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March 21, 2019

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVIII No. 60

The

House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Trimper):

Admit strangers, please.

Order,

please!

I'd like

to welcome the Members back to a final day of the week and a nice little break.

We have

several visitors today that I'd like to introduce to this House of Assembly. In

the public gallery, first of all, I'd like to welcome Gail Dempsey, Executive

Director of Epilepsy Newfoundland and Labrador; Sarah Mercer, the organization's

Information Officer; and Lisa Pack, Epilepsy Newfoundland and Labrador's 2019

Purple Day Ambassador. They are visiting us this afternoon for a Ministerial

Statement.

Welcome

to you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Also in the public gallery today, I would like to

acknowledge representatives from the Association of Registered Nurses of

Newfoundland and Labrador. We have with us the Executive Director Lynn Power,

and Communications Officer James Sheppard. They are joining us for the Second

Reading of Bill 57,

An Act to Amend the Registered Nurses Act, 2008.

Welcome to you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

I've also just had the honour to spend a few minutes

with a great group of people. They are representing and are from the

Environmental Policy masters program at Memorial University. They're in the

public gallery this afternoon.

They are visiting St. John's to participate in the 2019 Environmental Policy

Institute Case Competition. This is a collaborative venture between Grenfell

Campus, Memorial University and the Planning and Coordination Office, Executive

Council.

A great welcome to you all.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Statements by Members

MR.

SPEAKER:

For

Members' statements today, we'll hear statements by the hon. Members for the

Districts of Lewisporte - Twillingate, Fogo Island - Cape Freels, Conception Bay

East - Bell Island, Placentia West – Bellevue, and Conception Bay South.

The hon. the Member for Lewisporte - Twillingate.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Central Newfoundland Hockey League had another very

successful and exciting year with six teams competing for the championship

title. Teams included: Grand Falls-Windsor Blades, Northeast Wildcats,

Springdale Braves, Straight Shore Beothics and, from my district, Twillingate

Combines and Lewisporte Seahawks.

After regular league play, semi-final action seen first

place Beothics eliminate the Springdale Braves, while two old rival teams, the

Lewisporte Seahawk and Twillingate Combines, battled it out for the final

position. After a hard fought series to a sold-out game five, the Seahawks were

successful in eliminating last year's league champions, the

Combines.

The opening two games of the finals were hosted by

Straight Shore Beothics. After very intense games, the Seahawks were heading

home with two victories. Game three was equally exciting, but the Beothics were

not able to keep up with the talents of the Seahawks and were sweep in three

consecutive games.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all Members to join me in

congratulating the Central Newfoundland Hockey League for another successful

season and to wish the Lewisporte Seahawks congratulations on winning this

year's championship title.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon. the Member for Fogo Island - Cape Freels.

MR.

BRAGG:

Mr.

Speaker, I have to go on the record and say that Member's statement was just bad

news for my team.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Badger's Quay Lions Club has been around for years

and they continue to impress everyone around them with ongoing acts of kindness

and generosity.

Recently, I was invited to attend one of their

presentations. It involved a young man, Mark Parsons, who, a few years ago, went

for a swim at a local

swimming hole. Little did Mark know, that day would change his life forever. Fun

and laughter turned into a fight for his life. Mark has been confined to a

wheelchair since that day and, as a result, access to outdoor activities would

be limited.

King

Lion, Eric Sturge, heard of Mark's need to put a lift on his wheelchair van. The

Lions met and discussed the needs and decided to help. They started a fundraiser

and even canvassed 25 other lions groups in their four districts.

Mark was

so humbled, he encouraged them to gift the money to someone else. The Lions

would have no part of it. They realized his family had just purchased a new van

and the $3,900 would come in handy.

I thank

the Badger's Quay Lions Club, and all other Lions Clubs, for their continued

commitment to our communities.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This

past Sunday, I had the honour of attending a very special event in my district;

and, no, Mr. Speaker, it wasn't related to St. Patrick's Day, but something much

more moving and important. I attended the Quilts of Valour presentation which

honours and supports injured Canadian Armed Forces members past and present.

Four

members from this province were presented with quilts handmade by residents in

our communities. The presentation of these quilts represents our community's

respect and admiration for those who serviced and continue to serve while

showing our desire to support our injured veterans in any way possible.

The

stories shared relating to their sacrifices and challenges they faced were heart

wrenching, but the stories related to the support they receive from family,

friends, the community, but particularly their fellow vets, was inspiring and

uplifting. Whether we know it or not, Mr. Speaker, we are all members of this

fraternity and have an obligation to thank, honour and support our veterans.

congratulate the recipients, Mr. Leslie “Bud” Churchill, Kevin Dunne, Shamus

O'Reilly, Wade Walsh, and a special thank you to retired veteran Joanne “Gunney”

Power for nominating, organizing, MCing and, most importantly, sharing her story

as to why these four veterans have made a difference in her life.

I ask

all of us to join in congratulating and thanking our Quilts of Valour

recipients.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Placentia West - Bellevue.

MR. BROWNE:

Mr. Speaker, she's done it

again. Olympic Gold Medallist, World Figure Skating Champion, and now a Member

of the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador. Kaetlyn Osmond has consistently and

steadily rose to the occasion, to achieve and to accomplish.

Mr.

Speaker, what is even more remarkable about Kaetlyn's journey than her well

known athletic accomplishments, is her perseverance.

At the

exact moment of her initial rise in skating, she suffered a serious injury, that

to many would have permanently ended their competitive pursuits. But she vowed

to skate again, which makes her worthy of recognition beyond anything else, and

it is this fortitude that inspires so many young athletes across this country to

emulate her passion and poise.

It's for

these reasons last fall that I nominated Kaetlyn to become a recipient of the

Order of Newfoundland and Labrador. I was pleased she was selected, and honoured

when she invited me to join her and her sister, Natasha, brother, Gary, and

grandparents Claudia and Clem at Government House for the investiture by Her

Honour, the Lieutenant Governor, making her the youngest recipient ever.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all hon. Members to join me in congratulating Kaetlyn on making

history once again, and I also ask Members to join me in sending a message to

all of our youth who pursue excellence in their chosen field; don't ever let

anyone tell you that it can't be done.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Winterfest in CBS was a huge success this year. The 11-day event kicked off on

February 15, and took place at various locations throughout Conception Bay

South.

Winterfest has become a tradition in our community. I attended many of the

events this year, and experienced first-hand the strong community spirit. I

would like to extend my congratulations and special thanks to the Winterfest

committee, sponsors, volunteers, as well as the Town of Conception Bay South,

for contributing to the festival's success.

Mr.

Speaker, Winterfest 2019 had activities for all ages and groups. I was so

pleased to have attended many of the events including the Fred Squires and Annie

Parsons Shield Hockey Challenge, as well as the Junior High Challenge. The

annual pancake breakfast was a huge success this year with a record turnout at

the new CBS arena.

This

year, there were some new added activities including a magic show, a Spirit of

Newfoundland dinner show, Stand by your

Nan , a CB Blues hockey game, a

pre-teen dance and many more family outdoor activities.

Mr.

Speaker, I want to add, too, my colleague for Topsail - Paradise also attended

many of those events with me. So we do a lot of things tag team.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all hon. Members to join me in congratulating the Winterfest

committee and the Town of Conception Bay South for hosting the tremendous winter

festival. It was certainly a wonderful 11 days of events for the community, our

region and, indeed, our province.

Thank

you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by

Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HAGGIE:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this

hon. House to acknowledge Epilepsy Awareness Month, and in particular – Purple

Day, which takes place on Tuesday, March 26.

Purple

Day is an international grassroots effort dedicated to increasing awareness

about epilepsy.

Epilepsy

can affect anyone, and according to the World Health Organization is the most

common serious brain disorder, with no age, racial, social class, national or

geographic boundaries. Epilepsy affects over 300,000 Canadians – 10,000 of which

are Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Mr.

Speaker, I would like to take this time to recognize Epilepsy Newfoundland and

Labrador for the wide range of services and programs they provide, and their

continued advocacy work for people living with epilepsy.

I would

also like to acknowledge the 2019 Purple Ambassador, Lisa Pack, a young woman

from Hermitage, who says epilepsy has never and will never own her life.

On March

26, Confederation Building will be lit purple, and I encourage the Members of

this hon. House, as well as the general public, to wear this brilliant colour in

support of people living with epilepsy in our province. It's time to end the

stigma.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker

I thank

the minister for an advance copy of his statement. On behalf of the Official

Opposition, I join with the minister in recognizing March as Epilepsy Awareness

Month, and specifically recognizing Tuesday, March 26, as Purple Day.

Purple

Day was created by Cassidy Megan of Nova Scotia in 2008, with support from the

Canadian Epilepsy Alliance and other epilepsy agencies. It has now grown into a

national awareness effort.

Lisa

Pack of Hermitage has been chosen as the province's 2019 Purple Ambassador. I

thank her for her advocacy efforts, and I encourage all Members to read her

inspirational story on the Epilepsy NL website. After reading Lisa's story, I

believe that we can all learn from her wisdom and grace.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for St. John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I

thank the minister.

Epilepsy

has been such a misunderstood and stigmatized condition. Congratulations to

Epilepsy Newfoundland and Labrador, working in so many ways to fight the stigma,

and they support children and adults living with epilepsy. They are doing great

work, and we all have a responsibility to educate ourselves.

Congratulations to Lisa Pack, the 2019 Purple Ambassador. Lisa's story and

resilience is featured on the Epilepsy Newfoundland and Labrador website, and I

encourage everyone to read it.

Bravo,

Lisa, for the great work.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further

statements by ministers?

The hon.

the Minister of Transportation and Works.

MR. CROCKER:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this

hon. House today to inform colleagues about steps our government has taken to

manage government assets more efficiently, which have led to considerable

savings for taxpayers.

When we

announced The Way Forward in 2016, we

set out to reduce our building footprint by 40,000 square feet. By March 2017,

we had surpassed that goal, saving taxpayers more than $1.6 million a year.

We then

set a new goal to reduce leased space by an additional 10 per cent – or 77,000

square feet. By March 2018, we had also exceeded that goal, Mr. Speaker.

To date,

we have reduced our leased space by more than 103,000 square feet since 2016.

This equates to approximately $3 million a year in savings.

continuing to exceed our goals, we have set our sights higher by committing to

achieve a new total of 130,000-square-foot reduction of leased space by 2020.

addition, government has also set a goal to reduce its light vehicle fleet by 10

per cent. To date, 112 of our 1,100 vehicles have been removed from government's

fleet since April 2018. This is anticipated to lead to approximately $500,000 a

year in annual savings.

