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April 4, 2023 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS Vol. L No. 24

The House met at 1:30 p.m.

SPEAKER (Bennett): Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Before we begin, I would like to welcome the mother of Minister Dempster, Glenda Goulding.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: Glenda is visiting us today from Victoria, BC.

Also, in the public gallery, I would like to welcome representatives from the Mount Pearl Seniors Independence Group. They are visiting us this afternoon for a Member's statement.

Welcome.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

Statements by Members

SPEAKER: Today we will hear statements by the hon. Members for the Districts of Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans, Harbour Main, Humber - Bay of Islands, Labrador West and Mount Pearl North.

The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans.

C. TIBBS: Thank you, Speaker.

Today we honour Terry Goodyear, a civil engineer graduate from Dalhousie. Terry Goodyear moved back to Grand Falls from PEI to join the family construction business, J. Goodyear & Sons Limited. During the early 1960s and beyond, Mr. Goodyear was involved in the construction of many first roads to isolated communities and dams that now make up the Bay d'Espoir power project.

Terry Goodyear enjoyed scuba diving and recognized the potential of applying this unique underwater skill in concert with his engineering background and he soon started Newfoundland Underwater Diving & Engineering Limited in the 1960s.

After retiring from the construction industry, Terry remained active in the engineering field and served as the commissioner for the environmental assessment hearings on the construction of the Outer Ring Road in St. John's. Throughout his career, Terry Goodyear has demonstrated an unfailing commitment to community.

He was the first president of the Exploits River Management Association, past municipal councillor and served as deputy mayor of Grand Falls-Windsor, former director of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, as well as a past director of the College of the North Atlantic and past district governor of Rotary District 7820.

This past December, we said farewell to Terry Goodyear. Thank you for a lifetime of dedicated service, Sir.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: Thank you, Speaker.

Last week I enjoyed a two-day visit at Roncalli Central High School in Avondale in the District of Harbour Main.

Opened in 1967, Roncalli currently has a student population of approximately 300 students in Grades 7 through 12. The students are drawn from five rural towns throughout Harbour Main District: Holyrood, Harbour Main-Chapel's Cove-Lakeview, Avondale, Conception Harbour and Colliers.

Along with a full suite of academic courses, the school is active in areas of public speaking, literary competitions, art shows, junior and senior drama festivals, choir, French speak-off, mathematics competitions and they have an award-winning sports program.

What impressed me above all was the level of engagement from the students in these classrooms. Whether we were talking about our political system, civic engagement, women or youth participation in politics, their interest and desire for knowledge was clear. They left me feeling incredibly motivated and hopeful for our future. A young generation of Roncalli students who are not only our aspiring leaders of tomorrow, but our present leaders of today.

A special thank you to Principal Eddie Russell and to social studies teachers Marie Woodford and John Battcock for giving me the opportunity to engage with these beautiful young minds.

Thank you, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Humber - Bay of Islands.

E. JOYCE: It is my honour to recognize Legionnaire George Cake of Corner Brook who has been awarded the Meritorious Service Medal, the highest award that can be granted to any Legionnaire.

To be considered, the individual must have received other major awards including the Certificate of Merit, Life Membership with the Royal Canadian Legion and must be active in the day-to-day life of the branch. Once this is confirmed, approval is required by the Provincial Command and, finally, Dominion Command.

Mr. Cake, a veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, joined the Royal Canadian Legion in 1991 and has held many executive positions with the local branch. He has been parade commander, sergeant-at-arms, service officer, a member of the sick and visiting committee visiting veterans and families in need and weekly visits to the long-term care veteran's wing. He visits schools, assists with the Poppy Campaign, Remembrance Day activities, served with the local

chapter of the Canadian Association of Veterans in United Nations Peacekeeping and with the Western Newfoundland Veterans' Pavilion.

This prestigious award has not been given to anyone from Branch 13 for over 20 years.

Congratulations, Mr. Cake, on receiving this prestigious award and thank you for your service.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Labrador West.

J. BROWN: Thank you, Speaker.

I rise today to congratulate the racers of Cain's Quest snowmobile race 2023.

It takes months of planning and organizing for these racers and their families to take on the challenge of Cain's Quest. This year brought its own challenges, as the weather quickly changed during the race and decisions were made to cancel the remainder of the race. I commend each and every team for their dedication and drive to complete Cain's Quest.

This year has certainly brought its challenges. Even though there wasn't a finish line, I'd like to send my congratulations to each and every person who participated.

Even with the year's challenges, Labradorians still showcased our unique culture to the world by welcoming teams at each layover and checkpoint. I'd like to give a big thank you to the racers' support crews, Cain's Quest volunteers and all the search and rescue personnel who were called to action to ensure each team arrived safely back home.

Cain's Quest is one of the most enduring snowmobile races out there and I'd like to ask all hon. Members to join me in congratulating each team for taking on the challenge of Cain's Quest.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl North.

L. STOYLES : Speaker, I rise today to thank the Mount Pearl Seniors Independence Group who is celebrating their 25th anniversary.

This group was started by the City of Mount Pearl council whose goal was to provide services and programs for seniors at risk. After great success, in 1998, a partnership was formed with Mount Pearl's 50-plus group to extend the program to all seniors.

Since that time, the group has grown from 50 to over 500. They are the largest seniors group in Newfoundland and Labrador and in Atlantic Canada.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

L. STOYLES: They offer a variety of year-round programs, including darts, guitar lessons, friendship groups, crafts, cards, fitness, bingo, tours, afternoon tea and much more.

April 21, 2023, marks the 25th anniversary of the Mount Pearl Seniors Independence Group. Keeping our seniors physically and socially active in our community is the cornerstone to maintaining physical and mental health.

Speaker, I ask all Members to join me in congratulating the board, the staff and members of the Mount Pearl Seniors Independence Group.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: Before we move to Ministerial Statements, I'd just like to also acknowledge that Member of Parliament, Mr. Ken McDonald, is also in the public gallery today.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: Welcome, Sir.

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

E. LOVELESS: Speaker, our investment of more than $1.1 billion in Budget 2023 for infrastructure will create hundreds of jobs and new modern buildings in our province, as well as improvements to provincial roads and highways.

Among various planned initiatives in Labrador, more than $20 million will support the building of a new and accessible K-to-12 school in Cartwright.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

E. LOVELESS: Another investment of $5.7 million will continue the expansion at the Labrador Correctional Centre in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, allowing services to be delivered locally and reducing the need for transports. These investments follow the completion of the new mental health unit at the Labrador Health Centre.

Upgrades began on the North West River Highway last year and more upgrades are planned for this year. Our proudest infrastructure moment was on that historic day last July when paving was completed on the Trans-Labrador Highway. Close to $1 billion has been invested for this project since 1997, including more than $230 million since 2016. I had the privilege to walk the last kilometre with the contractor, which was an experience in itself.

Speaker, work continues on a prefeasibility study for building a road into Northern Labrador. Consultations are ongoing and will help determine next steps. Along with our actions in Labrador, such as housing, enhancing snowmobile travel, Family Care Teams and our annual commitment to ferry services, we are excited about what we will accomplish in the Big Land.

We look forward to seeing the results of these investments and the benefits they will bring to all Labradorians.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Ferryland.

L. O'DRISCOLL: Thank you, Speaker.

I'd like to thank the hon. minister for an advance copy of his statement.

Mr. Speaker, anything we can do to improve infrastructure, whether in Labrador or anywhere else on the Island, is a good thing. However, while the minister is busy slapping himself on the back, homeless and transient people are being housed in a hotel in Goose Bay with no supports or supervision. Meanwhile, seniors in Labrador West have nowhere to go.

But let me quickly return to the minister's own department. The prefeasibility study for a road to the North Coast was first promised two elections ago. Lastly, $127 million in schools excludes Mobile, which was cancelled by this government, but includes millions for buildings which government hasn't identified a site for. We don't know where they're going and we certainly don't own the land. Does this make sense to anyone?

Thank you, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Labrador West.

J. BROWN: Thank you, Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement.

As a Labradorian, I remind this government that the Trans-Labrador Highway will not be complete until it reaches Northern Labrador communities. This government has re-announced the funding in three consecutive budgets and a prefeasibility study only just started, yet we still see no physical roadwork.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls for actions specifically to end economic marginalization of Indigenous groups. The road access will help end that economic marginalization. I urge this government to take serious action when it comes to road access to Northern Labrador.

SPEAKER: Are there any further statements by ministers?

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

D. BRAZIL: Thank you, Speaker.

After the premiers of the four Atlantic provinces committed to working together to address health care shortages, Nova Scotia offered $20,000 to nurses in bonuses. Recruiters from other provinces are here on a daily basis looking to poach our health care professionals.

Is the Premier concerned that nurses will leave this province to work in Nova Scotia?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

A. FUREY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Of course we continue to work with the Registered Nurses' Union to ensure that they can understand how much we appreciate and value them, Mr. Speaker. We have put bonuses in place. There are multiple different bonus structures in place for nurses, not only to come into the system, but to stay in the system, Mr. Speaker.

I believe the Members opposite actually supported that and cheered it on as we offered bonuses for nurses last summer, Mr. Speaker. We're continuously talking with nurses. We value them. We'll continue to work with them to ensure that their value is reflected within the system.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

D. BRAZIL: Obviously, Speaker, much more needs to be done here to attract and retain the nurses in Newfoundland and Labrador. This administration failed to stand up for this province, our province; instead, it's letting other provinces poach our health care professionals.

Likewise, you didn't stand up to Ottawa on the carbon tax and now seniors are worried that they won't be able to afford to heat their homes next year, when the winter comes, with oil.

I ask the Premier: Will he apologize to these people who are worried about how they will stay warm next winter?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

A. FUREY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

If the Member opposite knows – presumably he's had a civics lesson – that is not our tax, Mr. Speaker. That is a federal government tax. We've made our position quite clear, Mr. Speaker. That is not our tax.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SPEAKER: Order, please!

A. FUREY: It's theirs to administer, Mr. Speaker.

I believe that the federal Opposition leader has used our letter, actually, objecting to the carbon tax, Mr. Speaker. It's not the right instrument at this time, Mr. Speaker, with inflationary pressures on the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. We've made our position very clear, but it is a federal tax, one that we cannot control. No different than we can control citizenship or borders, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

D. BRAZIL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's your administration, Premier, who came up with the made-in-Newfoundland carbon tax that you agreed to. You voted for it and implemented it.

The parliamentary budget officer found that the residents of this province would have to pay, on average, an extra $1,300 a year because of the carbon tax. Some families will have to pay much more. This means that a senior on a fixed income, who is already struggling to stay warm, could be paying an additional $100 a month because of the carbon tax.

