MR. SPEAKER (Hodder): Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Before we begin routine proceedings this afternoon, I would like to observe an old parliamentary tradition. I have the pleasant task of formally introducing a member who was elected in the by-election held on June 23. He is Clayton Forsey in the District of Exploits. I have been advised by the Clerk of the House of Assembly that Mr. Forsey has taken the Oath of Allegiance to the Crown as required by the Constitution, and has signed the Members' Roll. The hon. the Member for the District of Exploits.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to present to you, Mr. Clayton Forsey, the Member for Exploits who claims the right to take his seat.

MR. SPEAKER: Let the member take his seat.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: This afternoon I would like to welcome some visitors who are in the Speaker's gallery. They are family members of Mr. Forsey. I would like to introduce Mrs. Rose Forsey, Mrs. Josephine Budgell, Mrs. Josephine Morgan, Ms Jenny McGrath and Ms Melanie Mercer.

Welcome to the House of Assembly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: While we are doing introductions, I would like to introduce as well - some of our personnel have changed and we have some new Pages.

I would like to introduce Ms Kara Warr, Mr. Matthew Sheppard, Mr. Shannon Tobin and returning we have Ryan Kelly. These young people are students at the university and we are honoured to have them as our Pages for this Session.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Chair has notice of the following member's statements: the hon. the Member for the District of Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune, the hon. the Member for the District of Terra Nova, the hon. the Member for the District of Grand Bank, the hon. the Member for the District of St. John's North, the hon. the Member for the District of Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair and the hon. the Member for the District of Trinity North.

The hon. the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LANGDON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Rev. Roy Simms of my district on his recent ordination to the ministry.

Rev. Simms was a long-time resident of Milltown-Head Bay d'Espoir where he was a well-respected educator at the local school, lay reader and community volunteer. Upon retirement from his teaching career, Rev. Simms decided to further the ministry of his church. He enrolled at Memorial University where he began his theological studies.

Mr. Speaker, upon completion of his studies, Rev. Simms returned to the area and assumed parish responsibilities in the community of Belleoram. On November 1, over 300 people gathered in St. Lawrence Anglican Church to celebrate with Rev. Simms as the Right Reverend Edward Marsh from the Diocese of Central Newfoundland conducted the ordination service.

Visitors gathered from the Coast of Bays region and from other areas of the Province to take part in the service. Choirs from Belleoram and English Harbour West participated, and Bishop-Elect Rev. David Torraville delivered the sermon. Rev. Simms was presented to the Bishop by his wife, Sheila, Rev. Neal Buffett of Harbour Breton, Neville Savoury of Belleoram, Phyllis Lawrence of English Harbour West, Lenus Lawrence of St. Jacques, and Sadie Lawrence of Mose Ambrose.

Mr. Speaker, I wish Rev. Simms and his wife, Sheila, a very rewarding ministry and much happiness as they share in the church life of our region.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Terra Nova.

MR. ORAM: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to congratulate the organizers of this year's Agriculture Day located at various farms across the Province.

Agriculture is one of the fastest growing industries in Newfoundland and Labrador. It employs approximately 6,200 of our Province's people and has primary and value-added production worth over $500 million.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that my district has played a vital role in the development and preservation of the agricultural industry in this Province.

Mr. Speaker, I was honoured to be a part of the opening of a new beef-raising facility in Lethbridge, owned and operated by Mr. George Greening, a local farmer from Musgravetown. He has invested, along with the Department of Agriculture, hundreds of thousands of dollars for a first-class facility. He is just one example of the many success stories in the Province's agricultural industry.

Furthermore, I attended the annual Musgravetown Dairymen's Association Gala this past Saturday, and I am happy to report that the industry is thriving, and will see further expansion in the coming years. Also, the Eastport Peninsula held an agriculture exhibition this past October showcasing the contributions made to this industry by the people of the area. It is through such events that people can see and gain a real appreciation of this industry and the positive impact it has on the Province.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. members to join with me in congratulating those involved in the agriculture industry of this Province, and recognizing their contribution.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Grand Bank.

MS FOOTE: Mr. Speaker, I rise today to extend sincere congratulations to the staff of The Southern Gazette, the local paper serving residents of the Burin Peninsula. The Southern Gazette, a member of the Robinson-Blackmore Printing and Publishing-Transcontinental Media family recently celebrated its thirtieth anniversary. The Southern Gazette first hit the street on May 29, 1975, and through the support of local readers and businesses the paper has thrived.

The Southern Gazette has won a number of Atlantic and Canadian Newspaper Association awards. To mention just a few, in 2005, the Gazette was third overall in Atlantic Canada for a General Excellence Award. In 2003, the Gazette was acknowledged for its Advertising Content with a first place in General Excellence Award. The pinnacle of the Gazette's awards came in 1997 when the newspaper was recognized at the Atlantic Canada Newspaper Association Better Newspapers Competition as the winner of the Bowater-Mersey Award, symbolic of the Best All-Around Newspaper, with a circulation of less than 6,500. In 1996, the Gazette received three Blue Ribbons. Individual writers of the Gazette have also received recognition during the paper's three decades in existence.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this House to join me in congratulating the staff members of The Southern Gazette on their thirtieth anniversary, and wish them many more years of providing such an important service to the residents of the Burin Peninsula.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for St. John's North.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDGLEY: Mr. Speaker, today I would like to recognize a team of students from high schools in the Eastern School District and the Marine Institute who, this past summer, were the winning entry at an international underwater robotics competition at the Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas. This was no second-rate competition. Our team competed in the top division against more than forty other teams from highly regarded institutions across the United States. As a point of reference, the team from the famous MIT in Boston placed ninth. Our team came away with five first-place wins, including the gold medal for first overall.

These students worked since last December designing and building a remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, that operates underwater. One of the judges described the Newfoundland and Labrador ROV as "...a fabulous piece of engineering".

Imagine the scene in Houston, Texas - top students from across the United States - the gold medal being presented to the winning team, our team, and they break into a spontaneous rendition of the Ode to Newfoundland. Fantastic!

Through these students, we have again demonstrated that we in this Province can compete with anyone in the world.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this House to recognize team co-ordinator Mr. Clar Button, team mentors Ms Corrina Mercer and Mr. Dwight Howse, and all the gold medal team from Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The people of the communities of Port Hope Simpson and Williams Harbour were very proud to accept the designation and preservation of Gilbert Bay as a Marine Protected Area on October 5, 2005.

Mr. Speaker, this past weekend I was able to celebrate with these communities, and today I want to congratulate the residents who were involved in the work over the past ten years. The local people formed a steering committee, and partnered with the science community of Memorial University and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Mr. Speaker, I want to point out that Gilbert Bay is one of four Marine Protected Areas in our country, two of which are in Newfoundland and Labrador, the second being in Eastport, Newfoundland and Labrador.

Gilbert Bay is known for its genetically distinct species of Northern cod fish. While Northern cod, unto itself, is a fish species that still poses many questions to the people of our Province in terms of its genetics, the Gilbert Bay stock has proven to be distinct and also a reproducing fish stock. The work of Dr. Joe Wroblewski and Dr. John Greene of Memorial University into this rare fish species has attracted the attention of the science community from all across the North Atlantic Rim. They have spent the past ten years studying this unique breed of Northern cod and has now successfully worked with the federal government to have the region protected.

With this new Marine Protected Area designation also comes the potential for economic opportunity, especially in the eco-tourism industry. Gilbert Bay is adjacent to the tiny community of Williams Harbour which has no road connection. In celebrating this designation, I want to ask government to turn its attention to the needed infrastructure of Williams Harbour. I am confident that government will see the real benefit in having this Marine Protected Area of our Province, and the real benefit in connecting the community to the Labrador Highway. In doing so, Mr. Speaker, we will be connecting Gilbert Bay to the scientific minds of our Province and of our country.

I would like to ask hon. members today to join me in congratulating the steering committee, their co-chairs Margaret Burden, the Mayor of Port Hope Simpson, and George Russell, the Mayor of Williams Harbour, and all those who were involved both from federal Fisheries, Memorial University, and provincial Fisheries.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Trinity North.

MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to inform this House that, since we last sat, a former member of this Legislature, Mr. Sam Drover of Hodge's Cove, passed peacefully away at Clarenville Rest Home on June 19, 2005.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Drover had an impressive career to his credit including seven years as an MHA for the District of White Bay. Mr. Drover was first elected to the House of Assembly for the District of White Bay in 1949 in the 29th General Assembly, which was the first election held in Newfoundland and Labrador after Confederation. Mr. Drover was re-elected to represent the people of White Bay again in 1951.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Drover left the party that he was first elected with, on principle, in 1956 to sit in this House as a member of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation. He became the first member of our Province's history to hold a seat for the party that later became known as the New Democratic Party.

Prior to his election in 1949, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Drover had already established himself as a leader in his community as a teacher, a member of the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, and as an Officer of the Newfoundland Ranger Force. Mr. Drover's contribution to Newfoundland and Labrador has spanned a period of time in our Province's history where there was great change, and he was a significant part of that change, Mr. Speaker.

I ask all hon. members of this House to join with me today in remembering and celebrating the life of Mr. Samuel Drover, a true patriot and a great Newfoundlander.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Statements by Ministers.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community and Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. OTTENHEIMER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in this House today in recognition of National Child Day, which took place yesterday, Sunday, November 20, 2005.

This year's theme is Children Have A Right To Play. The importance of play to a child's well being is well highlighted in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child.

Mr. Speaker, children are among the most vulnerable members of society and we all have a responsibility to protect and nurture them. National Child Day serves as a reminder of the importance of guarding the rights of children and providing them with safe and appropriate environments for healthy development.

Mr. Speaker, a child's play time during the early years sets the stage for healthy cognitive development. Research has proven that it is through playing that children naturally learn skills that will last throughout their lives.

Mr. Speaker, our government is committed to improving the quality of life for children and families in this Province. To better meet the needs of children, our government has made several strategic investments in early learning and child care over the past year. Mr. Speaker, our government has provided some $6.5 million in Budget 2005 to improve services in regulated child care, child protection and victim services for children.

Furthermore, we recently signed an agreement in principle with the federal government to enhance early learning and child care services, and we also established a ministerial consul on early childhood learning to focus on the learning needs of children and their families.

Mr. Speaker, I would ask all my colleagues to join with me in recognizing the efforts of all those who care for our Province's children by wearing a blue ribbon to mark this special day.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am pleased to join with the minister today in marking this occasion. I think every day in this Province we should celebrate our children and the valuable contribution that they make to our society.

Mr. Speaker, I feel that children should have a right to play, and they should have a right to play in an environment that is free of poverty. I would suggest to the minister that, even still today in our Province, we have a large number of children who live in poverty. I think the report of CTV last year, just a year ago, indicated that over a million people in this country live in poverty, of which over 24,000 was in our own Province, I think, of Newfoundland and Labrador; I know over 20 per cent.

Mr. Speaker, I think the child care money that was passed down a few months back from the federal government to the provincial government, when Prime Minister Martin was here to sign the $50 million agreement, that money has to be invested directly into the children in our Province. It has to be invested to not only deal with the levels of poverty that exist in our society, but also to deal with the fact that there are very few child care facilities available. There is something like 49,000 children under the age of twelve in Newfoundland and Labrador of which only 4,500 of these children actually have an opportunity to attend a child care program, and I think that needs to be addressed. I also think we need to look at the fact -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The member's allotted time has expired.

MS JONES: May I have a couple of -

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Leave has been granted to make some concluding comments.

MS JONES: Thank you.

Indeed I will, and I will be brief, Mr. Speaker.

I think it is important to point out that many of the people who work in our child care facilities as well are well-educated young people, most of them are women, and they are being paid at a wage that is less than adequate. I think that needs to be addressed as well in the broader scope of a child care program within our Province.

So, I join with the minister in celebrating today, and I encourage him in the work that he has been doing to continue to address the problems of our child care centres and child poverty in Newfoundland and Labrador.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.

MR. HARRIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Given the length of the comments, perhaps I should ask for leave before I start.

I am pleased, Mr. Speaker, to join with the Minister of Health and Community Services and the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair in recognizing the United Nations National Child Day and respectfully, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child.

Of course, world wide children are at risk; in fact, in some countries even being kidnapped and conscripted into armies to fight in various countries. We have to be concerned about that throughout the world. In our own country, of course, we have significant child poverty, as the previous speaker has mentioned, but I want to focus on one thing today -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. member's allotted time has expired.

Does the member have leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: Yes.

MR. SPEAKER: Leave has been granted.

MR. HARRIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I was hoping to avoid that very thing.

But, what I do want to focus on, Mr. Speaker, in our own Province - and we have a very significant and serious problem. In fact, I would call it a crisis in childhood in this Province. I am referring to the results of a study done earlier this year by Dr. Patricia Canning showing that more than 25 per cent of children, preschool children, are in fact overweight or obese. That, to me, is a signal of big trouble, Mr. Speaker, in the future of this Province and our young people. In fact, the Ontario Medical Association has said that perhaps we are raising, as parents, the first generation of children whose life expectancy will be less than their parents. I regard that as a crisis, Mr. Speaker, a crisis for all of our children. A crisis in our education system, and the child's right to play should also be worked on from the point of view of making sure that there is an opportunity for children to play; that we have physical education. That we have good nutrition in our schools, better nutrition programs and all of the things that have to happen in order that our young children growing up today have an appropriate and healthy environment for them to develop their physical and mental and educational well-being.

I recognize that the minister has raised these matters here today but he has a very important, big job on his hands, and so do we all, Mr. Speaker, to ensure that our children growing up today do not suffer the kind of consequences that are being predicted by studies of this kind.

MR. SPEAKER: Further statements by ministers?

The hon. the Minister of Government Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS WHALEN: Mr. Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to inform my colleagues of the first provincial-territorial conference on e-government which I attended earlier this month in Quebec City.

This conference was an important step in determining how each region of the country is approaching the use of the Internet and information technology. As more and more people have access to the Internet, many want the convenience and accessibility of obtaining government services online. The Department of Government Services already provides a number of services online, including driver's licence and vehicle registration renewal.

This fall, we established our Registry of Lobbyists with a focus on making it a user-friendly online service whereby people can register themselves as lobbyists or seek information on who is lobbying government. Last year, we introduced the Registry of Companies and Deeds On-line, or CADO, and provided more on-line features to the system this year.

Mr. Speaker, providing services on-line is an important initiative for this government. We have a widely dispersed population over a large geographic area. With the advent of e-government, many of our rural residents can now access services right from their own homes instead of travelling to larger centres. It is a goal for this government to bring more services on-line. The goal is ambitious, and is one of the reasons our government established the Office of the Chief Information Officer. In co-ordination with that office, the Department of Government Services is working on a number of initiatives and we are developing a new Mechanics Lien system to enable on-line searching of liens against real property. We will convert our paper deeds documents dating back to the1800s into digital format and post them on-line.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS WHALEN: We have a number of other initiatives as well, which are still in the early planning stages and will be brought forward in due course.

While in Quebec City for this conference, I also had the opportunity to participate in the Crossing Boundaries forum called "Service, Economy and Democracy: Leading Government into the Information Age". Representatives from government and the IT sector attended this forum to discuss the development of Canada as an information society, and I had the pleasure to be one of three people on a panel which discussed service improvement and citizen-centered service delivery.

Mr. Speaker, e-government is the way of the future. At the conclusion of the e-government conference, my counterparts and I committed to work together to ensure that e-government initiatives and services are based on citizens' expectations, while at the same time respecting the social and cultural values of Canadians.

Finally, I would like to thank the Office of the Chief Information Officer for the support they provided to me for this meeting.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Port de Grave.

MR. BUTLER: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, I want to thank the minister for a copy of her statement and to congratulate her, I guess, on attending the first conference on e-government in Quebec. I have to say, for rural Newfoundland, it is earth-shattering.

Mr. Speaker, I agree with technology, and all of the advances that we are having, but let me say this. I understand fully it is an initiative of this government -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. BUTLER: - and we learned it all too well, Mr. Speaker. We learned it all too well when technology was brought into the system with the Department of Human Resources, Labour and Employment. Technology came in, and over a period while this House is in session we will get to know the problems that the people are encountering out in rural Newfoundland because of the technology that was brought in.

I am not against the advancements that this can do, but I fully understand and hope that the minister, when she sat on that panel, did explain to her counterparts across this country the problems that have been encountered in this Province since it went on-line.

Sure we should advance, but you cannot throw the baby out with the bath water. They are moving too fast with it, people are left behind, and I hope that over a period of time the minister will be able to review what happened here in this Province and relay the information to her counterparts so that changes can be made for the betterment of the people of this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Labrador West.

MR. COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for a copy of her statement. I want to say, it does not sound like the minister or her counterparts have much faith in this system themselves or they would not have all jumped on a flight and went to Quebec City; they would have done it over the Internet.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. COLLINS: Mr. Speaker, I caution the minister to go very carefully down this road. The Province of Ontario has spent over $300 million on a program that did not work, to deliver the same services. I think the minister should be aware that other provinces started this system of e-mail and Internet services for social service clients, only to find out that the vast majority of the clients they set it up for did not own computers. So we need to add an -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The member's allotted time has expired.

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Leave has been granted.

MR. COLLINS: We have to add an air of legitimacy to this, to make sure that the services we target are indeed reaching the people for whom they were intended.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: Further statements by ministers?

Oral Questions.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My questions are for the Premier.

Mr. Speaker, Fishery Products International has recently announced that they will be undertaking a review of its operations in the Province. Many people in this Province, including those in Marystown, Fortune, Burin, Bonavista, Catalina, Triton and Port au Choix, are now fearing that this review could mean the closure of their fish plants and the loss of their jobs.

I ask the Premier: When were you advised of this review, and what actions do your government and you plan to take to monitor FPI during this review process?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the hon. Leader of the Opposition for his question.

We certainly have been on top of this matter now for the last several weeks. I have had an opportunity to meet already with the senior officials from FPI, and we are informed as to what their intentions are. We hope that we will have the result of their work pretty soon.