Finally,

last month, our government announced a new contract for ferry services on the

South Coast of the island. The total cost of the five contracts saves taxpayers

approximately $2.8 million annually.

These

three actions combined, Mr. Speaker, will save taxpayers approximately $6.3

million a year, every year.

Mr.

Speaker, we realize the need to balance how we deliver services and being

responsible to all taxpayers. The actions we are taking allow our government to

deliver services while we're realizing substantial savings.

We will

continue to find ways to optimize office space, identify vacant or underused

spaces and review our fleet so that we can continue to find ways to deliver

services more efficiently.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the minister for an advance copy of his statement. I'm glad to see the

provincial government is reducing its building footprint in our province but,

sadly, this government seems to have two left feet.

The

minister cites a reduced building footprint, this in spite of the Crown Lands

office moving to Corner Brook while the Howley Building, which is government

owned, stands half empty. In the last red book, they promised $50 million

annually in asset sales. Well, they've fallen well short of that.

As for

the provincial ferries, the South Coast passenger capacity, cargo space, cargo

capability, vessel size have all been slashed. So government isn't showing its

way forward. They are failing forward, Mr. Speaker.

Thank

you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for St. John's East - Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MS. MICHAEL:

I thank the minister for the

advance copy of his statement. Saving money in government is always a good idea

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. MICHAEL:

– but not at the expense of providing services.

You can

say hear, hear again now.

It is

one thing to save money by reducing leased space, but the minister speaks of

saving money on ferry services. The people of South East Bight are not happy

with his savings on their ferry. They say it is smaller and won't be able to

handle rough sea conditions the current ferry can. They rely on the ferry.

Yes,

saving money is always good, but not on the backs of people depending on

government services.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further

statements by ministers?

Oral

Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister, the lives of a number of dedicated pharmacy assistants have been

turned upside down. You stated that the new registration process that you were

enforcing would not mean any present pharmacy assistants would lose their jobs.

Do you

still stand by this statement?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Mr. Speaker, thank you very

much for the question.

The

changes to the regulations about pharmacy assistants and pharmacy technicians

falls solely under the purview of the pharmacy board, which is an independent,

arm's-length agency. They are the ones that make the determination as to what

qualifications are required.

We spent

well over $60,000 to ensure those assistants who wanted to become technicians

could avail of training during the bridging program. That bridging program has

closed and the Pharmacy Board have deemed that program at an end.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

A number

of pharmacy techs who have to rewrite their registration exams are being forced

to go to another province and incur financial hardships to register because the

Pharmacy Board won't allow a rewrite in our province.

Do you

think this is right, and will you lobby the Pharmacy Board to allow rewrites in

our province?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much for this

question.

Again,

Mr. Speaker, I have had extensive discussions with the Pharmacy Board around

their examinations. They are adamant that nine years' lead time is sufficient

and that they are within their rights, enshrined in legislation, as a

self-regulating province.

It is

not the role, nor should it be, of any politician to interfere with clinical

standards. They set them and I am quite happy that they have done their due

diligence. Unfortunately, these people are in a difficult situation and I

acknowledge that. We have provided them with financial help.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

So the

minister is saying it's okay to have a double standard and better services can

be provided in other provinces because the legislative piece of information is

being shared with an agency. You're the minister responsible and it's your

responsibility to ensure we get the best quality health care and the best

opportunities for our people who are providing that health care.

Other

provinces and even other health authorities in this province are finding ways to

continue using pharmacy assistants in the delivery of health care services.

Will you

direct Eastern Health and other RHAs to do the right thing to ensure fairness

and consistency across the province?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much for the

question.

Mr.

Speaker, I take great exception to the gentleman's

preamble about there being a

double standard. There is one standard; it is set by statute by a professional

group called the Pharmacy Board. They are the experts. We have seen all too well

what happens when the experts are removed from making decisions around areas of

professional expertise. I have only to relate to Muskrat Falls, for example,

where the PUB was chopped out of that process and we're still trying to untangle

that mess.

This is

not a double standard. This is within the realm of pharmacists and the pharmacy

board and there it lies, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I take

exception to comparing the lives of dedicated health professionals who were

trained, who have been providing a service and turning around because of a piece

of legislation that would ensure some of these will no longer have jobs in the

health care profession – totally embarrassing here to be even having this

discussion.

Mr.

Speaker, it has been identified that there's a shortage of pharmacy technicians.

Yet, we have a number of pharmacy assistants who have been doing the job

previously and who are now being forced out and replaced with recent graduates

who are being offered $10,000 bursaries.

Is this

the best way to retain our dedicated, long-term health professionals?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker, for the question.

There

was a seven-year introduction to this program and it ran for two years. The

Department of Health and Community Services provided the last tranche of money,

$60,000 to enable those assistants who wish to avail of the bridging program to

take it at no cost to themselves. That program has now come to a close. There

are jobs for those people who wish to remain as pharmacy assistants in some

areas.

The

facts of the case are, Mr. Speaker, this is about standards that are set by a

professional body that is totally independent from government and was enshrined

in legislation set up by the previous PC crowd.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's

convenient for the minister when it's politically advantageous to interfere or

intercede or lobby on behalf of the health professionals, but in this case it's

seems not be an important issue, Mr. Speaker.

Type 1

diabetes is a serious disorder that many Newfoundlander and Labradorians face.

In fact, we have the highest rate of type 1 diabetes in the country and third

highest in the world. We have heard that a 10-year-old child has been denied

replacement of an insulin pump, pending the outcome of a review.

I ask

the minister: Is there a change in policy for insulin pump replacement? Surely,

it cannot be budget time.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Okay, Mr. Speaker, I'm going

to break that down into two parts because there were. The

preamble accuses me of

lobbying and interfering in the regulation of self-regulating bodies. If the

Member opposite there has any evidence at all, I put him to proof of that in

this House. He cannot sit there and make accusations about my name and not

substantiate it. I would almost regard that, Mr. Speaker, as a point of

privilege.

Having

said that, moving on, the issue of type 1 diabetes is important – and again, if

the Member opposite has a constituent who he feels has not has due process and

has an issue with his pump or supplies for it, bring it to me, that's his job,

and I will deal with it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One day,

myself and the minister will have a discussion about Central Health and some of

the issues facing there.

Mr.

Speaker, research shows that complications from type 1 diabetes can include

heart attacks, stroke or kidney failure. I don't have to be a doctor to know

that these are serious health concerns. Compliance with prescribed therapy for

type 1 diabetes is critical to ensure complications are avoided.

I ask

the minister: How many other lives with type 1 diabetes will be denied access to

this life-sustaining device?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

Indeed,

diabetes is one of our most prevalent chronic diseases, and I would draw to the

Member opposite's attention the fact that not only do we have an integrated

chronic disease strategy and plan; we also have now a very active diabetes

registry which is held through the Newfoundland and Labrador Centre for Health

Information. We can identify type 1 diabetics now with a far greater certainty

than we ever could before.

We can

point these youngsters to the pump program. We can monitor whether or not their

management meets best practice guidelines in a way that hasn't been possible

before. We are very conscious of the impact of diabetes on this province, Mr.

Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

And I guess later on I'll

have to ask the minister again: Has there been a change in policy? We still

haven't got that answer.

January, the Child and Youth Advocate released her report into

Chronic Absenteeism in our school system. She reported that at least

days of school a year, with over 25 per cent of the students in grade 12 missing

at least 18 days.

I ask

the minister: What is being done to bring down this number?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank

you to the Member opposite for the question. We've worked very closely with the

Child and Youth Advocate, and certainly we take the recommendations very

seriously.

As you

know, absenteeism can be rather complex. There are many issues that determine

absenteeism. We work with interdepartmental agencies to identify and address

these issues, and we are continuing to work with that. We also reference the

Member to the Education Action Plan, where we've identified Recommendation 29

and 30, where we are going to be working with absenteeism and try to provide the

resources and opportunities so that every child is given an opportunity to get

an education in this province.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One of

the factors cited in the report is inadequate transportation systems.

Will the

minister finally abolish the 1.6-busing rule?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again I

thank the Member opposite for the question. We have had a number of discussions

on that 1.6 kilometre. As a matter of fact, I have challenged the Members

opposite, what do they mean by 1.6? What do they mean by eliminating 1.6? They

don't have the answer. Some of the suggestions to eliminate K to 6, and they

talk about safety, which means then students in grade seven, what message are

you telling them?

We have

provided, and we did something that the Opposition or the PC government never

did, and that was implement a policy. They had it for years and years and didn't

do anything. Last September, we listened to the people and concerns, and we

implemented a courtesy stop within the 1.6. We are now, Mr. Speaker, one of the

few provinces in Canada that has the best policy that's in the country.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Courtesy

stops mean nothing if there are no seats for a child to get on.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Our philosophy and what we

stand for is about safety for the children travelling to and from school, Mr.

Speaker, and we'll continue to do that and keep looking for our blue book policy

on 1.6 busing in the near future.

The

report suggests that 75 per cent of students with chronic absenteeism in grade

six will not finish high school.

What is

your government doing to ensure our children finish high school?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can

tell the Member opposite one of the things we do have that they failed to get,

it's called an Education Action Plan. It's a strategy we put in place. There are

82 recommendations. We went through a Premier's Task Force that identified

issues; 82 recommendations that the Premier has been very, very clear on, that

we're not going to let them sit on a shelf. We are actually implementing them.

As a

matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, in the very short time we've had, we have over 35

that have either been initiated or have been completed.

So, Mr.

Speaker, we are aggressively implementing our Education Action Plan and we are

taking every situation that's dealt with and providing resources, and we are

making a difference. Something that hasn't happened for a long time, Mr.

Speaker.

Thank

you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Can the minister explain why

Canadian history and Canadian geography are being removed from the high school

curriculum in this province?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We have,

in the department's curriculum, a department that reviews all courses and looks

at what courses are being utilized and what's best practice. It's a continual

review of all curriculum that we have – not only geography, not only history –

and we make it applicable to today, not back in to 1990. We're looking at what

would be applicable to today.

continually make changes to the curriculum so that we can implement the best

possible opportunity for students to get the best education they possibly can so

they can integrate into society in a manner that is something that they could

really work on and that can produce results, Mr. Speaker. So we continue to do

that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, it appears that the students will no longer have a choice between

taking history or geography and will now have to take a generic social studies

course.

