things in the IJJay which is proper· and r·ight, and I g'.iVE! the rnernber due notice of that. MR. SPEAKER : ThE! hon. thE~ ITIE!Inber for Torngat Mountains. MR. WARREN : Mr . SpeakE!r', my supplE!InE!ntary question is to the Minister of Health.

If they arE! going to do things prop0'r' and rir:Jht IJ.Jould the Minister of Health advise thjs No. 6 R276

hon. House that he will take irnrnedia te steps to make sure that the medical aircraft that is used by the Grenfell Health Services Board will be used for medical purposes only and not to take officials around on joy trips? SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health. MR. DECKER: Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is bringing up things that I have no knowledge of. If he has some proof that this is what is happening, I ask him to present the proof to this House or come down to my department and di.scuss the matter wtth me.

It is a very serious accusation which the hon. member is making and I doubt very much that he can . substantiate these accusations. MR. WARREN: A supplementary, Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The han. the member for Torngat Mountains. MR. WARREN: Mr. Speaker, I suggest the minister go to his own department, look at the papers that are in his own department, and he will see for himself that the aircraft have been used on numerous occasions, .in fact 35 pE!r CE!nt of l~he time, the air·craft was used it was not for medical reasons.

I suggest to the minister that he go to his own officials and look at the paper·s himself. MR. SPEAKER: rhe han. the Min·.ister of Health. MR. DECKER: L277 June 2, 1989 VoJ XLI Mr. Speaker, on April 20 we dealt. with that problem. If that is the way thE! former government was misusing the money belonging to the peoplE! of this Province!, that answer came up on April 20; but after April 20 you w:i 11 not find that misuse of government funds. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. SPEAKER: The han. the member for Mount Pearl. MR. WINDSOR: Mr.

Speaker, I had a qUE!SU.on for the Minister of Development, but since he is gone so I arn go:i.ng to s e e t f I can find the Min :fs t E! r of Finance. We have not bE!en ablE! to get him on his feet so I am gotng to seE!. I am not sure if he is sitting there or if he is actually standing up. Maybe he is only three feet tall but we have not been able to get him up from be1hind the desk yet. I tAJant i~o ask the Minster of Finance, Mr.

Speaker, if in view of the statements mad!':1 by the Leadeln in dealing with loan guaranb::•es, and his treat that he would not honour loan guarantE!eS, has the M:inist1:!r of Finance had any discussions with the bond rattng agE.~nc.iE!S in New York and our fJ.scaJ. rnanagE'!rs along the lines of how is our credit rating going to be affected by the Leader1s suggestions? MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance. DR. KITCHEN: Mr.

Speaker, our· credit~ rating with l:he bond groups j n New Yor·k is extremely good, and we have evidence of that in the recent bond issue whtch we floated at the lowest rate for a J.ar'gE• number Or years. No. 6 R277

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR . SPEAKER: The han . the member for Mount Pearl. MR. WINDSOR: A supplementary, Mr. Speaker . In view of the statements made by the Premier during the election dealing with reducing sales. tax, how has that impacted on the credit rating of the Province? Has the Minister of Finance discussed with the bond rating agencies the potential impact of reducing the sales tax in this Province, the impact that wiJ.l have on the fiscal position of this Province? MR . SPEAKER : The han. the Minister of Finance . DR. KITCHEN: Mr. Speaker, I cannot understand the question.

If the person would speak English I would understand what he is trytng to say. We have no problem with the credit agencies. We have no problem whatsoever. I do not know what the former minister is trying to do hE!re but what he is trying to do is foolishness. MR. SPEAKER : The time for Oral QuE•sttons has elapsed. MR . WINDSOR : We will get him on Monday, Mr . Speaker. 000 MR. BAKER : Mr. Speaker . L2 78 June 2, 1989 Vol XLI MR. SPEAKER: The hon . the Leader. Gover nme n·t. House MR. BAKER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. - I wonder if I could ask leave of the House for the Minister of Justice (Mr.

Dicks) to present an impor·tant Minister·ial Statement. As was indicated earlier, we have had an equiprnE!nt problem this morning and the statements did not arrive in the House untll that particular part of Orders of thE! Day had gone by. So I wonder· if we couJ.d have J.eave of the Hou sE• for the Minister of Justice to now present that Ministerial Statement? MR . SIMMS : Mr. SpeakE!r, WE! would problem wtth reverting Ministerial Statements. MR. SPEAKER: have back no to Then it is agreed that LAJe rE!Vert back to Ministerial Statements . EVE!ryone agreed? SOME HON. MEMBERS : Agreed . Statements by Ministers MR.

SPEAKER: The hon . the Minister of Justice . MR. DICKS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker . I tArish l:o thank 1ny l(;!arn ('d coll eagues and th e Opp os it ion Hous e Lea der fo r de

part ing fro 111 the norma] proc edure. My state1nent today is on thE! Royal Commission into the handling by the Cri~inal Justice system of allegations of sexual No. 6 1~2 7 8 '

abuse. As the public and this House are aware, several charges have been recently laid by police as a result of complaints of a series of physical and sexual assaults upon residents of Mount Cashel Orphanage, in the early 1970's. While investigations by the police are reinstituted and are ongoing. and charges are moving through the courts, there remains distrubing, unanswered questions about' the policy of the Departments of Justice and Social Services, in particular, the manner in which the complaints and investigations were originally handled.

Equally disturbing is the suggestion that Government had a policy where criminal charges would not be laid in somE! cases of physical or sexual abuse of children where the alleged assailants agreed to lE!ave the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The past Government considered this matter sufficiently serious to justify the appointment of a Royal Commission announced just prior to the recE!nt election. The appointment of this Commission is a decision which this Government also fully endorses. I therefore am announcing today that Mr.

Justice Samuel Hughes. a past Judge of the Supreme Court of Ontario, assuming the Responsibility as Commissioner, with Mr. Clay Powell, Q.C., an eminent Ontario criminal lawyer, and Mr. David Day, Q.C.. an eminent Newfoundland lawyer, acting as co--counsel, 1..ujll be commencing a public inquiry as soon as the Comm:i.ssion can organize. The Commission has beE!n requested to report jts findings within ninety days of thE! commenceiTIE!nt of hearings. based on a

schedule it will be announcing L279 JunE! 2, 1989 VoJ XLI soon. Government is anxious to see that the inquiry cornrnE!nce as quickly as possible so that the subject matter can be dE!al t w:i th expeditiously in order that Government can then promptly deal with whatever findings and recommendations are forthcoming. The Commission has been asked to review four general areas: 1. The police investigation and actions of the Departments of Justice and Social Services when the complaints were made by residents of Mount Cashel Orphanage; 2.

The policy of GovernrnE!nt 1..u-.ith respect to the dE!aling u.Jith such allegations at the timE! they WE!re made; 3. The Government; current and po1oicy of 4. Any changes that need to be made to prevent the reoccurrence. I should sti~E!SS that the focus of this inquiry is on the Criminal Justice system and whether Government practices pol:icy and procedures. both pa.st and preSE!nt dealing with complaints made by the public. more particulc.'J.rly of a sexuaJ. naturE!. arE! j ustif:i.ed or appropr-.iate.

It is not the purpose of this inquiry to E!Xand ne l:he spe!ciftcs of every all.E!gation of physical or sexual abuse from 1970 to the present. These matters will be handled through appropria l:E! poLL c e in v e s t-.i(::~a t :ion and related due process as and when the s-.ituations rise. I should also in~icat:e t:hat aLl Departments of Government, by Minute-in-Council, have been ordered to co-operate fully w-.ith the RoyaJ. Commission in ·the work on wh-.ich it is about to embark. No. 6 R279

The Commission will immediately be commencing the task of organization, staffing, investigation and scheduling of hearings. Appropriate public notices will follow in due course. The specific terms of reference for thE! inquiry have be!en tabled. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The han. the member for Humber East. MS VERGE : Thank you, Mr. Speaker .

On behalf of members of the official Opposition, I would like to say, first of all, that we are disappointed that the minister did not do this Legislature the courtesy of announcing here first the intention of the new government to continue this public inquiry; I understand he made the announcement on CBC television last evening. I realize he is new, but I hope that in future, while the Legislature is in session, the minister and all ministers of the new government wiJl make announcements of important government policies and programs in this Legislature first . Mr.

Speaker, I am pleased thE:~ netJJ government, after three or four weeks in office, has set.~n the wisdom of the course of action embarked upon by the PC Government. Essentially the governmE!nt is 'continuing the public inquiry or Royal Commission that was dec.ide!d and appointed at the end of March and early Apr·il, following the receipt by the Justice Department of a police report on an investigation into obstruction of justice, or coverup allegations, respecting Mount Cashel Orphanage in the mid 1970 1 s. L280 June 2, 1989 Vol XLI The Commissioner appoini:ed, Mr.

Justice Samuel Hughes, a retired judge of the High Court of Ontario, has beE!n continued in that capacity, as have the lawyc.;!rs or counsel, David Day and Clay Powell. Mr. Speaker, the commissioner and counsel had started work on the inquiry in the second half of April. Essentially, the new government have delayed their work by some five or · six weeks. The statement says the government is anxious to see the inquiry commence as quickly as possible, and with that five or six weeks delay, I trust that will now be the case. Mr . Speaker, I turn to the ter ·ms of reference of the inquiry .

Essentially the ter·ms are the same as the onE!S the PC GoVE!rnrnE!nt had approved. There is one omission from the

summary statement which I would like the minister to clarify at the first opportunity . The original terms of rE!ferE!nce specifically gave the commission the power to recommend if they deem appropriate compensation for victims of abuSE! at Mount CashE'!l. Mr. Speaker, I think that. is an extremely important consideration in this E!Xercise. The primar·y focus of the inquiry, after· a1.l, is to examinE! the rE!Sponse~ of t.:hE! authorities to the plight of child victims in the mid-1970s and to recommend measures that will E!nsure:~ that ther·e wi11 never be:~ a reoccurenCE! of what happE!ned back thE!n. Mr .