The government is committed to working with FPI, Mr. Speaker, to try to mitigate any problems that -

AN HON. MEMBER: Oh, oh!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, the people on the other side never even had the intestinal fortitude to ask FPI questions when they were the government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: That is not the way we operate on this side of the House, Mr. Speaker. I am on top of the matter, the Premier is on top of the matter, the whole government is on top of the matter, and we will do what we can to lessen any problems in rural Newfoundland where FPI operates, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am glad to see, as the Minister of Fisheries said, that the Premier is all over this file, but I can tell you, the Premier said he was all over the file on Harbour Breton and look what happened there, the Premier said he was all over the file on Abitibi and look what is happening in Stephenville today. To tell me that the Premier is all over this file, doesn't give me any confidence, I say to the minister.

Mr. Speaker, FPI made commitments to the people of this Province in an effort to get the Income Trust approved in this House of Assembly back in June. These commitments, including money for Harbour Breton, rebuilding the plant in Fortune, and building a new plant in Bonavista, are just some of these commitments. While this company says they do not have the money today to honour these commitments, they just spent over $40 million in a processing company in Great Britain.

I ask the Premier: Did FPI discuss this planned acquisition with you and with government before making this deal?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We are not in the business of expecting the Leader of the Opposition to be clapping his hands because of answers that we give him on this side of the House, but the people in communities in this Province, Mr. Speaker, were FPI operates should know that this government and this Premier and all of us, as a government, are very concerned about the future operations of FPI in this Province. We will stay on top of that file, Mr. Speaker, and we will work with the company to do the best we can for the people in the communities where they operate. Where the Income Trust will go at the end of the day, well we will wait until the review is completed, Mr. Speaker. When the review is completed the people of this Province will know what that is and we will make it known to the communities and to the people involved.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I say to the minister, when you give us reason to applaud we will have no problem doing it.

Mr. Speaker, hundreds of jobs have been eliminated at the FPI operations in this Province while the company expands its operations in Britain. I ask the Premier: Did the government ask for any details as to what this expansion in Great Britain would mean for its operations in Newfoundland and Labrador?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I suppose it is a bold leap of faith to expect the Leader of the Opposition to be responsible, but that is an irresponsible statement. There have not been hundreds of jobs eliminated in this Province because FPI acquired a business in Great Britain. It is through the strategic advantage of FPI and its marketing plans to have this particular firm in Britain. They could sell it tomorrow. They could turn it around tomorrow and make a profit on it. That is the kind of business we hope that FPI does and that is the kind of business we hope that they build in the long term because that is good for people in Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I say to the Minister of Fisheries, let's look at the strategic plan that FPI had for buying that processing facility in Great Britain. Mr. Speaker, in the October 21 edition of the Eastern Daily Press, a British newspaper - and you can have a copy of it. If you do not have one, I will send you over a copy - it states that: New jobs will be created in Great Britain as a result of FPI's purchase of the British seafood company and their planned investment.

I ask the Premier: Why is FPI permitted to close plants, eliminate jobs and break their commitments to the people of this Province while increasing their investment and their employment in Great Britain?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, it would be an understatement to say that the hon. Leader of the Opposition is out of touch. He is out to lunch. He does not know what is going on.

This acquisition in Great Britain is a bridgehead for FPI to launch itself into the most lucrative shrimp market in the world. Now, Mr. Speaker, that is good for the company. That is good for their operations in Newfoundland and Labrador. That is good for this Province and that is why we support them doing it.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, he talks about being out to lunch, he is certainly out to lunch with regard to that answer he just gave.

Mr. Speaker, what is most disturbing about the media report, this media report, is that it states that the expansion and growth in the British seafood company will take place as a result of Canadian fish that FPI will ship to Europe for processing.

I ask the Premier: Is any of the fish in this report, that will be sent from Canada to the UK for processing, was any of this fish that was normally processed in towns like Harbour Breton or Fortune?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, the hon. gentleman does not get - duh, boy. What is wrong with the hon. gentleman?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: We are talking about -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. RIDEOUT: This is not a British seafood company now, Mr. Speaker. This is a Newfoundland seafood company owned by Fisheries Products International. It is a shrimp operation, a s-h-r-i-m-p operation, Mr. Speaker, duh.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, I hope the people from Harbour Breton, Fortune and Bonavista are listening today and I am sure that they will feel comforted by the minister's response. Getting up here today and actually laughing at the questions that we are asking, which will mean the livelihood to many of these towns.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. REID: I know that he has been there before and he practiced old style politics, Mr. Speaker -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognized the Leader of the Opposition who is posing a supplementary question. I will ask him to get to his question now.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the previous Minister of Fisheries, the now Minister of Transportation, stated in the media on November 6 that plants could close and we would still harvest and process the same amount of fish in this Province. We would get the same return in the marketplace and that the amount of money that would go into the provincial economy would not change at the end of the day.

I ask the Premier: By making such comments, wasn't your minister, in essence, giving FPI the green light to close plants in our Province during this review process?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the hon. the Leader of the Opposition ought to know, if he does not, he is a former Minister of Fisheries, he ought to know that shrimp going into the European community from this Province faces a 20 per cent tariff. By going the route of acquiring a seafood company in Britain, or some other place in Europe for that matter, the shrimp is subject to a 6 per cent tariff. Now, Mr. Speaker, that is a 14 per cent advantage for producers and FPI in this Province that we did not have before. That is why the acquisition makes sense, Mr. Speaker. It is why it makes strategic sense and why it makes sense for people living and working with FPI in this Province. It is a good investment, Mr. Speaker. It can be flipped tomorrow and sold off if they want to, but for shrimp producers - and remember, FPI markets shrimp for a lot more than itself, Mr. Speaker, in this Province. A lot of companies they market shrimp for. So, this is a good investment for people living and working in FPI plants in this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, I would suggest to the Minister of Fisheries that he talk to his colleague who just got up and talked about the Internet and go in on the Internet and get this article and see where in this article it mentions shrimp, because it does not. The only place it mentions shrimp is warm water shrimp and that does not come from Newfoundland and Labrador -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I caution the member about using displays when posing your question. I recognize him, however, to place his question now.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, in light of what is happening with FPI and the proposed Income Trust and the company's overall operations, I ask the Premier: Are you willing to delay the proclamation of this legislation pertaining to the Income Trust until we have a clearer picture of what direction this company is headed?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, first, in terms of the preamble, we are going to have to do something about the research capability of the Opposition. One British newspaper is not what it is all about. I am telling the hon. gentleman that FPI is planning to market shrimp for not only itself but a lot of other producers in Newfoundland, in the European community, and that is one of the strategies of being able to reduce the tariff problems that you have in that particular community.

In terms of delaying proclamation of legislation, the government is willing to consider all kinds of things, Mr. Speaker. We will review that. When we have the results of the internal review of FPI before us, we will take all those strategic decisions and they will be taken with the overall good of the people of this Province in mind. That I can assure the hon. gentleman.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am glad that the minister said the Premier was all over the file, but the fact of the matter is that I have just asked the Premier seven questions and he has not responded to one, so I will ask him the eighth and final one.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier: In light of the many questions that are unresolved about FPI, will you initiate a public inquiry into FPI to find out exactly what is happening to this company so that the people who work for that company in this Province can sleep a little easier knowing what their future holds for them?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, I do not know what kind of reputation I will have when I clue up my tenure as Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, but I will tell you one thing, I will not be known as the peep-a-boo minister. I will not be known as the fellow who comes out of the closet when there is good news, and hides away when there is bad news, Mr. Speaker.

I will face the challenges that this industry is facing, that FPI is facing, that others are facing, and this government will face them, Mr. Speaker.

Will we commission an industrial inquiry into FPI? Inquiry if necessary, but not necessarily an inquiry is an appropriate answer.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My question is for the Premier.

The first question relates to the mill at Stephenville. Premier, yourself and Minister Byrne announced a framework agreement on October 26 at Stephenville. The press release issued referred to - and I quote - the highlights of the framework agreement.

Would you undertake to provide the Opposition with the complete file on the Abitibi negotiations, and the complete agreement?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we have committed to, if there is an agreement reached, that we would provide that to everybody, but what we are not going to do is what the Opposition have done. For example, on August 4, the Opposition Leader said that Abitibi may not be looking for as big a handout as they thought we were thinking. On August 2, he said that the government should do everything possible to ensure that Abitibi in Stephenville survives for the communities and for the people in Stephenville. On October 27, when we announced the framework agreement, he has a distasteful taste in his mouth because we were helping a big corporation.

The fact of the matter is this, Mr. Speaker: that framework was designed with one objective in mind, to ensure that on the power side it met the objectives of the company and, in doing so, kept 250 people directly employed and about 914 people directly employed as a result of that. That is what the government did, and we are not ashamed of doing what we did.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is good to see the Minister of Natural Resources back on the file, because it seems as soon as a deal goes south the file is given back to the minister and not dealt with by the Premier any more.

This framework agreement was touted in the media as the solution to keeping the mill open; yet, Abitibi was not at the table when the announcement was made. Dozens of workers have left Stephenville since October 26. The mill is in idle mode, more like life-support mode, and the anguish, the torture and the uncertainty continues for the workers, their families, and the surrounding communities in Bay St. George. What has government done since October 26 to bring this deal to a conclusion?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader and Minister of Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am under no illusion that the Opposition House Leader would make the comments he has made. The fact of the matter, so we are clear on all of this, this file has consumed this government legitimately so. Both the Premier, myself, our own officials, have been engaged in this file for good reason.

Now, what have we done since October 26? We have said to Abitibi that we believe we have met your objectives. We have met with the union, we have met with the town leadership, and they support strongly. I would suggest to the member that he talk to people in Stephenville because the union leadership and the community leadership support strongly the framework that we put forward.

We have also said to Abitibi that we will not accept and will not be part of stripping a unionized contract, and that we will not accept being part of shoving an agreement down the workers' throats that they do not wish to have.

From our point of view we have done our job. We continue to support the workers, we continue to support the community. What else should we have done? I ask the Opposition House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I say to the minister, you cannot pride yourself, or you should not pride yourself, with being great deal makers if you cannot close them. Leaving the people in that area in turmoil does nothing to resolve it.

Mr. Speaker, the government threw $150 million of taxpayers' money at this problem; yet, there is no solution. The uncertainty continues, there is no deal, the company is still beating up on the union and asking for concessions, there is no long-term power solution, there is no long-term fibre solution. Is this what we call being all over a file and great negotiating? What, and when, is government going to do to get a satisfactory resolution to this serious issue, or are you washing your hands of the file now that it has been made a mess of?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, Mr. Speaker, let me correct some statements that are not factually correct. Number one, the challenges that face Abitibi Stephenville's operation have nothing to do with fibre. The company have already expressed that. They have never expressed that to us. They have indicated that the fibre issues are manageable. That is what they have said to us from the beginning of our negotiations.

Mr. Speaker, what have we done? We have put forward an option that will keep that mill running, that will provide employment for the people in Stephenville, and that meets the objectives of the company.

I can tell you what we will not do: what that government did, or what the Opposition did when they were in government - the Member for Windsor-Buchans, the Leader of the Opposition himself, the former Minister of Justice. We will not be signing power contracts and giving to Abitibi or any other company in perpetuity without tying it to milling and logging and to jobs in the Province. That is what they did, Mr. Speaker. We will not be doing that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I wonder, what is $150 million? Think about that.

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Premier, the Minister of Natural Resources or the Deputy Premier, whoever wants to answer it.

The people of Grand Falls-Windsor, and forty-six other communities in Central Newfoundland have been facing an uncertain future for the past seven months, ever since Abitibi said they were going to shut down number seven paper machine. Can the minister tell the House and the people of Central Newfoundland what is the current status of negotiations regarding investment by the company and the government to ensure the future of both number seven and number three stays in Grand Falls-Windsor?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, first of all, the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans says: that is $150 million, think about that. Now, we have thought about it a great deal and it is tied to employment levels, it is tied to production levels and it is tied to -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. E. BYRNE: I will say to the members of the Opposition, if you want to ask a question, fair enough, would you like to hear the answer? You can get up and criticize it or congratulate it after.

The fact of the matter is this, Mr. Speaker. That when you look at what we have put forward with respect to the issues in Grand Falls, the six locals at the mill in Grand Falls support strongly government's position. The Mayor of Bishop's Falls, the Mayor of Botwood and the Mayor of Grand Falls-Windsor support strongly government's position. The Concerned Citizens Committee in Grand Falls, in Central Newfoundland, support government's position. The question is: Why doesn't the member support government's position when all of her constituents do?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I say to the minister, he has done nothing for Grand Falls-Windsor. He has been sitting on his heels.

Minister, your Premier has been touted as a great negotiator and he has been all over this file, too. Tell me, how did Abitibi hoodwink this Premier? How did Abitibi hoodwink this Premier? You are dealing with a multinational company here and seven months later our Province is no better off, our people are no better off.

When will the real negotiations start to save our mill and what is government willing to put on the table to save both machines, enforce Bill 27, and guarantee that any power development on the Exploits goes for the benefit of the Grand Falls mill? Answer that question.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to respond with three very quick points. The Exploits Valley partnership on the Exploits River which was developed by and signed by and negotiated by the former government, which runs to 2022, which provides profits to Abitibi and the Star Lake power development which runs to 2032, respectively, those developments do not guarantee a single job. They do not guarantee that the mills continue to operate as they do. And, guess what, Mr. Speaker? They provide a net benefit of in excess of $10 million a year to Abitibi; much more than what we committed to with Abitibi.

Secondly, Mr. Speaker, the member stands up and asks me this question: What is it that you are going to do to ensure that the power on the Exploits goes towards Grands Falls and Grand Falls only? I suggest she talk to her leader who said, Mr. Speaker: They have a problem with power and, you know, they want to develop a power generation facility on the Exploits River. Maybe if we can find some way of doing that, then it could solve the problems, not only in Stephenville. So, I would ask her to ask her own leader, Mr. Speaker. Finally, a very quick point -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I am asking members to keep their questions and their answers within the sixty second limit.

I recognize the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, fifty-six jobs have already been lost in the mill following the arbitration ruling last week, and there are 400 more jobs on the line, both in the mill and the woodlands division. Mr. Speaker, the economy of the central region has been in a holding pattern for seven months and still no answers. It is crunch time. Towns are preparing their annual budgets and it is high time for government to lay their cards on the table and get the matter settled.

Minister, how long are you and your government going to leave this matter in limbo? What is your next step?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, our next step is the one that we have been consistent upon, that our position with respect to Grand Falls is simply this: we support strongly the maintenance of Bill 27 which guarantees a two-machine operation and which guarantees production levels near at current levels. That is supported by the entire Central Newfoundland region, it seems now, with the exception of the member.

Secondly, that if Abitibi were to come forward with a proposal that was acceptable to all in the community and the government that would see a reinvestment in Number 7 or Number 3 or a reinvestment in the infrastructure, we would look at it seriously. But, I will tell you this, Mr. Speaker, what we are not going to do. We are not going to roll over and let Number 7 roll down without some commitments from Abitibi in the process.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.

MR. HARRIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My question is for the Premier and it concerns the issue of pay equity for women in the public sector.

Mr. Speaker, since the Budget came out last spring this government now has $2 billion in the bank, and, in fact, a revenue projection of more than $490 million than it had last spring. Is it now not the time for this Premier to sit down with the Newfoundland Association of Public Employees and negotiate a settlement of the outstanding pay equity deal that was made, first by Premier Peckford in 1988 and overturned by the Liberal government in the 1990s?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, our government currently, without one-time counting of money, is showing a deficit. This year we are projecting a $132.1 million deficit. In 1988 to 1991, there was period that the member speaks about that went to court and the court rendered a decision. I would like to say that pay equity is implemented in this government, fully implemented in this government, and has been for a number of years. As to our fiscal situation, we still haven't stopped adding to our debt, Mr. Speaker. We added $124.5 million to our debt in this fiscal year.

Government is committed, it is concerned, with equality of women. We are treating them and paying them fully in line across gender. There is no discrimination occurring in government. Back in 1992, there was action taken also that rolled back negotiated collective agreements. There are dozens of incidents in the previous history of government. These ones go back from fourteen to seventeen years ago, some go back twenty years. Do we go back over twenty years, fifteen, twenty-five -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. SULLIVAN: (Inaudible) at the time with a different fiscal situation.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.

MR. HARRIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

To the shame of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, the Supreme Court of Canada held that the legislation rolling back pay equity for women was contrary to the Charter of Rights, was discriminatory against women. Mr. Speaker, this government has the means to fix that problem. The only reason the Supreme Court of Canada didn't overturn the legislation was because of the fiscal circumstances of the day. This government and this minister are sitting with $2 billion in the bank, almost $500 million better off than it was last spring, and will not, according to the minister, solve this problem.

Will he do that, Mr. Speaker? Will he show respect for the women of this Province, and the women of the public sector, to honour this agreement made by the previous government?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MR. SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This government is treating women in this Province with respect, and it has fully implemented wage equity.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. SULLIVAN: If the members on that side of the House, when they were there, didn't implement it, they should answer for what they didn't do. We have fully implemented it, Mr. Speaker. We don't have, as the member indicated - $322.3 million of that Atlantic Accord money has been used and factored into our fiscal situation. He might look at where we are. This year isn't over yet. We are projecting, depending on the price of oil that it is at a level now around the same as we budgeted - any change in those revenues could put us even deeper than the $132.1 million that we projected now in our budget, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Port de Grave.

MR. BUTLER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Premier is well known for his statement, not on my watch, but my question today is about the infamous watch.

Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Education. You predecessor was shuffled for embarrassing you leader and mishandling a gift he received while in Qatar.

Is the current minister in possession of the infamous watch or did it move to Tourism, Culture and Recreation to become a culture heirloom or a tourist attraction?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. E. BYRNE: I think the member said the Minister of Education, referring to the watch. I believe what he really meant to say was the Minister of Tourism, because there was an announcement last week that -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

In posing the question, the member said the Minister of Education. Therefore, the Chair assumes that the question was to the current Minister of Education.

The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS BURKE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to say that any positions within this Cabinet are certainly done at the Premier's prerogative at any time he wishes to make changes.

In respect to the watch that the hon. member mentioned, that matter had been dealt with appropriately. The person who received the watch did declare it, asked for guidance on how to proceed, and I think policy was followed. That is all I have to say on that, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Port de Grave.

