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March

8, 2017

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVIII No. 65

The

House met at 10 a.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Osborne):

Order, please!

Admit

strangers.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would

call from the Order Paper, Motion 1 regarding Interim Supply.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

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

Honour the Lieutenant Governor.

MR. SPEAKER:

Order, please!

All

rise.

message from His Honour the Lieutenant Governor:

Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, I transmit a

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

the year ending 31 March 2018, by way of Interim Supply, and in accordance with

the provisions of sections 54 and 90 of the

Constitution Act, 1867 , I recommend

this request to the House of Assembly.

Sgd.:_______________________

Frank F.

Fagan, CM, ONL, MBA

Lieutenant Governor

Please

be seated.

The hon.

the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I moved,

seconded by the Minister of Justice and Public Safety that the message, together

with a bill, be referred to a Committee of Supply.

MR. SPEAKER:

The motion is that the

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

now leave the Chair.

Is it

the pleasure of the House to accept the motion?

All

those in favour, aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR. SPEAKER:

All those against, nay.'

Carried.

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

left the Chair.

Committee of the

Whole

CHAIR (Warr):

Order, please!

We are

considering the resolution and Bill 71,

An Act For Granting To Her Majesty

Certain Sums Of Money For Defraying Certain Expenses Of The Public Service For

The Financial Year Ending March 31, 2018 And For Other Purposes Relating To The

Public Service.

Resolution

Be it

resolved by the House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

That it

is expedient to introduce a measure to provide for the granting to Her Majesty

for defraying certain expenses of the public service for the financial year

ending March 31, 2018, the sum of $2,703,698,200.

CHAIR:

Shall the resolution carry?

The

Chair recognizes the hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury

Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

And

before I speak to Bill 71, I just want to take a quick moment to wish my

colleagues in the House and those in the gallery and those watching at home,

Happy International Women's Day.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Chair, this morning we

are going to be discussing Bill 71,

An Act for Granting to Her Majesty Certain

Sums of Money for Defraying Certain Expenses of the Public Service for the

Financial Year Ending March 31, 2018 and for Other Purposes Relating to the

Public Service.

Mr.

Chair, I rise in the House today, and it's truly an honour again to speak in

this House. As many Members of the House would appreciate, Interim Supply and

this particular bill is required to be passed by the House of Assembly to allow

for the financial administration in support of ongoing operations of government

departments during in the interim period while Budget 2017 is being introduced,

debated, approved by the Legislature.

When we

bring in the budget, we will be seeking approval for funding to spend for the

entire fiscal year, but it will take time to allow for debate and approval of

the budget. During the interim period, it is necessary to provide funding to the

government departments, so that they can continue to pay their staff and their

suppliers of goods and services. In other words, the ongoing work of the core

public services must continue, which is the purpose of Interim Supply.

Mr.

Chair, we are seeking approval in Interim Supply for a sum of approximately $2.7

billion dollars. And this represents approximately 32 per cent of the 2016-17

budgeted current and capital account gross expenditures. While the 32 per cent

is a little less to the 2016-17 Interim Supply, 2017-18 Interim Supply

represents a 3.2 per cent decrease of approximately $88 million dollars from

last year's Interim Supply bill. This decrease primarily relates to a decrease

in investment requirements for Nalcor Energy over the interim period.

The

legislation will need to be passed and receive Royal Assent by March 26, 2017 in

order to allow sufficient time to ensure that payroll and income support

payments, particularly for those that have to be mailed to Labrador, and

available, when due, in early April of 2017. Interim Supply provides departments

and public bodies with the necessary cash flow dollars to manage expenditures

for the period from April 1 to June 30 of 2017, which is the first quarter of

the fiscal year. This includes ongoing housekeeping expenditures, including

funding for upcoming pay periods and ongoing project and funding requirements

applicable to 2016-17 fiscal year.

This

Interim Supply bill makes provisions for the transfer of funds from the

Department of Finance to other departments for expenditures for compensation,

benefits and other associated adjustments. Examples include step adjustments. It

includes transfers from Consolidated Fund Service accounts to other departments

for special retirement and other payments should they be necessary, such as

severance payments, and transfer of funds to and from various heads of

expenditures to facilitate expenditures for financial assistance as may be

approved from time to time by Treasury Board.

Interim

Supply is an important bill that is intended to provide for the continuation of

ongoing government programs, services and projects. And as I've said, this bill

needs to be passed to continue the routine and ongoing operations while Budget

2017 is going through the Legislature for debate and approval.

Going

into Budget 2017, our province continues to face a difficult fiscal situation

that continues to change with the price of oil and other economic pressures. As

a government, we are committed to make core government more efficient and

focused.

This

past November, Premier Ball launched The

Way Forward : A vision for

sustainability and growth in Newfoundland and Labrador . The vision will

guide government's actions to achieve greater efficiency, strengthen the

province's economic foundation, enhance services and improve outcomes to promote

a healthy and prosperous province. The vision provides clear plans for growing

the economy and providing quality services while restoring fiscal balances.

total, The Way Forward includes more

than 50 initiatives, all of which contribute to achieving the fiscal target set

in Budget 2016 to return to surplus

within seven years while maintaining quality programs and services.

The

initiatives in the vision are focused on four areas: achieving a more efficient

public sector, providing a stronger economic foundation, providing better

services, and supporting better outcomes.

Our

goals include: achieving deficit reduction targets, eliminating excess, and

employing an overall approach that ensures all spending decisions are justified

on a year-by-year basis with no automatic assumptions about spending from one

year to the next.

Last

month, we implemented our new Flatter, Leaner Management Structure within the

provincial government. Flatter, Leaner Management is expected to save

approximately $20-$25 million annually in salaries and benefits. Employees who

leave government, regardless of circumstances, are entitled to the cash

equivalent of their unused leave time and severance, nine years of service or

more, and these costs are already included in government's liabilities.

The only

additional one-time cost related to the decisions made as a result of Flatter,

Leaner Management is related to the pay in lieu of notice. Government expects

approximately $15 million will be reflected in salary expenses in 2016-17 to

cover costs associated with pay in lieu of notice.

Mr.

Chair, Newfoundland and Labrador remains at a critical juncture and it is

important that we continue to work together to address our fiscal challenges. We

are pleased that we have improved our fiscal performance but the seriousness of

the fiscal situation remains and must continue to be addressed. Through the

implementation of the vision, government will continue to practice strong fiscal

management on behalf of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr.

Chair, as I conclude my remarks, I would like to say it was an honour to have

the opportunity to speak on this important piece of legislation. I look forward

to hearing from my colleagues who will speak to this Interim Supply bill.

Thank

you, Mr. Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The Chair recognizes the hon.

the Member for Conception Bay East Bell Island.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It's an

honour to stand in this House on our unique Wednesday morning to debate Bill 71,

Interim Supply. There's no doubt, we all agree, Interim Supply is necessary. As

the government of the day prepares its budget, no doubt we have to ensure that

our civil servants and the programs and services that we fund are sustainable

and are able to continue.

I say

with some sense of dismay about the fact that we're having to do this in a

particular time when there are so many civil servants who are on a level of

terrible misunderstanding of what's happening, where their jobs are, where their

futures are, the plan that this government has for being able to sustain the

civil service and offer proper programs. The morale is non-existent here.

There's continued confusion within the process.

I've had

conversations only as recently as last night with some front-line staff, some

directors, some managers who are totally confused about positions going out the

door and then other positions coming in that don't fit the needs of a particular

program and are not aligned with a better way or a more efficient way of doing

things.

Everybody agrees; there's not a civil servant who won't agree that we need to

find efficient ways to do things. And efficient ways to do things means to be

engaging the people who would have an understanding of what can work. That

particularly means the union representatives, it means the front-line staff, it

means your middle management and at times it means your senior executive. So

when you first start cutting senior executive, then you start losing a resource

there around how the programs were implemented, what their intent was.

There's

no doubt, there may be some programs here that have outlived their usefulness or

need to be modified or we've been able to find a better way of implementing them

through partnerships with the private sector, the not-for-profit sector, or

there may be a better use of technology to ensure the economy of scale works for

the taxpayers and that we receive the best use of the money being invested.

Nobody will disagree or argue with that.

The

plan, or the lack of plan we've seen and the example here with interim funding,

really doesn't put us on a better footing for financial stability here. All it

does is make things more confusing. All it does is hinder how we're going to

offer programs. What it does, it's a scare tactic here to turn off investment,

to turn off the morale within government, to turn off the creative ideas that

people in this province have, because they have no idea of exactly where we're

going with this. That concerns me, it worries me. It worries me for my children

who are in their post-secondary education years and what their future will

entail down the road.

The

minister had noted that we're in a better financial footing, and praised

themselves for doing that. We may have more money in the bank only because we've

taken more out of the pockets of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and in some

cases at the expense of their health, their well-being and their education. Not

good enough. That's not how you do good governance.

While

interim funding is necessary to get us to that point, I would hope, and I

implore that this administration has a better plan in this budget than they did

in last year's budget. Because we know, we're still hearing the fallout. We're

still feeling the negative impacts. We're seeing that the economy hasn't picked

up, that there was no diversification that was part of the master plan.

The

seven or eight or different types of tours and going forward plans and all these

things, none of them have come to fruition because they weren't thought out

properly and they didn't engage the right people. There was a haphazard approach

to dealing with the fiscal situation. And there's no doubt, there's no doubt,

nobody will argue that there were financial challenges.

We said

it over on this side of the House. We echoed that there was a tough job that had

be done over there, but we also encouraged you to be engaged in how that job

needed to be done and how you did it. Not at the expense of the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador, but you had a tempered approach that over a period of

time would still instill the economy to move forward, would still put into

people the faith that they have in this province, and particularly would

encourage the young people to stay here, achieve their education levels, become

productive citizens, raise their families here, be the leaders of the future.

This was

what I was hoping would be the stellar stamp of the new administration, but it

couldn't have been further from the truth. What we've done is stymie the

economy, turn people away from coming to Newfoundland and Labrador and

investing, getting our young people now saying they don't want to leave but they

have to leave. And we know there are people who have left we've seen with our

population drop. We've seen the professionals leaving. We've seen those small

middle businesses closing up and saying it's not viable any more.

With the

tax increases here, with things like levies, we've seen the social sector cry

out about tax on books, about cuts to youth organizations, about closures of

libraries. How many times have we had to go back to really look at again what

decisions were made and knowing that they weren't in the best interest of the

people of the province? And we've done it on libraries. The one thing I will

applaud the minister on, at least he listened to the pressure to go out and look

at it.

I can't

agree with hiring a consultant company to go out and look at whether or not we

now can use technology better, or partner in certain areas to make libraries

more efficient after he announced and put everybody on the edge, and had the

communities in an uproar about the service being offered, by doing that. Good

due diligence, that would have been part of the process this time last year. So

that whatever decisions you had to make in that budget, would have actually

still fit the needs of those communities and the needs of those particular

programs and services.

A year

later and $300,000 in consulting fees, and $1.5 million dollars that you were

supposedly going to save, that isn't in the coffers now, and keeping every

community and library on the edge of not knowing should they try to enhance

their programs, are they going to be around, should they try to fundraise to

invest in their particular library, should they try to upgrade their use of

technology not knowing.

