Newfoundland and Labrador Hansard — Statements by Ministers — 30 May 2016 (48th General Assembly, 1st Session, Vol. XLVIII No. 35)
2016-05-30
Newfoundland and Labrador — Debates (Hansard)
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May 30,
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS
Vol. XLVIII No. 35
The
House met at 1:30 p.m.
MR. SPEAKER (Osborne):
Order, please!
Admit
strangers.
Today we
welcome to the Speaker's gallery Dr. Sharif Rathore and Dr. Iffat Shaheen,
parents of Fatima, our Page.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
As well, we have friends of
theirs, Janice Parsons and David Vincer.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
For those of you who don't
know, today is Fatima's last day, so we wish her well.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
As well, I welcome to our
public galleries Helen Sinclair, Mary Walsh and Joanne Morris with the
Association of Early Childhood Educators of Newfoundland and Labrador. They are
going to be the subjects of a Ministerial Statement.
Also, in
the public galleries we recognize the Provincial Francophone Day representatives
Cyrilda Poirier I hope I pronounced that properly President of the
Francophone Federation and Gal Corbineau I hope I pronounced that properly as
well Director of the Francophone Federation.
Welcome
to our galleries.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
Statements by
Members
MR. SPEAKER:
For Member's statements
today, we have the Members for the Districts of Harbour Grace Port de Grave,
Mount Pearl North, Exploits, Labrador West and Stephenville Port au Port.
The hon.
the Member for Harbour Grace Port de Grave.
MS. P. PARSONS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would
like to recognize the Conception Bay North Joint Council. Each month municipal
councils assemble to discuss issues pertaining to communities throughout our
region.
This
association originated in the early 1970s and has now grown to include multiple
municipalities such as Brigus, Cupids, South River, Clarke's Beach, North River,
Bay Roberts, Spaniard's Bay, Tilton, Bishop's Cove, Upper Island Cove, Bryant's
Cove, Harbour Grace, Carbonear and Victoria. Conception Bay North is comprised
of strong municipalities with growing populations along with significant
business sectors and industry.
The
inshore and offshore fishery continues to be a robust mainstay in the region.
Other strong industry sectors include forestry at Garland's Forest Products,
manufacturing at Tetford's Restwell Mattresses, retail at Powell's Supermarkets
and Atlantic Grocery and many more industry players which deliver services and
product and provide employment for our residents.
Since
beginning my political journey, I continue to attend the Joint Councils
meetings. It is this team which continues to come together to tackle issues
facing our region such as the replacement of Coley's Point Primary school, as it
houses students from many of these communities. The council is also united on
working together to keep the Harbour Grace court service in the region.
Colleagues, please join me in recognizing the Conception Bay North Joint
Councils.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Mount
Pearl North.
MR. KENT:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise
in this hon. House today to recognize and congratulate the nominees and the
winner of the 2015 Citizen of the Year Award for the City of Mount Pearl.
Volunteers give so much of their time, without need or want for compensation of
any kind. The selfless acts of these individuals were especially evident at the
2015 Citizen of the Year Ceremony which was recently held in the City of Mount
Pearl. The work of volunteers is oftentimes not recognized, and it is vital that
such ceremonies continue, to bring the efforts of these individuals to the
forefront, highlighting the great work they do.
I would
like to recognize in particular Donna Collens, Sandra Milmore, Bill Vincent,
Sandra Woolfrey-Fahey and the winner of the 2015 Citizen of the Year Award, Emma
Thornhill, nominated by the Mount Pearl Seniors Independence Group.
Mr.
Speaker, I ask all Members of this House to join me in congratulating all
nominees as well as the winner, Emma Thornhill, of the 2015 Citizen of the Year
Award for Mount Pearl. Volunteers are truly the heart of our community.
Thank
you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. Member for the
District of Exploits.
MR. DEAN:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise
in this hon. House to acknowledge the recent marking of another milestone by a
true Newfoundland and Labrador icon. He was a Member of the Grand Falls Junior
All Stars, who won the Veitch Memorial Trophy in 1953. He won five Herder
Championships in the 1950s and 1960s.
donned his number 8 jersey with the Toronto Maple Leafs on December 7, 1961, to
become the first person from our province to play in the National Hockey League.
From there, he moved on to conclude his career with the Detroit Red Wings,
wearing number 12.
In 1994,
he was inducted into the Newfoundland and Labrador Hockey Hall of Fame with four
hockey-playing brothers: Lindy, George, Seth and Jack. His family continues to
be referred to as our province's first family of hockey.
Alex
Faulkner lives with his wife Doris in Bishop's Falls, on the banks of the mighty
Exploits River, where he honed his hockey prowess.
I ask
all Members to join with me in extending our warm wishes and birthday greetings
to our very own Alex Faulkner, whose milestone of 80 years was celebrated just
recently on May 21, 2016.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for the
District of Labrador West.
MR. LETTO:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This
past weekend I attended the 56th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch
47 in Labrador City.
Legion
Branch 47 has played a tremendous role in Labrador West over the past 56 years
and continues to boast a membership of 130 members today. They have been
diligent in honouring the veterans for decades, especially on July 1 and
November 11. Four veterans remain in Branch 47, one of which is a veteran of WW
II, Mrs. Joan Robertson.
Earlier
in the day, I attended the 52nd Annual Ceremonial Review of the Royal Canadian
Sea Cadet Corps 191 Labrador and the 35th Annual Ceremonial Review for the Royal
Canadian Army Cadet Corps 2977, both sponsored by the Legions in Labrador City
and Wabush.
I want
to also recognize Mr. Dave Flannigan, a member of Branch 47, who will be
assuming the two-year role of President of Dominion Command on June 14. Mr.
Flannigan, a 40-year member of the Legion, has been a loyal and active comrade.
Mr.
Speaker, I ask all hon. Members to join me in congratulating the Royal Canadian
Legion, Branch 47, on 56 years of service, and wish Mr. Flannigan success in his
term as President of Dominion Command.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Stephenville Port au Port.
MR. FINN:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise
today to acknowledge Doug Fowlow of Stephenville on his recent induction into
the Newfoundland and Labrador Cross Country Skiing Hall of Fame. Doug was
inducted into the builder category for his involvement as one of the founding
members of the Stephenville Whaleback Nordic Ski Club.
Officially incorporated in 1968, the Whaleback Ski Club has played host to
several provincial competitions, and more recently a national masters'
competition in 2005. Doug was instrumental in establishing the club over 48
years ago and has been involved ever since, having just finished serving a term
for eight years as president.
Always a
manager yet always a participant, Doug's efforts with the club involved
everything from managing the finances, to the upgrading of trails and recruiting
of volunteers. Whaleback Nordic Ski Club has produced some of the province's top
cross-country skiing athletes and without exception this would not have been
possible without the vision of Doug as a founding member in creating a training
ground.
addition to Doug, Ron and Anne Chambers of Plum Point were recently inducted
into the Hall of Fame.
Please
join me in congratulating Doug, Ron and Anne on their significant achievement.
Thank
you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
The Commemoration
of the First World War and the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel
MR. SPEAKER:
Today, for Honour 100 we have
the Member for the District of St. Barbe L'Anse aux Meadows.
MR. MITCHELMORE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I will
now read into the record the following 40 names of those who lost their lives in
the First World War in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the Royal Newfoundland
Naval Reserve, or the Newfoundland Mercantile Marine. This will be followed by a
moment of silence.
Lest we
forget: Henry Sheppard, Nelson Sherren, Samuel Sherwin, John Shiwak, James
Short, Joshua Short, Richard M. Short, Leo M. Shortall, Richard A. Shortall,
Stephen Shute, William Thomas Simmonds, F. Eugene Simmons, Ernest Simms, Frank
F. H. Simms, George Simms, George Percival Simms, Henry Simms, John Henry Simms,
Leaten Simms, Robert Ronald Simms, Ronald Gordon Simpson, Sylvester Sinnott,
William Skeans, William A. Skinner, Patrick J. Slattery, George Stewart Small,
Edward Smart, Frank Smart, Donald Smith, Edgar Smith, Edward Smith, Howard
Smith, Josiah Smith, Luke Smith, Noah Smith, Samuel R. Smith, Stephen Smith,
William H. Smith, Zechariah Smith, Isaac John Snelgrove.
(Moment of silence.)
MR. SPEAKER:
Please be seated.
Statements by Ministers.
Statements by Ministers
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister
Responsible for Francophone Affairs.
MR. TRIMPER:
Thank you.
Merci,
Monsieur.
Mr.
Speaker, I rise in this hon. House to recognize today as Provincial Francophonie
Day.
The
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has celebrated this occasion since 1999.
This
morning, I was pleased to participate in an event organized by the Francophone
Federation of Newfoundland and Labrador here at Confederation Building. I was
honoured to join students from cole des Grand-Vents in this celebration and
similar events are taking place today on the Port au Port Peninsula and in
Labrador.
matin, j'ai t trs heureux de participer un vnement organis par la
Fdration des francophones de Terre-Neuve et du Labrador ici l'difice de la
Confdration. J'ai eu l'honneur de me joindre aux lves de l'cole des
Grands-Vents dans cette clbration. Des activits connexes se droulent
aujourd'hui sur la pninsule de Port-au-Port et au Labrador.
Monsieur
le Prsident, je travaille troitement avec le Bureau des services en franais,
des ministres cls et la Fdration des francophones afin de dterminer les
meilleures faons de mettre en uvre la Politique sur les services en franais
en faveur de notre communaut francophone et acadienne.
Mr.
Speaker, I've been working closely with the Office of French Services, key
departments and the Francophone Federation to identify the best ways to
implement the policy on French language services for the benefit of our
Francophone and Acadian communities. This policy is helping us build stronger
partnerships across the provincial government and identify tangible services
Mr.
Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to advise this hon. House that on
June 22 and 23, I will co-host the Ministerial Conference on the Canadian
Francophonie here in St. John's. This will be along with the hon. Mlanie Joly,
Minister of Canadian Heritage. We look forward to addressing the priority issues
of the Francophone community during this conference.
Aujourd'hui, j'invite tous les honorables dputs se joinder moi pour
fliciter la communaut francophone et acadienne de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador en
cette Journe de la francophonie provinciale.
Today, I
ask all hon. Members to join me in congratulating the Francophone and Acadian
community of Newfoundland and Labrador on this, Provincial Francophonie Day.
Thank
you. Merci, beacoup.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.
MS. PERRY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would
like to thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement. On behalf of
the Official Opposition I, too, would like to recognize today as Provincial
Francophonie Day, a day which we have celebrated in this province for more than
17 years.
I would
also like to extend my appreciation to the Francophone community of our province
for their efforts in organizing today's celebrations, both here at the
Confederation Building and all across the province. Their dedication to the
historical, cultural and linguistic culture of this province is evident.
