March 24, 2004 HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS Vol. XLV No. 4
The House met at 2:00 p.m.
MR. SPEAKER ( Hodder):Order, please!
On a point of order, the hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. ANDERSEN: Mr. Speaker, I want to touch on a few things that happened in the House of Assembly yesterday, and one that holds very dear to the people in Labrador and the Aboriginal people.
I quote from Hansard, "MADAM CHAIR: The hon. the Member for The Straits & White Bay North. AN HON. MEMBER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture. MADAM CHAIR: I am sorry. The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture". Mr. Speaker, there was no reference as the Minister for Labrador Affairs.
At 5:20 p.m., when the Member for Lewisporte rose, "CHAIR: Order, please! The hon. The Minister of Transportation and Works". Mr. Speaker, there was no reference to the Department of Aboriginal Affairs.
Mr. Speaker, in Labrador we were quite disappointed when a member from Labrador was not appointed to Cabinet, but I know the two hon. gentlemen who now hold the portfolio for Labrador Affairs and Aboriginal Affairs.
Mr. Speaker, I came to this House of Assembly, elected by the people in my riding. I hold Labrador very dear to my heart, and I am a proud Aboriginal. The hon. Pierre Pettigrew in the federal government was referred to as Minister of Health and Intergovernmental Affairs, and twice he told reporters and other people: I am also the Minister of Official Languages, and the reason why is because I believe in our languages in Canada.
Mr, Speaker, I think when ministers are recognized in the House, they should be recognized by their full portfolio. For the people in Labrador, who sometimes feel aggravated by the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, this adds insult to injury. Mr. Speaker, I believe it is an oversight, but at least I think ministers should also have the courage to stand up and admit that they are also ministers. In this case, the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture should have said, I am also the Minister Responsible for Labrador Affairs, and the same with the Minister of Transportation and Works. We are proud of where we come from, and I hope that this can be corrected in the future, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We can only concur with the member's point of order and obviously ask the Chair, whoever may be sitting in it at the time, that in future course, for the record of Hansard, for the public record which is Hansard, that anybody in this House who is being recognized, whether it be the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture and Labrador Affairs, or the Minister of Justice, or the member in their capacity, that the Chair reflect what their official title is in this House. We concur with the member's point and understand it fully.
MR. SPEAKER: I do believe that we have a consensus here, that if there has been any affront to the Member for Torngat Mountains or to the members representing Labrador districts by any member of this House in reference to titles that ministers carry or otherwise reference the districts, then the members know that we should be cognizant of that, the sensitivities that are involved. I can assure that the Chair and all occupants of the Chair will do everything we can to assure that the member's concerns are addressed and hopefully there will be no further difficulties and concerns raised or caused to be raised by the member in this regard.
Statements by Members
MR. SPEAKER: Today we have members' statements to be read in the following order: The Member for Burgeo & LaPoile, the Member for Mount Pearl, the Member for Grand Bank, the Member for Trinity North, the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune, and the Member for Lake Melville.
The hon. the Member for Burgeo & LaPoile.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today to recognize the heroic work and sacrifice of several citizens of Burnt Islands who have recently served with the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan. Conrad Keeping, Kyle Keeping, Craig Hatcher, Marty Bryan and Jeremy MacDonald were all members of the Canadian contingent in Afghanistan, making an effort to improve the lives of the Afghani people.
All have made our Province proud, especially Corporal MacDonald who, along with two others, was injured on the morning of January 26 during the suicide bombing in which another Newfoundlander and Labradorian, Corporal Jamie Murphy, was killed. Corporal MacDonald spent quite some time recovering at the Canadian Forces Camp Julien until returning home with the rest of his unit.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the sacrifices that the many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians serving in uniform have made in Afghanistan as they steadily improve that country. I would also like this House to recognize the sacrifices made by their families. We sadly mourn the death of Corporal Murphy and wish Corporal MacDonald a full recovery from his injuries. We are very proud of all of them, and indeed proud of all Canadian troops serving overseas.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, Hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Mount Pearl.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. DENINE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Today I use this House to pay tribute to the passing of a very distinguished gentleman, Mr. Kell Ashford.
Mr. Ashford was a former Councillor, Deputy Mayor and Mayor of the City of Mount Pearl. Under his leadership, he laid the foundation for the present day Mount Pearl. He was the longest serving Mayor of the Town of Mount Pearl then. He was a tremendous volunteer with the Lions Club and he lived the motto of the Lions Club - We Serve to the Nth Degree. He participated in many activities in our community and contributed to the quality of life in our community.
He was honored as being selected the Mount Pearl Citizen of the Quarter Century. He was a tremendous individual, Mr. Speaker, a friend and a pioneer for the community of Mount Pearl.
I ask this House to join with me to offer condolences to his family.
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Bank.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS FOOTE: Mr. Speaker, I rise today to extend congratulations to the Town of Grand Bank which celebrated its 60th year as an incorporated town this past November.
The historic town of Grand Bank was the Province's third incorporated town when it was given Royal Assent on December 28, 1943. Mr. Speaker, Grand Bank is presently the oldest independent town in Newfoundland and Labrador.
To mark this special event volunteers and employees of the town organized many celebrations which were well attended by the residents of Grand Bank and surrounding communities. Local businessman, Randell Pope, donated 150 historic photographs to be displayed in the town's new municipal centre. Memorial University archivist, and former resident of Grand Bank, Bert Riggs, was keynote speaker at a public function and gave an account of the town's history.
Mr. Speaker, Grand Bank has seen many of its former residents go on to make a name for themselves, including Albert Hickman, who was sworn in on May 10, 1924 as Prime Minister of Newfoundland; T. Alex Hickman, former member of the House of Assembly and former Chief Justice, in whose honour the former Minister of Justice, my colleague, the Member for Burgeo & LaPoile, named the courthouse in Grand Bank; Max Keeping, a news anchor with the CTV affiliate in Ottawa; Robert Parsons, teacher and successful author, and Wayne Follett, who is Regional Director General with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, just to name a few.
Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this hon. House to join me in extending congratulations to the people of Grand Bank on the 60th anniversary of the incorporation of their town.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Trinity North.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today to acknowledge another great achievement of one of Newfoundland and Labrador's most colorful personalities. Donna Butt, has been named as a member of the Order of Canada by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. The Order of Canada, Mr. Speaker, was established in 1967, and is the country's highest honour for lifetime achievement.
This latest honour follows Donna's being awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Memorial University at the session of convocation held in May, at Grenfell College. It also comes in a season which celebrates Rising Tide's 25th Anniversary as a professional theatre company and the 20th Anniversary of the company's highly successful political Revues.
Mr. Speaker, for those new members of the House, you know you have made your mark on political life in Newfoundland and Labrador when you are covered off in the annual Revue.
Donna Butt became involved in theater as a member of Newfoundland's Mummers Troupe. Since 1978 she has been working full-time to create a dynamic professional theatre company. Donna has been a driving force in Newfoundland theatre for the past twenty-five years and under her direction the company has played a major role in the theatrical and cultural life of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Whether as an actor, writer, director or producer, Donna works tirelessly to promote and maintain professional theater in this Province, especially in the work that seeks to portray the culture and character of Newfoundland and Labrador. Nothing exemplifies this more than her work in Trinity where the New Founde Lande, a large historical pageant, has become a cultural flagship on the Bonavista Peninsula. With the addition in 1994 of the Summer in the Bight Theatre Festival, a companion event to the pageant itself, plus its extension in 2002 into the autumn season, the Trinity Bight region now has become one of the Island's primary tourist destination point.
MR. SPEAKER: The member's time has expired.
MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I ask members of this House, though, to join me today in congratulating Donna Butt . I welcome all of you to join her theatre company this coming summer and to see the great work that she is doing, and the great work she is doing on behalf of all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. LANGDON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Mrs. Olive MacDonald of Harbour Breton. Mrs. MacDonald celebrated her 103rd birthday on February 7 of this year.
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit with Mrs. MacDonald just prior to her birthday, which was widely celebrated by her family and the entire community. The Knights of Columbus provided live entertainment as many individuals and organizations visited to bring gifts and messages of congratulations. The whole community shared in the celebration of this great milestone.
Today, Mrs. MacDonald resides with her daughter Shirley in Harbour Breton. She has four children, thirty-two grandchildren, fifty-seven great-grandchildren and twelve great-great-grandchildren.
Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this House to join me in congratulating Mrs. MacDonald on her 103rd birthday and wishing her continued health in the future.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Lake Melville.
MR. HICKEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in this hon. House today to recognize and offer congratulations to the organizing committee, sponsors and to the folks of the communities of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, North West River, Mud Lake and Sheshatshiu and to take this opportunity to inform this House of the great outdoor event which took place in my district, the great District of Lake Melville, during the week of March 14-21, 2004.
This yearly event, Mr. Speaker, is known as Snow Break.
Mr. Speaker, Snow Break 2004 was a week centered around taking advantage of the great Labrador outdoor activities available to those of us who are blessed to live in the "Big Land", our beautiful Labrador.
Snow Break 2004 was focused on events for the whole family, including snowmobile races, wilderness snowmobile trail rides along some of the most breathtaking groomed trails and picturesque landscapes Labrador has to offer. The events also included games of hockey, a children sports day, cross country skiing on the beautiful trails of the Birch Brook Nordic Ski Club, community lunches organized by the local Lions Club and the United Church women's group, a Toboggan Hill party complete with bonfire and hotdogs sponsored by the Kinsmen and Kinettes, snowshoe races and family tug-of-war.
It was a great week, Mr. Speaker, but the highlight of the week was the Guinness Ride.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to say that it was a record setting day in Labrador with 840 snow machines registered from as far away as Russia -
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. member's time has expired.
AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.
MR. SPEAKER: By leave.
MR. HICKEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am proud to say that it was a record setting day in Labrador with 840 snow machines registered from as far away as Russia, the United States and Surrey, BC, to take part in a record breaking snowmobile ride.
Mr. Speaker, it may just be a new Guinness Record for the highest number of consecutive snow machines to travel in an unbroken line. We will wait now for the Guinness officials to take a look at the tapes of the trek and decide if all riders complied with the rules.
I ask all members of the House of Assembly to join me today in congratulating the organizing committee, sponsors, volunteers and my constituents for their support and participation, as it was again testimony to the great community spirit, pride and determination of the people and communities in the Lake Melville District of Labrador.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
Statements by Ministers
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. T. OSBORNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today to advise the hon. House of a recycling initiative of the Departments of Environment and Conservation and Transportation and Works that demonstrates government's commitment to progressive waste management and protecting our environment.
Effective March 31, 2004, a mandatory paper and cardboard recycling program will be in place for the east and west blocks of Confederation Building. Cardboard and paper will no longer be allowed to be discarded through regular garbage disposal.
Mr. Speaker, there have been increased efforts by many individual departments and government's Interdepartmental Recycling Committee regarding paper recycling over the past couple of years, and I commend these employees for their efforts to date; however, we recognize that more needs to be done. Government is dedicated to showing leadership in all areas in helping to protect our environment. A mandatory recycling program for paper and cardboard demonstrates not only our leadership, but also our dedication to prudent and progressive waste management.
The Department of Environment and Conservation's Green Committee and members of the Interdepartmental Recycling Committee are available to give advice to departments in their paper and cardboard recycling effort. As well, a "Paper Wise" bulletin has been posted on the Green Committee's Web site to give employees some guidance on how to reduce paper consumption.
Mr. Speaker, an analysis of waste streams in the Province shows that approximately 30 per cent of all waste going to landfills is paper and cardboard. A mandatory waste diversion program for paper and cardboard at Confederation Building is another important step in the implementation of the Province's Waste Management Strategy and in reaching our goal of a 50 per cent reduction in the amount of waste going to landfills in our Province. Mr. Speaker, we will also be considering a mandatory paper and cardboard ban in other government buildings in the near future.
I wish to point out that other recycling programs for such products as beverage containers also exist within Confederation Building and we encourage people to participate in these waste diversion programs as well.
Mr. Speaker, government is committed to going beyond mandatory cardboard recycling within our own operations. I am pleased to say that I have recently struck a working group of government officials, the MMSB, the Newfoundland and Labrador Environmental Industry Association, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Municipalities to prepare a report on what can be achieved in paper and cardboard recycling in this Province. I expect a report in about six weeks. I look forward to that report and the possible implementation of diversion programs and a strategic approach to paper and cardboard recycling throughout this Province.
Mr. Speaker, putting in place a mandatory paper and cardboard recycling program at Confederation Building is all about leading by example and taking action to protect our environment. Government will continue to show its leadership and take action, Mr. Speaker, as we move forward in our efforts to achieve a Province-wide waste management system.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Bellevue.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. BARRETT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to thank the hon. minister for the advance copy of his Ministerial Statement. It is great news, that we are no longer taking paper and cardboard out of Confederation Building, the east block and the west block. All of the public servants now will have to be involved in a recycling program.
I guess it is disappointing to note, what about the other government offices around St. John's? There is no mention here of any paper and cardboard recycling. I guess the other thing I would like to point out is that this comes into affect on April 1. I would not imagine that there will be very much paper or cardboard circulated here on April 1. As a matter of fact, it is nice to know that the two ministers have been designated as essential workers to collect the cardboard boxes from the Tim Horton's on the picket lines on April 1. Congratulations to the Minister of Environment and Conservation for such a great opportunity to recycle the Tim Horton's cardboard boxes.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.
MR. HARRIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It took five long months, Mr. Speaker, for the minister to finally make a statement on the environment. I thought that when the Premier appointed him Minister of Environment he also took away his tongue. Over here, he was a tiger. Over here, every day, he was a tiger on the environment, and now he has turned into a paper tiger over there, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. HARRIS: Five long months we have been waiting, and what has he done? He has caught up with the employees in the government buildings and he is now going to recycle paper and cardboard.
Mr. Speaker, we expect a lot more from the minister, given what he did when he was over here. Now that he is the Minister of Environment and Conservation, we are expecting great things from this minister. So far we have not gotten them. We will be over here to criticize and expect them to live up to the reputation that he got over here for being a tiger on the environment and, if he does not, we will be here to criticize him.
Mr. Speaker, we want to hear a statement every week from this minister about what he is doing to protect the environment -
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. member's time is up.
MR. HARRIS: - to save energy and to be a conservation tiger on that side of the House as he tried to be over there.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Human Resources, Labour and Employment.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS BURKE: Mr. Speaker, I am speaking today in my role as Minister Responsible for the Status of Women.
I am pleased to recognize that the Women's Health Network, Newfoundland and Labrador, is hosting a policy workshop today promoting the advancement of physical activities for girls in this Province. The purpose of this workshop is to give girls a voice in policy development and have policy-makers respond to their needs.
The workshop will bring female youth from the St. John's region face-to-face with program developers in government. This will allow them the opportunity to discuss the physical activities that girls value and present policies they feel will have a positive impact on girls' well-being and health.
Physical education and recreation are two areas where we cannot assume programs and policies have the same effect on everyone. Gender equality does not mean treating women and men as if they are the same. Instead, it reflects a concern for understanding the difference in women's men's lives and the possible need for different strategies to achieve equitable outcomes.
The Women's Policy Office and the Departments of Education and Tourism, Culture and Recreation will each be giving presentations at this workshop. These presentations will demonstrate the importance of adopting physical education and recreational policies and programs which have been analyzed to determine the different impacts they might have on women and girls and to mitigate them where possible.
Health advocates are urging Canadians to be physically active to decrease their risk of cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, osteoporosis, depression, and other diseases. Yet, physical activity among Canadians is low and has been declining among youth in the past decade. According to the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity, only 25 per cent of girls in Canada are physically active.
The issue is important in Newfoundland and Labrador because this Province has among the highest rates of physical inactivity in the country.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to work with my hon. colleagues, John Ottenheimer and Paul Shelley, in considering the impact of their decisions on all women in their curriculum and program development.
The workshop entitled "Our Time! Building Policy Capacity for the Advancement of Physical Activities for Girls in Newfoundland and Labrador" is taking place from 3:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. today in the Foran Room at St. John's City Hall.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to thank the minister for an advance copy of her statement and to congratulate her publicly, Mr. Speaker, on being appointed as the Minister for the Status of Women, a very noble, very proud position to hold as a woman, I am sure. I congratulate her and wish her well.