Does the Premier realize that his failure to stand up for this province is costing residents thousands of dollars each year?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

A. FUREY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Once again I reiterate, it's not our tax, Mr. Speaker. It is a federal tax. It's not our tax. In fact, the Member opposite said it was my administration that had a made -in-Newfoundland solution. It was not. It was the previous administration, Mr. Speaker.

We have made our opinions well known, as have other Atlantic premiers. He took the opportunity to identify other Atlantic premiers in his previous question, different political stripes. We're all united in this one, Mr. Speaker. It's the wrong tax at the wrong time, given the inflationary pressures and the externalities that are on Newfoundlanders and Labradorians today.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

D. BRAZIL: Thank you, Speaker.

A little too late now. The barn door is open and we know what happens when the barn door is left open and not administered properly.

Simply put, Ottawa ignored the Premier on the carbon tax. Last week, the federal budget ignored our province and called the Atlantic Loop a series of transmission lines between Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

I ask the Premier: Why is he allowing us to be ignored?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

A. FUREY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Let me be perfectly clear in this House, as I have been to multiple ministers within the federal government: Minister Champagne, Minister O'Regan and Minister Freeland. In fact, the prime minister himself. There is no loop without Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

A. FUREY: This is not a matter of opinion, although it is our opinion. It's not a matter of necessity, although it is. It is a matter of mathematical fact. There cannot be a loop that magically generates electrons on transmission lines without a source of generation. We are the source of generation that will feed the loop, and I can assure you the federal government understands that, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

D. BRAZIL: Thank you, Speaker.

Well, obviously from media reports and from what's been outlined in the budget, your Liberal colleagues in Ottawa don't remind or don't remember or don't accept the fact that the Atlantic Loop starts and ends with Newfoundland and Labrador – our assets.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

D. BRAZIL: Speaker, according to the national media, the omission of Newfoundland and Labrador from budget details was and I quote –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SPEAKER: Order, please!

I can't hear the Member speak.

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

D. BRAZIL: Thank you, Speaker.

According to the national media, the omission of Newfoundland and Labrador from the budget details was – and I quote – no accident. According to Finance Canada, the

article states Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are negotiating directly with Quebec on green energy.

I ask the Premier: Have we been cut out of the Atlantic Loop?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

A. FUREY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Let me take the opportunity to continue to say there is no loop without Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

A. FUREY: It's a simple matter of distribution and generation, Mr. Speaker. The transmission lines themselves cannot generate electrons; we all know that. We have an incredible resource in Labrador that can be, will be, should be, and is recognized by the federal government as being critical with the Atlantic Loop, Mr. Speaker.

We continue to be at the table with respect to the Atlantic Loop discussions, whether that's through Minister LeBlanc or Minister Wilkinson in the tables that are appropriately designed for these high-level discussions. I can assure you that we are advancing Newfoundland and Labrador's position to ensure that we are the powerhouse that is required, not only for the Atlantic Loop, but for the rest of the Northeastern Seaboard, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

D. BRAZIL: Thank you, Speaker.

Maybe I should phone my three PC colleagues in the Atlantic provinces and let them know that Newfoundland and Labrador are the key components and owners of this asset for the people of this province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

D. BRAZIL: Speaker, the federal Natural Resources minister said negotiations are happening with Quebec. And again I quote: Most of the power is assumed to be coming from the Quebec grid.

I ask the Premier: Will Quebec be buying Newfoundland and Labrador electricity for pennies and then selling it to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick at a huge profit?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

A. FUREY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am not sure where that came from, where that thought came from, Mr. Speaker, but, of course, we're going to assure –

AN HON. MEMBER: More accurate than the study you quoted.

A. FUREY: Which study was that?

AN HON. MEMBER: He don't know.

A. FUREY: Which study was that?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SPEAKER: Order, please!

AN HON. MEMBER: Oh, he knows.

A. FUREY: Which study was that?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SPEAKER: Order, please!

A. FUREY: I'd love to hear it. Which study?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

You have 30 seconds.

A. FUREY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'll try to use the 30 seconds to clue up the Atlantic Loop.

First of all, in the

preamble, the Member opposite suggested that we work with the other Atlantic premiers, the Maritime premiers. I can assure you they want Newfoundland and Labrador at the table. They have said that in the Atlantic premiers' meetings, Mr. Speaker.

They don't want to be on bended knee to Hydro-Québec either. That's why this is a Canadian project that deserved Canadian input to ensure that, not only did we get the maximum value for our precious resource but that the end-user can also get the value that doesn't have to be on bended knee to Hydro-Québec.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

P. DINN: Thank you, Speaker.

Speaker, yesterday's announcement of regulatory changes for nurses have left the Registered Nurses' Union with – and I quote – more questions than answers. We just heard the Premier say that they continue to work with the Nurses' Union and they appreciate them.

So with that in mind, I ask the minister: How can your government announce changes without first informing the Nurses' Union on how these changes will work?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There was consultation with the Nurses' Union. I know staff in the department consulted directly with the Nurses' Union. Prior to the announcement, I spoke directly with Yvette Coffey of the Nurses' Union myself, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible.)

P. DINN: No, that's right; that's not what she said.

Thank you, Speaker.

With 750 nursing vacancies in the province, nurses are stretched thin and forced to work mandatory overtime.

Will nurses be given paid leave and time off to complete the training required to prescribe medications?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There is a training component prior to nurses being able to provide medications. If a nurse is interested, there are three modules that will take up to approximately one year, while they're working to attain those qualifications.

Mr. Speaker, we will be working with and in collaboration with the Registered Nurses' Union as that takes place.

I will remind the Member that the Registered Nurses' Union is involved in collective bargaining as we speak.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

P. DINN: Thank you.

I appreciate him reminding me of that, but there are still three modules that have to be completed.

Speaker, due to a lack of radiation therapists in this province, cancer patients in Newfoundland and Labrador are being sent to Toronto. Some cancer patients need to fly almost 3,000 kilometres to receive this life-saving treatment.

I ask the minister: When will cancer patients be able to receive this treatment here at home?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

T. OSBORNE: Mr. Speaker, our government and the health authority put the flights in place and made arrangements with Toronto to ensure that cancer patients receive the treatment that they needed in a timely manner, if they weren't able to receive it here in this province. We know that, not only in this province, not only in Nova Scotia, not only in Toronto, but, in fact, globally, there's a shortage of health care professionals.

We continue to work on recruitment of radiation therapists, Mr. Speaker. As soon as we are able to recruit those to open up the additional suite at the Health Sciences complex, we will certainly do that. We have provided additional compensation to radiation therapists to make up for the shortfall.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

P. DINN: Anyone who's going through cancer treatment will tell you that they need their supports by their side, and their supports are here in this province. So you need it here in this province in a timely manner.

Speaker, the province is also in desperate need of respiratory therapists. The Association of Allied Health Professionals in this province have said that these therapists are the lowest paid in the country and a number have resigned from Eastern Health just this fall.

I ask the minister: Why are these workers leaving in droves while this Liberal government is supposed to be in charge?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

T. OSBORNE: Mr. Speaker, we've put a market adjustment in place not only for the radiation therapists, we've put them in place for respiratory therapists to bring them up to Atlantic parity. They are receiving those market adjustments.

Mr. Speaker, it's not only this province that has lost health professionals, other health professionals from other provinces have moved here, I'll say to the Member. Every province in the country is competing in a very globally competitive environment for health professionals.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: Speaker, there is a two-year statute of limitation for civil cases involving children who have been victims of physical abuse. The same limitation does not exist for victims of childhood sexual abuse.

I ask the minister: Why is there such a difference?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

J. HOGAN: Thank you, Speaker.

I do want to note at the outset that, obviously, there were reports in the media about the Limitations Act . There is a case currently before the court, so it would be inappropriate for me to give a specific answer about the

interpretation of the Limitations Act while there was an ongoing case before the courts right now.

But I will say that, of course, with any piece of legislation, we always review them to see what's appropriate, to look at other jurisdictions across the country and this is one that we will continue to look as well.

As for the specifics of the case right now, I certainly don't want to influence any decision of a judge of a current case before the courts.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: Speaker, I didn't ask about specifics off a case, but nevertheless trauma is a complex matter. Having a timeline on processing trauma is unfair and arbitrary. We in the PC Opposition support the remove of the statute of limitation for childhood physical abuse, just like we see in most of the other provinces in our country.

I ask the minister: Will we see legislative amendments brought forward in this sitting of the House to once and for all address this issue?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

J. HOGAN: Thank you, Speaker.

Again, while the question might not have been asked about a specific case, in fact there is a case specifically before the courts right now that is dealing with this issue. We will continue to review the legislation. I do want to note that physical abuse, the outside limitation period for that right now is 30 years. There is an extended period of time which claimants can come forward with a claim.

We have always looked at every claim that's come forward through the Department of Justice to make sure that victims are fully compensated to the extent that they deserve.

Thank you, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

B. PETTEN: Thank you, Speaker.

Speaker, yesterday in a CBC news story school councillors of St. Andrew's Elementary are the latest to speak out about the problematic 1.6-kilometre busing rule. At least 29 students who live in an apartment building are being left by the side of the road because they live 1.5 kilometres from the school. This group is primarily newcomers who do not have transportation, have significant language barriers and are often working, single-parent families with multiple children.

Why is the minister refusing to help?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you, Speaker.

Any time children miss school it's always of concern to us in the department. The 1.6-kilometre rule is clear. Those who reside within that fall within what's called a family responsibility zone.

Obviously, the Member opposite references newcomers to Canada who have some challenges. I know the MHA is working to come up with a family-generated solution and some options to help them. Obviously, we encourage them to work together to solve those difficulties.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

B. PETTEN: Thank you, Speaker.

Speaker, this is a provincial issue. If this is being brought up over at St. Andrew's school, this issue is provincial. We've spoken out about it and we continue to speak out about it. In our Blue Book, K to 6 will be provided busing. At the time that we go over there, we'll provided busing to all those children.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

B. PETTEN: Speaker, these parents are the latest to speak out about the 1.6-kilometre busing rule, but many children across the province are being forced to walk to school, often without sidewalks. The parents of St. Andrew's Elementary feel the local MHA has abandoned them. Speaker, students are missing class and parents are afraid to speak up for fear of having their immigration status revoked.

Is this how we are welcoming newcomers to this province?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you very much, Speaker.

As I've said, the MHA is working with these families of new Canadians. Certainly, we would encourage them as a group to reach out to the Association for New Canadians. It is a challenge for people who come from different cultures. That support is available, not through the Department of Education, but through others. I would encourage them to continue to reach out.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

B. PETTEN: Speaker, it makes you wonder if these parents need to organize a photo op. It seems photo ops do great when there are newcomers, but once they get the photo op, they're often gone off and forgot about. We're seeing that trend in the province.