However,
Mr. Speaker, I would also like to take this opportunity to ask the Education
Minister to reconsider cuts to Intensive Core French in this province. Many
students in our province want the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of
the French language. Government should be supporting these youth and not
removing their opportunities.
(French
spoken.)
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
John's East Quidi Vidi.
MS. MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
Je dis
merci au ministre pour le copie de sa dclaration.
I'm very
pleased to stand today and join in congratulating with him and my colleague from
the Official Opposition, the Francophone and Acadian communities of Newfoundland
and Labrador.
It is
always such a pleasure to be part of the Francophonie Day celebrations and it is
so important that we make sure that both the history and the culture of all the
people who make up this country is kept alive, but especially those who are part
of the formation of the confederation of this country.
Flicitations tous.
Merci
Monsieur le ministre.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Further statements by
ministers?
The hon.
the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.
MR. KIRBY:
Mr. Speaker, I rise in this
hon. House today to proclaim May 29-June 4 as Early Childhood Educators Week in
Newfoundland and Labrador.
Children
are born ready to learn. Their early childhood learning experiences shape their
future growth and early childhood educators play an important role in their
development.
Early
childhood educators influence a child's critical early learning years. Each day,
ECEs wear many different hats, providing quality care, and supporting the needs
of our children through play-based learning.
Our
government supports the vital role of early childhood educators in our
communities, by assisting with retention, recruitment and training of early
childhood educators through the province's 10-year child care strategy.
Newfoundland and Labrador has a strong and effective system of regulated child
care, with approximately 2,200 certified early childhood educators working
throughout the province. These professionals work in diverse settings including
child care centres, family child care homes, family resource centres,
educational institutions, businesses and not-for-profit organizations.
Throughout the week, ECEs will have an opportunity to participate in a series of
activities taking place around the province, such as workshops, public awareness
and other special events that will provide ECEs with professional development
and networking opportunities.
I ask
all hon. Members to join me in thanking early childhood educators for their
valuable work and for their continued commitment to the children of Newfoundland
and Labrador.
Thank
you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Conception Bay East Bell Island.
MR. BRAZIL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank
the minister for an advance copy of his statement. We join with the government
in recognizing Early Childhood Educators Week. We all understand and appreciate
the influence and impact that early childhood educators have during the critical
early-learning years.
Mr.
Speaker, we are so pleased to see the government following through with the
initiatives and plans that our administration set in motion through our 10-year
child care strategy. The minister now appreciates and touts a strategy he
constantly criticized just a few short months ago while in Opposition. It seems
to be a trend with the minister and with this entire government.
closing, I wish to thank the over 2,000 certified early childhood educators in
this province and recognize the important role they play in helping develop our
greatest resource our children.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St. John's East Quidi Vidi.
MS. MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
I, too,
thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement. I'm pleased to stand
and recognize the importance of the early childhood educators in this province
who play such an important role in the development of our children.
It was
disappointing to see government eliminating the workplace training program that
had been planned to meet the training needs of that sector. I just hope the
government won't renege on its commitment to improve the financial situation of
early childhood educators as well.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
Further statements by
ministers?
The hon.
the Minister of Service NL.
MR. JOYCE:
Mr. Speaker, I rise in this
hon. House today to recognize the 60th anniversary of the Atlantic Branch of the
Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors.
The
institute is the professional organization that represents Public Health
Inspectors working in every province and territory throughout Canada. The
institute advances the profession and the field of Environmental Public Health
through certification, advocacy, education and professional competencies.
Mr.
Speaker, the Environmental Health Officers employed by Service NL play a key
role in protecting the health and well-being of Newfoundlanders and
Labradorians. They have a wide range of responsibilities including food safety
inspections, monitoring the bacteriological quality of drinking water, and
carrying out health-related inspections of daycares, schools, personal care
homes and long-term care facilities, as well as recreational facilities.
The
public enjoys a high standard of health and safety thanks to the work of these
valued professionals. On the 60th anniversary of the Atlantic Branch that
represents them and helps them develop their skills, I think it's appropriate to
recognize their contributions and the value of the Canadian Institute of Public
Health Inspectors.
I ask
hon. Members to join me in congratulating the Members of the Atlantic Branch for
reaching its 60th anniversary. Mr. Speaker, their work is greatly appreciated.
Thank
you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Cape
St. Francis.
MR. K. PARSONS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank
the minister for an advance copy of his statement. Mr. Speaker, we, too,
congratulate the Atlantic Branch of the Canadian Institute of Public Health
Inspectors on their 60th anniversary. We'd like to extend our appreciation of
the hard work the environmental officers and inspectors do for our provincial
government.
These
individuals work hard on the health and safety of the general public, from food
inspections to monitoring our drinking water, daycares, long-term care
facilities undertake a range of services to help and protect the population.
On behalf of the Official Opposition, I'd like to thank them for keeping
Newfoundland and Labrador a safe place to live.
Thank
you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
John's East Quidi Vidi.
MS. MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
I, too,
thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement. I'm happy to join with
him and my colleague from the Official Opposition in congratulating the Atlantic
Branch of the Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors. Their work is
vital to the continued well-being of all of us.
I remind
the minister that publishing food establishment inspections online did a great
deal to improve the public confidence. So I urge him, in the spirit of openness
and transparency, to have all inspections conducted by our environmental health
officers published online where the public can access them.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Question Period.
Oral Questions
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, Justice officials have been working on an opinion on this whole
severance affair for over three weeks.
I ask
the Premier: What observations were made by the Department of Justice which led
you to decide to call in the Auditor General?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
First of
all, I'd like to say this is the last day for Fatimah. We just lost another Page
here just a few weeks ago. So it really speaks to what's happening in the House
of Assembly as this is a great succession plan as they move on to the next
career of their lives. So before I begin to answer the Members question, I'd
like to express our thank you on behalf of government for the work they've done.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER BALL:
To the question at hand about
the work of the Department of Justice, Mr. Speaker, they completed their work on
the weekend. As a result of that, they came back with a suggestion that, indeed,
in order to finish and do the wholesome determination of the events around the
appropriateness of the severance package that was paid to the outgoing CEO of
Nalcor, that in their opinion what was required here was someone from the
outside who could actually do an independent review, and their suggestion would
be that the AG is well positioned to be able to do that review.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
MR. P. DAVIS:
What caused them to reach
that conclusion, Premier?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you.
I'll try
it again: What caused them to reach that conclusion?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The
Department of Justice, which is not unusual for anyone in the Premier's office
to actually seek out and go looking for advice within the Department of Justice
as a normal course of business. So in their opinion, in order to complete the
exhaustive and a determination of what was required in terms of the severance
package for Mr. Martin, it would have required someone to actually go and
interview people who would have been involved in that process.
As you
know, the Department of Justice that would not be in their realm of authority
to do that. Although someone from the outside, they have someone like the AG
could actually do that. So the process would be determined by the AG then. We've
outlined and we've passed over all the documentation that we have available to
the AG. We've reached out to the AG. He and his office are willing to do this
work. So in order to complete the kind of comprehensive review that's required
here, it's the AG's office that is best positioned to be able to do that.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition .
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I ask
the Premier if he can confirm we understand he received the report on Saturday
from the Department of Justice. Was that a written report?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
The report was received on
Saturday. After a review of the report, and when you look at the suggestions
that were in the report from the Department of Justice, they came to the
conclusion that in order to get to do the level of report that was required on
this particular issue, in order to get to the fulsome determination that was
mentioned in the report, in order to do that we needed someone to be able to go
out with some more authority, to be able to interview people that were involved
in this particular decision, and in order to do that we needed someone like the
Auditor General, someone that was independent. We have supplied the AG's office
we have reached out to that, supplied them with all the information that is
required, and now the AG is prepared to start that work.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well,
the Premier stated here in the House of Assembly on numerous occasions now that
he would make this report public.
Will you
table that report here in the House of Assembly today, Premier?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
When you
look at the documentation that will be forwarded to the AG, and this is
bringing the AG's office in, I would think the former premier and maybe the
Leader of the Third Party would be up complimenting what we had done on the
weekend, because this is something they've been asking us to do as a government
for quite some time now.
So what
we decided to do was let the Department of Justice complete their work, which
they did on Saturday. We acted swiftly, I would say, Mr. Speaker, because we
asked the AG to come in once the report was back. Right now, the report from the
Department of Justice, we'll turn that over to the AG.
A couple
of things we want is to make sure we have a fair and full process, and we also
want to make sure that information that's out there would not influence in any
way the work of the AG. All the information is now with the AG to use in his
determination of the events.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well,
Premier, last week you repeated several times here in the House you would
release the information. As a matter of fact, you stood here one day and you
talked about how important it was for you to get the information out as quickly
as possible. You said: I can't wait to get that information out as soon as
Justice finishes their work. You said: Once the Department of Justice finished
their work, then we'll be sharing it with the people of the province.
You went
on to say: I look forward to getting the information out as quickly as possible.
As a matter of fact, Premier, nine times on Thursday you said you were going to
release it as soon the Department of Justice finished their work.
So,
Premier, I'll ask you again: Will you table the documents from the Department of
Justice, all the information they had, and their opinion here in the House of
Assembly?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well,
part of all of that too was allowing the Department of Justice to complete their
work. By then we would be into a situation where we'd be determining what
options we had available to us, which direction we would go.
In this
particular case, we turned over all the information to the Auditor General. So
it's not if we're going to do this, it's going to be when we're going to do
this. The former premier, he may think it's the better exercise to put
information out there that could maybe have a negative impact on the
independence of the work of the AG.
What's
important for me today is to let the AG be in the position to put in place a
very full, fair analysis on this documentation. Also to have information
available, not to influence the interviews or the work of the AG, it's to make
sure the information is out there at the appropriate time. It is not if; it is
just necessarily when, I say, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well,
that is contrary to what you said last week, Premier, with all due respect. You
said here in the House last week: I'm anticipating this to be just in a few
days, referring to the report from the Department of Justice, that they'll have
the work reviewed and as soon you get it and as quickly as possible, you're
going to table it.
Now, Mr.
Speaker, I can't think of any reason why all of the information available to the
Premier can no longer be tabled or made available.
I will
ask the Premier again: Are you going to flip-flop one more time, or are you
going to stick to what you committed to last week and table the information here
in the House?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'm not
surprised at all with some of the language coming from the former premier. It
seems to be what he'd like to do. He is really not too concerned at all about
due diligence. We've never seen that. Any history at all when he spent his time
in government planning and making sure that information was done correct was
never anything that he was concerned about before, so I don't know why he would
be concerned about it today.
