May 17, 2007 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS Vol. XLV No. 15


The House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Hodder): Order, please!

Admit Strangers.

This afternoon we are very pleased to welcome ten representatives from the Senior Resource Centre - Multi-culture Group here in St. John's, together with their Program Coordinator, Ms Clarice Cole.

A very special welcome to the House of Assembly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

Statements by Members

MR. SPEAKER: This afternoon we have members' statements as follows: The hon. the Member for the District of Port de Grave; the hon. the Member for the District of Ferryland; the hon. the Member for the District of Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair; the hon. the Member for the District of Conception Bay South; the hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi, and the hon. the Member for the District of Trinity-Bay de Verde.

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Port de Grave.

MR. BUTLER: Mr. Speaker, I rise in this House today to extend congratulations to the Town of Bay Roberts who recently were officially proclaimed the national winner of WinterLights Celebrations.

Mr. Speaker, the town received a five-star rating at the sixth national WinterLights Celebrations recently held in Ottawa. Communities are evaluated on visual presentation, winter pleasures, festive season celebrations, goodwill programs and tourism promotion. WinterLights is a component of Communities in Bloom.

Bay Roberts was officially proclaimed the national winner in the Winners Circle: Small Category in the 2006 WinterLights Celebrations. The award recognized Amalgamated Academy in Bay Roberts for its community spirit and goodwill programs.

Mr. Speaker, one of the reasons the town has such great success at WinterLights is its sense of community pride from the residents and students, along with superior programming.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this House to join with me in extending congratulations to the Town of Bay Roberts, its residents, students and volunteer organizers who contributed to winning the National WinterLights Celebration Award for 2006.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Ferryland.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HUTCHINGS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to ask members to join with me in recognizing the accomplishment of the Stella Maris School boys basketball team and their achievement in winning the under fifteen Provincial B Basketball Championship on April 29. This event was hosted by St. Kevin's School with teams competing from Beaconsfield, Dunne Memorial, St. Catherine's, I.J. Samson and St. Peter's.

The name Stella Maris has been synonymous with basketball in both girls and boys basketball in the Province over the past decades. Teams from this region have competed and won high school championships in the 4A division, the highest and most competitive in high school divisions. Actually, many graduates of Stella Maris have gone on to play and coach university basketball, including representing our Province's own university, Memorial at the national stage.

With the recent team from Stella Maris winning the provincial championship, the region continues in the steep tradition of successful basketball teams. What makes this achievement even more astounding is recognizing the number of students the team had to draw from and the fact the schools competing have much higher enrollments. It is indeed a tribute to the community, the players, and coaches that they commit themselves to a program of excellence and continue the strong tradition of competitive basketball programs in the Trepassey region.

I would like to recognize the members of the championship team, including: Zachery Brown, Blaine Carew, Tyler Coombs, Carlton Hartery, Edward Kenny, William Kenny, Jake Pennell, Jordon Pennell, Brad Waddleton, Jarett Waddleton, Ronnie Ward, Stephen White and Coach, Mark Pennell.

I again congratulate the Stella Maris basketball team and ask all members to join with me in extending best wishes.

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 rise in the House today to extend congratulations to a woman entrepreneur from my district, Corina Dumaresque of Dumaresque Desktop Design Incorporated. Corina is from Forteau, Labrador, and has been honoured with the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from the Newfoundland and Labrador Organization of Women Entrepreneurs at a gala event at the Fairmont Hotel on April 26, 2007.

Since 1998, the NLOWE Entrepreneur of the Year awards have been awarded to the Province's most successful female entrepreneurs for their contributions to the economy. Seven women entrepreneurs from around the Province were honoured with the award this year. These outstanding women entrepreneurs contribute significantly to our provincial economy and serve as role models for all women entrepreneurs.

Mr. Speaker, Corina joined Dumaresque Desktop Design in April 2002, and is currently Managing Director of the company. She is a professional General Accountant and has thirteen years managerial and administration experience working for one of Canada's largest enterprises, the Hudson's Bay Company.

Corina's positive and organized work ethic, as well as her well-rounded communication skills, has enable here to provide top-notch customer service to her clients and triple sales at the company. She is now in the process of adding a new embroidery line to her company called, Canadian Stitches. She is aggressively marketing the business by developing an e-commerce Web site, running radio advertising campaigns, and now publishing a professional catalogue.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this House to join with me in extending congratulations to Corina Dumaresque, who was honoured with the Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Labrador from the Newfoundland and Labrador Organization of Women Entrepreneurs.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.

MR. FRENCH: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Just before I read my statement, I want to acknowledge the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair, who contributed to this member's statement, as a good friend of Mr. Bob Hardy whom I will be talking about here in a minute.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in this House today to honour three Community Safety Champions: Carrie Young, Bob Hardy and Greg Lawlor, three residents of Conception Bay South, for lifesaving actions following an all-terrain vehicle accident on December 31, 2006.

Sadly, fifteen-year-old Kenneth Howe drowned when the ATV on which he and two other teens were riding broke through the ice on Lawrence Pond last New Year's Eve. As tragic as this accident was for the Howe family and the entire community, there is no doubt the actions of three Safety Champions prevented further loss of life.

Carrie Young from Foxtrap, the fourteen-year-old, was a passenger on the ATV and, although her own life was in danger, she saw that fellow passenger Nicholas Hann was struggling. She swam to him, took the life ring that had been thrown to her and, instead, placed it around him, and helped keep him afloat until both were rescued.

Bob Hardy, a resident of Upper Gullies, whose home overlooks the pond, noticed at that particular time of that horrific night, the lights of the all-terrain vehicle suddenly disappeared and immediately called 911. He, too, ended up in the water briefly as he began a rescue attempt. He was able to toss a life ring that was on his wharf to the accident victims and assisted with the rescue.

Greg Lawlor, a ten-year veteran of the Conception Bay South Volunteer Fire Department and instructor with the Marine Institute, was the first rescuer on the scene. He donned a floatation jacket, moved out on the ice, and entered the frigid water to pull the two survivors to safety.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. members of this House to join with me in recognizing the three Community Safety Champions: Carrie Young, Bob Hardy and Greg Lawlor.

Mr. Speaker, also, our condolences to the family of the late Kenneth Howe, who lost his life on that tragic night. Our prayers are with them.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in the House today to advise members that May 17 is International Day Against Homophobia. This morning, I attended a breakfast commemorating this Day, organized by local organizations involved in fighting prejudice of all kinds, including homophobia. I would like to recognize the work of the many groups in our Province who are involved in working to counteract homophobia, which leads to discrimination and sometimes severe violence and death. We are currently hearing in the news about murders that may be linked to homophobia.

In particular, I call the members' attention to the work of the AIDS Committee of Newfoundland and Labrador. The Committee has many support services for those living with AIDS/HIV. As well, they hold regular workshops throughout the Province to inform youth and health professionals to dispel negative stereotypes and to improve the lives of people suffering from discrimination due to sexual orientation or HIV status. Staff and volunteers at the AIDS Committee at the Tommy Sexton Centre in St. John's are always available to answer questions and offer information.

I think, with the permission of the House, there are going to be brochures distributed to all members of the House commemorating International Day Against Homophobia. I ask all members to congratulate the AIDS Committee of Newfoundland and Labrador and all organizations who work to promote public awareness and provide help to people affected by prejudice.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Trinity-Bay de Verde.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Ryan Higdon, son of Lori Whiteway and Chris Higdon of Green's Harbour, who attends Grade 3 at Acreman Elementary. Ryan won first place in the Royal Canadian Legion's Remembrance Day Contest with the submission of a black and white poster.

Ryan's poster was chosen as one of the top three by the local branch to be submitted to the provincial branch. His poster was then selected as one of the top two provincially to compete at the National Remembrance Day Contest in Ottawa.

Mr. Speaker, the overall winner of this contest will be eligible to travel to Beaumont Hamel and eventually to the National War Memorial in Ottawa.

Mr. Speaker, I would ask that all members join with me in extending congratulations to Ryan in recognition of this wonderful achievement.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Mr. Speaker, I rise today to inform the House of Assembly of another new initiative to continue diversifying the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador.

This morning, I visited Central Dairies in Mount Pearl to tour the facility and announce the investment of $1 million in an exciting expansion that will see a new line of speciality cheese products manufactured right here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

By investing in this Province's growing agrifoods sector, we are supporting an industry that is providing sustainable employment and economic benefits, especially in our rural communities.

Mr. Speaker, our strategic and targeted investment under the Agriculture and Agrifoods Development Fund will create the Province's very first large-scale cheese manufacturing operation. It is allowing Central Dairies to build a new production line to manufacture high-quality cheeses for sale in this Province, across the country and beyond.

Central Dairies is contributing $2.5 million toward this expansion, which will provide up to fifteen long-term jobs at the Mount Pearl facility.

Mr. Speaker, this investment does much more. At start up, Central Dairies is committed to purchasing 4.7 million litres of industrial milk from local dairy farmers. The company expects to double that volume by year seven.

By supporting this expansion, we are ensuring our dairy industry continues to receive the maximum economic benefit from industrial milk production and secondary processing opportunities.

Mr. Speaker, this investment helps our rural dairy farmers by reducing transportation costs. Currently, the majority of the Province's industrial milk quota is exported. By enabling producers to sell their milk on the Island rather than ship it to the mainland for processing, they will realize substantial savings.

Our government is committed to providing our farmers and food producers with the tools to continue building their businesses right across this Province. I encourage all members of this House and the people of the Province to support local farmers by purchasing top-quality cheese products produced right here at home.

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 want to thank the minister for an advanced copy of her statement today.

Central Dairies, Mr. Speaker, has been a great company in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. They are not only producing high-quality products into our marketplace and products that we are proud of in this Province, but they are also employing Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and have done so since their inception in this Province.

Mr. Speaker, they are also providing for us a market for our dairy farmers. We also know what the struggles have been for the dairy industry in this Province over the years. Any stability that we can bring to it is going to be great and it will allow them to be able to grow and expand their developments as well.

Mr. Speaker, I have to say, I am proud to live in a Province where I can wake up everyday and have a Purity Cream Cracker and some Newfoundland preserves with some Newfoundland yogurt and now some cheese, and toast all of that with a good glass of wine or a cup of tea. It is not too bad, I say to you, Mr. Speaker. The more kind of business that we can do like this creating jobs in our own Province, with our own people, I am all for it and I would love to see more of it happening.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I do not think I can top that one, so I am not going to try.

I am very delighted to see the new developments at Central Dairies and naturally I am congratulating the minister on what has happened today. But, not to turn too negative, in spite of my colleagues comments before me, I do need to say though that I have had some small farmers come to me. While they are not saying we should not have large-scale development, they are concerned that they do not get the same amount of support when they come up with creative ideas.

I would encourage the minister, who I know is committed to Newfoundland and Labrador, to listen to some of these small farmers and to their concerns. Maybe someday we can sit down and talk about that together.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Further Statements by Ministers?

The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am pleased to rise today to inform this hon. House that the Department of Environment and Conservation has allocated $60,000 in funding this year for the operation of the Climate Change Education Centre. These funds will allow for more program development and a more consistent approach to public education. This year, the Centre's goal is to increase awareness of climate change and to encourage Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to actively reduce emissions and

make more sustainable lifestyle choices.

Mr. Speaker, as indicated in our Climate Change Action Plan, government continues to support the Climate Change Education Centre. I congratulate the CCEC for bringing the climate change message to the youth of this Province. It is the centre's long-term vision to dramatically increase knowledge and understanding of climate change and to be the catalyst for the actions necessary to address this issue. Where possible, my department will provide financial support to assist them and their efforts.

Mr. Speaker, the Conservation Corps of Newfoundland and Labrador became the host organization for the Climate Change Education Centre in 2002. Referred to as the Hub, the centre provides public education and outreach that covers a wide scope of climate change related information. They work with a variety of audiences including municipalities, industry and youth. Because of their efforts, thousands of young Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are more aware of the impact of climate change and have been encouraged to take action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their daily lives.

The Climate Change Education Centre creates partnerships with community-based organizations while focusing its efforts on reaching rural and remote communities. Since inception, the Hub has been very successful in reaching its target audiences. The centre has presented over 11,000 youth through schools and youth organizations. They have provided climate change awareness sessions and curriculum training for over 500 teachers. They have provided 300 public information sessions on climate change and energy efficiency, reaching more than 25,000 people. They have helped climate change capacity building workshops for more than fifty non-governmental organizations, and they have presented to industry, including Newfoundland Power and Petro Canada.

Mr. Speaker, climate change is a serious environmental issue. This government views the Climate Change Education Centre as vital to increasing awareness around the impacts of climate change and encouraging individuals to take actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. LANGDON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the minister for an advanced copy of his statement. Before I refer to the statement he has given, I would just like to say to him, the first two months of spring in Newfoundland this year, it is pretty difficult to convince Newfoundlanders and Labradorians that we have global warming and climate change, you need your longjohns on everyday. I do not think we have had double digits. The only way we are going to get double digits in the spring is to go back reporting under the Fahrenheit rather than the Celsius scale.

Anyway, Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to respond to that. It is good to see government contributing some dollars for the Climate Change Education Centre. The fact that you are targeting young people, I think is very important because it is these people who are the most impressionable at that age and no doubt, they take this much more seriously than some of the older people of our population.

Talking about the Conservation Corps of Newfoundland and Labrador, I had an opportunity not too long ago to speak to a former director, former head, Bruce Gilbert, a Newfoundlander. Bruce is now at Dalhousie University doing a doctorate and looking forward to coming back to Newfoundland and Labrador again someday, hopefully to find employment here.

Anytime that we put dollars in to give education to the people of our Province on climate change and global warming, because it is a reality, I think that is a great thing to do. No doubt about it, climate change is a serious environmental issue, as the minister already said, and it is great to see some dollars going into an education centre to make us more aware of it.

Thank you.

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There is no doubt that the Climate Change Education Centre, and the host organization Conservation Corps has done really good work and has been doing good work. Unfortunately, because of cuts by the government in Ottawa, the Harper government, the Centre now has a limited mandate. It is just education. Whereas when the Conservation Corps was working and federal money was in there, we had action along with education, and I think we need action. Thanks to the cuts from the Harper government we no longer have the action. The Conservation Corps used to have a residence retrofit program with a whole corps of young people who were trained to do the audits of the homes. Then the federal government also funded homeowners to then do the retrofits that became recommended after the audits were done.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. member's allotted time has expired.

MS MICHAEL: By leave, Mr. Speaker?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Leave has been granted.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you.

I really would like the government and the minister, as they go on doing their planning around climate change, to look at the government stepping in to put in place the action part that used to be there with Conservation Corps, which has to go with the education.

Thank you very much.

MR. SPEAKER: Further Statements by Ministers?

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

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

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My questions are for the Premier.

Shortly after the federal budget came down in March, Prime Minister Stephen Harper wrote both Premier MacDonald of Nova Scotia and our Premier. Both letters and the accompanying press releases were practically identical, with the exception that in the letter sent to Premier MacDonald there was an additional paragraph. That paragraph read, and I quote: The national infrastructure program announced in Budget 2007 also contains a component for nationally significant infrastructure, including Gateways. I encourage you to continue to work with my ministers to further develop the Atlantic Gateway concept.

