December 9, 2009           HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS         Vol. XLVI   No. 37


The House met at 2:00 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Fitzgerald): Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Statements by Members

MR. SPEAKER: Today the Chair welcomes the following members' statements: the hon. the Member for the District of Port de Grave; the hon. the Member for the District of St. John's North; the hon. the Member for the District of Baie Verte-Springdale; and the hon. the Member for the District of Exploits.

The hon. the Member for the District of Port de Grave.

MR. BUTLER: Mr. Speaker, today I pay tribute to the men and women that make up the Avalon North Wolverines Search & Rescue, Bay Roberts.

On Saturday, November 14, 2009 this group celebrated their twenty-fifth anniversary with a dinner and dance that was held at the Royal Canadian Legion in Spaniard's Bay.

It was a pleasure to join with Mr. Barry Nash, Newfoundland and Labrador Search & Rescue Association, Mr. Brian Avery, Office of Boating Safety for Transport Canada, and Staff Sergeant Rick Robinson, the RCMP, Trinity-Conception district, to extend greetings.

The guest speaker was Mr. Randy Mercer, retiree of the RCMP who worked faithfully with this group over the years. Mr. Clarence Russell, Mr. Roy Mercer, Mr. Clyde Mercer and Mr. Perry Bowering were presented with their twenty-fifth year certificates for their unselfish and dedicated service.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. members to join me in extending congratulations to the Avalon North Wolverines Search & Rescue as they continue to serve those who find themselves in need of a search & rescue service.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. RIDGLEY: Mr. Speaker, I want to recognize and congratulate the Friends of Pippy Park on the occasion of their twenty-fifth anniversary. The Friends of Pippy Park is an incorporated non-profit society founded in 1984 with the general purpose of improving the park and enriching the experiences of its many visitors.

Many people will not realize that Pippy Park encompasses some 3,400 acres and is truly one of the jewels in the capital city, and for twenty-five years the Friends have given freely of their time to keep this jewel sparkling. Mr. Speaker, at a recent twenty-fifth anniversary luncheon, a plaque was unveiled to commemorate Dr. J. Douglas Eaton, founding president of the Friends and awards of merit were presented to three long-time volunteers: Mr. Richard Stoker, Dr. Donald Steele and Mr. Michael Manning.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of the House to join me in congratulating these honourees and the Friends of Pippy Park on the occasion of their twenty-fifth anniversary.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Baie Verte-Springdale.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. POLLARD: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is indeed a privilege and an honour for me to rise in this hon. House today to applaud the academic achievements of three outstanding high school graduates: Michael Rolfe and Ashley Rideout of Indian River High, Springdale and Cynthia Robinson of MSB Regional Academy, Middle Arm.

They captured the Baie Verte-Springdale Electoral District Scholarships that are awarded to three high school graduates in each district who achieves the highest Department of Education scholarship score. Not only are these graduates to be commended, but also the school's staff who have provided the caring and nurturing atmosphere in which these students could excel.

Michael, Ashley and Cynthia are indicative of the many bright, aspiring, industrious students that grace the halls of our schools today and to whom we look for fresh ideas.

Hon. colleagues, please join with me in saluting Michael, Ashley and Cynthia. I wish them every success as they rigorously pursue their dreams and take their place in today's challenging world.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FORSEY: Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise in this House today to recognize the accomplishment of Paul Brothers of Bishop's Falls.

Mr. Speaker, in May of this year The Score Television Network and Gillette launched Canada's Next Sportscaster challenge. Auditions were held in St. John's, Halifax, Calgary, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Toronto.

Mr. Speaker, on June 19, after hundreds of contestants were judged, Paul was selected as one of the top five finalists. The grand prize for the winner is a one-year contract with The Score Television Network and a thirteen month contract as a Gillette spokesperson with Procter & Gamble. On Tuesday, December 8, Paul emerged as the winner of the sportscaster challenge, quite an accomplishment.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members to join me in congratulating Paul Brothers on his determination, professionalism and successfully responding to the challenge.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in this hon. House today to provide my colleagues and the people of the Province with an update on a very important project related to the development of the Province's aquaculture industry. That, of course, is the Centre for Aquaculture Health and Development, which will be located at St. Alban's.

I am pleased to report today, and I am sure my colleague from the District of Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune will be happy to hear that a tender has been awarded to Brook Construction Inc. of Corner Brook for the construction of the centre. It is estimated that the centre will cost $8 million and will house approximately ten staff, including veterinarians, aquatic health staff and development personnel.

I am also pleased to report that the site preparation work has been completed and the centre is scheduled to be completed over the coming year.

In response to extensive investment in aquaculture development, the total value of the Province's aquaculture industry has almost doubled from $33.6 million in 2005 to $63.3 million in 2008. The production value has increased from 8,200 metric tonnes in 2005 to 11,600 metric tonnes in 2008. By establishing this centre, the provincial government is supporting the industry in its goal of reaching 50,000 metric tonnes of production. This is another example of how the government is investing in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

St. Alban's is strategically positioned to service the South Coast aquaculture industry. In particular, it will service the Atlantic salmon, steelhead trout and Atlantic cod aquaculture sectors.

Mr. Speaker, the centre will play many roles. It will contain a state of the art aquatic health laboratory to provide rapid diagnostic services. As well, it will provide applied clinical research and be the focal point for advanced biosecurity for the industry.

The centre represents our government's commitment to the health and sustainable development of the Province's aquaculture industry.

Mr. Speaker, this new aquaculture infrastructure will ensure continued expansion of the Province's growing aquaculture industry and enable it to become more competitive in attracting international investment. It will enable us to ensure that farmed seafood from the Province remains in the healthiest state possible, while protecting our marine environment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of The Straits & White Bay North.

MR. DEAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, I would like to thank the hon. minister for an advance copy of his statement.

I am certainly pleased today to see investment in the Province's aquaculture industry. It is also good to see the numbers that reflect an increase in the value of this Province's industry, and we certainly look forward to more growth here for sure. Aquaculture is certainly very important to our Province.

While aquaculture is progressing well, we cannot forget about the need for a real plan for the wild traditional fishery, we might call it, which seems to be lacking somewhat in this present time. The wild traditional fishery has sustained us for years and will continue to be a vital part of our fishery on a go-forward basis.

So again, I would encourage the minister to pay a lot of attention to that part of the industry, and again, certainly want to say this is a welcomed announcement and congratulate the people that will be involved. The ability to monitor the health of the fishery locally is certainly a step forward as well.

Thank you.

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

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

I, too, thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement, and I am delighted for the people of the St. Alban's region to see this centre being built. It is an important addition both for them economically, as well as to the overall aquaculture industry. It is certainly one aspect of the future of the seafood industry in this Province, but I think we need to note that these are subsidies made by the people of the Province to private companies, and I hope that these subsidies are going to benefit the people as much as they are also benefiting the company who is running the facility.

I also would like to say to the minister that I want to see just as much concern with regard to the traditional fishery in this Province. Once again, I stand and say to the Minister of Fisheries that we need a marketing board in this Province to deal with the issues that the traditional fishery is dealing with. I would hope that this current minister will do what the past minister did not do and make this marketing board happen.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Further statements by ministers?

The hon. the Minister of Labrador Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to update my hon. colleagues on the current status of the Labrador Transportation Grooming Subsidy.

This subsidy helps to provide the necessary transportation links in winter months to isolated communities on the north and south coasts of Labrador that have no access to the Trans-Labrador Highway.

Mr. Speaker, maintaining and enhancing the groomed snowmobile trails connecting isolated communities is a firm commitment made under our Northern Strategic Plan for Labrador. We have made significant improvements this past year, and we are continuing to make changes to the program to better suit the needs of the people who use those trails.

I am pleased to report to this hon. House that the Department of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs has once again hired a trail inspector for the coming winter trail season. This position ensures a safer, more reliable winter trail system for people living in isolated communities. As well, this year we have delivered two new snowmobile trail groomers – one for Postville, and another for Rigolet.

Mr. Speaker, the travelling distance between some of these isolated communities is considerable, and the terrain can be challenging. To further ensure the safety of trail groomed operations, we have installed a more reliable satellite phone system in every groomer. As well, we are now investigating a GPS tracking system, where each groomer location is tracked in real time. This would also be of benefit to the travelling public as they can be informed in a timely manner on when the trails are being groomed.

Mr. Speaker, in Budget 2009, the Williams government allocated a total of $390,000 for the 2009-2010 winter snowmobile trail season. I am pleased to report to my hon. colleagues that through the Northern Strategic Plan for Labrador the provincial government has allocated another $100,000 for trail upgrades. Some of these initiatives include the purchase of tracking equipment and software, trail rerouting and increased signage.

Mr. Speaker, since assuming responsibility for administration of this subsidy, at the commencement of last year's trail season, I am pleased to report that the Department of Labrador and Aboriginal Affairs has put a great deal of effort into fostering positive relationships with associated communities and development associations. We will continue to nurture these relationships as we work to enhance this vital transportation network for Labrador's remote and isolated communities.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement. I can see why his colleagues go wild over there. He has made his first statement of the session in the House on one of the three files he has in his whole department, Mr. Speaker. Imagine what they would do if it was not a rehash of the same statement that he made a year ago in the House of Assembly, Mr. Speaker – exact same statement.

Mr. Speaker, let me say this, snowmobile trails are a vital transportation link to communities right across Labrador. Let's not kid ourselves, the safety and survival of people are very important. That is why that having a good snowmobile trail connecting communities from one part of Labrador to the other is not only, Mr. Speaker, for the safety and the survival of people –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS JONES: - who live in communities that are remote and have difficulty accessing them, but it is also, Mr. Speaker, a tourism icon for Labrador; one of the things that we can promote from an industry perspective as well.

I think it is vitally important that our trails from one end to the other be of the best standard, have the best equipment and be the safest that we can certainly make them.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to remind the minister that there are requests for two groomers as well in Labrador; one in the community of Norman Bay, which has no other transportation link in winter, only by snowmobile trails. They have asked to have parts of their trail rerouted so they get off the salt water ice and they are able to access trails that will go over land, providing for a longer season and a safer season for the people that are dependent upon those trails. In addition, Mr. Speaker -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the hon. member to conclude her remarks.

MS JONES: Just a minute to conclude, Mr. Speaker?

MR. SPEAKER: Does the hon. member have leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. member by leave.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In addition, they have made a request to also have a new groomer purchased for that community. The other community is in Black Tickle, which again is completely cut off from any other form of transportation except by air. They desperately need a new groomer for that community to be based in the community to service the people in that region.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister that he take those particular requests under consideration and seriously move forward to investing in these initiatives.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

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

I, too, thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement. It is good to see the government taking its responsibility seriously and continuing to do that with regard to something that is such a necessity for the people in Labrador. Here on the Island, especially off the Northern Peninsula, people may not realize the importance of these trails, but for Labrador it is essential to their transportation in winter; they cannot do without it. As well, you do have the tourism side of it and sledding is a tourism issue, but that is also important for the economy.

I do hope that this year with the groomers that have been delivered to Postville and Rigolet that we will not, in a year's time, hear the minister do what he did last year and that is argue with the communities that if they decide to do something with the groomers that he does not like, as he did last year. I hope he is over that, Mr. Speaker.

I think the minister too should be looking into other issues with regard to services in Labrador. What I would like to raise has to do with the state of the freight services to the Coast of Labrador, because we have been receiving, in my office, correspondence from communities on the North Coast asking for help. I hope, Mr. Speaker, that the minister is taking seriously the situation with regard to the freight services and responding to their requests.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: Further statements by ministers?

Oral questions.

Oral Questions

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I understand that a progress report on the Cameron recommendations is not due until March of 2010, however, the previous minister did table, on May 28 of this year, an update of the status of the recommendations. When you examine the report you see, in fact, that only one recommendation was fully implemented at that time.

I ask the minister today: What progress has been made over the past several months on further implementing the recommendations that were outlined in the Cameron Inquiry?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I can indicate to the member opposite that we are continuing to implement the Cameron recommendations and we are continuing to contribute to the Cancer Care Program in this Province.

Mr. Speaker, in Budget 2008-2009 we provided - I cannot even add it all up here. It is about $60 million for digital mammography units, CT scanners. In 2008, we also indicated another $2.3 million in relation to the collection of information. We are looking at, Mr. Speaker, the PET scanner, which we are hoping to have up and running before too long. Mr. Speaker, the provincial Cancer Care Program is ongoing. We are looking at the issues, Mr. Speaker, especially clinics, the continuation of radiation treatment, including $10.6 billion over the past two years to construct bunkers -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the hon. member to conclude his response.

