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The House met at 1:30 p.m.

SPEAKER (Bennett): Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Before we begin, in the public gallery today, we have several guests joining us who will be recognized for Members' statements. Welcome staff members and volunteers from the Torbay town council.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: As well as students Billie Wicks and Katie Spurrell, Principal Michael Spurrell and teacher Rodney Boutcher from the Clarenville High School.

Welcome.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: Also in the public gallery, we welcome Mary Angela Rich and Simon Gregoire from Natuashish and Sheshatshiu.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: I'd also like to welcome all the young families here today. It's great to see all the young children here.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

Statements by Members

SPEAKER: Today we'll hear statements by the hon. Members for the Districts of Baie Verte - Green Bay, Mount Pearl North, Terra Nova and Cape St. Francis.

The hon. the Member for Baie Verte - Green Bay.

B. WARR: Speaker, I rise to highlight and invite all my colleagues to the 34th annual Baie Verte Mining Conference, hosted by the Baie Verte Peninsula Chamber of Commerce on June 9 and 10.

Chamber of Commerce President Lloyd Hayden and staff have worked diligently to increase the numbers with attendance up to 260 people. We anticipate these numbers to exceed, due to the growing interest in the mining industry within the region and having already proven to be a must-attend mining conference each year.

The mining conferences in Baie Verte have helped shape many of the policies and regulations in place today and have helped pave the way for the mining industry.

The Baie Verte Peninsula has a long-standing history of mining, boasting the first mine in the province, Tilt Cove, dating back to 1864, as well as Baie Verte, Ming's Bight, Snook's Arm and Pine Cove. Recently, a third-generation miner's ingenuity resulted in waste rock from a gold mine operation producing construction aggregate.

It takes partnerships, co-operation and a shared vision to build an economy and a healthy community. Everything we need to succeed in this province is right here in our people.

Thank you, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl North.

L. STOYLES: Speaker, over four decades, Jeff Blackwood's volunteer activities have enriched our community. Jeff served as a volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross for over 25 years, serving at provincial president, Atlantic regional president and as a member of the national board of governors. He was honoured with the organization's highest recognition, receiving the Order of the Red Cross.

Jeff and his late wife Carol founded a cancer support group that operated monthly for over 13 years. Jeff and Carol, with their group, provided new, vital information on cancer treatment inside and outside of the province as well as financial assistance to patients in need.

Jeff is also a published author of the 2019 historic novel, Finding Jane. This traces the history of the first Blackwoods from Scotland to Newfoundland, involving extensive research of the Newfoundland export of dried salt fish to Barbados in the early 1800s by Captain Ebenezer Blackwood.

Jeff has also been honoured by the St. John's Jaycees Citizen of the Year award in 2000 and he has received the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal.

Speaker, I ask all Members to join me in thanking Jeff Blackwood for his tremendous volunteerism and community spirit.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Terra Nova.

L. PARROTT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, Clarenville High School staff and students felt wellness was an essential but missing part of their curriculum; that was until they saw a virtual presentation from one of their students, Billie Wicks.

Recently, Billie, Katie Spurrell, Principal Michael Spurrell and their teacher Rodney Boutcher were afforded the opportunity to travel to California and present at an international Global Deep Learning conference and represent Newfoundland and Labrador. This was attended by over 500 educators from around the world. You can view their presentation on the high school's website.

Since then, the school has embraced student wellness. They've connected wellness to student life in and outside the school by providing meaningful learning opportunities.

The last Wednesday of every month at school is dedicated to a various activities where everyone gets together; students are encouraged to take a breaks, connect with family and friends or just to do something they enjoy. A podcast and a YouTube channel have been established where students discuss relevant topics of concern to them and showcase their talents. 

The cafeteria during lunch has become vibrant, full of laughter, from staff and students. A stage has been built, a sound system installed, safe places established and games placed in the cafeteria: air hockey, shuffleboard, foosball, puzzles, board games, as well as guitars and a piano to enjoy in their free time.

I would like to take the opportunity to congratulate these two young women for their meaningful initiatives.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Cape St. Francis.

J. WALL: Thank you, Speaker.

I rise today to recognize the Town of Torbay and their milestone achieved, as they celebrated 50 years of incorporation as a municipality. Incorporated in 1972, under the leadership of their first mayor, the late William Manning, Torbay began the process of being shaped into the modern, developing municipality it is today.

To recognize this event, the town and its dedicated volunteers planned Torbay 50 in order to celebrate this important anniversary. With events such as a community breakfast, mayor's garden party, municipal open house, citizenship ceremony, youth and adult dances, family fun day, community market, museum open house, sports reunion and softball tournament, there was something for everyone to take part, in celebrating Torbay's 50th.

Speaker, I'd like to commend the numerous volunteers who are dedicated to ensuring all events went smoothly and were enjoyed. The level of volunteerism shown throughout the schedule of events from July 1 to September 30 was certainly noticed and appreciated by all of us who attended.

Speaker, I ask all hon. Members to join me in congratulating Torbay on their 50th anniversary and thank all staff and volunteers who made this celebration a huge success.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you very much, Speaker.

The power of education cannot be overstated. Teachers play a vital role in making possibilities become realities for students.

I stand today to remind the public that nominations are now open for the third annual Premier's Award for Teaching Innovation and the Minister of Education's Award for Compassion in Teaching.

The Premier's Award for Teaching Innovation recognizes primary, elementary or secondary teachers in all disciplines who have demonstrated innovation in instruction and a commitment to preparing their students for future success.

The Minister of Education's Award for Compassion in Teaching recognizes inspirational and compassionate teachers at the primary, elementary or secondary level who have demonstrated a commitment to supporting the social, emotional and mental health of their students, colleagues or school community as a whole.

These awards recognize teaching excellence in areas that are meaningful and impactful for K-to-12 students in Newfoundland and Labrador.

In recognition of the important role teachers play, our government continues to make key investments, including increases in the last two years to the teaching services budget and continued funding to maintained the school-based reading specialist, teaching and learning assistants, teacher libraries and English-as-a-second-language teachers added as a result of the education teachers added as a result of the Education Action Plan.

Speaker, I encourage students, parents, colleagues and administrators to nominate an educator today. Information on the awards is available on the government website and the deadline for submissions is May 26, 2023.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

B. PETTEN: Thank you, Speaker.

I would like to thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement.

Speaker, I join the minister in noting the opening of nominations for the Premier's Award for Teaching Innovation and the Minister of Education's Award for Compassion in Teaching.

Speaker, given the unprecedented challenges of COVID-19 during the past two years, teachers are commended for their innovation and compassion in the classroom. So many of our teachers, administrators and staff have risen to the challenges of COVID-19 by providing exceptional leadership and ensuring children receive a quality education.

We have all heard so many stories of teachers going the extra mile to ensure students get a helping hand in their journey through life. Unfortunately, today, we find teachers with classes doubled up, while others lose preparation and instruction time due to a systemic shortage of substitute teachers that government has neglected for years. As the NLTA continues to point out, government lacks any long-term vision for our education. We need to do better.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

J. DINN: Thank you, Speaker.

I, too, thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement.

Certainly, I still consider myself a teacher and join in that need to recognize the colleagues who are still in the field.

We encourage every person who's touched by an educator to thank them and consider nominating someone for this award, and awards are appreciated. Teachers do not seek recognition but we must go beyond awards. We call on this government to acknowledge the value of educators in this province outside of the annual awards in more practical ways. Teachers need resources and to be heard if they are to ensure that our future leaders reach their potential.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: Are there any further statements by ministers?

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

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

D. BRAZIL: Speaker, I'm not always proud of the actions in this House, but yesterday was one of the proudest moments I ever had in my 13 years in this House.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

D. BRAZIL: To have all of us stand in unison to sing the “Ode to Newfoundland” and the “Ode to Labrador” to acknowledge our heritage and our culture speaks volumes to not only this House, but to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

D. BRAZIL: Speaker, another day has passed, boats are still tied up at wharves, plant workers are at home without a source of income and businesses are suffering.

Premier, what are you going to do to support the people who rely on this industry to make a living?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture.

D. BRAGG: Thank you, Speaker.

I guess I could almost say, welcome to my world. This is a revolving and evolving door every single day: another offer presented, another offer rejected, Mr. Speaker.

We asked ASP and the FFAW to come to the table, to bring something to the table that can put this to an end. They are the people to put this in place. I listened to the ASP, Jeff Loder, on Open Line earlier today. From what he's saying, the ball now lies in FFAW's court to put a presentation forward. Reports in the media says that FFAW is waiting on ASP but, according to Jeff, what I heard about 12 today is they are waiting for the FFAW to bring something forward.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

D. BRAZIL: Thank you, Speaker.

Again, I'll reiterate what I've said for the last number of days: We need the Premier to show leadership here and take the lead on this file.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

D. BRAZIL: The longer the boats stay tied up, the more it hurts communities across our province, all while the Premier is nowhere to be found.

Can the government update this House on EI extensions and support for workers and businesses who rely on the industry?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

B. DAVIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the hon. Member for the question.

It's an important thing to get both parties back at the table. We've had a mediator engaged from the beginning. I encourage both parties, if they have offers that they want to deal with, let's get the mediator involved. We're more than happy to have that person come to the table, help to get a deal, put it to bed so we can get the fishing boats on the water and get the fish out of the water.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

D. BRAZIL: Thank you, Speaker.

What's needed here is an EI extension to at least get people to the next level so they have some sustainability while they wait for this industry to get back up and running.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

D. BRAZIL: Speaker, losing the snow crab fishery this year will have a major impact on the economic outlook. According to Statistics Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador was the only province to drop in economic growth in 2022.

Can the Deputy Premier tell us how devastating the loss of the crab fishery will be on our economy?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Premier.

S. COADY: I will say to the Member opposite that while we had a slight dip in GDP last year due to the changes in oil and gas extraction, we certainly did have a very strong and positive growth not only in our population, not only in retail sales, not only in housing sales, but also, I would say, in employment. So there are more measurements than just GDP.

I will say to the Member opposite that we are very concerned about the fishery. That's why the Premier's engaged. That's why the minister is working very, very diligently. That's why the Minister of Labour is so engaged. We all know how important the fishery is to this province. We want to get this solved and we call on the parties to do so.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

D. BRAZIL: Thank you, Speaker.

I'll remind the Deputy Premier that this is a multi-billion dollar industry and if it falters, it has an impact on every Newfoundlander and Labradorian and our status economically in this world.

Speaker, the federal minister of Emergency Preparedness, Bill Blair, called Open Line to speak about Emergency Preparedness Week. When asked if the federal government ever paid hackers for ransomware attack, he said – quote – no, Sir, no, Sir, we have not.

I ask the Premier: Why can the federal minister give a clear answer and you can't?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Premier.

S. COADY: Thank you very much.

To the preamble, I can assure the Member opposite, I, in particular, understand the value of the fishing industry. I've been engaged in the fishing industry for the last 20 years. The Member opposite knows that. My family has been very heavily engaged.

I recognize, as a human being, and I recognize, all my colleagues recognize, I believe this whole House recognizes, the value of the fishing industry. We want to get this solved. That's why we're working so diligently towards that. That's why the Premier is engaged. That's why the minister is working day to day. That's why the Minister of Responsible for Labour is engaged. We really want to get this solved.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

D. BRAZIL: Again, Speaker, the question here was about was there a ransom paid and why is there information not being shared with the people of Newfoundland and Labrador where it is being shared with other jurisdictions in this country of ours.

This was the largest cyberattack in the history of our province and it was billed as the worst in Canadian history by experts.

Why does your Liberal government want to hide important information from the public when other countries and other federal governments have no problem answering a straightforward question on ransom and being open and transparent to the people that they serve?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

J. HOGAN: Thank you, Speaker.

We've been open and transparent since the second we learned about the cyberattack to NLCHI, which again –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

J. HOGAN: – we talked about in the House this week. It was not the government in and of itself. It was not even a department. It was not a regional health authority. It was the Centre for Health Information.

Now, what we have done since day one has had numerous media briefings to advise the public what information was obtained, what information was accessed and we were advised by our security advisors, our provincial security advisors, national security advisors, including members of the federal Cabinet – I will say, of which Mr. Blair is a part of – to not disclose whether or not a ransom was paid.

So I'm going to take that advice rather than jeopardize not only the health care system, but potentially the entire Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

B. PETTEN: I guess it will remain a secret forever. The people in the province don't deserve an answer, I guess.

Speaker, November 2022, this House unanimously passed a resolution which urged Memorial University to include the “Ode to Newfoundland” and the “Ode to Labrador” in all future convocation ceremonies. Now six months later, Memorial University is ignoring this House, which in essence, you're ignoring the people of this province.

Will the Minister of Education direct Memorial to include the Ode in upcoming convocation ceremonies?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation.

S. CROCKER: Thank you very much. Mr. Speaker.

I know the Minister of Education can certainly answer this question, but I just want to go back to some of the things we said yesterday here in this House. I quite frankly had conversations yesterday with Memorial University and let me assure you they are quite frank.

The reality is Memorial University has made a mistake here. Let's be clear about it. This is the anthem of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, along with the “Ode to Labrador,” Mr. Speaker, which the motion last year was very clear in. We didn't ask for somebody to exclude anybody. We actually asked them to include more.

We'll continue to advocate to have this decision reversed. Obviously, the university has autonomy here. Mr. Speaker, we'll look at the measures that are available to us to resolve this once and for all.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

B. PETTEN: Thank you, Speaker.

I strongly believe the province will support this government, this Legislature if we demand the university not lose that right to be able to play that Ode. That's a provincial responsibility and should come from this Legislature, not from 95 senate members at Memorial University. We, the House, this government, should be able to say you play the anthem, it's our anthem and it should never be taken away without the people of this province having a say, not 95 members in the Senate.

AN HON. MEMBER: Who we represent.