We are
not interested at all in prejudicing any of the work of the AG. We will get the
information out there when it's the right time to do it. What's more important
now people are concerned about this we want to have a very fair and full
process for the AG. The documentation is gone to the AG. It's the Department of
Justice themselves that said they should bring in someone like the AG, not have
information out there that could influence the work of the AG.
Mr.
Speaker, it is not if; it is just a matter of when we can get that legal
information out there.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, this is not about me or what anyone else has done. This is about what
the Premier said. Nine times he said on Thursday that as soon as possible, he
wanted to do it. He was going to get it out right away. Have it in a few days,
is what the Premier said.
Premier,
explain to the House how this will be prejudicial to the investigation being
done by the Auditor General.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well, I
can assure you too it seems to be not only prejudicial on behalf of the former
premier, but it is obviously becoming very political, I would suggest too, Mr.
Speaker. Let's not forget that those contracts that were put in place were put
in place by the very party that he leads. So let's not forget that.
Right
now, Mr. Speaker, what I'm mostly concerned about is to have a very fair and
very full process. This information just became available over the weekend.
We've asked the AG to get involved. The AG has committed to get involved, his
office; they will deal with this. What's also important here is not to have
information that could actually influence the work of the AG.
Mr.
Speaker, as I said, this information will get out there, but let's let the AG
which the very Member opposite has asked us to do in there so that office can
get the work done in the most efficient way.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We're
delighted you brought the Auditor General in, no two ways about it, but the
Premier made a commitment last week that he would table information. Now he's
saying it could prejudice the Auditor General.
I'll ask
him again, because he hasn't answered the question: How could this prejudice the
work the Auditor General is going to do?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Mr. Speaker, we've given the
information to the Auditor General. He will determine and outline the process
that he sees fit. That is the best way to answer the questions that we've asked
him to do.
What's
important here is to get that fulsome determination and examine the decision on
the severance package for the former CEO. I think it's very fair that we give
the AG the opportunity, number one, to outline the process that his office would
like to use. Number two, maintain the integrity of that process. That will allow
then a very fair a very full and fair process to occur.
Mr.
Speaker, this is the AG. It's an important piece of work that he's doing right
now. The documentation is in the office now. They will outline the process that
is best for them. This information will get out there when the AG determines his
process.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well,
the Premier knew right well that this could very well end up in an investigation
by the Auditor General. He talked about it last week. The province talked about
it; yet, he went on to say numerous times just at our last sitting day on
Thursday, the last time this House sat, that he would release the information as
soon as possible. He's saying one thing on Thursday but he's doing something
else, is what he's doing. We've seen this pattern before, Mr. Speaker.
The
Premier has not explained why or how this is going to prejudice the Auditor
General. You made a commitment to release the information as soon as possible.
Why won't you live up to that commitment you made the last day we sat here?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well,
I'm glad the former premier actually mentioned as soon as possible because
that's exactly what we intend to do. First of all, I think it's very fair,
unless we want to get into a situation where the information that's out there in
the public could actually influence the work of the AG.
Mr.
Speaker, the AG here is a very credible office in this House of Assembly. We've
asked him we brought the AG in to do this piece of work right now. What's
important here is to maintain the integrity of the process, making sure nothing
is out there that would influence in a negative way the work of the AG. So
having this information now, the documentation in the office of the AG is
extremely important to me and to this government. It will enable a very fair and
full process.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you.
Are you
saying the Auditor General could be influenced by the information that you table
here in the House of Assembly, or we're asking you to table? Is that what you
just said?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon.
the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Mr. Speaker, I tell you, I
can't even believe that question. The question was: Are you saying the Auditor
General could be influenced? I just told the Member opposite that we're giving
him all the information. So we want the information to influence the work and
the process that he does.
What I'm
saying is what the Member opposite is asking is that we lay it out there today
in advance of the Auditor General having a chance, the opportunity to review the
documentation. That is too foolish to even think about what he just said, that
that would influence the Auditor General.
We're
going to give the information to the Auditor General, I say, Mr. Speaker. When
he gets a chance to review the documentation, he will then outline his process
that he will establish. It's then that the determination could be made when this
information gets out there. It's not a matter of when or if we're going to do
this. We will do this at the earliest possible date.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Those
were the Premier's words, not mine. It came out of his mouth moments before he
got up on his last answer. It's very simple. If it's not going to in any way
influence what the Auditor General does and I'm glad you've confirmed that,
because you sounded like you had a different position a few minutes ago then
there's no reason not to release the information, Premier. You committed to it
over and over and over again, and now you've changed your decision over the
weekend.
Have you
received any advice from anybody suggesting that you change that position, that
you now not release the details that you promised to release just the last day
we sat in this House?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The
advice to make sure we have a very open and a very fair and full process, a
process that would not be influenced by information that we would prematurely
put out there? Not at all, Mr. Speaker. We trust the Auditor General to do the
work that they will do. That is the reason why we're asking the Auditor General,
at the recommendation of the Department of Justice.
The
Department of Justice on Saturday said that in order to do the fulsome
determination of what's required here, you need someone from the outside,
someone independent to come in. The Auditor General is in the best position, Mr.
Speaker, to be able to do that. We've provided them the information that his
office will need. They will do the investigation which will mean from time to
time, I would guess, that they are going to interview certain people that were
involved in this.
So, Mr.
Speaker, once that information has been dealt with, the Auditor General will
give his report.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I ask
the Premier: Who will the Auditor General report to?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Well, Mr. Speaker, if the
former premier has to ask this House who the Auditor General reports to he's
an independent officer of this House of Assembly. Who does he think he's going
to report to? He's going to report to this House, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
I ask
all Members one last time today, that the person standing to be recognized is
the only person that should be speaking.
The hon.
the Leader of the Opposition.
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well,
maybe the Premier should have a look at the
Auditor General Act because it gives
him three options: he can report to the House of Assembly, to the Public
Accounts Committee or to Cabinet. So now I'm glad we have the Premier on record
that the Auditor General will report to the House of Assembly.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. P. DAVIS:
Will that report be made
public as soon as that report is completed, Premier?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Mr. Speaker, it's our
intention to get all this information out in the public realm as quickly as
possible, but we have to allow the process to unfold. I just said to the Members
opposite that the Auditor General will report to the House of Assembly. That
will obviously mean that would be then public, of course. This is where we want
to get this.
What's
important here, Mr. Speaker, is to make sure that we have the process in place
that has integrity, that is very full, very fair and one that is not influenced
by anything that we would do. Once the Auditor General gets the opportunity to
establish whatever the process he would like for his office to follow, then he
will do his work that he does as he's done in the past.
He will
do the interview. Once the report is completed, it will be here in this House of
Assembly.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'll ask
the Premier: Does he expect the House of Assembly to be open at the time? If
it's not open at the time, will he reconvene the House of Assembly so we can
debate the report from the Auditor General?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Mr. Speaker, one thing that
we do, as we sit here in this House of Assembly my job today was number one,
to get the Auditor General at the start line so he can get started on this piece
of work. We've done that rather swiftly, I would say. So we've been able to do
that.
The
amount of work that's required for the Auditor General, I cannot determine what
the timeline will be. I'm hoping that he'll get through this as fast as
possible. If this House will be open at that particular time as I stand here
today just getting this piece of work started, I do not know if this House will
be open then or not.
Mr.
Speaker, we've seen Auditor General reports that's been given to this House of
Assembly and there's usually lots of opportunity at some particular point. We do
not want to prejudge where this will go, but we look forward to getting the
report.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I saw
the letter written to the Auditor General on the weekend.
I ask
the Premier: Will the Auditor General be also investigating and looking into the
potential involvement of the Premier, his staff, his Cabinet and his colleagues
on the other side of the House?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Mr. Speaker, as I said, the
Auditor General will determine the process that his office would want. I'm fully
expecting for our office to be involved in that. I can tell you right now as
Premier of this province I will fully co-operate with the AG, if asked. I
anticipate that will probably happen.
Mr.
Speaker, I just look forward for the AG getting his work done in a way that's
not influenced by anything that would be prematurely put out there. I can tell
you from what I know of the AG, it will be a very fair and full process.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
When I
read the letter from the Premier to Mr. Terry Paddon, who is the Auditor
General, it looks to me the parameters of the instructions are fairly narrow:
Inquire into a report on the appropriateness of severance benefits received by
Mr. Martin.
So I ask
the Premier: Will the review include any and all information that is available,
any and all activities that have taken place; and, for example, will the
activities of the Minister of Natural Resources and her attendance at meetings,
will this be a part of the Auditor General's review?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We've
put in place a great IAC committee, and I anticipate by the sound of questioning
here that we might have a future Auditor General in our presence.
Mr.
Speaker, listen, in all fairness here, the Auditor General will outline the
process that is required. He can expect full co-operation from any Members on
this side of the House, once that process is determined. And I can tell you,
from what I know of Members over here, there will be full co-operation for the
Auditor General and, like most people in this province, we look forward to the
finalization of that report.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you.
Maybe
the Premier can tell me this: Will the Auditor General also have a look at maybe
any involvement, advice, direction, or assistance that the Minister of Finance
has provided, given the fact that she's a former chair of Nalcor and she was
actually a board member when the contract was entered into with Mr. Martin?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I just
want to finish up on the last question too because when the Clerk had reached
out to the AG in this particular case, the AG was very comfortable and felt that
this was a very broad range, and this will allow him and his office to complete
the work that they have been asked to do.
Mr.
Speaker, you can anticipate, expect and will have full co-operation from all our
Members, all our ministers on this side of the House, as the Auditor General
goes about completing the work that we've asked him to do.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Maybe
the Premier can tell us this, because his answers are very vague as usual, but
he referred to the media this morning about some type of telephone log. So the
work that the Auditor General does, will he have access to any of these supposed
telephone logs, your emails in and out of your office, your own personally or
other emails would that all be part of the Auditor General's review as well?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Mr. Speaker, as I said, what
is important to me is that we have a very full, a very fair and a very open
process. I will tell you that I will be co-operating. I will give whatever level
of co-operation is required to the Auditor General as he completes his work, as
I'm sure all our Members and ministers will. If there's information that I have
that I could bring to the AG, absolutely, that information will be made
available to the AG.
Mr.
Speaker, this is important because of the public concern that we have in our
province. Mr. Speaker, I will do whatever it takes to get to the bottom of this
so that the AG, the Auditor General, can do the type of work to the extent that
we've asked him to do.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well,
maybe the Premier can tell us: Will the Auditor General also look at the minutes
of meetings that were taken? Will he look at the fact that you had a meeting
with Stan Marshall prior to Mr. Martin even resigning? Will the Auditor General
look at the fact that you provided conflicting information here regarding when
you actually became aware that would be receiving severance?