MR. BUTLER: I ask the minister, I think the former Minister of Education stated very clearly that when he left the department he would dispose of the watch. I am asking the minister -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. BUTLER: He also said that the value of the watch was at $2,000 and increasing in value every day.

I ask the now Minister of Education: Will she retrieve the watch, have an independent assessment done and report to this House on the value, Mr. Speaker?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS BURKE: Mr. Speaker, obviously there is a lot of interest from the other side of the House on this particular watch that was given to the former minister. As I said, Mr. Speaker, that gift was accepted, it was declared appropriately, policy was followed on that and, Mr. Speaker, there are no other further issues in relation to that watch.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The time allocated for Question Period has expired.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

Presenting Reports by Standing and Special Committees.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

MR. SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I wish to table a document relating to one special warrant amounting to $18 million pertaining to the Crab Workers' Assistance Program.

MR. SPEAKER: Further Tabling of Documents?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Human Resources, Labour and Employment, and Minister Responsible for Labrador Affairs.

MR. SHELLEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I give notice that I will on tomorrow ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, "An Act To Amend The Workplace, Health, Safety And Compensation Act." (Bill 45)

MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motion?

The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of the Treasury Board.

MR. SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I give notice that I will on tomorrow ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, "An Act To Amend The Insurance Companies Tax Act." (Bill 49)

I give notice that I will on tomorrow ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, "An Act To Amend The Income Tax Act, 2000, No. 2." (Bill 48)

I give notice that I will on tomorrow ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, "An Act To Amend The Municipal Financing Corporation Act." (Bill 47)

I give notice that I will on tomorrow ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, "An Act To Amend The Financial Administration Act." (Bill 46)

I give notice that I will on tomorrow ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, "An Act To Amend The Pippy Park Commission Act." (Bill 42)

MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motion?

The hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. T. MARSHALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I give notice that on tomorrow I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, "An Act Respecting Protection Against Family Violence." (Bill 50)

I further give notice that I will on tomorrow ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, "An Act To Amend The Electoral Boundaries Act." (Bill 43)

Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will on tomorrow ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, "An Act To Amend the Provincial Court Act, 1991." (Bill 44)

MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motion?

The hon. the Member for Grand Bank.

MS FOOTE: Mr. Speaker, I want to introduce a private member's motion to be debated on Wednesday, November 23.

WHEREAS a substantial amount of tax dollars were invested in the establishment of Fishery Products International; and

WHEREAS the operation of the company is of critical importance to the future of the economy of this Province; and

WHEREAS the management of this company promised to make investments in production facilities in this Province and create jobs; and

WHEREAS these promises have been broken while the company borrowed money to make substantial investments in other parts of the world; and

WHEREAS other fish companies that face the same challenges as FPI continue to operate successfully in this Province; and

BE IT RESOLVED that this House of Assembly calls upon government to conduct a public inquiry into the operation and management practices of FPI and the resulting crisis situation being faced by communities throughout this Province who rely on the company for their economic and social well-being; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this House of Assembly calls upon government to postpone proclaiming recent amendments to the FPI Act until the company commits to using the proceeds from an income trust for the benefit of the people Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motion?

The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Pursuant to Standing Order 63.(3), I give notice that on Private Members' Day, this Wednesday, November 23, the motion put forward by the Member for Grand Bank will be the motion to be heard.

MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motion?

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Labrador West.

MR. COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to present a petition on behalf of a number of residents of Labrador West. The petition, Mr. Speaker, is:

To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS hunting on Sunday is not permitted in our Province; and

WHEREAS there are many people in our Province who work Monday to Friday leaving them only one day a week to hunt; and

WHEREAS hunting is probably the only activity now that people of our Province are prohibited from doing on Sunday; and

WHEREAS not being able to hunt on Sunday has a negative impact on local hunters and outfitters;

We, the undersigned residents, petition the House of Assembly to direct the government to change the laws and regulations of this Province to allow hunting to take place on Sunday.

Now, Mr. Speaker, many of the people who live in this Province take advantage of the opportunity to hunt big game, and many of them, as the petition speaks to, are not able to do that on Sunday. A lot of them work from Monday to Friday, leaving them only one day. Many of them incur great expense to travel to faraway regions in order to hunt on a Saturday.

People in my district, Mr. Speaker, it does not make sense when they travel on Ski-Doo for three or four hours, covering 150 miles away from the nearest settlement, get there at 12 o'clock on a Friday night, hunt all day Saturday unsuccessfully, and Sunday morning, on their way home, they run into a herd of Caribou, but because it is Sunday they are not allowed to take their gun out of the case. Now, that does not make sense at all. You know, you are 150 miles away from the nearest person. The only other people who may be around you are other hunters but, still for all, because of this ancient law, hunting on Sunday is not permitted in this Province.

Other jurisdictions, Mr. Speaker, have provided the right to hunt on Sundays and we are requesting that this be reviewed in our Province so that people can take full advantage, when they buy a licence, to utilize the opportune time during the season to hunt. We feel very strongly, the people who signed this petition feel very strongly, that they should have the right to hunt on Sundays.

Now, Mr. Speaker, they are also hoping to - of course, there are areas or regulations that may restrict that right in certain areas if conditions warrant. The old argument about berry pickers does not add up to scrutiny because berry pickers are in the woods from Monday to Saturday alongside people who are hunting as well. But there are certain areas, like cottage country, places like that, where there may be regulations to curb hunting activities, as there are now from Monday to Saturday. So, I think that this is a subject whose time has come to be investigated and to change, and I ask the minister responsible to take the appropriate action, have the officials look at this, change the law that exists now and allow Sunday hunting to take place.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: Further petitions?

The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am pleased today to stand and present a petition on behalf of my constituents in the District of Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair. I will just read the Be It Resolved section of the petition, Mr. Speaker.

The petitioners request that the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador reconsider their decision and reinstate marine services for Labrador to the Port of Cartwright whereby increasing the frequency of crossings between Cartwright and Goose Bay to three trips per year.

Mr. Speaker, this is not the first time the people of my district have petitioned the government, through this Legislature, to have changes made to that particular service. They obviously have felt that moving the Sir Robert Bond out of Cartwright as a main port to Lewisporte has had a significant impact on the local economy. It has actually driven business downward. It has affected the tourism industry. It has affected the retail sales in that particular region. Mr. Speaker, they are really, at this point I would think, begging government to have another look at this particular service. Is there a way that you can increase the number of trips that are being provided between Cartwright and Goose Bay?

Last year, again, we seen record numbers of users on that service as it compares to the Goose Bay to Lewisporte segment but, at the same time, people could not get reservations when they wanted it. They did not have the availability of the service when they needed it. These things cause a downward trend in things like the tourism industry and in the transportation industry, itself. I think what they are asking is that government look at this from a more holistic perspective. Is there a way that we can accommodate a greater service in that particular area? Is there a way that we can have a more frequent service in that particular area so that we are not compromising the economic revenues that are coming into the region or compromising the amount of people who are visiting the region from a tourism perspective?

Mr. Speaker, you only have to drive through my district - which I know some hon. members in this Assembly have done in the past year - to find out that the combination effect of changes in marine services and the decline in the fishery is actually having a very significant economic impact in that region. I think if you stopped into any of the businesses there they will tell you that the decision of government to move the Sir Robert Bond to Lewisporte as the main port and the main leg of service has definitely compromised that particular region in being able to grow and move forward.

So, what they are doing is they are saying to the government, they are saying to the new Minister of Transportation: have another look at this service. Is there a way that we can provide a greater link between Cartwright and Goose Bay on the Labrador segment? Is there a way that we can have more services and more trips per week to allow people to be able to travel and book reservations when they need them and not be placed on a wait list for extended periods of time, which has obviously been the case in the past two years?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Further petitions?

Orders of the Day.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. J. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Before I move to Orders of the Day - I guess I have to seek concurrence. I think we have leave from both parties and ourselves, that if we could - we have given notices of motion on a number of bills, under a section doing with notices of motion. If we could give first reading to each of those notices, by leave, so that we can get the pieces of legislation distributed in the House. I think we do have leave on that. I seek concurrence from my colleagues.

MR. SPEAKER: Is it agreeable that the Chair will call the procedure once only for all of the bills that were given notice of today?

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that the hon. the ministers gave notice today. So I am pleased to introduce their bills, and we will list out all the titles in the official Hansard.

Is it the pleasure of the House that the hon. the ministers shall have leave to introduce said bills?

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

MR. SPEAKER: All those against, ‘nay'.

Carried.

[Introduction of Bills]

A bill, An Act To Amend The Workplace, Health, Safety and Compensation Act. (Bill 45)

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Human Resources to introduce a bill, "An Act To Amend The Workplace, Health, Safety and Compensation Act," carried. (Bill 45)

A bill, An Act To Amend The Pippy Park Commission Act. (Bill 42)

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board to introduce a bill, "An Act To Amend The Pippy Park Commission Act," carried. (Bill 42)

A bill, "An Act To Amend The Insurance Companies Tax Act." (Bill 49)

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board to introduce a bill, "An Act To Amend The Insurance Companies Tax Act," carried. (Bill 49)

A bill, An Act To Amend The Income Tax Act, 2000 No 2. (Bill 48)

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board to introduce a bill, "An Act To Amend The Income Tax Act, 2000 No 2," carried. (Bill 48)

A bill, An Act To Amend The Municipal Financing Corporation Act. (Bill 47)

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board to introduce a bill, "An Act To Amend The Municipal Financing Corporation Act," carried. (Bill 47)

A bill, An Act To Amend The Financial Administration Act. (Bill 46)

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board to introduce a bill, "An Act To Amend The Financial Administration Act," carried. (Bill 46)

A bill, An Act To Amend The Electoral Boundaries Act. (Bill 43)

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General to introduce a bill, "An Act To Amend The Electoral Boundaries Act", carried. (Bill 43)

A bill, An Act Respecting Protection Against Family Violence. (Bill 50)

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General to introduce a bill, "An Act Respecting Protection Against Family Violence," carried. (Bill 50)

A bill, An Act To Amend The Provincial Court Act, 1991. (Bill 44)

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General to introduce a bill, "An Act To Amend The Provincial Court Act, 1991," carried. (Bill 44)

MR. SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded the said bills be now read a first time. Is it the pleasure of the House the said bills be now a read first?

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

MR. SPEAKER: All those against, ‘nay'.

Carried.

[First Reading of Bills]

A bill, "An Act To Amend The Workplace, Health, Safety and Compensation Act." (Bill 45)

A bill, "An Act To Amend The Pippy Park Commission Act." (Bill 42)

A bill, "An Act To Amend The Insurance Companies Tax Act." (Bill 49)

A bill, "An Act To Amend The Income Tax Act, 2000 No 2." (Bill 48)

A bill, "An Act To Amend The Municipal Financing Corporation Act." (Bill 47)

A bill, "An Act To Amend The Financial Administration Act." (Bill 46)

A bill, "An Act To Amend The Electoral Boundaries Act." (Bill 43)

A bill, "An Act Respecting Protection Against Family Violence." (Bill 50)

A bill, "An Act To Amend The Provincial Court Act 1991." (Bill 44)

On motion, Bills 45, 42, 49, 48, 47, 46, 43, 50, 44 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. J. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Order 1, Address in Reply.

MR. HICKEY: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The member should wait until he is formally introduced and has the permission of the Chair.

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Lake Melville.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

As you can tell, I am glad to be back in the hon. House, and I am glad to be back here with my colleagues, and I am glad that we are back in the House to conduct the business of the Province.

By the way, before I continue on with some of my other remarks, I want to congratulate my colleague from Exploits on his election and his coming into the House, to the party, and to sit with us on this side of the House.

I also want to congratulate the three Pages, Mr. Speaker, who have been hired; the new Pages this year. I am particularly pleased to see Mr. Shannon Tobin. I want to congratulate Shannon on his successful bid. I believe Shannon is the first -

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. HICKEY: He is not the first? Well, I am glad to hear that we have a representative from Labrador as a Page in the House, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, this has been a very busy year in the District of Lake Melville. It has been a very busy year, certainly summer, in particular, in Labrador. I want to report to the House, and to my constituency in the great District of Lake Melville, some of the good things that have happened over the this past summer.

In particular, I want to talk about the Lower Churchill; a very important file for this government, a very important file for the Premier, very important file for me because it sits in my district. I will say, that on November 14 I was pleased to be part of this government's delegation in which the Premier and key ministers met with Aboriginal people, met with Aboriginal women, met with the community, the stakeholders of Labrador, as we discussed, in the very preliminary stages of this particular development, the Lower Churchill project with the people of Labrador.

I want to say, Mr. Speaker, that this government is doing it differently than what has been done in the past. We have taken a new approach, and that is to consult Labradorians on the front end and not on the tail end of the development. I want to commend the Premier and I want to commend the Minister of Natural Resources and members on this side for that new approach as we continue on to consult with Labradorians, with Aboriginal leaders and with all the communities of Labrador on the very important issues of the Lower Churchill.

This project, Mr. Speaker, is a great project. It has been on the go for many years. It has been talked about by past governments. It has been started, it has been stopped, but I believe, Mr. Speaker, that the Lower Churchill project will be, certainly, one of the great accomplishments of this government as we move into the future. When I say into the future, Mr. Speaker, I mean we will not see this project producing first power before 2015.

I also want to say that the meetings that took place in Labrador, they were frank, they were open and I can tell you that the Premier and my colleagues were listening. The message was clear, Labradorians want to be part of the development. They want to see benefits from the development. I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, that message came across loud and clear. I am also happy to report, Mr. Speaker, that this government will ensure that Labradorians get the first benefit from the Lower Churchill project, to bring industry into the District of Lake Melville, to bring industry into Labrador West.

The other point that I want to make, Mr. Speaker, is for the people on the Coast of Labrador. I want to say that my good friend and colleague, the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair was also at the meeting. I was happy to see that she was wearing her blue that night.

MR. E. BYRNE: (Inaudible) referenced it.

MR. HICKEY: And then referenced it. Yes, I say to my colleague.

I must say, the points that were raised about opportunities to get cheaper power to the people in Coastal Labrador is a huge issue. It is a huge issue for this government. It is an issue that is being addressed by Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro. I can tell you, there are some great opportunities on the South Coast of Labrador to develop hydro projects down there that will meet the needs of the people and provide cheaper rates for the people in Coastal Labrador.

I can also tell you, Mr. Speaker, that on the North Coast of Labrador - I have had talks with people from Natuashish and there is an interest to look at some hydro developments up in that particular region of Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, this was a great meeting, I believe, in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. I will say to you that as the Premier and key ministers met with the Aboriginal people, it was good to have the dialogue. I can tell you that the support for this project in Labrador is overwhelming. That is certainly the message that came out of the meetings we have had.

I want to commend the Premier also, Mr. Speaker, on the meeting that he had, the very first time that we have seen a Premier meet with aboriginal women. It was a touching, it was an emotional, meeting in which aboriginal women from Labrador had the opportunity to sit down with the Premier and key officials, key ministers, and talk about some of the challenges they are facing in their communities, challenges, Mr. Speaker, regarding violence against women, challenges with health care and dental care. These are all pressing issues, Mr. Speaker, and I will tell you that it came across loud and clear to the Premier, that this is indeed a huge issue. I know that as the Premier goes to Kelowna, British Columbia, over the next few days to a First Ministers' Meeting, many of the issues that were talked about at the aboriginal women's meeting will be raised by the Premier at that First Ministers' Conference in British Columbia.

Mr. Speaker, when we had the meetings in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, I am happy to report that communities from all over Labrador were represented. That means that they were brought in at the expense of government, to come in, to sit down, and to partake in the discussions with the Premier and key ministers, to add their expectations, Mr. Speaker, on the Lower Churchill project.

I can tell you that just today, just this morning, I received an e-mail which was a copy of the transcript of an interview that was done with Bill Rowe and Waylon Williams, the Executive Director of the Combined Councils of Labrador, who expresses the view that these were exceptional meetings and that the Combined Councils of Labrador were very pleased with the dialogue that took place between the Premier, ministers and the Combined Councils of Labrador. A very positive step, Mr. Speaker.

I can tell you that we won't be doing what was done in the past. We have learned from the mistakes of the past, Mr. Speaker. We won't be sending the Premier, or the Premier won't be going to Churchill Falls with the Premier of Quebec and trying to sign off a deal in Churchill Falls without letting anybody know about it. We won't be coming in at the eleventh house, the fifty-ninth minute, and bringing everybody in from all parts of Labrador when the press releases are made, are already done, when the brochures are already done, and the video tapes are already done. We don't be doing that, Mr. Speaker. We are doing it on the front end of this project. We are consulting on the front end of this project.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: I can tell you that we will continue to consult with the people of Labrador and we will continue to address the issues of the people of Labrador as we continue on with this project, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, there have been great things happening in the District of Lake Melville, and there are great things happening in the region of Labrador. I know some members on the opposite side may not like to hear me say that, but that is just too bad because that is the way it is. I will say that we are making great progress and I am happy to report to this hon. House today that the auditorium that has been long sought after by the people of Labrador - and I want to congratulate Minister Paul Shelley on the great work he has done in Ottawa with Minister Frulla as we make this project happen in the course of the next -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I remind the hon. the member that, when we refer to members of the House, we refer to them by their title, if they have a title, or refer to them by their district name. We avoid using their regular personal names.

The hon. the Member for Lake Melville.

MR. HICKEY: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I will certainly continue on here with my statements.

I am particularly happy with the projects that are happening in infrastructure in Labrador, and this government is working hard to improve those projects. I will say to you, the auditorium is well underway and I hope that we will hear positive news and positive announcements on this issue in the near future.

I am also happy to report to the people in my district, the people of the Province and to this hon. House, that the long-term health care facility is well underway, Mr. Speaker; some $250,000 this year spent to look at the study for the long-term health care facility, a facility that has been long needed for the people of Labrador. I want to emphasize, this is for the people of Labrador; this is not for John Hickey in the District of Lake Melville. This is for all of the people of Labrador, as we ensure that our seniors get the benefits of a long-term health care facility, and I am happy to say that project is moving forward very well.