That's the new immigration plan for this province: bring them in and leave them on their own. It's not acceptable, Mr. Speaker. It's very shameful.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SPEAKER: Order, please!

B. PETTEN: Speaker, the parents have said, “… if this was any other part of town, and any other group of people, they would have a bus to get to school.”

Speaker, is this minister waiting to lose another human rights complaint before he will act?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you very much, Speaker.

Whilst immigration is not my portfolio and my colleague could address this better, I think that it's unfair and unreasonable to characterize the approach to immigrants as simply welcoming them and abandoning. That is simply not substantiated by the facts.

This 1.6-kilometre busing policy has been in place for some time. It is applied uniformly and fairly across the province.

If there are seats available on buses because of free space, there is a courtesy policy that allows the school district and their bus contractors to take those students. In this situation, unfortunately, those are full. I would encourage the families to work with their local MHA.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Placentia West - Bellevue.

J. DWYER: Thank you, Speaker.

I remind the minister that's a bigger issue in rural Newfoundland. Talking about it in metro is kind of not doing well for the people in rural Newfoundland.

Speaker, the latest report from the Seniors' Advocate condemns government's lack of affordable and accessible housing with seniors living in fear of theft, break-ins, mould and rodents.

Why is this Liberal government allowing seniors to live in such deplorable conditions?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

J. HAGGIE: Mr. Speaker, I think in the interest of clarity – and I'm sure Hansard can't turn it around quite that quickly – my previous answer did reference the fact that this was an issue across the province. It was also a provincial policy that was applied fairly and evenly across the province. To suggest otherwise by the Member opposite is somewhat disingenuous.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Placentia West - Bellevue.

J. DWYER: (Inaudible) that didn't sound like an answer to the question that I had so I'll talk to the post amble in the fact that we don't have sidewalks in rural Newfoundland, Minister.

Speaker, the latest report from the Seniors' Advocate condemned government's lack of affordable and accessible housing with seniors living in fear of theft, break-ins, mould and rodents.

Why is the Liberal government allowing seniors to live in such deplorable conditions?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Children, Seniors and Social Development.

J. ABBOTT: Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to respond.

I'm assuming that the Member opposite did hear and read the Budget Speech where we are committing $70 million to invest in 850 affordable housing units across the province with a focus on seniors.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

J. ABBOTT: And we also continue to invest in our home repair programs, again supporting seniors. So if there's a case where a senior is in a situation that the Member indicates, then I'm certainly prepared to deal with that.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Placentia West - Bellevue.

J. DWYER: Speaker, seniors are living in fear in deplorable conditions; 40 per cent cannot do the repairs themselves.

When is the minister going to fix up this mess of unusable, unsafe housing?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Children, Seniors and Social Development.

J. ABBOTT: Speaker, the first time I've heard the reference to fear in terms of housing in the province. So I'd like to have him explore that a bit further.

But that being said, we are committed to investing in new, affordable housing. We are committed to investing in the Home Repair Program. We are investing in and repairing any and all of our housing units. We are spending over $140 million on housing programs this year to support housing right across the spectrum, so their needs are being addressed as quickly as we can.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Placentia West - Bellevue.

J. DWYER: Speaker, sadly the Seniors' Advocate indicated some seniors are skipping meals and going without medication due to high costs of housing. Speaker, this is a provincial disgrace. New units next year are not going to help these seniors today.

Why has the government turned their back on the seniors in our province?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Children, Seniors and Social Development.

J. ABBOTT: Again, Speaker, thank you for the opportunity.

To suggest that the government is turning their backs on seniors would be a gross misrepresentation of anything and everything we're trying to do here on this side of the House.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

J. ABBOTT: As it pertains to the Seniors' Advocate report, we're reviewing that. As I said yesterday, her main findings, we accept. We need to invest more in seniors' care. We need to invest more in seniors' housing. We need to provide more supports. To me, that suggests we are taking the matter more than seriously; we are addressing it within our fiscal ability to do so.

To say we are turning our backs, again, gross misrepresentation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bonavista.

C. PARDY: Mr. Speaker, the government promised to deliver a poverty reduction strategy, but instead of doing so they continue to push the cost of living with a sugar tax and a carbon tax. Poverty reduction is not a priority for this government.

Why is the word “poverty” not used in the entire Budget Speech if it is supposed to be a priority?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

S. COADY: Speaker, I have to say I'm a bit shocked by some of the questions from the other side today. I'm a bit shocked. Here we have the Member for Placentia - Bellevue talking about seniors' housing –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SPEAKER: Order, please!

I clearly heard the question; I want to hear the response.

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

S. COADY: We had the Member for Placentia - Bellevue asking questions about seniors' housing. He's standing here asking questions about seniors' housing. We put $70 million in the budget and guess what? He's not even supporting that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

S. COADY: We have the Member opposite, the Member for Bonavista, who just raised the question about investments in what we're trying to achieve here. He talks about sugar tax. Let me just say one thing about the sugar tax. That money is going to help with continuous glucose monitoring and he's not supporting that either.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bonavista.

C. PARDY: Mr. Speaker, some breaking news. If Sandra is watching from Bonavista and her income is $605 a month and she burns oil, she can't make ends meet.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

C. PARDY: The question was: Why wasn't poverty mentioned in the minister's Budget Speech?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

S. COADY: Thank you very much.

Let us talk about the high cost of living. Here's what the Member opposite from Bonavista is not supporting. He's not supporting the reduction in gas tax – 8 cents per litre. We're continuing with the 8 cents per litre reduction in gas tax.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SPEAKER: Order, please!

S. COADY: We're continuing with –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SPEAKER: If you want to waste your Question Period arguing back and forth, I'll stand here all afternoon.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SPEAKER: Order, please!

If Members continue, they will be named and lose their speaking privileges.

The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation, you're losing your speaking privileges this afternoon.

The Member for Ferryland, you're losing your speaking privileges.

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

S. COADY: Here's what the Member for Bonavista is not supporting. He's not supporting $500 that we're providing for home heating supplements. He's not supporting increasing the Seniors' Benefit. He's not supporting the Income Supplement.

Speaker, all I can say is I am shocked, but I'm hardly surprised.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

J. DINN: Thank you, Speaker.

A 2011 report prepared for the Department of Education and updated in 2018, entitled, A Review of Services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students in Newfoundland and Labrador, identified gaps in deaf education. I attended several days of the Carter Churchill human rights hearing, and it's important to remember that a child was at the centre of this case.

Can the Minister of Education tell me if all of the gaps identified in the report have been addressed or if any remain outstanding?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you very much, Speaker.

The chief adjudicator, as I recall, from the adjudication report on that human rights tribunal felt that the student concerned was receiving the education and the services that he needed at the time the adjudication hearing was undertaken, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

J. DINN: Thank you, Speaker.

I was referring to the gaps that were identified in the report. The hearing revealed that many of the gaps remain unaddressed and almost 11 years after the School for the Deaf was closed.

Will the Minister of Education explain why these gaps haven't been addressed and what he plans to do to rectify them?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you, Speaker.

Again, I would refer the Member opposite to the judgment from the human rights tribunal which said that there were gaps in this young man's services in education in the first couple of years of his time at school. These had been rectified and in his current class he was receiving the education and the services that he needed.

For the Member opposite, as part of our new revitalized Education Action Plan, disability services, deaf, hard of hearing, blind, visually impaired and inclusion are all going to feature prominently in the work we're doing over the coming months.

Thank you, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

J. DINN: Thank you, Speaker.

The gap of ASL curriculum was identified, I don't know if that's been addressed. Those are the things I'm asking about.

Will the Minister of Education commit to maintaining an adequately resourced deaf and hard of hearing unit at East Point Elementary, and expand the model to other areas of the province?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you very much, Speaker.

We have an advisory group – in actual fact I think has its second meeting today – with representatives from the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of the Deaf and the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association with parent representatives on and those kinds of discussions are actively under way in the department as I speak.

There are ASL services being provided to deaf and hard of hearing students at East Point Elementary and that will continue until such time as the new model is devised or this one is decided to be continued.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

L. EVANS: Thank you, Speaker.

We have heard publicly the account of a young Memorial University student, of her violent sexual assault and the failure of both Memorial University's Sexual Harassment Office and its president to support and protect this victim, revictimizing her all over again.

I ask the minister: What's this government doing to ensure its publicly funded institutions are not revictimizing survivors of sexual assault?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you, Speaker.

Violence in any form is not acceptable, period, nor is sexual violence. My colleagues in Women and Gender Equality as well as a panel of ministers has taken active roles in this.

Memorial has policies around sexual harassment and sexual violence, as do the CNA. They are at liberty, as autonomous bodies, to have these and they have already done that.

It is appropriate for support to be provided, and Memorial does this, and when the victim feels comfortable to deal with this through law enforcement – because, at the end of the day, this is a legal matter. My understanding is that has happened and it is now in the process through law enforcement.

Thank you, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains for a quick question, no

preamble, please.

L. EVANS: Thank you, Speaker.

Access to timely and adequate health care is essential; people in my district don't have either. They often don't get to travel to their medical appointments and when they finally get to their medical appointments they are often left waiting days trying to get home because they are bumped off of medical flights.

I ask the minister: Will he commit resources so my people can access timely medical care, something other districts take for granted?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Ensuring that individuals from all regions of the province can have access to medical care is important to this government. It is part of the reason for the Health Accord, Mr. Speaker. It is part of the reason for this year's budget, the largest ever investment in health care in the province.

Part of this year's budget, Mr. Speaker, we've committed to a medical flight specialist team for Labrador, an additional team for that region.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The time for Question Period has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

S. COADY: Speaker, I give notice that I will on tomorrow ask leave to introduce a bill entitled,

An Act to Amend the Revenue Administration Act and

An Act to Amend the Income Tax Act, 2000, Bill 38.

SPEAKER: Are there any further notices of motion?

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

P. DINN: Thank you, Speaker.

WHEREAS many students within our province depend on school busing for transportation to and from school each day; and

WHEREAS policy cannot override the safety of our children.

THEREFORE we petition the hon. House of Assembly as follows: We, the undersigned, call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to eliminate that 1.6-kilometre policy for all elementary schools in the province and in junior and senior high schools where safety is a primary concern.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

P. DINN: Speaker, myself, my colleague from CBS and others have brought this petition up many times. In fact, there were questions asked today on the 1.6-kilometre school busing policy.

This is a safety issue. This is a pure safety issue. The minister, today, in responding to some questions mentioned that the 1.6-kilometre policy is clear. It's clear. That's his words and he went on to say it's uniformly and fairly implemented across the province. That's where the problem is. That is where the problem is. Across this province all school zones are different. They're very different.