I ask the Premier: Were you aware that there were differences in the letter sent to you and the letter sent to Premier MacDonald, and can you tell us why this Province was not asked to participate in the Gateway infrastructure initiative?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, I was aware that there are differences in it. Halifax and Nova Scotia, of course, have tried to take the initiative on the Atlantic Gateway. We made sure at the Council of Atlantic Premiers that, in fact, we put our position forward. We had an indication and an assurance from the Premier of Nova Scotia during the last CAP meeting that, in fact, it would be spread out; the benefits would be spread out over all four provinces if, in fact, Gateway was decided. Where that is ultimately selected, is a decision that has yet to be made. I have no idea why there was a difference. I guess you would have to ask the Prime Minister, but I cannot give you an answer on that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. REID: In the executive summary of the Gateway infrastructure program - and I have copy of it here, I say to the Premier. It states: Like Vancouver on Canada's West Coast, Halifax can be part of a new transportation grid that involves rail, trucking and shipping, linking Atlantic Canada to Central Canada in the large consumer markets in the United States. It also states that the Atlantic Gateway is an national issue and a national priority because it must form part of the national Maritime transportation strategy linking West Coast to East Coast as part of a Pan-Canadian transportation strategy.

I ask the Premier: Are we being excluded from this Pan-Canadian transportation strategy as a result of the strained relationships that exist between you and the Prime Minister?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: I can tell the Leader of the Opposition that I am not the one who quotes in the House of Commons. He refers to comments that are made by the Leader of Opposition when he supports positions that are anti-Newfoundland and Labrador. As a matter of fact, I heard him quote you in the House of Commons just over a month ago. So, it would be nice if you were on our side. That would certainly help, for starters.

From our perspective, we cannot read the Prime Minister's mind on this. I know that Peter MacKay is lobbying very, very strongly on behalf of Nova Scotia. He is a senior minister in the Cabinet. My concern would be that they are going to try and trade off, possibly, the Atlantic Gateway for concessions on the equalization issues, on the Accord issues that we have with the federal government. There is nothing I can do about that.

Minister Loyola Hearn, of course, is our minister in Ottawa. He is the one who needs to advocate on behalf of the Atlantic Gateway. We are doing everything we can, as a Province. Our Transportation Minister has been involved in transportation issues, and we are involved in the Atlantic transportation strategy. As I said at the CAP meetings, I put our positions forward in the very strongest terms to make sure that we were not exempted from any negotiations that went on.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, I say to the Premier: I, unlike you, never did and never will support Stephen Harper. You are the one who campaigned for Stephen Harper, not me.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. REID: I never trusted him. That is the reason I did not support him, unlike you.

Mr. Speaker, last year, British Columbia received $591 million for the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative. Earlier this month, Stephen Harper was in Vancouver to announce an additional $410 million for this project, for a total of $1 billion over two years for the gateway corridor to the Pacific.

I ask the Premier: How much money has the federal government set aside for the Atlantic Gateway, and how much do you anticipate will come to this Province?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, we do not know how much money has been set aside. We do not have any knowledge of that whatsoever, but I can tell you that if we had the $11 billion that was promised to us we could build eleven gateways in this Province. So, our focus is on getting that significant amount of money that was promised to us, an amount of money that would erase the debt of every man, woman and child in this Province.

The Minister of Transportation has written the federal government, the Minister of Natural Resources has written the federal government on this. I have taken it up with the Premiers. We are doing absolutely everything we can. We have an assurance from the Premier of Nova Scotia, who is lead on this, that we will actually be involved in Atlantic Gateway, so that an Atlantic Gate project is truly an Atlantic project, not a Nova Scotian project.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I say to the Premier, if you don't know, you should know. You should probably go on to the Web site from ACOA because there is lots of information on that site about these programs, both the Pacific one and the Atlantic one.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday we heard lame excuses from the Premier as to why Newfoundlanders and Labradorians could not handle the job of booking campsite reservations for our provincial parks. The Premier actually stood in the House of Assembly yesterday and tried to justify the decision to give this particular project, and the jobs associated with it, to a Quebec company.

I ask the Premier: How much are the taxpayers of this Province paying this Quebec call centre to do that particular job?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, I do not know if the Leader of the Opposition realizes the consequences of what he is saying here when he is talking about this particular contract.

As we indicated, the contract, the Request for Proposals, the tender, was put out. They were the only bidders. According to a legitimate legal process, they won in that process. Now, if we do what he is suggesting, a company yesterday, like G.J. Cahill, which we paid tribute to as one of the what? fifty best managed or something, we would have to tell them to come back from Alberta and not do any work in Alberta.

When we were out on a trade mission to Alberta three months ago, they picked up a $30 million contract as a result of that exercise. So, do we tell companies like Aliant they cannot do any work outside of Newfoundland and Labrador? Do we put a great big wall up around Newfoundland and Labrador and dig a great big moat so that people cannot come into the Province? Because, if that is the case, there is no reciprocity, there are no internal trade rules, we cannot go across the country, and Newfoundlanders and Labradorians cannot do work in other Provinces.

If that is what you want us to do, if you want us to isolate the Province, then I am sorry we are not going there. That is just completely wrong.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the Leader of the Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I say to the Premier, you are missing your point when you are trying to justify giving a contract to Quebec. You are missing the point totally.

What we are saying, Mr. Speaker, and I will ask the Premier the question; maybe he will understand it: Why couldn't you set up an office somewhere in this Province, whether it be in Confederation Building or in Corner Brook or in Twillingate or in St. Anthony, staff it with some of the thousands of students that we have and who are now going to find themselves unemployed because of cuts to a federal student employment project this summer, why didn't you take some of those students and put them in an office somewhere in this Province with a toll-free number so that they could answer those calls, rather than sending those jobs to Quebec?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, if I take that logic to where that is going, then the call centres that we have in the Province right now - how many people are employed by the...?

AN HON. MEMBER: Thousands.

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Several thousand people are employed by the call centres in this Province, who actually do calls and take calls for people in other provinces and other countries and other states all over the world. So, we cut off that business, we will not do that call centre business. Then what we will do is, we will set up our own nationalized call centre business and we will hire people from the Province to go into the call centres and take that business away from the private sector.

Is that what you are advocating? Because we are not going there.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, I cannot believe that this is the same individual who is in charge of economic development for this Province. I just cannot believe it -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. REID: - when he stands for two days in a row and tries to justify giving jobs to people in Quebec when we have thousands of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians leaving this Province on a weekly basis to seek employment elsewhere.

Now, Mr. Speaker, the Premier's own polls - and he is apt to do a lot of them - the Premier's own polls, which he pays for, I might add, with taxpayers' money, recently showed that unemployment, out-migration, and the economy in general are the most important issues facing the people of this Province.

I ask the Premier, Mr. Speaker: Knowing that unemployment is the number one issue in this Province, why do you insist in defending giving taxpayers' money to supply jobs to Quebecers?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, in addition to the answer that I gave before, I just want to take a quote from the hon. member, which he gave to the Resource Committee back in April 2002. He was talking about the Marine Services Centre, and he was talking about privatizing, the benefits of privatization, the benefits of the private sector doing business in this Province as opposed to government getting involved in that.

He said: The Marine Services Center, I know when the Province owned them, the one in Twillingate, for example, the Province employed one-and-a-half to two people per year down there. Right now, after we divested it, last year the company which is now running it employed as many as thirty people.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: So, when it was divested it employed thirty people as opposed to one-and-a-half or two people.

He goes on to say: That goes for most of them in the Province that we have divested.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: This is the important sentence: It just goes to show that the private sector can run those things far more efficiently and employ far more people than the Province ever could.

That goes for call centres, and that goes for the fishery as well.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Humber Valley.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BALL: Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Health and Community Services and it concerns the faulty breast screening test results.

Today we know we have close to 1,000 women who have been retested for possible testing errors. While the minister has indicated that women needing a change in treatment have been contacted, can the minister confirm whether all women who have been retested have been notified and, if not, does the minister consider the failure to communicate this information acceptable?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as I indicated in the last couple of days in the House, all of those tests that were repeated and the test results came back different than those that were gotten at the Health Sciences Centre, all of those patients have been contacted. All of the tests that were redone, all of those individuals have not been contacted because, some of them, their test results did not change. For those whose test results did change, they have been contacted. One hundred and seventeen of them had their treatment regime changed. The remaining patients were contacted through their family physicians for appropriate follow-up, I say, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Humber Valley.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BALL: Mr. Speaker, every year we have hundreds of new cases of breast cancer in the Province, and since the error in testing was discovered by Eastern Health in 2005 I understand that the tissue samples of women being tested since that time have been sent out of the Province right up until February of this year.

I ask the minister: What reassurances can you provide to the women who have been tested and diagnosed in the past two years, that their test results are indeed accurate?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as the member just pointed out, when Eastern Health realized that there was an error in May of 2005 they did some auditing on their own, and as a result of that auditing in July they ceased to operate their own lab. From that point on, until February of this year when it reopened, those exams and those tests were sent out of the Province to Toronto for testing. Those results would have come from that test result in Toronto.

Since February, as I laid out in this House in the last couple of days, since the lab has reopened there is a whole new structure we have put in place. As I pointed out, we have dedicated technologists working in that lab now. We have a director of the laboratory, a dedicated pathologist in that area. We have established a centre of excellence of using oncology and pathology to ensure that we have pooled the skill sets that we have in this Province to ensure that the women of Newfoundland and Labrador have access to a quality program.

The other piece of that, that I have outlined in this House, is the new quality assurance program that ensures that there is a monitoring mechanism in place, that there is a mechanism in place to have those test results randomly selected and sent outside the Province for confirmation to ensure that we are providing a quality program to the women of Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Humber Valley.

MR. BALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One of the concerns of my first question had to do with the 700 women, I guess, who probably have not been notified. I don't know about the minister's office, but I know we have been getting calls from women in this Province who are very concerned about the whole affair. Indeed, they are calling MHAs, they are calling doctors offices and even support groups.

I would ask the minister: Given the fear and anxiety with the many questions still remaining about this whole process, will the minister commit to immediately setting up a toll-free line to provide assurance, information and counseling to these women and their families?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One of the things that we have recognized in the last two days is that there is a lot of misinformation being given to the general population. There have been a number of questions raised by members opposite. Some of them are really legitimate questions and I appreciate them and understand them. Mr. Speaker, unfortunately, many of them have been very cheap political questions to try to raise an unwarranted fear among many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

As a result of that, I have asked Eastern Health if they would, in fact, tomorrow, arrange for a full briefing, a public briefing, for the media and those members opposite who wish to attend, to be able to understand fully what has taken place here from the period of time that they have reviewed, and the actions that have taken place since then. There will be clinical people there to be able to answer some of the very specific clinical questions that you might have.

Hopefully, I say to the members opposite, you will attend that briefing as well so you can get some clarity around the questions that you have been raising here and raising fear among many women in this Province unnecessarily, I say, Mr. Speaker, in many cases.

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

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will not even attempt to comment on what the minister just said about fearmongering here. It is shameful. Shameful.

Mr. Speaker, there are certainly communication problems between government, Eastern Health and the general public regarding the breast screening results. There are women who are contacting not only our offices but I am sure people on the government side as well, wondering if their results were part of the retesting process.

For clarity purposes, could the Minister of Justice, the former Minister of Health, confirm when Eastern Health became aware of the magnitude of the false results, when the retesting began, when the women affected were notified, and when the Department of Justice became involved?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Mr. Speaker, Eastern Health became aware of the problem they had in May 2005. They very quickly then moved to try to confirm the extent to which the problem existed. In July 2005 they ceased to operate their lab and they made a decision then to start transferring the tests in that facility outside the Province. They also made the decision at that time that they would now start to have all of the negative results that occurred from 1997 to 2005 sent outside the Province for rechecking. At that time, they met with the department to advise them of the circumstance, to advise them what they found. The process started then in August, I believe, of 2005 to send these tests out for re-evaluation.

In was in October 2005 when Eastern Health received the first response from Toronto. The first grouping of tests to be repeated were done in October 2005.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the minister if he could complete his answer quickly.

MR. WISEMAN: I appreciate your suggestion, Mr. Speaker, but the hon. member was asking for a sequence of events.

It was in October 2005 that those first results came back, and all of them were back by February 2006, I say, Mr. Speaker. By February 2006 all of the tests that had been sent out, the results were now back and Eastern Health became aware then of the total numbers that they had at that particular time.

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

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Notwithstanding the Health Minister's comments a couple of days ago about the balance, I guess, between the need to inform and disclose information versus the possible negative consequences it might have on litigation, I come back to this issue again: We need to find out what went wrong here to make sure that it does not happen again. That is what this is about. This is not a blame game, and we are not only concerned about civil liability. We do not know, for example, even if there was any criminal responsibility here. That is the point we are missing here, and what government seems not to be acknowledging.

I say to the Minister of Justice again, I asked this question yesterday and I will continue to ask it because I think it is foolhardy and misguided and misdirected of this government not to undertake what is an essential, necessary and obvious judicial inquiry that needs to be done.

We have had inquiries, Minister. When we had an industrial accident at Come By Chance, we did a judicial inquiry because we wanted to know what happened so it would not happen again. When we had the police shootings in this Province by the RNC and by the RCMP, we did a judicial inquiry. We have twenty-four judges on the Provincial Court; they are equipped to do it. It is not costly, it is not time-consuming.

I say again to the Minister of Justice: To ensure that every woman in this Province has the full details of what happened, including the families of the 176 women who have passed away since the details of this have been made public, will you and this government commit to a full judicial inquiry to ensure that all of the information is put on the table and disclosed here? It is absolutely necessary.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, I think everybody in this room is very, very sensitive to the issues involved here. I think everybody in this room, on both sides of the House, want to have the answers, want to have all the answers. I think that is very, very important. In the interest of openness, it is extremely important that this be done properly.

This government is certainly prepared to do a review in order to find the information. At the end of the day, we want to make sure that the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, but most importantly the people who are affected here - the patients, the people who have suffered, their families - they all need to know the answers.

It is a very sensitive issue and a very delicate issue, and there are issues of confidentiality of information here that are very important because it is a medical matter. On that basis, now, we are seeking advice from the Department of Justice with regard to the best way to go about this, to make sure that this is fully reviewed in a proper manner.

The other thing we want to do is, we want to make sure that we do not create a problem in the Province whereby people lose complete confidence in the health care system because that is unfair to the people of the Province and it is also unfair to medical professionals and people who are in the medical field throughout the Province. So, we do not want to do anything that sort of reflects on everybody in the system in any manner whatsoever, and I think you would agree with me in that perspective.

So, we want to move properly, we want to move carefully, we want to move cautiously, but we will move expeditiously. We will not delay this for any extended period of time. The first step, of course, is what the minister has indicated today, is that we are going to ask Eastern Health immediately, to get out and have a technical briefing so that all the facts are disclosed. When it comes to the legal issues, Eastern Health are on the front line here, and the hon. gentleman opposite knows that. The legal advice came from Eastern Health because it is their issue and that is where the liability rests.

On this side of the House, however, there is a moral responsibility as well that rests with this government, and rests with everybody inside the House. So, we undertake to have a very, very hard look at this. We are going to do something. It is a question of going about it and doing it right, but, at the end of the day, we want to assure people of the Province, particularly the people who have been affected here, that we will get full disclosure and we will get the answers that they require.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I will continue on from that point, I guess. I was very glad to hear the minister talk about the briefing, that was going to be one of my questions. So, I will ask then some further questions around it. I think the minister said that it was going to be a public briefing and that we would be able to attend. Is this a fully public briefing? Will we be able to ask questions? Has the format been decided? Mr. Speaker, the hon. Minister of Health and Community Services.

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I had indicated that it would be a public format, that we want to make sure that the information gets out into the public domain and the questions that you have been raising here and others have been raising are fully answered.

The issues that the member opposite raised in terms of exact location and exact time, it was before I came to the House today that I had that discussion with Eastern Health to ensure that it took place. I asked to have it happen tomorrow, and they are immediately working towards that now. I assume and will assure you that before the day is over, we will be making a public announcement about when and where that will occur, and the time that it will happen as well.