The
Auditor General, will he also look at the fact that board members, current board
members, when did they know about the severance being paid, what knowledge did
they have and who approved the cheque? Will all of those matters be looked at,
Premier, by the Auditor General?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Mr. Speaker, the only thing I
think the former premier didn't ask is to do the review of the Muskrat Falls
Project.
Mr.
Speaker, I can assure you right now, whatever the AG needs in terms of
questioning and information that he would require to have or seems necessary to
have from Members on this side of the House, including myself and my office,
we'll be more than happy to supply whatever information we have.
All the
questions that were just outlined, they seemed to be very relevant, but I'm not
here today, Mr. Speaker, to outline the process that the Auditor General would
do. I would then be influencing his work. I respect and maintain the
independency of the Auditor General. He is well positioned to do the work that
he's been asked to do, and he agrees with that.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
MR. P. DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well, I
appreciate that from the Premier and I'm glad he's going to be open on this.
Hopefully, he will hold to his word, this time.
Mr.
Speaker, I'll ask the Premier this: Will you also ask the Auditor General to
consider the fact that when asked here in the House of Assembly, you and your
government refused to state confidence or lack of confidence in the board of
directors or Mr. Marshall and the executive team. Will the Auditor General also
consider all of this to decide if actually there was a circumstance here created
by you and your government whereby constructive dismissal of Mr. Martin was
created and created by your government?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well,
what we've asked the Auditor General to do is to look into the appropriateness
of the severance package that was given to Mr. Martin by the board of Nalcor,
the outgoing board of Nalcor.
Mr.
Speaker, when you consider the appropriateness of the severance contract, the
severance package that was put in place, a number of those questions that the
Member just asked, I would think, would form the questioning and part of the
investigation, part of the reviewing of what occurred back in April until
eventually the severance contract or agreement was put in place.
Mr.
Speaker, all of these questions are very relevant to this. All I can tell you is
that we will make ourselves available and we will be co-operating with whatever
the AG asks.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
John's East Quidi Vidi.
MS. MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
In his
letter to the Auditor General, the Premier issued a narrow instruction to
investigate the appropriateness of the severance payments paid to the former
Nalcor CEO.
I ask
the Premier: Will the Auditor General's investigation also include looking into
the involvement of the Premier's office directly with the former Nalcor board of
directors, or with any individual members of that board concerning the severance
issue?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I think,
number one, is that when the Clerk spoke to the Auditor General on this
particular issue, he felt that what was given in the letter, what he was asked
to do, would give him a very broad range to answer the questions around the
severance package that was given to the outgoing CEO of Nalcor. The AG, his
office, they feel that this is a very broad mandate actually.
I can
assure you that we will co-operate when asked to do so by the AG on any of the
matters that are related to the severance contract or the severance package that
was given to the former and outgoing CEO of Nalcor, Mr. Speaker. We will
co-operate to make sure that we have a very full and a very fair process, one
that I'm sure all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians look forward to and make sure
that they want to see this occur.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
John's East Quidi Vidi.
MS. MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
The
former CEO of Nalcor said he and the Premier came to a way forward and that if
they were aligned, then he would be ready to move on from Nalcor.
I ask
the Premier: Did the way forward include agreement that Mr. Martin would be paid
severance even though he said publicly he was resigning?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
All the
information that's available outlining the events of the discussions that we've
had, Mr. Speaker all of this information, including the legal opinion, will be
given to the AG to complete his work. So right now, what we do not want to do is
put anything out there publicly that will influence the work of the AG.
As soon
as the AG determines to the extent of what that process, those interviews would
look like, Mr. Speaker, we look forward to getting all the information. As I've
said so many times today, this is not a matter of if; this is just a matter of
when. We want to make sure that the AG is in a position to have whatever legally
accepted information is available to the public in our province. I look forward
to getting this information out there as quickly as possible.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
John's Centre.
MS. ROGERS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I ask
the Minister of Natural Resources: Did she meet with the former chair or any
other representatives of the former Nalcor board regarding severance pay or
other financial compensation that would be paid to the former CEO of Nalcor?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Natural Resources.
MS. COADY:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
The
Premier has sent this to the Auditor General to review, in particular the
appropriateness of the payment of severance. But I do want to take the
opportunity, as well, to talk a little bit about some of the other things that
we've done with Nalcor. We've done a full study with EY on the cost benefit and
associated risks, which I think is very important. We have a new CEO that's
making some very important work with Nalcor.
So I
think that we have to look at the fulsomeness of what we've done with Nalcor,
and in particular, to answer her question, it's all been referred to the Auditor
General and will be reviewed as such.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
John's Centre.
MS. ROGERS:
Odd answer, if that's what an
answer is, Mr. Speaker.
I ask
the Minister of Finance: Did she meet with the former chair or any other
representatives of the former Nalcor board regarding severance pay or other
compensation that would be paid to the former CEO of Nalcor?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
MS. C. BENNETT:
No.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
John's Centre.
MS. ROGERS:
Mr. Speaker, I ask the
Minister of Finance, who is the former chair of Nalcor: Did she inform the
Premier of the terms of the former CEO's contract, which, among things, made it
clear that severance was not payable in the event of voluntary resignation by
the CEO?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
MS. C. BENNETT:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As the
Member opposite may be aware, as a director for a corporation you breach your
fiduciary responsibility should you discuss anything that you know about the
corporation during your time as a director. I can certainly assure this House
that I have maintained my fiduciary responsibility in my former role as a
director at Nalcor.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The time for Question Period
has expired.
Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.
Tabling
of Documents.
Notices
of Motion.
Notices of Motion
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Environment and Conservation.
MR. TRIMPER:
Mr. Speaker, I give notice
that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled,
An Act To Regulate
Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Industrial Facilities In The Province, Bill 34.
MR. SPEAKER:
Further notices of motion?
The hon.
the Member for Conception Bay East Bell Island.
MR. BRAZIL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I will
move the following private Member's resolution:
BE IT
RESOLVED that this hon. House urge the government to postpone the commencement
of full-day kindergarten to avoid other decisions that will negatively impact
students.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Opposition House
Leader.
MR. HUTCHINGS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 63(3), the private Member's resolution just
entered by my colleague will be the one that will be debated on Wednesday,
Private Members' Day.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government House
Leader.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Pursuant
to Standing Order 11, I give notice that this House do not adjourn at 5:30 p.m.
tomorrow, May 31.
Also
pursuant to Standing Order 11, I give notice that this House do not adjourn at
10 p.m. tomorrow, Tuesday, May 31.
MR. SPEAKER:
Further notices of motion?
Answers
to Questions for which Notice has been Given.
Petitions.
Petitions
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
John's Centre.
MS. ROGERS:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
To the
hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in
Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS
the Deficit Reduction Levy is an extremely regressive surtax, placing a higher
tax burden on low- and middle-income taxpayers; and
WHEREAS
surtaxes are typically levied on the highest income earners only, as currently
demonstrated in other provinces as well as Australia, Norway and other
countries; and
WHEREAS
government states in the 2016 provincial budget that the personal income tax
schedule needs to be revised and promises to do so;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House
of Assembly to urge government to ensure that the Deficit Reduction Levy be
eliminated and any replacement measure be based on progressive taxation
principles, and that an independent review of the Newfoundland and Labrador
provincial income tax system begin immediately to make it fairer to
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
As in
duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr.
Speaker, I'd like to point once again to the online petition that over 20,000
not 200, not 2,000, but 20,000 people across the province signed. It was an
electronic petition. Our House at this point is not able to receive electronic
petitions, which is unfortunate. I would hope that in the future we would see
modifications to our House, modernization of the process in which we do our
business here in the House where electronic petitions will be accepted.
Some
might say, well, it's nothing to add your name to an electronic petition. The
interesting thing is, Mr. Speaker, actually what people did here required, in
some ways, even more work than just signing a hard-copy paper because many,
thousands of people actually wrote comments, and some of them quite extensive
comments as to why they believed the levy was unfair and regressive taxation.
Within those comments we have people who are talking about the need for a
complete overview of our taxation system to ensure that we have a progressive
taxation system. Government has promised that but it seems that it's going to be
pushed down the road a little bit.
Mr.
Speaker, I've offered this to the Premier a few times and I'm willing to offer
it to him again. I have hard copies of all the electronic petitions and also a
number of the comments that people wrote. Again, what people are calling for is
an overview of our complete taxation system. That's what this petition in my
hand calls for and I believe it is time the people of the province know that it
is time to do that.
Thank
you very much, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Cape
St. Francis.
MR. K. PARSONS:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
To the
hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in
Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland
and Labrador humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS
the high quality of education is vital to a strong and successful society and
should be a priority of the provincial government; and
WHEREAS
the provincial government has announced funding reductions to the Department of
Education which will result in an increase in class size cap for students in
grades four to Level III, as delivered on April 15, 2016; and
WHEREAS
these funding reductions will result in a reduction of teacher allocation units
at cole Mary Queen of Peace School, the introduction of combined classes and a
reduction in the provision Intensive Core French instruction at our children's
school; and
WHEREAS
the provincial government has decided to proceed with the costly implementation
of full-day kindergarten in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House
of Assembly to urge government to instruct the school boards to delay the
implementation of full-day kindergarten until such time as the province's
financial circumstances improve and restore programs, teacher allocations and
class size caps to 2014 levels.
And as
in duty bound, your petitioners forever pray.
Mr.
Speaker, I attended a silent protest, one of the ones that were organized by the
school. I spoke to many of the parents at Mary Queen of Peace and all of them
are in the same thing. This is a school that has 700 students. It's a K to12
school. There has been crowding in this school for the past 10 years. Last year
it was announced, the first extension to the school.
As you
know, in the Northeast Avalon there have been many renovations, upgrades and new
schools are getting built, but this is the first time in 10 years that anything
has been done. Other than pavement and a few lockers, a bit of capital
expenditure on the school. This is devastating to the community. The cuts to
education, combined classes, layoffs, and increased, like I said, cap size.
At Mary
Queen of Peace they're going to lose three units that's three teachers
resulting in combined classes for grades three and four, and grades five and
six. Early French immersion also, 14 children won't get to take intensive core
French. This school doesn't have a cafeteria. The gym is used half the time so
people can have a place to go eat. There is no functioning library. There is no
computer lab for the kids, and this is really another kick to that school.
This is
a school that's not represented by my district, but represented by Members
opposite me. Parents really are concerned. Actually, Mr. Speaker, as of there
are still petitions out there, but right now there are almost 500 names from the
parents of this school; 500 parents who are really concerned. They're asking the
government to listen to their concerns. They're asking the Minister of Education
to listen to their concerns.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. K. PARSONS:
I ask government, please
listen to the concerns of the parents of this school.
Thank
you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
John's East Quidi Vidi.