B. PETTEN: That's who we represent.

The “Ode to Newfoundland” was our first national anthem, as the minister just said. The Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs is responsible for the Provincial Anthem Act.

I ask the minister: Will she immediately bring legislation in to amend the act to require Memorial University to include it in all upcoming convocations?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Municipal and Provincial Affairs.

K. HOWELL: Thank you, Speaker.

Again, it's a pleasure to be able to speak to the importance of the “Ode to Newfoundland” and the “Ode to Labrador” as it represents the people of this province. It was my pleasure, however it came across yesterday, as we sang the “Ode to Labrador” to learn the words and to find an expression of the people of the Big Land.

Our department takes this issues very seriously. At this point in time it hasn't been made a legislative change, but as with any legislation in this House of Assembly it's always up for discussion and there are always things that we can improve on. In our department, that's certainly something that we will take into consideration.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

B. PETTEN: I appreciate the answer from the minister, and I'm going to make it quite clear. We will ensure fast passage of that legislation if you bring it to this House in the next week. You have our word.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

B. PETTEN: Rapid.

Speaker, a report this week by the Childcare Resource and Research Unit shows the failure of the Liberal government's child care plan. Only 14 per cent of children have child care spaces.

Speaker, why has government failed 86 per cent of the families in this province who are desperately looking for child care?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you very much, Speaker.

The report, whilst new, is stale. It represents data from 2019-2021 and I would draw the Member opposite's attention to the disclaimer from the author that says the data in this report is incomplete and misleading.

We have 1,500 child care spaces for infants and toddlers in this province as of today. That is not enough and we are working to increase that number. We have added 480 spaces for children in the early learning and child care sector in four months alone. Our target was 700 for this year; we are going faster than we had planned.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

B. PETTEN: Thank you, Speaker.

You're obviously not going fast enough; just ask the parents up in that gallery.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

B. PETTEN: I tell you, I have an awful lot in my district and all of our districts around, I get emails – lately I'm getting them almost by the hour. The minister's words are cold comfort to those families; you're well short of the mark, Minister.

Speaker, numbers don't lie. Every child care centre I have talk to has a lengthy wait-list and hundreds of desperate parents calling.

Speaker, what is the benefit of $10-a-day child care if you can't access it?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you very much, Speaker.

We had two problems, at least, with child care back when I came into the portfolio.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SPEAKER: Order, please!

J. HAGGIE: The first was affordability and the second was accessibility. We have fixed the first and we're working on the second. Within the next four weeks, another 245 brand new early childhood educators will graduate and be available to the market. That is potentially eight times that number in terms of child care seats. We continue to work towards our targets and we will do our best to exceed them; currently we're on track to do just that.

Thank you, Speaker.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

B. PETTEN: Thank you, Speaker.

I'll tell the minister, we all think it's a great announcement but there is no plan; this government has had seven years to come up with a plan and we're still waiting. Actually, it's almost eight years.

Speaker, many of those seeking child care are health care professionals who are desperately needed in our system and our health care system runs 24-7.

What has government done to address the unique challenge of shift workers who often work 12-hour days?

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

T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We've indicated that with the replacement of St. Clare's hospital, there will be an early learning and child care centre associated with that. We're already looking at plans for the Health Sciences complex hospital, Mr. Speaker. We are also looking at Western Memorial to incorporate early learning and child care there.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SPEAKER: Order, please!

T. OSBORNE: We understand, Mr. Speaker, that health care workers don't work 9 to 5 and we are addressing it. It is in the Health Accord, Mr. Speaker; it has been in other recommendations. We've indicated our plans to incorporate early learning and child care into health care.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: Speaker, I have received numerous emails and phone calls, too many to count, from women who cannot return to their workplace because they cannot find child care.

Does the Minister Responsible for Women and Gender Equality think it is acceptable that women are being forced to leave the workforce?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you very much, Speaker.

To continue with my previous theme, I met with representatives of the group up in the gallery. That sound up there, Mr. Speaker, is the sound of our future.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

J. HAGGIE: We understand the challenges and we are working hard to fix them. We have gone from a small number, at the end of COVID, to a significant increase in the number of spaces. We have had 480 alone in four months this year.

Our target was modest at 700; we would like to do better. With the increasing number of seats and the increasing number of graduates this year to build on, we are continuing to accelerate this program as fast as we can.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: Speaker, the moms and dads in this gallery today represent thousands of parents throughout our province who –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: – who feel that this government is not doing enough. Parents in rural communities like Holyrood, for example, in the District of Harbour Main, and even all across the province, have reached out to me and my colleagues about the lack of child care spaces for after-school care. One parent said they cannot even find child care between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.

What does the minister suggest parents in rural Newfoundland and Labrador are supposed to do?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you, Speaker.

Part of our plan, which does exist and is out there, to deal with the shortage of child care spaces involves discussions with licensees about the way they operate in terms of the length of their day, and to incentivize out-of-school places, as well as infant and toddler spaces, which are both at a particular premium currently.

We have an opportunity now, with the revamp of the Operating Grant Program, to address that directly. Indeed, the topic of conversation with some of the representatives of the group of parents upstairs was around that very theme. We have connected them directly with our assistant deputy minister responsible for the program.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: Speaker, the minister hasn't addressed my specific question with respect to after-school care. Parents have told me they are risking losing their jobs because they are routinely leaving early from work to rush to pick up their children. In my district, a school is trying to establish an after-school program for September to try to help these parents out.

Why is after-school care an afterthought for this government?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you, Speaker.

I think if you go back through Hansard and examine my comments from the previous answer, you will find the Member opposite is actually mistaken. I did address her statements, but for clarity, the issue of after-school care for children and early learners is part and parcel of our discussions under a revamp of the Operating Grant Program.

We wish to talk to licensees to see what the challenges and barriers are. As I just said, we have connected this group and their representatives at least with our assistant deputy minister responsible for those negotiations so their voice can be directly fed into those discussions.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bonavista.

C. PARDY: Speaker, the current crisis in the snow crab fishery has left hundreds of people who rely on the plant in Bonavista, and I'm sure the same for other areas of the province, in a tough spot. The hurt is real; many now without income.

I ask the Premier: What is your government doing to ensure that these workers can keep the lights on and put food on the table until the fishery resumes?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and Agriculture.

D. BRAGG: Thank you, Speaker.

One of the things we're looking at is programs. Programs such as JCP where people can go out and do some on-the-job training to extend their EI while we're working through this unfortunate position.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SPEAKER: Order, please!

D. BRAGG: The Member opposite is over heckling, as you would know. Most people on EI, we would top up EI on these programs right now. We're hoping for a resolution; we're not hoping for a shutdown of this fishery this year.

Thank you, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bonavista.

C. PARDY: I would assume, Mr. Speaker, that you've had communication with your federal cousins on extending the EI benefits until the fishery would open. I would hope that would've been the case.

Speaker, the crisis in the crab fishery is stressful for the people of the District of Bonavista. On top of worries about the fishery, residents are feeling the stress of frequent closures of their emergency room.

I ask the minister: Have we made progress in unlocking the doors in order for residents to be triaged before being transported to Clarenville emergency?

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

T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the Member for the question because it is important.

Mr. Speaker, we have a number of physicians that offers have been made to and offers accepted for the Bonavista area. We still have the incentive, which is the largest in the country, $200,000 if they go into family medicine. That's another $150,000 on top of that if they come from outside the province and they're from their province. Another $100,000 on top of that if they're not from the province, $50,000 on top of that. That's $400,000 or $450,000 cash in the pocket of somebody who signs up.

We are certainly working on it; we are focused on it, Mr. Speaker. We certainly hope to see those doors open on a more permanent and consistent basis once the contracts are signed and sealed.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bonavista.

C. PARDY: Mr. Speaker, the question was focused on the fact that if we don't have physicians in our emergency room, any resident that was in a medical emergency would go to the doors and they're locked. It may have medical staff in there.

The question was: Can the doors be opened so that the medical staff can triage those emergent victims who show up at the door –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

C. PARDY: – to better prepare them or increase the chances that they will be successful in getting to the nearest emergency 1½ hours away?

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

T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I'll certainly speak with the Health Authority on the logistics of that to ensure that the proper medical staff are there if indeed we can do that. We are always open to creative solutions, Mr. Speaker. One of those creative solutions is virtual care, where we can have virtual oversight so that having staff on the ground, with the oversight of a physician, and that contract should be awarded soon so that we in fact can keep the doors open with virtual oversight by a physician.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Exploits.

P. FORSEY: The emergency rooms are still closed, Speaker.

Speaker, with diversions in place this week at the Connaigre Peninsula Health Care Centre, residents that require emergency service have been asked to proceed to Grand Falls-Windsor, over 250 kilometres away.

I ask the minister: Have additional staff been added to Grand Falls-Windsor to meet this surge in demand?

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

T. OSBORNE: Mr. Speaker, what I can say is that we are working with two physicians for the St. Lawrence area, which will certainly help with that particular site. Those discussions are active as we speak. Mr. Speaker, we're certainly hoping that those two physicians will go to the St. Lawrence area.

Mr. Speaker, staffing is a challenge everywhere, not just in this province, not just in Atlantic Canada, but across the country. It is a challenge for every health authority in Canada, but it is something we are working on.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Exploits.

P. FORSEY: I hope it don't come to the point, Speaker, that St. Lawrence people have to go to Grand Falls-Windsor.

The clinic in Harbour Breton is not the only emergency diversion; we've also noticed Buchans, Baie Verte, Lewisporte, Springdale and St. Alban's. Residents of these communities are asked to proceed to Grand Falls-Windsor in the case of an emergency.

I ask the minister: How are these diversions affecting the emergency room in Grand Falls-Windsor?

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

T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I have a lot of towns on my mind. I meant to say Harbour Breton, but in fact we are working on two for St. Lawrence as well. We're working on two for Harbour Breton. Mr. Speaker, as we speak, two – well, actually three. There are two that are familiar with the site and a brand new one for Harbour Breton, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, this is absolutely a serious issue. It is an issue that we are working on. It is an issue that the Provincial Health Authority is working on. I understand the point the hon. Member is making, Mr. Speaker, because it is important to all of us.

We are working on a resolution to this, Mr. Speaker, including some of the best incentives in all of Canada.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Ferryland.

L. O'DRISCOLL: Speaker, I guess they stopped working on the doctor for Trepassey; is that the case?

Speaker, the people of Trepassey feel abandoned by this government and, from a health care perspective, they're being treated like second-class citizens. They have lost their only doctor because this government refused to give fair compensation.

I ask the minister: When will this government do the right thing and ensure a family doctor is available for the people of my district?

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

T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

There are two nurse practitioners in Trepassey, Mr. Speaker. The Health Authority has indicated that based on staffing and based on needs that they will not be putting a salaried physician down in the area. The physician that the Member speaks of is more than able to go to that area as a fee-for-service physician. Mr. Speaker, if the business was there to allow her to go as a fee-for-service physician, she'd probably make that choice.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Ferryland.

L. O'DRISCOLL: Speaker, if you don't believe me, ask the people of Trepassey; they're the ones that are asking.

Nurse practitioners are not working – they're working in the area but we need more help. The residents of Trepassey are two hours away from a hospital, Speaker, without reliable ambulance service. People's lives are being put at risk.

I ask the minister, again: When will the people of Trepassey have their fully staffed second ambulance reinstated?

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

T. OSBORNE: As the Member knows, Mr. Speaker, we are in the process of integrating ambulance services in this province. I do know that there is work ongoing with the ambulance up there based on the former operator and the Provincial Health Authority, Mr. Speaker. Those things are actually happening as we speak as well.

But the ultimate plan is to have integration of ambulance services throughout this province, Mr. Speaker, with a central dispatch so that we are providing a very competent service with competent staff throughout the entire province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Placentia West - Bellevue.

J. DWYER: Speaker, with the increasing cost of living, people are looking for inexpensive vacation options. Why is it less expensive for someone from Ontario to cross an international border than it is to visit a province in their own country, that of Newfoundland and Labrador – a province in the same country?

Does the minister think this is fair?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation.

S. CROCKER: Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. Member for the question.

Mr. Speaker, we have had ongoing discussions with the airline industry throughout this country during the pandemic, postpandemic and prepandemic. There are economics when it comes to what the Member opposite just outlined and I would love to be able to say to Air Canada, WestJet or any of the airlines: You have to serve your domestic market first. But the reality is, Mr. Speaker, they do not have to do that.

There is a law of return here and, unfortunately, our airlines are profit driven, quite frankly. That is something that we've had conversations with the federal government and Transport Canada around. It's something that is not unique to Newfoundland and Labrador. I know our FPT table has brought it forward to the federal minister and I have a meeting with the federal minister, I think, a week from –

SPEAKER: Order, please!

The minister's time has expired.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

J. DINN: Thank you, Speaker.

Speaker, will the Minister of Education table in this House, before the end of this session, the data and documentation that led to the decision to announce the construction of a new high school in Portugal Cove-St. Philip's?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you very much, Speaker.

As long as the school district still exists, Mr. Speaker, the current arrangement is that the information supplied by various sources, including the school district, feeds in to an infrastructure committee which is chaired by my colleague, the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, and then a list is submitted for government consideration. That is the way things are done currently.

I'm not sure what I can reveal from those discussions because some of those are protected confidences. So the facts of the case are it reveals a certain lack of knowledge about the process, Mr. Speaker. We look to change that with the integration.

Thank you.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

J. DINN: The minister and this government reveal a certain lack of knowledge about the process when they made that announcement last year for a political reason.

The minister has said repeatedly that the discussion about infrastructure will be determined by a robust and data-driven process to decide what schools need replacing and what schools might not.

Why does the minister refuse to table the information –?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SPEAKER: Order, please!

I can't hear the Member asking his question.

The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

J. DINN: Why does the minister refuse to table the information so that we and the people of this province, the people of PWC, have insight into the robust, data-driven process to build a new high school and ignore other priorities?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you, Speaker.