Speaker, my finaJ. comlfl ent :i.s that this public inquiry or Royal Commission :Lnto Uw c1nirrdnaJ. justice system and child welfare system response to child abuse was only one of two initiatives embarked upon by the PC No. 6 1~280

Government. The other, and the one I consider to be more important, was a commitment to have a Premier•s task force on the pervasive problems of child abuse wherever that may take place in our Province, and family violence. Mr. Speaker, while the spate of convictions, prosecutions and reports of child abusE:~ by clergy has been healthy inasmuch as having brought to light .these hidden crimes and brought culprits to justice, perhaps it has distorted the perception of the people of the Province about child abuse. All the available research indicates that most abuse takes place within families, . inside homes.

So we should not focus too much on abuse perpetrated by clergy, we should see to it that ongoing efforts are mounted to get at the problems of child abuse wherever they take place. Therefore, it is extremely important that the new government mount a comprehensive study taking a multi-disciplinary approach, drawing on the resources of Social Services, on Education, on Health, as well as JustiCE!, to guide the new government•s response to the deep-seated problems of child abuse wherever they may take place. In

summary, we are pleased that the government is continuing the public inquiry or royal commission on the response of the system to the Mount Cashel problems in thE! mid-1970s. This is 1989. We now know much morE! about thE! problE!ITis of child abuse and farntly violence throughout our Province, and it :i.s incumbent: upon the government to take a second initiative, nam~:~ly, a major multi-disciplinary study into all aspects of the pr·ob1ems of child abuse and family violence and sexual assault. L281 June 2, 1989 Vol XLI Thank you, Mr. Speaker. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR.

SPEAKER: I want to remind members that I did not interrupt the han. member because she was making a tremendously good speech. But that cannot be the case for· allowing more than half-time, regardless of how good the speech. I did not hE•ar any complaints coming from the other side, bl~t I want to r~:Hnind hon. members that that is the rule and the one that we will attempt to abide by. I take it we went back to Statements by Ministers just: for that par·ticular statemE!nt and now we move on to Presenting Reports by Standing and Special Commit.h~es. Presenting Reports by Standing and Special Commitees MR.

SPEAKER: ThE! hon. the Min:isb:~r of Mines and Energy. DR. GIBBONS: Mr. Speaker, as required by legislation, the:~ Annual RE!port for NeiAJfoundland and Labrador· Hycii"O must be tabled in the House of Assembly within fifteen days of the _opening of a sc::~ssion. I am pleased this morning to tabJ.E• Uw new report for 1988. Notices of Motion MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the M] nister· of FinanCE!. DR. KITCHEN: No. 6 I~ 281

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will on tomorrow move that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole on Ways and Means to consider the raising of supply to be granted to Her Maj E:1 sty. Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will on tomorrow move that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole on Supply to consider certain resolutions for the granting of supply to Her Majesty. Orders of the Day MR. BAKER : Order 1, Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: Address in Reply. The han. the memb(~r for Stephenville. MR. K. AYLWARD: Thank you, Mr. Speaker .

At the great courtesy of the han. the member for Torngat Mountains, for allowing rne to continue rny speech on the Throne Speech, it is a pleasure again to rise and talk about the initiatives that this government will be undertaking and some of the plans it has for the future. The Throne Speech this year, I think, is one of thE! bE! St. that has come along in a long time, as a matter of fact, for t:lw past seventeen years, Mr. Speaker, one of the best that has E!Ver con1e along.

It has a lot of content to it, it has a J.ot of good ideas, a lot of initiatives, a lot of good things that can bE! undertaken by this new administration to help L282 JUnE! 2, 1989 VoJ. XLI resolve the problems, Mr. Speaker. And, of course, one of the good things about it is that in a Throne Speech you put out your ideas and initiatives and you indicate that you are going to attempt to do them and you are going to plan to do them. Hopefully, you will be able to accomplish all of what you want to do or at least most. of it, and I think that that is what we are undertaking to do.

So, as soon as possible, we wjJJ. be undertaking to do thE!SE! things and I am sure that in this administration, as soon as possible means very, very soon. We have seen a number of things over the past number of years that have been taken on by the previous administration, attempts that have been made to try t:o correct things and to try to improve things. Some of thern have worked and some of thEWI have not. So, IAIE!, as a new administration, have seen those ways and WE! wiJ.l try to go in different directions where needed, and in the sarne dir'ection if it is working.

We intend to be cons ·tructive in our approach, as we WE!re in Opposition, Mr. Speaker. When we were in Opposition, we suggested many things to the administration of the day. UnfortunatE<ly, a lot of them were not taken and used. Now, we can put them into pract:ice, and I think 1JJe arE! gcdng to see some good irnproVE!Inen ts. Mr. Speaker, I want to corrun<:!nd today the han. the Mjnister of Justice (Mr. Dicks) on his announcement on the inquiry that is going to be undertaken inl:o \:he justice system and the aJ.J.egations of sexual abuse.

I think it needs to be done, and that the hon. rninistt.~r and l:his hon. goVE!rnrnenL No. 6 R282 . '

will ensure that the proper approach is taken. and that the proper reporting and proper discussions will be taking place so that we see the disturbing consequences and action undertaken to resolve this matter. We nE!ed to get this matter resolved to put confidence back in the system for the people of this Province. It has been shaken, Mr. Speaker, and I am very confident that this new administration, with its Minister of Justice and the Premier, will see to it that the justice system is given, I suppose, a higher profile, a higher standing, and people will feel more confident.

I think that is the thing we haVE! to strive for·. Mr. Speaker, when we talk about our new administration, I also want to commend our new rrdnistE!rs who have gotten off the mark VE!ry fa s t i n the i r wo r k . I g i v e as a n example the Minister of Forestry and Agriculture, Mr. FJ.ight, the member for Windsor -Buchans, who, only on the SE!COnd or third day, Mr. Speaker·, was out in StephenviJ.le visiting with Abitibi-Price officials, discussing 1.1Jith thE!m the mill: hoi.IJ it is working, how everything is going, the wood supply problems and all these wonderful things, Mr.

Speaker, that we, as a government, are going to undertake to do. The mini.ster was there and we had great discussions. HE! opened National Forestry Week in Stephenville, which tJJas his first official function. I might add, Mr. SpeakE!r, that Abitibi--Pd.ce was very pleased to haVE! him there, and they look forward to good discussions in the future with our minister. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! L.283 June 2, 1989 UoJ. XLI MR. K. AYLWARD: Mr. Speake:~r. these are just a couple of examples of the fine administration we have.

I think you are going to see in the future a government which is very credible, which will pursue the long-term objectives of this Province. We will see the accomplishments come forward in flying colours, especially in lnE!d colours. Mr. Speaker, at this UmE!, I wouJ.d also like to send my otJJn pE!rsonal congratulations to Joe Ghiz and his Liberal government, in P. E. I., on their re-election. I think, Mr. Speaker, it is VE!ry indicative of Atlantic Canada that thrt:H:' out of the four provinces now have gone Liberal.

They want to see a govermnE!nt that tAr.ill fight for their rights and fight for thE!"ir rightful rolE! in ConfedE!lnation. That today, Mr·. Speaker·, I think, is being questioned, whE!n you see the unfortunate things that are being undertaken by the federal government, in thEdr stripping of some pr·ograms, and thEdr lack of rE!sponse to the needs of At.1ant:ic Canada. I th"ink we nE!E!d to sUE! a much bE!tter response from thE' federal governlnE!nt in a nu1nbet~ of areas, including, specifi.caJ.ly, the fishery and the problems that we are now encountering. It. is high tilriE!, Ml~.

Spt:~i:'lk(;!r', that we had a role and a say in what happens in the fishery of thjs ProvinCE!. ThE! proposal l:hat the nE!W Liberal GoVE!rnment :is put.t:ing forward in th.:~ establishlfiE!nl: of a Canada -··· NE!lJJfoundland F:i.shE!ri.es Board, which would hEd p .in L he management of the fishery, is a very concrE!te, solid proposal. I am looking fortJJard to seeing our government and the Minister of FisheriE:~s worl<ing 1.1Jith the federaJ government to sr,'e if eve can g1:!l: No. 6 R283

this accomplished. I think it u.Jould be a milestone for the Province to be involved in the management of our fishery resource, not the jurisdiction of it but the management of it, and I think it would be a heal thy role for us to undertake. We would then, I think, be ablE! to see the resource and see the allocations and the things that we need to do to get the fishing industry going. I think we will see these things happen if we can get' this established. It is a very concrete, solid proposal. It was developed when we were in Opposition and it has been put. forward now that we arE• in government.

We are looking forward to working on that matter. Hopefully, we will see that com(:~ about if we can gE!t the federal government to respond to the needs of the Province. I am looking forward to seeing that happen. Again, that is a very positive initiative, being undertaken by this government. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to touch on the Hibernia agreement that was signed. Again, I am very confident that our new Minister of Energy is going to undertake to assure that the proper deal is signed and that the proper benefits will come to this ProvincE! . Mr.

Speaker, we signed a statE!JnE!nt of princi~les, as it was called originally. I was kind of disturbed, in the sense that we did not sign the deal at the time . There has bE! en a lot of hoopla and a lot of buildup to the whole idea of the proposal we were hoping i:o see. I rernernbE!r that very clearly. I was over in my riding of StephE!nville and I tAJas thinking that day, 1 We11, boy, L284- June 2, 1989 Vol XU here we go. We are going to be in for it now .

They have got i: he big thing they wanted and here we go. 1 But it did not matter to me, in a sense, because I knew that if they brought it in the benefit was going to come to the Province and that was first and foremost in everybody 1 s mind. The buildup of it was that we have it and we have it lock, stock and barrel, 'it is signed, sealed and deljvered. The unfortunate aspect of that, Mr . Speaker, was that it was not and now WE!, as a governrn(:~nt, haVE! to undertake to see that it is.

I can tell you that with our new Minister of Energy and the new Premier and the new government, when we say that it is signed, sealed and delivered it will be signed, sealE!d and delivered. We arE! going to make sure, Mr·. Speaker, that i:hE:~ benefits come i:o this Province, and we are going to put forth our best efforts i:o ensure that the people of the Province receive as much as they can from it all over this wonderful Province, including NE!WfoundJ.and and Labrador, all of the benefits that we can.