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

MS MICHAEL: Mr. Speaker, could I just make one comment to the minister? I would encourage the minister to see that the briefing is held in the morning, since a lot of MHAs leave to go to their districts in the afternoon.

I do have a couple of more questions. It is my understanding, Mr. Speaker, that the families of the 176 deceased women have not been personally notified that there was retesting of the tissue samples of those women, and also whether or not any of these women received a new result from the retesting. Papers filed with the court show that thirty-six of the 105 deceased women have been confirmed to have had false negatives. These thirty-six women could have availed of potentially life saving therapies.

Can the minister confirm that the families of the deceased have not been personally contacted by Eastern Health authorities, and if not, why were they not informed?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

MR. WISEMAN: Mr. Speaker, as I understand the process for those family members of the deceased individuals, they have an opportunity to make a request to Eastern Health and have the results. That is what I understand has happened. I cannot tell you how many people have actually done that. I cannot tell you how many families would be aware of the changes in the test results, if any. I know that is the kind of question that Eastern Health would be able to provide for you, which is kind of a technical and detailed question that they would be able to answer for you.

MR. SPEAKER: Final supplementary to the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, then I will wait and put that question tomorrow because my question really gets at where they informed personally or just through advertisements that went out in the newspaper, but I will ask that tomorrow.

I do have then a final question, Mr. Speaker. The minister informed the House on Tuesday that there is a quality control procedure in place, you spoke about it again today. In a scrum, the minister said that approximately 10 per cent of samples are sent away for retesting.

I would like the minister to inform us as to what are the results of that quality control testing? Are we seeing, through the quality control testing that is going on, that the testing which is now going on here is hopefully error free, and how is that information going to be relayed to the House?

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

MR. WISEMAN: Just on that point, Mr. Speaker, I do not recall having quantified the percentage of tests that would be sent out. What I had indicated was that as a part of the quality control program, a random cross-section of tests to be performed at Eastern Health would now be selected and sent outside for a retesting, just to validate the test results at Eastern Health, I think was my comment.

To answer your question about whether or not there has been any sent out to date, how many have been sent out, and what the results have been, that is an answer I do not have for you. I can get it for you though. I would be only too glad to table it here for you in the House.

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will try to switch gears here now. My questions are for the Minister of Natural Resources.

In March, the government reached an out-of-court settle with Canada Bay Lumber in Roddickton to pay back their debt to the government and to move forward with a new sawmill and particle board plant in that area. Part of the deal was to allow the company to hold onto its 21,000 cubic metres of wood.

Why has the government not released a wood permit to wood products industry limited so that the company will have an opportunity to settle its finances, raise the capital it needs and move forward with the operation?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As former minister of INTRD and now as Minister of Natural Resources, I have been intimately involved in the file concerning Chimney Bay Lumber, Canada Bay Lumber and WPI. Numerous opportunities, negotiations, you name it, Mr. Speaker, has gone on to try to get this company on a footing that would allow it to move forward. That has not happened. The Department of INTRD has taken action now with regard to it and decisions will be made in the very short term with regard to the permit that is associated with WPI.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, the operator claims that government has been putting up roadblocks for them by changing the conditions of the wood allocation permit. Today, minister, it is no secret that twenty-five to thirty loggers are out of work in that area. There is an individual in that area who has spent up to $400,000 to purchase a new harvester that now has nothing to harvest. Obviously, this company and the residents in that area are looking for government to issue the permit and have signed a petition with over 700 signatures from the community.

I ask the minister today: Why not work with this company, help them get their operation off the ground and issue the wood permit to them?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This government has been working with the companies named for over ten years. We have exercised every way that we know how to encourage a sawmilling operation on the Great Northern Peninsula. We are well aware of the concerns that are being expressed on the Great Northern Peninsula with regard to the forestry issue. We have worked with them in the past in terms of understanding what their needs are and meeting those needs. We will do the same in this instance, Mr. Speaker. If we need to be innovative to ensure that the harvesters have work and that there is a market for the product of the Great Northern Peninsula, then we are going to do whatever we can to make sure that happens.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The time allocated for Question Period has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Special Committees.

Tabling of documents.

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

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

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

I give notice that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Retail Sales Tax Act, Bill 20.

MR. SPEAKER: Further Notices of Motion.

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. RIDEOUT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to move, pursuant to Standing Order 11, that tomorrow, Tuesday, May 22, the House not adjourn at 5:30 p.m., nor will the House adjourn at 10:00 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader on Notices of Motion.

MR. PARSONS: Normally under Standing Order 63(3) we would on a Monday give notice of our private member's motion for next Wednesday's Private Members' Day, but the House being closed on Monday we would like to give that notice today, if we could, if that is okay. It is being moved by the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair, giving notice of motion.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to move the following Private Member's Motion, seconded by my colleague, the Member for Burgeo & LaPoile:

WHEREAS it has been revealed that there were error rates of 42 per cent in breast cancer screening tests conducted by Eastern Health and the circumstances surrounding the release of this information has shaken confidence in the health care system in this Province;

BE IT RESOLVED that this House of Assembly calls upon the government to appoint a judicial enquiry into the circumstances around faulty breast cancer screening results and the release of this information.

MR. SPEAKER: Further Notices of Motion.

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to present a petition on behalf of people in the community of Roddickton and in that area.

Mr. Speaker, this petition falls in line with the questions that I asked of the Minister of Natural Resources today, and it has to do in particular with a company by the name of Canada Bay Lumber.

Mr. Speaker, Canada Bay Lumber once ran a thriving sawmilling operation in the Roddickton area, and it was destroyed by fire. Since that time they have had great difficulty in rebuilding their company back to the vibrance that it once way. They have been asking for the support and the nurturing of government in enabling them to do just that. In fact, Mr. Speaker, not unlike a lot of companies in this Province, they found themselves owing government substantial amounts of money, none of which we can deny, but in recent days they were able to strike a deal with the government, in March of this year, to pay back $700,000, I think, of the money.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MS JONES: Eight hundred and fifty thousand. I stand to be corrected by the Member for The Straits & White Bay North, Mr. Speaker, who seems to know all about the issue but doing very little to resolve it, I say.

Mr. Speaker, there was $850,000 agreed to be paid back. As part of that deal, it was told to the company they could hang on to their wood allocations of 22,000 cubic metres of wood. Once the company was able to pay back its investment, re-establish itself as a sawmill and particle board operation, then those quotas would be transferred into a timber allocation for the company to use, Mr. Speaker. That was the deal, but attached to that timber allocation were certain conditions that the company would have to honour, and those were the guarantees that the government asked for.

Mr. Speaker, the operator now claims that, before he was able to deliver on the payments and to be able to get this operation back on track, government changed the conditions of his permit, and he feels that the government changed the conditions of this permit only because they want to award the allocation to Conservative friends of theirs so that they will have control of the allocation. In doing so, Mr. Speaker, there is a risk of those jobs being shipped out of that area.

I do not have to tell anyone in this Legislature that the Roddickton area is an area of this Province, Mr. Speaker, that has high unemployment. They are desperately looking for work. Even, Mr. Speaker, in the years that this company had difficultly in managing its operations, they still employed loggers in that area, up to thirty loggers every year who worked on contract with this company, who today find themselves out of a job simply because the government opposite was impatient and not willing to work with this company to bring their operation to fruition.

Mr. Speaker, they talk every day about creating opportunity in rural communities in this Province. Here is an opportunity right on their doorstep, where people are crying out for work, and right now, today -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The member's allotted time has expired.

MS JONES: By leave, Mr. Speaker?

MR. RIDEOUT: By leave to conclude.

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Government House Leader for leave to conclude.

Mr. Speaker, today we have thirty workers in this area who are unemployed. We have one of those people who has bought a harvester in the last year or so, Mr. Speaker, has spent over $400,000 and now has nothing to harvest.

Mr. Speaker, I want to encourage the government, on behalf of the people in this area - and the MHA for that area, who happens to be the minister - to work with this company, work with the people in that region, and get this company off the ground and get those people back to work!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Further petitions?

The hon. the Member for Port de Grave.

MR. BUTLER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to present this petition and I will read it, seeing it is the first time I have had it before the House.

WHEREAS the road maintenance depots have been closed in various areas of the Province; and

WHEREAS these closures have resulted in maintenance workers servicing huge areas; and

WHEREAS many areas are not receiving adequate road repairs because of these government cutbacks;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, call upon all Members of the House of Assembly to urge government to take actions to address the lack of road maintenance in many areas of the Province.

I present this petition.

Mr. Speaker, I want to say -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair asks all members on both sides of the House for their co-operation.

The Chair recognizes the Member for Port de Grave, and asks him to continue presenting his petition.

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

I want to say from the outset, and I know the minister is aware of this, I had the opportunity to meet with the officials of the Department of Transportation and Works on many of the issues that I have concerns on. They are checking them out, no doubt, over a period of time, and hopefully this year some of those issues will be resolved in a successful manner.

Mr. Speaker, there is one issue I want to bring to the forefront, and it is due to a maintenance issue that happened last year. As a matter of fact, it happened in August of last summer, and here we are into May of this year. The department had been dealing with it. There were seven to eight vehicles, due to a pothole that was in the road in Bay Roberts, that received extensive damage. I relayed it to the road maintenance at the time.

Finally, one of the individuals received a letter back dated April 17, 2007, and this is from the Department of Finance. They go on to say that they have reviewed the information that was put forward by Transportation and Works concerning alleged damages.

I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, they were not alleged damages. There were thousands of dollars worth of damage done with regard to striking this particular pothole. They referenced that all the information had been provided, and I will go on to say, and I want to quote here: In reviewing the report from the department, I find that every effort has been taken to repair this and other potholes in the area.

No doubt, Mr. Speaker, that is true, but I can assure you every effort was not taken to repair the damage to those vehicles.

They conclude with this statement: With the amount of freeze and thaw conditions in the Avalon area, potholes can develop very quickly.

I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, due to the thawing of the ground there were no potholes created in Bay Roberts in August of last year.

I think it is important that the department - I know the Department of Transportation and Works took this issue forward and they believed that they went to the Department of Finance to see if this would go through the claims, but this letter if from the claims administrator telling those people that those potholes have been taken care of - and they now - but I can assure you they were there at that particular time. Many people, seven or eight individuals, had a tremendous amount of damage done to their vehicles. The maintenance crews, when the depots were closed, I can assure you that in my district a lot of work was not done last year. The officials in the department in the Bay Roberts depot will confirm that.

It is unfortunate that those people, Mr. Speaker, have received this letter back. I just ask the minister to check with his officials. I know they have a response back from the Department of Finance, but I believe it is worth that the department would take another look at it and see if anything can be done for those individuals.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Further petitions?

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise to present a petition on behalf of my constituents in the District of Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.

Mr. Speaker, this petition has to do with having cellphone services in that area. I would like to read the prayer of the petition, because I understand this petition is being circulated throughout the district. I only received one copy so far. Apparently, I have been told, the others are on the way. It says:

WHEREAS Phase II of the Trans-Labrador Highway from Red Bay to Cartwright has been completed for a number of years; and

WHEREAS the residents of Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair now rely on this connection for many necessities of life; and

WHEREAS the unpredictable nature of winter weather and lack of snow-clearing equipment often causes hazardous for travellers on this section of highway; and

WHEREAS a huge section of the highway from West St. Modeste to Cartwright covering 375 kilometres of road has no cellphone coverage because of the high cost to provide such a service to a relatively low number of customers; and

WHEREAS government has provided $15 million to Persona Communications to assist in future technology developments that enable them to become more profitable, we feel that government should provide financial assistance to ensure there are cell services available in our area;

WHEREFORE we, the undersigned, petition the House of House of Assembly to urge government to contribute to the cost of providing cellular phone coverage to the residents of Southern Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak to that for a couple of minutes because I use that road quite often. In fact, if you look at the whole area going up through, you are looking at over 400 kilometres of road in which you have no cellphone coverage at all.

Mr. Speaker, I know what it is like to be out on that highway in the middle of the winter and to be stuck, because it has happened. I have spent all night on that road with no communications connection to anyone and having to stay there until the early hours of the morning when a plow could come and get you out. I am not alone in that experience. There are many people in my district who often go through that.

Also, Mr. Speaker, there are lots of occasions when you are covering the huge distance of several hundred kilometers between Port Hope Simpson and Cartwright in which you have no stops at all and you have no communication equipment on that section of highway. We often have had people caught out there, broke down or stuck in a snow storm, Mr. Speaker, and not being able to get out of it.

The request that is being made by the people of my district is a very legitimate request. I have held a number of meetings with Aliant over the last few years talking about cellphone coverage. In fact, in the Labrador Straits, when we did get cellphone coverage, we had to make a business case to Aliant. At the end of the day, we provided a good case and we were able to get the service. In the Coastal region of Labrador we have also provided a business case for cellular coverage but we have been told -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. member's allotted time has expired.

MS JONES: May I, by leave, just clue up, Mr. Speaker?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

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

MS JONES: Thank you.

Aliant has told us that the cost of providing a cellphone service in that particular area was more than the expenditure that they were prepared to invest, and that the numbers they had crunched on what their return on investment would be was not substantial for them at this time.

Mr. Speaker, basically what Aliant has told us and what another company - and I should say we did go to another company, as well, looking for them to invest in the cellular phone service in that particular area - and, again, it was the same option. They did not feel that their investment was warranted in terms of what their return would be.

Mr. Speaker, we have been told by the communications companies in the Province that the only way that the cell service could be provided in that area of the Province is with the investment of government as a partner. I would like to encourage government and the Minister of Industry to look at this as an option on behalf of the people of my district and that part of our Province.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

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

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, I would like to call Order 3, the concurrence motion.

I believe there is, I don't know, fifteen or sixteen minutes, or something in that order, left in debate, in the concurrence debate on the Social Services Committee. I would like to call that matter first, please.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

At the end of our debate previously, I do believe there were seventeen minutes left and the debate had been adjourned by the Leader of the Opposition.

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Let those viewers who are watching us at home on a Thursday afternoon know that, when we are discussing a Budget, we can speak on anything we wish in the House of Assembly. We do not have to stick to a particular subject contained in a particular bill.

When I left off on Tuesday, debating this particular issue, I was talking about the need for an extension to EI, Employment Insurance, for fish harvesters and plant workers on the Northeast Coast of Newfoundland and the Coast of Labrador. Because, as you know, Mr. Speaker, the people in the affected area who see the ice onshore today are finding it very difficult to survive financially because the fishing season started on April 1 and many people who are involved in the fishing industry have had their EI discontinued since that time. This is some seven weeks now that they have to do without an income.

What we have done on this side of the House, we have contacted the federal government, we have raised the issue locally through the various media, the Open Line shows, the newspapers and the newscasts. We have asked questions in the House of Assembly of the provincial government as to what they have done with regard to lobbying the federal government to try and do something for the people in the affected region, because they are finding it extremely difficult.

I am sure that members opposite are receiving calls. I heard from the Member for Bonavista North today on the Open Line show raising the issue, and he had to bring my name into it. I have been listening to the media in the last three or four weeks since this became an issue. It became an issue around the middle of April. Obviously, it did not become an issue on April 1 because that is when the fishing season opened. It became an issue around the middle of April and, to be truthful with you, I have not heard any of the members opposite raise the issue publicly, but the Member for Bonavista North did come on this morning and say that he did not need to take lessons from Gerry Reid.

I say to the member, I am glad I woke him up, and I hope I can wake up some others on the opposite side, because there are a lot of Tory members in the House of Assembly who are receiving calls, besides the Liberal members. In fact, there are more Tories in the affected areas than there are Liberals. We have been making representation both to the provincial and federal governments to get something done because it is, indeed, a desperate situation.