MR. KENNEDY: It is just difficult, Mr. Speaker, to outline, in a short period of time, how much we have been doing, but anyway I thank the member for her question.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This inquiry has impacted the lives of many people, and I guess the minister would understand why there is extreme interest in monitoring the continued implementation of the recommendations in the report.

I ask him today: Maybe he is prepared to table in the House another progress report on those recommendations during this session?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Mr. Speaker, I am aware of the effect, as we all are in this House, of the effect that the Cameron Inquiry - the people who were involved in the Cameron Inquiry and the effect that had upon them and their families. We are also, Mr. Speaker, aware – and I am glad from a government perspective and from a minister perspective, that an agreement was reached recently between Eastern Health with the members of the class action.

Cancer, Mr. Speaker, is a disease that affects all of us. It is a disease that affects so many people in this Province. We are continuing to invest, Mr. Speaker, in our cancer care funding. We will continue to invest, and the Cameron implementations are certainly a very significant part of what we are doing.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The minister was listing a number of initiatives that they were working on, so maybe he will present in the House of Assembly an update before the session concludes.

Mr. Speaker, the chair of the oncology department at Memorial University, Dr. David Saltman, publicly spoke out on the lack of colorectal cancer screening programs in the Province. He goes as far as to calling the situation a tragedy.

I ask the minister: Why, in Newfoundland and Labrador, are we falling behind the other provinces when it comes to colorectal cancer screening programs?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Obviously, colorectal cancer is a very significant cancer and one that apparently is the second leading cause of cancer in this country.

Mr. Speaker, I am aware of the comments made by Dr. Saltman in the media. I was a bit surprised. Dr. Saltman had written me on October 16, asking for a meeting, but it had nothing to do with the colorectal cancer screening program.

However, having said that, this matter has been under discussion for quite some period of time. I indicated, over the last couple of days, that budget discussions are ongoing. We are certainly looking at a very worthwhile program like colorectal cancer screening. It is a discussion that I would certainly be willing to have with Dr. Saltman any time.

Discussions are ongoing with Eastern Health, Mr. Speaker. There is no question that this is a program that we will have to look at, but again, in the context of the priorities put forward by Eastern Health and the health care system.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There are 400 new cases of colorectal cancer diagnosed in this Province each year and this disease kills approximately 200 of our citizens annually. Early screening for this type of cancer can result in 90 per cent of them being preventable. Our Province also has the highest new cases and mortality in the country due to this type of cancer.

I ask the minister today: Is he prepared to commit to implementing a colorectal cancer screening program, as suggested by the advice of professionals like Dr. Saltman, and what would be the timeframes to see this implemented within our Province?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, thank you Mr. Speaker.

I can indicate that the former minister, now Minister of Business, certainly had this on his radar, and it was a very significant concern for him while he was in the department.

The vice-president, Mr. Speaker, of medical services at Eastern Health advises that a colorectal screening program is a high priority for Eastern Health, and for the Province, considering there is a high incidence and a genetic predisposition to this type of cancer in this Province.

It is my understanding, Mr. Speaker, that we will now go through the budget process, we will look at it – Eastern Health has indicated that it is a high priority. Then, what will happen, Mr. Speaker, after the budget process, it is my understanding that a colorectal screening co-ordinator would have to be hired and it would take at least six months to get a provincial program in place, once the co-ordinator is hired.

So, as we go through the budget process, Mr. Speaker, we will look at this, and I can indicate to the hon. member opposite, and to Dr. Saltman, to other residents in this Province, Mr. Speaker, that this is a matter that we will look closely at in this budget and see where it goes.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: I thank the minister for his response, Mr. Speaker.

The future of AbitibiBowater, their current and former workers and pensioners, are now buried in extensive legal challenges. The latest court actions of your government have been an attempt to force the company to reveal corporate financial information using the argument that the Province is, in effect, a creditor of the company.

What is the status of this legal action, and when can we expect to see a ruling?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SKINNER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as the people of the Province know, this government did step up for the former AbitibiBowater employees. There have been some 800-900 employees, former employees of AbitibiBowater that we have stepped in and provided assistance to. We deemed that the benefits that they were to receive were the responsibility of AbitibiBowater. AbitibiBowater did not live up to that responsibility and this government stepped forward to ensure that the people of the Central Region who are entitled to benefits received those benefits as they should have gotten them.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Maybe the minister could update us on what the status is of the legal action that government was taking, and when we can expect to see some conclusion of it or at least some ruling around it.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. F. COLLINS: Mr. Speaker, with regard to the action CCA claims of monies owing to the Province, the position of the government is that we are not pursuing these claims because there are insufficient funds. We figure there are insufficient funds with Abitibi to compensate for those claims. The costs, legal costs, would be (inaudible)

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I understood that court action was going to be taken by the government simply because it was felt that they were a creditor of the company. Do I understand clearly now that the minister is telling me that there will be no legal action taken to recover the monies that were paid out?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. F. COLLINS: Mr. Speaker, it is the belief of the Province at this time that the insufficient funds, given the insolvency, or the CCA claims, or CCA activities of Abitibi, there are insufficient funds there to recover any of the claims that we are looking for.

At this stage of the game, that is the position of government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, reports indicate that the AbitibiBowater pensions, which are underfunded by some $1.3 billion, are putting pensioners' income at risk in our Province as well. As a solution, the union, the company, with the support of Ontario and Quebec governments, are proposing that governments back a proposal to establish a pension trust. This should protect the income of company pensioners should the company finally fall into bankruptcy. Without governments taking action, many of these pensioners will take a hit of at least 25 per cent to 33 per cent or more in their income. It will affect workers in both the Grand Falls mill as well as the former Stephenville mill.

My question to the minister is: Has your government been involved in this proposal to establish a pension trust and to aid in the protecting of pension funds for workers in our Province?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

The whole issue of pensions is certainly on the radar of the country, and pension plans that are in trouble, such as the AbitibiBowater pension plan which the hon. the Leader of the Opposition has just mentioned. It is very fortunate that the pension plan for our employees in this Province, our employees do not have that same problem, our retirees do not have that same problem, because of investments that this government has made to the tune of $3 billion in the pension plan, and the fact that the taxpayers behind the pension plan provide security for our own retired employees.

With respect to pension plans like AbitibiBowater, we hear in the news of the pension plans like Nortel up in Ontario, these plans are under great pressure because the companies themselves are in financial difficulty and will be unable to make their contributions, but I am pleased to advise the hon. member that there will be a federal-provincial-territorial meeting of Finance Ministers this coming Wednesday in Whitehorse and I will be attending, and I will be happy, when I get back, to report to this House as to the results of the reports that have been provided for Finance Ministers to deal with this very important issue.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I guess we are all aware of what has been going on nationally, especially with Nortel over the last number of years, but in spite of all of that, Mr. Speaker, we do know that there have been discussions between the union, companies, the Government of Quebec, the Government of Ontario and the federal government around the pension trust piece, and looking at it as an option for Abitibi pensioners that will be effected.

So, again, I ask the minister: Outside of the territorial meetings that you will participate in, is your government prepared to get involved in the process that is ongoing to help protect the pension incomes of former Abitibi workers in our Province?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

In addition to the FPT meetings, at which time reports that have been contracted to deal with this important issue will be presented to the Finance Ministers and the federal government and the provincial governments and territories in Whitehorse next week, in addition to that, I know the Premiers have also commissioned research reports into this issue and those reports will also be presented at the end of the year. With those reports, that will inform governments right across the country as to the appropriate steps that we can take to help pensioners, given the pressure that the pension plans are under.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

In the severance payments that were provided to Abitibi workers by the government last year, there were conditions and timelines that were attached; however, since that deadline there are dozens of workers that have been laid off. These individuals have yet to receive any severance payments, although they have applied for government-sponsored severance. Some of them, their applications date back to September of this year.

I ask the government today: Are you prepared to provide and pay out the severance to those workers who were outside the timelines? If you are, why is it taking so long to have their payments processed and issued to them?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SKINNER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as I have indicated in this House before, this government did step up for the former workers of AbitibiBowater. This government did provide some $25 million or $26 million in severance and other benefits to workers who were displaced from AbitibiBowater in the Central region. The reason that we are still processing some of these claims, Mr. Speaker, is that as we move forward new information is becoming uncovered each day with some of these; it has been difficult to get information. We have also found out that people are being laid off after the original - I will call it mass layoff that was done back in April of this year.

As we encounter those situations we are processing those claims and we will continue to do that. We will continue to support the people of the Central region. We will continue to provide the benefits that they should have received. This government stepped up and did it before, and we will continue to do that, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Reports indicate that Newfoundland and Labrador Refining Corporation has emerged from bankruptcy. The judge in the case has given them two years to find a buyer or a partner in their proposed $4 billion project.

I ask the minister: Have you met with the proponents of this project before or since they emerged from the bankruptcy position?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Premier and Minister of Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the department watches very carefully what is happening in the energy sector in this Province. We are aware all the time what is happening; there are informal discussions that are ongoing on a regular basis. I have not had a formal meeting with the principles of Newfoundland Refining since this action has taken place.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to ask the minister: Has the government, or near-government agencies like Nalcor or their subsidiaries, have they given consideration to taking any equity stake in the refinery or to contribute public money to this particular development?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

No, we have not.

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One final question for the minister on this issue, because we know that government has acted on behalf of this refinery proponent in the past, in terms of looking at recruiting partners or buyers. I think the last incident we heard publicly was from Qatar, and a trip they took to the Middle East.

I ask the minister today: Has there been any indication that those meetings will result in new investments for this refinery project and this company, or is there still follow-up taking place to those meetings?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as we do our work here in the Province, across the country and around the world, we promote Newfoundland and Labrador, and companies who operate here, as good places for people to invest money. That is part of the responsibility we have as a government. So we, wherever we go, at every opportunity we have, promote Newfoundland and Labrador as a good place to invest.

Once we make people aware of that, unless we are asked to intervene or become involved, Mr. Speaker, we allow them, the companies and the investors, to further build those relationships and make whatever arrangements work in the best interests of both parties, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

On Monday, I directed some questions concerning the ongoing issue involving the Child and Youth Advocate to the Minister of Finance. Minister, we are now aware that Mr. Bern Coffey, the solicitor for Ms Neville, has filed an appeal of last Friday's Supreme Court decision regarding her right to appear before this House. Given that a definitive resolution regarding Ms Neville was postponed during the September sitting of this House because these matters were before the courts, is government now prepared to postpone the introduction of a definitive resolution, pending disposition of Ms Neville's appeal?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

With respect to the matter surrounding the Child and Youth Advocate, the government has received the complaint of the Speaker of the House, and the government has also received a response and has heard from Ms Neville. We received a ninety-two page document outlining her response to the allegations made.

Government is considering the information that it has before it, and in due course government will bring forth a resolution to be determined in this House, and it will be the appropriate resolution at the appropriate time.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I just had some correspondence delivered, in fact, as we entered the House today, again from Mr. Coffey, solicitor for Ms Neville, who indicates that she has had absolutely no opportunity, since she was advised of her suspension, about an opportunity to provide any information to Cabinet, or to speak to Cabinet.

I asked the minister this question on Friday – or, excuse me, on Monday past – would Ms Neville be afforded an opportunity to appear before the House, or before Cabinet? The minister, at that time, said, bluntly: No.

I am wondering if the minister could take an opportunity to explain why you are not allowing her an opportunity.

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. T. MARSHALL: Mr. Speaker, the principles of natural justice will allow Ms Neville to state her case to the government, and that has happened. As I said, we received a ninety-two page

outline of the case that she has made.

In the case of Fraser March, he was not given that opportunity. Mr. March was dismissed by the Internal Economy Commission of the House without being given an opportunity to make his case. In Ms Neville's situation, the case has been heard by government, government is reviewing it; it is reviewing the allegations from the Speaker. Government will make its determination and bring a resolution before the House so the House can make the final determination of this matter and end it once and for all.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Just for the information of the minister, Mr. March was not terminated by the Internal Economy Commission. Mr. March was terminated from his employment by a resolution of this House of Assembly. Now the government has gone back, as we know, and allowed Mr. March an opportunity to have natural justice by way of Justice O'Neill, whose report is due on Friday.

I ask the minister: If you were prepared to see that natural justice was allowed in the case of Mr. March, who was dismissed by this House, why would you not be prepared to allow Ms Neville the same opportunity?

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

Mr. Speaker, I have already answered that question. The principles of natural justice allow Ms Neville to make a response. The response, a ninety-two page response, has been received and is being considered by government.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for The Straits & White Bay North.