I ask

the minister: Why has this decision been made to abandon educating children on

our history?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We are

not abandoning our history. We are integrating our history into the curriculum

throughout different approaches that we make to educate our students. It's

certainly not something we're taking away.

As a

matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, we are in fact adding to and we are making

provisions so that our students are given the best possible education they can

get. We are continually looking at how we can improve our curriculum, how we can

improve what we're providing to students so that they can, in fact, Mr. Speaker,

get what we would consider to be a world-class education in this province.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Mr. Speaker, thank you.

We now

know how important consultation is to this government, or at least they say it

is.

Did the

minister consult with teachers, students, parents and educational experts before

implementing these changes?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. HAWKINS:

Mr. Speaker, thank you for

the question.

We do

have within our department professional staff that – we talk to teachers, we

talk to school boards, we talk to – we have been certainly talking within the

professional realm, and that's why we have a curriculum in the department.

We don't

have to have consultation with parents on this. We have a professional staff

that provides that expertise for us when we make decisions on any curriculum

changes that's available, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl North.

MR. LESTER:

Mr. Speaker, this past fall,

government announced a deal with Timberlands International. This deal gives this

particular company access to over 80 per cent of the forest resources on the

Northern Peninsula.

Can the

Minister of TCII provide an update on processing plant construction, road and

bridge placement, and when will the first tree be harvested?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's

very exciting to see, for the first time in a very long time, that there's

actually going to be some investment on the Great Northern Peninsula into the

forest sector by the private sector.

Timberlands International is looking at making an investment and using all their

own money to create jobs on the Great Northern Peninsula. Unlike the former

administration that used public money to – and put at risk taxpayer money that

led to not one piece of investment and no jobs being created and, basically, set

the industry on the Great Northern Peninsula into a significant downturn. It was

poor planning and it led to great disarray for the people of the Great Northern

Peninsula. They certainly suffered under the PC regime.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl North.

MR. LESTER:

Mr. Speaker, we've learned

there has not been one piece of infrastructure developed or not one tree cut as

of yet, or planned to be cut; yet, 80 per cent of the forest resources on the

Northern Peninsula are now tied up for another five years. This has created a

huge amount of stress and concern.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. LESTER:

We've heard from the

residents of the Great Northern Peninsula who are concerned about this

allocation, and it encroaches –

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. LESTER:

– on permits that were

originally intended for local residents, local processing and harvesting.

Is there

any requirement for any of the sawlogs to be processed on the Northern

Peninsula?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

Member opposite should get his facts straight. There are a number of local

contractors that have permits to the forest and they continue to operate. They

also have first right of refusal.

In this

particular agreement, that's a five-year agreement with Timberlands

International or Active Energy, this group, they would have the ability, over

five years, to look at doing sawlogs and other investment when it comes to

biofuels and bioenergy. That's certainly something that's important as we look

to diversify our economy on the Great Northern Peninsula.

We're

looking for business to come to Newfoundland and Labrador. We're also looking

for locals to make investment to attract and grow the economy.

This is

a deal that was done that cost taxpayers no money and can create jobs for the

Great Northern Peninsula and the province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Mount Pearl North.

MR. LESTER:

Mr. Speaker, almost 80 per

cent of the available forest resources have been tied up in this giveaway deal

to Timberlands International. Concerns have been raised that only 25 per cent of

the available sawlogs, estimated to be at 45 per cent, are required to be turned

into valuable timber, creating extra jobs in the area.

How can

the minister justify only requiring 25 per cent, which is below the economic

rate of harvest?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would

say the Great Northern Peninsula currently, right now, has a sawmill in Main

Brook that's operating under capacity. It has no operations in Roddickton. It

has a closed operation that hasn't operated since 2012.

There is

opportunity. One, you can deal with small-diameter wood. You need to have that

ability. One, Kurger was unable to purchase because of the mill closing in

Stephenville and Grand Falls-Windsor. There was an over supply for

small-diameter wood.

This is

why we created a forestry action plan to be able to deal with the small-diameter

wood. Attracting a company that's going to be able to deal with that will allow

for more high-value sawlogs and other production to be created in the forest

industry.

Right

now, we've seen what used to be 400 jobs dwindle down to just a few, Mr.

Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Mount Pearl North.

MR. LESTER:

Will the minister reinforce the requirement that the harvest and reforestation

of the people's forest resource on the Northern Peninsula be overseen by a

public committee similar to that of the Corner Brook Pulp and Paper advisory

committee?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

practice silviculture here in this province. We have very high standards when it

comes to the replacement of our forest. We have certification, ISO standards for

our environmental and harvesting practices, and we must retain that. That is

something that I was very proud, when I was the minister of forestry and

agrifoods, that we achieved that certification and we continue to do so. We work

with the industry, we work with all the partners, because it is important that

we have those standards.

We also

need to look at all of the users of the forests. There are people that are

dealing with it in the outfitting industry, people in tourism, other operators

and other users of the forests. This is a renewable resource and we need to make

sure that we get maximum value from our resources here in this province, and

that's why the Minister of Fisheries and Land Resources launched the forestry

action plan.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl North.

MR. LESTER:

Mr. Speaker, I've read the

release and there is no mention of reforestation or management requirements

after the initial harvest.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. LESTER:

Mr. Speaker, in addition to

the forestry giveaway and tying up the availability of economic activity on the

Northern Peninsula, is this deal exempt from the company having to pay royalties

on the resource?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the Member opposite for interest in the forest industry because that's something

that was dearly lacking when they were in charge of government. When it came to

under their watch, they saw two mills close. They expropriated Abitibi assets

and cost the taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars federally and

provincially. It led to significant consequences.

What

we've done is we've been working with the industry to focus on forestry. We've

had success as a government. The Premier, when it comes to the waiver of

tariffs, when it comes to protecting hundreds and thousands of jobs that are

directly and indirectly located to the forest sector, we have strong parameters.

In this agreement there are measures that must be met to be able to ensure that

jobs are being created on the Great Northern Peninsula and that it's done in a

sustainable way, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Cape St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

The

parliamentary secretary for Municipal Affairs indicated in the media he nor the

department knew what the numbers were, and they did not know where the revenue

from 7,500 residents removed from the waste management would be found.

I ask

the minister: Does he know where the revenue will come from?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal Affairs and Environment.

MR. LETTO:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

understand that the parliamentary secretary did a fine job yesterday.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. LETTO:

Mr. Speaker, we have asked

the Eastern Regional Service Board for a plan, now that they're going to

implement the directive that we've given them, and they have to come back to us

on April 1.

We await

that plan. They're alleging that it's $750,000.

MR. K. PARSONS:

No (inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. LETTO:

I will inform the hon. Member

that the $750,000 would come out of an $11-million budget.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cape

St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Thank you very much.

As we

know, the Minister of Municipal Affairs likes to consult. Who did you consult

with before you made these changes to the waste management?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal Affairs and Environment.

MR. LETTO:

Mr. Speaker, when I became

minister, the first group I met with was the Eastern Regional Service Board. The

second group was the cabin owners. We met on several occasions after that to try

to come to an agreement on how we were going to deal with the cabin owners.

Mr.

Speaker, I'm going to table this document, so I'm going to read it first.

Talking about the regional service board and what they wanted to do, back on

November 28, there was a notice of motion brought forward in the future to cease

the provision of services, including curbside waste, recycling collection and

fire and emergency services on all roads and unincorporated areas not maintained

by the provincial government, unless explicitly instructed otherwise by

government. Should an unincorporated area want to avail of service from the

ERSB, they must form a local service district and then make a formal request to

the board.

That's

exactly what we have, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon.

the Member for Cape St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

Communities, towns and local service districts have varying concerns with the

increased cost of waste management and the tipping fees at Robin Hood Bay.

Will the

towns and communities have to make up the shortfall?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal Affairs and Environment.

MR. LETTO:

Mr. Speaker, I'm sure they

have a copy of the letter that I sent to the Eastern Regional Service Board. In

that letter, along with the directive on the unserviced roads, was that no fee

increases would be levied on the existing waste management patrons.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, we are aware that as a result of the new vessel being unable to service

the Straits of Labrador region, the icebreaker

Henry Larsen has delivered 60 pallets of supplies to Labrador

Straits, with a further 60 to be delivered in the next day or so.

Minister, my question is: Do you think this new $140-million ferry decision is

the right one or was it a very flawed decision?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Transportation and Works.

MR. CROCKER:

Mr. Speaker, as I've said

quite clearly in this House, we're experiencing ice conditions we haven't seen

in over 30 years. If you think about the service, we had an 18,000-horsepower

icebreaker that got stuck last week. At one point last week, down around the

Corner Brook area, we needed to use two icebreakers.

Mr.

Speaker, I would encourage the Member opposite to go onto Environment Canada and

look at the current ice conditions that we're facing. When we went out with the

RFP – our RFP was built on a previous RFP that the previous administration had

put together. Now, we improved it and we improved it a lot because we asked for

IA ice class. We asked for certain horsepower. We asked for a vessel that would

was the newer – we have a seven-year-old vessel, Mr. Speaker, that previously

operated I think in the (inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Thank

you.

The time

has expired.

The hon.

the Member for Conception Bay South for a quick question, please.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Minister, you have a vessel that's not capable of doing the crossing.

So,

Minister, the cost of emergency delivery, will this be deducted from the current

contract which is over and above the $1 million per month cost to taxpayers –

will this be deducted from that or is it extra?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Parliamentary

Secretary to the Premier for a very quick response, please.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. EDMUNDS:

Mr. Speaker, let's set the

record straight here. The motor the vessel,

Qajaq , has four engines. She has two

azipods, with dual thrust propellers on each pod. She's got a combined thrust of

7,500 horsepower.

Mr.

Speaker, that's not the problem. The problem is why a top-class Canadian

icebreaker with 18,000 horsepower, 11,500 more than the

Qajaq , 2,000 more than famous

Henry Larsen cannot get across the Straits. That's the question, Mr.

Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's East - Quidi Vidi.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I ask

for order.

The hon.

the Member for St. John's East - Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

previous questions on Muskrat Falls power reliability, the Minister of Natural

Resources deferred to the PUB instead of giving answers. The minister knows, or

ought to know, that the PUB is not the manager of Nalcor, her government is.

I ask

the minister, will she explain to the House what Nalcor's plans are to cope with

an extended outage on the Labrador-Island Transmission Link.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources

MS. COADY:

Mr. Speaker, it is confusing.

