PDF Version

March 22, 2016

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLVIII No. 9

The

House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Osborne):

Order, please!

Admit

strangers.

Statements by

Members

MR. SPEAKER:

For Members' statements

today, we have the Members for the District of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair,

Burin Grand Bank, Terra Nova, Ferryland, Mount Pearl North and Bonavista.

recognize the Member for the District of Cartwright L'Anse au Clair and Deputy

Speaker.

MS. DEMPSTER:

Thank you.

I rise

in this hon. House to recognize the racers in Cain's Quest who bravely signed up

to challenge the legendary Labrador course earlier this month. This

3,500-kilometre snowmobile race through the four corners of Labrador is truly

unique. Cain's Quest has earned its place among the world's greatest endurance

challenges. It was followed by people in 73 countries outside of Canada and

racked up some 1.3 million page views online.

Cain's Quest is one of the world's toughest races, its participants are some of

the world's toughest racers. That's certainly true, Mr. Speaker, of the teams

from my district. Four intrepid teams from Cartwright L'Anse au Clair embraced

the challenge. Team 24, the Cartwright Orange Eagles, blazed across the finish

line in 13th position a remarkable achievement considering there were 37 teams

that entered.

Team 85,

the Mary's Harbour Backcountry Riders, to the delight of spectators, decided to

complete the race despite being outside the mandatory 18-hour finish. Team 62,

Labrador South Racing and Team 16 of Charlottetown, like so many others, were

forced to withdraw but not before putting up a good fight.

I ask

all hon. Members to join me in recognizing the courage and the strength of all

Cain's Quest participants.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Burin Grand Bank.

MS. HALEY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, in psychology the Stroop effect is a demonstration of the interference

in the reaction time when completing a task. Jenna Hennebury, a 13-year-old

grade eight student at Holy Name of Mary Academy in Lawn, was so fascinated with

the effect that she made it the topic for her project at the Burin Peninsula

Regional Science Fair held at Fortune Bay Academy in St. Bernard's-Jacques

Fontaine on March 8.

The

judges for the fair were so impressed by Jenna's project, which she dubbed

Colour Confusion, they awarded her top prize at this year's regional fair, and

Science Fair being held in Montreal from May 15 to 20.

Mr.

Speaker, students in grades seven to nine from six schools around the Burin

Peninsula presented 38 projects in a number of categories; however, it was

Jenna's project in the Life/Environmental/Biotechnology category that was deemed

best overall. Jenna is the daughter of proud parents Earl and Anna Hennebury of

Lawn.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all Members to join me in congratulating Jenna on her win and

wishing her continued success at the national science fair in Montreal.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Terra Nova.

MR. HOLLOWAY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

to recognize Mr. Wayne Hallett, owner and operator of the Prints of Whales Inn,

located in Sandringham, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr.

Hallett was chosen as the Tourism Champion of the Year in this year's

Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador Conference and Trade Show held at the

Delta Hotel and Conference Centre here in St. John's on March 1 to 3.

The

Tourism Champion of the Year Award is presented to an individual, company or

organization that has worked diligently to ensure the tourism industry prospers,

and has given freely of their time and energy to champion the interests of and

enhance the tourism industry.

Wayne

Hallett, along with this wife Ruth, has operated multiple accommodations in

Newfoundland before moving on to the Prints of Whales Inn. Wayne has been

involved in various tourism organizations, including those in the Coast of Bays

and the Road to the Beaches, as well as Tourism Quality Assurance Newfoundland

and Labrador and Adventure Central Newfoundland.

Mr.

Hallett demonstrates how a small tourism operator can play a significant role in

demonstrating the direction and success of the provincial tourism industry.

I ask

all hon. Members to join me in congratulating Mr. Hallett for being the

recipient of this year's Tourism Champion of the Year award.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Ferryland.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to

honour the Goulds Volunteer Fire Department. This past year they celebrated

their 39th anniversary. I've had the pleasure over the past years to attend a

number of events to celebrate the work of this brigade.

I would

like to acknowledge and say thank you to the Goulds Volunteer Fire Department,

as well as all volunteer members over the years. The unselfish giving of their

time to the residents of their communities ensures people they have someone to

rely on in the event of a fire or any type of emergency.

We all

hope we'll never have to avail of the services they provide, but if required,

people of the area are very thankful knowing they would do so without hesitation

and can rest easier knowing they're ready to respond at any time.

The

volunteer fire department will be celebrating their 40th anniversary in October,

and I look forward to being a part of that celebration.

I ask

all Members of the House to join me in congratulating Fire Chief Jay Green and

all members of the Goulds Volunteer Fire Department for their many years of

service.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

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 the Mount Pearl Sports Alliance on a very

successful Annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony and Banquet. At a recent

ceremony, four athletes and builders from Newfoundland and Labrador were

honoured and inducted into the Mount Pearl Sports Hall of Fame.

Mr.

Speaker, this annual event, hosted by the Mount Pearl Sports Alliance, honours

those individuals who have, and in some cases still do, contribute to sports and

athletics in a very significant way. It is through their individual commitment

that we are able to continue the work and operation of sporting organizations in

our communities and in the province.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all Members of the House to join me in congratulating the Mount

Pearl Sports Alliance in honouring the achievements of these individuals. I

would also like to congratulate specifically the most recent inductees. In the

category of builder: Dave LeGrow and Dave Randell; and in the category of

athlete: Jennifer Andrews and Wince Taylor. Each of these individuals is very

worthy of this honour. I would like to wish them all the best in their future

endeavours and hope they continue their contribution to sport and to our

community.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Bonavista.

MR. KING:

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to

acknowledge the female hockey teams of the Bonavista-Trinity Minor Hockey

Association and Discovery Collegiate. Over the past two months these young women

have been excellent representatives of the District of Bonavista, both on and

off the ice.

January 24, the under-12 team won gold at the Adam Pardy Invitational Tournament

which showcased the skills of six teams from around the province. This past

weekend, these same female Cabots won gold in the C division of the provincial

mega tournament. Our under-20 team won gold on March 13 in the B division of

their provincial mega tournament. Finally, the Discovery Collegiate Destroyers

won the student Sports Newfoundland and Labrador Female Varsity Ice Hockey

championship on March 6 beating six competitive teams.

Winning

isn't just about the results on the ice, but also about sportsmanship,

leadership and teamwork which these young women exhibit daily. I would like to

also acknowledge the dedication and sacrifices made by the coaches, volunteers,

parents and guardians who make the lives of these young women much richer.

I ask

all hon. Members to join me in congratulating the teams and wishing them a

bright future which I'm sure they'll have.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

The Commemoration

of the First World War and the Battle of Beaumont-Hamel

MR. SPEAKER:

For Honour 100 today we have

the Member for the District of Cape St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

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: William Cox, Henry Charles Crane, John Charles Crane, Joseph Crane,

Nathaniel Crane, James F. Cranford, Llewellyn C. Cranford, Kenneth Critch,

Francis Thomas Crocker, Harrison Crocker, Job Crocker, Stanley Crocker, James

Matthew Cron, George Graham Crosbie, William Cross, Leo Crotty, James E.

Croucher, Nathaniel Croucher, George Little Cuff, Elijah Culimore, Ersatus

Cumby, Arthur Cummings, John Cunningham, John Thomas Curley, George Robert

Curnew, James Patrick Curran, Archibald Curtis, Frederick Dalton, James Joseph

Daly, Christopher Dawe, Fred Dawe, Henry Charles Dawe, Stewart Dawe, William

Henry Dawe, James Lewis Day, Norman Kenneth Dean, Walter Augustus Dean, Thomas

J. Delaney, Timothy Samuel Delaney, Harold DeLouchrey,

(Moment

of silence.)

MR. SPEAKER:

Please be seated.

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by

Ministers

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise

today in this hon. House to speak about Labrador's premiere sporting event, the

Labrador Winter Games, which took place from March 13 to March 19 in and around

Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

It was

my pleasure to participate in the opening ceremonies and to see the athletes

preparing for their events and representing their respective communities. I was

particularly pleased to see my hon. colleagues and several other leaders from

across Labrador.

The

games brought together athletes, team leaders and excited fans from all over

Labrador. They highlighted Labradorians' love of the outdoors and the

celebration of culture and traditions, while presenting some of the most

spirited competition this province has to offer. I had the opportunity to watch

the table tennis and the snowshoeing matches.

Mr.

Speaker, I am proud that the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador was the

primary sponsor of the Labrador Winter Games and I thank the Board of Directors,

guided by the Chairman Joseph Goudie, the Labrador Winter Games staff and over

375 volunteers for yet another successful Labrador Winter Games.

I also

congratulate all the athletes who participated as well as those who were

successful in winning their events.

Mr.

Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join me in congratulating the community of

Cartwright for winning the overall event and taking home the Labrador Cup, and

indeed all those who participated in what truly was an amazing event.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'd like

to thank the Premier for an advance copy of his statement regarding the Labrador

Winter Games, which people may know is nicknamed the Olympics of the North and

goes back to the present structure to the early 1980s.

Mr.

Speaker, on behalf of the Official Opposition, we, too, want to congratulate the

organizers, the athletes, the sponsoring agencies and particularly the Board of

Directors and Mr. Goudie, who has been a leading force for the last three

decades when it comes to the Labrador Winter Games.

We'd

also like to thank the government for their continued support for these games,

and we note the value they have around outlining cultural diversity, inclusion,

competitiveness and active living.

Mr.

Speaker, I had the honour over my career as a former civil servant of attending

a number of those games in Labrador and was very much impressed, not only with

the athletic ability, but the unique sports these athletes participate in and

how they really reflect the culture of Labrador and the heritage of the people

there.

Mr.

Speaker, on behalf of the Opposition, again, we would like to congratulate all

of the athletes, the organizers and we look forward to the next Labrador Winter

Games.

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 thank

the Premier for the advance copy of his statement. I, too, congratulate everyone

involved. I have been to the games and seen first-hand the amazing spirit of the

athletes, volunteers and participants. The games are an important cultural event

which serves to help keep alive the traditional sports, games and skills of the

people of Labrador.

Congratulations to the town of Cartwright who has set a high standard for those

hosting this event in the years to come.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Service NL.

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this

hon. House today to highlight Service NL's new online driver licence renewal

service, which enables residents to renew their licence from the convenience of

their home or office. In addition to this service enhancement, Service NL has

also extended the validity of driver's licence photos from five years to 10

years for anyone over the age of 19.

Mr.