MR. DEAN: Mr. Speaker, a common practice by small-boat fisherpeople in our Province for years, if not decades, has been the practice of selling codfish locally, either at the wharf or door-to-door, on the back of their truck and so on. This past season, commercial fishers in this Province have received warnings from the DFA fishery inspectors that it is illegal to sell codfish locally.

My question for the Minister of Fisheries is: Why has your department suddenly decided to bring stronger enforcement to that regulation?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, under the Fish Inspection Act, fish harvesters are only permitted to sell to licensed fish processors and buyers. Everyone knows in the Province that oftentimes that is something that is not followed. I think some people would go out and purchase a bit of fish off a fisherman and not even know that they are in contravention of the law.

Mr. Speaker, at the union convention just a little over a week ago I was approached by some fishermen on that particular issue. I told them at that particular point that I would discuss it with my officials and see where we might be able to go with that. That, in fact, is what I am doing and will continue to do, and we will see how that gets resolved.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. BUTLER: Mr. Speaker, I assure you, my questions today have nothing to do with electricity.

On Monday, Mr. Speaker, I asked the Minister of Finance with regard to the $300 rebate for oil tank replacements, and he told me that he would undertake to find the answers to that question.

I ask the minister today: How many people are waiting for the rebates, and when will the cheques be forthcoming?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

Mr. Speaker, the year before last I think there was a budget allocation of $750,000 in the budget but the take-up was only around $71,000. The following year the amount allocated was $75,000 and, of course, the take-up was in excess of that amount.

Funds were transferred into the program on August 13, on September 22, and again on November 30, and I am advised by the Comptroller General that 284 cheques were sent out yesterday afternoon to these people.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. BUTLER: Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for that response.

It is December 9 and again our office is flooded with e-mails and telephone calls asking questions: Where is the home heating fuel rebate? Last year it was announced on December 8. The year before it was December 6. It seems like each year the announcements are coming later and later.

I ask the minister: When can we expect the announcement with regard to the home heating fuel rebates this year?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

Government announced in March of this year that the Home Heating Rebate Program would be a permanent program, and we also announced that the program, along with the Parental Benefits Program, would be moved to Grand Falls and will provide twenty-five jobs in that Central Newfoundland community, to attempt to mitigate in a small way the job losses from the closure of the mill. So the program is now permanent. The parameters of the program are being discussed. They were discussed between me and some of my colleagues today, and I expect to be in a position in the not-too-distant future to announce the parameters, which are the amount of the rebate and the income eligibility threshold.

There are three permanent positions hired in Grand Falls-Windsor now. There are twenty-two permanent seasonal workers who, these positions should be filled by mid-December. The interviews took place the week of November 23, and we are looking forward to the program.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. T. MARSHALL: These will be new workers, but -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the hon. minister to conclude his response.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

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

I, too, wanted to ask the Minister of Finance about the Home Heating Rebate, and I am glad to know that the steps have been taken to make it a permanent program, as had been promised in the March Budget; but, Mr. Speaker, the people who rely on this rebate do not have a lot of money and the waiting game is very difficult for them as they try to budget, especially as they come into the winter and the Christmas season. The minister has said a number of times that the rebate is only a small amount of money, but for these people it is not a small amount, and I am hoping this year it is going to be more.

I am asking the minister: If he can tell us why there is always this waiting game and why it is so difficult to come up with, as he called it, the parameters of the program?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

The parameters of the program are usually announced in December, around this time every year. We are going through that process. An analysis was done, we analyzed the changes in the fuel cost and changes in the electricity cost; we had a good look at it. When I have completed my discussions with my colleagues, the parameters will be announced for this year as well.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS MICHAEL: Mr. Speaker, I would like to point out to the minister that the phone calls to our office, and I assume it is probably the same for other MHAs, those phone calls begin early in November.

I am wondering: Can the minister tell me whether or not he is willing to take under advisement trying to get this out earlier in the future?

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

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

As I said earlier, the program is now a permanent program; it will not be an ad hoc program anymore. There are three permanent employees in Grand Falls, twenty-two permanent seasonal employees. As soon as they get trained, they will get the program out, and then each year after that the program should come out earlier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I hope the training begins immediately so that people will not have to wait next year.

Mr. Speaker, in fall update 2009, the GDP is used as an indicator of how the Province is doing. Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the GDP does not give an accurate and authentic picture of what is really happening to people here in the Province and what is happening in their lives.

Mr. Speaker, the financial updates used by our Province and others - not just by ours, whether purposefully or not, I do not know - do not reference recognized social indicators such as hunger, homelessness, illiteracy or unemployment and therefore do not give a true economic picture of the lives of the people in the Province.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier: When is this government going to give an accurate view of how all people are actually faring in our new economy?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

Fortunately, the people of this Province, especially people at the low end, are doing much better because this government has done more for the people in poverty than any other government in the history of Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. T. MARSHALL: Mr. Speaker, I refer to the Seniors' Benefit, which was enhanced last year. We are giving seniors $800 every October. I refer to the fact that we allow seniors to split their pension income. We have expanded the Home Heating Rebate Program. When we came into office, there were 11,000 people getting the program, there were 76,000 got the program last year.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. T. MARSHALL: Mr. Speaker, we removed thousands of low income people from the tax rolls. Mr. Speaker, we gave the people of this Province the biggest tax cut in the history of Newfoundland and Labrador. We lowered 174 fees, we lowered motor vehicle registration and we increased the Provincial Home Repair Program.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. T. MARSHALL: We provided money for drug programs, we increased the RAP program and we are going to continue to help people (inaudible).

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The time allotted for questions and answers has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motion.

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.

MR. HEDDERSON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to provide some information pertaining to questions asked yesterday in Question Period by the Opposition House Leader.

The hon. Member for Burgeo & LaPoile asked me why the crew of the Gallipoli have recently received layoff notices for the period in which the vessel is undergoing its annual refit. The member also stated that this is the first time, in the history of these refits, the whole crew has been laid off.

Mr. Speaker, I would first like to state that the entire crew has not been laid off. The captain and two of the vessel's engineers will remain on the vessel throughout the refit. Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, this is not a new practice with our marine division, and in fact, has been the practice of the department for some time.

Decisions as to what crew to keep on the vessel during a refit is made on a case to case basis on the work required. In this case, there is not enough of the work that is normally completed by the crew to be done to warrant keeping all of them on for the full duration of the refit. These crew members will, however, be called back before the refit is completed to allow sufficient time for them to complete the work they would normally do to make the vessel ready to return to service.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HEDDERSON: As such, Mr. Speaker, the vessel maintenance program will not be adversely affected, as was suggested by the Opposition House Leader.

Mr. Speaker, as employers, we take our responsibilities under collective agreements seriously. The affected crew members are entitled to their normal rights under their collective agreement; this includes bumping rights based on seniority.

As a government, we must also be stewards of the Province's finances. In this case, there is simply not enough work to justify keeping the full crew on the vessel during the full refit period. The decision, our marine branch, to issue temporary layoff notice is the responsible thing to do.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Further answers to questions for which notice has been given?

Petitions.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board asking to revert to another proceeding?

MR. T. MARSHALL: Yes, the answers to questions for which notice has been given.

MR. SPEAKER: Answers to questions for which notice has been given.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, or the day before I think, the Leader of the Opposition asked me about the income tax problem that fisher people on the Great Northern Peninsula were having. I checked with my officials and I noted that on May 21, 2008 this House of Assembly adopted a resolution that called upon the Government of Canada to require the CRA to review and correct the unfair income tax burden placed on these Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. I notice that in 2008 the Premier wrote the Prime Minister seeking his party's position on additional and unfair income tax burdens.

The Leader of the Opposition asked me if I would contact the Minister of National Revenue and to make representation on behalf of these people. I will be very happy to do it, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Petitions.

Petitions

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

MR. BUTLER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to stand today with a petition with regard to unregulated and gravel pit campers. We have received petitions signed by over 2,000 people to date and there is more to come in.

Seeing this is the first time, I will read the prayer of the petition:

WHEREAS unregulated or gravel pit camping has been a long standing recreational tradition for families in Newfoundland and Labrador; and

WHEREAS residents of our Province have engaged in gravel pit camping for up to forty years; and

WHEREAS government has not typically targeted gravel pit campers for contravening the Province's Lands Act due to the cultural uniqueness and historical meaning of the practice for the people involved; and

WHEREAS government has now rapidly moved forward to enforce its own legislation in gravel pit camping sites in a relatively haphazard fashion, without consideration of the impacting costs of their action; and

WHEREAS many gravel pit campers are seniors that lack the resources to haul their campers and trailers out of gravel pit sites before the sixty-day removal order currently being imposed by officials within the Department of Environment;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to re-evaluate government's heavy-handed approach to gravel pit campers and consult with them to work out a long-term solution to problems with the practice that government finds unacceptable.

AND - this is presented – as in duty bound your petitioners will ever pray

Mr. Speaker, you might be able to say: Well, why would you come forward with such a petition when we have so many parks, and private parks and provincial parks, in the Province?

Mr. Speaker, I can stand here today and say that there are over 5,000 people who take part in gravel pit camping in various locations throughout this Province and not one of them can get into a provincial park. I have tried this year, many times. Our parks are full, and no one has to tell me any more than that because I do the camping myself. They are filled to capacity. I am going to tell you one thing – and I stand here today and I hear people talking about the Whiskey Pit. I agree, Mr. Speaker, there are different scenarios in all of those locations that have to be cleaned up. They have to be cleaned up.

Mr. Speaker, I am calling on this government to do what they did before. My hon. colleague, the minister of municipal affairs and transportation, he knows full well the situation I am going to discuss. There were trailer owners and cabin owners in Wolf Pond up in Fox Marsh and they were told they had to get out. We met - both the minister, his officials and I met - with officials within the department for many months. Do you know what government did? They did not tell them they had sixty days to get out, and you are left on your own. What they did, they moved up the road a very short distance, made roads for those people, cut out sites for them so they could have a park.

Yes, they were regulated. Yes, they pay a fee, and rightly so. I am not saying they should sit on Crown land and not do this, but what was done for those people in the Fox Marsh area should be done for every individual in this Province, Mr. Speaker. Not tell you to get home and leave what you have there and not do anything with it. That was done. This government made sure that those people had a site to go to. Mr. Speaker, that is all I am asking the minister to do, to go back and re-evaluate what they are doing.

Those people have a right to be able to camp. They cannot get into the parks. Many of them cannot afford to go into them. Mr. Speaker, let me assure you, this is only one of many petitions that will be forthcoming.

MR. SPEAKER: Further petitions?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

Does the hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board have leave to revert to tabling of documents?

Tabling of Documents

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

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

Pursuant to section 26 of the Financial Administration Act, I am tabling nineteen Orders-in-Council relating to funding pre-commitments for the 2010 to 2012-2013 fiscal years.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to section 28.(4) of the Financial Administration Act, I am tabling the Order-in-Council for the creation of a subhead of a Head of Expenditures to which countervailing savings can be transferred relating to the purchase of water bombers.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

 

Private Members' Day

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

MS BURKE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It being Private Members' Day, we will call from the Order Paper Motion 3, as put forward by the Member for Bonavista North.

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

Having been born and raised in the Town of Greenspond, one of the most historic towns in the Province, and having lived and worked in the Town of Badger's Quay for approximately forty years, I guess when I speak about rural Newfoundland I do have some idea of what I am talking about. Based on that, Mr. Speaker, I certainly have to, right from the inception, take strong exception to anyone who is saying that our government is out there gutting rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HARDING: There is nothing further from the truth, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, I would just like probably to give a brief overview of the resolution itself. What we are saying is that, since we formed government back in 2003, one of the main objectives of our government was to take steps to revitalize rural Newfoundland and Labrador. We worked on a strategy at that time, and by March 2005 we were ready to implement that strategy for rural Newfoundland and Labrador; and that we did, Mr. Speaker.

So the content of this resolution is to certainly remind the public, I guess, of things that we have done in rural Newfoundland and Labrador over these past six or seven years: steps that we have taken in promoting rural infrastructure, in natural resource development, in value-added production, in education, retention of our youth and attracting youth to the Province, and our social support programs. What we are asking in this resolution, Mr. Speaker, is that we would like to get the full support and co-operation of all the members in this House as to the direction that we have taken and to offer support and encouragement for us to continue on that track.

The strategy that we took, Mr. Speaker, back in 2005 is based on principles: principles of sector development, of focusing on strengths of the different regions of our Province, and putting the tools in place to build on these strengths. Doing something like this, Mr. Speaker, is certainly something that cannot be done overnight. It is something that takes very much time, in fact years, before you see the final results of exactly what we are doing.