Mr. Speaker, I too want to commend the Health Network of Newfoundland and Labrador, a non-profit, a non-government agency which has done great work in this Province in promoting the well being of women. They have encouraged women to study our own health issues, to do the research that has been necessary to be able to document and use in further reports on health care throughout the Province.
Mr. Speaker, what the Women's Health Network is doing now is timely, timely when you look at the obesity rates that have been recorded in Newfoundland and Labrador within our general population and also within our school system. They cannot do it alone, Mr. Speaker, and that is why we have to continue to build on the infrastructure in our communities, like gymnasiums and recreation centres and programs, to all areas of our Province, so that we can promote good physical activity and good infrastructure, and that our children will have a more balanced program and a more balanced lifestyle no matter where they live in the Province.
Mr. Speaker, I was fortunate, as a member, to be able to see six community gymnasiums and recreation centres build in my district in the last five years.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. member's time as expired.
MS JONES: Just time to clue up, Mr. Speaker?
MR. SPEAKER: By leave?
AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.
MR. SPEAKER: By leave.
MS JONES: That has certainly gone a long way to promoting physical education in those communities.
I commend the Women's Health Network. I hope that the government of the day will continue to sponsor, financially, the work that they do, so that they cannot only hold sessions like this in our capital city but they are able to do so all throughout the Province.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Labrador West.
MR. COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like, also, to thank the minister for an advance copy of her statement and we would also like to thank the Women's Network on this initiative; this initiative, Mr. Speaker, under very trying circumstances, because according to this letter from the Women's Health Network dated September 30 last year, they send out notice that they would be in danger or forced to shut operations completely on October 31 if they didn't receive funding from different stakeholders around the Province. They have done this in spite of the many difficult financial situations that they face.
Mr. Speaker, again I would like to congratulate the Women's Network on this initiative.
MR. PARSONS: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: A point of order has been raised by the Opposition House Leader.
MR. PARSONS: I apologize for interrupting the Member for Labrador West, Mr. Speaker, but this being Private Members' Day, and it being 2:29 p.m. now, I am assuming we have consent to go beyond 3:00 p.m. to finish the Ministerial Statements. Normally, I understand you would stop at 2:30 to allow the thirty minutes for Question Period. I am assuming we have consent on that.
MR. E. BYRNE: Mr. Speaker, this government would never take away any time from Question Period to let the Opposition have their time to hold us accountable. As a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, there may be even days when we will say we will extend it, by leave.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Thank you very much.
The member has about fifteen seconds left.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
MR. COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We, too, would like to see this program expanded through rural areas of the Province where young women in our Province may not have available the same infrastructure that people have in the city for physical activity, and we want to stress on the Minister of Education the importance of physical activities within the school system. But, Mr. Speaker, this government has to ensure physical activity takes the profile that it deserves. I hope the minister's congratulations and praise for the Women's Network today is reflected in the Budget on Tuesday so that the Women's Network and other women's groups in this Province -
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The member's time has expired.
MR. COLLINS: By leave, just to clue up, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: By leave.
MR. COLLINS: I hope that the Women's Network and other women's groups in this Province, their needs are reflected in the Budget on Tuesday so that they can have the money to do the work that is so much needed in this Province.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, and Labrador Affairs.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, last week I attended the International Boston Seafood Show. This the foremost show for seafood products in North America, and perhaps in the world. There was a significant number of our Province's fishing companies and fishery workers present. The professionalism of the Newfoundland and Labrador Pavilion and its exhibitors was second to none.
Mr. Speaker, due to a cabinet meeting, I was unable to attend the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture's reception at the show on Saturday night. My staff informs me that it was one of the best received and better attended to date. Over 400 guests from Canada, the United States, Europe, and Asia sampled Newfoundland and Labrador seafood that was contributed by members of our seafood industry. The federal Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Minister Geoff Regan, was among those in attendance.
Mr. Speaker, while in Boston, I met with Minister Regan and impressed upon him the importance of federal investments in our aquaculture industry. I repeated the Province's position that a limited cod fishery should be opened in the Northern Gulf of St. Lawrence. We talked about the need for a conservation first approach to management of our very important snow crab resource. We discussed international fisheries issues, including custodial management. We also reviewed the challenges faced by this Province's cooked and peeled shrimp industry in 2004.
Mr. Speaker, the world market for seafood products is very competitive. Meetings I attended in Boston with fish companies and their American brokers confirmed support for our emphasis on seafood excellence. These discussions solidified my view that a new and improved Quality Assurance Program, as recommended in the Dunne Report, is essential for members of the Newfoundland and Labrador seafood industry to derive maximum benefits from a finite resource.
Mr. Speaker, a healthy fishery will and must play a pivotal role in this Province's economic well-being. I look forward to continuing to work with all industry stakeholders to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Twillingate & Fogo.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to respond to the statement issued today by the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, and Labrador Affairs.
First of all, I would like to thank him for the advance copy of the statement. I am really glad that you had the opportunity to visit the Boston Seafood Show, albeit, you were a day late. It is a great show. I had the opportunity to visit myself. It is a very important show for industry participants from this Province.
I note that you again, had an opportunity to speak with the federal minister and again you mentioned the Gulf fishery without making reference to the fishery in 2J+3KL. I assumed that you had forgotten about the people in that area because you had never mentioned them when you talked about your talks with the federal minister.
I also note that you talked to the minister about Aquaculture. A very important part of our fishing industry here in this Province, an area with a lot of potential. We are moving in the right direction but, again, like the minister said, we need extra funding. Unfortunately, we did not hear any mention of funding for Aquaculture in the federal Budget yesterday.
Now that the minister raised it, I guess he could not tell me today because like the members here yesterday, they cannot tell me what is in the Budget but we are expecting a sizable chunk of money for Aquaculture in next week's Budget.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the member's time has expired.
MR. REID: By leave, Mr. Speaker, one more second to clue up.
MR. SPEAKER: By leave.
MR. REID: With regard to the shrimp fishery, I would like to know what happened to the minister's plan with his auction system, that great plan that seems to have fallen apart in a very few number of days?
Mr. Speaker, there are a lot of issues raised here, a lot of issues that we certainly will be debating in the coming weeks.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.
MR. HARRIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Boston Seafood Show is a very important showcase and business opportunity for the Newfoundland and Labrador fishery products and companies. It is important for government, of course, to be represented there as well.
I am pleased the minister had the opportunity to talk once again with the Minister of Fisheries in Ottawa, but we have to - the proof of the pudding is in the eating, they say. We talked about custodial management. We will find out later today, I think, whether or not he was successful in persuading the Minister of Fisheries and his government to support what the all-party committee unanimously reported in the House of Commons last year, that we should adopt custodial management on the Nose and Tail of the Grand Banks.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The member's time has expired.
MR. HARRIS: We will see if he was successful in his efforts to convince him on that point.
Oral Questions
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. GRIMES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, the federal Budget, as everyone knows, was tabled in Ottawa last evening and a budget that regrettably, as I see it, has very few benefits for the people of this Province and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador in particular. One area that was totally inadequate, in my view, was health care funding as announced last evening.
Meanwhile, this morning in Newfoundland and Labrador the federal Finance Minister, in a radio interview, stated that we should not expect any more because the premiers had signed an Accord for the amounts that he announced in the Budget. Mr. Speaker, I know for a fact that there was no Accord signed by any premier during the period of time that I held the office. So I am wondering, and asking the question: Does the Premier know which signed Accord the federal Finance Minister is speaking about to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador today? And if not, what does he plan to do to challenge such statements when they are made in Newfoundland and Labrador erroneously? Is there a signed Accord that the current Premier participated in, or what does he plan to do about correcting the misinformation?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I can tell the hon. Leader of the Opposition that I was not aware of that statement which was made by the Minister of Finance. I would have to actually check that statement just to verify the accuracy. I understood it took place - was it in a radio interview?
AN HON. MEMBER: CBC Radio.
PREMIER WILLIAMS: CBC Radio. I did hear part of that interview this morning but I did not get all of it, so I would have to verify the accuracy of that. However, I can assure the hon. Leader of the Opposition and all Members of the House of Assembly that, of course, health care and health care financing is something that I fought for at the First Ministers' table time and time and time again.
The federal government has indicated it has made, in its opinion, significant financial assistance to the Province. In fact, the premiers feel that it is not adequate. They feel that we should move to the Romanow formula. At the very last meeting that we had with the Prime Minister there was some serious discussion on additional funding and the fact that the $2 billion was being provided, but it was not being entrenched in the base and that it would not be on an annual basis.
So, there is an ongoing difference of opinion and a very strong difference of opinion between First Ministers across the country and the Prime Minister of the country and, in fact, the federal government.
I can assure the Leader of the Opposition, members opposite and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, that we are fighting very, very hard for increased funding for health care in Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: A supplementary, the hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. GRIMES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, just for reference, it was CBC Radio Morning News this morning, and in the same interview the federal Minister of Finance stated that he did speak to all of the finance ministers provincially over the weekend. This was also confirmed by the provincial Minister of Finance to describe the final terms of the equalization renewal that we have arrived at. Newfoundland's federal minister, Minister Efford, in an interview during the same period of time, talked about Mr. Goodale or, in fact, has talked about the fact that the Minister of Finance in Newfoundland and the Minister of Finance in Canada, and all the other Ministers of Finance discussed this and made the changes in equalization.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I am asking the member now to finish his question.
MR. GRIMES: Yes, Mr. Speaker.
The question is this, I concur fully with the Minister of Finance that the equalization changes too were absolutely, totally, disgustingly inadequate. The two ministers are suggesting that our Minister of Finance has signed on and agreed to it in radio interviews this morning. Did that occur, or are we going to challenge the misinformation?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Finance; President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Our Minister of Finance has not signed on, or agreed to anything that is going to take away or be detrimental to the benefits of our Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SULLIVAN: And the Federal Minister of Natural Resources indicated the finances in our Province are a nightmare. I am going to stand up and fight for an improvement in equalization or any aspect on behalf of that. I have done so with the minister. I am going to be appearing next month - on an invitation I am going to Ottawa to make a presentation to the Senate Committee on dealing with equalization. We want to fight and get our fair share, that we are not getting now under the current agreement.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: A supplementary, the hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. GRIMES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am delighted to hear the answer, and I would hope at the first opportunity that both the Premier and the Finance Minister will work with their colleagues, that they have a growing better working relationship with, to make sure that they do not make such insinuations again in Newfoundland and Labrador, that this minister would sign onto the ridiculous equalization numbers that were in yesterday's Budget.
One last issue from the Budget yesterday, Mr. Speaker. There was no direct reference, anywhere in the speech, to the Atlantic Accord or the changes that we discussed in Question Period yesterday. However, very deep in the back of the Budget, in Annex 6, there are references to changes to the Nova Scotia Accord, and also to the Newfoundland and Labrador Accord.
The federal ministers have been suggesting that the Province has concurred in what has happened to date. Have we, I ask the Premier, concurred with a recognition that Nova Scotia has not been the principal beneficiary so far with their offshore -
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I ask the member now to finish his question.
MR. GRIMES: Yes, Mr. Speaker.
- so that they get an immediate $30 million in cash, while the only reference to Newfoundland and Labrador is that we might change the date some time, when we might look at it in the future. Is that what we can expect with respect to the offshore and the changes that are in the offing which we talked about yesterday?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am quite encouraged by the fact that Nova Scotia did get some benefit. I am delighted that they have gotten some benefit. I think, in fact, it is $25 million. In fact, that strengthens our argument. This was something that was announced even a couple of weeks ago, that there was going to be a change in Nova Scotia's offset formula. Basically, they were resetting the clock, because initially when it kicked in I think only (inaudible) was in play and Sable had not come on stream. So it was an opportunity for the federal government to give Nova Scotia some benefit.
We have spoken as recently as this morning with the Minister of Finance in Nova Scotia and they have indicated, of course, that this has nothing to do with their principal beneficiary argument or, in fact, their Crown share argument, which is different than ours. They will be moving forward with that, as we will be moving forward with it.
The same time that Minister Efford, the Minister of Natural Resources, talked about the financial nightmare that we have in this Province - and, of course, we truly do have a financial nightmare, which I can say quite honestly, Mr. Speaker, we inherited. We did not create, and we are trying to strengthen out.
At the time that he did speak about the financial nightmare that was left after this current government -
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I ask the Premier now to complete his answer.
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
He did, in fact, indicate however that there could be recourse, and there should be recourse, through the bilateral negotiations that are going on between Newfoundland and Labrador and the Government of Canada. This is the initiative on the Atlantic Accord whereby we put together a very good approach, a very simply approach, whereby Newfoundlanders and Labradorians would get 100 per cent of their revenues from the offshore oil and gas.
That is something we are pursuing and that is something, as I indicated yesterday, that we have the full support of eleven of twelve premiers across the country; as well as the support of the new Leader of the Conservative Party. We are looking forward to a response from the Leader of the New Democratic Party, and we will be putting it to the federal government as indicated yesterday.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: On a supplementary, the hon. the Leader of the Opposition
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. GRIMES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. A final supplementary.
With respect to a story reported in the local media today, The Telegram, when again our federal minister, who is working very hard on our behalf - does the Premier, on behalf of the government, agree with his assessment that we should work only at the offshore provisions, we should agree with the federal government to seek no more changes in equalization for the next five years, because, as his phrase is, our federal minister in the federal government is: You can't expect to have your cake and eat it too. The problem, Mr. Speaker, being is that they have our cake and they are eating it too.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. GRIMES: So are we going to listen and cooperate with our federal minister who says: Don't ask for anymore changes in equalization for five years. Is that what they talked about in their meeting a couple of weeks ago? Is that the plan? Have we signed onto no equalization for five years because we might get something -
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I ask the hon. member to get to his question.
MR. GRIMES: - we might get a few crumbs from the cake some time.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I understand that the hon. Leader of the Opposition has serious personal issues with the Minister of Natural Resources. Obviously, there is some long history and some bad blood between them.
Personally, as Premier of the Province, our government does not have that personal problem or a confrontational relationship with this particular minister. As a matter of fact, there is a quote from the hon. Leader of the Opposition last year whereby he acknowledged: Again, I want you to know that the federal-provincial relationship is strained, very strained, probably at an all-time low.
The little display that he just put on a few minutes ago will show you why it was at an all-time low. We are prepared to work with the federal government. We are prepared to co-operate and collaborate, but we also prepared to take them on when we have to take them on. Make no mistake about it.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: But, our new approach will be to build relationships, to get results, to get the kind of results that we got on 5-Wing Goose Bay, to get the initial results we are getting on surveillance in the offshore.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: It is working! The new approach is working, as opposed to the old approach which was given by the hon. Leader of the Opposition.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I ask the hon. the Premier now to finish his answer.
PREMIER WILLIAMS: You also heard the Minister of Finance indicate that he is going up to speak on that equalization, to advocate the Province's position on a ten-province standard so that we do not suffer and do not lose $210 million like we did in this last budget.
We will fight when we have to fight, but we will try and build relationships, unlike what the hon. gentlemen opposite did that damaged this Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Carbonear-Harbour Grace.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SWEENEY: Mr. Speaker, today my questions are for the Minister of Government Services.
The minister announced last week that she was moving forward with reforms to the automobile insurance industry in this Province. She says that she observed reform packages and systems in other provinces and came to the conclusion that her new plan was the best.
I ask the minister today: Where did this government dream up the idea of a $2,500 deductible? Why has it never been used anywhere else? Why have industry experts and insurance analysts never heard of it and feel that it does not work?
AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the hon. gentleman for his question.
Mr. Speaker, that is what the new approach is all about. We just do not do things because other provinces have done them. We do not mind coming up -
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We do not mind coming up with new ideas. We do not mind coming up with novel ideas. We do not mind coming up with good solutions. We took our time to look at this. Unlike the hon. gentleman opposite, we did not wait years and years and years to deal with insurance. We dealt with this problem within the first five months that we were in office, and we have come up with a solution, and this is just the first step.
Let me remind the hon. gentleman opposite that we are going to have a comprehensive hearing to deal with all issues of insurance, not only automobile insurance, but commercial insurance, residential insurance, marine insurance. All stakeholders will have an opportunity to have a say at that particular hearing.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: A supplementary, the hon. the Member for Carbonear-Harbour Grace.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SWEENEY: That was not all that complicated so I will try another one, Minister.
Judging from the Premier's answer, I assume that the minister does not know where she got it.
