MR. SPEAKER (Hodder): Order, please!

Admit Strangers.

This afternoon we are pleased to welcome in our public galleries twenty-seven French Immersion students from Leary's Brook Junior High School in the District of St. John's North, with their teachers Mr. Shane Fitzgerald and Mr. Scott Barker.

Welcome to our House.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: This afternoon we have members' statements as follows: the hon. the Member for the District of Terra Nova; the hon. the Member for the District of Grand Falls-Buchans; the hon. the Member for the District of Exploits; the hon. the Member for the District of Burgeo & LaPoile; the hon. the Member for the District of Labrador West; and the hon. the Member for the District of Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune.

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Member for the District of Terra Nova.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. ORAM: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a great educator and wonderful man. On March 24, Mr. Paul Boyle, a teacher from Glovertown Academy, passed away and with that an enormous loss was suffered. Last Thursday, the school held a memorial service for Paul. Mr. Speaker, approximately 1,000 people showed up to pay their respects and to celebrate the life of this tremendous person.

I would like to take this opportunity to speak to Paul's life, a life that was sadly cut short. While his life ended prematurely, this certainly did not mean that it was without success or reason. I would argue that Paul accomplished in his short life, more than most would hope to accomplish in a full lifetime.

Paul was born on August 18, 1963 at the Banting Memorial Hospital in Gander, to proud parents, Ada and Roy Boyle. Paul and his family moved to Goose Bay, where his sister Rhonda was born and remained until 1970. At that time they returned to Gander, settling until 1985.

He graduated from St. Paul's High School in 1980. After which he enrolled at St. FX's University, thinking he wanted to become an engineer but eventually found himself at Mount St. Vincent, where he completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree and then at St. Mary's University, pursuing a more passionate career in Education acquiring his Bachelor of Education.

He married Debbie on May 24, 1988. They were delighted to present to the world two beautiful daughters, Chelsea born in 1989 and Carly born in 1996.

Paul enjoyed life to the fullest. He was passionate about many things: art, drama, sports, woodworking, cooking and even gardening with his wife. Above all, Paul loved spending time with his family.

For the past eight years Paul has been a member of the staff of Glovertown Academy. His passion for teaching and his love of students could be seen in every class he taught. He touched many lives in both school and outside in his personal life. Mr. Boyle will never be forgotten as his memory will forever be carried in the hearts and minds of his students and friends. His energy and laughter will be forever echoed in through the halls of Glovertown Academy. As Mr. Boyle would say: Kids, be careful out there.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all hon. members would join with me today to pay tribute to Mr. Paul Boyle.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS THISTLE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate and to say thank you to Walwin Blackmore, a long time distinguished municipal politician who spent four years as councilor and a combination of twenty-four years as mayor of the former Town of Windsor and the newly amalgamated Town of Grand Falls-Windsor.

Walwin Blackmore is a native of Bell Island, and a graduate of Memorial University and the University of Ottawa. He spent seven years teaching in several communities prior to coming to Booth Memorial High School as Vice Principal, in the former Town of Windsor, in 1969. In 1972 he was appointed Principal, remaining in that position until retirement in December of 1991.

Walwin Blackmore entered municipal politics in November of 1977, became Mayor of the former Town of Windsor in November of 1981, re-elected in 1985 and in November of 1990 was elected the first Mayor of Grand Falls-Windsor. I had the pleasure of sitting on that first amalgamated council with Mayor Walwin Blackmore for two terms and he served in that position until September 27, 2005.

Throughout his thirty-seven years in the central area, he has served on the Windsor Stadium Committee, Windsor Minor Hockey Association, Central Newfoundland Hospital Board, Central Newfoundland Community Futures Board, Central Newfoundland High School Hockey League, Beothuck Senior Hockey League, Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Municipalities, Central University Committee, Canadian Bible Society, Canadian Volunteer Initiative, and in various positions with the Park Street Corps of the Salvation Army.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this House to join with me in congratulating Mr. Walwin Blackmore on a distinguished municipal career and thank him to his contribution to public service in our Province. Happy retirement, Walwin.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FORSEY: Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure today to stand in this House to recognize the heroic efforts of two firefighters from the Peterview Volunteer Fire Department. They are Fire Chief Chris Torraville and his fellow firefighter Darrius Brenton.

Approximately 9:30 Saturday evening on March 18, three snowmobiles carrying four people went through the ice at Gills Point between Norris Arm and Peterview. One person made it to a cabin on shore and contacted the police. From there several rescue teams were mobilized, including the Peterview Fire Department.

Chris and Darrius travelled across the bay on snowmobile until they arrived close to where the tragedy occurred. Then, without fear for their own lives, they continued on ice board, where the ice was only one to two inches thick. Because of the weakness in the ice, the two firefighters had to wade in cold water for three-and-a-half hours in darkness until more rescue teams could reach them.

A terrible tragedy occurred that night with the loss of three lives, but not without the final attempt by these two firefighters to save them.

Mr. Speaker, I would ask all members of this House to join with me in recognizing the bravery of Chris Torraville and Darrius Brenton.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Burgeo & LaPoile.

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise today to recognize six outstanding Port aux Basques military personnel now serving in Afghanistan.

Kevin Osmond, son of Roy and Grace Osmond, Lakes Brook; Wade Hodder, son of Bernice Hodder, Grand Bay; Peter Osmond, son of Reg and Evelyn Osmond, Grand Bay; Chris Short, son of Norman and Julia Short, Grand Bay; Ray Lomond, son of Gerald and Ellen Lomond, Mouse Island; Paul Parsons, son of Albert and Viola Parsons, Channel, are all currently serving in Afghanistan.

Mr. Speaker, these individuals left their hometowns to pursue careers in the Canadian Military and they have indeed done us proud. Their dedication to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and our country to serve in Afghanistan during this most difficult time is an inspiration to us all. We hope and pray that their mission is safe and successful.

I ask all members of this House to join with me in recognizing these brave individuals who are all outstanding Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, who are "Standing on Guard" for thee.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. R. COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

On March 18 to March 20 the first ever Cain's Quest snowmobile race was held in Labrador West. The race covered a distance of 1,200 kilometres, and racers were not permitted to use groomed trails. Teams consisted of two racers, and both machines had to cross the finish line in order to qualify. There were twelve teams from the local area, along with teams from the Labrador Straits, Quebec and Nova Scotia.

It was a gruesome race, Mr. Speaker, that tested both physical and mental endurance, pushing both riders and their machines to the limits. The riders went through the middle of Labrador in mostly unfamiliar territory, sometimes at night, using only coordinates on their GPS to get them from checkpoint to checkpoint.

The event was filmed by SnowTrax TV with the use of a helicopter, and will be shown on TSN later this year. In addition, coverage was also provided by Atlantic Snowmobiler Magazine, Ontario Snowmobiler Magazine, and some provincial media.

Mr. Speaker the winning team was Gerard Rumbolt and John Efford.

I was waiting for people to look, then.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. R. COLLINS: The winning team was Gerard Rumbolt and John Efford from Labrador West, with a time of fourteen hours, one minute, or an average speed of sixty-five kilometres an hour. They captured the first place prize of $10,000 and I am happy to say, Mr. Speaker, they donated $5,000 of that to the Labrador City Youth Center.

Second place went to a team from Quebec, with Dave Dumaresque and Shannon Strangemore of Labrador West finishing third.

I would like to thank the White Wolf Snowmobile Club, the many volunteers, the racers and the sponsors who made this event such a tremendous success. Already, planning is in progress for next year which will see a longer course and more participants. This event and others like it go a long way to promote the huge potential for Labrador Winter Tourism.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. LANGDON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the Town of Belleoram on reaching a tremendous milestone. On the evening of Saturday, April 1, I was delighted to participate with the community and celebrate sixty years of incorporation. It was a pleasure to join with residents, current and former councillors and municipal representatives from the region on this important occasion.

Belleoram was one of the first towns in the Province to incorporate as a municipality. The first meeting of the Belleoram Town Council was held on September 9, 1946, at a courtroom in Corner Brook. Mr. Josiah Rose was elected Secretary/Treasurer by the committee. Interestingly, it was agreed that he be paid a remuneration of $25 per month to assist with the formation and operation of the new council. The new council, under the leadership of the first Mayor, J. R. Burdock, began immediately to bring new infrastructure to the town. Water and sewer was installed in the town in 1948.

Mr. Speaker, the Town of Belleoram has seen many changes over the years. Some of these changes have created challenges for councils and residents, while others have helped make the community a better place to live. As a community, Belleoram continues to accept the challenges and grasp social and economic opportunities that come their way.

It continues to be a pleasure for me to work with the Town of Belleoram. This town is an important part of the Coast of Bays Region and is committed through dedicated leadership to making the economy in their part of rural Newfoundland and Labrador sustainable.

Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate former mayors, councillors and staff for contributing their time and effort for the success of the town. I also want to express gratitude and thanks to the current Mayor, Steward May, current councillors and Evelyn Savory, Town Clerk, for organizing the celebration of their incorporation.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of the House to join me in congratulating Belleoram on the anniversary of sixty years of incorporation as a municipality.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Statements by Ministers.

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SHELLEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to inform my hon. colleagues about meetings I attended with federal, provincial and territorial ministers responsible for labour on March 17.

The purpose of these annual meetings is to promote co-operation among labour jurisdictions in Canada. Throughout the year, the Canadian Association of Administrators of Labour Legislation works on common labour issues and challenges being faced throughout Canada.

Mr. Speaker, one issue that sparked much discussion was labour supply and demand. A shortage of skilled workers is a serious issue here in Newfoundland and Labrador, just as it is throughout other provinces. I used the opportunity to highlight the strategic approaches our government is taking to address this problem: our White Paper on Education, our Immigration Strategy, our Poverty Reduction Strategy, and the retraining of workers.

Another theme, Mr. Speaker, was the need to promote a safe and healthy workplace. A productive workplace is one where reasonable and cost-effective policies allow workers to perform at their best. Employers, workers and unions must recognize that everyone benefits from a workplace environment that promotes good mental and physical health.

Mr. Speaker, a separate meeting of Atlantic Ministers of Labour is scheduled for June to further discuss these issues and others. At that time, I expect to report further on the significant progress made on our immigration and poverty reduction strategies.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Carbonear-Harbour Grace.

MR. SWEENEY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of the update on his travels.

It is interesting to note, Minister, that while you are having discussions with your counterparts there is a job fair taking place in the Province this week. Over 400 people showed up in Stephenville for interviews for jobs in Alberta, 400-plus people showed up in Central Newfoundland, and last night 500-plus people showed up at Salon D at the Delta Hotel, and today Salon D down there is filled again with people looking for jobs in Alberta. Minister, your jobs is daunting, there is no mistake about that, and I am glad to see that you are working on it.

I would suggest that maybe partnership with the private sector, putting some investment into the private sector to encourage jobs here at home, would be a much better effort by your government.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The member's allotted time has expired.

MR. SWEENEY: To conclude, Mr. Speaker?

MR. SPEAKER: By leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Leave has been granted.

MR. SWEENEY: Mr. Speaker, we are losing Newfoundlanders hand over fist day after day. The thing the most hurting proof, apart from the boom that we have in Labrador, is the people leaving this Province and heading West. I think there should be emphasis placed on that, and, Minister, I encourage you to keep up discussions with your counterparts because there is a lot of work to be done. This Province is in a tailspin right now for labour. There is going to be a major shortage here over the next little while.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

MR. R. COLLINS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement.

There is no question about it, skilled trades in this Province, and indeed in this country, are much in demand. There is a shortage because we went through a period of time where all of us were equally guilty, I guess in some ways, of pushing our children towards universities and towards the IT sector rather than the traditional trades. It is time now that we have to play catch up in order to deal with the needs that will be there for the future.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The member's allotted time has expired.

MR. R. COLLINS: By leave, Mr. Speaker?

MR. SPEAKER: By leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Leave is granted.

MR. R. COLLINS: While I agree with the minister and the previous speaker on the need to cooperate with other provinces, I think in this Province itself the minister should give some consideration to probably holding a conference between labour and business and government to get a better handle and identify exactly what the needs will be, not only in the long term but in the short term as well.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: Further Statements by Ministers.

Oral Questions.

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

MR. PARSONS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My questions are for the Premier.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the secret negotiations between government and the Hebron-Ben Nevis partners fell apart. While the Premier says they were not secret, nobody really knows what the details are that were being discussed.

I ask the Premier: Would he be prepared to provide the details of the so-called super royalty regime to the people of the Province through the House?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We have already indicated yesterday, in answer to the first question that was asked by the hon. Opposition House Leader, exactly what the tenets of the deal were. The exact specifics of the super royalty, I guess if we had agreement from the other parties, there would be no problem providing it. We want to make sure we just do not break their confidentiality on something like that, but there is no secret agenda here with regard to the tier three royalty. We would only be too delighted to disclose it. We just want to make sure that is fine with the other parties. But there is no secret, no hidden agenda here.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. PARSONS: Thank you.

We look forward receiving those details on the super royalty.

Another important aspect, that nobody seems to know about, is the equity stake being requested by the Province. Could the Premier advise what equity stake was requested by the Province at the commencement of the negotiations, what was offered by the companies, what was eventually refused, and would he be prepared to table that information in the House?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, that has been indicated. We have made no bones about it for, probably, the last six to nine months. We have come out and we have indicated exactly what we wanted from an equity perspective. We said we certainly wanted equity. We wanted super royalty. We also talked in terms of secondary processing for the Province, as well as maximum benefits for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians so that we would have our fabrication facilities at 100 per cent capacity.

In light of the comments that were made by Chevron yesterday, who indicated that, in fact, they put a better package on the table, we responded as a government when questions were made on the equity because there was an implication by Chevron that, in fact, this deal broke down on equity. Well, on Thursday night past, we had reached an agreement on equity. A critical milestone for them on equity was 5 per cent. Five percent and above jeopardized the joint venture agreement. There was extra voting rights. There were other rights and privileges that were above 5 per cent. Our preference would have been to obtain, at least, 8.5 per cent. That was our original goal because that is a benchmark which has been set by the federal government in the Hibernia project and that was a number that we were trying to achieve. However, in order to try and reach an agreement with these companies, we moved to the 4.9 per cent position because that was a position that they felt was acceptable to all the partners.

So, contrary to what Chevron are saying with regard to the equity position, equity is not what it broke down on because we basically had a tentative agreement on equity and on super royalty on Thursday evening. The matter on which it broke down, which I explained yesterday to the House, was they reverted to the January 26 position, which is investment tax credits which were in the range of $400 million to $500 million, which was something that we had virtually assumed was off the table and was gone. They then reverted to a position of two months ago, which was absolutely unacceptable to the Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. PARSONS: Contrary to the comments across the House from the Government House Leader, this information has all been public. The details have not been public. The gist of what is being talked about may well be out in the public forum. The reason for the questioning is to ask if we can actually have the detail, and people would be more enlightened and more informed.

Mr. Speaker, the Premier said that government would be willing to buy the 38 per cent share of Exxon to try and move this deal forward. I ask the Premier: How would this valuation take place in terms of what it would cost? How much would government be willing to spend, and what would government do, or are government considering doing, given Exxon's position - at this point, at least - that they are refusing to sell?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, as the hon. House Leader is aware, this is not the first time that this project has been shelved. While the hon. party opposite was in government, of course, this project did not go ahead at the same time and possibly for the same reasons, I do not know.

Having said that, with regard to the price that the government is prepared to pay for Exxon Mobil's interest, we are dealing in hundreds of millions of dollars here. I am not prepared to announce to Exxon Mobil today what we are prepared to pay them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: With all due respect to the hon. gentleman opposite, with a legal background and a negotiating background, that would be foolhardy. Under the circumstances, I certainly would not be prepared to announce it under any circumstances.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. PARSONS: I appreciate, Premier, as well, having a legal background, but I guess a common sense background as well that you would not want to necessarily show your hand to the other party.

The nature of the question, however, was: Is the breakdown concerning the equity revolve around the fact that you cannot arrive at a price to pay, or is the breakdown on the equity issue revolve around the fact that Exxon just simply would not even consider the issue? That was the level of detail that I was looking for. I realize, and would appreciate that as a Province you certainly do not want to disclose what you would ultimately be prepared to pay, but my understanding is that they just simply refused to even talk about giving you an equity share, or selling you their share.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: I note in your comments, actually last evening in a broadcast that you were involved in, you agree with the principle of equity. You think it is a good idea for this government to bargain for equity, and I appreciate that. Having said that, I have already said that on Thursday night past, when we were dealing with the negotiating party for the consortium, they agreed to an amount of equity, a quantity of equity, which was 4.9 per cent. They also agreed to a quantum. They agreed to the amount. They agreed to the value, and that was already put aside. So, that was done. So, at that point the person who is negotiating on behalf of the consortium said: Ok, fine. Here is the amount of equity that we are prepared to sell. Here is the value which we are prepared to sell and which we are prepared to offer for it. Here is the super royalty which we are prepared to get, and we actually negotiated up the super royalty at that particular point in time. Then when they send a memorandum into us, the memorandum gets cute and basically comes back and says: Oh, yes, but we want all the terms that are in the January 26 agreement, with the exception of these two. So, we basically said that is not on. Because what would have happened then, that would have clawed back everything that we gained. We would have ended up with an agreement that was basically less than generic, which is exactly what your government was prepared to accept some two years ago.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. PARSONS: Continuing, with regards to the issue of the Exxon percentage, was it a part of the discussions regarding their possible share to government that you would have to compensate them for their original exploration cost? Does government have any idea, at this point, as to how much - in addition to purchasing a share, if you bought that share, how much would government also have to invest in terms of up-front or start up costs in terms of the field and infrastructure?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Obviously, in valuing any share or any interest in a project you have to take into consideration what they have already spent - which I think the term is probably pre-development cost, which would be the term. Then you also have to look at what the value of the project is. So, then you have to ascertain what the quantity of the reservoirs are and projections could be that - they could be anywhere from - a ball park, probably about 550 million.