Mr. Speaker, I have to say that we are committed to the wealth of our natural resources, and from these resources we want and have tried to, and certainly are doing, benefiting every Newfoundlander and Labradorian.

We also want to improve on our financial situation, and we want to diversify and bolster the economies in all regions of the Province. By doing that, Mr. Speaker, we are looking at the long term: not just today, not just tomorrow, but years and years to come. We have done that, Mr. Speaker, through prudent utilization of our natural resources, by not only the increase in our revenue from oil and gas - not only that, Mr. Speaker - but often I think we fail to realize that there is more to it than just that increase. There is the renegotiation that the Premier did with the Atlantic Accord. That money in itself is bringing in millions and millions of dollars, not only this year, not only last year, not only next year, but years and years to come. With our equity investment only this past year now into the offshore projects we will see even more revenues accrue from our natural resources.

We put these revenues to good use, Mr. Speaker. As the Minister of Finance mentioned yesterday, we have done it to increase our financial position. We have reduced our debt. We have reduced taxes for all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and we continue to contribute to programs that support economic growth throughout the Province. Mr. Speaker, the way we have done this, it has been done so that there has been a positive effect right throughout the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

If we take the West Coast, we are emerging as a centre for environmental excellence. On the South Coast, and the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture made reference to it today, we are developing the South Coast of this Province as a major, major area for aquaculture development, making us one of the greatest Provinces in the country in aquaculture development.

The eastern part of Newfoundland and Labrador - Newfoundland in particular, I mean - we are emerging as a hub for tourist trade. I know in my own area, in the community of New-Wes-Valley, Newtown, monies that we have invested into the Barbour site, we have made that now the second-largest employer in the district, employing sixty or seventy people, Mr. Speaker, in the tourism trade. That is just one sector.

The Northern Region certainly is an area of massive energy potential. We are taking steps to further develop the mining industry in Labrador, and certainly, most recently, the Upper Churchill development.

The Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, Mr. Speaker, has a number of programs that have benefited rural Newfoundland and Labrador. The Regional Sectoral Diversification Fund, we increased that, this current budget, to more than $8 million, and 80 per cent of the funding through the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development is going out to communities in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. It is going to companies, it is going to community associations and it is going to cultural and heritage groups in developing the potential of rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

The area of broadband installation, our government was criticized time and time again by the Opposition for investing in broadband in our Province. I am happy to say that in my own district, Bonavista North, that we are lucky enough to have two service providers of broadband services.

I know the Member for Burgeo & LaPoile spent one session criticizing our government for investment in the broadband services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: (Inaudible) did not go to public tender. That is what we criticized. It did not go to public tender. You gave it to your buddies.

MR. HARDING: Regardless of how it was done, Mr. Speaker, it is a major benefit to this Province and something that we could never do without because having a major communication system today, we can have services in the smallest of communities just as well as we can in any of the larger centres in the Province.

In the area of trade missions, Mr. Speaker, we have spent considerable money in helping to send fish processors and other manufacturing companies in the Province to all parts of the world. Only recently, a couple of weeks ago, Beothic Fish Processors in my district went on a trade mission to China to try to develop markets for their fish products, knowing full well what has happened with the economy in the United States, we certainly have to look outside of the US for our finished products.

Mr. Speaker, we have made investments in rural Newfoundland - education, we have done it in infrastructure. I just want to mention one figure in particular that I was given today with respect to our government's investment in municipal infrastructure since 2003-2004 when we took office. Mr. Speaker, our government has provided to the municipalities in Newfoundland and Labrador since 2003 $911 million in municipal infrastructure in this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HARDING: Of this amount, Mr. Speaker, and that is money that has gone into capital works for municipalities in terms of roadwork, in terms of water and sewer, municipal buildings, fire trucks and so on in towns with a population of less than 3,000, and we are talking - that is all in rural Newfoundland. Over that past six years, Mr. Speaker, we have contributed $332 million in infrastructure money; that is for towns less than 3,000 population. So for people to look up then, Mr. Speaker, and say we are not contributing to rural Newfoundland and Labrador, I have to say that those people, they are either still voting for Mr. Smallwood or they have a chip on their shoulder -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HARDING: Otherwise, they have no idea of what they are talking about.

Mr. Speaker, I will conclude on that note now because I know we have three or four more speakers from the government side, and I assume that the Opposition will have two or three speakers as well. I will come back later on and conclude my remarks on this resolution.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Bellevue.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. PEACH: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It gives me a great pleasure to stand in this House today and speak on this motion put forward by my colleague, the Member for Bonavista North. I, too, like our hon. colleague, come from a small community, Mr. Speaker, in rural Newfoundland. I live in rural Newfoundland as a Member of the House of Assembly. The District of Bellevue is pretty much all rural Newfoundland. There are very few communities in my district that do not receive funding or have not received funding over the past years from this government.

Mr. Speaker, before I speak on that, I want to talk about this morning, Mr. Speaker. When we woke up this morning, we were without water in the hotel. I want to refer to the bottled water that we received this morning, Mr. Speaker. When I received two bottles of water this morning, it was eighty degrees true north, and I said: Where did that water come from? I googled on the computer this morning and I found out that the water came from St. Anthony in Newfoundland, a rural community in Newfoundland, Mr. Speaker. Very often do we hear our people say, our constituents say in our districts, that everything stays inside of St. John's, but it is nice to see that bottled water is being shipped into St. John's and marketed into St. John's and coming from a company in rural Newfoundland –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. PEACH: – a company that has been partly funded by our government, Mr. Speaker. So, I am really, really pleased to see that we are doing something in rural Newfoundland, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. PEACH: Mr. Speaker, there has been a lot happening in my district over the last couple of years, Mr. Speaker. We have had quite a bit of funding for different projects in my district.

I might say, too, Mr. Speaker, that we have seen renovations in our schools, renovations in schools in Swift Current and Terrenceville. Mr. Speaker, our government's $800 million infrastructure funding to the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Speaker, for rural communities, I am being told that we have spent and invested over 80 per cent of the $800 million investment in rural Newfoundland communities, Mr. Speaker.

I want to point out some of the funds, and some of the sectors that the funds have been spent in, Mr. Speaker: In transportation and infrastructure, $309,230,000; in education facilities, $155,745,000; in health care facilities, $163,000,000 in health care; $103,112,000 in municipal infrastructure; Newfoundland and Labrador Housing, $25 million; Justice infrastructure, over $18 million. Mr. Speaker, this certainly shows that our government is committed to rural Newfoundland.

Mr. Speaker, the government has focused on the need in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. We do not talk enough about what happens out in our communities in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. Small projects such as grants for recreation, Lions Clubs, community centres, mean a lot to rural Newfoundland, Mr. Speaker. Funding this year in my district made many communities and towns feel good about their future. Mr. Speaker, funding such as the CEP programs that came out just recently being announced for people to get enough stamps to get their unemployment for the winter means a lot to the people in rural Newfoundland.

The fisheries assistance program this past year has certainly been an asset to the people who had a downturn in the fishery, in the fish plants and in the fishery, Mr. Speaker. We saw this year, in the district, through the Isthmus Development Association, a tourist enhancement program in the amount of $50,660, and this enhancement program was partnered with the Isthmus Development Association and the Long Cove Harbour Authority and also with ACOA and Service Canada. The total funds for that community this year were $230,000.

Mr. Speaker, we have seen pavement in the New Harbour, Dildo and Old Shop area in my district. We have seen pavement in the Fair Haven Road, Long Cove and Sunnyside, Mr. Speaker. We have seen pavement and road upgrades on the Burin Peninsula Highway, a commitment of funding for an interchange near Come By Chance and Sunnyside on the Trans-Canada Highway. This was a commitment that did not get started this fall, Mr. Speaker, but will be starting in early 2010. Road upgrades on Monkstown Road, road upgrades and pavement in St. Bernard's and Jacques Fontaine, water and sewer projects in Norman's Cove, water and sewer project in Sunnyside, water and sewer and road upgrades in Arnold's Cove, water and sewer projects in Southern Harbour, water upgrades in Thornlea, Mr. Speaker, two pilot projects, one at Sunnyside and one at Southern Harbour, for water quality, $100,000 for new technology at Long Cove plant.

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk a little bit about aquaculture. We have some monies that went into mussel farming in Merasheen Island in the sum of $10,000. We also saw some monies in Come By Chance in the amount of $50,000. We also saw monies going out into rural Newfoundland and Labrador communities. Mr. Speaker, my district has benefited from the $800 million package that was assisted by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador that was signed this year.

I want to talk a little bit about the zonal boards in my area as well, and their importance to the community. We have a zonal board in Carbonear, M-RON, and M-RON covers six communities in my district, Mr. Speaker, the communities of New Harbour, Dildo, South Dildo, Broad Cove, Old Shop and Blaketown. Mr. Speaker, these people are very professional in what they do, from the zonal boards. Also, we have another zonal board, Discovery zonal board, in Clarenville, and that zonal board covers fourteen communities in my district, from Chapel Arm through to Swift Current. Then we have the Schooner board in Marystown, on the Burin Peninsula, and that board covers from St. Bernard's, Bay L'Argent area to English Harbour East and the Terrenceville area.

I want to say, Mr. Speaker, that these zonal boards are certainly a big asset to the people in small communities in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. These people are involved in the day-to-day business transactions that go on. They are also involved in the day-to-day planning for new business.

Just today, Mr. Speaker, I had a call from a young person out in my district who wanted to know where they could go to pursue funding for a new business. Mr. Speaker, I was not hesitant at all to ask them to go to talk with their zonal board in that area. I directed them to the people they needed to talk to.

Mr. Speaker, the fishing industry this year has been a downturn in our district as well. We have certainly taken our attention to the fishery this year by coming up with our commitments that government have made earlier, and fulfilling the commitment of the Fisheries Assistance Program certainly helped a lot of communities out there get community centres repaired, do work on churches, do work on the wharves, do work on the slipways.

Mr. Speaker, these things mean a lot to rural Newfoundland and Labrador communities because these small infrastructures in the town certainly mean that if they get repaired and brought up to a standard of safety and whatever - wheelchair ramps around a building - it means a lot to people in rural Newfoundland. We have to keep our infrastructure up in our communities to be able to meet the day-to-day requirements of safety, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, all the zonal boards work hand in hand, Mr. Speaker, with the INTRD offices. We have an INTRD office in Carbonear that worked with the M-RON board. Both of those work hand in hand in delivering programs. We also have an INTRD office in Clarenville that works hand in hand with the Discovery board, and we have an INTRD office in Marystown that works with the board in Marystown as well.

I want to thank these people, Mr. Speaker. I want to thank these people who are on these M-RON boards. Also, we have the rural development associations in the district. The Isthmus Development Association covers from Chapel Arm-Fair Haven area. We also have a rural development association on the Burin Peninsula; it is the Fortune Bay East Development Association, Mr. Speaker. They work pretty much hand in hand as well with the M-RON boards and the Discovery boards and the Schooner boards. Also, Mr. Speaker, they work with a lot of projects through INTRD. They deliver a lot of projects through the fishery; they deliver projects through forestry. When we talk about the brush cutting, Mr. Speaker, most of the brush cutting money is put through our rural developments and every day we see things happen. I am told that the rural development every year, Mr. Speaker, sponsors projects that total over $1 million, and all in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

These boards and their staff, through the rural development and through the zonal boards, are all volunteers too, Mr. Speaker. I want to point out that they are all volunteers; volunteers that take their dedication and time away from their families as well to make rural Newfoundland a better place to stay and live, and to see people come in and build housing and build different businesses up in the communities, Mr. Speaker, that makes it better to live in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. I want to take this opportunity to thank them publicly for their dedication and their time and their hours that they put into the rural development of rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I certainly want to say that I would not know what kind of a position that this Province would be in if it were not for having a leader like we have in this Province today, Mr. Speaker, the Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador. We all know how moved we all were when the Premier walked down the steps in the airport with a check in his hand, Mr. Speaker. I want to say that was the first step of the foundation that was set for this Province and for Newfoundland and Labrador, and for the rural communities in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I want to say that I am proud to be part of this government. Mr. Speaker, a government who cares, a government who understands, a government who has committed to the people of this Province, has committed no more giveaways, Mr. Speaker, and I am proud to be part of that government.

Thank you, very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (T. Osborne): The hon. the Member for The Straits & White Bay North.

MR. DEAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I would like to speak for a few moments about the resolution before us as it pertains to my district in particular, The Straits & White Bay North. Certainly, it is a commendable thing to acknowledge and to realize that rural and regional economic development is very necessary. Certainly, some good things happening for sure in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, but then amongst the good or amidst the good that is being done there is also a lot of things that are not so good.