Mr. Speaker, I have written the federal ministers - and I say ministers - to Minister Hearn, our federal Fisheries Minister, as well as the Minister Responsible for the EI program, Minister Solberg. I have written both.

For a while, I didn't receive a response from Fisheries Minister Hearn, our representative in the federal Cabinet, but he did call me yesterday morning. He did say that he was working with his federal Cabinet colleagues to try and put a package together for those individuals who are without an income right now.

I have to mention, and I think I did when I started this, it is not just the people on the Northeast Coast of Newfoundland, it is also on the Coast of Labrador, and that takes in the Torngat District in the Northern part of Labrador as well as the Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair District in the Southern portion of Labrador. If I am not mistaken, I think there are a couple of fishermen in Goose Bay who also prosecute the fishery, I say to my colleagues from Labrador. We are talking about all of those individuals.

I had a discussion yesterday morning with the federal minister, he called me, Minister Hearn, and he said that he had received my letter and he was returning my call to tell me that they are working on it. But, yesterday afternoon I did notice, in watching the House of Commons debate in Question Period from the back room here - I happened to go in there for a glass of water and we had the television on, and Todd Russell, the Liberal MP from Labrador, was raising the very issue in the House of Commons. I was somewhat surprised with the response from Mr. Hearn, our federal minister. He said that basically they don't have all of the information on the numbers who are affected in the region, from Bonavista basically to Nain.

That is somewhat surprising, his response to Mr. Todd Russell, because I raised that very issue in the House over a week ago. I think it as last Monday, some seven, eight, ten days ago, when I asked our provincial minister - I said at that time that the provincial minister has a field staff out and about this Province. For example, in the area that I am served by, the provincial Department of Fisheries has their offices in Grand Falls. There is a team of individuals who work there called field staff. These individuals are in touch with fish harvesters and plant workers in my district and other districts along that particular area of the Northeast Coast on almost a daily basis. I think that the individuals who work for the department are very decent individuals and they know a lot about the people they serve.

What I asked the minister last week is, if that field staff could compile a list of the numbers of people in each of the regions and forward that information on to Ottawa. Obviously, our provincial minister hasn't done that. Mr. Hearn said yesterday, if he had that information he might be able to expedite this process. In other words, he might be able to speed it up.

I was very saddened and very angered to hear the federal minister say yesterday that information has not been forthcoming from anybody from the Province, and that surprised me because I did ask the minister some ten days ago to do that. It would not be that difficult because I know the individuals who work for fisheries in the district that I represent and I know that they know the people in the Bonavista North area and they know the people in the New World Island, Change Islands, Twillingate Island, Fogo Island region. I bet you within a very short period of time they could tell the federal government exactly what the numbers are, and I was saddened and angered at the same time by the fact that the provincial government does not seem to be that much interested in helping these individuals out. I do not understand why they would not because I am not asking the minister to do the work. I am asking his staff to do the work, and I am sure that his staff would be more than delighted to forward that information on to the federal government.

So, it leaves me to wonder if the provincial government is really serious about trying to get an EI extension for those affected, or maybe they have an alternative motive here, or ulterior motive. Maybe they have a motive that - maybe they do not want the federal government to step in and help out these individuals because the federal government might look good if they were to do that. I explained that to the federal minister yesterday. I said to him, I said minister: I know the relationships and the relations between the federal government and the provincial government at this point in time is somewhat strained, but if you were able to do something for the people on the Northeast Coast and the Coast of Labrador, at least you might be able to curry some good favour amongst the individuals in that area. I know that you are taking a beating from the general population of this Province but I think that if you were to step up to the plate now and put some money on the table to help out these individuals, then some of these individuals at least might be thankful for you and look at you in a different light than they are looking at you today.

I spoke quite frankly to Minister Hearn, as I always have and he speaks quite frankly to me, but I am rather disappointed to learn that we are not, as a provincial government - I should not say we, because we are doing our part, but the government is not doing their part to do the calculations and try to get some of the figures put together so that they could present that to Ottawa so that these people who have not had a cheque come in for some seven weeks now could have an income - so it could tie them over until they are able to get out to the fishery. Because if you listen to Environment Canada, these ice conditions could remain for another month. That would be all of April, all of May and all of June without a source of income.

The other thing, too, Mr. Speaker, that I am somewhat perplexed about is this, the provincial government has not stepped in to try and help these individuals. They have not stepped in, and it is my understanding that if some of these individuals who have not received a cheque for seven weeks or thirty-five days, or forty-nine days, they are not eligible for social services because if you apply for social services, one of the criteria for receiving social services is that you have to be without any money for sixty days. So, they are really in a bind. You cannot just walk into a social services office if you spent your last unemployment cheque last week and look for social assistance this week. You have to wait sixty days. Some of these individuals have already waited forty-nine days without a cent coming into their house and they are going to have to wait another eleven days before they apply for social services. They might have to wait another fourteen days on top of that before they get any assistance. I think this is absolutely atrocious, especially when we are talking and dealing with a government today that has a surplus in their pockets, or in their Budget this year of $260 million; $260 million and it seems like the plight of all of those thousands of people on the Northeast Coast in Labrador, on the Labrador Coast are being left out like forgotten people.

If you talk to these individuals, like I do, some of them will go so far as to say that they think there is a plan afoot to drive them out of these rural communities in the area that I talked about. I am not saying this myself, that is what I have been told. A lot of them are saying, if we do not get some help very soon we are going to have to go to Alberta. A lot of them have already left to go to Alberta, especially crew members, Mr. Speaker. When they realize that they already have pretty well two months of the fishing season gone - the crab fishery, I say, the most important one in that whole area that we are talking about, is scheduled to close on June 15. Today is the sixteenth or seventeenth of May. That fishery is going to close in less than a month. They do not have a pot in the water yet. They do not even have their boats in the water, Mr. Speaker, and the fishery is supposed to close in less than a month. So you can imagine the stress and the strain - not to mention the fact that they do not have a cent - and the impact that this is having on these individuals and their families.

We are not talking about big strapping men and women. We are also talking children having to go to school everyday and their parents without a cent for seven weeks. I think it is absolutely atrocious. I think it is absolutely atrocious that our provincial government - when the Premier talks about caring for people and standing shoulder to shoulder with people, where are those broad shoulders now of the Premier, I say, because I have not heard him mention it? I have not heard him mention anything. All they say is, it is a federal government responsibility. Well, if that is the case, what happens if the federal government says we are not doing it? What happens to these individuals? We are not going to do that. You are not getting an EI extension, and there is a month or two before they get out to their fishery. What happens to these individuals in the interim? What happens - which is a big fear in my district today - once the ice moves off, in two or three or four weeks from now, and they put their crab pots in the water and we experience softshell crab?

Now, I do not know if all of these individuals sitting across the floor, from St. John's, know what that means, talking about softshell crab. That means - it is as simple as this - as soon as they find a high incidence of that in the fishery, that is closed. That, for the most part, will mean a complete loss of a fishing season for most of the individuals in that area that I talked about, from Bonavista north to Nain. Then what do we do?

I guess what the crowd opposite are saying, then: Well, at least by that time they will qualify for social services.

I say, Mr. Speaker, if that happens this year, the crowd opposite will not have to worry about giving a lot of social services because 90 per cent of the people in that area will move out of this Province and go to the mainland to work. That is what they think the plan is, in my district - they honestly believe it - because they really feel that they are being let down by this government, because this government is not making the representation that they think they should be making to the federal government to get some help on this.

The only one I have heard, to date, even mention it publicly is the Member for Bonavista North, in his first debut on the Open Line show this morning, criticizing me because I mentioned his name, that we have not heard from him. He was more interested in criticizing me than he was about really presenting the issue of some help for his constituents, so he is obviously playing politics with it. I am quite prepared to leave the politics aside in this, quite prepared. I have not mentioned politics up until this point in time, expect to give the federal government a smack up the side of the head over it because they have not been doing due diligence in trying to help out those individuals.

Mr. Speaker, I would like for the Minister of Fisheries and the Deputy Premier of the Province to tell me later on today if, in fact, he has his field staff compiling some of this information so that he can send it off to the federal government so they can expedite the possibility of these people receiving some Income Support in terms of an EI extension before it is too late for them.

We all know, the minister said here in the House of Assembly, that a week ago - more than a week ago, the Sunday before last, it will be two weeks this Sunday - he went to Ottawa, flew to Ottawa on a Saturday afternoon, met with the federal Minister of Fisheries in Ottawa, in his office, had his staff accompany him, sat across the table from Mr. Hearn, eyeball to eyeball, talking about FPI, and never mentioned the ice conditions and the need for an EI extension. He said that in the House of Assembly here last week. That was confirmed by Mr. Hearn, to me, yesterday morning in my conversation with Mr. Hearn. I think that is atrocious. I mentioned that on an Open Line program last week and Mr. Randy Simms even agreed. He does not always agree with me, but he is a half-logical individual and he said that the minister, the Deputy Premier, missed a golden opportunity to raise this very serious issue, to raise this very serious issue with the Minister of Fisheries. That is unconscionable; because, even if he had forgotten himself, I am sure that he had his staff with him.

I know, when I was Minister of Fisheries, and even today when I am a backbench Opposition member, even today I have an assistant working with me, and I remind her very often: Don't let me forget this.

All the minister had to say, when this issue arose in the House two weeks ago, before he went to Ottawa: Don't let me forget to mention the ice compensation and the EI extension to Mr. Hearn when I meet with him on Sunday.

Obviously, it was not a major concern to anyone over in the Department of Fisheries or the issue would have been addressed when they were in Ottawa last week.

What I am saying, Mr. Speaker, is that this government should get off their derrieres, get the figures, document them, find out how many individuals, or roughly how many individuals, need an extension to their EI, and forward that off to Ottawa immediately. They do not even have to go up themselves with it, Mr. Speaker; that stuff can be faxed now, or sent by e-mails, so they do not have to fly to Ottawa again to do it, and waste time. All of that information can find its way to Ottawa in a very short period of time. It might not even need to go to Ottawa. We have DFO offices here in St. John's, along with EI offices, and in Gander and other places across the Province.

All I am saying is that it is a very serious issue. I wish that more of you opposite would take it more seriously and do something, at least hear your voices in the media, on the television screens and out on the Open Line shows, to at least let your constituents know that you are worried about them, that you are thinking about them, you want something to change.

Try and leave the politics out of it. I know when I was on the air I said I have not heard from the Member for Bonavista North or the Member for Windsor-Springdale, the Member for Bonavista South, and a few of you. I did not mention you by name, so I did not mean to rile up the Member for Bonavista North today.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. member's time has expired.

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, I would like for them to get serious and do everything that they possibly can to help the individuals affected in these areas because, Mr. Speaker, they are in dire straits. They need help, and they need help from whomever they can get it.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The motion before the House is that the House concurs in the approval of the report of the Social Services Committee on Supply.

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

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

The motion is carried.

Motion carried.

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

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, Motion 2, Committee of Supply.

I would like to move, I guess, that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole to consider the matters related to Executive Council.

MR. SPEAKER: The motion is that this House resolve itself into a Committee of Supply to consider certain motions relating to the Executive Council Estimates.

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

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

The motion is carried.

On motion, that the House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole, Mr. Speaker left the Chair.

 

Committee of the Whole

CHAIR (Fitzgerald): Order, please!

The Committee is ready to receive debate and entertain questions, if necessary, on the heading of Executive Council.

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

It is an honour and a privilege for me to stand here in my place today to introduce the Estimates for the Office of the Executive Council. What has been happening here is that as part of the Budget process, one of the things we do is that we present the Estimates. We present the actual spending in each head under the Estimates for approval for the House of Assembly. Normally, this is done in various committees.

For example, as the Minister of Finance, the Finance Estimates were presented to one of the committees of the House. I believe it was the Committee on Government Services, and at that committee meeting my colleague, the hon. Member for Grand Falls-Buchans was there, members of the Opposition were there, members of the government were there and they questioned me, as the minister, and the senior officials of the department as to what each of these Estimates were and what we were spending money on so that government, through that process, is accountable to the people of this Province as to how we spend the money because it is obviously extremely important that we spend that money wisely.

Government has no money of its own. Any money government gets, it gets and takes from the people of this Province. It does it through taxation, it does it through charging fees. It is the people's money that the government is spending. The government has the legal right to spend that money, but it is spending the people's money and therefore - as was said to me at one of the pre-Budget consultations I attended, I think it was either the mayor or the deputy mayor of Stephenville Crossing. He said to me: You are spending the public's money. You have to spend that money wisely and you have to take it very seriously. That message has stayed with me, and it will stay with me throughout my political career.

Today, we do something different. In addition to the Estimates that take place in the various committees - there was a Resource Committee, a Social Services Committee, as well as a Government Services Committee. The same process went on, the Estimates, the heads of spending of the various departments was presented. The ministers appeared before the committees, they had their officials with them and they accounted to the members of the committees for how they were going to spend the taxpayers' money. That is a very basic and fundamental process based on accountability, based on openness and transparency. It is a very important part of a whole process that we go through as we spend the taxpayers' money.

Today, we are going through a process that is a bit different. While the process is essentially the same, we are doing it here in the main Chamber of the House of Assembly, we are doing it in the Committee of the Whole and we are doing it before the TV cameras so that the people of Newfoundland can see what the process is like. I do not know why certain things happen in the House as opposed to in the Committee meetings, why the heads of expenditure that we are going to look at today are held here. I do not know the answer to that, but I am sure someone will explain it at some point during the discussion today.

What we are going to talk about today is the expenditures in Executive Council. Under Executive Council we are going to look at the establishment of the Lieutenant Governor. We are going to look at the expenditures that are taking place there. Under Office of the Executive Council, we are going to look at the expenditures in the Premier's Office, we are going to look at the expenditures of Cabinet Secretariat. Now, that is group at the top of the scale in the civil service who actually carry out the instructions and policies set by the Cabinet. There is the Communications and Consultation Branch of Executive Council. There is Financial Administration and Human Resource Support. Later on, I understand, we are going to do the Estimates for the Public Service Secretariat. Most people will remember the Public Service Secretariat as what was referred to once as Treasury Board and came into an existence with respect to a reorganization that took place, I think it was in 2005.

So, we will go through these numbers and members of the Opposition will be able to stand and ask questions concerning these Estimates and make their views known on the expenditures. Members of the government side, as well, will take part in the debate and in the discussion.

With that, Mr. Chair, I will sit down now and let the debate and discussion begin. I look forward to the questions from the other side, and I look forward to all members taking part in what I am sure will be an interesting discussion.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

CHAIR: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I am pleased to stand today and respond to the Minister of Finance, his presentation on Executive Council.

One of the things he mentioned in his speech was, he wondered why Executive Council would be debated in the House of Assembly as opposed to in Committee, kind of like behind closed doors and not on camera.

The reason for that is because the Executive Council really is the Office of the Premier - and most taxpayers always find that very interesting - and the Transparency and Accountability Office, Communication Consultation Branch and, of course, our Lieutenant-Governor's house, Intergovernmental Affairs Secretariat, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Protocol, Rural Secretariat, Women's Policy, Public Service Secretariat. So, under that umbrella of Executive Council, people are always curious as to how government fills those offices, how they spend the money for those offices, and do they spend it in the best way possible.

Our job, as the Opposition - and it was interesting when the Minister of Finance said that all members of the House will have an opportunity to ask questions around this particular part of government spending, but he knows full well that his own members will not ask him any questions in the House today so he is safe in that regard.

It is interesting, too, that while the current government was in Opposition - and I know the Minister of Finance was not part of that group - the Opposition always questioned the Lieutenant-Governor's establishment. I, for one, always supported the Lieutenant-Governor's house, Government House, which we have all grown to appreciate and are very proud of, so I do not have any issue with the Lieutenant-Governor's house. Our current Lieutenant-Governor, Edward Moxon Roberts, has been one of the first ones to make it open to the public, and I think that has been a good thing. It is the people's money that pays for Government House, and I believe that it should be open to the people.