On one hand, they want the Public Utilities Board involved in Muskrat Falls and,

on the other hand, they do not want it involved in Muskrat Falls.

Mr.

Speaker, Newfoundland Hydro has put a

Reliability and Resource Adequacy Study to the Public Utilities Board. The

Public Utilities Board, who are experts in their field, are very knowledgeable,

will review the Reliability and Resource

Adequacy Study to determine if there's anything further required.

I will

say to the Member opposite, she's relying on a 2011 study, a 2011 report and

things have changed since 2011. There have been changes. The load forecasts have

changed; the availability of power from Nova Scotia has changed. There have been

lots of changes, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for St. John's East - Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

Yes,

there have been changes and there are changes to Nalcor. Nalcor does have a

backup plan for coping with an extended outage over the Labrador-Island link.

Will she tell this House what it is?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

Newfoundland Hydro has put their plan before the Public Utilities Board, Mr.

Speaker. I can say to the Member opposite there's curtailment available from

various large – Kruger, for example, large companies. We have curtailment

possibilities. We have load forecast changes; load forecast has been lower. We

have availability of power from Nova Scotia.

Mr.

Speaker, all those things are in the reliability report and is before the Public

Utilities Board, which I will say is an independent quasi-judicial body. I

believe, and I believe the Member opposite believes, that the Public Utilities

Board are experts in this field.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for St. John's East - Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

She

forgot the rolling blackouts.

Mr.

Speaker, the Consumer Advocate says back-up power from Nova Scotia is unreliable

and the province may have to install gas turbines at Holyrood to deal with the

prolonged failure of the Labrador-Island Transmission Link to the tune of

perhaps $500 million, plus annual fuel costs.

I ask

the minister: Will these extra capital and operating costs for turbines be

factored in to her government's much anticipated rate mitigation plan?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I don't

think there's a person in Newfoundland and Labrador who cannot forget blackouts,

because we had them under the previous administration in 2014.

Newfoundland Hydro has put a tremendous amount of money into upgrading its

systems because of those circumstances, Mr. Speaker. I will say, the Public

Utilities Board has required a lot of investment by Newfoundland Hydro to ensure

that that doesn't happen again.

The

reliability and resource adequacy study does speak to what should happen if, in

the unforeseen circumstance, the Labrador-Island Link goes down. If that is not

sufficient, I'm sure the Public Utilities Board will make requirements of

Newfoundland Hydro to ensure their reliability.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for St. John's East - Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In the

event of a failure of the transmission line from Muskrat Falls, government

claims Nalcor can access up to 100 megawatts of power from Emera, but a break in

the line would mean Emera wouldn't be getting the 177 megawatts it is entitled

to receive as payment for the Maritime Link.

I ask

the minister: What indication does she have that in the event of losing 177

megawatts of power in a Muskrat Falls line break, Emera would have 100 megawatts

to spare for us?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources for a quick response, please.

MS. COADY:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I've

already gone through that the Public Utilities Board is reviewing this very

issue, and they are the experts. They are quasi-judicial. They are independent.

They will have their eyes on this.

I will

tell the Member opposite, we do have large industrial customers that are willing

to curtail – that is under agreement. Mr. Speaker, the load forecast has changed

since 2011. We do currently today, and in the last few months, been able to take

50 to 100 megawatts from Nova Scotia.

Mr.

Speaker, all of these things make up that reliability study.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you very much.

The time

for Oral Questions has ended.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling

of Documents.

Tabling of

Documents

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal Affairs and Environment.

MR. LETTO:

Mr. Speaker, thank you.

To set

the record straight, I want to table the minutes of the board of directors

meeting of the Eastern Regional Service Board for November 28, 2018; and, I

further want to table the minutes of the board of directors meeting of January

30, 2019.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you very much.

Further

tabling of documents?

accordance with

section 19(5)(

a) of the

House of Assembly Accountability, Integrity and Administration Act , I hereby

table the minutes of the House of Assembly Management Commission meetings held

on December 19, 2018 and January 23, 2019.

Thank

you.

Further

tabling of documents?

Notices

of Motion.

Answers

to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Humber - Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

again today about the hospital in Corner Brook.

WHEREAS

the successful proponents of the new hospital in Corner Brook are scheduled to

be announced in the spring with construction anticipated to begin in the fall,

and it is estimated to be a four-year construction period, and there are

experienced local tradespeople and labourers in the area;

THEREFORE we, the undersigned, petition the hon. House of Assembly as follows:

To urge

the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to encourage companies that are

awarded the contracts for the new hospital to hire local tradespeople and

labourers, at no extra cost to the taxpayers, so that they can work in their own

area, support the local economy and be able to return to their homes and their

families every evening.

Mr.

Speaker, it was good news yesterday when the Minister of Transportation and

Works said that this will go ahead this fall. That is great news. As I said when

I put it out there in the beginning, that it was the word that was put out and I

was asked to bring it up, which I did, and the minister confirmed that

construction will be starting this fall. I'm very glad of that, and I know the

people in Corner Brook and the surrounding area and all Western Newfoundland are

very proud of it.

Mr.

Speaker, again, I got to bring up and encourage the government to hire local

workers. I know last year there was a bit of a misstep with some people that I

was dealing with, who assured me there would be local workers working, which I

assumed there were going to be. When it happened, there were very few local

workers actually hired.

So,

again, I'm raising this on behalf of all the workers out in Western

Newfoundland, the Port au Port area, down in Baie Verte, the Northern Peninsula,

and the Corner Brook area, that they should be encouraged. Mr. Speaker, there

are always ways to encourage local workers, we know that, and we're doing that

down in the Burin Peninsula now. You don't hear much about it because we're

encouraging local workers to be hired down in that area now. This is nothing

that's unusual, but for some reason – and I don't want to cast any doubt on

anybody, but for some reason there's no encouragement for the local workers out

in the Corner Brook area.

I ask

the minister to continue the work he's doing. The Minister of Transportation and

Works to continue the work he's doing with the local contractors with

Construction NL – Trades NL, sorry, Trades NL – to continue the work he's doing,

because I know he's an advocate of this.

I trust,

Mr. Speaker, that at the end there will be local workers hired on the hospital

in Corner Brook, and I look forward – like I said before to the minister, if you

need any help, I have a good rapport with a lot of the unions, a lot of local

people in the area, that I'd be willing to step in.

So I say

we can work together, Minister, to get this done, get this resolved because it

would be great for the workers in Western Newfoundland.

Thank

you.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Minister of Transportation and Works for a response, please.

MR. CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I thank

the hon. Member for the petition.

Mr.

Speaker, yesterday, when I was responding to a similar petition, I mentioned

some of our large-scale infrastructure projects we're doing in the province and

how they benefit not only local workers but local companies as well.

Just as

a point in case here, Mr. Speaker, I had a conversation quite recently with the

contractor who's actually going to be building the new school in Coley's Point.

That conversation centred around things like the local companies that they will

be using for the construction of that new school in Coley's Point.

This is

a project that we're hoping to see get underway, actually, in the coming days.

The people of that area of the province, the Bay Robert's area, have waited a

long time for a new school. I can tell them today, it's a project that they're

going to see happen, not in the coming months anymore, Mr. Speaker, but in the

coming days.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. CROCKER:

Mr. Speaker, we have lots of

contracts on the go for smaller-scale construction projects, whether it's in

Paradise, whether it's in Bay Roberts.

Mr.

Speaker, in my own District of Carbonear, we have a great project happening out

in Carbonear general hospital –

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you, Sir.

Further

petitions?

The hon.

the Member for St. John's East - Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

The

background to this petition is as follows:

There

have been numerous concerns raised by family members of seniors in long-term

care throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, particularly those suffering with

dementia, Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive debilitating conditions,

whereby loved ones have experienced injuries, have not been bathed regularly,

not received proper nutrition and/or have been left lying in their own waste for

extended periods of time. We believe this is directly related to government's

failure to ensure adequate staffing at those facilities.

THEREFORE we petition the hon. House of Assembly to

urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to instate legislation which

includes the mandatory establishment of an adequate ratio of one staff to three

persons in long-term care and all other applicable regional health facilities

housing persons with dementia, Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive

debilitating conditions in order to ensure appropriate safety, protection from

injuries, proper hygiene care and all other required care. This law would

include the creation of a specific job position in these facilities for

monitoring and intervention as required to ensure the safety of patients.

I present this petition presented to me by people from

St. Stephen's, Peter's River, St. Vincent's, Hare Bay, from a variety of areas

in St. John's, Paradise and Mount Pearl. Mr. Speaker, as a Member of the House

of Assembly and as critic, when a petition is presented to me, I present it, not

as an individual but on behalf of the people who are writing. I ask the House to

accept this petition in that spirt of the people who have signed the petition.

Mr. Speaker, I won't go into the details of what people

are going through, that's in the pray itself, but I think it's important to

realize that the model of large facilities like Pleasant View Towers, facilities

like that are now passé, yet here we are in the present still creating large

facilities like that. We have a lot of other models of care that could improve

quality of life with more home-like settings.

We have them, for example, the Butterfly Home Project

in Ontario. There's also wonderful work going on in the UK called Dementia Care

Matters. In the USA, which can't match in health care, however, they have a

wonderful project called Green House Project. In these situations, staffing

ratios meet the needs of the people. People are in a home-like setting and they

are getting the personal care that this petition is calling for. I ask the

minister to look beyond and look at other models.

Thank you.

MR.

SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services

for a response, please.

MR.

HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I acknowledge the Member's comments when she said she's

bringing this forth on behalf of others. I know she's probably more familiar

with the intimacies of health care than some of the people, simply by the virtue

of experience. I think it's fair to point out, however, that long-term care in

this province is for those people for whom care at home is impractical or unsafe

and they require 24-hour care.

I think in the same spirit of offering a different

narrative, I would like to point out that as recently as yesterday, Western

Health and Central Health

each won national awards for the standard of care of the frail elderly, which is

somewhat at odds with some of the assumptions behind the comments of the

petition.

The

other piece is that whilst these institutions, as she refers to them, are large

they are what's called podded into families of small groups of individuals, in

clusters of less than a dozen, Mr. Speaker. So, there is a family environment.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further

petitions?

The hon.

the Member for Ferryland.