So we've

lost a year of being able to grow our libraries in this province because you

didn't have a plan. And the minister didn't have a strategy of what they were

doing. It was an exercise with a calculator. You did a great job with it; it was

easy to punch in numbers and say I want 30 per cent, I want 40 per cent, I want

20 per cent

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

MR. BRAZIL:

but it didn't serve the

purpose. It didn't serve the purpose. The purpose was to make it more efficient,

to ensure that people still received programs and services that they're entitled

to here, and that we got the best return on the taxpayers' investment. That's

what it was all about.

That was

the exercise I thought that you were going through. I thought that it was going

to be, at the end of the day, something that even on this side of the House we

would have to get up and nod and say, hats off. You went through a proper

process, you put in play a system that is efficient, it's equitable and, at the

end of the day, it will keep Newfoundland and Labrador on the right path to

prosperity and ensure our young get to stay here, our seniors are taken care of.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

That we have equity when it

comes to employment across the table, and that people in other parts of the

country, other parts of the world will say Newfoundland and Labrador is a great

place to invest; a great place to come and visit; it's great place to come and

say we can develop partnerships here. We can use the technology and the

expertise in this part of the world to grow whatever product or whatever service

they provide anywhere else in the world.

But we

didn't do that. That wasn't what was done. The government, through the budget

last year and the programs and services and the cuts and the fear mongering when

it came to the civil service about having another budget to let people know

there are going to be people laid off, and then saying no, we're not doing that

because we've got to think about what we're doing

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

MR. BRAZIL:

now we're going to do it,

but we're not doing it with consultation, we're doing it in-house.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

I remind

hon. Members that everybody here will have an opportunity to speak, and I ask

that you give people the time to have their say and show a little bit more

respect.

Thank

you.

The

Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I do

realize that some of Members over there are confused about what went on, because

no doubt they heard the same complaints or the same challenges from their own

constituents as I did, about what was happening here. And again, there's none of

us, none of us in this House that doesn't accept the reality that we have a

financial challenge. But we do accept that we're all in this together, and there

has to be a way, with a plan, that we can move Newfoundland and Labrador forward

without being devastating to certain sectors.

The

sectors that we're picking on here are young people. We're picking on seniors.

We're picking on the middle income. We're picking on those in the education

system. We're picking on those in the health care system, and we're picking on

the civil service. So there's not many left there that you haven't picked on. So

that's why there are people in an uproar in this province. They're in an uproar

because people will take an understanding and take the direction around they

have to give they have to give to keep Newfoundland and Labrador sustainable.

We've

been doing it for the last 500 years. But they need to know what they're taking

is going in the right direction. It's part and parcel of a bigger plan to move

things forward. None of that's been indicated with the Liberal administration.

It wasn't indicated in last year's budget; it definitely hasn't been indicated

in the year since then, around programs and services, and how you engage the

economy and how you diversify. There have been no examples of that.

There

has been nothing here with the negotiations with the labour movement, about how

we get to a point where it's sustainable and we still offer programs and

services that benefit the people of this province. The engagement process hasn't

been there. It's been questionable about speaking out of both sides of your

mouth and one side you're saying one thing and the other side you're doing the

exact opposite. And that's confused people. That's totally confused people.

AN HON. MEMBER:

Wow.

MR. BRAZIL:

That's what it is; it is a

wow moment. Because people have said to me look, I voted Liberal. I voted based

on the principle because I thought they'd come in with a plan to move things

forward and I thought it was time for a change and I thought there'd be new

energy, new initiatives, a new process. I did understand they were going to face

some challenges. There were going to be some financial challenges there. They

were going to have to find a new efficient way to do things. They were going to

have develop new partnerships.

They

would have to engage people in society in the private sector and the

not-for-profit sector, the public sector, to find ways to make things work for

the citizens of Newfoundland and Labrador. And they would have to prioritize,

what is it that's important to people in this province. How do we engage in the

post-secondary institutions? Do we modify some of the programs and services that

we offer so that we're more competitive on the national, international market?

Do we

also look at how we better use our primary education system to ensure that

people are ready for every sector of life as they grow? How do we ensure that

the expertise that our older citizens have doesn't get lost, that we can draw

down on that? We have tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, of people in

this province who have an experience in different factors of life; how do we

engage that asset and use it to our benefit?

That's

what people are looking for. People had felt maybe the previous administration

had been there for a period of time, they've gotten stale, maybe they've

exhausted most of their ideas and fair enough; I'll give people the credit

that was a rationale reason to vote a different way; no argument with that. But

the disappointment I'm seeing on people who come to me now and admit they voted

a different way and are disappointed that there wasn't a plan; there is no

process here.

The

planned process was from day one. As one of your former leaders had said, you

had a great plan to get elected but no plan to govern. So now we're asking, the

people of Newfoundland and Labrador are asking you, give us your plan, outline

your plan, but make sure your plan works for the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador. And I mean it works for all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, not

those who have a high income who can sustain all the hits that they're taking

now from tax increases, from levies, from cuts in services, from not being able

to provide basic health care and education that we've accepted as a God-given

right for the last 100 years here.

Now, all

of a sudden, we're going to fall back. Newfoundland and Labrador has come too

far because of the great work done by the business community here, the social

sector here, the volunteer sector and the public service on a national,

international basis to fall behind again because your administration doesn't

have a plan on how we're going to deal with our debt and how we're going to

engage and diversify it and grow the economy and how you're going to partner

with your federal government to ensure we get our equity here and we get what

we're entitled to. That's part of the process here.

Now,

there may not have been a great working relationship with the previous

administration provincially and federally; can't change that. It is what it is.

But you're the government of the day. You have a government in Ottawa that's of

the same political stripe, so I would hope that the connection there would mean

that we would get more than a fair share. I haven't seen that. I've seen a few

tidbit announcements here and there.

The

former administration in Ottawa did the same here, it's just it wasn't a big

splash. We didn't do all that because there wasn't that comradery at the time,

but there were still monies, hundreds of millions of dollars invested in

Newfoundland and Labrador.

What we

need now is some leadership at the national level and at the provincial level to

ensure we get through the financial challenges we're going through right now.

That we find a partnership and we find ways to sustain that so we're not always

cutting and cutting and cutting so we fall behind, and we're not always taxing

and taxing and taxing until our citizens say I can't take anymore, I'm leaving.

I'm going to pay taxes, well I'm going to pay them somewhere where I'm going to

get a service and it's not just on the backs of me and my family. I want to know

I got a future.

People

are not afraid to take money out of their pocket to help sustain Newfoundland

and Labrador. Not one of my constituents, not one of the people I've spoken to

as I travelled across this province has said they're not willing to invest in

it.

The

people in the hospitality industry, they realize they need to do their part to

grow the industry but they can't be taxed to death. They can't do on one hand

try to invest money into a program and a service so that they can sell that as

part of our diversification and then on the other hand they lose more money

because they're being taxed. The incentives are not there. They're turning off

people from coming here, and they can't grow their industries. It doesn't work

that way.

We have

to pick our priorities, invest in them so that it helps every Newfoundlander and

Labradorian, and there are ways of doing that. Proper consultation, setting your

plan out, sticking to your plan, not flipping back and forth but make sure that

the plan you do I understand why you flip back and forth, because you didn't

have a proper plan in the beginning, and that doesn't work. You can't plan that

way to ensure you're going to govern properly and you're going to produce

something that works for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

So, Mr.

Chair, I'll have a chance to speak to this again.

Thank

you

CHAIR:

The Chair recognizes the hon.

the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

Oh, no, no. I couldn't

believe what I just heard, Mr. Chair. I just couldn't believe.

This is

a Member who was in the Cabinet of the previous government. The Member for Mount

Pearl South stood in the House of Assembly last Monday check Hansard do you

know what he said about Muskrat Falls? I was hoodwinked. I did not get the

information. The words he used, I was hoodwinked.

So, Mr.

Minister, when you were in the former government your colleague was saying you

hoodwinked him. You know the largest levy we're going to have in the Province of

Newfoundland and Labrador is the rate increases when Muskrat Falls comes online.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

As the Member for St. John's

Centre said the other day, rates are going to go up double. So anybody $150 is

going to go up to $300 unless we mitigate it, unless we do something with it,

unless we mitigate it. And do you know something, $150 a month is the biggest

levy that Newfoundlanders and Labradorians will ever see and you were a part of

that decision. It is just absolutely ridiculous, Mr. Speaker, for him to get up

on a high horse talking about how everything we're doing is bad when they look

at a situation.

When his

own colleague, who sat right there in that seat up there, Mr. Speaker, sat in

that seat, stood in this House of Assembly and apologized to the people of the

Province of Newfoundland and Labrador for Muskrat Falls. He said my colleagues

hoodwinked me, and he was a part of that Cabinet that hoodwinked him. That is

just absolutely unbelievable.

Mr.

Speaker, I'll ask you a question. If a colleague stood in that seat and said he

was hoodwinked, how would the Opposition and the people of the province know

what was happening with Muskrat Falls when they stood on their high horse and

said $6.2 billion, now it's up to $11.9 billion. When their own

AN HON. MEMBER:

How much?

MR. JOYCE:

Eleven-point-nine billion

dollars. The largest levy, the largest tax we're going to hit with the lowest

income of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians is because of that government when

Muskrat Falls comes on.

We heard

about the big Emera deal. Now they're going to get more profits from the line

because of the cost overruns, the money who made that deal? Stand up and

apologize to the people of the province.

Mr.

Speaker, I know they're picking on the minister. Libraries; let's get this now,

and I spoke to the mayor. This is how this happened. We all remember because we

were in Opposition, the CBS library. When they were up there, there was a big

protest to move the CBS library. The CBS library, we're going to move it out,

the big uproar.

Do you

know what happened? Here is the mayor, he was in Kent store, Kent shopping,

picked up the phone, here was Terry French, Clyde Jackman. Do you know what they

did? B'y, we got a deal for you. What we're going to do for you, how about if we

give you the money, put the library into the CBS building, and we'll give you

$225,000 a year for rent for the library. That's how that deal was done, one

library.

MR. BRAZIL:

That's not how it works.

MR. JOYCE:

The Member for Conception Bay

East Bell Island saying that's not the way it works. Stand up and say it

didn't work. Stand up and tell me how it worked. Here you go. If I'm saying

something wrong here, stand up, stand up. Here you go, here's your opportunity.

I'll sit down. I'll sit down right here and now. That's how they worked. And

then you want to criticize about the library funds. Imagine a mayor in Kent, he

was in Kent store, hardware store, said here's the deal we got for you

$225,000 because we don't want people to complain. We'll help

pay how much rent on their

new building? That will almost cover their share of the new building.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Twenty years.

MR. JOYCE:

Twenty years, 25 years I

think it was, a 25-year deal.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Mount Pearl pays a dollar.

MR. JOYCE:

Mount Pearl pays a dollar. So

that's the kind of stuff that we had to deal with.

Mr.

Chair, I listened to some of the things he's saying about low-income people in

the province. How about the $74 million for low-income earners and seniors?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

Seventy-four million dollars, when you look at that, that's the largest

investment in low-income people in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador,

Mr. Chair.