I am wondering, though, in Government House spending for next year there is going to be $40,000 spend, new money, on property, furnishings and equipment. I do not know if the minister will want to get up when I ask these questions or if he would like to make note of it and answer probably on his own time, because I know that will cut into my time if he stands up and gives me the answer there.

That is Government House, under 1.1.02.07, Property, Furnishings and Equipment. There is going to be a $40,000 expenditure this coming year for Government House, on property, so I am curious as to what government intends to buy there. Maybe the minister can make note of that and let me know.

I think the most alarming thing that we found out a while ago, in the Premier's Office, when I look back at the Estimates and the Salary Details, what is actually spent in operating the Premier's Office on a year-to-year basis. The last year that we were the government - that was 2003 - we spent under $1 million in salaries and operations for the Premier's Office. Just in salaries alone this year, this coming year, for the Premier's Office, $1.4 million is going to spent in just salaries alone. That brings into question: Why is the Premier spending an extra - $500,000 is what it is - why is the Premier spending an extra $500,000 in salaries this year for his staff? That is the curious part about all of this.

We saw in the newspaper a while ago - and this is only under Communications - that the Premier's own staff in the Premier's Office are getting pay hikes. The pay hikes that the Premier's staff are getting are scandalous. They are ranging anywhere from 8 per cent to 17 per cent. Tell me, do you know of any other public servant within the government of this Province that is going to get a pay raise anywhere between 8 per cent and 17 per cent?

Some of these people are going from - I will give you an example - a Chief of Staff with the Premier's Office, his salary is going from $121,000 to $131,000, and the Director of Communications - I happen to know the Director of Communications - that person, actually her salary is going from $89,000 up to $102,000. That is from $89,000 to $102,000, an increase of 14 per cent in just one year. Now, I know the Director of Communications is a busy job, but when you ask around government every job around government is busy. Even the MHA's job is quite busy. We are not on set hours, nine to five. In fact, our hours are twenty-four seven. We are available no matter who calls or when they call; we are ready to go.

There is another new staff member and that title is Deputy Chief of Staff. Now, it is bad enough to have what we call a Chief of Staff. Every premier who has been around since 1949 has had a Chief of Staff, but now we have a Deputy Chief of Staff. That is a brand new position that is coming on board this year. I guess the person is already in the job now, because this Budget was brought down April 26. As a result of that, that person has probably been hired, hired something like the new Electoral Officer, Mr. Paul Reynolds. His job has not been sanctioned yet by this House of Assembly, but he has been on the payroll of this Province since the first of May. His salary is over $100,000 a year.

We have the Chief of Staff getting the big salary increase of 8 per cent, and he had so much work to do that he couldn't work by himself, so they created another position, so that position would work with him. That is called a Deputy Chief of Staff for $95,000 a year.

These are the kinds of jobs the Premier won't be talking about when he has his job fair in two weeks time. He won't be asking people to apply for this job. That job won't be advertised.

In addition to that, they have a Special Advisor, mind you now. This person was making $85,000 and as of the first of April that person is going to make $92,000. That is an increase of 8 per cent.

I don't know what the Principal Assistant does. The Principal Assistant, that is a brand new title. I never heard tell of it in my life before. That person was making $83,000 in March and now, today, that person is making $90,036, an 8 per cent increase. Instead of the Chief of Operations handling everything in the Premier's office, along with the Chief of Staff and his Deputy Chief of Staff - they can't work alone - he has another one hired now, what they call the Director of Operations, and that person went from $70,000 to $82,000 in a space of an overnight decision. That increase amounts to 17 per cent. That is outrageous.

This is another one, a brand new position, called Manager of Community Outreach. Now, that is a person who is doing all the political stuff out in every community, lining things up for the Premier. That salary went from $68,000 to $80,000, an increase of 17 per cent.

When you look at the salaries for the Premier's Office in 2003, and you look at them again in 2007, we have an increase of $500,000 in salaries to operate the Premier's Office, and he was the person who was going to operate a lean, mean machine. Can you imagine that?

There is so much in here, it is hard to know where to begin; because, in my first session here, I have only fifteen minutes.

I want to talk now about the Ottawa office. The very first Budget that I critiqued for the new government was in 2004, and this is 2007. The current Premier decided to have an office in Ottawa, at a cost to the taxpayers of this Province of $400,000 a year. Now, the current person sitting in the Ottawa office is John Fitzgerald. If anybody can tell me what he does up there, I think I will be surprised with the answer; because, as far as I know, the boardroom is never used in the Ottawa office. You can hang out a line of clothes in the Ottawa office and it would never be disturbed.

MR. PARSONS: Doctor Feelgood's limousine service.

MS THISTLE: Doctor Feelgood's limousine service is always there in case they have somebody from this government going up, but, as you already know, since March 19 there is nobody going to the Ottawa office from this government. There is nobody going up. We have all kinds of pressing federal-provincial issues here that nobody from this government are dealing with because the relationship has soured with Stephen Harper.

Just this week, just yesterday, I had four telephone calls from my very own district, Grand Falls-Buchans, from people, organizations, who cannot get any money to hire students. We have the Exploits Visitor Information Centre out there in Grand Falls-Windsor, called the tourism centre. They have about 30,000 people go through their office every year, and two nights ago they had to have an emergency meeting and discuss what they were going to do. They decided to keep the locks on the door for another three weeks to see if they can get any funding to hire the students, because if they cannot hire the students they cannot operate the tourism facility.

Now, we have the Salmonid Interpretation Centre and also Sanger Memorial RV Park that operate in partnership with the Salmonid Interpretation Centre. They have, in the same way, almost - well, over 30,000 visitors went through the Salmonid Interpretation Centre last year. They cannot open; they do not have students to hire.

In addition to that, we have a soccer program in Grand Falls-Windsor - Grand Falls-Windsor Minor Soccer - 300 children play soccer every summer in Grand Falls-Windsor. We do not have the students to operate that program.

We have also heard from the Heritage Society. They operate thirteen museums in the Exploits Valley, right from Leading Tickles to Buchans. They do not have staff to go in their thirteen museums.

What is this government doing? The Minister of Human Resources, Labour and Employment, is he talking to his Ottawa office? Because there is nothing coming back through this government and being distributed out to the general public. You have no resolution on the student hirings. Are you going to let that brew, and the only people who will be affected are students and you are not going to bother about them?

You have $261 million in surplus, this government has. You know, if Ottawa are not going to deal with this problem - the Minister of Human Resources, Labour and Employment has not been on his feet one day in this House of Assembly to tell the people watching that he is going to resolve the problem out there.

I am going to ask the Minister of Finance: If you cannot deal with Ottawa, is the provincial government going to step in and fix this problem for the students of our Province? That is one big issue.

Now, today the Premier was asked: What are we going to get out of the Atlantic Gateway investment program that every other province across the country is going to get something from? Halifax, or all of Nova Scotia, all of British Columbia, and we are not even on the radar screen simply because we have a sour relationship with Ottawa; but, you know, we have to deal with them. Some time or other we have to deal with them. We are losing out. We are absolutely losing out big-time in federal-provincial partnership programs.

It is true, Stephen Harper did not keep his promises, but is our provincial fisheries minister going to not deal with him on the ice matter and the extension of EI? Is our human resources or human - what do you call this new title our minister has now? Human Resources, Labour and Employment, is it? I cannot keep up with you guys, you are changing the Cabinet names every so often.

Anyways, he has not dealt with the federal counterpart on that matter. Are you going to deal with the student employment issue? Is the Premier going to deal with the Gateway policy on investment in this Province?

CHAIR: Order, please!

I remind the hon. Member for Grand Falls-Buchans that her time for speaking has lapsed.

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I do hope I will have an opportunity to continue.

Thank you.

CHAIR: Before the Chair recognizes the Member for Labrador West, is the Chair under the impression that there is leave granted for the member to deliver his speech without being interrupted?

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

CHAIR: The hon. the Member for Labrador West.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

It is indeed with a deep sense of pride and humility that I rise today in this hon. House to deliver my maiden speech.

In my speech today, I want to acknowledge the people who are responsible for putting me here today, I want to talk about the great District of Labrador West, and I want to touch on the great Budget and the great news that it contains for my district.

First of all, I want to thank the voters of Labrador West for the confidence and the trust that they have placed in me to act as their representative, their voice in this Legislature. This trust comes with a great deal of responsibility, something which I take quite seriously, something I think about a lot, hoping that I can live up to the expectations. I promised my constituents that I would work hard on their behalf and give them the sincere, dedicated representation to the best of my ability. I believe I am living up to that commitment, to now, and I will continue to do so as long as I am their representative.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: Mr. Chairman, an election campaign is only as good as the team of volunteers you have around you. I had the best, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart for giving so freely of their time. My campaign chair, my co-chair, my financial person, sign crews, poll captains, drivers and countless others. The victory was indeed the result of a great team effort which could not have happened without the great commitment of everyone involved. The level of support was overwhelming, and I will be forever grateful to them. I want to thank my family, my wife, Theresa, who is here in the gallery today, our son and daughter and our four grandchildren for their great support.

Mr. Chairman, campaigning in Labrador, in winter, in February, can be challenging at the best of times, but this year we hit a particularly cold snap right in the middle of the campaign. I thank my colleagues in this House, MHAs and Cabinet Ministers who came out and braved the elements to campaign door-to-door and provided such great, valuable support.

I especially want to thank the Premier for his support. He went door-to-door and also braved minus forty degree temperatures at the early morning Tim Horton drive through. More importantly though, was the opportunity for him and his ministers to meet the various stakeholder groups, the town councils, the union leaders and others to hear the issues first hand.

Mr. Chairman, I have called Labrador West home for the past forty-three years, and I can think of no better place to live. With my wife, Theresa, we have raised a son and a daughter who, in turn, have given us four lovely grandchildren. We are fortunate that they continue to make Labrador West their home. I may be a little biased, but I truly believe that Labrador West offers the best standard of living and the quality of life of any region or district in this Province. There is no better place to raise a family. We are unsurpassed for our outdoor sports and recreation. There is really something for everyone who wants to get out.

A lot of our facilities are run by non-profit organizations and operated mainly by volunteers. We are very proud of the achievements of our athletes and organizations at the provincial, national and indeed at the world level over the years.

Some of our facilities: The Menihek Nordic Ski Club, which cross-country ski trails are world-class, and actually we have hosted several world cups back in the 1980s. The Great Labrador Loppet, which is a cross-country ski race, is an annual spring tradition which goes back to the early 1970s.

Our alpine ski club, Smokey Mountain, caters to alpine skiers and snowboarders. This club has hosted numerous national events over the years. The popularity of snowboarding in the region is fast attracting new and younger members.

Our White Wolf Snowmobile Club is very active with over 1,000 members who travel on some of the best groomed trails you will find anywhere in this country, or indeed anywhere in North America. Cain's Quest, a 1,000 kilometre snowmobile endurance race through the Labrador wilderness, is one of the toughest and most challenging anywhere in North America. This year's event had eighteen teams from Labrador to the Eastern US and was covered by Snow Trax TV and TSN. After just two years, this event is gaining national and international participation and acclaim and playing a great role in promoting Labrador West as a winter tourism destination.

Our Curling Club has enjoyed great success and acclaim over the years. The Sue Anne Bartlett rink was the legendary provincial champions for years on end and, of course, the real crowning moment came just last year or the year before when two of our own, Mark Nichols and Mike Adam, helped bring home Olympic Gold as part of the Brad Gushue team.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: Our figure skating club has enjoyed great prominence over the years. Just last year our own Joey Russell was crowned the Canadian Junior Champion.

The annual regatta on beautiful Jean Lake in Wabush is certainly one of the great highlights of our summer season.

Of course, Labrador has long been recognized as a prime hunting and fishing destination. The migratory George River caribou herd, of about a million animals really, is the greatest and largest in the world. Of course, our rivers and streams and lakes are an angler's dream.

Mr. Chairman, Labrador City and Wabush were built by the mining companies in the early 1960s and remained company towns until 1981 when both held their first municipal elections. These towns are a model of what modern, well-planned towns should look like. The combined population was approximately 16,000 back at the end of the 1970s, but then a major slump in the price of steel in 1981 resulted in mass layoffs and a resulting drop in our population. Although the mining companies today are prospering and producing at record levels, workplace efficiencies and technology have enabled them to operate with much lower workforces. Our population has held fairly steady at around 10,000 until recently. The population is now on an upswing, as more and more retirees choose to stay in Labrador West, and more young people are being hired to replace them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: This has had a rejuvenation effect on the towns, and we are now one of the few regions in this Province which has an increase in our school populations. It is also interesting to note that out of the current group of 130 future employees in the Mining Technician Program at the local college, eighty-one, or 63 per cent, of those people are female. These are non-traditional jobs which, now, we have more than a 50 per cent population or group that are in those particular programs, so gender equity is certainly alive and well in our area.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: The residents of my district are a kind, caring, compassionate people. Their generosity is unsurpassed anywhere in this country. When the first MRI unit was being purchased for this Province back in the early 1990s, the workers at IOCC and Wabush Mines agreed to voluntary payroll deductions for a three year period to help fund this project. The total amount pledged by the IOCC workers and the company, both combined, was in the vicinity of $340,000. I do not have the Wabush numbers, but I would suspect that the two companies combined, with their employees, that number was in the range of about $500,000.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: Certainly, we were the greatest contributor towards this particular fundraising project.

The Legion telethon raises upwards to $25,000 annually to purchase equipment for our local hospital. Events such as Relay for Life, Walk for Prostate Cancer, all raise amounts on a per capita basis far surpassing anywhere else. When an individual or a family is in need, the response is immediate. The Christmas Food Hamper Drive is another testament to the caring nature of our residents.

Mr. Chairman, the downturn notwithstanding, Labrador West has truly been an economic success story since 1962. Strategic reinvestment by IOC and Wabush Mines, combined with a hard-working, dedicated workforce, have contributed to this long-term success and viability. The long-term future outlook is also very encouraging. The demand for iron ore in the emerging markets of China and India has driven prices to record highs. The Iron Ore Company of Canada is currently planning a major expansion. A recent discovery at the Bloom Lake deposit just across the border in Fermont, Quebec, may be the answer to the long-term viability of Wabush Mines.

The development of a major iron ore deposit near Schefferville could see mining activity on a scale rivaling the Iron Ore Company. The mining companies provide well-paying jobs - actually, at about $10,000 above the national average - and the local purchase policy of these companies has resulted in numerous industrial suppliers setting up shop in the region. The spinoff business is providing a good tax base for all levels of government. There are approximately 250 businesses in the area, resulting in a retail activity at about 48 per cent above the national average.

Mr. Chairman, the economic success of Labrador West has also provided a steady flow of higher than average tax dollars to the provincial Treasury for the past fifty years. As the saying goes, as someone said here last week, what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. It is an understatement to say that we have given more than we have received over the years.

While we have a lot of the amenities of life and a lot to be proud of, we are also lacking a lot of the basics which most on the Island part of our Province take for granted. Transportation, health care and post-secondary education facilities are some of the major issues we face.

Mr. Chairman, now for the good news. With this government and this Budget, the time for Labrador has finally come.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: The upgrade and hard surfacing of the Trans-Labrador Highway to national highway standards will start this year, with or without the federal cost-sharing.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: It is indeed shameful the way the Stephen Harper government has been holding up this funding to fit their own political agenda. Labrador is called the Big Land for a reason. With close to 600 kilometres just between Labrador West and Happy Valley-Goose Bay, you are looking at a seven to eight-hour trip, or the time it would almost take for you to drive across this Island. A good highway system across Labrador will have a great economic impact from tourism to industrial development, much as the building of the QNSL Railway by the Iron Ore Company of Canada did for mining development back in the late 1950s.