The Member opposite seems to have a reluctance to build anything. He doesn't want hospitals; he doesn't want schools. I would suggest he has a discussion with the Leader of the Official Opposition about whether or not to put up a school in Portugal Cove-St. Philip's is a good idea. We need to be conscious of demographic change, Mr. Speaker, and the fact that the Member over there chooses to ignore it is not my problem.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SPEAKER: Order, please!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

J. DINN: It's a pity that relevance doesn't apply to the answers that ministers give.

Assuming that the impact on programming at PWC and the new school is a consideration in this robust, data-driven process, would the minister outline his plans to mitigate any negative effects as a result of this decision? Will he maintain similar complements of staff or will he simply close PWC and move students and staff to other schools?

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you, Speaker.

It's almost tempting to suspect that the Member opposite not only doesn't want to build stuff, he wants to close stuff. There will be no change to programming at PWC.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Labrador West.

J. BROWN: Thank you, Speaker.

Speaker, parents are protesting outside of Menihek High School as we speak. They do not trust the robust, data-driven process from this department. They are demanding the minister take action to address recruitment and retention of teachers, school staff and for maintenance issues that are related to the schools.

What message does the minister have to the parents and teachers and the students of Labrador West? They want to be heard. They want the minister and the department to actually listen to their legitimate concerns.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you very much, Speaker.

Maintenance, sanitation and those kind of issues are front and centre in the way the school district operates its schools. We want safe schools for our students. We want a collegial atmosphere for the staff and a warm welcoming education or environment. The issues that are highlighted in Menihek, none of which are health and safety or mission critical, are being managed by the school district on a case-by-case basis.

It is an older building, it is in good condition and their concerns have been heard. They met with families' representatives. They've met with teachers and staff, and I've spoken to the NLTA about this myself.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The time for Question Period has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Tabling of Documents

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Children, Seniors and Social Development.

J. ABBOTT: Speaker, in 2019 the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate released A Long Wait for Change: Independent Review of Child Protection Services to Inuit Children in Newfoundland and Labrador. Recommendation 13 from that report recommended that my department monitor and evaluate the state of Indigenous children and youth involved in protection-related services in Newfoundland and Labrador and report annually to the Legislature. This is the second annual report and fulfills the Advocate's recommendation.

SPEAKER: Any further tabling of documents?

Notices of Motion.

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

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

B. PETTEN: Thank you, Speaker.

Speaker, the reason for this petition is as follows:

Whereas affordable and reliable child care is necessary for a progressive society, especially one that ensures equal opportunities for all, encourages a strong workforce and values the importance of family.

Therefore, we petition the hon. House of Assembly as follows: We, the undersigned, call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to take immediate action to ensure that accessible child care is just as much available as it is affordable.

Mr. Speaker, this petition I'm tabling, anyone that's followed this Legislature, child care has been an issue that this caucus, our Opposition have had, and me being the shadow minister for early childhood development, we've carried this file for quite some time. I don't know how many questions we've asked in this Legislature; we've asked a lot of questions. My colleague for Harbour Main, also responsible for Women and Gender Equality, has also a very keen interest in it as it's a direct impact on mothers and women in the province.

Speaker, this is a serious issue. It was nice to announce the $10-a-day child care; we all applauded it, but you have to have a plan. You can't just implement these wonderful announcements with no legwork done. It was a rush to get it. It was one of the signature – Trudeau brought it in. We had brought in affordable child care in the province; it was $25 a day. Then the federal government decided to bring in a $10-a-day child care. No one in this Legislature opposed that. But what we didn't realize, I guess maybe we should have, and I've questioned this myself, is just how unprepared we were for this new initiative. The evidence is coming through daily, almost hourly, parents cannot get child care. It's really serious.

You hear us get up every day and we hammer the issue. There are lots of flaws within this program that could make things better – you look at the families in the gallery and families throughout the province and all our districts. It's that $10-a-day child care, there are fundamental problems with that. It's designed for not-for-profit. We have for-profit child care operators in this province who will expand, are willing to expand, but they cannot expand under this program because it's limited really, truly, to not-for-profit. They're availing of this program now, but they're limited. We've asked many of them. We've met with them. Unlike probably the government opposite, we actually meet with these people. We've met with them; we've heard their concerns.

Their concerns are they would expand – we've asked them that question. We'll expand space; we'd love to, but we can't get the buy-in from government because they'd rather have the not-for-profits.

In my District of Conception Bay South, not-for-profits are non-existent. Newfoundland is not designed like that. Up in other parts of the country maybe it is. That's a fundamental flaw with this $10-a-day child care.

So you can get in all other semantics of we're doing early childhood spaces at CNA and what have you. We're increasing, he says, 400 spaces and the plan was 700. The problem is there was no plan in place and it should have been a plan. Now the families in this province are suffering. I call upon government to make immediate changes and lobby the federal government to make the right changes.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education for a response.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you very much, Speaker.

Briefly, the Member opposite is mistaken in the premise to his discussion after the petition. For-profits that exist in this province already have no trouble gaining access to funding from the department to expand. We will cover their costs completely and they know that. We have discussed this with licensees directly. There will be further discussions under the revamping of the Operating Grant Program. One of the things we're looking at, for example, is business incentives.

We value the private operators, Mr. Speaker, and we know that over 60 per cent of child care services in this province are actually privately delivered. Certainly, the federal government would prefer that we choose not-for-profits but private is not excluded.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: The background to this petition is as follows:

Whereas affordable and reliable child care is necessary for progressive society, especially one that ensures equal opportunities for all, encourages a strong workforce and values the importance of family;

Therefore, we petition the hon. House of Assembly as follows: We, the undersigned, call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to take immediate action to ensure that accessible child care is just as much available as it is affordable.

Speaker, the minister misconstrued what the Member for Conception Bay South said. But the focus here is that we have many moms and dads here in this gallery who are not happy with the current reality of accessing child care in this province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: That is the issue, Speaker.

One of the major issues from the perspective of women in this province is that they feel they have to unequally bear the brunt of this inaccessible child care issue. We have heard from so many parents, so many moms and dads, like the ones that are sitting here in the gallery today, who are emotionally, mentally and financially exhausted over this situation of child care not being accessible.

This is such a difficult climate for parents. They got through COVID. They got through COVID and the school closures. They were hoping for stability. They want answers and they need leadership. Despite what the minister says about what they are doing, they're not doing enough.

The evidence is here because we have these parents, these moms and dads, who represent thousands of similar parents in our province who want to see leadership and they want to see immediate action now from this

Thank you, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education for a response.

J. HAGGIE: Thank you very much, Speaker.

I would echo the sentiments in the petition. I have no problem with that. Unfortunately, the wording that followed from the Member opposite is not reflective of the situation.

Speaker, 480 new spaces this year alone. Actually, we've gone from 45 ECE graduates in 2019 to 245 in the College of the North Atlantic alone. You can't train ECE Level 1 in less than a year. We know that there is an issue with accessibility. We know that affordability has increased demand. We are working hard to meet the increased demand. Our target was 700 spaces for this calendar year; we have got to 480 in a third of that time.

We will continue to do more. We don't want to lose momentum. We're looking at any creative way of increasing capacity. The wage grid could potentially draw back as many as 600 ECEs over the course of this year. For each of them, on average, eight spaces can be created.

We're working on capacity, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Third Party.

J. DINN: Thank you, Speaker.

Speaker, this is a petition regarding access to dental care for seniors. These are the reasons for the petition:

The 2016 Liberal budget eliminated the Adult Dental Program for low-income seniors. Oral health has been scientifically proven to have a major impact on overall health, medical costs and the quality of life.

The Adult Dental Program for youth and senior only cost government $2.5 million in 2015, and reversing these cuts would save our overstretched public health care system money and resources in the long term.

Therefore, we, the undersigned, call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to ensure easy, affordable access to dental care for low-income seniors until the federal dental expands this fall.

Speaker, really when I look at the processes around the adult dental surgical program, there is an awful lot of what I call bureaucratic gatekeeping that probably doesn't have much to do with the actual health of the individual.

I know when I was first elected, one of the first things that came across my desk had to do with trying to remove the lifetime cap of 10 intravitreal eye injections for people who suffer from things like diabetic macular edema; without them these people would go blind. Thankfully, it was recognized that it has more to do with gatekeeping and financial caps than about actual care.

It probably costs more to allow dentists to do the work. Yet, for the surgical program, we need dentists to determine if the work needs to be done; a doctor has to confirm that it is actually exacerbating underlying complex medical conditions. I'm thinking here that it should be self-evident; we have spoken to doctors who are not comfortable with making that decision and feel it should be self-evident that good oral care equates to good health care.

We're asking here, and these petitioners, to step up and follow the lead of the federal programs. Stop the suffering now. Make sure we don't have the same number – 21,000 people – over five years or so visiting ER. Let's look towards a healthier society for everyone, but for our seniors especially.

Thank you.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bonavista.

C. PARDY: Thank you, Speaker.

With a population in excess of 6,000 people in the Bonavista area, there is a severe shortage of child care options for young working families. This leads to absences of young health care professionals and negatively impacts recruitment to historic Bonavista.

We, the undersigned, call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to immediately address the lack of regulated child care facilities in the Bonavista area by including a child care operation in one of our health care facilities to assure our health care professionals that they will not be forced to miss work due to the inability to find child care.

The Minister of Health and Community Services a short time ago had stood and said that when St. Clare's is built, the new building, they're going to have a child care operation in order to serve the professionals that we have working in our health care. That's a good initiative.

We have a young workforce at Bonavista serving close to 8,000 residents that struggle to find health care for their young children. They are currently employed by us, the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. The minister is going to put a child care in St. Clare's, which I said is good, but it can happen in Bonavista as well right now.

The biggest obstacle I would think that we would have for one in Bonavista would be space. But we have space. We even have options of space. We even have an option of it being in the school system. We have lots of options. That is not an impediment. I'm sure we can find an individual which may be in the area to work that.

When we look at the recruitment and retention in the Bonavista area, salary is important. But here's one aspect that you can put in place: child care for the ones that we have to make sure we retain them and it ought to be able to occur, I think, relatively effortlessly. Because we have the space and, conceivably, we have the individuals to be able to run it in the District of Bonavista.

I would say that is something we ought to look at going forward. It ought to be immediate that we would have the option that that would be in place in Bonavista. I am told we have these young professionals that sometimes can't attend to work and care for the residents because they can't find child care. I would say let's do it immediately and find an individual to occupy one of those available spaces.

Thank you, Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Ferryland.

L. O'DRISCOLL: Thank you, Speaker.

The background to this petition is as follows:

Eastern Health has recently repositioned one of the ambulances from the Trepassey region to the Cape Broyle area. This has left only one ambulance in the Trepassey region. Residents of Trepassey and the surrounding area are at least two hours away from the nearest hospital.

Therefore we petition the hon. House of Assembly as follows: We, the undersigned, call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to ensure the safety and well-being of the residents of Trepassey, have accessibility to an ambulance in a time of emergency and meet national standard response times.

Speaker, I spoke on this petition many times. Certainly it's something that we're really concerned about in our district with one ambulance. Again, if an ambulance leaves Trepassey today they're gone at least six to eight hours at minimum and they're in a red alert. Then they're an hour or 1½ hours away from having the next available ambulance if something happens.

In the wintertime, you're looking at the conditions of the road, the barrens, where they have to drive going either direction. They simply should have a second ambulance there. For somebody to drive from Ferryland to go to Trepassey that's not familiar with the area, then they're going to be in trouble with some of these conditions and not understanding the territory. So this is about geography, not about the number of people that live in the district. It's about geography.

Also, with a doctor not in the area as well. I heard the minister say there's a fee for services available. That is the last thing that came up. I've been battling this now a year and a half or two years and that only came up about two months ago, fee for service. Every other excuse until somebody tells them that is the next excuse they're going to use.

There are not enough people there to live on a fee for service so they put her on a salary. They have someone that wants to go there and they won't do it. So that's the issue that we have for the doctor in the area. Not fee for service, there are not enough people, but there are enough people to run a clinic.

They got two nurse practitioners there doing a great job. They're there two days a week. We have three other days they're not there. As for the ambulance – and I was hoping to get an answer on this – in July that contract is up. They notified the Town of Trepassey that the ambulance service is going to be over in July and the minister said they would have something in place.

I'd like to know what the plan is. We've been talking about a plan since we came here. I'd like to know what the plan is for July when this ambulance service is gone out of the area, and what their plan of attack is to be able to put the ambulances back there or how they're going to structure it.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Government House Leader.

L. DEMPSTER: Thank you, Speaker.

I call from the Order Paper, Motion 10.

I move that this House resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole to consider a resolution relating to the raising of loans by the province, Bill 37.

SPEAKER: Can I have a seconder for that, please?

L. DEMPSTER: Seconded by the Deputy Premier.

SPEAKER: The motion is that I do now leave the Chair to resolve the House into a Committee of the Whole on Ways and Means.

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

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

SPEAKER: All those against, 'nay.'

Motion carried.

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

Committee of the Whole

CHAIR (Warr): Order, please!

We are now debating the related resolution and Bill 37.

Resolution

“That it is expedient to bring in a measure to authorize the raising from time to time by way of loan on the credit of the province a sum of money not exceeding $1,500,000,000.”

The Chair recognizes the Member for Terra Nova.

L. PARROTT: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Chair, it is always a pleasure to stand up and speak about money bills. Money bills give you an opportunity to speak about, not just things that affect the province, not just our finances, but certainly things in your district.

The beautiful District of Terra Nova is no different than most. I come here, I sit and I honestly applaud some of the things in the budget. I have said that several times; there are good things in this budget. But everything we need isn't there. I also get the fact that we can't do everything all at once; I am not too naive to think that.