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

today to present a petition on behalf of the constituents in my area – I

certainly spoke to this before – related to the Witless Bay Line, Route 13, a

significant piece of infrastructure, certainly a main piece of infrastructure

between the Trans-Canada Highway and Route 10 on the Southern Shore.

I call

on the current government to upgrade and perform immediate maintenance. This

time of year, with the thawing and freezing, there are significant issues with

regard to potholes, and to do immediate repairs to this and a long-term look at

upgrades to the piece of highway which is so significant for traffic.

We have

a lot of people that work on the other side, on the Trans-Canada in terms of

significant industrial sites, other occupations going back and forth across that

piece of infrastructure, certainly for the tourism sector as well and the amount

of people who travel that.

Now, in

previous years, we have invested a little over $1.5 million. There were a couple

of sections done. We've looked, over the past number of years, to complete that

and have further sections done, recognizing you can't do it all in the one time

but certainly do various portions and upgrades.

I know

the minister, I had discussion with him, he actually viewed it, I think, himself

a while back and did indicate it to me they were going to look at it at some

point to get the upgrades. But it's not in the Roads Program. I've tried to get

a rating for the particular road and where it would fall to, comparatively, with

other pieces of infrastructure and where it stands in the priority. There are

qualifiers in that evaluation related to health and safety, need, economics and

those types of things.

So, I

certainly call on the minister to take an immediate look at the maintenance

required and a long-term look at this season to get some work done on that very

significant piece of infrastructure that connects Route 10 with the Trans-Canada

Highway.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Minister of Transportation and Works for a response, please.

MR. CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I thank

the hon. Member for the petition. Mr. Speaker, we do understand the significance

of this piece of highway and I can let the Member opposite know that we will be,

very shortly, putting an application forward to the federal government under the

trade and transportation fund that will actually include this piece of

infrastructure.

realize that this piece of infrastructure will actually play a role in the

province's offshore future if you look at the developments in the Witless and

Bay Bulls area. So, Mr. Speaker, we see an opportunity with this federal

government fund, trade and transportation, to actually take this

section of road

and actually include it in that proposal to the federal government. So it is a

piece of road that we will certainly be addressing in the near future through an

application to Ottawa.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you very much.

The hon.

the Member for Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

following petition I present is regarding the Foxtrap Access Road in CBS, which

is a vital link to the TCH and the Peacekeepers Way, as well as being a heavily

populated area. This road is in need of immediate repairs. It needs asphalt

resurfacing, as well as shoulder repairs. This road is listed in resurfacing for

2023 in the five-year Roads Program, but it's not soon enough and it needs

immediate attention.

THEREFORE we petition the House of Assembly to call upon government to provide

immediate repairs to the Foxtrap Access Road.

As I've

stated, Mr. Speaker, and I've presented this petition several times in the

House, I have a lot of them from residents in the area and it's a very important

road. It's sandwiched between Peacekeepers and Route 60, which Peacekeepers is

the second busiest, Route 60 is the fifth busiest in the province, so we

estimate the traffic – I don't know if anyone actually does a traffic count, but

I hear on a day-to-day basis about this road and it is in bad shape. The simple

fact of the matter, it's a vital link.

I spoke

to the minister about this. There has been a lot of good work done in my area

over the last year, based on, I guess, the population. It is the second-largest

municipality and the roads get a lot of use. This tied to the Peacekeepers Way,

the TCH, two high schools in there, and the road is a heavily populated road, a

lot of off-roads.

I just

want to reiterate to the minister the importance that I feel as the Member and

the residents feel that this road needs immediate attention. We understand, four

years' time, it's on the list, but four years' time is a long time with the

amount of traffic in over that road and its current situation, a lot of

potholes, a lot of cross-cuts, no shoulders in certain areas. It's quite

dangerous. Vehicles are cutting away from where there's no shoulder into the

other lane. It poses a serious safety risk.

With two

high schools in there alone, children walking the roads, it's a busy area, and I

call upon the minister – like I said, we've spoken, and I encourage him to give

this some serious attention in moving it up on the list as it requires immediate

attention now.

Thank

you very much.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

The hon.

the Minister of Transportation and Works for a response, please.

MR. CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

When you

think about our Roads Plan and the success we've had with our Roads Plan through

early tendering, early starts, we've seen a way that we've been able to reinvest

in roads. The Member opposite talks about how – the specific project that he's

referring to today is the Foxtrap Access Road. That is a project that's

projected out, I think, four years.

But one

of the things that we've done since bringing in our five-year Roads Plan is

quite often, due to early tendering and early starts, if we're able to achieve

savings through that early part of the construction season, we then go forward

and look for projects that are emerging, projects similar to the one the Member

opposite is referring to.

So one

of the things we've done through the great success of our five-year Roads Plan

is having the ability to actually do work later in the season outside of the

current year's Roads Plan into outer years.

Mr.

Speaker, this is certainly a project that we realize the value of, and it's

certainly something that we will continue to monitor.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Further

petitions?

The hon.

the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands.

MR. LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There

have been numerous concerns raised by family members of seniors in long-term

care throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, particularly those suffering with

dementia, Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive debilitating conditions,

whereby loved ones have experienced injuries, have not been bathed regularly,

not received proper nutrition and/or have been left lying in their own waste for

extended periods of time. We believe this is directly related to the

government's failure to ensure adequate staffing at those facilities.

THEREFORE we petition the House of Assembly as follows:

To urge

the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to instate legislation which

includes the mandatory establishment of an adequate ratio of one staff to three

residents in long-term care and all other applicable regional health facilities

housing persons with dementia, Alzheimer's disease and other cognitive

debilitating conditions in order to ensure appropriate safety, protection from

injuries, proper hygiene care and all other required care. This law would

include the creation of a specific job position in these facilities for

monitoring, intervention as required to ensure the safety of patients.

Mr.

Speaker, today I am presenting petitions on behalf of people in my late mother's

neck of the woods, actually: Centreville, Valleyfield, Wareham, Trinity, Pool's

Island and so on. We have a couple of people from Gander as well.

Mr.

Speaker, again, we present this petition on behalf of the group, Advocates for

Senior Citizen's Rights, and their thousands of members that they do have. I

recognize that the Member for St. John's East - Quidi Vidi also presented a

petition on this earlier, and I do acknowledge the minister's response to it.

I would

say, Mr. Speaker, in reference to what the minister was saying, there are

certainly – I understand that staff are doing the best they can; nobody is

questioning that. I think it's great that they received some awards in a couple

of the health authorities for certain aspects of work they've done; nobody is

disputing it either.

But this

is about specific circumstances that people – if you go into their Facebook

group, the website they have set up, Advocates for Senior Citizen's Rights,

you'll see individual stories of situations where someone who has loved ones

with dementia or Alzheimer's disease, and to go into the facility and find the

food that was laid out for breakfast still there on the side of the bed on a

table because nobody bothered to feed that person, or wasn't able, or they were

busy or whatever the case might be, situations of loved ones lying in their own

waste for extended periods of time and so on.

This is

our parents, our grandparents we're talking about. It's important that we take

care of our seniors, and that's all they're asking.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Deputy

Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. COADY:

Thank you very much.

Mr.

Speaker, I call from the Order Paper, Order 7, Bill 57.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Deputy

Government House Leader.

MS. COADY:

No.

MR. SPEAKER:

Oh, I'm sorry.

The hon.

the Minister of Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I move,

seconded by the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port, that

An Act to Amend the

Registered Nurses Act, 2008, Bill 57, be now read a second time.

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded that

Bill 57,

An Act to Amend the Registered Nurses Act, 2008, be now read a second

time.

Motion,

second reading of a bill, “An Act To Amend The Registered Nurses Act, 2008.”

(Bill 57)

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Health and Community Services.

MR. HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

It's my

pleasure to rise in this hon. House today to introduce Bill 57, entitled, as

we've just said,

An Act to Amend the Registered Nurses Act, 2008.

The

Registered Nurses Act, 2008 regulates

the practice of nursing in the province. The Association of Registered Nurses in

Newfoundland and Labrador is the regulatory body created under this act and is

responsible for acting in the interest of the public. It does this by looking,

promoting and advancing the ethical and professional standards of the nursing

profession, and also promoting proficiency and competence in the nursing

profession.

The

association's mandate is to ensure that registered nurses who provide care and

services to the people of the province are qualified, and that they provide

those services in accordance with professional and ethical standards applicable

to the practice of nursing.

Mr.

Speaker, Bill 57 proposes to amend the RN Act in a number of ways; some major,

some minor. It removes the term association from the name of the Association of

Registered Nurses of Newfoundland and Labrador to better reflect its public

protection mandate. It removes the requirement to have a legislated standards

committee to approve a nurse practitioner scope of practice; and, finally, it

makes clarifications around the quality assurance process. And I'll go into each

of these now in a little bit more detail.

The most

significant amendment, obviously, and most noticeable is the change in the name.

The change proposed in the act is to change Association of Registered Nurses of

Newfoundland and Labrador to the College of Registered Nurses of Newfoundland

and Labrador. The association has requested that its name be changed to a

College of Registered Nurses to avoid confusion as to the nature of its

statutory mandate, particularly as it pertains to the role of other associations

and organizations.

The

ARNNL have advised that the term association in the formal title of a regulatory

authority has led to confusion, particularly amongst the public, as the term

association is more often understood to mean an organization that's solely

responsible for advocating for its membership. As I laid out at the beginning,

the act actually states the mandate is to advocate on behalf of the interests of

the public.

The

ARNNL has also advised that it's often confused with the other nursing

association, which is the Registered Nurses' Union of Newfoundland and Labrador.

So a change to the ARNNL name would clearly reflect its distinct role from the

Nurses' Union and would immediately, in the minds of all who saw it, identify

this body as the regulatory authority.

The

association has also advised that the name causes confusion amongst its own

members. It is to attract awareness and understanding about its organization

using both public and member surveys. These have shown that the results

demonstrate that while the public has a general awareness of the ARNNL, there is

a lack of understanding of its mandate with respect to regulating registered

nurses, rather than a role as an advocacy group for the nursing profession or as

a union. Further, a percentage of members themselves believe that the role of

the ARNNL is actually to protect nurses rather than the public.

Change

recommended in the statute amendment in the name of the ARNNL is consistent with

the names of the vast majority of health professional statutes currently in this

province. Of 23 self-regulating health professions, there are only two

regulatory authorities using the word association in their name. There's the

Association of Registered Nurses of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the

Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Social Workers.

Mr.