This government had a master plan last August. It came out two days on the heels after the Liberal government announced their plan. The only thing added differently was a moose stuck in there somewhere. What is after happening now, since August, they have caved in to the lawyers and insurance companies of this Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SWEENEY: Why aren't they doing what they promised? Where is the 20 per cent discount that they promised the consumer last August? What have you done? You have not protected consumers.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I ask the hon. member to finish his question.
MR. SWEENEY: Minister, could you answer that question?
AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, what this government is doing is very clearly protecting the consumer. We are not making announcements for the sake of making announcements. We have had careful deliberations on this particular matter. We have looked at the experience in Nova Scotia, in New Brunswick, in Prince Edward Island. I have consulted -
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I am asking all members to keep the noise level down. It is impossible for the Chair to hear what is being said and it is impossible, I am sure, for members who are listening by way of television to be able to follow the questions and the answers.
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We have consulted with other governments, with other jurisdictions. We have looked at the experience in New Brunswick. We have looked at the experience in Prince Edward Island. We have looked at the experience in Nova Scotia. We understand that some of the experiences in these other provinces are not in fact working out. As a result, we are going to do our very best to deliver the best for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
We indicated that we would target a reduction of 20 per cent. We have, in fact, achieved an interim reduction of 15 per cent which is the first step on the way to a hearing where we will also try and increase the number of motorists that are not uninsured, so that we can further reduce premiums to achieve greater savings for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. We are just going to do it right. That is the difference.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: A final supplementary, the hon. the Member for Carbonear- Harbour Grace.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SWEENEY: Minister, I would like to ask you how you expect to keep this deductible, how to make this deductible bring the rates down. Lawyers have already said, Mr. Speaker, that they will be looking for higher awards to compensate for the $2,500 deductible. They are in the news saying it. Why was she too scared - and I think I have an inclination this afternoon already that she is not allowed to answer these questions - why was she too scared to implement this cap that her government promised?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, this matter has been considered and is placed in the hands of the Public Utilities Board. It is being considered by the regulatory body in this particular Province.
MR. BARRETT: (Inaudible). Go on. Go on.
PREMIER WILLIAMS: The deductible has been based - if the hon. Member for Bellevue would just allow me to answer this very, very important question. This has been placed in the hands of the Public Utilities Board. We asked for an actuarial study. This has been done on actuarial results. The results have been indicated that on a basis of a $2,500 deductible that there will, in fact, be savings to the consumer. As well, there will be savings from collateral benefits. As well, there will be savings from calculations made on net wages as opposed to gross wages. As well, there will be savings on collision, on comprehensive, and other services that are offered to the public. Savings! Savings! Savings! Savings everywhere and based on actuarial results!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.
MR. HARRIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
My question is for the Premier and concerns his auto insurance policy released some five months after the election. The major feature was a freeze on insurance rates as of March 17. Will the Premier acknowledge that, in fact, consumers renewing their policies in March, April, May, June and July, and as late as September, will be paying increases on their insurance, increases that were already accrued by the PUB and, in fact, will have no freeze at all affecting their rates as they come on stream?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, I can assure the hon. member that there is actually, in fact, a freeze in place right now and as soon as the legislation -
AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).
PREMIER WILLIAMS: The hon. Member for Fogo -
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
Again, I am asking members to tone down their commentary. It is impossible for the Chair or others to follow the discussion if we continue to have shouting back and forth from both sides of the House.
The hon. the Premier.
PREMIER WILLIAMS: As well, I can assure the hon. member that legislation will be put before this session of the House of Assembly, and once passed, will be effective. So therefore there should be, in fact, a reduction in premiums for people who have already paid their premiums.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: A supplementary, the hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.
MR. HARRIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I have in front of me the top ten insurers in Newfoundland with increases from 10 per cent, 15 per cent, 20 per cent, and in some cases 33 per cent, which the Premier promised to roll back by about 9 per cent after he gets around to it. Will he not acknowledge that the people who are affected by this will, in fact, after all of this is over, will be paying more in insurance in the future than they are paying right now?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am sure the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi will acknowledge that there is, in fact, an immediate reduction of 15 per cent that will take place as soon as the legislation is passed. As well, he will also acknowledge that we cannot be irresponsible, we cannot go without all the information. In fact, in order to have a comprehensive hearing of all issues of insurance, issues that are important to everybody in our constituencies in this entire Province, issues like commercial insurance, issues like marine insurance, issues like home insurance, very important to all of us, they had to be dealt with at a hearing. We had to amend our legislation and our regulations in order to have a detailed hearing.
As well, in order to get accurate, complete information, in order to properly review auto insurance on a finer basis as closed claim study has to be completed. The last closed claim study, if I remember correctly, was around 1996. Unfortunately, the government at the time -
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I ask the Premier now to finish his answer.
PREMIER WILLIAMS: - of which the hon. Member for Fogo and Twillingate was a member saw fit to do absolutely about it, and we are doing our best..
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: A supplementary, the hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.
MR. HARRIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The last time I calculated this, a reduction of 9 per cent is what the government claims on third party liability, when deducted from an increase of 22 per cent works out to an increase of 13 per cent.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. HARRIS: Will the minister confirm that his plan to supposedly reduce auto insurance is actually going to end up costing consumers more this year?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I can tell the hon. member that there will, in fact, be a 15 per cent reduction. That is the case. That is based on the most current accurate financial information that we have. That is based on the actuarial study which has been filed with the Public Utilities Board. That is based on the benchmark study which has been filed with the Public Utilities Board. We are relying on the best possible information that we can get. We are not going to go out on an ad hoc basic and arbitrarily impose a rate, because it simply will not work.
We are doing it with the best available information and these issues will all be properly aired at a comprehensive hearing which will deal with all types of insurance.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune.
MR. LANGDON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. LANGDON: Mr. Speaker, my questions are also for the Minister of Government Services as it pertains to insurance.
On August 27, last year, the current Premier announced his intentions for dealing with automobile, home and commercial insurance. We were promised a study would be done in 120 days and changes would be made immediately.
Again this week we hear of businesses closing and volunteer organizations struggling to afford insurance. What will the minister do to help the fire departments and other volunteer organizations while she continues her study of the industry?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, I don't know if the hon. gentleman opposite -
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: - was listening when, in fact, we gave the previous answer, but this government is trying to correct a lot of messes that this past government has left us. In fact, the government that this particular member was a minister of saw fit to do nothing for years and years and years about these problems. Now, we have a huge insurance problem in this Province and we are dealing with it.
We recognize the problems with the volunteer fire organizations. We recognize the problems with commercial insurance. We recognize the problems that it is creating with small businesses. We recognize the profits that are being made by insurance companies on residential insurance policies, but we are dealing with it in a proper manner and we are dealing with it as soon as we can. We will deal with it, Mr. Speaker, and we will correct the problems and the mess that was left by the hon. members opposite.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: A supplementary, the hon. the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune.
MS FOOTE: What a way to treat a woman!
MR. LANGDON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I do feel for my friend, the Minister of Government Services. I have known her for a long time as a colleague in municipal government. I am sure she is disappointed that she cannot answer today.
Community fundraising events will be cancelled, volunteer fire departments will be shut down, and volunteers will be afraid to continue to volunteer.
MS FOOTE: (Inaudible).
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
MR. LANGDON: The Community Services Council, a group which represents many volunteer organizations, has called on government to address the issue but to no avail. This is not what people heard. This is not what people wanted. Why didn't the minister do what she promised and address the urgency of the problem?
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I can only repeat it time and time again. We are addressing the urgency of this problem. We are doing it as soon as possible. Unfortunately, we are left with the legislation and the regulations which were left by the previous government. That does not allow us to get this matter before the Public Utilities Board until we can bring legislation to this House of Assembly which can be debated and discussed. Then we will straighten the problem.
We are very aware of it, we are very sensitive to it, we are very concerned about it, but the hon. gentleman opposite was a member of a Cabinet that did not act on this very file and he should be ashamed of himself.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
My questions today are for the Minister of Health and Community Services.
The minister's underlying philosophy of providing quality health care to areas of this Province is quite evident in our Terms of Reference to the Hay Group, Mr. Speaker. Does the Minister of Health and Community Services realize that the removal of services from rural communities could mean the difference between life and death for some people? Tell me, Mr. Speaker, is she prepared to place dollars and cents ahead of the well-being of people who live in rural communities in this Province?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS E. MARSHALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to first of all say that this government is committed to a universal publicly funded health care system.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible) write down the answer (inaudible)..
MS E. MARSHALL: No.
The hon. member across the way, again today, is fearmongering.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to quote from a Request for Proposal from the Health Care Corporation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
MS E. MARSHALL: In November, 2001, the hon. members on the other side -
MR. SPEAKER: I ask the minister now to finish her answer.
MS E. MARSHALL: - issued a Request for Proposals for an operational review of the Health Care Corporation of St. John's, and I would like to quote from that call for proposal. These are things now that the members opposite were requesting.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I am asking the minister now to complete her answer.
MS E. MARSHALL: Number one, to identify a recovery plan to recoup on operating deficits, to identify cost reductions, cost containments and reasonable revenue opportunities that would result in improving the financial operations of the St. John's Health Care Corporation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: A supplementary, the hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am not the minister. I am not the government. I am not making decisions today (inaudible).
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, I will ask the minister, again, because I have asked her for three days in a row and she has not answered the questions in this House on health care. Maybe I should give them to the media and she can go outside and answer them but, Mr. Speaker, again I ask the Minister of Health and Community Services: Is she willing to sacrifice the health care services and clinics in communities in this Province like Howley, Black Duck Cove, Stephenville, Flower's Cove and many other communities around the Province?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS E. MARSHALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This government will provide good health care to the residents of this Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair, just time for one short supplementary.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate your generosity.
Again, my question is for the Minister of Health and Community Services.
Does the minister believe that the health boards in this Province should be amalgamated or just plain eradicated altogether?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
MS E. MARSHALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We are looking at a variety of options with regard to the health care boards, and the member may become aware of our plans on Budget day.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is normal, if there are points of order that need to be raised during Question Period, that you raise them after. I have had an opportunity, in other functions and roles in this House, to raise those even during Question Period; however, I raise this one which happened during Question Period.
While the Premier of the Province was answering a question directed to the government on the insurance issue, the Member for Grand Bank shouts out: What a way to treat a woman! - as if the Premier of the Province in some way was treating one of his colleagues in a disparaging or diminishing or some sort of way.
Mr .Speaker, members opposite know, and they should know, and I will just quote for them, that when it comes to Question Period: The Premier or the Prime Minister of the government answers for the government as a whole and is entitled to answer any question directed to the government, or the Premier or the Prime Minister may direct that question to one of his ministers.
Mr. Speaker, just to remind hon. members opposite, I remember when I was Leader of the Opposition in this House, asking the Minister of Mines and Energy, four days straight, who happens to be the Leader of the Opposition today, questions regarding Voisey's Bay and, for four days straight, guess what? The Premier of the Province answered, not the Minister of Mines and Energy, who happens to be the Leader of the Opposition. Four days straight!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. E. BYRNE: Mr. Speaker, my point is this: For members opposite to try to make a point that because the leader of the government and Premier of the Province is dealing with an insurance issue, and a member opposite sings out: What a way to treat a woman! I tell you, from one member, I disrespect and detest that comment because it infers something that is not true. I ask the member to do the hon. thing, stand up and remove her remark from the floor of this House.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Bank.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS FOOTE: Mr. Speaker, I stand by my remarks. I cannot believe that a minister of the Crown, someone who has been appointed to head a department, someone who the constituents, her constituents, the people of the Province, have put their confidence in, could not give the same answers that her leader, the Premier, stood up and gave.
Women have worked very hard in this Province and in this country to get ahead. They have worked very hard to become politicians and to be able to represent the people of the Province, just like the men have, and I take great exception to anyone suggesting that a woman who has been given - confidence placed on that woman to represent her people and the people of the Province, as a Minister of the Crown could not stand and answer the questions; the answers of which were as simple as what the Premier gave today.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. E. BYRNE: (Inaudible) the only person that has disparaged the gender today is the Member for Grand Bank and nobody (inaudible).
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. E. BYRNE: I ask that member to remove the comment.
MR. SPEAKER: I think the Chair has heard sufficient commentary on this particular matter. I would like to quote for members, Page 432, of Marleau and Montpetit. Very clearly, it says, "Questions, although customarily addressed to specific Ministers, are directed to the Ministry as a whole. It is the prerogative of the government to designate which Minister responds to which question. The Prime Minister..." - or in this case the Premier - "...may respond to any or all questions posed during Question Period."
It is a longstanding tradition in this House that it is the prerogative of the Premier of the Province to respond to any question, to all questions, or no questions. In fact, it is well written in this particular reference that ministers may answer the question, may defer the question, may take the question as notice, may make a short explanation as to why they cannot furnish an answer at this time, or simply they may choose not to respond at all. It is entirely the prerogative of government, according to the references that I have, to decide who answers which question and on any particular day.
Thank you very much.
MR. E. BYRNE: A point of order, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: On a point of order, the Government House Leader.
MR. E. BYRNE: In view of your ruling, Mr. Speaker, I ask, again, that you ask the member to remove her remark from the record because it is disparaging to the government, to the Leader, and to the person she made it about. Mr. Speaker, there were many times in this House when she sat right there when the Premier answered for her, and not one member stood up and challenged that. I ask you, Mr. Speaker, to ask her to remove that disparaging remark from a colleague in this House.
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. PARSONS: To the most recent point of order raised by the hon. Government House Leader, Mr. Speaker.
His first comment was that this was a remark made by the Member for Grand Bank which is on the record. I, first of all, challenge that. I do not believe there is any such remark on the record by the Member for Grand Bank to that effect. Any comments - maybe the Premier and the hon. Government House Leader might do the courtesy of allowing me to respond to the point of order that was raised by the Government House Leader. That is all I ask, for that common courtesy. That is what we are dealing with here, points of order and courtesies.
Mr. Speaker, we have no difficulty whatsoever with your ruling, that it is totally within the prerogative of the Premier, as the first Minister of this Province, to answer any and all questions that he decides to answer, regardless of whom it is asked of. We do not have any objections to that. If there was any inference that the Member for Grand Bank said anything, the only thing she was commenting on was her disappointment that the minister, who was appointed to answer those questions, could not get to answer them. It does not reflect in any way, shape or form upon the Prime Minister, the Premier's right to respond on behalf of government. We wholeheartedly support your ruling in that regard.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader to the point of order.
MR. E. BYRNE: I appreciate the Opposition House Leader's remarks, but the fact of the matter is there was an oversight on his part.
The Member for Grand Bank did say it, then she stood in her place and admitted she said it, and then went on to say that she would not withdraw it. My point is this, that in view of your ruling, Mr. Speaker, in view of the ruling which you just made - which is very clear and which we had pointed to - than I ask you to ask that member to remove the remark that because the Premier, in exercising his prerogative, was doing something negative against women, or in this case, a colleague of ours who happens to be a woman. That is the point, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: The final commentary on this point of order.
The hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. PARSONS: Yes, Mr. Speaker. If that is going to be the case I think we should advance to stage two, because the hon. Government House Leader said that any comments by the Member for Grand Bank were disparaging. I do not think there was any disparagement, or insults, or aspersions cast upon anyone in the House here; if the hon. Member for Grand Bank said anything. Any person who stands up in this House and supports any gender I think should have the applause and accolades of all of us, not to be suggesting that there is anything negative said in that connotation. In fact, it should be supported.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The Chair will review the tapes and will advise on tomorrow's sitting as to the ruling that will be most appropriate.
MR. HARRIS: A point of order, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: On a point of order, the hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.
MR. HARRIS: Mr. Speaker, I would just like to draw to your attention that during Your Honour's ruling - while you were issuing the ruling on the point of order that was raised, some members chose to use the opportunity to heckle during your ruling. I know you were paying attention to your ruling and did not hear it, but some of the members are new members and perhaps it would be wise to remind them that it is totally inappropriate for members to speak when Your Honour is standing and giving a ruling on a point of order. It was almost impossible to hear, in some points, your ruling because of heckling coming from members in the House during - while you were on your feet giving your ruling on a point of order.
MR. SPEAKER: I would like to remind all members of the House that when the Chair is standing and speaking to the rest of the House that all members should be silent. That is well within the parliamentary practices. I would advise all members that they should practice that as far as is possible, and in future, when the Chair is commenting to the House that we should hear the Chair in silence.