In my district, for example, I spoke this morning to a mayor of a community, there is a small town of Raleigh where, for the past five years, the town has been on a boil order and not able to drink from the water supply in that community. I think of the town of Green Island Brook, for example, where several homes in the center of that community have for a number of years now have had no access to their homes during the wintertime in terms of snow clearing. During the by-election, travelling to the district and talking to those people and realize how they have to use sleds to bring their groceries to their door from December down through April month because the highway service transportation equipment is not able to or does not do that part of the community. Towns like Sandy Cove and Englee where, for years, they had a fishing industry and a fish plant, and their plants have deteriorated to a point where they are not useable any more and they have no idea really where their future lies and where their communities will go for their economic viability.

Towns like St. Anthony Bight, St. Carols and Great Braha where the availability of high-speed Internet is not available. Just yesterday, I had an e-mail from a lady who lives in St. Anthony Bight, just six kilometres from St. Anthony, who has an opportunity to work in a home-based possibility, but yet not able to do it because it requires high-speed Internet. So, some of the things that we take for granted, certainly in the urban parts of the Province, and in many parts of rural Newfoundland, are still not available in many other parts.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. DEAN: Also, 911 services is so important and crucial to attention and survival of our people, is not available in rural Newfoundland. Cellphone coverage, many parts of the Province, in my district you can go, leave St. Anthony, and two kilometres or so out you lose your cellphone service. Many communities in rural Newfoundland that do not have adequate fire service facilities and trouble attracting volunteer firefighters and so on.

Just this weekend, while I was in my district I was informed by a member there that the decision of the Western Newfoundland and Labrador marketing organization to withdraw funding, or to close the office and layoff the person that was involved there, and Corner Brook would become the place where St. Anthony, the Viking Trail and so on would be administered from.

It seems that in recent years those things have just continued for some reason. We have lost our school board that was so vital and important to us. Now, decision making for the education of our children is directly out of Corner Brook. We lost our health board to Goose Bay and the autonomy we enjoyed so much and that was so necessary to the survival of our health care system is now being done from another part of the Province. Then the Viking Trail Tourism Association that, just eight or ten years ago, had an executive director, a staff and an office in St. Anthony, now we have to look to Corner Brook to give us direction as to how we promote national historic sites like L'Anse aux Meadows and other attractions along the Viking Trail.

Certainly, these are concerns that I share today as we consider the commitment that we have to rural Newfoundland and as we speak about the things that we have done there, still there would be so much more that we could do.

While all of these things have gone out, the sad thing is that it seems as though nothing is coming in. Again this week I read in the Northern Pen that in Port au Choix , that IMP, a business that had been there for so long, serving the fishing industry that they were closing their doors and leaving the area. These are significant moves. These are moves that really change the whole dynamic of what our communities are and how they are and so on.

The comment earlier about the whiskey fits, I am not sure about that when we consider small communities like Main Brook and some of the older residents who may have a trailer up in some little location along the road, I am not sure if they would really appreciate being referred to in that way. What provincial park would they go to if they were to take their trailer tomorrow, if they could, and move it exactly, where would they go? So I think there has to be an understanding that one size does not fit all and there have to be exceptions to every situation within our Province.

When we consider education, again, we see in my district a community struggling with the closure of their school. Again, I would trust that we would really reconsider and re-evaluate and understand the whole dynamic that is taking place and so on there. So many other things that have failed rural Newfoundland in recent years. So while there is money obviously being spent in rural Newfoundland, on roads and schools and things like that, and certainly much more needed to be spent and much more attention needed to really ensure that rural Newfoundland and that my district, as I said in particular for me, has an opportunity to survive into the future and to prosper and that our communities can do well.

So these are just a few points today that I would make and I would encourage the government to consider that as we look - I would also like to put forth or read an amendment or put forth an amendment here at this moment, Mr. Speaker, on the proposal.

It is moved by the hon. Member for The Straits & White Bay North and seconded by the hon. Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair; it is proposed that the resolution be amended by deleting the last paragraph and substituting it with the following:

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly affirms its support for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to promote and invest in the growth, prosperity and sustainability of our rural and regional communities;

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this House of Assembly call upon government to place more focus on the fishery, agriculture, forestry and tourism industries, the lifeblood of many rural communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development.

Are you speaking to the amendment?

MR. SKINNER: Mr. Speaker, yes, is the short answer. I have not received the amendment. I am just wondering if we could receive the amendment -

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. SKINNER: Do you mind if I respond to it? I have not had an opportunity to see the amendment. If I could, we would like to have an opportunity to receive the amendment and take a brief recess while we review it, please.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader speaking to the amendment.

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Mr. Speaker, maybe just for clarification for all parties concerned. We did have an amendment ready; I presented it to the Table Officers some time ago today. The Table Officers indicated that it would be moved. We had intended to move it through the Leader of the Opposition who was going to be the first speaker, but she got tied up because of a scrum. Therefore the Member for The Straits & White Bay North spoke; therefore he is moving the amendment rather than the Leader of the Opposition, but it is seconded by her.

Yes, the minister is quite right; we were told not to circulate it to anyone until such time as we had tabled it. They would rule if it was in order and if it was, we have additional copies for everyone.

MR. SPEAKER: There has been an amendment tabled by the hon. the Member for The Straits & White Bay North. We will take a short recess to allow all members of the House to receive a copy and to allow the Chair to examine the amendment to determine whether or not it is in order.

Recess

MR. SPEAKER (T. Osborne): Order, please!

The Chair has had an opportunity to review the amendment as put forward by the hon. the Member for The Straits & White Bay North, and views the amendment to be in order.

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I certainly wanted to rise and speak to the motion that is before the House of Assembly today: the motion, Mr. Speaker, that has been put forward by my colleague, the Member for Bonavista North.

Mr. Speaker, when he introduced the motion today, which is really to affirm government's support for rural Newfoundland and Labrador, I guess there is nothing wrong with affirming one's support for any particular area or region of the Province, but when government feels that the support they are lending and the kind of strategy they are implementing is not penetrating to the communities and the people who live in those regions, and they are forced to bring in a motion to try and solidify the people that we are doing something for you, I think there is a big message in that itself. There is a huge message, Mr. Speaker, when you have to tell people and remind people. The exact words the member used when he introduced the motion, he said: We are doing this today to remind people of what we are doing in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

There is a big message in that, when you have to remind people, because they are either not feeling the support, they are not feeling the investment, they are not feeling the progress, they are not really feeling a part of any of these things within the Province, and the motion is there to remind you - you people out there who think that we are not doing anything for you – we are going to remind you today, because we are going to read the last three Budgets that have been brought down, we are going to rehash every single press release, to remind you that we are doing something for you.

Well, Mr. Speaker, when you are actually really doing something, you actually see results, and the results are felt. I can tell you today that in many areas – I will not say all areas, because that would not be accurate, but in most areas - in rural Newfoundland and Labrador today, Mr. Speaker, they are not feeling a part of the progress and the financial-found wealth of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. In fact, they are feeling anything but. Their challenges, Mr. Speaker, are greater and greater every day – not lesser. For those who do not believe that, you have your head in the sand. For those who do not believe that, you really do have your head in the sand.

There is a saying that self-praise is no praise at all. That is exactly what is happening here today, Mr. Speaker. When a government has to get up and praise themselves, and try to convince and influence the minds of people in rural Newfoundland and Labrador that we are doing something for you, well, Mr. Speaker, it carries no weight with me, because the reality of what is happening in rural Newfoundland and Labrador should be seen by half the members in this Province, in this House of Assembly, that represent rural district. Mr. Speaker, if there are any of them who can stand in their seats today and tell me that in their districts the unemployment rate is not growing, that outmigration is not getting more and more, larger every day, that more businesses, Mr. Speaker, small businesses, are not closing, I challenge them. I challenge them, Mr. Speaker, because every statistic that has been done, Mr. Speaker –

MR. WISEMAN: A point of order, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Minister of Business, on a point of order.

MR. WISEMAN: I am going to accept the challenge of the member opposite. I represent a rural district – I represent the District of Trinity North - and on all those counts I think the District of Trinity North measures favourably, I say, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: I am just one of many, Mr. Speaker, who can say it.

I do not want to interrupt her ten minute speech but I cannot leave that comment unchecked. When she looks across this House of Assembly and looks at this side of the House and says I challenge any member to stand, I can stand and defend what is happening in Trinity North and talk about the growth and prosperity that is happening in rural parts of Trinity North, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. HICKEY: A point of order, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Minister of Labrador Affairs, on a point of order.

MR. HICKEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I represent a rural part of this Province, and as the Minister of Labrador Affairs I can tell you Labrador has not been neglected over the last five years like it was the previous fourteen years when she was part of it, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: We have spent $1.9 billion in Labrador in all departments, and that is a rural part of this Province, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. HICKEY: Mr. Speaker, the rural parts of this Province are getting looked after. We spent, just over the last number of years, $130 million in The Straits & White Bay North. That is a rural part of the Province, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: Mr. Speaker, a brand new school in her district, in Port Hope Simpson.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. HICKEY: A school in L'Anse-au-Loup (inaudible)

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: (Inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

All of the other members I have challenged, I hope they will get up when my time is finished, Mr. Speaker, not on points of order that are frivolous. They are making a mockery of the House of Assembly. Mr. Speaker, they are not following the parliamentary procedure in this House, and it is absolutely disgusting if you ask me.

MR. PEACH: A point of order, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Bellevue, on a point of order.

MR. PEACH: Mr. Speaker, I rise to the challenge of the Leader of the Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. PEACH: She talked about businesses growing out in the communities. We have seen new business growing all the time in my district in the last two years, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. PEACH: We see new housing growing in our district, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. PEACH: We see our schools being renovated, Mr. Speaker, things that have not happened before with the members of the Opposition, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, they are like a crowd of children in a schoolyard. They all have their time here to speak to this motion, Mr. Speaker, and they are abusing the parliamentary rules of this House of Assembly which will indicate - indicate quite clearly - that they have no points of order.

They have been challenged, and I hope that before the day is out, when my time is up, that every one of them will stand up and talk about, reaffirm, and try and convince the people in rural Newfoundland and Labrador that we are doing something for you; because they are not convinced today, Mr. Speaker. The rural-urban divide sentiment is alive and well in this Province, Mr. Speaker.

For those members who got up and talked about how well their districts are doing, well, I can get up and I can tell you this: The unemployment rate in most of those districts is growing every single day. Last month, Mr. Speaker, the unemployment rate in the district of the member who introduced this motion today has gone from 18.4 per cent to 20 per cent, almost double, over double, what the provincial average is, double what the St. John's unemployment rate is, I say, Mr. Speaker. The reason for that is this: The real wealth of the oil and gas industry is being felt in the Eastern Avalon and in places like in the area of the member for Trinity and Clarenville – yes, it is – but, is it being felt right across Newfoundland and Labrador? Absolutely not. In fact, Mr. Speaker, 70 per cent of the service companies that provide services to the oil and gas industry in this Province are in the Eastern Avalon region. Only 5 per cent of those companies exist outside of this particular region. In fact, Mr. Speaker, 25 per cent of that service comes from outside the Province.

Mr. Speaker, I knocked on a lot of doors and I know that members opposite have. How they can stand in their place today, when they have knocked on doors down in the District of Terra Nova and in the district of the Northern Peninsula in the last couple of months, and look across this room and tell me that everything is well in rural Newfoundland and Labrador? Mr. Speaker, they have obviously not clued in at all to any of those people that they have met, to none of those people that they have met.

In fact, Mr. Speaker, in many of these houses that I went and talked to people at their kitchen tables, talked to them in meeting halls, talked to them in their place of business, those who were fortunate enough to still have good, viable businesses and employing people, I can tell you the message that I heard. The message was this: We are not feeling the wealth that the government claims is being generated in this Province.

In fact, Mr. Speaker, you look at the Budget. The Budget, since the time this government came to power, has increased by 76 per cent in revenue in this Province; 76 per cent. They are spending over $3 billion more today than they were three or four years ago -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS JONES: - but, are people in those communities feeling that kind of wealth? Absolutely not. In fact, Mr. Speaker, many of them still have to leave this Province to find work. Because it was on this government's watch that the entire forest industry collapsed in Newfoundland and Labrador. An industry, Mr. Speaker, that was providing jobs to rural communities in this Province; an industry that was keeping sawmillers in business, keeping loggers in business, keeping pulp and paper mills in business, and it was under the watch of this government, Mr. Speaker, when they looked at companies like AbitibiBowater and said they could not wait to see the backs of their heads when they left the Province, that these industries failed.

