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April

8, 2014

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVII No. 15

The House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Wiseman):

Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Statements by Members

MR. SPEAKER:

Today we will have members' statements from the

District of Lewisporte; the District of Humber Valley; the District of St.

Barbe; the District of Baie Verte Springdale; the District of Terra Nova; and

the District of Port au Port.

The hon. the Member for the

District of Lewisporte.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. VERGE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to recognize a

young twenty-year-old entrepreneur from my district.

Alex Stead grew up in Birchy Bay and recently was named Newfoundland and

Labrador's 2014 Student Entrepreneur Provincial Champion.

At age fifteen, Alex started taking photos and as her interest grew so

did her talent and also her clientele.

While in Level III at Lewisporte Collegiate, she took a business

enterprise course, developed a business plan, and turned her artistic talent

into a viable business Alex Stead Photography.

Before long, she was receiving numerous bookings from families, brides,

and graduates.

Alex is now attending

Memorial University and doing a business degree.

On March 8, Alex also showcased her business and her entrepreneurial

accomplishments at the Enactus Canada Regional Exposition in Halifax, Nova

Scotia. There she competed against

regional champions from Eastern Canada and won the $1,000 cash prize and the

right to represent Eastern Canada at the 2014 Enactus Canada National Exposition

in Calgary at the end of April.

Alex is a great

entrepreneur, a talented business person, and she is already an award-winning

photographer. Members of this House

of Assembly please join me in congratulating Alex Stead for her remarkable

accomplishments.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Humber Valley.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in this hon. House

today to congratulate the Western Female Hockey Team that won a gold medal at

the Newfoundland and Labrador Winter Games recently held in Clarenville.

Team Western was undefeated at the winter games, finishing the tournament

with a 2-0 shutout over the team representing the Central region of our

Province.

I am honoured to

congratulate the players who comprised the gold medal winning team which

included Sarah Barker, Ashley Bromley, Karli Gale, Tana Genge, Kaylee Gerrow,

Samantha Hann, Olivia Henley, Alyson Moores, Kerry Patey, Rebecca Reid, Sarah

Reid, Heather Richards, Emily Walsh, and Megan White, along with three members

of the team from the District of Humber Valley which were Brianna Brophy of

Pasadena, Jolena Gillard of Deer Lake, and Becky Maher of Reidville.

Mr. Speaker, participating

and competing in the Newfoundland and Labrador Winter Games is a tremendous

honour in itself. Winning a gold

medal at the Newfoundland and Labrador Winter Games is a tremendous achievement

that is bestowed on very few individuals and teams.

These athletes have represented their communities and the Western region

very proudly.

I ask all members of this

House to assist me in congratulating the Western Female Winter Games Hockey Team

on winning a gold medal at the games and wish them all the best in their future

endeavours.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of St.

Barbe.

MR. BENNETT:

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

congratulate Savannah Skinner, a Grade 2 student at Jakeman All Grade School in

Trout River, who recently won the provincial primary Heritage Places Poster

Contest. She received her award in

St. John's on March 17, 2014.

The Heritage Places Poster

Contest is an annual contest hosted by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland

and Labrador in recognition of National Heritage Day, which is recognized on the

third Monday in February each year.

The Foundation received 700 submissions of artwork for consideration in this

year's contest from fifty-six schools.

For the past nine years

students in Newfoundland and Labrador have had the opportunity to highlight the

Province's historic places and treasurers through the Heritage Places Poster

Contest. It is most fitting that

artwork depicting a scene in Gros Morne National Park is a winner.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all

members of the House to join me in congratulating Savannah Skinner, a Grade 2

student, of Trout River on being the primary contest winner for the whole

Province in 2014.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of Baie

Verte Springdale.

MR. POLLARD:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is a hard job to keep up

with Valmont Academy Vikings winning ways.

On the weekend of March 14, Valmont Academy of King's Point hosted the

Provincial School Sports Girls A Basketball Championships.

The following four teams

vied for the provincial title: Valmont Academy, Stella Maris of Trepassey,

Bayside Academy of Port Hope Simpson, and Belanger Memorial of Doyles.

The Vikings went undefeated in the tournament, posting a 61-62 victory

over Stella Maris in the championship game.

All teams displayed a high

level of skill, teamwork, and sports mindedness.

The coaches, athletes, officials and parents are to be commended for

their commitment to high school athletics.

Members of the Vikings are:

Natalie Burt, Brittany Andrews, Robyn Rideout, Sara Welshman, Kailey Gillingham,

Kristin Budgell, Julia Burt, Brooke Blanchard, Vanessa Coish, and Hailey

Noseworthy. Athletic Director, Adam

Matthews, and Coach, Greg Flynn, are to be applauded for their dedication and

contribution to the success of the Vikings.

I ask all members of this

hon. House to join me in applauding the Valmount girls' basketball team for

capturing the Provincial Girls A School Sports provincial title, making it three

championships in a row in one school year.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of Terra

Nova.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. S. COLLINS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to recognize

Keisha Collins, a Grade 11 student at Jane Collins Academy in Hare Bay.

Every year, the Royal

Canadian Legion plays host to a poster contest that sees students from across

the country submit art that pays tribute to military history, all while

promoting Remembrance Day. Keisha

Collins was the talented top place winner in this Province.

As the top prize winner, her submission, From Falling Hands, earned her a

trip to Europe to pay respect to Canada's military history.

The trip to Europe includes a tour of the most prominent battle stages of

the First World War, including Beaumont Hamel where hundreds of Newfoundland

soldiers were killed and wounded July 1, 1916.

Keisha's grandfather was in

the military in the 1950s and her brother-in-law is currently enlisted.

Her artwork makes it evident that she is profoundly aware of the role

that the military and its veterans play in society.

From Falling Hands depicts a unique blend of our military history,

something that we are all very proud of.

I ask all hon. members to

join me in thanking Keisha for her effort and commitment in remembering and

honouring our military, both past and present.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of Port au

Port.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. CORNECT:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Mr. Pat

Marche on the recent release of a CD of two songs, written in partnership with

Mr. Reg Eddy, honouring this country's veterans.

After seeing a photo of his

uncle, Joseph Gaudet, among the rows of photographs of veterans who served in

wars and peacekeeping deployments on the Memorial Wall at the Royal Canadian

Legion, Branch 35, in Stephenville, it inspired Pat to compose the song titled

Memorial Wall .

The tribute song,

Lest We Forget was penned after Pat

saw his children take

part in a Remembrance Day Parade.

Seeing them with local veterans on that cold November day prodded him to

remember what was sacrificed for the freedoms we have today.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon.

members to join with me in applauding Mr. Pat Marche and Mr. Reg Eddy in their

efforts and their dedication that has led to the release of this CD to remind us

all to continue to honour and respect all veterans.

It certainly is a great initiative and a great tribute to our women and

men in uniform.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN:

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in this House

today to note that parent resource kits for children aged twelve to eighteen

months are now being distributed Province-wide as part of the provincial

government's Early Childhood Learning Strategy, Learning from the Start.

The investment in a

long-term early learning strategy began in 2011, Mr. Speaker, with Phase I of

Learning from the Start focusing on

initiatives aimed at children from birth to age three.

Those first three years were a tremendous success.

For example, parent resource kits for infants aged two, four, and six

months were developed and distributed throughout the Province.

Kits for toddlers aged twelve and eighteen months were piloted for a

one-year period, beginning in March 2013 at twenty public health clinic sites.

Over 2,500 kits were distributed during this pilot phase.

The feedback we have received from parents, caregivers, and public health

nurses has been outstanding and we continue to hear stories about how these

kits, which contain books, CDs, play items, and information for parents, are

benefitting children and families.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible) take those to school.

MR. JACKMAN:

The minister next to me has experienced this

first-hand.

Our early learning

initiative also includes a comprehensive Web site with a host of information on

early childhood learning programs and activities such as the Power of Play

promotional campaign; Play and Learn Week resources and activities; early

literacy programming; an ongoing pilot project centered around a provincial

early childhood learning framework; and the Early Development Instrument, or

EDI, which measures a child's readiness for school.

Mr. Speaker, as part of

Phase II of Learning from the Start ,

Budget 2014 provides $4.8 million over three years to continue, and to enhance,

the commitment to programs for children from birth to age three, while

initiatives for children aged four to six are under development.

The development of parent resource kits for children aged twenty-four and

thirty-six months are nearing completion, and Province-wide distribution is

anticipated within the year. Phase

II of the strategy also includes, of course, an additional $30.6 million for the

implementation of full-day kindergarten, beginning in September 2016.

Play-based learning is an

essential part of a child's early development, Mr. Speaker.

Since 2011, almost $40 million has now been allocated for early childhood

learning initiatives, including full-day kindergarten.

Ultimately, we want to give every child the best possible start in life;

to allow them to be healthy, happy, engaged, well-adjusted children who are

well-prepared for success in school, in their relationships, and in life.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. KIRBY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an

advance copy of his statement. We

welcome any new investments in early learning since we know that all too many

parents in Newfoundland and Labrador struggle in this area.

As members well know, we have fallen well behind the rest of Canada when

it comes to early childhood education under this government.

Look at what is happening in

other provinces across Canada. Take

Quebec and Ontario, for example, where more than half of two- to four-year-old

children in those provinces regularly attend early childhood education, and the

national average is more than 50 per cent; but in this Province, in Newfoundland

and Labrador, the proportion is closer to 30 per cent.

So we are well behind the

rest of Canada in this area, and we actually have the lowest rates of early

childhood education in the whole country, according to recent statistics.

Now, no debate about early childhood education would be in any way

complete without a mention of all-day or full-day kindergarten in Newfoundland

and Labrador. Of course, we do

welcome the promise to bring in full-day kindergarten in 2016.

For years now, parents have

been asking this government to catch up to the rest of the country, to follow

the lead of the rest of the provinces in Canada and expand access to early

learning by bringing in a full-day kindergarten program.

Many people have been speaking out in favour of this outside of this

Chamber, including Dr. David Philpott, business person Cathy Bennett, the Jimmy

Pratt Foundation, and a host of others.

We all know that this is a

mere pre-election promise from this government.

If we think back, Mr. Speaker, to the words of the former Minister of

Finance, representing the District of Carbonear Harbour Grace, who said in the

House of Assembly when he was looking back at the promises in the 2011 Blue

Book, if you look at what he said about the promises that this government makes,

I think we ought to be concerned about the weight of that promise and maybe hold

our applause down until this is actually fulfilled.