But I would say, you know, we come in here and we debate about the billions of dollars that are going into roads and infrastructure and different things, and I know the minister has travelled the province, but I would challenge him to come to areas in my district and certainly the Bonavista Peninsula, I got no problem saying it. I would argue, from a geographic standpoint, going through Southwest Arm, up through Random Island and down the Bonavista Peninsula and areas are some of the worst roads in the province.

The problem is that these are feeder roads. My colleague talked yesterday about the road from Port Blandford to Bunyan's Cove, outside my district, but many people in my district have to travel that road on a daily basis and many people in his district travel to get into my district for work. The road is treacherous. It really is. It is in major disrepair and it needs some serious upkeeps.

I'll go to Random Island. I mean, Random Island, I said it before, the only way to get back and forth to Random Island without using a sippy cup is to go in a helicopter; it is potholes and major disrepair. Down on the bottom end of Random Island, in the Petley area it is great, the roads have been upgraded a few years ago and it is good, but the problem is getting from point A to point B. We have actually had trucks, tractor-trailers come into the fish plant in Hickman's Harbour and refuse to go down there because of the conditions of the road.

I'll say the same goes on out to Southwest Arm. If you go down to Southport and Gooseberry Cove and those areas, it is shocking to see the disrepair of some of the roads.

I talk about this all the time, as you're going down Southwest Arm and you go on this S turn, they call it, some people call it the horseshoe, the guardrails are asleep and they've been asleep for about five years now. What I mean when I say the guardrails are asleep is they are physically lying down on the side of the road, no post; they're just there to live there.

The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure drives that road not once a week, not twice a week, not three times a week, not four times a week, not five times a week. They drive that road twice a day, every single day just to get to and from work. It blows my mind how they can drive on roads in such bad disrepair with guardrails laid down. It's treacherous. If someone were to go out over, there's no coming back. It would be a high-angle rescue; they would probably have to call a Cormorant helicopter in with hoisting capabilities in order to get someone up out of there. It's shocking.

Then you go to Butter Cove. Myself and the minister have discussed Butter Cove; he understands the disrepair in Butter Cove. St. Brendan's, another good example. These are places that have gravel roads, Class III roads, and I get what comes under the Class III road, how they're the lowest priority, but they should still be a priority. There are people living in these areas and they should not have to worry about flat tires every time they leave their community.

In Butter Cove that's actually happening. We get calls very regularly where people have one and two tires gone because of bedrock sticking up. It's not about grading the road. There needs to be class A, there needs to be a little bit of work done, some ditching for drainage so when it rains the class A doesn't wash off the road. It's simple maintenance.

I guess that'll bring me back to the budget. It seems like what we do as a province is we forget about preventative maintenance. We do it with our hospitals and how we treat people in health care; we do it with our roads. A little bit of preventative maintenance goes a long way.

When we discuss preventative maintenance, we always talk about healthy living and the foundations of our body and how we should be eating whole grains and good foods. Well, we shouldn't treat our province any differently. If we want to be successful, and certainly from an economic standpoint, it's proven time and time again that preventative maintenance makes us proactive instead of reactive.

Sadly, this government continues to be reactive in some of these areas. You think about how we're trying to bring people to the province on a regular basis for travel and vacation or how we're trying to be better with business and you think about what people have to drive over and what it does to their vehicles. It's really ridiculous.

We just heard about a new tax being implemented on the ferry. We talk about rural Newfoundland and how things like that affect – well, it's not just rural Newfoundland that's going to be affected by that tax, certainly it's everywhere. It's small businesses. I listened to my colleague from Botwood yesterday and he discussed the businesses out his way. It's amazing to listen to him. If it's not gloves or a fibre basket or the secondary processing that they do at the Styrofoam plant in Newfoundland Styro, we do a lot of good things here, but we're actually making ourselves uncompetitive with the places we want to sell our product. We don't want to sell that product to a population of 521,000. It's great that we can, but we want to be global competitors and in order to do that we ought not to penalize people before they get their product off to market; that's what these regressive taxes do. When you're making someone pay extra money to get on a ferry, then we're actually penalizing companies that are in this province.

So I will say the budget doesn't go far enough there. We ought to be finding a way to make it cheaper to do business here in Newfoundland, to make our businesses more competitive on the global market.

Health care: I listened to my colleague today for Bonavista and again I'll say it because the hospital in Bonavista affects the hospital directly in my district. It is shocking to me, I stood up here, maybe five weeks ago and I talked about the ability to triage. ERs shouldn't be closed in this province and I say, here on my feet today, they're only closed because government is afraid to make a tough decision.

I say that they can put people in there to triage patients instead of telling them to go home and call an ambulance. The basis of any rescue or emergency in this province, be it a firefighter, a first aider, any first responder anywhere you go, when you arrive at the scene of an accident, the first thing you do is triage. Everybody knows that.

So somebody comes to a hospital and there is an individual in behind that door, the last words that they should be saying is that you have to go home and call an ambulance. It is shocking, it is sad, it is shameful and government should be embarrassed. There should be no ERs closed. We can have people there to say: This is pretty serious, we're calling you an ambulance and you need to go to the closest emergency room. Or people to say: Do you know what? This isn't as bad as you think it is, you have a sprained ankle or whatever it is. Let them make their own mind up if they're going to drive to that ER. The reality is that we should not, under any circumstance, with or without a doctor, be turning people away from emergency room doors without triage.

It' kind of funny today that the minister stood up and he spoke about virtual ERs. I can tell you, it's not 10 or 12 months ago – it is about 12 months ago – we put a PMR in front of this House about the health care crisis and you guys did an amendment to change it, to eliminate the word crisis. There was no crisis in Newfoundland. The, then, Health Minister stood up and he talked about virtual ERs and he bragged about the fact that there was virtual ER capabilities in Bonavista.

Here we are 12 or 18 months later. Guess what? There is no virtual ER in Bonavista. The floors of the hospital in Clarenville are overrun. The long-term care facility in Clarenville is not only overrun but they have a wait-list as long as this room and we're doing nothing about it.

I get the fact that they say we're doing this recruiting and retention, but go to Grand Falls, go to Gander, look at the long-term care facilities that are understaffed, have no nurses and couldn't open for the longest time because of that exact reason. We haven't found ways to retain and I know we're actively trying to recruit and I get the fact that we're offering lucrative pay packages to go to rural Newfoundland, but maybe there's something we're missing.

When we ask the minister why doctors are leaving and we don't get that answer. When the minister stands and says we've recruited 400 doctors and we ask how many have left and he can't answer it. Well, I'll ask this: If only 100 have left, why have we hired 400? If 900 have left, how come we haven't hired 900? We can't arbitrarily throw numbers out and assume that that's the solution when we don't have a full scope of what the problem is.

I don't believe for a second that the government doesn't know how many people have left. I certainly don't believe from a Treasury standpoint that we don't know how many people are on payroll and what we're paying. Obviously, there's something that's not being said in here. Now, I'm not saying anyone is misleading or misguiding, but the whole truth is not being put out there. The reality of what that truth is is that if we knew exactly what we needed, maybe collectively we'd come up with answers. We hear it all the time.

Last thing I'll say is the fishery. The fishery is huge in my district. I have fish plants, I have plenty of fishermen and fisherwomen; they're all affected by this. We need communication from this government. I get that the two ministers are involved, but our Premier's been absent on this issue. He should be front and centre pushing the fishery. We should be asking for EI extensions.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

CHAIR: Thank you.

The Chair is recognizing the hon. the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure.

E. LOVELESS: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

It's always a privilege to stand in this House, make a few comments and, hopefully, contribute to the debate that's on the floor of the House.

Now, we have a Loan Act. Just responding to some of the comments by the Member for Terra Nova in terms of being honest and all that, there's nobody in this House, whether you're over here or you're over there, everybody's being honest. There's no ill intent by anybody in any government to bring ill intent to the people of this province, no matter what district you live in. I'll always go on that model because if I don't, my mother will be very disappointed.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

E. LOVELESS: But in terms of what the Member talked about in terms of the challenges around maintenance around depots and stuff, I struggle when I hear those stories. But I can't micromanage a department either. You have depots, you bring issues to me and I try to go to the source to find out how we can better do things in a depot in this province.

I get all kinds of stories from both sides. Sometimes the employees in those depots are unfairly targeted because they are men that work in those depots, they pay taxes in those communities, they drive by, they're in the communities, they have friends and stuff and sometimes it is unfair how they are targeted.

But still not to ignore the problems that if there is a pothole or a guardrail that hasn't been tended to, then it should be. While I won't micromanage, I do take that back and our officials do communicate that with depots and we try to do a better job.

It is not perfect but here we go; we made a decision that we were going to invest $225 million a year and that was from listening to the industry that they need consistency. Okay, well, we're going to go further; we're going to do $1.4 billion for five years, and they were elated. The Heavy Civil said – and I use the name Jim Organ. Jim said: No reflection on any previous ministers, but you're the best minister I have ever dealt with.

I said: That's great to know but you can only – and the Minister of Finance is looking at me; yes, I had it in my notes here: praise the Minister of Finance. I don't mind doing it because I believe it needs to be recognized. The Members in our caucus were loud and clear about what is important to them and one being the Chair there, the Members behind us, that this is important and this minister listened and I got her support and all of Newfoundland and Labrador will benefit from this.

In terms of the maintenance piece included in the $225 million, we have a preventative maintenance division that is going to be running this year and it is $15 million that is going to be put into that division. I guess I could flag it as a pilot project, but it will be to deal with issues in all parts of the province and I look forward to results will be of that.

To talk about health care, I went to the rally in my district and I don't care where I go in government, my district will always be first and I think we all stand on that same premise, no doubt.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

E. LOVELESS: But in trying to manage, I guess, some of the social media incorrectness, if I'm using the right word, because some people will play politics and that's fine, but from Central Health, the CEO who's no longer there, I credit her because she and I had a good relationship. I will continue that with Central Health because I believe with a good relationship, you get better results.

I told the people at the rally that everything that's being offered to any doctor in this province is being offered to the Coast of Bays region. But I cannot put a gun to a doctor's head to say you have to come to Harbour Breton because I need doctors; it just doesn't happen. I'm communicating now with two of the doctors that are down there and it's a work-life balance. The Minister of Health, he and I have discussed it as well.

It's not just my district. I take exception when people call it Liberal districts because I don't apply a PC or NDP or Liberal to any senior who needs care in this province or anybody who misses an appointment or anything like that. That, I can guarantee you. I can direct you to some people who are in my district who don't vote for me that I've helped out. I've assured everyone if there's a PC sign on a lawn, I'm going to knock at the door to let them know if I'm going to represent them, they can call me any time.

My CA witnessed that during the last election. She said: You got a lot of nerve. I said: No, not really. That man in that house is a senior and that woman is a senior. Now, he did have two shovels on his front deck and one was red and one was blue. I knew he wasn't going to vote for me, but I said maybe the wife will because there's a red and blue shovel on the front deck.

But I think the important thing about that is I reassured them that if you have an issue, you call. I won't be saying, no, he didn't vote for me so I won't be helping him. Never will happen.

But the doctors stress about balanced work life and that's very important. I met with paramedics down in my district for two hours. Their scope of work needs to be expanded because they can do better for their communities. We're working on that and I believe that will happen. It takes time, no doubt about it.

You mentioned about no virtual care. The doctors in Harbour Breton, they rallied because there are no doctors in Harbour Breton. Well, those doctors were gone to other communities in Central Health because they hadn't had a doctor in six weeks – six weeks, no virtual care because virtual care was being provided for other areas in Central Health.

Now, that was told at the rally and I think the people were wowed. But the people don't know all of that information, but it's important. We tried to communicate with people, but as I've told them I can't be on Facebook every day communicating what's being communicated between Central Health and the doctors. There's a process that we have to respect here, but at the end of the day I'd tell them as long as I know that the government is offering for the Coast of Bays, like any other parts of the province, that's fairness. That's all I expect.

Daycare in my district: I know the people in the gallery here today and the minister answering the questions, because of $10 a day, there is a lady in my district that started up a business. She's excited about it and thanking the $10 a day because she can make that operation happen.

Rural parts of the province are different than the bigger centres, but still there is a need in the rural parts of the province. There is always room for improvement no matter who is at the wheel.

I know the Member for Terra Nova said we're not doing anything about it. Yeah, we are. Your reference to virtual care doctors, I disagree with that; that's your stand and I respect that, but to say that we're not doing anything about it is unfair, but I will leave that right there.

With the couple minutes I have left, I'll talk about the fishery. It will always be important. I spent some time in that department many, many, many, many years ago in terms of being CA to the Member in the district, spending time in the Premier's office, the fishery was always important and it should always be.

When I went out for the rally I met with the fishermen and they talked about the process of – these are lobster fishermen – but a formula was agreed upon to spit out a price. Now, after the fishery opens then that price is not acceptable to one side of the party: that's unfair. It is unfair to them. I was discussing with them, if the price is lower and you don't go fishing, well it's not fair to the processors. So the process has to figure it out; it's not for the Premier to figure it out, no matter who the Premier is.

I will say, I know the barbs across the way to the Premier directly. The way I see it is that the Premier has total confidence in this minister. This minister has been first and foremost in front of the fishermen; he's been there. The Premier, yes, is the Premier and I understand the role that the Opposition plays, but to say that the Premier is not involved is also not fair because the people of the province know that. At the end of the day, we have two sides. It's the industry that needs to correct this; processes are to support them, that's what it's all about and this government will be there to support them, like the current Minister of Fisheries has done.

I believe he has done a wonderful job in trying to send the message that there are two sides to this; get together, get it figured out so boats can be on the water and people in fish plants can go working. I have them in my communities that go to other parts of the province so let's get this done because it is important for all of us.

CHAIR: Thank you.

The Chair is recognizing the Member for Bonavista.