Speaker, these initiatives are designed to simplify the renewal process, and

reduce the need for people to find the time to visit a Motor Registration

Division office or a Government Service Centre in their area.

I am

proud to say that within the first three days of announcing this new service, we

had more than 400 driver licence renewals processed. We want to build on that

success, and so I invite all hon. Members to encourage their constituents to

take advantage of this simple, convenient service.

Mr.

Speaker, I would also like to thank the dedicated staff within Service NL and

the Office of the Chief Information Officer for their work which made these

initiatives possible. Service NL will continue to deliver efficient and

effective services to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and I look forward to

announcing more service improvements in the near future.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Cape St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank

the minister for the advance copy of his statement. We, too, as the Official

Opposition realize how good this announcement is. It's a great announcement,

actually, anything that makes it more convenient for our residents to be able to

do and make services that we offer in government a little bit more effective. To

have it from five years to 10 years is in alignment with what is happening with

passports, in what the federal government did with passports. It's really more

convenient for all the residents.

Personally I just hope that it will decrease a bit of the wait time that we do

see at Motor Registration. I know we all have experiences going into the

building and having to wait so long. This hopefully will eliminate the periods

of time because I know people wait for hours. Some days you can be in there for

a couple of hours, so this is great.

I just

hope this doesn't result in any reduction of staff at Motor Registration,

because again it will reduce the wait times in there. It's a great service, and

I thank the minister.

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, which has presented

the news of a really good initiative. We look forward to its rollout and seeing

if residents continue to take advantage of the new program.

I'd

caution the minister that he leave in place the traditional ways of making

application for those who either have no Internet access or poor Internet

access, or don't have a home computer or access to a computer, or even the

skills necessary to apply online. Innovation is a wonderful initiative we want

it but not at the expense of leaving a portion of the population behind.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Environment and Conservation.

MR. TRIMPER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am

pleased to rise in this House and join with the governments and organizations

around the world to recognize United Nations World Water Day.

Mr.

Speaker, I remember working on a United Nations project myself in Turkmenistan

in 1992 when we had to add chemicals, boil and filter every single sip of water.

Jurisdictions such as that one face horrific situations because of contaminated

water. It was an important experience for me to realize just how lucky we are in

Canada.

Safe and

abundant drinking water is something that so many people take for granted and

something that so many people around the world do not have available to them. I

ask that as Members reach for a glass of water here in the House, they think

about this important day and about those hundreds of millions of people around

the world that are not so fortunate.

Mr.

Speaker, our government is committed to addressing the challenges we face here

in Newfoundland and Labrador in providing safe and sustainable drinking water

systems, and ensuring high quality drinking water.

The

theme of World Water Day 2016 is water and jobs, and I can't imagine a better

theme, as my department holds its annual Clean and Safe Drinking Water Workshop

in Gander this week for approximately 300 water system operators and other

drinking water professionals. We are also releasing the

Drinking Water Safety in Newfoundland and Labrador annual report for

2015 and announcing spring 2016 training sessions for operators.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask all hon. Members of this House to join me in marking World Water

Day 2016.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want

to thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement. We on this side of

the House, too, wish to join government in recognizing today, March 22, as

United Nations World Water Day.

Mr.

Speaker, having safe and abundant drinking water is a luxury many of us take for

granted. On this day we should be mindful of many parts of the world who

struggle to have access to safe drinking water.

As the

United Nations does their

part in progressing development of access to water

around the world, we too must do our part. So we must be mindful of water

conservation in our daily lives, and water is not an unlimited resource.

Thanks

again.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the minister for an advance copy of his statement. The minister says safe and

abundant drinking water is something so many people take for granted. I'm sure

he does not need reminding of the more than 200 boil-order advisories residents

of this province have to live with. Those people can take nothing for granted.

Every

resident in this province has a right to and should be able to get fresh, clean,

safe drinking water from their taps. After all, it is Newfoundland and Labrador,

and it is 2016. This must be a goal we reach as soon as possible.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Shortly

after taking office, the new Liberal government cancelled the collection of

pension overpayments, and even went as far to say pensioners would be reimbursed

for payments they had already made on the overpayments. At the same time, a

37-year-old single parent who had received overpayments of income support was

being forced to pay it back in full. This low-income single parent even appealed

to her new MHA, a Liberal MHA for Harbour Grace Port de Grave, for help. The

only result she got was notification from CRA that her file had been forwarded

to CRA for collection.

I ask

the minister to explain: Why is she going against her own policy on overpayments

and forcing this low-income, vulnerable, single parent to pay?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well,

the question about the seniors' overpayments, as we know, this was an ongoing

overpayment that was made by the previous administration, and really years prior

to that, I would say.

In this

particular case, what happened, the overpayments were made. The people had made

lifestyle decisions on how this money would be spent, because what they thought

was this was a part of their pension plan. So what happened there was very

little money collected from the seniors. As a matter of fact, we've been reached

out to by a number of people. As a matter of fact, one lady herself would have

been about 102 years old prior to the overpayments being paid back. So the

decision was made by this government to actually stop the collection of those

overpayments there was very little collected and that was the reason why

that decision was made.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Mr. Speaker, my question was

about the 37-year-old single parent who's being forced to repay an overpayment

on income support.

Mr.

Speaker, we understand that the Liberals one-time and one-off decision not to

collect pension overpayments certainly benefited those pensioners who were

selected not to have to repay those overpayments. However, Mr. Speaker, I'll

give you another example: a 73-year-old resident of Conception Bay South, who is

also a public service pensioner and who is also a recipient of pension

overpayments from government, but he wasn't part of this particular group. It's

a very similar circumstance. He's not part of the group, but circumstances are

the same, except he's being forced to pay back those overpayments.

So I ask

the minister: Why the double standard?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I'd look forward

to the hon. Member giving me the information on his constituent so that I can

help him navigate through what I'm sure is a difficult situation for his

constituent, and as an MHA I would expect him to provide that information to my

office.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Will the

minister do the same for the 37-year-old single parent?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I'm happy to

look at any issues through the Department of Finance that any Members in this

this House, both in Opposition and on the government side, have for us to take a

look at. Certainly, we'll take it under advisement once we have the full

details.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As we

receive more inquiries, I'll be glad to forward them to the minister; however,

this 37-year old, as I mentioned earlier, had already asked for assistance and

was turned down by government.

Mr.

Speaker, the Liberal government's decision to forgive pension overpayments is

leaving the pension plan with an approximately $1 million deficit. Government

has the responsibility to top-up the plan created by the pension overpayments.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask the Premier: Has government made up the shortfall, and how much

exactly are taxpayers on the hook for as a result of your decision?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly this government realizes that the pension liability will have to be

picked up by government. I guess when I think about the question coming from the

former premier and now Leader of the Opposition for his current party, I'm just

a little bit surprised that question would even make it to the floor of the

House of Assembly because they just did pension reform. He, of all people,

should know that any liabilities within those pension funds would have to be

picked up by the current government.

In fact,

I would say that if the former administration had done their due diligence and

had done their job that the pension funds in this province would not be in the

considerable mess that they are in right now.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Leader of the

Opposition.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

These

questions are very serious to the people who have contacted us and asked us to

raise these concerns on their behalf. I understand the position of the

government opposite. They continue to play the blame game, blame the former

government blame the former government. It wasn't us who decided that a

certain group didn't have to make payment returns.

We have

a 37-year-old single parent whose family is very vulnerable. She feels she's

paying a price because she has to recoup and repay an overpayment. We have a

pensioner who wasn't part of that group who has to pay back.

Maybe

the Premier can explain: What is your policy today on pension overpayments?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I can remind the

people of the province what the former administration's policy was. They became

aware of the pension overpayments in May 2014, and they did nothing to stop the

bleed from the pension plan for several months.

Mr.

Speaker, the Member opposite likes to link one situation to another. He wants to

use individual situations, which are very important. I can imagine how difficult

it is for that 37-year-old mom. I would look forward to the Member opposite

sharing that information with me so that we can do what we need to do.

I would

remind people at home and people in this House that it was the former

administration that knew about these pension overpayments. It is their lack of

management and their lack of insight that got the pension plan into the

situation it is today.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Last

week when questioned in this House about the sale of government assets, the

Premier stated there would be a full analysis of assets prior to any sales. Yet

in November, the Liberals stated they would achieve $50 million in revenues by

the end of this year.

I ask

the Premier: Has this analysis or appraisal already been done?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, we are

undergoing quite a comprehensive review of government real estate assets. My

understanding, from documents that I have, is that we have assets in the

vicinity of some 800 buildings that the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador

owns throughout the province.

It is

our position, as we indicated, that our budget process will include considering

our investments, particularly looking for any revenue opportunities, cash

opportunities, of redeploying some of that capital that is currently tied up in

real estate. We'll look forward to continuing to present those plans to the

people of the province and this House of Assembly. After we gather the facts and

we make the plan, we'll certainly share it with this House.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The Member for Conception Bay

South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Based on

your evidence-based analysis, do you still plan on meeting your $50 million

target this year as promised in your red book? As we know, it's 100 days already

into this year, so is the plan still for $50 million for this year?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Our plan

is to do what's in the best interest of the people of the province and we will

make sure that the plan that we have not only takes advantage of getting every

single cash dollar we can out of any defunct or unused or underutilized real

estate, but will also provide an opportunity for us to do that very quickly and

very expeditiously so we can continue to close the gap on the deficit that was

left by the former administration.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

question this time is for the Minister of Transportation and Works; I asked the

question the other day, but the Premier took them. So I'll ask him.

When

will your administration give the people of the province details of what assets

will be sold and when? As we know, most assets within government stand within

TW.

Thank

you.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, when we do the

analysis of the 800 buildings we own, when we put a plan in place to make sure

that we are able to capture the best value for the people of the province, when

we're able to make those decisions, we will present that plan to the people of

the province and to this House. We will not be bullied into making short-term,

knee-jerk decisions, like the former administration made, and make mistakes.

We will

analyze, we will make a plan, we will implement a plan and we will make sure the

interests of the people of the province are at the forefront of our decisions.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay South.

MR. PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr.

Speaker, my question this time, I ask the Minister of Natural Resources: Is your

administration considering selling some assets of Hydro as part of your revenue

plan?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I remind the

Members opposite that the assets that we currently have in our real estate

portfolio will be looked at through the entire business plan we are creating to

make sure that we extract the value from those for the people of the province.