While the minister is talking about the $30.6 million for full-day

kindergarten

MR. SPEAKER:

I remind the member his time has expired.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KIRBY:

we all know he is only actually spending a

fraction of that.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I, too, thank the minister

for an advance copy of his statement.

Obviously, I am glad to see that the resources that he has talked about

are being made available to parents of small children in the form of books,

music, and play items things that can be hard for a lot of parents to access,

especially outside of the urban centres, Mr. Speaker.

Obviously, I am also glad

that the Early Childhood Learning Strategy will provide more learning programs

for parents to attend with their children to take advantage of group learning

and socialization, but this strategy falls so far short of what it is that this

government should be doing, Mr. Speaker, and that is giving us an early

childhood education program, of which this kind of thing would be a part.

A program that would be under the Department of Education, and that would

be a continuum beginning with government-administered and regulated child care,

right through to all-day kindergarten, and then on through the educational

system. That is what will make the

big difference, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you very much.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Innovation, Business and

Rural Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH:

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

speak about how Newfoundland and Labrador is strategically positioned and poised

to be the path to the Arctic, and how our government is exploring exciting

opportunities and future development potential with Arctic activities for the

Province.

When you combine our Arctic

peoples the Inuit of Nunatsiavut region with our geographic location,

industrial infrastructure, knowledge and experience, our academic, research and

development capacity, and world-class business community, it is clear that

Newfoundland and Labrador is well positioned to be a significant player in any

future developments in the Arctic.

Mr. Speaker, in the past few

months the Department of Innovation, Business and Rural Development has taken

great strides, in partnership with the Nunatsiavut Government, to create

strategic alliances and forge new connections and partnerships.

In this spirit, the department has participated in three major

Arctic-focused conferences. Designed

to gather key information about Arctic opportunities and challenges, and the

potential role for our government in advancing these opportunities, we were

pleased to participate in the Northern Lights Conference in Ottawa; the Arctic

Technology Conference in Houston; and the Arctic Oil and Gas Conference here in

St. John's

Participation in these

conferences provided opportunity to promote Newfoundland and Labrador and our

strategic location to international shipping lanes and northern sea routes,

accessible ports, unmatched strength in cold ocean research and development, and

world-renowned expertise in Arctic-like conditions.

Newfoundland and Labrador is

well positioned to benefit from the emerging opportunities in the Arctic in

particular, those that relate to supply and services, transportation, logistics,

natural resources, as well as the development and commercialization of

technologies supporting Arctic activity.

There is tremendous interest from across Canada and the international

community is also taking notice.

Mr. Speaker, it is through

co-operation and the sharing of ideas that we will become a stronger, more

prosperous and diversified Province, fully capable of taking advantage of the

emerging opportunities in the Arctic.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay

North.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister of an

advance copy of his statement.

Certainly, our Province is strategically positioned to benefit from

opportunities in the Arctic, based on our locations and based on all the factors

that the minister stated. I

certainly would like to see more outcomes when it comes to the partnerships that

we can have with the Nunatsiavut Government and working with the Inuit, as well

as other community and municipal stakeholders.

One of the things that have

happened is that we need to make sure we have the transportation and

telecommunications infrastructure to really build that knowledge and those

innovation centres.

This government talks about

all these initiatives that it is doing, but when the federal government came out

with the Atlantic Gateway, how much of those dollars went to other provinces?

Everybody is chasing the way to the Arctic and being that strategic

location and that service centre, so we have to be there.

We have to make sure that we are actually doing something towards

achieving that goal.

In the fall of 2012 this

initiative was first announced. This

is a re-announcement. In November

21, 2012 we all supported an initiative to move forward on the Arctic

opportunities. This was supposed to

direct the development of an action plan.

It has been many months, over a year later, and we have not seen that

action plan put forward by this government.

What is it going to do to be

working with local companies, our academic institution, and local business?

Attending conferences is a great learning experience, but we need to see

the plan on paper as to how it is going to be resourced and how we are going to

actually tap into those opportunities that exist to grow the economy, and to

diversify the economy.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I remind the member his time

has expired.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. MURPHY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to thank the

minister for the advance copy of his statement here today.

Yes, this is a good announcement.

We know that government has undertaken several initiatives to help

progress our way to the north and to help us lead the way to the north.

At the same as that, we have

a seagoing heritage in this Province that we all have a unique experience with.

The days of Captain Bob Bartlett years ago pointed the way to the ways of

the future, to the ways that this Province can lead.

We have to recognize as well

that government still has a lot more work to do to help prepare the way in

better transportation networks, and in better Internet networks.

Better education and health care are going to have come along with it.

There is a lot here for government to think about.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Teachers have been without a

contract for almost two years. After

being forced to resort to a public relations campaign last month to get

government back to the talks, they have broken off once again.

Teachers are saying that government is negotiating in bad faith.

I ask the Premier: Why

haven't you given your negotiators a full mandate to get this settled?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of

Treasury Board.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as a government

we are committed to productive and successful discussions, a successful process,

and a successful outcome with the Teachers' Association.

As the NLTA said yesterday, they will be seeking conciliation.

That is not uncommon in the bargaining process.

Let me assure the public

that there is a clear mandate, that we are committed to the negotiating process.

There is a clear mandate on the table.

This is the next step in the bargaining process.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The minister mentioned a

conciliation officer, and, as you know, teachers are requesting that.

Under

section 79 of the Labour Relations Act it says the minister may

call in a conciliation officer to help resolve this current situation, if indeed

you have a clear mandate on the table, as you say minister.

I ask the Minister

Responsible for Labour Relations: Will you call in a conciliation officer that

the teachers are requesting?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Justice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

For the benefit of the

member opposite, I have not been approached at this point in time by the

teachers. So I am only really aware

of what is in the media and what I have been told by my colleague, the Minister

of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

If the teachers intend to

ask for a mediator, I encourage them and urge them to submit a request.

I have not received anything.

I am not in the position to even contemplate doing anything outside of what they

may ask because I am not fully briefed on the extent to where the negotiations

are, but I am certainly prepared to act within the law that is provided under

the Labour Relations Act if and when they do request it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well after missing their

deadlines by over a month, government finally released an RFP for the review of

the Newfoundland and Labrador electricity system.

The words, public consultation, are not in the document.

I ask the Premier: Since you

claim to be open, why is public consultation not part of this review?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY:

Mr. Speaker, once again today we are seeing, I

guess it is a flip flop. We have

been in this House for a long time arguing about Muskrat Falls.

Just a little while ago the Leader of the Opposition stood up in this

House and said finally to the people of the Province, of course I support

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. DALLEY:

the development of the Lower Churchill.

Of course I support the development of Muskrat Falls, Mr. Speaker.

So it is a big shift in where he was.

Mr. Speaker, all along when

it comes to electricity review he has been telling us, telling me as minister,

stay out of the way. Do not

interfere with the Public Utilities Board, let them do the work.

This is a waste of money.

Mr. Speaker, when we

reviewed the process and the work of the PUB, they are doing the public

consultations. On the advice of the

Leader of the Opposition, we are going to stay out of their way and let them do

their work, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Well, the minister has some gall to stand in this

House and talk about flip flop. Bill

29, we have always said the development of Muskrat Falls, if it had been done

right, except what you did was put in Bill 61 which put a monopoly on the

ratepayers in this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. BALL:

It is clear this review by government is nothing

but a distraction from the ongoing review of the Public Utilities Board.

Government has not indicated an overall budget, an estimate for this

work, or the timelines for its completion.

I ask the Premier: When do

you expect to see the final report completed and will you commit to making all

documents available to the public?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY:

Mr. Speaker, to be clear to the people of the

Province, and I have said this many times, this is not a distraction to the

Public Utilities Board. We support

their work. In fact, we want their

work. We are going to integrate that

into a new system. Clearly the

member opposite struggles to understand the broader view of the electrical

system in this Province.

Mr. Speaker, we have been

clear. We are moving from a system

that has served this Province for over fifty years.

We will move to a system to connect with the North American grid, from an

isolated to an interconnected, the last jurisdiction in the country to do so.

With that there will be new challenges, whether it is governance,

legislation, regulation, operations, performance, the roles and responsibilities

of the stakeholders, and how that will work in terms of best practices, as well

as what is happening in other jurisdictions and models.

That is our focus, Mr.

Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thought I just heard the

minister say he clearly supports the work of the PUB.

Well, I remind the minister, it was your government back in March, 2012

did you support the PUB then, I say, Minister?

Can you remember that, Minister?

Mr. Speaker, government says

their review will look at the whole energy system in our Province.

That is the same thing the final PUB report will focus on.

I ask the Premier: Why don't

you just get out of the way and let the PUB do the work, if indeed you do

support them?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER MARSHALL:

Mr. Speaker, the PUB announced after the blackouts in January they were

going to do certain work. Then they

said they were going to do an expanded piece of work.

As the minister said, we support that.

We support that fully, and that work should be done.

Nalcor did an internal review and Newfoundland

Power did their review, and that is feeding into the PUB.

We support them in what they are doing.

We said in 2007, in the

Energy Plan of 2007, we committed to the people of the Province, as we got close

to interconnection and we would move from a totally isolated system into an

interconnected system, that we would do a full study.

That is what the minister has announced.

The PUB study will help us; our study will help them.

They will do their work. We

support that. We are going to do our

work. They support what we are

doing. That will be in the best

interests of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

The problem with all of that is we still do not

know when the report is going to come and we do not know when or if, indeed,

they will release all the documentation.

Mr. Speaker, as part of

Budget 2014, government indicated it had narrowed down proposals for the fibre

resources in Central Newfoundland to just one proponent.

This morning in the media we heard reports of a company called Rentech

out of California has been selected.

I ask the Premier: Can you

confirm, indeed, if it is Rentech that has been selected?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY:

Mr. Speaker, some years ago our government, with

the support of the Opposition, expropriated the assets of Abitibi.

One of those assets was a very valuable timber resource.

With that expropriation, we engaged in a very exhaustive process to look

for an expression of interest for companies to come in and help develop that

resource.

Mr. Speaker, we have gone

through that process with two main principles in mind: one, that we could

develop that resource for the benefit of the Central Region and the economy;

secondly, we have developed the resource so that it can benefit the entire

forest industry, particularly around the issue and principle of exchange of

fibre.

Mr. Speaker, we followed

that; we are at a process now where we have narrowed it to one company.