Another huge issue for Labrador that this government is working hard on, Mr. Speaker, is the extension to the College of the North Atlantic. I can tell you, past Administrations have failed the people of Labrador, they have failed the District of Lake Melville, when it comes to the infrastructure. I am happy to report that we have had the Minister of Education, the Minister of Transportation and Works, in Happy Valley-Goose Bay to look at this facility, and we are moving forward to ensure that an extension goes on to the facility so that we can meet the post-secondary needs of the people of Labrador.

There are also issues not only in my district but in other districts. We are working on a new school in Southern Labrador, in L'Anse-au-Loup. I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, that is another huge issue for our government, to ensure that education facilities in Labrador are brought up to an acceptable standard.

Along with the hospital, a new facility, we are looking at it; it is being studied right as we speak. I must say, when I spoke to Mayor Jim Farrell just a little while ago he congratulated our government on the work that we have done to address some of the issues of a new hospital for Labrador West.

Infrastructure is the biggest single issue that this government has faced since we came in office in Labrador. It is because of neglect from those on the other side of the House, and past Administrations, that we have gotten ourselves into the mess that we are in, but we are working at this. We are going to clean this up, Mr. Speaker. We are going to ensure that Labradorians and Labrador communities get the infrastructure that they need, that everybody else in the Province has so long taken advantage of.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to talk about the good work that has been done by the Department of Justice in Labrador. I want to congratulate the Minister of Justice on his recent visit to Happy Valley-Goose Bay, and also the work that we are doing when it comes to legal aid, when it comes to additional police officers in Labrador. I can tell you, we are working hard to get a community tripartite agreement so that we can ensure more funds are put into the justice system in Labrador to provide more justice services for the people of Labrador. It is the goal of this government, and in particular the Minister of Justice, to ensure that we do get the appropriate justice services that are taken for granted in the rest of the Province and the rest of the country.

Mr. Speaker, my last point I want to talk about today is 5 Wing Goose Bay. I want to say that I cannot report as good news on the 5 Wing file. I want to also say that recently myself and the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, the Minister of Labrador Affairs, met with the Deputy Prime Minister with a telephone conference, and I have to say that I came away from that meeting really disappointed - disappointed that there is no plan yet for 5 Wing Goose Bay on behalf of the federal government, Mr. Speaker. I hope that Mayor Leo Abbass today, over the next couple of days, will meet with General Hillier, and I hope that his discussions with the General will have fruition on that particular file.

Mr. Speaker, we are sick and tired, the men and women of 5 Wing Goose Bay are sick and tired, of listening to the same old, same old, coming out of Ottawa. Basically what that is, Mr. Speaker, is: We are working on the file. We are doing everything we can on the file. Yet, there is nothing happening on the 5 Wing file.

The night exercise that was planned for next year is cancelled, and it is time for the federal government to come on board and give the people of Happy Valley-Goose Bay and the men and women who work at 5 Wing Goose Bay an opportunity to know what investment the federal government is going to put into this base.

Mr. Speaker, when it comes to the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, we supply 10 per cent of the men and women for the Canadian Armed Forces. We get less than half a percent of the budget of the Department of National Defence. I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, this Province deserves better than that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: I can tell you that this is going to be an election issue. I put the member, Mr. Todd Russell, on notice that this is going to be a battle coming up in the next election, I tell you, in Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: We are not going to be pushed aside while other provinces get major, major, defence spending. I will say to you that we are going to make this a huge election issue. This is a huge election issue coming up in the federal election.

I say to the people of Labrador, the time has come to send a message to Ottawa that we are not happy with the way the federal government is dealing particularly with some of the Aboriginal files they are responsible for. We are not happy in particular with the defence files on 5 Wing Goose Bay. We are not happy. We deserve better than that.

The Prime Minister of this country promised me, when I was then mayor of Happy Valley-Goose Bay: Hey, don't worry, John, don't worry. We are going to look after it. The Dutch will be here. The Germans will be here. The British will be here.

Let me say, Mr. Speaker, they are not here. They are gone. Guess where they are gone? They are gone to Alberta, the richest province in the country. It is not acceptable, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the last topic - and it just came to mind - is a very important topic for me. I want to congratulate the Minister of Transportation and Works, the then minister, now the Deputy Premier, on the work that was done this past summer by his department and by our government to ensure that the federal government makes the Trans-Labrador Highway part of the national highway system. I will say to you, this is great step forward. This provides us with the opportunity to ensure that we see a paved highway from the Quebec Labrador border in the west to a paved highway all the way down to Red Bay down in Southern Labrador. A ten-year project we would like to see.

I say to the federal government, it is time to come to the table with your money. It is time for the federal government to come to the table with their money, to make a commitment, make a financial commitment. It is not good enough to tell us yes, it is going to be part of the national highway system, but you do not come with any money. It is time for the federal government to come with some money and let's see if we can get an agreement to get this project moving.

Mr. Speaker, this has indeed been a very, very interesting summer. We have a number of interesting projects happening in my district, particularly the mineral sands development by Markland Resources and the Churchill River, particularly when it comes to some of the upgrading that has been done on the Trans-Labrador Highway, and certainly upgrading infrastructure that has been done in the Town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

Mr. Speaker, as we move forward - I have said this many times in this hon. House - the resources of Labrador will be the future of our Province. I am looking forward to the way in which this government, this Premier, has taken a new approach to the development of these resources. I can tell you that these resources will, and must, be for the benefits, first and foremost, of the people of Labrador.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Just when the people in the coffee shop in Goose Bay thought their member wasn't going to say anything else, he gets up in the Legislature today and blows us all away with the great speech from Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, he is putting Ottawa on notice, he is putting the federal member in Labrador on notice, that they had better deliver or else, but I suggest that the hon. member put his own government on notice. It is time for him to put his own government on notice and to deliver for Labrador, I say to the hon. member. When that happens, I can guarantee him that he will get the praise and the glory of his coffee shop friends back again. There is no doubt about that.

Mr. Speaker, I never thought I would see the day in the Legislature when a member on the other side could upscale the Minister of Finance. I never thought I was going to see it, but I witnessed it today when the Member for Lake Melville got up. There is not one surprise left in the Budget right now for Labrador. We know exactly what the Minister of Finance is going to announce the day he stands in his place, because the Member for Lake Melville just upscaled him and announced every single initiative.

Mr. Speaker, the long-term care facility for Labrador is on - going to be in the Budget. The auditorium for Happy Valley-Goose Bay is on - going to be in the Budget. Not only that, but a school for my district that two years ago they put on hold because there was no need to build it, is now going to be built. I am going to go up and put out a press release now and announce all of that, because all of those things were started by a Liberal government. They were initiatives started by a Liberal government two years ago, put on hold two years ago because the Province was finding itself in a position of bankruptcy; but, Mr. Speaker, two years -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

It is very difficult for the Speaker to hear the presentation, and I am sure the speech is rather eloquent. I ask members for their co-operation.

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.

MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, I think you may have to call in the guards because I am going to need protection here this afternoon, trying to have a few words on the Throne Speech.

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk a little bit about this Lower Churchill file that is ongoing. The hon. member opposite likes to get up and talk about negotiations that were ongoing in the past. I say to the hon. member that the Lower Churchill has been an ongoing negotiation for the past thirty years in Newfoundland and Labrador. He likes to talk about negotiations of previous governments.

I want to remind the members of this Legislature, and remind the people of the Province, that there never was a Lower Churchill deal signed - never was, Mr. Speaker - and there were a number of reasons why there was never a Lower Churchill deal signed.

Mr. Speaker, I can tell you one reason right now. I cannot tell the hon. members what happened during the Tobin and Bouchard negotiations because I was an Opposition member at the time and I was not privy to the information, and I do not know what the negotiations were, but let me tell you this, Mr. Speaker: I was privy to information on the negotiations between Grimes and Landry. Yes, indeed, I was privy to it. Mr. Speaker, I will tell you something: there isn't a deal today because members did not support what was negotiated.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, this is one member who did not support the Labrador initiatives that were negotiated into that contract. Mr. Speaker, I had the guts to stand up to my government and make sure that it was not done.

Do you know something, Mr. Speaker? I do not have the same confidence in the members opposite. I do not have the same confidence in the members opposite, and I will tell you why. If the Lower Churchill negotiation does not measure up to the expectations of Labradorians, who will stop the deal at that time? Who will stop the deal the next time? It will not be in the inner circle, because the Labrador voice is not in the inner circle to make sure that it happens. It will not be in the backbenchers in the caucus room, because thus far we have not heard them get up and speak against any particular deal.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MS JONES: I say to the hon. member, just calm down; I am explaining a little bit of history to him now, and the I am going to get to the current file.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, I do not have that confidence that I knew was there when the last deal was being negotiated, but what I will say is this. I will say that the public consultation that was held in Labrador was a good first step as it relates to the Lower Churchill development. It was an opportunity for the voices of Labrador to come together and to lay upon the table, to government and to the Premier, what we expected to see from this development. I have to say, of the more than thirty speakers who went to the microphone on that evening in Happy Valley-Goose Bay at the college, all of them were articulate, all of them were forceful and strong in their comments, but, more so than, that they were fair. They were fair in laying out the agenda for Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, this is what people want. I am going to tell you, there are very few people I know of in Labrador at all who are opposed to a Lower Churchill development. I am going to tell you, most of the people I know want to see this go ahead, they want it done properly, and they want to see benefits for the region.

Mr. Speaker, one of the major benefits they want to see - and this was articulated very well to the Premier when he was there, and he listened very attentively, I will say to you, to what Labradorians had to say. One thing that was articulated to him was the need to have available, affordable, electricity in all regions of Labrador.

In the North and South Coast of Labrador right now that is definitely not the case. Not only is there not an availability of good, clean energy, but there is also very expensive diesel-generated power. In this day and age we do not need to burning bunker C in a region like Labrador where we have a wealth of hydro resources. Even in the Upper Lake Melville area and in Labrador West there is still the need, the pressing need, to have more availability of low-cost energy. I think those were the major points that were driven home to the government, to the Premier and his Cabinet ministers at that meeting, that we need to have these things dealt with first and foremost if there is to be another development of 3,500 megawatts of power in Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, people are frustrated, obviously. People in Labrador are frustrated for many reasons over developments of resources, okay? But I guess we do not have to look too far to see where the frustration comes from. I mean, when you have an aluminum smelter right now in Quebec that is being fed off Labrador hydro power generating 800 or 900 jobs, Mr. Speaker, that in itself is very frustrating for Labradorians. We do not want that to happen again, and that is why the pressing arguments are being made to have affordable, low-cost, accessible energy to communities in Labrador. I think that was the priority, and it was a unanimous priority, coming out of that.

There are several ways that could happen. It does not necessarily mean that you have to run a transmission line from Churchill Falls to every single community in Labrador. There are other ways that you can achieve that agenda part and parcel to this particular deal. Mr. Speaker, I have believed that for the last fifteen years. I have spoken on it on more than one occasion. I have tried to impress it upon other negotiators who have been involved in this deal. For me, that is the least that has to be done in order for this to be acceptable.

The other thing that has to happen here is, there has to be a negotiation with all Aboriginal groups involved, especially the Innu and Metis. Mr. Speaker, I understand that the Innu are at the table, have been at the table for some time as part of this negotiation, but the Metis are not at the table and they have a legitimate right to be there. Mr. Speaker, they are the users of this land for more than 300 years. They are the people who still today have an attachment in that area for culture and heritage reasons. They are still very much relying upon that river. So, Mr. Speaker, they are the people who need to be dealt with as well; not just because they file an Aboriginal claim in that area, but out of respect - out of respect for the people who use the land and use the river and use the area.

I am not going to outline what the context of any negotiations should be with the Labrador Metis, but what I will say is this. This is an opportunity, an opportunity for the government and for the Premier to give some profile to Metis claim in Labrador. As you know, the claim itself has been in the Department of Justice for five years federally, awaiting a response, and we have still not gotten it. How do you push that file ahead? How do you get the federal government and the Department of Justice to make a firm ruling on it? You do it by lifting them up, by joining your voice with theirs, by being a partner with them as an Aboriginal group who has a legitimate claim. I think there is a real opportunity for government there, to include Metis people in this Lower Churchill development discussion, to give them a table themselves where there can be meaningful discussion with them as an Aboriginal entity, just like they have done with the Innu Nation.

The other thing, Mr. Speaker, that people want to see in Labrador out of this development is, they want to see a heritage fund developed. I guess we have heard for many years about heritage funds that exist in Alberta, in Alaska, and in the territories, and how those funds are administered for the economic diversification of regions and for the benefit of people who live there. Well, I think people in Labrador want to grab on to that concept as well. How can we have a portion of money that would be set aside for a revenue or for a heritage fund or whatever the case may be that can be used in Labrador communities? I think that is something that government will undertake to look at as they move forward in this negotiation.

It was a lot harder to do it with the Voisey's Bay deal, because the Voisey's Bay deal, in essence, was negotiated between the LIA and the Innu Nation and the companies. That was basically the premise, and the royalties on Voisey's Bay go to the LIA and to the Innu Nation; it does not go into a broader fund for all of Labrador. Maybe it should have gone into a broader fund for all of Labrador; but, because the LIA had the legitimate land claim, it was in their land claim area, it was in their new Inuit Central Government area, and they negotiated a royalty fund that would go directly to their people, and not a royalty that would go directly to all the people of Labrador.

Now, the Member for Lake Melville says that was wrong and it should not have happened, but at the present time you cannot support a land claim for Aboriginal people and then not allow them to negotiate royalties on that claim. That was, in essence, what happened. When the Innu and the LIA signed off on royalties under Voisey's Bay, it was not a fund that was going to apply to everybody else in Labrador. So, maybe this time there will be an opportunity because you are not dealing with an Inuit Central Government like you were in the North. You are not dealing with the same kind of circumstances in this negotiation as you were with the Voisey's Bay negotiation, so there might be an opportunity to do something a little bit differently around this than has been done before.

Mr. Speaker, in essence I think that was the major issue that was brought forward by the people in Labrador as it relates to this development. People also expressed their concern from an environmental perspective. Like any development in Labrador, we have always wanted to have good environmental assessments and studies done and allow for those who are interested to have intervener status into those environmental assessments. I certainly hope that would be done as part of this project as well, because they are the watchdogs of our environment, they are there to look after the protection of that resource and to make sure that development is done with as relatively little impact negatively on the environment as can possibly happen.

Mr. Speaker, I talked a little bit about the Lower Churchill piece, and I want to move on and talk about a couple of other issues, because there are a lot of issues in Labrador right now that need to be dealt with and need to be addressed. If I get into transportation I could be here all day, so maybe I will just leave that for another day and another discussion, because it is a very, very lengthy piece, let me tell you that.

I would like to talk about some other things, Mr. Speaker. In a district like mine, which is one of the most rural districts in the Province, I guess, rural and isolated to a large degree, we have been through a very difficult time this year. While a lot don't want to see it and don't want to recognize it and would rather turn a deaf ear to it, the reality is that when the fishery starts to crumble in many of these rural areas, so does the whole foundation of the economy. That is the situation that we are in right now. In my area there are all of these small communities that are built around the fishery. The end of June this year, when you think the fishery is getting started and gearing up for season, I had four fish plants close down in my district, and had over 400 people who were put out of work.

Mr. Speaker, I didn't hear anybody in the Cabinet talking about the 400 jobs that were lost up in my area due to the fishery, like we have heard about Stephenville with Abitibi and like we have heard about some other industries that are downscaling. I can guarantee that 400 to 500 jobs in a district of less than 6,000 people are every bit as important as they are in one community of 6,000 people. It has had an overwhelming impact, to the point, Mr. Speaker, that for the first time in a very long time I have seen people leaving my district this year. They were leaving for places like Fort McMurray. While it was heartbreaking to watch them go, you knew they had no other choice. When your entire industry shuts down the end of June, there is no other job to go to, there is no other employment in the region, you have to make some difficult decisions, and they were forced to make those difficult decisions, unfortunately.

Mr. Speaker, there has to be a plan to rejuvenate and to diversify in those industries, and I really believe that it can be done. I have seen a lot of small-scale manufacturing businesses start in this Province, and even in my own area, that have generated eight, ten, twelve jobs, which have been a great contribution to the region and to the community, but I have seen them do it through very innovative and creative ways of being able to take what they have and work with it to create opportunity for themselves.

Mr. Speaker, there is a great deal of opportunity there in tourism. I am just going to give you an example. When I was in the Yukon this year - and the Yukon is not unlike Labrador in many ways, as you know. The Yukon Territory has about 30,000, Labrador has about 27,000 or 28,000. Mr. Speaker, when I was down in the Yukon Territory, one of the major industries that they have developed there has been the tourism industry. What they have been doing is bringing in tourists from Germany on direct chartered aircraft. They have been allowing them to rent vehicles and drive from Whitehorse right through the Yukon Territory, out through Alaska and fly back out of Anchorage, which is a two-week trip.

Mr. Speaker, those kinds of marketing initiatives can work in an area like Labrador. I am going to tell you, it is not unlike the Yukon, it is not unlike Alaska in terms of its terrain, its attractions, its lifestyle, its culture, but do you know what the biggest setback is, that we have in developing an industry like that? We do not have the transportation mechanism. There has to be an investment of capital by government to see that happen.

How could you possibly look at flying tourists into L'Anse au Clair, have them drive right through Labrador and fly out through Labrador West? Mr. Speaker, the gravel road would not even be the deterrent, but the ferry connection between Cartwright and Goose Bay is not acceptable. It is not conducive to promoting an industry of that scale. If you can only get a ferry twice a week, you cannot bring in those hundreds of tourists, attract them to a region like Labrador and have them take advantage of all of the services, the culture and the opportunity that exists there, because the transportation mechanism does not exist to allow you to create an industry like that.

That is where I think government has a role. They have a role to be able to create the best possible services and the best possible infrastructure that they can to support communities that want to broaden its industry needs. This is a region that has been involved in the tourism industry for over thirty years. One of the longest standing regions in the Province in developing tourism has been in the Labrador Straits. We were bringing bus tours through there before they even started to come into other parts of the Province. Even to date, we still bring in 150 or 160 bus tours a year, but we could be doing so much more in that industry. We could be bringing in so many more people directly from Germany, from Ireland, from Iceland, bringing them in to be able to travel through that particular area, but you cannot do it if you do not have the infrastructure and the means to do it. You cannot go out and promote these things when there isn't really the infrastructure in place to support it. Those are the kinds of things that I really want to see changed, and some continuous effort being put on to make it happen.