It is the fishing industry, Mr. Speaker. This government, since day one of its administration, has failed to deal with the issues in the fishing industry. It was this government who dismantled FPI, Mr. Speaker, dismantled FPI, tore down the flagship company of the fishing industry in this Province, and in fact they failed to replace that particular marketing arm with anything else in the Province to date. In fact, Mr. Speaker, most of them have very little to do with the fishing industry, and it is absolutely disappointing.

The member who brought in the motion today, look at how disappointed he was on the Fisheries Broadcast back a few months ago when your government voted down a licence for a processing plant in his own district, when your government voted it down after a board had approved it. Mr. Speaker, the member opposite was not praising the government that day, when he was on the Fisheries Broadcast talking about how hundreds of jobs in his district were going to be ripped out; the guts were going to be ripped out of her by the government opposite, Mr. Speaker.

What happened when they came and they wanted to put - down in that very same district, the very same district where the member today, the Member for Bonavista North, is talking about the great things the government, his government, is doing in rural communities, they gutted a licence down there in a plant, 200 jobs gone because of it. They tried to bring in a cranberry operation, and the Minister of Business of the day, Mr. Speaker, took that long to try to get a file through the department, the business left. They invested in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia somewhere, and all of those jobs were gone. So, Mr. Speaker, how the member can get the gall to stand up here today and even talk about investment in rural communities is beyond me.

Mr. Speaker, the government wants to talk about infrastructure spending: all the money they are putting into roads, money they are putting into bridges, money they are putting into water and sewer. Let's not forget, Mr. Speaker, that kind of infrastructure spending has always gone on in this Province based on the revenues that have been available. Today, there should be four times more money spent in infrastructure in rural Newfoundland and Labrador than there was four years ago because there is more money to spend. That is the reality. In addition to that, there are huge transfers in infrastructure dollars from the federal government. It is not all coming out of their pocket.

Mr. Speaker, let's not forget where this government has gotten its new-found wealth. It did not come through the deals that they brokered. Their new-found wealth, Mr. Speaker, is coming from projects like Voisey's Bay –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS JONES: - from the Hibernia Development Project, from the White Rose development oil project, from the Terra Nova oil development project. This is where the real monies are coming from, that are being spent on Newfoundlanders and Labradorians; not because of the foresight of any member across the way, Mr. Speaker, you can be sure of that.

Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of gaps in rural communities and it absolutely breaks my heart. It breaks my heart when I walk into these communities, Mr. Speaker, and people are looking at you and they are asking for the smallest things, in some cases –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS JONES: - the smallest things – and they are not even getting a hearing with the government, Mr. Speaker. That is exactly the situation. All of that was pretty evident down in Terra Nova when you had people working in the logging industry, and sawmill operators who had been waiting six and eight months to get a meeting with the minister of forestry after an industry collapsed in this Province. Because they were out in a rural community, out in rural Newfoundland, Mr. Speaker, no one would meet with them; but, in the middle of a by-election, as soon as the news hit the media, the minister was on the ground and she was meeting with them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS JONES: That was the difference.

Let's talk about Labrador for a minute, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

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

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: No leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

Before I recognize the Member for St. Barbe, I apologize to the Member for St. Barbe. We generally alternate one from Opposition and one from government. The Member for St. Barbe was standing and I inadvertently recognized the Opposition House Leader. I would ask everybody to keep that in mind as we recognize the next two speakers.

The hon. the Member for St. Barbe.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. YOUNG: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is certainly a pleasure to stand here today and speak on this motion. It is a motion regarding rural Newfoundland and Labrador, and the economic development that has been on the go there.

As for myself, and representing the District of St. Barbe, I represent one of the more rural districts in this Province. I have thirty-four communities that are spread over 300 kilometres from one end of her to the other. Obviously, with thirty-four communities, I do not have a community of 3,000 to 4,000 people. My biggest communities consist of around 1,000 people, and I have four of those, actually, I suppose, that would fall into that category. Other than that, I have small communities quite similar to my own, that are 200 to 300 to 400 people. Mr. Speaker, because of that, the challenges I certainly understand are significant, and to overcome them is not easy. Really, it takes a challenge.

In this last little while, the Premier saw fit to appoint me Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development. I saw this is a great opportunity for my district, to be able to get out and get involved at such a level, so I am rather pleased that has happened.

One of the things that will give me is an opportunity through the Rural Secretariat. It is an important body, and to be able to get involved with such a body is very important to me, and to be able to get involved in the pilot project that takes in half of my district, on the northern part, is certainly significant for me, because we are certainly exploring new ways to be able to get out there and to bring the community and the government together, and to try to separate what we have dividing us, I suppose, out there. That is the challenge that we have through distance, and small communities on the go.

So what we are doing with the Rural Secretariat and that pilot project is giving an opportunity for the leadership there to come together, to sit down at the table with government departments and be able to prioritize and see what is important to the people and what is important to government, and the challenges we have as a government in being able to deliver services and being able to create the new opportunities we have out there, and the challenges we have in accepting what is out there, what government can do. To be able to blend that together is certainly ever so important for us. I am very fortunate to find myself in an opportunity to be able to get out there and to play a role, because I certainly feel that I can play a role.

I come from a background in the hospitality industry, and it certainly helps me understand some of the challenges. When I offered myself for election in 2001, I said: I have a background where I had served the people who are out there, who are working the resources we have, and are making a living from the fishery, the forestry and the tourism, and I certainly understand that part of it.

I also understand, through that opportunity, the people who had regulated and who had come out to see that the industries were being regulated and run in such a way. I understood the challenge of being able to fit into a government bloc, as such, and we have to reshape ourselves in order to be able to access what is out there. I saw that as being an incredible problem, that it had to be solved and to be able to blend. I think this pilot project is certainly one of the great ways of being able to round the square and square the circle kind of thing so that it meets, so that we have those government services wherever we go. I saw that as being a very good opportunity for me.

I went out there, and one of the other things that I saw as coming out of the industry that I did is a sense of no boundaries. I had gone out there, I suppose, in my family business, and I had seen the investments into a park, with Parks Canada in L'Anse aux Meadows, and to go out there and to see someone who was an hour-and-a-half away be able to benefit as much as they did certainly gave me a great appreciation for whatever we do, and if we invest properly that we can go out there to create the economies that are worthwhile. To be able to find the right things to invest in will certainly benefit us all. I certainly bring that understanding to the table, and I am really pleased that I am able to do that.

Some of the things - I went out there, and I have to point out - with our infrastructure, such as our highways, our road system, you know, the 430 being out there, on the Northern Peninsula we have some clusters of attractions that are attracting people worldwide: Gros Morne; L'Anse aux Meadows. Just Labrador in itself is an incredible place and an incredible attraction. We have places like Port au Choix, and then we have others things with Bird Cove and other attractions that are out there. One of the things out there holding people back: our highways had dilapidated to the point that there were maps out there circulating in the tourism industry that had circles drawn on them between Hawke's Bay and the north part of the boundary, that were not considered passable, and that is what was going around.

If you have such challenges, no matter what you do, you cannot get out there and attract someone to come there if they are getting information that they cannot actually get there unless they have an incredible effort and pay an incredible price.

I have seen, in the last six years, where we have gone from having those conditions to having one of the better highways in this Province, Mr. Speaker. I have seen where we have a thirty kilometre stretch; and, if you have ever set down on a thirty kilometre stretch of new asphalt, it is certainly impressive. You kind of think you are going to run out two or three times before you do actually get to the end. To see the change in the supports that we have in putting that infrastructure there is considerable.

It not only supports the tourism industry. Because people go out and say: Well, you know, the tourism industry is a marginal industry; it does not create year-round employment, and it is this and that, and it is taking its time to be able to be known throughout the community as a credible employer, as well as the forestry and the fisheries, the traditional ones that we have had.

Mr. Speaker, every part of it, the industry that we have with trucking, that goes out there, that takes everything on the part of the economy – just to transportation itself, was the day that a gentleman got down out of his truck and came over and shook my hand, and asked me if I would thank the Premier for him, because he was now taking money and putting it into his pocket instead of into his truck. He was making a living that was increasing, instead of just existing hoping for a better day. To him, that better day had arrived. To me, it was a significant time, a significant happening, when that man shook my hand. I knew that we had certainly turned a corner. It was very pleasing to be there and to know that you were a part of it, that you were given the message to bring back, that we were doing the right things, and that we were building things.

Mr. Speaker, like I said in the comparison, we, on the one hand, had maps drawn. In order to get a government just to go – and I find this a little bit, when I tell some of my colleagues that I had to be on Open Line quite a number of times in order to get the attention, to show how dangerous was a section of road in a park, where a provincial road was there, and as it joined on to the provincial park it was very dangerous going. I had to continuously, in order to get something as serious as that addressed, to go and to have the means to be able, on the other hand, to have a highway that we have today that goes out to build an economy, it is a foundation for an economy. If you do not have the basic infrastructure of highways, there is no way that you can build the economy. You cannot get the confidence of people who are going to come and invest and determine that future is there unless you have that, Mr. Speaker.

One of the other things that I have that has been out there, and I have seen, has been an incredible decision for rural Newfoundland and Labrador, and that was the broadband. The decision to get out there to force the issue that we are going to have broadband in 90-odd per cent of our communities was an incredible decision. It showed that we were going to have a commitment to a place that we could go out there and have any business and be able to prosper. The only side to that is that in the interim what we have is the fear of not being included; because, to be not included, it means so much. It is just as drastic if there was not a road coming through your community as it is for the broadband, so the stress has been incredible. The opportunity for your child, if you live outside of a zone, not to be able to get the education as someone who lives ten kilometres away, those are things that we go through today in the interim.

The commitment that this government has had, that is bringing broadband to rural Newfoundland and Labrador, it is taking rural Newfoundland and Labrador in itself and changing it from a place that had very limited opportunity to a place that has as much opportunity as any urban place.

I think that was a very strong signal that we were not going to sit back and let the chips fall where they may, and that we were taking control of a situation and certainly moving ahead with whatever it takes to be able to make it a credible place to invest, live and grow, Mr. Speaker. That is what we have had with that kind of a decision.

One of the other things that I think that we have certainly gone out for rural Newfoundland and Labrador is 90-10 for small communities. All of my communities fall in the category of being able to have a 90-10. Mr. Speaker, we are out there seeing communities today that are out there planning for the future again when they were at a point where there was no such thing as planning. They had no means to partake into the government system; they just could not afford to belly up to be a part. The 90-10 gave them an opportunity to be a part so that they can plan and they can have a functioning community and an opportunity more so to get involved and to know that you are making a contribution to your community, versus when you had a 70-30 that was out of reach.

One of the things that I use as an example that have saw such a great commitment is one of my communities just got a new fire truck. They were out there, and they were using a fire truck that just was not suited for the job. It was breaking down, it was very inadequate and very much a danger to the community. It was demoralizing to, certainly, the people who offered themselves to go out and to help their neighbours, to protect their community and to do with what they have. Mr. Speaker, today, because of 90-10, they have a new fire truck. They were out today - and I had an opportunity to go and share their first dinner as a fundraiser that they had. The stress that they are not under to be able to pay their share is where we have to be.

It is an important point to go, because if it was a 70-30 and they had decided that they just had to have the fire truck, the amount of money that they would have had to raise in the community to be able to bring their share would have been just so high that it would have been a disagreement within the community. It would have been a community in turmoil, whereas you go out there today and you see a community that is onside, they agree with the decision, they know the amount of money that they have to raise is only a fair amount of money, it is a reasonable amount of money to be able to provide that service. To see those people go out there and to give themselves to the community, as they do, Mr. Speaker, it is certainly encouraging to know that we are here, and I am a part of a government that is out there that is playing that role, Mr. Speaker.

Just to continue on with the notion of a fire department and what it does - last weekend I was to a fireman's ball in Port Saunders. It is that we are out there - for the industry that is out there depends on your volunteer fire departments. We have the fishing industry - in Port Saunders we have a marine centre, it is a very important centre in my district, but the value of what we have there and what they are responsible for, and to be able to have the monies to even buy the phone is an added expense on that community, because of the services that they provide to all of the communities who are coming there. So, Mr. Speaker, that is certainly an incredible service that people are volunteering and giving to us in those small communities. For us to be there to be able to play that role, side by side with them, and to support them as they go, it is certainly encouraging for myself.