Today being Wednesday, Private Members' Day, we have a motion by the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair, and notice has been given.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today to present this motion to the House of Assembly. I will read the motion, Mr. Speaker, for Hansard:
WHEREAS health care is one of the essential services provided by a government to the people of this Province; and
WHEREAS there is a demonstrated need for improvements to health care services in many areas of this Province; and
WHEREAS in several cases improvements to health care facilities have been put on hold without sufficient explanation; and
WHEREAS the government has directed health care boards to produce cost saving plans that will result in service cuts in many rural areas;
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Members of the House of Assembly call on the government to reaffirm that health care is a priority item that cannot be compromised; and
THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Members of the House of Assembly call upon the government to proceed with all previously announced improvements to health care facilities as they were originally scheduled.
Mr. Speaker, I do not think you should ever have to bring a motion like that to the floor of the House of Assembly. I think when commitments are made from governments to the people of the Province, that even in transition those commitments should be honoured because it is always about people. It does not matter under what stripe you come to this House of Assembly. It does not matter, Mr. Speaker, we all come here for the same purpose. We come to represent the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
When a case can be documented that there is a need for a cancer treatment centre in Grand Falls it should not matter under what stripe, Mr. Speaker, it comes to this House. The case is a good one. It has been documented. It is needed. It is necessary. It should be under those pretenses that this hon. House and that any government should honour the commitments to people.
The purpose of this motion is to highlight some very important pieces of infrastructure that people in this Province have lobbied for. Actually, some of the members opposite, when they were on this side of the House, stood in this House and lobbied, spoke and petitioned the government of that time on these very same pieces of infrastructure. Mr. Speaker, their opinions should not have changed. Their philosophy and their principles should not have changed.
Mr. Speaker, it is important to the people of Grand Falls, as I am sure that the members who represent the districts in the Central region will know. The Member for Windsor-Springdale, his constituents use the facilities in Grand Falls; would use the cancer treatment centre when it is open and in operation. The Member for Lewisporte, his constituents, would use it, Mr. Speaker. It is an invaluable piece of health care infrastructure that needs to be done in Central Newfoundland.
Mr. Speaker, the people in that area where just appalled. They were shocked. They were shocked to find out that this particular facility had been put on hold after making a case that was so substantive, that was so important and critical to the medical needs of the people in that area and then to find out that it was put on hold, without any real explanation, without any real definitive answers, just: It is on hold.
Let's talk about the people on the Burin Peninsula, Mr. Speaker, the people on the Burin Peninsula who lobbied for a health care facility. Lobbied, Mr. Speaker, came to this House, sent petitions, sent letters, did their homework, the board documenting all the facts and the complete need in the area for a health care facility. Government responded, responded by investing the money, making the money available in fiscally tight times because the need was so great. The need was so important, Mr. Speaker, that we had to find the money to do the hospital on the Burin Peninsula.
Just as the contract was going, the design work was done, the engineering work was done, the groundwork was laid, the contract was beginning, what happens, Mr. Speaker? It is on hold, with no answers, no explanation to the people in that area: the people who are sick and ill and cannot be driving over the highway on the Burin Peninsula to access over facilities. It was so important to have that hospital in the Grand Bank region, so important, Mr. Speaker. This is what they wanted.
Now, let's talk about other facilities. Let's talk about the clinic in St. Alban's, small rural area of this Province desperately in need of a health care facility, desperately in need of a clinic. They have to drive over some of the hardest roads in our Province in terms of weather and climatic factors, Mr. Speaker. They need to have that new clinic in St. Alban's. Yet, it has been on hold with no answers, no explanation whatsoever, something that the people in that area documented the need for, something for which they went out and lobbied government. We saw the need, Mr. Speaker. We saw the need to put health care facilities in these regions of the Province.
A great deal of money was invested by the former government in health care facilities all over the Province, Mr. Speaker. You do not have to go far. You can just go back to the 2003 Budget, the 2002 Budget, which looked at money for Fogo Island, the health centre, a brand new health centre for Fogo Island, a beautiful facility, and much needed, very much needed in that particular part of the Province, Mr. Speaker because they are very isolated, very rural. They needed to have that kind of clinical health facility in their particular region.
Mr. Speaker, we never made any apologies for doing that. We certainly did not, and we never will, because we need to be able to ensure the people in this Province, no matter where they live, whether it is in Fogo Island, whether it is Grand Bank, whether it is in Stephenville, or whether it is in Grand Falls, or whether it is in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, or whether it is in Mary's Harbour or whether it is in Nain, that they have access, that they have access to health care facilities and health services, and that requires infrastructure, valuable infrastructure.
Going back again, the 2002 Budget, the money for the Clarenville long-term care facility, money to do the needs assessment, to do the actual study to determine what the actual need in the region is and how desperate it was. Mr. Speaker, the results speak for themselves. The results speak for themselves in terms of where the need is.
Then we look at the money in the 2002 Budget for Gander, to do the work on the Gander hospital, a beautiful facility again. Stephenville, $35 million invested in Stephenville in a new hospital facility, a beautiful health facility for the people on the Port au Port Peninsula and on the West Coast of the Island, with very valuable services in this hospital. Then, in Corner Brook, an MRI that is on hold because of some renovations that are needed in the hospital, which is absolutely ridiculous, Mr. Speaker, absolutely ridiculous.
When you look for the answers, when you look for the explanations as to why these things are on hold, why they are delayed, why they are cancelled, the answers are not forthcoming. They are not there.
I want to read to you something, Mr. Speaker, because the Member for Trinity North, when he was the health critic - today he is not the Health Minister; no, he did not make the minister's portfolio - the Member for Trinity North stood in this House on this occasion, or was it in a press release? No, I believe it was in a press release. Yes, it was indeed. It was in a press release and he stated that, "Government ministers who drag out the old excuse of funding constraints prove just how shortsighted they really are."
Now, Mr. Speaker, that was a quote from the Member for Trinity North who was the health critic at the time. He said that, "... ministers who drag out the old excuse of funding constraints prove just how shortsighted they really are." Because he said, at that time, that, "... early diagnosis is critical to successful treatment, and early intervention...". He was talking about MRIs. That is what he was talking about. He was making the point that no minister should ever use fiscal restraint as an excuse when it comes to health care services in this Province. A good point, Mr. Speaker, a good point. The point was well taken, but that is the message that we are getting today. The message that has been delivered to the people of Central Newfoundland who were so proud to finally be getting this cancer treatment facility, the message that has been delivered to them is one that says it is on hold because you are not high enough a priority. You are not high enough on the priority list to have this particular piece of infrastructure completed, to have this particular request honoured.
No, Mr. Speaker, it cannot be important enough. That is why it is on hold, because we have seen other things that did not be put on hold. There was $1 million announced for marketing in the tourism industry. Believe me, I am pretty proud of it. I am a big supporter of the tourism industry, always was, and wish there could be more, but that announcement was not put on hold. No, indeed it was not. It was not put on hold like the health care facility in Grand Bank. It was not put on hold like the clinic in St. Alban's. No, Mr. Speaker. Perhaps the Minister of Tourism has a lot more clout, I say. Perhaps he has a lot more power. He can broker the money easier. He can get the commitments quicker. Perhaps it is because of his experience in politics, the years of service in this House. Perhaps that is what it is because, Mr. Speaker, he got his $1 million. He got the $1 million for the marketing campaign, but there was no money to put the MRI in Corner Brook. No, Mr. Speaker, there was no money to do that. There was no money to do the cancer treatment in Grand Falls. No, there was no money for that. Perhaps we should have gotten the Tourism Minister to go to Treasury Board. Perhaps that is what we should have done. We should have gotten the Tourism Minister to go to the Treasury Board and get the money to do the health care facilities, because he is the man with the money. Everybody else was put on hold. Everything in the health care sector in infrastructure has been put on hold.
The only thing we have heard is that the Premier is still going to move forward with the long-term care facility in Corner Brook. The number one priority for health care, he says, in the Province, the long-term care facility in Corner Brook. That is good news, Mr. Speaker. That is good news for the people of Corner Brook, good news for the people of the Province, but we have to deal with all of the long-term care needs, all of the long-term facilities that need to be placed within the Province.
Do we expect the government to do that in five months? Of course we do not. Nobody in the Province expects that, Mr. Speaker. People are calm, cool and rational when it comes to these things, but they do expect, Mr. Speaker, that a commitment made will be kept no matter what the stripe of the government that occupies this hon. House, because the commitments were made based on the need, on the critical need, of the people who live in those areas.
Mr. Speaker, the hon. Member for Trinity North, again when he was the Health Critic - because he had a lot to say, you see, when he was the Health Critic, he doesn't have a lot to say now but he used to have a lot to say, Mr. Speaker, when he was the Health Critic - he would stand up in the House and he would talk about the need for health care, the need for MRIs, the need for new hospitals, the need for long-term care. Do you know what he would say, Mr. Speaker? I told you already but I will tell you again. He would say, "...that minister who drag out the old excuse of funding constraints prove just how shortsighted they really are." Now, Mr. Speaker, that is what he is saying about his colleagues on the other side of the House. He is saying they are shortsighted.
Now, I know that he is carrying the books for the Minister of Health. I know that, Mr. Speaker. I know, because they are big books, you see. They are big books, Mr. Speaker, and I know he is carrying the books. Now, he would like for her to be carrying his books, but that is not going to happen. He is going to be the book carrier, she is going to be the minister, and now he is telling me she is shortsighted because she is using fiscal constraint as an excuse for putting a halt to health infrastructure in this Province.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to tell you, the people of this Province have made health care their number one priority. It doesn't matter where they live, it doesn't matter what peninsula, what bay or what harbour, it is the single most important issue in the minds of all of our residents. It is important for them that they have a government that listens and responds to their particular needs.
Mr. Speaker, we have made a lot of investments in health care over the years. I talked already about the money we put into the Fogo Island Health Centre, a very important project, much needed in that area. Let's talk about the money we put into the new hospital in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Mr. Speaker, an absolutely find hospital serving the people of the Labrador area, something to be proud of, Mr. Speaker, when it comes to looking after the health of the residents of our Province. It is not always about dollars and cents, it is also about infrastructure and it is about service.
Let's talk about the money for Stephenville.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I remind the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair that her time has expired.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The time has gone so quickly, but I look forward to speaking at the end of debate.
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works and Aboriginal Affairs.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. RIDEOUT: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Let me first of all begin by thanking my colleagues for asking me to lead the debate for our side on this particular resolution. Of course, I am pleased to do so.
First of all, I want to look at the resolution as it is presented by the hon. Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair, Mr. Speaker.
"WHEREAS Health Care is one of the essential services provided by a government to the people of this province...", I do not think anybody in this House would take any quarrel with that, Mr. Speaker. That is, like the old fellow would say, a penetrating insight into the obvious. There is nothing new or exciting or anything of that nature contained therein.
The next whereas is, "WHEREAS there is a demonstrated need for improvements to health care services in many areas of this province...". Again, I would think that is pretty well a given. That is another penetrating insight. You know, this is a pretty good motherhood statement to which nobody would take any offence.
The next whereas, "WHEREAS in several cases improvements to health care facilities have been put on hold without sufficient explanation...". Ah, says who, Mr. Speaker? Who is it that is making that allegation? That is a political statement, I would say. That statement is coming from a person who has another political perspective. I can say that does not cut much ice with us.
"AND WHEREAS government has directed health care boards to produce cost-saving plans that will result in service cuts in many rural areas...". Says who, Mr. Speaker. The author of this particular resolution, a political partisan, that is where it is coming from. Has this ever happened before? Did any governments in this Province before, previously, ever ask health care boards to see if they can find savings? I believe the Minister of Health made reference today during Question Period where the people who are now the Opposition asked health care boards to find efficiencies and savings only just a few months before they left office. So, this is not something that governments do not do.
Then it says, "THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Members of the House of Assembly call on the Government to reaffirm that health care is a priority item that cannot be compromised...". Well, I do not have a great deal of difficulty with that, Mr. Speaker. I might quibble over the wording, compromise. Does the member who wrote the resolution mean cannot be changed? Is that what she means when she talks about compromise? Does she mean that there cannot be more efficient and other ways of doing things? Do we have to do things the same way as we did them 100 years ago, Mr. Speaker? Is there a better way of doing things? That is what we are prepared to look at.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. RIDEOUT: Then the author of the resolution goes on to say, "THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Members of the House of Assembly call on Government to proceed with all previously announced improvements to health care facilities as they were originally scheduled."
Mr. Speaker, let the word go out from this place today. Let the word go out, in case there is anybody out there who does not know it. Let it go out to every bay, harbour, cove, tickle, nook and cranny in Newfoundland and Labrador, that the men and women who make up the government on this side of the House today have nothing, no lesson or no commitment, to take from the people who are now the Opposition.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. RIDEOUT: We do not intend, nor are we, Mr. Speaker, ever intending to be bound by a government who tried to use the taxpayers' money to buy their way back in office.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. RIDEOUT: We are not going to do it. We did not go around with our cheque book during the election campaign behind the Premier, and we are certainly not going to do it now that the taxpayers have entrusted us -
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. RIDEOUT: Now that the taxpayers have entrusted us with their cheque book, we are not going around, necessarily, without doing due diligence, keeping the commitments that were made by a government that was trying to buy its way back into office. We are just not having any part of it, Mr. Speaker. It would be wrong. It would not be the right thing to do. It would not be new leadership. It would not be a government with new vision and a new Premier. It would be just doing things the same old way that they were always done. That is not (inaudible) for the people on this side.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, we could have tinkered around with that resolution. We could have put forward amendments. We could have played with the words, but we are telling it right up front, Mr. Speaker. We are going to vote down the resolution.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. RIDEOUT: We are not going to play with the resolution. We are not going to tinker with the resolution. We are just going to vote it down, because the resolution came from a government who were trying to buy their way back in office on the backs of the taxpayers of this Province. This government, the men and women who make up this government, are having no part of it, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. RIDEOUT: Mr. Speaker, there may well be some of those commitments that will be kept. There may well be some of them that ought to be kept. For example, the cancer clinic in Central Newfoundland is one that comes to mind. I am sure there will be - after we have had an opportunity to analyze, review and do the due diligence on a lot of those, many of them will be kept, but they are not going to be kept, and we are not going to be bound to keep them, because they were commitments made by a previous government.
I remember in 1989, Mr. Speaker, when we lost the election of 1989 and then Premier Wells took over. He made it very clear right up front that any commitments that we made during the 1989 election he was not going to be bound by, and nor should he. It is the same thing with this government today, Mr. Speaker. This is a political resolution put on here by a fearmongering member of the Opposition who, when they were in government, used to always accuse us of doing that kind of thing. Well, they are doing exactly the same thing. It does not do anything to serve the health care needs of this Province, and this government is going to do the right and proper thing and stand on our feet as men and women and vote it down, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Member for Grand Bank.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS FOOTE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I want to speak to the private member's motion today on health care improvements because I think it is a vital motion. Clearly a lot of the new initiatives or the initiatives that the government opposite are having some difficulty agreeing with or supporting are of vital importance to people particularly in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. I have listened to the previous speaker talk about some of these projects being initiatives started to try and win elections. Well, I can certainly speak to the project in Grand Bank, the new health care facility which comprises or should comprise - if it is ever constructed - a new clinic and a seniors' home. For fifteen years, in fact when Bill Mathews was the MHA for the area, it was under discussion and it took the Liberal government to make the commitment because of the analysis that was done by all of the stakeholders involved, including officials in the Department of Health and Community Services.
This is not something that was decided overnight. This was not something that was decided a year before the upcoming election. This is something that was given careful consideration, thorough analysis that everybody involved took the time to analyze to determine the need, because again we wanted there to be efficient, effective use of taxpayers' dollars, but there was a serious need. We are looking at the only cottage hospital left in Newfoundland and Labrador, and it is in Grand Bank. The Minister of Health and Community Services visited that site just a short month ago, so she was able to see first-hand the deplorable conditions under which the employees of the clinic work, and where people from all over the Burin Peninsula go for services. Certainly, no one can point to that as an election ploy. We need to make sure that our people have the type of health care facilities that they not only need but deserve.
The senior citizens' complex, built to accommodate people who were receiving Level I and Level II care, that is no longer the case. Today, people living in that home receive acute care, Levels III and IV. So the employees there are trying to deliver a service in a facility that was designed to deliver something other than what they are delivering today. The need is there. The need is obvious. The need has been proven. I call on this government to live up to that commitment, not because it was a commitment given by the previous Administration, but because it is the right thing to do.