I am very confident t.hat that is gcd.ng to happen and, hopefully, .in thE! statement of principles that was signed and that was supposed to come due on 31 March of this year, we will see that -that becomes a reality in thE! very near futurE!. I have great confidence that it will. Also, Mr. Speaker, ther·e is Hydro and, again, I would just }jke to touch on that. I think we are going to see somf:~ deueJ.opmE!nt thE!re in the nE!ar future. I arn sure our competent government is undertaking rneasurt:~s to ensure it wiJ.l happen. We are looking forward to that deueloprneni: in the futurE!.

We wi11 tAJork towards No. 6 R284-

that. I can also tE!ll this House that it will not take us on this side of the House seventeen years, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that this type of thing happens. We want to correct things, we want to make things happen right, we want to ensure that things happen. We are not going to say, well, it might, it might, it might or we almost have it, we almost have it. We wi 11 come in here and deliver, Mr. Speaker, and wh'en we cannot we will say so. That is going to be the way this government runs. I am very pleased at that, bE!cause I think that is the approach we should bE! taking.

We can buiJ.d the expectations of the people of this Province to a point, but we should also buiJ.d them realistically. We should make people feel good about this Province and about wanting to work in this Province and we should have them stay here. But we should not build their hopes to the heights to come back down again to the point where depression and anxiety set in. We build a strength and we build a strong confidence in our future. That is what this government is going to do. I am sure it is going to happE!n like that. The approach we are taking with our good, competent people will see that that happens.

I am looking forward to seeing this air of compe~ence in the people of the Province come back and we can see the development of opportunities that I think we have missE:~d on a number of occasions, unfortunateJ.y, due to the up and down expectations that were created in the past. So that approach tl~eat the people is one which will of this Pinovince L285 June 2, 1989 UoJ. XLI in a much better manner and I think it is one which will be much more accepted by the peopJ.e of the Province.

I think they, at the end, were saying, no more telling us that you are going to do this, and so on, tell us what you are really going to do, what you are going to attempt to do; and put the expectations there that are realistic. I think that is the approach we have and it j s a good one. I have no problems with that, and I am looking forward to working within that attitude. I think also, Mr. SpeakE!r, that WE! have to build a good at.l:i t:udE! :l.n this Province, and the Throm~ Speech with the red cover is going to do that.

The initiatives announced in this are excellent, with a whole range of matters when it comr:~s to, especially, young people, for E!Xample; concE!r'ns for senior citizens --we arE! going_ to see that proper housing, for example, is put in place; WE:! ar-e going to work to see that the young people of this Province have some opportunities with a chance to stay ,here and work to bu:iJ.d our' future.

It is ttme, Mr. ~3peakE!r, that WE• address that problem and the problems the~ are encountering with E!mployment, opportunities for business and so on. fhe promotion of entrepreneurshjp, for example, :is a thing that I think tAlE! shou1d get into more. I am hoping to see that undertaken with our new Minister of Educa+:ion, ou1n net~.J government. I am qu.i te co1TFident that it will be undertaken. Also, Mr. Speaker, IJJith rE•spE:~ct to a number of othc::~r issues, I u.Jant to talk for a number of minutes on my distr.ict of Stephc::~nuille, onr::~ I No. 6 R 2 8 ~)

have represented now for years and look forward representing for the next four. four to A number of initiatives that we are undertaking in our area wil1 be helped by the Throne Speech, the development opportunities we have been working on, an industrial park that we are hoping to see established in the coming months and over the next couple of years. We have a battle, Mr. Speaker, with our airport in Stephenville with the Air Canada situation.

Something I think I have to note today, right off the bat, is the move by Air Canada, a Crown corporation set up by the feder·al government to serve the transportation needs of Canada, East and WE!St, Mr. Speaker. That was their mandate. Now, the federal government of the day has said to Air Canada. 'You can do what you want and go where you want, we haVE! no problem with it, and you can wreak havoc on the rural areas of Canada. ' I think. as a government, we wi1l pursue this matter very strongly with the federal government.

Our transportation needs in this Province are extremely important for the development of our economy and, unless we dE:~cide that we arE! going to take a stand and go at it in the proper fashion, and say, 'These are the needs we have in transportation,' unJess we do that, we are going to be in a lot of trouble. MR. SPEAKER : Excuse mE!, I would likE! to remind the hon. member that he has one minute left. MR. K. AYLWARD : That is all, Mr ·. Speaker? One L286 JunE~ 2, 1989 Vo1 Xl.I minute! Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In my concluding remarks, I just wan·t to say and I am sure I tAlill have a lot more to say about his issue specifically the Air Canada issue. They have not: treated our area very well in their announcement. We are going to be pursuing them very much so over the coming months. Also, our airport I must say is coming around quite well. We have been able to get some net.u serviCE! and we are looking forward to better things with our new Liberal government. So, Mr. Speaker, on that notE! I haVE! had a number of cornmE!nts.

I know that it has been at the pleasure of this wonderfu] House and that they have enjoyed them thoroughly. I look for·ward to speaking again on a number of other issues and I 1ook forward to hearing the Opposition and their remarks t.o our Throne Speech, wh'ich I think covers some excellent ideas for the future. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. MR. SPEAKER: The han. the member For Humber Valley. MR. WOODFORD: Thank you, Mr. Speaker . First of a1l, Mr.

Speaker. this is my first t'.ime getting up to spE!d.k on The Throne Speech wit hout asking qUE!Stions, so it. is my First. opportunjty to say what I want here this morning. First, I would to congratulatE! the Speaker. the member for Bonavis t.a North, on his appointment as Speaker. I served in the House for· thE! J.ast four year·s. fiE! :Ls a very sincetne and honest individual No . 6 f\286

and I say that t.~..dth a11 honesty. I have worked with him on committees, and on committees is where you usually bring out the worst in a member. I saw both sides of him, the side of the House of Assembly and the side in committees and in private and also stayed with him many a night over a meal at the Airport Inn with some of my other colleagues on the other side. So, I wish him well. He has got credibility and he is respectE!d by eVE!ry mE!mber of thE! House no matter what side you are on, as far· I am concernE!d, always was and I am surE! he will be in his new position.

The main thing is that he will be fair, there is no doubt about that. I would like to congratulate the Deputy Speaker as well, and the Chairman of Committees both positions that I sat in myself, although not appointed as such, but sat in many a day, and many a night trying to get through legis1ation here in this House over the last four years. I wo u 1 d 1 i k e a J s o to con g rat u J ate a1l of the members on the other side, backbenchers and especially the people who have been appointed to CabinE!t. They have trying times ahead. It is not an E!asy role.

I haVE! had a tastE• of it, so l: o s peak , albeit it was b apt 'i. s m by firE! , b u l in any case it. tJ..Ja s three months that I would not give up for anything. Than again, three months is probably as good as three years in some cases. The ml':~mber for Windsor -Buchans (Graham Flight) is not in his seat, I tJ.JOuld J.:l. k e to say to h:irn because he is also from Buchans the same communjty that I am from, it is nicE! to seE! anothE!r pE!rson from Buchans folJ.ow in the Agr·icul tural portfolio.

Like I L287 June 2, 1989 Vol XLI said, I only had three months there, so the han. membE!r has got to perform in three months, that is what I am going to judge you on, just three months. But in any case, I wish him weJ.l and aJ.J member·s opposite. Mr. Speaker, one of the th:ings that I have wanted to say, especta1ly for the past week since the House opE!ned as Minister· back on March 31, I spoke at a Rur·al DevelopmE:~nt Association lTIE'E!ting in Gander, the Annual Meeting of the Rural Development Council.

Fr·iday before ~ WE!nt to {:hat meed:ing, that was on a Saturday, I was informed that a Rural Deve1opmE!nt Agreement wouJ.d be signed on or b~::~fore April 30. NotJ..J for so1ne time, in fact I think it tJ.dJ.1 go back to December 31, that Agreement was supposed to have been signed. We had the commitments from thE! fedE!ra1 goVE!rnmE!nt i:hat that would bE:~ signed on Decl':~ITJber 31. March 31 was the I1E!Xt date it was suppoSE!d to be s i g ned . I t s t j 11 tJ..Ja s not signed.

March 31 was on a Friday and I was going to Ga.nder anyway to speak as MinistE•r, bu·t I certainJy was not going to say anything, and I was not going to compromise my principles or credibility for anybody else in this Province or outsidE!. I t.~..Jas talking back and forth with Mr. Crosbie 1 s offiCE! and the Pr'errd.er 1 s office and that evening at 5:05 p.m. on March 31 I reCEd.ved a calJ. frorn our representative in the federal Cabinet, M1~. Crosbje. I t.uas told, catE!gorically, thai: l:hal: agreement would be signed on or before the last of Aproi1. I questioned hjrn . ·Ume and ti1ne again, over and over.

I said that I do not tJ.Jant to 1nah:! an announcement:, I do nol: t~,Jant l:o tell those people something that. will not be done. He pro111:i.sed rne No. 6 R287

that it would, and approximately an hour after I had a calJ. from the Premier at that time saying the same thing. I went on to Gander, made the announcement. but I would not say a date , I j us t said on or before. I could have probably said a date because ont~ was sort of just in my mouth, but I would not take a chance on that, so I said on or before the last of April. It was not done, and aJ. though the remarks and questions have been directed to the Leader of the Opposition, I feel somewhat res pons i b l e, in a way . I was minister at thE! time, I made the announcement and I should take the blame for it.

Then, again, I want to make it quite clear that I was told it in all sinCE!r:ity and all hone!sty, as I thought, by our representataive in the federal Cabinet, but something happened somewhere along the way for that not to be signed. In fact, a couple of months before that, I was aware of the fact that the funds for Rural Developments Associations in the Province were starting _ to dry up and I knew they needed help. I took it to Cabinet and got an MC saying that alJ. development associations in the Province would have access to a comfort letter allowing them to go to the banks and borrow approximately $10,000.