Having said that, when you try to put together the final valuation then you have to strike a number, and that is exactly what we have done. So, all those things are all part of it. Now, with regard to the project itself, if you are a partner in the project then you participate in the cost of the project. You are either a full partner or you are not a full partner. So, as a full partner you would be prepared to invest and step up as the project moves forward.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Opposition House Leader

MR. PARSONS: Premier, I do not think there is anybody in this Province who disagrees that we ought to have the best deal possible when it comes to our offshore resources. The approach, particularly when it comes to dealing with private companies, may be somewhat suspect and has not yield results yet.

The Premier chastised Exxon yesterday as the Hebron-Ben Nevis partner who scuttled the deal, and Exxon and others are still - maybe some people don't appreciate this - but are still very key players in our offshore industry, and are very important to the future natural gas development from Hibernia, Terra Nova and White Rose.

I ask the Premier: Are you concerned that no to a Hebron-Ben Nevis deal may delay the time frames and the development possibilities that exist with regard to natural gas?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I watched with great interest last night the broadcast and the interview on CBC where yourself and the Leader of the New Democratic Party were present. It was interesting to note that from the outset the Leader of the New Democratic Party generally supported the position that government has taken in this particular matter.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: As well, he made an interesting observation, that Norsk Hydro, a company that is owned by the Government of Norway, would, in fact, have a 10 per cent interest in our project, and it was most reasonable for us to have to seek an equity position on that particular project as well. I commend him on that observation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Now I am going to tell you what you said last night, and you changed your position from the start of that interview. By the time you got to the end of it, you were moving closer to the hon. Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.

These are your exact words: If it is going to be a weak deal, there should be no deal. We are suggesting that the Premier should stick to his guns by all means. Those are your exact words. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a bit of posturing on the part of the oil companies because they obviously in secret couldn't get the arrangements they wanted. All of the sudden, this morning after the March 31^st deadline passes, we see a press release from Chevron.

You obviously agree with what we did. Are you trying to take a different position here in the House today, because that is not what I am hearing from you on the other side of the House?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. PARSONS: Premier, this being Question Period I will ask the questions, but I certainly have no objection to yourself or to any media in this Province clarifying what I believe doesn't require any clarification. I have no problem whatsoever with the Province taking a hard and fast stance at this time with the oil companies, and I have said that. Absolutely no problem with that at all!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. PARSONS: Whether it is the current Premier or anybody else, if we had to end up with a weak deal I firmly believe there should be no deal.

All I am trying to do, and I think you gathered from the questions I have asked today, is flesh out some of the details. It is quite easy having the residents of this Province saying, we take a side for the Province, the Premier's current stand, or we side with the oil companies, without having the full information. That has been the tenor of my questions since yesterday.

I commented quite openly, as well, that Chevron is not into the habit of calling Opposition parties and offering to give a briefing, unless there is some purpose of them either. That is why I question their posturing issue from the oil companies.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. PARSONS: Premier, again, I am trying to get some further information and detail here so that people have a good understanding and know, when they take a stand, why they are taking it. Exploration is a key to new developments offshore.

I ask the Premier: Has government been given any indication from the oil industry, in the course of these ongoing discussions and negotiations with Chevron and their partners, whether future exploration might in any way be sacrificed or compromised because of an inability to strike a deal on Hebron-Ben Nevis?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: I am interested in the hon. gentleman opposite's comments with regard to saying that he would not take a weak deal. Well, when he was a Minister of the Crown and when that party on the other side of the House was in government, the Premier of that party at that time, in June of 2003, said - and this is in reference to the Hebron project - he does not know yet if changing the regime means the Province would get less royalty revenue at the beginning or less royalty overall, but he says either way it better than not having the Hebron development go ahead at all.

Well, that might have been the policy of your government; that might be the policy of your leader, who sits in the gallery today. It is not the policy of this government, and there will be no more giveaways.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Opposition House Leader.

MR. PARSONS: Thank you.

It is quite obvious, Mr. Speaker, that the Premier does not want to peel back some of the layers on the onion here and give the detail. I have asked the last two questions here and, instead of getting any answers or even a commitment that we might get some information, I have gotten rhetoric.

I say to the Premier as well, with regards to whatever position any former premier might have taken, and any former minister of mines and energy or natural resources, the water on the beans has substantially changed since 2003, and I think we all appreciate that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the hon. the Opposition House Leader.

MR. PARSONS: I mean that in a political sense. One only need take the price of a barrel of oil, for example. We are not talking about $20 barrels of oil any more; we are talking about $60 barrels of oil, and that leads directly into my last question. Perhaps the Premier, again, might be more forthcoming with his answers.

Many business people in this Province, Premier, industry associations, trade persons, professional workers, have expressed their concern. It is not coming from the Opposition; it is coming from media reports that we have read today and we have heard on TVs and radios as well, legitimate concerns. These people are concerned that with this project not moving forward on Ben Nevis for the foreseeable future they have these concerns.

I ask the Premier: Have you consulted with any of these people? Are you concerned that this impasse, if it lasts too long and you do not strike a deal, what devastating effects it would have on our economy? Have you consulted with these people?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: As the hon. member is aware, Mr. Speaker, there is a detailed energy plan consultation that is going on throughout this Province, which is being conducted by the Minister of Natural Resources. In doing that, he has gone through the entire Province. He has talked to a lot of the stakeholders. He has had submissions from a lot of the stakeholders.

One of the stakeholders is NOIA. In their presentation to the government during the energy plan consultation process, NOIA's recommendations dealt with engineering; the Province develop an industrial development and procurement strategy to guide the Province in negotiations such as those currently underway for the development of Hebron. Elements of this strategy should include - and I quote NOIA - 100 per cent of front-end engineering and design feed and detailed design to be located in the Province.

I can assure NOIA that the proposal that was put together by this proponent was substantially less than what they asked for.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My questions are for the Minister of Fisheries.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Fisheries is on public record repeatedly in the last few weeks, saying that FPI broke the law by taking another one of our resources and shipping it to China for processing; and, as a result, that company was going to be charged in the court of law.

I ask the minister: Have charges been laid? If not, why?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture said previously in this House, and outside this House, there appeared to be some discrepancies between what was allowed to be shipped out and what actually got shipped out by Fishery Products International in the past year. There was an investigation that took place by the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture officials, and right now an investigation is ongoing between Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture officials in consultation with the Department of Justice. When the appropriate time comes, if charges are warranted, charged will be laid, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. REID: Well, you talk about a backflip. It is a wonder you are not doing cartwheels across the floor here.

The Minister of Fisheries stood in the pan of a truck on O'Leary Avenue and said: FPI broke the law, they broke the law, they broke the law, and they will be charged and charged and charged! Here, today, we have his predecessor standing in for him saying there is some discrepancy in what the minister said and what they actually uncovered in the Department of Fisheries. So, you are saying now, what the minister said last week wasn't true?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. REID: Are you saying now that charges will not be laid?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, as the member knows, when the time comes to lay charges, it is on the basis of the evaluation of the Department of Justice. That is where that lies.

Furthermore, the only people in this House who made a backflip are the Leader of the Opposition, the Member for Grand Bank, and the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune. Why don't they inform the House of what happened in the Clerk's boardroom last spring when they met with me and advised me that I should allow redfish from 3O to be shipped out of this Province to China for processing by the operators of the fish plant in Gaultois? Prior to that, Mr. Speaker, there was not one pound of fish authorized to be shipped out of this Province; and, when it was done, it was done on the advice of -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. TAYLOR: - those three members, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I say to the -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

Colleagues, we are in the middle of Question Period. Time is short.

The Chair recognizes the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister of Transportation and Works stands here today and says something that is completely the opposite of what his colleague said when he was into a rant in the back of a pickup truck on O'Leary Avenue last week. Mr. Speaker, we have heard that come from that government time and time again when it comes to FPI.

I ask the minister: If what he said last week is something different from what he is saying this week, how can the people who work for FPI in the Province believe anything you are saying about the amendments, or anything else you are going to do with that company?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, what I said today is exactly consistent with what the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture said last week. This matter now is in the hands of the Department of Justice, and a determination on charges will be made by the Department of Justice. That is consistent with what every government does on this type of file.

Now, Mr. Speaker, as I said before, you want to talk about truthfulness, you want to talk about who is dealing with the facts, the fact of the matter is: the Loyal Opposition to Her Majesty here, today in this House and for the past couple of weeks, have been on a rant about fish being allowed to be shipped out of this Province. The only fish, over and above what was allowed to be shipped out by previous ministers, like the Member for Twillingate & Fogo and Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair, the only fish, in 2005, that was allowed to be shipped out of this Province was fish from 3O, redfish. That was based on the advice of the Member for Twillingate & Fogo, the Leader of the Opposition, the Member for Grand Bank, the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune, in the Clerk's Boardroom last May, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the Leader of the Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

Again, I am asking members for their co-operation.

The Chair recognizes the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I say to the minister opposite, it was your Minister of Fisheries who said that FPI broke the law and they were going to be charged. Not me, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Fisheries stated that fish landed by the FPI vessel, the Newfoundland Lynx, would be processed in this Province. Now that he has had a chance to investigate this allegation, or this point, can the minister now tell me at what FPI plant that 1.8 million pounds of turbot will be processed?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I suspect that the 1.8 million pounds of turbot will be processed in the same plant, under the same conditions that the 8 million pounds of turbot that was shipped out of this Province when he was minister in 2002, Mr. Speaker. The conditions that apply to turbot in this Province - the processing requirements on turbot today are the exact same processing requirements that were imposed on the industry in 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000. Do I have to go back any further, Mr. Speaker?

Mr. Speaker, if the fish is to be processed in the Province, it will be. If there is an exemption required, consistent with the exemptions that were provided by the Member for Twillingate & Fogo, the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair, the former Member for Port de Grave, when he was the minister, and the Member for Bay St. George, Bud Hulan, when he was the minister, all of those conditions, Mr. Speaker, have been issued over the years, going back probably to when Walter Carter was the minister.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. REID: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture stood in this House yesterday and said that the fish aboard the Newfoundland Lynx would be processed in this Province and his colleague is standing today and saying that it will not be processed in this Province.

Mr. Speaker, for the past two-and-a-half years this government has stated repeatedly that there are too many -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair recognizes the Leader of the Opposition who was placing a question.

MR. REID: Mr. Speaker, for the past two-and-a-half years this minister and his predecessor have stood everywhere in this Province and said that we have too many people employed in the fishing industry, whether they be plant workers or harvesters. Yet, up until the election, the federal election just a couple of short months ago, they made no formal representation to the federal government for an early retirement package.

I ask the minister, if he was serious about an early retirement package and he is preparing a proposal to go to the federal government, why haven't you included your portion of it in this year's Budget?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. TAYLOR: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we have said consistently that we support an early retirement program for plant workers in the fishing industry. That was articulated to the federal government last fall and in the federal election this past winter, and a proposal has been submitted to the federal government just last week, I believe it was.

As for the Budget appropriation, Mr. Speaker, there are all kinds of ways for the provincial government and the federal government to put their hands on money, should money be required. Mr. Speaker, there is such a thing as a supplementary supply bill. There is such a thing as a Special Warrant. I am sure that if the federal government came across today and said here is our $70 million, then, Mr. Speaker, we would not be very long finding our $30 million.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

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

MR. HARRIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

My questions are for the Minister of Finance.

Yesterday in Question Period, the Minister of Finance, while refusing to provide any hope of getting help from this government to people incurring catastrophic drug costs, stated that his program of co-pay for prescription drugs for families under $30,000 income would start in September. Will he confirm, Mr. Speaker, that this program will indeed start in September, as he stated in the House yesterday?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SULLIVAN: Mr. Speaker, delivering a program - delivery of the drug program -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

A question has been asked by the hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I am asking members for their co-operation. Colleagues, we have limited time.

The Chair recognizes the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, I did not say it starts in September. That is incorrect. There is a certain part of the program. The drug program for prescription drugs will start on January 1, 2007 under the Prescription Drug Program. That is because it is necessary to get the systems up and running to be able to accommodate the requests to deal with a new output of $32.8 million.

I do remember saying yesterday, Mr. Speaker, that that member over there has asked for numerous things. We delivered. He asked for the moon; we gave him the moon. Now he wants the sun and stars. There are some people in this Province you can never satisfy, and he happens to be one of them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. HARRIS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What I said yesterday after Question Period, if this minister was the Minister of Finance, when they started talking about medicare they would still be talking about it because we would not have it, Mr. Speaker.

What I want to ask the minister, Mr. Speaker: given that spending on drugs has now approached 16 per cent of total health care spending, whereas we only spent 13 per cent on doctors, doesn't he now agree that all people in the Province should have access to a drug plan or an insurance plan, such as he has and I have, as members of this House, that all teachers have, that all public sector workers have and that all those have with a workplace plan? Doesn't he agree that everybody should have access to an insurance plan for drugs?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

When we came into office there were about 100,000 people in this Province who had access to a drug plan; people on income support and low-income seniors, people who qualify for the guaranteed income supplement. As a result of our initiatives, I sat on a committee with many of my colleagues and very strongly endorsed the single most thing in this Province affecting poverty is access to drugs. I fully support it and everyone of my colleagues did. That is what we did on this issue.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SULLIVAN: Right now, Mr. Speaker, almost 200,000, close to 40 per cent of our population - we have doubled it in three years.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. SULLIVAN: We would like everybody to have access. The member there wants multi-million dollar people, $250,000 people getting access. The money only goes so far. If we give it to everybody who are making $100,000, $150,000, $200,000, we have less to give to people who need it most. Isn't that the philosophy of your party?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. HARRIS: Mr. Speaker, the minister's Budget last week spent $450 million more this year than last. Why is it that this Province is the only province in the country with no co-pay government program for catastrophic drug costs, if that is the case?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Catastrophic drugs are ones that have come under considerable discussion. Just a year ago, when I was Acting Health Minister, I participated in a national health ministers' meeting on catastrophic drugs, and my colleague, the Minister of Health and Community Services, is participating and discussing this on a national level in his capacity there.

We are very supportive to have a national catastrophic drug. A former Government of Canada, I understand, promised one about ten years ago and we have not seen it yet.

They are working toward that goal. It is difficult for some people, with very expensive drugs. We are sympathetic to that. The minister is working with his colleagues across the country, and hopefully something can develop on this. I am sure the minister will speak to that in due course.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The time allocated for Question Period has expired.

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

MR. SPEAKER: A point of order has been raised by the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune.

MR. LANGDON: Mr. Speaker, I want to clarify the position that, when I met with the minister in his boardroom last year, over in the Department of Fisheries, with Max Taylor -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. LANGDON: In the minister's boardroom, I met with him, over in the office.

The problem was with the 3O redfish for the particular South Coast plant. The fish that was permitted by the minister from 3O was brought to Gaultois by Newfoundland boats, sixty-five footers. They were brought to the plant. The people from the community of Gaultois, who live in that community, took that fish, put it into boxes, it was semi-processed. From that particular situation it was then taken, semi-processed, to particular markets abroad.

I thought, at that particular time, it was not shipping it to a factory-freezer trawler going overseas. The people from Gaultois got pretty much their same number of hours to be able to get work.

That is my point. That is the situation.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

Speaking to the point of order, the hon. the Government House Leader.

MR. E. BYRNE: I speak to the alleged point of order raised by my colleague opposite.

Mr. Speaker, there is no point of order. It is a point of frustration. It is a fact of the matter - that is what it is. It is not a point of order. It is a point of frustration expressed by the member.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. E. BYRNE: Mr. Speaker, I listened to the member. I ask him for the same professional courtesy that I provided to him.

Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is this: It is a long-standing principle in Beauchesne, in Marleau and Montpetit, in all of the parliamentary orders, even in our Standing Orders, while they are silent, we go to those references that I just mentioned. The fact of the matter is that the acceptance of a word of a member in any House or Parliament is paramount, and that is why Speakers have ruled from time immemorial that therein lies the possibility of why there may be differences, but the point of order raised by the member is exactly not a point of order but a point of frustration expressed by him.

MR. SPEAKER: Speaking to the same point of order, the hon. the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune.

MR. LANGDON: Mr. Speaker, what I said to the minister, and he agreed that what I said was right, I was only making a point of clarification, (inaudible) point of order or whatever.

It is the fact that what I had said - he gave the impression that I agreed for all the fish that was offshore to be sent abroad, but that was not the case. He agreed with me, and the people of Gaultois community did get employment from it, and it is very little different than what you have in the crab. You bring your crab ashore and you put it in boxes, et cetera. I was agreeing with him, but I felt that I was -

MR. TAYLOR: (Inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

Members will know and recognize that it is not uncommon, following Question Period, for members to have points of view that are divergent. In this particular case, a point of order has been raised and, in essence, it arises from Question Period. It cannot be a point of order; it rather is a point of debate. In this particular matter, I would ask members if they could raise those issues in debate rather than on points of order.

There is no point of order in this instance.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair is reluctant to name members by districts or by positions; however, if the exchanges across the floor continue, the Chair will have no choice but to name people by their district or by their position and ask them for their co-operation.

The Chair has asked for the Tabling of Documents.

Notices of Motions.

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Orders of the Day.

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

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

Motion 1, to move that this House approves in general the Budgetary Policy of the government.

MR. SPEAKER: Motion 1 has been called.