Mr. Speaker, I know that I am getting short of time but, before I sit down, I do want to make a comment with regard to 5 Wing Goose Bay because my colleague who was up earlier, the Member for Lake Melville, talked about 5 Wing Goose Bay and he put the federal government on notice and he put the MP for Labrador on notice. I am sure he is up there shaking in his shoes right now, frightened to death, but -

MR. SPEAKER (Fitzgerald): Order, please!

I remind the hon. Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair that her time has lapsed.

MS JONES: Could I just, by leave, clue up, Mr. Speaker? It will take me just merely seconds - minutes at the most.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

Does the member have leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. member, by leave.

MS JONES: Thank you, I say to my hon. colleagues. I will try and clue up as briefly as I possibly can.

I was talking about 5 Wing Goose Bay. Mr. Speaker, I want to say this because back only a year-and-a-half ago the Premier was out saying that we are all over this file when it comes to 5 Wing Goose Bay. We are travelling to the UK, we are marketing the base, we are meeting with the ambassadors, we are meeting with the generals, and we are going to do whatever we can to revive the base in Goose Bay; but, Mr. Speaker, I have not heard the Premier of the Province, I have not heard him in the last year, putting the federal government on notice. I have not heard him saying to Prime Minister Martin: You have to deliver on this and we have to fix this problem.

I have seen the whole file shift right to the back rooms and the background of the provincial government, and that is not right. Whether it is a federal responsibility or not, it is still the responsibility of the government of the Province to lead on files like this, and 5 Wing Goose Bay, I can guarantee you, if it does not succeed, it will erode the entire economy of Lake Melville and the entire economy of the Labrador region. That would not be acceptable, I am sure, to any members in this House. So, while the Member for Lake Melville puts the MP on notice, I would like to put him and his government on notice that they have to do more as it relates to this file.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DENINE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am delighted to get up here to speak on our past history of this government, of the two years that it has gone through. Two years of very, very difficult times. We inherited, as we know, a significant mess from the previous government. Mr. Speaker, we had to go and try to fix things that were done, and try to add financial stability to this Province. We have now, I feel, as a member of this government, turned a corner and are on our way to making it a lot better for everyone in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, not too long ago, we sat at the Fairmont Hotel and there was a signing of the Atlantic Accord. That, Mr. Speaker, showed leadership on this side of the House that did not exist with the previous government. This government took the lead, with the support - Mr. Speaker, with the support - of all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. Every one of them were behind us 100 per cent, because what we did at that day, we turned the corner. We made things happen. We made the future of Newfoundland and Labrador brighter. We gave it hope, and we are going to continue on that road.

Mr. Speaker, some of the things that we have done I am very, very proud of. One was the White Paper. The former Minister of Education initiated that, and it will be carried on now by the present Minister of Education.

Mr. Speaker, in our term of office there will be no increase in tuition; no increase in tuition fees at the University and CONA, none. Now, the Opposition will get up and say, well, we rolled it back.

MR. BARRETT: That is right.

MR. DENINE: What they forget to tell you - the Member for Bellevue said, right. I agree with him on that, but they forget to tell you that they increased it significantly before they rolled it back. So, right now, Mr. Speaker, we are going to go four years into the mandate of this government where there will be no increase in tuition. That is a significant, significant milestone, I think, for our university students and CONA. It is very significant because, as we know, inflation occurs automatically on everything, but what we have done is, we have frozen the tuition for those students. That is a very, very important thing that we did, because we have frozen that and made the future brighter for our students, a lot brighter than what it was previously.

Mr. Speaker, this is a very significant achievement. The other one - what we did, we put $43 million into school construction and renovations. If you remember just a year ago, some of the schools in the St. John's metro area were dilapidated by lack of repairs and lack of funding to the school boards from the previous government. We put in - there was $43 million. There was $16 million which we had to address what they call the envelope of the school, the outside, because there were leaky roofs, leaky windows, and there probably still are today as we speak, but we are on the road to help correct that situation.

Mr. Speaker, I can speak in my district of a couple of schools: Mount Pearl Intermediate, St. Peter's Elementary on Ashford Drive. These two schools have now had the roofs fixed. In the gymnasium there was water coming down where kids had to run around. You know yourself just exactly how dangerous that is, when they are playing games and there is water on the floor. If you happen to know anything about basketball, it is very, very dangerous, so we had to make sure the security of the building had to be looked after. We made sure of that by doing an influx of money into that problem.

Mr. Speaker, we have also addressed health care in the Throne Speech. We put in more money to help, $33.2 million, and that, when it is fully implemented, will help reduce the waiting times on MRIs, CAT scans and cardiac surgeries. This cannot and will not be solved overnight, but the first dip was to make a commitment to see waiting times reduced. Now, there were reports that came out: well, waiting times are longer - but, the full impact of the past budget is not there. It takes a significant amount of time to implement all of these changes to make sure that these facilities are given to our health care sectors. That is what I call vision. That is what I call looking into the future and trying to plan the road down the road.

Mr. Speaker, what I hear from the other side is that this was the Liberal initiative, this was this, this was that. They try to cherry-pick everything and take credit for what they think was good, but they never take credit for what was bad.

Now, our hon. Member for Lake Melville mentioned the Lower Churchill, and it is to be known that when this government was in Opposition we were a major force in stopping the signing of the deal of the Lower Churchill, because there was an organizational meeting at Mary Queen of Peace School on Torbay Road, MacDonald Drive, where a significant number of people came and voiced their major, major concerns over signing a deal. We did not have pamphlets done. We did not have a video tape done - and a video tape was done, Mr. Speaker, and we stopped it because it was a bad deal.

Now, what did this government do when we came to office? We opened up proposals, not only in Canada, not only in North America, but global. We had something over twenty-five proposals put forth to develop the Lower Churchill. Mr. Speaker, information on that will come in due course because they will be sorted out. We are down to a small number now and those, as the Minister of Natural Resources, will come forward with the findings and we will make a deal on that. That, Mr. Speaker, is the future of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is a renewable resource. Now, how will we do that? That will come out in the findings. Whether it is sold for royalties, whether it is done for our own development of industries in Newfoundland and Labrador, that remains to be seen - if we cannot take that and develop it on our own. So, all of this will be done once everything is studied and a logical, equitable proposal is brought forward, and the main function of that is that it be for the benefit of Newfoundland and Labrador. That is the major thrust of any deal that we make on this side, is that we maximize the benefits that will come from that project.

Mr. Speaker, the other thing I wish to speak about is the roads in Newfoundland and Labrador. There were thirteen years of neglect by the previous Administration. There was no road work. There was nothing done on the roads of Newfoundland and Labrador that was any way significant, that would make any impact at all. Take the Trans-Canada Highway, the ruts were from Whitbourne in. They were neglected, neglected and neglected.

I see the Member for Bellevue looking at me as if he wants to jump up and say something, but I know he cannot defend what he did. He certainly cannot.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. DENINE: I am sorry. Thank you very much. What he didn't do or what they didn't do.

Mr. Speaker, as I speak now, the ruts from Whitbourne in are now being repaired. That is because of the initiative of this government. We do not care what district it goes through, we are making sure that it is done for the safety of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Mr. Speaker, in three years from now there will be 260 kilometres of the Trans-Canada Highway replaced; 260 kilometres of the Trans-Canada Highway replaced and eight bridges. That is significant infrastructure, significant increase in our transportation network in this Province. As we know, we live on an Island. Most of our goods are transported by eighteen-wheelers. This will go a long way to make it a lot better for goods to be transported in a very smooth and acceptable method.

Mr. Speaker, I also wish to make mention of the multi-year program. Every municipality - now, I have to give credit to the former Minister of Municipal Affairs because it started in that area, and we just continue on with it, but we put in $85 million in the multi-year program. Now, what does that do? Well, that gives municipalities the right to plan for the future. It says to a municipality: Here is your money for three years. Now you outline your priorities and get them done. So people know from one year to the next what is going to happen. What was happening in the past, prior to the multi-year program, it was done in a hodgepodge manner, where: Here is your money. Go do it, get it done and so on. Now, this government has put forward some planning, has given municipalities the right to plan for their priorities, what they see. The Minister of Municipal Affairs has to be congratulated for continuing this.

Mr. Speaker, some of the things that were done -

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. DENINE: Two other items, I think, so far. It depends on how much time I have left. Two other items.

The other one, if you remember, a while ago they talked about the cancer clinic in Grand Falls-Windsor. The Opposition were all upset that it did not go ahead. Mr. Speaker, not that it did not go ahead, but we now have - because of vision and because of doing what we did on this side - two facilities; one going in Grand Falls-Windsor and one going in Gander. Now, if that is not a better value for your dollar, I do not know what is.

Now, the hon. Member for Grand Bank was all up in arms about the health care facility down in Grand Bank. What did this government do under the Premier? They went down with the Minister of Health and announced $16 million -

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. DENINE: Eleven million dollars, I am sorry. Eleven million dollars for the clinic and also to upgrade the health care home down there (inaudible).

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. DENINE: That is what I said, clinic. Is that what I said, clinic?

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. DENINE: Thank you. I did not hear what you said. I know I said clinic, but you probably did not understand that.

Anyhow, Mr. Speaker, what has happened, the people down there are quite happy with this proposal. Now there are three things. You have Grand Falls-Windsor, Gander and Grand Bank taken care of with their health care concerns. That has gone a long way.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. DENINE: Mr. Speaker, make no wonder they are yapping at me over there. It is because they lack vision. They do not understand this. It is vision, and that is what this government has provided, a significant amount of vision for the future. What do we see in health care? What do we see in education? What do we see in resources and what do we want? I am very proud to be on this side because we have done a significant, significant amount of work.

Now, the question each one of them will get up and say: Well, the hon. Member for Mount Pearl forgot this, this and this. They are probably right, but it does not change -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. DENINE: I cannot hear myself speak.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please! Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl.

MR. DENINE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I was reminded of what I said and I did not think so. Thank you to the members of the Opposition for bringing that to my attention. I really appreciate it. I know you are really good watchdogs over there keeping that. Anyhow, certainly a slip. There is no question about it.

Mr. Speaker, these are some of the things that I think this government can be very, very proud of. As I have mentioned, they will say there are a lot of things that were not done or have not been done so far. Mr. Speaker, we have been only in two years. Our anniversary date was up on October 21. We only had two construction seasons to get things done; to clean up the mess that was left by the previous Administration for thirteen years. Thirteen years of neglect, that is what we had. If you take it honestly - and I know the members over there will agree with me. They might not want to and they will not do it in public, but they will agree with me that we made significant strides. Now, not one of them will say it but deep down in their hearts they know that I am right. You can hear it. I can hear the positive attitude over there. They are saying yes, the Member for Mount Pearl, you have done a great job.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. DENINE: Mr. Speaker, the other part is to reduce red tape. Under the Member for Terra Nova, he is reducing red tape. Now, we know in order to grow an economy we need to open up the doors and make it easier for people to develop a business, to come in here: open for business. We want to make sure that this red tape reduction is done because, from my previous experience as Mayor of Mount Pearl, I can certainly tell you, it is very, very much appreciated by the perspective client that you might want to come to Newfoundland and Labrador and to your municipalities. I think when it is done, they will over there, sing the same song that we are singing and say a great job.

Mr. Speaker, again, they may not want to agree. They may not want to agree with what I said and they will all say: Well, you do not hear yourself think. But, Mr. Speaker, we, on this side, have shown vision. Now, someone said you cannot spell words but I do not think they can spell the word vision because it is not in their vocabulary because they never had it for thirteen years.

Mr. Speaker, this here is the vision of this government. I am quite contented to be part of this government because I know we are on the right track. We have turned the corner and the future is a lot brighter than it was two years ago when it was under the Liberal rule.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate an opportunity to have a few comments today. This is called the Address in Reply. I guess for those in the viewing audience and in TV land who are not familiar with it, it is one of those opportunities where Members of the House of Assembly get to speak on a topic of their choosing, pretty well. Anything that is deemed to be relevant by them, they are certainly free to speak about it.

We have lots of things in this Province -

MR. E. BYRNE: (Inaudible).

MR. PARSONS: That is exactly what I am saying, I say to the Government House Leader. That whatever the member deems to be relevant that member is free to speak about it, not what the government tells you. I tell the Government House Leader, that we over here in the Opposition are not going to confine our comments to what they might tell us we ought to speak about. We will speak to whatever we feel we want to speak about.

Now, if I might get on with my comments. I was going to pick a file to discuss today that is relevant to the people of my particular district in Burgeo & LaPoile, and that being the Marine Atlantic file. Sometimes we are pretty fortunate that this provincial government keeps their hands off certain files. They have kept their hands off this one. We have seen files where they put their hands on. We see what is happening with Abitibi, they had them all over that file. We seen what happened in FPI, they were all over that file. We have seen what happened in Harbour Breton when the Premier got his hands all over the file. We have seen lots of these.

I am going to talk about a file that this provincial government didn't have their hands all over - and thank God and thank goodness they didn't! - and that is the Marine Atlantic issue in Port aux Basques. We had some very good news in the last few days. The federal government, the good federal Liberal government, sometimes accused of not doing enough for this Province, did something pretty good for one area of this Province, Port aux Basques and surrounding area. The people of this Province will recall that over the years we have had a lot of concerns about where the headquarters for Marine Atlantic would be, how the vessel configuration might be, how the employment statistics might be in that particular area. Lo and behold, the federal government in December of 2004 decided to strike a special advisory committee to review the Marine Atlantic situation again.

You will recall going back to the late 1990s, of course, we had the decision where the Moncton head office was dismantled. Partially, I guess, as a tradeoff certain things were put in North Sydney, certain things were put in Port aux Basques, and the head office ended up going to St. John's, Port aux Basques having the financial office, and Nova Scotia more or less having the maintenance and supply end of things. That was, I believe, at that time a political tradeoff by the federal government. This person was displeased with it then and though it was the wrong decision. I say that for the same reason I wouldn't suggest we should take Confederation Building and move it to Port aux Basques. I don't think we should have anything that belongs to Marine Atlantic outside of Port aux Basques.

I don't believe, for example, we need to have a headquarters for Marine Atlantic here in St. John's. I don't think that the President and CEO of Marine Atlantic should be living here in St. John's. I don't believe that the general manager for Marine Atlantic should operate under the pretext that he lives in Port aux Basques by renting an apartment that he never visits. That is not proper. If you are going to live there and come and tell the people you are going to live there, follow through, be honourable and live there. Don't come in and rent a sham apartment that you never set a foot inside of. I am a firm believe in that, if you say something do it. If you don't do it, get out of the job and put somebody there who is prepared to live there.

Anyway, this advisory committee last year, headed by Captain Sid Hynes, whose judgement I certainly respect - he had a guy by the name of Roger Jamieson with him as well, well known in the tourism industry, and it was pretty obvious why he would be on the committee, he is involved in tourism and has been for many, many years. He was the head of the Newfoundland and Labrador Hospitality Association, a pretty good fellow to tell you how Marine Atlantic might impact negatively or positively the operations of tourism in the Province. They also had the Assistant Deputy Minister of Transportation federally.

They did their hearings here, started, got struck in December of 2004, and on January 13, 2005, the committee met here in the Delta. We did not see much from the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The then Minister of Works and Services showed up in the morning and said, good morning, pleased to see you, and whatever else, but I never saw any briefs coming out of this government. I never saw any presentations at that meeting that day from this government about what should or should not be done for Marine Atlantic, which employs over 100 people, services everybody on this Island. Never saw anything. Good file to stay away from. Didn't see any Atlantic Accord-type presses on that file.

They had their meetings and, thank God - you talk about partnerships and people working together - we had an excellent presentation there. I just happened to be the mouthpiece that morning for a group of people who formed a partnership. I take absolutely no credit for the substance that was put into the presentation. I was only the mouthpiece who had the honour of presenting it on behalf of the people of Burgeo & LaPoile area. The people who needed to be thanked are the people like Mayor Aneitha Sheaves and Town Council in Port aux Basques, and the Chamber of Commerce in Port aux Basques, and the zone board in Port aux Basques and surrounding areas, and the unions who said this rightfully ought to be here.

Term 32, if no one ever heard of it in the Constitution of this Province and this country, says that it is the constitutionally-protected service and entry point for this Province. Not Argentia, which some people might think, Port aux Basques. They did make a great presentation, and the committee listened. The committee came back a few months later, before the end of March, I do believe, Captain Hynes, and he made his report to the federal minister, Mr. Lapierre. Forty-one recommendations. Two of them, when the report came out - which was made public, I might say, they did not do the report and try to shelve it or hide it. There it is. Look at it and see what you like or do not like about it.

Out of forty-one recommendations, there were two that were very troublesome to the people in Southwestern Newfoundland, very troublesome. One of them suggested that the drop-trailer business should be discontinued. Albeit the statistics show that the drop-trailer business - and for those who do not know what happens in the drop-trailer business, the trucks come down pulling the trailers over to Nova Scotia, get to North Sydney, the trailer gets dropped. A machine picks up the trailer, puts it on the boat, it sails across the Gulf, gets to Port aux Basques, a machine goes on board the boat and takes it off. A trailer over here in Newfoundland, a truck, picks it up and delivers it somewhere in Newfoundland. It is called a drop-trailer business.

They charge a lot of money for putting these drops on and off the boat, and it keeps people employed putting them on and off the boats, and Marine Atlantic gets a lot of money from that revenue generation, that drop-trailer business, in addition to what people pay when they travel with their cars, their vans, their recreational vehicles and their bodies back and forth the Province.

Anyway, the other one they recommended: the area has been screaming for some time saying we should have a second dock because right now if anything goes wrong in that area and the dock is damaged there is no way to get either of the super ferries or anything else in there. We would have to find somewhere else to try to accommodate the boats, and it is not like tying on a dory. It is not like if you cannot get into one slipway you can go to another one. These boats are configured with their docks so that you dock in a certain manner, and it is designed that way from a engineering perspective.