That tAJas done for alJ fifty-six associations, and some of them took advantage of that before the Gandr:!r meeting. Wh1:!n I WE!nt to thE:~ mE!eting in Gander I hC::ld letters of comfort for every Development Association in this Province in my briefcase. Whoever want.E!d :L t could have it that day. I knotAJ it was not much bul: it tJJas s orne thing. I figurE!d it only had to 1 as t f o r abo u t a rno n t h i n a n y L288 JunE! 2, 1989 Vol XLI case so I figured $10,000 would be suffid.ent.

When you J.ook at the total that would haVE! bt::~en in the new agreement of approximateJ.y $36,00 that was one third of what they wouJ.d have gotten in any case. That did not materalize either. The people took advantage of it and I think the present gov ernrne nt now has a1 J.ot tE!d s OlliE! $50,000 to the Rural Development Council to keep them going, something I am sure they appreciate, and I comme!nd them for :it. KE!ep that up. rhe main thing I want to clarify there this morning "is that when that statement was made I thought in all honesty and sinCE!rity that it would bE! done on or bE:'forE! ApriJ. 30.

I have had a closE.~ aFfinity tALith DE!VE!lopment. Associations in th(:~ Province over the years. I served on them. I was a councillor in Cormack for ten year and I SE!rVE!d on the Federation of Municipalities as well. I know all about Rural Development Associations. Nobody has 'l:o tE·ll me anything about them. I have two in my district, l:he White Bay South and the Humber Valley Development Associations, both creditabJ.e association in the Provtnce, well managed, w.i.l:h good directors, and good executives doing a good job.

Usually you hear about t.hE! ten tAJE!ek syndrome, and Development Associations are usuaJ.ly associatE!d udth that, but I can say that especially during thE! last thrE!E! to four years that the projects they had have been most1y longtE!rlll, albe:i.t ther'e tAJC:!tnE! some i:h1:!re' that would probably last for ten, fifteen, or tt.~Jenty weeks, or what have you. But most of their projects have been l o n g t e r' m , w h i c h i s s o mE! t h oi n g l: h .~ l: Development. Assod.at.i.ons in LhE• Pr'ovincc~ have bc~~?.n trying l:o (jEd: No. 6 R288

at for year. I think it is the direction which they are trying to take for the future of their associations in the Province, but they cannot do .it without fund j n g . I wo u 1 d be the firs t to agree and the first to act on their behalf to access such funding. The Rural Development movement is a people1s movement. It is something that is close to the hearts of every individual in the rural areas of this Province. And not only rural because I know that over our way the City of Corner Brook is surrounded by rural municipalities, the Bay of Islands and all up through Humber VaJ.ley, Humber East, and the City of Corner Brook always sort of kept in line and took

part in all the meetings of the Rural Development Associations. I have to commend the council in Corner Brook, because usually when you get a council like that, which is so large, it usually goes off to itself, it has its own platforms and own ideas which they stick to, but not so in this case. This makes for a good working relationship with all thE! cuncils .in the area, wh'ich work in conjunction with the Development Associations, the agricultural associations, the fishermen 1 s co1nmittees, and that is the reason it will work.

You haVE! to have cohesivenE!SS, you haVE! to haVE! communication betl..ueE•n everybody, because if not, Newfoundlanders bE!ing what thE!Y are, they are their own worst enE!my when it comes to looking at what the other group is doing, one trying to outdo the other. So u.JhE!n you gE!t communication ra-ther· than confrontation in any arE:~a or in any djst:rict, you haVE! a SUCCE!SS. L289 JunE! 2, 1989 Vol XLI As I stated before the agricultural associations and fishermen1s committees and whatever work in conjuncU.on with the Development Associations.

The Development Associations usuaJ.J.y have directors from each municipality in each part of thE! district, and they br·ing in thE!.ir ideas, they give them to their executive, they vote on them, and what have you, and they make their decisions, which havE:~ a bearing on each municipality in the area, whether its population be of 20 or 500 or 5, 000. Everybody benefits. The whole area benefits, the whole district, and the Province benE!fi ts as a wholE:~. And the Rural DevelopmE!nt Cound.J, I think Mr. Collins in Gander now is the director, has bE!en dcdng an excellent job over the last number of years.

But the SE:'nSE! of the direction that they arE! going to take from here on jn 1Ali1J. bem!f:i.t everybody with regar·ds to l:he long-term pr·oj ects rathE!r than thE! short-ter~ ten week syndrome. I suppose when the Thr·one ~3poech carne down I expected to see a little more depth into 'it. ThE!r'e are a J.ot of 1whereases1 ancl 1:Ln clue course, 1 1when monE!Y :is availablE!, 1 1within the mandate, 1 and I suppose l:o a certain E•xtG!nt you can see that with regard to the first ThronE! SpeE!Ch. But then, again, with regard to the forestry and agriculture part of it, there were only two lines.

Now in some cases that says a lot. So I will just leave :i.t at that until budg1:!t t:ime and sE!lO! ·.if those two or three lines that were mentioned in the ThronE! SpOE!Ch bear any crE!dencE'! and haVE! substance, and I will judgE• that I guess, next Tuesday, June 6. But forestry and agriculture a very important role in No. 6 plays this R289

Province. Agriculture, for instance, was on the bot tom rung of the ladder and only in the last few years has started to move, and rightly so. It has great potential. It can expand. There is great room for expansion and production in the industry. I mean, it ts evident over the last number of years what has happened to it. In fact, it :is the only resource based sector in this Province over t:he last five years that has really had real growth.

No one would ever think of that corning from an industry that you hardly hear tell of, unless it is some controversy like a school milk program or the price of milk going up, or something like that., and then everybody hollers, you hear from everybody, and everybody is an expert overnight on agriculture. Like the Premier said not too long ago in a statement, there are too many people in the fishery. Maybe so. I cannot argue wi t.h him because I do not know. Seemingly th<~t would probably be one of the problems.

One of the other things I changed whE!n I was thE!re as minister was the way marketing boards in the Province submittE!d a list of names to for the minister for appointments to boards. I changed that. I tJJanted to get away from the political partisan mode that eVE!rybody figured we were in, especially ministers in the departments. I wanted to get out from under that cloud. I grantE!d the Milk Marketing Board, in particular, thE!.ir reqUE!St right to elect their own Board of Directors, especially when it ca111e to the producers.

The first. thing I in The Evening saw was a Telegram piece that L290 June 2, 1989 Vol XLI t hi s was no t rig h t , the prod u c e r s were going to have control over the industry, not from the hon. minister now, but from the Premier, they are going to have control over the industry . They are going to have a monopoly on the industry and that is going to hurt the Province.

Now does any other corporation, in this Province or outside, or any other business have control over their own industry or do thE!Y go out and ask permission, have a plebiscite or a referendum every time they want to make a decision or make an appointment to the Board of Directors? I thought it was an excellent move. The industry thought it was an excellent move. The other boards thought it was an E!Xcellent move. Outside thE! ProvincE! and thE!Y thought it was an excellent move. MR . FLIGHT : Mr . Speaker, would the hon. member permit a question? MR. WOODFORD: Yes, go ahead . MR.

FLIGHT: Are there any concerns at all with regard to the appointing of boards as opposed to the election of members to the various commodity boards? Do you have any concern about that process? MR. WOODFORD: Well, I ~id ai: i:hat time. I jus 1: wanted to get out from under that, and a rE!qUE!Si: uJas rnadE! wil:h regards to e1ections, elE~c t thE:dr own producers on a regional basis, which would makE ! it fair to eVE!ry producer in the Province, no matter what region they came from. To answer your question, yes, I think the boards should el ect thc.>ir own rnE!rnbers. No . 6 R290

e s pe cia lly the producers . Now, the members at large and the consumer representative, if the minister wants to make that choice, well and good, unless the board recommends someone who is out of whack. That is another thing. I think someone should go on those boards when they are representing the consumer or any other members at large, someone who has some closeness and some affiliation with the industries, or some business. So that when they sit around the table they can make a firm decision that is not going to be a detriment to the industry . So that was done.

ThE! statements with regard to too many in the fishery, the same thing could happen with the dairy industry. It is one of the industries in the Province that is controlled, that ts regulated and that is growing, the dairy industry in the Province, namely because of the supply management process, and namely the marketing board syste!m.

If this is torn down or destroy ed or affected in some way so that they cannot control their own destiny, we will be in the same position in agriculture in this Province ·- I used the dairy as an example because that is the one where we made the changes to the board-- as WE! are in thE! fishery today. If anybody in any business - a prime example is the RuraJ Development Authority, and the minister is not here - makes a request for a loan through the Rural Development Aulhority, another program which has really grown over the years, last year to the tune of some $3 million L291 June 2, 1989 VoJ.

XLI allocated under that loans program whereby any business in the Province can get up to $50,000 at 3 percentage points below prime -· it is an excellent program and, as far as I am concerned, it should be expanded. Those are the things they look at. When an application comes in the first thing it says is, 1 Wel1, okay, WE! were go:lng to put a corner store here but we cannot give that to that individual because there is one here. We have a sawmill there. We cannot give him one because there is one here. 1 SomE! of the criteria you have to meet and right1y so to a certain extent.

There is no good in going in and competing if the market is fiJled in a community and put five or six corner stores when you ne~~d tlAJO . That is not good business sense . The same thing could happen in the agricu1tural industry if you haVE! no control over the production part of it. It was onJ.y a feJ.AJ short years ago that I had no plaCE!. I started off in Cormack in 1971 - 1972 in the dairy busine!SS and I was told then, corning over from Buchans, as !:he hon . members can appreciate, 'that I did not know one end of the coL~ from the other. I did not. I will be the first to admit.

But it was 1 udderly 1 ridiculousJ.y to say so. SOME HON. MEMBERS : Hear, hear! MR .. WOODFORD : But in any ca se, I start E!d. I farmed, I will be th e firs t to admit, in spitE ! of governm ent: dnd not bE!Caus e of it. It to ok somE:~thing t:o keE!p going. Now, go over there and I think we have ten dairy opE!rat.i.on s in the community of Cormack itself, down through the liurnber Valley, Hughes Brook, No. 6 R291

up through Howley, all over. Central Dairies has a plant moved into Deer Lake now producing approximately 52 per cent of their West Coast requirements right there in the town of Deer Lake, providing twenty to twenty-two jobs directly not counting spinoff, all year • round jobs, not eight, ten, fifteen or twenty weeks, year •round jobs, except for in the Summertime when you are making the hay or doing the fields or something J.j ke that. The'n you have probably fifteen or twenty weeks . It is something that was always put down . We could not do it here in Newfoundland.

That was the first thing I was told, • But you cannot do that here. • It is the same thing with everything, • You cannot. 1 There is no such thing as cannot. SOME HON . MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. WOODFORD : . The other thing is i:hey get into agriculture in the classroom. The brochure that we put out in my s hart tenure there, the thrE !e months, was put in the classroom, something that should have been in there years ago. You go from Kindergarten to Grade XII and there is no mention of agriculture. They do not even know how to peel a potato.

Ask them IJJhere they come from, or anything like that, and they do not know, they do not know anything. During Education Week, all kinds of students, I could not handle all the requ~E~sts corning in from schools. They would come to the barn or come to the field, come to the sawmill after TTJE!. And to see a log being sawed that was unreal. That is something elsE!. And they would come to the ba,~ns and see the milk in the tanks and see it coming down through the L292 June 2, 1989 VoJ. XLI milkers, those kids were just flabbergasted. And that is a prime example of pure. ignorance. lrJhy?

The parents do not know, the teachers do not know so how is the student going to know it? He cannot, and we have to get something in the s c h o o 1 s and it is there n 01.11, albeit in a small way, but, then again, we can build on it. We got our foot in the door, now is 'I: he time to go ·the rest of the way as an industry in the Province, and as a profession in the Province, I remember years ago when I just started, would go to a farm and say 11 H OIJJ do you do that? 11 11 I h <::.tv E! been doing that for years . HE!rE! is an insecticide 11 , or whateVE!r, this is how we did it.

Now you ·go and ask anybody in thii:~ agricultural industry in this Province, and you are not running a fly-by-night operation. It is big business. The dairy operatio-n alone today, to get into r:i.ght cu1d properly, you ar·e talking about a $500,000 investment . You go in anywhere in this Province today, any company in this Province, and make a request to ACOA, for .instance, for $500,000 For eight or ten jobs and some cases J.E!SS than that and what did th ey say? 11 WE ! wilJ. give you a 20 --25 percent:. grant towards that. 11 You do not get that in the agricultural sector, that is exempt fr·orn ACOA.

You cannot get any funds. Some time ago we went four years wjthout any federal-provjnciaJ agreem(~nt. WE! got one, small as j t is , 1.11e got one . Big de a J. , some $15 million For the next four years . Wonderf~l stuff! All those things a.re going to have to be addressed. All those things are going to have to be looked at. We are get ting mor·e E!<.'!Ch y• ?.ar, corning from smaller No . 6 R292

communities, associated with the rural movement, and they know what is going on. The rural movement covers 80 percent of the population of the province. 80 percent. To say there is nothing rural around St. John1s, well, pretty well everything in this Province is rural, there is no such thing as urban. What is urban about it? SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. WOODFORD: You might find a few people who are sophisticated and urbanited, but no matter where you go, all around this city anywhere around this city, Corner Brook, Bay of Islands, Grand Falls, all have a rural movement.

I was asking the Minister today about the school milk program, which is something that definitely should be instituted. The cost of a litre of milk in the Province is $1.40 per litre. Just listen to this. We drink 55 litres per capita of milk per year but our children take in 1j0 per·cent or less of what thE:~Y should take in in regards to calcium. Proof of that is in the fluoride; l:he city of St. John • s and other cities are trying to add fluoride to their water systems. The repercussions in the health systE!m are unreal, if it was ever put in dollars and CE!nts. you would not eVE!n be able to compare it.

The s y stern with rE!gard s to l:he milk progr·am should bE! instituted -$1.40 per litre for milk in this Pr·ovince. $3.36 per litrE:~ of beer. WE! are consuming 55 litn:~s of milk, which is half the national average of 110 litr·es. fhe nE!Xt province to us Prince Edward Island is 102 and 1_293 June 2, 1989 Vol XLI beer? We are drinking 90 li tJ~es per year each. Now we got to exempt the 0-17 because we take it for grantE!d that thE!Y do not ·drink. Maybe thE!Y arE! drinktng the most - I do not know. MR. FLIGHT: May I ask a question? MR. WOODFORD: Go ahead. MR.

FLIGHT: Let me ask the hon. member sincE:~ he obviously supports the school milk program, does he envision that program to be a public relations program that would encourage school children to drink milk, or· does he SE:~e the prograrn as being a program to subsidize or guarantE!e the milk available at d low~r price to school ch-ildren? MR. SPEAKER: The han. the l'nE!rnber for Humber UallE!Y. MR. WOODFORD: The answer to that is both. I menttoned before about the ignoranCE! part of it, so the educat"ional part of it :is one thing.

In fact, in that l:h:ing uJe had allocated, I think, sormd:h:ing likE:~ thrt:~e coordinators to go around the PJ~ovince and bE! available to the schools, differ1"nt programs in the school with regard to whichever school drank the most milk would be given a computer·. or something l:ikE! that. There were different little things in it and thE! industry and producers would be involved. Usually when you try to get anything done, in any "industJ~y in t. h o P r o v "i n c e y o u u s u a 11 y g o t t h E! 1r1 against you. In this case, we have them with us, tho industry and l:hE! pl~oducers.

At: lE!ast get it :i.n there on a t.uhoJ.esale basis No. 6 1\29 3

first, and then work from there with regards to cutting it down so that every child in the schools can access it. So, both fr·om an educational part of it and also the spin over from that tAJill mean approximately 10 million li tres of milk over the next five year's in production. Ten million litres just to have a good school milk program in place. That alonE! would add to the industry, when you consider that we produced 26 million litres of fluid milk in this Province last year. around 30 percent to the total production. So both of them would be in place.

I got the insinuation from some people around the Province in the last month or so that the farmer should subsidize the program. The burden should not be put on the 72 producers in the Province. We are not self-sufficient in milk in this Province and they shOLild be given every chance and right to produce 100 percent self-sufficiency without the burden of putting milk into the schools at their cost. Supposing we have to review our social programs with regards to that.

The Minister of HE!alth in conjunction with the Minister of Education. in conjunction with the Minister of Forestry and Agrj culturE!, thE! three dE!partmeni:s should be involved. They were, and they should. Wi .th the thr'E!e departments involved for the mPasly sum of $300.000 to try and get it off the ground I think would be dollars welJ spent, for every man, woman and child in the Province. The other thing I would like to touch on is the sawmilling industry in the ProvinCE!. forestry in general.

I had a projE!Ct started in White Bay, the hon. minis tE!r may bE! aware of it now, one of the first. in the Province. L294 June 2, 1989 Vol XLI We have the paper companies in the Province with all kinds of ho1dings. We got thE! sawmilJ.ers in the Province crying and screeching for, saw J.ogs, and cannot get them. When thE•y touch a log on the company's holdings they ar·e skinned and takE!n to court. There is a IAJay of gE!tt:Lng around it.

I approached the Abitibi Group back two years ago, got them to agree on taking the three mile limit from around the Jackson's Arm, Sop's Arm - Pollards Point a r' E:1 a , lifting t h crt • so that it would go back to the people and be administrated by the Department of Forestry locally so that th(:1y could get their permits and usE' :Lt as saw logs or use it as firewood. The other area that I worked in is also in conjunction with KrugE!r, a very, VE!ry substantial projE!Ct in the Chause Brook area of Hampden. HampdE!n has, I suppose, tWE!nty or thirty sawrnillers who dE'PE!nd primarily on sawrnilling.

They a1ne pretty well out of the Cl"own land limits with regards to cutting. There is approximate in the Chause Brook a1nea, 500,000 -- 600,000 cords of prime timber that should be cut. If not it:. is going to fall to the ground and be wasted. Just across from that in the Ma:l.n RiVE!r ar!':1d you have approxilnat~:<ly 1. 6' miJ.lion cords of IAJoocl whj ch is going to take twenty -five or twenty-six years to cut in any casE•, bE!CaUSE! they havE• l~o do it in conjunction with the forestry program elsewhere in the ProvinCE!. So you cannot cut: onE' and leave the other, or it is just going to diE!.

We made a proposal to U1E' Minis t:er of ForE!stry at that time, the member for Grand FalJ.~~. and again No . 6 R294 ;

the member for Kilbride, and now I have spoken already to the member for Windsor -Buchans, that this would be done on a 60/40 basis where the sawmi11E~r could go in, take whatever is good for a saw log and everything eJ.se goes to the companies. They have first call on the puJ.pwood, thereby utilizing everything in that area and making sure that everything is done on a clear-cut basis, administered by the Department of Forestry, which is local and has flexibility and is close to the people, so thE!Y would not have to talk to the paper companies at all.

So we pretty well had an agreement on that and I am sure the minister will take that up and continue with it. AN HON. MEMBER: He will take credit for it. MR. WOODFORD: Well, if he wants to take credit-­ for it, sobei t. But the main thing is that we benefit as a people, it is an excellent project, and I think it would be setting a precedent for alJ. those companies in the Province, not only the paper companies but somE:1 others as well, to do much the same thing. This is just sitting thE!re bE!ing was ted when it could be utilized. The pulpwood industry in this Province is at its maximum.

If the companies in this Province need 300,000 cords of wood a year to kE!ep their mills going, whE!ther thE!Y gr::~t it in Grand Fa11 s. whE!thE!r they gE•t it in CornE!r Brook, or whether they get it in Stephenville, it does not: mat'l:E!r, they drE! only using 300,000 cords a year. The same bodies it takes eVE!ry YE!ar to cut thc-lt wood, that is it. Th~1 sawmilling industry is the only part of the forE:~stry industry, thE! 1 .. 295 June 2, 1989 Vol XLI IAJoodcutting industry whE:1rE:~ you can increase jobs. MR. SPEAKER: I remind the hon. membE!r that h:Ls time has elapsed. MR.

WOODFORD: I would just like to sum up, Mr. Speaker. I just touched on part of the agriculture part of it, and forestry. but I could go on. You could go on into the fisher·y. I would like to ment.ion to the minister -·-s l1'e! • is not hE~re r:Lg ht now -the privatE! sector progr·am that was so important over the last mumber of years, especially for the students. because they ar·e out of school now, and I urge the administration to get that program out as soon as possible. It is an excellent program but there has been nothing out yet. We have some of the university students out.

It is okay for the high school _students IAJhen they get out in June. In any case I t:hink you should address that very soon. The Minist:E!r of ErnploymE:!nl: and Labour Relations is not her'E! right now, but in any case I am sure someone wjll pass it along to hE!r. It is VE!ry important to 1:3et that out. Before I end I IAJould like to ask all hon. members, if thE!Y are not doing much toiAJards the E!nd of July and the first week ·in August, thE!Y can certainly vistt thE! Hurnber Valley and take in one of the biggest f.E!stivaJ.s in the.

Province, nameJ.y, the Strawberry Festival, and I w=i.J.l rnake sur·e you ar·e IAJelJ. treated. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! Mf~. SPEAKER: No. 6 IU9S

The hon. the member for Eagle River. MR. DUMARESQUE: Mr. , SpeakE!r, it is a great pleasure to rise as a member of the House of Asse!mbly, and it is also a particular pleasure to take

part in this historic rE!SponSE! to the Throne Speech. Mr. Speaker, over the next half hour I would like to relate to you a number of things: I would' like to, first of all, start off by acknowledging that I find particular pleasure in rising in my seat as thE! first Labrador·ian ever elected for the Liberal Party in the history of the Liberal Party in Labrador. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR.

DLIMARESQUE: I realize that responsibiJ.i t.y, Mr, intE!nd, over the four year·s, to responsibility as possible. is an onerous Speaker, and r· next thr!'.~e or carr·y that SE!riously as I would bE! rerni s s if I did not congratulate the distinguished member for Bonavista North (Mr. Lush) upon his election as Speaker, and also to take this oppo1ntunity to congratulate HH:~ Speaker's assistants, the member for BellevUE! (Mr. Barrett) and thE! member for· Trinity -··· Bay de Verde (Mr, L. Snow). You have all done exCE!ptionaJ. jobs as far as I arn concernE!d, and I CE!Intainly believe you will do so in the future.

I would also like to take a minute now, Mr. Speaker, to speak about the institution of Parliament. As a polib caJ. scientist, I come in her·e w·.i th the c:!ni:husiasm that comes with that particular L296 JunE! 2, 198') Vol XLI training. I rE!a]ize that this institution is the highest court in our J.and and I look forward to the proper proCE!dUrE!S, and I look forward to thE! libE!ration of the private member to see that thE!re is effective and responsibJe outlay of our duties and responsibilit.E!S as rnember·s o.f this han. House. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. DUMARESQUE: If I might, Mr.

Speab~r, I would like to outlay the format of my speech. In response to this historic SpE!ech from the Throne, I IAlill at. all times keep in mind the themes of fairness, balance and equality. In doing so, I intend to oui:lay thc:•se themE~s as :it reJ.ates to my district and aJso to lay out these principles as :it relates to my roJ.E:~ as a mt:·rnb(;'r of the House of Assembly. First of all, Mr. ~3peaker, thE! great district of EaglE! R:Lver ha~; a number of assets. First and foremost, of course, is its people.

Labradorians have chosen to be in this great land, Labradorians have been chosen to represent the aspiratjons of the people there, and Labradorians on the Coast of Labrador, as aJl over L. a b r· ad o r· , a r c• p r o u d l: o b e a b 1 e l: o carry that flag, M1~. Speak (;~r, and bE! ablE! to signify to l:he rE!S t of this Province that indeed we are a part of this great Province and we wjll continue to be. SOME HON. MEMBERS: HE!ar, hear! MR. DUMARESQUE : Labradorians are famous, of cotu·se, for lhEdr courage, for their loyalty. And, of course, Mr. Speaker, any student of No. 6 R296

politics in Newfoundland and Labrador can look at the political record and the political voting practice of the people in Eagle 'River and wilJ. be able to see quite clearly that they are quitE! intelligent people, Mr. Speaker. They have never voted Tory in thEdr li.ves, and, I submit, Mr. Speaker. they never will. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. DUMARESQUE: The fishery. of course. is another asset, Mr. Speaker, that Eagle River is quite proud to be able to display to the rest of the world.

There has always bE!en a historic abundancE! of cod. salmon and char. not to mention the great shrimp fishery that is off our coast. We have always had tremendous recognition for that. We have always had a trernE!ndous voyage. I guess. of people corning down from the Island every Summer to b-e able to take advantage of this, especially of late years in the areas of Black Tickle, Makkovik and other parts of the coast. Of co u r s e • M r . S p "=~a k e r • there are other assets that Eagle River is proud to display. Tourism: Mr.

Sp~;:~aker. this Summer there will be a dedication and an acknowledgement of the tourist potenbal of Eagle River whE!n there will be two national historic sites proclaimed in the district of Eagle River. one being the Indian burial ground in Point Arnor, which is the longest site of its nature. And, of course, everybody 'is aware of the tremendous historical presence that the Basque whalers had in Red Bay, Labrador. These two sites will be recognized this year as national historic sites. L297 JunE! 2, 1989 Vol XLI Of course, I would be negligent if I did not point out the great bakeapple festival, Mr. SpE!aker.

I would like to take this opportunity to j_ nvi te al 1 mE•rnber·s of this han. House to be down there on August 10, 11, and 12 to participate in our fes l:ivi ties. and ·be able to participate. along with us, in our great and courageous and ljvely manner as we go about celebrating the history and the folklore of Labrador. Mr. Speaker. certainly one othE!r asset I IAJould likE! to touch on is the forestry.

Historically, the forest resources of coastal Labr·ador have beE!n great and. to a dE!gree. they ar'E:~ preSE!ntly on tap and, especially I think, hold quite great promises for future developm(~nt and futurE! jobs for our peoplE!, especially in. thE! Cartwright and Port Hope Simpson areas. These are some of the assets, Mr. SpeakE!r, thc!t I want:E•d to relay to the House of AssernbJy today. Now I would like to take about some of the liabilities. As we heard the grE!at ThronE!

SpeE!Ch proclaim and the Pt'erniE!r of this Province acknowledge, Labrador is not without its liabilities, Labradol~ is. not without :it:s hurt, Labrador is not without jts deficiencies. I would like to talk about a couple of things: In the fishery, for example, I beJ.ieve quite fundamentally, Mr. SpeakE•r. that Labradorians hatJe never gotten thEd.r faj r shar·e out of this great resource. Labradorians have never received the jobs and security from this rE·source that wo justly cleser've.

If I haVE! to look on the fishE!ry as it relates to individuals in Labr·ador·. and I know thai: ·it does not particularly pertain to thjs provincial jur·isdiction, but I No. 6 R297

would like to note the unemployment insurance system, Mr. Speaker, and its discriminatory actions as it relays upon individuals involved in the fishery in Labrador. As many of you know, right now fishermen are only allowed to draw unemploymE:~nt insurance as of November 15 of every year, and that has to end on May 15 of the following year. Mr. Speaker, two or thre::~ months before November 15 are quite hard, <.~nd leading up to the Christmas break every year people certainly need that cash coming into their households.

Historically, the fishery on the Labrador coast has ended pretty well on October 1 of every year, and certainly in many parts of Labrador it does not start unttl at lE!ast June 15 and, in many cases, July 15 aJ.ong thE:' coast of Labrador. So in the two times '.in the year when pe!ople aJ.ong the Labrador Coast deserve to have some cash corning into their households, they are without it. Certainly this case has beE !n brought to the attention of many government officials but it has never gotten, I do not think, the ser·ious consideration that it deserves. So I would hope that this han .

House will be able to go on record as unanimously supporting that the people of this great area be given an opportunity to file unemployment insurance claims as of October 1 of every year, and no later the following yE!ar, when they have insurable earnings . to report. Mr. Speaker, therE:~ are other ltabilities and there are other areas of neglect. You take water and sewE!r: I undE!rstand that therE! are a lot of demands upon the public treasury of this L298 June 2, 1989 Vo 1 XLI Province, I understand that there are a lot of services that have not been gotten all over this grE:~at Province, but, Mr.

SpeakE!r, as I pointed out :in 1ny resolution on opening day, there ts not one community in Eagle RiVE!r that has a fuJ.l-fledged water and sei~.Jer· system. That is not good E!nOU(:Jh! That is not fair! That is not just! That is not equality of opportunity on the Labrador Coast! SOMt HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. DUMARESQUE: WhE:~n it comes to recr·eatton, Mr·. Speaker, there is not one propE!r, fully-engineered, encJ.osed arE!na in the whole area of EaglE! IUVE!r. Not one! I think, Mr.

Speaker·, that every couple of years, I think tt is eVE!ry t.htrd y(:~ar, IAJP have the Labrador GamE!S, and I think in this past YE!ar, whE ~n it was undertaken , the res ide n t s and the athletes of Coastal Labrador performed exceptionally well. The:~y came back with gold, s:i .J.ver' and bronZE! medals. They came back wit h the rn, but they got: the rn because of an expression of tr'UE! courage, an expression of hard IAJork. Mr. Speaker, I can only imagine how they would do if they had proper recreational facilities. SOME HON. MEMBERS : Hear, hear! MR. DUMARESQUE : Mr· .

Speaker, in thE ! llE!Xt little while I would J.ike to talk about my role hE!re as a mE:~mbE!r of the House. of AssembJy, rE!pr·esenting E a g l e lh v e r . What d o I r e p ,~ e s E! rd ~ and where do I go and how do I get things done? Am I a dE !legate For thE! peop1E!, or· arn I a representative of the people? These are two fundamental qUE!St.ions, Mr. Speaker . As a No . 6 R298

delegate, do I automat-ically come in here and outlay the popular opinion. of my constituents? As a delegate, do I come in here and properly say what the constitUE!nts have been saying to me, and do that on every issue? Or, as a representative of the peop1e, as a representat-ive who has garnered the public support of my district, do I carne in here and outlay rny idE!aS and be able to substantiate them in theory and in fact, and then be able to carry 'them, whether at times they may be contrary to the short-term gain? • ' < I submit, Mr.

Speaker, that over the next three or four years I will perform with a meshing of these particular labels. I will perform both as a delegate and as a representative, because I fundamentally believe that we J.jve in a pluralist society, I fundamentally believe that we have checks and balances in our system, and I fundamentally believe that there are ways that the individual can have real effect upon the publ-ic decision making in our Province. Now, OVE!r thE! next three or four years, Mr. Speaker, I int::!nd to pursue a number of specific projects.

I might just backtrack a J.ittle bit, because I did OVE!rlook one liabiLity that I wanted to make special acknowledgement of, and that is our deficiency in health care. Mr. Speaker, four or five years ago, when I visited my Gr1::>at Uncle in the Patton HomE! in GooSE! Bay, it was one of thE! saddr:!St days of my life. I went into that home after not seeing rny Great Uncle for a couple of years, and when he looked up and saw me, tears came to his eyes becauSE! he saw in me what he had grown up with. He L.299 JUnE! 2, 1989 Vol XLI said to me, 1You know, I miss L1Anse-au--Clair. I miss thE!

Coast of Labrador. 1 1 And, 1 he said, 1 my son, if there is anything you can ever do for rne, try and get me back home. Try and get me back to L1Anse-au-Clair. fry and get rne back to the Coast of Labrador again so I can smell the ocean and I can see the waves and I can feel what is in my soul. 1 Mr. Speaker, it is sad to submit that I was not able to do that. It is sad to haVE! to reaLize that my Great Uncle passed away because, I beliE!Ve in grE!ai: part, of thE:1 despair that he fE!lt. I submit, Mr.

Speaker, that it is unjust, it is unfair, and I believe there is no equality of opportunity prevailing, and there is no justice in this ProvinCE! if we are to allow our citizens oF Co as i: a 1 La brad or to g o h u n d r· E! d s of miles from their shore, to have to go a place where they cannot be vj si tE!d by thEdr rE!latJ.ves, to have to go and bE! hid away fJ~om what is in thej r souls and what they grew up with. I believe that is wrong, I belieVE! that is fundamentally unfair, and I will fight to see that a senior citiz1?.ns homE! is put :in the Eagle River District. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR.

DUMARESQUE: Mr. SpE!aker, as :it rr!lates to UJE! fi s hE!ry: I have bE!E! n WOJ" ld ng, as a number of you know, with the MarinE! Inst.itul:e ov::•r l:he last couple of year's, and JAJOJ"kecl qujte dtltgently, no doubt, in l:hat their wor·k was recognized by alJ. Labradorians in Eagle River, and certainly recognized in the vote on April 20. Mr. ~3peak~:!r, I would like to SE!e No. 6 ro99

that we get more from our fishery, because I believe that the Labrador fishery repreSE!nts a project of the last vestige of Imperialism in this Province and indeed in this Country. Labrador has always been a place the people of this Province couJ.d . look forward to as a place to go in the Spring; a place to go in the Spring and spend the summer there, and be able to accumuJ.ate the fish and be able to pr·epar·e th~;.dr SE!asons, and takE! horne in the · Fall of the year what they had garnered on the Coast of Labrador . It was always a place to go, Mr .

Speaker, never a place to go and live and prosper and foster and develop for the good of alJ. of us, a proper and decent place to live. Now, I am not: saying, Mr. SpeakE!r, that that should be disallOIJJed. I am not saying that at all. What I am saying, in fairness, and in justice and in balance, is that until we open up our doors and welcome you in. I would say 1 please 1 to this government and to others who will be able to be instrumental in that process. to make sure that we have garnered the benefits that we justly deserve. There is a principle here, Mr.

Sp(~aker. and that principle is one that is being recognized by this Provincr:~ as bE:~ing paramount. that those closest: to the resour'CE! should garner the greatest from that resour·ce. That has bec~n a principle that has been espoused by the past provincial <.:JOVE~rnmE!nt, but I s<.~y and I submit that that principle was waived, that principle was ignored, that principle was slammed in the faCE!S of Labradorians without justly appreciating the detrimental effect that it wouJ.d have on it. L300 June 2, 1989 Vol XLI We have had a resource short plant program, Mr .

Speakr::~r. operating in this Province for the last number of years. We have had fifteen or twenty plants that have been designated under that particular program, yet not one was designated in Labrador. We haVE! had, Mr. SpeakE!r. the Canadian Saltf1sh Corporation operating on the Coast of Labrador and on the Quebec North Shore, which, incidentally, is fifty m-iles from the Quebec -- Labrador border. That is whE!re 75 CE!nt of every dollar goes into the Canadian Sal tfi s h Cor·porat:ion, YE!t, Mr.

Speaker. not onE! fish is dried on the Coast of Labrador, not one secondary product is produced on the Coast of Labrador, and the decision rnak i ng pro c E!S s in that Corporation, wh:ich :is run by nine people, not onE! of them cH'e from the Coast of L.abrador. I submit, Mr. Speaker, that :is unfair, that is unjust, that is no equality of opportunity for the peop]e of Labrador. SOME HON . MEMBERS: HE!ar. hear! MR. DUMARESQUE: Mr .

Speaker·. in the pursuH: of my work OVE!r the next t:hrEH~ or Four years, I certainJy intend t.o embark upon the work to Fulfill the facts of the case, and I certainly hope that thG Minister of Fisheries and this gover·nmPnL will be open to at least: a drying facility in my dist:.r:Lct:, and, at least, to the extra processing t.hat would comE! thr·ough t.hu SE!Condary produc t:s of l:he Canad·.ian SaJ.tfish Corporation. If these are put into my district, at leas\: we receiVE! some acknotJJled~]ernenl·: of" our ownership of that great resourcE·. No . 6 IDOO

I would like to expand now on some of the other projects that I intend to pursUE!. Of course, I want to pursue water and sewer. The people of Black Tickle, Mr. Speaker·, a courageous and energetic and loyal group of people, have yet to see. one dollar spent in their community for a water and sewer system. They have to travel miles to get a decent bucket of clean drinking water. They have yet to see the signing of any kind of cornrnitrnent to 'water and sewer.

As the han. the Premier pointed out in his response to The Throne Speech, Eagle River has a number of communities that do not have even the remnants of water and sewer let alone a functioning system. Pinsent Ar·m, Norman Bay, they have to travel miles, Mr. SpE!aker, to be able to get clean drinking water. We are not asking for the world. We are not asking for special treatment. We are not a distinct society. We are fair people, a fair people who only come hc~re to ask you to recogn:Lze that we are humble citizens who justly deserve humble recognition of our nE!ed s.

When it comes to health care, as I pointed out, a senior citiZE!ns home is not thE! end of the world, it: is not a dramatic outlay, it is not a Hibernia, it is a commitment to !:he social neE!dS of Labrador·ians, elderly Labradorians who, through no fault of their ot.~m, have to go into that kind of ho1ne, Mr. Speaker, and can take comfort in knoiAJing that they can be visitE!d by their relatives, and know that they can look out across that great Atlantic Ocr,~an and be able to SE!e what th~'Y have a]tAJays seen. That is nothing exceptional.

When it Speaker, L301 COmE!S to lAJe havE• recreation, Mr. seen, obviously, June 2, 1989 Vol XI.[ great announcements in terms of arenas and in terms of sportsplE!Xes. I congratulate the hon. the member for Torngat Mountains who was able to get a sportsplex for· Nain. A spor·tpl1?.X for Nain was justly deSE!rVE!d, but surely, Mr. SpE!aker, if a sportsplex for a community of 800 or 900 was justified, then certainly a sportsplex for all the district of Eagle River is long over due. When it comes to transportation, Mr. SpeakE!r, as The ThronE!

SpeE!Ch certainly indicates, transportation and economic development go hand in hand. I do not know how many of you are aware of it hen~. Mr. Speaker·, but ovE:~r· 50 percent of 1ny district cannot be reached by any kind of road link. We do not have the luxury of bd.ng able to go to UH:' district and travel fl~orn onE! end of it to the other. We do not have the luxury of being able to react to emergencies in our health care system and be able to have an ambulance to car·ry a person to a hospital.

We do not have the luxury of a transportation system to take our fish and our lumber over, and take our· pE•opJ.e whE!Y'E!Ver they want to go, in oVE!r 1)0 per·cent of the district. From Lodge Bay, Mr. Speaker, to Paradise River there is no highway and I beliE! VB that is wrong. I bel:iE!VE! that is unfair·. I beJ:i.evE:' in this day and age tAlE! deSE!rtJE! to bE:~ l].nkE•d up to the rE•st. of the world, and I be 1 ie tJ e that t~ri l: h the coming of that t:her·e IAJ:i1J be greater economic pinospE:'I"'ity For our people. NotAl, Mr. Speaker·, spend just a fc:'tAI about my role and accomplish this.

No. 6 l IAIOUJ.d like to minul:es talking how I inb:•nd to 1\301

.. It is one thing, Mr. Speaker, to come in here and stand up and espouse the aspirations and wishes of my people, but it is another thing to get the job done. Specifically, Mr. Speaker, I intend to pursue, as I said in my statement on Throne Speech Day, the signing of the next comprehensive Labrador agreement. I intend to pursue this for a number of reasons. There is no other area in this Province, and indE!ed there is no other area in this country, that deserves spE!Cific attention to be able to develop our transportation, our health care, and our municipal SE:~rvices nE!eds.

And we cannot do this unless t.he signing of the Labrador agreement is final. I hope, Mr. Speaker, that the next time it is announCE!d, the next time that a person has the ability to put that into thEdr brochures, that it is signed, that indeed it is val".id, that indeed it is not a deception, that indE:~ed it is not a cover ~-up, and indeed it it is not telJ:ing people that something is there, that there is some rE!Cogni tion of their neE!dS, whE!n indE!E:•d therE! is not. BE:~ cause it did happE:'n dur·ing the last election, Mr.