C. PARDY: Thank you, Chair.

I've got four or five issues in my short 10 minutes that I want to discuss, but I want to start off with the fishery. I asked a question today in Question Period about the fishery; I said about the whole lot of hurt in my district. Anyone who works the plant in Bonavista and has their EI expired, then those are the ones that I would reference that they're undergoing a whole lot of hurt. When we ask the question, we like to be able to know and say: What steps are we taking in order to assist people that we know are out there without any income or the ability – a lot of them – to be able to provide food in their homes?

Most people default and say that we look for an EI extension. If I missed it I must apologize, but I would hope that the government would have had numerous conversations with their federal cousins or with MPs in order to try to arrange our extensions on the EI to make sure that those people in Bonavista and those people that are engaged in the fishery all over the province do have a means of which they have income.

The fishery is significant. It's not only a rural issue, but I would think it's predominantly rural, more so than what it would be for urban. So that's something that we would like to hear: What action have you taken, what steps have you taken and what frequency have you done in order to try to get supports for these individuals?

On April 29, I went to Bonavista for a budget meeting. I just put it out there. About 30 people showed up and we talked budget. We did talk about the good things that are in the budget. But before I went to that budget meeting, I was requested to make a one-minute taping by Saltwater Community Association Inc. on gender-based violence and their efforts to fundraise for a women's shelter in the Bonavista-Clarenville area. My colleague from Harbour Main has talked about it several times.

So this particular group, Saltwater, took it upon themselves – and I think in communication with the department – to try to have a shelter. Because anybody subjected to domestic violence in the Bonavista-Clarenville area now will have and would find lodging and shelter in either Marystown or Gander. I think we, as a region, would think we'd like to have something closer in the area to serve them.

We always think that gender-based violence happens somewhere else. I do. I always thought, if I haven't heard a whole lot about it, that is something that may be predominantly somewhere else, but it's everywhere. It's everywhere.

Statistics from the RCMP: In 2019 in the Clarenville-Bonavista area, there were 113 reported cases of domestic violence. I would assume in those cases they would be looking at a place to shelter to get out of harm's way.

In 2020, the number grew to 144. That's significant. That data would indicate that there is a certain and a significant need that would be in our region. One thing that we've signed on for, I think all provinces have signed on with the federal government, we want to make sure that we eradicate gender-based violence within 10 years. That is a great goal.

I think the questions my colleague from Harbour Main asked: let's see the plan. It is never too early to have a plan that would be out there, visible for us to see to eradicate gender-based violence. I would thank Saltwater Community, which is a not for profit in Bonavista. They probably had their fifth anniversary this year, a young fledgling group that does so much good in the Bonavista area.

If you want to hear my one-minute message, I would say to you, if you tune in to Eastlink or Rogers on May 18 between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., I will be there somewhere with the other cast. It could be after or before Shanneyganock or Rum Ragged or Minister Parsons, who had a message for them. They've got a whole host: The Ennis Sisters, The Navigators and Dave White. So I give a little shout-out to the effort. I give a shout-out to the fundraiser that this group is embarking upon. It was a very professional recording that occurred at Dungeons Distillery in Bonavista on April 29. So I want to give that a shout-out.

The locked doors question – and my colleague from Terra Nova articulated quite well – at Bonavista hospital. Here is the issue. Every staff member that would be employed in that hospital, are in the hospital. They could be working in the hospital, but if there is not an emergency room physician the doors to the emergency centre or the hospital are locked.

Inside the building are professionals that can certainly triage or help somebody in an emergent condition. I know that there is a sensitivity with that because a lot of people would be concerned that if they're on the front lines providing assistance to an emergent person who shows up at the door, then they might be anxious on that.

What we would hope was that the doors would be unlocked and the ambulance dispatched from the hospital, but there could be a triage of the health professionals that are there and that will hold the person who shows up for health care in a better probability of successfully making a trip to Clarenville emergency because they can be triaged before the ambulance departs.

In the media on February 20, there was a gentleman – and we all know his name, from Elliston, Charlie Marsh. Charlie didn't make it to Clarenville. The day before he passed away, he went to Bonavista hospital and the doors were locked. He was having a breathing issue with his asthma. He went back home. Early the next morning, he was worse and contacted the hospital. They said no, you're going to have to go to Clarenville emergency. They called an ambulance, departed on the 1½-hour journey but about 15 minutes into the journey, Mr. Marsh passed away.

I would say to you and the residents in the Bonavista area would say if only he could have been triaged at that hospital before he embarked upon the journey to Clarenville emergency.

I read a news release from Central Health and it had to do with the minister who just spoke before me, his district, back in a couple of years ago, where they said if you show up for an appointment at the clinic and you're an emergent, you will be triaged and you'll be sent to the most appropriate emergency department for you to be cared for. I said, there it is. Two years ago, Central Health had put it out that this would be the case. I would say to you, that is a good one and I appreciate the minister is going to look into it and see that we can have some kind of triage and send them off as quickly as we can.

I want to mention the wellness part. My learned colleague from Terra Nova had students here today and they were here because they were down on an international conference discussing wellness. In our education program, we have an allocation of physical education activity of 6 per cent of the allocated time. A 300-minute day, that means 30 minutes. But if you do the math on that, you know that that's 10 per cent. So most schools go with alternate days. No activity on a Monday and you'll get a gym period or activity on Tuesday. None on Wednesday and you get one on Thursday, a 30 minute, and then Friday, none. So three days out of a week, you may not get it.

That's topic for another time, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much.

CHAIR: Thank you.

The Chair is recognizing the Member for Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans.

C. TIBBS: Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I'll pick up on where my colleague just left off. I worked as a paramedic in the late '90s, early 2000s and there's something called the golden hour, as a lot of people know about. That golden hour is a triage time where a patient in critical care needs to be seen immediately, whether they're in a car accident or heart attack or whatever. I'm just wondering if the MHA for Bonavista, if there's a hockey stadium in Bonavista and do they have an automatic defibrillator there. Because if they do, in essence, am I to believe that if somebody is having a heart attack in Bonavista, you can get more help if you go to the local stadium if they had an automated external defibrillator instead of going to the hospital, which is locked.

Now, you think about that. They have a better chance to go to the arena to get help. Because I guarantee you if you walk into a convenience store, if you walk into a hockey arena, if you walk into a church and you need help, somebody's going to help you. Somebody will know first aid, CPR. Somebody will help you. But you're telling me if you go to the Bonavista hospital that door is physically locked. It's absolutely insane; it should not be done. It should be opened up for emergencies for at least the critical care until an ambulance gets there. I definitely agree with my colleague from Bonavista.

I'm going to switch gears, Chair, and just talk a little bit about McHappy Day that we had yesterday or the day before, or whatever it was. I just wanted to give a quick shout-out to a local person in my district, Chad Haggett. Chad Haggett has helped the Ronald McDonald House for many, many years. He's raised a lot of money for Ronald McDonald House and I'm so proud of him. He's been a friend of mine for well over 20 years and I'm just really happy that he put so much into that and I'm really happy about that.

Of course, they had the Smile Cookies at Tim Hortons for the Lionel Kelland Hospice which, once again, will be the first community hospice in Newfoundland and Labrador. We thank the Minister of Finance for the $1.3 million or $1.2 million operating cost because it's definitely needed and we're going to name a wing after her, so that's perfect.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible.)

C. TIBBS: Yes.

It is Nursing Week across the province, across Canada. It's absolutely fantastic to see, especially in Grand Falls-Windsor ,where the nurses out there work so hard, just like they do across the province everywhere else. But the diversions that dump into Grand Falls-Windsor from other communities, it can be very, very overwhelming for the staff out there. They do their best to keep up with it; they work extremely hard. We are so lucky to have them. But at the same time we're hoping that they do get the support that they need because right now they don't have it.

A lot of these nurses also, we've talked about the travel nursing and we get it, and the minister definitely wants to do something about it. But it's hard standing there, as a nurse, knowing that the nurse next to you is getting paid so much more than you who have been with the system probably for 20 years right here in Newfoundland and Labrador, taken on everything you've been asked to take on, but still, you're getting paid less than the person next to you who came in from a different province. Do you know what? They feel a little bit slighted sort of thing. I know it's a complicated situation; it's not cut and dry, absolutely. But you can see where their frustration comes from, because do you know what? I'd be pretty frustrated, too.

For tourism in Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans District this year, do you know what? They have great people in Badger. Badger got their come home year. We're so excited and we're so happy to see that this year. Lots of stuff going on in Central Newfoundland and Labrador for this summer, including the Grand Falls-Windsor Salmon Festival. It's a yearly Salmon Festival that brings in great crowds. It's a great family-orientated festival and we are glad to see it this year. As well as Exploits Extreme Ziplines opened last year in Grand Falls-Windsor. Some zip lines are opening up all across the province here and we do have one in Central now, so I'm very happy to see that.

The Exploits River, of course, the mighty Exploits River for salmon fishing, which I know a lot of people in here have come out to, including the Leader of the Third Party. I'm sure he enjoys fishing more than most people, so we expect to see him out here this summer.

If I could switch over, Chair, to mental health for one second. Of course the mental health crisis continues in this province and it is absolutely debilitating for most people. Most people feel it every single day. We had some numbers there a while ago, but I would venture that more often than not people are suffering from some sort of mental illness. I know that there are different degrees or different levels of it. Do you know what? Some people can take on a little bit more than others, depending on where they are in their life.

But make no mistake, it is a crisis and it's something that we're dealing with. Unfortunately for the past – well, we've been elected now almost four years and I've seen quite a lot of people take their own lives at the end of the day, and it's heartbreaking every time it happens. I've seen both older folks, I've seen both younger folks, taking their own lives. Of course, I can't understand it. I can't. Personally, I just can't understand it and most of us probably aren't meant to understand it, but the professionals are. There are professional people out there that can help and we'll be looking for those professional people.

Coinciding with that, we still have a Premier's office in Grand Falls-Windsor. I've spoke about this many times. This has nothing to do with the Premier himself. This has to do with an office in Grand Falls-Windsor, which costs are thrown around $250,000 a year, or whatever. I would say this, and this is my suggestion to government, close that office. Close that office, the Premier's office in Grand Falls-Windsor, redefine it; open it up as a mental health hub that is truly needed in Grand Falls-Windsor.

Let's get some people in there that can work that office 24-hours a day, seven days a week. That can sit down with a young person, if it's 2 o'clock in the morning on a Tuesday; it's 2 o'clock in the morning on a Tuesday. If it's a Friday afternoon at noon; it's Friday afternoon at noon. But the people in my district will know if you need somebody to talk to, if you are at your wits' end, if you cannot take anymore, you will have a place to walk into or at least call and somebody will be waiting for you; somebody who knows how to manage the system and the resources will be waiting for you. How many lives could we save? How many lives could we potentially save?

We've seen so many lives all ready lost. Possibly, possibly save lives, I can get on board with that and I'm hoping government can get on board with it as well. So that is my suggestion to you: Close down the Premier's office in Grand Falls-Windsor, at a cost of $250,000 a year, or whatever it is, and open up a mental health hub that is truly needed. Needs versus wants.

If you did a poll today, if you went into Grand Falls-Windsor today or throughout the district, throughout Central, it could service all of Central, but if you went in there today and asked people what would you rather: Do you want the current status quo, which is vacant? It's vacant most times than there's anybody there, I can tell you that. Would you want a Premier's office in Grand Falls-Windsor or would you want a mental health hub that you could access 24-hours a day in your time of need?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

C. TIBBS: I would venture to guess overwhelmingly that people would rather a mental health hub in Grand Falls-Windsor than the vacant, more often that not, empty Premier's office that is there now costing taxpayers up to $250,000 a year. Let's take that money and let's really use it where we could use it, which would be a mental health hub.

Can you imagine if somebody has suicidal thoughts at 3 in the morning and they know that there's somebody there that will listen to them at that time, not an overwhelmed emergency room in Grand Falls-Windsor hospital where you might have to wait. I've watched more people get up from an emergency room and walk out than have stayed. What if one of those people needed, at that moment, somebody to speak to?

That's my suggestion to government. I hope somebody takes it on. I hope somebody gives it some serious thought. It's not about politics. I've watched too many people lose their lives so far in my district and I don't want to see it again – I really don't. No mother should say goodbye to their kid because of suicide and no child should have to grow up without a parent because of suicide as well. There are enough of them out there. Whether you're talking about seniors, young people or moms and dads who just feel the stresses of society, and there are so many of them out there.

Do you know what? I'm a dad, I have a beautiful wife who is a mother; I talk to moms and dads every day. The societal pressure that parents feel today is absolutely unsurmountable. It truly is. Whether it be financial, whether it be their own kids having mental health problems and just cannot access the help right now. What parents are going through is insane and it's a sin.

So if we do have taxpayers' dollars, I truly believe that we can do something with the Premier's office instead of the status quo like it is now. If government needs an outlet to go through in Grand Falls-Windsor, I'm more than happy to work with government. If they need anything in Grand Falls-Windsor, I will be your liaison. I have no trouble doing it and I'd be more than happy to work with you. So I hope somebody takes that suggestion.

Thank you, Chair.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

CHAIR: I recognizing the Member for Exploits.

P. FORSEY: Thank you, Chair.

It's a pleasure to get up here to speak on this loan bill and, again, to speak about some parts of my district, which it's always good to get up here and represent the people of Exploits.

First of all, Chair, I would like to take a page out of the Member for Bonavista. I'd like to say good afternoon to Doreen Carter, a good citizen who watches this program faithfully every week. Good afternoon, Doreen. I hope you're having a good day.

Mr. Chair, I'll just mention a couple of things in the district. I did touch on the fishery yesterday in part of my district in Leading Tickles, of course. The fishery is very, very important. I did have some calls the past few days about the EI extensions, some programs that may help those people until we get them back in the water. So I'm encouraging government to certainly look at some initiatives, especially some programs that can help the fishermen until they can get back in the water, as long as this may take. So it's good to be able to address that. The fishery is very important in that area of the district and the fishery is very, very important to all parts of my district, of course, and Central Newfoundland as a whole.