To hear the previous speaker go on about these commitments being made as election ploys and that they are going to vote down this motion. I cannot believe that they would vote down this motion just because they somehow have it in their heads that these facilities are not necessary. They are in what are now Liberal held districts. That does not mean they are not necessary. People who live in these districts are people of Newfoundland and Labrador; have the same needs and concerns as the people who live in Progressive Conservative held districts. So do not turn your backs on them because they chose to vote other than Progressive Conservative. Understand that their needs are as valid, as important, as the needs of your constituents.
I would like to quote the Chair of the Peninsulas Health Care Board, Frank Crews, when referencing the need to replace the old cottage hospital which houses the clinic. He said: The clinic will first of all provide the physicians and staff with a first-rate place in which to work. They will have state-of-the-art equipment and technology to work with, in stark contrast to the cottage hospital where even the most fundamental things do not exist. All of this will make it easier to attract physicians to the area. Mr. Crews is telling it like it is.
Now when the minister announced that the project would be deferred, she said: Although she understands the residents of Grand Bank area - and here, Mr. Speaker, the reference alone goes to show how little the minister understands about the need for this facility, because, in fact, people from all over the Bruin Peninsula and off the Burin Peninsula actually are residents of the Blue Crest Seniors Home. She said: although she understands the residents of Grand Bank area will be concerned about the deferral, it is necessary for us - meaning the government - to be prudent in spending our health care dollars and ensure - and here, Mr. Speaker, I am absolutely astounded at the minister's remarks - that health services meet the needs of the population. Obviously, this facility will meet the needs of the population. How come the population in the District of Grand Bank do not matter?
Given the thorough analysis that was undertaken by officials in the Department of Health and Community Services, by the health care board, by the employees who are involved and who are affected, given that thorough analysis I cannot, for the life of me, understand how the minister can make such a statement. Now maybe she did not read the press release when it went out, because I know that the directors of communication may have written it, or may have approved it, but I cannot believe that the minister would have said that. She has to ensure that health services meet the needs of the population. Clearly, the population on the Burin Peninsula need and deserve the same kind of care and attention that the rest of the population in Newfoundland and Labrador need and deserve. What an irresponsible statement to make. Who are the people of the Burin Peninsula if they are not part of the population of Newfoundland and Labrador?
Another concern I have, that I want to raise along with this motion, is a commitment that the previous government - the government that I was so proud to be a part of - gave for a CAT scan for the Burin Peninsula, and I am sure the Member for Burin-Placentia West is as concerned about this as I am. We need a CAT scan on the Burin Peninsula, it is of paramount importance. It was brought home when a young woman had an accident several months ago and she was in a coma. We do not have a CAT scan on the Burin Peninsula. The doctors did not know what was wrong. They had no way of determining what was wrong, so they had to try and airlift her into St. John's. Well, the weather was such that they could not airlift her. For three days she was in a coma with swelling. Her family were desperate; did not know what to expect. Well, they finally were able to fly her into St. John's. Imagine if we had, had that important piece of equipment on the Burin Peninsula; where for months of the year the road conditions, because of the weather and such, that you can be stranded. Just last week people were stuck on the highway for six, seven hours. We desperately need this piece of equipment.
I go and look at one of the commitments in the Blue Book. It was to place diagnostic and treatment equipment in regions of the Province where it is most needed. I am hoping - and I am sure the Member for Burin-Peninsula West is as well, and I am hoping he has some influence here. I am hoping when the Budget comes down that indeed there will be funding for a CAT scan for the Burin Peninsula. It is desperately, desperately needed. I am calling on him, the Member for Burin-Placentia West, to do everything he can to bring influence to bear on the Minister of Health and Community Services and the Minister of Finance and the Premier, that the Burin Peninsula desperately, desperately, needs a CAT scanner. To help, the Burin Peninsula Foundation, the Health Care Foundation, has already committed to raise a portion of the funds to help pay the cost of that piece of equipment. So, I am calling on the Member for Burin-Placentia West to do everything he can to convince his colleagues of the importance.
I want to also make reference to a quote by the man who used to be the critic for health on this side of the House when he was in Opposition, who is now the Parliamentary Secretary, and I want to call him the member for Clarenville but it is Trinity Bay North, right?
AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible)
MS FOOTE: Trinity North.
In a press release when he was the critic, he said, "For the people whose lives are on hold and perhaps in jeopardy while they wait for MRIs, CAT scans and other procedures, this isn't an academic question. While governments fritter away their opportunities and taxpayers' money, patients face the very real prospect of their condition rapidly deteriorating for lack of access to..." diagnostic equipment and treatment. "Is that acceptable in a country that boasts a supposedly-universal medicare system? Its time the government answered for its negligence and did something to get these patients the timely medical help they need."
Well, well, well. Clearly, he is going to bring pressure on the minister while he is sitting behind her, nudging her, and encouraging her. I am sure he is going to make sure that she does the right thing. I am sure, if the common sense is there, that he is going to make sure that the areas of the Province that so desperately a CAT scanner will get the equipment.
Now, we know that there is an MRI going to Corner Brook. That is not even a question. There is an MRI going to Corner Brook.
AN HON. MEMBER: They don't even have to wait for the Budget.
MS FOOTE: They do not even have to wait for the Budget. There is a long-term care facility going in Corner Brook; do not even have to wait for the Budget. There is space to accommodate the MRI going in Corner Brook; do not even have to wait for the Budget. So, I am not sure who had the influence on the Minister of Health and Community Services to make that decision. I do not think it was the Member for Trinity North. It may have been another member, but I am going to call on the Member for Trinity North, along with the Member for Burin-Placentia West, to bring whatever pressure they can to bear on their colleagues to deliver on this most vital piece of equipment for the Burin Peninsula.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Member for Trinity North.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am delighted. I am flattered, in fact. More than delighted, I am flattered. The two speakers from the opposite side who have spoken today have seen fit to quote me. I had not realized that I was going to have such a profound effect on the members opposite when I stood in this House and spoke, so I trust that they will give me now the courtesy of giving me their undivided attention because I will say something in a few moments equally as profound. I thank them very much for listening with bated breath to what I am about to say.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: I want to correct something. The Member for Grand Bank had said that the Member for Lewisporte's suggestion that he will not support this motion has something to do with politics. I want to remind the members of this House, and the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, that there is nothing further from the truth. We were elected as a government in the fall of 2003 to represent all of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. As a government, regardless of how the district voted, whether it was Liberal or PC or NDP, or if they did not vote at all, we have a responsibility as a government to represent all 530,000 people in this Province and all forty-eight electoral districts, and that is what we are going to do.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: We are going to do it with a fairness and a balance, and we are going to make decisions on health spending based on sound, solid evidence and on the merits of each of the discussions that we will have in and around how we should allocate resources.
I say to the member opposite, that is exactly how this government is going to function. It has nothing to do with politics, unlike the things we have witnessed in the last fifteen years, unlike the vote buying that occurred during the election, unlike the vote buying that occurred during all of last year leading up to the period of the election. That is not what we are about, Mr. Speaker. We are about balance and fairness.
The other thing I want to do, Mr. Speaker, and I am certain that as the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair quoted me today, as the Opposition health critic, I want to bring the member's attention to something she said yesterday. Here is a member who stands in this House daily, poses questions to the Minister of Health and Community Services as if the member opposite is an informed individual coming from a position of fully understanding the health system. I want to point out something from yesterday. I had to go back this morning and read in Hansard because I could not believe what I heard her say yesterday as she tried to fearmonger, as she tried to mislead the people of Newfoundland and Labrador - not just the people of this House but the entire population of this Province - when she started to talk about and made reference to the population-based approach. She said: Whenever you hear there is going to be a population-based approach to health care, one has to become concerned.
Mr. Speaker, just as a bit of education, for the benefit of the hon. member opposite so she does not embarrass herself when she stands in this House in the future, and does not embarrass herself when she talks to people who fully understand the health system and how it actually works - I do not want to have her become embarrassed - but the population-based approach is what it is all about these days. Population health is where you look at a broader view of health care. You look at social economic issues. You look at issues around the health status of a population that includes their level of education, their level of employment, their level of income, the infrastructure that exists in the communities in which they live, whether there is water and sewage. That is a population-based approach to health care, looking at it as a comprehensive view.
In fact, Mr. Speaker, it is recognized as the only approach to health care, so much so that in 1999 the Canadian Centre for Health Information established an institute for population-based approach to health care.
Here you have the member opposite standing in this House and suggesting in her comments yesterday that population health meant, because there is a shift in the population of the Province, now we are going to start re-allocating health care. Nothing could be further from the truth, Mr. Speaker. A population-based approach to health is looking at a comprehensive view of the health status of a population, and that is what we are about, Mr. Speaker.
What is somewhat ironic, I just want to - this document here, Mr. Speaker, this is a report that was released by the members opposite in September, 2002. This was their master plan. This was their strategy by the former Minister of Health and Community Services, who sat with that party opposite. He stood in this House and said this was going to be the blueprint, this was going to be the guide of the government of the day to take us into the future. Here is what it said. It talked about sustainability. It says, "The health and community services system is facing increased costs during a time of fiscal restraint." It goes on to say, "The purpose of highlighting these challenges is to help people understand why change is necessary."
AN HON. MEMBER: That wasn't that crowd, though?
MR. WISEMAN: That is that crowd over there. Exactly, I say to the hon. member. The people on the opposite side of this House said it was necessary to change. "While there may be no immediate solutions to these problems they need to be considered in the restructuring of the system."
They planned to restructure the health system in 2002, but did nothing about it. They just sat back and said, we should wait until an election. We should spend the next twelve months buying votes before we tell them what they are planning to do.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Here is what is really funny. They are talking about their new approach. Their new approach in September, 2002, was going to be, "A new approach for determining the location of health and community services in the province will also be developed. A new set of location standards will be established...". This crowd was planning to take services from one place and move them to another. They were going to have a new practice for locating services. They were planning to close clinics. They were planning to close hospitals. They were planning to relocate services.
It is here in black and white. No, it is green and black. In September, 2002, this was what that crowd over there were going to do. Now, I wonder what happened. In September 2002 the former minister released this report and assumed no one was going to read it. What did they do? Did we see any action? Did we see them establishing a new set of standards? Did we see them have a new planning exercise to talk about the location of services?
Now, here is what they went on to say, "Every effort will be made to keep the citizens of Newfoundland and Labrador aware of the changes that will be taking place in the health and community services system." What changes were they talking about I wonder? They didn't tell anybody during the election last year that they were going to make changes. Did you hear that?
MR. FITZGERALD: No, nothing.
MR. WISEMAN: No. The only changes we heard them talk about last year during the election was running around the Province with cheque books promising to open this and buy this and expand this.
Do you know what was really funny? What was really funny was they were only doing it in those seats that they wanted to secure. They were not doing it in the seats and in the districts where they thought they didn't have a prayer of winning. That is why many of us on this side of the House didn't hear those commitments in our districts. They were only making those commitments in the twelve or dozen seats over there because they wanted to get their backsides back in their seats over there this time.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: This document in September 2002 clearly reflects their intention. This document released in September 2002, I didn't read this in their Red Book. I didn't read this in their election platform. They were trying to conceal it. They weren't going to campaign on this. They were going to campaign on a series of promises, to grow, to expand, to build, to buy. They weren't talking about relocation of services then like they are here. These are their own words.
When I saw the hon. member across this House stand up today and say that we are playing politics, we are looking at picking on the Liberal districts, I mean it is sickening when you consider that those people over there, two years ago, were talking about closing, relocating of services, developing new standards for where services should be. They were talking about a new approach as well.
That is the operative word. The operative word in this document, which the Member for L'anse-au-Clair went on about yesterday - and I could read from Hansard, on and on, where she keeps referring to the word and being critical of our Minister of Health and Community Services for using the word sustainability. This document is full of that word. This document in September 2002 is full of sustainability.
It shouldn't be any real surprise. We are elected in this House to take care of the best interests of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, not the best interests of the people who live here today only, not the best interests of the people who sit in this House, but the best interests of the people of the future.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: I look across this House today and I don't know all, but I see some grandparents over there. I see the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans. I see the Member for Burgeo & LaPoile. I see the Member for Cape la Hune. All, as I understand, are grandparents. We are going to make decisions about health care in this Province for your grandchildren and for our grandchildren on this side of the House. Those are the people for which we need to have a health system, and the word sustainability is an operative word. It is not only an operative word in Newfoundland and Labrador, but it is an operative word throughout all of Canada. We need to be responsible as parliamentarians. When we make decisions in this House about the future of health care, we need to be responsible. We need to think about the future. We need to think about our children and our grandchildren, not about today, not about elections, not about election promises, not about commitments that were made in the pre-election period last year by a crowd of people who knew they were on the way out and it was easy to go around the Province making promises and commitments and writing cheques and going to tender and issuing contracts. It was easy to do it then. As we sit here today as a new government, and I say to the members opposite, as you sit as responsible parliamentarians, do not look at where we are today. Do not look at short-sighted promises you made in the interest of clinging on to your seats. Look at the future of the health system of this Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN: Let's not be partisan about this. As you look at the history of this Province or other provinces or our entire country, governments change, parties change. Some day I assume that your leader over there will stand and say he might want to be the Premier once again, and some time down the road that may, in fact, happen. You may, in fact, some time, four or five terms from now, inherit the government again. If that were to happen, you would look at us and say that we were irresponsible in the decisions we made today to hand you a health system in ten years or twenty years from now that is falling apart. We are not building a system for just tomorrow or the next day. We are building a system today for decades down the road.
We ask you to join with us in helping us make responsible decisions in the best interest of the future generations of this Province, and not ask us to react to some short-sighted knee-jerk promises you may have made to get yourselves re-elected last fall. Don't be so narrow-sighted. Live up to your responsibility as parliamentarians, looking after the best interests of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is for that reason that I ask you to withdraw this motion so we do no have to stand here and vote and reject it. Do the reasonable thing and withdraw it, because it is based on nothing but partisan politics and does not reflect your mature interest in the long-term viability of our health system.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Labrador West.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to rise today and say a few words on the motion as put forward by the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair.
I want to say first, Mr. Speaker, that there is indeed a need for change in our health care system and there is room for improvements to our health care system. One of the things that I want to say up front is that we do not want to, nor are we interested in seeing anything that is a mix with the 3P health care system that was talked about, about a year ago.
We believe that health care in this Province has to be a fully public funded health care facility that is available to all people of our Province regardless of the income levels that they may or may not have. It is something that we are entitled to as a resident of this country and of this Province, and we would be totally against anything that may come forward that in any way reflects the private sector involvement in the delivery of our health care facilities.
Mr. Speaker, as I said first, there is a need for change and there is a need for improvement. There is a need for change and improvement in my own District of Labrador West. I indicated yesterday by way of petition that we need a new health care facility. We have one right now that is more than forty years old, that is in total disrepair. We have chunks of plaster falling off the walls. The heat cannot be regulated. You are freezing in one part of the building and you are overheated in the other part. Mr. Speaker, there is a need for changes in our health care system.
I also spoke, Mr. Speaker, about another change that is needed in our health care system.
AN HON. MEMBER: They did not promise that?
MR. COLLINS: They did not promise that, no.
There is another need for another change in our health care system, one on which I had conversations with the Minister of Health and Community Services, one on which I had conversations with the Minister Responsible for Transportation and Works and Aboriginal Affairs, and that is a need for change in policy, a policy that is connected to the air ambulance program in this Province, Mr. Speaker. A change is needed so that when people are far away from their homes and the only mode of transportation that is available to them is by air ambulance, then that air ambulance is put on immediately upon their being able to be released from the hospital to get back home with their families and their friends where they should be. It should not, Mr. Speaker, be up to someone to call me and then I lobby with different ministers and different departments of government to make that happen.
Mr. Speaker, I am glad it did happen on a number of times that I have had to intervene, but I should not have to do that and the families should not have to be put through that. It should be automatic. That, Mr. Speaker, is another change that is needed within our health care system.
Another change, Mr. Speaker, is the MRI that has been talked about for the West Coast. That is desperately needed. It is needed because we need more than one MRI facility in this Province. Try to get an MRI today and you are looking at a very long lineup before you are able to get in and have one performed.
AN HON. MEMBER: What is the cost?
MR. COLLINS: The cost, Mr. Speaker, is another area that is associated with obtaining quality health care.