MS. MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
To the
hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in
Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS
government has once again cut the libraries budget, forcing the closure of 54
libraries; and
WHEREAS
libraries are often the backbone of their communities, especially for those with
little access to government services where they offer learning opportunities and
computer access; and
WHEREAS
libraries and librarians are critical in efforts to improve the province's
literacy levels which are among the lowest in Canada; and
WHEREAS
already strapped municipalities are not in a position to take over the operation
and cost of libraries;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House
of Assembly to urge government to keep these libraries open and work on a
long-term plan to strengthen the library system.
And as
in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Today,
Mr. Speaker, I'm presenting the signatures of people from actually, from my
district here in St. John's people
who are concerned about the fact that 54 of the libraries in rural
Newfoundland and Labrador are being shut down by this government. It seems that
the ordinary people in our constituencies understand the issue that is arising
because of these closures, people in all parts of the province understand it,
people outside the province understand it but this government doesn't understand
what they're doing.
One of
the letters that I've received that's very outspoken about the libraries says
that it's impossible to understand how cutting communities' access to physical
books will improve our low literacy levels, the worst in the country. Then
adding to that, the increased taxes, including a new tax on books, will make it
even more difficult to obtain print material in other ways. In tough economic
times, libraries are needed more than ever.
Even
somebody who loses a job and needs to go to a computer to even find out what job
opportunities there are, that's being taken away from them in rural Newfoundland
and Labrador.
The
writer of one letter that was in The
Telegram points out that we are just falling so far behind the rest
of Atlantic Canada, just look at Atlantic Canada itself, and talks about the
Province of New Brunswick where they've just announced a new $900,000 investment
to extend library hours as part of the provincial plan to boost literacy. Here
we are with a worse literacy rate than New Brunswick and we're shutting them
down. I mean it's absolutely disgraceful, shutting down the libraries that are
on islands; islands that have to use ferries to get to the mainland; islands
that have, some of them, no other services left on their islands, and the
libraries are being shut.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.
MR. PETTEN:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of
Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the
undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS Budget 2016
introduced over 50 new fees and increased over 300 fees; and
WHEREAS Budget 2016
asks the people of this province to pay more for a decrease in government
services; and
WHEREAS these fee increases negatively impact the financial
well-being of seniors, youth, families, students and individuals;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray
and call upon the House of Assembly to urge government to immediately reverse
fee increases as introduced through Budget
2016 .
And as in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, we get up in the House and the levy has always
been the lightning rod, and we talked about a lot of other factors in the
budget, the gas tax, the insurance tax, other programs but we never really speak
a lot about the fees. As time goes on, when they all come into full impact I
know if you go, for instance, to a provincial park, you're still paying last
year's fees. A lot of this stuff hasn't hit home yet.
We get sometimes sidetracked and it's the bigger items that
people are sometimes focused on, which is fair
game. We all do that, but
it's the little fees and I've probably said it here in this House before, it's
death by a thousand cuts. It's no one big thing, it's all these and they're
all hitting people very hard. We've talked about schools and other parts of the
a bunch of items, but fees themselves we don't zero in on them a lot. There
are people, as we're presenting this petition actually, who have great concerns
over a lot of these fees.
You go
right down; there are pages of them here. You can list them off. A lot of these
fee increases have doubled. I'll say it again, I'll be on record as saying you
add all these fees and everything else, the other impacts of this budget you
put fees on top of everything else, people are already crying out that they're
going to find a struggle. These fee increases are not going to help, like I say.
The
budget already impacts most every person in the province in a negative way. Then
you're just adding the fees, it's equivalent, Mr. Speaker, of putting salt in
the wound. I present this petition and I ask government to give it some serious
consideration because it is an important issue that sometimes gets lost in the
mix.
Thank
you.
MR. SPEAKER (Warr):
The hon. the Member for
Ferryland.
MR. HUTCHINGS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, I rise to present this petition in the House:
To the
hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in
Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland
and Labrador humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS
an extension was announced to the Robert E. Howlett Highway on March 25, 2014;
and
WHEREAS
the environmental assessment, design and engineering of this project is
completed; and
WHEREAS
continued residential growth and commercial growth has increased traffic on the
Southern Avalon;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House
of Assembly to urge the government to continue with this significant piece of
infrastructure to enhance and improve traffic to the Southern Avalon.
And as
in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr.
Speaker, this highway for a number of years we've looked at increasing the
infrastructure requirement. The extension to the Robert E. Howlett would do
that. It's about 9.6 kilometres that were approved in 2014, and I had it moved
on through the environmental assessment piece. I think that was released in
maybe March 2015. Further on in that year it was accepted by the then minister
of Environment.
Unfortunately, in this year's budget of 2016, this government decided not even
to defer this project, but basically to cancel it, take it off the books, which
is very difficult news and upsetting news for the people of the Southern Avalon,
the whole Southern Avalon. So while this is to enhance traffic, commerce from
and to the Southern Shore, it enhances the whole Southern Avalon.
What it
does, we have significant, as I said, commerce back and forth through the
region, significant residential growth we've seen in the past number of years.
We see a lot of people commuting back and forth to the city, as well from the
manufacturing, fabrication point of view. We've seen significant work over the
past number of years that, as a government, we've invested in as well. You're
looking at Bay Bulls harbour and infrastructure as well to the offshore. So a
lot is happening.
It's
very disappointing to the people that this was shelved. There are some concerns
with respect to watershed, but that's not something we can't mitigate and move
forward on. It shouldn't be a showstopper. Obviously, there is a watershed at
Bay Bulls Big Pond.
This
project would take traffic further away from that watershed which would seem to
support everything in regard to the protection of that watershed. If we need to
take some other measures to protect it, we should do that. We call on
Transportation and Works and Environment now as well to work collectively to get
this back on the radar, to move forward.
There is
supposedly federal infrastructure money there that can now be accessed. So let's
get to work, get this done for the people of the Southern Avalon which require
it. It should be done. It was announced. Let's get this back on and get it done.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
George's Humber.
MR. REID:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I have a
petition today related to the public library in St. George's. I will read the
prayer of the petition, Mr. Speaker.
To the
hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in
Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS
the public library in St. George's could possibly close in 2017-2018; and
WHEREAS
the library provides many services, in addition to the access of books, which
are an important part of the social and cultural life of the community; and
WHEREAS
the library has many important partnerships with community groups; and
WHEREAS
the limited expenditures on this library is very good value for taxpayers;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House
of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to take actions
which will result in the continued operation of St. George's public library.
Mr.
Speaker, this petition is signed by over 500 people from the communities of St.
George's and Flat Bay which use this library. I think the fact that many people
have signed the petition demonstrates the feeling in the community that the
library should continue to stay open.
This
library is one of four in my district which are on the list of possible
closures. There's one in Stephenville Crossing, there's one in St. George's that
this petition relates to, another one in McKay's and another in the Codroy
Valley.
So when
I heard the possibility that these libraries might close, I met with the local
volunteer boards related to each of these libraries to get a better sense of the
work that these libraries do in the community. It was very interesting to find
out the range of activities that happen at these libraries. They are not just
places where people go to take out books, although that's an important function
that they provide as well.
Another
thing that they do is provide Internet access to people who can't get Internet
access or can't afford to get Internet access in their communities. In a couple
of cases, it's the only place in the community where you can go and get free
Wi-Fi and use that service as well, Mr. Speaker.
As well,
libraries have developed many partnerships with community groups and they have
many activities such as literacy programs for young children, homework programs,
students can go there and do their homework, also cultural activities. The
library in St. George's has in the past offered music lessons and activities
like that for people in the community who might not have had that opportunity if
the library weren't in place.
There
are many sorts of things that libraries do and I think rather than looking at
closing libraries, maybe we should be looking at how we can reinvigorate
libraries in this province. What does excellence in small libraries look like?
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. REID:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. Member's time has
expired.
The hon.
the Government House Leader.
MR. A. PARSONS:
I call Orders of the Day, Mr.
Speaker.
Orders of the Day
MR. A. PARSONS:
Mr. Speaker, I would move,
seconded by the Minister of Natural Resources, for leave to introduce a bill
entitled,
An Act To Amend The Highway Traffic Act No. 2, Bill 33, and I further
move that the said bill be now read a first time.
MR. SPEAKER:
It is moved and seconded that
the hon. the Minster of Service NL shall have leave to introduce a bill
entitled,
An Act To Amend The Highway Traffic Act No. 2, Bill 33, and that the
said bill be now read a first time.
Is it
the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?
All
those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR. SPEAKER:
Carried.
Motion,
the hon. the Minster of Service Newfoundland and Labrador to introduce a bill,
An Act To Amend The Highway Traffic Act No. 2, carried. (Bill 33)
CLERK (Barnes):
A bill,
An Act To Amend The
Highway Traffic Act No. 2. (Bill 33)
MR. SPEAKER:
The bill has now been read a
first time.
When
shall the bill be read a second time?
MR. A. PARSONS:
Tomorrow.
MR. SPEAKER:
Tomorrow.
motion, Bill 33 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government House
Leader.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Mr. Speaker, I call Order 6,
second reading of Bill 31.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Environment and Conservation.
MR. TRIMPER:
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded
by the Member for Labrador West, that Bill 31,
An Act To Amend The Labour
Standards Act, now be given a second reading.
MR. SPEAKER:
It is moved and seconded that
Bill 31 entitled,
An Act To Amend The Labour Standards Act, be now read a second
time.
Motion,
second reading of a bill,
An Act To Amend The Labour Standards Act. (Bill 31)
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Environment and Conservation.
MR. TRIMPER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise
today in this hon. House to introduce a bill to amend the
Labour Standards Act, which confirms legislative authority
for issuing labour standards clearance certificates and increases the fee to $75
from $50. The issuance of clearance certificates has been ongoing for some time.
Mr. Speaker, a clearance certificate is a certificate
provided by the Labour Standards Division of the Labour Relations Agency on my
behalf as minister, which indicates that an individual or company is in good
standing under the legislation. The Labour Standards Division administers and
enforces the Labour Standards Act
The staff of the division receives approximately 12,000
requests for services annually. They are involved in the resolution of
approximately 450 workplace disputes through the provision of mediation and/or
conciliation services. It is one very busy group of government. They conduct
investigations and issue orders of compliance.
Mr. Speaker, the provision of a clearance certificate is an
incentive to business or parties to abide by the
Labour Standards Act . They can be used as a tool to ensure
compliance with the Labour Standards Act
as they are not issued if the party has a claim against them or is subject to an
investigation. The web-based clearance certificate service is fast and efficient
and very easy to use.
I thank you for the opportunity to speak to the bill. I
invite other hon. Members to share their perspectives.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.
MR. PETTEN:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I won't take a lot of time speaking on Bill 31, but I have
a few comments. I'd like to thank the minister for the briefing received Friday
past to our staff. Thank you for that.