Speaker, the objects of the ARNNL are set out in

section 4 of the act and its

public protection mandate will not change as a result of this amendment, Bill

57. Whilst the change in the ARNNL's name is of great significance, Mr. Speaker,

the other important amendment to Bill 57 is around the removal of the nurse

practitioner standards committee, and I will elaborate a little bit more on that

in case people feel that they're losing something by this.

A bit of

history: Back in the early implementation of the nurse practitioner role in the

province's health care – this goes back now to the late 1990s and early 2000s –

the practice of nurse practitioners was in its infancy; and so, as such,

legislation and authority for oversight was very prescriptive, and it was that

way in order for the ARNNL to meet its public protection mandate. This was new

ground. In actual fact, I think it's worthwhile stating at this point, in terms

of nurse practitioners in their role and their utility and employment within the

health care system, this province leads the way.

If you

go to federal, provincial and territorial health ministers meetings, we are the

jurisdiction that others come to when asking about issues concerned with nurse

practitioners. From Prince Edward Island, which asked me at their last meeting,

how on earth do you get nurse practitioners on the Island; to Manitoba, where

they actually have the same number of nurse practitioners as we do, but for a

population and geography – or, certainly, the population is considerably bigger

than us. So I think it's worth highlighting that we, as a province, blaze this

particular trail, and at that point prescriptive legislation was deemed a

prudent measure.

This,

however, still carries on today. So, as such, the RN Act currently requires the

association to appoint a standards committee consisting, among others, of a

representative of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Newfoundland and

Labrador, and a representative of the Newfoundland and Labrador Pharmacy Board.

There is also a mix of other members chosen by the ARNNL.

This

committee, the standards committee, is mandated to determine a scope of

practice, such as the forms of energy that a nurse practitioner may prescribe.

By which I mean heat therapy, ultrasound, that kind of thing, the laboratory or

other tests they may order, the drugs that may be prescribed, and the

circumstances under which those particular drugs may be prescribed to.

The RN

Act stipulates that decisions of this practice standards committee shall be made

by the majority. However, the kicker in the tail, as it were, was that

representatives from the College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Pharmacy

Board must actually agree with a majority of vote in order for it to become a

decision of the committee. This essentially gives those representatives a veto

over changes to a nurse practitioner's scope of practice.

Since

the introduction of this committee structure, the education requirements and the

scope of practice of nurse practitioners have evolved and are much better

understood now than they were even 10 years ago, and certainly at the time of

the inception of the original legislation.

Nurse

practitioners in the province are now required to complete graduate level

education, write a national examination and they become an established and

important part of the health care teams in the delivery of health care services

throughout the province. You would have heard me on many occasions rise to

comment on their value and the contribution that they make in all sorts of

arenas, and more lately through the Towards Recovery: Mental Health and

Addictions Plan, as we were fortunate enough to have some of the first tranche

of nurse practitioners complete the Suboxone methadone prescribing courses to

enable better access for people with substance use issues.

Mr.

Speaker, Bill 57, this amendment removes the committee requirement in

legislation; however, it, of itself doesn't purport to nor is it intended to

make any change to a nurse practitioner's scope of practice through this

amendment. The nurse practitioner's scope of practice is well established in the

current education programs and training. Any issues related to nurse

practitioners' practicing outside this scope of practice can be adequately

addressed by the ARNNL or the college when this legislation passes in accordance

with its authority under existing legislation

Both the

College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Pharmacy

Board have advised themselves they no longer see a need for a legislative

standards committee which gives them decision-making authority or veto over a

nurse practitioner's scope of practice. So, essentially, nobody on the committee

wants it. While ARNNL may still decide to maintain a committee in a consultative

and advisory capacity, the committee would no longer be established in

legislation nor would it have any decision-making authority as such.

Mr.

Speaker, it has been the position of our government that the residents of our

province should be able to receive health care services from the right health

care professional at the right time. This is an essential prerequisite to the

primary health care model. To support this, where legislative requirements are

impeding a health care professional's ability to practice to their full scope of

practice, we need to take steps to address these impediments, and Bill 57 does

that.

Moving

on to the other amendments in the bill; the other one with a significant impact

on the ARNNL's ability to deliver its objects and mandate – again, a little bit

of history. In December of 2014, the RN Act was amended to establish a quality

assurance provision. The amendments in 2014, which are on the statute books,

require the association to establish a quality assurance program which will

enable it to address practice issues before they become more serious matters

requiring disciplinary intervention. While the quality assurance provisions have

received Royal Assent, they have not yet come into force.

The RN

Act currently contains provisions which establish a disciplinary process to be

followed where it is alleged that a registered nurse has engaged in professional

misconduct or conduct deserving of sanction, and that is common to pretty well

every other self-regulating profession. This process to resolve an allegation of

professional misconduct by the director, it has several mechanisms. It can

involve a settlement by the director of Professional Conduct Review, it can

involve a referral to the Complaints Authorization Committee to enter into an

investigation and, following which, that committee then could make an

adjudication tribunal recommendation to set up a hearing.

So the

act sets out a number of sanctions which can be imposed on a registered nurse

who has been found to have engaged in conduct undeserving of a nurse. They

include restrictions on the ability to practice, or even suspension or removal

of a licence. As you can appreciate, allegations of conduct deserving of

sanction are very serious issues and they are properly dealt with through a

disciplinary process.

The

problem existed in 2014, was a quality assurance regime. The aims of that would

allow the association to engage with a registered nurse to address concerns

about that individual's practice before it gets to the point where the big guns

and the big stick come out and they end up being sanctioned.

While

the ARNNL has been working diligently to develop such policies and to put

processes in place to make it ready for quality assurance provisions to come

into force, it discovered in the process of doing this, issues with the adoption

of the provisions in the 2014 amendment as they stood. The principle issue was

the authority to attempt to resolve issues in the context of a quality assurance

process, i.e. we want to educate you, we want to work with you and help you be

the better nurse, the better nurse practitioner, it didn't exist. The only

option the ARNNL had, if they identified a quality assurance issue, was to go

down a disciplinary route, and that doesn't serve anybody's interest. It

overuses a disciplinary process and basically stalls the whole principle of

quality assurance, which is around much less about attributing blame and fault,

and far much more around education and moving towards a better quality.

So, we

felt if it's appropriate for the ARNNL to attempt to resolve allegations of

conduct deserving of sanction in a disciplinary context, it also makes sense

that they should have some authority along the same lines to deal with concerns

that don't meet a disciplinary threshold, and that's what these amendments are

intended to provide. So because of that, they have requested, and we have put in

the amendments, a provision that will allow it to fully carry out its quality

assurance mandate. Without that amendment, the process of handling quality

assurance concerns is going to be way more complicated, and ultimately not serve

the best interests of the public, for whom it is set up to protect.

I am

advised that the amendment in Bill 57 that deals with quality assurance is in

keeping with the original intent of the amendment in 2014, so it's not contrary

to the spirit of either the 2008 act or as amended in 2014. Once this amendment

is made, I'm also advised that the ARNNL is ready to have the quality assurance

provisions proclaimed into force. So everything is ready, except we have this

barrier baked into the 2014 amendment, which we need to deal with, with Bill 57.

So, Mr.

Speaker, this clarification and the proclamation of the quality assurance

provisions will grant the ARNNL, or the College of Registered Nurses of

Newfoundland and Labrador an additional tool to address concerns early, rather

than to wait until they become more serious. It will enable the association to

fulfill its statutory mandate by ensuring that registered nurses in the province

continue to provide the highest level of care to the patients they serve, and it

does this by allowing the association to deal with concerns way earlier, before

they become serious enough to be conduct deserving of a sanction, which then

goes down a separate disciplinary process.

Finally,

Mr. Speaker, I wish to highlight that Bill 57 will actually come into force in

September, on September 1 of this year. The delay in proclamation contained in

the bill is at the request of the association and it's done to allow them

sufficient time to update their communication promotional materials as well as

signage to reflect the change to its name.

This is

essentially, potentially, a rebranding exercise for what will become the

college, the regulators. It's a huge opportunity for them to go to their

membership and the public and clear up some of these dilemmas that exist in the

minds of the people of the province, as well as their own members that I

referenced in my

preamble earlier on.

There

are currently 6,400 registered nurses practising in the province and about 170

nurse practitioners. As I say, the same number as in Manitoba pretty well. They

practise within our acute health care centres, they work with children and

seniors and they are a vital part of our overall health care system. They are

becoming more increasingly valuable as we roll out our hub-and-spoke model

Towards Recovery and mental health and

addictions.

The aim

of Bill 57, the amended act, is to support the registered nurses that continue

to work hard, to continue to provide that excellent quality of care to the

residents of our province. It will assist the association in fulfilling its

mandate by continuing to ensure that registered nurses are qualified and

competent to provide that care and services and to provide early intervention

opportunities under a quality assurance mechanism rather than waiting for the

big stick and the boot, as it were, if they get that bad.

Officials in my department have worked very closely with the association, and I

acknowledge the presence of a couple of their executives in the gallery here

today. We've worked very closely with the association regarding these amendments

to ensure that what we have on paper here meets their needs. We really look

forward to this opportunity to work together with a new College of Registered

Nurses of Newfoundland and Labrador to help what we all have, which is a desire

to have a high-quality system, high-quality providers and to protect the public

and regulate the practice.

I'm not

going to use my full time, Mr. Speaker, much as my colleagues will be sad to

hear that I know; they love to hear me read.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

MR. HAGGIE:

Don't worry guys; I'll give

you your chance.

Basically, I'm just going to round off with one simple request: I would ask all

Members of this hon. House to support this bill. It's a major landmark for the

nursing profession.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (Warr):

Thank you.

The hon.

the Member for Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It's

indeed an opportunity and an honour for me to stand and talk to the amendments

to Bill 57. I will note, the minister had be at consultation. Sometimes we

banter back and forth here about changes to legislation and sometimes it's

conversing with the stakeholders – is it beneficial?

In some

cases, it doesn't take place and sometimes we banter back and forth about the

conversations and the inclusion not taking place, but I understand from the

association and from the minister's outlining it that this conversation has

taken place. The changes, the amendments that are being made to the legislation

are reflective of the changing in standards, the changing in operations, the

changes in moving things to another level and putting us on an equal standard,

professionally, and from operational point of view as other jurisdictions. So we

welcome that.