The hon. the Member for Topsail.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS E. MARSHALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am very pleased, Mr. Speaker, to stand in this House today and talk about the Budget that was presented to us last week, and there are certain areas I would like to focus on. There are quite a few areas that we could actually brag about, but I have selected some that are of great interest to me.

The first area I would like to speak to, Mr. Speaker, is the marine services in the Department of Transportation and Works. The Estimates Committee for that department took place yesterday and I was very interested in hearing the views of the minister. I think that we should talk about the Marine Services Division of the department because it is quite a large program. I think there are many people around the Province who don't realize how large the program is. Actually, it is now in excess of $62 million. It has gone up quite significantly over the last few years. Actually, Mr. Speaker, I think that last year it might have been around $50 million, so it has gone up about $10 million over the past year, which indicates this government's commitment to rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, one area that has been of particular interest to me is the new marine services strategy. Although it hasn't been released yet, I am looking forward to it. I am quite pleased, Mr. Speaker, that this government has committed $1.5 million for planning and design for two new ferries for the Province. People in rural Newfoundland might be aware of this, but some people in rural Newfoundland might not be aware, that the ferry program is quite big, that the Province actually has twelve marine vessels or twelve ferries. The previous government, Mr. Speaker, didn't keep those ferries upgraded. Of the twelve vessels that the Province has, the average age, I think, is around twenty-eight years, so the ferries actually are getting quite old. Professionals tell us, people who are professionals in that area, that the normal life cycle of a ferry, a marine vessel, is twenty-five years, so a lot of the marine vessels are actually passed their useful live. I realize that the government has put money into them to extend their lives and keep them upgraded, but the fact of the matter is that the ferry vessels, the marine vessels that we are using in this Province, are quite old. It is time that we took a look at them and started to replace them.

I think everybody was focused last week or the week before when a ferry sank off British Columbia. I think we can have our fears allayed because Transport Canada does vigorously inspect the ferry vessels.

I would like to talk, Mr. Speaker, about some of the specific ferry vessels, just talk about how old they are and when we last had some built. There are three ferry vessels that were built, oh, I would say, fifteen to twenty years ago. The Beaumont Hamel was built in 1985, Mr. Speaker, so that vessel is twenty-one years old. It is time that we started looking at replacing that one. The Gallipoli was built in 1986, Mr. Speaker, and the Flanders in 1990. They are the newest vessels that were built for use in this Province so I think, Mr. Speaker, that it is incumbent on us to get down to work and start to look at replacing some of these vessels.

Mr. Speaker, money was in short supply a decade ago, so one of the things that the Province did was purchase second-hand vessels, and we did that, or the government of the day did that. They purchased the Earl W. Windsor in 1997, and I believe that vessel is still in service. Then, in 1999, the last vessel to be purchased was the Nonia, I think we called it the rusty bucket. We bought it somewhere over in, I believe, Eastern Europe. We got a good deal on the purchase of it, Mr. Speaker, but we did not have a good handle on how much it was going to cost to fix it up. We thought that it would cost probably about a couple of million dollars but actually it cost, I believe, in excess of $10 million to fix it up. I think, Mr. Speaker, it was about six years before we were able to get that vessel upgraded enough to put it into service, but I understand it is in service now.

Really, Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day, all of these vessels are getting quite old, they are getting more expensive to operate, and it is time that we started to look at replacing them. This has always been an issue that has been of concern to me, so I was quite pleased to see the $1.5 million provided for planning and also to initiate design.

I did hear, Mr. Speaker, there have been some comments made in the media. Some people have complained and said oh, we are planning, you are spending too much time planning; you should get right in there and start building the ferries.

Mr. Speaker, I am a great believer in planning. If you are going to be spending a lot of money like that, let's get out there and plan it right so that, at the end of the day, we end up with marine vessels that we are happy with, and we put them in service and people will be happy with; because, if you do not do adequate planning then what happens, Mr. Speaker, is that we end up usually with something that we really are not happy with.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to move on now from ferry services and talk about the financial position of the Province. For most people who know my background, of course, this is something that is of great interest to me. Actually, when the Budget book was passed out on Budget day, of course, I looked at the pages at the front to find out exactly what our fiscal position was going to be. Mr. Speaker, I was very, very pleased to see that, while we had projected a deficit for 2005-2006, we are now projecting a surplus of $76 million.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS E. MARSHALL: I think, Mr. Speaker, that this is the first time I have ever seen a surplus for the Province of Newfoundland. I was doubly pleased when I looked at the budgeted surplus for next year, which is for 2007-2008, and we are budgeting a $6.2 million surplus. I also understand that the numbers presented in the Budget are very conservative, so, who knows? Maybe we will have a bigger surplus than $6.2 million.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS E. MARSHALL: It was quite a surprise, Mr. Speaker, to see that we have turned around the financial position of this Province so quickly. We have always seen deficit numbers and now, for the first time for this Province, we are starting to see surplus numbers.

The other thing I would like to talk about, Mr. Speaker, is the actual Budget document and also the financial statements of the Province. About fifteen years ago, we took a look at those documents and found out, really, they weren't well prepared; that, because they were not properly prepared, you were really able to move the numbers around and give the wrong impressions, or even the wrong projections as to what the Budget surplus or deficit should be. So, I would like to say, I compliment the Minister of Finance -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS E. MARSHALL: - that the actual Budget document has improved in its preparation. It is on the consolidated accrual basis of accounting. I know now that MUN has been included. It is the last organization to be included. So the Budget document, the numbers in there are fairly reliable. I compliment the minister on that.

I would also like to mention the Budget document. One thing that has always surprised me, though, Mr. Speaker, is that there is a lot of attention given to the Budget document, and the Budget is really projected numbers. Really, it is just your plan for the year. While I have always been interested in the Budget document, I would like to see the actual financial statements. I am always interested in the actual financial performance of the Province. I would like to say that the financial statements that this government prepares at the end of every year, and there was a set of financial statements released just before Christmas, we have an excellent set of financial statements.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS E. MARSHALL: They are prepared on the consolidated basis of accounting. They are based on the accrual method of accounting. It is an excellent set of statements and I am very, very proud to be associated with them. I would even say, Mr. Speaker, that our financial statements are the best financial statements of all the government jurisdictions in Canada. So, again, my compliments to the minister.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS E. MARSHALL: Mr. Speaker, I would like to speak briefly now on our roads budget. Again, this stems from the Estimates Committee yesterday for the Department of Transportation and Works. I think, just driving around the Province we can see that our roads have deteriorated over the last number of years, and not only our roads but also the bridges and this is something very visible. I mean, we see potholes everywhere. It has been a commitment of this government, since we came to power, that we would put monies into roads and upgrade our infrastructure. Because really, building and maintaining our infrastructure is the primary obligation of government. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased that the Minister of Transportation and Works has budgeted over $142 million for our roads program.

The other point that I would like to make, Mr. Speaker, is the amount of money that is being put into replacing heavy equipment. One of the problems that we have been having in the Department of Transportation and Works over the last number of years is that the heavy equipment - what is out maintaining the roads, especially doing snow clearing - like the ferry services, we have not been replacing them. We have not been upgrading them. So quite often we have heavy equipment that requires a lot of maintenance work and a lot of equipment is down at the one time. So I was very, very pleased to see that there is about $10 million put in for the replacement of heavy equipment.

A similar problem, Mr. Speaker, has been the infrastructure throughout the Province, and that would include public buildings, like health buildings, schools, hospitals and things like that. Again, it is like the roads, you can see it through personal observation.

I have three children. They are in Memorial University now but they did attend schools in the Province, and just going and visiting the schools, just looking around the schools you could see that the schools were in a state of disrepair. My children went to Prince of Wales Collegiate, and just walking around that school you could see that the school needed some money for upgrading. How can students learn in a school when the windows do not close properly, when they are cold? How can they learn? Then, how can the parents have confidence in the school system if they go into the schools and see that the schools are in a state of disrepair, or the kids are coming home from school and saying to their parents: Mom, I was really cold in school today. I couldn't learn. I couldn't hear what the teacher said. So, Mr. Speaker, I must compliment the Minister of Education for that.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk about the increased funding that has been provided for the RNC and also for the RCMP. I think we all know that we have a new Chief of Police now, Chief Joe Browne. I would like to congratulate him on his new job. I have met a lot of RNC officers over the last number of years and one of the issues that they keep raising is the issue of restraint. Many of them have said that restraint is having a real impact on the force. For example, they were driving old cars that were quite often in for servicing. I think one RNC officer told me a while back that it was a real challenge to find uniforms for their new recruits when they were sworn in. Of course, the force itself, the members of the force were getting older and it really needed to have some new recruits come into the force.

While the RNC, Mr. Speaker, was under restraint, unfortunately crime was not under restraint. So I am very pleased that this government has provided additional funding to the RNC, and also the RCMP. We must remember that this Province is serviced not only by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, but also by the RCMP. Also, there is additional funding in there for staffing, for vehicles, for uniforms, things of that nature.

Mr. Speaker, last night I was just browsing through the government Web site and I just went back and took a look at the Budget Estimates from a few years back. Actually, I went back, I believe to 1999-2000, whatever is on the Web site. I know for the RNC, I believe the budgeted number for 2003-2004 was just over $24 million and it is now up to $31 million. So, I am looking forward to the improved services provided by both the RNC and the RCMP. Of course, Mr. Speaker, I live in the District of Topsail, that is the district that I represent, and there have been some issues regarding policing out in that area. So I am very pleased that this additional funding will be able to help alleviate some of the concerns that we have in my district.

The last thing I would like to mention about the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and the RCMP is that they have their 101 annual general meeting for the Canadian Association of Police Chiefs in August, and I am sure that both the RNC and the RCMP will be very proud to fund that event, knowing that they are properly funded by the government.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to move now from talking about expenditures; I am going to talk a little bit about revenues. I was very pleased to hear the Minister of Finance announce, when he read the Budget Speech, that there is going to be a review of the Province's overall tax structure. Of course, that is something that is of great interest to me. Everybody who lives in Newfoundland, and I think even people who live outside of Newfoundland, are quite aware that we have very high taxes here in Newfoundland. It is very important that we be competitive with the rest of Canada in all of our taxes. So I was very, very pleased to see that there is a commitment on the part of the Province, that we will be reviewing the overall tax structure of the Province.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk a little bit now about the Department of Education, and education in general. I do have three children attending Memorial University. So, of course, they have come up through the education system in Newfoundland. I was very, very pleased that education is the pivotal area for this Budget. I was very, very pleased that the 151 teaching units that were supposed to come out of the system, which the allocation formula calls for removal of, that we are going to reinvest those teaching units back into the system, and that we are going to review the teacher allocation model. I think that is a great idea. I did see, it might have been in the Telegram, Mr. Speaker, but there were some numbers there regarding the number of teachers in the Province and also the number of students. Of course, numbers have always been of great interest to me. I think it is very important for us to take a look at that teacher allocation model, look at exactly where the teachers are being employed and revisit that model. It seems that we do need a different formula.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to compliment the minister on providing funding for the new curriculum that focuses on Newfoundland and Labrador's unique history. When we were in school - of course, I am one of the baby boomers - we studied Newfoundland history and, of course, we all remember what we learned in that. Unfortunately, the students who went through the last number of years are learning very, very little about Newfoundland and Labrador's unique history. There was some funding put into the system last year, but I understand that this new curriculum will focus on the higher grade levels. I am very, very pleased with that course. In fact, Mr. Speaker, it interests me so much that I am looking forward to reading the textbooks for that course.

Mr. Speaker, a number of parents have indicated to me they are quite pleased with the increase in the instructional grant - it went from $80 per pupil up to $150 - and also the extra $1 million for prescribed consumable workbooks. I know, Mr. Speaker, from talking to some of the constituents in my district that some of them, when school starts up in the fall, are really strapped for cash. Between clothing their children, buying sneakers, getting them ready for school, their pencils, pens, things of that nature, that when they also have to pay school fees and for consumable workbooks it is really a great pressure on the family's income. I was very, very pleased, Mr. Speaker, that that funding will alleviate some of that funding requirements for some of the parents.

I would also like to talk about the freeze in tuition at Memorial University. I would like to say, Mr. Speaker, that many members in this House, both on this side and the other side, probably attended Memorial University back in the 1960s, 1970s or even later.

AN HON. MEMBER: 1980s.

MS E. MARSHALL: Okay, 1980s too.

AN HON. MEMBER: And 1990s.

MS E. MARSHALL: And 1990s too. At the time I attended, and I attended back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and at that period of time tuition was at fairly reasonable rates. You could get student loans and you could get grants. I think it was at that time, really, that the students living in rural Newfoundland were able to afford to come into Memorial University and be educated. I know, for myself, I am from a middle-class family. I have four brothers and a sister; we all attended Memorial. My husband is from a little community, Freshwater, down behind Carbonear, from a middle-class family. They were also able to attend Memorial University.

Over the years, of course, attendance at MUN, the cost has really started to increase. I think that the freeze on tuition will make education costs more affordable for many students in Newfoundland and Labrador. Educating our children, that is really important. It is one of the primary objectives of a government. It should be one of our primary responsibilities. I think the best thing that we can do for our children is to educate them so they can get out in the world and make a living for themselves.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to continue on with education, but I would like to talk a little bit about the physical health of our children. I think it is like some of the other things that are happening in this Province, that visually you can see things happening. Visually you can see that our children are getting bigger, they are not in shape like they were years ago, so $1 million has been approved to extend the purchase of phys. ed. equipment for students. There has also been $250,000 budgeted to implement new school food guidelines. I think those are excellent ideas.

I think, though, Mr. Speaker, I would like to add to it and say that, while the Department of Education will do its best to try to make our children more physically fit, it is not only the schools that are responsible, not only the government, but that parents and the community also have a responsibility. If people are not in good health, if they are not getting their exercise and eating right, really, you are looking for long-term health problems. We do have a problem. For example, diabetes is on the rise in this Province. It leads to heart problems, and things of this nature, so anything that we can do to get our students more fit - not only our students, though, Mr. Speaker, but also adults -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. member's allotted time has expired.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Has leave been granted?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Leave has been granted for some concluding comments.

MS E. MARSHALL: Okay, Mr. Speaker, I will take one minute.

There is one program that I would like to comment on, and that is the dental program for children. We budgeted just over $4 million for that program over the last number of years. I am fairly familiar with that program and I can say that many, many children in this Province have poor oral health. A lot of children who should be going to see the dentist are probably not, or should be going to see the dentist more but are not. I think that sometimes we forget that dental health is really part of our wellness plan, that dental health is also part of health. Mr. Speaker, I was very pleased to see that this government has increased the funding for the dental health program for children. It has gone from just over $4 million to $8.6 million. My compliments to the Minister of Health for that.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I will sit down but look forward to further commenting on the Budget.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

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

It is a pleasure to be able to stand today and take part in the Budget debate.

When I was asked the other day, by one member of the media, what did I think of the Budget?, I said to them: Having being involved, I guess, in the political arena inside and outside the House of Assembly for quite a number of years, I have yet to see a Budget that did not have some good into it; but, at the end of the day, regardless of what political stripe, you are always looking for something else in the Budget that wasn't there. I guess this Budget is no different, Mr. Speaker.

I have to say, my hon. friend, the Member for Topsail, when she was up speaking, I do not know why she was looking at me so much when she was talking about exercise and proper eating habits. I could not understand why. I cannot understand that.

Mr. Speaker, the other thing, I overheard the Minister of Fisheries, the other day when the Budget was being read and everything was so quiet on this side of the House, he looked over and said: All the members of the Opposition are white in the gills.

I am going to tell you one thing: I think if the Minister of Fisheries was here today and he heard the former Minister of Fisheries talking to the Member for Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune, I would say he would have been pretty red around the gills.

Mr. Speaker, I have to say, like members on this side of the House have said before, no doubt about it, there are many good things in this Budget, like all Budgets. I was elected in 2001 and was fortunate enough to sit on the other side of the House, re-elected in 2003 and sitting in Opposition, and you see both sides of it. I guess, when that happens, when you are on one side, I think our leader said one day: When you are on one side, things change by just crossing the floor.

Regardless of what side of the House you are sitting on, you are elected by the people of your district and you come here to represent them to the best of your ability and to bring their concerns and the concerns of the people of this Province to the floor of the House of Assembly.

I just want to touch on several issues. With regard to the budget for education, I know there was, I think, $100 million allocated this year in the budget for education. No doubt, there are many good things that will happen with this money being spent.

Mr. Speaker, I want to touch on some other issues. I do not want to sound negative or be complaining but, when we hear talk of such a surplus, I think there are other things that could have been done.

I am pleased with the announcement of school fees - the estimate going from $80 to $150. I will tell you what I am hearing back from the people in my district and outside of my district: Thank God for the elimination of school fees, because now our children will not be going around the Province with boxes of chocolates and bars, trying to get enough money -

MR. REID: Wait and see.

MR. BUTLER: I say, wait and see.

- going around selling their chocolates, having auctions, to try and get enough money for supplies in the schools. With this funding now, hopefully that is going to take care of the full problem.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. BUTLER: That is what we are led to believe.

MR. HICKEY: (Inaudible) over there.

MR. BUTLER: Here we go again, the Member for Lake Melville, they always go back to the past. We are living in the future now, and I am looking forward to good things, I say to the hon. member.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. BUTLER: Mr. Speaker, we talk about the 151 teachers staying in the system. That is good news, but when we hear the concerns that were expressed by principals and teachers around this Province who were suspended because of the concerns and stress they were placed under, keeping 150 in the system cannot correct those problems. You can do an assessment on the ratio or what have you, Mr. Speaker, but it will not correct the problems.

We talk about the sixty-seven school buses, a good-news story, Mr. Speaker. When we were at the lock down on Budget day, I asked them: Where are the sixty-seven buses for? They are all going to some school board in some area of this Province. That does very little for the system that we are involved in, in my area, where people have to go out, compete, and bid low prices for their tenders and end up with buses that probably are not up to standard. There is nothing in the system for those people to improve on the buses that they have.