In a lot of places in this Province where most of the population is concentrated on the Avalon Peninsula, maybe the cost is not so big a thing, but I can guarantee you, for people who live in rural areas of this Province, and people who live in Labrador in particular, who have to travel to this area to receive health care, that is a big problem and it is a big concern for people who have to do that. It is not only a concern when they have to travel.
If I could, I would like to just give you an example of what we are up against sometimes in trying to access our health care. It is not uncommon, Mr. Speaker, for a person from Labrador to be referred to St. John's, to fly out to St. John's, see a doctor, only to be told to come back in three weeks. It takes a lot of money for a person to stay in this city for three weeks, if they do not have family to stay with. It is a lot of loss of income, for someone to be away from work that long waiting to get an appointment. Even worse, Mr. Speaker, even worse than that, it is a situation where, like happened last week, a young lady was sent out to see a doctor, and brought her CAT scan with her, that she had done a few months prior. Nobody had told her, until she got here to see the doctor, that the CAT scan was too old and they could not do anything for her. She had to go back to Labrador West again. Next week she has to go to Goose Bay, at $500, to get another CAT scan, come back to Labrador West and then come back out here to St. John's.
Now, Mr. Speaker, people are not made of money. If we talk about health care costs to this government, then what about the health care cost that is associated with individuals who are trying to get treatment for any illness they may have? The medical travel subsidy plan, Mr. Speaker, that is currently in this Province needs to be reviewed, and it needs to be reviewed so that people can claim back more than they can under the present system.
We do not need for people to have a $500 deductible. We do not need for people to be only able to claim 50 per cent of their accommodations or meals to certain levels. We need the actual cost that you require to spend to get heath care. We need a decent program, Mr. Speaker, that reimburses people a substantial amount of the cost that they have to incur in order to get health care that many residents of this Province take for grated.
Dialysis, Mr. Speaker, is another thing in health care that we have heard quite a bit about in this House of Assembly over the last number of years. We need more access to dialysis machines throughout this Province in the different regions. It is not acceptable anymore, Mr. Speaker, where people have to move long distances from their homes in order to avail of dialysis treatment. So, there is, I say again, room for changes in our health care system. There is room for many positive changes that I would suggest when looked at in totality, the immediate cost may be more but the savings to the Province, in terms of people getting better health care, not having to go back to the hospital so often, able to live a productive life, able to work and contribute in the form of taxes, that part has to be measured as well. That part is something that we have not heard much talk about in this Province for a long, long time.
Mr. Speaker, for health care to be accessible, to be affordable, we do need to make some changes. We do need a change, I say to the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Health, and the Minister of Transportation. We need a change for residents of Labrador West within Labrador. Never mind coming back and forth to St. John's; within our own region. We are the only people in Labrador who have to pay $500 in airfares to go to Happy Valley-Goose Bay for CP or other services that are not available in Labrador West. That is unfair, Mr. Speaker. It is discriminatory and it should be ended immediately upon this Budget coming down. I certainly hope this government has taken that initiative and will address it in the Budget because for other people in Labrador to be able to do the same thing for $40 return - it is certainly not something that we are against because we understand the costs that people have to incur to travel by aircraft, which is the only means of doing so. Mr. Speaker, when people in other regions of your region can avail of a service that only costs you $40 return, then certainly everybody in that region should have the same right and the same benefit, and that is something that is needed to be addressed. It is long overdue and, as I said earlier, I certainly hope that issue will be addressed by this government.
Mr. Speaker, as I said earlier, there are many changes that can be made. There are many changes needed. There are improvements that can be made, and we look forward in the days and months to come that some of these changes will, indeed, take place.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS E. MARSHALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would like to speak to the motion that was put forward by the hon. member opposite. I would like to say that I am a new member of the House, this is my fourth day sitting in the House. I would like to indicate that when I was campaigning during the election health care and the priority of health care was the thing that - almost everybody I spoke to, that was the important issue, that our health care be preserved and our health care would be improved in this Province. That is one of the priorities of this government, that we support an essential, universal, publicly funded health care system for this Province.
Mr. Speaker, I would just like to go through some of the information the hon. member has in her motion and make some comments as to some of the points that she has made. The first thing she said was: there is a demonstrated need for improvements to health care services in this Province. Well, I think that is a sorry line to say after being in power for fifteen years. That one of the first things -
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS E. MARSHALL: The first notice of motion on Private Members' Day, one of the first lines is: there is a demonstrated need for -
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
MS E. MARSHALL: - improvements in health care services in this Province.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to comment on the hon. member's comments with regard to the health care facilities that have been put on hold. She has indicated that these facilities have been put on hold without sufficient explanation. That information is quite untrue, Mr. Speaker. Anytime that I have spoken -
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I ask that the minister be heard.
MS E. MARSHALL: Any comments I have made with regard to the health care facilities that have been put on hold, I have made it quite clear that they have been put on hold because of the fiscal position of the Province. Even our federal representative in Ottawa described our financial position this morning - as recently as this morning - as being a nightmare. So, yes, Mr. Speaker, all capital projects in health care have been put on hold until we assess our financial position within the Province.
Mr. Speaker, the next point that is made by the hon. member opposite is that this government has directed health care boards to produce cost-saving plans which will result in service cuts in many rural areas. While some information has been requested from health care boards, Mr. Speaker, I would like to indicate that, in looking through the files of the department, there are files full of requests to health care boards, files requesting cost saving measures and ways that can reduce costs for government. For the hon. member to give the impression that this is a new initiative by a new government, this is untrue, this has been requested of health care boards by their former government many, many times on many, many occasions.
I think one of the big issues that we have to be concerned about, as a Province, Mr. Speaker, is the sustainability of the health care system. When I talk to people throughout my district, and even throughout the Province, any people are concerned that our health care system won't be there when they need it. I think it is very important, as a government, that we address the sustainability of our health care system so that it will be there for future generations.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS E. MARSHALL: One of the main objectives of this government is to provide good health care services, but also to take into consideration the financial capabilities of the Province.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to again indicate that this government confirms that health care is a priority item for this government.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am pleased today to stand in this House and support my colleague, the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair, on her Private Member's Motion on health care improvements.
I cannot imagine that the Minister of Health and Community Services just stood in her place and questioned one of the statements that was made in this motion. It says: WHEREAS there is the demonstrated need for improvements to health care services in many areas of this Province. Well, my goodness, anyone who watches television or listens to the media, or anyone who has a family, knows that health care issues are the number one issues right across our country. We are all getting older every day. It is an issue that is crippling the country with regard to being able to finance the concerns and the needs of health care right across this country. So it is not unique to Newfoundland and Labrador and no government that is in power today can say they have enough money to take care of all the needs of health care. You will find that the same way yourself.
I want to talk about the things that are important and on the front burner in the District of Grand Falls-Buchans. One that you may not have heard of is the mobile MRI. It was May 15, 2002, when the Member for Trinity North stood in his place and brought forward a Private Member's Resolution. It was kind of a sad occasion because things have happened since. It was really at the insistence of a constituent of mine, Mr. Lorne Woolridge. That was May, 2002 and Mr. Woolridge, in the past month, has passed away. I would like, at this time, to express my condolences to Daphne and his family. But he led the charge on a mobile MRI for Central Newfoundland. Our government - in fact, every member in the House that day stood and said that there should be a second MRI. It was felt at that time the only one that would give the coverage would be a mobile MRI which could be used in all of Central Newfoundland. Every member in the House that day stood in agreement.
It was because of that resolution and all of the requests we had received from people in Central Newfoundland that a second MRI was announced; that was July, 2003. That was the second one. We were looking forward to a mobile MRI in Central Newfoundland, and I hope that will become a reality.
The next item I would like to talk about is an item that I am sure every MHA who stands in this House today, or sits in this House today, might have received from some of their constituents, and that is about age-related macular degeneration, AMD. It is the leading cause of blindness for people over age fifty. It is my understanding now that the Health Care Corporation of St. John's has the ability to do this treatment but it is done now privately with an ophthalmologist here in St. John's. The Health Care Corporation of St. John's needs about $450,000 in their budget and that would take care of about 120 to 130 people a year in our Province.
I know of a family in Grand Falls-Windsor who has a mother who is on a fixed income and right now she has exhausted every penny of her savings. She is relying on her children to help her get this treatment. For a small investment of $450,000 we could help 130 people in this Province from going blind. It is another consideration when you are making up your budget for Tuesday.
The main thing on my mind today is the cancer clinic, which I have been talking about for months and months and months. I do not why I should be talking about it today because I represent a board, the Central West Health Care Board, that is a model board in this Province. They are a board that has the best budget capabilities in this Province. They always come in on target and within budget. They did their homework. They proved their case. They did their fundraising. They have their financing in place. They have already started the construction. They are well away with their plans, and today I am standing as the Member for Grand Falls-Buchans wondering if we are going to have a cancer clinic when your budget comes down on Tuesday.
I would ask that the Member for Windsor-Springdale stand in his proper place today and show his support to his constituents. I would also ask the Minister of Transportation and Works and Aboriginal Affairs, the Member for Lewisporte, and also the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, who is the Member for Baie Verte. All of us have constituents. That board looks after people from Lewisporte to Baie Verte and down on the South Coast. It looks after a lot of people, and I would like for those members to stand in their places today and show their support to the constituents who really need the cancer clinic in Grand Falls-Windsor.
I know that you are going to be faced with tough choices - and I know that someone is telling me that my time is almost up here today. We have a lot of people who want to speak to this important issue. I know it is not easy to make choices in health care because coming from a Cabinet experience only a few months ago - and I sat around the Cabinet Table and we had tough choices to make on health care, and you will have the same, and I do not envy you doing that. There will be people who have great concerns coming forward. But, all I want to say to you is that the people in Grand Falls-Windsor, the people in Grand Falls-Buchans, and all over Central Newfoundland who are cancer survivors, they need that cancer clinic.
Last year, in August, that had a cancer relay and it was done in the Centennial Field in Grand Falls-Windsor. As you know, we used that field to host The Beach Boys in 1988. We had 36,000 people in that field, at that time, and we have had a good many people in the field for our Salmon Festivals. When I looked out across that field in August, all I could see was candles, that represented someone who had died. They were there as family members supporting the relay to raise funds for cancer and cancer research.
All I am going to say to you, in conclusion, when you make your decisions on Tuesday and before then - you probably have them made now - approach them with compassion and heart.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MADAM SPEAKER (Osborne): The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture and Labrador Affairs.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Madam Speaker.
I am happy to rise here this afternoon and speak to the resolution as put forward by the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair.
Madam Speaker, before I get into what I want to say about the resolution, the people on the other side of the House are portraying this government, who have been in power roughly five months, as a bunch who have one agenda, I believe, to go and try to gut health care.
Madam Speaker, I think people have to recognize, and we all recognize, that there are some serious problems with health care in this Province, and they are not all to be resolved with bricks and mortar. They are to be resolved by putting health care professionals in the appropriate places around Newfoundland and Labrador so that they are accessible to the people in this Province within a reasonable distance and so that we can provide to the people who give health care to the people of the Province, so that we can provide those people with a decent quality of life; because they too, Madam Speaker, not only the people who need health care but also the people who provide the health care, need a quality of life as well. That is one of the problems we have had. That is why we have such problems in our Province with recruitment and retention, because it is very difficult to recruit and then retain doctors and nurses and other health care professionals to various parts of our Province when there are not enough of their colleagues in the area to share the burden of responsibility that they have.
Those are some of the things, Madam Speaker, my colleague from Trinity North spoke about earlier, in the report on Healthier Together: A Strategic Health Plan for Newfoundland and Labrador, that the previous Administration brought forward in 2002. It talks about the goals, the Guiding Principles for Decision-Making. Madam Speaker, in the Executive Summary, as my colleague already referenced, the government of the day, in 2002, proposed that there needed to be - "A new approach for determining the location of health and community services in the province will also be developed. A new set of location standards will be established through a planning exercise which will include discussions with communities and stakeholders throughout the province."
Madam Speaker, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with that. Those are the things that any government must do on a go-forward basis. That is the type of discussion that we need to have in this Province about health care. We need to look at where our population is going to be, what the demographic change in our population will be over the next five to ten years, and we need to plan today for a health care system that is going to provide for the needs of the population that we will have in five to ten years time, not the population that we had five or ten years ago.
That is why we have maintained, in the Department of Finance, in the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, a Statistics Branch that looks at population trends in Newfoundland and Labrador, so that they can predict out five, ten and fifteen years what our population is going to look like based on birth rates and death rates and population migration and so on. Madam Speaker, I certainly support what the government was saying at the time, that we do need to have a review of health care provisions in this Province.
What it also goes on to say - and in the fearmongering that we have heard here over the past three days, the fearmongering and the question that was asked by the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair earlier today about, what we are going to do with boards? What were they going to do with boards? That is what I would like to know. What were they going to do with health care boards in this Province? I know this report here says, "The current structure sometimes makes it difficult to operate in the interests of the client or patient, provide flexible services without artificial organizational barriers, and administer the system with greatest efficiency. Therefore, there is a need for additional consolidation of health board structures." That was what the previous Administration was suggesting in 2002.
AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).
MR. TAYLOR: Well, I cannot speak for 1999. I was not here, Sir.
AN HON. MEMBER: Maybe we should have.
MR. TAYLOR: Maybe that is not such a bad idea.
Anyway, Madam Speaker, those are some of the things I wanted to speak about, that the previous Administration had proposed and entertained back in 2002.
Madam Speaker, I want to speak about a couple of other things. As I said, the provision of health care in Newfoundland and Labrador is not all about bricks and mortar. It is not all about putting up buildings.
Madam Speaker, I listened to the Member for Grand Bank earlier today say that the only developments in this Province that have been put on hold were in Liberal districts. It is not true, first of all, but let me run over a list of constructions in health care facilities that have taken place in this Province over the past five to ten years. I can tell you when they were announced, and you can figure out for yourself what color the district was at the time.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. TAYLOR: I am not saying, Madam Speaker, that some of these facilities should not have been built; however, I will read them: Stephenville; Burgeo; Port Saunders - when Chuck Furey was there; Old Perlican - when Lloyd Snow was there; Harbour Breton - and the present member was there; Fogo; Bonne Bay - when Chuck was there; and Happy Valley-Goose Bay - when Ernie was there, and the new wing on the Gander Hospital.
I said, Madam Speaker, that I am not suggesting that some of these were not needed, but let's ask the question -
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please!
AN HON. MEMBER: You did.
MR. TAYLOR: I did not, Sir.
AN HON. MEMBER: Yes, you did.
MR. TAYLOR: I said that these things were all built in Liberal districts.
Now, what about Labrador West? Why, when we all know the situation, we all know the current situation in Labrador West, at the Captain William Jackman Memorial Hospital -
AN HON. MEMBER: Paper stuffed in the windows.
MR. TAYLOR: Paper stuffed in windows, why? The people in Labrador West do not deserve it because they had an NDP representative? Is that what the previous government is saying?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. TAYLOR: Madam Speaker, you do not have to be a rocket scientist to connect the dots in this one. There is a lesson to be learned in that. There is a lesson to be learned in that, that the people in Newfoundland and Labrador want quality health care. They are not concerned about the building. They want access, on a reasonable basis, in a reasonable period of time, in a reasonable distance, at a reasonable cost. They do not want their health care system privatized. I do understand that also.
Madam Speaker, there is a lesson in this, as I said. Stephenville, who is there now? It is not Liberal. Burgeo still is. Port Saunders is not. Old Perlican is not. Harbour Breton is. Fogo is. Bonne Bay is not. Happy Valley-Goose Bay is not, and Gander is not.
Madam Speaker, you do not buy people's votes by putting up bricks and mortar in this Province any more. You earn the respect -
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. TAYLOR: You earn the respect of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, and you earn their vote on election day by providing them with the services that they want.
Madam Speaker, that is what we intend to do. When we conduct our review of health care in this Province, when we look at education in this Province, when we look at how we are going to spend money on road development in this Province, we will do it with a plan in place. We will do it in the best interest of the people of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, looking ahead five to ten years, not looking ahead five to ten months and looking at the political bottom line. We will look at the bottom line, the population of the people in Newfoundland and Labrador, Madam Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. TAYLOR: Madam Speaker, I believe there may be other people who want to speak. I am going to clue up just by saying that there are significant changes taking place in the population and the demographics of Newfoundland and Labrador, and we have to be very cognizant of those changes. We also, Madam Speaker, if anybody wanted to listen -
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please!