As the

minister said, he's asking for all his colleagues to support this. Well, I'll

start the way I normally would finish by saying we will be supporting this piece

of legislative change, but I do still want to talk to the importance of this.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

While it may seem on the

surface, in some cases, that it's minor changes, it's never a minor change when

you're changing the image of an organization, the ability for the organization

to have particular increase in standards and its operational procedures that

obviously improve its dialogue, its image in the community, its representation

of its memberships and its ability to work with other partners to ensure that

they improve the service they provide.

When we

talk about, in this case, the Association of Registered Nurses and what that

means and what well over 6,500 professionals provide to the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador, no change is insignificant and no change is

considered what people sometimes would say it's just housekeeping. It has a

major impact because the influence and the responsibility and what they add to

our health care service in Newfoundland and Labrador is immeasurable. So

anything that is offered, any piece of legislation, any amendment, any change in

policy or any clarification of the standards, the processes, the organization's

operational policies are an improvement for a number of reasons.

One, the

membership have a clear understanding of how they're going to provide their

services and their responsibilities. It gives the general public a better

understanding of what the roles and responsibilities of that organization are,

and what their expectations of that organization would be. It would open up – I

would think and hope, and I've seen the evidence of it – easier, more

collaborative dialogue between the line departments, or even in cases here, the

regional health authorities, to have an understanding of the role everybody

would play in ensuring that the continuum in our health care system moves on a

forward basis.

So while

the minister has outlined – and I'll just talk about some of them that I think

are important, they're all important, but I think have more significant

importance around how this improves the act itself. No doubt, every so many

years it's imperative on all of us, no matter what the organization is or us as

a part of the general public, to review the legislation that represents a

particular policy, an organization or a structured service that we provide, to

ensure we've modernized it and it truly represents the clientele we represent,

it truly represents the clientele's responsibility or service that it provides.

In this

case, that's what I've seen happen with Bill 57. That through a full review of

it, and there are a multitude of sections in here – and the particular changes

are not only relevant to one section. They cross over a number of the

operational and structural processes and procedures of the organization itself.

One, the

changing of the name. Some might see that as insignificant, depending on where

you stand, but when you're changing your image, you're changing people's

perception of what you do. You're changing your ability to, in some cases, offer

or provide different services, expand those.

In this

case, changing the name to the College of Registered Nurses of Newfoundland and

Labrador, I think adds us in another level of professionalism. Not that we

haven't had 100 per cent professionalism from the organization in the past, but

it's modernizing. It puts it in a detailed category that talks to the

importance, it talks to the professionalism and it talks to the responsibility.

So changing that, while it might seem minimal on the surface, from a logistical

point of view I think it has many other more important logistical benefits for

people's perception in how the organization operates, how it negotiates, how it

develops partnerships.

So we

see that as a positive add-on for the organization to change its name. It

doesn't take away from any of the history of the organization. It doesn't take

away from any of the logistical understandings that the general public would

have of what this organization offers. What it does, they put it on an even keel

with other jurisdictions and notes it for what it is; an extremely, highly

professional organization that has as its mandate and has as its membership

those qualified individuals who will offer a provided service, particularly in

the health care area here.

Updating

the terminology used to describe the executive members of council – we've

changed, and sometimes we go in full circles after decades of organizations

operating on the structure of our executive makeup, on the structure of our

staffing component, on the structure of the labelling and the different

responsibilities of executive members in this. But this puts us inline with

other jurisdictions, with other agencies within Newfoundland and Labrador that

represent components of the health care profession.

So that

to me – while it seems like a change on paper, it's a change in operational

procedures and operational structures. The image of the organization stays at

the level that it needs to be, the extreme high level of professionalism.

allows the council, with the approval of the minister, to establish different

categories of registered nurses. Because as our health care profession changes,

and our demands and our needs, there is always a need for categories. Sometimes

people don't like categories because they talk about, it is segregated. I don't

believe that, and I know us on this side don't believe that.

We talk

about different responsibilities, different training components, different ways

of delivering services, different models that can be developed. In any

organization, sometimes you carve off who would have the speciality to do that.

What's the most efficient way to make that happen? What's the most engaging way

to make that happen?

having the ability for this organization, who are the professionals – it

shouldn't be dictated by anybody outside. This organization who has the

professionals, who understands its membership's needs, would have the ability to

design a mechanism that works and decide what categories are necessary and who

would fit into those, and what their responsibilities would be for providing

health care in our province. It allows more than four public members appointed

to the council of the college.

I'm a

big believer, anything we do in the health care system – I believe in any system

that we offer services to the general public, there has to be a collaborative

approach here. There has to be the professionals who have the skill set to offer

it, but it also has to have the general public, for people who could talk about

their particular needs, who could talk about a particular approach to it.

Having a

balance of the proper number, the right balance of those who are guiding with

their advice or their experiences and for those who have the professional

expertise to be able to deliver on those services that are needed. So having

that ability to offer that, to me, is a positive.

What I

do like – and I'll have a few questions when we get to Committee – is the fact

that we're not pigeonholing ourselves. We're not saying it can only be this

number, that there's an ability for the committee to look at it. Once this piece

of legislation is passed and they're registered as a college, they can then

themselves look at the operations of their organization to be able to put in

play the structure that would be conducive to being able to then provide the

services that they're enacted and that they're entrusted to offer in this

province.

Clarify

that the disciplinary process applies to any member licenced under the act.

We've had some big debate here. I remember one of the debates with the

Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association, and changing the legislation

there was, again, around the control over the disciplinary process. Again, I'm a

really big believer in two collaborative approaches here. One, there has to be a

mechanism for self-policing. Everybody has to be accountable.

In a

professional organization, the organization themselves would have the best

opportunity to be able to determine the standards. If those were not adhered to,

those who do not follow the proper policies, they're answerable, and how the

checks and balances are done to ensure that happens here.

Having

that policy clarified would make both the government, the department who

represents the masses of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador through a

legislation and us here in the House of Assembly, making it clear as to knowing

that the organization itself has a clear disciplinary process to ensure its

members follow rules and regulations. In cases where that doesn't happen,

there's a process in play to understand exactly how that's going to be dealt

with.

Clarifying the quality assurance provisions; that's always been a question here

of

interpretation over the years; particularly, when we talk about health

legislation. What the quality assurance is all about, and how do we make that

reflect exactly the needs to ensure the best quality of health care is being

provided and that the outcomes are conducive with the investment. The investment

sometimes is human investment. Sometimes it's financial investment; sometimes

it's partnership investments.

We like

that those issues are being clarified. It's not in any way, shape or form to

indicate that they didn't exist in the past, because this organization has been

extremely professional and extremely beneficial, if not one of the top

beneficial associations for providing proper health care in our province. What

this does now is clarify and bring it to the next level.

All

these pieces of legislation are always living entities. As we grow, as things

change in our health care, as the needs of members' change, as the

organization's mandate may take on different philosophies as they partner with

other groups, we have to also make sure that we're open to be able to make these

changes. Not 10 and 15 and 20 years where it's a dramatic change and there's

backlash because we don't have the ability to offer particular services. As we

do this, this ensure this.

In my

opinion, most of our legislation should have four or five standard things that

we review on a biannual basis. Quality assurance is definitely one. Disciplinary

processes is another; developing best practices, return on our investments,

these types of things. This is a good way of bringing it to the next level; over

the last five years or so since we've had any major reviews or major changes.

Remove

the requirements to appoint a nurse practitioner standards committee – and I do

realize that our health profession is changing somewhat in this province,

because we're having to find unique ways to provide services in rural and remote

communities, in some of our urban centres, in some of our big health care

facilities, and we need to be able to have flexibility to understand how we

offer things. So, removing certain requirements to appoint a nurse practitioner

standards committee, and replacing it with something that's more conducive and

more in tune with how we move the health care profession forward is a positive.

We look

at here, the Association of Registered Nurses of Newfoundland and Labrador has

requested a name change. That's what I said at the beginning, the fact that they

have made the acknowledgement and the effort to sit with government and say,

here's where our organization is, here's what we feel would best represent, in

legislation, who we are, what we do and would give us the flexibility to be able

to provide the services that we're set up to do in a more equitable way and a

more efficient way, and that, I see, as a positive.

The

names of the president and president-elect will be changed to chairperson and

vice-chairperson. They're logistical issues that were determined by the

membership to say this works in the best effect for our organization from a

regional, a provincial and national standard, so why we would ever argue with

that; I mean, we have to give some autonomy to organizations to best set out in

legislation what represents who they are, and that's what this change there does

for that.

The

change will allow greater than four members of the general public to be

appointed while maintaining 10 members elected from and by registered nurses; I

see that. You can't in any way, shape or form out-balance the professionals who

are set up, and this is their organization, to have it that there might be a

group who have more influence on the operation of that organization. But as we

said at the beginning, and on the recommendation of the upcoming college, this

organization now has the ability to be open-minded to say, how can we best

provide the services and represent our own membership within an organization,

and having those viewpoints from different perspectives add to that. So, that's

an added change that they have fostered and moved forward.

Amendments would allow the future regulatory – establishing different categories

of registered nurses. None are currently proposed; this is to allow future

flexibility. And as I said earlier, the delivery of our health care system is

evolving on a daily basis. Having a professional organization that represents

the largest proportion of those who provide the services in our health care,

have to have the flexibility to be able to either change their approach, add new

entities, add new categories, develop a new staffing regiment that fits the

particular needs in a professional manner. So, this gives them that ability to

do that.

The

college will have the ability to order respondents to pay costs or part of an

investigation and hearing, whether the respondent pleads guilty or is found

guilty. This is an internal operation to ensure that members are accountable,

and that the rest of the membership shouldn't have to bear the brunt of a

financial cost for the organization, or the taxpayers, based on because somebody

else who didn't follow the professional procedures and processes that have been

outlined by the organization itself.

The

nurse practitioner standards committee is repealed. This move is supported by

the College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Pharmacy Board, who has members

on the committee, is viewed as redundant. Standards, scope of practice, et

cetera, are set out in regulatory. So what we're saying is now, rather than

having something that people could interpret that would either slow the process

down or would say that's the angle we'll go, we already have this outlined now

in the regulatory of the legislation.

cleans everything up; it makes it neat. I would hope it prevents

misinterpretation or delayed processes of saying no, we have to compare this

piece of the legislation or this part of our policy to this. It now clearly

outlines exactly the best process to use in these circumstances. So if there's a

debate on a particular issue or a differencing of opinion, it's clearly spelled

out in legislation. Again, there are a number of in-house name changes and

grammatical changes which just adds to the professionalism.

looking at this, I will have a few questions just for clarification, because we

want to ensure every time we put a piece of legislation in this House that we

get the best return for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador that we could

from it, but we also get the best collaborative partnership with the agency or

organization who have put forward their recommendations and who are going to be

providing the valuable service that's necessary here.