Our

province right now has a deficit forecasted for '16, based on the former

administration's budget and the results that they have in excess this year of $2

billion. We have to look at all options, but we have to look at them through the

lens of good management, good planning, good programs and good execution to make

sure that we extract the best value for the people of the province. I can assure

you we intend to take our time but make the decisions in the right way for the

people of the province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cape

St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, 2,300 people

were affected by the closure of Wabush Mines by Cliffs Natural Resources: 1,200

lost their jobs when the mine closed; another 1,100 are retirees. We know the

Premier and officials met with the retirees in February, but since then we

haven't heard of any action.

I ask

the minister: What has been done for the 2,300 people affected by the closure,

who have their pensions reduced to 75-80 per cent?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal Affairs.

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, this is a very

serious issue for the people in Wabush and the Labrador area. We were aware of

the pension deficit, and I know the previous government were. To their credit,

they went in and forced the department to put in so much money for it, but then

they went into receivership.

Since

then, myself, personally, with the Member for Labrador West, flew to Labrador

with the superintendent of pensions. We met with all the pensioners. We outlined

all the details of it.

Mr.

Speaker, we are actively looking at now if there's an operator for the mine.

It's a very serious issue. All of this government is committed to help in any

way possible. I know the Minister of Finance visited the area and met with the

workers. I know the Premier went up himself.

This

government is engaged. We're trying to help out the workers. It is a sad time

for the people in Lab West and Wabush. We are working diligently with the

stakeholders, with the town councils, to help the best we can.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cape

St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Mr. Speaker, we agree. It's a

very serious issue. It would be great if a new owner can come in there and take

over, but that doesn't help the pensioners right now.

We have

had former employees and retirees contact our government and ask questions. We

know the Liberal government boasts of a close relationship with the federal

government.

I ask

the minister: Have you asked the federal government to intervene and take any

action in protecting these former employees?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal Affairs.

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, indeed, it is a

serious issue. Any time anybody gets their income decreased by that amount, it

is a serious issue.

As we

know, this went into court protection. This is out of the hands of federal and

provincial legislatures now. There is a move afoot to strengthen the federal

legislation so it won't happen again. Yvonne Jones has been in contact and had

meetings up in Wabush on many occasions.

We are

engaged with our federal counterparts. We are actively looking for someone to

take over the mine. We understand that would be the best option. There are no

guarantees that will happen, but we are actively seeking a new owner for the

mine. Until then, we are working just up until last week, the Member for Lab

West and the superintendent of pensions went up and answered any questions that

members did have. We are actively engaged. We will seek solutions for this area.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cape

St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again,

we realize how important this issue is and how important it is to the people in

Wabush and people right across the province actually, Mr. Speaker. There are

retirees in my district. There are retirees in every district right across the

province.

Mr.

Speaker, I ask the minister: What action is he taking to assist former workers

with their health care benefits?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Municipal Affairs.

MR. JOYCE:

Mr. Speaker, that was raised

during the first public meeting when I went up there in December, actually. What

was raised at the time, there was a pension plan in Ontario where the government

put in $3 million. What we said at the time was there are enhanced health care

benefits for a lot of employees. Some are above the threshold that they would

receive benefits from. What we said we would do is the Member for Lab West would

deal with any individual.

Right

now, the enhanced health care plan that is in place is what we informed and

gave out all of the enhanced health care benefits for the area. Did we put $3

million in the plan? No, we did not. Once you get into that, Mr. Speaker, then

there are other benefits that other employees so we are working diligently

with the union, with the town councils up there and also with all the workers

themselves on their health care benefits.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

MS. PERRY:

Mr. Speaker, in 2014 our

administration announced a $68 million federal-provincial investment in

affordable housing to assist 10,000 low-income households, many of whom are

seniors. These programs provide safety and security to the vulnerable people of

our province. These people are very worried, Mr. Speaker, when they hear that

everything is under review.

I ask

the Minister Responsible for Housing: Will these people see an increase in their

rent?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Child, Youth and Family Services.

MS. GAMBIN-WALSH:

Mr. Speaker, the financial

component is under review with the budget, as the Minister of Finance has said

numerous times in this House.

By 2019,

we will have 600 units in this province that will help to house seniors. So we

are very aware of the needs of seniors around housing and we are working on it.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

MS. PERRY:

Seniors have a right to live

in a safe environment that is accessible. The website indicates that funding for

I ask

the minister: Will her government be continuing with this program in 2016?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Child, Youth and Family Services.

MS. GAMBIN-WALSH:

Mr. Speaker, the Home Repair

Program and the Home Modification Program presently help address the issues of

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.

MS. PERRY:

Mr. Speaker, my question was

Mr.

Speaker, through the previous government's widely acclaimed Poverty Reduction

Strategy, we have increased funding to strengthen Family Resource Centres

throughout the province, which are widely utilized and extremely important.

I ask

the Minister of Seniors, Wellness and Social Development: Will these centres see

a cut in the upcoming budget?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Child, Youth and Family Services.

MS. GAMBIN-WALSH:

Family Resource Centres are

like everything else: they're under review for the budget process.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl North.

MR. KENT:

Mr. Speaker, Family Resource

Centres are under review. That's rather concerning to hear.

Mr.

Speaker, in the Open Government Draft

Action Plan , we committed to a sunshine list. We know that the Office of

Public Engagement is now working on the 15-month consultation tour and

unfortunately little else.

Will the

government commit to establishing the sunshine list as an early action item to

demonstrate some commitment to Open Government?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

I thank the hon. Member for

his question. As he's well aware, the Open Government Initiative has 43 points

under it, 43 recommendations. This government is reviewing all 43, as well as

the information that we gathered through the public consultation sessions around

that.

He asked

specifically about one particular initiative under that Open Government

Initiative and we are considering that, but we have to look at a lens of cost

and impact as well as human resources. Unlike the former minister, who was in

that department for many years, we'll be very expeditious in getting to the Open

Government Initiative.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl North.

MR. KENT:

Mr. Speaker, the Open

Government Action Plan is finalized and the new government is refusing to act on

it. When it comes to sunshine lists, there's little cost involved and there's

little human resources involved.

Access

to information requests filed by local media has proven that the data that would

be on a sunshine list is quickly available. It's one of the items in the Open

Government Action Plan that should have been done by the end of this month.

Given

that this is low-hanging fruit and easy to act on, and rather than having the

media or the public build the list through ATIPP requests, why won't government

simply publish an official list?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Speaker.

The hon.

Member had 12 years, I believe, in government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. COADY:

He could have acted on that

list if he felt it was so imminently available. As he indicated, the media has,

through the access to information, gathered a lot of the information. I think

they're making use of that information, Mr. Speaker, as we continue to assess

how we can implement the Open Government Initiative, how quickly we can do it.

Certainly, we've been preoccupied with cleaning up the financial mess left

behind by the former government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl North.

MR. KENT:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I remind

the minister that we did launch the Open Government Initiative and finalized the

Open Government Action Plan which they now won't act on.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

Mr. Speaker, from the

Fortunate Ones to Hey Rosetta!, from Jillian Keiley to Michael Crummey, we could

give dozens of examples of how the arts professions in our province are

generating economic success, attention abroad and economic activity.

Iceland

dedicates 5 per cent of its budget to arts and culture. While arts investment

has increased considerably over the past decade, will the minister responsible

for culture fight to see a similar percentage of the 2016 budget dedicated to

arts and culture, recognizing the potential for economic growth?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the parliamentary

assistant to the Minister of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.

MR. HOLLOWAY:

I thank the Member opposite

for the question.

inaugural moment in this House, Mr. Speaker, a parliamentary secretary to stand

and speak in answer to a question in this House, so I'm proud and pleased to be

able to do that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. HOLLOWAY:

In responding to the Member's

question in terms of artists in this province, certainly Minister Mitchelmore,

as mandated by the Premier, has been tasked to introduce

an act in protection of

the artists of this province and we will continue to do that. We will engage

stakeholders and we'll draft that legislation, which we'll bring forward later.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for the

District of Mount Pearl North.

MR. KENT:

What I'm about to say might

surprise you, Mr. Speaker, but I want to commend the Premier for engaging

parliamentary secretaries and having them answer questions in this House.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. KENT:

I just hope some of his

ministers will start to answer questions in this House as well.

Congratulations to my colleague.

Mr.

Speaker, in 2006 we launched a strategic cultural plan to invest in our artists.

That strategy has had a positive impact over the past decade.

Will

this government produce a brand-new strategic cultural plan to capitalize on

opportunities to invest in our artists and the economic activity they generate?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. parliamentary

secretary to the Minister of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.

MR. HOLLOWAY:

I appreciate, Mr. Speaker,

having a second opportunity to stand in this House today.

As I

said in my last response, one of the things we're doing as we move forward is to

engage the sector to find out what are the challenges and the issues that need

to be brought forward in terms of drafting legislation in the protection of

artists in this Province. We will do that over the next number of months and we

will bring that forward in this House.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

Liberal government promised increased administrative supports to enhance

inclusive learning in the classrooms. Given the possibility of a 30 per cent cut

that the department is facing, can students with exceptionalities still expect

enhancements in the budget or will this be a sacrifice they must shoulder?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This is

a very important question the Member asked. We know that under the previous

administration there was an inclusion policy that was foisted upon the school

system in Newfoundland and Labrador that was not suitably resourced from the

beginning or in the end by the previous administration. This is a priority for

us, and that's why we're very happy to let people know, as I mentioned the other

day, that under the Premier's Task Force on Improving Educational Outcomes the

details of which will be announced later this year inclusion will be one of

the areas we will put under the microscope to make sure it's properly resourced.

At the

end of collective bargaining with the NLTA, the last round, there was an

agreement made to have a joint committee on inclusion with the NLTA, the school

district and government. That committee will be reporting at the end of this

month.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for

Conception Bay East Bell Island.

MR. BRAZIL:

Mr. Speaker, I ask the

minister: Will your government commit to moving forward with the K-12 Multi-Year

Infrastructure Strategy announced in Budget 2015? If not, what does this mean

for schools such as Coley's Point and Gander?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There

are a variety of things the Member just mentioned in the infrastructure

strategy. Our infrastructure strategy is going to be very different from the

previous administration's infrastructure strategy.

The

previous administration's infrastructure strategy involved ignoring population

growth on the Northeast Avalon in communities, like in the City of Mount Pearl

where there was growth in the area of Southlands that fed into Mount Pearl

schools; ignored growth in Paradise allowed schools to become overcrowded there;

allowed Beachy Cove Elementary in Portugal Cove-St. Philip's to become

overcrowded where children now have to go to school in very, very overcrowded

conditions; allowed the same situation to exist in Torbay.