As the minister just stated, this legislation it's the
fees increasing up to $75. At one time I believe it was $25 and it increased to
$50. Now we're increasing it from $50 to $75 as of
Budget 2016 . From my notes, it's part of a legislative
change. It was a policy
that's now being put into legislation. I guess that is a good thing.
I'm
reading they have 2,800 certificates they issue per year and that's probably two
days to complete. As the minister stated, that's a busy division. I'm well aware
of the work they do.
You look
at 2,800 of these, on top of everything else they do, and it does create a lot
of extra work. For that, I do recognize. It's a fee increase. No one likes a fee
increase, but it's an important service and a lot of time goes into preparing
these, Mr. Speaker.
Like I
say, you're enshrined in the legislation going from policy to legislation
which makes it more complete. As we know, policies sometimes are what they are.
At least with legislation, it's more solid footing.
I also
point out we're one of three provinces that charge for this service. There are
eight other provinces actually that don't charge for it. It's an interesting
note that kind of jumped out at me. In any event, it's been an ongoing practice.
It has just been an increase over the last number of years and putting something
like this in the legislation from policy, I have no problem with that either.
It's a very busy division.
Basically, that's all I really have to add to it, Mr. Speaker. It's a pretty
routine housekeeping item.
Thank
you very much.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Labrador West.
MR. LETTO:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It's a
pleasure for me to rise today and speak on behalf of Bill 39 and support my
colleague, the Minister of Environment and Conservation.
AN HON. MEMBER:
Bill 31.
MR. LETTO:
What did I say?
AN HON. MEMBER:
Thirty-nine.
MR. LETTO:
Oh, 39 31, sorry; I'm just
getting a head of myself. I thought we missed a few. We all make mistakes. Some
of us are able to admit it.
Anyway,
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on this bill. As the minister already noted,
this bill proposes to amend the Labour
Standards Act to establish legislative authority for issuing labour
standards clearance certificates and increase the related fee from $50 to $75.
Now,
it's interesting to note, Mr. Speaker, that it was raised to $50 and the Member
for CBS alluded to it that one time it was $25. He is right. It was his
administration that raised it from $25 to $50 in April 2013 and it's been that
way ever since. The fact of the matter is they didn't bring in legislation to
make it official. So as we've been doing since we took office, we are just
cleaning up more of the mess that they left behind.
As part
of the budget and as part of the GRI that fee is now going to $75. Raising this
fee for clearance certificates will increase the revenue by an estimated $70,000
per year based on an average of 2,800 certificates issued annually over each of
the last five years. The estimated revenue from clearance certificates this year
is $175,000, which factors in a partial year increase for 2016.
Clearance certificates are provided by the Labour Relations Agency to confirm
that a person or company is in good standing under the
Labour Standards Act . Upon receipt of their request, the LRA reviews
case files and advises the client on whether the person or company remains a
subject of an unresolved investigation or claim.
As you
know, Mr. Speaker, these certificates are usually requested by law firms in the
course of ensuring due diligence in real estate transactions. Again, we're
bringing in legislation to make sure that everything is above board and
everything is legally in place.
But
before I sit down, Mr. Speaker, I want to just mention a couple of words about
the Labour Relations Agency and the work that they do. Since we took office in
December, since I was elected in November, I've had the privilege of working
with the Labour Relations Agency on a number of issues, especially around the
labour relations at the Iron Ore Company of Canada and I have found them to be
very, very co-operative. They have some good staff over there who really know
their stuff. So it's been a pleasure and I want to thank them for their work
over the past four months since I've started working with them.
I won't
go on any longer, Mr. Speaker, but just to say that this bill is going before
the House today and I look to the Opposition and Third Party to support this
very important bill.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
John's East Quidi Vidi.
MS. MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
I'm
pleased to stand and speak to Bill 31, which is making an amendment to the
Labour Standards Act . I know the other
speakers have explained what's going on, so I won't go into huge detail, but
probably point out first of all that what it is dealing with, which is a fee for
clearance certificates, is something that happens when there is a transaction of
property and a lawyer for a company wants to ensure that the company selling the
property to his or her company doesn't have a lien placed on it on behalf of an
employee who is owed money. These clearance certificates are certificates that
make it clear that the company that's selling is not going to be causing them
any legal problems if they buy that property.
Now,
it's interesting that what we have happening here is that a fee that was only
$35 is now going up to $75 without any explanation of why it is necessary to do
that. So I think what we have is something that is, again, part of the budget
this government has brought down, and what we see here is a real cash grab,
because what we have in that budget is any possible fee that can be raised has
been raised by the government. This is another fee which has been substantially
raised by the government. It may not sound like a lot, but enough of these could
cause a company a real problem.
It's
another sign of this government raising fees without any analysis, without any
explanation of why they're doing it, except, I guess, for saying we are getting
money wherever we can get it. So this is their way of getting revenues off the
backs of individuals and of small businesses, and that's how they're getting the
revenue that's needed instead of coming up with some real, intelligent plans for
real revenue growth in this province.
Now,
this comes under labour standards, and I think it's important to point out that
we do know that the act, we're being told, is always being reviewed to make sure
it meets minimum standards, but what is really needed for the
Labour Standards Act is a whole
legislative review. It's long overdue, and it's something that needs to happen.
The only reason we're standing here today looking at a change to it is not a
change that's necessarily really concerned with workers and the standards for
workers, it's a change that has to do with government doing another cash grab
off the backs of people, as I've just said.
There
are things in this Labour Standards Act ,
for example the
section that stipulates that overtime, which is paid at time and
a half, will be paid at minimum wage. So lots of people are not getting
overtime. They're not getting their breaks. They're not getting, really, the
full reimbursement that they should be getting for overtime.
Another
piece of the labour standards that needs to be reviewed is the complaints
section. Labour standards are complaint driven,
whereas the Occupational Health
and Safety Division in enforcing its legislation does its own inspections and
went from 11 to 32 inspectors in recent years. We need to bring the labour
standards up so that people can really have their needs met, that complaints
that they do have are dealt with quickly and that people who are working in our
province are being taken care of.
The
department knows there should be a review of the
Labour Standards Act . We keep getting piecemeal changes, but there
isn't an overall review. We've had a lot of changes in our labour force in
Newfoundland and Labrador, changes in work that's being done, changes in the
face of our workers in terms of age, et cetera. So we really do need an
overhaul.
We also
have questions about the work-alone provisions. This is something that needs to
be looked at. But what we don't want is piecemeal, and this is what we're
getting here is piecemeal. We also have the whole issue of temporary foreign
workers and whether or not they are adequately protected under our labour
standards legislation.
I'm
encouraging the minister to look at the fact that our
Labour Standards Act is well overdue for an overhaul. It's outmoded
and it's very sad that the only reason we're standing here today is not to try
to really improve our Labour Standards Act
and the protection of our workers, it's only to give the government
the opportunity, as I said before, to do a cash grab off the backs of people in
the province, to help them with a budget that is showing no creativity, no
vision.
Obviously I'm going to vote for this
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MS. MICHAEL:
but the thing is that this government will just continue doing this kind of
thing, Mr. Speaker, and it's very disturbing.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Member for Mount Pearl Southlands.
MR. LANE: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I'm not going to take too long to speak to this, but I will
take a moment just to have my say on Bill 31. As indicated, I intend to, at the
very least, stand on each and every bill to at least give my position whether
I'm in favour or I'm against.
I will be supporting the bill. As has been said, it is
really a housekeeping bill, to some degree. It's put in place obviously, as has
been said, for real estate transactions and so on between businesses
that and it's a protection for a business. If they were going to purchase
another company or take over a new company, they would have assurances. They
would know what they're getting into basically.
I see it
as a protection mechanism that is being formalized. I think it should be there.
I agree with it. I also agree that if that is going to be provided and if it's
going to involve employees of the provincial government that we're all paying
for to process these certificates and so on, then obviously, at the very least,
we should recover the cost.
Obviously, there's an attempt here to raise additional funds because of the
budgetary situation that we're in. Unlike what my colleague just said, from my
perspective if we're going to have to raise money, then I would much rather see
some fees on things like this, than I would see fees on drivers licences and
registration and so on that are going to hurt a lot of people and a lot of
even like low-income people. If I had to choose, I'd prefer to support something
like this to be honest with you.
I really
have no big problem with it. I would say the Member for St. John's East Quidi
Vidi does raise a good point, as it relates to the
Labour Standards Act . While it's fine to put this in place and it
makes sense and like I said, I have no real big issue with the fee there
certainly are a number of things in the
Labour Standards Act that do need to be addressed.
I'm not
going to get into them all, but one that she did mention and I've actually had
a couple of people call me on this. I can remember speaking to one gentleman. He
was working at I believe it was security, if I'm not mistaken. He was making
like $15 an hour. He had worked a whole bunch of overtime because it had been
available. When his cheque came he was really surprised by the amount he
received. He was expecting to receive time and a half, which would have brought
him up to basically $22.50 an hour. Under the Labour Standards, he was told by
his employer they only had to pay him time and a half minimum wage, not time and
a half of his actual wages.
That was
something there that I thought was a real injustice to that worker in that case.
That's one thing, and there are other things that definitely need to be
addressed in the Labour Standards Act
for sure. I would agree with the Member who was just up, that there are much
more pressing things in the Labour
Standards Act that certainly do need to be addressed for sure. Obviously,
that hasn't been done today, but what is being done I agree with in principle.
While I
would agree that this is being done, the real motivation here is to generate
additional money, given the fact where we are financially with the budget and so
on. If we had to go down certain roads with the fees and so on, I'd certainly
think this is much more palatable than some of the other ones which have been
proposed. So I will be supporting it.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER (Osborne):
The hon. the Member for
Stephenville Port au Port.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. FINN:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It's
always great to rise and speak to any piece of legislation. In particular today
we're discussing Bill 31,
An Act To Amend the Labour Standards Act. I'd like to
thank the Minister Responsible for the Labour Relations Agency and the Member
for Lake Melville for introducing this piece of legislation, and to those
Members who've already taken the opportunity to speak to it as well.
Mr.
Speaker, the Labour Relations Agency does a great deal of work here in the
province. I believe the minister had alluded to receiving some-12,000
applications annually with respect to the clearance certificates. The clearance
certificates, essentially, in addition to providing individuals with the proper
information regarding individuals, businesses and their compliance, it's
certainly a great incentive for businesses to abide by the Labour Standards Act
as well, and use as a tool to ensure compliance with the act.
having a conversation earlier with the minister and discussing some of the
issues around the Labour Standards Act and the Labour Relations Agency,
essentially with respect to the number of requests they get annually, the
increase in fee here is in part due to a cost recovery measure. In addition to
that, and just to make reference I guess to the Member for St. John's East
Quidi Vidi who just spoke with respect to this being a cash grab, I don't really
believe that's a very accurate reflection of what we're looking to do here.