Mr. Speaker, we talk about the libraries. I know there is money allocated for extra hours in some of the libraries, but I asked a question. I understand there are twenty-eight requests in for libraries in areas of this Province where today there is not a library.

Mr. Speaker, I know there is a freeze on student tuition. That is a good thing for them but we were hoping, with the surplus that this government has, that there would have been some other system where debt reduction could have been looked at, Mr. Speaker.

We talk about, in the Department of Human Resources, Labour and Employment. We had our Estimates meeting here last night and I have to thank the minister for the responses that he gave. I mean, there are many people - the 5 per cent that they will receive will be a tremendous increase to those people who are in need. I am looking forward - I asked questions to the minister last night with regards to the new telephone technology, with regards to the plan that is in place for poverty. I have to say, Minister, the jury is still out. I wish I could be as positive as you were last night, but I am looking forward to it and hope that is what happens, Sir.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. BUTLER: Because it is going to take many years to get to the level where - it is supposed to be eliminated, I think, by 2010, poverty in this Province. I look forward to that day and I have to say, the jury is still out.

The other thing, Mr. Speaker, I want to touch on health care in the Conception Bay North area. There is no doubt about it, I am glad to see that there are going to be new health hospitals or clinics in different parts of Labrador, cancer clinics around the Province, but I have to ask a question. Back a few years ago the Conception Bay North area was number one on the list for a home care centre - and I am glad that the people here, who are listed in the Budget, in Corner Brook, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Lewisporte, St. John's and Clarenville are going to get new facilities, but I am just wondering: What happened to the area of this Province that was listed number one a few years ago? It was not politically done. There was an assessment done by proper people in authority who determined that that area was number one on the list. That is one of the things that concerns me, Mr. Speaker, and I hope this government, in due course, will take a look at that.

The other one is doctor shortages. Last year I mentioned about three doctors who were going to leave Carbonear hospital and I was accused of being fearmongering. I have to say that those three doctors have left the Province. There are notifications in now from one, if not two other doctors who will be leaving.

Mr. Speaker, general practitioners in the Conception Bay North area, people are going to a clinic now and have to wait six to eight weeks to see their doctor, even if it is only to get their prescriptions renewed. At one clinic in Spaniards Bay there used to be two doctors there, now we have one who only operates on half a day. They are being told: Take your file, go find a doctor. Mr. Speaker, there is nowhere for them to go in the Conception Bay North area. Many of the people now travel to Mount Pearl to see a doctor, who relocated from that area to Mount Pearl.

MR. DENINE: It's a good spot to go.

MR. BUTLER: I have to say, it is a lovely spot to go to but it is a long distance for people to have to travel to see their doctor.

Mr. Speaker, we hear talk about the wait time for different pieces of equipment will be reduced, and that is good news for the people of this Province. But, I have to say, and I saw this happen firsthand at the Health Sciences Centre, there are registration places there for four lineups when people are going in to see the various specialists and go to the various divisions. I was there one morning and there were only two opened up. The people were lined up all the way out on the steps outside the main entrance. When asked why this was, there was a shortage of staff.

At the Carbonear hospital speaking to workers there, for thirty-one patients on one particular floor there are three nurses and one nursing assistant. I was also told that on an evening shift, if an emergency should come in, the head nurse has to go to emergency, leaving two nurses looking after thirty-one patients. That, to me, is not treating the patients fairly. They are not people who are just there for no particular reason. They are very sick individuals and are at the hospital.

Mr. Speaker, I believe with regards to our CAT scans and the MRIs, I do not know if it has ever been looked at by anybody, but it seems like those pieces of equipment - I am wondering if they are utilized to the fullest. They are probably operating from 9:00 to 5:00 or 9:00 to 4:00, I do not know, but to know that we have to send people outside of this Province, I am wondering if even that can be looked at.

Mr. Speaker, I think it was last week we heard the minister refer to the figures in relation to in-migration or out-migration, whatever terminology you want to use, stating that it was the highest increase of people coming into this Province in the last, I think it was ten years, fifteen - twenty years was it? Well, according to the stats that I have from Stats Canada, it shows that last year there was an out-migration of 2,930 people. I know the members opposite will come back and say: Well, look at how many left when you were in government. That is all fine, Mr. Speaker, but we are talking about today, with our economy supposedly turned around to a great extent and we can see the flow of revenue from the offshore, but I am going to tell you, the flow of the oil from the offshore is nothing in comparison to the flow of our young people leaving this Province. I have never seen the like in my area.

Last year in one community, in Bryants Cove, seventy-nine men left and went away. Due to the problem with the raw material sharing last year, as the fishermen left the boats they went away. I was told today - I have not seen it myself - that there are ads placed on the local channels in my area and in Trinity Bay area where they are asking for people to go to work as deckhands on a fishing boat. I never thought that we would see fishermen advertising for deckhands to go to work on a fishing boat.

As my hon. colleague for Carbonear-Harbour Grace mentioned today, the list of people who are lining up to go to Alberta to find work. Personally, it is frightening to know that so many young people are leaving. We hear talk about our skill shortages, skilled trades people. There are so many people from this Province working in other areas of our country, whether they be carpenters, plumbers, electricians, welders, insulators, all they need, Mr. Speaker, is some work back here in this Province and a one-way ticket home. I am going to tell you, there are an awful lot of skilled people who can return to this Province.

Mr. Speaker, when we talk about out-migration, last year when those people left, they went by themselves. They stayed until the early part of this year and they returned. I guess if there is a sad note to it - it is wonderful they could find work, to go away and provide for their families, but the sad part is the reality that is happening this year. They are returning out west and they are taking their families with them.

Mr. Speaker, we talk about skilled people - and I know there are programs being put in place to train our young people. There are new programs for the high schools. That is all fine, but I think we have to find a way that when these young people are trained that there is a means for them to stay here in the Province. The sooner that is done - I know everything cannot happen overnight, but I will give you one incidence where two young girls in my district who were in receipt of social assistance went through the system and they were retrained. Both of them became nurses. Today, one is working in Florida and the other one is working in Alberta. I am proud of them, that they broke the cycle, they got out of the system - but to know that they have gone away, unable to find the work here in this Province.

Mr. Speaker, I guess some of the biggest concerns, and I mentioned to the minister last evening - like you would ask the question - did he think any of the HRLE offices would reopen? I guess I got the answer that I was expecting, no, but you try anything to try to bring the system back to how it was.

Mr. Speaker, I believe that in the area of the Province that I represent, in the Port de Grave district, the people are fortunate in that area because they live in close proximity to the Cities of Mount Pearl and St. John's and a lot of them travel back and forth here to work - and to know that there are hundreds of them who are planning this year.... Many are gone, others are leaving. I can only imagine what is happening in more rural areas of the Province, more areas which are less fortunate than the area that I live in, because they are not closer to the main centres where the main purpose and the greater portion of the benefits from the offshore are happening.

Mr. Speaker, with that note, I will just conclude for now and hopefully take up more time later on. I want to thank you for the opportunity, and I look forward to others in debate.

Thank you.

MR. SPEAKER: Are we ready for the question?

The hon. the Member for Lake Melville.

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

Mr. Speaker, indeed, it is a great pleasure for me to stand in this hon. House and to represent the people of the great District of Lake Melville here this afternoon, I say to my good friend from Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair. There is lots of good news coming your way this afternoon, I say to my good friend and member.

I know she is not used to good news, but I will say this: I am happy that we are able to speak to this Budget today and to talk about some of the very positive things that are happening in Labrador; indeed, certainly, some of the Budget announcements.

I can tell you, having looked at this week's paper, Mr. Speaker, it says: Budget boosts for the Big Land. Government announces additional spending. Headlines in the local paper this week in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and in Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, as we go through the Budget process, and as everybody knows, there are many decisions that have to be made. There are many needs throughout the Province. I can tell you, certainly, coming from Labrador, we have had many needs for many years. I will say we are addressing these needs. The Premier has been firm on his commitment that the needs of Labradorians will be paramount in this government, in discussions, and I think that reflects in, certainly, some of the expenditures that we have seen announced over the past couple of weeks in Labrador, and indeed in the Budget that was announced by the Minister of Finance a couple of days ago.

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about a few of the things that are highlighted in the Budget. Of course, we know we have some very positive news regarding a long-term health care facility in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, a fifty-two bed facility. I can tell you, there are many families looking forward to the day that we can open that facility. Just last week, I had a good friend of mine who had to move from Happy Valley-Goose Bay to St. John's because the care and need that she needed, she just could not get there. I hope, Mr. Speaker, that over the course of the next year or so that we will be able to see construction of this new long-term health care facility so that people will not have to leave their homes, their families and their friends, to come to St. John's, Corner Brook, or some other part of the Province because they need to get the care that they cannot receive in Labrador.

We can talk about the auditorium. I am very pleased that the auditorium facility is going to be moved forward. I want to commend the Minister of Labrador Affairs for his work on this particular file, and for the commitments that we have gotten from the Province and indeed the federal government to move this particular piece of infrastructure forward.

The arts community has been, for many years, without a performance space in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, but I can tell you this space will not just be for Happy Valley-Goose Bay; indeed, it will be for Labrador and for the people of Labrador. I can tell you, the students in the many schools along the North Coast and South Coast who come to Happy Valley-Goose Bay for the Labrador Creative Arts Festival and other type of events, I can tell you, it will be a welcomed venue for those type of activities in the arts program.

Certainly the other big issue, when I was back home over the weekend, is that people are very encouraged by the establishment of a new extension to the College of the North Atlantic to improve our post-secondary education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, as we move along in our resource development - and I am happy to report that things are going well with negotiations with Ben Michel and the Innu Nation, with regard to land claims and these types of issues, but the Lower Churchill is going to be coming upon us and I hope that we will find ourselves in a position to be able to develop that particular project. I can tell you, that the College of the North Atlantic is going to play a key role, I have to tell the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair, in training our students, in training our young people for those jobs that lie ahead. I can tell you, this is a huge piece of infrastructure that has been required for many, many years.

I just want to say, as we look back on the other colleges and the upgrades of the colleges throughout the Province, it was very interesting, when I became MHA I found that the one in Labrador was one of the few throughout the Province that had never received any upgrading, had never received any extensions and that type of maintenance. I tell you, Mr. Speaker, it is very gratifying and I can tell you, talking to the young people in Labrador over the past weekend, they are very excited about the new opportunities that the College of the North Atlantic are going to be able to provide to our young people, to Aboriginal people in Labrador to prepare them for the resource sector developments that are going to take place over the course of the next number of years.

I want to spend a couple of minutes talking about some of the other points that were raised in the Budget. They are very, very important, although they did not get the highlights that some of the bigger ticket items got. I want to go through them, and particularly when it comes to infrastructure, Mr. Speaker. Infrastructure is something that throughout Labrador, and, indeed, throughout the Province - we have seen over the course of the last number of years certainly a depletion in the infrastructure dollars, particularly in the past government. We certainly seen facilities become, basically, dilapidated; lack of maintenance, lack of concern, lack of care. Well, we are trying now, this government, to improve that infrastructure; try to improve our schools and our roads and all this type of infrastructure that is very, very important to the Province.

This year there will be an unprecedented investment, in excess of $2 billion, to modernize the Province's infrastructure and continue to grow the economy over the course of the next six years. It is very, very important that our government look at investing in infrastructure. It is very, very important for the continuity of programs and services, that infrastructure play a key role in that. We are going to spend somewhere in the vicinity of $60 million in the provincial roads program; another $29.7 million in cost shared for Trans-Canada Highway improvements; $25.5 million for Phase III of the Trans-Labrador Highway. That one is a huge one, Mr. Speaker, I can tell you for us in Labrador. We are certainly looking forward to 2009 when we are going to be able to drive from the border in Quebec, Labrador West, all the way to The Straits. That will be a happy day for Labradorians and that should be a happy day for our Province.

I will say, Mr, Speaker, that I was pleased to see $10 million in cost-shared funding to extend the Team Gushue Highway between Torbay Bypass Road, including $6 million for land acquisition; $2 million for land acquisition for various road projects, and $15 million for the Trans-Labrador Highway to start a sealed surface between Labrador West and Happy Valley-Goose Bay. I can tell you, having driven the road - and I know my good friend from Labrador West will tell you also, that for anyone to drive the Trans-Labrador Highway on a hot summers day without air conditioning, it is a feat in itself, when you have to eat dust pretty well the whole entire way. I can tell you, it will be a happy day for all of my constituents and for the people of Labrador when we can drive on a sealed surface from Labrador West right to The Straits. Hopefully, over the course of the next five years, we will be able to look at an opportunity to drive from Happy Valley-Goose Bay to Labrador West on a paved surface, Mr. Speaker.

Great things, Mr. Speaker, great initiatives on behalf of our government to improve infrastructure. There were also a number of other ones that I wanted to talk about here today, particularly when it comes to the improvements to the Sir Robert Bond and to the Northern Ranger. Those two vessels - and I cannot underestimate or underscore the importance of this - are key, at the present time, for the shipping of goods and services into Labrador. The Northern Ranger provides a great service to the people of Coastal Labrador, from Nain right down through to Happy Valley-Goose Bay. I can tell you, it is welcomed news.

I am sure we will hear the Member for Torngat Mountains on his feet commending our government here on this great initiative to upgrade the Northern Ranger and the Sir Robert Bond so that we do meet those cargo issues and those issues that have been long outstanding on the Coast of Labrador. We are addressing them as a government. I can tell you, we are addressing them. We are taking them all into consideration and hopefully, over the next while, we will see those improvements.

When we look at the total package in Labrador, I can tell you that it is very exciting for me as an MHA from Labrador, particularly from Central Labrador, because I can tell you, over the course of the next number of years we are going to see some great opportunities for development; particularly in the forestry sector, particularly in the mining sector, particularly when it comes to tourism and hydro development. Those are the key resource sectors that are going to impact, not only Labrador, but our Province as a whole. I can tell you that the future of our Province - and I have said this many times - lies in the development of the resources here in Labrador.

I was very pleased last week when members of the Innu Nation, Mr. Ben Michel, the President, and Mr. Daniel Ashini, one of his land claims negotiators, came to St. John's and met with the Premier, the Deputy Premier and the Minister of Natural Resources, and talked about this project. I can tell you we are going to work hard with our Aboriginal partners to ensure that we get a deal that is satisfactory to everybody. I hope that we will see some success on that particular file over the course of the next few months and into the summer.

The resource sector is very, very important to our Province. As I watched the news over the last couple of days - and I was in Tim Hortons in Happy Valley-Goose Bay yesterday afternoon and I was talking to a number of folk there. They wanted me to pass on publicly to the Premier and to our government the tough stand that we are taking against the oil companies here to ensure that our Province gets the very best deal that we can for Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: I can tell you, wherever I go I hear it: Finally we have leadership, we have the leadership, we have the government that is basically going to ensure that our children and our grandchildren get the very best benefits of our natural resources, Mr. Speaker. That is a very, very important issue for every one of us here on this side of the House. I can't underscore the importance of that more, and I want to congratulate the Premier this afternoon and encourage him to move on. These big oil companies have been taking their fair share out of it, we haven't been getting our fair share, and I can tell you the people of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador want to see us getting our fair share, and I think we are going to see that under this government and under this Premier, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, health care is a huge issue for us in Labrador and I want to take a couple of minutes because I want to talk about the health care issues. As an MHA, I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, that each and every day I get people coming to my office in Happy Valley-Goose Bay who have issues regarding medical travel and issues regarding finding a home for their loved ones. Every day I see those issues, Mr. Speaker, and I am sure my colleagues, the other MHAs, see it coming from their districts. We are trying to address that, and one of the key issues that was fixed this year, I am very, very happy to report, is the issue of the kidney dialysis unit going to be installed in Happy Valley-Goose Bay.

I can tell you the story of a young man who grew up in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. There are a number of these stories out there, Mr. Speaker, but I am going to touch on this one in particular. He has had to live away from his family in St. John's for six years. Six years he has been away from his family. For anybody to be moved away from your family just because you can't get kidney dialysis is just not acceptable, Mr. Speaker. I want to say how very pleased that family is, and other families, that we have made the move to ensure that the funding is there for the kidney dialysis unit. I hope that over the course of the next number of months, as this file moves forward, we will see many of those people from Labrador being able to move back to their communities, move back to their own homes, move back to their families. It is very, very important, I say to you, Mr. Speaker, for those people to be able to come back home and get that type of treatment.

Mr. Speaker, there is one other topic I want to talk on today, and it took up a bit of press time last week, I can tell you, and it took up a large portion of my time as an MHA last week, and that is the whole issue of 5 Wing Goose Bay. Although there was some fearmongering going around the community and there were some moments there last week when people were not really sure, I want to commend the new Minister of National Defence, Minster Gordon O'Connor, for coming out publicly on Monday morning and reconfirming the commitment that he made to the people of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, that he made recently to Premier Williams in Ottawa, and the commitment that Prime Minister Harper made to our Province in a letter that he wrote to the Premier during the election. The commitment is there, Mr. Speaker, it is solid, 650 troops on the ground. We are going to see an army base there with an extra 100 support troops for a UAV squadron. This is fantastic news, Mr. Speaker, for the Town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay and for the District of Lake Melville.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: I can tell you that, as we move forward, Mr. Speaker, on all of these files there will be more opportunity for me to speak in this hon. House and to talk about some of the good news that is continuing to flow out of this government. I will say to you, Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to serve with this government and this Premier as we change; change the past, a past of giveaways, a past where we have not done the right thing in the best interests of the people of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. This is a new time, Mr. Speaker, with new leadership.