We're

not going to do that. We're going to provide sufficient infrastructure so that

children can go to school and get a proper education without the overcrowded

conditions that the previous administration thought was appropriate.

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

mandate letter, the Premier urged the Minister of Education and Early Childhood

Development to engage constituents and the general public, yet the minister is

parents, students and school councils in the recent proposals to close schools

in Conche, Whitbourne and Holy Cross Junior High here in St. John's.

I ask

the Premier: Does he not believe his minister is responsible for ensuring that

the school board operates under the same principles as he?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm

pleased that this question is coming up again for, I believe, the third week in

a row now here in the House of Assembly.

The

government is not allowing the school district to do anything other than what is

laid out in the Schools Act, 1997 . The

school districts, under the legislation, have the authority, legally, to

administrate primary education, elementary education and secondary education.

That's the law in Newfoundland and Labrador.

I think

that people are tired of the previous administration made a hobby of meddling

in the affairs of autonomous organizations, boards, committees and agencies that

are external to government. We're not going to do that. We're going to allow the

school district to do what is laid out in the S chools Act : their job, legally, in this province, which is to make

decisions regarding the resources that are provided to them.

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 ask

the Premier to remind the minister of his responsibilities because he was tasked

in the mandate letter to improve educational outcomes.

I ask

the Premier: Why are you allowing your minister to hide behind an unelected

school board and shirk his duty to ensure a safe and optimal educational

environment for the children who are being affected?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER BALL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank

the Member for her question. I will allow my ministers to do their jobs. It's

the appropriate thing to do. That's the reason why we call this a team on this

side of the House.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

PREMIER BALL:

I think the minister has

clearly outlined and answered the question from the Member opposite. It's

important for us to make sure we do the due diligence that's required and allow

people that are in positons to make those decisions to actually do their job. As

I will with the Members that we have on this side of the House.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Mr. Speaker, the Premier's

mandate letter to the Minister of Education instructed the minister to pay

special attention to improving educational outcomes.

I ask

the Premier: How will closing Holy Cross Junior High that has a student

population with 38 per cent exceptionalities and moving them to another junior

high school that also has a high exceptionality rate improve educational

outcomes?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education and Early Childhood Development.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, as I've said a

number of times, just a minute ago and in previous sessions of the House, the

school districts in Newfoundland and Labrador have a responsibility under the

legislation, under the Schools Act ,

have statutory responsibility for the administration of schools.

In this

instance, which is something that happens every year, annually, in Newfoundland

and Labrador, the district is doing its job in reviewing schools. They are doing

that. It's not something extraordinary. They are making decisions based on the

finite resources given to them by the taxpayers of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Now, the

Member's colleague told CBC recently that no decision should be made with

respect to money. I think the taxpayers of the province want the school district

and the government to be good stewards of the few dollars they have. That's what

the district is trying to do. If the Member has any questions for the district,

ask the district.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The

minister also has a duty to make sure we have a duly elected school board of

trustees.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. ROGERS:

The school board of trustees

has not had an election since 2009, and their role is to be accountable to the

people of the community from which they are elected. That is not what we have

right now. The minister knows that, Mr. Speaker.

I ask

the Premier: Will he instruct his Education Minister to do the right thing, stop

hiding behind unelected, appointed school board trustees and stop this school's

closure until he has a duly elected board of school trustees in place?

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Education.

MR. KIRBY:

Mr. Speaker, what government

is doing is allowing the school district to do the job that is laid out in the

Schools Act . That job is to

administrate schools in Newfoundland and Labrador with the few dollars we have

left over after the spending spree the previous administration was on for some

13 years.

I raised

this question about school trustees when we were in Opposition. During the

election campaign last fall, we made a commitment to have school district

trustee elections within 12 months. I've met with the CEOs and chairs of both

Labrador Federation of School Councils. I sat down with the Chief Electoral

Officer to talk about the process for doing that. We're now in the process of

drafting legislation for a legislative change to harmonize the process for

months.

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.

Tabling of

Documents

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources.

MS. COADY:

Mr. Speaker, in accordance

with the Energy Corporation Act and

the Hydro Corporation Act , I am

tabling the 2015 business and financial report for Nalcor Energy, as well as the

2015 consolidated financial statements of Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further tabling of documents?

Notices

of Motion.

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Natural Resources, on tabling of documents.

MS. COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yesterday in my discourse on Bill 1, I referenced a document called

Meeting the Expectations of Canadians: Review of the Governance

Framework for Canada's Crown Corporations . I'd like to table that document,

as I indicated at the time.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further tabling of documents?

Notices

of Motion.

Answers

to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Cape

St. Francis.

MR. K. PARSONS:

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 federal government promised to provide $280 million for CETA innovation fund

to build our province's fishery into the future;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House

of Assembly to urge the government to be vigilant and vocal in demanding that

the federal government live up to its commitment of $280 million for the

fisheries innovation fund.

Mr.

Speaker, we realize today is the federal government's budget day. We, on this

side of the House, are hoping that this will be part of their budget today that

they will announce that $280 million that will help our fishery in Newfoundland

and Labrador.

We all

realize the importance of the fishery to this province. Right now we can see in

the province that the shell fishery, our shrimp and our crab, are on a little

bit of a decline and our groundfish is coming back. Mr. Speaker, this fund is

set up so that it can help our industry, help our harvesters, help people out

there get into the new of type fishery like we had to do when the ground fishery

went down.

It's

very important that the federal government live up to its commitment of the $280

million. We put pressure on them to make it so that rural Newfoundland can

survive because that's the gist of all of this, is making sure that our fishery

survives.

Mr.

Speaker, I urge the government to work with their counterparts in Ottawa and

make sure we get this fund.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

Further petitions?

The hon.

the Member for the District of 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 humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS

the federal government should be reducing, not increasing, Marine Atlantic ferry

rates to drive tourism growth and stimulate the economy of Newfoundland and

Labrador;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House

of Assembly to urge government to press the province's federal Members of

Parliament and the federal government to reduce Marine Atlantic ferry rates.

And as

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

This is

the second time I've presented that petition because there are a couple of

things that brings it up. I know when we were in government and I was part of

that government I wasn't an elected official, but I was in the department

actually where Marine Atlantic resided.

The

governing party now gave us a lot of grief any time anything happened with

Marine Atlantic especially rate increases and whatnot, and fair game. We have

Members over there that have made a career out of bashing Marine Atlantic every

opportunity they got, anything they've done.

On this

issue, I just have to say their silence is deafening. There's not been a murmur;

there's not been a word of any sort. You're raising rates for tourism. I mean,

it's our lifeline; it's our grocery store shelves. I'm surprised that there's no

one up over there who actually took it upon themselves to ask their federal

cousins why these rates are increased and why not reduce them.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for Mount

Pearl North.

MR. KENT:

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

firefighters, both career and volunteer, are exposed to many hazards in their

line of duty; and

WHEREAS

firefighters, both career and volunteer, risk their lives and well-being to

serve our communities;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House

of Assembly to urge government to bring forward workers' compensation

legislation containing a presumptive cancer and cardiac clause for firefighters,

both career and volunteer.

Mr.

Speaker, this issue has been talked about for many years. I recall debating this

issue during my time in local government. As part of the past administration,

there was quite a bit of dialogue about this issue as well. During the recent

election campaign, our party committed to enacting the legislation that I'm

speaking about here today had we been elected and successful in forming

government.

We have

to acknowledge that our fire and emergency services professions their health

is impacted, no doubt, by the work they do. There was a report in 2013 by the

Statutory Review Committee on Workplace Health, Safety and Compensation. It

recommended that our province should enact legislation containing a presumptive

cancer clause for firefighters. Most provinces already have it, Mr. Speaker.

full-time career firefighter who serves for a specified period of time and

develops a specific form of cancer is presumed to have developed that cancer as

a result of having served as a firefighter. Many provinces also have a

presumptive clause with respect to a heart injury that a full-time firefighter

suffers within 24 hours of attending a fire scene in the performance of his or

her duties. The firefighter is presumed to have suffered a work-related injury.

This

recognition impacts the firefighter's ability to receive compensation. Enacting

such legislation is the right thing to do. We were committed to doing it and

we're calling upon the new government to do the same.

Thank

you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Member for St.

John's Centre.

MS. ROGERS:

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 humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS

School and send students to a distant school; and

WHEREAS

the board has arbitrarily and without consultation reduced the Holy Cross Junior

High School catchment area and students will have to be bused to a far more

distant school; and

WHEREAS

Holy Cross Junior High School is an important neighbourhood school with

programs, community partnerships and extracurricular activities designed to meet

the particular needs of the intercity students who attend it; and

WHEREAS

accountable to the people who elected them;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House

of Assembly to urge government to ensure that Holy Cross Junior High School

School Board.

And as

in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr.

Speaker, I believe what's been happening during Question Period in this House is

the Minister of Education is really splitting hairs. He knows the moral

implications of what we have here now in the form of a board of trustees. He

knows there hasn't been elected trustees since 2009.

As a

matter of fact, he railed and ranted and roared in this House of Assembly

against that very fact. Now, Mr. Speaker, he's turning around on his own words.

I don't know how he can sleep at night. He knows what the right thing is to do

here. He ranted, he roared, he rallied here in this House saying how wrong this

was. How wrong it was to not have an elected school board of trustees to make

these kinds of decisions; yet, now he's hiding behind that.

Why is

he hiding behind that, Mr. Speaker? Because he knows the closure of Holy Cross

Junior High is not in the best interest of the students. He knows that with

every fibre of his being. He also knows with every fibre of his being that to

allow this unelected, appointed school board is wrong. He knows that. He has

told us that himself; yet, he continues he will hide behind the trustees to

hide behind it. Let them make their vote which is secret and they are no longer

accountable to the people of their communities.

That is

what this minister is doing. He's not taking the leadership role that he knows

he must do, that he should do, morally. He knows that, Mr. Speaker. He's

deciding to just hide and relegate his responsibility to someone else. I find it

absolutely reprehensible.

Right

now, what's going to happen is the children and the families of Holy Cross

Junior High will be punished for the sins of the Tories by the Liberals. They

know this is not the right decision.

Thank

you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER:

Further petitions?

Orders

of the Day.

Orders of the Day

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Government House

Leader.