Mr. Speaker, one of the other things that I had gotten down to was certainly tourism. Tourism is certainly a very important engine to rural Newfoundland and Labrador. I saw those two ads that we had just gone out and done with Gros Morne and L'Anse aux Meadows. It was incredible, Mr. Speaker. I can sit, myself, today and see it and watch it for its entirety because it is so captivating. The response that you get from people is likewise, who are seeing it and coming to have an appreciation for what we have. That is certainly an economic engine that we are supporting in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, Mr. Speaker.

One of the other things that I have is certainly the forestry. You take on the Northern Peninsula, where Corner Brook Pulp and Paper was no longer able to buy the pulpwood. It was uneconomical for them to be able to do that. To have a government to sit down and to come together with private industry and to be able to support them, to be able to get off into a new direction with a pellet plant and sawmill and to size it all, to make it fit, to be able to ensure that there was an economy there in the forest industry, was certainly very significant, Mr. Speaker. It was an effort, and the amount of work was very much unlike what I have seen before, where I have seen a particleboard plant announced, or I saw something else announced that was a little bit of money thrown at something, and that was going to solve the problem. It is certainly not the approach of this government, Mr. Speaker. It was one where there was a lot of hard work put into. Having an industry changed it completely. It was there in partnership with private industry and the people on the Northern Peninsula is that we are heading off into another direction, and a very significant one, I believe.

Mr. Speaker, one of the other things I would like to touch on is the oil industry. The oil industry is what certainly moves the economy of the Province as a whole. Today we have, in Parson's Pond, an opportunity where Nalcor is investing $14 million exploring oil opportunities on the Northern Peninsula. I certainly believe that exploration will show the geology and will show the potential that we have, whether we strike oil within those three holes or not, it is the beginning and a significant investment in trying to make sure that the oil industry gets where it needs to be on the Northern Peninsula. I think when you see that change, you will see an economy on the West Coast of this Province that will be contributing from an oil industry, the same as we have on the Northeast Avalon, and the Province as a whole, Mr. Speaker.

One of things that I find encouraging is that we are changing and we are in control of the change. Many times people would like to turn back the clock to go back to where we were; that is impossible. How do you find you way out? It is certainly a challenge then. It is a challenge that takes a lot of hard work, Mr. Speaker, and this government has been there with the people of this Province, and we are changing for a better future.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (Kelly): The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for Exploits.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FORSEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The motion that we are talking about today identifies a lot of investment and initiatives by INTRD. However, the Leader of the Opposition has challenged the government members here in this House to get up and defend what is happening in their districts - especially rural members, Mr. Speaker. Of course, the District of Exploits is certainly a rural district. Now, I would have liked to have talked about some other things, and if I get the time, I will do that, because this government is certainly concentrating and consistently supporting initiatives in rural and regional areas in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, just for the information of the general public out there, and the information of the Opposition, and especially the Leader of the Opposition, in Bishop's Falls, there are several industries in there that are actually going strong. Newfoundland Styro, just this past year, Mr. Speaker, is now operating on a twenty-four hour work shift – three eight-hour shifts. High Point Industries, Mr. Speaker, is exporting to seven different countries. The only product that is made in Newfoundland and Labrador that he is supplying is made in the District of Exploits and shipping to seven different countries, Mr. Speaker.

Because of this government, Mr. Speaker, a woodworking company out our way, in the Town of Bishop's Falls, Blanchard's Woodworking, is now making pellets. They have started up a pelletizing plant because of this government, and the investment by this government and supporting the local economy, Mr. Speaker. Through that, they have probably a staff of employees right now of somewhere between twenty-five and thirty people working there, Mr. Speaker. Now, in a small industry and a small community in small district, that is a lot of jobs, but we cannot forget that we lost a lot of jobs, Mr. Speaker. We lost a lot of jobs this year, because of the downturn with AbitibiBowater. However, it is not the first time we lost jobs, Mr. Speaker. I can remember when the Town of Botwood was a thriving community. It was a big shipping port, when ASARCO shipped all their concentrate through that port, Mr. Speaker. What happened to ASARCO? ASARCO closed. They left and what did they leave? Nothing only, I guess, an environmental mess is what they left, and infrastructure that today is not fit for anyone to use. It just costs a lot of money to try to clean it up, Mr. Speaker.

Bishop's Falls, Mr. Speaker, in the 1950s had over 100 people working in a pulp mill in Bishop's Falls. It closed, but we are resilient, we persevere. We came back - but we came back and we have been doing it, this particular government anyway, has been able to support us to come back and we are going to come back in rural Newfoundland and we are doing it now, Mr. Speaker. I say we are doing it now. So it is not uncommon for industry to have a downturn or to close. It happens every day in the Province, in the country, and in the world, Mr. Speaker. We need a government with a vision and we need a government that is prepared to support the people when that happens, and this government is doing it, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FORSEY: That is just in the industry part of it, Mr. Speaker. I have listened to a lot of members, especially on the government side, get up this past week or so and speak on Address in Reply, on the Throne Speech, Mr. Speaker, and talk about the things that are happening in their district. Actually, I did the very same thing, Mr. Speaker. I wanted to talk about what was happening in my district because it is a rural district. I wanted to talk about the things that we have invested in as a government, Mr. Speaker, and we are able to do that because of the leadership that we have. The Premier has gone out and, I guess, has negotiated deals for this Province that has never been seen before and that is why we are able to do that and that is why we are able to spend in rural Newfoundland.

I have to go back, because the Leader of the Opposition is there I guess riding this high horse like she is the only one who knows what rural Newfoundland is all about. She flies around in a helicopter and I have to drive a second-hand machine.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FORSEY: She also gets big investment in her district, Mr. Speaker. Very big for a rural area and I have been told by the Minister of Labrador Affairs that the road is now joined to Southern Labrador from Goose Bay over to Cartwright. It is already joined. Well, what did they do when they were in? Ninety-seven million dollars, I think, was put to one side that they spent. What did they do in the 1990s when they could not invest money into the schools? They decided to amalgamate them and close most of them down, but the money did not go back into the schools, unfortunately. It did not go back into education.

I recall back before 2003, I am not sure of the time, around 2002, there was a strike, Mr. Speaker, with maintenance workers in the schools, because I know in Bishop's Falls they were out on strike and the workers wanted a meeting with the Premier of the day. We all know who the Premier of the day was. He resigned in May of 2005, and I came in to represent the district at that time - after fourteen or fifteen years of, I guess, things deteriorating in the district. They wanted the Premier to come in and have a meeting with them. Now normally the Premier is a very busy person and he is not getting out. You have the Minister of Finance and different people that will get out and deal with I guess union negotiations and so on. The other reason they asked for him is because he was the member. He was the Member for the District of Exploits. A couple of days later I read in the local paper that he would not come out because they were mob mentality. Their member would not show up because they were mob mentality. You ask us what we are doing for rural Newfoundland, Mr. Speaker, and they get up and challenge us.

Well, I said it last week and I am going to say it again because I do believe it is worth repeating. For eleven years prior to my getting elected in 2005, they spent $2.5 million on roadwork, road infrastructure; upgrades in eleven years, $2.5 million. A couple of hundred thousand dollars a year. The member was a minister and also the Premier. Well, in a very short four years, Mr. Speaker, I am proud to say that this government has been very supportive of the District of Exploits with close to $10 million worth of roadwork in that district.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FORSEY: The Leader of the Opposition challenges us! Like, where is her head? Where is it? It has to be -

MR. KING: (Inaudible) no school fees, free textbooks.

MR. FORSEY: That is another thing, thank you for reminding me, Minister of Education. Free school fees. Well, I can remember in 2003 - I am saying the same thing that I said last week because apparently the Leader of the Opposition does not listen when you tell her and does not get it or does not want to get it, or probably does not understand is probably the reason for it. She does not understand. That is probably why, that she does not understand why she has a rating that is polling around 10 per cent. She cannot understand why she is not Premier of the Province. She has not figured that out. So, I guess she does not understand.

Anyway, we have to go back to the district and the investment in the schools. This particular member was a minister, as I said, and the Premier of the Province. Well, in four short years we have put one new school in one community, we put an expansion on another school that was worth $1.3 million. We have upgraded, I think, just about every school in the district. We put skilled trades in all the high schools there. There are three of them. There is one small one, as well as K-12. It is in a very small community and not a lot of students, but we are supporting that school as well. They have gotten upgrades. So when this leader, the Leader of the Opposition gets up and challenges the members of rural districts, Mr. Speaker, I do not think we have any problem getting up.

Mr. Speaker, as a member representing a rural district in Newfoundland and Labrador, it is a pleasure to have the opportunity to have a few words on this motion. I have been down in Bonavista North, Mr. Speaker. I know the Leader of the Opposition was accusing the Member of Bonavista North for not helping with initiatives and investments in Bonavista North. Well, I am going to tell you, when I drove down there with him a couple of weeks ago I never found very many bumps in the road, Mr. Speaker, I can tell you that.

MR. HICKEY: No, sir. A lot less bumps now than there was when he took over.

MR. FORSEY: Absolutely. Anyway in part of the motion it says "…Be It Resolved that the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly affirms its support for the determination of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to continue promoting the growth, prosperity and sustainability of our rural and regional…" communities. Mr. Speaker, the key word is: continue, because since 2003 under the leadership of this Premier, we have seen continuous investment in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, when I was first elected in 2005, one of the first challenges I witnessed for this government was the crises faced in the Coast of Bays area; more specifically in Harbour Breton, Mr. Speaker.

On Monday of this week, I listened to my colleague, the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune talk about the investments by this government in her district and the solid growth in a diversified fishery, Mr. Speaker. Three years later, we have seen the economy change around in the Coast of Bays because this government listens and this government supports rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FORSEY: According to my colleague, there are now over 500 people directly employed in fishery related activity in that region all because of the initiatives taken by this government, but it did not happen overnight, Mr. Speaker. I said that this started when I came in here in 2005 and now, in 2009, there is a big change in Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune.

Just today, Mr. Speaker, our Minister of Fisheries informed us that since 2005 the aquaculture industry has almost doubled from $33 million to over $63 million in 2008. Mr. Speaker, that is an example of what this government is doing in rural and regional areas and there are hundreds more, I say, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, this motion that I am supporting today specifically mentions the initiatives by the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, especially the establishment of the Regional Sectoral Diversification Fund, Mr. Speaker.

I have to ask the question, and I am going to list off a few communities, and I am going to ask the question and you can tell me where they are located. Are they urban or rural areas, Mr. Speaker? Twillingate, $50,000 to enhance tourism attraction; Pool's Cove, I do not think Pool's Cove is urban, $261,000, Mr. Speaker, to expand the marine infrastructure down there; the Exploits region - the Exploits district, by the way, is in the Exploits region and it also includes from Buchans right down to Leading Tickles, Mr. Speaker - the Exploits Valley, $1,020,000 invested in 2009-2010 by this government by Innovation and Trade.

Mr. Speaker, I notice my colleague, the Member for Grand Falls-Windsor-Buchans, the Minister of Human Resources, Labour and Employment, and she is smiling and she should be smiling as well as I am, because that is a lot of money to invest, but it is in rural Newfoundland, Mr. Speaker. There were eleven applications approved this year for the development of cranberry farms, Mr. Speaker, out in our region in the Exploits Valley. I do not think that was in St. John's or on the Avalon, not at all.

Plum Point, I do believe, is rural, $73,000; Norris Point, $98,000. I can see why the Member for St. Barbe got up and talked about his district. It is a very rural district. He does not have a community that probably got over 1,000 people, but this government invested in a marine biology station there in Norris Point, almost $100,000.

Port aux Basques, I do believe that the Opposition House Leader represents Port aux Basques. What did this government do under Innovation and Trade? Invest $246,735 to convert a fish plant to an industrial space for business attraction - almost $250,000, Mr. Speaker. Battle Harbour, now I do not know, Battle Harbour, I do believe, is a very rural community, I am sure - $100,000 this past year, Mr. Speaker, for the Battle Harbour historic kitchen renovations.

Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair, Forteau - now if my memory serves me right the Leader of the Opposition represents these communities.

MR. SPEAKER: I remind the hon. member that his time has expired.

MR. FORSEY: I will have another time.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

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

I am very happy to be able to stand today and speak to the amended resolution that we have on the floor. While the clock says fifteen minutes for me, I really will not get fifteen because I know I have to be finished by 4:45 p.m. to meet the House rules.