Rentech is indeed the company that we continue to negotiate, Mr. Speaker,

and we will certainly update the Province when it is an appropriate time.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR. BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, the minister

identified that it is Rentech. Maybe

he would want to tell the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, and indeed the

people in Central Newfoundland, how much financial support will government be

investing into Rentech.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. DALLEY:

Mr. Speaker, contrary to some of the media

reports out there today, there is no final deal done and there is no final

number in terms of requests of support from government.

Negotiations are ongoing, but I will certainly commit to the people of

the Province two things: one, that we want to benefit the economy in the Central

Region; and, number two, we want to make sure that whatever deal we strike is in

the best interests of the people of the Province, particularly in the best

interests of the forest industry around the exchange of fibre issue.

When those final details are

available, Mr. Speaker, we will put it out; but to be sure, there are some

numbers floating around today but there is absolutely no deal on numbers or the

investment that government is prepared to make at this point.

We are still in negotiations.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of Bay of

Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, in December, government said there

would be no radiation unit for the new western regional hospital.

In March, government announced $500,000 to study and review radiation for

Western Health.

I ask the Premier: Will you

now table the Terms of Reference for this review, who is doing it, when will it

be completed, and will the results be made public?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER MARSHALL:

Mr. Speaker, our primary concern for the people of Western Newfoundland

is the highest quality of health care with the highest safety standard,

according to the best standards in the country.

The people of Western Newfoundland deserve no less than that.

There has been a committee

formed who is lobbying, suggesting, and recommending that the radiation therapy

services be offered in the new hospital being built in Corner Brook.

We are having our officials look at that.

We are going to have a study done.

The study will just not include Western; the study will include the whole

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Terms of Reference have

not been set yet, but it is a study to determine if we can adopt what is a

referred to as a hub-and-spoke model, a different model than the national model

that is being used in the country today.

When that work is done, it will be announced; and yes, when the reports

are completed, we will be happy to share them with the Opposition and the people

of the Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of Bay of

Islands.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health stated in

this House on December 9 that we will not be providing radiation services at

Western Memorial Regional Hospital.

The PC leadership candidate says he supports a radiation unit for the new

hospital.

I ask the Premier: Does your

government stand by the statements of your minister, or the PC candidate?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER MARSHALL:

I will be happy to tell you where we stand, Mr. Speaker.

We are going to offer a

radiation therapy program in the new hospital in Corner Brook or in other parts

of the Province if it can be done safely, if we can attract the qualified

professionals to perform the work, and if it can meet the highest Canadian

standards for health and safety and service for the people of that area of the

Province.

The Minister of Health has

asked her officials to continue to do the research the national model, the

hub-and-spoke model, the one-machine model and now they are doing research

into a two-machine model in places like Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island.

The officials are gathering the data, we have outstanding and

well-qualified officials in the Department of Health and Community Services who

are committed to the best quality and to the best possible care for the people

of the Province, and the work they do will help inform our decision.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of Bay of

Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, is the Premier telling the people in

Western Newfoundland that all this information was not gathered before you made

a decision? I mean, that is

astonishing. You made a decision not

to have a radiation unit or PET scanner; but, because of public pressure, now

you are going to do a study. That is

unbelievable, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, on November 25,

the Minister of Health said there were 172 radiation patients from Western.

On December 9, she said that these numbers do not support radiation

services.

So I ask the Premier: Do you

stand by the minister's statements, and does your PC candidate have your full

support?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER MARSHALL:

Mr. Speaker, I have seen the deck of information that the Minister of

Health and her officials outlined, which the member opposite certainly has.

In terms of the numbers, the justification for the numbers in Western

Newfoundland, there is justification for one machine; but the one-machine model

is not the normal model used in the country.

It is used in two places.

They are not accredited, but they are looking at them.

Everybody is watching it; people are studying it.

It is called the hub-and-spoke model where if you have only one machine,

there has to be a place within a reasonable period of time that if your machine

breaks down you can go to another machine that is calibrated to match your own

machine.

That is what they looked at,

but there are other models. There

are two-machine models. There are

other models in the country.

Officials are looking at that. They

are presenting the evidence. They

are not making the decision. They

are highly qualified, they know what they are doing, and they are presenting the

evidence. That information will come

to us (inaudible)

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of Bay of

Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

I say to the Premier, when it comes to the

hospital, which you announced in 2011 that construction would start in 2012

you are not the centerfold for Trust

magazine when it comes to the hospital in Corner Brook, I can assure you of

that.

I ask the Premier once

again: Are you informing this House and the people of Western Newfoundland that

the information you are gathering now was not done prior to the minister making

these announcements and sending fear towards the patients of Western

Newfoundland and Labrador of a radiation and a PET scanner?

Are you confirming that the minister did not do her work?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER MARSHALL:

Mr. Speaker, when the hon. member opposite was in government people

wanted an MRI machine. He did not

deliver on that. People wanted a new

long-term care facility. He did not

deliver on that; we did. I think

people know who they can trust when it comes to commitments made in health care

for the people of Western Newfoundland.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of St.

John's North.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, this year's Budget features a rehash

of school infrastructure projects as if they were new ones.

Meanwhile, students are eating their lunch at their desk and others are

sent to the cafeteria for gym class.

In Education Estimates last night, the minister was adamant that he is not going

to address the failed school planning process.

I ask the minister: How can

you stand behind a school infrastructure planning process that has failed to

provide students with the space they need to learn?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN:

Mr. Speaker, I do not know exactly what he is

talking about. It is a lead and I

do not know what he is referencing, but I will certainly go back and check

Hansard.

Mr. Speaker, all you have to

do and I have said it in this House on so many times.

There has not been a government previous that invested in infrastructure

that this government has. I can go

on down we have allocated $681 million for school infrastructure projects

since 2004.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN:

Thirty new schools: Leading Tickle, Mobile,

Laval, Copper Ridge in Baie Verte, the Straits and L'Anse-au-Loup, Holy Trinity

in Torbay, Port Saunders, Port Hope Simpson, and Paradise.

Mr. Speaker, the list goes on.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

MR. JACKMAN:

We have other schools that are now under

construction. Mr. Speaker, we are

addressing the need of infrastructure in this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. KIRBY:

The fact is, Mr. Speaker, this government has

failed to plan and built schools that are too small.

We have seen that with Carbonear Academy.

We have seen that with Beachy Cove Elementary and others.

That is the reason for the increased use of modular classrooms in parking

lots. Now we have learned that

government has actually failed to procure the land that is needed for the

promised new schools, both in Paradise and in Portugal Cove St. Phillips.

I ask the minister: Given

that you have no plan to accommodate the students we have now, will you finally

create a new school development plan that does not include making these same

kinds of mistakes over and over and over again?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN:

Mr. Speaker, the member is advocating for a

primary and elementary school, about 1,500 students.

That is what the man is saying.

That is what he is saying.

Mr. Speaker, we have built

new schools. Portugal Cove St.

Phillips is underway. Hopefully, we

will have the land situation in Octagon Pond straightened away very shortly; two

new schools in Paradise, Mr. Speaker.

Our list of infrastructure

goes on. Need I repeat it for him,

Mr. Speaker? I do not think so.

The man is just not listening.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay

North.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, this year's Budget paints a rosy picture of the economy

with lots of jobs. However, if you

focus on the Province's youth, the picture is quite different.

Statistics reveal that there are fewer youth working today than in 2003

and far fewer young people entering our Province's labour force.

I ask the Premier: What his

government is doing to help attract and retain our Province's youth since

abandoning the Youth Retention and Attraction Strategy?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Municipal and

Intergovernmental Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

Mr. Speaker, many of the initiatives that were

part of our Youth Retention and Attraction Strategy are ongoing.

They have been incorporated into multiple government departments.

Our government is undertaking more initiatives to support youth in this

Province than ever before through our Office of Public Engagement.

We are consulting with young

people. We want to hear what they

have to say. Our youth unemployment

rate in 2013 was the lowest in Atlantic Canada, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

One of the best ways to attract and retain young

people is to have a top quality education system.

With the investments we have made in post-secondary education, we have

the best system in the country, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay

North.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mr. Speaker, outside of the public post-secondary funding, they are

actually investing less in youth.

Mr. Speaker, the Youth

Retention and Attraction Strategy, which had forty-one initiatives to help

navigate prosperity and self-reliance, has seen initiatives eliminated,

including the Youth Entrepreneurs and Innovators Program, the export

internships, international graduate retention incentives, and cultural exchange

programs.

I ask the minister: Why he

approved of cancelling funds that would promote youth innovation,

entrepreneurship, and cultural diversity?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Municipal and

Intergovernmental Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to youth population in

our Province and the statistics and the trends, the Leader of the Opposition on

Open Line, the Liberal candidate in Virginia Waters, and the Member for The

Straits White Bay North are misinformed.

When it comes to the Youth

Retention and Attraction Strategy initiatives, thirty-five of the forty-one were

fully implemented. Most of them are

still ongoing, Mr. Speaker. There

were some that were adjusted and the plans changed as the strategy unfolded

based on the input we were receiving from young people.

Overall, many of the initiatives are ongoing.

We are proud of what has been accomplished and there is more work to be

done.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the District of St.

Barbe.

MR. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, the Chief of Police has recently

stated that organized crime has increased in our Province. Along with an

increase in organized crime, we have witnessed a rash of violent crimes ranging

from extortion charges in Corner Brook to armed robberies and assaults on the

Northeast Avalon. Criminals are now

even using automatic weapons and burning homes.

I ask the minister: How much

of this increase in violent crimes is associated with organized crime, including

the drug trade?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Justice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, in actual fact,

I met with the Chief of Police this morning.

I draw the member's attention to

The Telegram this morning. The

police are actually reporting there is not an increase in violent crime in this

Province, as the member alleges.

Now, those are not my words. Those

are the words of the Chief of Police and one of the superintendents with the

RNC, that, if anything, violent crime is lower than it has been.

What I will say to the

member opposite is we do recognize the increase and the presence of organized

crime in this Province. That is why

we invested a million dollars in the last year's Budget to develop a task force

on organized crime that was going to work across the Province which engaged the

Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and members of the Royal Canadian Mounted

Police, and it is why we further added to that task force in this year's Budget

because we recognize the great work they are doing

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

MR. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, it sounds like the government

reallocated $500,000 from the Family Violence Court and put it into organized

crime.

Mr. Speaker, the police can

only arrest people suspected of committing offences, and by all accounts they

are very effective. Thereafter, the

only way to reduce crime is by having a fast but fair and efficient justice

system that is adequately resourced to effectively deal with sophisticated but

violent criminals.