I just

want to go on to one thing. I don't want to say anything about the Member for

Mount Pearl North. I have to admire your courage. For you to go on

Back Talk and say: Yes, it was our

fault because the civil service got too big, it bloated. It needs to be done.

That takes courage.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

Now, we made debate how we

have to do it, but I can tell you, for the Member for Conception Bay East Bell

Island to stand up and say, oh, we don't know what we're doing, and the former

deputy premier of this province to go on

Back Talk and say: Yes, it's our fault because we let this get out of hand.

Now we're reeling it in.

The

former deputy premier of the province, and then the Member for Conception Bay

East Bell Island stands up and says no. Why don't you just reach across to the

former deputy premier and he'll tell you. He's apologizing to the people of the

province for what happened, and that takes courage. I say to the former deputy

premier, that takes courage.

Now, we

can debate how we can do it, that's different, but we all agree there's a

problem. Now, the Minister of Finance is the person who's helping with that

problem. And I have to say, she's doing an admirable job with it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

I have to say, for anybody

here to say to the Minister of Finance, oh, you went out and asked for a

conciliator. There are seven bargaining units, you asked for a conciliator.

Did

anybody ask her the question? Did the union ask for the conciliator for

outstanding issues? That's the question they haven't asked. They did. The union

of this NAPE asked for a conciliator for outstanding issues.

So when

you stand up and say to the Minister of Finance, oh, you're heavy handed. NAPE

asked for a conciliator for outstanding issues for nine bargaining units NAPE.

So if you're going to make statements, you have to know what you're talking

about here.

I say to

the Member for Conception Bay East Bell Island and I know I only have a few

minutes and I'll have lots more time. Do you know why I never take this Member

seriously? It was 2015 when the tender was called for the Bay of Islands part of

the tender. Mr. Chair, I pleaded with that minister; there was a piece of road

in, they call it, Plant Hill in Summerside he's over there laughing.

There

was a piece of road, Plant Hill. There was $500,000 in the Bay of Islands. Two

days before the tender was called information was proven when we got in this

Member took the $500,000, put it out to Port au Port. I wrote the Member I think

it was five times or four times, pleaded with him, that this part of the road

which will take about $50,000 to fix is dangerous. There were two accidents

there that winter; never got a response.

So I say

to the Member for Conception Bay East Bell Island, when you say something, I

know it's all politics. Safety is not your concern, for what you did to those

people of the Bay of Islands. I can tell you that you can laugh. You can laugh

as much as you like but I can tell you, you showed your stripes when you

wouldn't put those safety after having it in there, two days before and I will

say to the Member for Cape St. Francis, it is 100 per cent true. I begged, I

begged to keep the money there. I begged to keep it there, and he wouldn't do

it.

that's why when the Member stands up and says stuff like that

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Chair, I just had to get

that out for the people of the North Shore of the Bay of Islands.

Mr.

Chair, I heard the Member for Mount Pearl Southlands talk the other day about

the Premier. It is initiatives by the Premier but government don't deliver.

Well, Mr. Chair, let me tell you one thing, look at the long-term care facility

in Corner Brook, which was promised seven times

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

Seven times it was promised

seven times. And I know the Member for Mount Pearl North he understands it had

to be done. Mount Pearl North, I got no problem with that.

Mr.

Chair, guess what? Since 2007 the acute care hospital in Corner Brook, we're all

out there, Mr. Chair, it was announced with timelines and money attached to it

for the acute care hospital in Corner Brook

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. JOYCE:

So, Mr. Chair, when the

Member for Mount Pearl North stands up and says Premier makes stuff but he don't

follow through, look at the results that we have done.

AN HON. MEMBER:

Southlands.

MR. JOYCE:

Mount Pearl South; sorry.

Look at

the results that we have. Mr. Chair, there was no prouder day for myself and the

Member for Corner Brook, no prouder day when we announced the long-term care and

the acute care hospital, and there was radiation included so those people with

cancer now can have radiation, next to their families. They can have radiation

at home, with families, to make it more comfortable. They don't have the travel

cost.

Mr.

Chair, for four or five years I heard on this side that you can't have radiation

because it's unsafe to travel across the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

There will be radiation in Corner Brook. There was no prouder day for myself and

the Member for Corner Brook and I thank the Minister of Health, the Minister of

Transportation

CHAIR:

Order, please!

MR. JOYCE:

and mainly the Premier of

the province for following through on the commitment that was made.

CHAIR:

Order, please!

I remind

the hon. minister his speaking time has expired.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The Chair recognizes the hon.

the Member for Cape St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Chair.

It is

indeed a privilege to get up here today and talk about Interim Supply, but first

I'd like to just make a couple of comments on what the minister just had to say.

Minister, I stand in this House all the time and I'm sure all Members do with

safety and residents foremost on all our minds, no matter if we're on this side

of the House or on that side of the House.

This

opportunity we get here today is to get up and say what we feel about what's on

the go in our province and how everything is going. The minister mentioned about

hoodwinked. Well, I can tell you one thing, the people that got hoodwinked in

this province are the people of the province because they were promised

something, they were promised that there was going to be a brighter tomorrow,

and they promised that we had a plan and we're going to like it, and everyone

can't see the plan.

I know

there are Members over there, backbench Members, that after last year's budget

were embarrassed to go to things in their districts; felt bad about going to

things in their districts when they attacked the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador.

Don't

shake your heads, I know it. I spoke to residents in your area, couldn't believe

it that they were listen, we're talking about what is on the go for people in

Newfoundland and Labrador; we're here to make sure that we make the right

decisions.

You

know, when I look at last year's budget and I look at what it did to the people

of the province, it took away all their hope. It took away hope. Go to your

coffee shops and talk to people; get out around and talk to people. I know

you're listening to it too, just like we all are. The hope is gone out of what

people really had in this province.

When you

tax people to death and tax people and continue to tax, and attack people like

what happened in last year's budget, it's just unfair. I talk to seniors every

day that complain to me that my car insurance. I have a hard time paying my car

insurance, because we're paying taxes on our car insurance. By the way, I think

the only other province in Canada but they have subsidies is Saskatchewan

that charges that tax.

Talk to

seniors that have to go in now and pay for drugs over the counter that maybe to

most people are not a lot of cost, and costs them $20 or even $5 a month. But

when you're on a fixed income, you're a senior and you're trying to figure out

where every cent is coming from, that's so difficult.

The

comment was we got a plan and you're going to like it. Well, I'd say to you talk

to the seniors in this province and see if they like your plan. Talk to them for

the extra monies that they got to put out but they don't know where that money

is coming from. Talk to them.

You made

promises all through this election, no more taxes. The HST, we're taking it out.

You cost the province $120 million. If you had to leave that there, perhaps the

seniors of the province wouldn't have to pay for over-the-counter drugs that's

costing them $20 or $30 extra a month. The reason why you did that was because

you had no plan in place.

I agree

with the Member for Conception Bay East Bell Island when he said I saw it in

my district; people did want a change. They said you guys have been in for a

long while. We need somebody who's going to bring new life and it's going be

this and everything else, but boy, are they ever disappointed.

I've

talked to constituents of mine, not very many down my way now that did vote

Liberal, but anyway they'll never do it again they said.

AN HON. MEMBER:

Five of them.

MR. K. PARSONS:

No, more than five. There was

a few more than that.

But it's

the hope that people had, the hope that people need. There were lots of years in

this province that people had a lot of hope.

Our

young people, we have young people today who are in post-secondary education who

are saying: What am I going to do? Where am I going to move? What am I doing to

do because there's no plan in place? This government has absolutely no plan in

place for the future of this province absolutely no plan.

You look

at the young people today who are our future. We always said they're the bright

our education system over the last number of years I want to thank the

Minister of Education, actually, for last week. He took me down to the new

school opening in Torbay. I thank him for that. We had a great tour of the

beautiful facility that's going to be down there.

Over the

last number of years people will look at this we built so many schools in

this province, it's unbelievable, but that's what we should do is invest in our

young people. But your budget and your tax increases and everything else made us

the worst place in Canada; one of the worst places in Canada to live now with

taxes. Our young people can't afford to stay here. Housing starts are down.

Young people are looking to say where can I go, because there's no plan in place

for them to stay here.

Just

look who you attacked in your last year's budget. You attacked our young people.

You attacked our seniors, our middle-income people, people that live from day to

day.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

MR. K. PARSONS:

They're laughing over there

now. I really think it's pretty funny that the minister of business is laughing

over there now when we're talking about something as serious as seniors and

stuff like that. You can find it as funny as you want, but it's important that

we in here do the right thing for the people of our province.

You look

at a book tax seriously, a book tax; the only province in Canada that can come

up with a book tax. Who are we attacking there? Our young people who can go and

buy a book. We're attacking our small businesses. We're attacking publishers.

MS. PERRY:

Our writers.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Our writers. Look who we

attacked by a business tax. Our libraries I mean, I have a library in Pouch

Cove that I believe is 40 years old, and they offer different programs. The town

council of Pouch Cove wanted the library to stay open for an extra period of

time. So they decided in their budget to put money into their library because

they saw the benefit of it. They saw the benefit that there's a I think it's

called Mother Goose program that's offered down there where the children come

in, pre-school children come in and the parents read to them and it's a big nice

program.

The town

paid for that to stay open, because they realize the importance of it. But what

did this government want to do? Close the whole library. Close it down. I mean,

people were using it. Our seniors were going there to do different things on the

Internet, using the computers to I think they have seven computers down there.

The librarian told me it is booked solid all the time. And that's what we're

closing; that's who we're attacking. Think about it. Think about what you've

done.

I'm

hoping that this budget coming up now, there's going to be some big changes

made. I'm hoping you're going to re-think like you've done most things. Like

closing health care facilities, I think you revisited most of them. The ones you

introduced that you were closing and realized that we can't attack rural

Newfoundland like that. That's not fair to do these things.

The gas

tax itself, what that's done to our economy. I'd like to know what it's done to

small businesses in our economy. What has it done? The Conference Board of

Canada came out last week and said we're in dire straits because of what your

government did.

The tax

increases, the attack on people in this province. I mean you can laugh and joke

all you want, but the people of this province are really hurting. And they're

hurting because they don't have the money to pay for what you want them to pay

for. I talked to a lot of residents in this province who said, we understand the

fiscal situation we're in but it's too much, too hard, too fast. And it's

attacking on the wrong people.

There

were so many promises made in the last election and the biggest word that I hear

out in the public is trust. We can't trust them. They say one thing and they do

something else. And that's important, because as parliamentarians and people in

here, we should have the trust of the people. I hope I have the trust of the

people in Cape St. Francis that I'm going to do the best for them. Because I

know I will, and I'll try my best. But people don't have trust in this

government because, you see, this government had no plan. They had absolutely no

plan. Came in, gave us a budget, and then all of a sudden: oh, my God. Okay,

let's go revisit this; let's go revisit this again.

You've

got an opportunity now with a budget coming in now the next time; hopefully

there'll be a bit of a plan in this budget, because there was absolutely no plan

and no trust, and no nothing in last year's budget.

Mr.

Chair, I spoke to a few of the civil servants over in different departments, and

friends of mine that are around government, and they've never seen the turmoil

that's there now. It's sad when you see families that are just in such disarray,

they don't know what's happening. We got directors over there now, one job, and

there are four directors in that department competing for the one job.