We have school zones that have public busing, that have crosswalks and that have sidewalks that are cleared on a regular basis. But there are zones in this province where kids are walking on main thoroughfares, on shoulders, if there is a shoulder, to get to school.

We hear of individuals – this case this week – people who are less than a soccer field's width away from the1.6-kilometre zone are forced to walk in terrible, unsafe conditions. So there's the problem.

The minister recognizes the problem because he said it's uniformly applied, and that's the problem. That's the problem. Every district is different but safety is an issue everywhere. Children need to be able to get back and forth to school in a safe manner, and that's not what's happening here.

If you're walking through a neighbourhood to get to your neighbourhood school, that is much more different than walking along Route 60 with no shoulders to even walk on. So this is not a hard fix; this is something that should be done and must be done for the safety of our children.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bonavista.

C. PARDY: Thank you, Speaker.

We, the undersigned, call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to revisit these Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation grant regulations, ensuring not to negatively impact the product but increase availability for those within the District of Bonavista, the province, who greatly need assistance.

My colleague for Placentia West - Bellevue asked a question and the minister responded that we are investing in the Home Repair Program. Keep in mind, Mr. Speaker, we're fully aware that these programs serve people admirably, but they haven't been indexed. So if you think that we haven't seen an increase in what that grant has been for 10 years and if we know what the price of material would be, we know that the availability of getting a job done, an emergency repair, is going to be more problematic now than what it was a decade ago and that is what we're facing.

So I would say we need to revisit the amount that we provide as well as the regulations to make sure that we're making the product and what our intention would be accessible to those that are in need and need the repairs.

In the latest Seniors' Advocate release, when they asked about preferred arrangements for seniors, they overwhelmingly in every region of the province stated that their number one concern was home repairs and maintenance. I would say let's revisit these regulations and the amount being paid, so that we can, certainly, make a bigger difference in the residents of Newfoundland and Labrador.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Children, Seniors and Social Development for a response.

J. ABBOTT: Just to respond to the petition. Those are very valid points and something we will be looking at, but we won't be allocating new money this year. Stay tuned for the future.

As part of our review of our housing and homelessness plan, they are the types of issues we're hearing as well and we'll incorporate that in our work in the years ahead.

Thank you.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

T. WAKEHAM: Thank you, Speaker.

These are the reasons for this petition or the background to this petition is as follows:

The residents of Noels Pond are concerned with the increased ATV traffic on Wheeler's Road, a 0.8-kilometre stretch of road that runs through the community.

Wheeler's Road is mostly a dirt road and it connects two highly travelled ATV trails in the area. Residents, particularly in the summer, have their homes covered in dust and in the spring and fall the road turns to mud.

The road was last paved in 1976 and only 0.3 of a kilometre was paved at that time. The road is a mess and needs paving and upgrading in a desperate fashion.

Therefore, we petition the hon. House of Assembly as follows: We, the undersigned, call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to pave Wheeler's Road to ensure the safety of its residents and ATV users.

Speaker, ATVs, as part of our tourism, have become an integral

part in the many communities around Newfoundland and Labrador and access to trails through communities has become something that communities have adopted.

In this particular case, this 0.8 kilometre of road is maintained by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure or at least plowed by the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. It's a small 0.8 of kilometre of a road but the increased traffic in that road has raised serious, significant safety issues for children that play on that road and also because of the condition of the road. More to do with the condition of the road, the ATV users probably often think of this as some kind of off-road trail because mostly the paving is at the beginning of the road closest to the highway.

So when you're coming in off the trail and hitting that, they're hitting it at speeds that are fairly high. What the residents are looking for is a commitment to take a look at that road and, in the planning going forward, let's get that road paved and then maybe some signage put up so that we could get the safety concerns addressed.

Thank you.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure for a response.

E. LOVELESS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Am I hearing the Member correctly, that he's asking me for investment into his district when there are millions being invested this year, in the budget, that he's not going to vote for? Just putting it on the record.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

J. DINN: Thank you, Speaker.

Speaker, I present another petition on retention bonuses for our hospital support workers. Again, the reason for the petition is that hospital support staff have been inexplicably passed over for a retention bonus given to other classifications; and

WHEREAS other and varied classifications received a retention bonus in January 2023; and

WHEREAS the glue that keeps the place together during the pandemic were passed over for a retention bonus because we do not fit into the parameters as defined by the Newfoundland and Labrador government; and

WHEREAS hospital support staff are unable to get holidays/days off because there is no one to cover them and it has been this way for at least three years; and

WHEREAS the Newfoundland and Labrador government made an unprecedented move for clerical by offering a 30-seat, two-year free tuition at Keyin Tech to address the shortages in clerical at Eastern Health;

THEREFORE we petition the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to provide a retention bonus to all eligible hospital support staff.

In a letter that the representatives of these clerical workers wrote to their union, they've expressed their total displeasure and that they feel that they've been blatantly excluded from the retention bonus. They were told that secretaries, in particular, are not considered key employees and are basically a dime a dozen so a retention bonus is not needed because there are enough of us easily ready and available for work.

However, at the same time, Eastern Health, in conjunction with Keyin Tech, has recently opened 30 digital health administration diploma program spots and that includes experiential learning, employment focused on administrative support. Yet, this program is part of a solution to address the various clerical shortages within Eastern Health. So on the one hand, this group, the secretaries, they feel like they've been told they are a dime a dozen and on the other hand there are measures being implemented to address shortages.

I can tell you, from my days as a teacher, the school secretary was probably the most important person – the school secretary and the custodian, simple as that. They are the ones that could make a teachers life flow smoothly or not. They knew the area, they knew the people, they were able to do things for you; simple as that. They were the glue that held the school together.

I can tell you that even in my past role as a teacher, every time we would hear a government announcement talk about how valuable we were, we had to wait and see what practical measures were going to demonstrate that. Not always did we see it, Sir.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: Thank you, Speaker.

The reasons for this petition:

Whereas in the District of Harbour Main there are many residents who are concerned with the deteriorating cellphone service that they have been experiencing in recent months. There has been a significant decline in the cell service throughout the district, where calls are being dropped and residents are unable to get their calls to go through for no apparent reason.

Therefore we petition the hon. House of Assembly as follows: To work and partner with the various cellular providers and telecommunication officials to stabilize and improve the cellphone service within the region so that citizens have a reliable service that they can depend on.

Speaker, this is the third time I am presenting this petition; November 2020 I presented it; October 2022; and again here today. The situation is getting worse.

In fact, Speaker, Newfoundland and Labrador has the worst in Canada for rural cellphone coverage. Those are not my words, nor are they of my constituents, although I am sure most would agree, these are the findings of the most recent Auditor General of Canada report, which was tabled in the House of Commons on Monday, March 27.

Newfoundland and Labrador is basically being underserved. The report indicated that, “Being connected is no longer a luxury but a basic essential service for Canadians.” Yet people living in rural and remote areas are not being treated in an appropriate way. Without access to fast, reliable and affordable Internet and mobile cellular service they do not have the same opportunities as people residing in urban areas.

In fact, quoted in the article, which was in The Telegram last week referencing this, a resident of Holyrood had indicated: “I live in Holyrood, which is not terribly 'rural,' and our cellular coverage is absolutely abysmal … In my home on Route 60, you cannot get any more than one bar anywhere.”

This was raised by me in October of 2022 and the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology had responded. He had indicated that he agreed that the service is bad. He basically said that they are partnered and are looking at working on round three of small cell projects that would be applicable to numerous smaller communities, especially in rural areas, and that they were hoping to bring out round three soon.

We need to know what is happening, Speaker. We need to know. Like the minister had concurred, there are so many areas within the Harbour Main District where cell service is an issue. He indicated he had seen this. He has family there. So we need to know why this is not being addressed. The cellphone service is getting worse, it is very concerning and we need to know what government is doing to address this.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology for a response.

A. PARSONS: Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to stand and respond to this.

The first thing I will say is that there are a lot of times being on both sides of the House where you stand up and you try to say that something is not an issue, but I'm not going to do that today. The Member is correct. The reality is that we have deficiencies when it comes to cell coverage in this province. We're about –

E. JOYCE: (Inaudible.)

A. PARSONS: I'm being heckled for the Member for Humber - Bay of Islands, who, by the way, just had a project two years ago approved for his district. So I'd say you're welcome for that, Sir. I know your citizens are well served.

What I would say is we recognize that there are deficiencies in service. There's no doubt. We've invested – in fact, there's $25 million in this budget going towards it. There's $136 million – there are a lot of different parts to this happening but we need to do more. I get that completely.

I will say, as I said in the article, that is not just a solution of the provincial government; in fact, I wouldn't say we're the priority lead on this. The federal government needs to continue to do more. The providers themselves – and when you're partnering with private industry it makes it difficult. That's one of the realities.

We, as the provincial government, have a role and smaller communities have a role as well. One of the things we will be rolling out in 2023 is round three of the small cell-community initiative where there's a three-way partnership between communities, provincial government and provider to see coverage provided everywhere – where everybody is making an investment, we're going to see coverage.

I say to the Member, I appreciate the concern, I echo the concern. We will continue to make strides in the right direction, because the reality is we all agree that cell coverage is important, no matter where in this province, rural, urban, we want to have cellular coverage.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Placentia West - Bellevue.

J. DWYER: Thank you, Speaker, I appreciate it and I appreciate the Government House Leader allowing me to present my petition today.

These are the reasons for this petition: The Dr. William H. Newhook Community Health Centre is located in Whitbourne and provides services to residents in the area, in addition to incidents that may occur on the province's largest highway, Route 1.

The Dr. William H. Newhook Community Health Centre's emergency room has experienced frequent and numerous closures over the last year.

The emergency services offered by the health centre are often not available to residents, leading to a significant amount of concern and worry among residents, in addition to residents having to drive to another emergency room.

Therefore we petition the hon. House of Assembly as follows: We, the undersigned, call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to immediately enact a plan to ensure the Dr. William H. Newhook Community Health Centre is fully staffed, open and able to provide emergency health care services.

In the expense of time, I just want to ask the minister, the last time I presented a petition we were at three days. I know it increased after that, but I'm just wondering if he'd be able to give an update today as to improvements that have been made at the health centre in Whitbourne.

Thank you, Speaker.

SPEAKER: Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

J. HOGAN: Thank you, Speaker.

I call from the Order Paper, Motion 1.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

J. DINN: Thank you, Speaker.

Speaker, I wonder how Bill, Sally and their three children are doing. You remember Bill and Sally don't you? The low-income family with a household income of $16,000 who rented their home and relied on public transit. You know who I'm talking about, the poster family for the 2022 provincial Liberal budget.