Chair, health care certainly is a big problem in Central Newfoundland and I know it's a big problem throughout Newfoundland. I know the minister has acknowledged that a number of times, but we continue to lose doctors in Central Newfoundland. I know in the Town of Bishop's Falls, 3,000 people lost their physician, lost their doctor last fall. That leaves 3,000 residents without a physician.

The Dr. Hugh Twomey Health Care Centre lost a physician only this year and I'm hearing now that there are two more physicians going in Grand Falls-Windsor hospital, in our regional hospital. Right now, there's no replacement, which leaves a number of people without physicians now. I'm getting calls every day, people are looking for a doctor, trying to see a doctor for different reasons, for different cares that they may need, prescriptions that they may need, all that sort of stuff. So health care certainly needs attention in Central Newfoundland.

I asked a question about it in Question Period, you know, with the closures of the different areas around Central Newfoundland. The hub created there is the regional hospital in Grand Falls-Windsor, especially from Connaigre, Baie Verte, Springdale, Lewisporte, Buchans, that puts a lot of stress on the health care system in Grand Falls-Windsor because everybody is congregated in that area. We've heard some sad stories of people in hallways, people on gurneys waiting to get treated because we don't have the physicians.

So we need to certainly get some attention placed on that area as well because we certainly need that corrected. If Grand Falls-Windsor is going to be the hub for those outlets outside, then we certainly need more help and more care in that area.

Long-term care, again, Chair, I have spoken about this a couple of times, a few times, actually. Long-term care was fully up and staffed last year, supposed to be fully up and staffed. The previous minister and the Premier came out and said by August of last year that everything would be up and running, fully staffed. That, unfortunately, didn't happen. We've got people in acute-care beds in the hospital right now that's taking up acute-care beds. People need surgeries. We need to get people into those units, into the beds – get surgeries and into the beds and move the other people into long-term care so that we can get the system moving as smoothly as we can. The less hang-ups we can have in that system – it's certainly something we don't need.

Housing is another big issue, I'm hearing, in the district. We've got people in the district that can't find housing; we got people on the streets. Right now, I know there are a number of people probably housed in hotel rooms, in those type areas. They've been there for months, some of them have. They just can't find housing. With the high cost of living right now on a private rental, they can't afford the private rental so they're looking for housing. So we certainly need to get those housing units up and ready.

We have some units in Central Newfoundland. We have about 300 people on the list for housing in Central Newfoundland. That's a lot of people on the list for housing. We do have some units in there. Maybe we can get started with getting those units done up, get them refurbished and get them back to standards of where they should be. We can start there; we can start housing some people that's been on the street looking for a place to go. We can certainly start there.

Seniors, again, is another big problem in the area. Back in 2016 – I mentioned this before – the Liberal government cut the seniors' supplement for home care and their part that they had to pay, they increased that, so it didn't balance out for them. Seniors, right now, in our area are finding it tough. I know they're finding tough all across Newfoundland and Labrador. They can't afford to buy groceries. They can't afford to heat their homes – to keep their heat in their house. Those are unfortunate decisions that they have to make. It's real decisions that they have to make but they're very, very unfortunate decisions.

You go through life and you work. You help pave the way for most of us to stand here in the House of Assembly. Now, they're the ones that are sitting home and can't afford to heat their homes, can't afford to buy groceries, to keep enough groceries in their fridge. Those are poor decisions that they have to make. They shouldn't have to be making those decisions. So we need to be pumping more money into the seniors programs, in regard to health care alone, to keep seniors in their own homes. They're more content. They're more healthy. They can do things. It proves that they live longer and they're healthier. Whereas, that can keep them out of the hospitals, keep them out of the emergency rooms and keep the system flowing the way it should be.

That's a few things, Chair, which needs to be done in our area. Of course, again yesterday, I did mention some of the businesses in our area. Yes, we do have some of the businesses. I know the farming now is coming up soon and people are getting ready to put their crops in the ground, especially in Wooddale and other parts of the area that have the farms. I know Wooddale is probably one of the biggest in the area, probably some of the biggest on the Island.

That time of year is coming that they're looking to clear some more land, food self-sufficiency; we definitely have to look at that. But while we're doing that, we have to find ways of helping those farmers as well. I know that with parts and equipment, some people have already told me they're afraid of the high cost of fertilizers, the high cost of grains and wheats, the high cost of that stuff and fuels, again, to get their operations up and running, especially in the equipment and parts and services, they have high costs to start with.

So any initiatives that can be forwarded from the federal government down to the provincial government and given to those farmers to help with our food self-security would be great. We know what's going to happen in July month, if we have to rely on our food that's coming in from across Canada, across the water, especially on the ferry to come across the water, we know what's going to happen in our grocery stores. We know what's going to happen on our tables.

The bills are getting bigger, people are not going to be able to afford to buy the groceries that are coming in, and what's on the plate is going to get smaller, very, very much smaller. The children of our province, the seniors of our province need food on their tables, need food on their plates. So we need to address that very serious problem to make sure that we have food that we can put on their plates so that they're able to afford it, so that they're able to get food for their families and have the meals that they need, the nutrition that they need and start to eat healthy the way they can.

So we need to address those problems, especially now with the farmers, to be able to get food on the tables of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. It's part of our food self-sufficiency. It's what we've been striving for. So if we're going to do it we needn't rely on the boat for bringing in our food, we can grow it ourselves. We just need a little help.

Thank you, Chair.

CHAIR: Thank you.

The Chair is recognizing the hon. the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

P. LANE: Thank you for the applause; I appreciate it.

Mr. Chair, I wanted to just take a few minutes. First of all, I just wanted to once again – I know it's been talked about a lot in the House today and I've spoken about it numerous times, but just to reiterate the point that we do have a significant issue when it comes to child care. I would say in my district, next to the –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

CHAIR: Order, please!

I want to hear the speaker.

Thank you.

P. LANE: Thank you, Chair.

I would say that in my district, next to the issue around family doctors and health care in general, issues with the emergency wait times and all those issues, the second one that I get, even more so than the cost of living – although that is an issue – is child care. That is a huge one for my district. I can tell you in Southlands, as an example, a big issue. A lot of young families, a big issue for them.

I do want to commend the Official Opposition who really brought it up again today. They've been bringing it up constantly and I do appreciate that. I've been trying to do so as much as I can and I know it's been brought up certainly by the Third Party and so on.

The reality of it is the reason why we keep bringing up these issues of child care is because we're hearing from our constituents and of course not just our own constituents, we're hearing from people from all over the province. I get people contacting me all the time from every part of this province about different issues, but child care really is a big one. Now I have one young mother who did reach out to me and she just had her own little story, very quick, and she wanted me to read it out in the House of Assembly on her behalf.

So she says: Hi, everyone. Back in 2020 when my daughter was born, I was a licensed practical nurse of six years. I had a permanent position in a great nursing home in St. John's. I had child care set up for when I was due back to work in February 2021. Unfortunately, that fell through last minute. I searched for child care and put my daughter on a bunch of waiting lists for both private and regulated daycares, but I ended up having to resign my permanent position. So here's a licensed practical nurse in the health care system at a nursing home and she had to resign her position because she couldn't get child care.

The summer of 2022, when my child was well over two years old, I had a couple of unregistered daycares say they had a spot for my child and then only to say, very shortly thereafter, that the spot was actually taken. Then I finally managed to get a spot in an unregistered home, charging $50 a day, no meals or snacks provided, during this summer past.

Unfortunately, the provider's daughter got sick and she was no longer able to take care of my child anymore. Then, in January of 2023, I managed to luck into getting a spot at a brand new registered facility in Kelligrews. So from age one to almost three years old, I finally had a spot for my daughter. Due to not having child care for so long, my daughter has had a very hard time adjusting to daycare. Last month, I only then got a call from a spot that I had applied for back in February 2021 for a daycare.

Thank you for listening. I hope that something gets done with child care because there's a huge child care crisis and many people I know are starting to be put in the same situation as I once was and to put it frankly, it sucks.

So this is from a young mother, three years and had a job as an LPN in a nursing home – God knows we need those health care staff and she had to quit her job and three years, no child care. This is just one of many.

I've talked about in this House of Assembly in the past as well where I've heard from two doctors in my district, the Southlands Area, two doctor have reached out to me, same thing. They want to go back and practise medicine and they're unable to because they've got nobody to care for their child. I've heard from nurses in my district. It is the same thing with nurses.

I had brought this up before and, like I said, other Members, the Opposition have done a good job bringing it up. It is important that we do not say it enough. Now, I'm not suggesting that nothing is being done. I know things are being done. I know it takes time.

We just can't knit child care spaces. I get that. Finally, some action is being taken and I appreciate that. I realize it's going to take some time. It is so important that we realize that this really is a huge issue for families. It's a huge issue for our health care system because of the health care workers who are not able to go to work and we need them so badly. It's an economic development issue because we have very, very qualified, professional women out there, women in particular – it can obviously impact men as well, but we have very professional people who are there, able to contribute to our society from an economic development point of view, working, contributing, paying taxes and they're not able to because they don't have child care. So I cannot say that enough.

The other thing I just want to bring up in the last couple of minutes I got here; I was at the MNL Symposium in Gander. There was a session came up about the immigration and the Ukrainians. I want to say, first of all, that certainly from a humanitarian point of view, I don't think anybody in this House of Assembly would say that we don't want to do our part because I believe we all would want to do our part. God knows when we all saw the atrocities when Russia decided to invade Ukraine, and the atrocities that went on and are continuing to go on and people are literally fleeing for their lives – homes destroyed, schools destroyed, hospitals destroyed, neighbourhoods destroyed, people murdered in the streets. It's murder. It is what it is; it's horrible.

So if we can, from a humanitarian point of view, do our part here in this country and this province to provide aid and to bring some of these people in here to give them some stability and safety, then I support it 100 per cent and I'm sure all Members in this House of Assembly would support it and do support it from a humanitarian point of view.

But the thing that I learned at the symposium, which I wasn't really aware of was the fact that these Ukrainians that are being brought forth – and maybe the minister can elaborate on it – they're here on a three-year visa, I'm going to call it. There was a term – that may not be the exact term. But basically it's like a three-year visa and they fast-tracked their ability to go to work pretty much immediately. If somebody comes in, normally there's a time period before they can go to work. So the federal government fast-tracked the ability for them to be able to come here and to work, but it's for a three-year period. After the three years are up, then you would have to apply for status, a permanent status, and so on. Fair enough.

But I ask: Well, why was it set up this way? Why wouldn't they just come in and be immigrants and go through the process? Basically the answer I got was because sort of the intent and the hope of the whole program by Canada, by the federal government, is that these people would come here and hopefully, God willing, Russia decides to leave sooner rather than later and those people would then return back to their homeland. I've got no problem with people wanting to be in their own home. Who would ever be against that?

But when I hear the minister in particular talking about, finally, our population is growing, our schools, we have 500-and-some-odd more kids, the population is growing like never before and hear, hear, what a great job we're doing growing the population – and I support growing the population, we need to do that and I support immigration to do that. I don't have an issue with any of those things. But it almost seems like are we really growing it in the long term if sort of the intent – and I understand that some of these Ukrainians may decide to stay here, even when the time comes they could return and it's safe. I hope they all decide they're going to stay here. I hope every one of them decides I'm going to stay here in Newfoundland and contribute and help grow the population and bring their culture and add to it. That would be wonderful. But the impression I was given is that is not necessarily how – the original intent seems to be that there is this thought that this is a temporary thing as opposed to a permanent thing.

When we talk about numbers and growth of population and everything else, are we being given a false sense of how our population is indeed going to grow or is this a short-term thing which is going to end at some point in time?

I just throw that out there for the information of Members and in terms of the population growth question. But I do support –

CHAIR: Order, please!

The hon. Member's time is expired.

P. LANE: – what we're doing from a humanitarian point of view.

Thank you.

CHAIR: Thank you.

The Chair's recognizing the Member for Humber - Bay of Islands.

E. JOYCE: Thank you, Chair.

I'm going to stand and have a few words. There's something there that the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure said earlier – and I always said I'm going to correct things in this House that's wrong – where he said everybody in this House, no one's ill will. I think he's a bit wrong. I go back four or five years and even the Deputy Premier was in that meeting that she knows what I'm talking about. She came out and gave information. The question is: Once you know something is wrong, do people have the courage to right it? That's the question I ask government.

When the minister says that he should get the information, because I'm sure he said it all in a good vein, but he knows the difference and I know the difference. I'll stop it at that right now for that.

I'm just going to speak on a few issues, Mr. Chair, one that was brought up in the House today. This goes to government itself. I know the Leader of the Third Party brought up about the school. He brought up about the school, Portugal Cove-St. Philip's. We had the spiel about oh yeah, we did this thorough information on it; we went through it all.

I'm going to read out an email. The email was from the CEO of the school board. When the story hit VOCM, here's what the CEO of the school board put in to the deputy minister of Education at the time, I'm going to put it on the record: Greg, I have some internal inquiries on this and it will profoundly effect the PWC feeder system. I expect we'll also get some external inquiries. It was not one of these three priorities we identified, nor has there been any infrastructure request for a new high school in PCSP. Are you able to provide any background to this announcement that may assist in responses or in planning for a catchment adjustment? That's from the school board. That is from the CEO of the school board.

P. LANE: So he didn't know?

E. JOYCE: He didn't know. He actually didn't know it was being done. So this is the bigger question when you're in the Opposition – in our case we're independents – is that you have to question government. This is a prime example.

The current Minister of Education, he went out publicly and said, oh we noticed it in infrastructure. We noticed that in infrastructure so we decided. That's not the way the process works. That is fundamentally wrong. Fundamentally, that is wrong.