So as we

move forward on

An Act to Amend the Registered Nurses Act, 2008 and move it to

another level, we look forward on this side to having some more open debate in

Committee, but also look forward to being able to support this and having this

enacted in September.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

recognize the hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

MR. FINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'd like

to thank the Member for Conception Bay East - Bell Island for his words and

contributing to our conversation on Bill 57,

An Act to Amend the Registered

Nurses Act, 2008. As alluded by the minister, as well as the Member opposite,

there are just few changes here, but it's certainly something that was asked of

the department to move forward with. I certainly want to welcome and acknowledge

the visitors to the gallery here this afternoon as well.

Mr.

Speaker, I've had the great pleasure over the last number of months to work

closely with the Minister of Health and Community Services and the

representatives in the Department of Health and Community Services as the

parliamentary secretary to the minister. I know that this is something that was

looking forward to – and while it may seem, in some senses, a bit minor and some

changes in procedural and some logistical things, it certainly is important. The

minister, I think, hit the nail right on the head with his opening remarks,

specifically referring to the name change and changing the name of the

Association of Registered Nurses of Newfoundland and Labrador to the College of

Registered Nurses of Newfoundland and Labrador.

This is

really a reflection of the mandate and the regulatory authority responsible for

the regulation of registered nurse. As the minister had said, it commonly could

be referred to previously as more of an advocacy group. By removing the word

“association” from its name, we're essentially eliminating some of this

confusion.

The name

change as well, we're going to update some terminology with respect to the

executive members of the council. The Member just spoke briefly about referring

to the word president and president-elect, and we'll now refer to chairperson

and vice-chairperson respectively.

Further,

the bill updates provisions in the act regarding the elections of these two

positions, such that a public representative may be elected. These positions

will no longer need to be filled by registered nurses, only thereby broadening

the pool of individuals who would eligible to hold these executive positions.

So, essentially increasing the number of public representative who may be

appointed to the council of the college. While the minimum number of four will

not change, there will be authority to appoint more public representatives as

desired. I think an increase in the number of individuals on the council,

essentially it will enhance the representation of the public perspective which

aligns with more of public protection mandate of what will now be called the

college.

Mr.

Speaker, Bill 57 expands the authority to make regulations, with the approval of

the minister, with respect to the establishment of various categories of

registered nurses. The authority will permit the making of regulations, should a

need arise in the future, to establish categories of RNs, where certain RNs may

have a particular expertise or specialized training. I understand there is no

immediate intention to establish such categories; however, including this

provision here in the bill will give flexibility, should any need arise in the

future.

There's

some clarity around the disciplinary process, Mr. Speaker, with respect to

anybody who is currently licensed or was licensed under the Registered Nurses

Act. The amendment will clarify that nurses who are granted any provisional

licence, pending successful completion of their qualifying examination, may be

subject to discipline in appropriate circumstances. This is, again, really

provisional in the sense that any disciplinary provisions will only apply to

registered nurses and former registered nurses, again. Again, no way to

strengthen anything here, other than really put a broader scope on it.

The bill

also clarifies the cost of an investigation and a hearing, should there be any

type of complaint made by an injunction tribunal, regardless of whether the

registrant pleads guilty or is found guilty of conduct deserving of any

particular sanction.

Also,

some clarity around the quality assurance process. As the minister alluded to in

his remarks, the purpose of the quality assurance process is to address areas of

concern before they become more serious and may warrant any type of action. This

is very consistent with the mandate to regulate the practice of registered

nurses in the public interest. Having authority to address concerns before they

become more serious is very positive, something very proactive, and something

that's been asked of us to ensure that registered nurses continue to provide the

highest level of care and services to the people of our province.

Finally,

Mr. Speaker, Bill 57 will remove the legislative requirement to appoint a nurse

practitioner standards committee. This committee is currently made up of

representatives of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, members of the

Pharmacy Board.

The

committee was established, I would say, just about 20 years ago, early 2000s,

and this was when nurse practitioners were new to our province. At the time, the

train of thought was the level of oversight into a nurse practitioner's scope of

practice was seen as necessary, but I think we can all agree that since this

time nurse practitioners have become very well established in our health care

system. They have a very advanced level of education and training in their scope

of practice, and it's no longer necessary to have this type of committee, which

was set out in legislation, to determine what a nurse practitioner can and

cannot do.

Mr.

Speaker, I can speak first-hand to the folks on the West Coast and what the role

of nurse practitioners have done with, specifically, to some of our rural

clinics. The Member for St. George's - Humber could allude to it as well. I

actually just sat down with our local nurse practitioner just a few months ago

to have a good chat about some of the good work they do.

That,

essentially, sums up some of the changes, Mr. Speaker. I understand there may be

more. The Member alluded to some questions in Committee. This is something that

was requested of us, to make some changes; certainly, something that is

necessary, some logistical things, some procedural things, and of course the

name change and a few others.

I guess,

to not belabour the point, as both Members have done quite a good job, I'd like

to take the opportunity to say thank you to all the nurses in our province for

all the work they do each and every single day. A lot of my friends are nurses.

I've actually gotten to meet a lot of nurses since becoming a part of the

department. Just a few weeks ago I was at the Faculty of Medicine at MUN where

we had a scholarship and awards ceremony. It was certainly great to see the top

scholars and those who have made the dean's list, and the various scholarships

and to hear about their success.

Mr.

Speaker, nurses are – perhaps, next to folks who cross-country run – they're the

folks who keep those shoes flying off the shelf. The amount of miles they put on

their feet in the run of a day is something one can only fathom, I believe,

unless you are in the profession.

I know a

number of our Members here in the House, the Member for Fogo Island - Cape

Freels, his wife is a nurse and his daughter is a nurse. Your family as well,

Mr. Speaker. So I know we feel very well informed, and it is these folks who

provide the front line service of care. They see babies being born into the

world and they see folks pass on in palliative care as well, and they certainly

see it all. We are very, very proud of the great work they do. If there's any

way in particular that we can support, and be it minor legislative changes and

something that was asked upon of the department and the minister, by all means,

we are certainly all ears.

With

that, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the minister and the staff in

particular who've done work on this piece of legislation. I'd like to thank the

Members opposite for what I anticipate to be their full support in the passing

of Bill 57.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

I am

happy to stand and to speak to Bill 57, a Registered Nurses Act amendment.

I would

like to thank those who have come to watch the debate and witness the debate,

and I would like to thank all those who prepared and gave an excellent briefing

on this bill. Thank you to our nurses who – nursing is a calling. Many nurses

talk about it as a calling, that it's not just a profession.

All of

us have been touched by nurses at some point – literally and figuratively – in

our lives, whether through the medical system, through the public health care

system. There were times when a lot of us in the House – when there used to be

nurses in the schools, and they provided care in the schools. That no longer

happens. Some of us learned about sex education from nurses, or health care and

prevention.

Many of

us know the incredible work that nurses do and how they are the foundation of

our health care system. How often have we heard doctors say: well, you know

what, really the best one to speak to about that is my nurse, because she or he,

they really know, they are doing the day-to-day work. And when we see nurses

working in hospitals on those shifts, whether it's Christmas or Easter, or

Hanukkah, all the different holidays that may be their personal holidays; yet,

they are there taking care of our sick, taking care of our elderly.

We've

also heard stories of nurses working really long shifts, or double shifts for

various reasons, or having a hard time getting time off for family weddings or

birthday celebrations of family members. So the sacrifice and the commitment,

the passion and the compassion that one must have for that profession, for that

calling, I think we all are grateful for that.

In some

of our communities, nurses are the main go-to for health care. Those communities

are small. There may not be doctors in that community. I'm not saying nurses

can't give health care, but then are called upon for a real expanded scope of

practice, and that they are the trusted person to go to in a community for

health care.

So I

would like to say thank you very much for the nurses in Newfoundland and

Labrador on behalf of the people of the province for their dedicated service.

Sometimes what they do is life-saving. It's certainly very, very important.

What

this bill is doing – myself and my colleague from St. John's East - Quidi Vidi

are certainly going to support this. Our caucus is going to support this bill.

The bill

is amending the Registered Nurses Act,

2008 . It will change the name of the Association of Registered Nurses of

Newfoundland and Labrador to the College of Registered Nurses of Newfoundland

and Labrador, because they are a self-regulating body in the province and it

still has association in its title rather than the title of college or board.

The

association implies more so of an advocacy role rather than the Association of

Registered Nurses of Newfoundland and Labrador's chief role as a health care

regulator, and their role as a regulator is so important. It's so important, not

only for the quality assurance and safety of those they serve, the patients they

serve, but also for the quality of work for their own protection as well. So

that they ensure that policies and procedures as well protect them because of

often the heavy burden that they carry.

So it's

a bit of a separation of advocacy role from regulatory functions, and that's a

national trend we are seeing. It's been going on over the last decade, but they

will still have advocacy roles. They will weigh in publicly on health policy,

such as the determinants of health. That's so important, and we see doctors

doing that as well. Primary health care teams, they'll talk about that. They'll

talk about prevention. They'll talk about issues that are arising in what they

see as they fulfill their work, and that's so important.

One of

the things we have learned is how important it is for government to listen to

our front-line workers, and how important it is to know that it is nurses who

are the experts about nursing. They are the experts about nursing. So how

important it is that they do continue a role of advocacy on some of these issues

because of their expertise. That expertise comes not only from their training,

but also from the experience they gain in the work they do. So that's very

important.

The

other thing is the update in the terminology used to describe the executive

members of the council. That's important. We'll see that their president will no

longer be called a president, that there'll be a chairperson and a

vice-chairperson. Again, shifting to that area of regulation.

allows the council, with the approval of the minister, to make regulations

establishing different categories of registered nurses. For instance, we're

seeing a growth in the use of nurse practitioners, and how wonderful that is.

It's progressive. It is best standards, best practices.

As a

matter of fact, one of my family members was seen by a nurse practitioner today

and she was diagnosed with pneumonia. That nurse practitioner could do that

diagnosis, and that nurse practitioner wrote her a prescription for an

antibiotic. So how wonderful it is that we see the expanded scope of practice

for our nurses, particularly in the area of nurse practitioners. We are looking

forward to seeing more and mor