Again,

no plan in how people I wonder sometimes, do you really care about the people

of this province? Do you really care how they are?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

MR. K. PARSONS:

No, but what you do to

families, what you do to families in this province. Those people that are going

to be out of a job, gone, we don't care. There are ways of doing things; there

are ways of doing things better.

We have

a lot of public servants

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

The

Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Cape St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Mr. Chair, people in our

province deserve better than what they're giving them. They deserve better. They

deserve to be treated you mentioned the word respect to other Members, let's

respect all the members of the people of the province. They deserve better, and

we deserve to have a government that has a plan in place to make their lives

better.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The Chair recognizes the hon.

the Member for St. John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Chair.

I'm very

happy to rise and speak, particularly in response to the Member from

AN HON. MEMBER:

It's committee.

MS. ROGERS:

Mr. Chair, I am very happy to

stand and speak to this Interim Supply, particularly after the Member for Humber

Bay of Islands, who is also the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment,

when he accused me of fear mongering. When he stood up and spoke because he said

I said

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

The

Chair is having an awful difficulty trying to hear the hon. Member speak. I ask

for, again, respect from all Members of the Chamber.

The

Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for St. John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Chair.

As we

know, it was actually the Premier who a few days ago in this House said that the

electricity rates, the power rates for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador

will double. He said that. That's quite alarming, and we all knew that was

coming, Mr. Chair, and that's going to affect individual households, it's going

to affect businesses, it's going to affect institutions.

Does it

mean, in fact, that the Health Sciences Centre their power bill will double,

and who's going to pay for that? Well, I guess we're going to have to pay for it

out of government coffers. And where does the money for government coffers come?

It comes out of the pockets of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

What

happens when a bakery, an individual business, when their power rates double?

That will be passed on to the consumer. It's a serious problem; it's a real

serious problem.

When

this government first took office in December of 2015, they had the opportunity

to do a thorough, public stop-and-go analysis of Muskrat Falls. And that wasn't

done, Mr. Chair. Unless it was and they're not going to table what was done

because we've asked for that. We've asked for what was the stop-and-go analysis

done. Was it possible to stop Muskrat Falls? We still don't know that. We don't

know what that is.

What are

the ramifications of people's power bills doubling? Well, if your power bill is

$300 during the month of January that means when it doubles it will become $600.

For many working families that is an incredible, incredible financial burden.

Particularly in this economy, because what we've seen is that people are

hurting.

Our

working-class families are hurting. They're paying mortgage payments; they're

paying for child care if they have children under the age of five. Child care is

a minimum, a minimum of $800 a month per child a minimum. You're lucky if you

get it for $800 a month. Without affordable, accessible, public child care

system we are keeping, particularly low-income working families, in poverty.

I can't

tell you how many women I have spoken to who have said I had to quit, or I

couldn't go back to my work because I can't afford child care. What does that

mean? That takes people out of the economic out of the workforce, out of the

economy. And that's a burden on individual families. It's also not fair, and

it's predominantly we know it's predominantly women who are still responsible

for arranging for child care for children.

We also

know, Mr. Chair, the unemployment rate in Newfoundland and Labrador is the

highest in the country, at 16 per cent. And government in its

The Way Forward or way backwards

document said that it's going to grow to 20 per cent. It's kind of a way

backwards rather than a way forward.

We don't

know what they're going to do to mitigate that because we haven't seen a plan to

increase economic opportunities and employment opportunities for the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador. We have not seen a concrete job strategy. And we know

that in fact what's happening is government is creating even more unemployment

in the job cuts that we have just seen, and in the ones that are being

foreshadowed. So what we have, in fact, is even more of a growing unemployment

situation.

government in and of itself is creating more unemployment. What should

government be doing during this time of economic hardship? Government's role is

to strengthen our communities and to strengthen our people because we will get

through this. We've seen hard economic times before and we will get through

this.

We will

see resurgence in some of our natural resources and extraction industries. We

know that is coming and there are other things that government can do. But, in

fact, what this government has done is creating further casualties. They are

creating further causalities by cutting jobs, and we see it in all of our

communities. We see what is happening to families. Right now, government has

created the reality show Survivor

where public sector workers are told that they're going to have to compete with

one another for the jobs that will exist, that will stay.

It's

almost like a gladiator cage where you put all the gladiators in one cage, then

they have to fight and the fittest survive. This has created such an

incredibility difficult time for the public sector workers of our province. And

it didn't have to be this way, Mr. Chair. That is the hardest thing; it didn't

have to be this way.

Now, the

other day in the media we heard about the rise in bankruptcies in Newfoundland

and Labrador. There has been a 3.6 per cent increase in the number of

bankruptcies in the province, individual bankruptcies, in 2016 over 2015. The

alarming statistic that we see as well is 158 per cent increase 158 per cent

increase in the proposals for protection. Meaning these are people who are

desperately 158 per cent more in 2016 over 2015, people who are desperately

trying to hold on and not have to declare bankruptcy; 158 per cent increase in

one year. And I suspect we're going to see even more than that this year because

of government layoffs; also public sector layoffs have a rollout effect in the

private sector as well.

So these

are people who are just able to pay the minimum on their credit cards, who are

just able to put clothing on their children and feed their children. Nancy

Snedden, who was the economic advisor from BDO, said there are always people who

are living pay cheque to pay cheque. And with the cost of living increases in

Newfoundland and Labrador, the increased GST, the increase in insurance tax, the

gas tax and all those things are cutting back on their available cash flow and

making it harder and harder to pay their minimum payments.

Mr.

Chair, this doesn't even include people who really have nothing to lose. This

doesn't include people who don't even have anything so that they would need to

declare bankruptcy. These are the working people of our province, the

hard-working people of our province on whose back our economy grows.

We know

that there is an increase in the use in the food banks. So what this government

has done has abandoned the people rather than strengthening our people,

strengthening our economy to say we're going to get through this hard time

together.

Premier

Notley we all know that Alberta is a little bit different. We know that they

didn't have the same great debt load. We know that. But what did she do? She

said: We believe in the people of Alberta. We believe in our public service. We

will work our way out together. That's not what this government did. This

government said the bottom is out of her. The arse is out of her. We're going to

have to lay off people. We're just going to have to cut and cut and cut.

Never

once did they say that we are going to work our way out together. Notley, once

again, said: We are going to stand by Albertans in the tough times. That's what

this government needs to do. That's what governments are elected to do: to stand

by their people, to stand by the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, strengthen

our community, strengthen our individuals so we can weather this storm, not chip

away at the very little that people are holding on to right now.

People

are so afraid and this government has created that climate of fear. Not us here

on this side of the House; they have created that climate of fear. They have

created that climate of despair and all of us are hearing about people leaving.

Mr.

Chair, I'm looking forward to standing up again and talking about some of the

very specific

CHAIR:

Order, please!

MS. ROGERS:

concrete steps that

government has taken.

Thank

you.

CHAIR:

Order, please!

I remind

the hon. Member that her speaking time has expired.

The

Chair recognizes the hon. Minister of Service NL.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. TRIMPER:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Chair.

And by

the way, Happy Birthday, Sir

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. TRIMPER:

You're now officially, by the

calendar, one year older than I am. Anyway, I hope you're enjoying your morning

and before I go into my remarks and throw my speech out, I did want to also

recognize International Women's Day.

I spent

14 years working in Russia and we always made sure we were there on the 8th of

March. It's Dobreagh Meshdunaroadni Shenski Din and it's a huge event in Russia,

as it is in many parts of

Europe. It wasn't until many years later, I

started to even hear about it in Canada, but in Russia it's big event. The women

are feted all day long. They dress up. The men do all the chores. They are

treated like they need to be treated, like very important parts of our society.

So anyway, to take a nod from Russia.

Mr. Chair, I was going to talk about this morning,

Service NL, this great new department that I have. I was going to speak about

spending in my district because that's what I believe one does in an Interim

Supply bill, at least it's what I've come to experience, but I've noticed the

tone has changed a lot this morning and it's one of a blame game. Why are we

moving so quickly? What are you doing to us? You're sending despair across the

province.

Well, I think it's very important to go back and

reflect on just what has gone on in the last 15 months or so. I know myself,

amongst my colleagues and friends and in the media, I've often spoke about: I

have looked forward to every single day in this new adventure of politics with

zeal. That is with the exception of a lot of days recently and last year's

budget.

No one's having fun. I look down at the Minister of

Transportation and Works and we like to say we were separated at birth through

some kind of similarly, but he made an interesting comment last year. I remember

in this debate one year ago, when we were dealing with Interim Supply, he said:

Do you think anyone's having fun here? Do you think anyone on this side of the

House who's faced with these tough decisions is really enjoying themselves,

increasing fees, increasing taxes, cutting spending? Is this something that a

politician wants to do who's really trying to make a difference in society? I'd

say absolutely not.

It's become let me just put it another way. I wonder

what it must have been like to have had a finance minister come to Cabinet and

tell the various departments, the various ministers, guess what? You can

increase your budget some 10 per cent this year. You need to get back to me and

tell me how you're going to do that.

When, in fact, all I've experienced is and thank God,

I have an excellent person who understands finance. I can recall a quote that

many of us recall from a previous administration when the finance minister

indicated that he wasn't very good at math. Well, thank goodness we have

somebody who frankly understands financial management, understands the situation

we're in and, unfortunately, the need to act, as we've had to act. Again, no one

is enjoying this.

I just heard one of the Members say: Why are we moving

so quickly? Why are we doing this? You're putting too much pressure us. I like

to reflect back on a particular morning I had at Beachy Cove Elementary last

spring. It was Environment Week. I've spoken about this is the House before, but

I think it's time to remind everyone of this kind of experience and this kind

of, sort of, light bulb that goes on. I'm in a classroom, it's Environment Week, and in come the

environmental agents at Beachy Cove Elementary. These kids are in grades four to

six and their full of promise. They had these little vests on; they're the

environmental agents of the school. They were so proud.

I look

at those kids and I think about the fact that had we not started to move, as we

did last year, with a situation when our per-capita debt we are now in the

vicinity of some $23,000-$26,000 per man, woman and child in this province right

now. I look at those kids, and I think by the time, say, seven to 10 years from

now when they start paying taxes and they have to realize that had we not

started to move, had we not started to go on a fiscal plan which by 2022-2023 we

will be at surplus, those kids would have been burdened with some

$56,000-$53,000 per capita.

Their

ability to realize their dreams, their ability to go on and be successful in

this province, frankly, were, forget it, you're not going to get there. Maybe

you would end up having to go to a place like Alberta, where you've got a AAA

credit rating versus where we're sitting right now, which is just a notch above

what one would refer to as a government-junk-bond status.

We are

in a heck of a state, and it's important that we do something now that we don't

there's no way that we, as this generation, should be punting this out to the

future generations. Where's our responsibility? We've got to take some

accountability for the mess that we're in. I don't get personal with my comments

back and forth. I feel that former administrations were focused on other

targets, they totally missed this financial situation, let's just give the

population what they need, and now we're at the point where we've got to take

these strong actions. We're willing to do that, Mr. Chair. But, as I say, we

have many days where I can now say I don't enjoy coming to work because I see

the reality of it, and it's tough.