We were saying all along: Why wouldn't you have a second dock in case something happened to the first one? You would not have to worry, in that case, if you could not get the super ferries in, leaving people out on the boats and trying to get them off, and their cars off, and you are disrupting the truckers and the freight movements into the Province.

They recommended against a second dock. We could not figure it out. Why would you not be concerned about the safety aspect of it, the cover-up of it? It costs, apparently, $12 million to build a dock, which I did not think was a big deal considering that one of the other recommendations of the report suggested that we have a whole new fleet, about $800 million, so I thought, well, that sounds pretty good. If you are going to spend $800 million on a new fleet, why not spend the extra $12 million and have the extra dock? I thought that would make some common sense from a safety perspective and backup, and the drop-trailer. Anyway, kudos again to the federal government. The people in the area rallied again and said, your report is great.

Another one of the other recommendations, I might add, was that the headquarters should be moved to Port aux Basques. That was another recommendation, it should be moved, and hats off to the committee for recommending it.

Anyway, these two troublesome ones about the drop-trailer business and the dock - the minister, once he knew about the concerns of the area, did not slam the door shut on it. He said: Fine, let's take a look at this - and, he appointed a consultant. In fact, the Minister of Transportation, federally, himself came to town, looked at the facilities, saw how they worked, saw the infrastructure, so that he himself knew what was being talked about here and he would have a first-hand appreciation of how this would work.

The consultants came and did their studies as well. What was this to Marine Atlantic in terms of a revenue generator? How did the second dock piece impact the community and surrounding areas and the Province by allowing the freight to come in and out? The truckers were against the drop-trailer business; they felt it was a great thing. Again, this partnership evolved between all of the community local groups and the trucking industry who made these presentations to the consultants, and the federal government listened. The week before last, they said no to the recommendation on the drop-trailer business, which means it will continue, and that is fantastic news, not only because it gives the stability to the employment, to the labour force - because that is one of the big pluses of this. We had people out there who would not have jobs if that recommendation had been accepted, not only in Port aux Basques but also in North Sydney; estimates of thirty-eight-plus jobs that could have been gone if that recommendation had been put in play. So, we have that stability now amongst the workforce. People can get on with their lives a bit more. We know we are going to have a job in the near future at least, because that drop-trailer recommendation will not be accepted. They also recommended we are going to get the second dock, which I think - it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure it out - makes great sense. I think it made great sense.

Now, not everybody was in favour of it, I am sad to say, and sometimes, I guess, we can be our own worst enemies and the little green-eyed monster comes out sometimes. I heard some comments that this might negatively impact the Belledune service, which is supposed to come out of New Brunswick and go to Corner Brook. I have heard that service might now be in jeopardy if the drop-trailers continue with Marine Atlantic. I would just say to those people, we have to be fair here and realize that whatever happens to Marine Atlantic, and the continuation of the drop-trailer business, if that negatively impacts the Belledune service, that is unfortunate, but we must remember that since 1898 - not 1998, since 1898 - Port aux Basques has been the entry point, the gateway to this Province for passengers and freight. That was written into the Constitution in 1949, so you have to pay due respect, I would suggest, to what has already been existing when it comes to talking about creating something else. That is not to say that some entrepreneur who wants to go ahead and can put all the pieces together to make that service workable should not do it. That is free enterprise, and I am firm believer in that.

The thing that is in limbo now, and we still do not know about, is the headquarters piece. As I say, I am very pleased to see that the report recommended that the headquarters would go to Port aux Basques from St. John's. As I say, I think that is where it should be. I would encourage the federal government - in fact, I would encourage the provincial government, and the Minister of Transportation and Works, he should be on board now and asking the federal government again, and Marine Atlantic: When are you going to make the move to follow through on the recommendation and actually put the headquarters in Port aux Basques? I hope we get a better response from the current Minister of Transportation and Works than we got in the past on this file, even just a letter saying move on with your recommendations and put the headquarters there.

I get in trouble sometimes and I say things. Probably I say them in haste and with not enough thought. I remember one time I was at the Newfoundland Hotel down here a few years ago and there was a gentleman from Nova Scotia. I did not realize at the time that he was a Senator. Well, Senator or not, I made my comments and I did not retract them and I do not retract them now. I said at the time there should only be enough employees with Marine Atlantic in Nova Scotia to tie the boat on, and no more. I firmly believe that everything associated with Marine Atlantic should be in Port aux Basques. That service only exists because we are an Island. It does not exist because North Sydney created it. It does not exist for any other reason than that we are an Island. Since 1898 we have connected ourselves via vessel service there. We are the point. There is absolutely no justification in the world why there should be anything in Marine Atlantic in North Sydney other than enough people to tie the boat on.

All servicing should be done on this Island, in this Province; everybody employed should be employed in this Province, whether it is dealing with finances, whether it is dealing with supplying - anything should be done here. If it is winter maintenance it should be done here, and every employee should come from here.

I think I am sensible enough to realize that we are not going to change history either, but that just happens to be my personal feeling. At least the things that can be done and that everybody is on the same sheet about now should be done; for example, the president and the CEO. We have had some doozies in the past. I am sure we have had presidents who probably never, ever stepped foot in Port aux Basques, and Chairmans of the Board. They were hired to run the company, a multi-million dollar company with hundreds of employees in the past, and probably some of them never stepped foot in Port aux Basques. I think it is time to bring that sham to an end.

I say again, if you are the CEO and President of Marine Atlantic, the decision has been made that the headquarters should be in Port aux Basques. The federal government should act immediately to follow through on that recommendation. The existing president and CEO should move there, and the general manager, who is supposed to be the general manager of all the ports, who certainly gave everyone the impression that he was going to live in town, and I believe even looked at some houses from time to time, has an apartment that he spends some time in. I have nothing against the man personally. I met the man. I like him as an individual, as a person, but it is the job that I am talking about, the general manager position. I do not care if you are Jack or you are John or you are Jim. If you take the job and you are going to do the job from there, get about it and do it properly. That has not been happening.

I say again, I am glad this was one of the files that the Province kept their hands off because we have enough problems in this Province right now when it comes to rural Newfoundland. I am not suggesting that it is in any way caused by the government. I am certainly not, not at all. The question is: Where are we going to go in the future on this very tough issue of making Newfoundland survive?

That is the biggest file that we all have here as a Province. I would think that is the nuts and the bolts and guts of where we are going to be as a Province in the future, because if the rest of us do not survive in rural Newfoundland, the capital city region or anything else, any other urban region in this Province, ultimately, is in question. We only survive if all of the parts are strong.

Well I thank the federal government because at least one part of rural Newfoundland in this one particular segment, for example, Port aux Basques and Marine Atlantic, has being given a little brighter future because of that decision on Marine Atlantic.

Maybe the good minister - I know the town council in Port aux Basques have been on her hundreds of times, and we keep providing her with copies of every accident there is. Every violation there is by a trucker we keep sending it to her office and she keeps telling us that the statistics don't justify reopening it. Well, maybe someday again it will take a death to make her see the wisdom of the suggestions.

In any case, I conclude by saying, hats off to the minister federally, Lapierre, on his decision, hats off to the people in the Burgeo-LaPoile area, particularly the Port aux Basques area, who made this possible. Hopefully, we can have some success on some other issues in the near future as well. With an impending federal election, maybe we might be in for some more good news.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Trinity North.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is a real pleasure today to be able to stand in this House and make a few comments under this section we are calling Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne. It is kind of appropriate, I think, Mr. Speaker, that we are able to stand in the House at this particular point in time in our term, halfway through our term, and reflect on some of the great things that have happened in Newfoundland and Labrador over the last couple of years, reflect on the commitments that this government made to the people of this Province in the fall of 2003 and look at the progress that we have made in that very short period of time.

I think most of us in this House will agree, and I am certain even members on the opposite side will agree, if you look at the commitments that we made as a government in the fall of 2003 in that blueprint, we have made substantive progress on many fronts. In those areas that we have not achieved we have made substantive progress towards those objectives.

Look at this year's Speech from the Throne. This is a good starting point because it talks about the kind of visionary government that we are and it talks about the kind of direction in which we are headed. When we say in here in March of 2005, "Newfoundland and Labrador aspires to become one of Canada's brightest success stories and to make even stronger contributions to the Canadian family as a truly equal partner, in practice as well as principle," I say, Mr. Speaker, as a government we have made some significant progress in that direction. I stand here today, as a Member of this Legislature and as a member of this government caucus, and can say quite honestly and sincerely that I am extremely proud to be a part of this government. I am extremely proud to be a part of Newfoundland and Labrador today as we move forward with some progress and some success that we have never experienced in the last ten or fifteen years.

It is indeed a pleasure to be able to comment on some of those with respect to my own district, and I want to focus some of my comments on some of the things that have been happening in this district. A couple of weeks ago I was talking to an open line show host and I was talking about some of the great things that were happening in Trinity North. He reminded me that, that was not necessarily to be said for all of Newfoundland and Labrador. At the same time, as I pointed out to him at that point, in this Province, yes, we do have some challenges, in this Province, yes, there are some areas that are experiencing some challenging times with their economy and out-migration and some employment challenges, but on the whole, I say, Mr. Speaker, the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador is experiencing some tremendous growth and some real successes.

I am extremely pleased, very pleased, I say, Mr. Speaker, to represent a district that has been doing quite well in the last couple of years, quite well under this government's reign. I have to just reflect on some of those successes and some of those accomplishments. More recently particularly, Premier Williams, joined by the Minister of Health and Community Services, myself, the Member for Bonavista South and the Member for Terra Nova District, stood on the site of a future new long-term care facility in Clarenville. In early September we turned the sod for a new long-term care facility, one that has been in the plans for quite some time, one that successive governments have made commitments to get around to doing some day. Our government made a firm commitment to do it and we have now moved forward. As we stood there that day in an official ceremony turning a sod to initiate the start of the construction, we had a construction crew and people behind us ready to move as soon as we were finished. If you drive by that site today, Mr. Speaker, as I am sure you have as you drive through your district, you see the completed site work that will be the home of a new long-term care home where the construction of the building will start next year.

As I look further at health care in the last couple of years, I say Mr. Speaker, in the last two years this government has invested some $390,000 in equipment for the Dr. GB Cross Memorial Hospital. That money is being used to match money raised in the community by the discovery health foundation. Together the community is served by that health facility and this government have invested somewhere in the range of $700,000 in the new equipment for that new health facility. In fact, this Thursday, Mr. Speaker, I will be joining some members of the administration of that facility as we cut the ribbon to initiate the use of the new digital imaging system for that facility. Again, it happened with this government, a reflection of this government's commitment to improving health care services throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

Eight months ago dialysis service, a service that was introduced in the early 2000s in Clarenville for that region from Clarenville to Come by Chance to Bonavista, expanded its service. The initial plan was to have four units there, it had grown well beyond that. Two new units were added early in this year expanding the service so that today there are twelve patients receiving dialysis service in that unit in Clarenville servicing the area from Bonavista to Port Blandford to Come By Chance and that surrounding area; all initiatives improving health care in the region in which I live and for the people of the Trinity North and surrounding districts, again a reflection of a great commitment by this government.

We start looking at some of the success stories and we talk about rural diversification. I say, Mr. Speaker, last week I had an opportunity to be a part of a graduation ceremony, a tremendous initiative. A fur farmer from Denmark brought his money into Newfoundland and Labrador, invested in a farm in a community called Harcourt. He brought in a group of minks last year, that is now doubled in size. They needed some trained staff, they needed an opportunity to have people to understand that industry. The Random North Development Association, in partnership with the College of the North Atlantic, has developed a training program to be able to take individuals at risk, those individuals who may not have graduated from high school and do not have the ability to go directly into the workforce, take individuals who fall into that category - in fact, they have taken nine of them and some of them, I say, Mr. Speaker, are from your neighbouring district. They have taken nine of them and taken them through a forty-week training program to give them dedicated specialized training in the area of fur farming.

While doing it, in addition to providing that kind of very focused and specialized training, it also gave them some basic education requirements in math and English and reading and literacy; a major initiative, I say, Mr. Speaker. It was only made possible because of an investment by this government, an investment by the Department of Human Resources, Labour and Employment together with Service Canada, an investment in people. Those nine individuals started work on Saturday. They are going to be working in a blooming industry. In fact, that fur farm today employs some sixteen or seventeen people. In a couple of weeks time, Mr. Speaker, they are going to be reopening a fish plant in your district where they will be servicing and working with that farm again creating employment opportunities in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. Now, twenty-five or thirty or forty jobs may not sound a lot if you compare that to what might have been a fish processing plant that employed 1,500 or 2,000, but those kinds of industries that have a long-term sustainable future and if we get a number of them happening in Charleston, one happening in Harcourt, and others happening in other parts of Newfoundland and Labrador, they will help us to diversify a rural economy.

I was very pleased last week to be a part of that graduating ceremony because not only did I get an opportunity to see this government's investment in education at work, as I saw these nine individuals who had struggled for years to find gainful employment, now finally being trained for an industry that had some tremendous growth potential, but I was also able to sit back and listen to an entrepreneur from another country coming into Newfoundland and Labrador talking about the tremendous place to do business, a tremendous workforce, support of a government making sure that the regulations they are working within provided an opportunity for him to grow and to expand his business. As I sat there during that ceremony, I could not help but feel proud of this government's commitment both to education and to industry and business in this Province. It is those kinds of initiatives, Mr. Speaker, that will help and see Newfoundland and Labrador continue to prosper.

I look at municipal infrastructure and tourism: We have talked about making a commitment as a government to continue to reinvest in tourism promotion to make sure that our investment in this Province in tourism is on par with the rest of Atlantic Canada. When we develop that kind of industry - and I am very proud to sit here today and say that Trinity North, in fact the entire Bonavista Peninsula area of the Province, is one of the most popular destination points for tourists in this entire Province. This year our government, together with the federal government, has just finally completed a massive water and sewer project in Trinity, a $4.6 million investment by three levels of government, the provincial government, the federal government and the municipal government, an investment in infrastructure that will preserve and protect a tremendous amount of tourism infrastructure in the town of Trinity, one of the oldest communities in Newfoundland and Labrador that has established a real niche for itself in the tourism industry, but was on the brink of having that tourism industry destroyed because of the lack of municipal infrastructure.

I am very happy today to tell you that on Thursday of this week the community of Trinity will turn the tap and open up the new water supply to flow through the pipes to service the people who live in Trinity. That will happen this week as a result of an investment by this government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: That is the kind of investment that we will continue to make as a government in supporting not only tourism, but communities that have a sustainable future, communities that have a tremendous potential whether it is in industry or tourism of any kind. I say, Mr. Speaker, that is the kind of initiative this government has committed to and that is the kind of initiative this government is continuing to support.

I had an opportunity this past summer to spend a little bit of time with some students who were employed throughout the summer and talked about how summer employment makes the big differences for them in being able to continue their education. As I reflect on my district, in the last two years some ninety-odd students in the District of Trinity North have found summer employment that has allowed them to continue with their education. That summer employment has been created as a result of some $150,000 in grants that has been provided to local groups and organizations and businesses to be able to hire those students and have their wages provided for or subsidized in some fashion; all a part of this government's initiative to support the growth and prosperity of Newfoundland and Labrador.

When I look at my own district, I cannot help but be very proud. I have just identified some of the key investments that we have made in the last couple of years, as a government, in the District of Trinity North. I look forward, Mr. Speaker, to continuing to be a part of a government that has that kind of commitment to rural Newfoundland and Labrador, has that kind of commitment to diversifying our rural economy, has that kind of commitment to health care in this Province, and that kind of commitment to our youth and our education system. With that kind of broad-based approach to diversifying our economy and creating some prosperity in this Province, not only will this Province continue to grow, but I think we will go a long way in achieving the objectives outlined in our Speech from the Throne, when we talked about being one of the richest provinces, rich in many ways: rich in culture, rich in heritage, and rich in our ability to be able to continue to make a contribution to the federation of Canada.

As I reflect on this Speech from the Throne just delivered several shorts months ago, in March, and look at where we have come today, again significant progress, but even greater progress when I look at a government that was elected in the fall of 2003, some twenty-four short months ago, and I look at where we have gone. Financially, we sat here two years ago not knowing what we were going to do, challenged, major fiscal problems. What are we going to do? Where are we going to go?

We stand here today not talking about ending this year with a deficit but talking about ending this year - the Minister of Finance tells us he is projecting that we will end this year with roughly a $1.5 million surplus, a major turnaround.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: A major turnaround.

Now, the cynics on the opposite side will probably stand here today and tell you that was a lot of luck. The oil prices went up. We had an Atlantic Accord. Those things do not happen. The prices went up, we had no control of the prices going up; but I tell you, Mr. Speaker, we had a tremendous amount of control, we had great control, in fact, we were in the driver's seat, when it came to the Atlantic Accord. It was as a result of the efforts of this Premier, the Premier of this government, and the Minister of Finance, and others around them. It was as a result of their tenacious approach to negotiations and discussions with the federal government that brought about the success of the Atlantic Accord and allowed us to have a $2 billion cheque, an advanced payment on future royalties. That was not luck. That was skill. That was a planned strategy. That was a reflection of a Premier with strong negotiation skills, who had a strong vision for this Province. It has nothing to do with luck.

The royalties, yes, the price of oil may have gone up and we benefited from that, but clearly I say, Mr. Speaker, just imagine what would have happened - how would we stand here today and think about what just happened to us if we had to have gone through the last six or eight months of the rising price of oil without having had the new deal with the federal government? We would have lost a mint. We would have been in tears here today, recognizing that all that increase in oil prices would have gone to benefit the federal coffers and not this provincial government. That is a reflection of visionary planning. It is a reflection, as I said earlier, of a strong leader, a leader who has the ability to deal with very complex issues in a fashion that gives the maximum benefit to the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

When we came into the picture a couple of years ago, our Premier repeated time and time again there were going to be no more giveaways in this Province, and that is exactly what we have done. We have had two years of having great stewardship of our financial resources, we have had two years of strong visionary leadership, and that is what has put us here today.

When the Minister of Finance stands before a microphone, stands in this House and talks about the great financial position we are going to be in, and talks about having a $1.5 million surplus at the end of the year, that is a reflection of a planned strategic vision for this Province. We are committed to doing that, and we will continue for the remaining part of this term.