Mr. Chairman, our health care facility has long outlived its useful life and has been a burning issue for a long time. Again, this government has responded with a commitment for a new twenty-eight bed, $60 million facility.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: The design work, site preparation and ground work will be completed this summer and construction will start next year.

Mr. Chairman, the College of the North Atlantic in Labrador West is renting space for its campus in a former elementary school which is less than adequate for its intended purpose. The news gets better. Our government, in recognition that Labrador West is a major industrial growth centre, has announced a new state-of-the-art $18 million campus designed to accommodate 250 students and also designed for future growth.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: Again, design, site preparation and ground work will get underway this year with construction starting next year.

Mr. Chairman, one of the dominant issues expressed in my district was the lack of apprenticeship training programs being offered at the local college. This was not only contributing to the skill shortage in the area, but was creating social and financial hardship for those having to complete those programs on the Island. It was especially hard on young, single mothers who simply had to pass up the opportunity. Mr. Chairman, the announcement of two new apprenticeship programs starting in September in industrial electrical and industrial mechanical will go a long way in addressing this problem, and it is certainly music to my ears.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: Another issue which really pulled at my heartstrings during the campaign were the stories relayed to me by several young MS sufferers who were trying to live independent lives but burdened down by enormous drug costs, as much as $25,000 annually. The announcement of the drug enhancement program will give them, and sufferers of other debilitating diseases, back that independence and dignity.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: The cost of servicing high student debt was another issue of concern in my district, as I am sure it is everywhere. The reduction of 2.5 percentage points down to the prime rate will go a long way to alleviate that burden. That, combined with an up-front needs grant and maintaining the present tuition freeze, will give our students a financial advantage which is unsurpassed anywhere in this country.

Mr. Chairman, I am very pleased to see our government put money back into the pockets of its taxpayers. The taxpayers who have borne the brunt of taxation over the years, when our fiscal situation was far worse than it is today. The reduction in the tax rates and the elimination of the 9 per cent surtax will benefit many taxpayers in my district. This surtax was imposed on higher income earners to help offset budget deficits. Now that we are finally in a surplus situation, it is only fair and equitable to get rid of it. This measure will also be an economic stimulant for the Province.

Mr. Chairman, a little earlier I mentioned the generosity of the people of Labrador West. A lot of those people are mine workers and others who work hard to earn a decent above average wage. For the leaders of the parties opposite to say that those workers do not deserve this tax break is rather difficult to comprehend. Actually, it is rather hypocritical on their part.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: Mr. Chairman, I am especially pleased to note that the low income tax reduction thresholds will be adjusted to ensure that low income earners will also benefit from tax reductions at this time.

My district also has a growing senior's population. The adjustment of the income thresholds for senior couples is great news for that sector.

In fact, Mr. Chairman, the whole poverty reduction strategy which our government has for this Province is proof of a great social conscience that this government has -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: - and it is certainly a model for the rest of this country.

Mr. Chairman, the Northern Strategic Plan is an integral part of this Budget. It is a vision for Labrador which recognizes the vital role Labrador will play in the future success of this Province. The plan provides for $55 million in incremental spending over five years to address the special needs of Labrador, which were identified in extensive consultations across the Big Land.

Some of the provisions in this plan are, there is $8 million to provide a hydro subsidy to residents of coastal Labrador, who are currently paying exorbitant rates for diesel generated power. The subsidy will bring them in line with the rates currently being charged for Lake Melville and Labrador West.

Some other good news for other parts of Labrador - we have a lot of good news for Labrador West, but I have to acknowledge, as well, there is a lot of good news in here for all of Labrador. I am very proud of that, our government's commitment to everybody in Labrador.

There is $4.8 million to construct a new school in Port Hope Simpson.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: There is $4 million for a new school in Sheshatshui.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: One-point-three million for a new francophone school in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: Eight-point-three million dollars to enhance social work staffing in Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: There are other amounts - $335,000 to provide picture archiving and communications systems for the Labrador Health Centre and the Captain William Jackman Memorial Hospital in Labrador West; $1.6 million towards management plans for the big game populations in Labrador.

Mr. Chairman, this Northern Strategic Plan also recognizes the high cost of transportation across the Big Land and also outside of Labrador. This plan certainly helps - by enhancing the current travel subsidies will help alleviate this problem.

There is provision for $615,000 to enhance the Labrador travel subsidy. This will enable sports groups to compete on a level playing field with the rest of the Province. There is an additional $500,000 towards cultural travel. One big issue, which has always been a major issue in my region, is the high cost of medical transportation. This plan provides for an additional $1.24 million to enhance medical transportation assistance programs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: Mr. Chairman, the total commitment to Labrador over the next five years, by this government, is in the order of $250 to $300 million.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BAKER: Mr. Chairman, the voters of Labrador West put their faith in this government in March when they elected me to be their representative in this House. They had faith in a government that was prepared to give something back to our district after many years of neglect. This Budget goes a long way in rectifying that situation. I am indeed proud to be a member of this team, and I sure picked a winner.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

CHAIR: Order, please!

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

MS JONES: Just wondering if I get twenty-five minutes, Mr. Chairman, before I start.

Mr. Chairman, I, first of all, want to congratulate my colleague, the Member for Labrador West, on his inaugural speech in the House of Assembly. I certainly remember the day I made my inaugural speech in this Legislature. It wasn't as favourable to the government as the Member for Labrador West was today, I can guarantee you, as I sat as an independent member of the Legislature. I can honestly tell you it was a proud moment for me and I certainly understand how the member feels today in making his inaugural speech to the Legislature on behalf of his constituents.

Mr. Chairman, I met the Member for Labrador West first at a Liberal fundraising function, I say to the hon. House. It was up in Labrador West, Mr. Chairman, in Labrador City. I attended a Liberal Fish Fry that was being held by the Member of Parliament, and who did I have the pleasure to be seated with? It was the current Member for Labrador West and his lovely wife, out supporting the Liberal Party which I was proud to see. Hopefully, Mr. Chairman, he will continue to support the Liberal Association and the federal Liberal riding of Labrador.

I want to have a few comments today on the concurrence debate, I guess, on the Estimates. Today, of course, we are debating the expenditures in the Premier's Office. In looking at the Estimates for the Premier's Office, I guess one of the details that probably sticks out most in our minds in reviewing this is the substantial raise increases that were given to the political staff in the Premier's Office in recent weeks. In fact, Mr. Chairman, there were positions in the Premier's Office which had salary increases of up to over 16 per cent. Some of these employees, I think with tax deductions, with salary increases and all the rest of it, will see something like an additional $15,000 invested into their own pockets this year on behalf of the taxpayers of the Province.

Mr. Chairman, I have no problem with paying people for the work that they do, but within government there is a salary schedule that is usually followed. I do not think that the Premier's Office should be any exception to this salary schedule and that the employees there are no different than the other employees who work for members in this Legislature. In fact, I think when the Premier was out defending the reason he had given all of his staff a huge increase in their salary, he was saying it was because they are political staffers and their jobs are not stable. Well, Mr. Chairman, nor is the jobs of any individual who works for any member of the Legislature. They are here because we hire them to work for us during the terms that we are elected. When we take our leave from this place, so does our staff take their leave. Their jobs are not guaranteed either. Therefore, if there is going to be salary increases it should be applied equally to the people who work in that part of the Legislature, and that did not happen.

What is even more galling, I guess, about this is that the government opposite did not see fit to give additional wage increases to the public sector employees in this Province, the ones they boasted about a few days ago having such tremendous respect for. Going back to the inauguration of their term in office, they had no problem legislating these workers back to work and giving them a freeze on salaries. Then only a 3 per cent raise over a period, I think it was three years. So, there was no respect shown for those employees at that particular time and certainly no respect shown on the day that the government decided they would give raise increases to all the staff in the Premier's Office but not to the public sector union employees in this Province.

Mr. Chairman, what is even worse about all of this is that you only have to listen to the radio everyday to find out that the Nurses Union in the Province today is scrambling because they are afraid of losing their nurses to other provinces in this country. They are afraid that they are going to be enticed by the wonderful salaries and packages being now offered in Ontario or by another province in the country.

Mr. Chairman, the Nurses Union is out there saying: We need to ensure that we are paying our nurses at a higher rate so that we can keep them here; giving them more benefits, giving them more flexibility. Those kinds of salary issues did not escalate to the top of the government's agenda in this Budget round, it only escalated to the Premier's Office. Those were the only workers in this building and elsewhere in the Province, who operate and perform work for the government of this Province, who were given a salary increase.

Mr. Chairman, we hear of other instances as well. We hear of people like home care workers out there in our communities these days. I know home care workers in my district perform an invaluable service in the communities. They care for our elderly; they care for our disabled; they care for those people who cannot care for themselves. They offer up a first-class, first notch service. Their jobs are not easy jobs. It requires some very physically, intensive work on occasion. It requires an individual to have a tremendous amount of patience in the service that they provide and it also has to be the utmost of confidentiality and privacy issues that are involved. These home care workers take on a very valuable, but surmountable responsibility in our society. They provide a job that otherwise if they were not providing it, government as well as many other people in this Province, would have a huge, massive situation on their hands today. But, were those people given any accolades in this Budget? Were they offered a 16 per cent wage increase for the jobs that they do? Absolutely not!

So, we have the nurses who right now are scrambling to keep nurses in the Province without losing them to higher paying jobs in Ontario. We have home care workers out there providing duties that are absolutely essential in our society but not being given the kind of salary increases they deserve for the work that they do.

Let's look at other sectors as well. Mr. Chairman, let's look at the RNC, for example. We have an officer who works in our House. We always have RNC officers who work here in the Legislature, but the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary is amongst one of the lowest paid provincial police forces in Canada. Actually, if you were to look at the salary scale for most of them, they are far below what the Canadian average would be for provincial policing. We know the kind of situations they have had to deal with in our society in recent years every time we hear about the escalating crime rates, more and more break ins in our city streets and our city businesses. We see an overindulgence in drugs, drugs that are being made and farmed right in people's homes and being dispensed from people's houses. Those kinds of problems have escalated in today's society that we live in and those are the circumstances that are driving the crime rates in our cities. Oftentimes, we find that our provincial police force is overexpanded in the role and the duties that they carry out and perform. In addition to that, Mr. Chairman, you need to maintain a sense of momentum in every occupation that you work in, and what better momentum can you provide than a 16 per cent wage increase to those individuals? That is what happened in the Premier's Office - not even 16 per cent, but any wage increase that recognizes the value that is being placed on the work that these public servants do in our Province.

So, Mr. Chairman, when you look at the Estimates that we are looking at today, you cannot miss the fact that in the Premier's Office today there is $1.3 million being spent to provide services, advice, and information to the Premier of the Province. Mr. Chairman, that is $500,000, half-a-million dollars more than was being spent in the Premier's Office under the previous government. So that should tell you something. It should tell you something right there. Why is it that they have the luxury of all of these workers and all of these staff?

Mr. Chairman, I look at this position here; a special advisor to the Premier gets paid over $92,000 a year. Well, Mr. Chairman, I give advice to the Premier everyday in this Legislature and I do not get paid that kind of money. I do not get paid anything like that kind of money. I am going to tell you -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

CHAIR: Order, please!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I understand we are in Committee, so I will have another opportunity to speak shortly.

Thank you.

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

I certainly enjoyed listening to the comments from members opposite. The Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair made a very interesting comment there, that she gives advice to the Premier every day that is uncompensated. I think we should take that up with the Human Rights Commission. Something does not seem quite right about that.

Mr. Chairman, some of the comments that were made here today by my learned friend opposite deal with numbers and with figures. I am reminded of the expression that there are lies, there are damn lies, and then there are statistics and numbers. When you are looking at numbers, it is obviously extremely important that you compare the numbers to something else.

I know one of the numbers that I look at a lot, as Minister of Finance, is the debt that our Province has. The debt was about $11.7 billion, and we are hoping to get it down to $11.5 billion. We know that is a very high debt, but it does not make a lot of sense until you compare that debt to the debt of other provinces and other areas of the country to see how we are doing in comparison.

We have an average debt, for every man, woman and child here in Newfoundland and Labrador, of about $23,000 per person. When we look at the national average, we see that is $10,000 per person, so now we see how we are doing in relation to a number. It is the same with our debt servicing. We know, when we first came into office, that the amount of money in the Estimates of the day that was being spent on what is called the interest bite, money that the government was spending on interest on its debt without paying down the debt, was approaching $1 billion a year; it was $900-and-something million a year.

Now, because of actions that Premier Williams took with respect to the Atlantic Accord 2005 agreement that enabled us to get a prepayment of $2 billion to pay down some of our debt, our unfunded pension liability and some other moves we made to decrease debt, we are planning to lower debt this year by $66 million. Last year it was $70 million. That is $136 million. As a result of those moves, the interest on the debt is now down from just under $1 billion to about $727 million.

So, you have to compare the numbers; you have to make the comparisons. Our debt servicing for every man, woman and child in the Province - our debt servicing, the interest we are paying on our debt - I think, is about $1,700, compared to a national average of about, I think, $727 or $747. I am sorry, $700, which is the national average.

We have to do that as well when we look at these salaries. Yes, the salaries in the Premier's Office have gone up, but overall the salary complement of the Premier's Office staff, in fact, has decreased by $62,000.

When you look at what was happening in the Premier's Office when we first took over the government, the Premier of the day, Premier Grimes, had a staff total of twenty-five salaries, a staff of twenty-five in 2003, and that was costing the taxpayers of this Province $1,328,000. In today's dollars, incorporating all salary increases that would be applicable, that would be equivalent to about $1,464,000.

Today, under this government, under Premier Williams, he has a staff of only twenty. Premier Grimes had a staff of twenty-five and Premier Williams has a staff of twenty. The payroll in Premier Williams' Office was $1,255,287. You have five less people than there were there before and you also have, both in absolute terms and in relative terms, a decrease.

If we look at the payment in Premier Grimes' day, in 2003, of $1.328 million and compare that to Premier Williams' office today of $1.255 million, there is a savings there to the taxpayers of this Province per year of about $73,000. Even though salaries have gone up, the total salaries have gone down.

Also, if we take the salaries from Premier Grimes' day, the twenty-five salaries, and incorporate it into today's dollars, incorporating all salary increases, those salaries would be $1,464,000. That is a difference of $209,000. Although salaries for certain employees have gone up, the total salaries being spent, the total amount of taxpayers' money being spent has, in fact, decreased by $62,000. These were savings as a result of the fact that there was a departure from the Premier's Office of the Deputy Minister to the Premier, who left his position at the beginning of this year. These are real savings. These dollars were not reallocated, so the savings are real.

The senior staff have been assigned most of the duties and responsibilities that formerly were performed by the deputy minister at the time. That, therefore, increased their workload substantially. Obviously, as everyone knows, working for any chief executive officer, certainly someone like the Premier who is running a Province with a budget, a revenue of about $5.6 billion this year, requires a staff who have to be on call twenty-hours a day, seven days a week, and I mean that literally.

They are senior advisers to the Premier. In order to attract these highly qualified individuals, the salaries have to be competitive, especially in such a demanding and high-stakes position, and especially in view of the fact that there is no, or very little, job security with those positions. These positions are all deemed political.

Now, people watching today, some of them may not realize that some of the jobs in the government are civil service or public service jobs, and those jobs are protected, but people who have political jobs, those jobs go and will be lost - once the Premier leaves, the jobs for those people will end as well. As I said earlier, it should be noted that compensation such as pension benefits for the executives in the Premier's Office are not as good as those that are offered to public servants generally.