I ask the minister: When

does he plan to take this crime wave seriously and stop being soft on crime?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Justice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Mr. Speaker, our decision to stop being soft on

crime happened, I think it was, somewhere around October, 2003 when this party

took power.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Since that time, we have invested more than $995

million in policing and the justice system.

We have added RNC officers to the streets.

We have added RCMP officers to the streets.

We are tackling organized crimes.

We have invested in the court system, just two weeks ago.

We have invested close to $14 million in the Sheriff's Office and the

legal aid system because this government believes in a fair justice system,

accessible to all.

I am more than prepared to

keep talking about the investments we have made in this Province to support our

belief in and our strengthening of the justice system.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Yesterday, the Minister of

Justice said temporary foreign workers are protected by our Labour Standards

Act, but our act is complaints driven.

Workers themselves have to report abuses, which we hear they are afraid

to do. Manitoba's Worker Recruitment

and Protection Act requires employers to register their temporary foreign

workers and submit to regular proactive inspections.

I ask the Premier: When will

this government change our Labour Standards Act to protect temporary foreign

workers who do not feel free to speak out?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Justice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Mr. Speaker, the member is absolutely right, in

part, that the act is complaint driven.

We do have people in the field, of course, who are available to do

inspections. The Labour Standards

Act is no different than many pieces of legislation, including legislation with

the RCMP and the RNC. Criminal

activity or wrongdoing is often, in most cases, complaint driven.

We have no other way to follow-up and investigate unless somebody makes

us aware of it or makes a complaint.

That is how the system works.

Mr. Speaker, they have the

full protection of the law in Newfoundland and Labrador, as does any other

private citizen who is a permanent resident of this Province.

We will enforce that legislation to the fullest extent we can.

If there is a way we can improve the legislation to better the workers,

we will take a look at it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Well, then, I mention to the

minister that Alberta has a policy of proactive enforcement where employment

standards officers are assigned specifically to audit compliance of employers

when it comes to temporary foreign workers.

They do not stand around and wait for complaints.

I ask the Premier: Why has

this government not yet initiated proactive enforcement of the Labour Standards

Act?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Justice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Mr. Speaker, we bring forward in here the best

legislation we possibly can that is in the best interests, as far as we are

concerned as a government, of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

We will continue to do that every single day, in every single department,

on every piece of legislation that we are responsible for.

I find it disheartening that

the member opposite would stand in this House and criticize the hard-working

people of the Labour Relations Agency, to suggest that they are not out in the

field doing their job and working in the best interest of the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador. It is

absolutely ridiculous. We have great

people at the Labour Relations Agency.

They do great work on behalf of the people of the Province and they do

great work in support of temporary foreign workers in this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

That is one of the most

disingenuous comments I have heard in the House from a minister.

This minister knows that it goes against everything else he just said.

Mr. Speaker, he also said

yesterday that the government regularly reviews labour legislation, but the

Labour Standards Act has not been reviewed for more than ten years.

I am asking: When is his

department going to initiate a long overdue legislative review of the Labour

Standards Act and deal with today's reality?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Justice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KING:

Mr. Speaker, we do reviews on a regular basis.

It is only within the last two weeks that this government has instituted

a statutory review of Bill 29, as per the legislation.

I say to the member opposite because there are not always public reviews

or reviews brought before this House, it does not mean that legislation is not

reviewed on a regular basis. In

fact, if there is anything disingenuous it is the way that the member opposite

characterizes her questions and characterizes the actions of employees.

Employees in the Labour

Relations Agency work very hard day in, day out.

It is our government that has done more to support labour, workers,

protection of workers, and the benefits of workers in this Province more than

any other government in the history of the Province, I say.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. MURPHY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

According to the Auditor

General, the government has lost control of the Province's Waste Management

Strategy. As damage control, they

have abandoned plans for a full waste management facility on the West Coast

because it is simply too expensive.

I ask the minister: What

plan does the minister have to address the failure of the strategy in the

Western Region of the Province?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Municipal and

Intergovernmental Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We have been working

collaboratively with Regional Service Boards around the Province to advance our

Waste Management Strategy and we are making great progress.

We are making great progress on the West Coast as well, I would say to

the hon. member.

In fact, by the decision to

use the Central site, instead of creating a separate site on the West Coast, we

are going to save the taxpayers of the West Coast $1.8 million annually in

operating costs. It makes economic

sense and it makes environmental sense as well, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. MURPHY:

Mr. Speaker, I do not call collaborative, passing

on costs that would amount to about a 325 per cent increase to small businesses.

I ask the minister: Is this

one of the goals of the Waste Management Strategy, to have fees increase by 325

per cent?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Municipal and

Intergovernmental Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

Mr. Speaker, the capital costs alone of

constructing a separate facility on the West Coast would be between $75 million

and $100 million. It would result in

increased capital costs; but, more importantly, on an ongoing basis, the cost

difference between going with the plan that we have gone with, which is using

the Central facility, versus having an additional well on the West Coast, the

savings to taxpayers on the West Coast, again, is $1.8 million annually.

It is the right decision for

economic reasons; it is also the right decision for environmental reasons.

The carbon footprint impact has been studied, and this is absolutely the

right decision for the people of the West Coast and the people in Newfoundland

and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. MURPHY:

Mr. Speaker, he has to go back and revisit this

when it comes to the carbon footprint.

I mean, he knows about trucking out garbage to Central Newfoundland.

Surely, no business should be subject to an increase like this.

What assurances can the

minister give to businesses and taxpayers on the West Coast of the Province that

they will not see such increases on the bottom line?

We are talking 325 per cent upwards in costs.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

Mr. Speaker, we have estimated all along that the

cost of delivering modern waste management services to the residents of

Newfoundland and Labrador would be in the area of $180 to $200 per household.

In the other regions of the Province where the strategy has been

implemented, that has proven to be the case.

In terms of the cost

difference, and in terms of the carbon footprint, the studies and the reports

are all online, Mr. Speaker. I know

it is a challenge for the Member for St. John's East, but in this instance I

would encourage him to read the fine print.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St. John's East, for a

quick question.

MR. MURPHY:

He obviously has not read the fine print from the

(inaudible)

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

A very quick question, Sir.

MR. MURPHY:

Mr. Speaker, why should small communities also

bear the brunt of the failed West Coast management strategy?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the minister, for a very quick response.

MR. KENT:

Mr. Speaker, we all have a responsibility to our

environment to ensure we have a modern, progressive waste management strategy

implemented for the entire Province.

We are proud of the decisions that have been made on the West Coast (inaudible)

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The time for Question Period

has expired.

Presenting Reports by

Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Tabling of Documents

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Finance.

MS JOHNSON:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to

section 26.(5)(

a) of the Financial Administration Act, I am tabling one Order in

Council relating to funding pre-commitments for the 2014-2015 fiscal year.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER:

Notices of Motion.

Answers to Questions for

which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise again to present a

petition on behalf of the residents of the West Coast and Labrador on the

hospital.

WHEREAS we wish to raise

concerns regarding the recent delay of the construction of the new hospital in

Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to commit to the planning and

construction of a new hospital in Corner Brook, as previously committed to and

in a timely matter as originally announced, without further delay or changes.

Mr. Speaker, I have a

petition here again today. People

from all over there are people from Summerside, Pasadena, Mount Moriah,

Petries, and Corner Brook. I present

the petition again on behalf of the residents of Western Newfoundland and

Labrador. Once again, I urge the

government to follow through on their commitment and without delay on the

construction of the hospital.

Mr. Speaker, I asked

questions today of the Premier about the radiation and the PET scanner in Corner

Brook. As we know, there is a PC

candidate who came out and said he is going to do this.

I just want to bring it to the people's attention.

The Budget was brought in March 12, 2014.

The Minister of Health and Community Services on March 28 was on CBC

Radio and she stated that it has the potential to deal with 400 patients at a

number of 140, and it would not be operating at full capacity.

Should the numbers change, utilization demand, they are open to that.

Mr. Speaker, so we have the

Premier here today, the same Premier who announced construction of the hospital

during the election in 2011 that will begin in 2012, which never happened, and

he knew that it could not happen because there was no design selected.

Here we have the Premier of the day saying he is doing a $500,000 study

announced in the Budget March 12, 2014, and we have the minister two weeks later

saying no, the numbers do not can you see why I am asking questions and

presenting petitions?

We have a PC candidate out

there now who, last night, made an announcement that we are looking at a

radiation unit. Mr. Speaker, the

Minister of Health, when we were discussing about putting radiation and a PET

scanner in Corner Brook, said herself anybody who would make that decision is

doing it just for political gain just for political gain and she said it in

this House of Assembly.

So I ask the Premier again

he can stand up any time is the minister correct, two weeks later on CBC; or

is the Premier correct that the study is going to be done?

MR. SPEAKER (Verge):

Order, please!

I remind the member that his

time for speaking has expired.

MR. JOYCE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

PREMIER MARSHALL:

A point of order, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier, on a point of order.

PREMIER MARSHALL:

The hon. member just stood up and said in front of the cameras that I

can get up at any time. Obviously, I

cannot. I have to get up on a point

of order. I have to get up on a

point of order, and he knows I cannot get up and respond to this particular

debate.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

There is no point of order.

Are you speaking to the

point of order?

MR. JOYCE:

Yes, I am.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, as I always said, this is so

important. I will give the Premier

one of the 3,000 or 4,000 petitions that I have to present here, so you can

speak on behalf

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

There is no point of order.

MR. JOYCE:

There is no reason why you cannot stand up

Premier.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Further petitions.

The hon. the Member for

Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have a petition.

To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and

Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition

PREMIER MARSHALL:

A point of order, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon. the Premier, on a

point of order.

PREMIER MARSHALL:

I think the hon. member indicated I could stand up, and, of course, he

knows I cannot stand up. I cannot

stand up unless the hon. member is offering to give me leave to respond.

If the hon. member wants to give me leave to respond, I will be happy to

do so.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Does the Premier have leave?

MR. A. PARSONS:

I would gladly give the Premier leave.

MR. SPEAKER:

Does the Premier have leave of the House?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER MARSHALL:

Thank you very much.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon. the Premier, with

leave.

PREMIER MARSHALL:

Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the first thing

I want to say is that I have total confidence in the Minister of Health and

Community Services and the officials she has, the outstanding officials who are

doing work, who are gathering the evidence, giving it to us so that the

government can make an informed decision on how we can provide the best, the

highest quality, and the safest services to the people of Newfoundland,

including radiation services in the new hospital in Western Newfoundland, and

hopefully the development of a hub and spoke model that can provide radiation

services to other parts of the Province as well.