MR. A. PARSONS:

Yes, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to

call from the Order Paper, Motion 1, Bill 9.

MR. SPEAKER:

The hon. the Minister of

Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded

by the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development, that the House

resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole on Ways and Means to consider

certain resolutions and a bill relating to the raising of loans by the province.

MR. SPEAKER:

The motion is that the

Speaker now leave the Chair to allow the House to resolve itself into a

Committee of the Whole to Consider a Resolution Relating to the Raising of Loans

by the Province, Bill 9.

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 (Lane):

Order, please!

We are

now debating the resolution and Bill 9.

Resolution

That it

is expedient to bring in a measure to authorize the raising from time to time by

way of loan on the credit of the province, in addition to the sum of money

already voted, a sum of money not exceeding $400,000,000.

CHAIR:

Shall the resolution carry?

The hon.

the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm

pleased to rise in this hon. House today and speak to Bill 9, which is an

amendment to the Loan Act, 2015.

This

government recognizes that we have increased borrowing requirements for this

fiscal year. As well, we know we will have significant borrowing needs in the

next fiscal year. We currently have the authority to borrow $2 billion and we

know now, based on updated information that we presented to the people of the

province back in December, that we will need the authority to borrow $2.4

billion.

In order

to continue to be active in the bond markets, the province requires a $400

million increase to the borrowing limit that was set out as a result of the

Loan Act, 2015 . That is why we have

introduced Bill 9, to amend the Loan Act,

The $400

million additional authority stays in place and will be supplemented by a

request for additional authority. The government has had success in the

long-term market, in spite of the challenges that have been facing this province

and many other provinces as well in the long-term bond market.

We are

having success now in the market because of the information that we have shared

with our investors through the fall update and the recent information that we've

shared with the bond rating agencies as well as our banks. Up until we issued

the mid-year update in December of 2015, there was a real void of information

and investors did not want to invest in Newfoundland and Labrador. Quite

frankly, we are changing that.

Under

the previous administration, borrowing was slow in April to December with only

$400 million being able to be secured. Since January of this year, this

government has been able to secure five market issues totalling $1.985 billion.

It is

clear that this government's commitment to action to deal with the fiscal

situation is allowing Newfoundland and Labrador to secure long-term borrowing in

the market domestically. As I mentioned, under the previous administration's

watch from April 2015 to December of 2015, they only managed to get one

successful market issue.

The

previous administration may not have anticipated the sharp decline in the price

of oil, but they should have been well aware of the rest of the factors

impacting borrowing, especially since they were the ones that delayed the

mid-year update, causing more uncertainty in the market.

They

themselves had said in their budget document of last year that they anticipated

borrowing to be $4.85 billion. The previous administration should have known

that the borrowing would be an issue in the domestic market. The signs were

there, but they chose not to act, not to have a plan and not to have an investor

relations strategy and they projected deficits for three years. The previous

administration had no plan in place as to how it would successfully borrow the

required $4.85 billion over four years and didn't develop an investor relations

strategy.

Our

government is looking to the future and are evolving our investor relations

strategy. As I have indicated, we know we will have to borrow in '16-'17. In

order to continue to avail of market opportunities, we need to begin to

establish our borrowing authority for next year. That is why in addition to

amendments to the Loan Act, 2015 which

we are debating right now, we have also introduced Bill 10, the

Loan Act, 2016 which I look forward to

debating in this House in the coming weeks.

The

Loan Act, 2016 will give us the

authority to borrow $1.6 billion to begin our borrowing program for 2016-17. Our

total borrowing requirements for 2016-17 will be confirmed by budget 2016. Our

government is working very hard to continue to have good relationships with the

rating agencies and our investors in the face of a tremendously difficult fiscal

situation. We intend to present them and the people of the province with a

credible plan forward. Part of that plan is how we approach our borrowing needs.

The province borrows money for a number of different reasons.

Yesterday, in Question Period, Members opposite asked questions about the

Financial Administration Act and also

asked a question about special warrants. In the context of borrowing, special

warrants are not relevant. Special warrants are actually for expenditures that

come outside of the budget envelope. Unfortunately there was confusion

yesterday. Hopefully, we've been able to clear that up over the last 24 hours.

The

Financial Administration Act , which is

separate from the Loan Act , allows for

borrowing activities to support activity related to long-term debt renewal,

pensions and sinking funds. I would remind the people in this House as well as

the people at home that at the beginning of this fiscal year, the remainder or

the total of the borrowing debt that was on the books for the Government of

Newfoundland and Labrador is $5.5 billion. Part of the plan now is how we will

be approaching our borrowing needs.

The

unprecedented fiscal situation, left to us by the former administration, demands

we have a loan bill in place as early as possible in 2016-17. We cannot miss an

opportunity to borrow funds in the first quarter of 2016-17.

The

Financial Administration Act also

allows for temporary borrowing to provide cash management flexibility. That

specifically relates to T-bills. Historically, the authority there has been $1.5

billion and the cash management program normally has been held at a cap of about

$780 million.

The

former administration, just before the election, increased the temporary

borrowing and T-bills by a billion dollars, and on January 16 we had to do the

same and increased it to a total of $3.5 billion. The reason for that was that

the province was unable to borrow long-term money and was using short-term

T-bills to be able to cover the lack of long-term debt being in place.

As I

said earlier, this all leads into the reason why in addition to amendments to

the Loan Act, 2015 , which we're

debating right now, we've also introduced Bill 10, the

Loan Act, 2016 , which I really look forward to debating in this

House. The Loan Act, 2016 will give us

the authority to borrow $1.6 billion to begin our borrowing program for the

2016-17 fiscal year, and our total borrowing requirements for '16-'17 will be

confirmed as part of budget 2016.

The

unprecedented fiscal situation left to us by the former administration demands

we have this loan bill in place as early as possible because, as I said earlier,

we cannot miss the opportunity to borrow long-term money.

Earlier

I mentioned the $3.5 billion that is in place for temporary borrowing.

Currently, $1.6 billion of that is related to the lack of long-term borrowing

that was in effect when we came into office. We intend, as is the normal

practice, to table all the information around temporary borrowing in this House

at the end of the fiscal year and certainly within the compliance of the 15 days

that is required, specifically related to temporary borrowings under the

Financial Administration Act .

But I

want to be clear that the Financial

Administration Ac t covers certain borrowings and the loan acts cover

different borrowings. The loan acts cover the borrowings related to new or

incremental borrowing that the province must take on. Any administration who

believes that they are going to run a deficit needs to come into this House of

Assembly and present a loan act that allows them the borrowing authority to be

able to meet their financial commitments in their budget.

This

success this government has seen in the long-term market in the last couple of

months, quite frankly, is a testament to the fact that the Premier has been

having many conversations over the last month, as I have, over the last several

months, with our financial advisors. I personally have spoken with our

bond-rating agencies and the major banks, and will continue to do so as we need

to ensure very transparent relationships with those organizations in conjunction

with the people of the province.

We are

certainly giving them the confidence that we are doing all the due diligence and

all the evidence-based analysis we need to present a plan as part of budget 2016

that is going to be very credible. And we believe the markets are reacting.

Quite frankly, I believe the success we are seeing in the long-term markets, as

I've said earlier, is a part and parcel result of the conversations we are

having with our investors. And it's also because of the void of information that

was in the market prior to the election.

There

was no major fiscal update. The bond-rating agencies in the market had no

measure of how the province was performing financially. And as I've said

previously, that is something we continue to work on and are continuing to

change.

Mr.

Chair, I will take my seat and I look forward now to continuing to discuss this

government's financial plan on how we will reshape Newfoundland and Labrador's

fiscal future.

Thank

you, Mr. Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The Chair recognizes the hon.

the Opposition Leader.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank

you very much for a chance to get up in Committee to discuss Bill 9,

An Act to

Amend the Loan Act, 2015, which is last year's. There are two bills before the

House today not today, but there are two bills in the House. Bill 9 has been

tabled, notice has been given on Bill 10, but we haven't seen that. It hasn't

been tabled yet. Bill 9 was tabled yesterday.

Bill 9

is to amend the Loan Act, 2015 . The

Loan Act is a normal process for

governments to seek borrowing, to seek loans, and is usually done following a

budget process. The Loan Act, 2015 did

follow the budget of 2015; however, the government of the day is seeking to

amend that act to increase the borrowing by $400 million. That's what this bill

is about today. It's about amending the budget from last year to increase

borrowing from $2 billion to $2.4 billion.

Mr.

Chair, those will be my comments today. I know I get to speak this afternoon for

15 minutes; I've already used up a minute and I get to speak now for 15 minutes.

For those people who are not aware what happens in Committee and what happens

with these bills, it's that once I use my 15 minutes, following that, Members

can rise alternatively, one after another, for 10 minutes and continue to debate

the bill. So in all likelihood if I don't get all of my points made in the 13

minutes I have left, then I will get to them later this afternoon. I'm sure I'll

be using my time to get to them.

The

first thing I'd like to do is thank officials for the briefing this morning. We

had requested for a briefing; I thank the minister for arranging that. We came

early this morning and we had a briefing from officials. Mr. Chair, to be honest

with you and to be quite

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

MR. P. DAVIS:

My first notice of our

briefing this morning was quite refreshing actually because I believe we had a

good exchange and we had a number of people that attended the briefing with

officials. We received answers, direct answers to several questions and

discussion that we had. It was informative for us. It helped enlighten us as to

their thinking, their rationale, the process they're following, why they were

where they were and so on. I thank the officials for providing that, Mr. Chair,

because it is in contrast to what we've been receiving here in the House of

Assembly.

The

minister yesterday during Question Period said: Oh, 16 times the Member opposite

referring to me has asked the same question. She said: I don't know how many

more times I can tell him. We'll tell him in the budget is essentially what

happened. Well, Mr. Chair, the reason why we continue to ask it is because the

Minister of Finance had offered the information. She had offered the

information. That information is relative to this bill because it's about

spending.

Now

they're asking to borrow more for 2015, $400 million worth of additional

borrowing, and I think it's very relevant for us as an Opposition to stand in

the House and stand in our place during Question Period and ask the government

how that spending has occurred. How that particular discussion about savings

came about was in Question Period early in this sitting of the House, probably

about three weeks ago, I had asked the minister if she could outline savings she

has created because, when they did their fiscal update in December, she

referenced that they were going to stop discretionary spending and reduce travel

and do a bunch of other things.

I asked

her what savings have been created and she jumped out of her chair and very

proudly said: Oh, we've saved, I'm so proud to say, $100 million. And the

gallery opposite over on government side erupted in applause, Mr. Chair, and

saying wonderful, what a great job they've done, they've saved. The minister

said, in fairness to her, in the vicinity of $100 million. As I said, they

erupted in applause and pleasure that they had saved $100 million.

So of

course the next question would be: Can you break down that $100 million for us?

The minister once again said: I'd be delighted to give you the details on the

$100 million. I'd be delighted to provide it I'm just looking for a copy of it

here; I don't think I have it with me. She said I'd be delighted, and a day or

two later she tabled a document that had three numbers, Mr. Chair three

numbers. One of them indicated it had three different titles on them, but they

were very high-level numbers.

I asked

the minister, you said you were going to table the numbers. You're so pleased

you've saved $100 million. From December to the middle of March, government had

saved in the vicinity of $100 million in discretionary spending.

What's

also interesting is after the first day of questions the hon. Member went

outside to talk to the media. I wasn't there. I can only go by media reports

and what I saw through the media, what I heard through the media and people who

were there that she had indicated it was annualized. She's indicating now it

wasn't actually $100 million saved.

So I

would fully expect that if the minister erred, made a mistake and wasn't clear

in her information, that she would have come back the next day to clarify the

information. She didn't do that. She took the position of I'll give it to you

when the budget comes, I'll give it to you when the budget comes, I'll give it

to you when the budget comes. Yes, there were 16 times we asked. It might have

been more than for all I know, Mr. Chair. That's essentially been her answer.

Now

we're here today with a bill to look for borrowing. I would think the minister

is probably not going to change her position; you're going to have to wait for

the budget to see what we spent in 2015. You wait until the Estimate books come

out which show you what the budget was for 2015, what the actual spending was

for 2015 and then what their budget is for 2016. That's contained in Estimate

books that come out with the 2016 budget.

She's

saying to the House and to people of the province we want $400 million

additional borrowing, but we're not going to tell you where the savings are that

I stood up and boasted about here in the House in the vicinity of $100 million.

I just think that's unfair, Mr. Chair. I really do.

We ask

questions on behalf of the people of the province. I know she's a little bit

frustrated with it and I appreciate that. I have full respect for Members

opposite, Mr. Chair, I have to say. I have full respect for them, full respect

for the fact that the people elected a new government. I have full respect for

the decisions that the people made. I mean that in all sincerity, but we have a

responsibility to ask questions.

We're

hearing all the time we hear a beginning of an answer and we just heard it in

the minister's comments, the previous administration, the former administration

were the words she used a few minutes ago. We hear it quite often: the previous

administration. We hear it in answers in Question Period.

Well,

let me tell you what they did, and we're asking them about what are you going to

do. You see, Mr. Chair, we have to remind them, sometimes, they were elected to

govern; and what's important to people right now is not so much the history

lesson, but what are they going to do about it. What are they going to do about

the circumstances they face today? They are today the government. What are they

going to do about it?

We asked

a number of questions today to various ministers. The Minister of Finance

continued to get up and answer for them, which is interesting. A lot of the

questions were related to financial matters. We did hear from the Minister of

Child, Youth and Family Services. She was asked some questions about housing and

didn't say no to the questions when we asked are people likely to see an

increase in rates for Newfoundland and Labrador Housing tenants. Didn't answer

no, and gave an answer that kind of danced around it; did answer that the Family

Resource Centres are on the table.

The

indication we got over here from those answers were, yeah, all that is really

being considered. Could there be a rental increase for Newfoundland and Labrador

Housing tenants? There could be. But she did answer the questions, and credit to

her for doing so. We respect that. When someone stands in their place and tries

to provide the information, then we're thankful for that and we appreciate that.

Instead of standing up and saying well, let me tell you what you did. We know

what we did, we know what happened, we know why we're here, we know how we're

here, we know what the people decided and we respect that decision.

I would

say, Mr. Chair, and it's no exaggeration, and I tell you I couldn't be more

honest with you when I tell you that the most frequent conversation I believe I

have with citizens as they contact me, if I see them at a coffee shop or in a

store or on the street, or they phone me in the office or they send me a

message, the most frequent comment I receive is people saying I'm some tired of

government saying, oh, it's your fault, this is what you did and giving the

history lesson.

I know

the Minister of Natural Resources doesn't like to hear that, but I'm just

telling you I couldn't be more honest in saying that's what I hear most

frequently from people, is they're tired of listening to the blame game from

government.

As a

matter of fact, speaking of the blame game, Mr. Chair, even back in December

the minister mentioned the fiscal update in December and it was during the

fiscal update the Premier actually pointed out that day that we're not blaming

the previous government. The fall in oil prices got us in a bad spot. He made

those comments. Then again in January when they were announcing their LEAP tour

no, the LEAP tour was back in 2015 when they were going to travel the province

and consult with everybody, but we never heard that report. What was it called?

MR. HUTCHINGS:

They leaped all over the

place.

MR. P. DAVIS:

They leaped all over the

place.

No, it

was when they did their tour, their financial tour, which they're going to plan

next year's budget, when they announced that one in January. The Premier is on

the record again and said this is not about blame. This is not about the

Opposition. This is about consulting with the people of the province.

I think

they have forgotten that because very quickly in the House we've come to it

seems like the standard answer, the precursor to any answer in the House: well,

let me tell you what the Members opposite did. That's how they start. We've

heard the former administration, the former government's record and history and

so on. I remind him, the people have spoken. You're elected. You're in control

today. You are now responsible. You asked to be. As a matter of fact, while

doing so you repeatedly went to the people of the province and said: we have a

plan.

Even

back to 2014, the Premier told a group of people, he was talking about health

care, he said we have a plan and you're going to like it. It appears now to

everyone in the province, Mr. Chair, that the government doesn't have a plan;

the Members opposite didn't have a plan. We heard today they're creating the

plan. They're consulting with people. They don't have a plan, even though they

went to the people and said they had a plan.

We did

have a plan, Mr. Chair, and the people rejected our plan. That's the truth of

it. We had a plan that included increasing the HST. We said we'd increase the

HST, which would have realized $200 million this year in revenue to the

government. That's half of what they're asking us for additional borrowing

today. That's $200 million. It's half of what they're asking for today for

additional borrowing.

They

said with no concern about the needs of revenue, very quickly after being

elected, without even taking time to settle in and have a good, hard look and

study at the books we're doing away with the HST increase. They did away with

the HST increase; $200 million gone, Mr. Chair.

Now I

see the Minister of Finance is eager to get back up again, and in three minutes

and 30 seconds she can.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

MR. P. DAVIS:

But I intend to use all my

time, Mr. Chair, here today.

Mr.

Chair, we also had a plan on attrition. We had a plan for long-term care, which

they've cancelled. They've cancelled long-term care. They've cancelled a lot.

They cancelled the Green Bay hospital as well, which comes to mind when I talk

about long-term care. They don't have a plan; they're going to reconsider. They

felt we didn't do it right and they have a better way forward.

Mr.

Chair, that's going to take a long time to do and that doesn't solve the problem

of people lying on stretchers in emergency rooms because

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

MR. P. DAVIS:

there's no room available

for them in an acute care hospital, because a high percentage of acute care

hospital beds are occupied by long-term care patients waiting for a long-term

care bed to go to.

Mr.

Chair, they came to the people, they said we have the way forward. We now know

they have to borrow more to get through 2015. We respect that. I think the

Premier used the words

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

MR. P. DAVIS:

I can't remember, I think it

was

CHAIR:

Order, please!

The

Chair has asked for order several times. I would ask all hon. Members to respect

the order of the House.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank

you for that.

Mr.

Chair, I can't remember, I think it was early January, and I stand to be

corrected, when the Premier said that since December, since they took office,

they lost $400 million in annual revenue because of the drop in the price of

oil. I think the minister maybe when she gets up again she can talk about I

think they predicted the price at around $37. It's up about that now the last

week or 10 days, or maybe a little bit longer but for most of that period from

December and into January and February it was well below that, so she knows how

hard it is to predict that.

This

bill is about increasing borrowing. It's about paying the bills for government.

Of course we respect that, but I can tell the minister and Members opposite,

we're going to ask questions about this today. They are probably not going to

answer them, but we'll ask questions about this today. We're going to talk about

it. We're going to have a debate on it because that's what we're expected to do

and that's what the people expect us to do, nothing less. We're going to try not

to engage in the blame game. We're going to ask people and ask the government

how they are going to deal with the circumstances that impact us.

We know

the budget is not tabled yet. We don't expect it now until after the Easter

break. I know they'll be working hard in their offices every day. I know the

Premier and ministers will be in their offices working through the budget to get

it done as quickly as they can through the Easter break. I've been there myself.

I've done that in the past and I know it's a lot of work. It's very stressful

work and difficult decisions to make, and we respect the circumstances they're

in because these are hard times. These are difficult times in the province with

such a loss in revenue because of the fall in oil prices. They really have hard

and difficult circumstances and decisions to make, and we respect that.

We look

forward to further debate this afternoon.

Thank

you, Mr. Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The Chair recognizes the hon.

the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Well, I

certainly hope the Members opposite start to participate in the accountability

game because when we came into office back in December officials met with us and

in our briefings it was very clear to us that we had a significant problem when

it came to borrowing.

I would

like to just remind the Member opposite who felt it was appropriate to, I

guess, not listen I hope he is watching outside, part of this debate.

Under

the Financial Accountability Act ,

there is an allowance for temporary borrowing to provide for cash management

flexibility. The former administration brought in their budget in June and did

not bring in a loan act for some 14 days to actually exercise the activity

related to the borrowing. They knew they had presented a deficit in excess of

$1.1 billion and that there would be a cash shortfall. They took several weeks

to bring in a loan act.

Then,

throughout the course of the summer, as the activity related to securing debt

under long-term facilities became evident that wasn't happening, they chose in

October to increase the T-bill capacity, which they did. They increased it by a

billion dollars. They borrowed short-term money, even though back in June they

knew they needed long-term debt.

Mr.

Chair, I listened to the Member opposite talk about his respect for the

situation that we are faced with as a government. He admitted as he perceives

it that this situation is a revenue situation. Well, that revenue situation

has exacerbated an already in place spending problem of the former

administration, not of this administration.

In our

budget, we will clearly lay out to the people of the province where we feel we

have been able to restrain spending and begin to create a culture that is based

on making sure that the best interests of the people of the province are

reflected in our expenditures.

The

problem we are faced with today, the $2.4 billion we believe we need to borrow

as a result of the '15-'16 fiscal plan, $1.1 billion was evident when they

presented their budget. Over the course of the summer it became evident that the

revenue they had forecasted wasn't going to be achieved. We were very open and

honest with the people of the province in December when we shared with them the

numbers.

Mr.

Chair, when officials came to us when we were sworn in as a Cabinet, and,

certainly, the Premier in his initial briefings, and they spoke to us about

their concern about our inability to secure long-term borrowing, we undertook

significant action, speaking with lenders, speaking with bond-rating agencies,

providing information first and foremost to the people of the province in a

fiscal update that the former administration refused to provide when our

Premier, then Opposition leader, asked for that information. The letter went

ignored. I don't know if they had the information. I don't know if they didn't

have visibility into it, but, certainly, that information wasn't made

transparent to the people of the province until December.

Since

December, we have been able to, under the

Loan Act the former administration had secured $400 million. We've been

able to secure $1.485 billion.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. C. BENNETT:

So the $400 million that they

did and the $1.485 billion that we've been able to do is a total of $1.885

billion. There's $115 million left and this

Loan Act is asking for another $400

million so that we can get the borrowing in place, so that we can provide

financial stability and assurances to the people of the province that we can get

the money to pay for the services that we have to have in place.

Mr.

Chair, I listened to the Member opposite continue to talk about the money that

we've been able to save. I appreciate the fact that he continues to give us

credit for being able to do things that they were unable to do. I look forward

to being able to present the budget that displays and shows all of the things

we've been able to do in a very short period of time.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. C. BENNETT:

What we've been able to do to

present a budget to the people of the province that is more responsible than the

former administration. I look forward to continuing through the debate in this

particular Loan Act and the

Loan Act that's coming up related to

the 2016-17 fiscal year. I look forward to debating that and I'll be very

pleased when the debate for the budget for '16-'17 starts.

This

financial situation that we find ourselves in today is unprecedented. It is the

highest deficit we have had in our province. It is the most amount of debt we've

had in our province, at a time when the former administration had access to a

tremendous amount of revenue. They knew they hit peak oil production in 2007.

They knew they reached peak oil price in 2008 at over $140 and that number was

forecasted to decline. The former administration made decisions based on

short-term thinking. This administration will not do that. We are going to make

decisions based on what is in the best interests of the people of the province

and not what is in the best interests of a political party, Mr. Chair.

Yesterday in this House the Member opposite, in a question, asked about special

warrants related to borrowing. As I mentioned in my comments earlier, special

warrants are not related to borrowing. Special warrants are related to

expenditures that take you outside of the budgeting envelope. I would have

thought as a former premier, as he had indicated, spending many hours at a

Cabinet table talking about a budget, that would be something I'm sure he

understands. I can't imagine that he wouldn't.

Mr.

Chair, as a Newfoundlander and Labradorian, as a mom, I can tell you I am not

pleased to have to stand here in this House and ask to add $400 million in

incremental borrowing to our already exploding debt load as a province. I am not

happy with that. That is not the Newfoundland and Labrador I want to be a part

of. That is one of the reasons why I offered myself to serve in public service,

because we cannot pass on the debt loads that the former administration had

started to forecast on to our children and on to future generations, while at

the same time not being able to provide the services to those people in our

province that critically need them today.

Mr.

Chair, I'll look forward to listening to the rest of this debate, and providing

closing commentary when the debate concludes. I would ask the Members of this

hon. House to support the request through the

Loan Act amendment to increase the borrowing to $400 million so that

we can secure long-term debt and provide assurance and confidence to the people

of the province something that, quite frankly, wasn't there under the previous

administration.

Thank

you, Mr. Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The Chair recognizes the hon.

the Member for Topsail Paradise.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want

to respond to the Member opposite. As I said earlier, I expect this is going to

be going back and forth all day. I had to step out of the House for a few

minutes so I never caught all of her comments, but I did hear her comment on

fiscal update.

Mr.

Chair, we had to make a choice and a decision, which you have to make when

you're in government sometimes. Every day you make decisions and choices. You

sometimes make hard and difficult decisions. How are you going to deal with the

fact that the deficit is rising and the debt is increasing? How do you make

those decisions? What are you going to do about it?

The

Minister of Finance has, on numerous occasions more than 16 talked about a

$5,000 credit card being run up every hour and $300,000 sorry, a $5,000 credit

card being run up every minute and $300,000 every hour. I'm not sure if that's

24 hours a day or eight hours a day. Maybe the minister can

MS. C. BENNETT:

Maybe you could use a

calculator.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Now, there's a good answer,

Mr. Chair. She said maybe I can use a calculator. That's the kind of arrogance

sometimes we hear opposite but I'm not going to I'll move on from that, but we

hear it a lot.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

MR. P. DAVIS:

We hear it a lot, Mr. Chair.

The

Member opposite referred to the fiscal update.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh, oh!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

MR. P. DAVIS:

So here's where we were, and

I just pulled up on the Internet here where the price of oil was last year. If

you go back and look at Bloomberg, which will show you I'm sure

MR. KIRBY:

Are you allowed to use

(inaudible) in the House of Assembly, Mr. Chair?

MR. P. DAVIS:

What's that, I say to the

Minister of Education? Did you want to get up?

CHAIR:

Order, please!

MR. P. DAVIS:

Did the Minister of Education

want to rise?

CHAIR:

I ask the hon. Member to

address the Chair, and I ask for order in this House.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Bloomberg will show you where the price of oil was in the last year. If you were

to look at it, you'll see that from around the end of August oil started to

balance out, up and down, above and below the $50 mark. It went from there. It

started to shoot up and down. There was a bit of a down in August. It

straightened out towards the end of August. It stayed around that $50 mark right

on through until early November.

The

reason why that's important, Mr. Chair, is because that's when the writ was

dropped. That's when a government becomes in what they refer to as caretaker

government or caretaker mode while you're going through an election process.

Even in the days leading up to that we were reminded constantly by officials in

government we had to be very, very careful knowing we're going into a writ

period and going into an election, and decisions we make and conclusions we

reach based on data and information and those decisions we make.

One of

the decisions you make when doing an update is you have to have a prediction of

where oil is going to be from then until the end of the year. The new Minister

of Finance actually talked about that during her update in December. She talked

about she had predicted the price of oil for the rest of the year. It was off

and that's not her fault. It was off because there's such volatility in oil

prices, Mr. Chair.

If you

look at what happened from November right through until December, we'll see

there was a big dip, continuously. There was consistency from August right

through to November. Then there was a significant drop in the price of oil right

on through until January and continued to fall right into January.

Mr.

Chair, the point being, if we had done a fiscal update in October, which is when

we would have to have done it before the writ period, before we moved into a

caretaker mode, before we moved into the election period or perceived election

period even before the writ so we would have to have done that in October

before the writ, before that period of time, we would have based it on $50 oil,

based on what the price of oil was for several weeks before the writ period.

Today,

the Members opposite with all due respect would have been saying something

terrible and nasty about us very differently.

AN HON. MEMBER:

No.

MR. P. DAVIS:

Oh, yes, they would've.

Absolutely, they would've because they would have said

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible).

MR. P. DAVIS:

Yes, absolutely you would

because you would have said look how far off you were. You couldn't predict oil

from November until after the writ period because there was a $22, $23, $24,

$25, in that range, drop from the writ period to the end of the fiscal year to

the first of January.

Now, I

remind Members opposite, and for people at home who are watching, we know over

the period of a year a dollar decrease in a barrel of oil is equivalent to about

$29 million. Let's make the math easy because I don't have a calculator in front

of me. According to the Minister of Education, I probably wouldn't be allowed to

use it anyway. It's about $30 for every dollar. You start to add that up; you're

in a lot of money.

The

Premier himself said $400 million was what they lost. From the time they took

office until early January they lost $400 million in oil. So if we had to have

done a fiscal update, we would have been way off, Mr. Chair. What I suggest to

Members opposite is that they would have been standing today saying: Why did you

give us the wrong information? Why did you mislead the people of the province?

They

wouldn't have called us anything worse than that because that's unparliamentary.

I'm sure the Members opposite wouldn't do that in the House. They wouldn't be

unparliamentary in the House. Of course not, but, Mr. Chair, they would be

saying bad things about us. They'd be saying you misled the people of the

province; why did you not tell them the truth? Why did you not tell them the way

it was? Why did you make up some kind of fairy tale for the people of the

province? That's what they would have done.

We knew

that OPEC meets on the 1st of December. When OPEC meets, it always has an impact

on the price of oil. If OPEC decides to lower production, the price of oil goes

up. It's very simple. If OPEC increases production or stays the same, where

they've been, the price of oil is going to stay where it is or it's going to

drop.

What

happened in December was OPEC had a negative impact on the price of oil, which

had a big impact on our province and the government. It made the circumstances

much, much worse. So we made the decision not to go out on the predictions that

we knew were not reliable prior to OPEC. We decided not to do that. The right

thing to do was to wait until OPEC met and that was the decision we made.

Mr.

Chair, I don't apologize for that. At the end of it, the government of the day,

if it was us at the time or the new government now after that, has to deal with

you have to deal with it. That's it you have to deal with it. You have to

make hard and difficult decisions in how you're going to do that.

We were

criticized heavily by Members opposite for our budget last year heavily

criticized. I remember budget day when the Member, who's now the Minister of

Finance, sat out in the lobby with the media and talked about we don't know what

part of government we're going to eliminate until we get in there. She raised

the flag; she told the people of the province we're going to eliminate parts of

government.

So we

don't know, and to this day we still don't know what programs and services are

going to be eliminated in the budget. We have to wait for the budget process to

take place and for the Minister of Finance to deliver the budget. That's the

process that we're here and that's the process we do.

We can

also ask questions about circumstances that exist today. We can also ask

questions about spending and savings, and steps they've taken to reduce costs

and spending, what success they've had to do with it, but we can't get that

information. We're here today on a $400 million bill to amend the

Loan Act, 2015 , but we can't get the

information from the government.

We got a

lot of good information this morning from officials, and I mentioned this

earlier, how appreciative I am. I know, as the minister has said several times,

you've been in Cabinet, you've had lots of Cabinet meetings, you must know what

it's like. Yes, well, I do know what it's like and I know how hard officials

work as well. They provide advice and they provide information. Then it becomes

the government's place to make those decisions and to steer the ship and decide

which direction the ship is going to go in.

We're

waiting for this government to do that. I know the people of the province are

waiting. Even today when we asked questions about housing, the Member behind me

here didn't ask questions about housing just for the sake of asking a question.

We asked questions about housing. Are housing rates liable to change or go up?

Will Family Resource Centres be impacted? We're asking these questions because

people are calling us and writing us and asking us to ask those questions.

That's why we ask them because people are saying to us, ask those questions.

Now,

we're learning this process, too. They have to learn how to be government and

what to do in government. Ministers are still learning their departments and

their portfolios. That's a process that's going to go on for some time. With all

due respect to Members opposite, the budget process is one of the best processes

to learn your departments, line by line.

I was

speaking to a minister a couple of days ago who told me they have learned a lot

about their department because they've been going through the operations of

their department line by line. The budget process is really good for that. It

really forces a minister to dig down deep into the weeds of their department and

the actual functions of the department, how things operate and how things

function and so they should. The budget process gives them the opportunity to

do that. I'm glad they're going through it and we look forward to the budget.

The

fiscal update, as I wanted to refer to it during my time, at this point in time

we made that choice. I don't have any regrets on it. We also made a choice to

increase the HST because we knew a year ago we were in tough times and we were

headed for tough times. Members opposite wiped it out and erased it. Mr. Chair,

$200 million in revenue gone from the government while we're here today talking

about borrowing an additional $400 million. That's the important discussion we

have to have today.

CHAIR:

The Chair recognizes the hon.

the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MS. C. BENNETT:

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want

to echo what the Member opposite said about the budget process. Undoubtedly,

having the opportunity to review with officials, as Ministers of the Crown, as a

government, provides a very unique and important opportunity to get a tremendous

amount of visibility into government expenditures. That has been our experience

as we've done the line-by-line activity that we've undertaken. It's one of the

many activities that we have undertaken to build our budget.

I look

forward to having some of those discussions, as part of the budget debate, on

some of the insights that we were able to gain from that activity. I'm sure

Members opposite who had the pleasure of being able to sit in Cabinet, as some

of us do on this side, also had the opportunity to do the same due diligence and

attention to detail that we would have been privileged to have in the last

number of weeks.

I would

remind the Member opposite though, that the budget process, which is designed to

take place over a large number of months usually according to officials can

start as early as September or August now requires work to be done in advance.

The officials have been working very hard to prepare briefing binders to bring

ministers up to speed so that we can have the conversations about the

expenditures that we need to have.

I do

want to share for the Member opposite, though, that the total loss of revenue

since the adoption of the 2015 budget has been $615 million. Mr. Chair, $615

million in lost revenue, and as the Loan

Act request is we are requesting $400 million, in addition to the

already $2 billion that was in place from last year.

Mr. Chair, I want to address what the Member opposite said

about the fiscal update. Seven months would have transpired in a fiscal year in

October. Before the election happened in November, seven out of the 12 months

for the fiscal '15-'16 would have transpired. I would present that had the

former administration provided transparency not only to the people of the

province and to our leader, now Premier, when he was asked to in September

that the bond-rating agencies and the credit-rating agencies, the banks would

have had more visibility into the financial performance of the province.

In the absence of that, what ended up happening is

officials who were unable to borrow long-term money ended up using temporary

borrowings. I think the people of the province would be very eager to know that

we had, at peak, $2.7 billion to $2.8 billion in temporary T-bills. A temporary

T-bill, for those listening at home and for those in this hon. House who may not

know, actually is, at max, 91-day money. So a T-bill, Treasury bill

AN HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible).

MS. C. BENNETT:

I thank the Member opposite

for asking me to say the full term. I'm happy to do that. A Treasury bill

certainly would a $2.7 billion, $2.8 billion peak is what the government was

carrying before we came in, which was one of the reasons why we expeditiously

moved to put a long-term loan program in place, so that we could get more

stability in our borrowing.

I think

if anybody at home was thinking about having a significant portion of your debt

imagine having your mortgage in a loan that had to be renewed after 90 days.

I'm not sure any of us at home would like to have our mortgages being renewed

every 90 days. It would put us in a very uncomfortable and difficult position.

Certainly, that was one of the reasons why we wanted to more confidently and

assertively address the long-term borrowing needs of the province.

It's

also one of the reasons why I was very pleased to stand in the House yesterday

and speak to the just over $1.9 billion that we've able to secure, $1.485

billion of that related to the Loan Act,

2015 . The remaining portion of that was related to renegotiating existing

long-term debt that was already on the books when the budget came in last year.

As a

province, we carry a tremendous amount of debt. It's something that we all, I

think, collectively in our province want to address. I don't think anybody in

our province wants to leave the legacy of that kind of debt to future

generations to bear. I don't believe that's irresponsible. The irresponsible

thing for us to do is to pass that debt onto future generations. That's why we

need to continue to look for ways of containing that debt.

Mr.

Chair, I look forward to listening to the rest of the debate. I would remind the

Member opposite, as I said, just for clarity it's $650 million in total revenue

lost since the 2015 budget. In October, had he chosen to release a fiscal update

and I would concur that oil prices continued to be volatile in November and

December, but the markets would have had at least some visibility the people

of the province would have had some visibility into the financial performance up

to that point of October, which would have included 7/12ths of the entire fiscal

year.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for St. John's East Quidi Vidi.

MS. MICHAEL:

Thank you very much, Mr.

Chair.

I'm

pleased to get up this afternoon and speak to Bill 9, the loan guarantee act.

First of

all, thanks to the minister for arranging for us to have a briefing this

morning. We met with officials from the Department of Finance just to make sure

we all had a clear understanding of what the bill was all about, what a loan

guarantee bill is. I have to say, I was really impressed with the tremendous

expertise of the people in our Department of Finance. I think government needs

to recognize them for the great work they do in managing.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS. MICHAEL:

It's not government who does

it. It's these people inside. We've got the expertise. It's good we have it. We

need to recognize we have people with really good expertise inside of our

Department of Finance. I'm sure the minister has found that out already.

They

know well how to manage and how to do the housekeeping, as it were, for the

people of the province. They know how the system works. They know how to keep

cash flow going. They know how the borrowing and lending that goes on works so

money keeps flowing, so government always has money.

That's

what we're doing here today. We're ensuring government always has money to take

care of the programs. It's not rocket science. These people are trained to do

that. So I find it deplorable, really, that the Premier, over the last months,

and the government in general, has been terrifying people around money. I'm not

saying we don't have a problem with the fact that we've lost so much revenue

because of the low price of oil. I recognize that, but there's a system in

place. That system has been working. That system is continuing to work.

There

was no need for all the fear mongering that has been done by the Premier,

putting things out there that were unnecessarily making people frightened,

frightened we wouldn't be able to borrow money. It's nonsense. That was

explained to us so clearly this morning, that once the credit raters made their

decisions and adjustments were made, the investors were happy to make sure loans

happened. That's what the system is all about. You always have money. The money

is always there. Unless a government goes bankrupt, and this government is

nowhere near we're not near going bankrupt as a province. That's what they're

always leading people to believe. The system is working and things are under

control. That's what this loan is about.

I could

not stand up here today without making that point, so people understand we have

a well-oiled machine even though the oil may be cheaper right now. I didn't

mean that pun, but it was a good one. A well-oiled machine and things are going

okay. The system is working. Will we have a greater loan? Yes, we will. Might we

owe more money in another year's time? We very well might. That's part of what

has to happen. We have to make sure that people continue to be taken care of and

that our programs and services go on.

I think

in this context, then, I want to talk about some of the things that have to go

on and that have to improve. The first one I wanted to talk about today is the

whole issue of the situation of people in our province, children and adults, who

have ASD, autism spectrum disorder.

I don't

know right off the bat right now I should because I've had this number the

overall number in the province. I have to say, I was really shocked when I was

campaigning in the general election last summer and fall because we were

knocking on doors for a long time before the writ was dropped. One day in

particular when I was out knocking on doors, in just two hours I knocked on the

doors of three homes that had children with ASD. Just in my own district, in

actual fact, around the corner from where I live. Besides those people, I then,

as time went on, met quite a few others living in my own district, going to

schools in my district. We have a really high number of children and adults with

ASD in this province, relatively speaking, when you look at the population that

we have. It's a high percentage.

Recently, the Autism Society of Newfoundland and Labrador the autism spectrum

disorder society of Newfoundland and Labrador had a needs assessment done.

They released that report last week. The report shows how much we are not

meeting the needs of the individuals themselves who have ASD, of their families

who are there supporting them and the institutions like schools that are also

there supporting them.

We have

tremendous needs. One of the biggest things well, all the recommendations are

serious. They're all heavy. They all are going to require money to make them

happen. One of the ones that I'd like to point out first today has to do with

training. It's quite a detailed recommendation. The training that the report

looks at, and the study considered, was training on all levels. There is such a

lack of understanding of ASD in our community, even with people who are

regularly dealing with children and adults with ASD. It's also linked to the

lack of understanding of mental conditions in our province as well.

We're

not the only ones. This is an issue everywhere, but this is where we are. This

is our province and we have to deal with it. The training that's talked about is

training for medical professionals who have to deal with people with ASD,

everything from general practitioners right through. They need to be trained as

to what it means, what that spectrum involves and how to work with people who

have ASD.

It talks

about training of the people in the school systems. It's not enough for the one

individual who may be dealing with a student with ASD because it's never just

one individual everybody from the administrator through to the support staff

in the office, support staff within the school itself through to teachers in the

classroom all need training when it comes to ASD.

We all

need to become more cognizant of what it means and what's required in working

with people who have ASD. It's so nuanced, the difference in individuals.

There's no one person who is identical to another. The differences really

require real intention on the part of people dealing with them.

I notice

in the mandate letter to the Minister of Education and Early Childhood

Development, he is to ensure that schools receive the support they need for

inclusive education, including teacher training and administrative support.

That's one sentence that means an awful lot because that teacher training the

training for teachers and others in the system could take up to three years,

to have adequate training that would really make them knowledgeable and

professional in the way they deal with ASD.

This is

something the minister is going to have to look at very seriously. We can't

ignore these reports. Children with ASD and adults with ASD are suffering, and

every year that we don't do what's needed, things worsen for them. So we have to

be looking at how we maintain our programs and improve our programs that will be

needed for the betterment of the health of our society.

I notice

in the mandate letter, though, the Premier did not mention the need for more

teachers and teaching assistants in the school system. The inclusion that is

going on i