Now, what has happened here is that the position of Chief of Staff was brought in line with salaries paid to deputy ministers, and other senior staff who would operate on a comparable level to an assistant deputy minister, they were brought in line with the assistant deputy minister's scale, and that is very legitimate, it is very fair and it is very reasonable. I will give you some individual examples.

The Chief of Staff's current pay is certainly on par with what was paid by other Chiefs of Staff throughout Atlantic Canada. I think the only difference might be Prince Edward Island. If the Chief of Staff who was in the position for Premier Grimes back in 2003, if he was still on staff today, his salary would currently be $131,050, which is the exact salary being paid to Premier Williams' Chief of Staff, so these salaries are reasonable under these circumstances.

The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans talked about the important position of Director of Communications. She talked about the increase in the salary paid to the Director of Communications. You know, the Director of Communications' current salary is certainly less than that of the Director of Communications that Premier Grimes would have had when he left the position, and that would currently be in excess of $112,000. Yes, there was an increase, but the amount that is paid is less than the amount that would have been paid to the Communications Director in Premier Grimes' Office if he was remaining in that position.

Also, the Director of Operations on the Premier's staff is one person doing what Premier Grimes had two individuals to do when he was Premier. Premier Grimes had a Director of Financial Operations and an Assistant Director of Operations who would currently be in receipt of $63,000 and $52,000 respectively for a total of $115,436.

We obviously have to be very careful when we look at this numbers. Under the circumstances the salaries that are being paid to the staff of the Premier's office are very fair and very reasonable, and they are certainly understandable in today's global and competitive economy. In fact, and the main point to emphasize, is that Premier Williams has a staff of twenty with a payroll of $1,255,000 compared to a staff under Premier Grimes, the previous premier who we an compare to, who had a staff of twenty-five - that was five extra staffers - at a salary in 2003 of $1,328,000.

Mr. Chairman, the hon. Member for Grand Falls-Buchans also asked a question about, in the Lieutenant-Governor's office, an item of $40,000. This, I am advised, is a vehicle. I understand there are two vehicles down at the Lieutenant-Governor's residence. One is the official vehicle that carries the Governor's standard. The second vehicle is a back-up vehicle. This was a vehicle that, I believe, was assigned to the Premier's office, but when Premier Williams became Premier the vehicle was transferred to the Lieutenant-Governor's residence. That vehicle is going through a lot of repairs and it is time for it to be replaced. A new vehicle is being obtained. This vehicle is a back-up vehicle for the Lieutenant-Governor when the main vehicle is out of service or is in the garage. This vehicle, I understand, is going to be an environmentally friendly vehicle.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. T. MARSHALL: I don't know if it is backupable, but I understand it is very environmentally friendly. I think that is appropriate today as we all become more and more conscious of the environment and climate change and the things we are doing in this Province, certainly the things we are doing in this Budget with respect to the Centre of Environmental Excellence out at the Sir Wilfred Grenfell College.

CHAIR: Order, please!

I remind the hon. Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board that his time for speaking has lapsed.

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

CHAIR: The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I don't where our Minister of Finance is getting his figures, because I am looking at the salary details for 2003-2004, the last year the Liberals were in government, and I am also looking at the salary details for 2007 -

AN HON. MEMBER: The actuals now, not the estimates.

MS THISTLE: The actuals not the estimates, Departmental Salary Details, I am saying to the Minister of Health.

In the Premier's Office there are twenty-one staff currently and when Premier Grimes was here it was fifteen. For the Cabinet Secretariat it is currently fifteen, and when Premier Grimes was here it was twelve. The current total staff complement is $1.5 million. That is Cabinet and the Premier's Office. If you just want to deal with the Premier's Office is it $1.3 million. When Roger Grimes was here it was $899,000. So, that settles that argument.

Now I will move on to the next one. I want to say now, under Executive Support there is a lot that can be hidden, and our job as the Opposition is to bring that all out into the public purview. My question: There are a lot of things going to happen in his election year and under Protocol, we have a Protocol CEO who tells government what is the right and wrong thing to do. I notice that this coming year in Transportation and Communication alone there is going to be an extra $30,000 spent in just Protocol. Do not answer now, Minister of Finance, because you will be cutting into my time, but I want to know: What are you going to be spending an extra $30,000 in Protocol for this coming year?

Not only that, in Ottawa Office you are going to be purchasing $85,000 worth of Professional Purchased Services. For an office that is up there with a CEO in it that has no function whatsoever, you are sour with Ottawa right now and you have been for a long time, and still you are going to take $400,000 of the taxpayers' money and sink it into that Ottawa office. This coming year you are going to spend $85,000, for what? What are you going to put in that office for $85,000. It is only used as a taxi service now. The Premier is not even going to Ottawa. There is no Minister of Fisheries going to Ottawa, there is no Health Minister, there is no Human Resources, Labour and Employment Minister going to Ottawa, so they are not going to change their suit and hang up their laundry or have a shower in the board room. That is not even going to be used this year. Still you are going to spend $85,000 purchasing new services for the Ottawa office. That is not good enough.

We already heard that the Chief of Communications, she got an increase of, I think it was - I have it here - the Director of Communications just got an increase of 14 per cent on her salary. Her salary went from $90,000 to $102,000. Right away, the Executive Support, last year for Intergovernmental Affairs - now, that is another Cabinet Minister who is here in this House. We have an Intergovernmental Affairs Cabinet Minister. Last year, I do not know what he spent but he spent over $1 million in Purchased Services. That can be for surveys or consultation or it could be some information he got from Ottawa. He spent over $1 million in Purchased Services alone.

That particular office, the Office of our Intergovernmental Affairs Secretariat, spent over $1 million alone in Salaries just last year. These are the kind of things that we are calling into question today with the government.

The Communications and Consultation branch, which I just talked about, the head of that branch just got a big raise of 14 per cent, salaries are going up this year from $600,000 to $710,000. That is outrageous!

I want to talk about another part of Executive Council called the Rural Secretariat. This is almost laughable; the Rural Secretariat. I had a little note there saying: What does this department do, the Rural Secretariat? It costs $1,262,000 in salaries for the Rural Secretariat. To operate that department alone, just the bare bones expenses, is $1,850,000. You know, the Rural Secretariat put out a book and instead of saying strategic directions of the minister they said strategic directions of Minister Taylor, as if he was going to be in that job forever.

This government, all they talk about is strategies. There is nothing really happening. If I were the Premier - and I think the Premier tried yesterday to take hold of the situation. The Premier has two ministers in business development who have not developed anything since they have been in the job; not a thing. There is over almost $2 million in salaries for the Rural Secretariat.

MR. TAYLOR: A point of order, Mr. Chairman.

MS THISTLE: I hope you are not cutting into my time.

CHAIR: Order, please!

The hon. member, on a point of order.

MR. TAYLOR: Mr. Chair, for clarification purposes, it was agreed by both sides of the House when we did the Estimates Committee that when the Estimates of the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development were heard by the Resource Committee that the Rural Secretariat would be dealt with at that time, as opposed to being dealt with in Executive Council. While the member is debating the Rural Secretariat here now, it has been amply dealt with at the Estimates Committee about a week-and-a-half ago.

CHAIR: Order, please!

The minister is 100 per cent right. In fact, the Rural Secretariat was done, item 2.6.01., in the Estimates Committee at the regular three-hour meeting that was set aside at that time. Questions were provided then back and forth. I do not think this particular heading, in fact I am sure, is not under debate or discussion here today.

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. chairman.

This particular heading is under the Office of the Executive Council, and you can check in the Estimates book.

CHAIR: Order, please!

The hon. member is right, it does appear under Executive Council, but those particular headings have already been passed, as I suggested earlier, done in a committee that lasted for some three hours, the time frame that was allotted to it. The Rural Secretariat part of the Executive Council was debated and passed at that time.

The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

MS THISTLE: Wow! I am not questioning the Chair, but I have never heard it, in all my years in the House, that when the Opposition was able to ask a question - this falls under the heading of the Executive Council and it might have been something that was missed in the Estimates Committee. I thought we had a free hand in asking any category that came under Executive Council, but if you do not want me to ask the questions, I can move on to another department.

CHAIR: The Chair is not saying to the hon. member that the questions should not be asked, the Chair is just making some clarity here as to what has been already debated and passed, just for the hon. member's information.

The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

MS THISTLE: Well, thank you, Mr. Chair.

It is certainly a huge expense operating the Rural Secretariat. It is clear that the minister does not want the general population to know that he produced a book and there are no results in the book.

I am glad to see that the Premier yesterday, on his own admission, decided to get up and do a Premier's statement on a job fair that this government is intending to have in two weeks time. He realized full well that the polls had come out, the poll survey had come out yesterday, and the biggest question on the survey that was done for the Williams' government was the fact that unemployment remains the highest issue with every voter in this Province today. It is unemployment and the out-migration of people going away to Alberta and other places looking for jobs, so I can understand the Rural Secretariat not wanting me to bring this up.

The Premier, yesterday, in announcing a job fair for this Province, said 1,000 jobs. Now, I would like to know what kind of jobs they are; because, as I said yesterday, there are always about 400 to 500 jobs that are not filled in this government because departments do not want to fill them. There is one reason or another why these jobs are not filled, and that will be the 500 that will be announced when he has the job fair. What will happen is that the Premier will go ahead and take resumes from everybody with no hopes of ever filling them. It is all smoke and mirrors.

MADAM CHAIR (Osborne): Order, please!

I remind the hon. member that her speaking time has expired.

MS THISTLE: Well, that is too bad, Madam Chair; I will have to honour your announcement.

Thank you.

MADAM CHAIR: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. RIDEOUT: Thank you, Madam Chair.

Madam Chair, I would like to perhaps take a minute or so, as Government House Leader, to raise a couple of matters, or refer to a couple of matters raised by members opposite in the debate on Executive Council thus far.

I will begin maybe, Madam Chair, by referring to the question raised by the hon. Member for Grand Falls-Buchans as she was taking her seat, when she made the reference as to: Well, what would be the purpose of a job fair that would be put on by this government?

Well, Madam Chair, if you take the Salary Details attached to the Budget document, and go down through them, you will see that this government is hiring, have approved funds to hire, over 1,000 people in one way or another in the public service of this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Madam Chair, that is a tremendous leap forward.

Now, who are they, Madam Chair? Well, they are aquaculture veterinarians, they are teachers, they are environmentalists, they are agriculturalists, they are veterinarians in the Department of Natural Resources. I know in the Department of Health and Community Services there is major, major, major hiring going to take place in terms Child and Youth Services, in terms of social workers, in the Aboriginal Affairs sector, post-secondary education, more police officers, more RNC officers, more RCMP officers.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Madam Chair, this government has embarked on a hiring spree, the likes that has not been seen in this Province perhaps since Confederation.

Now, it is needed. That is why we are doing it. We are not hiring additional teachers for the sake of hiring additional teachers. We are hiring them because there is a job to do. We are not hiring additional social workers to say that we are hiring them. We are hiring them because the people who are in the field now tell us that their workload is atrocious, they tell us that they cannot keep up with the demand on their time, they tell us they need more colleagues to be able to provide a better service to the children, to the Aboriginal communities and to the people who need their help. That is what they are telling us, Madam Chair, and this government is responding.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: That is the role of government.

Madam Chair, I cannot help it that the Opposition does not like that. I cannot help it that the Opposition are grumbly and grumpy. I cannot help it that they are grumbly and grumpy, that they do not want people working in an expanded civil service, public service. They would like to be able to get up, Madam Chair, and say that we cut back the public service.

You know, Madam Chair, even before we announced this major expansion of jobs in the public service, even before that, in the three years that we have been the government, there has been a net increase in the number of people working for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: There have been more people, Madam Chair, despite what they talked about: cutbacks, layoffs, and all that kind of stuff. There has been a net increase in the number of people on the public payroll in Newfoundland and Labrador from 2003, when we became the government, to today, Madam Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: That is the stark reality. I know the Opposition does not like it, but that is the stark reality, and you can go to every bay, cove, wharf and headland in Newfoundland, I say to my colleagues, and you can preach that message -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: - because it is the truth, Madam Chair, and the truth will always set you free, I say to my colleagues.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: It is the truth! There are more people working for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador today than there were when Premier Williams and this government took office in November 2003. So much for cutbacks, I say!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Now, Madam Chair, I want to speak to the office in Ottawa. What is it the Opposition House Leader calls it? The somebody limousine service.

Madam Chair, this office in Ottawa has done tremendous work for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Again, I know the Opposition does not like it because I suppose it was not something they created, so they do not like it. Do you know something, Madam Chair? If you go to Ottawa today, how many provincial governments are represented in Ottawa? How many people does the Government of Quebec have in Ottawa? How many people does the Government of Nunavut have in Ottawa? Madam Chair, jurisdiction after jurisdiction have found it necessary to have a presence in Ottawa -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: - and this government had the good sense to have a presence in Ottawa.

I remember when we set up this office, Madam Chair, one of the criticisms from the Opposition: Listen, sure, that is the role of the MP. That is why the Member of Parliament is up there. What are you doing, sending somebody up there to try to usurp or take away or derogate from the role of the elected Member of Parliament.

Let me quote to the House what an elected Liberal has to say about Dr. John Fitzgerald and that important office in Ottawa. Let me quote what Mr. Scott Simms said in a letter to the Premier dated April 19, 2007, after he had been involved in some public matters in Ottawa. He wrote the Premier and said this: In particular, Dr. Fitzgerald, your representative in Ottawa, has been doing an exemplary job.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: He said: He has been doing an exemplary job providing information and establishing an open channel of communications in a non-political and unbiased way that serves our Province well.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: The words not of a biased, partisan, somebody coloured with partisan politics, Madam Chair, but the words of an elected Liberal dealing with Dr. John Fitzgerald on behalf of the people of this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Whatever Dr. John Fitzgerald is doing in Ottawa, I say he is doing great work. I know one thing, he can get you into see people in Ottawa at a moment's notice. You can be going to Ottawa at a moment's notice and he will arrange - now, he is not a limousine service. He does not pick you up at the airport like the Opposition House Leader said. You will have to get a cab and get downtown, or jump the bus and get downtown. You will have to get down to his office, but once you get there, I will say this, that gentleman has been able to get access. That gentleman has been able to get access for Members of Parliament, for this Liberal Member of Parliament who believes that this office is so important and this individual is so important that he bothered - he took it upon himself to go out of his way. I do not imagine the Premier called up and said: Write me a letter saying what you think about Dr. Fitzgerald. But he went out of his way to explain to the Premier, in a letter, that he thought that this person and this office was doing an exemplary job - to use his language - in Ottawa.

Now I know I am getting pretty close to being out of time, but I want to take a minute or so to refer to another matter.

MR. JOYCE: No leave.

MR. RIDEOUT: I would not ask the hon. gentleman for fresh air, Madam Chair, let alone leave. If I do not have the ability to suck it in myself, I would not ask the hon. gentleman for it. He got sooky with me a couple of days ago because I accused him of interrupting during Question Period. Well, it was not him at all, I apologize. I finally have an opportunity to apologize. It was the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair, but somehow or another I am sure that in the background that I heard this gruffly, melodious voice that I can only associate with the hon. gentleman from Bay of Islands. It was not a singsong, I can tell you, but it was enough to trigger, in my memory, that it was him.

I want to briefly mention the Premier's Office -

MADAM CHAIR: Order, please!

I remind the hon. member that his speaking time has expired.

MR. RIDEOUT: I will have to come back to it, Madam Chair. I was about to launch into another few minutes on the Premier's Office, but I am sure I will have another opportunity.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MADAM CHAIR: The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Madam Chair.