I can tell you the oil companies are getting it in spades that we are going to stand firm, we have a Premier who is going to stand firm, and everyone over here in this Caucus on this side of the House is behind our Premier as we move forward.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HICKEY: Anyway, Mr. Speaker, thank you very much for the opportunity. I look forward to further debate at a future time.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER( Fitzgerald): Order, please!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I just want to have a few words on the Budget today. I am sure there is going to be lots of debate over the next few days and coming weeks as we flush out all the items in the Budget and some of the items that do not appear in the Budget as well, I say to you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I say to the hon. members, in the ten years I have been here I have never seen a Budget with something that was not good in it. Every Budget that I have seen has had good things; yes, it has. Every Budget I have seen in ten years has had some good things in it. Mr. Speaker, I have seen some Budgets that have had not such good things in them, and I only have to go back a couple of years when my hon. colleagues opposite brought in budgets that raised the fees on every single living person in this Province. I can guarantee you, that was only two years ago, and they were not all standing in their places those days and saying, how proud I am to jack up the rates on your ambulances, or how proud I am to jack up the fees on your moose licence, or how proud I am to jack up the fees on your birth certificates and all of these things, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS JONES: We did not hear them up bragging then.

Mr. Speaker, my colleague, I think, said the other day: Thank God we are surrounded by oil. I would say it is a good thing. It is a good thing in this Province that we are, and fortunate not just for us who are here and not just for this generation, but for many generations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to come. As long as the oil prices stay high, as long as we continue to have oil developments - I guess we are in some troublesome times today with one company, but hopefully all will not be over. Hopefully we will still be able to secure a deal and be able to carry on.

Mr. Speaker, we live in a Province, I think, where in the last year we had a development of something like 111 million barrels of oil, at some of the highest prices that we have ever seen in our history which has allowed us to generate some good revenues, good revenues for this Province, good revenues that can be invested for the benefit of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Mr. Speaker, I think it was a great stroke of luck on our part as a Province, that we are fortune to have those kind of resources and to be able to benefit from them like we have. I hope we can continue to do that because in Newfoundland and Labrador we certainly need it. We have had a lot of years where we have had tight budgets and very little money that could be invested. We went through some of the most significant economic disasters in Canadian history in the early 90's with the failure of the cod moratorium. It takes a long time for a Province the size of ours, that has been so dependent upon one industry, to try and rise above that and to put things back together.

I am pleased today, Mr. Speaker, to say that there is some new wealth in this Province and that it is being used to benefit the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. Mr. Speaker, I could not wish for anything more than for us to continue to have that kind of wealth and that kind of revenue generation from our resources. But, Mr. Speaker, the debate is always about how money is invested. It is like fish. There is a debate when you have no fish and there is a bigger debate when you have a little bit of fish. It is like the Budget and it is like money. When you have no money, you still have a lot of people looking for it, and when you have some, you have even more people looking for it. That does not change.

Mr. Speaker, when you talk about the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, you do not talk about one city and you do not talk about one town. It is not about just what happens in the urban area of St. John's or in the City of Mount Pearl or in the City of Corner Brook. It is all encompassing, what happens from one peninsula to the other, from one bay to the other, from one community to the other. Together, Mr. Speaker, we have to ensure that all communities can survive and prosper. That means making investments that are strategic in areas of the Province. I think that was the thing that was most glaring in this Budget, the fact that there was little investment for rural communities across Newfoundland and Labrador, very little investment in terms of economic generation, new industry development and job creation.

In fact, Mr. Speaker, when you look in the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Renewal -I mean, the minister stood in the House last year, on April 19, 2005, and listed all the strategies that the government was involved in. I am going to name some of them today, because, I am going to tell you, it is a year later and I do not know how either one of those initiatives, undertaken by her department, has benefited anyone in my district which is a completely rural district. I would also have to ask how any of them have benefited any of the people who live on the Baie Verte Peninsula or in the Burgeo area or in the Burin area or in the Trepassey area, or in any of those communities right through White Bay, right through Bonavista Bay.

I would like to ask, because she stood on April 19, 2005 and she was so proud to talk about establishing the Innovation, Research and Advanced Technology's branch. The provincial innovation strategy was another one. The Comprehensive Regional Diversification Strategy was another one. Then there was the Business and Marketing Development Program which did have some money in it, but I am not sure if anyone who I know of receive any. Then there was structure of the Rural Secretariat. Now, that was one, I can guarantee you. I do not know what they have done. They have had some meetings but I do not what else they have done. Then there was the Ireland Business Partnership. Now, I do not know how much profit and revenue is being generated there, but she can certainly tell me, I am sure. Then there was the Centre for Information and Communications Technology, Mr. Speaker. That one was set up. Then there were the Supplier Development Initiative set up. Then it was the Strategic Partnership Initiative set up. Then it was the Red Tape Reduction Committee set up. Mr. Speaker, there is another page of them, of strategies and initiatives and groups and organizations. It went on and on and on and on.

Mr. Speaker, I have to ask: How did any of this benefit the areas like I represent? Let me tell you something, of all of those initiatives and all of those strategies and all of that money being invested, not one of those things helped me in June of last year when over 500 plant workers in my district were thrown out of work; not one thing there helped them. Mr. Speaker, not one thing in this Budget is going to help them this year. This year, when I have four crab plants in my district that I know are going to close down - that is just my district. There are going to be plants in 3K, in 3L, in the Gulf, in every part of this Province, that are going to close down early in the summer. There are going to be hundreds, there are going to be thousands, of workers who will not be able to get enough employment to qualify for their EI.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, the members opposite don't want to hear this because they are over there now and they are crowing. Maybe the Member for Mount Pearl doesn't have a lot to worry about, but I can tell you the Member for Clarenville should have lots to worry about.

Let me tell you, Mr. Speaker, I didn't see one thing in this Budget that is going to help these people when their jobs are gone the end of June, and that is a concern for me. I don't see one thing there that is going to save the rural economy of the Labrador Straits which is an area that thrived on tourism, that thrived on the fishing industry, that had the fastest growing business economy, I suppose, in any rural area of the Province only three or four years ago.

Mr. Speaker, this is what concerns me. It is great that we have the wealth that we do in the Province but it is also wise to know how we are going to invest it to benefit the most people. In fact, what we don't see here is a real strategy to help rural communities in this Province. It is absent, it doesn't exist, and there are no investments for their benefit.

What we did see was a little bit of investment in infrastructure, like roads, which is great, Mr. Speaker, but like a missus on the Port au Port Peninsula told me a couple of days ago when I talked to her on the phone - she said: We are getting some road money this year. It means that they won't beat up their pickup trucks when they are leaving with the load of stuff for Alberta. That was what she said to me, and this is true, Mr. Speaker. That is the kind of attitude that is now being developed in our Province, and it is being developed because they are not seeing new job creation in these communities. In fact, what they are seeing is out-migration, and a lot of out-migration, Mr. Speaker.

Stats Canada says 13,763 people left this Province in 2005; just released a couple of days ago, on March 23, I think it was, or maybe it was the day after when this was released. Mr. Speaker, that is the number of people who are leaving. That is not the people who are moving to Alberta, working for four months and coming home. These are the people who are leaving and not coming back. They are not coming back, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, there were over 13,000 people, almost 14,000 people, who left this Province last year. There was a net loss of almost 4,000 people out of Newfoundland and Labrador. Mr. Speaker, last week the minister got up in the House of Assembly and was bragging because 10,000 people moved into Newfoundland and Labrador. What she did not tell us was, almost 4,000 people left and did not come back. That is what she failed to tell us, Mr. Speaker.

I can guarantee you, I heard people on the Open Line calling. People actually called from down on the Burin Peninsula and said: I don't know where these 10,000 people come from, because they are not living in my community. I think it was called Parkers Cove. I think it might have been the community of Parkers Cove - I am not sure now - but they are not living in this community. In fact, they are leaving this community.

I can tell you where else they are not moving to. They are not moving to Flower's Cove, on the Northern Peninsula, when only a couple of weeks ago I sat on an airplane with a woman from that community who, right now, her husband is in Alberta, her parents are in Alberta, her brothers and sisters are in Alberta and, come the end of June, her and her young son will be in Alberta, none of them returning to the Province, Mr. Speaker. That is the reality of what is happening.

Let me tell you the other reality of what is happening. We are talking about skill shortages in Newfoundland and Labrador. Yes, you are right, there is a skill shortage but, Mr. Speaker, there is going to be a greater skill shortage; because, when you look at a company like we have this week holding job fairs all over the Province, in Stephenville a couple of days ago with 400 people attending, in Grand Falls, I believe it was, when over 400 people showed up for a job fair, recruiting people. Down at the Delta Hotel today, the salons down there are filled, filled, with hundreds of people at a job fair, being recruited to Alberta. Do you know what they are being offered? They are not only being offered full-time jobs; they are being offered incentives, money up front, incentives. They are being offered five-year contracts. They are being offered relocation allowances, to move their families out of Newfoundland and Labrador. Sell your houses, they are being told, because we are going to buy you a house in Fort McMurray. You sign the five-year contract. That is what they are being told today, hundreds of them, I say.

Here I am, Mr. Speaker, standing in the House of Assembly today with three resumes upstairs on my desk from three young welders who graduated from the College of the North Atlantic programs, who cannot get a job in Newfoundland and Labrador. They cannot get a job in this Province because there are no apprentice programs to take them. They do not have any training, and no one in Newfoundland and Labrador is going to hire them. So, where are they going, three young people, twenty and twenty-one years old? Do you know where they are going? They are gone to the job fair today, and I can tell you where they are going right after that.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MS JONES: That is where they are going, and that is the sad reality.

So, yes, there are good things in this Budget but you have to be realistic. You cannot just put rose-coloured glasses on and say the job is done and it is all over, because that is not the truth of it. The fact of the matter is, we have a huge problem still, today, in this Province.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MS JONES: There is no need for the member to get all upset over there. I am just merely pointing out the situation that confronts us. I am merely pointing out the situation that confronts us.

Mr. Speaker, we are fortunate today because we do have some revenue. We are going to have some forecasted revenue into the next six, eight, and probably ten years. Whether there is another deal done by the government ever in our history, we are going to have some revenue for the next six or eight years, there is no doubt about that, so we have to really get serious about the problem that confronts us; because, I am going to guarantee you, it is not a great feeling. It is not a great feeling when you start seeing the demise of these communities. It watched it last summer.

I do not have to go down to Harbour Breton today, or down to Fortune, or down to Hawkes Bay where the population a few years ago was over 700 people and today it 350. I do not have to go down to Flower's Cove, where a couple of hundred people have already moved out to it. I can go to my own district and I can watch, come the end of June last year, when the only groundfish plant in my district hardly had anything left to process because the quotas that were up north in OA and OB were given to people from outside of our country, even - outside of our country - for their benefit, instead of people in Canada and people in Labrador like Torngat Fisheries and the Labrador Fishermen's Union Shrimp Company.

Mr. Speaker, I watched when workers came out of those plants, workers with kids in university, workers with kids in high school, grown men and women who worked decent jobs all their lives and all of a sudden here they are with no work. It was really hard, Mr. Speaker, I live in a community with 150 plant workers who walk by my door every day to go to work and come home. So, I not only know the situation, Mr. Speaker, I live with it and I share it with them. I know how hard it is.

I went to Fort McMurray in September, Mr. Speaker. I had never been there in my life, but I went. I wanted to know what was going on, and I went to Fort McMurray. At that time, Mr. Speaker, there were ten men from my district living in one house in Fort McMurray, ten men whose families were home waiting for them to come home. They were there finding jobs. Yes, Mr. Speaker, I get upset when I talk about it. I get upset because it is the harsh reality of what we deal with. They are up there, working as labourers, and this is the situation, and every corner you turned, every corner you turned, there was a Newfoundlander and Labradorian who had either made their home there, had just moved there, or was there long enough to work to get enough hours to collect EI. No matter where you turned, that was the situation, Mr. Speaker. I am not going to colour coat it for anyone. That is the way it is, that is the reality, but I would like for it to change.

I would like for it to change, Mr. Speaker, and I am going to tell you the government has a big job on their hands. They have a big job on their hands, Mr. Speaker, to be able to turn it around. I do not underestimate the amount of initiative and the amount of investment and the amount of foresight that it is going to require on behalf of the government to change this. I am not going to make light of it that way because I do not think it can be fixed with the click of your fingers. I do think that it will take time, but it is going to take some real commitment and, Mr. Speaker, I have not seen the real commitment yet and that is the problem that I have.

When I hear of things like negotiations with Abitibi that have gone sour and a company closed down and over 300 people out of a job, when I hear of negotiations with FPI and Harbour Breton that have gone sour and a plant closed down and over 300 people out of a job, and when I hear of companies like FPI in Fortune, and negotiations going bad, and people being left without work, do I worry? Absolutely. Do I start doubting the confidence of the government? Absolutely, Mr. Speaker, absolutely, and you have to. That is when you have to call them to question, because how many of these companies are going to put the government's back to the wall and then the government is going to turn and walk away and leave hundreds of people without work and without jobs? It can only happen so many times, I say to hon. members. It can only happen so many times, and then there will be no one left to save, and that is the problem.

I am going to read you a quote from a letter, Mr. Speaker, from a woman by the name of Arlene Anstey. She listened to the Minister of Rural Development in the House of Assembly talking about how rosy things were in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. She listened to the Member for Bonavista South, who was up in the House talking about how some people go to Alberta because they want to go to Alberta. It is their choice, he said. Well, these are the words that she had. She said: Have you been to the Northeast Coast lately? Our community has approximately 300 people -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

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

MS JONES: By leave, to clue up, Mr. Speaker?

MR. SPEAKER: Does the member have leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What she is saying is that people are moving out of her community on a regular basis, but she went on to say: How can anyone look up and say that people go because they want to and not because they have to? Tell that to someone who doesn't know the different. She said: As I am writing here, I am crying as I do so because I have booked tickets for my eight-year-old daughter and myself to leave for Fort McMurray on April 16.

She goes on with a big letter, Mr. Speaker, because I am going to tell you something: You can talk about it in as colourful and as flowery and as a descriptive way as you want, and you can dress it up as much as you want, but the reality is that this government is failing the people of rural Newfoundland and Labrador. They are failing them on every single aspect of economic development and jobs. They are left in turmoil and they have nowhere else to turn. That is the reality of what is happening.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, as they get excited, I will have to -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the member to take her seat.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Certainly, following the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair, it is only fitting that I respond to some of the points that she has made. One thing that I will concur with her, she said that we are not looking through rose-coloured glassed. I would certainly agree with her to a point.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. JACKMAN: What was that?

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. JACKMAN: Okay, all right.

I guess my response to her is, the lens you are looking through depends on where you are sitting. I guess if you are sitting in the Opposition then the lens that you are looking through is not all that good.

I will comment a little further to some of her points. I can tell you one thing, Mr. Speaker, I was in my district this weekend and the Budget that was bought down here, there are a lot of people out there who are certainly presenting accolades to that. Whichever way she wants to look at the world, she cannot dispute that, and people out in my district certainly are not disputing it.

Looking at it through the lens of things that are happening in my district, I certainly say to her, there is no doubt about it, the Burin Peninsula right now is an area that is experiencing much, much difficulty. We have the FPI situation there and, to this point, I can only sing praises to the local union leadership there who have worked with their people on the ground to try and get FPI to come forward as to what their plans are. This weekend past, the plans were laid out in terms of Burin, and I think the folks who are working in the plant in Burin will be very pleased with what has happened and they are looking forward to a good fourth quarter. Now what we have to do here is to get FPI to step forward and come up with what they are going to do, particularly in Marystown, and I think the government has been very clear on where it stands in terms of that. Here is a company with 28 million to 30 million pounds of fish product and we expect nothing less than that they come forward with a better proposal than they have on the table presently. As I have said, Mr. Speaker, the government has been very clear on that. The Premier has been very clear on it, and the minister has certainly been clear on it. What we are looking for here is that FPI come forward and be a major part in the solution here. They can, and, very simply, they have to.

Back to the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair. If we are looking at things that are happening right now with FPI and with the negotiations that the Premier was in just previously, I am going to relate to her, and members of the Opposition, a conversation that I had last night. I spoke to a thirty-two-year-old gentleman who is working in Alberta. Coincidently, our conversation was about the Budget. You talk about the folks who are moving to Alberta - and I certainly do not dispute that they are - but it is interesting to look at it from the perspective of somebody who has left this Province and who is now working in Alberta.

I said we spoke about the Budget, and we also spoke about the negotiations. His word was that he totally agrees with the stand that the Premier has taken. I did not put any words in his mouth, Mr. Speaker, but he said to me, our problem in our Province is that we have been giving away too much. He totally agrees with the Premier and the government on taking a stand that, if we are going to have a future for him and his family back here in the Province, and he certainly intends to be back here in the Province, that it is going to be stands like the Premier took in this particular case that will bring him back here. Mr. Speaker, he has a family. They live in Marystown. He fully intends to come back here. All we have to do, Mr. Speaker, is to look back to eight or ten months ago. You know, we had an oil and gas project in the White Rose, the SeaRose, that employed up to 1,000 and 1,200 workers at one point. It is because of projects in the oil and gas industry that, that was possible.

In response to some of the comments that she made, the folks who are in Alberta are following very closely the happenings within the Province here, and see that there is hope in the future because of the stand that is being taken by this Premier and this government.

Mr. Speaker, if I could get to the Budget, being in this new portfolio and looking at some of the initiatives that have been undertaken through my department -

AN HON. MEMBER: What about the rubber tires?

MR. JACKMAN: The rubber tires. Mr. Speaker, we can look forward to an answer very shortly on that.