MR. TAYLOR: I propose, Madam Speaker, that the approach that the previous government took to hospital and school construction in this Province is very similar to the approach that they took to fish plant licencing in this Province.
Madam Speaker, as I said, I was going to try and clue up. I lost my train of thought, so I am definitely going to clue up.
Madam Speaker, there are significant changes taking place in the population, the distribution and the demographics of this Province. I listened, and there are challenges with recruiting health care professionals in all parts of this country. As the Leader of the Opposition acknowledged in shouting across the House there earlier today, there are problems in Alberta with their health care system and they have no debt whatsoever. He is quite right.
I listened to CBC Radio this morning in a report on health care and a report on general practitioners and family doctors in Montreal, where it is estimated that in excess of 500,000 people in Montreal do not have access to a family doctor.
Madam Speaker, that is a reality that we all, in this Province, must keep in mind. What does Montreal have to do with us? There is a very close connection with what is happening in Montreal to what is happening in Flower's Cove. We had better restructure our health care system in this Province so that we can provide the health care professionals who we want to recruit to this Province, to work in this Province, with a quality of life, with a decent income, with decent places to work in, so we can get them; because, if not, they will go to fill the vacuum that is in places like Montreal today.
Thank you, Madam Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MADAM SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Torngat Mountains.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. ANDERSEN: Thank you, Madam Speaker.
I rise today to speak in support of the petition put forward by my colleague. But before I do that, Madam Speaker, I want to thank the people in the riding of Torngat Mountains for voting me in for my third term. Anytime that a member can get 70 per cent of a vote, then, I guess, the people show us a bit of trust and I want to thank them for the support they gave me.
Madam Speaker, I am not going to get into what the Member for Trinity North said because I have a list here which I will challenge him on after the Budget comes down. With regard to the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture and the Minister Responsible for Labrador Affairs, I can tell you it was more than just the upper Lake Melville involved in the hospital we built in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. We built it for the people on the North Coast of Labrador who are in better need of health care, more than anyone else.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. ANDERSEN: The people of South Coast as well, so I say to the minister -
MR. TAYLOR: Did you ever ask (inaudible) for Labrador West?
MR. ANDERSEN: Minister, go ahead.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please!
MR. ANDERSEN: Madam Speaker, I can say that I am glad we are on television tonight, from the comments that the Minister Responsible for Labrador Affairs made, I guess, we can look forward to that kind of representation from that side of the House in years to come.
Madam Speaker, I want to say that health care is very important, and some of us, we live in small and isolated communities. I want to remind some of the new members that geographically I can take the riding of Torngat Mountains and fit the entire Island into my riding; but nowhere is there a greater need for improved services in health care than that on the North Coast of Labrador.
Madam Speaker, I can say from our government, we built new schools on the Coast of Labrador. We built houses for nurses and teachers and we gave them bonuses with no roads because it was needed the most. If you, on the other side, want to say that is what the deficit is all about, then do not expect me or anyone in my riding to apologize. We gave them that because they deserved it.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. ANDERSEN: I hope that government over there is going to treat the people in my riding the same way.
Madam Speaker, long-term care. I want to say to members across the way, imagine if you had to take your mom and your dad from St. John's and put them in Nain or Hopedale where no one speaks the English language, because we take people from the North Coast of Labrador - there are not enough beds in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and what do we do? We have to send them to the Island. Madam Speaker, a lot of these people cannot speak the English language. Imagine, saying goodbye to one of your loved ones and because of your physical finances you cannot travel to the Island to visit them, knowing the only time that you are going to see them again is when they come back in a casket. The only time you will see them again is when they come back in a casket.
Mr. Speaker, I hope that this government, when it looks at long-term care, I hope Happy Valley-Goose Bay, because of its region, is well on the priority list because it is needed more so than ever before. I hope that this government is not going to turn around and bring everything into St. John's and Corner Brook. Not that I have anything against the people in St. John's or Corner Brook, but we need to look after people and culture where we live.
Mr. Speaker, I am honoured today to speak in support of this motion. To the members on that side, I can say to you again, the millions and millions of dollars that the Liberal government gave to those who needed it the most, I hope that your government will take the same approach and do the same thing for the people in Labrador when it comes to health care.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER (Hodder): Order, please!
It being Wednesday, normally at 4:45 p.m. the mover of the motion would begin her concluding address. The Chair seeks guidance from the House. We began the session at 3:16 p.m. and I would ask guidance as to whether or not we can accommodate more speakers, and whether the House will agree to sit beyond the normal sitting time of 5:00 p.m.
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
This Private Member's Day is a day to deal with private member's issues. Question Period ran a little bit longer. I don't think there is anybody who disagrees with trying to provide as much latitude as possible on issues of importance on Private Member's Day. We certainly don't.
For example, the Member for Torngat Mountains just spoke, the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune is going to speak next, I am going to speak after that, and I believe, then, the mover of the motion. The Member for Port au Port, I think, wanted to speak.
We will provide opportunity. I think there is an agreement on both sides of the House to do that. When everyone has had their chance to speak, then we will conclude, we will vote on the motion and then we will adjourn for the day and be back here tomorrow.
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. PARSONS: Concur, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: Thank you.
The hon. the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune.
AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible), Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: I am sorry! I apologize to the Member for Port au Port. I didn't see him standing.
Under our rotational system, the hon. the Member for Port au Port.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. J. HODDER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I don't think there is any area of the Province more concerned about health care than the one that I represent, and the Member for St. George's-Stephenville East. Mr. Speaker, when we inherited this government we inherited a monster as well. At that particular time, we decided that we would freeze projects that were ongoing and have a look at what is to happen.
Mr. Speaker, the aim of this government, and my aim, and the aim of every member over here, is to improve health care in Newfoundland.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. J. HODDER: Mr. Speaker, I cannot support this particular motion because of the intent of the motion.
Mr. Speaker, in my understanding of what has happened, members opposite have been making mischief as far as the health care in this Province is concerned. It wasn't the first time that a proposal came from the Western Health Care Board to a Minister of Health in this Legislature when it happened three weeks ago.
I should point out, Mr. Speaker, that even though the Member for LaPoile has asked for the copy of the report - the report arrived on my desk on a Wednesday and the Opposition Health Critic, the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair, was on the radio at the opportune time of Friday night with every indication that she had received the report herself.
MS JONES: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: On a point of order, the hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Just to clarify for the Member for Port au Port. I was not given a copy of the report to which he refers that was submitted by the Western Health Care Board to the minister. The report that the Member for Burgeo & LaPoile asked for, I did not have a copy of that. The report that I referred to in the House of Assembly on Monday or Tuesday was the report of the Labrador Health Board, not the report of the Western Health Care Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
There is no point of order.
The hon. the Member for Port au Port.
MR. J. HODDER: Mr. Speaker, that is very strange because the critic for Health, the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair, named the Member for St. George's-Stephenville East and myself, and the release was directed specifically at the Western Health Care Board and our inability to defend. Now we had just received that report.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. J. HODDER: Mr. Speaker, if I can speak, I will say this. The report - and there has been some confusion about this in the media - came from the Western Health Care Board to members on this side. The minister did not send me a report, did not speak to me about a report, did not speak to other members about a report.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. J. HODDER: The report arrived on Wednesday. On the weekend the report was circulating around - and I should say this -
MR. PARSONS: A point of order, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: On a point of order, the hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Just to clarify the concern by the Member for Port au Port. This member's questions of two or three days ago were directed to the fact that I do not have a copy of the Western Health Care Corporation report and that the Conservative colleagues in Western Newfoundland have been given a copy of that report, and when I went to look for it - I am not saying where they got their copies from or who gave it to them. My point is that the Minister of Health has instructed the Western Health Care Corporation not to give me a copy. That is my concern here. I do not have one, and I have a letter which I offered to table where the Minister of Health told the Western Health Care Corporation not to give me a copy.
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services, speaking to the point of order.
MS E. MARSHALL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
The report that the hon. member mentions is really a budget submission which came from the Western Health Care Corporation. It was forwarded to me and, Mr. Speaker, a copy of that report was not provided to any member of this House, not on the government side or over there.
AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).
MS E. MARSHALL: I want to state quite clearly, I did not provide a copy of that report to any member of this House, whether they are on the government side or the Opposition.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
There is not a point of order. It is a point of explanation and clarification.
Continuing debate, the Member for Port au Port.
MR. J. HODDER: Mr. Speaker, it is very strange because the Member for LaPoile was invited to a meeting in the Town of St. George's which was called for Western Newfoundland. At that meeting this particular report had been, I suppose, mostly a copied report in Bay St. George. All the doctors in the Stephenville hospital had it. The local paper in Stephenville has been running that report for ages. Not only has the Member for LaPoile not turned up to any meetings that were held on this particular (inaudible), including meetings where people were there from the Town of Port aux Basques. As well -
MR. PARSONS: A point of order, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: On a point of order, the hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
First of all, I would respect a request, again, as was pointed out by the Member for Trinity North some time this week, that my district is the District of Burgeo-LaPoile; not LaPoile and neither is it just the District of Burgeo. It is the District of Burgeo-LaPoile.
Secondly, if the hon. Member for Port au Port has a copy of the report I would love to have it, if he would be so gracious as to give it to me. I do not have one.
Thirdly, any reason - I have very valid reasons. This member has never been challenged in my short political career, at this point, about not attending meetings without very good reasons. I would suggest that he certainly should check with me if he is going to make utterances and suggest that I did not attend meetings. I will not go any further at this point but he should find out, if he wishes, from me directly as to why I did not attend a certain meeting in Stephenville on Friday night before he goes making suggestions in a negative manner that I was not there. I will not go any further at this point, but I suggest to him in the future if he wants to know why I was not at a meeting he would do himself a service by first asking me.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
Continue the debate.
The hon. the Member for Port au Port.
MR. J. HODDER: Mr. Speaker, if the hon. member - and I apologize for not naming his district properly. Perhaps that is because my father represented the district that he represents now, which was then known as LaPoile district.
Mr. Speaker, if the member wants to know about the report, he can read it in the local paper because it has been in the local paper for the last two weeks.
Mr. Speaker, there is a bigger issue.
MS JONES: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: A point of order has been raised.
The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair.
MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, I had to rise again because I thought I heard the hon. Member for Port au Port say that he only received a copy of the report on his desk in the past few days. I think that is what the member said, Mr. Speaker.
On Tuesday, February 17, the member was quoted in the West Coast paper, the Western Star, as saying this. He said, the document which came forward proposed to tear the heart out of health care in Western Newfoundland and that it is a proposal which government has no intention of having anything to do with.
Mr. Speaker, he also went on in the same article to say that if we were to pay any attention to this document, it would cause grievous health problems throughout the whole region from Cow Head on the Northern Peninsula to Rose Blanche on the South -
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The member should know that when you raise a point of order it has to have some relationship to the parliamentary practices. In this particular case, she is engaging in debate. She will have an opportunity at the end of the discussion this afternoon to raise these various points. I would ask that we say that there is no point of order and continue debate with the Member for Port au Port.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. J. HODDER: Mr. Speaker, it is obvious that members opposite are hurting. I said, I received it on a Wednesday. I did not say I received it on last Wednesday - on a Wednesday. The hon. member herself was the one who made the release on the following Monday.
Mr. Speaker, there is a larger issue here. There is an issue of people who want to keep their health care system. There is an issue here of a proper health care system. There is also an issue here of overall health care in the Province of Newfoundland.
Mr. Speaker, we hear suggestions and we look at comparisons. This Province has one of the highest -
MR. GRIMES: (Inaudible).
MR. J. HODDER: Mr. Speaker, perhaps if the Leader of the Opposition would allow me to continue, with the few minutes that I have left.
AN HON. MEMBER: If he could contain himself.
MR. J. HODDER: If he could contain himself, yes.
Mr. Speaker, we are here to improve health care. That is the objective of this government. As far as health care is concerned, all that I have heard so far - yes, there are dysfunctional situations in this Province. Yes, there are problems with the health care system. As well, we have to look at the overall health care. We have to look at demographics. We have to look at the situation where we have the highest rate of heart attacks in the country; where, when we look at the comparison between province and province to our own Province, that we do not show up so well. These are the things that this government has to address; but, Mr. Speaker, playing politics in particular areas of this Province or, as the member who will be about to speak in a few minutes, the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair did when she issued that release on the heels of the report from the Western Health Care Board, that caused nothing constructive at all. At the same time, Mr. Speaker, I do not know where it came from. The report that the Member for Burgeo & LaPoile refers to, just about every organization, every group on the Southwest Coast, has that report at the present time.
AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
MR. J. HODDER: I just want to say, Mr. Speaker, that as far as the health care is concerned in my area, as far as the health care is concerned in this Province-
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
MR. J. HODDER: As far as health care is concerned in this Province, it is in good hands and it will remain in good hands and hopefully we can change the way in which the previous government handled the health care in the Province.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. LANGDON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I first of all would like to thank the people of Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune for re-electing me for the fifth time. When I realized that it has been fifteen years since I first ran in that district, time really passes very, very quickly. I realize that it is probably not too difficult to get elected the first time, but when I see the person here from Lewisporte, the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture and Aboriginal Affairs, and I see the Member for Port au Port - I think myself and the Member for Bellevue and the Leader of the Opposition came here in 1989, and it is quite an honour to represent the people from your area. It has been the experience that I have most enjoyed in my lifetime. In fact, as I said here when I was in the House the last time, I first got elected to public life in 1971 as a councillor and I got elected four times. I spend some time with the Federation of Municipalities, and the last fifteen years here. It has been challenging but I have enjoyed it because I like to see when I accomplish something for the people whom I represent.
My district, when it comes to the Island of Newfoundland and Labrador, I think is more difficult, from a geographic point of view, than any other district in the Province. I have Ramea, Grey River, François, McCallum, Gaultois and Rencontre East, isolated communities. The only way that you can get to these communities is either by boat or helicopter. There are no runways on the South Coast for these people to get out. It is mountainous, it is difficult, and I think we saw that over the last couple of days when the people of François were complaining about the fact that they were out of fuel and there was no way that they could get it in, and their school had closed. The company had tried to make reservations to have the oil brought to the community but they couldn't do it on a timely basis, but finally it happened. These are isolated communities.
One of the things that I heard this afternoon referred to the hospital in Harbour Breton. If a health care facility that serves Rencontre East, Belleoram, St. Jacques, English Harbour West, Mose Ambrose, Boxey, Wreck Cove, Seal Cove, Hermitage, Sandyville, Gaultois, McCallum and the people of Harbour Breton - I remember growing up on the coast, when we were isolated and we had no roads to go there, we had to go by boat. We have an old cottage hospital that was built in 1934. It is still standing there in the district now. It is dilapidated, it is outdated, it is a fire trap. For years the people in the area wanted a new facility. I am glad and proud that I was able to work for them, to work with them, for the people of the area to get a new medical facility for Harbour Breton. I am proud of it.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. LANGDON: When I go back to the district and I see the old building on top of the hill and I see the new structure which the people have in Harbor Breton, it gives me a sense of pride because I am from there. These people are my people and they have given me the opportunity to come to this House to represent them, and that is what I have done.
I can think of another part of my district, Mr. Speaker. The people of the Bay d'Espoir area, St. Alban's, St. Joseph's, St. Veronica's, Milltown-Head of the Bay, Morrisville, Conne River - they have a clinic in St. Alban's that is substandard. There is no doubt about that. I had the opportunity - and I did not want to have the opportunity - a few weeks ago to go to the clinic in St. Alban's. The staff were spectacular. As I was lying on the hospital cot, and the doctor and the nurse were there, they pulled a screen around me. The people were going in and out as I was lying there on the cot and having some work done. I realized that last summer or last spring, a year ago from now, when the go-ahead was given to have a $200,000 extension to the facility in St. Alban's. I thought, what a great thing for the people, because on the South Coast where I live we are three hours from anywhere. We have to come up the Bay d'Espoir Highway and the people who live in the Harbour Breton area, more times than not, like the people in Burgeo, are cut off in the wintertime. You cannot get out of it. The snowplough is unable to go through the mounds of snow that is there. It is difficult. You are struck.
We had the particular project approved and it went to an architectural engineer. The man died prematurely with a heart attack, and it was two months before we got a new architectural engineer to carry on with the project. By that time the summer had passed and we were almost into August. Tenders were called but they were not awarded.