It has been a very interesting afternoon for me and I had my whole talk prepared and the direction in which I was going to go, and in midstream I have decided to change what I was going to do. My experience is, Mr. Speaker, based on, for example, yesterday or the day before when I did my Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne and based on other experiences I have had here with regard to Question Period et cetera, I find that when one tries to speak of the reality of the lives of the people in the Province to the members on the government side they do not seem to get it and they do not seem to want to hear it. All we get back from the government side of the House, when it comes to issues that we raise, issues that I raise, all I get back and all we get back here on the Opposition side is the listing of all the money that has gone into infrastructure.

Now I am delighted that this Province has the money so that we can finally have a government put money into infrastructure whether the infrastructure is roads, whether it is taking care of the badly needed repairs to schools and new schools that is going on, whether it is new long-term care facilities. No matter what it is, that infrastructure is essential to the life of the people and that infrastructure is essential to the well-being of the people in this Province. Of course I am delighted that infrastructure is happening, that infrastructure is being put in place, being improved, of course I am, but the thing that I keep wanting to get across to the government is that, that infrastructure is not helping the lives of many people. I have spoken about those people and who they are, people that I have met and continue to meet all the time, every day, speak to, or meet face to face, for whom the economy is not working. The government refuses to understand this.

Again, I will repeat what I have said here in the House during this past week, during the two by-elections, October and November, I spent almost the whole entire two months in rural Newfoundland, not for the first time in my life. I taught in Baie Verte. I taught in St. Lawrence. I taught on Bell Island. I have been in rural Newfoundland. I have lived in rural Newfoundland. I continue to go to rural Newfoundland; so I know what the reality is.

Rural Newfoundland can be very deceptive. I remember one time, back in the seventies, I was escorting somebody around the Province who was visiting the Province, and she made a comment to me as we were travelling around this summer. She said: Gee, I thought there was poverty in Newfoundland; I do not see any poverty. That is the deception of rural Newfoundland because our people have pride. People in rural Newfoundland and Labrador have pride. They have pride in their homes. They have pride in their property. They have pride in who they are. Poverty is not seeing people who are down and out. So, you can walk into the home of a senior citizen in rural Newfoundland and have that senior citizen look wonderful, be very proud and speak very strongly to you. It takes some time with the person before you find what the reality of their life is and how meagre their income is, but they have a pride in themselves and a pride in their community.

We have to start building on that pride. This government can talk about the infrastructure that it is building all it wants in rural Newfoundland, but it cannot deny that our young people are leaving rural Newfoundland because they cannot see anything there for them.

I had the privilege this morning of being on VOCM's Open Line for the morning. One of the people who called in to speak was a thirty-one-year-old man who works in the fishery. What he wanted to bring to me and what he questioned me about on Open Line this morning was: What is this government going to do for the young people? I am in the fishing industry and I want to stay here but I do not see any hope, especially after this summer, this terrible summer. I see initiatives, he said, I see initiatives to help people at the older end of the working scale and to help them get out of the industry but, he said, there is no sense of their getting out of the industry if there is no industry for us younger ones to continue in. That was a thirty-one-year-old man who said that to me this morning.

I decided that what I wanted to use my time for this afternoon, rather than reiterating all the groups who are out there for whom things are not benefiting them. Rather than reiterating things like the issues around home care, which everybody knows is so dear to my heart; things about the health care system, things about income support. Rather than reiterating that, I thought I would be a bit more proactive this afternoon and talk about what they are doing in Ireland.

Now this government likes to talk about its connection with Ireland, although we have not heard much about it recently. I would like to talk about an experience that I had this fall, earlier on in the fall, and it was at a conference that was held by the Federation of Labour over at the Holiday Inn. That conference had present added a really exciting speaker, exciting because of the work that he is doing in Ireland. His name is Paul Keating and he is the Manager of what is called the Rural Development Support Unit. This Rural Development Support Unit is something that is part of a major initiative of the Irish government called the National Rural Network. Now, what strikes me as I look at the materials from the Rural Network in Ireland is that in terms of what they are trying to do, in terms of the connections that are being made between business, between community groups, between government, between industries like the fishery and agriculture, that all of those networks that are being developed, if one looked at our material from our Rural Secretariat, for example, you would probably see a lot of similar stuff. You would probably see a lot of similar stuff.

Mr. Speaker, I have had to stop and the reason I have had to stop is I have a hearing problem and I am having real difficulty with the noise. I am really sorry to bring it up but I really find it hard.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS MICHAEL: Thank you.

I hate to do it but I do have a hearing problem. Thank you very much.

If we look at their materials and compare them to the Rural Secretariat you would probably see: gee, this looks like the same work going on. The goals look very similar, strengthening rural Newfoundland, strengthening the leadership in rural Newfoundland, and getting economic development going. On the surface it would look like the work is quite similar but the thing that one sees as one goes into the details is that what is different between what is happening in Ireland and here is that the government is putting money into having highly trained people who really know what community economic development is, actually working hands on in the communities, developing the plans and developing businesses. You have a whole network, not just of volunteers but of people who are trained in the most up-to-date state-of-the-art methodologies today around community economic development. They are putting millions and millions and millions of dollars into paying for those staff people to be out there.

Now, back twenty years ago we used to have staff people out working in the communities here in Newfoundland and Labrador. We had staff people with rural development, we had staff people with MUN extension and there were other organizations. I was part of one who did that work and if the government really wants their plans to work, if they really believe in rural Newfoundland, they have to stop talking about what they believe and they have to put money into really helping the communities develop. Help the communities develop ideas around wind farms, for example. Use Nalcor to work with communities to see how maybe we could come up with our own company that would build turbines. There are so many things that could be done that this government has to put money where its mouth is with regard to training people to do the work.

I do not know how clearly I can say this, Mr. Speaker. If the government wants things to succeed, if we want to have young people in the communities to enjoy the infrastructure that is being put in place than we have to put resources in the communities, to work with the communities to come up with exciting new ideas so that young people, with the training and the high-tech training they are getting in this Province today, can come back to their communities excited about helping the new industries develop.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I remind the hon. member that subject to Standing Order 63.(6) of the House of Assembly, the proposer of the motion has the right to close debate.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HARDING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker,

Mr. Speaker, first of all I want to make a few comments with respect to the Leader of the Opposition talking about our members having our heads in the sand. I was just looking at a printout there then. Since 2005 that hon. member, the Leader of the Opposition, has received in her district more than $32 million in roadwork.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. HARDING: That is provincial, and monies that we leverage from the federal government. So I would rather say, Mr. Speaker, that that hon. member has her head buried in the rock and fill that is going in the roadwork in Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HARDING: With respect to the shrimp licence, Mr. Speaker, for Valleyfield, it is obvious she did not know anything when she was Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture and she even knows less now.

Mr. Speaker, the shrimp fishery this year, half of the quota was left in the water, half of the quota, somewhere around 70 million pounds, Mr. Speaker. Only recently I was talking to DFO scientists, that resource, the shrimp resource is in terrible condition; so much so that next year's quota is really uncertain as to what it is going to be, not only next year, but years to come, Mr. Speaker. That is the reality of the shrimp fishery in this Province.

With respect to the licence for Valleyfield, the company, looking back on it now, is calling it - the decision that was made - a blessing in disguise.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HARDING: It is obvious she has no understanding whatsoever of the shrimp fishery in this Province.

She also mentioned out-migration, Mr. Speaker. The last two years, from the statistics that I have seen, we have had a net positive migration of people to this Province. Our population has been increasing. People are returning and coming back in their early fifties. They are investing money in business. I know they are doing it out in my district and creating new jobs. So I do not know where she is coming from with respect to that, Mr. Speaker. Last year, we had more people working in this Province than any time in its history. Last year also, we had lower unemployment than we had in years and years, Mr. Speaker. To compare this year with last year, I mean it is not comparing apples with apples at all. This year we are involved in a worldwide recession, but our Province is far ahead of any other province in this country.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HARDING: We are investing up to $800 million this year in infrastructure in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. So, Mr. Speaker, I certainly do not know where that hon. member is coming from.

In terms of my own district, in Bonavista North, I just want to, if I could, make reference to some of the expenditures this year: Indian Bay, $253,000, water upgrading; Musgrave Harbour - the former Minister of Transportation is quite aware of the situation there - $2 million. Every bit of road in Musgrave Harbour this year has been resurfaced. Lumsden, $433,000 to upgrade their water system; Lumsden, again, $240,000 for a new fire truck; New-Wes-Valley, $2 million for an extension and renovations to Lester Pearson Memorial High School, just about completed now in a matter of another few days; $900,000 in New-Wes-Valley for a new fire hall; $5 million over the next three years for water and sewer in New-Wes-Valley.

I can go on, Mr. Speaker, with $2 million this year on our roads in Bonavista North, partially on the Gander Bay part and the other part on Indian Bay to Trinity area. Plus, $2 million in replacing two bridges in the Bonavista North loop road this year, Mr. Speaker. Special assistance grants, the companies she mentioned, Beothic Fish Processors, this year we gave them over $40,000 to convert their plant at Greenspond into a mink feed kitchen. So we are doing two things there. We are creating jobs, there will be three or four, four or five year-round jobs, which is uncommon in the fishery in this Province and we are also taking care of the environment, Mr. Speaker, because the offal from the fish plant now and other plants in the region will be taken to Greenspond and turned into a product for our mink industry.

Mr. Speaker, with respect to the amendment that was made by the hon. Leader of the Opposition; we will not be supporting that, even though we do agree with the spirit of the amendment. However – and what the amendment says, the Be It Resolved part, is that we focus more on fishery, agriculture, forestry and tourism.

Mr. Speaker, if you take tourism alone, when we came into government, the government of the day was contributing $6 million to tourism. What are we putting into tourism today, Mr. Speaker? Thirteen million dollars.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HARDING: In terms of the fishery, Mr. Speaker, we have very little control over the management of the fishery, as you are quite aware of. The minister mentioned only a couple of days ago, this year we are putting $35 million into the fishery in this Province. More than what the combined total is for the other three Atlantic Provinces.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HARDING: In terms of forestry and agrifoods, the other two things that they mention, Mr. Speaker - I have three pages here. Time will not permit me to mention all of them, but I will mention some. In forest road construction this year, $24.8 million.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HARDING: That will mean 480 new kilometres of road for the forest industry plus 329 reconditioned roads.

We have invested $21 million for silviculture projects, Mr. Speaker; $11.6 million to protect our forest resources from devastating forest fires and insect infestation. Through the Forest Industry Diversification Program, the Province has invested $9 million in a multi-phased proposal –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HARDING: - for the modernization of a sawmill, the installation of a drying kiln and other projects - a new pelletizing plant on the Northern Peninsula. Mr. Speaker, this is one that you are quite familiar with, I am sure. The Province invested $2.25 million for the modernization of a sawmill in Lethbridge in the District of Bonavista South.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HARDING: That investment alone, Mr. Speaker, as you know, will maintain seventy jobs directly associated with Sexton enterprises and another 105 indirectly with the forest sector on the Bonavista Peninsula.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HARDING: In the Growing Forward Agreement with respect to agriculture, $29.58 million has been allocated in Newfoundland and Labrador agriculture and agrifoods industry for a non-business risk management program.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HARDING: Under the Provincial Agrifoods Assistance Program, $8 million over the last five years has gone to help farmers in our Province. Funding has been provided for farm infrastructure, equipment purchases, maintenance of community pastures and land development.

To enhance the viability of the mink industry in Newfoundland and Labrador, a new industry, Mr. Speaker, the provincial government has committed $5.2 million to ward the Aleutian Disease Management Program. The Province has committed $5.25 million to the cranberry industry in the Province. Over the past six years the Land Consolidation Program - we purchased thirty-five properties for agriculture land development in this Province.

Mr. Speaker, I can go on and on, but time will not permit. I want to take the opportunity at this time to thank all hon. members who did speak on the resolution today. It is important that, as a government, we continue to invest in our infrastructure, in our natural resource development, value-added production, diversification, education, our social network and so on.

Mr. Speaker, we have to be responsible as well. A major portion of our revenue is coming from the offshore oil and gas sector. As everyone is quite aware, that sector is very volatile. While this year oil prices may be good and fairly high next year - who knows? So we have to be constantly conscious of that fact, Mr. Speaker, and not to overspend like the Opposition members are asking us to do.

Mr. Speaker, on that, again, I would like to thank all hon. members who spoke and I would just like to add that we will voting against the amendment.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (Fitzgerald): Order, please!

Is the House ready for the question?

Shall the amendment carry?

All those in favour, 'aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Nay.

The amendment is lost.

On motion, amendment defeated.

MR. SPEAKER: Shall the resolution carry?

All those in favour, 'aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

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

The resolution is carried.

On motion, resolution carried.

MR. SPEAKER: This House now stands adjourned until 1:30 of the clock tomorrow, being Thursday.