I also

think I'm going to talk a little bit about Service NL, because the reason why I

am now the Minister of Service NL is that this government had to make some tough

decisions. Let me tell you, I have aged a little bit the last couple of weeks

because I could never have dreamed in my wildest dreams that I would have been

the Minister of Environment. It's been a great honour and I work with a great

team, but with the realization that we had to find efficiencies, that we had to

find a model where we can bring departments and units together, the painful part

of this has, I got to tell you, I certainly aged a couple of weeks ago, and I'm

still dealing with it as recent as a couple of hours ago. Still hearing from

staff who are affected by these tough decisions. We've had to do it; we've had

to go to this Flatter, Leaner Management Structure.

So in

moving Environment around as we have, we've had to find efficiencies. Now, I'm

always a glass-half-full kind of guy and certainly in terms of the

responsibilities of government and the environment, that is still there. I still

retain the responsibility around climate change and energy efficiency; but,

unfortunately, we've had to move other units of that former department into the

capable administrations of the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment,

the Minister responsible for what do you call your department now?

AN HON. MEMBER:

Tourism, Culture, Industry

and Innovation.

MR. TRIMPER:

Yes, TCII. And then of course

AN HON. MEMBER:

What's in a name, anyway?

MR. TRIMPER:

What's in a name?

And the

Minister of Fisheries and Land Resources. The good news again is that these

responsibilities are still being addressed and we will certainly make sure that

we make progress on them. But these are horrifically, painful decisions. Again,

I can just imagine what it must be like to be able to say you have more money in

your budget this year, Minister; how would you like to spend it? I just can't

even imagine what that must be like.

Another

way to think about the situation we're in, as we look at the two primary

departments in terms of providing services in the province, are Health and

Community Services and Education. Well, guess what's actually number two in

terms of spending? It's financing, servicing this massive debt. So some 11 per

cent, 11 cents out of every dollar that we have to spend goes into this world. I

can just imagine if I could have those 11 cents to use around the departments

that I've been responsible for and go forward, what could you get done? I only

hope I'm in this game long enough to see what it might be like to enjoy an

increased spending atmosphere and to be able to go and pursue other

opportunities.

It's

time to step up. We're willing to do it. Again, I thank the Minister of Finance

and President of Treasury Board; what a tough job she has. I know she's

interacting with each of us around the Cabinet table, with each of the caucus

and probably everybody in the House as she has to deliver the bad news, and we

have to find a way to find these solutions.

Again,

no one is having fun. I look forward to, hopefully, having a chance to get back

on my feet, maybe we can talk about some of the good things that Service NL is

doing, some of the other departments I'm responsible for, some of the good

things we've managed to do in my District of Lake Melville.

A lot of

what we're doing frankly is shifting attitudes, trying to provide an atmosphere

and an environment that will enhance and encourage investment. I think

ultimately when you look at the bond-rating agencies and what they're saying to

us is you, Newfoundland and Labrador, need to act. And that is where we have to

start. As I say, it's number two in terms of our spending.

So we

are willing to act. It's not any fun, but I look forward to those days when we

can stand here and talk about new spending, new ideas and new ways to run and

provide a future for those kids in Beachy Cove Elementary who, frankly, deserve

a prosperous and bright future.

Thank

you very much, Mr. Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The Chair recognizes the hon.

the Member for Harbour Grace Port de Grave.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. P. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

certainly is always an honour to stand here and represent our districts of

course; I represent the District of Harbour Grace Port de Grave and, today, I

also want to acknowledge International Women's Day. We know that we have a lot

of young women from our province of course who just participated in Daughter of

the Vote just recently here in the Confederation Building and they're in Ottawa

today with the prime minister. I'm proud to say that one of my own constituents,

young constituents she's certainly displaying some great leadership skills

Ms. Rebecca French of Bay Roberts is in Ottawa today.

It is an

honour to stand and speak now to Interim Supply, and I can't help but reflect on

some of the comments made by our hon. colleagues across the way. I will say

this, for the record: I think each one of them are fine people, on a personal

basis, but how deceiving to stand in this hon. House and to not take any

responsibility and to play ignorance to the horrible decisions that have to be

made here now, given our fiscal reality.

It's a

farce to listen, and to listen how they claim ignorance and not knowing hello?

The reason why the province finds itself where it is, it's because of the

mismanagement of funds for the past decade. Where were your decisions? Where

were your thinking hats when we had $25 billion? And to ask about seniors now

we all care about seniors, and young people.

We want

our young people to be retained here in the province, and we have amazing

educational facilities and post-secondary facilities and training programs here

to keep our young people here, but where were your thoughts and where were your

decisions during that time when we had an abundance of funds that were in the

province at that time

MR. P. DAVIS:

A point of order.

CHAIR:

Order, please!

The hon.

the Member for Topsail Paradise, on a point of order.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Mr. Chair, I'm very hesitant

to interrupt the Member opposite; I don't like to do that.

AN HON. MEMBER:

State your Standing Order.

MR. P. DAVIS:

I thought I had the floor,

Mr. Chair. I don't like to do that, but I feel it's important to bring a matter

to the Chair's attention under Standing Order 49 regarding offensive language.

The Member opposite just accused Members on this side of the House of deceiving,

deception. I believe that's unparliamentary for her to do so. We've heard these

things in the House over recent days since we came in our most recent sitting,

and we've let it go.

But, Mr.

Chair, I think it's important that we maintain the decorum, proper language and

proper conduct in the House. I apologize for interrupting, but I think it's

important to bring this forward and I ask that you rule on it.

CHAIR:

The Chair recognizes the hon.

the Government House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

I don't believe, Mr. Chair,

there's been absolutely anything said by the Member behind me that would

constitute a point of order under Standing Order 49. In fact, I think there has

been a lot of stuff said on the other side that might be considered a standing

order breach.

Thank

you.

CHAIR:

The Chair will take it under

advisement and report back.

The

Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Harbour Grace Port de Grave.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. P. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Again, I

want to remind the people at home, and of course the people here in our hon.

Chamber, of Bill 29. We talk about not being transparent and whatnot, but Bill

29, there was a lot of legislation that was smuggled and I use the word

smuggled in under Bill 29, such as Muskrat Falls. I've often questioned, does

this province even need that project in the very first place? Just to put that

out there for our thoughts and for our viewers at home, and for all hon. Members

here in this House.

Having

said that now, Mr. Chair, on a lighter note, I also want to promote the Town of

Bay Roberts. As I mentioned recently here in the House, Bay Roberts has made the

top 10 finalists for the Kraft Hockeyville 2017. Of course, this is quite the

accomplishment to get to this level, to make the top 10 among all the

communities chosen across our great country. Of course, we're calling on

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians home and abroad to certainly come and support

Bay Roberts this Sunday, March 12 to March 13. The voting is online and all

those details can be found on the Kraft Hockeyville site.

I also

want to throw a bouquet out to the team at Powell's Supermarket in Bay Roberts,

and, of course, residents in the town and town staff in Bay Roberts for making

it happen. They've raised a lot of awareness and promotion around this event.

The Bay

Arena, which is a 30-plus-year-old building, it's a centerpiece in the

community, and the region for that matter. It certainly brings residents

together. The doors open there at 6 o'clock every morning. It's quite the busy

building.

Certainly, Bay Roberts and the Bay Arena, and all our residents who utilize that

facility are certainly deserving of Kraft Hockeyville. So I ask everybody here

across our great province, and as I said Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and

even family members and fans of our province across our country, you have to

tune in and vote on Sunday and Monday, March 12 and 13.

Also,

it's a great opportunity to talk about things that are happening in the District

of Harbour Grace Port de Grave. As we know, we had to make a lot of tough

decisions of course, but a concern that citizens have come to me about, and a

lot of my residents, are the children that are on the highway, and I just want

to talk about that. We do have speed radar signs that are now in place on the

Conception Bay highway in Harbour Grace, in the school zone there, and that

speed limit has been reduced now to 30 kilometres per hour. So I just want to

make note of that of course.

Also, we

talk about the tough decisions that have to be made. Absolutely, tough decisions

have to be made and it is heart wrenching. I will make no hesitation in saying

that, and I hear that on a regular basis in my constituency office. It is, but

having said that, please, with all due respect, take responsibility for those

who were in charge of making decisions at that time and who were in leadership

roles.

A very,

very big topic in my district, of course, was a project that money was announced

for several times in several budgets, and that is of course the topic of Coley's

Point Primary School. We have a building, a school, 60-year plus. This building

should have been replaced a decade ago.

remember as far back as when the hon. Member Roland Butler was the MHA for the

Port de Grave District at the time. It was something he lobbied for, and it even

goes back farther than that. Educators in the area, principals who once

principled that school, Ms. Joy Brown, was vocal about this just recently at the

task force, the Premier's task force on education. So this is something that has

been looked over.

We hear

the great news about the schools opening their doors around the province. The

Member for Cape St. Francis just mentioned the school in his district, and

that's wonderful. How wonderful that must be. I ask again, where were the

decisions, where was the priority, where was the consideration for Coley's Point

Primary at that time? It's still an issue today.

As we

know, we're in a horrible, fiscal, financial situation, arguably the worst our

province has ever seen. But, please, don't mislead the public. Any hon. Member

here in this House on any side, be honest, let's stand up and take

responsibility and let's not act in ignorance because certainly we're left with

what we're left with. And as the old saying goes, you can't get blood from a

turnip. Well, that's pretty much what we're working with here today, Mr. Chair.

Also,

now I want to acknowledge the firefighters for the Town of Bay of Roberts. Just

recently I attended their firefighter's ball. They were celebrating 74 years.

These brave volunteers provide fire and emergency services to communities such

as Port de Grave, Bareneed, Coley's Point, Country Road, Bay Roberts,

Shearstown, Butlerville, and, of course, they came together for their annual

ball.

Also, I

want to say a big thank you to firefighters across Conception Bay North because

when someone falls on challenging times, everybody tends to step up in our

region, in Conception Bay North and the District of Harbour Grace Port de

Grave.

As we

know, the Town of Spaniard's Bay Tilton face some challenging times with

regard to their fire services. Although they remain dedicated to the cause,

neighbouring fire stations, such as Upper Island Cove, Harbour Grace and Bay

Roberts stepped in and reassured residents that fire and emergency services

certainly will be front and center and those residents wouldn't be neglected;

although there was some challenging times happening in the Town of Spaniard's

Bay Tilton. So I want to thank those firefighters for their leadership in

that.

There

are always lots of good things happening, though, in the District of Harbour

Grace Port de Grave. I want to talk about the Goodwill Seniors Club of

Spaniard's Bay. Recently I was able to secure some funding for them and this is

under the grants of the Healthy Living and recreation Fund. Again, I want to say

kudos to those residents for doing all they can for practicing healthy living

and recreation, and to keep that going in our communities.

Also,

Harbour Grace as well; I was able to secure some funding for them for their

recreation and whatnot, for their walking trails. They're constructing it's

going to be a really renowned walking trail down there.

Also

Spaniard's Bay, for the rec centre in Spaniard's Bay. I'm happy to say just

under $20,000 was secured for that community for healthy living and recreation

Mr.

Chair, certainly it is, we all stand here and I think we all stand here with

heavy hearts when we talk about the decisions that have to be made, and they're

tough. I hear about them on a regular basis but again, I encourage all hon.