No doubt they've been battered and bruised by inflation caused by corporate profiteering and have watched their already meagre income eaten away by excessive food and home heating costs. I wonder has the Minister of Finance, the Premier or anyone from Cabinet checked in and see how their doing. Did the family make out okay? Did last year's budget help lift them out of poverty? Are they any better off as a result of this year's budget?

Probably not. Since the family relies on public transit, assuming there is public transit in the area, and rent their home, they will not benefit from the 8 cent per litre reduction on the provincial gas tax or the reduction in registering a vehicle or the elimination of the retail sales tax on personal property insurance.

Even if Bill or Sally was lucky enough to work full-time at the paltry new minimum wage for 52 weeks of the year, the gross household income would only be about a little over $30,000 for five people and would not include health insurance or pension benefits. They'd still be unlikely to keep up with inflation or rent increases. The $500 cost-of-living cheque and other one-off measures would not address the long-term systemic challenges they face.

Now, what good is $10-a-day child care to Bill and Sally if they both want to work but there are no spaces available for their children? The title of this year's budget is Your Health. Our Priority . Really? The subtitle reads: “Our Largest Ever Investment in Health Care.” Well, first of all, health care has been the highest spending department for a long time, so that's not a surprise. The $300-million difference from last year is approximately the rate of inflation. So I'm not convinced government is giving a big boost or spending extra as they claim on what the province needs.

Secondly, it's about time. It took government long enough to start addressing the issue. Thirdly, it would be more appropriately to call Budget 2023 , the oops budget.

Now government crows about moving to $10-a-day child care, two years ahead of schedule, but forgot to ensure there was sufficient spaces available for working parents – oops. Build a new St. Clare's Hospital, but no plan to staff it – oops. Let's provide incentive bonuses to health care workers in long-term care, but do it in such a way that it insults the very workers the initiative is trying to retain – oops.

We must all ask ourselves one question: Is the investment in health where it needs to be? Is it part of an overall plan and vision for the well-being of all citizens of this province?

Our caucus has been calling for a coherent, coordinated and holistic plan to address the health care issues facing our province. For the most part, we have been disappointed by government's response. It's tempting to believe that the recent firehose of announcements, initiatives in spending leading up to the budget demonstrates government is on the ball, has a plan, a vision for the future of this province.

I'm not sure if people are buying it. Certainly the people who attended the St. John's East - Quidi Vidi NDP District Association's public health care panel two weeks ago didn't. Many see government's series of one-off approaches as reactionary. Certainly health care workers in long-term care facilities were not impressed.

Once the two-year term of service agreements for the recently announced bonuses have expired, what then? What is the long-term plan for retention for health care professionals to do their jobs and maintain some semblance of work life balance, for residents of the province to have stable health care and healthy qualify of life? Or is this initiative just a cynical ploy meant to get the government past the next election cycle in hopes of eking out another majority? Is that as far ahead as the plan goes?

Now the need for a holistic approach was loud and clear at our health care panel discussion at the town hall in Labrador West in our discussions with constituents, community leaders and not-for-profit organizations, family doctors, nurses and with the many other health professionals essential to keeping our health care system functioning.

That approach starts with a plan to address the deficit in health care human resources, especially in long-term care and senior care. The infrastructure announcement of a new St. Clare's Hospital is an unnecessary distraction and not a priority identified in the Health Accord.

Now, approximately, 117 long-term care beds remain closed in St. John's Metro region because they do not have the staff to open them. As a result, about 100 people who should be in long-term care are occupying acute-care beds in hospitals.

A doctor I spoke to a while ago at St. Clare's made it quite clear that if government wanted to free up beds in hospitals, allow doctors to treat patients and clear up wait-lists, it could begin by opening up beds in long-term care facilities. By the way, he and the other health care workers I have spoken to at St. Clare's were mystified by the announcement of a new hospital. The hospital was fine in their opinion and not their top priority. Human resources were paramount.

So what would we do differently? We'd start with the changing of the skill mix and training up health care workers in the entry-level long-term care positions to take on more supervisory roles. In other words, revive the system that was in place many years ago. Encourage workers to move up, provide incentives and flexible schedules to retrain. Most importantly, we'd make the jobs and the working conditions attractive enough so that workers will want to retrain, will want to work in long-term care. A highly trained workforce of LPNs, LPN IIs and PCAs could be ready quickly to staff long-term care facilities.

How do we fill the positions vacated by those who retrained? Well, I know there are many income support recipients who would welcome the opportunity to return to school, complete their Adult Basic Education, upgrade their skills, complete post-secondary education, transition off income support and enter the workforce. However, this government has made it so difficult to do so, placed so many obstacles in the way of those who have the temerity to break free that many give up, wish they had never begun in the first place or worse, never take the first step. I know because I've seen it first-hand.

I worked on behalf of two courageous women who chose to do exactly that. In return, they were penalized by government policy that robbed them of their housing benefits, exacerbated their financial distress and most despicable of all took away their health plan benefits. For two people with complex health issues, the last was the most devastating. One woman had no choice but to give up and withdraw from her post-secondary program. Krista Stephens, the other, has had to fight tooth and nail to stay in school.

On more than one occasion she has stated that if she had known how difficult government was going to make it, she would never have gone back to school and would've stayed on income support and kept her drug card. Were it not for the encouragement of our office, her school and her family, she would have dropped out.

Yet, six months ago, the Premier and the Minister of Education lost no opportunity for a photo op with Ms. Stephens to present her with the Council of the Federation Literacy Award for Newfoundland and Labrador. Both the minister and the Premier praised Krista as an inspiration to all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and offered to support everyone in reaching their potential. Now, despite several letters asking government to change the policies, when it came to doing something practical to help Krista, the answer was no.

As a former teacher, I'm dismayed by how government policy can place so many unnecessary obstacles in the path of those seeking a better life.

Speaker, I wonder how many people would choose to enter the health care workforce if government changed its policies, removed barriers, actually supported people and made it as easy as possible for them to do so. If government invested in the people rather than unnecessary infrastructure, how many long-term beds could we open? How many acute-care beds would free up so people can access the health care they need? How many couples requiring different levels of care could we keep together?

How many families could be spared the agony of having their loved ones placed in a long-term care facility an hour and a half away because the facilities in their communities did not have enough staff to care for them? How many more seniors or people with disabilities could live independently in their own homes if government was willing to fairly compensate home care workers and pay them benefits?

For over half a year, Central Health and the Department of Health resisted Lisa Marsh as she fought to have adequate financial supports in place for her intellectually and physically disabled sister and her caregiver. Now, rather than pay the caregiver a livable wage, they seem prepared to choose the more expensive option of placing the sister in long-term care. Assuming there are beds available in the first place.

Speaker, a budget is, in many ways, a reflection of society, at least the values of the government proposing the budget. Budget 2023 got me thinking of Charles Dickens, one of my favourite 19th century authors, and whether or not we have progressed as a society. In particular, I thought about one of his most well-known books, A Christmas Carol . On one level, Speaker, it's a heartwarming redemption story of Ebenezer Scrooge and it's credited with inventing Christmas.

However, it's also a critique of wealth, poverty and government's approach, at the time, to addressing poverty through the poor laws and such institutions as workhouses, debtors' prisons and treadmills. It attacked the new social science of economics, social Darwinism or the belief that the survival of the fittest also applied to society and the ideas of Thomas Malthus that the economy could only support so many people. That those who could not be supported, or support themselves, were the surplus population.

If these surplus people would rather die than to go to a workhouse, as Scrooge said, they had better do it and decrease the surplus population.

Now Scrooge was a product of his time, but I have to wonder if our current government's approach has improved and how it treats the vulnerable of our society or is it still about economics?

I have said on more than one occasion, that the zero-based budgeting and budget-based, decision-making practices of this government and its predecessors created the current human resource crisis in health care.

It's a crisis several decades and different administrations in the making. COVID-19 didn't cause the crisis; it merely highlighted the gaps and forced government to deal with them. The focus on finding efficiencies created similar crises and gaps in public education, in housing, income support, dental care, in our social safety net and so on.

Now, I would like to think that the current administration has learned from this and for the need to focus on people. A cursory reading of the budget documents, however, and you can easily see that its focus is very much on economics and the province's fiscal health and well-being.

The Minister of Finance emphasized that expenses were being controlled across all departments. That this is a budget that is positive in that it shows fiscal responsibility, at the same time as making strategic investments. The news release speaks of prudent fiscal governance, strong fiscal management, responsible debt management, of Budget 2023 's focus being on our financial well-being of a strategic plan to return to balanced budgets aided by balanced budget legislation. No mention of poverty.

Now, I'm all about financial responsibility, but when I hear government promoting balanced budget legislation, I have to wonder who pays the price. What health care, education or social programs will be cut? What community organizations will have their funding frozen or reduced? How will this legislation be used to justify those cuts? After all, the economy can only support so many people, right?

Now, contrast Newfoundland and Labrador's approach with that of New Zealand's where its government has brought in several well-being budgets to date to ensure that their investment decisions are being driven by New Zealander's overall well-being and what government can do to enhance that well-being further. A well-being budget means giving people the capabilities to live lives of purpose, balance and meaning to them.

Now while short-term, one-off stunts are PR worthy, they ignore the big picture and can end up costing the province more in the long run. For example, by my calculation, a person filling up 100-litre gas tank once a week will save around $416 a year as a result of the eight-cent per litre reduction on the price of gasoline and diesel. Assuming, of course, the person owns a vehicle.

But I've got to wonder what programs these $63.4 million annual costs of the initiative could have been put towards to enhance the overall well-being of our citizens. Like, I don't know, eliminating the 1.6-kilometre school busing rule, improving the province's ambulance system, addressing the shortage of child care spaces, providing long-term incentives and educational opportunities to people who wish to work in long-term care.

If this government and previous governments had actually put the overall well-being of its citizens at the centre of the provincial budget, if budgets were about giving people the capabilities to live lives of purpose, balance and meaning, if the economy served people and not the other way around, then Carter Churchill would not have been discriminated against and would not have been denied the right to ASL instruction or blocked from full participation in his classroom or prevented from reaching his full potential. Todd and Kimberly Churchill would not have had to launch an expensive and exhausting human rights case on behalf of their deaf son.

Seniors seeking dental care would not be subjected to humiliating, provincial gatekeeping measures. Dental care for seniors would have been a priority for this government rather than waiting on an NDP forced federal initiative. Community centres and other community organizations that serve the people of our province and who depend on our government funding would have that funding indexed to inflation. It would not have taken two NDP private Member resolutions and some public shaming to get government to strike an all-party committee on guaranteed basic income.

Speaker, if the economy served the people and not the other way around, then government would implement measures to enhance learning and help school communities keep staff and students safe rather than building an expensive, new high school for political reasons in the district where the Premier lives and undermine the programming in two schools.

They would increase the Tuition Offset Grant to reduce student debt and encourage students to study at Memorial University. They would move towards a liveable wage, a liveable minimum wage. They would have had an affordable housing strategy in place and almost 300 people would not have been forced into emergency shelters or bus shelters during one of the coldest weekends of this past winter. They'd implement just transition legislation that would protect the environment, our workers, communities and the futures of our children and our children's children rather than further subsidizing multi-billion dollar companies.

Speaker, a well-being budget would make sure income recipients with diabetes have sufficient income to afford healthy food rather than providing them with dietary supplements such as Ensure. It would make sure that the Medical Transportation Assistance Program actually works for the people instead of placing costly bureaucratic obstacles in the path of those who depend on it.

I could go on, but I hope you get my point. My colleagues and I, in the NDP caucus, want to see a strategic plan to enhance the well-being of the people of our province. We want to see strategic investments in the health care system and to address the social determinants of health. We demand that the residents of our province be granted the capabilities to live lives with purpose, balance and meaning to them. Focus on that, Speaker, and the balanced budgets, the savings and the economic prosperity will follow.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bonavista.

C. PARDY: Thank you, Speaker.

It's a pleasure to stand and represent the constituents in the District of Bonavista.

In Question Period I brought up about poverty not being in the budget, and the hon. minister said that I was voting against it. We haven't voted yet in the House. I don't know if she's been presumptive that we're going to vote, so the only thing I would say, this is one of the issues of which I have a problem with, with the current budget.

I raised a petition in the House on the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation and was pleased with the response. I know the need is now. It would have been nice if that would have been part of this past budget that we do have something out there now for those who are having difficulty making ends meet.

You may be surprised but I know that I've got lots of viewers in the District of Bonavista today and I just want to name some of them.

AN HON. MEMBER: The Linthornes.

C. PARDY: The Linthornes ware watching, for sure. But I want to say hello to Dolores Whiffen who I visited during my constituency week and whom I'm going to talk about in a short time. I also want to say hello to Sandra Cooper who is watching in Bonavista and Kitchener Pelley, which I want to discuss in a short time, from Harcourt.

Dave and Louise Bishop in Newman's Cove, whom I was talking to this past weekend, and Ben Tippett and June Philips in Bonavista. So I'm glad they're tuned in and hopefully I can represent you well in stating the issues here today on the floor.

I said to the minister, in Question Period, poverty wasn't mentioned. And poverty wasn't mentioned, not really, but the minister went back and said well, we gave those on income support a 5 per cent increase. That is something, Mr. Speaker. The only thing I would say on that cost-of-living measure, the 5 per cent, would be the lady I referenced in my response where I said “breaking news,” she lives by herself and she receives $605. That's including a $35 fuel allowance for oil that she burns. She lives by herself in her own house since her mom passed away last March. She filed her taxes in '22 and when she filed her taxes in '22, the amount of her gross income was $6,735.

I would say to you if what we can do is we can say right now that 5 per cent is the best that we can offer now this year in this budget, I think many people would say that's substandard. That's inadequate. If we have the cost of living that we're looking at and someone has to try to make ends meet on that and she hasn't got a choice whether to abort oil and change to the heat pumps or the mini-splits or electricity because she can't take on a loan and the amount that is being offered won't do the transition for her in her house, those are the situations of which I'd like to discuss.

Before I get into my theme of today for my address, I want just to acknowledge that on Saturday I attended a function in Goose Cove. Now, we have 40 Members in the House. There may be one or two that may be unaware where Goose Cove is, but I just want to highlight where that is. I think the hon. minister has a Goose Cove as well on the Northern Peninsula.

K. HOWELL: (Inaudible.)

C. PARDY: No, I wasn't there. I was at the one in the District of Bonavista, which is adjacent and in between Trinity and Dunfield.

The Fort Point Lions had their 44th Charter Event. Forty-four years in service serving the community. The Member for Exploits is an honourary and a lifetime member involved with the Lions, so he appreciates that.

We celebrated the great things that they did. They celebrated that. But I just want to highlight between the Port Rexton Lions Club and the Fort Point Lions Club, they cosponsored a young 13-year-old student from Bishop White all-grade school in Port Rexton in the Lions International Peace Poster Contest.

The young girl, her name was Trinity Hogan. She was one of the finalists of 23 of the international poster contest – one of 23. Never before has anybody won or placed in the merit category of the Lions International Peace Poster Contest – never before in Newfoundland and Labrador until this year when Trinity Hogan –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

C. PARDY: I'm hoping that the first day back after the Easter recess, when we'll be out in our districts, first day back I would hope she would be in attendance and I look forward to presenting that Members statement to Trinity Hogan.

My theme today is real life examples in the District of Bonavista – real life examples. A couple of people that are viewing now are going to expect that I'm going to give that real life and their example.

When we look at real situations that we have in our district, we have to look and say someone has to take responsibility. And that's fair enough. I'm their Member. I'm an MHA in the District of Bonavista. There are some good points in the budget, I am not totally enamoured about it, especially with the stories that I am about to share with you.

Watching today is a 73-year-young lady by the name of Dolores Whiffen. She may have her friend with her, Aletha Ricketts that could be watching with her. Sadly to report that on January 27 she had a stroke. She woke up in the middle of the night, en route to the bathroom, she had a serious stroke and she fell. She managed to get to the phone and when she got to the phone, she had called her sister, who had difficulty getting in to the apartment because the door was locked, as she lives by herself. Eventually, when she went to the hospital to get checked on, they X-rayed her hip to make sure that it wasn't fractured and she went home, but she never had the use of her left arm or her left leg.

Later that day, after being released, the family decided that she had to go back to the hospital. She went back to the hospital, they transported her to Clarenville where they did their CAT scan and said that she had a significant stroke. She was sent to the Miller Centre, which she would rave to this day and said about the quality of the care and the service in the Miller Centre. I'm not surprised. I've heard a lot of great things about the Miller Centre.

She goes home to live independently. I visited her last Tuesday. So I walk in and when I walked in and met with her, she would walk with her cane. Her left leg, she would move it slightly, she could slightly move across. She can't use a walker because again her left arm is not recovered enough.

She requested that she could have some home support for a couple of hours in order to prepare meals. She has difficulty getting in and out of the shower. She is determined that by July she'll be able to do all those functions on her own. But the only thing being, she's unable to get the home support now that she would need.

We've arranged now for someone to go do an assessment for her, but that was a real-life example of somebody going home, desiring to stay independent in their own home, determined to get well and to live healthy in her home.

I would hope that works out for Dolores. I know that all MHAs are listening here intently. I would hope that that works out for her because everyone that we wish to stay in their own home, we ought to make sure that there is every stone turned over that they can live comfortably in their own homes.

The next gentleman I want to highlight and mention for you is a great chap, a senior from Harcourt. His name is Kitchener Pelley. We all know that at 75 years of age you'll have to get a medical examination, when that time comes. Well, he did. He got a form come that all of a sudden he has to have a medical examination before they renew his licence. But Kitchener never had a family physician. He wondered where to go, so he went to emerg and they didn't want to complete the form at emerg. So he reached out to me and wondered where can he go?

I had sought direction. The direction that I provided back to him was he was to go to emerg to get it completed, and that's understandable because we don't know, but he went to emerg. Anyway, I called the hospital to indicate that Kitchener would have to come. Kitchener went to the hospital. We had said that he would go between 8:30 and 10 to make sure that was his best chance of not waiting a long time.

Well, Kitchener went at 8 and he waited. He got in at 12:30, but at 12:30, they weren't overly keen on getting the report done or doing it, because they know that they were busy, I assume, but he wanted to get his report done.

He ended up not getting it done, but we did get a stay in order for him to be able to get someone to fill out that form in due course. So Motor Registration was great in providing an extra couple of months for him to be able to get access and get clearance on his medical system.

We talked about poverty and one thing that we talk about – if someone threw out a statistic at you and your province and said that one-in-four children are living in food insecure homes. That's a rather concerning, daunting statement to make: one-in-four children that we have in our province. That is concerning. That was my sincere question today when I had asked about poverty not being mentioned in the budget.

I would say that is something that we ought to have a plan to know what we're going to address. I know that we have an All-Party Committee on Basic Income. I'm not sure if that's going to totally address it or not, but it's a good thing. We're headed in that direction. But we do have a significant amount of time where we have one out of four children in our province are in food insecure homes.

So that's something that I would wish that we would have seen in the budget was a plan. Much the same as the one that was back in 2005 that had the rave reviews until 2015, the poverty reduction plan which gained a whole lot of prominence and favour across Canada. It was a good plan.

I've got a short time left and I just want to pivot to something else in the budget that would cause me a little bit of concern and that would be the fishery. The lack of prominence of what would be in the fishery.

We all know that this land was settled on the fishery. We all know about the valuable resource that we have off our shores. We ought to be – and I think we probably all agree; I thought we did last year. We thought that this industry should be bringing in $3 billion to $5 billion a year. We all, I think, agreed at one point in time that our fishery could be doing more.

Glenn Blackwood would say it is only our true mega renewal project that we've got is the fishery. We would look at that and we would need a plan to make sure that it, not only maintains itself, but it does reach to the level that we would desire it to be – $3 billion to $5 billion at minimum.

I want to read to you – I know I have four minutes left, but it won't take long to read a

section in the budget related to the fishery; it will only take a minute.

Here is the fishery: In Newfoundland and Labrador, the fishery is important. Last year, when the budget was read out, there was a whole lot of desk thumping over on the other side because the fishery was something that was held in high regard. We all believed that. We hold it in high regard. But the proof is in the pudding. It's in the action. It's in the plan, the budget plan. Here is Newfoundland's fishery, Budget 2023.

“The fishery is an integral component of the provincial economy, employing over 17,500 people from over 400 communities. The sector's value is in excess of $1 billion, with exports to 40 countries.

“To help ensure continued success, $5.1 million is allocated to the Atlantic Fisheries Fund. We have also allocated $500,000 annually for three years for multi-species aquaculture development and the collection of oceanographic data.”

That's some good points, but if anybody who is a harvester involved with the fishery would look and say, if this is the extent of what we have in this industry, I would think that they would say that's pretty underwhelming – pretty underwhelming.

The minister, in the Navigator publication, states that the Premier asked me where I'd like to see the fishery in 20 years. In 20 years, I'd like to see it as strong as it is today.