When this government completes its first term in the fall of 2007, I say, Mr. Speaker, each and every one of us will stand proudly as we hold up our record of accomplishment and say to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, this is what we have done in the last four years.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: We will stand even prouder when we hold up a new blueprint for the years from 2007 to 2011 saying, here is our next four years.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Given the opportunity, we will come back in 2011 and say, after having two successful terms of leading this Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, what we will be looking at, I say to you, Mr. Speaker, will be a very different Province than we inherited in the fall of 2003. We will have a proud Newfoundland and Labrador. We will have a very dynamic rural Newfoundland and Labrador with a tremendous future. We will stand proudly and recognize that we have made a major contribution to the history of Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to be able to say these few comments in response to the Speech from the Throne, because I think, as all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have said recently, in a recent poll, they too share the same view that I have, total support for the direction that this government has taken. I think, Mr. Speaker, that kind of endorsement by the people of Newfoundland and Labrador speaks clearly to their support for the direction that we are headed.

I thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, well, well, I thought I heard it all. If you are going to have anything in your record book, you had better get busy. This is year three, you know, and besides the Atlantic Accord I don't think there are any banners you can wave around today. If it wasn't for timing and a minority government, you wouldn't be able to wave that banner. Now, I am giving the Premier full marks on the Atlantic Accord, don't get me wrong.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS THISTLE: But when it comes to a stamp you can put on any initiative in this Province, a D.W. stamp, there is neither initiative you can put a D.W. stamp on in this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: (Inaudible).

MS THISTLE: The initials of your Premier, in case you don't know. There were a lot of puzzled looks on the other side. There are a few things you can put a D.W. stamp on that have been a complete disaster since you guys have been in government.

I would like to talk to a couple of issues in my district first and then, if I have any time left, I certainly want to devote some time to some senior issues in our Province that this government fails to address after heading into their third year in office. We have a troubling issue in Grand Falls-Windsor and Central Newfoundland and that is our mill. Seven months after it was announced that Abitibi was going to close our number seven machine there is no more light on that subject that there was seven months ago. The government have been dilly-dallying around, dragging their heels, they have been going from one meeting to another without the people involved. They never did include the Town of Grand Falls-Windsor or the workers or the public in general or the Chamber of Commerce. Every time they had a meeting, after people became vocal, they would come in and say what they discussed after the fact, but not once did they include any of the stakeholders in negotiations during the Abitibi issue.

I stood in this House today and asked the Minister of Natural Resources for an update on the Abitibi situation, and what did I get? Not an answer. He is hanging on to Bill 27, but what is he doing about questioning the company on whether or not they are going to invest any money in number seven paper machine or number three paper machine? I never got an answer from that minister, and he says everybody is on side in agreeing with what government is doing for the mill situation in Grand Falls-Windsor. Well, if everybody is on side, why is the Concerned Citizens Committee now developing a brochure to make sure that it goes in every home in forty-seven communities in Central Newfoundland so people can get on the phone, use their e-mail, use their letter writing skills and contact this government to make sure that government commits to Bill 27 and doing the right thing on Abitibi? The truth of the matter is, I have heard since, from many respected people in Grand Falls-Windsor, what was being really negotiated behind closed doors on the Abitibi situation in Grand Falls-Windsor. I have heard from a reliable source -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

AN HON. MEMBER: Spreading rumours.

MS THISTLE: It is no rumour mill. It is accurate. That government was actually working on an attrition package to shutdown number seven -

MR. E. BYRNE: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. Government House Leader on a point of order.

MR. E. BYRNE: Mr. Speaker, we have been more upfront and more honest with the people in this Province - and, in particular, in Grand Falls-Windsor - on our stand with respect to Abitibi Consolidated. Now, I am not going to stand here and let a member, whatever member that may be, to call into question the motives of the government or the motives of this minister who is responsible for that file, with slander and innuendo, which has absolutely no foundation and fact whatsoever. Absolutely no foundation! If the member had any sense of credibility, to say that I have heard and a reliable source. Name your source, I say to the member, and let's deal with it there!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

There is no point of order.

The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, there is no point of order.

Throughout all of these seven months not once did our Premier step his foot on any soil in Grand Falls-Windsor to give the people any source of comfort that government were doing their best.

I am glad to hear now the Minister of Natural Resources is back on this file again because recently we heard that the Premier was all over the file and the Minister of Natural Resources was pushed to the back-burner. The Minister of Natural Resources is on the file again. That is good to hear.

I also heard there was a buzzword circulating in Grand Falls-Windsor regarding negotiations with Abitibi. That was a buzzword called community alignment. I said: What is going with this government? What are they doing? Apparently, if they had been able to pull off these negotiations - which we have never seen on print, on paper, because we have been left in the dark on those. They were saying, this government, that if there was community alignment - in other words, if they could get communities to agree to dismantling Bill 27 they would revoke it. Now, this is not what we want our government to do. This is not -

MR. E. BYRNE: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Government House Leader on a point of order.

MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Anytime that this member stands up in a disingenuous way that does not reflect the reality of the commitments that I have made or the government has made to the people in Grand Falls-Windsor with respect to Stephenville, I am not going to challenge it because it is absolutely pathetic, Mr. Speaker -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. E. BYRNE: - what the member is doing to her region here this afternoon. She is talking about, without merit, without evidence, without fact, without foundation, the issues surrounding Abitibi Consolidated. If she was going to do her region a service, Mr. Speaker, she would not be doing the disservice she is doing right now.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

There is no point of order.

The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would submit that if the Minister of Natural Resources is so certain on what he negotiated, why doesn't he lay on the table today the actual negotiation package that everyone, except the stakeholders, had a chance to see? If he is so certain and so committed and so upright in all that he is saying, why doesn't he lay that negotiation package on the table because it certainly affects all of Central Newfoundland and we have not seen that package?

MR. E. BYRNE: (Inaudible).

MS THISTLE: Well, the terms of negotiation that you started to discuss.

Anyway, we are hearing now over the weekend, that the Communications Direction, Roger Pike, is floating a new balloon. It is a funny thing that Roger Pike wasn't into this mix a few months ago or even a month ago. They had to get the heavy guns down from Montreal, Seth Kursman, Vice-President of Communications and Senior Marketing Manager.

So, what is really going on with Abitibi? You know, people around this Province have been seven months left in limbo. I sense it. I feel it in Grand Falls-Windsor. I feel it throughout my district and all of Central Newfoundland. People have their lives on hold. I do not see the same commercial activity going on in Grand Falls-Windsor that I saw prior to April. How can you make a decision on spending and investing money when you do not know if your biggest employer in the region is going to be there next year or if they are going to decrease or cut down their operation? So, how long can this government play with this important issue?

The Premier has been touted as the great negotiator and being all over the file but, you know, this is too long. This is too long to leave people with an uncertain future. This is too long for people to be out. I have expressed -

MR. E. BYRNE: (Inaudible).

MS THISTLE: I am hearing the Minister of Natural Resources muttering a few things there in the background.

I have exhausted all kinds of energy in trying to get answers because I have never, ever been given any answers by this minister or this government. We are only just stabbing in the dark trying to get answers but I can say to this minister and to this government, it is time. It is time to get this matter resolved if you are good at negotiating.

I heard the Member for Trinity North up on his feet bragging about how the Premier had negotiated the Atlantic Accord. I agreed with him on that, but what did he do for the people in Grand Falls-Windsor? Is he going to resolve that issue, I wonder? What is he -

MR. E. BYRNE: (Inaudible) worry about it.

MS THISTLE: No, Mr. Minister -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. E. BYRNE: (Inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

MS THISTLE: Mr. Speaker, it is clear that the Minister of Natural Resources gets irritated when I get up to speak because if he did not, he would not be muttering there in the dark.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MS THISTLE: Do you see the chanting going on? They cannot take it. You cannot take it. Here you are, you are trying to get up and blow your own horn. You are trying to get up and blow your own horn after two years on the job and there is nothing to blow your horn about except the Atlantic Accord. I look at this economic review -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MS THISTLE: Look at the economic review this government put out a couple of weeks ago, November, 2005. You thumb through every page, every page, and there is not one item that you guys have done. Everything in this belongs to us.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MS THISTLE: Everything belongs to us!

I would like for the people of the Province to phone in to this government and request a copy of this booklet, because you should be ashamed to put the government logo on it. There is not one item in here that you can hang your hat on, not one. Not one!

I want to talk about a situation that is developing in my district, and also in the District of Exploits. I have, in my hand, a copy of a letter I just received today from -

AN HON. MEMBER: Top secret.

MS THISTLE: No, it is not top secret. It should be common knowledge throughout government, if you were acting on it.

Anyway, it is a letter from the Exploits Regional Chamber of Commerce and it is from Peter Allen, President, and he is very concerned. Rural Newfoundland is not doing very well, he says, and every day we see businesses closing, people leaving, and economic opportunities disappearing to other parts of the Province, mainly to St. John's, or gravitating to the Avalon, if they are staying here at all; they are going to the mainland.

What he is asking for is an appropriate letter of support to the Botwood port steering committee to help them in their endeavour to acquire the port assets of the federal government in the Town of Botwood. That is what he is looking for.

MR. SKINNER: (Inaudible).

MS THISTLE: He had no discussions with me on that matter, I say to the Member for St. John's Centre.

Aur Resources are very proud that they have a mine started in Duck Pond. When we were ready to the go to the polls in October, 2003, it was at that time that they came, and there was a paper being drafted for Cabinet at that time. We never had a chance to say aye or nay, as to whether we were going to give them any kind of benefits or not. The shipping port is coming into question now, as I speak. Naturally the preference would be that concentrate from the Duck Pond mine would be shipped through the Port of Botwood. It makes proper sense, it is less distance than to travel by road, and of course you are creating jobs right in our own area.

I would suggest to the provincial government that they get on the ball here, sit down with the Member for Exploits, sit down with the federal member and lets get this done. Aur Resources are starting to ship this time next year. I spoke to the President of Aur Resources, Ed Stuart, last week and he told me that they have entered into a framework agreement, a letter of intention, with the West Coast for shipping out of concentrate. Of course, they would be jointly using the Abitibi woods roads to transport their concentrate, and it would be about ten trucks a day hauling concentrate from Duck Pond Mine to St. George's.

They have a letter of intent that they are planning to commit to; however, there is still plenty of time for this government to step up to the plate and see what they can do for the District of Exploits and also the District of Grand Falls-Buchans, which is interconnected. I would suggest to this government to get on the move and get things done.

In the little remaining time I have left, I want to speak to - I wish I had an hour or two, but I am sure I will tomorrow - some of the resolutions that came out of the seniors' convention that was held in Grand Falls-Windsor in September. I, myself, was surprised to learn that some of these things that are very glaring - it will be timely for me to talk about them today because I know the provincial government is looking for good news items to put in their upcoming budget in March so pay attention, please.

Some of the concerns that are coming forward from seniors are that some of the services previously covered by government programs are discontinued. This is kind of alarming. It says, seniors must pay for medications formerly supplied while in hospital and are necessary to be continued during the home recovery period. They are saying that patients received medications until complete recovery at no charge while they were in the hospital. Apparently, that used to occur. What they are saying now, the seniors are saying that now they are discharged in two or three days and they are told to continue medications for probably the next seven or eight days, or a week, and that is not covered by this government. Once they leave the hospital, even though they are not in a complete recovery mode and they have to recover at home, then they have to go out and purchase their medication for the end of that. Previously, according to the seniors, that was covered by the provincial government. They want government to - in fact, they have this into a resolution form. They want this to happen and make sure that seniors are given adequate medication when they leave after a hospital stay, enough to keep them through the recovery period, probably a week.

They are also talking about eye examinations. Apparently, eye examinations are not covered under the current drug program or government drug card. They say that they become pretty expensive for seniors on a fixed income. They want government to look at covering eye examinations. I think that is a really good issue for a government to take up, and they are asking for a resolution coming out of their convention requesting the provincial government to include eye examination expenses in the MCP and/or the provincial drug card coverage. Eyesight is so crucial, and especially to seniors. I think that is a very important resolution, and government should certainly look at doing this for our seniors in the spring.

They are also saying that proper foot care is important in preventing circulatory problems and amputations in diabetics. Do you know that foot care now for diabetics or seniors is $40 for the initial appointment and $30 for a follow-up appointment? Many seniors cannot afford it. Sometimes these circulatory problems lead to seniors having to go into a senior's home and so on, so they are requesting that the foot care provided by a VON nurse be included in our provincial drug program.

You know something? These are not shattering ideas or something that government would have to research very long or do any kind of a review or so on. These are everyday issues that are coming up with the seniors in our Province.

This government, I do not know if they have actually seen the resolutions that have come out of the seniors' convention that was held in Grand Falls-Windsor.

They are also talking about dental care -

MR. SPEAKER (Hodder): Order, please!

I do believe the hon. member's time has expired.

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I know I will have ample opportunity in the days ahead. Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

Before I get into a rebuttal about some of the comments the member made, I do want to take the opportunity to commend the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.

Prior to this House opening he made the announcement that, in his capacity as the Leader of the New Democratic Party of Newfoundland and Labrador, he has given indiction both to his party, to the people of the Province and to the public generally, that he will not be serving in that capacity into the future and, as a result of that decision, his party has called a leadership convention for some time in the future. In saying that, I know that we will have lots of opportunity, or another opportunity, to talk about the future, but I do want to commend the member for the legitimate and bona fide contribution that he makes to the debate in this House in putting forward alternatives based on an opinion that is both informed and educated, and based on an opinion, while being both informed and educated, is with the view that always tries to add value to debate in this House.

I can say, as a member - I have been here since 1993; I know that he was elected in a by-election in 1991, and working with him on both sides of the House - I do want to recognize at least up front that contribution today because it is the first opportunity as a group of members that we have had to acknowledge that, and I do want to say that heartfelt (inaudible).

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. E. BYRNE: Mr. Speaker, it is not often that you are subjected to the type of, I guess, presentation - for lack of a better word - that the Member for Grand Falls-Windsor just made. I think it is important to understand some history in this debate. I am going to correct a couple of factual comments up front, first of all.

Number one, let me deal with Aur Resources. She talks about Duck Pond Mine. For the record, I say to the member, Aur Resources first came to see the former government not in October, just before the election was called in 2003, but they came to see that government in late April, early May, of 2003. So, from May, June, July, August, September, five months with a proposal before government, that government, in anticipation of an election, did not do anything in the District of Exploits or with respect to Aur Resources.

The member went to say: Let's get everyone together now federally and provincially to get this issue of the port cleared up. She has left the impression - and this is very, very important - that only recently did this come about.

Four years ago, prior to us being the government, when the former member sat in the Premier's seat, the issue of divestiture of the port of Botwood was being discussed with the former government then, of which she was a member of the Cabinet. So, it is not correct, it is not factual, and nor is it right, because either she knows or she ought to have known. I do not know which is true, Mr. Speaker, but to leave an impression that this has been just on our plate, that we have not dealt with.... When that request was made of this government, a letter was sent by the Department of Works, Services and Transportation, indicating that the Province was not interested in assuming control of the port of Botwood, and would very much be interested in seeing the divestiture go ahead based upon the recommendation that came from the Town Council in Botwood.

I do want to correct that misnomer, absolutely correct it.

MS THISTLE: A point of order, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: A point of order has been called.

The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Windsor.

MS THISTLE: I would like to say to the Minister of Natural Resources, that the request came to our office, while we were the government, in May, but there was several studies that had to be done in order for - in fact, there was even a change of ownership of that particular development. At no time was there ever a decision made, it was getting ready to go to Cabinet.

Responding to the divestiture of the Port of Botwood, the only thing while I was there -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the member knows that a point of order should deal with some infraction of the rules of the House. In this particular matter, we should not use the point of order to further engage in debate. There will be other opportunities to do that. The Chair rules there is no point of order and recognizes the hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS THISTLE: Point of privilege, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: A point of privilege has been raised.

MS THISTLE: I would like to say that we are talking about the divestiture of the Port of Botwood, and the only one that I worked on was the transfer of the CN property in Grand Falls-

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The member cannot, under our rules, challenge the ruling of the Chair by raising a point of privilege when a ruling has been made on a point of order. Therefore, there is no point of privilege and no prima facie case.

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. E. BYRNE: Lets talk about Grand Falls and the Exploits River. The member seems to believe that she is the only champion of the Exploits River, for the mill and its operations in Grand Falls. As a matter of fact, coming back from a meeting with all the locals in Grand Falls at the mill, one morning I heard the member on Open Line and here is what she said: You know, why don't they get me involved in the negotiations. I am willing to do that in a non-partisan way. She said: After all I was a former minister.

Well, I can honestly say that I am going to tell the member no to that request, but I will do so for the following reasons. In 1996, Star Lake - I believe that is in the central region - went out for a proposal, requests for proposals by government, partnership with Abitibi Consolidated to generate hydro power. They built a project for x number of dollars, assumed that there would be a price per kilowatt for x number of dollars, and they got a better bargain in terms of a difference that provides them significant profit each and every year on that development. Now the question is this, that must be asked of this person's great negotiating committee who wanted to sit and negotiate with us: Was that development tied to the milling and logging operations of the Central Newfoundland region? Was that development tied to any two-machine operation in Grand Falls-Windsor and in central Newfoundland?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. E. BYRNE: I will answer them in a second for you. Was that development tied to jobs and the economy in any way? The answer on three counts is, no it was not, no it was not, no it was not. As a matter of fact, and for the record, if Abitibi pulled up its operations today in Newfoundland and Labrador, they can still enjoy the benefit of that project until 2022 without it being tied to the resources and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. That is the record that the member can stand on. That is not the one that we accept.