Members in this House, take responsibility for the faith and the trust that has

been placed on each and every one us.

Not just

for the Official Opposition but also for the Third Party, we want to hear them

take their responsibility as well. To keep accountable for the criticisms they

have made prior to this administrations taking government and whatnot because we

all are here, every one of us were elected to represent our citizens, our

seniors, our young people, our middle class, our lower class, our upper class,

everybody in Newfoundland and Labrador. So let's not get here and make wastage

of time in this hon. House because it certainly is an honour to be here.

When

given the opportunity to speak and to ask questions, let's ask some constructive

questions. Let's put the topics on the table that are important to

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians as opposed to petty politics and drama. Because

if people want that, Mr. Chair, we've got daytime soap operas, such as

Days of Our Lives , we got The Young and The

Restless , we got it all.

So let's

make use of our time here in this Legislature, because it is certainly an honour

to be here and it's not to be taken lightly. It's not to be taken for granted.

We put ourselves forward; we put our names on ballots for that and the people in

our great province, they make their way out to those polls. It's a challenge for

some people to even get out

CHAIR:

Order, please!

MS. P. PARSONS:

Some people who are not even

mobile.

CHAIR:

Order, please!

I remind

the hon. Member that her speaking time has expired.

MS. P. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The Chair recognizes the hon.

the Member for Topsail Paradise.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Before I

begin my remarks, I'd like to acknowledge and offer my sincere acknowledgement

of International Women's Day.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. P. DAVIS:

I think it's an important day

to acknowledge and discuss. It started very bright and early for me this

morning, having a discussion about International Women's Day. Not only important

women in my life, but as I was home this morning getting ready to go to work and

doing the things you do in the morning, my wife and I were discussing it, and

she talked about the important women in her life as well. So it's important for

all of us to have those discussions I think and to highlight that today. I'm

glad to have a couple of seconds this morning to acknowledge that. I'm sure

there will be other discussion on that as the day goes on.

We're

here this morning and at this point in time debating, in Committee, Interim

Supply which gives the government finances to do the work of government and to

run the private affairs of the province until the budget is passed and all of

the funds are properly approved and processed through the budget process.

We're in

a very interesting time as a province. There are significant challenges, many

Members have said, but it's also interesting, I think, to look back in the past

because Members opposite have made so pretty significant comments this morning

and over the last number of weeks and months.

I know

the Premier is on record as saying he didn't know what the finances of the

province were and the minister didn't know. They didn't know what the finances

were; but the reality of it is, in 2015, we brought forward a budget that was

seen by many as an austerity budget, reducing expenditures, a plan to increase

taxation, a plan to curb the expenses of government while running a significant

deficit. Everyone in the province knew that. Everyone in the province knew that.

Also,

depending on what happened with oil prices, production and exchange rate are the

three key factors the exchange rate of the dollar, the production of oil,

which suffered tremendously in '14 and '15 there were great challenges in

production and also the value of oil and sales of oil were going to impact our

budget even more so. If production went up and the value of oil increased, the

deficit would lessen. If the other happened, which it did, if oil continued to

fall and not recover, as had been predicted by most, then the deficit could be

impacted as well.

Then the

premier talks about: Oh, well, I asked for an update. A smart political move,

I'll give him credit for it, on his part. A smart political move on his part to

ask for the update when we knew that the decisions of OPEC, at any time,

especially in the fall of 2015, which is time period we're talking about, were

going to be significant to the finances of the province and he looked for that

before OPEC.

OPEC met

just after the election. He was looking for that before the election. And, of

course, I wasn't prepared to provide a look into the crystal ball and try and

make a decision on what OPEC was going to do and how it was going to influence

expenditures and the economy and the province's financial circumstances. I

wasn't prepared to do that, knowing that OPEC had a significant potential for

impact. Then the Premier says, oh, I wouldn't tell him; I just wouldn't say.

It's easy for them to say.

What's

really interesting is that since that time, there's so much that they won't tell

us. So they call us out, make accusations against us as a government and

that's what happens. And now we're over here in Opposition, we ask questions on

a regular basis, and every day we come here to the House we ask questions and we

struggle to get information. We struggle to get answers from government.

When

they campaigned on so many things, they campaigned on openness and transparency.

You look at the biggest project in the province today with Nalcor, Muskrat

Falls, a lot of discussion continuing on interesting discussions yesterday and

tidbits of information thrown out, kind of willy-nilly thrown out yesterday on

the project, big project. There was a lot of discussion about back in the day

when we were there, that increased oversight was a necessity understanding,

openness, transparency. Well, there hasn't been an oversight committee report

released since December 2015 same month they took power. There has not been

one, whether it would have been regular reports.

They

promised an EY report in March I know this is March, but it was March last

year they promised an EY report. We still haven't seen it. If we go through the

history of this relatively new government based on criticisms they did of us as

a government before, based on the promises they made before the election and

based on the decisions and actions they've taken since December 2015, the last

15, 16 months now, we should never wonder or question why people have lost faith

and trust in this government.

That's

the bottom line, they don't trust. I hear it every single day. I hear it from

their constituents, I hear it from our constituents and I hear it in many

different forms every day: You cannot trust this government. And there's good

reason for people to feel that way.

They

campaigned on for two years before the election the Premier was at a dinner

one day and he told people: We have a plan, and you're going to like it. That's

what he said: We have a plan, and you're going to like it. Well, 15, 16 months

later we still haven't the plan. We saw

The Way Forward document it was a document; it was a vision document. It

wasn't really a plan, but it was a vision document.

They had

The Way Forward which was going to be

a plan, going to create a plan. We never saw that. We had captains of industry

tour the province one of those captains of industry is a minister in the

government over there today, tour the province. We're going to talk to

stakeholders and businesses. We're going to create that plan and share that

plan.

They had

a plan and they said not only do we have a plan; you're going to like it. For

two years before the election they were telling people and people were saying

oh, thank goodness, we've got a new group coming, they're going to have so much

new energy, they're going to manage better, they're going to govern better,

they've got all these wonderful ways, no job losses, not on my watch I think

they all tweeted that out and used those graphics no tax increases.

Tax

increases were a job killer; that's what the current Minister of Finance said.

She said it was job killer. She sat over here in the House and when we talked

about increasing taxes, she tore strips off us as a government, tore strips off

us, day after day, telling us how bad we were and what poor managers we were

because we proposed tax increases going into an election. That's going to really

help you get elected, isn't it, telling people we are going to increase taxes

going into an election?

In 2013,

I think it was about 600 job reductions we made in the public service and

Members over there that sat over here tore strips off us. Actually, that's the

number that Opposition at the time started to inflate because one day they came

in and they said oh, you laid off 550 and a week later oh, it was 650. Then it

became 800. Then it became 1,500 and then it became 2,000. I think they went all

the way to actually 2,500, saying oh, look they laid off 2,500. The worst thing

you could ever do as a government is reduce the size of the public service. It's

going to hammer the economy; no respect for public servants because we were

laying off public servants. That's what your Opposition said when we were in

government, and, even further than that, campaigned on: not on my watch.

Now,

when I grew up and if my father said to me you're going to use words like not

on my watch, I mean that's giving someone your word. What that means is no

matter what happens, no matter what, that will not happen. I will not let that

happen as long as I'm in control of it. That's what that means. It will not

happen. What my father always told me was, and taught me, what I was taught when

I grew up that if you give someone your word like that and say as long as I'm

here, I'm not going to do it, and then you do it, then you should no longer be

here. That's what that means. Well, I'm not going to stay here, on my watch, and

do it. That's a commitment that's a significant commitment.

No tax

increases job killer was the one that was used regularly. Tax increases are a

job killer. Do you know what tax increase we're talking about? We're talking

about a 2 per cent tax increase on HST, because that's what we had planned.

A job

killer; Members opposite, who sat here in the Opposition at the time when we

were in government, day after day after day hammered us on that. Where are we

today? And we don't know what's coming.

Public

servants are being dealt with in a way that's not seen as respectful. They're

politicizing the public service. We don't know what's coming in the budget, and

that's pretty standard, but I can tell you there are a lot of people that are

very worried about it.

My time

for this session, this part has come to an end. I've got two bullets covered so

far, and I have a lot more that we're going to talk about and that we're going

to highlight as we talk about this part of the budget.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The Chair recognizes the hon.

the Minister of Transportation and Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HAWKINS:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It's a

pleasure for me to speak this morning on the Supply bill. I too would like to

recognize International Women's Day, and certainly women have been very

important in my life, including my mom, my mother-in-law, of course my wife and

my two daughters, and my two daughters-in-law, the very, very important women in

my life. I certainly want to recognize them today and the significant

contribution they're making, have made to our province and continue to make.

Mr.

Chair, sometimes we sit here and sometimes it's hard to contain your emotions

when you hear such I don't know how to term it such rhetoric that you get on

a daily basis when we talk about certain issues. Mr. Chair, I've been listening

to some of the hon. Members opposite, and one of the hon. Members said this

morning that people should be in an uproar in this province absolutely, should

be in an uproar. They should have been in an uproar after the condition of this

province we were left with after the administration that was there went out of

office. That, in itself, was a disaster. It's a disaster we had been left with

that we are trying to come to grips with.

Mr.

Chair, the former premier made mention of the fact that they did a budget last

year and it was in 2015, although they did the budget with a $1.1 billion

dollar deficit. Then, of course, the Member said, well, the Premier was asking

for information in September. As a matter of fact, I think it was probably

September 26, which was not very far away from when OPEC was going to bring

their numbers down.

To say

that he did not have that information, Mr. Chair, is somewhat disingenuous

because of the fact that he could have done his math on that. If it was $1.1

billion, and by the time we took office in December it had ballooned to $2.8

billion, who could have talk about a plan, who could have ever planned so

inadequately to be able to come up with those numbers? Mr. Chair, it's

absolutely shameful, shameful that that type of rhetoric is put here.

Mr.

Chair, they talk about we had no plan. We had no plan? I'm not too sure they

know a meaning of a plan on the opposite side.

Mr.

Chair, last year my hon. colleague from St. George's Humber got up and put in

a private Member's bill that if we were ever in a surplus position again, we

would be putting away some funds for what we would consider to be a rainy day or

a day when we would be in a less than desirable position. Mr. Chair, I rose last

year because of the fact that while my hon. Member was bringing in his private

Member's bill, Members on the opposite were laughing because they did not have a

vision or could not even think about the fact that we would ever be in surplus

again. Our Finance Minister, Mr. Chair, we are planning to be in that position.

If you

want to talk about a plan $25 billion in royalties in 10 years, and I think I

alluded to that last year, Mr. Chair. If they had a plan or if they had a

vision, just a small portion of a vision of having all of these royalties come

in, if they had only taken 4 per cent, not 10 per cent, not 8 per cent. If they

had only taken 4 per cent of those royalties and put it aside I have 1,500

requests for roadwork, it is a billion dollars. Guess what, Mr. Chair? Four per

cent would have provided enough funding to do every request in this province in

roadwork.