That is the purpose of the

study. The study will obviously

start in Western Newfoundland because there is a new hospital being built there.

If there is a need for radiation bunkers, we have to integrate that into

the design.

Mr. Speaker, I do not know

how much time I have with leave. I

assume I have about half an hour, so I want to talk about radiation services

that are offered in the country.

There is a model that people use, treatment for cancer, chemotherapy is done in

the regional hospitals, surgery is done in the regional hospitals, but the

tradition in the country, the standard in the country is to center radiation in

the larger population centres.

Yet, we have discovered two

communities, one in Peterborough, Ontario and one in Sault Ste. Marie that have

one machine. They have one machine

to serve their population, but they have another machine that is within a

reasonable distance. One is 300

kilometres away, one is about an hour's drive away, where they can get to

another machine that is calibrated with the machine back in the hometown.

So if anybody needs the services, the machine breaks down, they can get

to that community, get the radiation therapy and then be home and be in their

beds that night.

That is why the people of

Western Newfoundland, and that is why the committee, want this.

They want it because they want to be able to get the treatments home and

be home with their friends and family.

There are great psychosocial therapy benefits to that.

When people are ill, they do not want to be living far away.

They do not want to be in a hotel.

They want to be home, to be able to go home that night after they get the

service.

The Department of Health,

under the leadership of the Minister of Health and officials, are getting us

that information. They are getting

information on the national model.

They have information on the two towns that have one machine.

They are looking at the hub and spoke model.

Then what came up, Mr.

Speaker, through the committee, was that places like Cape Breton and places like

Charlottetown that serve smaller populations, one with 120,000 and one with

140,000, they are operating with two machines.

So the question would be, if this service is to be offered in the new

hospital in Corner Brook, can it be done using the model of one machine?

What happens when the machine goes down, or do you need two machines?

Can you attract the professionals you need?

Can you attract the medical

physicists, the radiation oncologists, the radiation therapists, the

dosimetrists I do not know if that is the correct pronunciation.

They are highly trained people.

They cannot get that training in this Province, not the medical

physicists, not the radiation oncologists, and not the radiation therapists.

They cannot be trained here.

So, can we attract them?

If we offer the service in

Western Newfoundland, can we attract those highly trained people?

Can we retain them if we can attract them?

If we can attract them, can we grow our own?

Can we put training programs in place, identify individuals, have them go

away and get their training and return?

Can we do that? Then there is

a question of the numbers. The

numbers are small, but the geographic distance is large.

Mr. Speaker, the Department

of Health are gathering that information for us.

They are doing the research; they are presenting it to us.

They are not making decisions.

Their decisions are based on the evidence.

They are going to give that information to us and then it will be us, as

elected representatives, who in the end will make the decision, a decision to be

in the best interest of the people of the Province.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Further petitions?

MR. JOYCE:

On a point of order.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands, on a

point of order.

MR. JOYCE:

I ask the Premier, if I can have leave just to

explain the information that the action committee also had the same courtesy.

MR. SPEAKER:

The Member for Bay of Islands is asking for

leave. Does the member have leave?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

By leave.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands, with

leave.

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, what the Premier just said is what I

have been asking for, for two years.

To have an informed discussion about the radiation and PET scanner in the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The action committee has asked for an open dialogue, a frank discussion

on all this information.

What the Premier just said,

to do a study to see what model we can use, I agree with 100 per cent.

The problem that I have, Mr. Premier, is the people in Western

Newfoundland were denied this opportunity.

They were denied the opportunity to have a full and open discussion on

why a radiation and PET scanner should be put in there, why they do not have to

travel this 700, some people up to 900 or 1,000 kilometres.

Mr. Speaker, that is what we

wanted. I urge the Premier to look

at the data. When you spoke about

Sydney, they did have a single machine for a number of years.

When you speak about Charlottetown, they did have a single radiation for

a number of years. Now they have two

because of the demand, but they did operate it.

This is the kind of information that myself, the Leader of the

Opposition, and the people on this side have been gathering.

That is what we have been gathering for a number of years.

I say to the Premier in all

honesty, this is bigger than any of us in this House of Assembly.

By the time this is put in 2022, I am not sure if there are going to be

many of us left in this Legislature.

This is for the people of Western Newfoundland and Labrador.

This is for the people, the seniors, Mr. Speaker, who are in palliative

care, end of life, and cannot get radiation.

This is what this is all about.

I commend the Premier.

If this is the open dialogue we are going to have, I commend it.

I look forward to it. I have

been asking for it for three years.

This is what I have always asked for, an open dialogue so we can take the facts,

put them on the table, and let the experts say yes, here is what we can do, here

is what we need to do to get this done.

I have been saying that all along.

The Leader of the Opposition has been saying this.

This is not us and them. This

is for the people of Western Newfoundland.

Mr. Speaker, I have to ask

the Premier, with all due respect to the Minister of Health, when you made an

announcement on March 14 in your Budget that you are going to do $500,000 to do

a study if there should be radiation and a PET scanner in Corner Brook, I

applauded it. Then, two weeks later,

the Minister of Health is on CBC Radio telling the people in Western

Newfoundland that the numbers do not do it, and it is unsafe to do.

Who are we to believe?

I heard the Premier say, Mr.

Speaker, and I agree, we are going to have one chance to do this, so let us do

it right. We cannot have the Premier

making the announcement of $500,000 to go do a study on the new hospital in

Corner Brook for radiation and a PET scanner.

We cannot have the Minister of Health coming out two weeks later saying:

No, the decision is already made.

This is what I have been

saying all along, Mr. Speaker.

Before we ever made the decision that there should be no radiation and there

should be no PET scanner, we should have had this dialogue.

We should have had all this information collected.

This is why this action committee caused such a stir, that we are having

this open debate and we are having this open dialogue.

I say to the Premier, and I

say this with all honesty: Premier, when the former Minister of Forestry and

Agriculture, Jerome Kennedy, was there, we worked well together for Corner Brook

Pulp and Paper. We worked well for

Kruger. We stood shoulder to

shoulder, we spoke, we shared information, and we helped to get things.

Why can't we do it with the hospital in Corner Brook?

Why can't we do it with the radiation and the PET scanner?

Why can't we do it?

We did it with Kruger.

There was a trust there, Mr. Speaker, that was never broken.

I thank the Member for Humber East, I thank the Member for Humber West,

and the former minister, Jerome Kennedy, for their support and for bringing us

into their confidence.

This is bigger than any of

us, so I urge the Premier to continue your study.

Most of the information you are saying you have there, Mr. Premier, we

already got through our research.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I would ask the member to

direct his comments to the Chair.

MR. JOYCE:

I am sorry, Mr. Speaker.

I say to the Premier: Most

of the information you have and, Mr. Speaker, I have to bring this up.

I am not sure how this happened, but when we wanted to meet with the

group in Newfoundland and Labrador, the oncologists, and the meeting gets

cancelled, you become suspicious of it all.

We need to work together. We

need to, all of us, come together because this is bigger than any of us.

I urge the Premier, again,

to ask the Minister of Health to calm it down with the statements she is making

out in the public that is going in the main it flies in the face of

reasonable, frank discussion we all need to have that the Premier is trying to

put through to Western Newfoundland.

Mr. Speaker, I agree, and I asked for it for a number of years, to have an open

and frank discussion. Put everything

on the table. Have all the best

information.

I can tell you, when the

Premier mentioned Sydney, they did have a single unit in Sydney.

I am not sure if the Premier was aware of that.

In PEI, they started with one.

The information we got from PEI they started with one; they graduated

to two because of the numbers. That

is the information that we are getting, and this is why we need to have this

open and frank discussion.

I say to the Premier when

you get the Minister of Health coming out and saying the numbers, that there are

only 140 people going to use the unit I know in this House of Assembly you

cannot say information that someone is putting forward is wrong; but I can

honestly say that the information that the minister is putting out, 140 people

that she said on CBC Friday, March 26, is factually incorrect.

Not only is it factually

incorrect, it causes so much confusion, it causes so much tension, and it causes

so much animosity. That is why the

action committee in Western Newfoundland are saying: Where is this number coming

from? Where is it coming from?

Mr. Speaker, there is nobody and I will sit down with the Premier any

time, I will sit down with the Member from Humber West any time, for anybody to

show me how the Minister of Health could go on CBC two weeks after offering the

study and say there are only 140 patients in Western Newfoundland, Labrador for

radiation. It is just factually

incorrect, Mr. Speaker.

All the experts out in

Newfoundland the information we even get under freedom of information, that

information is factually incorrect.

This is what we need to do. We need

to put everything on the table. We

need to have a frank and open discussion, Mr. Speaker.

I can tell you there are people in this Legislature that someday will

need that PET scanner, will need that radiation unit, and I can assure you that

this is bigger than anybody in here.

I might be the one who many times spoke out on it, and I know the Premier did

and I know the Member for Humber West spoke about it also.

This is bigger than any of us.

When you see a senior who

cannot get it, this is what this is all about.

I urge everybody in the House and I urge the Premier, as we did with

Kruger, let's work together, let's put it on the table because when it is all

said and done, we can walk around Western Newfoundland and Labrador and say, as

a government, we worked well, as legislators we did the right thing, we made the

right decision because the people who are going to benefit, Mr. Speaker, are the

people who elected all of us in this House.

Let's all work together, let's get this moving and let's stop this

rhetoric about the Premier saying one thing, having the minister out trying to

justify, let's get the facts, Mr. Speaker, so we can all do what we do best:

represent the people that elected us.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

Is the hon. the Premier

standing on a point of order?

PREMIER MARSHALL:

No, I assume we are having a discussion, by leave.

I assume that the hon.

member would want to have this discussion.

I want to make sure we have an open discussion (inaudible)

MR. SPEAKER:

If I could just speak for one minute.

I just want to lay out the procedure here, so that we all understand.

Anything can happen in the

House of Assembly. This is the

people's House; it is your House. If

you grant leave, then any debate can happen at any time.

Once leave is given the Speaker made a ruling here at one point in time

which said if somebody is speaking and they want to extend their speaking time,

then leave will be granted to a maximum of two minutes.

What we are dealing with here is not an extension of speaking time.

So if someone is granted leave, we will grant them leave to speak, and I

just want to make sure everybody understands that.

The hon. the Premier, with

leave?

AN HON. MEMBER:

With leave.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER MARSHALL:

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member opposite called for a public dialogue and a

public discussion, but you cannot be attacking individuals, if that is the way

you want it to be done. I have

complete and utter confidence in the Minister of Health.

I want to make that very clear to everybody (inaudible).

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER MARSHALL:

The Minister of Health and her officials her very highly qualified

officials worked very hard to gather this information, and they have brought

this information, and there was a deck that had certain numbers.

In 2011-2012, if you base it

on the numbers of people who have seen a radiation oncologist in Newfoundland

and Labrador, and those who come from the West Coast, and if you look at the

number of people in Newfoundland and Labrador who actually had radiation therapy

in 2011-2012, and you look at the number that came from the West Coast, you are

going to see that number of 140, because for certain people it will not be able

to be done. It is going to be

complex, there is going to be a procedure called brachytherapy, and they are

going to have to go elsewhere. So

that is the number; 140 was the number that officials have come up with and

given it to the Minister of Health.

The Minister of Health should not be criticized for that.

I met with that radiation

therapy group from Eastern Health and I asked them the question: Can it be

operated in Western Newfoundland? Do

you know what the response was? They

said: We cannot answer that question until we do the research, until we do the

study. They said: It may not be in

Corner Brook. That is what they

said. It might be somewhere else in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

What the woman said to me

it was a woman from Labrador we cannot just sit down and off the top of our

head throw out an answer. She said:

It has to be based on the evidence; it has to be evidence-based.

She said: We would love to do the study.

We want to get somebody independent to come in and do that study and to

look at the numbers and then to give us the right and correct answer.

So that number was correct,

and I am satisfied that the officials in the Department of Health are working

their hardest to get us the information and gather the information so that we as

the elected representatives of the people can make the best decisions for the

people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

The Minister of Health is

working extremely hard on this. She

is gathering evidence on this. Once

the evidence is complete, and once the additional information is obtained and

they are now seeking information in New Brunswick, in Prince Edward Island, in

Nova Scotia, and the evidence from here that will help us make the proper

decision.

Let's be very clear, the

attacks on the Minister of Health are unacceptable.

The Minister of Health has my complete confidence.

Her officials over in the Department of Health are working very hard.

They are very capable, and let's stop attacking them.

Let the committee in Corner Brook I know what the committee in Corner

Brook want, they want radiation. It

is very emotional, I understand that, but do not attack those officials.

Do not accuse those officials of giving them misinformed information.

These are highly trained and

dedicated professionals who want the best for the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador. Do not say they lied to

them. They have been accused of

lying, they have been accused of misinformation, and that is unacceptable.

These are amongst the best and the brightest we have.

They are very concerned about health in this Province.

They will work hard and give us the evidence.

Then we can have our debate and make the best decision for the people of

the Province.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The Leader of the Third

Party, I am assuming would like to jump in on this with leave.

MS MICHAEL:

Yes, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Does the Leader of the Third Party have leave?

AN HON. MEMBER:

Leave.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I really think this is an

extremely important discussion that is happening here on the floor.

That is why I thought it would be important to also add my voice to the

discussion that is going on.

Thanks to my colleague from

St. John's East, I did not know this, but apparently on March 28, 2001 when

there was a petition with regard to taking HST off home heating, the three

parties spoke in the context of the discussion of that petition.

What we are doing today happened one time before, at least in the House.

I asked my colleague how he knew that.

Was he up all night reading books that I did not know about?

He was present when it happened, that is why he knew about it.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible).

MS MICHAEL:

In 2001.

This is extremely important what we are doing here.

I think it is maybe a momentous occasion, as has been indicated by my

colleague from Bay of Islands, because I too believe it is extremely important

that we take seriously the request of the committee in Corner Brook.

While I have not been able

to meet with the committee as a committee, because of schedules not working

one time when I was supposed to be out there for a meeting a storm changing

things and I could not attend I have spoken with spokespersons officially from

the committee. So, I have had my own

discussions as well.

I think the case they have

presented with regard to radiation being needed on the West Coast of the Island

not just for the West Coast, they fully understand that.

They fully understand that when we are talking about the West Coast we

are talking about a large area, not just around Corner Brook.

When we look at the travel that people have to do for radiation, we are

looking at a tremendous group of people who have to do that.

I have spoken to people

inside of the health care system as well, to determine, does it look logical?

Does it look like, in actual fact, having a radiation unit elsewhere in

the Province is something that could work?

Certainly, there are individuals who believe, yes, that is the case.

It could work.

Without having the figures

for a study, et cetera, I think some of the reasons why this has to be

considered some of them were mentioned by the Premier, some mentioned by the

Member for Bay of Islands.

Certainly, one of the considerations is we cannot compare two towns sitting side

by side in Southern Ontario with the Island of Newfoundland and the grand land

of Labrador when we are talking about getting health care, because the distances

and the logistics of travel in our Province are so immense.

I stand behind the call of

the people in Corner Brook and the people outside of, sort of the Eastern part

of the Province, when it comes to this issue being studied.

I have no doubt there is going to be a resolution that is going to say

there should be a second radiation unit.

I have no doubt. I am sure

that is going to happen. I think it

is really good that all three parties are able, in this House today, to say that

we all stand behind the study.

I am saying I really believe

we are going to see that another unit is going to be called for.

Will that be Corner Brook or not?

I am not going to say that. I

think that study will have to show where.

Looking geographically, it looks logical.

Looking at everything around Corner Brook in terms of access, air access,

et cetera, it looks logical, but I accept a study being done.

I am glad that is happening.

I am sure the people, not just in Corner Brook, but elsewhere in the Western and

Northern areas of the Province are really delighted to see this happening too.

I thought it was extremely

important because of the importance of this issue.

I do recognize the hard work that has been done by the Member for Bay of

Islands. He has been consistent in

speaking out on this, but I think it is an issue for the whole Province.

That is why it was important to make sure that the voice of all three

parties was present in the discussion.

I thank you, Mr. Speaker,

for the opportunity to say that.

MR. SPEAKER:

Does the Member for Bay of Islands have leave?

AN HON. MEMBER:

Leave.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE:

I heard what the Premier said, saying that the

officials are lying. I understand

what you are saying but I will present to you information.

Mr. Speaker, anything I say

here I truly believe in my heart that it is correct information.

What the minister said on that radio show is inconsistent with what we

received from the Department of Health.

I will just say to the Premier, if you think the information and this

is the frustration from Israel Hann, Gerald Parsons, Wayne Rose, the action

committee. Look at the Stantec

report. The Stantec report is

different from the numbers the minister uses when she is on Open Line or CBC.

This is the frustration, I say to the Premier, it is different.

The numbers are completely different.

When you lowball the numbers

and it is like Desiree Dunn in Corner Brook, who is a radiologist, she said

that 20 per cent of people, seniors, end of life, do not even receive care

because they cannot come to St. John's.

When you add all those numbers in, which the minister knows.

When you come out and make these statements to lowball the numbers just

for Western, when Stantec report's numbers are up here, when the radiologist

numbers are even higher, and the only way I can dispute those numbers is here in

the House of Assembly.

I apologize if you think I

am offending somebody, but I have to get the point across that the information

we are going to put forth has to be accurate, has to be consistent.

It has to be matching what is in the report.

Because in the Stantec report the information is not correct from what

the minister is saying.

I say again, I make no

apologies for standing in this House and going on the Open Line and out in

Corner Brook and saying we need an open, frank discussion on this whole hospital

radiation and PET scanner unit. I

make no apologies. I make no

apologies for showing inconsistencies in numbers.

Like I said, if you do not believe me, go see the Stantec report, go

speak to the radiologist in Corner Brook, they will give you the numbers.

When I heard that the

Premier is going to have an open, frank dialogue with $500,000, I stood and I

commended that, Mr. Speaker. I

commended that, but two weeks later to have the minister out and cutting the

legs from underneath the Premier, cutting the legs from underneath the study,

cutting the legs from the people in Western Newfoundland and Labrador, I just

cannot stand for it. I just cannot.

If my only opportunity to do it, to speak on it, is here in this House of

Assembly, I will.

I say to the Premier and I

say to the people in Western Newfoundland, I am not saying anybody is lying.

What I am saying is the information that is presented in reports and

presented by the oncologists is not consistent with what the Minister of Health

is saying publicly. I will say it to

the Premier: I can give you those documents.

I am not here to say believe me, trust me, or believe someone else.

I will show you the document.

I will even give you the page. I

will even give you all the information we have to show that when the Premier

makes his statement, which I agree with 100 per cent, let us have an open we

should have done it two years ago or three years ago before the decision was

ever made, but that is water under the bridge.

If the Premier wants to see the information and why I say we have to stop

this lowballing and trying to justify not doing it, Mr. Speaker, I offer the

Premier the opportunity to see the information.

Like I said, Mr. Speaker,

when the Premier asked me to get involved with Kruger and with the pensioners to

make sure we got that letter, I went to bat.

So did the Leader of the Opposition.

I went to bat. The Member for

Humber West stood shoulder to shoulder with us.

I went to bat. I produced the

information. I can work with anybody

for the betterment.

I say to the Premier: I will

show you that information in the Stantec report.

I will give you the page. I

will give you the information. If

you really, really want the true facts, phone the radiologists in Corner Brook

whose patients they are serving and they can tell you, Mr. Speaker.

I can show it. When I say

that, I say to the Premier again, I am not saying anybody is lying, I am just

saying the facts are inconsistent from what we are getting from the same

department.

I make no apologies for that

I make no apologies because if you let it go unsaid, people will start

believing what is being said. I have

to confront and I have to show the numbers.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier, with leave.

AN HON. MEMBER:

Leave.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER MARSHALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think we heard a complete

discussion here, but the one thing that bothers me, and it bothers me immensely,

is the fact that the hon. member is attacking the Minister of Health, who is not

here today. If you want an open and

frank discussion, you have to have it with the minister here.

I can tell you one thing,

any information given to me by the Minister of Health will be information she

has obtained from her officials and I am sure it is 100 per cent accurate.

If you have any other information and if you have any other reports,

bring it forward. If you have any

information, and I heard the Leader of the Opposition or somebody the other day

saying you are out in Saskatchewan or you are out in Manitoba somewhere, give us

that information.

The information we have is

the information that was in a deck the minister and her officials presented to

the people of Corner Brook when she was out announcing the new plan for the

hospital, to show how there was not going to be one building, there are going to

be five buildings, and how it was going to proceed.

I have confidence in the

Minister of Health. She is a

terrific minister. Her officials

would never ever provide false information to the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER MARSHALL:

If there is one thing I am certain of, it is that.

These people are highly trained professionals; they do their work based

on the evidence. They provide the

evidence to us and let us as the policy-makers make the decision on policy.

I look forward to more

discussion. I look forward to you

giving me any information that you have obtained.

I can guarantee you one thing that anything coming from our officials and

the minister, nothing has been played with, and nothing has been distorted.

There is no misinformation.

They will give us the information and they will give us their advice based on

that information.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

(Inaudible) thirty seconds.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

The hon. the Member for the

Bay of Islands, with leave.

AN HON. MEMBER:

No leave.

MR. SPEAKER:

No leave.

Further petitions?

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of

Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled,

the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly

sheweth:

WHEREAS the Family Violence

Intervention Court provided a comprehensive approach to domestic violence in a

court setting that fully understood and dealt with the complex issues of

domestic violence; and

WHEREAS domestic violence

continues to be one of the most serious issues facing our Province today and the

cost of the impact of domestic violence is great both economically and in human

suffering; and

WHEREAS the Family Violence

Intervention Court was welcomed and endorsed by all aspects of the justice

system including the police, the courts, prosecutors, defence counsel, Child,

Youth and Family Services, as well as victims, offenders, community agencies,

and women's groups; and

WHEREAS the recidivism rate

for offenders going through the court was 10 per cent compared to 40 per cent

for those who did not; and

WHEREAS the budget for the

court was only 0.2 per cent of the entire budget of the Department of Justice:

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge

government to reinstate the Family Violence Intervention Court.

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, I call out on

the Premier to, if not reinstate the court, to consider reviewing the decision

that was made. We do not have access

to the supposed internal review that was done on the court on which perhaps a

decision was based.

We do know from reports that

the review was a positive review that showed the court was doing what it was

intended to do and was doing it successfully.

That, in fact, the numbers were increasing, and it took a while for the

police, for defence attorneys, for people to buy in, but buy in they did.

It was working well. Even the

Minister of Justice said that himself.

I would ask the Premier, Mr.

Speaker, and I would ask the Minister of Justice to do a review then, to revisit

the decision of the closure of the Family Violence Intervention Court.

Today, in the House during

Question Period, the Minister of Justice said that he has invested in the court

system and he said this government believed in a fair justice system accessible

to all. This court was about

investing in the court system. It

was about fair justice for all. It

was about access to justice for all.

Also, Mr. Speaker, who in

this House will stand up on behalf of women and children who are the victims of

domestic violence? That is what this

court did. That is what this court

did so well and so expertly. Who in

this House now will stand up and continue that struggle, continue to lobby on

behalf of women and children

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I remind the member her

speaking time has expired.

MS ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will go back to my

petition I had started.

WHEREAS the residents of the

Southwest Coast of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador must use Route 470

and Trunk Road 470-10 on a regular basis for work, medical, educational and

social reasons; and

WHEREAS Routes 470 and

470-10 are in deplorable condition, such that the shoulders of the road

continuously wash away and there are huge potholes on the road; and

WHEREAS the condition of

Routes 470 and 470-10 pose a safety hazard to residents and visitors to the

Southwest Coast; and

WHEREAS the Department of

Transportation and Works is responsible for the maintenance and repairs in the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador; and

WHEREAS the local division

of the Department of Transportation and Works does make periodic repairs to this

route but these repairs are only temporary patchwork and this road need to be

resurfaced;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the

government to support the users of Route 470 and 470-10 in their request to have

Route 470-10 resurfaced;

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this is an

issue that obviously many members in this House can stand up on.

Certainly, we have had a terrible winter when it comes to the conditions

of this road. We all know that, but

this winter has nothing to do with the condition of the road in this area.

These roads were in bad condition well before this winter, especially the

road that services the residents of Margaree and Fox Roost.

We have made this known to

the minister and previous ministers that this road desperately needs some

attention. I get complaints from not

only the residents but, most importantly, parents of young children, school bus

operators, and business people, especially even the local cab company that has

to go back and forth at all hours of the day, people going back and forth from

work. This road is washed away to

the point where there is actually one lane.

When you take this one lane and it is already in poor condition, what we

are going to see is a very bad accident.

Now we know there is a

significant amount of roadway in this Province, and we know there is only a

limited amount of funds, but I think for the condition of this road, the length

of time that has gone since it has had any work done and the relatively short

distance of time this summer, this community has a come home year where we are

probably going to see triple, quadruple the number of residents coming back home

for this period of time. I am hoping

this can be put into the early roadwork tender and, hopefully, we will see some

action.

We appreciate the work the

department has done, the operators, especially in this last week or two.

It has been tremendous, tremendous work they have done, but we would like

to see, hopefully, some tenders called for this area of roadway in the near

future.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.

MR. LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of

Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled,

the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador sheweth:

WHEREAS current government

regulations deny busing services to students who live closer than 1.6 kilometres

from school; and

WHEREAS parents have

expressed concern that children living within 1.6 kilometres of school face

dangers in walking to school, such as congested streets, busy intersections and

no sidewalks, especially during winter weather conditions; and

WHEREAS the $75,000 review

of the school transportation system completed by Deloitte recommended that the

Department of Education consider reducing the 1.6 kilometre eligibility zone for

kindergarten and elementary students; and

WHEREAS the $75,000 Deloitte

report also noted that only 10 per cent of those surveyed for the school

transportation system review agree that the current 1.6 kilometre policy is

reasonable for students and families; and

WHEREAS parents are

continuing to demand more flexible policies to meet the current needs of school

children;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge

government to change the outdated 1.6 kilometre school busing eligibility policy

in order to ensure safe travel to school for primary and elementary school

children in the Province.

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, I believe this

petition is pretty self-explanatory.

Certainly, I can attest to living in and representing an urban area of the

Province that this is a real issue.

We have a lot of busy streets, certainly in the City of Mount Pearl and in other

areas, but in Mount Pearl in particular we have a lot of busy streets, a lot of

traffic congestion.

As great as the snow

clearing is in Mount Pearl, and they do have great snow clearing, there is no

doubt about it that in the winter months it is a challenge to get all the

sidewalks clear, even though they do make school zones a priority.

That lends itself to children walking along the sides and out into busy

streets. They have to cross busy

streets going to school and so on.

Mr. Speaker, even in terms

of this Mount Pearl school reorganization, that is one of the concerns which has

been raised with the whole Newtown, St. Peter's Elementary issue, is the fact

that there were people who actually moved near one of the two schools so they

would be close to the school. Now we

are going to have to go to two schools.

You are going to have very young children who are going to have to walk

longer distances, but unfortunately even though it is much longer than what they

originally had, it is still within the 1.6 kilometres.

That is a real problem for parents, certainly at St. Peter's Elementary

and Newtown Elementary.

We realize from the

responses I have gotten from the Minister of Education that the Mount Pearl

School reorganization certainly does not seem to be a priority, and that was

confirmed here today in the House.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I remind the member his

speaking time has expired.

MR. LANE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay

North.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of

Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled,

the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly

sheweth:

WHEREAS government has a

responsibility to ensure that Internet access is broadly available so people

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

their rights of freedom of expression and opinion and other fundamental human

rights; and

WHEREAS Pine's Cove still

remains without broadband services, despite both adjacent communities of Shoal

Cove East and Green Island Cove have service; and

WHEREAS residents rely on

Internet services for education, business, communication and social activity;

and

WHEREAS wireless and wired

technologies exist to provide broadband service to rural communities to replace

slower dial-up service;

We the undersigned petition

the House of Assembly to urge the government to assist providers to ensure

Pine's Cove is in receipt of the broadband Internet services in Newfoundland and

Labrador.

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, I have talked

about how we need to advance telecommunication, and there are different options.

When we look at the community of Pine's Cove, there is a much simpler,

cost-effective solution that can be provided.

The community of Pine's Cove has a 456 telephone exchange.

If that telephone exchange was switched to a 475 with its neighbour of

Green Island Cove, this community, with a relatively low investment, partnered

with Bell Aliant, could receive broadband Internet.

This could improve the quality of life of a number of people who live in

Pine's Cove.

Mr. Speaker, I cannot

understand why we cannot move forward, make the right investments that are

cost-effective, that are solution oriented to serve the people representing

these communities who are currently unable to access broadband Internet.

They could utilize broadband Internet to utilize a variety of other

programs, such as Skype or Voice over Internet Protocol to make various long

distance telephone calls to connect with others and to create those business

opportunities. The Muskrat Falls

Project, when it comes to the Strait of Bell Isle cable crossing, is happening

right in their backyard and they do not have broadband Internet capabilities.

Mr. Speaker, I certainly

would like to see that type of service added for the people of Pine's Cove.

With all this development happening in their own backyard and they are

kept to dial-up slow Internet, it is unacceptable, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au

Clair.

MS DEMPSTER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of

Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled,

the petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS the Strait of Belle

Isle is a very important transportation link between Labrador and the Island of

Newfoundland; and

WHEREAS both commercial and

residential traffic is continuously increasing because of the opening of the

Trans-Labrador Highway and increased development in Labrador; and

WHEREAS the existing ferry

service can no longer effectively handle the traffic; and

WHEREAS there have been many

interruptions in the ferry service, especially during the 2014 winter season;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the

Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to complete a comprehensive feasibility

study for a fixed link across the Strait of Belle Isle that would include a

geological assessment and a full cost analysis.

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, as I stand

again today on April 8, the ferry is not moving in the Strait of Belle Isle.

She cannot move without icebreaker support.

The minister often references it as an old time winter, but, Mr. Speaker,

I say we need to plan how many old time winters we might be having.

Icebreaker capacity has been restricted due to federal budget cutbacks.

Many, many times this year we have seen a disruption in ferry service.

Let's put that aside, Mr.

Speaker. We are spending $10 million

a year on a ferry service. Not only

are we spending $10 million a year on a ferry service but we are not getting any

service from that $10 million if trends continue like they did this year.

People going on a twelve-hour trip, Mr. Speaker, and spending forty and

fifty hours on a boat, spending nights out in ice on a boat, women and children.

Business is being impacted,

Mr. Speaker, because store shelves are running bare because commercial traffic

is not getting in.

We have a very high cost of

travel if we choose to fly, Mr. Speaker.

If you get on a plane, fly across the Strait of Belle Isle and back, a

ten-minute flight, you are going to pay upwards of $600.

People just cannot afford it.