Mr. Speaker, in terms of initiatives that are being undertaken by the department, I think anyone looking at the history and the culture of our Province would recognize the importance of environment and conservation. We are a people, Mr. Speaker, as much as anyone in this world, who are tied to the land and the sea. All you have to do is look to early September and October and see the number of people who take to the woods for moose hunting and caribou hunting and rabbiting and these kinds of things. You know, as much as we talk about the urban and rural divide, I think when you look at something like that you see, in droves, people who leave the urban areas and enjoy the woods.

I guess, Mr. Speaker, as well, if we look at our Province in terms of a global picture, we are a very small population in terms of the overall mass of the earth, but we are coming to realize more and more how impacted we are by the happenings within the world. We talk about greenhouse gasses and the emissions of chemicals into the air and the impact it is having on our climate and our temperatures and so on and so forth. While in the summertime we may not experience the extremes that folks are experiencing in some of the larger cities, the increases in temperatures and the deaths that are resulting from that kind of stuff, I think more and more people, Mr. Speaker, are starting to realize how much we are affected by the greenhouse gases and the climate changes. I guess, all we have to do is take a look at some of the things that have happened in our Province over the last while, and look at some of the things we can expect in the next twenty-odd years. While that may seem a ways off, Mr. Speaker, we have no choice but to plan for that.

Just take a look at the incident that happened in Stephenville, the major flood that was over there, and consider how many of these types of things are happening more and more often, as we look at the rising sea water level and the impact it is going to have on our shorelines and developments. It seems we are having more washouts along our highways as we get these storms, and they are not the casual rain storms anymore that last for a couple of hours. When they come down they are coming down in torrents and we are having floods and so on and so forth. The consequences of that - financially we have to consider that, with repairs and this kind of thing, and as well, the affect it is having on our ecosystems. We have to plan and strategize for that, be very cognizant of those factors and plan accordingly.

Mr. Speaker, in terms of my particular department, let's take a look at a few of the strategies that are coming forward. First is the $3 million investment in a caribou management strategy. We are recognizing that some of our caribou herds are experiencing declines in population. In particular, along the South Coast and on the Northern Peninsula. As a result, this year in the Budget we announced $3 million that will be spent on a strategy to address that and to identify what is happening with our herds. Within that plan there will be more monitoring of the caribou herd, some census taking in terms of the population, and within that strategy we will be looking at everything from the predation by bears, the predation by coyotes. A committee will be setup, including members from my particular department, from the Department of Tourism and Conservation, from the academic world, from the outfitters who brought forward and recommended that this study be carried out, this strategy be undertaken, and also by resident hunters. So what we are looking at is bringing together a group of people who will study this, make recommendations, and then government will take the necessary action on that.

Mr. Speaker, I just spoke about climate change. We will be looking at $500,000 that will be going into developing a climate change action plan; because as I have already said, the factors that I have mentioned about the storm surges that we are experiencing, the flooding, so on and so forth. What we will be doing, Mr. Speaker, is taking a more in-depth look at those impacts and developing action plans to address those particular issues.

Again, Mr. Speaker, we are continuing with the clean up of selected contaminated sites; sites like in Baie Verte and St. Anthony, and $1 million has been allocated to that.

Another initiative, Mr. Speaker, we have put forward $250,000 towards a natural area systems plan. We recognize in our Province that we have unique areas that have particular strengths in terms of plants, animals, so on and so forth. Mr. Speaker, with the ever increasing economic growth of industry, mining and so on and so forth, we have these areas that we certainly need to protect. I guess as we see areas such as the South Coast that are being developed because of their pristine nature, we are seeing that more and more people are being attracted to our Province because of the natural state of what we have left in this Province. We have to ensure that these spaces are protected, therefore we are putting in $250,000 towards that.

Mr. Speaker, another very important initiative is a $300,000 initiative towards sustainable development. When we speak about this, we are talking about future generations within our Province. As I have already said, I do not think there is anyone who values the outdoors more than Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. When they take to the land, I think we are seeing more and more the appreciation that they are developing. This initiative under sustainable development: We will undertake to ensure that our heritage, as attached to the land and the sea and the air will be there for future generations. Anyone in this House, and of all the people around them know, as I have said, how much we cherish our outdoor life. We want to ensure, I certainly want to ensure, that my grandchildren and my future children's children and so on and so forth, will be able to avail of that. It is so important, Mr. Speaker, that what we have today we continue to have in the future.

Mr. Speaker, just a couple of other initiatives, amongst the $8 million-plus that we have invested through this Budget, are investing in our provincial parks. I think, as so many of the other infrastructures in the Province, our parks have been allowed to deteriorate over the past number of years. So this government has recognized that and we are investing in some of the infrastructures within the parks to ensure that, as I said, this generation and future generations will be able to avail of those kinds of facilities.

Mr. Speaker, from my perspective, and from my department's perspective, this has been a very positive Budget. We will certainly look forward to the outcome of such things as the caribou management strategy, the Natural Areas System Plan and sustainable development so we have this for the future of the children in our Province.

Mr. Speaker, if I could, just for a few minutes; my previous role in education, my previous vocation has me wishing that I was probably out in schools at a time such as this. I went to the Burin Peninsula regional drama festival this past weekend. I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, that from parents to teachers in the school system, you are not hearing a lot of complaints about this Budget. When you talk about a $100 million increase in education, to say that this Budget is committed to education is a bit of an understatement. When you look at - you know, we have retained 150 teachers. What that means for class sizes and some of the other things that can happen in the school systems, it speaks volumes.

Mr. Speaker, I will tell you, there was a $150,000 commitment to review the pathways model. For people who have been involved in education, this does speak volumes. For those who have not been involved in education, you may not understand exactly why this is a critical piece in the whole education plan. But, Mr. Speaker, let me give people just a little bit of a synopsis. What happens in the case of children who experience some difficulties or children who are gifted in some way, we develop individual pathways plans for them. What it means for a child, for example, who may be on a modified program, pathway three, what it means is that a team approach is brought into practice here. We would have parents, teachers, guidance counsellors, school administrators all involved in a series of meetings over the year; three normally. One at the beginning, mid, and at the end of the year. With that comes a huge amount of paper work. Believe it or not, Mr. Speaker, when it comes to retaining 150 units and examining this pathways model, the number one thing that teachers would have told you, or anybody who wanted to ask them, this is probably the most welcomed piece of the education budget -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: - that this model is going to be re-examined and we will look at ways of tightening it up. One thing is certain, Mr. Speaker, no one disagrees with the concept that we develop different pathways for different students. No one will disagree, but they do want us to re-examine the structure, and how it works, and then make modifications so that it becomes more effective and less time-consuming.

Mr. Speaker, again, as my colleague from Topsail mentioned, when we look at some of our children today, the inactivity, they are not out participating in the types of activities that would have happened probably twenty or twenty-five years ago, in running around town and playing whatever behind the rocks and so on and so forth. An investment, again, of $1 million in physical education equipment will certainly be another one. Our second commitment to that again shows our commitment to ensuring that our children are as active as possible and these funds, then, will again support schools and teachers as they develop activities to try and encourage our students to become more active.

Again, the issue of school councils, we have had school councils established for a number of years and I think there are some people now - I do not think it, I know it - there are people out there who think that it is timely now that we take a look at this entire issue and bring it to a point where hopefully we can involve parents and these councils more actively in the education of their children.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I remind the hon. minister that his time for speaking has expired.

MR. JACKMAN: Could I have just a few minutes?

MR. SPEAKER: By leave?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: By leave.

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

MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, I want to speak just for a minute or two on a couple of things out in my district.

I think back to the Budget that happened the first year, and we talked about strategic planning, especially in health care, because when I entered into this and I started on the campaign trail there were a couple of issues on the peninsula that were front and centre. There was the CT scanner, there was dialysis, there was mental health, and these issues dominated everything else.

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to say that, at this point, we strategically planned. We listened to the Canadian Medical Association early on in our mandate, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association, and we began by addressing what they saw as priorities, wait times. So, that is where we went.

I am pleased to say, Mr. Speaker, that, as of right now, the issue which was number one, the CT scan, was addressed this past summer. Now, in this Budget, we have addressed the dialysis unit, the commitment again, Mr. Speaker, to rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

There is one lady out in my district who had hoped that the MS drug would be covered during this Budget. It is something that we will keep working on. The minister, we have had conversations about it and we will continue to do that.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to close by quoting from an e-mail. The Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair quoted from a letter, an e-mail that she had. This individual sent this e-mail and he said, here is coming from an individual who spent thirty-plus years in the K-12 school system. He commented on the education component of it. He commented on the health component, and he commented on the arts component, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, here is his final statement. Remember, Mr. Speaker, this is coming from an individual in rural Newfoundland and Labrador. His comment is: This Budget, and the direction your government has taken, gives our people hope for the future.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for Bay of Islands.

MR. JOYCE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will just spend a few minutes to talk about the Budget. I am going to try to be a bit positive, which I usually am, and speak about some of the good things, and some of the things which I feel are lacking from the Budget.

First of all, the Member for Topsail was giving a great pat on the back to the Minister of Finance and the Premier about how the books are. I remember just a year or a year-and-a-half back when she was asked to leave Cabinet because she disagreed with the Minister of Finance giving the Premier $150,000, breaking the Financial Administration Act, to give it to a contract out in Corner Brook so the Premier could have a strike-free golf game. I wonder, is that the same minister whom I had a lot of respect for? - and I still do. I still do have respect for her, for doing it. When you talk about things going good today, they were not always and I am sure they are still not. I know the minister is well aware of that.

The big thing around the Province now, and you have to give the Premier part of the credit, I guess, is that, if you ever speak about the government in any way whatsoever you are almost not loyal to the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is almost like McCarthyism. You can't stand up, you can't speak your mind, you can't offer a different view, because the Premier says: Oh, you are wrong, you are against me, you are not standing up for Newfoundland and Labrador. It is no more evident than out in Stephenville, when we had the problem out in Stephenville with the mill. The Premier came out, flew in a helicopter from Corner Brook to Stephenville, him and the minister, announced $175 million, and everybody there at the time said: Oh, my God, what a deal!

I was in Montreal at the time and the Leader of the Opposition and the person who was doing the PR, Darrell Mercer, called me on the phone and told me: The Premier and Ed Byrne are gone out making an announcement for Stephenville. Stephenville is done. I said: Who is with them? Who has gone out for the announcement? They said: The Premier and Ed Byrne. I said: Is Kruger there?

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I remind the hon. member, when he is speaking and he refers to another member of the House that he refer to him either by his ministerial position or by the district that he represents.

MR. JOYCE: Sorry, Mr. Speaker.

The Minister of Natural Resources. I said: Who is with them? They said: Nobody. I said: Is Abitibi sitting down? They said: No. I said: Is the union sitting down with them? They said: No. I said: This is no deal. This is another ploy. They are going to waltz in and say, here is what we are doing, then waltz out and say, now, two of you guys sit down and fight it out, with no intent of spending that money. If any of us dare stand up and speak about it, we are not being fair, we are not being loyal, we should not do it, it was a great deal. There was never a deal. The Premier has this Province so that we are not allowed, at any time or in any way whatsoever, to stand up and speak against the government, speak against any policy, because we are not doing the Newfoundland and Labrador thing. Look what happened in Stephenville when they said: Don't play politics, stay out of it. We will do it, we have a deal. Looked what happened. Three hundred people, direct people, and according to the Natural Resources own stats, 900 jobs gone out of the Bay St. George region, and we were not allowed to ask any questions.

Mr. Speaker, when the Minister of Finance brought down the Budget and he was talking about all the extra money from the Atlantic Accord and the offshore, that is great for the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Now can you not be happy for Newfoundland and Labrador when you have increased funds coming in. How you got it - you have to give the Premier credit when he was on the Atlantic Accord. I used the analogy when I was out in Corner Brook when I was asked by the media: It was like boxing. He got Paul Martin in the corner and did not let him out. Give him credit. We got it for Newfoundland and Labrador. Give him credit, that when he got him in the corner he did not let him out, and we got it. That is fine. The question is: What happens once you get it, Mr. Speaker. The question is: What happens once you get it?

People think that we are always at odds and we do not get a long. I remember the Minister of Tourism, who was the former Minister of Education - we were out to a school in Lark Harbour, the opening for the new expansion to the school in Lark Harbour, St. James School. Both of us went out and both of us spoke. I mean, that minister was a gentleman. We get along, we work well together. The minister came out with a bit of pressure from a few groups, and he brought out a check for the funding to finish off the pavement for the area. We got along good because it was the right thing to do. When there is an issue and we are all working on the same wavelength, we work together, but there are times that we do have differences of opinion. There are times when things are not a priority for a government that the Opposition has to bring up. That is our role. I work well with a lot of ministers across the way. When there is an issue we have to work well for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. I make no bones about it.

I hear the Minister of Justice, the Member for Humber East out in Corner Brook, talking about the courthouse. There is absolutely no doubt about the courthouse in Corner Brook. They are building a $1.2 million courthouse in Corner Brook. They are saying we need the courthouse. Where I disagree with the minister is that there are a few priorities that should be taken care of in Corner Brook, and I will give you an example. The Hay Report, recommendation 172 - they are taking seniors out of Corner Brook again and moving them around.

There was one lady several weeks ago, Mr. Speaker, who could not even speak for herself. Her family had to do the speaking for her because she had a stroke. Those people threatened to move that lady to Port aux Basques where there is no family, no one out there who can speak for her whatsoever, take her and move her out to Port aux Basques. There is a situation in Corner Brook as we speak: two respite beds for people who put their sick loved ones in to get a break. They need a break for themselves. They put them in because they know they are going to get quality care. Two beds in Corner Brook! For all of Corner Brook there are two beds. Those two beds have closed within the last week. The beds have closed! Then, when you stand and say you are going to build this great infrastructure out there, we are going to do this, we are going to that, when you get down to the nuts and bolts of it, it is the common person we should help. That is our job as an Opposition.

When I speak to those families that now, if they need respite, have to bring them out to Burgeo for a week with no friends or family around, might have to bring them to Stephenville if there is a bed available, or Port aux Basques, that is the kind of issue that I feel this government is just missing. It is the small issues, the issues that mean a lot to people in Newfoundland and Labrador, and Corner Brook. It is my role, in the government, to bring up those issues.

When you talk about the Budget and what is in the Budget and is it what everybody expected? I will give you an example, Herdman Collegiate, a big issue, the super school in Corner Brook. I know the Minister of Education was out there, she and the Premier. The Premier said in a press conference: Oh, we can't stop it now because the tenders have been called. We can't stop it, the tenders have been called. It costs us too much.

Guess what, Mr. Speaker? In this Budget it says $7 million for Herdman Collegiate. The tenders were never called. So, instead of facing the reality of the program - the project was approved in 2002 under certain conditions, with a social impact study, with a certain number of students to be in the school. That has gone up. That will go up again next year. The social impact study was never done. The talk of moving students out of Herdman and move them down into portable classrooms in front of Regina, that was never discussed. So what the parents and all of these people concerned - even a lot of teachers who were not allowed to speak out were saying: Put it on hold. Let's have some public hearings. Let's see how we can do this positively. Let's see if there is really a big need. So the Premier met with them at a rally. He promised to get back to them. He came back and said: Oh, the tenders are called. But, Mr. Speaker, what was called was the tender for the gymnasium, which was going to be done anyway. Here we see in the Budget $7 million for Herdman Collegiate, as I was telling the parents, as the teachers were saying and now here we are saying that the Premier is out there saying the tender was called. It was never called.

I know it is no good to ask the Minister of Education to go back, because the statements that were made in Corner Brook were false. The statements that were made in Corner Brook - we were given the impression that the tenders were called but they were never called. I know that this government will not back track one bit to go out and say: Okay, let's revisit this. Now if there was a by-election on the go, we may. If there was a by-election, the minister may be able to intervene. Obviously, there is no by-election so it will not be done.

That is the kind of thing that we, as an Opposition, have to bring up because that is the kind of stuff and the kind of information that people expect us to bring up and that is the kind of information that a government - and give them credit, a government who gives the idea that you cannot go against me, you cannot bring anything up because if you do, you are going against the cause of Newfoundland and Labrador and the cause of the people of Corner Brook.

I look at the $18 million for the long-term care facility. I think it is great that we are going to get a long-term care facility in Corner Brook. We pushed for it, and this government, no doubt, came across with the funds, but the problem is that if you do it piecemeal, bit by bit, it will not be done in 2007. It will not be done. It is impossible to have it done by 2007 now that the Premier promised to have it done in his election campaign. So, if you get $18 million this year, $18 million next year, possibly $18 million the following year. So we are looking at the project to be done in 2009-2010, two or three years after the commitment was made during the election. So, is it my role to bring this up as the Opposition? Yes. Is it my role to say: Premier, the Minister of Justice, you made a commitment to have this done in 2007? You are not fulfilling your commitment. It is great to get the long-term care facility. It is just excellent to get the long-term care facility but if you are going to make a commitment before an election to get elected, you should follow up on the commitment. The commitment was to have it built in 2007, and most people out in Corner Brook will say: Well, in 2008, at least it is going to be done.

Now, the issue is arising of the size of the facility. Is the facility the right number of beds that was committed to in 2003? We are hearing now that there are going to be forty beds less than what is in Corner Brook right now and we do not have enough in Corner Brook as we speak. So, the question is, and we cannot get any answers: Will the O'Connell Centre stay opened? Will the Inter-Faith Home stay opened? - or going ahead with the plan that was made in 2003 to close down those facilities. What is going to happen then? Are we going to be forty beds short and be back in the same dilemma that we are in now, taking seniors and moving them out to Port aux Basques, Burgeo, wherever, away from their loved ones? Is that what is going to happen? So, that is the kind of questions. That is the kind of commitment that the Premier and the Minister of Justice made and that is what people...