Now,

that's what I talk about a plan or a vision. When they talk about not having

that, they did not have a plan. They probably didn't even know what a plan was

all about. They were very, very famous, Mr. Chair, of making announcements and

announcements and announcements and announcements. As a matter of fact, the

former Member in my district before I won the election, I know there was one

announcement made three times on the same announcement. I got tired of going

through the announcements. Work is still not done and wasn't done.

So, Mr.

Chair, when we talk about that, and we talk about plans, I get somewhat upset

when I hear this sort of rhetoric that's on and that's put forward. Mr. Chair,

the same scenario, the announcement I'll just take the Corner Brook Hospital,

for example. The Corner Brook Hospital was announced I don't know how many

times it was announced. The hon. Member could probably tell me, but it was

announced over and over

MR. JOYCE:

Six.

MR. HAWKINS:

Six times. Over and over and

over again and there was never a shovel put in the ground, in spite of the fact,

Mr. Chair, they were flush with money. There was $25 billion in royalties in a

10-year period, and nothing was ever done.

What

have we done? We're implementing a plan. We have a plan. We have a plan for

long-term care in Western Newfoundland. We have a plan for long-term care in

Central Newfoundland. These announcements will be happening and will be coming.

Not only will the announcements be coming, Mr. Chair, but we are going to put

those announcements in action. We're going to get that done. We're looking at

different

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HAWKINS:

We're going to deliver. We're

going to have the results. We're looking at different models of doing things.

You want

to talk about a plan, Mr. Chair. We have a plan, not only for one year of

roadwork; we have a plan for five years of roadwork.

AN HON. MEMBER:

How many?

MR. HAWKINS:

Five years. They have never

understood this because they've never had this in the past. As a matter of fact,

the people of the province never had it in the past, and we are putting a plan

in place whereby we can plan appropriately. We can plan not on politics, not

on politics. We can plan on evidence in which we are going to be looking at

doing things differently.

As a

matter of fact, Mr. Chair, to be prudent and to be responsible, to be fiscally

responsible and to do the right thing, you don't put tenders out in August month

of an election year for roadwork expecting, in Newfoundland and Labrador, to

have the work completed in the season. It's not happening, Mr. Chair, it's not

happening.

So as a

result of that, this will not happen. And this year we will have our tenders

out. We had a block of tenders out in January. We had our second block of

tenders out in the middle of February. Our third block of tenders will be out in

the middle of March. Every one of our tenders will be out before the end of

March.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HAWKINS:

Mr. Chair, that is planning.

That is knowing what you're going to do. That is taking the initiative to get

out there to make sure that our construction industry, the civil association, we

work in partnership, we collaborate with people, we understand what the industry

is looking for and we're putting in a lot of measures, new, innovative ways in

which we can do the work that we're supposed to be doing.

That,

Mr. Chair, is just one example, and I can go on and on and on with regard to

what we're doing within our department. Very shortly, we will also have a

five-year plan for marine. Again, that's another area that's been sorely

neglected over the years when it comes to our terminals and the facilities.

Tourists come to our province, they have an opportunity to go in and one of the

first things they see is deplorable conditions that exist in some of our

terminals. So we're putting in a five-year plan to address some of these issues

and to address some of these problems.

So, Mr.

Chair, I think it's very important for all of us, when we look at for the

Members opposite to say there are no plans, that's not necessarily true. We are

planning on a daily basis. We are being proactive in the way in which we want to

move our government forward, the way in which we want to do our plans, the way

in which we want to do our projects, so that the people of this province have

the benefits, and the taxpayers of this province have the benefit because we're

doing work more efficiently. We're doing it more effectively. We understand some

of the issues and challenges that we have out there and we're making sure we're

addressing that in the best interest of the people of this province so that

they, the taxpayers, we, the taxpayers, will get a better return on our

investment.

We will

continue to work that, we will continue to implement the plans that we have put

forward, and we will continue to work on the plans to make sure that when we do

work, when we're out there, it's the best possible scenarios that we have to the

benefit of the people of the province and to the residents. So we will continue

to do that.

CHAIR (Bragg):

Order, please!

MR. HAWKINS:

Sorry, Mr. Chair, I ran out

of time. I would like to have another 15 or 20 minutes but

CHAIR:

I remind the speaker his time

for speaking has expired.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

Before

recognizing the next speaker, I'd like to remind everybody to please keep the

noise down as low as possible. Sometime it gets a little I understand you'd be

a little rambunctious here on a Wednesday morning.

I look

forward now to the Member for Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Chair.

It is a

pleasure to get up to speak on Interim Supply. I guess I would be remiss if I

never acknowledged International Women's Day as well, but every day is

International Women's Day in my house. I have a wife and two daughters and the

pets are female. I have a male dog that's more with the wife, so everything with

my world, I'm very well in tune to International Women's Day and women's day

every day, so I want to acknowledge that and all of our female MHAs here in the

House of Assembly, to the great work they do.

Mr.

Chair, it's a pleasure to get up and speak on Interim Supply. I guess it's kind

of nice to follow my critic, the Minister of Transportation and Works who I'm

the critic for. He made a few points and, ironically, what he kept talking about

during his time was this plan. And ironically, on top of my page, I've got

written no plan. I find it a bit astounding you listen to the back and forth

and I guess I ask this question; I've said it before: Does anyone opposite ever

go into a coffee shop or in the mall and sit down and talk to people? Do they

ever do that? Because

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

MR. PETTEN:

I do that quite often in my

district, and I enjoy it. Ironically, most everyone I speak to, they tell me

they've got no plan, they had no vision, people don't trust them so they're

telling me that and a lot of these are Liberal voters, so I'm a bit at a loss,

all of a sudden they have a plan, 15 months in and they're going to fix the

world, but I've yet to see it, Mr. Chair.

One

point too, the Minister of Transportation just got up and he spoke very

passionately you can't have it both ways. One part of it he's telling everyone

we've overspent, we wasted all this $25 billion dollars and everything is all

bad; on the other end of it, we never spent enough because there are things

falling down around us as in our terminals and that. They've got a plan and all

these plans. Well, you know, the former administration actually spent over $6

billion dollars in infrastructure in this province, Mr. Chair

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. PETTEN:

and I don't think, I've

said it before and I'll say it here again I wasn't a Member of the former

administration in this House, but I worked with them there are no apologies on

this side for making good

investments in this province. It was money well spent, and we'll continue if we

have the opportunity. The Minister of Transportation once has talked about our

terminals falling down around us. Well, do you know what? There could have been

things a lot worse. You can't have it both ways. You can't be critical on one

end and then

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

Can I

have a little order?

MR. PETTEN:

critical for spending too

much and then critical for not spending enough. What is it?

Mr.

Chair, seeing we're on Interim Supply and we're talking about different

budgetary decisions and whatnot: 24-hour snow clearing; I have talked about this

many, many, many times, and I'll continue on because I believe it's an issue

that is still, to this day, a great concern to lots of our residents and driving

public. And the point that I want to make crystal clear in this House and to

anyone that's listening government opposite always try to make the point that

there's only 13 routes out of 270-some-odd routes. What are you talking about?

It was never 24 hours; it was five days here and seven here.

Those 13

routes take up I don't have the exact numbers; we're looking at probably 70 to

75 per cent of our travelling public. They were put there for a reason. In 2008,

it was brought in as pilot project under the former administration because there

was a lot of outcry about our road conditions and wanting more enhanced snow

clearing. They did it as a pilot project; they listed off I believe it was 10 or

11 main arteries for that reason the busiest travelled roads.

In 2011,

staff, officials within the department, assessed this pilot program. They

actually thought it was so good they added to the list; they increased the list.

Then, all of a sudden, four years later when government changed it, this is not

a good thing, why are we doing this to save $1.9 million. And we know, and it

was stated here in the House the other day, we know that figure is going to grow

a lot more.

you're saving on one end you're estimating you're going to save $1.9 million.

I would be surprised when the dust settles that this never actually cost more.

Most of your staff are working on overtime rate every single day. You've got a

two-shift system covering three shifts. They're in overtime every single day.

Almost every hour they're working, they're in overtime.

It's an

ill-advised decision. I've been on record many times saying it, and I'm going to

continue to say it, this decision is not a well-thought out decision. It's still

a conversation when you go most people still are astounded that was made. Yet,

when the pressure comes on the other side it was: We always had 24-hour snow

clearing; I'm fear-mongering.

What is

it? You can't have it both ways. It's clearly wrote in the budget document you

cut your 24-hour snow clearing, crystal clear, for $1.936 million. We fought to

get the numbers for overtime cost and that didn't come easy for this year, so we

got it up until January 30, I think, for $3.7 million. We know there's a little

over two months left in the year, it's going to rise to well in excess this

$1.9 million savings will not be an issue. It's going to end up costing more.

Again, no plan, an ill-advised decision.

It's

something else when you go into this plan, before I go to my next topic hope

and optimism: This province had lots of it two years ago. We knew we had a bit

of a rough patch coming, but you cannot do to the people of this province what

this government has done since they've been elected in November 2015 and expect

people to still have that bounce in their step. Because I tell you, there's not

a lot of bounce left in people's steps anymore.

I hear

it day and day, there are contractors wondering how they're going to survive;

businesses have seen a huge reduction. Do you know one of the big things they

tell you is? The gas tax and the insurance tax that really cut into the everyday

family. Every family has to pay insurance; every family has to put gas in their

vehicle. Most families have at least two vehicles in their driveway. It's the

world we live in; it's no longer the one-vehicle home. Every home has at least

two vehicles.

This

really sucks the life out of our economy. The coffee shops are hurting. I

actually know a guy who owns Tim Hortons and told me his profit margin is down.

Now, everyone looks at Tim Hortons, there's a lineup in the drive through, and

this person's telling me they've noticed an actual drop in their business. Do

you know what they said it's attributed to? When the gas tax came on, because

that extra money you're putting in gas, you might get a coffee, but you're not

getting anything extra.

This

doesn't stimulate the economy. We all know that taxes are not the way to grow

the economy. It comes back to one key point, there was no plan. This government

had no plan. They got in there, all of sudden it was like here you go, here's

the keys, you're in power. What do we do now? Okay, well, we'll just like I

said before, they got a sheet and until they balance it out, until they got the

numbers to match, let it slide.

The

economy in the province, people in this province are not impressed. The economy

is not doing well and it's going to get worse. I think there was a lot of

disappointment since November 2015, and it's not going away as much as the

Members opposite would like to think otherwise.

Before

my time is up, Mr. Chair, I'd like to just mention another point. The Minister

of Transportation and Works mentioned about a five-year roads program and how

he's taking the politics out of paving, how he's going to have a plan. All that

sounds great, but I've said before, your actions and your words have to match.

Why in

an election year, if you only have 50 per cent of your roads listed. You could

list out and your hands will never be tied because if you're putting these on

the list, that don't mean they're tendered. You can have 100 per cent of the

roads listed out for all the years out if you have them all assessed. Next year,

if something came up unexpectedly, you can have the caveat, you can have the

disclaimer. Should anything unfortunate or unexpected arise, you can make

adjustments.

People

would like to know where their roads are listed to. You're driving our roads now

we know this time of year it's potholes, potholes, potholes. People would like

to know, is this road on que to get done next year, the year after, this year?

No, but you're not told that. You're given a list of roads that are being

tendered and planned out, but only a portion of them, only so many of them.