In doing
a provincial and territorial scan, it looks that we've been a bit behind with
respect to this fee. So this is a nominal fee increase, I would suggest to the
Member opposite, and to the Members who referenced this as essentially a cash
grab, a $25 increase.
As the
Member for Labrador West alluded to as well, this fee was increased in 2013 by
the former administration. At which time there was no legislation around
enforcing that, if you will. So in addition to making the nominal fee increase
here, we're just looking to make sure it's introduced into the legislation.
The
estimated revenue we'd be generating from this right now, an increase of $70,000
per year, and with the partial year of 2016, that's $175,000 per year for this
fee increase. So I'd suggest to the Member for St. John's East Quidi Vidi, as
well as the Member for Conception Bay South, when you're talking about fee
increases and those impacting and all these fee increases, well this is one
that's not going to have any grave impact on very many citizens of our province.
In fact, I would suggest it would be mostly law firms and those other companies
that are looking to issue certificates of clearance.
I won't
say too much more than that. It seems to be a pretty straightforward bill; a
pretty straightforward request as well. The Member also raised, as did the
independent Member, some issues around other issues in the Labour Relations
Agency. I'll leave that to the minister.
Always
to give credit where credit is due, it's always great to bring up other ideas
and suggestions and it certainly sounds like you brought up a specific issue. I
didn't hear any suggestions for that matter on that note, but again today a very
nominal fee increase to the Labour
Standards Act and Labour Relations Agency. I certainly won't have any
trouble supporting this bill.
Thank
you very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
If the hon. Minister of
Environment and Conservation speaks now he shall close debate.
Seeing
no further speakers, the hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.
MR. TRIMPER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I do
thank the hon. Members of the House from Conception Bay South, Labrador West,
St. John's East Quidi Vidi, Stephenville Port au Port and Mount Pearl
Southlands.
I'd just
like to make a couple of comments that I heard. First of all, I'm very
encouraged about the support that I anticipate has been expressed by all hon.
Members and colleagues of the House, working for the people of this province.
I did
want to talk a little bit about, a couple of things they mentioned. First of
all, I'd like to thank the Member for Labrador West and his acknowledgement of
the important role of the Labour Relations Agency. I can tell you, of the five
departments I'm responsible for, this is the one that I needed to go and do my
homework on. I didn't have a good, strong technical background, but I must say
I'm extremely impressed with the calibre of people there.
It is
interesting to note that they are I'm curious as to how long this is going to
last, but for the last about 16 months now we have not had a legal strike or
lockout in this province. I'm hoping that's going to continue, but these are
challenging times so we'll see how we do. I must say our conciliators or
mediators in this agency and the role of the Labour Relations Board is a very
busy group. We cross our fingers and see how they'll do.
I also
wanted to the Member for St. John's East Quidi Vidi brings up an important
point. I wanted to assure her and other Members, that yes, this is a very
straightforward bill. It is very much administrative in its actions. It is
capturing some text that we wanted to revise as per motions that were made in
the previous administration. So it is a catch up.
The fee
increase from $50 to $75 is also a catch-up to other jurisdictions. I can assure
you also, though, that there are a lot of services government provides,
including in the Labour Relations Agency which, as now that I'm in this side
after having a career in private sector and private life, I can assure you we
don't even come close to recovering the services that government provides.
In terms
of looking at other aspects of the bill and so on such as labour standards or
the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, if I could ask the patience of the House,
I would like to introduce a very important situation in that probably the leader
of the Temporary Foreign Worker Program in Labrador was a gentleman his name
is Edgar Kippenhuk.
Unfortunately, his funeral was yesterday. I was at his funeral and I can tell
you that it was very moving to see the dozens of members, particularly from the
Filipino community who were there. I can tell you this minister understands full
well the importance of that legislation and getting it right. I'm looking
forward to working with other departments, but particularly the federal
counterparts, on improving standards for foreign workers in this province and in
this country.
This
bill supports working Newfoundlanders and Labradorians by ensuring they get the
employment benefits they have earned. I look forward to the passage of this
bill, Mr. Speaker.
Thank
you.
MR. SPEAKER:
Is it the pleasure of the
House that Bill 31,
An Act To Amend The Labour Standards Act, be now read a
second time?
All
those in favour?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR. SPEAKER:
Those against?
Carried.
CLERK:
A bill,
An Act To Amend The
Labour Standards Act. (Bill 31)
MR. SPEAKER:
This bill has now been read a
second time. When shall the bill be referred to a Committee of the Whole House?
MR. A. PARSONS:
Now.
MR. SPEAKER:
Now.
motion, a bill,
An Act To Amend The Labour Standards Act, read a second time,
ordered referred to a Committee of the Whole House presently, by leave. (Bill
31)
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government House
Leader.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded
by the Minister of Environment and Conservation, that the House resolve into a
Committee of the Whole to consider Bill 31.
MR. SPEAKER:
It's been moved and seconded
that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole and that I do now
leave the Chair so that they can debate Bill 31,
An Act To Amend The Labour
Standards Act.
All
those in favour?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR. SPEAKER:
Those against?
Carried.
motion, that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole, Mr. Speaker
left the Chair.
Committee of the
Whole
CHAIR (Warr):
Order, please!
We are
now considering Bill 31,
An Act To Amend The Labour Standards Act.
A bill,
An Act To Amend The Labour Standards Act. (Bill 31)
CLERK:
Clause 1.
CHAIR:
Shall clause 1 carry?
All
those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
CHAIR:
All those against, 'nay.'
Carried.
motion, clause 1 carried.
CLERK:
Clause 2.
CHAIR:
Shall clause 2 carry?
All
those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
CHAIR:
All those against, 'nay.'
Carried.
motion, clause 2 carried.
CLERK:
Be it enacted by the
Lieutenant Governor and House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as
follows.
CHAIR:
Shall the enacting clause
carry?
All
those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
CHAIR:
All those against, 'nay.'
Carried.
motion, enacting clause carried.
CLERK:
A bill,
An Act To Amend The
Labour Standards Act.
CHAIR:
Shall the title carry?
All
those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
CHAIR:
All those against, 'nay.'
Carried.
motion, title carried.
CHAIR:
Shall I report the bill
without amendment?
All
those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
CHAIR:
All those against, 'nay.'
Carried.
Motion,
that the Committee report having passed the bill without amendment, carried.
CHAIR:
The hon. the Government House
Leader.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Mr. Chair, I would move the
Committee rise and report Bill 31.
CHAIR:
The motion is that the
Committee rise and report Bill 31 carried without amendment.
All
those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
CHAIR:
Opposed?
Carried.
motion, that the Committee rise, report progress and ask leave to sit again, Mr.
Speaker returned to the Chair.
MR. SPEAKER (Osborne):
The hon. the Deputy Chair
of Committees.
MR. WARR:
Mr. Speaker, the Committee of
the Whole have considered the matters to them referred and have directed me to
report Bill 31 without amendment.
MR. SPEAKER:
The Chair of the Committee of
the Whole reports that the Committee have considered the matters to them
referred and have directed him to report Bill 31,
An Act To Amend The Labour
Standards Act, without amendment.
When
shall the report be received?
MR. A. PARSONS:
Now.
MR. SPEAKER:
Now.
When
shall the said bill be read a third time?
MR. A. PARSONS:
Tomorrow.
MR. SPEAKER:
Tomorrow.
motion, report received and adopted. Bill ordered read a third time on tomorrow.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government House
Leader.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Mr. Speaker, I would call
from the Order Paper, Order 5, second reading of Bill 30.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Service NL.
MR. JOYCE:
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded
by the Minister of Natural Resources, that I now introduce the bill for the
second time.
MR. SPEAKER:
It is moved and seconded that
Bill 30,
An Act To Amend The Co-operatives Act, be now read a second time.
Motion,
second reading of a bill,
An Act To Amend The Co-operatives Act. (Bill 30)
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Service NL.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JOYCE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise
for debate on the amendments to the
Co-operatives Act . The Co-operatives
Act currently requires that any co-operative that is incorporated in our
province is to have the word co-operative as part of their legal name. The act
does not currently permit usage of a French language version of the word
cooprative. This proposed legislative amendment will permit a co-operative to
both.
The
Co-operatives Act has existed in its
word co-operative became an issue for the Francophone organization last year.
They were attempting to establish a co-operative for business and took issue
the word in the legal name of the business.
While
the proposed legislative amendment is minor in nature, it is an important
amendment to the members of the Francophone community. Our government values the
Francophone community in our province and is currently pursuing this amendment
to respond to their concerns.
This
issue was significant enough to the Francophone community that people filed a
complaint with the Office of the Citizens' Representative last month. We want to
resolve this issue for members of the Francophone community as quickly as
possible and we hope to have the support of all parties in this hon. House in
moving the proposed amendment forward. Making this amendment will bring
provincial law in line with other provinces in Canada and other jurisdictions to
permit the French version of the word co-operative in a co-operative name.
I look
forward to progressing with this important amendment quickly and to addressing
the needs of the Francophone community.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Cape
St. Francis.
MR. K. PARSONS:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
We, too,
along with the minister, agree that this had to be done. Again, it's only
bringing us in line with the rest of Canada, and to all co-operatives in the
province that do have need of the French name.
This is
really something to just put us in line with the rest of Canada and make sure we
have proper legislation in for all co-operatives right across the province. So
we will be supporting this also.
Thank
you very much, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Labrador West.
MR. LETTO:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is a
pleasure for me to rise today and support this bill, Bill 30,
An Act to Amend
the Co-operatives Act.
Mr.
Speaker, Labrador West I guess since its incorporation in 1960 has had many
ethnic backgrounds of people in its community. One of the most prominent ones, I
guess, is the Francophone Association, the Francophone population that exists
there. I guess it's twofold why we have such a large population. One is because
when the town was formed in 1960 and the Iron Ore company was formed, people
came from all over the world, actually, to work there. Being in close proximity,
next to the border of the Province of Quebec, we do have a large Francophone
influence.
This
bill was brought forward because of a request from the Francophone Association
in Labrador West to be able to form a cooprative. When they went to get it
done, the legislation didn't allow the French version of cooprative to be used.
That's why we brought this bill forward.
certainly would like to thank the Francophone Association for bringing this
forward. We're very pleased as a government to support them in this initiative.
As the minister has said, it is bringing legislation current with the rest of
Canada and recognizing the value of our Francophone population in this province.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
John's Centre.