I would say we know there are peaks and valleys in every industry, but we have got to have a plan for our fishery – we have got to have a plan. In the absence of a plan, you'll find that we often ride the economy and sometimes we don't yield from it what we ought to do.

I've got two minutes left and I just want to end on the sugar tax. I know that we had a healthy conversation the other day and I know the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board had tabled a document. The Premier referenced it yesterday, that we ought to read what was tabled on the sugar tax because that was from the British Medical Journal . I know that I copied it off, printed what was on there.

You know what; we all agree that we've got to reduce our sugar consumption. Nobody disbelieves that in this House. If we talk against the sugar tax, don't misrepresent that to say that we're not on board with reducing our sugar consumption. We are. We're 100 per cent on board; the only thing being we disagree that taxing it is the best route.

We believe that education is a prevalent way of doing it, not taxing.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

C. PARDY: The minister and the Premier, the

article that they referenced or what they tabled in the House to validate the sugar tax, the title is: “Consumption of sugar from soft drinks falls within a year of UK sugar tax.” Italicized behind that, underneath that topic says this: “Findings suggest sugar tax might benefit public health without harming industry, say researchers.”

If you read down in the

article they would say: “Overall, they show that compared with pre-announcement trends, the total volume of all taxed and untaxed soft drinks purchased did not change one year after implementation.” The only thing I would say to you, taxing is not the way to do it, but we do need to reduce our consumption.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Exploits.

P. FORSEY: Thank you, Speaker.

It's always important here to get up and represent the District of Exploits, especially at this time of the year. Of course, every time I go home on the weekends and during the holidays, there's always some discussion that you'll have on different parts of your district and different things that are happening. I've got to say that health care probably rises above all most at the time when I'm home in the district. I know that people have big concerns with regard to access of a doctor, clinics and that sort of thing to get the treatment that they need and the service that they need.

So over the past little while, I know that the Grand Falls-Windsor has had an advisory committee. I know the Town of Bishop's Falls now is just formed an advisory committee and they're looking for doctors. They're going to be working with the health authority in looking for doctors. Only last year the Town of Bishop's Falls lost the last doctor they had and left the community of 3,000 people without a family doctor. Botwood, again this year, lost another doctor, leaving more people without a doctor.

Grand Falls-Windsor, again, now the hospital up there is going to lose another doctor which keeps leaving more people without doctors. Doctors certainly become a big issue in the Exploits District in the Central region.

So I'm glad to say that I do have a meeting with the minister tomorrow and some of those issues will be discussed. I'm looking forward, especially, for him to make sure that he's got all the stakeholders involved when they make their decisions, especially now under one health authority which happened April 1 and the Health Accord starting to be introduced. There are a lot of players at stake.

In the geographics of the Central area, there's a lot to be discussed: doctors, advisory committees, all the stakeholders. So that's something that I will be sitting down to talk to the minister about tomorrow, as they move forward on the health care in Central Newfoundland to make sure that all the stakeholders and all the people and everything is taken into consideration, so that moving forward we'll be presenting the best health care we can to the residents of the Exploits District and of Central Newfoundland. I'm looking forward to that meeting with the minister tomorrow, and I do thank him for that.

I will also be bringing up, of course, the 24-hour emergency service in the Dr. Hugh Twomey Health Care Centre that was again promised by the Liberals, two elections, and was never availed of. So I'm certainly going to bring that up. I do believe that they did mislead the people of Exploits when they said that they were going to open the 24-hour emergency service in two different elections. So that certainly is going to be brought to the forefront as well.

I'll be looking forward to meeting with the minister tomorrow and discussing those issues. Hopefully, moving forward, we'll bring the best health care we can to people of Exploits District and parts of Central Newfoundland.

But, Speaker, also I'm hearing about housing. Housing is a very, very poor situation right now in Central Newfoundland. I did present a petition here yesterday regarding the housing situation. We know there are 300 on a list in Central Newfoundland; we have housing units that need to be upgraded. We need probably more housing built and more affordable housing. But I know there is some money in the budget, which is good to hear.

But this has been happening for a long time. The eleventh hour is here now; people are out on the streets. I got two, three phone calls last week, separate occasions. A couple was left in the cold last Friday. All last week a single mom and her 10-year-old child, no place to go, looking for housing. Another person, a single parent with a couple of children, looking for housing. None available, Mr. Speaker – none available.

Now I know there are some subsidies sometimes that Housing will pay for apartments, but a private apartment is not all the time the easiest route, not always the easiest way to go. We have certainly got to pay attention to the housing situation. At least right now in Central Newfoundland get the units that need to be upgraded and needed to be in place and painted and upgraded and fixed so that we can at least start moving some of those people in. We have some people in some desperate situations. Especially with the high cost of living, they can't afford it.

They can't afford to pay some of the rents that are out there now. They're being forced down to the housing units and even with places with nowhere to go.

We certainly need that addressed. It's a situation that's in dire straights out there, becoming more and more. Like I say, it's been ongoing. This just didn't happen today. This has been happened for a period of time that should've been addressed, should've been fixed, but we're to the point now where it's just overloaded, everything is maxed out on the housing and we're getting people out on the streets and this should not be happening. It should not be happening.

Again, medical transportation, that's part of the health care situation, so it's something else we will discuss. Medical transportation, I have people in my district having to go further now because of the doctor situation, people with no doctors in the area. They're having to go further like Corner Brook and St. John's to get treated or assessed with their problems. Lots of times I'm hearing they'll have an appointment set up in St. John's at the Health Sciences or St. Clare's, when they get there to the appointment, they're turned back home. We have no beds. They're turned back home.

That creates a great problem, especially to the seniors in our district that have taken the day to travel at that expense to come out to St. Clare's or the Health Sciences just to have that appointment with the doctor and to get there to say: B'y, your procedure is cancelled, your appointment is cancelled, go back home.

That is uncalled for; that's not fair for the seniors and people to be treated like that. To go get a hotel room that they can't even afford and to drive to St. John's in the beginning and to be forced to get hotel rooms and meals. All the expense is on them. I know there's a little bit of MTAP, but when it gets down to that, it just doesn't cover the situation of what they have to do. So that's another area of health care that's lacking.

Long-term care, again, I spoke about it the other day, long-term care in Central Newfoundland. The former minister came in and the Premier came in a year ago and opened the long-term care in Central, which could take the pressure of the acute-care beds in our hospitals, try to move surgeries up so people could get in and get their surgeries done.

They came in last year, they announced the opening of the long-term care; everything was going to be up and running, and good on them. Everything was going to be up and running; I'm glad it was. It seems like there was some movement there. All of a sudden, we're hearing there are 30 beds not used. I think they're down to 25 this month; 25 beds in the brand new facility of the long-term care that we could be moving people into.

I'm getting calls from families concerned about their loved ones, they would like to get them placed in long-term care but there are not beds available, which leaves the strain on the other health care services, especially families. The strain on the families who are trying to get those people into long-term care and the acute beds being taken up because of the long-term care situation that they can't get into those beds and people can't use the acute care beds, which is holding up, like I say, surgeries and people wanting to get the surgeries done.

Another thing, Speaker, I'd like to address – oh, first of all, I have to take a page out of the Member for Bonavista's book. I know that over the weekend I was talking to Doreen Carter. I told her I would say hello to her the next time I was out. So hello, Doreen. I hope you're having a great day.

Also to Ray and Golda Guy, they were residents of my district but they're after moving to the St. John's area. The last time I was home I met them and I told them I would say good day to those people as well. I must say Happy Easter and I hope you have a good one.

Getting back to where I was, Speaker, the seniors in our district – actually, I got a phone call from a senior and I can use their name. I said: Can I use your name when I speak in the House today? She said: You can certainly use my name, Annie Perry in Point of Bay. She said: I just got oil. Just filled up my oil tank, she said. I just paid $95 tax. So she said: When I get my money from the carbon tax, tell the government I'll give it right back to them because I can't use it. She said: When that happens, tell them I don't need it anyway. So all that tax will be going back to the taxes on the taxes. I told her I'd pass that long for them, so I did so. I had a chance to do that for her.

But that's not the only senior with the taxes like that and, again, the sugar tax, making those choices. They can't fill up their cars. Go buy fruits and vegetables today. We've all been to the supermarkets. We've been there. We know what it costs. So those seniors, people on fixed incomes going to make those choices in the supermarket, especially fresh milk. Make your choice: fresh milk or a bottle of Pepsi. Just make it. It's hard enough for us sometimes to make it.

So you're going to go with the bottle of Pepsi and pay your sugar tax that the government would get back, rather than bring the prices down on milk and let them have a healthy choice, which some of those choices are there anyway, like the Tetra Paks. We always thought it was good juice: orange juice, apple juice, the Tetra Paks. We always did. We were reared on them. We were told that they were good drinks. Actually, they put them in the schools for the school breakfast program. Now they have to pay the sugar tax on them. They have to pay taxes on them. It don't make sense.

Anyway, that's the kind of choices those people have to make because of decisions that other people make. So that's where we're to.

Forestry: I'm getting a lot of calls again from the forest permits home. There are no permits to get. All the permits are taken up by the big companies again, of course. There are three big companies with all the forest permits. Small loggers can't get any permits; can't get their industry started up; can't get enough to work with. That's sad to see. The locals in Central Newfoundland, they see trucks going down the highway all the time. They see loads and loads of timber, loads and loads of logs beating away on our roads, beating out over the roads, and gone. They can't avail of permits to get those logs out of the forests.

There is no industry basically in the Central area. Yes, there is industry in forestry in Newfoundland and Labrador but there is no forestry in the area. We should be looking at more plans to utilize our forestry in Central Newfoundland.

Agriculture: we'll just touch on agriculture, which leads to food self-sufficiency. I talk to small farmers that are trying to produce to get our food self-sufficiency up to where it should be, but they can't afford to work the farm anymore. The price of fuels, the price of parts for their farms just to clear a piece of land is enormous. They can't even afford, probably, to clear that piece of land.

I've been talking to young farmers that have probably been there for two or three years. The price of it where they need more land now to expand so that probably they could make a profit. They can't get that piece of land and they can't get more crops growing. They don't see their way in the next two years. They don't see themselves beyond the next two years when they'll have to fold, which is causing red tape and hardships to young farmers that want to get into the system but can't see there way to get into the system because of the red tape. It's not feasible for them to get in there.

By the time they get in there and get through it all, they're just finished with it. They're done with it. They're poisoned with it and they're moved off to something else.

Even our farmers in Wooddale. I talk to our farmers in Wooddale. They've got some good farms in there. They've been at it for years. They're local farmers. They've been at it for years.