Again,

if the minister is so proud of his plan and he has a plan for the people, what's

he hiding? Show us the list. Then you'll know, okay, it's five years' time

before I get my road the road is not going to show up in the list. It's all

about this openness and transparency and your plan, tell the public. I'm sure

that a lot of people would like to know.

Again,

he's not putting politics in paving. According to what he's saying he's taking

it out of paving. Well, again, your actions need to match your words, and this

is another case where it's not happening. You can't have it both ways.

Mr.

Chair, in my last minute I'd like to point to another issue, talking about a

plan. Last week I got up in the House and I threw out a few questions about

Mistaken Point. It's a World Heritage Site, UNESCO designated site, something we

all should be very proud of. So we asked questions and wondering: What's the

status for this coming season?

The

Minister of Tourism jumps up and tells me how it's going to be on a postage

stamp. The federal government put it on a postage stamp; how comforting, how

comforting. What about your obligations to the UNESCO designation? Do you what?

I hazard to guess, outside if he was taken up for a visit he doesn't even know

where Mistaken Point is to. If we asked him to take us and show us there, he may

be able to point us in the direction, that's about it.

He told

us with great pride, as the minister, it's on a postage stamp. Well, my guess

is, Mr. Chair, his knowledge of Mistaken Point you would fit on a postage stamp.

So I

caution Members opposite to be more serious about big issues like Mistaken Point

and get their act together.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

The

Chair recognizes the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation.

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like

to acknowledge, as others have in the House, that today is International Women's

Day. I'd like to certainly celebrate, especially an empowering female figure, my

own mother today.

I do

want to say, earlier in the House and I just listened to the Member opposite

the Member for Mount Pearl North put forward a petition calling for greater

financial literacy to be taught in schools, financial management. And I would

say, based on the information and the dialogue that's being put forward in the

House today, that all Members of the Opposition could benefit by having a course

in financial management because certainly over the last 12 years they've shown

no restraint or no ability to adequately predict their own financial plan and

the amount of misinformation that was being put forward.

The

deficit they had projected and then what was provided, compared to where we

were, was a $900 million deficit became a $2.2 billion deficit in the public

accounts, and had we not taken action it would have been upwards of $2.8

billion. It's absolutely disgusting to see that we're taking action.

The

Minister of Transportation and Works got up with a five-year road plan, talking

about the predictability, talking about efficiencies, talking about better

value. And for the Member opposite to get up talking about 24-7 snow clearing,

because he's been putting a lot of misinformation, a lot of fear out there in

the public. But when on those 13 routes and there was only ever 13 routes that

had 24-hour snow clearing at any time that the demand warrants, there will be

24-7 snow clearing provided.

The

minister has been very clear, but there are many days that there is no snow

falling. So why would you staff a staff and pay wages during that time when

there's no work required on those highways? When it makes sense to do so we will

have staff out there, and that's what is being provided.

I can

tell you one thing, I live on the Northern Peninsula and we had 79 centimetres

of snow. The Transportation and Works crews are doing everything they can to

clear roads and provide adequate service to the people. But there was never

24-hour snow clearing service to residents in my district, I will say.

I will

say that we put forward, our Premier has put forward a vision for this province

through The Way Forward document and

there are many opportunities. I will take exception to the Member opposite from

Conception Bay South saying that the information that I know about Mistaken

Point would fit on a postage stamp because I can guarantee you, I've likely been

to Mistaken Point more than he's ever been in Portugal Cove South.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. MITCHELMORE:

I've been at the

pre-announcement; I was at the inscription announcement. I would ask him what

he's actually done around Mistaken Point. I've been to that area

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

CHAIR (Warr):

Order, please!

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Portugal Cove South more

than once.

In terms

of the promotion, as a department, as the Tourism Minister I'm very proud of the

promotion that we do. When I raised the postage stamp information, I talked

about UNESCO and that we have a collaborative relationship with the federal

government. I was proud that Canada Post is promoting Portugal Cove South's

Mistaken Point on a UNESCO stamp, as they are with L'Anse aux Meadows, as they

are with Red Bay. This is a good thing from a pan-Canadian perspective.

I said

in the House, for him to say again, it's very disingenuous for the Member

opposite to be saying I clarified that we would be living up to our UNESCO

obligations in the House. He's obviously not believing what I'm saying when he's

still saying that all I said was that I was talking about a postage stamp. It's

unbelievable. They just don't get it. They don't get it and they don't get

financial management, that's one thing.

Now, one

thing I can say, and I can proudly say as the Tourism Minister, is that last

year we had a banner year in tourism. We are focused on doubling our numbers.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. MITCHELMORE:

Air traffic was up at Deer

Lake Airport, record summer. The airport was up at St. John's. We had 2.45

million passenger traffic movements; 34 per cent increase in museums in the

province; visitor information centres saw 130,000 people. Our heritage sites,

for the first time in the province, almost hit 100,000 people. There's

significant growth in regions.

We saw

six new businesses open in Bonavista. There are clusters in and around the

Bonavista Peninsula. Gros Morne saw a significant traffic increase; Fogo Island

and everything that's going on there.

The St.

Anthony and L'Anse aux Meadows region, in my very own district, saw significant

growth. Red Bay has tremendous opportunities when we talk about UNESCO and

Aboriginal tourism product for Labrador. The Burin Peninsula and I can't

forget Twillingate and the banner year they had and the business growth in that

region.

We have

a product development plan. We're growing tourism. We're focused on renewing our

cultural plan. We invest in MusicNL and support our musicians across the

province, ArtsNL and the investments that we put forward at our Arts Council, as

well as our Cultural Economic Development Program, that I would say, Mr. Chair,

is more than the national average.

Film

development: We had $46 million dollars in production last year; it was a banner

year in film. We saw an increase over $3 million dollars over 2015. So the

investments that we're making in these industries, in our cultural industries,

are paying dividends and it led to 600 full-time-equivalent jobs last year. The

Heritage Foundation and The Rooms had increased in revenues and visitations and

are receiving accolades.

We kept

the Small Business Tax at 3 per cent, which is helping small business. Mining

growth and Anaconda on the Baie Verte Peninsula, Mr. Chair, which you're very

familiar with, there were over 85 jobs there; in Rambler, 200 jobs. It's really

helping that cluster the only Canadian gold mine east of Ontario. And there

are other opportunities; it's exciting to know that Altius Minerals has a tract

of land up in my very own district that they've seen silver and copper and lead.

So lots of opportunity here in this province.

launched the Innovation Agenda, so we're moving forward; investments in

accelerators in partnership with the Minister of AESL. Seniors received an

Enhanced Benefit and the Newfoundland and Labrador Income Supplement; 74.6

million dollars last year in the budget. These are great opportunities that

we're seeing.

I've

spoken to chambers in Bonavista, Burin, Baie Verte, Corner Brook, the CBA the

Conception Bay Area very optimistic, over 40 businesses added to CBS last year

or moved in that area, so growth growth, I say. So why is the Member from CBS

so negative towards these initiatives in the budget if we're seeing so many

opportunities that are happening in Newfoundland and Labrador?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. MITCHELMORE:

I would say that billions of

dollars were lost under their administration because they cut to the lowest

amount the upper income bracket; $4 billion gone out of the economy because of

their poor decisions.

Thank

you, Mr. Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The Chair recognizes the hon.

the Government House Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Yes, and on that note, Mr.

Chair, I would move that the Committee rise, report progress and ask leave to

sit again.

CHAIR:

The motion is that the

Committee rise, report progress and ask leave to sit again.

Is it

the pleasure of the Committee to adopt the motion?

All

those in favour, aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

CHAIR:

All those against, nay.'

Carried.

motion, that the Committee rise, report progress and ask leave to sit again, the

Speaker returned to the Chair.

MR. SPEAKER (Osborne):

Order, please!

I'd like

to remind all Members of the House that the Chair of Committees and the Deputy

Chair of Committees are Officers of the House and hold no less authority when

sitting as Chair or Deputy Chair than does the Speaker when I sit in this Chair.

I still expect, when they sit in that Chair, that we maintain a level of order

and decorum. I don't want to revert to what we had in previous years.

The hon.

the Deputy Chair of Committees.

MR. WARR:

Mr. Speaker, the Committee of

Supply have considered the matters to them referred and have directed me to

report progress and ask leave to sit again.

MR. SPEAKER:

The Deputy Chair of the

Committee of Supply reports that the Committee have considered the matters to

them referred and have directed him to report progress and ask leave to sit

again.

When

shall the Committee have leave to sit again?

MR. A. PARSONS:

Tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER:

Tomorrow.

motion, report received and adopted. Committee ordered to sit again on tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

With the

consent of my colleagues opposite, I would suggest that the House recess until 2

p.m.

MR. SPEAKER:

Under the Standing Orders of

the House, the House is recessed until 2 this afternoon, being Private Members'

Day.

Recess

MR. SPEAKER (Osborne)

Order, please!

Admit

strangers.

welcome to the public gallery today Dr. Barb Barter, who is the mayor of Burgeo.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

Statements by

Members

MR. SPEAKER:

For Members' statements today

we have the Members for the Districts of Conception Bay East Bell Island,

Placentia West Bellevue, Virginia Waters Pleasantville, Mount Pearl North,

Exploits and Bonavista.

The hon.

the Member for the District of Conception Bay East Bell Island.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, I stand today to recognize the passing of a unique character and friend

of mine from my district. Every community has a unique citizen that is endeared

by all and is part of the fabric of that community. Bell Island had the late

Frederick Clarence Spencer.

In his

93 years Freddy, as he was affectionately known, could be seen on a daily basis

going into the woods and carrying out a piece of firewood sometimes twice his

size, and walking the two to three kilometres to his home. Freddy had a real

passion for the movies and worked most of his working life as an usher at the

Prince Theatre on Bell Island.

But

Freddy's unique talent was that he was a walking encyclopedia when it came to

sports. Freddy had spent some time working in Boston, in the old days, as he

would say, where he became a big fan of baseball and hockey. Freddy could stand

around the bar and jump right into a conversation regarding present-day games or

games from 75 years ago, and could give a true analysis of what happened years

ago and why, and what could happen today and why.

Freddy

was an accomplished athlete in his own right. He enjoyed a good conversation, a

good drink and good game. He asked society for very little, but appreciated

everything he was given.

Rest in

peace, big fellow.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Placentia West Bellevue.

MR. BROWNE:

Mr. Speaker, the values of

tolerance, peace and respect are values we cherish, which each of us strive to

promote to one another.

Recently

in Chapel Arm, the This Little Light Project took place again this year with a

hope to pass these virtues on to the young minds of Holy Family Elementary.

Hosted

by the Masonic Lodge 1275 of Heart's Content, this seventh annual Friendship

Ceremony was one of several held at schools in the Trinity Bay area. I thank

Masons Eli Bryant, Kinsley Welsh and Randell Crane, as well as Stacy Harris of

Communities Against Violence for taking the time on February 10 to be in Chapel

Arm to participate and organize this ceremony.

As a

lead up to the gathering, students made entries to a poster contest and I am

very happy to extend congratulations to Syenna Murphy of grade three, and

Isabella Smith grade five for winning the poster contest this year.

Well

done, girls.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Virginia Waters Pleasantville.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. B. DAVIS: