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October 29, 2020

HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS

Vol. XLIX No. 60

The House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR.

SPEAKER (Reid):

Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Statements by Members

MR.

SPEAKER:

Today, we will hear Members' statements by the hon. Members for the Districts of

Mount Pearl - Southlands, Placentia West - Bellevue, St. Barbe - L'Anse aux

Meadows, Harbour Main and Torngat Mountains.

The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands.

MR.

LANE:

Mr. Speaker, long-time Mount Pearl residents Pat and Doreen Walsh have many

reasons to be proud of their son, Dr. Stephen Walsh. One of those reasons would

be his

part in developing a promising COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr. Walsh grew up in Mount Pearl and graduated from

O'Donel High School in 1990. His studies brought him to Dalhousie University in

Halifax, and he later gained his medical degree at McGill University. Dr. Walsh

now lives in Boston and is a member of a research team that is in the final

phase of human testing on a promising COVID-19 vaccine.

Mr. Speaker, for a small province of just over

half-a-million people, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians continue to punch well

above their weight, whether that be in business, the Armed Forces, sports, the

arts and every other aspect of human achievement. Dr. Stephen Walsh is yet

another example of one of our very own excelling on the world stage, in this

case, in the field of epidemiology.

I ask all Members of this hon. House to join me in

congratulating this exceptional Newfoundlander and wishing him all the best with

this critical research.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Placentia West - Bellevue.

MR.

DWYER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I sit in this Chamber today to speak of a great lady,

Mrs. Juanita Gilbert. Mrs. Gilbert has been a resident of the local service

district of North Harbour in my district her whole life. She spent her childhood

here. She met her husband here. She raised her family in North Harbour. She's a

wife, a mother and a grandmother.

Over the years, Mrs. Gilbert has been witness to many

advancements in modern-day living: the evolution of electricity and indoor

plumbing, the transition of the washboard to the washing machine.

I've been told one of Mrs. Gilbert's favourite pastimes

is to sing and that her voice is much like that of a lovely songbird.

Mrs. Gilbert celebrated on October 27, 2020, and I ask

my fellow colleagues to join me today in wishing Mrs. Juanita Gilbert a very

happy 84th birthday.

Happy birthday, Mrs. Juanita Gilbert.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for St. Barbe - L'Anse aux Meadows.

MR.

MITCHELMORE:

Mr.

Speaker, it is pleasure to recognize a strong woman, Mona Snow of St.

Lunaire-Griquet, who, like her mother, has taken the reigns of volunteerism and

does all she can to help her community and those in need.

From her involvement with the fire department,

Salvation Army Thrift Store, or helping those travel for medical appointments,

she is a fundraiser extraordinaire.

Mona serves as president of the firettes and has worked

hard to fundraise with her team to help support the fire department purchase

equipment and contribute towards a new pumper truck, which was delivered to Fire

Chief Tyler Hillier earlier this year.

In July, Mona took up a new initiative with Wendy-Dale

Woodford, Triffena Simms Roberts and Rona O'Rielly to raise funds to get

reusable water bottles for the students at Truman Eddison Memorial in Gunners

Cove and White Hills Academy, St. Anthony.

These women recently made the presentation of 375

reusable water bottles to all the students at these schools. I want to thank all

individuals and organizations who supported by donating towards this cause.

I ask all hon. Members to congratulate Mona and these

community-minded residents for giving of their time to help our students and

those in need.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

MS.

CONWAY OTTENHEIMER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Today in this hon. House, I'd like to reflect on our

Royal Canadian Legions, our veterans and this year's Remembrance Day and how

different this day will be celebrated throughout our country, province and even

our own districts due to the global pandemic.

The Legion is the largest veterans support in the

country who mostly operates off poppy sales. My District of Harbour Main has two

Legions: Branch 64, Holyrood and Branch 65, Brigus. They are planning for a much

smaller, yet heartfelt, intimate ceremony this year. There will be no parades

and only public laying of wreathes of the Legion, provincial and federal

governments.

Our veterans are an important part of our history. This

is a time when our veterans have been isolated for months and I would encourage

each of us to thank a veteran when you see them in your communities over the

coming weeks.

This year is the 75th anniversary of the end of the

Second World War; 75 years of peace because of our veterans. It's truly

remarkable.

I ask all Members to please join me in thanking our

Legions and our veterans for everything that they do to remind us: Lest we

forget.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

MS.

EVANS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Today, I pay tribute to Rod Pilgrim of Nain,

Nunatsiavut. Rod Pilgrim is known for is mechanical knowledge, but especially

for his kindness. You can't find many people in Nain who Rod hasn't helped.

Rob Pilgrim moved to Nain in 1974; there he found a

home. He worked with Newfoundland Hydro for over 39 years before retiring. His

ongoing volunteer service is amazing: serving on the Canadian Rangers for 12

years and he was heavily involved with the Nain recreation committee back in the

early days when activities were primarily at an outdoor rink. Rod severed with

the Nain volunteer fire department since 1975. He continues to serve with the

Nain-Torngat housing committee for over 15 years and is also a long-serving

director of the Martin-Martin Group Home; all volunteer positions.

What sets Rod apart is the time he puts in to helping

people. He fixes appliances that otherwise would have to be replaced at great

cost to residents: fridges, stoves, washers, dryers and furnaces. He gets calls

in the middle of the night; if a furnace is not working waterlines may freeze.

Often he keeps a wait-list because he's so busy. Sometimes when a

part isn't

available in Nain, he checks scraped appliances for a part to tide people over;

all service volunteered. He will not take a cent.

Please join me in applauding Rod Pilgrim's contribution

to his community of Nain.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

MR.

HAGGIE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Today in this hon. House, I would like to acknowledge

Newfoundland and Labrador's 23 regulated health professional governing bodies.

They have gone above and beyond to help steer our province through the COVID-19

pandemic.

The province's regulatory boards are self-governing and

act as independent entities. These boards are responsible for such matters as

establishing, maintaining and enforcing Standards of Practice, providing

oversight of competency skills and continuing education, and establishing,

maintaining and enforcing a Code of Ethics to ensure health professionals

practice in the best interest of the public.

2020 has created unprecedented demands on our health

care system. The associated regulatory boards have had to adjust their processes

to accommodate such things as emergency registration and licensure. They have

provided guidance on protocols, and developed standards of practice for

providing services, such as virtual care.

There is always a steep learning curve in response to a

public health emergency. We have made much progress with regard to our

understanding of COVID-19; however, we know that we still have much to learn

about the virus.

We appreciate the flexibility of the boards when it

comes to making changes. As we move forward, and the pandemic continues to

evolve, I am confident that this province's health care community will continue

to deliver high-quality care and support to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. I

am confident, Mr. Speaker, that we are in good hands.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay East - Bell Island.

MR.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the minister for an advance copy of his

statement.

I, too, join the minister in acknowledging the 23

regulated health professional governing bodies who worked long hours and did

everything they could to help guide our province through the COVID-19 pandemic.

This past year has created many new uncertainties and

demands on our province's health care system. Things such as virtual care and

new protocols have changed the way we deliver our health services. Public health

emergencies like COVID-19 could not be planned for, and like the minister said,

there is a steep learning curve. We must work together to learn more about the

virus and develop new ways to adapt and loosen our restrictions while keeping

public safety in mind.

Maintaining high-quality care is important to all of

our province's residents and we must stick together and ensure workers in our

health care system are taken care of. It is our front-line health care workers

that ensure the health and safety of all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS.

COFFIN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I'd like to thank the hon. minister for receiving an

advance copy of the statement.

Our regulated health professional governing bodies

have, indeed, risen to the unprecedented challenges they have faced this year.

The Third Party caucus sincerely thanks them for their unwavering dedication to

our well-being and safety. We also look forward to seeing that the regulations,

especially those for nurse practitioners, doulas and midwives, continue to

improve so that our health professionals can employ their full skill set.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and the governing bodies.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Further statements by ministers?

The hon. the Minister of Digital Government and Service

NL.

MS.

STOODLEY:

Mr.

Speaker, today I am pleased to announce that Francophone residents of the

province can now access marriage certificates through a secure online ordering

service in French. This is the first time that the province's Francophone

residents have access to this type of online ordering service in their language.

The initiative improves the process of issuing and

receiving vital statistics documentation for those requiring this service and

information in French. While marriage certificates are currently the only ones

available in both languages, birth and death certificates will soon follow.

Les certificats de changement de nom légal peuvent

également être obtenus en format bilingue au bureau de l'état civil à Mount

Pearl. Les certificats seront délivrés en format bilingue, que la demande soit

Mr. Speaker, the new option is available under the

vital statistics

section of Digital Government and Service NL's website. Having

services online is a key focus for our government. Particularly over the past

several months, we recognize the importance of having services accessible in an

online format for residents of the province.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage anyone wishing to access the

French services to visit our website at gov.nl.ca/dgsnl.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Mount Pearl North.

MR.

LESTER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the minister for an advance copy of her

statement.

Mr. Speaker, we are pleased to see the online vital

statistics services are being increased for our francophone residents. It is

important that individuals can access online services in their language.

(French spoken.)

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to remind the minister

that in addition to the needs of the francophone community, there is also a need

to enable the Indigenous people who speak their own language such as Innu-aimun

and Inuttitut.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to also highlight to the

minister that online services are absolutely of no use to individuals who do not

have reliable Internet access. I certainly encourage the government to

prioritize improving Internet services and the inclusion of both national and

Indigenous languages in the online services.

Merci, Monsieur le Président.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Labrador West.

MR.

BROWN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to thank the hon. minister for receiving

an advance copy of her statement.

My district has a very large francophone population, so

I'm very pleased to hear that services are now available in French. People

should not be made to feel alienated by a system that is supposed to be meant to

serve them. So this is a great initiative.

Regarding bringing more and more services online, this

is a great convenience for the busy public and those who wish to follow all

COVID guidelines, but let us remember those who are unable to access services,

that the counter services must remain available.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Further statements by ministers?

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER FUREY:

Mr.

Speaker, I have exciting news to share today regarding the Flemish Pass. Equinor

and its partner BP have made oil discoveries at Cappahayden and Cambriol

prospects, which were drilled this past summer by Transocean Barents.

I congratulate the team who worked on this drill

program. They successfully executed a safe campaign – even as they faced

additional challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I also wanted to share that yesterday the C-NLOPB

issued a significant discovery licence to Equinor based on Harpoon O-85

exploration well. The two discoveries Equinor announced today, along with the

Harpoon significant discovery licence, will potentially accelerate the

development of the Bay du Nord Project and bodes well for Newfoundlander and

Labrador's offshore future.

Mr. Speaker, the magnitude of Newfoundland and

Labrador's resource potential continues to grow. Just last month the 2020 oil

and gas resource assessment showed a combined resource potential of 63.6 billion

barrels of oil and 224 trillion cubic feet of gas in just 10 per cent of the

province's offshore.

This government is committed to ensuring the continued

success of our offshore oil and gas industry and to maximizing the benefits of

our industry to the people of this province.

There are a number of creative solutions we are

implementing to help sustain the offshore oil and gas industry.

We now have a new regional assessment process that

maintains the strong protection of the offshore environment while significantly

shortening timelines for exploration drilling program approval.

Also, we recently announced an offshore exploration

incentive to encourage more wells to be drilled – enhancing global

competitiveness at a critical time and positioning the province to realize its

significant resource potential.

Mr. Speaker, by investing in offshore exploration, we

are encouraging offshore exploration drilling – leading to discoveries like we

saw today.

Thank you so much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR.

CROSBIE:

thank the Premier for an advance copy of his statement, Mr. Speaker.

The discoveries announced this morning by Equinor are

indeed good news for our offshore industry. They are the result of diligent and

strategic seismic data collection, geoscience and exploratory drilling carried

out by hard-working Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Mr. Speaker, we all know that we have tremendous oil

and gas reserves on our offshore arena, but it's up to the government to ensure

that we're globally competitive and can attract international investment in

order for this potential to be realized.

It's my fear, Mr. Speaker, that this Liberal government

is simply not doing enough to turn discoveries, such as these two, into

oil-producing and job-creating projects.

I'd also like to take a moment to encourage to be

proactive and encourage the development of our offshore natural gas potential.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Labrador West.

MR.

BROWN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Premier for the advance copy of his

statement.

It's great to see work being carried out to inventory

our offshore reserves and done so in a safe manner.

In this world of lower oil values and pricing wars

taking place, we need to find ways to stay competitive and take opportunity with

what we have currently in our offshore without compromising our safety and our

environment. We have a lot of workers counting on us.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Further statements by ministers?

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR.

CROSBIE:

Mr.

Speaker, gas prices on the Island are up four cents today as a direct result of

the closure of the Come By Chance Refinery and the necessity of having to import

gas into this province. Yesterday, we unanimously agreed to end poverty in this

province. This is not a good start.

Will the Premier admit that government's failure to

secure a future for Come By Chance is now impacting the whole province?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Obviously, when there's a change in costs we, as a

government, are concerned for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, but the reality

is, as the Member opposite knows, the PUB is an independent authority with the

expertise to review applications and make judgments, accordingly.

We are working every day, the Minister of Industry,

Energy and Technology is working relentlessly with the current ownership of the

Come By Chance Refinery and potential buyers to try to facilitate the best

option to recognize and realize the maximum value of this asset for the returns

of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR.

CROSBIE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yesterday, Liberal staffer George Murphy told people

that gas would go down today. Instead, the price of, not just gas but of diesel,

furnace oil and stove oil all increased.

I ask the Premier: The people of this province cannot

afford any increase in their cost of living. We know that putting the refinery

in warm idle will help secure a new owner and a future for the refinery. Can he

explain why the government isn't providing that support?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I mentioned in the previous answer, the minister is

working tirelessly with the current owner to investigate all options so that we

can make sure that this asset is maintained to the point that it does deliver

the maximum value and return to the people of this province. This is an

important asset for this province and this government is not going to let its

potential slip through our fingers.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR.

CROSBIE:

I'm

sure that Come By Chance Refinery workers are cheered by those sentiments, but I

know as well they want to see action.

Mr. Speaker, most of the goods in our province,

including food, has to come in via ship and truck. With this increase in fuel

price, we can assume the cost of goods will increase as well.

What is the government's plan to ensure that people can

continue to afford to live here?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER FUREY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think that we've taken several actions to ensure that

people can afford to live here; such programs like we introduced in the recent

budget like $25-a-day daycare. A program that doesn't only make it affordable

for people to stay here, it attracts people here; it allows them to stay here.

It allows them to reach their maximum potential and contribute to the economy.

It's a good social program to boot.

We're continuing to develop programs like that to make

it attractive for people to stay here and make it affordable for people to stay

here.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR.

CROSBIE:

We're receiving calls from people who are struggling with the price of food and

it's not just those people who may benefit from $25-a-day daycare. This fuel

increase has the potential to increase those costs even more.

Premier, what is the plan to prevent further

skyrocketing of food prices in the province?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

MR.

A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'll jump in on this one because we're talking about

the increase to fuel prices. Just to put it out there for the public so that

they do understand, this was brought about because of the closure or the idling

of the refinery back in March, which was caused by COVID-19 and a struggling oil

industry. The reality is that with the refinery in idling, we need to import

that fuel into the province. That brings about increased costs, which was

reflected by the independent PUB's decision.

The reality is what we are doing is working constantly

and consistently with North Atlantic to try to find a sale for the refinery.

That work continues. I had numerous calls and meetings yesterday and again

today. We're working with interested parties and that's what we're going to do.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR.

CROSBIE:

While the government is doing what the people expect it do and have a right to

have them do, which is help with finding a buyer, they are going to have pay

more everywhere they turn.

What's the immediate plan to reduce the cost of

petroleum products in the province?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

MR.

A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I do know that the Member opposite realizes that the

Public Utilities Board, which has been in operation since 1949 and has been

controlling petroleum pricing since 2004, is an independent, quasi-judicial

regulatory body that handles these issues. In fact, it is not up for politicians

to interfere.

What I will say is that the last time we did, we

excluded the PUB from Muskrat Falls. So my question, Mr. Speaker, would be: How

did we pan out with that?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Terra Nova.

MR.

PARROTT:

Perhaps if this government interfered before October 6 with this sale, we

wouldn't be in the mess we're in. It's not just food; it's lumber. It's

everything.

Mr. Speaker, members in my district have been reaching

out to me. As of yesterday, their medical and their dental benefits have ceased.

This doesn't just affect those members; it affects their entire families.

I ask the minister: What is being done with these

workers to help them retain their benefits while we're waiting for a new

operator?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

MR.

A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the question from the Member opposite.

In fact, I spoke to the union twice directly yesterday

to talk about their membership. What I can say is that they did not bring it up

with me then, but I will look forward to that issue being brought to my

attention because, of course, we're going to do what we can to assist these

individuals.

As the Member knows, and other Members of the caucus

who attended a phone call with me the other evening, we are doing everything

that we can to support the workers, which is why we're trying to facilitate a

deal; we're trying to keep the refinery in warm idle. Again, if these issues are

there, I would be interested in hearing them and doing what we can to handle

them.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Terra Nova.

MR.

PARROTT:

I was at that meeting, Mr. Speaker, and I volunteered to help his department. I

haven't heard a word from anyone.

Workers are also concerned about their pension,

severance pay and vacation pay.

Can the minister provide an update on the pension fund

for the workers at Come By Chance?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Digital Government and Service NL.

MS.

STOODLEY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In terms of the superintendent of pensions, we are

working with the company and the union to ensure all the regulations and

legislation around pensions is followed. As of today, we don't have any concerns

around the pensions for the workers. Our department will continue to work with

them as the situation might change.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

MR.

PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Husky has a 35 per cent stake in Bay du Nord.

Does the Premier have any assurance that the takeover

of Husky by Cenovus will not jeopardize development of the Bay du Nord?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

MR.

A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the question from the Member opposite.

We don't have any indication that that is an issue

right now. In fact, I look forward, along with the Premier, to speaking with the

CEO of Cenovus. Tomorrow we're going to have a conversation. Again, while I

appreciate the concern, that is not there.

What I can say is to point to the positive and

promising developments that have been announced today, along with the fact that

Equinor is actually consolidating their offices in St. John's. That move is

happening. So I look forward to increased jobs here in St. John's with Equinor

bringing their staffers here.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

MR.

PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The CEO of Cenovus says West White Rose is a

specifically good project for the province and there is a role for government to

help facilitate this project.

Premier: Have you spoken to the CEO about this?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

MR.

A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What I can say is that we have arranged a phone call

with Cenovus which we will be having tomorrow, the Premier and I. But all week

we have actually been speaking to Husky every single day, working on the

proposed scope of work that hopefully will see some action in 2021 under the

$320 million. We continue to discuss other options but, again, there's some

positivity there amongst the troubling times that the industry is facing.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

MR.

PETTEN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As an equity partner I think we have a big role and we

need the government to step up.

Minister: What specific role will government do to help

facilitate this project and get people back to work?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

MR.

A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, I appreciate the question from the Member

opposite because it is a good question. Government does have a role to play

here. What we've been doing is I guess a couple of things. One, we've levered

$320 million from the federal government, which money will be going not just to

the companies but hopefully to the workers in the form of jobs. We're looking at

a scope of work that hopefully we will see happen here, and we've been

facilitating that. We will also leverage that fund by bringing in, hopefully,

private investment as well. These companies want to invest in this project as

well.

There are a number of things that we're doing, and a

lot of it happens behind the scenes. On that note, I'd like to thank the staff

of the department, as well as Finance, who've been working tirelessly day and

night and through the weekends to try to make something happen for this

industry.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

MR.

WAKEHAM:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Premier's Economic Recovery Team has been tasked

with developing a plan of action that will respond to the province's immediate

fiscal challenges and plot a new course forward. Premier, just last year

government paid McKinsey consultants $1 million to do the exact same thing and

chart a way forward.

I ask: Why are you starting the process all over again?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Premier.

PREMIER FUREY:

Thank you for the question.

The answer is actually quite simple: The McKinsey

report was pre-COVID-19.

I think one of the things we can think about right now

and we can all agree on, certainly, in this House, is that 2020 has showed us

that things have changed. There is no road map forward. That's why we need to

call on the bright people with the expertise and diverse sets of backgrounds to

help us guide our way through this time of crisis, through COVID-19 and the

global economic crisis. So plans in the past, every jurisdiction right now is

developing new plans. We're lucky to be surrounded with some of the best talent

in the world and we've tapped that to create our own plan to navigate this

crisis moving forward.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

MR.

WAKEHAM:

Mr.

Speaker, I would suggest that when a government doesn't want to make decisions

they revert to reviews and task forces, and here we go again.

A Task Force on Health Care was also announced on

budget day. Given that health is the largest, single expenditure in government,

who will be in charge of reviewing health care expenditures, the Moya Greene

team or the Task Force on Health Care?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

MR.

HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I would draw the Member for Stephenville - Port au

Port's attention to the colleague just a couple of desks down, he said in this

pandemic we could not plan for this.

What we are doing, Mr. Speaker, is we are looking

afresh at some of the broader issues around health with the aim of looking at

social determinants of health and upstream manoeuvers that will reduce the

disease burden. So of instead of being the department of illness and community

services, I can actually become the Department of Health and Community Services.

While they do that, we have a series of short-term measures and medium-term

measures in place, such as Towards

Recovery , which are already abolishing wait times and improving access, Mr.

Speaker.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

MR.

WAKEHAM:

Mr.

Speaker, Moya Greene's task force has been asked to review government

expenditures. Health takes up 40 per cent of those.

Will the review of health care expenditures include the

$200-million savings plan talked about by former deputy minister John Abbott? In

his Liberal leadership campaign he certainly gave the impression that the work

had been done and the recommendations made. Will they be made available to the

Moya Greene team?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

MR.

HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Over the years, there has been a variety of proposals

submitted to the Department of Health. The Member opposite in his previous life

may have had a finger in that as CEO of Labrador-Grenfell Health.

From my point of view, we are open to anything that

will improve the health of the population. I think we need to stop looking at

health as a cost and look at it as an investment. These are jobs, these are

high-paying jobs and they invest in the future of the people of this province,

Mr. Speaker. They do it in a way that benefits us all and I think we need a

little bit of a mind change.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Stephenville - Port au Port.

MR.

WAKEHAM:

Mr.

Speaker, the minister is right; I am familiar with reviews that have been done

in health. I certainly know and that's why I'm confident that they were done and

that they do exist.

Again, I ask the simple question: Is Moya Greene tasked

with reviewing health care expenditures?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

MR.

HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

The Member opposite will also know that of all of the

ABCs in this province, the regional health authorities and now the Newfoundland

and Labrador Centre for Health Information, is actually reviewed on a very

regular basis. There are at least monthly reports on line-by-line items of every

item of regional health authority expenditure, Mr. Speaker.

I would argue that is why our health care costs have

not risen at a rate that even matches inflation. Within four years, we'll be

amongst the best in the country, Mr. Speaker, from the worst in the country.

That's happened since 2016.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

MR.

P. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Beginning in August of 2016, journeypersons in

Newfoundland and Labrador had an expiry date attached to their certificates of

qualification, requiring renewals every five years at a cost of $50. This expiry

date has now been abandoned by the department.

I ask the minister: Why was such a policy adopted?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Immigration, Skills and Labour.

MR.

BYRNE:

Mr.

Speaker, it is always useful to have information available on apprentices to be

able to understand exactly what the labour force component of our apprentices

is. If the hon. Member has any questions or has any concerns that he'd like to

highlight to me, which he has not done so already, I'd be more than happy and

willing to accept them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

MR.

P. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I believe I'm highlighting them right now and I'll

continue on doing so.

Mr. Speaker, these expiry dates, which were added by

this Liberal government, cost journeypersons' jobs, cost journeypersons'

post-journey training opportunities.

What does the minister say to these hard working men

and women?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Immigration, Skills and Labour.

MR.

BYRNE:

Mr.

Speaker, if there are any incidents of any individual, any apprentice that has

experienced a difficult circumstance, if the hon. Member would like to bring

them forward – certificates and renewals are available and they can indeed be

done and they've been done on a regular basis.

If the hon. Member has any questions, he has not

brought them to my attention to date, but I would appreciate receiving them at

his convenience.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

MR.

P. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I guess emails don't count because I've been copied on

emails that have gone to that department asking specific questions around this.

There have been substantial fees collected – substantial fees – and I learned

through Estimates from approximately 11,000 journeypersons

Will the minister refund these fees for a policy that

should never have been put in place?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Immigration, Skills and Labour.

MR.

BYRNE:

Mr.

Speaker, again, if there's a specific instance where there has been a harm that

has been conducted or a harm that has been followed because there has been a

delay, I'd be more than happy to review on a case-by-case basis, those

circumstances.

Again, the hon. Member is not bringing forward any

specifics so it's very difficult to deal with a notion which is ill defined.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Topsail - Paradise.

MR.

P. DINN:

Mr.

Speaker, I don't accept that answer. It's the same answer for the last three

questions.

We are here in an economy that's dying. We have

individuals and tradespeople who are not getting jobs. They're down and trying

to get up and this government is holding their foot on their neck by these

policies.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

P. DINN:

He's waiting for me to call him. There are people who have already called and

contacted; no answer, nobody home.

Who is going to deal with these individuals, tell them

why they didn't get jobs because of this? Tell them why they didn't get

post-secondary training because of this and refund $50 that is more important in

their pocket than ours?

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Immigration, Skills and Labour.

MR.

BYRNE:

Mr.

Speaker, I think the rhetoric is advancing here. What we want to do is be able

to get to the heart of an issue and find a solution. If there is a specific

issue that can be dealt with, the hon. Member in this House can be assured it

will be dealt with.

I think a more constructive dialogue, which reduces the

rhetoric and provides some more collegial attitude and approach is a better

approach to be able to support our apprentices and those that require our help.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

MS.

EVANS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In Question Period yesterday, the Minister of

Transportation told me that I had to reach out to the federal government

regarding the Nain airstrip. I tell this hon. House that I had already met with

the federal MP and Nunatsiavut Government on this issue and the sole hang-up

rests with the provincial government on moving this file forward.

I ask the minister: Why is the federal MP and

Nunatsiavut Government so frustrated with your department on stalling on the

pre-feasibility study?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

MR.

BRAGG:

I thank the Member opposite for the question.

I'm not sure stalling on the pre-feasibility study

would be how I would term it. This was only announced; the budget was only just

approved a few days ago.

When I was in Labrador about two or three weeks, we

took a tour of the possible site where the road could go so I could get a feel

for it. The people in my department will certainly get to the pre-feasibility

study in time. We will include the people of Labrador in that study, in

consultation.

Mr. Speaker, all I can say to that, I guess in due time

we will get to it, but have a little patience, please.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

MS.

EVANS:

I think, actually, Nunatsiavut Government and the Labrador MP will be shocked to

hear your answer – actually, I think they should listen to it – because this has

been ongoing for years now.

In actual fact, the Nain airstrip has been studied

several times: no night lights, no ability for medevacs to land or take off at

night, life at risk. In actual fact, to hear your answer is unacceptable.

When is this government going to actually commit to the

feasibility study before somebody actually dies? When?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

MR.

BRAGG:

Mr. Speaker, I will apologize because I misunderstood the first question. I

thought the pre-feasibility study she was talking about was the road to the

North, so I will apologize for that.

On the Nain airstrip, I haven't had the luxury yet to

fly into Nain, but my briefing this morning assures that to move the Nain

airstrip, we would have to go the other side of the mountain. The Member

opposite would understand what that means, I'm sure.

The airport that was initially put in Nain was done 100

per cent by the federal government. Any major improvements there will require

the input and the funding from the federal government, Mr. Speaker, so I guess

we look forward to conversations on that in the coming weeks.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.

MS.

EVANS:

The federal MP has committed the federal government for the feasibility study.

They've actually even offered to increase the cost-sharing ratio just to get the

provincial government to agree to the feasibility study. We're talking about a

feasibility study; then the road has to be constructed up to the airstrip.

This is life and death, in actual fact. You cannot land

or take off after dark in Nain, Mr. Speaker. It's critical. This provincial

government has to commit to the feasibility study.

So a yes or no: Are you going to commit to the

feasibility study or are you going to let people's lives be at risk?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

MR.

BRAGG:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I guess further to the last question, in the early '80s

– and I could be corrected on this – in which the federal government built a

number of airstrips on the North Coast of Labrador, the coastal communities.

Nain is an airstrip that can only be classified as only if you can safely land

during daylight hours with suitable weather conditions. My understanding is you

almost take off into a mountain face.

Right now, for that airport in Nain the hon. Member is

talking about, no, there cannot be a fixed wing that will come in after dark,

but the sources of the search and rescue would come into assistance, should we

ever need them, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans.

MR.

TIBBS:

Mr.

Speaker, ambulances in Grand Falls-Windsor are being delayed because staff are

not available to respond to emergency calls.

What is the minister going to do to fix this situation?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

MR.

HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

The ambulance service across the province is divided

into three providers: there's the regional health authority, there are those

that are done by community ambulance operators and there are those that are

performed by private operators. If the Member opposite has a specific instance

where a private operator has run into some difficulties, I would be delighted to

investigate it for him.

Having said that, I have not been made aware by the

regional health authority or the Member opposite of any issues with ambulance

response times in the community of Grand Falls-Windsor, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

Time for one quick question and a quick answer.

The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans.

MR.

TIBBS:

Mr.

Speaker, I'm letting the minister know now. We have a large area; we have one

ambulance crew on for 16,000 people in Grand Falls-Windsor and another so many

people in Bishop's Falls. From the Buchans Highway down the Bay d'Espoir

Highway, we have one ambulance crew and the people of Grand Falls-Windsor don't

realize that, I don't think.

Does the minister think that's adequate for such a big

area?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

MR.

HAGGIE:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

The ambulance service across this province is moving to

a performance-based system. What that means is there are criteria around

response times. Once again, I have not been made aware in regular reports of any

issues with response times in Grand Falls-Windsor as a town.

If the Member opposite has an issue, all he has to do

is walk across the House with the details and I will look into it for him. He

has not done that, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS.

COFFIN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, there are 60,000 people in Newfoundland

and Labrador who are making less than $15 an hour. A recent survey from $15 and

Fairness shows that over 91 per cent of respondents are in favour of increasing

the minimum wage to $15.

I ask the minister: How will he ensure workers in

Newfoundland and Labrador will earn a living wage so they are able to build a

bright future for them and their families here?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Immigration, Skills and Labour.

MR.

BYRNE:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

May I begin my remarks and response to the hon. Member

by saying a thank you to both parties of the Dominion, Loblaws, Unifor labour

disruption who are back at the table today. Much of this conversation today is

around providing workers with adequate income.

I will note for the hon. Member that this House voted

unanimously last night to embark upon a process to investigate guaranteed annual

income. That will be an important piece of work. I appreciate the fact that all

Members came together to examine a problem, because all Members thought that

that was a potential solution.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

MS.

COFFIN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will remind the Member that a guaranteed basic income

is not a substitute for a living wage.

Mr. Speaker, P3s are being approved in this province

without full disclosure of long-term costs. As keepers of the public purse, we

have a duty to know what the Liberal government has gotten us into.

I ask the minister: Will he table the P3 contracts in

this House?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

MR.

BRAGG:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Member opposite for her question.

I guess it goes without saying that there will be some

skeptics when it comes to anything that we try to do and develop. That would be

the job of the Opposition and the Third Party to try and root out where there

may be a problem.

We are building valuable infrastructure in this

province, Mr. Speaker, using the P3 platform. A report came out a while ago that

said it was sole-sourced. We do not sole-source. The fairness advisory is looked

at; we do our due diligence. I'm going to throw a number at you. The newest one,

the Corner Brook acute care hospital, over the 30 year lifespan it's looking at

a saving there of $131.9 million – a saving of $131.9 million.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

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

MR.

J. DINN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister of Education: Can he

tell us which schools and how many students and teachers have their Chromebooks

and laptops in hand, how many more we have to procure to fully supply the

education system, and when will these Chromebooks or these devices be in the

hands of teachers and students?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Education.

MR.

OSBORNE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As the Member knows from a previous answer in this

Legislature and public comments, we are expecting the Chromebooks, Mr. Speaker,

I had indicated before the end of the year. It's probably going to be November

before the entirety of the Chromebooks are secured and they're able to be

uploaded and serviced and ready to be sent out and put in the hands of students

from 7 to 12.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Labrador West.

MR.

BROWN:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

News came this week that as a direct result of the Come

By Chance idling, the gasoline and home heating fuel costs have increased.

What is the minister going to do to ensure that the

people of this province are able to afford to heat their homes this winter?

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology.

MR.

A. PARSONS:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I appreciate the question from the Member opposite.

As I've stated earlier in this Question Period, the

reality is that this cost increase, which was sanctioned by the independent PUB,

has been caused by the refinery being idle due to COVID and the issues in the

oil industry. What we are doing as a government is trying to facilitate and

broker a deal for this refinery so that it will be producing again which would

see hopefully positive results.

I would point out to the Member that I do not believe

it would affect his jurisdiction, though. So that would be good news for his

residents.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

time for Question Period has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

MR.

CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I give notice of Bill 52,

An Act Respecting The Tourism

Accommodations Act.

MR.

SPEAKER:

Further notices of motion?

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR.

CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I give notice that I will on tomorrow move, in

accordance with Standing Order 11(1), that this House not adjourn at 5:30 p.m.

on Monday, November 2, 2020.

MR.

SPEAKER:

Further notices of motion?

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR.

CROCKER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I give notice that on tomorrow I will move, in

accordance with Standing Order 11(1), that this House not adjourn at 5:30 p.m.

on Tuesday, November 3.

MR.

SPEAKER:

Further notices of motion?

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.

MR.

CROSBIE:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have a petition to present. Federal participation is

necessary to support the West White Rose Project and Newfoundland and Labrador's

offshore oil and gas industry. Thousands of jobs are at risk and 30 per cent of

our economy is based on the oil and gas industry. Any economic recovery is

dependent on a vibrant oil and gas industry.

This economic activity will create – over the next 30

to 40 years it will enable the province to transition from fossil fuels to

greener alternatives with positive impact on the environment. This industry

employs thousands of workers, both directly and indirectly, which will provide

financial stability and helps to ensure the province's long-term sustainability

for the future. This industry has provided, and will provide into the future,

billions of dollars to assist in providing the goods and services for the people

of the province.

Mr. Speaker, I'm going to table this in the House of

Assembly. The names and addresses of every person will be available to the

public. The petition is to urge the government to nationally champion the

benefits of oil and gas to the federal government for their support to restart

West White Rose and our offshore exploration and development industry.

To address this, Mr. Speaker, this petition has been

circulating, driven, I believe, principally by a former mayor of St. John's, Mr.

O'Keefe. What I want to say is that the Liberal government here has been

pleading with the federal government since March. They haven't been levering

anything as referred to by the minister, rather they've been pleading. What they

got for their efforts of pleading is $320 million, a smaller amount. Compare

that to the funding provided by previous federal governments for Hibernia, the

cornerstone financing for Hibernia, that package was worth 10 times as much.

This is a gesture which I called accurately, I believe,

hush money. Enough to keep people quiet for a period of time. This is all that

the Trudeau government will do for this province when it comes to the offshore

and assistance to keep the offshore alive. The difference between the PCs and

the Liberals is that we see what a crumbling offshore is doing to the men and

women who work, their families, their mental health and the level of poverty

that's increasing as we speak, and we would do something about it. What would we

do? Instead of taking crumbs from the federal table we would champion the

interests of this province in the country.

Failure, Sir, is not an option.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Member for Placentia West - Bellevue.

MR.

DWYER:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'm presenting a petition today on behalf of the

citizens of the Town of Sunnyside. The reasons for this petition, Mr. Speaker,

are that the Town of Sunnyside was awarded, by motion of council on October 18,

2018, to have a consulting firm to conduct a feasible study report and submit it

to the provincial government, as requested by government under sections 3 and 9

of the Municipalities Act, 1999 – the

act. This study cost taxpayers of Sunnyside several thousand dollars in

following the process as outlined by the department.

Since submitting the feasibility study, the department

has neglected to respond to the citizens of Sunnyside; although several requests

through letters, texts and phone calls have been made to Environment, Climate

Change and Municipalities. The town has asked on many occasions where the

process presently stands and when we could expect a reply.

The boundary extension has multiple interests to the

town and would enable the town to maintain fiscal stability, preserve and

protect significant landmarks, inclusion of our existing watershed area and

includes lands and coves with historical attachments. The approval of this

boundary will provide for increased recreation areas and potential

infrastructure development. This process has taken way too long.

Therefore, we petition the hon. House of Assembly as

follows: We, the citizens of Sunnyside, urge the government to approve the

boundary extension for the Town of Sunnyside.

As for the stability and the reason why the town wants

to extend the boundary, Mr. Speaker, one is obviously fiscal stability. It can

obtain reasonable and additional revenue from construction activities, less

dependency on provincial and federal taxpayers for infrastructure development.

Another one is the preservation of landmarks, which we

all know is very important in this day and age. It's the ability to implement

appropriate policies and regulations contained years ago with evidence of

housing to the Dorset culture, a Paleo-Eskimo culture. Many artefacts have been

found dating back 4,800 to 5,700 years ago.

The other thing is the inclusion of the protected

watershed. It is very important that they get to protect their domestic water

supply. There are historical ties. It includes many of the coves and inlets in

Bull Arm that were historically used by residents of Sunnyside.

Your Honour, they have very many reasons for making

this extension, asking for this extension and applying for this extension. It's

just that they haven't had any response from government, and we don't really

understand the reason behind that. I've gone to a couple of ministers that held

the department in the past and put in that request. I've always been told that

it's being worked on and it's going through the climate department and

everything, but I do ask the department to please get out this feasibility

study, have a look at it and do the right thing and extend the boundaries of

Sunnyside.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

MR.

CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I call Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

hon. the Minister of Finance.

MS.

COADY:

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I move, seconded by the Minister of Health and

Community Services, 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

imposition of taxes on tobacco, Bill 45.

MR.

SPEAKER:

The

motion is that I do now leave the Chair and that the House resolve itself into a

Committee of the Whole on Ways and Means.

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt this motion?

All those in favour, ‘aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Aye.

MR.

SPEAKER:

All

those against, ‘nay.'

Carried.

On motion, that the House resolve itself into a

Committee of the Whole, the Speaker left the Chair.

Committee of the Whole

CHAIR (P. Parsons):

Order, please!

We are now debating the related resolution on Bill 45.

Resolution

Be it resolved

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

“That it is expedient to bring in a measure respecting

the imposition of taxes on tobacco.”

CHAIR:

Shall the resolution carry?

The hon. the Minister of Finance.

MS.

COADY:

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I appreciate the opportunity to speak to this

resolution this afternoon. This resolution is arising out of

Budget 2020 . For the people who are

listening here this afternoon, Budget 2020

has been supported by every Member of this House of Assembly. We voted on it now

a couple of times, Madam Chair, and I think it's important to note the support

and anticipated support today of this particular tax change that we're putting

forward.

Madam Chair, we will be increasing the tax on tobacco

by five cents a cigarette and 10 cents per gram of fine cut tobacco. This change

will take effect on January 1, 2021. This is about health outcomes more so than

anything.

Smoking, obviously, is a concern; it's a public health

issue in this province. We know that nearly one in seven people in this province

are smokers. That's about 14.5 per cent of our population. Just by way of

comparison, I think the average in Canada is about 11.9 per cent. When you

compare the amount of smoking in this province to the rest of the country, we

know we have much to do to encourage those that currently smoke to try and help

them curb their addiction.

We have high rates of health care issues, of course,

and that can be linked to tobacco use. We have the highest age standardized

instance of the rate of cancer in the country at 551 per 100,000 people. The

next highest is Ontario. This is data from March 2020 from the

Canadian Medical Association Journal .

Lung cancer, of course, is still the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the

country, unfortunately. We also have a very high instance of the rates of heart

disease, stroke and diabetes. All diseases that are related or worsened by

smoking tobacco.

According to the Alliance for the Control of Tobacco,

in their most recent data from 2017, those in the category – I'm going to use a

couple of categories so we can see the impact – 15 to 19 years of age, current

smokers, 10 per cent; 20 to 24, about 24 per cent; 25 and older, it's about 20.4

per cent; and 45 and over, it's about 19.6 per cent; 13 to 27 per cent of women

use tobacco during pregnancy and women under 25 are more likely to report that

they smoke regularly during pregnancy. We all know the impacts of that.

This particular tax increase is more as a deterrent to

public health reasons. Public health, obviously, has been a very major and

important focus of this government. On top of the public health side, there are

also the economic reasons for wanting to reduce smoking rates. A healthier

population means less strain on our health care system over time and it is both

socially and economically beneficial to reduce tobacco use in this province. I

think everyone in this House agrees that we should.

I can remember on budget day, I was asked how much I

was expecting to get as Minister of Finance from this new tax. I'll use the term

that a member of the media used. They said it was a big money-maker. I said it's

not about the tax; it's about the deterrent. My response: I would much rather

that we got zero revenue from this new tax; I would much prefer – I think most

everyone in this province would much prefer – if we got zero revenue from this

tax. That's not likely because we don't live in a perfect world and we know that

there are people that have addictions to smoking and that will continue to have

addictions to smoking despite best efforts to ensure that we help them not have

that challenge.

The goal then, I guess, is not revenue, but if I was

seeking more revenue, this wouldn't be where we would look to get the most

revenue. It's more that I ask for support of this motion to help with having

healthier outcomes for this province.

Madam Chair, I have reams of information and I know

Members opposite know this and other people of the province know this.

Certainly, the concerns are around the public health and certainly not around

this tax. I can tell you that our tax rates that we've just increased do not

make us the highest in the country. We do know that places like British Columbia

and others are higher. Manitoba, for example, have higher tax, slightly higher;

not much higher but slightly higher tax. We really want to make sure that we are

– we're trying to ensure that people – it's a deterrent, it's the only way to

describe it.

Obviously, we would want more people to focus on the

stop-smoking programs. I know in Budget

2020 , we also allocated, I think

it was – if my memory serves – $1.7 million for stop-smoking campaigns and we

want to continue to focus on helping people to stop smoking.

I would say, Madam Chair, that is the aim and goal of

everyone in this House and the aim and goal of the stop-smoking programs that we

have put in place and that are available through the alliance on tobacco.

Madam Chair, I will also say that following Royal

Assent – and this is for my colleague from Labrador – the rebate in the border

zone regions would be similar so the regulations will be gazetted around the

time that this is impacted so it won't have any disparaging effect for border

zones. I know that's important because, of course, Quebec and Labrador share a

border and we do recognize that border zones are a challenge. That would just

follow the regulations. I point that out to Members of this House that are

impacted by that.

I've already said this, but the 2019 Canadian Tobacco

and Nicotine Survey showed that about one in seven people in this province are

smokers, 14.5 per cent. I encourage them to utilize the programs, the

stop-smoking lines, whatever help and assistance that we can give as a

government or community can give. We will certainly be there to help them with

this serious addiction. I know how troubling it is.

I had a family member once who told me that smoking was

one her hardest addictions and something that she would wake in the middle of

the night to have a cigarette. That's how strong this was. I can tell you after

repeated attempts, she was successful. Now, I think, 20 years' later, she's in

much better health and much better shape because she was able to kick that

addiction. It's difficult. We recognize how difficult it is, that's why we put

millions towards supporting programs to help with stop smoking.

I encourage people to take advantage of those programs.

I encourage people to work towards better health. I know the Minister of Health

and Community Services would encourage people to do that as well. I think this

is very interesting that the people who are smokers are more impacted by things

like COVID-19. So we do encourage people to take advantage of those programs.

With that, Madam Chair, I'll stop speaking because I

know Members opposite will want to speak to this particular increase in tax.

Again, I say, we're not the highest tax in the country, we're pretty middle of

the pack, but it is to try and be a deterrent to smoking.

Again, I refer people to stop-smoking lines, to the

different programs that we have available through government. We're there to

help them with their addiction.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

Thank you.

Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the Member for Cape St. Francis.

MR.

K. PARSONS:

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

K. PARSONS:

It's a privilege again today to speak and represent the beautiful District of

Cape St. Francis and the beautiful people in the District of Cape St. Francis.

I'm going to speak a little tiny bit about Bill 45

first and then, as you know, this is a money bill, so we have the opportunity to

speak whatever we please on things that are important to us.

I know that this is important for the health of

individuals in Newfoundland and Labrador. I think we've come a very, very long

ways when I look at smoking in this province. I know you can't go into people's

homes anymore, you never see anybody smoking in their homes, they move outside.

I just recently went on a moose hunting trip where we separated the trucks by

non-smokers and smokers. It's just the way things are today.

I know that 5 cents doesn't sound like a lot, but for a

person that is smoking a pack a day, it's quite a bit of money for them. Still,

listen, I'm hoping that it will encourage them to find some way to stop smoking

that pack of cigarettes a day. Because not only do cigarettes affect the

individual, we've realized in the last number of years how much it affects the

individuals around them.

We all see it – when you see children around smoke.

It's one of my pet peeves that really, honestly, it gets to me. Honestly, I

believe there should be a charge against it, because we are definitely affecting

people around us. I don't like smoke, I really don't. I've never smoked a

cigarette in my life. I tried it once or twice, I have to say that. I tried when

I was in Grade 8, I think it was, but I got sick. I had a couple of drags and it

didn't taste so good, so I never tried it after.

People do smoke and it's an addiction. It's no

different than alcohol or drugs or anything else. It is an addiction, and

anything we could put in place for them to stop on that addiction, then we

should be doing it. I think five cents is not a big thing, but for a person

that's addicted to cigarettes it may be a real big thing because of the cost. A

pack of cigarettes, I think, costs around $10 a pack or probably $12 a pack and

a person who has that habit for every day of the week, I could just add up the

payment. It could be almost a mortgage payment a month.

I encourage and I applaud the government for the five

cents if that's what it takes to help, but there should be something put in

place so that the people that are smokers that we can help them to get off and

stop smoking. The same thing we would do with people that are alcoholics or into

drugs, that we should be able to do it. That's where I think our five cents

should be going towards, because at the end of the day that five cents will be

savings on our health care systems. As we know, smoking is one of the largest

causes of cancer. So if we can stop people from smoking then hopefully it will

save us in the long run on our health care costs.

Now, Madam Chair, I wanted to do something today and I

didn't know how to do it first when I was going to do it, but I just wanted to

do it here in the House of Assembly and I will do something later on on

Facebook. I want to let the residents know of the beautiful District of Cape St.

Francis, and all my colleagues in this House of Assembly, that I will not be

seeking re-election when the election is called in the upcoming election.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

K. PARSONS:

Thank you very much, I appreciate that.

I'm after having four elections, and I really have to

say that with every election the numbers increased. So I really have to say that

I really appreciate it, but the numbers increased because of the great team I

had and the number of volunteers I had over the years. It's something for a lot

of you new politicians that are here, it's when you're working on the ground

with people and you help people, they'll help you. That's how Newfoundlanders

and Labradorians are. We're a very generous group of people and we support each

other.

I have to say that over the last four elections, I've

learned a lot. The first election I was like a deer in headlights. I was

frightened to death knocking on people's doors, hoping that someone wouldn't

slam a door in my face. I had one door slammed in four years, so it wasn't too

bad, but I learned a lot.

I learned a lot from people knocking on doors and their

concerns and I learned that we as people – people love to talk to you and they

love to vent and be able to get their concerns. As politicians, we have to have

very thick skin sometimes because sometimes it's not how you fix the problem,

but it's listening to the person that has a problem and that they feel great

about that.

I really have to thank the people in Cape St. Francis.

I have to say, it's a Tory district. It was St. John's East Extern and it's the

only district in the province that has stayed PC since Confederation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

K. PARSONS:

saying that, I have to say, when I first came in here I had some big shoes to

fill. I had the former MHA and good friend, and friend of a lot of people in

this House, Mr. Jack Byrne, who was a great man.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

K. PARSONS:

Jack was the person who encouraged me to get into politics. He called me up – I

called him actually. I helped Jack out with a few campaigns. I called him up one

day and told him I was interested in running for a councillor in Flatrock. He

said, no, I want you to run for the mayor. I said, Jack, you're nuts. I'm not

going for mayor. I'll go councillor. I'm not going at that.

That night when I got home, Jack was after calling my

father and telling my father that we need Kev to run for mayor. So between two

of them, they got me involved in politics. That was the other fellow – the shoes

I had to fill. He had size 15, but I didn't get that far with it. They were two

very important individuals that helped me along the way and I looked up to. I

really hope that I did my best like they did.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

K. PARSONS:

politicians, we know we come in here and we do our job but every one of us, and

any former politician, realizes we can't do anything unless we have good people

around us. I'm very fortunate to have good people around me. I had two previous

constituency assistants, Veronica Kirk and Sylvia Whelan, and they did a

fantastic job for me.

The last 10 years, I had a lady, Barb Cadigan, who is

one of the nicest people and the most caring person I think I've ever met. I'd

like to thank her publicly because I know when everybody calls in, they say what

a sweet lady she is, and she is a sweet lady.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

K. PARSONS:

Also, we banter back and forth here in the House and we ask questions and you

answer questions. Ministers will sit down with a bunch of staff every day. We'll

sit down with our staff every day and go through questions and whatever. They'll

give us guidance, whether it's a response to Ministerial Statements or anything

in this House. The staff that I've been involved with over the years have been

fantastic, on both sides. I was in government and in the Opposition, but we have

fantastic staff and I want to thank every one of them because only for them we

couldn't do the job we're doing also.

I want to mention one person in particular who guided

me. She's going to get mad with me, but I don't care. There's one person in our

staff that really guided me over the years and I really want to thank her. Her

name is Laurie Bonia. She's fantastic and she's done a fantastic job.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

K. PARSONS:

all my colleagues here in the House of Assembly, on the other side of the House

here I have most of your cellphone numbers and I'm going to keep them because

down the road I don't know what I might need. I know we fell out, some fellas,

and some of us had our disagreements, but I respect the job you're doing because

I got nothing back than respect from you people. I really appreciate that.

That's how we should be operating in this House of Assembly is respect for each

other.

To my colleagues, like I said, across the way and the

independents and the Third Party, I have nothing but good to say. It's just

unbelievable how we've been treated over the years. There's no one over on that

side of the House or here that I can't go to and talk. When I leave here, I

consider you all my friends and you always will be. That's the way it is.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

K. PARSONS:

It's only 12½ years, but I've gone through six premiers in 12½ years. So get

used to it. There's going to be a change every now and then with the premiers.

I'll tell this little story now because most of the

people on this side say, Kev, you can get up speak any time you want. You can do

it any time. That's because you're here so long, but the first time I ever had

to make a speech in the House of Assembly, I was that nervous I couldn't go to

sleep the night before. My knees were going back and forth and I was looking at

the clock, counting down to know my speech is coming along. Keith Hutchings

walked across in front of me and popped out my microphone. I'm not going to tell

you what I said to Keith Hutchings, but he put back the microphone very, very,

very quick.

To the new Members and people here in the House of

Assembly, this is not an easy job, to get up and do what you do every day. I

and try it, see what it's like.

For my colleagues here on this side of the House of

Assembly, listen, you're doing a fantastic job. It's an absolute honour to be

here with this group of people. It's one of the best groups of people I've ever

met in my life and it's an absolute privilege to be working with you guys. I'm

not giving up today. I'll be here until the next election and I want to continue

to work with you people.

I just have to touch on my family. We all have to

realize the toll is on us sometimes, but the toll is on our family all the time

because we can respond to whatever it is. They look at dad, they look at mom,

they look at aunt, they look at the uncle and it's hard sometimes on them. I'm

very fortunate, very fortunate to have a partner in Denise. She's fantastic. She

supports me like you wouldn't believe. A greater lady I could never ask for.

Then it comes to my two children, David and Nicole.

David and Steph, Steph is David's partner and Nicole's husband is Kevin. They

have been with me all the way. A lot of nights we get home and I'll find my

supper in the microwave. I really appreciate that because I know they got my

back.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

K. PARSONS:

But

with politics and everything else, the one thing that they've given me is two

little grandchildren Sam and Olivia. I can't wait to retire to pick them up at

school or drive them to school or be there everyday with them. That's it for

thank yous.

I just want to thank everybody in the House of

Assembly.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

I also want to extend my congratulations to you, to the

Member for the beautiful District of Cape St. Francis. In my time here, I can

genuinely call you a gentleman and a friend. I wish you all the best.

I think I speak on behalf of the entire House of

Assembly, you will be missed, Sir.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The

hon. the Government House Leader.

MR.

CROCKER:

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I was going to take some time this afternoon and talk

about my district for 10 minutes, but I'm going to change topics. I'm going to

pivot right quick and talk about the beautiful District of Cape St. Francis for

a few minutes.

Madam Chair, the Member opposite – and I think I can

speak for our entire caucus when I say this – has been nothing more than a

gentleman to every single one of us, every single day.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

CROCKER:

mentioned the shoes that he had to fill, and I didn't have the opportunity to

serve with Mr. Byrne, but I can assure you whoever comes after you, Sir, will

have equally as large shoes to fill.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

CROCKER:

spent about a year in Opposition and then I was lucky enough to get re-elected

and come to this side of the House. I got appointed minister of Fisheries and

Aquaculture, at the time, and I quickly learned that the Member for Cape St.

Francis had a very, very, very big passion for fisheries. He was my first

critic. I can remember coming in here for my first Question Period as a minister

– pretty freaking nervous. I don't think he asked me a question for the first

few days, but it wasn't very long and he started asking me questions.

I'm going to tell a little secret, now, first, because

he was new to being a critic too, and I think being a critic is something that

brings a skill with it as well. He, very early on, used to give me a little

signal – two. That meant he had two questions for me. Now, he wouldn't tell me

what they were, but he'd give me a little heads up early on that he had two

questions for me. For a nervous new minister, I don't know if that was good or

bad, because you knew there were questions coming that day.

He's always a great guy to have a chat about fishing or

hunting. A few weeks ago, as we were planning the fall calendar, as the House

Leader opposite would attest, there were certain things that he wanted us to

make sure we were able to maintain in that calendar. One of them was his

tradition of spending some time each fall, I think, in –

HON. MEMBER:

Millertown.

MR.

CROCKER:

Millertown moose hunting. He claims that they were successful this year, but I

have seen no proof; no, haven't seen any proof that they were successful. He

tells me that fish puddings are great; haven't seen any proof of that either.

Madam Chair, again, I could probably go on for quite

some time, but the references the Member made this afternoon to his family and

his partner, Denise – she must be made of gold. He's always had that level

approach to politics, I think, and his family. I know if former Premier Ball

were here this afternoon, I know they had a great relationship about comparing

pictures of grandchildren. I know that's something that they did regularly.

I'll reserve some time to talk about my district

probably later on this afternoon in another debate, but I just want to wish the

Member opposite all the best in his future. Happy fishing, happy hunting. I'm

sure we haven't heard the last of you.

I don't know if you were mayor, I know you said you ran

for council. You were mayor? Maybe you'll be mayor again, we don't know, but I'm

sure your contribution to your community will continue, Sir. It's been an honour

and privilege to be a Member to actually serve with you, Sir.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The

Chair recognizes the Member for the beautiful District of Conception Bay East -

Bell Island.

MR.

BRAZIL:

Thank you, Madam Chair.

It's an honour again to speak in the House. I haven't

spoken in the last week, since we've come back from our break because we've had

so many good representatives here speak on topics that are near and dear to

them, and issues that are relevant to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

I'm quickly going to talk about Bill 45 around the

tobacco tax for two reasons. One is to talk about the need for us to be leaders

and probably have to do some things that may not be popular with all the

electorate to ensure they're as safe as possible. While we do that, we also have

to understand that people, unfortunately, have vices in their life that they

need to be able to get them through stressful times and to deal with certain

things in their environment.

While I'm very cognizant of the fact that smoking has

an impact on people's health in a negative point of view, I do realize, for

certain reasons, smoking is also a needed way of coping with certain situations.

So to replace the need for tobacco, we need to find other support mechanisms.

I give credit, over the last decade or so all

administrations have been very diligent in trying to find programs and services

from counselling to the cessation programs, to ensure that we can get people to

ween themselves off, but to do it without it being a stressful situation for

them or a hindrance to their own health, mentally and physically, as they moved

off.

Sometimes you have to make decisions on the best move

forward and sometimes deterrents are the best thing you can do. Probably one of

the best deterrents in the world is money. If you don't have it, you have to

live without it. If you do have it, you want to keep it for the things that you

want. The priorities normally in people's lives are a roof over their head,

taking care of their families and ensuring that they can live as healthy as

possible.

While nobody wants or engages or sets out to overtax

people, sometimes you have to tax things for the betterment of people. In this

case, I wholeheartedly support what's going here. I do understand people who may

be listening to this who are smokers do have a challenge around what impact this

may have on them, but I would hope that they would see the benefit around other

supports and services that could help them get away, wean themselves off that so

that they're healthier. More importantly, or just as importantly, I should say,

from a financial point of view, this could be monies used for something else

that improves their physical or mental health or their social well-being as part

of it

This is not meant as a tax grab. Every time we get into

a budget we always go – it used to always be alcohol and tobacco always went up

because it was a tax revenue thing. I'm convinced, and I know because of the

conversations that we've had here and some of my previous work experience, this

is about trying to better give people an opportunity to make decisions around a

healthier lifestyle and to support that.

I would hope if there are additional monies generated

that goes into programs to help people move to the next level of getting

themselves off the need for tobacco or any other type of addiction that they may

have as part of that. We support that.

I do understand I will get calls and emails from

constituents who are going to attack the Liberal administration for this tax,

but it's probably one of the few times that I will defend your administration on

a policy that is a tax increase, because I do think if we do this right and we

invest the monies in the right programs to support people, at the end of the

day, we'll have healthier citizens. We'll have less of a burden on our health

care system and, more importantly, people will live longer lives. That's what I

think is more important in this House of Assembly.

Also, Madam Chair, I want to talk about my colleague

from the beautiful District of Cape St. Francis as he so eloquently and honestly

has said for the last 12 years. I've had the privilege of sitting in this House

for 10 years with him and I do say it has been an honour.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

BRAZIL:

talked about the jitters, and I don't care what background you come from, when

you go into politics, the day you walk into a caucus room, no matter what caucus

it is, you're intimidated because there are people in there that you've known

through the media, that you know from their reputations who have made decisions

that effected your life, hopefully, all positively, but have done things that

gives them some acknowledgement, so you're in awe when you walk in.

Every now and then if you walk into a caucus room or in

any environment, having a stable environment or someone who reaches out to you

to alleviate that stress, it's the best thing you could ever have.

I got to give credit to my colleague. When I first

walked in and got elected 10 years ago, he was the first one that came over to

me. I remember he said – Kevin may not remember this – but we were adversaries,

I'll say, on the ice, but maybe not as much on the ice because he played on the

Avalon East league, I played some games on the Avalon West, but when we had the

interlocking, whenever he come to Bell Island to play, I guarantee you when he

was out on his shift, I was sitting on the bench. I made sure we didn't cross

paths on that ice. That was one person I didn't want to go into a corner with.

But I will tell you, I had no problems going in any other corner when it came to

fighting for the rights of people or fighting for what needed to be done in

Newfoundland and Labrador, having that person by my side.

He came over to me, and this is how it was, he said:

Brazil, me and you got a similar kinship coming in here. He said it was about

the two of us coming from a sports background. That made my stress levels drop

right down. Since then, we've been good friends, working colleagues, we've

socialized in a multitude of different environments and everything.

I've always taken, even as I learned more skill sets in

here, to listen to what Kevin would say because it's based on sincerity, it's

based on compassion, it's based on not being overly emotional, but it's totally

based on finding a way to do the right tings. That's a rarity in any form of

politician or anything.

We all have certain qualities and characteristics, very

few have all of those because, for whatever reason, we go in different

directions, but he's one of the few that, I got to say, has all those

characteristics. Ones that I would like to be able say I have all of those, but

I know I have my flaws and I don't have all of them. He's the one, from my

perspective, who set the bar; when I would sit in a caucus room, I knew, at the

end of the day, if I could aspire and do and think and go home with the same

mindset that Kevin Parsons has, I know I wake up every morning having no

problems looking into the mirror. He helped me get to that point, Madam Speaker.

I would also say that the last few years, particularly

in Opposition – while you never want to be in Opposition, for those that are

over there and new in government, you don't aspire to be in Opposition for a

number of reasons. One, because you feel you can do more good in government,

you're at the helm of making decisions. But in Opposition, you're always

thinking about what it is that we need to do, when is it we can be

complimentary, when is it we have to challenge government on polices and this

type of thing?

Kevin was always the one to say: If it's a good

program, if it's a good policy, if it's a good decision, don't criticize it,

acknowledge that it should be acknowledged for what it is, something that's

going to help people. I would grapple with that because there were some other

people you would watch in different caucuses who wouldn't – it didn't make any

difference if it was good, bad or indifferent, they were going to go for the

adversarial approach. So he got me to think, do you know what? You come in here

honourable; you want to leave honourable.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

BRAZIL:

To do that, you have to stand for conviction and you have to stand for the right

things. He's been the epitome of that. He's been the person who has been strong

and stellar. The one thing you don't want to see in Kevin Parsons is to see him

made. I've seen him mad once and it's not the side you want to be on. Even when

he's mad, he's very articulate; he's very sincere, but he will make sure he gets

his point across. He only gets upset when there's something he thinks is an

injustice being done. I saw that as part of his character.

Madam Chair, I would like to end by saying two quick

things: To my friend and colleague, thank you. It's been a pleasure. The nights

at 3:30 in the morning when we're here trying to figure out are there any wings

in St. John's that we could get when we were doing our filibusters – would be

funny, as you're going 10 minutes in and out – but those were enjoyable days.

When you can laugh when you're exhausted, when you can get emotional and cry

because there are certain things that you are so passionate towards what you

feel that it has an impact on you emotionally.

I want to say – and I would think everybody in this

House would agree with me and I know people who have served with Kevin in the

past will agree – we are all better people for knowing Kevin Parsons.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The

hon. the Deputy Government House Leader.

MS.

DEMPSTER:

Thank you, Madam Chair.

The discussion and debate in the House around Bill 45

has certainly taken a little bit of a turn today. I would be remiss, I guess, as

one of the folks who've been around for a longer time in this House if I didn't

weigh in and say a couple of words as well.

I say it all the time: There's something about endings

that cause us to go back and reflect on beginnings. As I've listened to the last

two or three speakers, I, too, have gone back. My days in 2013 and '14 when we

were a small Opposition, we would come in each day and look at this large number

of people in government. No matter what party you're a part of, we all bring

different personalities, different strengths. There are some, perhaps, when we

walk out of the House that truthfully you don't stay connected with, but then

there are some that you think about them and they certainly walk out with their

integrity.

I can think about a conversation sitting beside that

wall one evening that I had with Kevin O'Brien. It was his last day. I believe

it was between 11 and 12 years that he served. I said: Well, Kevin, you've

always been good to me. He was in Municipal Affairs and with 18 communities I

had lots of needs. He said: When I walk down those steps today at 5:30, I'm

going to hold my head high. I had a great relationship with Kevin O'Brien; I had

a great relationship with Clyde Jackman and with Keith Hutchings as an

Opposition MHA. There were a number of them that were very good to me.

Like the Member for Cape St. Francis that we're talking

about today, just in my short time, seven years, we are on the fifth Premier.

The only thing truly, as I say all the time, constant around here has been

change. During that time, the Member for Cape St. Francis – and it's kind of

nice, I think, that he's sitting here and he's hearing these things today,

because far too often we go to a service for someone and there are all kinds of

nice things said about them that they don't hear. I'm a big believer that if we

feel a certain way about someone – life is very uncertain – we should tell them

today. He's been very, very respectful to me. I'm going to miss the little

videos of his grandchildren. Just big enough to toddle and going home when they

surprise him with pumpkins and Halloween things already set up.

I recently read a quote somewhere that said: Be the

kind of person that makes other people want to up their game. I believe that the

Member for Cape St. Francis has sort of shown many of us here in the House how

it is. We all have a role to play, Opposition has a role to keep holding

government to account, but at the end of the day we come in here and we are

wives, husbands, sons and daughters. As the former Speaker that I served with

said to me: You need to be able to go home, look in the mirror and live with

that person at the end of it. I think that's what the Member for Cape St.

Francis has shown all of us.

I wish him many healthy years into his retirement and

many years with his grandchildren. The Government House Leader talked about him

having secrets. Well, I'll tell you, he's pretty smart because he visited my

District of Cartwright - L'Anse au Clair and when he came back he said: I knew

what I had to do. When I showed up he said: I knew you had strong support so I

told everyone you were a very good friend of mine. He said: I had great

treatment the whole while I was there. I do wish him very well.

I'd be remiss, Madam Chair, if I didn't speak for a

moment to Bill 45. Smoking is an absolute terrible addiction, as we've heard the

Deputy Premier and the Finance Minister share. We all know people that have been

impacted by smoking. It's important as a government that not only we would

increase a tax on tobacco as a deterrent with a desire that more people would

stop smoking, but it's absolutely critical that we have supports in place to

help them in that process. Sometimes people are trying to stay away from sweets

or desserts or eating late at night because we want to live healthier. We know

how hard and difficult that is. But I've heard many people say with all of the

chemicals that are in cigarettes it's so much harder.

I myself don't know. I know my mom, who's now a retired

nurse – I had difficulty when I was younger trying to accept the picture of how

a nurse could sit out on the steps on a beautiful sunny day and have a

cigarette, but it was an addiction she had. She's been quit for a long, long

time. She tells me she's a walker and a very healthy person now. She tells me

sometimes even when she's walking she'll pass by someone sitting on a park bench

having a smoke and all these years later she'll stop and she'll inhale; it

smells good to her. I don't get that. I'm making the point that it's a terrible

addiction.

That's why myself and when I was in Children, Seniors

and Social Development for three years – we are supporting a number of groups.

We have the Smokers' Helpline. The Minister of Health and myself had the

opportunity to attend an announcement at the Fluvarium where we are continuing

to support groups like the Alliance for the Control of Tobacco that are doing

some really good work, not just around helping people to stop smoking but, more

importantly, to prevent them from starting.

We have so many of our wonderful, bright, healthy young

people – our future – that are coming up. It only takes that one time out a

little bit bored, someone offers you a cigarette and you take and you end up on

a wrong road, as my grandmother would often warn me about when she was raising

me. It's important that we have those supports in place.

Also, important that in Labrador – and the Finance

Minister has already articulated it very well and I won't go into the detail –

when you represent a district like I do that starts at the Quebec border, L'Anse

au Clair, my first community heading north, if we don't put mechanisms in place

that support those businesses on the border, then we know that the business is

going to go into another province. I appreciate the lens in this government

that's always put on that in supporting the businesses, whether it is in L'Anse

au Clair or it's in Labrador City.

I do support Bill 45; I understand why we're doing it,

Madam Chair. I'm also pleased that as a government we're going to continue to

have supports in place to help people give up that terrible addiction so that at

the end of the day, as my colleague in Health says, we will be talking more

about people in terms of their wellness, as opposed to their illness.

Thank you for the opportunity, Madam Chair, to speak

for a few moments to the bill.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The

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

MR.

J. DINN:

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I think when I spoke previously I mentioned the whole

notion of chewing tobacco. It's interesting, even in my family I do remember my

parents at one time smoking. I spoke to my mother about it after. I said: I

vaguely remember you smoking at one time. Sure enough she did. When my father

would come home from work, they might have a cigarette. I was very young,

obviously, but it stuck in my memory because they smoked and then they didn't.

It's interesting, you look at the amount of money that

goes into smoking-cessation products, yet I think statistics show that most

people give up the habit of smoking cold turkey. They quit it cold turkey. They

put it down and that's it. Others, I can tell you it's in social events only. I

never took up the habit. Some of my siblings did, but for the most part none of

us really in the family smoke.

As a teacher, I saw it first-hand. As I said, most of

the supervision that would take place during recess or lunchtime, especially in

junior high and high school, was around making sure that they weren't smoking in

the doorways and so on and so forth. You could drive them to the end of the

school property and that's where they would go. Then, there's a constant battle

after that and, yeah, sometimes smoking in the bathroom as well and so on and so

forth.

You pick up that habit at a young age. It can be a very

addictive habit, especially if indeed the person has mental health issues –

anxiety, for example. Sometimes smoking then becomes that way to deal with that

anxiety, to provide that calm. You're hooked into a habit then that will have

repercussions, certainly with your lungs and other organs within your body and

your overall length of life and quality of life.

I remember in junior high I was up the shore at the

time and we got talking about a lot of the kids who were smoking. How much do

you smoke? Some kids smoked a pack a week; others, probably up to a pack a day,

Sir. We started crunching the numbers of how much money you're spending then in

the run of a day, a week, a month, a year. That's when it became relevant or

concrete to them in terms of the financial impact: What else could you do with

the money that you spent on cigarettes, if you weren't smoking? For a lot of

them, I do remember, that's one thing that did stick with them years down the

road because there is a financial cost that goes with it.

I don't always look upon taxes as a grab, as a money

grab. I think in many ways when I look at taxes, it's the privilege I pay – it's

what I pay to have the privilege of living in this country, to live in this

province, in this city because I want roads. I want hospitals. I want schools. I

want safety nets that make sure that people don't go hungry.

I have family down in the States where you have to have

your own personal insurance plan to get into a hospital. Maybe the taxes aren't

high, and I've heard people who've visited the States say how cheap you can get

things there. In the end, here's how I would look at it. If you're paying in

taxes to put services in place or you're paying in insurance premiums to provide

those services, you're still paying, it's still coming out of your pocket.

In the end, what I'm looking for is: How are we using

those services? When we're looking at increasing the revenue on tobacco and

cigarettes, we're putting a tax on the product that has severe negative

implications for the health of the person smoking and for society, at large.

I do remember at one time, and I'm sure many here can

remember, when I first starting teaching people smoked on staff during the lunch

period. If you went downtown, you did come home smelling something like a

perverted kipper, in many ways, you could peal the smoke off; you were inhaling

it anyway.

That's one that will go down in

Hansard : perverted kipper.

HON. MEMBER:

Take it back.

MR.

J. DINN:

No,

I'm not taking it back. It's mine and I own it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

J. DINN:

It's interesting how even on an airplane – I like that you could smoke on an

airplane and then it came to a point you had a smoking section. You could be one

seat behind the smoking section. I don't know what the magical thing was, but,

obviously, smoke didn't go past seat 30 or anywhere else. We know it didn't make

a row of beans.

I remember one school where we set up a booth for

teachers on staff who smoked. There was a glass panel there, which when I looked

back on it, it was like they were in their own little aquarium, in keeping with

the fish analogies here.

What started to happen after a while, you could sort of

see the public awareness campaign came to the point where smoking had these

negative health effects, that it was all right not to be smoking. It came to the

point where to get on a plane and not see a cigarette lit up is normal.

I don't know if you remember when we were talking about

banning smoking in all indoor places, public spaces that the sense was that bars

and restaurants were going to suffer greatly for it. I don't think so. That was

the main argument.

I think in many ways, if we're looking taking this

money and if this is going to go into smoking cessation ads, if it's going to go

into treatment and so on and so forth and it's going to benefit the general

well-being of our province, of our people, then that's great, let's do that. I

think that's money well collected and money well spent because the companies are

still going to make money.

I did want to leave this to the last two minutes

because I'm waiting for my colleague for the beautiful District of Cape St.

Francis and the beautiful MHA for Cape St. Francis, because my first dealing

with the Member was my first summer when we had a conference over in Niagara

Falls. That's when I really got to know this gentleman.

What I liked about it – in some ways it's often said:

Jim, it must be interesting around the dinner table with you on one end and Paul

on the other end. I said: Do you know what? We have a lot of stuff in common. We

don't talk politics. It's family. We're probably closer aligned in areas than we

think.

I will say the same for the Member here in that we

actually spent a lot of the time hanging around that time. I know my wife and

his partner hit it off pretty well because they had the same great interest in

wine –

MR.

K. PARSONS:

And

shopping.

MR.

J. DINN:

and shopping, and we had the car so it was fantastic.

One of the things I enjoyed most about the NLTA and the

Canadian Teachers' Federation and Education International was the sense of

camaraderie, the collegiality that you would see there. Regardless of

differences, you can still get along with each other on a personal basis.

I know this is theatre here, in many ways, but I can

tell you that behind the scenes we come, we have parents, we have children, we

have grandchildren, we have partners, we have neighbours, we have friends in our

lives and I would say, regardless of our political stripe, we're coming at this

with an interest to help people. We have a different lens at which we look, but

at the same time what motivates us is people.

I will say this about the Member for Cape St. Francis,

the people of his district, people in general, they are his motivation.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The

Chair recognizes the Minister of Finance.

MS.

COADY:

Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

I wanted to add to the chorus. I consider the Member

for Cape St. Francis a friend. I had seven years, I believe, I lived in Torbay

and I knew of the gentleman then. We share a lot of common friends, a lot of

common relatives, I would say, and I know he knew my father-in-law, so we hold a

special bond in that sense.

Madam Chair, I've always found the Member for Cape St.

Francis as not just a gentleman, but a man with great integrity and great

strength. I know that there is an expression or someone once said that

“Integrity is the most valuable and respected quality of leadership. Always keep

your word.” My dad always said that as well, and I hope I can live up to those

ideals and I know that the Member for Cape St. Francis always does.

I wanted to join the chorus of congratulations to the

Member for Cape St. Francis to thank him for his incredible and valuable

representation of the people of Cape St. Francis. I know he's truly loved in

that area of the province and, indeed, all over this province.

I hope that you remain in contact and in connection

with your friends here in the House of Assembly. You've made a difference, Sir.

I hope all of us can make the same proud mark on the people of Newfoundland and

Labrador that the Member for Cape St. Francis has done.

Thank you for being here.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MS.

COADY:

Now, Members of this House would be surprised, I think, based on how much I've

been speaking to this budget, but I have not had the opportunity to speak to my

district. So I would like to have a few moments this afternoon during this

debate to talk a little bit about, and I won't steal – the Member for Cape St.

Francis always calls it the beautiful District of Cape St. Francis. It's his but

I will say the hard-working, industrious and capable District of St. John's

West. I thank the people of St. John's West for their ongoing support and

friendship. I have a lot of friends in the area, a lot of people who mean a

great deal to me. It is a place that, I think, brings a lot to the City of St.

John's.

For those who don't know it has a relatively small

footprint. It goes from Kenmount Road to Topsail Road, all on the west side of

the Crosstown Arterial. There are incredible people who live in that district

and contribute an awful lot to our communities. People like nurses, teachers,

professional civil servants, lawyers and doctors – people of all walks of life

who've gathered together in communities.

I've been at every single door multiple times, Madam

Chair, as we all have done in our districts. I've had the opportunity to meet

all of the members of my district in some way, shape or form over the course of

the last five years and indeed when I was a Member of Parliament representing

the same area. As I said earlier, they are industrious people. They work very

hard. I think this budget really does resonate with the people of my district

because it is a stable budget in very unstable times.

We all know that we are working our way through a

pandemic. I want to thank the great people of St. John's West and indeed all the

people of the province who have listened intently to Dr. Haggie, the Minister of

Health, as well as Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, our chief medical officer, and really

made sure that we protect one another from COVID. I appreciate people wearing

their masks; I appreciate people keeping their social distance. I appreciate

people keeping their hands sanitized and clean because it has made a tremendous

difference in our community.

I know we're coming into the Christmas period now; I'm

quite excited about the possibility of seeing people during Christmas, of being

with friends and family. If we keep each other safe, hopefully we'll be able to

celebrate Christmas and be able to be in each other's company.

I did note yesterday that a number of countries –

Germany and France, I believe – went back into lockdown and went back into

strict protocols because, of course, the increasing number of cases around

COVID. I wanted to recognize the people of my district, as well as the people of

the province, and thank them for their efforts. I, again, want to recognize the

Minister of Health, the Premier – both the current Premier as well as the former

premier – as well as the chief medical officer. I thank them for their

leadership and guidance and thank them for the efforts that they have made, the

time that they have spent and the deliberations they have made. I'm so proud of

Newfoundland and Labrador.

I'm also pleased, Madam Chair, that we are moving our

way through the budget. We've already had two budget votes and today we are

debating the tobacco tax increases. Nobody likes increasing taxes, but I think

everybody in this House, and hopefully everyone in the province, understand that

this is important. It's important for health reasons; it's important that we

ensure that we discourage people from smoking and put monies, of course, towards

prevention of and reducing tobacco usage as well vaping usage.

We are discussing that bill this afternoon here in the

House. I made a small error when I spoke earlier. I said it will be implemented

on January 1. In the budget, of course, it was October 1. I guess I'm thinking

forward but it was implemented October 1. If this passes today, that will bring

the ability to recognize that tax. I did say earlier, of course, that this does

not impact border communities. We will find a path – we have a path forward to

ensuring that border communities remain with a rebate in a similar fashion as

they do today.

I wanted just to take a few moments this afternoon

again to talk a little bit about my district. A lot of the supports in the

budget are for my district, or for all our districts: supports for families,

like the $25-a-day child care; and supports for jobs and the economy, like the

COVID small business fund. I know a number of small businesses in my community

have already made application to that program. It's a very simplified program

and portal through the Department of Industry, Energy and Technology, Madam

Chair. They are able to put in their application and they'll get their rebate.

They will get their stipend very, very quickly and very, very easily. It's great

to have that program available.

There's also funding, of course, and supports for

health care. I just spoke a little bit about COVID. There are monies available

in this budget to ensure that we can do further testing, make sure that we have

the personal protective equipment that we need, make sure that we have a safe

restart to schools, which I'm thankful to the Minister of Education for ensuring

that. So far I think the schools have done a marvellous job, the teachers have

done a marvellous job and the administrators, of ensuring that children can get

their educations and do so in a safe manner.

Madam Chair, I will rest on my comments, but thank

again the great team at the Department of Finance for all the work that they've

done in this budget. I thank them for a very stable budget in very unstable

times. I again thank the people of this province for their efforts around COVID.

I especially want to thank the good people of the great District of St. John's

West for electing me, for giving me the opportunity to represent them, but also

giving me the opportunity to present this budget today. Thank you.

Thank you, Madam Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

CHAIR:

The

Chair recognizes the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands.

MR.

LANE:

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I'm going to take a few minutes now to speak to this

bill, which I will be supporting, as will everybody else in the House of

Assembly I'm sure. Before I do, though, I guess as the – I believe I went

through it one time. I believe in terms of seniority in the House of Assembly –

not necessarily by age but seniority in the House of Assembly – I'm number five

on the list. So I've been around a while and –

HON. MEMBER:

You

had hair.

MR.

LANE:

What's that? I had hair? I had a little bit of hair when I got here. What I had

was brown at that time, not grey.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Oh,

oh!

CHAIR:

Order, please!

MR.

LANE:

say to my colleague to the right, he'll be thrilled to know I'm not going

anywhere. I'll say that right off the bat: I'm not going anywhere. Pending, of

course, the decision of the people of Mount Pearl - Southlands at some point in

time, but I'm feeling pretty good about that one too.

As someone who's been here for a fair amount of time

now, I've gotten to know a lot of Members in this House of Assembly. There have

been a lot of people come and gone. Some people are here for a short time and

there are some people who've been here for a very long time.

I would suggest that the Member for Cape St. Francis

could definitely be here, I'm going to say, as long as he wanted to be here.

He's obviously making this decision on his own terms, when he feels it's best

for him and for his family but I really believe that he would have absolutely no

problem in the next election and the next election after that. I really do.

I certainly want to take the opportunity to

congratulate him on the last number of years in serving the people of

Newfoundland and Labrador and, in particular, the people of his district. I

didn't know his father, but I did know Jack Byrne. Jack was a great man so that

district has had solid representation for a very long time, including this

gentleman over here, the current MHA.

For a period of time we served in caucus together. I

always found him to be a good guy, I still do. There's no doubt there was a

period in time when I left, he was a bit mad at me, I understand that. They all

were, I don't blame them. Nobody forced me out, I made my decision. As they say:

I made my bed, I had to lie in it and I've lived by that decision; really no

different than what happened in 2015, some of the people over there were mad at

me. That's fair enough.

HON. MEMBER:

(Inaudible.)

MR.

LANE:

Except for the Member for Bay of Islands. No, he was mad at me, too.

Do you know what? At the end of the day, that's

politics. It's the life that we choose. We all understand how it works. We all

have to do what we feel is best for us and for our district at the time. That's

what I've always tried to do and I know that's what the Member for Cape St.

Francis always does.

Similar to what the Member for Conception Bay East -

Bell Island said, I always enjoy – and I mean this sincerely – listening to the

Member for Cape St. Francis when he speaks. I don't mean this in any disrespect

to any other Members, I really don't, but there's just something that comes

across to me, and I'm sure, obviously, to his constituents, comes across as

always being totally genuine. It never comes across as somebody who's using key

messages and speaking notes and all that kind of stuff.

Everyone here knows what I mean when I say that. You

can tell that every word he says, he means. You can tell that every word he

says, he means. Whether it's good, bad, different – that doesn't mean I always

agree with everything he always says, and that's the way it goes, or anybody

else in this House. I'm sure there are lots of people would say they don't agree

with a lot of the stuff I say and that's fair enough. That's democracy. That's

what it's all about.

I have to say, and give the man credit, when he speaks,

I really believe that he means every word that he says. I really do believe that

when he talks about the beautiful District of Cape St. Francis and he talks

about his constituents, he really believes that.

There are some people who go through here – and I would

say that sometimes people who last the longest, the people who have the most

longevity in this House of Assembly, are what people would refer to as good

constituency people. That's the bottom line, that's the secret.

It doesn't matter what party you're with or if you're

with a party or you're not, it doesn't matter; the bottom line is the people who

have the most success in this House of Assembly have always been known as good

constituency people. Whether or not you have a portfolio as a minister or this

or that or anything means nothing. It means nothing to the people in your

district. What matters to the people in your district is that when they phone

your office, they get a return phone call. When they come to you with an issue,

you do your very best to solve that issue for them.

Can you solve everybody's issues? Absolutely not. It's

absolutely impossible. There are some people who come to you with stuff that's

unrealistic. There are some people who come at you with stuff that you really

feel bad for them and you wish there was something you could do, but the rules

are what the rules are, the legislation is what it is.

You can come, bring it up here in this House of

Assembly and say the rules should be changed, but you just don't have the

ability to change it. I always felt and feel that when it came to those types of

issues, he obviously is a person who was there for his constituents.

I know when I hear him talking about all the things

going on in his district and the seniors and stuff like that, it's because he's

there. He's a guy who's on the ground with the seniors at all of the functions

in his district and mingling with the people, as he should be.

I don't want to give the man a swollen head or nothing

here now.

MR.

K. PARSONS:

ahead.

MR.

LANE:

said go ahead, but it is true. I try to call it as I see it and that's how I see

it.

I think that the District of Cape St. Francis has been

served well for a very long time from his father, from what I understand by

reputation, never knew the man; certainly from Jack Byrne who I did know and had

the utmost respect for. I can say that the people of Cape St. Francis were

served very well by Kevin Parsons and I have no problem saying that to anybody.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

LANE:

Just out of curiosity, I'll also throw it in there that he also solved a little

bit of a mystery to me because on Facebook, one of my Facebook friends is Chris

Andrews. He got his hair cut and a shave recently and he posted on Facebook. Who

knows, that might be the reason why. Maybe he knew something then that we didn't

know.

Anyway, I do, Kevin, want to wish you – I don't care

about the rules on the name – I do want to wish you well.

SOME HON. MEMBERS:

Hear, hear!

MR.

LANE:

One of the things that we all have to remember here is that we're all Members,

if you will, we're a special group. This is a very special fraternity. Just

think about it. There are only 40 people at any given time that are elected to

have the honour to sit in this House of Assembly, just 40. If you look at how

time goes on and there are people who've been here and who've since passed on,

the number is not large in this province. We all know that all politicians,

sometimes we get a bad rep; sometimes we deserve it. No doubt there are times we

deserve it, but we all get a bad rep.

I've often said sometimes when we're here tearing

strips off each other and so on, I think we have to remember the fact that we

are all alike. We were all elected to do the same kind of work for the people in

our district. We all have families. We all know what it's like to face

controversy. That's why any time anyone has ever been in this House and has

faced any controversy in the media or in the House or wherever, I've never gone

on to try to jump on that because I just think it's wrong because it could be me

tomorrow. It was me. I've been the centre of controversy. You're here long