P. LANE: He must not have read the email.

E. JOYCE: He must not have read the email.

But that's what happens, Mr. Chair. So when you get a question today from the Leader of the Third Party, and you see how government put up infrastructure, it happens to be in the Premier's district, and then you know the process wasn't followed and people – I know the Minister of Industry, Energy and Technology, the Member for Burgeo - La Poile and yourself, when you were Cabinet, if you said something, you stood by it. If you did something, you could back it up and say here's what I did. But when you see this here, Mr. Chair, that's why you need to question government. This is a prime example.

I look at the other things that happened and I won't get into it, but this is why I question a lot. The questions that I'm hearing out around the Humber - Bay of Islands area, the Corner Brook area, it concerns the cataracts. Are we going to get those extra that was given this year on time? I know they're in discussions with the Medical Association, if they're going to be long-term. If they're long-term, great. If they're not, two years' time, I'll be back here; three years' time, I'll be back here again saying that there's a wait-list. This is why you need to follow up with government to ensure that what was committed is going to be done.

The other big thing – and I know the Minister of Health brought it up – the question I asked last week, when I asked him about nurse practitioners. Oh, we need the public health system fully functional before we could do this. The question I got to ask: There are nurse practitioners going out in the nighttime and weekends because people don't have family doctors, why can't we do both? It's a prime opportunity to take pressure off people who need doctors, who need prescriptions filled, who need referrals for blood work, to get it done and get it done so they don't have to pay.

We always hear in this House of Assembly that health care is free. Well, it's not free. Here's an opportunity to live by the lines to get it free. It's a good opportunity. I probably get five, six, seven or eight calls a week: Why have I got to pay for this? Why have I got to pay $65 to get my yearly prescriptions because I don't have a family doctor? Why have I got to wait 14 hours up in emergency when I can go in to the nurse practitioner? I got to pay them $60 or $65. A lot of them are seniors. So they got to go in and pay $65 to get a prescription that they're going to have on a yearly basis, just because they can't get a family doctor. Then, if they can't arrange an appointment with the nurse practitioner in time, they got to go for 12, 14, 16 hours at emergency.

It's a simple fix. We can help these people. We always say – all government in this House, every Member – we would do what we can to help out. Here's a prime example of how we can help out and we just won't do it. The same with the cataracts for two years. We just wouldn't do it.

I always think about governments, when they're in government they don't win. Oppositions don't win; government loses. That's always been the trend. Government just gets old, stale. They become –

AN HON. MEMBER: Arrogant.

E. JOYCE: – arrogant, detached from the reality.

When you will not allow people to get cataract surgeries in Western Newfoundland, but you do in St. John's, that's what happens. The sad part, Mr. Chair, the actual sad part is people suffer.

People in this hon. House say we'll do our best for people, we always will; yet, here's another example with the nurse practitioners that we can get something done and we won't do it.

Now, we could stand up and we all could have a debate and we all can go back and forth, but it is an easy fix. The Minister of Finance asked many times: What can we do? How can we do it? Give us suggestions. Here is a suggestion, same with the cataracts, it could be done with the stroke of a pen.

I'm going to bring up the fishing strike here for a little while because it affects a lot of people in the plants around the Humber - Bay of Islands. I'm not going to jump into the debate because all I'm asking is to find some way to get it resolved because as this drags on for everybody, the people that we don't hear, the plant workers, the truckers who are out, they're the ones suffering.

I don't know because I'm not in on negotiations with the ministers; I'm not in negotiations with the two groups, but all I can say is hopefully we can get this done because there are a lot more people that we don't know about that are being affected, that is causing a lot of stress and strain on their families.

I just want to let the people know in the Humber - Bay of Islands area, out in Lark Harbour where there is no water, that I am speaking to the minister. The minister and I are having conversations on it to see what we can do with it and some conditions in the road. I just want to recognize that the minister is trying to work with me to see what we can do. No guarantees, never made a guarantee, but we're looking at it to see if there is anything that we can do to help out something because of the situation out there.

Also, I'll bring it to the minister's attention now and I'll just let him know that I will be writing him about the gabion baskets out in number four brook because they need to be replaced. You can see lately that a lot of the rocks coming down over and a lot of people are actually having to get out in the middle of the road and move the rocks. It is becoming dangerous. I never discussed that with the minister, so to be fair, I never, but I will be writing him on that and to let the people of Humber - Bay of Islands know that I am well aware of it. I know the staff out in the Western region are aware of it and they're going to get tractors in to clean out and try to stop, but we need the gabion baskets. That's a bigger pot than they can do in the maintenance department and I'll be writing the minister.

The last thing, Mr. Chair, is daycare. I heard my colleague, the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands, talk about it. That is a big issue out in Humber - Bay of Islands also and in Corner Brook. It is a big issue. I just want to add my voice to it that everybody thought there would be daycare spaces but there are not. There are a lot of people who right now either can't go to work because of no daycare or try to get some family member in between.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

CHAIR: Thank you.

Hearing no further speakers, shall the resolution carry?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

CHAIR: All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

On motion, resolution carried.

A bill, “An Act to Authorize the Raising of Money by Way of Loan by the Province.” (Bill 37)

CLERK (Barnes): Clause 1.

CHAIR: Shall clause 1 carry?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

CHAIR: All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

On motion, clause 1 carried.

CLERK: Clauses 2 through 6 inclusive.

CHAIR: Shall clauses 2 through 6 inclusive carry?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

CHAIR: Those against?

Carried.

On motion, clauses 2 through 6 carried.

CLERK: Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows.

CHAIR: Shall the enacting clause carry?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

CHAIR: Those against?

Carried.

On motion, enacting clause carried.

CLERK: An Act to Authorize the Raising of Money by Way of Loan by the Province.

CHAIR: Shall the long title carry?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

CHAIR: Those against?

Carried.

On motion, long title carried.

CHAIR: Shall I report Bill 37 and the resolution carried without amendment?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

CHAIR: Those against?

Carried.

Motion, that the Committee report having passed the resolution and a bill consequent thereto, carried.

CHAIR: The hon. the Deputy Government House Leader.

L. DEMPSTER: Chair, I move that the Committee rise and report the resolution and Bill 37.

CHAIR: The motion is that the Committee rise and report the resolution and Bill 37.

Is it the pleasure of the house to adopt the motion?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

CHAIR: Those against?

Motion carried.

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

SPEAKER (Bennett): Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Baie Verte - Green Bay and Chair of the Committee of Ways and Means.

B. WARR: Speaker, the Committee of Ways and Means have considered the matters to them referred and have directed me to report that they have adopted a certain resolution and recommend that a bill be introduced to give effect to the same.

SPEAKER: The Chair of the Committee of Ways and Means reports that the Committee have considered the matters to them referred, have adopted a certain resolution and recommend that the bill be introduced to give effect to the same.

When shall the report be received?

L. DEMPSTER: Now.

SPEAKER: Now.

On motion, report received and adopted.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Government House Leader.

L. DEMPSTER: Speaker, I move, seconded by the Government House Leader, that the resolution be now read a first time.

SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that the resolution be now read a first time.

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

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

SPEAKER: All those against?

Motion carried.

CLERK: “Be it resolved by the House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

“That it is expedient to bring in a measure to authorize the raising from time to time by way of loan on the credit of the province a sum of money not exceeding $1,500,000,000.”

On motion, resolution read a first time.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Government House Leader.

L. DEMPSTER: Speaker, I move, seconded by the Government House Leader, that the resolution be now read a second time.

SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that the resolution be now read a second time.

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

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

SPEAKER: All those against, 'nay.'

Motion carried.

CLERK: “Be it resolved by the House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows:

“That it is expedient to bring in a measure to authorize the raising from time to time by way of loan on the credit of the province a sum of money not exceeding $1,500,000,000.”

On motion, resolution read a second time.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Government House Leader.

L. DEMPSTER: Speaker, I move, seconded by the Government House Leader, for leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act to Authorize the Raising of Money by way of Loan by the Province, Bill 37, and I further move that the said bill be now read a first time.

SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that the Deputy Government House Leader shall have leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act to Authorize the Raising of Money by way of Loan by the Province, Bill 37, and that the said bill be now read a first time.

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

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

SPEAKER: All those against, 'nay.'

Motion carried.

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board to introduce a bill, “An Act to Authorize the Raising of Money by way of Loan by the Province,” carried. (Bill 37)

CLERK: A bill, An Act to Authorize the Raising of Money by way of loan by the Province. (Bill 37)

On motion, Bill 37 read a first time.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Government House Leader.

L. DEMPSTER: Speaker, I move, seconded by the Government House Leader, that Bill 37 be now read a second time.

SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that the said bill be now read a second time.

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

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

SPEAKER: All those against, 'nay.'

Motion carried.

CLERK: A bill, An Act to Authorize the Raising of Money by way of Loan by the Province. (Bill 37)

On motion, Bill 37 read a second time.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Government House Leader.

L. DEMPSTER: Speaker, I move, seconded by the Government House Leader, that Bill 37 be now read a third time.

SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that Bill 37 be now read a third time.

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

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

SPEAKER: All those against, 'nay.'

Motion carried.

CLERK: A bill, An Act to Authorize the Raising of Money by way of Loan by the Province. (Bill 37)

SPEAKER: This bill has now been read a third time and it is ordered that the bill do pass and its tittle be as on the Order Paper.

On motion, a bill, “An Act to Authorize the Raising of Money by way of Loan by the Province,” read a third time, ordered passed and its title be as on the Order Paper. (Bill 37)

SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Government House Leader.

L. DEMPSTER: Thank you, Speaker.

I call from the Order Paper, Order 14, An Act to Amend Various Acts of the Province Respecting the Alternate Witnessing of Documents by Lawyers, Bill 23.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

J. HOGAN: Speaker, I move, seconded by the Deputy Government House Leader, that Bill 23, An Act to Amend Various Acts of the Province Respecting the Alternate Witnessing of Documents by Lawyers, be now read a second time.

Motion, second reading of a bill, “An Act to Amend Various Acts of the Province Respecting the Alternate Witnessing of Documents by Lawyers.” (Bill 23)

SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

J. HOGAN: Thank you, Speaker.

I'm happy to rise today to speak Bill 23 – a bit of a mouthful – An Act to Amend Various Acts of the Province Respecting the Alternate Witnessing of Documents by Lawyers.

Currently, the legislation in our province requires in-person witnessing for most documents to be used as evidence before courts, and affidavits and instruments filed at the Registry of Deeds and wills.

To adapt to the COVID-19 public health emergency back in 2020, the Department of Justice and Public Safety, along with Digital Government and Service NL, introduced legislation to allow for remote witnessing of documents using audio-visual technology. That legislation expired when the public health emergency ended. It was, therefore, a temporary fix to get documents signed when in-person meetings were not possible during COVID.

The Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador and the president of the Newfoundland and Labrador branch of the Canadian Bar Association has corresponded with the Department of Justice and Public Safety when the temporary legislation expired to request legislative amendments to allow for virtual or remote commissioning of documents on a permanent basis.

Permanent legislation will promote access to justice and particularly benefit residents living in rural or remote areas where access to lawyers may be limited, saving them time and money by allowing for the remote witnessing of these documents.

This proposed bill will allow for the remote witnessing of the following documents: wills, pursuant to section 2 of the Wills Act; affidavits, declarations, affirmations or certificates pursuant to the Commissioners for Oaths Act; a document pursuant to the Notaries Public Act; and an instrument pursuant to section 15 of the Registration of Deeds Act, 2009.

This proposed bill to allow for the remote witnessing of documents using AV technology would be available under a number of conditions to protect the integrity of the witnessing process.

Both the Law Society and the local Bar Association are supportive of maintaining the safeguards in place to protect the integrity of this process.

Documents will only be allowed to be remotely witnessed by lawyers under the following conditions: The lawyers must be good standing with the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador and the lawyer must comply with any other requirements made by the Law Society or the LGIC.

Lawyers are self-regulated, subject to discipline, and carry public liability insurance. They also are subject to a code of conduct. This is why we have comfort in allowing them to proceed with virtual witnessing. The restriction on who can remotely witness documents maintains public confidence in our justice system and it is consistent with other measures adopted in other provinces and territories throughout the country.

We learned a lot during COVID-19 and how the pandemic impacted the way we operate. In some instances such as this, it was a positive takeaway that we can now apply to improve access to justice as it relates to the witnessing of documents on a permanent basis.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to discuss Bill 23. I'll take my seat and just want to add that the act will come into force on a day to be proclaimed later by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: Thank you, Speaker.

I've had an opportunity to review the act and, as the minister said, it is quite a mouthful but it is Bill 23, An Act to Amend Various Acts of the Province Respecting the Alternate Witnessing of Documents by Lawyers.

SPEAKER: Order, please!

One second. Someone has their phone – can you please put the phone on vibrate or silence?

AN HON. MEMBER: Not on this side, Speaker.

SPEAKER: I did look on that side.

The hon. the Member for Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: This is pretty straightforward in my estimation, Speaker. Really, essentially, what it does is it implements, really, new rules to enable virtual witnessing. I would say, though, that it is a way of being efficient for sure.

One thing I wonder about and maybe this will come out in Committee, ideally we want to strive to have in-person witnessing, but I think what this act envisions is that in those certain conditions, as has been mentioned, we will have exceptions.

Obviously, it seems to me it should never be the norm to have this but it should be used when it's necessary and in certain conditions as the minister has mentioned because, obviously, we want to always diminish the risk of any question of authenticity of documents.

So that's why it would be my view that this is something certainly necessary. We saw that it was necessary during the public health emergency of COVID. It was essential and vital that we have remote witnessing of documents done by audio and visual technology. So technology has an important role to play and that's clearly the case.

In situations, for example, of illness, disability, perhaps geographical distances and like we saw in the health emergency when we have situations where there is no access to witnesses, then, certainly, this is a welcome, new rule which will enable virtual witnessing now. It was temporary, as we saw through COVID, and now this will make it permanent in terms of applying it.

So with respect to that, I think there's no problem in supporting this and I just look forward to Committee. I do have one or two questions in Committee to ask the minister about this.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Labrador West.