Some of their roads in there – they're beating up their trucks coming out over the roads with their farm equipment because the road is not done in there. They need that done just to – they've got an operation there. The ones in there in Wooddale, they've got big farms. They've got big operations, but the road is not fit to drive out over. All they want, most of the time, is it graded and made smooth so they can bring a truck out over it. Most of the time they can't get out over it. I get the calls.

I appreciate the roadwork that the minister is certainly bringing to our district this year, but I'd like to also see a little bit more grading to the farmers. The farmers, themselves, would like to see some more grading in the area. So we're glad that he's going to pay some attention to that as well.

So back at that again, Mr. Speaker, irrigation in that area, I know I've been talking to them with regard to irrigation in that area. They could use some help with regards to the water supply, especially last year was a hot, dry summer and we know what happened in the hot, dry summer last year.

B. WARR: Never got a salmon.

P. FORSEY: It caused forest fires in there and that was really bad.

The Member from Baie Verte - Green Bay got a point there as well, that didn't happen as well.

Speaker, again, like I said, to help those farmers in that situation in regard to their lime and their roads and their irrigation would certainly go a long way in our food security.

There are lots of things that we can do. We've still got a long way to go with regard to getting food security up, especially for the agriculture. Like I say, with regard to getting a piece of land to be able to grow extra crops, especially the root crops so that they could get their business going.

When they're looking for another piece of land that – when you bring up Crown lands today, that brings up another issue as well because they can't even buy the land today because of the adverse possession or squatters' rights that was brought in from '56 to '76. So to get a piece of land today to say that they can have the land, even if it's leased, it certainly puts them in a hard position to grow that crop.

With that, Speaker, there are still a lot of issues in my district that people are concerned about especially again we'll go back to housing. Housing is certainly a big, big issue out there and I'm hearing more and more of it in the past couple of weeks than I ever did before. It's sad when you get those calls and people can't get housing. They can't get places to stay. They can't afford to get apartments. They just can't afford to live. It's a sad situation to see those people, with the high cost of living, trying to get housing and try to stay on their own two feet. It's very, very frustrating to them.

It gets frustrating to us at times because we're the ones that they're reaching out to for answers and they want us to have the answers. They want us to do right and we should do right and we can do right, but we don't wait until the eleventh hour to do anything that we should have done leading up to this. We have to be on the ball, see this is happening and we have to be able to fix the problems before it becomes a bigger problem that it becomes issues that it's out of our control.

With that, Speaker, I'll take my seat and I'm sure I'll get another chance to speak on the budget, what can be happening in my district, what I'd like to see happening in my district and things we can be doing.

With that, I'll take my seat and let somebody else have a chance.

Again, thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands.

P. LANE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I just want to thank the Member for Ferryland for letting me go next.

Mr. Speaker, it's certainly a pleasure to rise in this hon. House and speak to the budget. I think I'm going to have a couple of opportunities, at least, from what I can gather, so this is will be, I guess, the first go around.

First of all, Mr. Speaker, I just want to say that in sort of looking at the budget in a general sense, it's like any budget, there are some things there that you think are really good. There are some things there that can you say I might have done a little differently, whatever, taking a different approach with. But from an overall perspective, I'm not put out by this budget. I will say that, I'm not put out by this budget. Certainly, I've seen a lot worse budgets in the past, I'll say that for sure.

There's no doubt that there are some investments here that, obviously, I would support; I think most Members would. One that was very important to me and to my district, based on the number of calls and emails and messages I've received leading up to the budget, was the whole issue of early childhood education and the availability of spaces.

Everybody loves the fact that we're down to $10 a day in terms of the cost. That's wonderful. That's fine and dandy if you have access to it. If you don't have access to those spaces, it does nothing for you and, if anything else, it only just makes you more and more angry when you hear about people take about now I only have to pay $10 a day when there are people who can't get a space and now they're paying maybe $45, $50, $60 a day.

Some of them have to, I will say, be abused to some degree because of the fact that they have no choice but to put their children with certain daycares and babysitters and so on who are really milking it for what it's worth in terms of what they're charging people and the expectations they have for the services being provided.

Of course, that's the people who can actually get child care at all. There are others who cannot get child care at all. I've heard from a number of them. As I have said in this House before, a number of them have been health care professionals. I've had nurses. I've had two doctors who have reached out to me and have said: Here we are talking about the fact that we have a shortage of health care professionals, here I am a doctor or a nurse, whatever the case might be, and I can't go back to work because I have nobody to look after my child. I just had a baby; I don't know what I'm going to do. We don't have anyone to look after the child. It is a big problem.

We kept hearing about this new ECE wage grid. I think we kept hearing stay tuned, stay tuned, and we did, waiting for it to come out and hoping that it was going to solve the problem, or at least help solve the problem.

I will say that if you are somebody who is new into the field or someone who is thinking about going into the field, from what I can gather, for new ECEs, I guess they would be called Level I, I suppose, there is a significant increase for those people, new people getting into it. I think a lot of them would be pleased with that and hopefully it will have a desired effect in that regard.

But I just want to put it to the attention of the government and to the House, just for information purposes. I'm not here to try to be critical for the sake of being critical, but I will just say I've heard from a couple of people in my district who are an ECE II, I believe is what they're categorized as. These are people who would've already been ECEs in the system for a period of years.

In one particular case a person who messaged me from Southlands and she was an ECE. I think it was 12, 14 years been doing whatever, considered an ECE II. When they did the math on the new wage grid because they implemented a new wage grid and then they took away – because government would pay I think it's quarterly stipends or whatever. So many times a year, you'd get a stipend from the government, and that's on top of your wages that you were getting from your employer. Under the new system, they put in a grid for their wages but removed the stipend.

In the case of this particular person what they came back to me with when they do the math on they were receiving and what they're going to receive, it means $600 per year. That's the increase, $600 per year. To which this person said, in their view, it's a slap in the face. That was their words, not mine. Quote, unquote, this is a slap in the face. Because they were expecting something obviously more significant in terms of retaining ECEs. Six hundred dollars a year really is a joke when you think about it in terms of day-to-day expenses. You take $600 bucks and taxes have to come out of that and everything, so what are they really left with.

I'm just putting it out there not to be critical for the sake of being critical. I wasn't aware of that being an issue until a couple of people came to me about it, constituents of mine. So that all Members on all sides are aware – and the minister is probably aware; I guess he is. But it is an issue in terms of you're trying to maybe in terms of the attraction piece, you've upped the wages for people getting into the industry as an ECE, but people who are already there, at least some of them, there was no substantive increase whatsoever.

If anything, it just upset them and made them feel like, like they said, a slap in the face. Being undervalued, taken for granted, whatever. Call it what you like, that's what this individual felt and another one who reached out to me as well.

It's something that I encourage the government to have a look at. Maybe it was unintended. Maybe it wasn't realized at the time when you were doing the numbers that that's how it would work out. But that is how it's worked out, apparently, for some people.

It kind of ties into a little bit in a similar vein as to, I suppose, what we're hearing with bonuses, retention bonuses and so on where somebody gets a bonus and then the other person doesn't get one or someone gets – I think nurses said well, $1,000 retention bonus or $1,500, whatever it is, is really a joke compared to a doctor what they got and so on. I suppose it's a similar kind of concept. If you have a group and you do something significant for one part of the group and you don't do anything for the other part of that group, well then that part feels like somehow they've been slighted. I think that may be an issue.

So I just ask the government to go back and have a look at that wage grid again and how it impacts all ECEs, not just new people getting into the system but the existing ones as well.

The budget allowed for $127 million into the Future Fund. I believe we all supported it. When the Future Fund idea was brought forward, I think it was unanimously passed. I don't think anybody could argue that, you know, having some money set aside that we could utilize – I know it's in the future. That's why it's called the Future Fund, but it's not necessarily a bad idea to have that ability.

My concern in the debate at the time was the fact that there are some loopholes in those clauses that would allow a government to withdraw money from that fund without getting approval of the House of Assembly. That was the only issue I had. I don't think the government should be able to take a cent out of there. Get approval from the House. Other than that, I supported the legislation. This year there's $127 million going in. Seeing as how I supported that legislation, obviously, I would support that.

The multi-year Roads Plan, $1.4 billion, I hear talking about the biggest investment ever and so on. Look, there's no doubt. I don't think anybody is going to argue with the fact that there are a lot of roads in this province that need significant upgrades. There a lot with bridges, roads, underground and aboveground infrastructure. I'm certainly not going to argue against that.

I do kind of get a bit of a laugh over the fact, you know, we're talking about, oh, it's the biggest investment ever and you wouldn't know but we're writing personal cheques here. Ultimately, it's the people's money so all we're doing is spending the people's money. That's not a slight against this particular government or administration but we've seen it over the years when we talked about we spent millions on this and billions on that and millions on this and you wouldn't know but we're writing personal cheques. We're all excited after giving ourselves a pat on the back for spending taxpayers' money.

Anyway, $1.4 billion going in. No doubt it's needed. No doubt I'm sure we could double or triple that and still wouldn't have all the work done. I'm sure that's the case, too.

We're always hearing Members in this House talking about we need money for my district for roads and so on. I don't think there are going to be too many complaints over that. Certainly, from my perspective in my district, I don't have a lot of dealings with the department, but I am glad to see the work taking place to bring that new entrance into Galway. That's certainly something that's needed. It's going to, I think, help with the traffic flow that's pouring in to Park Avenue. Because everybody in the east end has decided to go to Costco, they take Team Gushue and on to Park Avenue and Ruth to get there.

Hopefully, the east end traffic will now go in that new route out by Barbour's Irving and go in through the back entrance of Galway. I'm hoping that's what's going to happen.

I know there are people who might be listening and people I've talked to from other parts of the province who will say we need basic roads. I'm here with potholes and stuff and, really, should we be spending money here on convenience some people say – on convenience versus necessity. But it's important to remind people that like it or not, this is the metro area. It's an urban environment. It is the metro area. It's the seat of government. It's where the vast majority of the services are, the businesses and so on. A lot of the taxes are coming from this area so there's a lot of traffic.

The bottom line is call it convenience, call it what you like, it is a necessity in a busy urban region to have these roads up to snuff and to have the proper connections. So I'm certainly going to support that.

The only thing I'll say I was a little disappointed in is I never heard anything in the budget about the completion of Team Gushue Highway. I'm hoping – hoping – that at some point in not-too-distant future they're going to save that for a big announcement for Seamus when he hauls out his campaign signs and says I'm running again. He will be here with his little white hard hat on at the Team Gushue Highway saying I'm getting her done, b'ys, vote for me. I'm hoping that's going to happen. It wasn't in the budget. I would have loved to have seen it there, but I got a feeling it's going to happen.

The single ambulance service, that's a move, again, that I think most Members, in concept, agreed with. I understand it's going to be a public service, not a private one. I do suppo