The dementia unit, Mr. Speaker. There was no mention of the dementia unit in the Budget. Absolutely none! Is it there? I cannot find out. I doubt it, because it was not even mentioned. Here is the irony of the dementia unit: In 2003 we are going to go ahead with the long-term care facility with the 3Ps. The Premier was opposed to it. The unions were opposed to it. The minister - I even have his ad there, where he stood up and it was going to be publicly funded and publicly operated. If they had to agree with that or disagree, that is fine, but at the time before they were getting into the election, they totally opposed it. A month ago it was out in the paper, The Western Star, looking for proposals for 3Ps for the dementia unit; 3Ps for the dementia unit. In 2003 he was totally opposed to it. It should not be done because the quality of care goes down. What has changed?

So, you cannot say in 2003 that it should not be done because the quality of care is not up to standard as a publicly funded, and then all of a sudden when you are in government, say: Okay, the quality of care is going to be fine now. We will put it through the 3Ps. Here is the problem with it, Mr. Speaker, is that if you agreed with it back in 2003 we would have that facility now, or pretty close to complete right now. That is the problem. It is not that you are going to go with the 3Ps now. The 3Ps is not bad because there is a certain level of care you have to have anyway. The problem with it, in 2003 when you made the commitment that 3Ps was not good and people really thought that you were sincere in what you were saying and they voted for you and put you in government for that stand, and then turn around now and say: Oh, no, no, that was wrong. In 2003 we did not mean that. Now we are going to go out and look for proposals for the 3Ps; when if they had to agree with it back in 2003, we would have that facility in Corner Brook.

That is where the problem is, the delaying of the services that back in 2003 you were totally opposed to. Should I bring that up as an Opposition? I definitely think I should, especially when you see seniors moving out to Port aux Basques and two respite beds in Corner Brook shut down. Here we are glowing about all the money we have, the money coming in, we have this excess cash. Two respite beds, forgetting the most vulnerable people in Corner Brook, the people who are at home, and they stand up and talk about seniors and caregivers. There are caregivers in Corner Brook who need respite in doing this loyal and human service to their loved ones; who now have no respite in Corner Brook for a week or ten days, or for a weekend if they want a break, to go visit their mom somewhere else. They do not have a break. Then we have the audacity to stand up and say, look at all of the money we have. Look at all the funds we have. Look at how good we are doing. But, who is benefitting? Who is really benefitting? That is a question that I would have to ask.

Then we hear the minister talking about: Oh, we did this great job for the museum in Corner Brook. There is no doubt, absolutely no doubt that the museum in Corner Brook needed some money. Absolutely no doubt, Mr. Speaker. I just find it a bit coincidental that the government would give $125,000 to the museum in Corner Brook and say: Oh, what a great job we are doing for the museum - and take away about $150,000 in MOGs. Take a guess at who owns the building and who pays for the heat and light for the museum in Corner Brook? The City of Corner Brook. What a great job! We will take it from your MOGs, boys. Now, Mr. Mayor, you get out and support us, say how good we are doing, and we will give you back the money and museum. What a great benefit to the City of Corner Brook.

Mr. Speaker, a commitment was made - the Member for Humber East, I can show him his brochure, 2003. What happened to the exhibition centre that he promised to build, our little Rooms for the west coast, that the Corner Brook archives was suppose to go into? What happened? He has it in his brochure that he put out in 2003: the completion of the exhibition centre in Corner Brook next to the fine arts facility. What happened to it? Should I raise that as the Opposition? Sure I should. Here we are talking about the expansion of the fine arts facility in Corner Brook, making it international, and here is an exhibition centre. Mr. Speaker, the funny and ironic part about that is, as we speak out there is $300,000 worth of water and sewer in the ground, the most expensive parking lot in Newfoundland and Labrador; in the ground. The project was already started and the Member for Humber East and the Premier committed to do the exhibition centre out in Corner Brook. That is what they committed to do in 2003. They actually committed to do it, to expand the fine arts building. It was cancelled.

I know the former Minister of Tourism, in the Estimates Committee - the first year it was deferred, and in the second Estimates Committee we had, the exhibition centre was cancelled all together. Then they come back and take $125,000 or $150,000 from the MOG in Corner Brook and say: Boys, we are going to take your money but we will give it back to the museum and everybody should be happy. They should not be happy, because you ran on a commitment, you ran on the promise, that the exhibition centre in Corner Brook would be built to expand the fine arts building.

When the big announcement was made here in St. John's, the cultural announcement, everybody was happy. They should be, that is a good announcement. How about the West Coast, where the commitments were made out in the West Coast and never fulfilled; absolutely never fulfilled? I am sure the former Minister of Tourism did visit the museum in Corner Brook. It is crammed in an old building. You have to give the volunteers credit, they did a lot of work with it. You have to give the City of Corner Brook credit, they funded it. You have to give HRDC credit, they helped out a lot. But it is not the state-of-the-art facility that was promised in 2003. This is where, I think, if you make a commitment during the election, if the commitment was made that an exhibition centre should be built, the Premier and the minister - now he is out saying: Oh, we are going to do the courthouse. How about the exhibition centre? Why don't you do the exhibition centre that was committed to?

Madam Speaker -

MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please!

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

MR. JOYCE: Just a minute to clue up, Madam Speaker?

MADAM SPEAKER: Does the hon. member have leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MADAM SPEAKER: By leave.

MR. JOYCE: I will surely speak on this Budget again and I will speak about the things in the Bay of Islands itself, the roads.

As we know, we had an Estimates meeting yesterday with the Minister. There has been no announcement yet for the Bay of Islands. I just want to put it on record, and I did in writing to the minister. Last year there was a controversy in the Bay of Islands, McIver's, with the road and the safety of the road. That road then was piecemeal put together just to try to keep me quite and a few other people quiet. The road has deteriorated again. I spoke to the minister, I wrote the minister, I brought it up in the Estimates, and I am doing it here now publicly, that if that road is not fixed properly - because the road right now has listed again. The reason why it is so severe in that part of the road, Madam Speaker, is that there are a lot of heavy duty trucks, fish trucks, that come over that road. The road is actually tilted. Last year it was tilted about seven or eight feet from the top to the bottom. If you get a tractor trailer truck coming with a load of fish and if the driver forgets the tilt in the road and the load shifts, it is very dangerous and potential for a major accident in that area.

I will be bringing that topic up again to the minister, I will bring it up in the House, and I will be back speaking on the Budget.

Madam Speaker, to the Budget itself: There are good things in the Budget, but there are things that I feel should have been done to take care of the average Newfoundlander and Labradorian. As my role as the Opposition, as my role as the Member for the Bay of Islands, I will bring those concerns forth.

Thank you.

MADAM SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for Gander.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: Madam Speaker, it gives me great pleasure today to get up and talk about the 2006 Budget and make a few remarks with regard to that.

I have heard some interesting comments from across the House here this afternoon with regard to the Budget, and I agree with the hon. member, that there are things we would like to do. I have heard things on the open airwaves, the Open Line shows, the Night Line and VOCM and whatnot, about being flushed with cash, and thank God we are surrounded by oil, and all of these kinds of comments.

I would like to take you back in time, before I actually talk about the Budget of 2006. In my hand here I have the 2004 and I have the 2005 Budgets, and I would like to quote from those Budgets. I might comment too, that the 2004 Budget was a very difficult Budget. First, after we had taken government in October of 2003, we were certainly hit by a financial mess. The hon. Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair, you know, mentioned and referenced the big job that was ahead of us; and we acknowledged that. We acknowledged that in October of 2003, we acknowledged it in the spring of 2004, we acknowledged it in 2005, and we acknowledge it again in 2006. We have said that we are not out of the woods yet. It is time now for us to stimulate the economy, it is time for us to spend a few dollars in regards to the economy of Newfoundland, and this Budget is all about making the right choices. That is exactly what this Budget is all about.

I quote from the 2004 Budget, "The year ahead, 2004-05, is the first year of our four-year plan. The actions we take in this Budget will reduce the deficit projected in the PricewaterhouseCoopers report by 40 per cent, from $602 million to $362 million. The accrual deficit will fall from $989 million to $840 million. Despite our best efforts, the cash deficit for 2004-05 will still be the largest in the history of the province." I would like to reflect on that for a moment, Madam Speaker, because I have heard comments in regard to the oil and what it did, and it was a stroke of luck that we hit good times in regard to the Atlantic Accord, getting 100 per cent of our just rewards of that Accord. It was written back in the 1980s.

I beg the differ on that. It wasn't a stroke of luck, it was pure negotiations by a skilled person, two people - I said person, persons really, to be honest with you. The simple reason is that these people were skilled in the art of negotiations. They went to Ottawa time and time again and they negotiated a deal for Newfoundland and Labrador that has never been witnessed in the history. A number of premiers have tried to deal with inaccuracies in the Atlantic Accord and neither have been able to do it. That is the bottom line of it; neither have been able to do it. That wasn't a stroke of luck.

In the meantime, back in 2004, that was a Budget where the Cabinet, government, the Premier, made some tough, tough decisions. That is what that 2004 Budget was all about. You know, there was a plan put in place then, in 2004, in regard to dealing with our deficit and dealing with the projected deficit, I think, of going up to around $15 billion or $16 billion, up to, I think, 2016 or 2020, whatever it was - I cannot remember exactly now - but that is in the past. Yes, absolutely, we went up to Ottawa. The Premier, the Finance Minister and their team went up and negotiated a deal on the Atlantic Accord in regard to 100 per cent. It made a great difference and allowed us to move this year in a path that we did not even anticipate back in 2004. We never anticipated it. We did not think that it would ever come, but I will tell you right now, I felt a part of this government and I felt proud to be a part of this government in 2004. Yes, I feel prouder today, but I never lost the faith - never once lost the faith - even though we did come out with a hard budget in regards to increasing fees and this kind of stuff to the general public.

I said in this House about a week or so ago, when I stood in this House and talked about Interim Supply, I would like to think that each and every Newfoundlander and Labradorian bore the burden, they shouldered the wheel, to get us on the right path to prosperity. They bought in. This party has continually gone up in the polls. Very rarely did we go down over that last three years, because people bought in. There were no more giveaways, and that is exactly what this is all about. This is about fiscal responsibility. This is about prudent spending. This government is making the right choices. That is exactly what it is.

Then, in 2005 it quotes, "Several factors that were unforeseeable a year ago have significantly improved our province's fiscal circumstances." That is exactly what happened. As I said, it went up in 2005. You must remember that people said it was the stroke of luck in regard to negotiating that Atlantic Accord, but I remember a long process in those negotiations. I remember back and forth up to Ottawa many, many times. They moved that Atlantic Accord. Sometimes it was on the table; sometimes it was off the table. I remember the Open Line shows, Nightline and whatnot, was alive with speculation in regard to that Atlantic Accord. The Premier, the Finance Minister and their team stayed the course, and that is exactly what put us on the expected and the right path for prosperity today.

This Province is expected to report a surplus this year of $76.5 million for 2005-2006, and that is a real surplus. It is the first time in our history the Province has budgeted a surplus on a fully consolidated basis. That is the first time in our history. There are a lot of firsts in our history in the last two-and-a-half years, I say, a lot of firsts. We have had improvements on the health care transfers, we had the Atlantic Accord, we have had many, many things in regard to our ability to negotiate as a team, as a part of Canada, with the federal government, and that means a lot to this Province.

The other significant thing that was in the Budget Speech that I thought was very significant - I do not want this lost on the people of Newfoundland and Labrador - that is, that our mandate is to bring in balanced budget legislation. That is going to brought forward before the end of our mandate. What that means - the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and the people who are watching this broadcast today - is that no longer can any government, this government or any government of the future, pass along deficits to our children's children and the people who come after us. That is a very good piece of work, Madam Speaker, I guarantee you that, and I am glad to see it here.

We talk about, and I hear, comments made that we have not made any investments in rural Newfoundland. I beg to differ on that as well, because the simple reason is - and I heard the hon. Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair name off, and I thank her for naming off, several or probably even a dozen strategies that we have in place as a government. These strategies are all meant for all of Newfoundland and Labrador, but in particular rural Newfoundland. I will not get into the details. I have gone into the details before. I have gone into the details sometimes when I speak here in the House and on Open Line. I thank her for the reference to those, because these are - I was in business for thirty years, and I said in this House before that in order to have success you have to have a plan. You have to keep the plan on course, and you have to keep planning. You are always dealing with a moving target and you change your plans, you tweak your plans, as you go along.

I have seen numerous strategies being announced over the last number of days, number of weeks, that are very, very significant to Newfoundland and Labrador. We have the innovation strategy. I went to that myself. What a piece of work that is, I guarantee you that. That will stimulate entrepreneurs, young entrepreneurs, to think outside the box. That is what this is all about. It is about diversification of our economy. Yes, absolutely, the fishing industry absolutely is the foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador, but I will say in this House - I do not mind saying, I will say it in public and in this House - that is a changing industry and we have to change with that industry. We have to diversify our economies. We have to encourage young entrepreneurs. We have to encourage the stakeholders in rural Newfoundland to come to the table. We are willing to listen and we are willing to move with them. That is why these strategies are in place. That is why they are funded. It is up to them. I ask in this House today for those people, those stakeholders, those people with the pride of Newfoundland and Labrador in their hearts and their minds, to come forward because this government is ready to work, and has been working for the last two-and-a-half years in regards to putting in a great strategy for rural Newfoundland.

You know, this Budget hit all the areas of the Province. As a matter of fact, one of my friends said to me, it was a Budget that actually hit every family in Newfoundland and Labrador. There is something in this Budget for every single family in Newfoundland and Labrador. It might not be specifically to a person, but it has certainly affected every family in Newfoundland and Labrador. I mean, everything there from education - the formula called for 151 teaching units to be taken out of the system this year. We will invest $5.2 million into the system and make sure that each one of those units stays in the system. What does that mean, Madam Speaker? That means that we have more teachers in the system. We can now address plans that we have in regard to other programming and whatnot because we have extra bodies. We can also reduce (inaudible). It affects everything. We can zero in on children within the classroom who need special help, because the teachers are not taxed so much. We have heard that loud and clear, that teachers were under pressure in the classroom; because, really, that industry, that profession, have seen a lot of changes over the last thirty years. Teaching is not the same today as it was twenty years ago. There are challenges within the classroom, there are issues within the classrooms, and that is the reason why we need more teachers, smaller class sizes, et cetera. This government came to the table and stopped that process. We understood the formula, but that formula does not work for society today. It does not work. They recognized that and they dealt with it in regard to the 151 teaching units.

Post-secondary education affects each and every Newfoundlander and Labradorian. It affects all of rural Newfoundland. We had the announcement on the Skills Task Force. What a piece of work! I have talked about that myself for years. I have heard other people talk about it in regard to addressing the skills problem in this Province. Are we able to project outward in regard to, let's say, a Lower Churchill, and advise our children the jobs that are going to be available in five years or ten years or whenever that development will come into fruition? That is careful planning. That is strategy. That is what all these strategy plans are about, careful planning, laying the foundation and making sure we have everything in place in regard to addressing the problems that we have.

Yes, absolutely, we have out-migration, there is no doubt about that. We have had out-migration, yes, since 1949. We have had out-migration since John Cabot came over, and that is a fact. It concerns everybody. We would like to have every single Newfoundlander and Labradorian stay in Newfoundland and Labrador.

We heard this afternoon about job fairs and what not. Well, you cannot stop people coming into this Province from job fairs. As a matter of fact, it would be wrong for us, as the government, to prevent that, because each person, each Newfoundlander and Labradorian, each Canadian should have an opportunity. So if they are going to come in here and offer, well then they should know the offers. Listen, we are putting in the foundation to prevent that. We are going to make sure that we have plans and strategies in place that will grow the economy, create jobs and Newfoundlanders and Labradorians will stay here, I am convinced of that.

As a matter of fact, a project that I have been working on in regards to Gander, I have had numerous e-mails. As a matter of fact, in the hundreds, that people will move back to Gander if we land that project. Now we are not even near landing that project, but it is a possibility. We are working towards it. We will not leave any rocks unturned in regards to that project. Hopefully, when it comes to fruition, if it comes to fruition, we have numerous Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who will move back. So, that is the way you go. You put careful planning in place to address the problem. No, you just cannot get up here on Budget day and say - the Finance Minister gets up and says: Well, we are going to throw $500,000 at wherever and we are going to create seven, or eight, or ten, or fifteen, or two hundred jobs.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. O'BRIEN: Absolutely, and that is a fact.

We are investing in CONA, $8.5 million, because we recognize that CONA is a very integral part of our post-secondary education process. They are adjusting as well to the skills that are needed in the future. Skills that will be needed for, as I said, mining, agriculture. These are the kind of things that we are doing as a government. We are moving. I feel in my heart and soul that we are moving in the right direction. As a matter of fact, I know we are because when I am out on the street, when I am around Gander I hear it time and time again. So, I am not dreaming. People are coming forward and telling me: You are on the right path. We like what you are doing. We like the Premier's style. We like the way he negotiates. Yes, he sets the bar and we should set the bar. Absolutely, we should set the bar. This government should set the bar because no bar is too high in my opinion, to be honest with you. You reach for the stars and you get the best deal for Newfoundland and Labrador.

We have another $32.5 million going into Memorial University. Tuition freezes again this year, addressing various other issues in regards to Memorial University. How important those people are to us in Newfoundland and Labrador, and I would hope and pray that they will, in regards to their studies, be successful but not only that, I hope and pray that they will buy in and they will become stakeholders in their Province, Newfoundland and Labrador. I have a child there and she has every intention of staying in Newfoundland and Labrador. As a Member for Gander, I am going to work as hard as I can to make sure that she has the opportunity, as well as any other students who are currently listed and will be enrolled in Memorial University in the future, to be able to stay here in Newfoundland and Labrador because that Skills Task Force and the other strategies that we have put in place will start to come into fruition and deal with the problems that we were left with.