J. BROWN: Thank you, Speaker.

We supported it during the health emergency and we continue to support the idea of alternate witnessing in certain circumstances. My colleague for Harbour Main made a good point, we look at individuals with disabilities or other challenges, this helps them as well and people who live in rural, remote areas, helps them as well. We learned a lot from COVID and how we had to change society a little bit. We learned that not only did it help them but also it's an improvement for people who live with disabilities, people who live in rural, remote areas of this province. Moving forward, as technology improves, we can continue to use the technology to actually make our society a lot easier and it helps a lot of people. That's what it's all about.

But at the same time, we continually support this idea and we continue to want to improve government services to help all those people with different challenges, but also people with different things. One thing is, obviously you're looking at the legal system. This is a great way to improve service but also increase access for those who have challenges.

Once again, we do support this.

Thank you.

SPEAKER: Seeing no other speakers, if the Minister of Justice and Public Safety speaks now he will close debate.

The hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

J. HOGAN: Thank you, Speaker.

I appreciate the comments from my colleagues for Lab West and Harbour Main. I'm very pleased to hear that they are supportive of the bill in principle. We'll obviously get to some questions.

I know that there was a comment that there were one or two questions. I hope I have one or two answers when we do get to Committee.

Thank you, Speaker.

SPEAKER: Is the House ready for the question?

The motion is that Bill 23 be now read a second time.

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

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

SPEAKER: All those against, 'nay.'

Motion carried.

CLERK: A bill, An Act to Amend Various Acts of the Province Respecting the Alternate Witnessing of Documents by Lawyers. (Bill 23)

SPEAKER: This bill has now been read a second time.

When shall the said bill be referred to a Committee of the Whole?

L. DEMPSTER: Now.

SPEAKER: Now.

On motion, a bill, “An Act to Amend Various Acts of the Province Respecting the Alternate Witnessing of Documents by Lawyers,” read a second time, ordered referred to a Committee of the Whole presently, by leave. (Bill 23)

SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Government House Leader.

L. DEMPSTER: Thank you, Speaker.

I move that this House do now resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole to consider Bill 23.

SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that I do now leave the Chair for the House to resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole.

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

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

SPEAKER: All those against, 'nay.'

Motion carried.

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

Committee of the Whole

CHAIR (Warr): Order, please!

We are now considering Bill 23, An Act to Amend Various Acts of the Province Respecting the Alternate Witnessing of Documents by Lawyers.

A bill, “An Act to Amend Various Acts of the Province Respecting the Alternate Witnessing of Documents by Lawyers.” (Bill 23)

CLERK: Clause 1.

CHAIR: Shall clause 1 carry?

The Chair recognizes the Member for Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: Thank you, Chair.

So one question I have for the minister with respect to this bill, I understand that it applies to wills under the Wills Act. Why doesn't it include documents like enduring powers of attorney, general powers of attorney and advanced health care directives?

CHAIR: The hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

J. HOGAN: The acts we're doing here now are to apply to lawyers; there are four acts, I believe. So any document that would apply where a lawyer could sign as a Commissioner for Oaths, for example, would apply. So if they could sign a power of attorney with a Commissioner for Oaths, then a lawyer would be able to deal with the amendment under this piece of legislation.

CHAIR: The Member for Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: Thank you.

I know that in Quebec, for example, wills and power of attorneys may be witnessed in the technological medium. So, essentially, you're saying that is the case here, it's just not explicitly stated, but that is the case in this act as well?

CHAIR: The hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

J. HOGAN: Yeah, so just to be clear, there are all kinds of documents out there that can be witnessed. Sometimes it doesn't necessarily have to be by a lawyer; only when a lawyer is needed, a lawyer can now sign a document virtually and that would include any document really.

A lawyer is deemed to be a Commissioner for Oaths under the Commissioners for Oaths Act. Other people can be Commissioner for Oaths and other people can be appointed notaries, but they would not be able to do this – the audiovisual signatures – under this act, it would only be lawyers.

CHAIR: The Member for Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: I just have one final question. So with respect to other jurisdictions, I would assume that there were jurisdictional scans done with respect to other jurisdictions in the country.

CHAIR: The hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.

J. HOGAN: Yeah, we definitely would have done jurisdictional scans. I don't have the information here in front of me about what other provinces currently have this in place on a permanent basis but we can provide that.

CHAIR: Thanks.

The Member for Harbour Main.

H. CONWAY OTTENHEIMER: That completes my questions.

Thank you very much.

CHAIR: Thank you.

Further questions to the bill?

Thank you.

Shall the motion carry?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

CHAIR: Those against?

Carried.

On motion, clause 1 carried.

CLERK: Clauses 2 through 60 inclusive.

CHAIR: Shall clauses 2 through 60 inclusive carry?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

CHAIR: All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

On motion, clauses 2 through 60 carried.

CLERK: Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor and House of Assembly in Legislative Session convened, as follows.

CHAIR: Shall the enacting clause carry?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

CHAIR: All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

On motion, enacting clause carried.

CLERK: An Act to Amend Various Acts of the Province Respecting the Alternate Witnessing of Documents by Lawyers.

CHAIR: Shall the title carry?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

CHAIR: All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

On motion, title carried.

CHAIR: The Chair is recognizing the Minister of Digital Government and Service NL.

S. STOODLEY: Thank you.

I just have an answer to the hon. Member's question. BC, Manitoba, Ontario and Saskatchewan have made this change permanent because this started during COVID, and then Nova Scotia and Quebec have guidelines with the same intention.

Thank you.

CHAIR: Thank you.

Shall I report the bill without amendment?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

CHAIR: All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

Motion, that the Committee report having passed the bill without amendment, carried.

CHAIR: The hon. Deputy Government House Leader.

L. DEMPSTER: Thank you, Chair.

I move that the Committee rise and report Bill 23.

CHAIR: It's moved that the Committee rise and report Bill 23.

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

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

CHAIR: All those against, 'nay.'

Carried.

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

SPEAKER (Bennett): Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Baie Verte - Green Bay and Chair of the Committee of the Whole.

B. WARR: Thank you, Speaker.

The Committee of the Whole have considered the matters to them referred and have directed me to report Bill 23 without amendment.

SPEAKER: The Chair of the Committee of the Whole reports that the Committee have considered the matters to them referred and have directed him to report that Bill 23 is passed without amendment.

When shall the report be received?

L. DEMPSTER: Now.

SPEAKER: Now.

When shall the bill be read a third time?

L. DEMPSTER: Tomorrow.

SPEAKER: Tomorrow.

On motion, report received and adopted. Bill ordered read a third time on tomorrow.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Government House Leader.

L. DEMPSTER: Thank you, Speaker.

I call from the Order Paper, Motion 1, and further move that this House approve in general the budgetary policy of the government, Budget Speech.

SPEAKER: Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

SPEAKER: All those against, 'nay.'

Motion carried.

The hon. the Member for Placentia - St. Mary's.

S. GAMBIN-WALSH: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I just wanted to speak very briefly to the budget here and I wanted to put on the record one of the investments that was noted in the 2023 budget. There has been record investment in health, $3.9 billion, an investment representing a $300-million increase from last year. While we are investing in a lot of things like community care and personal care, Mr. Speaker, one of the things that's highlighted in the budget that is very important is a $7.7 million –

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible.)

S. GAMBIN-WALSH: I'm not sure what the Member opposite is singing out about.

But it is a $7.7 million investment this year in family-managed care.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

S. GAMBIN-WALSH: Now the Member for Mount Pearl - Southlands definitely knows what I am talking about because I heard him on Open Line one day. We definitely have the same opinion on this. There is going to be an increase of $9.3 million next year for the health care professionals who support self-managed care in the home.

The reason why this is so important is because the rate of pay was $15.55 plus 4 per cent and it is going up now to $17.05 plus 4 per cent in October. That is a significant rate increase. What this really is, is for persons with disabilities who are at home and their families are managing the care. So the sons and daughters, very vulnerable individuals, of persons who have disabilities. Some of our individuals are non-verbal so it is very important that we have good quality care. I am sure all 40 of us in this House of Assembly, whether we realize it or not, has somebody in our community who is going to be benefiting in this increase in the budget.

I know the Member for Placentia West - Bellevue definitely knows what I am talking about here. So I wanted to take the opportunity to put this into the record and just to let everyone out there know that this increase is happening – it has actually already happened. The first increase happened on April 1 and when I checked with my own workers they said, yeah, they received the increase; they are very grateful for that.

I just wanted to highlight that big investment in the provincial budget this year.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

J. HOGAN: Thank you, Speaker.

I call from the Order Paper, Order 2, third reading.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

J. HOGAN: Speaker, I move, seconded by the Minister of Digital Government and Service NL, that An Act to Amend the Architects Act, 2008, Bill 29, be now read a third time.

SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that the said bill be now read a third time.

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

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

SPEAKER: All those against, 'nay.'

Motion carried.

CLERK: A bill, An Act to Amend the Architects Act, 2008. (Bill 29)

SPEAKER: This bill has now been read a third time and it is ordered that the bill do pass and its title be as on the Order Paper.

On motion, a bill, “An Act to Amend the Architects Act, 2008,” read a third time, ordered passed and its title be as on the Order Paper. (Bill 29)

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

J. HOGAN: I call from the Order Paper, Order 3.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

J. HOGAN: Speaker, I move, seconded by the Minister of Digital Government and Service NL, that an Act Respecting the Regulation of Mortgage Brokerages and Mortgage Brokers in the Province, Bill 30, be now read a third time

SPEAKER: It has been moved and seconded that the said bill be now read a third time.

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

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

SPEAKER: All those against?

Motion carried.

CLERK: A bill, An Act Respecting the Regulation of Mortgage Brokerages and Mortgage Brokers in the Province. (Bill 30)

SPEAKER: This bill has now been read a third time and it is ordered that the bill do pass and its title be as on the Order Paper.

On motion, a bill, “An Act Respecting the Regulation of Mortgage Brokerages and Mortgage Brokers in the Province,” read a third time, ordered passed and its title be as on the Order Paper. (Bill 30)

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

J. HOGAN: Speaker, I call from the Order Paper, Order 4.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader

J. HOGAN: Speaker, I move, seconded by the Deputy Government House Leader, that An Act to Amend the Patient Safety Act, Bill 31, be now read a third time.

SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that the said bill be now read a third time.

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

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

SPEAKER: All those against?

Motion carried.

CLERK: A bill, An Act to Amend the Patient Safety Act. (Bill 31)

SPEAKER: This bill has now been read a third time and it is ordered that the bill do pass and its title be as on the Order Paper.

On motion, a bill, “An Act to Amend the Patient Safety Act,” read a third time, ordered passed and its title be as on the Order Paper. (Bill 31)

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

J. HOGAN: Speaker, I call from the Order Paper, Order 5.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

J. HOGAN: Speaker, I move, seconded by the Deputy Government House Leader, that An Act to Amend the Pharmaceutical Services Act, Bill 32, be now read a third time.

SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that the said bill be now read a third time.

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

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

SPEAKER: All those against?

Motion carried.

CLERK: A bill, An Act to Amend the Pharmaceutical Services Act. (Bill 32)

SPEAKER: This bill has now been read a third time and it is ordered that the bill do pass and its title be as on the Order Paper.

On motion, a bill, “An Act to Amend the Pharmaceutical Services Act,” read a third time, ordered passed and its title be as on the Order Paper. (Bill 32)

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

J. HOGAN: Speaker, I call from the Order Paper, Order 6.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

J. HOGAN: Speaker, I move, seconded by the Minister of Education, that An Act to Amend the Memorial University Act, Bill 39, be now read a third time.

SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that the said bill be now read a third time.

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

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

SPEAKER: All those against?

Motion carried.

CLERK: A bill, An Act to Amend the Memorial University Act. (Bill 39)

SPEAKER: This bill has now been read a third time and it is ordered that the bill do pass and its title be as on the Order Paper.

On motion, a bill, “An Act to Amend the Memorial University Act,” read a third time, ordered passed and its title be as on the Order Paper. (Bill 39)

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

J. HOGAN: Speaker, I call from the Order Paper, Order 7.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

J. HOGAN: Speaker, I move, seconded by the Minister of Education, that an Act to Amend the Lands Act, Bill 40, be now read a third time.

SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that the said bill be now read a third time.

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

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

SPEAKER: All those against?

Motion carried.

CLERK: A bill, An Act to Amend the Lands Act. (Bill 40)

SPEAKER: This bill has now been read a third time and it is ordered that the bill do pass and its title be as on the Order Paper.

On motion, a bill, “An Act to Amend the Lands Act,” read a third time, ordered passed and its title be as on the Order Paper. (Bill 40)

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

J. HOGAN: Speaker, I call from the Order Paper, Order 8.

SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.

J. HOGAN: Speaker, I move, seconded by the Minister of Digital Government and Service NL, that An Act to Amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act, Bill 41, be now read a third time.

SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that the said bill be now read a third time.

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

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

SPEAKER: All those against, 'nay.'

Motion carried.

CLERK: A bill, An Act to Amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act. (Bill 41)

SPEAKER: This bill has now been read a third time and it is ordered that the bill do pass and that its title be as on the Order Paper.

On motion, a bill, “An Act to Amend the Occupational Health and Safety Act,” read a third time, ordered passed and its title be as on the Order Paper. (Bill 41)

The hon. the Government House Leader.

J HOGAN: Speaker, I move, seconded by the Member for Conception Bay South, that the House do now adjourn.

SPEAKER: Before I call for the vote, I just want to remind Members what we discussed earlier, please clear off your desks for the Youth Parliament.

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion that we do adjourn?

All those in favour, 'aye.'

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

SPEAKER: All those against, 'nay.'

Motion carried.

This House do stand adjourned until 1:30 p.m., Tuesday, May 23.

On motion, the House at its rising adjourned until tomorrow, Tuesday, May 23, at 1:30 p.m.