We know there was a

pre-feasibility study done about eight years ago.

Those numbers are dated. We

look at Norway with 900 tunnels and all the wonderful movement, flow of traffic

to and from and the good things that they are doing in that small country of

Norway.

I will continue, Mr.

Speaker, to stand here and call upon the government to do a full feasibility

study on the viability of a fixed link, a study that would include a geological

assessment and cost analysis. We

cannot continue this trend. Once

Route 138 is connected down to Quebec Lower North Shore, the government is going

to be scrambling. It is the Island

that will be left behind because Labrador will then have their road out.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I remind the member her

speaking time has expired.

MS DEMPSTER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

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

MR. KIRBY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the hon. House of

Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled,

the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly

sheweth:

WHEREAS the lack of services

and supports in the school system is a serious obstacle to learning for children

and youth with autism spectrum disorder; and

WHEREAS long wait-lists for

pediatric assessment and diagnostic services are preventing many children with

autism spectrum disorder from receiving needed diagnosis; and

WHEREAS the Intensive

Applied Behavioural Analysis Program is currently not available for children

after Grade 3; and

WHEREAS applied behavioural

analysis has been shown to be effective for many individuals beyond Grade 3; and

WHEREAS there is a lack of

supports and services for children with autism spectrum disorder after they age

out of the Intensive Applied Behavioural Analysis Program; and

WHEREAS it is unacceptable

to expect parents in Newfoundland and Labrador to pay thousands of dollars out

of their own pockets to cover the costs of privately delivered applied

behavioural analysis after Grade 3;

WHEREUPON the undersigned,

your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge

government to extend eligibility for the Intensive Applied Behavioural Analysis

Program beyond Grade 3 in consultation with parents, advocates, educators,

health care providers, and experts in the autism community.

As in duty bound, your

petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, we have some

colourful paper here today with names of people from all over my district and

parts of the Province. There are

people on here from Labrador City and just up on the street, Stirling Crescent,

all over.

I have received this

petition from people from all over the place.

Some of them colour code their paper so they can see it being presented

on the House of Assembly channel.

Needless to say, there is a lot of consensus amongst people who have experience

with autism spectrum disorder, whether it is individuals themselves, their

parents, their advocates, or the people who care for them, that we need to

extend the eligibility for this program because it has been shown to be

effective.

We are not talking about a

great deal of expense either. There

has been a growing prevalence; we have seen the recent statistics from the

Centers for Disease Control in the United States.

The prevalence of autism is increasing, but it is still not unwieldy; it

is not that expensive to ensure that people have access to this program.

One of the things that is

going on in the Province now when it comes to assessment, diagnosis, and with

treatment like ABA, that it is increasingly being privatized.

The funds are not being provided by government so people increasingly

have to go to private sector providers, whether that is to get an assessment,

diagnosis, or treatment that are effective, such as Applied Behavioural

Analysis. Sometimes people have to

go outside the Province (inaudible)

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

I remind the member his

speaking time has expired.

MR. KIRBY:

We need to get this done, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER:

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. KING:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

At this time I would like to

call from our Orders of the Day, Order 4, second reading of a bill,

An Act To

Amend The City Of Corner Brook Act, The City Of Mount Pearl Act, The City Of St.

John's Act And The Municipalities Act, 1999, Bill 6.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Municipal and

Intergovernmental Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move, seconded by the

Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services, that Bill 6,

An Act To Amend The

City Of Corner Brook Act, The City Of Mount Pearl Act, The City Of St. John's

Act And The Municipalities Act, 1999, be now read the second time.

MR. SPEAKER:

It is moved and seconded that Bill 6 entitled, An

Act To Amend The City Of Corner Brook Act, The City Of Mount Pearl Act, The City

Of St. John's Act And The Municipalities Act, 1999 be now read a second time.

Motion, second reading of a

bill,

An Act To Amend The City Of Corner Brook Act, The City Of Mount Pearl

Act, The City Of St. John's Act And The Municipalities Act, 1999.

(Bill 6)

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

MR. KENT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am very pleased to be

introducing this legislation today.

It is my first bill as a minister, so I hope the hon. members opposite will be

kind and gentle.

AN HON. MEMBER:

The first of many.

MR. KENT:

The first of many let's hope so.

There are a couple of more coming this session, with any luck.

We have, as you are aware,

legislation on the Order Paper right now which will deliver upon some important

Blue Book commitments, and which will build a better environment for those

considering running for municipal council, as well as those who are currently

holding office.

Last fall, we saw successful

municipal elections held in Newfoundland and Labrador.

When we approached that election we had a number of important goals in

mind: Working with Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador, we will encourage

residents to run for municipal council.

In honour of the foundational work of the Late Dianne Whalen we will

expand the Make Your Mark campaign to encourage women to seek elected office

municipally, provincially and federally, and to step forward to serve in other

representative and leadership capacities.

We will encourage women who have already taken this step to serve as

mentors and role models to others.

Mr. Speaker, that is why we

reviewed the three cities acts and the Municipalities Act, 1999 and are

introducing amendments today which will more closely align these acts with the

wants and needs of our councillors and support their work for communities and

families in their own towns and cities.

There is more to come, Mr.

Speaker. I have been the Minister of

Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs for about six months, and as I

experienced when I was a municipal politician, there are challenges with our

existing legislation. There is a

need for legislative reform when it comes to our municipalities.

Municipalities have been saying for a long time they want less

prescriptive legislation and more enabling legislation.

What we are doing here is enabling, which is one of the things I think is

exciting about Bill 6.

The specific portions we

propose to amend are in two areas, as follows: first, to provide councils the

discretion to allow councillors in towns and cities to remotely attend council

meetings; and secondly, to provide councils the discretionary authority to

appoint one or more youth representatives to council.

With respect to remote

meeting attendance, the Municipalities Act, 1999 and the three cities acts

currently require in-person attendance at meetings and do not allow attendance

through electronic means. We are

proposing through this amendment that the Municipalities Act and the three

cities acts be amended to allow a council the discretionary authority to decide

whether their councillors can attend council meetings via electronic

communication. Attendance at a

council meeting through the use of electronic communication would require the

person at a minimum to be able to listen to all of the proceedings and to be

heard by all in attendance while speaking.

During recent reviews of the

acts, as well as an MNL resolution on this matter, it was determined that

adjustments could be made to allow greater flexibility for councillors to attend

meetings remotely. This proposed

amendment will provide greater flexibility to a councillor in terms of how they

can balance meeting attendance with other family commitments and work

commitments, for instance. This

aligns with the goals and objectives of the Make Your Mark campaign by

potentially encouraging more candidates to come forward and allows the meeting

commitments of a councillor to be better managed.

Mr. Speaker, as technology

increases, our government is committed to ensuring that modern techniques,

including video conferencing and the use of Internet communications, are

available for use where appropriate.

This will also enable flexibility for councillors who are trying to balance work

and family commitments or who work from non-traditional locations or have an

irregular work schedule.

Mr. Speaker, the second area

in which an amendment is being proposed covers the enhancement of youth

involvement in local government in this Province.

We are proposing that the Municipalities Act, 1999 and the three cities

acts be amended to allow a council the discretionary authority to appoint one of

more youth representatives to council.

One of the goals and objectives of the Make Your Mark campaign is to

encourage youth involvement because they are the future of our communities and

they are potential municipal council members as well.

The Municipalities Act and

the three cities acts do not currently allow a council to appoint one or more

youth representatives. It is

proposed that the Municipalities Act and each of the cities acts be amended to

provide councils with the discretionary authority to appoint one or more youth

representatives who could participate in deliberations.

the youth representatives must be under eighteen years of age at the time of

their appointment. The youth members

would not vote, of course, and would not be counted for the purposes of

determining a quorum.

It is believed that this

proposed amendment will provide an opportunity for the community's youth to

experience first-hand the roles and responsibilities of municipal councils,

which may ultimately lead to an increase in candidates in the future; however,

immediate benefits should also occur, as the youth perspective can be provided

and considered as part of the council's deliberations, enabling an important

voice to be heard at the point of decision making.

Mr. Speaker, through this

new discretion, councils will be able to tap in to youth in their region, which

will bring a fresh perspective to the council table and will also create a

mentoring atmosphere to develop the next generation of municipal councillors.

It is essential that we give

young people an opportunity to be involved in local government.

We need to do whatever we can to enable and encourage young people to

become more involved in local governments to ensure our communities thrive well

into the future. Our young people

have a lot to offer and I believe they are willing to get more involved if they

are given an opportunity.

Not only will this benefit

communities from the new ideas and perspectives these youth will bring, but it

will also provide an incredible experience for these youth, which will be

invaluable to them as they continue on their education, enter the workforce, and

hopefully become leaders in our communities.

Our young people are the

future of Newfoundland and Labrador.

It is incumbent upon all of us to gather their perspectives and involve them in

shaping the policy and decision making at every level of government.

In considering this option,

we also conducted a jurisdictional review.

There are a number of efforts underway across the country, both

municipally and provincially, to add youth representation to councils; but in

terms of the provinces and territories, we have an opportunity here to be on the

leading edge. Only Manitoba,

Saskatchewan, and the Northwest Territories have prescriptive legislation that

specifically allows for youth representatives on municipal councils.

Mr. Speaker, I have spent

much of my volunteer career working with youth organizations and I have seen the

tremendous value that our young people can bring and the promise, which is

evident in their new, fresh ideas and different ways of viewing the world.

That is why I feel this amendment is crucial, to bring growth and new

ideas to our councils, as we hand our Province over to the next generation.

In addition, Mr. Speaker, we

are working closely with youth organizations in the Province to understand and

to obtain their views on how councils can utilize these positions to ensure that

the voice of young people is heard in our communities.

This feedback will inform the development of suggested policies and

processes for councils to consider, and will help indicate appropriate training

methodologies to support this new initiative.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to

have an opportunity as we introduce second reading here to make some brief

comments on this piece of this legislation.

I really feel that these amendments go a long way to making our councils

more accessible for current and future councillors as well as our youth.

I am also pleased to note that we have had discussions with youth

organizations throughout Newfoundland and Labrador on how we can assist councils

in introducing these new positions in an effective way.

I encourage all hon. members

to vote for this important piece of legislation.

It is going to enable municipalities in your districts to offer

additional flexibility for councillors.

It will encourage increased youth involvement in our communities, which

is the part that I am most excited about, Mr. Speaker.

I will conclude my comments

at this portion of the debate. I

look forward to closing second reading a little later on.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.