MS. ROGERS:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
I'm very
happy to stand and to speak to this Bill 30,
An Act to Amend the Co-operatives
Act. C'est vraiment
une bonne chose, especially parce que c'est le jour de Francophonie.
cannot go wrong on this bill. It's interesting that it has taken us this long to
get to this point. As we know, Mr. Speaker, the amendment allows a co-operative
incorporated in this province to use a French name if it wishes, and pourquoi
pas? Why not? Why wouldn't we do this?
Officials have said that the act has been in place for a while, since 1998, and
really a good thing to do. A new co-operative wanted to form in this province
and wanted to use the French word, cooprative, but couldn't because the act
doesn't allow it.
The act
co-operative. I'm sure there are other languages, particularly in Labrador, who
may want to use as well the appropriate name in their own language. I would hope
that we would be able to move into that direction as well.
Pourquoi
pas? Again, why not? It would be a good thing. It doesn't diminish anything. As
a matter of fact, it reflects and respects the diversity of our province. It
also respects the diversity of the people who are coming together in the work
that they do. It would be a co-operative thing to do, as a matter of fact, Mr.
Speaker, to be able to expand to include the diversity of our province. It's
something that we can celebrate and something that we can be proud of.
When we
look at the co-operatives that still exist in our province and we've seen,
there was a heyday of co-operatives, especially around the 1960s, the 1970s and
the 1980s. Then we see a little bit of a dip, but I believe, Mr. Speaker, once
again when we look in the area of green technology, when we look in the area of
very progressive types of agriculture, we may in fact see the growth in the area
of co-operatives in our province as well. That would be a great thing.
We know
we have credit unions. Many of our public service sectors employees belong to
the credit union. I happily am a member of the Credit Union of Newfoundland and
Labrador, and I'm so glad to be able to be a member of the credit union. It's
very interesting because the credit union is one of the few banks in
Newfoundland and Labrador where local decisions can be made. I was also a client
of another bank here in the province as a member of the credit union
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
I ask
the Member to try to keep her comments relevant to the bill we're debating.
MS. ROGERS:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
The
issue is that co-operatives can make local decisions, decisions that are in the
best interest of the province.
We know
That may change. We know the credit union does a lot of their work en franais
also, and a lot of their print material is in French. We have fishing
co-operatives all over the province. Perhaps not as many as we did have, but
again when we look at what's happening in the area of fishery, the innovative
projects that are happening, that's a good thing too. We will see an expansion
in those areas. Also, as I mentioned, in the agricultural area.
We're
seeing a growth in child care co-operatives. Wouldn't it be interesting, Mr.
Speaker, if we see a growth in child care co-operatives that are also in French?
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
Again, I
ask the Member to try to keep her comments relevant to the bill we're debating.
MS. ROGERS:
Okay. Thank you very much,
Mr. Speaker.
I will
attempt to do that.
Again,
when we see the potential growth of co-operatives in the province we would
hopefully see a growth of child care programs in French; that we can see a
growth of child care programs in a number of languages, different languages in
co-operatives in Labrador.
Mr.
Speaker, again, this is something we can really support. It's fitting that it's
happening on la journee de Francophonie. We also look forward to a complete
review of our Co-operatives Act .
Thank
you very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Mount
Pearl Southlands.
MR. LANE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, just for the record, I wanted to say that I will be supporting Bill 30.
Obviously, we're a bilingual country. We have a strong French influence in some
parts of our province. This just makes a whole lot of sense.
congratulate the government on doing it and I will be supporting Bill 30.
Thank
you.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
George's Humber.
MR. REID:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I just
wanted to take a few minutes to also voice my support of this bill here. I think
it's especially applicable to areas such as the West Coast, the Port au Port
Peninsula and the Stephenville area where we have a large rejuvenation of the
French heritage in that area.
I've
attended meetings on the Port au Port Peninsula where people have been thinking
about setting up co-operatives and some of them around their French heritage. So
I think this is a very good move. It originated in Labrador, but it's also
applicable to other areas in the province, so it's very good, and I'd like to
compliment the minister on moving forward with this change. It's very important
to recognize, especially on today, which is Francophone Day, I believe.
So thank
you very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
If the hon. the Minister of
Service NL speaks now, he will close debate.
Seeing
no further speakers, I recognize the hon. the Minister of Service NL.
MR. JOYCE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I just
want to thank all speakers: the Member for Cape St. Francis, for speaking; the
Member for Lab West, the Member for St. John's Centre and the Member for Mount
Pearl Southlands for speaking on this; and the Member for St. George's
Humber for speaking on this.
Mr.
Speaker, as I said before, this is an important bill for the francophone
community, and of course the Member for St. John's Centre had to get in the
co-operatives and other things, trying to make it political, but this is a great
day for the francophone community.
I also
have to recognize the Minister of Environment and Conservation, the Member for
Lake Melville, who helped to bring this through. I just want to thank you for
your support for that also.
Mr.
Speaker, the francophone community in Lab West mentioned how quick they got this
through. This is part of people on this side, but it's also part of the
Opposition for helping us push this through, a very important issue. So I just
want to make sure I thank the Opposition for supporting this.
I spoke
to the Member for Cape St. Francis earlier in the last couple of weeks, and he
said he'll definitely support it and do what they can to get it through this
Legislature as fast as possible. I just want to thank the Member for continuing
his support and honouring his commitment to get this through.
It's a
great day for the francophone community, and this is a great day on why
Parliament works when we come up with something that will help the francophone
community. It's something that they're very proud of, and we in the Legislature
are very proud of that on the Francophone Day, with the flag raising earlier
today, we just show our support as all legislators in this province behind the
request that was made by the francophone community in Lab West.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Is it the pleasure of the
House that Bill 30,
An Act To Amend The Co-operatives Act, be now read a second
time?
All
those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR. SPEAKER:
All those against, 'nay.'
Carried.
CLERK (Murphy):
A bill,
An Act To Amend The Co-operatives Act. (Bill 30)
MR. SPEAKER:
This bill has now been read a
second time. When shall the bill be referred to a Committee of the Whole House?
MR. A. PARSONS:
Now.
MR. SPEAKER:
Now.
motion, a bill,
An Act To Amend The Co-operatives Act, read a second time,
ordered referred to a Committee of the Whole House presently, by leave. (Bill
30)
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government House
Leader.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded
by the Minister for Service Newfoundland and Labrador, that the House resolve
itself into a Committee of the Whole to consider Bill 30.
MR. SPEAKER:
It has been moved and
seconded that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole to debate
Bill 30,
An Act To Amend The Co-operatives Act and that I do now leave the
Chair.
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, Mr. Speaker
left the Chair.
Committee of the
Whole
CHAIR (Warr):
Order, please!
We are
now considering Bill 30,
An Act To Amend The Co-operatives Act.
A bill,
An Act To Amend The Co-operatives Act. (Bill 30)
CLERK (Barnes):
Clause 1.
CHAIR:
Shall clause 1 carry?
All
those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
CHAIR:
All those against, 'nay.'
Carried.
motion, clause 1 carried.
CLERK:
Be it enacted by the Lieutenant Governor and House of Assembly in Legislative
Session convened, as follows.
CHAIR:
Shall the enacting clause
carry?
All
those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
CHAIR:
Opposed?
Carried.
motion, enacting clause carried.
CLERK:
An Act To Amend The Co-operatives Act. (Bill 30)
CHAIR:
Shall the title carry?
All
those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
CHAIR:
All those against, 'nay.'
Carried.
motion, title carried.
CHAIR:
Shall I report the bill
without amendment?
All
those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
CHAIR:
Opposed?
Carried.
Motion,
that the Committee report having passed the bill without amendment, carried.
CHAIR:
The hon. the Government House
Leader.
MR. A. PARSONS:
I move, Mr. Chair, that the
Committee rise and report Bill 30.
CHAIR:
The motion is that the
Committee rise and report Bill 30 without amendment.
All
those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
CHAIR:
Opposed?
Carried.
motion, that the Committee rise, report progress and ask leave to sit again, Mr.
Speaker returned to the Chair
MR. SPEAKER (Osborne):
The hon. the Deputy Chair
of Committees.
MR. WARR:
Mr. Speaker, the Committee of
the Whole have considered the matters to them referred and have directed me to
report Bill 30 carried without amendment.
MR. SPEAKER:
The Chair of the Committee of the Whole reports that the Committee have
considered the matters to them referred and have directed him to report Bill 30,
An Act To Amend The Co-operatives Act, carried without amendment.
When
shall the report be received?
MR. A. PARSONS:
Now.
MR. SPEAKER:
Now.
When
shall the bill be read a third time?
MR. A. PARSONS:
Tomorrow.
MR. SPEAKER:
Tomorrow.
motion, report received and adopted. Bill ordered read a third time on tomorrow.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Government House
Leader.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I call
from the Order Paper, Order 4, second reading of Bill 28.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
MS. C. BENNETT:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It's a
privilege as it always is to stand in the House today to speak to the bill. I
move, seconded by the Minister of Justice and Public Safety, that Bill 28, An
Act To Amend The Pensions Funding Act And The Teachers' Pensions Act, be now
read a second time.
MR. SPEAKER:
It has been moved and
seconded that Bill 28,
An Act To Amend The Pensions Funding Act And The
Teachers' Pensions Act, be now read a second time.
Motion,
second reading of a bill,
An Act To Amend The Pensions Funding Act And The
Teachers' Pensions Act. (Bill 28)
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.
I'm
happy to stand today and speak to this bill, Bill 28. It's a very important
piece of legislation which will amend the
Pensions Funding Act and the Teachers'
Pensions Act .
As this
House is well aware, the unfunded pension liability of the Public Sector Pension
Plan was one of the most serious financial issues facing the province. It has
been highlighted as an area of concern by both the Auditor General as well as
bond rating agencies. The provincial government and the Newfoundland and
Labrador Teachers' Association reached a pension reform agreement on June 15,
2015 that ensured the long-term sustainability of the Teachers' Pension Plan.
Based on that agreement, the former administration amended the
Teachers' Pensions Act to implement
benefit changes and contribution rate increases.
You will
recall that all Members in this hon. House at the time supported those
amendments and these new amendments, Mr. Speaker, are the second part of that
reform agreement actually establishing the teachers' pension fund and the
teachers' pension corporation.
Through
these amendments, we are helping to ensure that once our teachers retire they
have access to a secure pension in retirement. These amendments result from the
joint sponsorship agreement that was negotiated between government and the NLTA
as the joint sponsors of the pension plan that provides joint trusteeship for
the future, with the government and the plan members sharing equal
responsibility for the plan and the fund.
Under
the terms of the joint sponsorship agreement, the sponsor body will be
established with equal representation from government and the NLTA and will be
responsible for planned amendments and the funding policy. The Teachers' Pension
Plan Corporation, with an eight-member board of directors, four appointed by
government and four appointed by the NLTA, will be the trustee of the plan and
the fund.
Their
main responsibility will be the administration of the pl