We are dealing with things in regards to innovation strategy and we are dealing with things that would stimulate the mind and stir their imaginations. These are not bad words, to dream and have an imagination; think outside the box. I would like to think that when I went out in the global community in regards to business, I was thinking outside the box, because at one time that was a foreign word in Newfoundland and Labrador, to go outside the box, to enter into that business world and the global economy, but you are seeing more and more people go outside the box these days. That is what will bring home new dollars and new money to Newfoundland and Labrador. That is exactly what that is.

Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro has been stripped over the years, stripped. As a matter of fact, stagnating its ability to remove and move on opportunities. All they were doing at one point, I would venture to guess, is they were just about only dealing with energy; energy for Newfoundland and Labrador. That is all they were doing. They could not seize the opportunity. They could not do anything because they were stripped. So, this year we are going to allow them to keep $54 million in dividends. Fifty-four million dollars is a lot of cash.

MR. J. BYRNE: They wanted to sell Hydro.

MR. O'BRIEN: Yes. I was just reminded by the hon. member, that the government of the day, which is the Opposition of this day, wanted to sell Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro. I mean, it was shame. I was one of the people who spoke out on that, at that time, and I sang out loud and hard on that because that is a cornerstone of our economy, of the energy plan of Newfoundland and Labrador. They are moving forward now. They have some very good leadership in Newfoundland Hydro and I expect great things. I mean, it is $350,000 in the provincial energy plan and the minister is going across the Province meeting with stakeholders, meeting with various people in the Province and drawing off their ideas and drawing off their imaginations, and drawing off things that he will capitalize, and that is what it is all about. We are all in this together. This is a partnership. This is a partnership in regards to dealing with a mess that existed in Newfoundland and Labrador, a mess that was created over a number of years, and we are up for that task. This government is up for this task. I have seen ministers make hard decisions that, you know, sometimes I wondered if I could make them, to be honest with you - in regards to sitting down and knowing full well that as soon as they made that decision, as soon as they walked out of that Cabinet room, as soon as they walked into a public place that they were going to get hit by it. I commend them for that. It is the right choices, it is the right thing to do and that is exactly what this is.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. O'BRIEN: Yes, the right decisions for the right reasons. That is exactly what it is.

Infrastructure, I always talk about infrastructure, and I do not mind talking about infrastructure because provincial roads, you have to build your economy from the bottom up and that is where it is. Infrastructure is the bottom and then rural Newfoundland, that is where all those dollars are going to; provincial roads, $142 million worth of road construction, which includes $60 million in provincial roads and $29 million in the Trans-Canada Highway. Some of it in my district, Madam Speaker, and I am proud to have it in my district, I will guarantee you that. But I will tell you, there are roads across this Province - and are we getting to them? Like I seen on the news today and yesterday, people protesting because of the condition of their roads. I feel for that, I feel for them, but we are getting there, piece by piece.

MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please!

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

MR. O'BRIEN: Can I have another twenty minutes?

MADAM SPEAKER: Does the hon. member have leave?

MR. O'BRIEN: I am not even to my own district, Madam Speaker. I made a few notes this afternoon and it is very rare that I make a few notes. I have only gone to the third page. Here I have nine pages, Madam Speaker, and I do not know if they are going to give me twenty minutes or so.

MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. SULLIVAN: The good news is, you could not get to them all.

MR. O'BRIEN: I could not get to it. I am absolutely excited about it. I am going to leave it at that actually, because I am going to get back. I just glanced down at the Government House Leader and he told me I could come back, so I am going to take him up on that. Anyway, I will leave you with that and I will take my seat.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. LANGDON: Thank you, Madam Speaker.

I am glad to have an opportunity for a few moments to speak on the Budget for 2006-2007. I will try to keep my comments within that particular budget area, if I can.

Any government or any group of people who live in a society - in the Province that we have, in Newfoundland and Labrador, the success of the government, regardless of political stripe, would be how you treat your lower and middle income people. These are the people who make up the largest majority of our population, people who are on social welfare programs and people who are low-income workers, people who work below or at, or a little higher than, the minimum wage.

In this particular Budget, Madam Speaker, I thought that we would see some elimination of some of the fees that were brought in by the government in previous Budgets, in 2004. There were about $26 million of fees that were assessed on all of the different fee structures in government. Many of the people these fees were applicable to are people who have a difficult time making two ends meet. When you look at these particular fees, as I said, there were some that were eliminated, but those that were eliminated have very little to do with the ordinary or the middle working class, or the people who depend on government for their income. The only one that probably would have had some significance was the small game licence that was eliminated.

When you look at some of the ones, they are very important because we are looking at people who - here for this Budget, for low income, there are a lot of, no doubt, low-income workers in the Northeast Avalon, in the City of St. John's, where people work just above the minimum wage. They must find it difficult to be able to do the things that they want to do.

I am thinking particularly about the people who live in the rural parts of the Province. I think of, for example, the cost of the ambulance, the road ambulance. Every time I go down to my district, and I go down to the Bay d'Espoir Highway, almost every trip I find an ambulance coming up, whether the ambulance is from Bay d'Espoir, whether the ambulance is from the Harbour Breton area, whether the ambulance is from the Hermitage area, as I said, or down over Fortune Bay North. They come from those areas and they have to go to Grand Falls, which is about two hours, or two-and-a-half hours away. When I look at what it costs these people, it is $75 a trip. If you are going to take an escort with you, then it is another $50 extra; $125 a trip. Mr. Speaker, these are dollars that many of the low-income or middle-income workers have difficulty in making these particular payments. Not only that particular trip but again, when they have to be transferred, it costs extra money for these people as well. It is a real hardship.

I thought that in this Budget we would have seen a particular decrease in these particular fees. People with health care cards and private insurance companies can have that taken care of, but we are looking at the people who are most vulnerable within our society, and they are not there.

When I look at the cost, for example, to register a motor vehicle, $180 per year, that went, I think it was, from $100 to $180, almost double. There is no decrease in this particular Budget to help these particular people who have difficulty in being able to find the money for these -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. LANGDON: - particular fees that they have to have. The individual licences for the individuals have gone up, Madam Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please!

The Chair is having difficulty hearing the hon. member. I wonder if the hon. members could please keep the noise down.

Thank you.

MR. LANGDON: Thank you, Madam Speaker.

I appreciate that.

When we are talking about the driver's licence fee, it has gone from $80 to $100 and there was no relief for these particular people in the Budget. I will not go through all the fees, but there are literally dozens and dozens of them that impact on the people we represent in all of our districts. These are important to the people who have a very difficult time in being able to make ends meet in their budget, but they were not there.

I think, also, Madam Speaker, when it talks about education, there were a lot of good things in the Budget.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. LANGDON: I would be remiss if I did not say there were, but what I am saying is, when we talk about the education budget, yes, there was money put into the education budget for Memorial University. There was money put in the Budget for the College of the North Atlantic. There was money in the Budget to take care of school fees, where people had to go out and fund raise to be able to find a way to give their kids the consumables, but I thought there might have been some reduction for people, again, who would have difficulty in buying textbooks in Levels I, II and III. These books cost the ordinary family a lot of money. There was no relief for that. I thought there might have been.

I was also hoping and thinking that there might have been some relief for students who come to post-secondary schools, whether it is the university, the College of the North Atlantic or private schools, from the rural parts of the Province. When a person comes from the bottom of Fortune Bay, or they come from Fleur de Lys, or they come form Westport, or they come from any other community that is out there, they come to the city. It costs a lot more for the parents to be able to send their kids to those post-secondary education institutions than if you live in St. John's or in Corner Brook or in Grand Falls. I really think that there should be a grant system in place, that you can give to those particular kids who come from the rural part of the Province, in the form of a grant to offset some of the cost that is involved in rent and in the cost of food that these particular people would have to buy.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. LANGDON: This is very important. We are talking about people who are in the rural parts of the Province. I can tell you - and all of you who represent the rural parts of the Province know as well as I do - there are a lot of people who have left those communities. The people who have left those communities are people who are skilled, people who are mechanics, people who are pipefitters, people who are electricians, and they have gone to Alberta to work. In some instances they have taken their families with them, and in some instances their families are staying at home. I do not know how long they will stay at home, but a lot of the people in those communities are people who are involved with the fishing industry.

I do not have to tell anybody who represents a rural part of the Province what that has meant in the last number of years for people who are involved in the fishing industry. The price of crab has gone from $2.65 a pound to a little better than $1 a pound - what is has meant for crew members who have been associated with a particular boat. They look at it and say: Well, the remuneration that I get is probably not enough for me to be able to support my family, and they have to make particular decisions to probably move elsewhere. It is their kids who are in the small outport communities in the rural parts of the Province. These are the people we would like to be able to come to Memorial University. These are the people we would like to see come to the College of the North Atlantic, so that they can break that particular cycle they are in.

What they are finding, Madam Speaker, is that they do not have the wherewithal, the financial resources, to be able to do. A government that is in power, regardless of stripe, I think there should be something done to alleviate that situation for the middle-income and the low-income family. These are the things that, as I said, make our community.

I will tell you what we have in many of our rural communities out there, and I can tell you that it is the fact of life. It is not something that is fiction. It is not something that is a figment of the imagination. It is real. We have many people in our small communities who are scared, and I will tell you why they are scared: Because they are in their forties and fifties and they look at the opportunities they have had in their communities. They are probably not educated to the point where they can do some of the courses that are available - in the Province of Alberta, for example. I was talking to my assistant the other day and he was telling us where a guy from one of our communities was saying he would like to be able to go to Alberta and work as a labourer, but the criteria is a Level III education. He said: I don't have Level III. I don't even have high school. I came out of school when I was just a young person and worked at the fish plant all my life. How can I now be able to do that? So, they are scared.

People who are, as I said, in their late forties and fifties and they look at themselves in the small isolated communities or the small communities in a rural part of the Province, they see their property is devaluating because many of the people are leaving. They are saying to themselves: What am I going to do? Where do I fit into that equation? I am telling you, it is real. These are the types of things that we should be able to, I think, take their children and be able to give them some advantages where they can find an education and be able to make a good life for themselves.

I know in my own district and talking about some of the things about the health care, yes, there was money put into health care, there are no two ways about that. When you think about the people who have special needs and drugs that were not covered - for example, a lady from my district who has psoriatic arthritis, she was getting Enbrel. Here is the situation she was in. She got the medication when she was employed by FPI and she had a medical care plan. She could go down to the pharmacy and they would fill the prescription for her. Now she is unemployed and has lost the medical coverage that she had, and she says: I don't have the wherewithal to be able to get Enbrel, which would cost me about $20,000 a year. I think the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair talked about that yesterday. I think the minister said it was covered. It was brought in last year. Well, this particular lady is just forty-two years of age and we have been working with the department since last October, frustrated. The medical doctor says: I don't know what else to do to be able to give you any more information on what is needed. She is going to end up in a wheelchair, and she was on it. The doctor recognizes the benefits that it had for her but she cannot buy it anymore. She is to her wits end. It is causing all kinds of problems; it is a depression for them.

When we have a Budget that has a surplus of $67 million, if it does cost $1 million to be able to bring in that type of a program for people who are really, really needing it, then I think that is where the care of government - and it speaks volumes about government and how it is willing to have its people treated. That was not there. So, again, that causes a big problem for Brenda. I have talked to her and she said: Oliver, I don't mind you using my name in the Legislature. I am going through a very difficult situation. And, as I said, only forty-two years of age. I am telling you that this particular lady is having a quite a time and cannot find a way to get the medication covered, even though the minister has said that it was covered a year ago. That is the type of problem that you are in.

I think about the region that I represent, and not only my region, I think that the Budget should have, in some way, in a sense reflected the different regions. I look at the Connaigre region, the area that I represent, there are some positive things there.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MADAM SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. LANGDON: I recognize the money in the aquaculture industry that is going into the Connaigre region, that is very, very positive. I think that over the next while, as government continues to see that this particular industry can grow, there will probably be more money put into it so that the people can find, not only employment but can also find an industry whereby we have the ideal natural weather and geography whereby this industry can grow, and I am hoping and praying that it will. But, as of now, in this particular case, the industry that is there and how it will grow over the next number of years cannot substitute for the 350 jobs that are gone out of the plant in Harbour Breton.

It has been two years now since that particular plant closed and only recently, when a number of people were able to get a financial settlement, many of these people used the dollars to be able to find jobs away. They are hoping that probably it will be a year or two before the plant will reopen, and they are in hope that it will. In the meantime, they will be able to find some particular employment while they are waiting. But there is still uncertainty within the community because really when you look at the situation, is it pelagics that is going to be done in the community? What about the quotas? We talk about quotas and I am sure that we would like to see all of the increase in caplin and all of the increase in herring and all of the increase in mackerel would go to the plant in Harbour Breton, but that is not going to happen.

In fact, Madam Speaker, I was disappointed when the federal minister brought down the increase in the shrimp quota. I really thought, from Harbour Breton's point of view as a community, that we were going to get a 1,500 ton shrimp quota. It was an application that was presented on behalf of the Town of Harbour Breton and the Conne River Indian Band in Conne River. It did not happen. I was really disappointed. I thought that it was almost a foregone conclusion.

I was talking to the mayor, and he said: Look, these are some of the dollars that we were counting on to be able to improve our plant, work with the plant, work with the new owner so that we would be able to improve the quality of life for the people who are in the area. That did not happen. I was disappointed. I do not think that only I was disappointed myself, but the whole community was disappointed. It is my understanding that Chief Misel Joe and the Mayor for Harbour Breton have been trying to get hold to the federal minister to see what really went wrong in that particular situation.

When we talk about also the other areas of the Province, that is where I think there should have been some dollars put into a small rural community fund where these smaller communities off the beaten track, off the Trans-Canada, could avail of and be able to find some economic activity. They are finding it very, very difficult, the small communities. They do not have the money where they might be able to attract business into their areas. These are the types of things, and we could say the same thing for the Northen Peninsula. We could say the same thing for the Northeast Coast. It did not happen but I am sure over time the government will look at that and hopefully be able to find a situation whereby they will be able to recreate some economic activity in many of the small rural areas.

Another area where I thought that we might have seen a little bit of reprieve - it was not for a lot of money that was involved in it - and that is in class IV roads. I had a guy call me last night, one road in particular from Seal Cove to Pass Island. It is a road that nobody expects to be snow cleared in the wintertime, but in the summertime that road is used extensively by people who cut firewood, by the children who go to the swimming pool in Long Pond, many of the fishermen who use it for the inshore fishery in the Pass Island area. The guy called me last night and said it is impassable: Are you able to do anything about it? I said: Well, last year the government decided, or the year before, that they were not going to do that anymore. The cost of doing it is minimal, because all you need to do, Mr. Speaker, with situations like that is be able to grade it once in the spring, once in the fall, and it would alleviate a difficulty which many, many people had in using these particular roads. It is little things like that that could have gone a long, long way to be able to improve the quality of life for the people that we represent.

There are many, many other things that we talked about. One of the things I saw in the Budget was a liaison officer to liaison between the department and the school councils. I think what happened, in my mind when I heard that, is because of the decrease in the number of school boards across the Province to a large number, they have lost their personal touch, and they were not able to communicate like they were when the boards were smaller and in the different regions. That has caused difficulty for school councils. Now you have a person who is going to liaison between government and councils. I think it shows that we can do all of these things to consolidate and save some dollars in the meantime, but what it does is causes inconvenience for people in the region.

One of the other things I also thought might happen would be a reinstatement of some of the HRE offices. A person from Francois or Grey River, where they would normally have gone to Burgeo to avail of the services, now that office is closed and they have to go to Burgeo by boat and then from Burgeo to Stephenville, another two hours by car, to avail of socials services. To me, that is not right. It is things like that, I think, that could have been there to improve the quality of life for people in these communities and it did not happen. I began by saying, the quality of life of any government for its people is how the people on the lower rung of the social economic scale are able to, at least, find some satisfaction and some relief and some help in being able to live a quality of life that many of us have and they would just hope for. In this particular case, as I said, there were many, many things that were not there that could have been there, but there were a lot of good things there as well.

MR. SPEAKER (Hodder): Order, please!

The hon. member's time has lapsed.

MR. LANGDON: By leave?

MR. SPEAKER: Does the member have leave?

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: Leave has been granted for the member to make some concluding statements.

AN HON. MEMBER: As long as you do not talk about redfish.

MR. LANGDON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

No, I am not going to talk about redfish. I will leave that for another day.

I just want to say thanks to the members opposite for giving me an opportunity just to conclude. As I said when I began, there are many, many things that many people are appreciative of in the Budget, in the expenditures that are being spent, but the tail of it is: How much will it benefit the smaller communities and the rural communities? I am not talking about rural communities like Grand Falls and Windsor and Gander. These are not rural communities. The rural communities are those that cannot commute to the ribbon community or the ribbon, the Trans-Canada, people who are off to themselves. These are the people who, I think, we have to find a way to help and be able to improve their quality of life, and be able not only to help them but also to help their children, so that they can find a quality of life and a standard of life that is better than they themselves had. I think that is what a test of any government is about.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

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

I move that the House now adjourn and return tomorrow at 2:00 in the afternoon.

MR. SPEAKER: The motion is that this House do now adjourn until tomorrow, April 5, at 2 p.m.

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

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

The motion is carried.

This House now stands adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, April 5 at 2:00 p.m.

On motion, the House at its rising adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, at 2:00 p.m.