SpeakE!r, whE!n we were told tl1at there were $'j3. 8 million laid out in thE! comprE!hE!nsive Labrador agreement. In my district, the literature sa:i.d that it was signed, sealE!d and delivered. How dare people mislead thE! constitutents of EaglE! River, I submit. Now, Mr·. Speaker, I also intc:.nd to do a number of things as I go about my duties. I intend to do the resear'ch that is neCE!SSclry to be able to convince my CabinE!t colleagues that yes, indeed, we havE! a case, yes, indE!E!d, we h,'l.ve the facts, yes, indeed, tAlE! have L302 ·June 2, 1989 Vol XU the rationale for better treatment.

Beca.use you cannot act on something spurious, you cannot act on something vague, you need something that you can work with and be able to convince your colleagues on. Over the next thrE!e or four years, Mr. SpeakE!r, I IAlill be doing that, I wiJ.J. b(:' conducting the necessa.ry research in presenting my cases to the House of Assembly and the Government of this Province. Of course, Mr. Speaker·, I wilJ. be taking advantage of the opportunities. As Lyndon Johnson's great father told him, 'Son, grasp the moments, becauSE! that is what it is aLl about.

Do not miss those opportunities to br:~ able to capitalize on. the initiatives that will be forthcoming.' Of course, Mr. Speaker, as the hon. Prt:~ITiJer' indicated in his address to us, I would be remiss if I did not speak about: taking a.dvantagE• of \:he exceptional understanding and the exceptional commitmE!nt !:hat thE! Premier of this Province has indicated For the people of Labrador. I beliE!VE! that this is unsurpasSE!d, Mr. SpeakE!r.

I believe that it is exceptional that the First Officer of this House has been able to iJ.J.ustrate through the Throne Speech and enunicate from his seat for the fir·st tirne, his cornrnitmE!nt and his understanding for the people of Ea.gle River and the pE!OplE! of Labrador. I congratulate him on that I knOLJJ that his colnrn ·il:rnE !nt is longstanding, I know his cornrnitmE!nt is sinCE!r'e, and I know that his integrity will prevail and that dignity will fo llot.u for the people of Labrador. Mr. Speaker, I am also obviously going to take a.dvantage of the Liberal phiJ.osophy. Liberalism No. 6 R302

means a certain thing. Liberalism means fairness and justice and equality. Liberalism means that we will take advantage of the opportunity to be able to help those who, through no fault of their own, have not been ab1e to help themselves. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. DUMARESQUE: I believe that under this ·great philosophical stream of thought that is now prevailing over this great Province we will see that indeed the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador wi11 take exceptional consideration of our circumstances in Eagle River and in Labrador. Now, how else can I do, Mr. Speaker, the job that I need to do?

I intend, I submit, Mr. Speaker, to be a fighter·. I intend to fight hard but fair·. I intend to be persistent but constructive. I intend to work under the motto of that great Liberal Prime Minister, Mackenize King, to act in moderation and toleration. I intend to pursue all the objectives that I have pointed out, Mr. Speaker, as a soldier for Labrador. I intend to go, Mr. Speaker, and carry, obviously, what is the first mantel of a good soldier, and that is the flag. I do not j ntend to do, Mr. SpeakE!r, what anoi:her person in this han. House, the previous M"iniste1~ oF Provincial Affaj _rs, did.

I do not intend, Mr-. Speaker, to have the Labrador flag enshirned in the floor of any part of this Confederation Building. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! L3 03 June 2, 1989 Vol XLI MR. DLJMARESQUE: You know, Mr . Speaker, I heard that that had happened and when I carne to this han. House, I WE!nt and looked for myself to see if indeed that LIJas tr·ue. Mr. Speaker, when I opened the door of that off'ice, yes, indeE!d, the corner of the coffee table was right in the heart of the Labrador flag, and, Mr. Speaker, that was the last nail in the proverbial cross for me. That shoLrld never · be allowed to happen.

That will not happen again. SOME HON. MEMBERS : HE!ar, hear! MR. DUMARESQUE : I submit, Mr. Speaker, that it was a serious misjudgement on the hon. member 1 s part. I went immediat:e1y and talked to my hon. colleague and friend, the M:lnistE!r of Works, Services and Transportation, and asked him if he 1..uould do l.o.Jhatever was tn his power to sE•E! that that flag :i.s rE!ITlOVE!d from the floor of that particular · offic(~. I din proud to announce, Min. SpC:!aker, that indeed it ts. Indeed, it wi 11 be frarnE!d . SOME HON. MEMBERS : Hear, hear! MR. DUMARESQUE : It will be framed, Mr.

Speaker, and tf any hon. gentlemen of this House ever wants to sE:'E! tha t agatn, comE! to the offiCE! or: l:hr:! hon. memb er for Eagle River and look ov er his right sh o uldE! l~ i:'tnd th ere it IA.I:i.Jl hang, proud and dignified . That is wh E!re it w-.i.U be and that is '"'h ere jt belo ng s. Thank you, VE:~ry much, Mr. M::Ln :i.stE !r. SOME HON. MEMBERS : HE!ar, hea1n! M R_:.__ _ _9J}_tl_BB.f. S .Q .. LI E : No. 6 R303

I have a minute now, Mr. Speaker, to clue up. I hope over the last twenty or twenty-five minutes, all members of this han . House have gotten to appreciate what Labradorians are all about, have gotten to appreciate the aspirations of Labradorians, and have gottE!I1 to appreciate the neglect and the despair that prevails throughout the Coast of Labrador. I hope I have enlightened you somewhat,. Mr.

Speaker. and have been able to indicate some of the projects that I would like to see pursued, some of the mechanisms that I would like to see fulfilled to see that the people of Labrador can stand proud and equal to all shoulders in Newfoundland and Labrador. I intend to do that. Mr . Speaker. I intend to do that with all the vigour and all the enthusiasm that I can muster. I intend to do what I said in my only promise during the last E:~J.ection campaign, I intE!nd to do what. I can, Mr. Speaker, to make Eagle River proud. Thank you, very much . SOME HON . MEMBERS : Hear. hear! MR .

SPEAKER : Before I recogniZE! the hon. the member for Torngat Mountains I would like to take this opportunity to welcome to the House of As,sE•mbly for'tY-·-fivr:~ Grade Vlll students from G. Shaw Collegiate, in Summerford. They are accompanied by their· teachers. Len Pardy and Dan Randall, and their bus driver, Mr . Carter. SOME HON. MEMBERS : Hear. hear! Ml~. SPEAKER: The han . the member fo1n Torngat Mountains. L304 June 2, 1989 Vol XLI MR. WARREN : Thank you, very much, Mr. Speaker. I. too, want to take

part in this debate. As usual, and as other members have said. congratulations to you, Sir, on your eJection as Deputy Speaker, and to the SpE!aker. and to all thosE• elE:~ctE!d to this han. House. I want to say I lis tE! ned to t.hE! han. !TlE!rnber for EagJ e River. Ml". Speaker. and I think it is fair to say he made one of the best speeches I have heard in this hon. House. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. WARREN: In fact, Mr. Speaker. I have been in this House for ten year's and, in al1 due respect t.o other' members who are here today, and the present members for Labrador.

I would think that if E!VE!r thE!re was a speech given on the aspirations, the ideas and the concerns of Labrador. HH :! hon. member just gave it. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear. hear! MR. WARREN: However. Mr. Speaker. at thE• same time, I would have to say that during the ten years I have spent in !:his House, I haVE!, on many occas-ions, spoken up on bE!ha1f oF those peopJe a]so. I think, Mr'. Speaker, that the ambulance program that the Department of Health has instituted W<'-lS a result of a resolution that I brought into th-.is han. House . I believe, Mr'.

Speaker, thai: I should take some crNht for getting the land claims negotiations that are now ongoing No. 6 R304 -

with the Labrador Inuit Association started. SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear! MR. WARREN: Mr. Speaker, I say to the han. gentlE,man that there have bc~en creatures in this House before speaking on behalf of the people in Labrador. He is not the only person who speaks on behalf of the people of Labrador. Mr. Speaker, I j us t want to say , 1 Let us work together. 1 I arn glad, Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to the former member for Eagle River, that I have somE,one else from the coast of Labrador who understands the real needs of the people. But in some things he was not fa i r .

H e was not fa i r to the formE!r Minister of Fisheries when he said about no monies being allotted under the inshore fishery program for fish plants on the Labrador coast. That is not true, Mr. Speaker. MR. DUMARESQUE: I did not say that. MR. WARREN: The han. gentleman said the Labrador coast. TherE! al~e two major fish plants, and tenders have just closed in Nain and Makkovik, moniE•s fr·om the inshore fisheries program. Mr. Speaker, I want to let the hon. gentleman know that the Labrador coast goes fl"Orn L 1 Anse--au-Clair all the way to Nain, and I want to say that two of thE!

Labrador districts are on the Labrador coast, Eagle lhvro'r is one, and Torngat Mountains is the other. Now, Mr. Speaker, gentleman agrE•E!S I hopE! with uos JunE! 2, 1989 thE! hon. aJ.J. the Vol XU programs of this government. I agree, too, that thE! Pr·em:ler has shown a genuine concern for the people in coastal Labrador. I believe he is very serious in saying he wants to see things irnpr·oved. It .is true. And so do I, as, I am sure, every hon. member in this han. House does. But, Mr. Speakc~r. I think, at the same tim~;:~. that W"=' have to tr'E!ad very carefully.

If you look at the back of this hydro report, you will see the may of Labrador. Mr. Speaker, I agreE! with hE!aJ.th care -in fact, I askE!d somE! questions today in the HouSE! -·· and I agree our senior citizens should be given every opportunity to J.ive in their own communities. I agree w:l th thE! han. gE!ntJ.E,man. I think everyone agrees with that. But, Mr. SpE!akE!r, whE!n we ar'E! try:ing to do home care, if WE! look at the coast of Labrador from Nain to Red Bay -:in fact, I think there is already ongoing discussions on building a senior