Let's look at what happened in 1997-98 with the Exploits Valley partnership, right on the Exploits River. Hydro was involved heavily. Hydro helped subsidize the operation right on the Exploits River. When the former government signed off and made an agreement with Abitibi Consolidated and its partners on the Exploits River partnership, did they tie that to jobs in Grand Falls-Windsor and Central Newfoundland? Did they tie it to the continued milling and logging operations in Central Newfoundland and Labrador? That is the record of your government, I say to the member, and that is exactly why we would not want you near any negotiations with us, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS THISTLE: A point of order, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: A point of order has been raised by the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to say to the member opposite, the minister opposite, he can go back further, because in 1992, under the direction of the Clyde Wells government, that request went out for hydro developments to cut down on the diesel generating in Holyrood. That is when that came out, and it was 1996 before it actually came to fruition. I can tell you that I had no part of that. I had no part of that issue, and why should I doubt it? The mill has been in Grand Falls-Windsor for 100 years and anything that could be done to ensure it for the next 100 was fine, I am sure, with everybody. I would say to the -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I remind all members I am quoting from page 538 of the House of Commons Procedure and Practice. It says that, "A point of order is a question raised by a Member who believes the rules or customary procedures of the House have been incorrectly applied or overlooked during the proceedings." In this particular case, I also refer to page 541 where it says, "A Member may not direct remarks to the House or engage in debate by raising a matter under the guise of a point of order." Therefore, the Chair rules that while it is all very interesting and the Chair appreciates the opinions being put forward, there cannot be a point of order raised legitimately in this particular matter at this time.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. E. BYRNE: Just imagine the lame duck response that we just heard: But we have been around for 100 years, whatever we can do to keep it around for another 100 we will do it. In order to do that you have to tie it to something. You have to tie it to continued operations, you have to tie it to milling and logging.

When Bowater left Corner Brook in 1985, Bowater tried to take the benefit and the asset of the Deer Lake Power Company with it. It did not happen because the government of the day did not let it happen. If it did, if it was able to take that asset with it, in other words continue to enjoy the benefit, there would not be a Corner Brook Pulp & Paper today, there would be no Kruger operation today, because, Mr. Speaker, it was tied to the assets and the continued operation of that mill. Therein lies what is unforgiving with respect to the Exploits River partnership and with the Star Lake power development signed by the former government, that it was a power purchase agreement only and it was not tied to the continued operations of the Grand Falls mill. In other words, if Abitibi left the Province they can take the power and the benefit with them. Therein lies the difference between that crowd, Mr. Speaker, and the government that is here today.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

MS THISTLE: I would say to the minister opposite, that the hydro development on the Grand Falls-Windsor -

AN HON. MEMBER: Sit down!

MS THISTLE: Mr. Speaker, are you going to allow that?

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans whom I do believe is rising on a point of order. We do not have anything in our rules that talks about points of clarification in this kind of a debate we are having now. You are rising on a point of order, I would assume.

MS THISTLE: I will be brief, Mr. Speaker, and I thank you for allowing me to speak.

What I want to say to the minister opposite is that the hydro development on the Exploits River was started in 1992, long before I came to the forefront. It was myself and my government who put Bill 27 in place, the only thing that you can hang your hat on today.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I am asking members for their corporation. Again, I am quoting page 538 of the House of Commons Procedures and Practice which says, "...Members in an attempt to gain the floor to participate in debate; in such cases the Speaker will not allow the Member intervening to continue." Obviously, what is happening here is that points of order are being raised so that a member can engage in debate. So, there is no point of order.

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. E. BYRNE: Mr. Speaker, let me say to the member, you may attempt to slow me down but you will not stop me from speaking what exactly the truth is.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. E. BYRNE: Mr. Speaker, let's look at 2002, when twenty-seven megawatts was developed on the Exploit River. I believe the member opposite was the protector of Central Newfoundland and the mill. She was the Minister of Labour. The Premier of the day was the Member for Exploits, former member Roger Grimes.

Let me ask the question: Of the twenty-seven megawatts developed that was agreed to in 2002, by that member when she was a Minister of the Crown and by the former Premier, was that tied to milling and logging operations in Grand Falls I wonder? Absolutely not! That is the point I am making. You can stand up today and spin a yarn and spin innuendo and say: Oh, I am sitting on a reliable source. The difference with this government is that we have held fast for the people in Grand Falls-Windsor and Central Newfoundland with respect to the operations of that region and we have done so in good faith, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. E. BYRNE: In the last year we have engaged community leadership. We have engaged the concerned citizens group. We have met with the Chamber of Commerce. We have met with the elected mayors. We have met with the six locals, and our position remains consistent and clear.

The member says: Well, what have you negotiated? We will not negotiate with a company that tries to blackmail the Newfoundland government to get something that they should not have in the first place, is what we have said.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. E. BYRNE: We will negotiate under good faith circumstances. We have told the people of Grand Falls-Windsor, we have told you, we have told the leadership in Grand Falls-Windsor and we have told the concerned citizens group, that our position on Bill 27 remains consistent to this day, that we believe and uphold the provisions in Bill 27 because it is the right thing to do for the people in Central Newfoundland and Labrador. We have always said that the only way that would change is if there were a proposal that was acceptable to the union, acceptable to the community leadership and to the people of Central Newfoundland and Labrador.

She talked about a buzzword, community alignment. Are you saying that we should make an arrangement without the acceptance of the people in Central Newfoundland and Labrador? Because we will not, I can tell you that. But, people understand clearly: We were not trying to do anything other than remain fixed in our position, that we want to see the operations both in Stephenville and in Grand Falls-Windsor go ahead as they currently exist.

Now, Mr. Speaker, there is no other way that you can cut the cloth. You can try to spin a yarn. You can try to leave an impression that is not real. You can try to deny your own history in terms of the decisions that you made, but the fact of the matter is this, that this government has made a commitment to the people in that region and to the people of the West Coast and we have lived up to those commitments and we intend to continue to live up to those commitments, no matter what yarn or cheap political game that members opposite wish to play.

With that, thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Port de Grave.

MR. BUTLER: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

It is a pleasure to be back in the hon. House of Assembly again to take part for another three or four weeks. It seems like the summer months did not take that much out of us. We are all feisty to get going at each other again and that is all good for democracy.

Mr. Speaker, with regards to this past summer, I had the opportunity not only to be a part of many of the activities in my own area, but on the Burin Peninsula and in areas adjacent to my district. I guess one of the biggest things that came forward is the concerns that people have in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

I have to say, some of the hon. members mentioned here today that - I think the Member for Trinity North was referring to the fiscal situation when this government took over in - a little over two years ago. He said if it continued on that path people would be in tears. I say, Mr. Speaker, if it continues the way it is going there are a lot of people in this Province today who are in tears from time to time as they see their loved ones leave this Province like never before. I would have to say, it is almost on a scale as what it was when the moratorium came in.

Mr. Speaker, we get up and we debate back and forth with each other, but I believe in giving credit where credit is due, and I also believe, I guess, in throwing the punches when there are issues to be dealt with. When I say I would like to give credit where credit is due, last year at the Estimates Committee meeting, when the now Minister of Education was Minister of Human Resources and Employment, I said to her: Take back to your staff the wonderful co-operation and the way the people in Newfoundland and Labrador Housing treat us here in the House of Assembly when we deal with issues.

Only recently, when the work started on the New Harbour barrens, I did a news release; even though the major part of the work on that road is in the District of Trinity-Bay de Verde. However, it is a link to my district and the hon. Member for Trinity-Bay de Verde's district. I believe in giving credit to the staff at Transportation and Works for taking the insight to move that project up on a larger scale, up on a higher pedestal. I know the road is not completed but I can assure you, the work that is being done is a big improvement over what it was.

Mr. Speaker, I guess my district is fairly close to St. John's. We live on the greater Avalon Peninsula and we get some of the spinoff, I guess, from the wonderful amount of business and what is happening here in the city area, but many areas of rural Newfoundland, Mr. Speaker, are not in that position. They are not in that position because in the District of Port de Grave, many businesses are wanting to move in there. They are in close proximity to the City of St. John's and they can see the spinoff coming and the growth in that area.

Mr. Speaker, one of the main issues, I guess that affects my area, is in relation to the fishery, and it has been very successful there. We have communities like Bryants Cove, Upper Island Cove, Spaniard's Bay, Bay Roberts and Port de Grave that have been very successful in the fishery. No doubt, this year has been a fairly successful year for them, but I have to say that there have been problems involved with the fishery this year, and I am not going to say that they are all in relation to the raw material sharing, but that did have its effect upon the success this year as versus previous years.

Mr. Speaker, just to touch on that a little, many of the fishermen in the area found it pretty difficult this year. I have had heads of enterprises, small enterprises, who told me this year that the value that they have taken into their business this year, they are down in the vicinity of $120,000 to $125,000. I know many people have to go away. That has been ongoing for years and years, and I guess that will continue for a long, long time. We hope that it will stop, but many of the construction people, a lot of the people in Bryants Cove, they go away as insulators and other trades because the work is not here in this Province. It is very sad when people - not only in that community, but the other communities in my area this year, had to go away because of the involvement and the effects of the fishery that they had to deal with this year.

In the community of Bryants Cove - and I am not quite sure how many households are there but it is something over 100. At the present time there are in excess of seventy-five men, young men, mostly men, who have moved away out west. Some of them, like I said, they go on a yearly basis but it really concerns me when I see plant workers and harvesters at the end of a season having to pack up and leave this Province, and that can be said for the other areas as well, Mr. Speaker. The same can be said for areas adjacent to mine: Trinity-Bay de Verde, Harbour Main-Whitbourne, and even on the Burin Peninsula when I visited some of the small communities, visit the relatives up there. There are ever so many people who had to pack up this year and head out west. I guess it is not too bad when the breadwinner of the house leaves first, but it is very sad when a lot of them are taking their families with them.

I think the Member for Burin-Placentia West mentioned on Open Line, I think it was last evening, something about there is still a heavy or dark cloud hanging over the Burin Peninsula, and no doubt there is, because the Burin Peninsula deals heavily with the plants and involvement with the fishery. I hope, Mr. Speaker, that something can be done to help correct this.

We have all heard talk of custodial management, the stand of the former Administration, the stand of this Administration as well as the federal government, but I believe a lot can be done and I also believe that we have to listen to the fishermen. I am not saying that we should open up the cod fishery to what it was years ago - no, that is not right - but if you listen to the fishermen from coast to coast they will tell you that there can be a limited fishery that will help the small-boat operators, that they can stay here in this Province where they want to be and will not have to move away.

Mr. Speaker, when we look at the legislation that we dealt with at the last session pertaining to FPI, I know we all took our different stands for different reasons and that is what we are here to do, to take the stand that we believe will be the best for our constituents.

Mr. Speaker, it still comes back, I suppose, I should not say to haunt me, but when the Premier stood when we were debating that legislation, to stand in this hon. House and to say that he sized it up and he felt that there were so many loopholes in it that he could not stand here in this hon. House and support it; however, it went through and I guess we will have to deal with that. I guess the outfall, we will find out what it is in a short period of time.

The other thing some of the hon. members mentioned, the financial position we find ourselves in today, that is all true. Through the Atlantic Accord, through the starting up of other drilling rigs in the offshore, we find ourselves in a fairly financial position. I know we cannot cure all the wrongs that are in this Province over a two-year period, but now that we have the financial resources I just ask the government to look at some of the decisions that were made in the past two years. I go back to the Department of Human Resources, Labour and Employment, and the changes that were brought on with the closure of twenty-some-odd offices, and to size up the effects that had on the individuals in the outlying areas of this Province.

Mr. Speaker, I can just speak on my area. There was a Social Services office in Bay Roberts; it closed and moved to Carbonear. That was not all that bad because it was only within a ten minute drive for people to go there if they had to drop off some information. Now the people in my area, when they want to get services through that department, have to go to Placentia. You can do some of the work in Carbonear, but the main thing now, the workers who are in receipt of social assistance, those who are looking for drug cards, those who have to drop off some information, have to go to Placentia. Very soon, it is going to move from Placentia right here into St. John's.

A lot of the issues, yes, they can be done by telephone or by mail, but many times I have constituents who call me and say, look, if I could only drop this paper down like I would always do. They do not have a car to probably travel to Placentia or to travel to St. John's when the time comes.

Mr. Speaker, there have been many changes within the department. The former minister used to say, well, the people still get the same service. That is true, partially true, because I know now I had one incident, only about two weeks ago, where this family found themselves in a very difficult situation. I called the main office and spoke to the supervisor. I was told that there was no emergency assistance whatsoever. They had to make an application. They had to mail it into St. John's to the processing unit. It had to travel back through the office in Carbonear at that time - now it is Placentia - and then it would be all sized up again and if they were approved by the office then their cheque would be forwarded out from St. John's.

I had one individual who waited a month and four days to get a response. Unfortunately, it was negative in the end but that is beside the point. Even if it were positive, the family had to wait four weeks plus four days to find out if they were eligible. Before, they could go into the offices, sit down and talk to the workers, and hopefully there were some emergency finances there that would help them.

Mr. Speaker, the staff themselves - I have known the staff in the Bay Roberts office for, I guess, twelve or thirteen years before I was elected, when I worked in my other position. They moved to Carbonear, the same people, totally different system. They are stressed to the limit, Mr. Speaker. They cannot control it, they cannot handle it, and it is unfortunate. I know people who are off now on sick leave and they are worrying about the day when they have to go back to work, because of the pressures that placed on them by the powers to be.

Mr. Speaker, transportation is another one. There are ever so many people in my district - this might seem strange - who do not have a general practitioner. They have to travel to St. John's to see their doctor. If you are a person who is in receipt of social assistance, or a low income family, travelling to St. John's probably every week in some situations, it is very difficult. Those people used to receive $40 for their trip to St. John's. Anyway, that was discontinued. They cut it down to $20. Only recently I had a case where an individual was told, now you have to go on your own; to come in to see a general practitioner, to see the specialist or to see rehab people they were dealing with.

I just call on the government to have a look at those situations, now that we are in a better financial situation, to sit down and really think about the compassion that I think is lacking not only in that department but other departments when it comes to dealing with people in this Province.

The other one I want to touch on is Transportation and Works. I am not going into any issues pertaining to the bad road conditions that we all experience, and the difficulties that happened over the last couple of weeks. That will not help the situation, but I want to make it very clear, Mr. Speaker, that I heard the minister say this week that the closure of the thirteen depots had no effect, basically, on that department. Mr. Speaker, that is just about nearly impossible to happen. Those people were laid off. Many of them had to travel outside of this Province for work this summer, and now they are back under winter maintenance.

If we think our roads are bad now, wait until the winter sets in. In Bay Roberts, at the depot in Bay Roberts, I say to the hon. Member for Mount Pearl, everything, they seem to think, prior to them being elected - he said thirteen years of nothing, earlier when he was on his feet. Can you imagine? I do not care what the government was since Confederation, of any political stripe, every government had a vision. Every government did something that helped the people of this Province. For an hon member to stand on his feet in this House and say that there was a government, a former government, that did nothing, it is shameful.

Mr. Speaker, in the depot in Bay Roberts last winter, under winter maintenance, there were eight trucks, eight sanders and trucks to go on the highways and clear the roads. This year, that has been reduced to six. It cannot be done. The staff are calling me, they are calling other people, saying the work cannot be carried out as it was done in the past.

Mr. Speaker, we have the finances now. We know we cannot get all new equipment overnight. Nobody is expecting that, but at least put a system in place where the people of this Province will be looked after as they were in the past.

Another issue, Mr. Speaker, in my area is the painting of the lines on the highways. I do not expect every road to have their lines painted, but there are a couple of areas in my district that have been painted for years and years, and I called the department to see why they were not painted this year. They said, if the lines were not painted last year, they will not be painted this year. That is little consolation to the people when they are travelling those highways, and it is in a very foggy area. Even the operators of the trucks are saying, without the lines on the roads they have difficulty in the winter seeing when they are on the right side of the road or out over the edge of the road. Mr. Speaker, it is little issues like that, that make a big difference.

We also heard about the finances, and no doubt they are improving, and thank God for that. That is a wonderful thing for us in this Province. Mr. Speaker, we were also told there were no tax increases and so on. We all know about the 153 fees that were implemented. Each and every day I get calls about people. One gentleman had a grocery store that was in operation for fifty-eight years. This year is the first year he had to pay a $100 fee to sell groceries in his store. Yes, he had to have his permits from the Department of Health and everything else, but that is another tax that is slapped on. Mr. Speaker, the list can go on and on.

I just call upon the government - and we all know that there are many wonderful projects. My colleague spoke earlier about the economy review and no doubt there are many projects there that are ongoing now. Many of them have been started over a number of years and we are all glad that they were. I guess each and every one of them, whether it is the hydromet facility in Argentia, whether it is White Rose, whether it is Voisey's Bay, or whatever project, whoever started them, I think each and every individual when they are elected to this hon. House of Assembly stand to represent their people, and we, as an Opposition, I guess, have our duty to do as well.

In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I want to call upon the government. The finances are in shape, not where we want them yet, but the little things that I just mentioned, if they would only take the time to consider them, because it seems like this government reacts to pressure. We saw the situation out in Grand Falls with the cancer clinic. Thank God it is going ahead. We saw the situation on the Burin Peninsula. No doubt about it, probably at that time - but when the pressure came on, the people said that the steel is not leaving. Now we are getting a facility. Wonderful! No problems with it. I do not care who builds it as long as it is done to the best interests of the people of this Province.

When we talk about out-migration -

MR. REID: They wanted to take the steel down.

MR. BUTLER: Oh yes, they wanted to take the steel down.

When we talk about out-migration, Mr. Speaker, I know in the past when they were in Opposition, the former Administration was nailed for the numbers of people who were leaving this Province, and that came to a slow halt. Now there are many people who are leaving this Province, people who never had to leave before, and they don't want to leave. I believe when it is all said and done, major stands have to be taken on those issues, whether it is pertaining to the fishery, to aquaculture, agriculture or whatever, so that more of our people can stay here in our Province.

Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I want to thank you for the opportunity and look forward to further debate later on.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It being 5:15 p.m., I do now move that the House adjourn until tomorrow, Tuesday, November 22.

MR. SPEAKER: It is moved that the House do now adjourn until tomorrow, Tuesday, November 22, at 1:30 of the clock in the afternoon.

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

MR. SPEAKER: All those against, ‘nay'.

The motion is carried.

This House now stands adjourned until tomorrow at 1:30 of the clock in the afternoon.

On motion, the House at its rising do now adjourn until tomorrow, Tuesday, at 1:30 p.m.