I am hoping and praying for the people in the area, not for Oliver Langdon because I am the Liberal member for their district. It is immaterial to me. I am concerned about the people that I represent; like the people across the floor for the people that they represent. We are here. We are all equal when we come into the House, whether we were elected by an eighty majority or 100 majority, or 3,000 or 5,000. We are sent here by the people to do a job. I am hoping and praying that particular facility will go ahead. It is needed. The people in the area need it. If it was not needed then obviously it would not be done.
I am sure that the government has already looked at the projects that need to be done in the budget and that particular project holds merit because it is in an area where you have a growing population. In St. Alban's last year there were twelve new houses. It is the aquaculture industry which the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture and the Minister Responsible for Labrador Affairs has said that he would like to see even more developed than it is now. It is not a population decrease, it is a population increase. I look forward to seeing that done.
Then, of course - I do not represent the people of Burgeo. The Member for Burgeo & LaPoile does, but I have to go to Burgeo to get into Ramea. I just talked about these particular communities that are along the South Coast, completely isolated. This time of the year there are times when you cannot get out because the wind is too high for the boats to run and the choppers cannot get in. They have a hospital in Burgeo. It serves the Southwest Coast, completely isolated. There are times - and you listen to the weather station time after time after time - the road to Burgeo is blocked. The road to Burgeo is blocked and there is no way in or out. Where do you go? You need the facilitate. There are times, obviously, when fiscal prudence is important but you have to realize that there are people who live in rural part of the Province where there are populations sparsely distributed all over the place. You have to provide services for them because if you do not provide services for them, then what happens?
The other thing, Mr. Speaker - and I will have more time to talk about it, I am sure, in Interim Supply. I think of the cancer clinic and I think of my own father-in-law who passed away a year ago with cancer. Many, many times he would leave Seal Cove in Fortune Bay and he would drive seven hours to get to here to see the doctor. He did it for a number of times and there were times that he could not sit on the seat, he had to kneel down. That is why we want, in Grand Falls area, a situation where we can have a clinic so it can serve the Southwest Coast, the Bay d'Espoir, the Harbour Breton area, the Baie Verte area, the Lewisporte area and so on. It is not just because it is conveniently located in Grand Falls-Windsor. Grand Falls-Windsor is the service centre for a lot of the whole South Coast and Northwest Coast and Central Newfoundland. It is needed, and I am sure at the end of the day fiscal prudence will prevail. I am sure that it is needed and provide to these people the services that they so deserve.
As I said, Mr. Speaker, I will not take any more time now, as time is passing, but over the next number of days I will have an opportunity to expound on it even more.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to stand and participate in the debate today, put forward by the Member of Cartwright-L'anse au Clair.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. E. BYRNE: I listened intently to all members, because health care obviously is a critical issue for the people in this Province, no matter where you live, for people in the country, right across the country. Mr. Speaker, we will not support the motion put forward today, absolutely not. I am not going to reiterate why we are not going to support that, simply because the Minister of Transportation and Works and Aboriginal Affairs has so eloquently put it forward, because to support this motion is to support an agenda that was defeated by the people of the Province on October 21. We will not be doing that, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. E. BYRNE: I do want to speak about some of the things that members have talked about today.
The Member for Grand Falls-Buchans made a passionate plea today, but some of her words were very telling. She said in this House what I believe to be very truthful and probably one of the most truthful statements that I have heard in some while. She said to the Minister of Health, that the Minister of Health and this government will never have enough money to deal with the health care needs of the Province, what people want. No truer statement made, and made by a former member of the Cabinet.
AN HON. MEMBER: President of Treasury Board.
MR. E. BYRNE: President of Treasury Board at one time.
In 1999, the Leader of the Opposition, as the Minister of Health, stood in this House and said, standing right there, that if we do not get health care board deficits under control it will spell financial disaster for Newfoundland and Labrador.
The report referenced today by the Member for Trinity North, and referenced again by the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture and Labrador Affairs, speaks to the hypocrisy, Mr. Speaker, of the members opposite who sat in the Cabinet, who released the report, who understood that changes in demographic shifts and patterns in this Province are occurring, who understand intimately, when they were sat on this side of the House, what is required, what will be required, and yet, Mr. Speaker, they persist in fearmongering today.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. E. BYRNE: The Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair, earlier this week, stood up and made the accusation, the outright accusation, that this government was going to introduce two-tiered health care based upon a report that was released by this government, but she failed to understand that we also had access to fifteen years of files and that the information that was asked of the health care board in Western Newfoundland, and every other health care board, was exactly the same terms of reference that her and her government asked of the Western Health Care Board. Exactly.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. E. BYRNE: We did not see the member run out to the media today and talk about when they asked what would be revenue options, did we? We did not see the member run out to the media today and talk about how we are going to introduce two-tiered health care and the absolute right of a government to look for revenues, but you did not see her make the accusation today that we are going to eliminate public health care. Do you know why, Mr. Speaker? Because this government has no intention of introducing two-tiered health care to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. E. BYRNE: Now, Mr. Speaker, one of the reasons why, at the last First Ministers' Conference, that all First Ministers, including the Prime Minister of the country, all the First Ministers at the conference came out and said: Unless the federal government moves towards what Romanow Commission had introduced across the country that the present system is financially unsustainable by provinces alone. Unsustainable by provinces alone! The same message that the Leader of the Opposition when he sat as Premier of the Province in the chair said exactly the same way. We did not see recognition of that today by the hon. members opposite now, did we?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. E. BYRNE: Well, Mr. Speaker (inaudible) said the other day I have a memory and I want to give you a few of them right now. Members opposite talked about releasing reports. Do you know that I asked in this House some four years ago, as Leader of the Opposition - I sent a request for freedom of information to the Minister of Environment of the day who sits in this House, and do you know what the response was? Yes, we can get it but it is going to cost you $10,000 as the Opposition to get access to it. Fact! Absolute fact! I remember we were talking about the release of information by the Leader of the Opposition.
For over two years, the current Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board, myself as the Leader of the Opposition of the day asked the Leader of the Opposition now, when he was Minister of Health: Where is the Atkinson Report? For two years, they denied the Opposition the release of the information.
Mr. Speaker, I am not going stand -
MR. GRIMES: A point of order, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: A point of order has been raised by the Opposition Leader.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MR. GRIMES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Always hesitant to interrupt, but the memory that the Government House Leader is referring to is that for the two years prior to me becoming Minister of Health and Community Services, he did not get the report. The day I became the Minister of Health and Community Services I released the Atkinson Report to everybody in Newfoundland and Labrador including the member opposite.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. E. BYRNE: Do you know why he released it? It was (inaudible) with the Hay Report.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
There is no point of order.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
There is no point of order. Continue debate.
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. E. BYRNE: Mr. Speaker, let me belabour the point. My colleague just asked him was that the truth and the Leader of the Opposition responded , yes that is the truth. Do you know why? Because it is the truth. It was two years old, government had moved with another report and they were not going to give us any information about that either.
Mr. Speaker, it is interesting, today's debate. As my colleague from Lewisporte said earlier, the fact of the matter is that this government and every member in this government is as equally concerned about the status of health care, the delivery of services, the protection of the public, reasonable and timely access of services. We have all had people in our own families who have had need of it and all of us, each and every one of us, are concerned about it. So do not expect, I say to the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair, do not expect anyone to sit and listen to accusations that we are about to do away with a publically cared for and a publically funded health care system when it is not our intention to do so. We will fight that accusation here, out there, in any community hall, in any Lion's club, in any Kinsmen's Centre, as a matter of fact anywhere, I say to the member, because it is not factually correct. That is a commitment that this government has made.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. E. BYRNE: Nor are we going to be afraid, Mr. Speaker, nor are we going to be afraid, to design a health care system that reflects the needs of tomorrow, of the next year, of the next five, ten, fifteen or twenty years. Our focus is on today and tomorrow. It is not on yesterday and yesteryear, and that is the commitment that this government is making to the people of this Province, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. E. BYRNE: Mr. Speaker, it is interesting when we talk about the report and the release of the report. The fact of the matter is that the people in the Port au Port, Stephenville area, I understand the concerns that they have. I understand when I see reports released, or information released, that has no basis, in fact, in terms of decisions that have been made, because decisions have not been made. I understand when people are upset when someone tells them that their hospital that was just built is going to be closed down when no decision has been made - as a matter of fact, a new health care facility. I mean, come on! I understand when people are upset, when people fearmonger, but the fact of the matter is this: We intend to do what is necessary to provide the following things: reasonable access, access to services, access to services where people can use them and need them, reasonable time frames to get at them. What people want is quality of care, what people need is quality of care, and what people will get from this government, Mr. Speaker, is quality of care.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair.
If she speaks now she will close the debate.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I will be happy to speak and have a few comments before we call the vote on the motion. I am awfully disappointed to hear that the members opposite are looking to vote against this motion today, Mr. Speaker, because I was hoping, I was so hoping, that they would honour the interests of the people in this Province, support the motion, and move forward with the capital infrastructure that has already been started in this Province.
Mr. Speaker, in my few brief comments that I will have, there are a couple of things that I want to make reference to. I hesitated to get up earlier when the Member for Port au Port was making his maiden speech in the House since his re-election to the House of Assembly in the last few days. I was hesitant, Mr. Speaker, but when he said that he had only received a copy of the report in recent days I was absolutely astonished, a report that was done for the Western -
MR. J. HODDER: A point of order, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: A point of order has been raised by the Member for Port au Port.
MR. J. HODDER: A point of order, Mr. Speaker.
I do not want to be misrepresented in this House, and the member is misrepresenting me. I received the report on a Wednesday. The member herself was on the press -
AN HON. MEMBER: What Wednesday?
MR. J. HODDER: I said it was on a Wednesday. It was three or four weeks ago. I said a Wednesday, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
Continuing debate.
MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, the member will not tell us what Wednesday he received the report, but I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, and the members of this House, that it was on a Tuesday, February 17, that the hon. member went to the media on the West Coast of the Island, went to the Western Star and said that the document that has come forward is proposing to tear the heart out of health care on the West Coast of the Island. He made those comments, knowing -
MR. J. HODDER: A point of order, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: A point of order has been raised.
The hon. the Member for Port au Port.
MR. J. HODDER: Mr. Speaker, I just want to point out that the Wednesday was on February 11.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER: There is no point of order.
Continuing debate.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
Continuing debate.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
So, it is true that the Member for Port au Port had the report since February 11, knew the contents of the report. We do not know where he obtained the report, Mr. Speaker. We understand that he was given a copy of it, a copy in which my colleague, the Member for Burgeo & LaPoile and the Member for Bay of Islands, who resides in that district as well, did not have a copy of it.
I submit also, Mr. Speaker, that the Member for Stephenville East had a copy of the report in her comments to the media on February 17. She alluded to the document, alluded to it in having knowledge of it and the contents of it, so they did have the report.
Mr. Speaker, I want to get back to speaking to some of the comments that were made here today, because I heard a number of the members on the opposite side get up and speak on this motion today.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MS JONES: I can hardly hear myself think, Mr. Speaker. The Member for Trinity North is blaring himself across the House. I cannot even read the few notes I have written down here.
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
The member should be heard in relative silence. I ask members for their co-operation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, I feel like I am facing the bully section. Every time I get up, all I hear is the heckling back and forth from the members opposite on this end of the benches. I had to go down to the other end of the bench a couple of days ago to get some reprieve, Mr. Speaker.
I wanted to say that today I listened intently -
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, I listened intently to the dialogue in this House. I listened intently to the debate. Do you know what I heard? I heard the Member for The Straits & White Bay North get to his feet today and say that the commitments that were made to put a cancer clinic in Grand Falls, to put a hospital in Burin, to put a clinic in St. Alban's, to put MRI in Corner Brook were all buying votes. That is what the Member for The Straits & White Bay North said, Mr. Speaker.
MR. TAYLOR: A point of order, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture and Labrador Affairs.
MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I would just like to say that if the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair can find in Hansard anywhere tomorrow that I said anything about the cancer clinic in Grand Falls, the clinic in St. Alban's or the hospital in Grand Bank, I will apologize for what I said, or retract or whatever is parliamentary to do here. I am sure that she will not find it. I did not mention any of those communities, so I ask her to retract her statement and state the facts as they were presented, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: There is no point of order. There is a disagreement between members, and that occurs all the time. There is no point of order.
Continuing debate, the hon. the Member for Cartwright-L'anse au Clair.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is kind of hard to continue debate when you are constantly interrupted. Mr. Speaker, the member said that he would not support this motion because what we were doing was trying to buy votes at the time that we made those commitments.
Mr. Speaker, I also heard the Member for Trinity North - the Member for Trinity North stood in his place and said: you were more interested in clinging to your seats. Mr. Speaker, it leads me to believe that the hon. Member for Trinity North certainly did not see the need for us to be investing money in Grand Falls in a cancer clinic, in a clinic in St. Alban's, in a hospital in Grand Bank, because of the comments that he made. He did not see the need for it.
Then the Member for Lewisporte stood up and said: it is just election promises.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, what the members opposite are saying is that this infrastructure is not needed.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!
I want to ask members if they would cooperate. The member making the resolution is concluding her debate. Perhaps we could have some order so that she can continue her comments in relative silence.
MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I just have a few more comments to make before I clue up.
Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to look at the valuable infrastructure in the health care sector that has been provided in this Province. I am disappointed today to hear some of the comments that had been made on the opposite side because I really do believe that the commitments were made for those health care facilities in the best interest of the people who live in those communities and in that region.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, in the comments that the members made with regard to buying votes, with regard to holding on seats, I want to say that when we looked at building the hospital in Lake Melville - I will ask the Member for Lake Melville, did he think that was necessary? Were we just looking to buy votes? I do not think so. We were looking at the best interest of the people in that area.
The Member for Stephenville East, can she say that the hospital in Stephenville was not needed, that it was just buying votes on behalf of a government? Mr. Speaker, totally, totally, inaccurate. Those were much needed facilities, and I challenge the Member for Gander to stand on his feet and say that the facilities in Gander were not needed and was not necessary because I charge that all of these facilities were necessary. The work that was done on the Janeway Hospital, the hospital in Harbour Breton, just like the ones that we talk about today.
Mr. Speaker, I will make one last plea to the members opposite to stand today and support the motion that we put forward because I think the people of the Province, the people in those areas, desperately need those services. I hope that all hon. members will remember the infrastructure in their own areas, how it serves and provides for the health care needs of the people they represent and they, too, will support this motion.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Is the House ready for the question?
Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the resolution?
All in favour, aye.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.
MR. SPEAKER: Contra-minded
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Nay.
MR. SPEAKER: In my opinion, the nays have it.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Division.
MR. SPEAKER: Division has been called.
Call in the members.
Division
MR. SPEAKER: Are the members ready for the question?
Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the resolution?
All those in favour, please stand.
CLERK: Mr. Grimes, Mr. Parsons, Mr. Butler, Mr. Barrett, Mr. Langdon, Ms Jones, Ms Thistle, Mr. Reid, Mr. Andersen, Mr. Sweeney, Ms Foote, Mr. Harris, Mr. Collins.
MR. SPEAKER: All those against the motion, please rise.
CLERK: Mr. Edward Byrne, Mr. Ottenheimer, Mr. Rideout, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Tom Marshall, Mr. Jack Byrne, Ms Elizabeth Marshall, Mr. Shelley, Mr. Fitzgerald, Ms Sheila Osborne, Mr. French, Ms Burke, Mr. Tom Osborne, Ms Whalen, Mr. Hedderson, Mr. Hickey, Mr. Wiseman, Mr. Denine, Mr. Harding, Mr. Young, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Jackman, Mr. Jim Hodder, Mr. Skinner, Mr. Oram, Mr. O'Brien, Mr. Ridgley.
Mr. Speaker, 13 ayes and 27 nays.
MR. SPEAKER: I declare the resolution lost.
The hon. the Government House Leader.
MR. E. BYRNE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Before I move the motion of adjournment, in accordance with Standing Order 11, I move that tomorrow the House not adjourn at 5:30 p.m., and I further move that the House do not adjourn at 10:00 p.m. That is just to ensure, in terms of time to clue up our parliamentary business, that we will have it.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn and return at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow, as the former Government House Leader would say, of the clock.
MR. SPEAKER: This House now stands adjourned until tomorrow, Thursday, at 1:30 p.m.