I think this is going to be the part that I am going to miss so much when I retire in October, this sparring in the House. I am really going to miss this.

It is clear, Madam Chair, that I definitely hit a nerve when I started to talk about the job fair that is coming up and the recent survey that the Premier had done, paid for by the taxpayers' money, and the number one issue in our Province is the lack of jobs. It is interesting, for me to qualify what I am saying - we get all our figures in this Province by Stats Canada. Do you know that out of the total population of our Province, 56 per cent of our population are over fifty years old? My God, what a frightening prospect.

The Premier says he is gong to have a job fair in two weeks time. I am all for hiring people and building on the employment in our Province. We are all for that. Anything to do with economic development, we will sanction. That is not a problem. The truth of the matter is, the job fair came about because people like Clarke Traffic had a job fair. They could not get any drivers. Several companies from Alberta came down here last year and they had 9,000 people line up. There was a collection of companies into the Glacier three weeks ago, they had 5,000 people line up. I just said this was Stats Canada that gave us this information. It said current population estimates, 2006, 514,000 people. Out of that 514,000 people, 286,000 of that number are over fifty years old. So, who is going to be lining up looking for a job? Two hundred-and-eighty-six thousand people of this Province are over fifty years old. That is alarming. That is frightening. We have to get younger people back into our Province and we have to provide the jobs, get them to stay here and grow our economy. We are facing a huge problem.

The jobs that the Premier is talking about are jobs - half of those jobs are currently on the board over at the Public Service Commission and the Public Service Secretariat. These jobs are already advertised. It is a question as to when they will be filled. Now, there could be 300 or 400 more jobs that are going to be filled because government cut away those jobs first when they came to power; all the jobs in social services. There were a lot of offices closed up and there were a lot of highway depots closed. These are just the jobs that should be there anyway. There is nothing wrong with a job fair, and I hope it goes well and the government actually hires people instead of just having smoke and mirrors, having a big line up of people and no real results produced. The number one issue facing this Province today is the lack of employment. It came out in the Premier's own survey that he requested.

Now, the Government House Leader talked about the Ottawa office. He says that that Ottawa office is doing a great service at a cost to the taxpayer's of $400,000 a year. If that office is doing such a great job, why have we stalled on three important issues that are federal-provincial related today? We have a situation of ice around our coasts. The fishermen need an extension on their EI. Why isn't that Ottawa office coordinating that with our Minister of Fisheries and our Premier and getting that matter resolved?

We have a situation, as well, that was mentioned today in Question Period, it is called the Gateway Investment program. That should be applicable to us here in Newfoundland and Labrador. We are not even on the radar screen. We should be there. We should be one of the partners on that. We have been excluded from that. That is the job of the Ottawa office. That is the job of our Intergovernmental Affairs Minister. It is also the job of our Premier and everyone else who is connected to that. Innovation, Trade and Rural Development and the Department of Business, why aren't they using the Ottawa office and making sure that we are into that program?

Look at the misery that has been caused over the past week by Ottawa cancelling the criteria on how they hire our students for the summer. Where is the Ottawa office on that? Where is the Ottawa office on that? The taxpayers of this Province are spending $400,000 a year to maintain that Ottawa office and as far as I know, the Minister of Human Resources, Labour and Employment has not even made a telephone call yet to Loyola Hearn. He has not even made a telephone call to Loyola Hearn to tell him that we need our students employed in this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MADAM CHAIR: Order, please!

MS THISTLE: Now, are you going to - as a provincial government who depends on one-third of our Budget money from the federal government, we have a budget of $6 billion and one third of it, almost $2 billion comes from the federal government. Are we going to sit back on our haunches, and every issue that involves the federal government we are going to sit back and say: hmm, there is nothing we can do about that. We can close up the Ottawa office, use that $400,000 and employ our students. That is not the question. You either deal with the Ottawa office or you deal with the results of the Ottawa office not doing what they are supposed to do.

We know that there was a great exchange on the Open Line Show a few nights ago. I had the chance of being entertained.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MADAM CHAIR: Order, please!

MS THISTLE: I was entertained to the limit when Cheryl Gullage and Linda Swain were able to hook up Fabian Manning and the Member for Terra Nova. I guess, if Roger Grimes were here in this House today he would make a game of that; who done it? He would eliminate the people who were at My Brother's Place on Torbay Road on April 25 and find out exactly who was there, what was said and they would be held accountable.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MADAM CHAIR: Order, please!

MS THISTLE: We know that the people that were there at My Brother's Place on April 25 were from coastal communities. They were from coastal communities where fishing is the main industry. That would definitely eliminate the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs. He is not from a coastal community. He would definitely not be there, but someone, naturally, was not telling the truth.

The bigger question of why we are here today is to discuss the expenditures of Executive Council. I do not mind and I do not care what was said in the Estimates Committee.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MADAM CHAIR: Order, please!

MS THISTLE: This is the proper forum for us to be able to stand up here and ask whatever questions we want.

This government said that they reduced fees this year. You know, I had a phone call from a woman yesterday from my district. The Minister of Government Services stood up here in the House so proud saying that she took off 10 per cent for those who pay their motor vehicle registration on computer. What do you say to this woman, Madam Minister? This is a woman who is a senior, she lives alone, she lives on a fixed income, she has no computer, she has no Internet and - guess what? - she has no credit card. She has none of that stuff. Do you know what? There are 68,000 people like her out there, over sixty-five. There are another 31,000 over seventy-five, and there are another 8,000 over eighty-five.

Now, those seniors who are our there on a fixed income, no Internet, no computer, no credit card, they are not going to get their $18 off when the go to renew their driver's licence. Is this a fair government? I ask the people out there who might be watching this: Is this fair? Is that fair to the woman who lives alone? She drives her car -

MADAM CHAIR: Order, please!

I remind the hon. member that her speaking time has expired.

MS THISTLE: Well that is unfortunate, but I will accept the consequences.

Thank you.

MADAM CHAIR: The hon. the Government House Leader.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Thank you, Madam Chair.

I am doing it for the good of the hon. member who is serving her last few days in the House. I remember her telling a very special friend of mine one time, actually I believe it was at the anniversary celebrations in Grand Falls, when she told this lady: You know, he is a terrier in the House. But since he met you, he is after taming down. I would not want it to go to her head. Since he met you, he is after taming down. That is what she told her. I would not want it to go to her head.

Anyway, Madam Chair, I wanted to have another few minutes before we finish up Executive Council, because I wanted to respond, again, to some allegations made by, in particular, the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans as it relates to the Premier's office.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. RIDEOUT: Yes, I might as well make some reference to that too. There has been some catcalling back and forth across the House about My Brother's Place and this place and some other place. Do you know a place I would have liked to have been when the Voisey's Bay debate was on? I would have liked to have been a fly on the wall out in Jim Walsh's house out in Conception Harbour, I believe it is. The media chased him all over the Northeast Avalon. They finally found the Liberal caucus holed up, or held up - I am not sure what the appropriate word is. They found them held up or holed up out in Jim Walsh's mansion out in Conception Harbour, and that is where they conceived this Voisey's Bay deal.

Talk about My Brother's Place or talk about this place or talk about that place - I wish had been a fly out in Conception Harbour. I have a good friend in Conception Harbour and his mother told me that you could heard the ranting and the roaring and the raving and the fighting and the scratching and the clawing coming out of that place in Conception Harbour.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: That, I say, Madam Chair, is the same kind of an imagination that spurred what came out of My Brother's Place. It has as much validity as the imagination that spurred what came out of My Brother's Place, what went on out in Conception Harbour.

I want to have a few words about the Premier's Office and salaries in the Premier's Office. The Member for Grand Falls-Buchans tried to make a bit of a deal about salary increases in the Premier's Office. She did not say anything about the fact that in 1996, for example, the then Chief of Staff in the Premier's Office of the day was given an 85 per cent salary increase.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. RIDEOUT: They get up and they talk about 8 per cent or 10 per cent or 12 per cent, and these percentages are big. But 85 per cent!

Do you know, when the change in government took place in 1989, the Chief of Staff in the Premier's Office was making $54,000 in change a year. In 1995 they increased that to $102,000 in change. And people on that side of the House have the unmitigated gall to get up and talk about salary increases in the Premier's Office. They are the authors of it. They know what it is. They know why those things happen. They happen because people get a reclassification; they are doing additional work; they have additional work to do. You bring them up to levels associated with deputies and assistant deputy ministers. They know all of that.

What else took place in 1996? That would not be around the time - no, I suppose my head is playing tricks on me - that wouldn't be around the time, now, that the government of the day went out and negotiated contracts with the public service and then brought in legislation rolling them back?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: No!

MR. RIDEOUT: No, that wouldn't be then, would it, Mr. Chairman? No, no, the Liberals would never do that. The Liberals would never do that, now, would they, Mr. Chairman? The Liberals would never do that. They would not do the honourable thing. They would not tell people up front that we cannot afford to give you an increase. They would not tell people up front that we cannot afford to give you an increase this year or next year, but we will give you some the year after and some the year after, and legislate that in the face of a strike.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

CHAIR (Fitzgerald): Order, please!

MR. RIDEOUT: No, they never had that kind of political wisdom or that kind of political leadership, Mr. Chairman. No, they go out and they do it the easy way. The easy way is to sit down across the table and say: Sure, I will give you that. I have no problem with that. We will agree with that - knowing that in your back pocket you have the power of the Legislature to undo everything you did at the bargaining table.

Mr. Chairman, who can have any confidence in that kind of approach? Thank God, there is a new approach in this Province today. Thank God, there is a new approach -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: - and, it is not that kind of approach, I can tell you.

It is also, Mr. Chairman -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

CHAIR: Order, please!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Chairman, it is also -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

CHAIR: Order, please!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Chairman, I said before, when I became Premier of this Province, without any hesitation I went to the people and asked them if they wanted me to continue, and they said no.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: They said no, Mr. Chairman. I didn't cling on by my little teensy-weensy fingertips for two years so that people in the backbenches could qualify for pensions because they might get defeated in the general election. I did not do anything like that, Mr. Chairman. I went to the people and I faced it. I said: I want a mandate.

Do you know something, Mr. Chairman?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Chairman, do you know something? The majority of those who voted said yes, but the way that seats right now in this House -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: - and that is our democracy, and I accept that, but the way that seats break down in this House, for the second time in our history since Confederation, the party that polled the majority of the vote did not win the government, Mr. Chairman, and that happens. That is fair game, and I have no complaints about that, but the bottom line is that we went to the people and we let the people decide. We did not cling on and hang on and do everything to make sure that we hung on, Mr. Chairman -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

CHAIR: Order, please!

MR. RIDEOUT: - so that we could get another couple of years out of it. Not likely, Mr. Chairman!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: I will tell you the other thing we did not do, talking about the Premier's Office, Mr. Chairman. I will tell you the other thing we did not do. We did not hide salary units. For example, the Premier that this hon. crowd all worked with last had twenty-five people at his beck and call as Premier. You will not find that in the Salary Estimates for the Premier's Office, because twenty-five people do not show up there. They do not show up, but the twenty people this Premier has working for him, and this government has working in the Premier's Office, they show up, every last one of them, Mr. Chairman.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Not one of those salary units is hidden, Mr. Chairman. Not one of those salary units is hidden. This Premier, in his open approach to government and accountability, does not have two people hidden down in the Government Members' Office on the third floor of this building actually working for the Premier. They are not there, Mr. Chairman, but they were there under the last Administration. They were there hidden away, Mr. Chairman.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. RIDEOUT: Let me tell you something else, Mr. Chairman, there are not four people hidden away on the tenth floor. You will not find four people hidden away on the tenth floor in the Executive Council offices who actually are on the Premier's staff and work for the Premier. They are not there, Mr. Chairman.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

CHAIR: Order, please!

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Chairman, they are not there.

Yes, we stand up and we defend the salary increases in the Premier's Office.

The Leader of the Opposition, a few days ago in this House, wondered whether or not the Director of Communications in the Premier's Office - since she was getting 40 per cent more, he said, than other Directors of Communications - was doing 40 per cent more of the work.

Mr. Chairman, if there is one person in this House who should know the work that woman is capable of doing, it is the Leader of the Opposition; because that woman, Mr. Chairman, used to be his Director of Communications. I wonder, is that why the Leader of the Opposition is so incensed with the fact that this person -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

CHAIR: Order, please!

MR. RIDEOUT: Come on! Yes, come on!

He said she did 40 per cent more work and getting 40 per cent - what is wrong with that, I say to the people on the other side? What is wrong with that? Does she do 40 per cent more work? Who should know? The Leader of the Opposition should know. That is who should know, Mr. Chairman.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

CHAIR: Order, please!

I ask members for their co-operation.

I say to the hon. member that his time for speaking has expired.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

CHAIR: Order, please!

The Committee is now ready to vote on the headings for Executive Council -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

CHAIR: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

CHAIR: Order, please!

I ask members for their co-operation.

The Committee is ready to vote on the headings of Executive Council, the Consolidated Fund Services and the Legislature, bringing an end to the seventy-five hours that has been dedicated to the Estimates and a Committee of Supply.

The first one that the Committee will vote on will be Executive Council.

CLERK: Subhead 1.1.01. to subhead 4.1.05. inclusive.

CHAIR: Shall subheads 1.1.01. to 4.1.05. pass without amendment?

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

CHAIR: All those against, ‘nay'.

The Executive Council Estimates are carried.

On motion, subheads 1.1.01. through 4.1.05. carried.

CHAIR: The next Estimates will be for the Consolidated Fund Services.

CLERK: Subhead 1.1.01. to subhead 2.1.03. inclusive.

CHAIR: Shall subheads 1.1.01. to 2.1.03. inclusive carry?

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

CHAIR: All those against, ‘nay'.

The Estimates for the Consolidated Fund Services is carried.

On motion, subheads 1.1.01. through 2.1.03. carried.

CHAIR: The Estimates for the Legislature.

CLERK: Subhead 1.1.01. to subhead 6.1.01. inclusive.

CHAIR: Shall subheads 1.1.01. to 6.1.01. inclusive carry?

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

CHAIR: All those against, ‘nay'.

The Estimates for the Legislature is carried.

On motion, subheads 1.1.01. through 6.1.01 carried.

CHAIR: The hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Chair, I move that the Committee rise, report progress and ask leave to sit again.

CHAIR: The motion is that the Committee rise, report progress and ask leave to sit again.

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

CHAIR: All those against, ‘nay'.

Carried.

On motion, that the Committee rise, report progress and ask leave to sit again, Mr. Speaker returned to the Chair.

MR. SPEAKER (Hodder): The hon. the Member for Bonavista South and Deputy Speaker.

MR. FITZGERALD: Mr. Speaker, the Committee of Supply have debated and passed the heads of expenditure for the Consolidated Fund Services, Executive Council and the Legislature without amendments and ask leave to sit again.

MR. SPEAKER: The Chairperson of the Committee of Supply reports that they have considered the matters to them referred and have asked me to report progress and ask leave to sit again.

When shall the Committee have leave to sit again?

MR. RIDEOUT: Presently.

MR. SPEAKER: Presently.

On motion, report received and adopted, Committee ordered to sit again on tomorrow.

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

MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, there is a little bit of time, a few minutes left in the parliamentary day but we are near the end and it is the beginning of a long weekend, so if members would concur, and I believe there is concurrence, we will take the adjournment now. Perhaps members can go home and start rooting around for a few worms and do a bit of fishing and enjoy the last long weekend before we really get into summer.

So, Mr. Speaker, on that note, I move that the House on its rising do adjourn until tomorrow, Tuesday, at 1:30 of the clock.

MR. SPEAKER: The motion is that this House on its adjournment, adjourn until Tuesday at 1:30 of the clock.

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 Tuesday next at 1:30 of the clock.

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