December 7, 2010                   HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS                     XLVI  No. 45


The House met at 1:30 p.m.

MR. SPEAKER (Fitzgerald): Order, please!

Admit strangers.

Today the Chair would like to welcome the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of the Deaf and the Newfoundland and Labrador Deaf Sports Association to the House of Assembly. The Newfoundland and Labrador Association of the Deaf is accompanied by their president, Jodie Burke, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Deaf Sports Association is accompanied by their secretary, Bryan Johnson.

Welcome to the House of Assembly.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

Statements by Members

MR. SPEAKER: The following members' statements will be heard: the hon. the Member for the District of Exploits; the hon. the Member for the District of Port de Grave; the hon. the Member for the District of Fortune Bay-Cape la Hune; the hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi; and the hon. the Member for the District of Port au Port.

The hon. the Member for the District of Exploits.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FORSEY: Mr. Speaker, I rise in this House today to commend Joyce Hart of Botwood for her dedication in volunteerism and more so to the St. John Ambulance.

Mr. Speaker, Joyce began volunteering with the St. John Ambulance in 1982. She began as an ambulance driver and was later promoted to superintendent of the brigade. Joyce is well-known throughout the region for her volunteer work and was a familiar face last year at many of the H1N1 mass clinics.

Mr. Speaker, Joyce was recently promoted to the grade of "Dame of Grace" along with the Order of St. John and was presented the award by Lieutenant-Governor John Crosbie. Joyce has become the first in the Province to achieve this status.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this House to join me in congratulating Joyce Hart on receiving this prestigious award.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. BUTLER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

On Saturday, November 20, 2010, I had the pleasure of attending the banquet honouring the 125th anniversary of Bartholomew Loyal Orange Lodge #40 at Clarke's Beach. This lodge was constituted on February 27, 1885.

This lodge is very active under the leadership of Mr. Gade Mugford Sr. The history of Bartholomew has flourished in membership from more than 230 members in the last century. Communities supporting this lodge are Clarke's Beach, North River, South River, Makinsons, Salmon Cove and Otterbury. Today, they have one of the highest memberships in this Province consisting of forty members.

This facility serves as a community centre for many of the groups and organizations within the community. On this particular occasion they presented a cheque in the amount of $500 to Ms Eileen McCann, Canadian Red Cross, to assist those affected by tropical storm Igor, just another indication of the tremendous community service provided by Bartholomew for over 125 years.

I ask all hon. members to join me in extending best wishes to all members as they serve the principles of their order and the needs of the people they represent.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS PERRY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I rise in this hon. House today to recognize Mr. John Nick Jeddore of Conne River, who received the Seniors of Distinction Award in 2010. Now in his eighties, Mr. Jeddore is a remarkable man with incredible energy, wisdom and insight.

Mr. Jeddore was born in 1922, and spent his younger years as a traditional trapper with his father. At the age of nineteen he enlisted with the Overseas Forestry Unit, serving time in Scotland to support the war effort. When he returned home in 1945, he married his loving wife Pauline Collier, and together they raised nine children. When he was struck by tuberculosis, it did not set him back, but rather, he converted his shed into a store which he operated until he retired at the age of eighty-five in 2008, and his family continues to operate the store today. However, he still has not slowed down any.

He loves to travel and has been known to water ski. He is an expert in the old ways, yet embraces the new as well, and is an avid user of Facebook. He also spends time hunting, fishing, trapping, cooking, and gathering wood for himself and others. He is passing on many traditional skills, such as making snowshoes and eel spears. He contributes to various Web sites and has a blog, through which he shares the culture of the Mi'kmaq people.

In addition to the Seniors of Distinction Award, Mr. Jeddore has received the Grand Chief Marshall Senior Elder Award in 2005, and the Aboriginal Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.

Mr. Speaker, I ask that all members of this hon. House join me in extending our sincerest congratulations to Mr. John Nick Jeddore, and we look forward to his teachings for years to come.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I stand in this hon. House today to recognize the invaluable contribution of playwright and actor David French, who died in Toronto on Saturday night after a long battle with brain cancer. David was only seventy-one.

French was born in Coley's Point on January 18, 1939. His family moved to Toronto to join his father. He said, "When I was growing up, it was like Grand Central Station in my house – Newfoundlanders coming through all the time, sitting around, smoking cigarettes and telling stories. And, of course, my father and mother were great storytellers, and I picked it up from them, too."

He is best remembered for his tales about the several generations of the Newfoundland Mercer family, a fictitious family transplanted to Toronto.

Leaving Home was successful right from the beginning, and went on to be produced by nearly every regional theatre company in Canada, and studied in high schools. It was named one of the 100 Most Influential Canadian Books by the Literary Review of Canada, and one of the 1,000 Most Essential Plays by the Oxford Dictionary of Theatre.

Of the Fields, Lately became a CBC Television special, and Salt-Water Moon, my own personal favourite, and of others I am sure, was translated into French and played throughout the US. His translation of Chekhov's The Seagull was performed on Broadway.

He has been influential as a mentor to other Canadian playwrights and took time to speak to amateur theatre groups and high schools where his work was studied.

David won many awards. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2001.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all hon. Members in this House of Assembly to join me sending condolences to his partner, Glenda MacFarlane, his son Gareth and daughter Mary, and the playwright community in this Province and Canada.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. CORNECT: Mr. Speaker, I rise today in this hon. House to congratulate the business and individual recipients in the Stephenville-Port au Port-Bay St. George area who were recognized for their business and entrepreneurial efforts at the recently held Heart of the Community Gala in Stephenville during Business Week 2010.

Mr. Speaker, Danny's Bake Shop, well known for its hospitality, excellent service, and especially delicious baked goods, received the Leo Bruce Award for Entrepreneurial Excellence. Danny's Bake Shop opened in 1979 and has since then become a very successful family business.

Ten additional businesses were also recognized with the Heart of the Community awards: Callahan's Contracting for construction and contracting; Holiday Inn Stephenville for hospitality and tourism; Romain's Farm for natural resource; Stephenville Cinema for new and emerging business; Stephenville Relay for Life for non-profit; Western College for professionalism; Silver Dollar Lounge for restaurant and Bar; Debbie's Video for retail and wholesale; Chantilly Beauty Salon for service; and the Youth Award was given to Taylor Garnier.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all members of this hon. House to join with me in congratulating the businesses and individuals that received these awards and to wish them very well in the future.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Statements by Ministers.

Statements by Ministers

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS SULLIVAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The principles of business expansion and export development and their link to profitability are leading to an increasing number of companies looking to broaden their export capacity.

The commitment of this Administration to help open doors to national and international markets for local companies has been expressed many times by members of this hon. House. We see greater export activity as an extremely important factor in helping to strengthen long-term growth of Newfoundland and Labrador's business community and our provincial economy.

In 2009, for example, exports represented close to 40 per cent of the Province's Gross Domestic Product and created one in every five jobs.

To help support existing and emerging exporters, the provincial government is home to a series of business development programs and services such as the ExportAdvantage Internship Program. Launched in June, the internship program is providing GFT Aerospace Technologies in Gander, Green Seafoods in Winterton, along with Newfoundland and Labrador Chocolate Company, Orphan Industries, and Tiller Engineering from St. John's, with valuable, dedicated resources that are focused on increasing export activity. The program is also providing meaningful employment opportunities in the area of international trade for five recent graduates.

Over a twelve-month period, individuals will perform work directly related to the company's export activities, such as identifying new market opportunities, conducting research related to market entry, developing export strategies, participating in trade missions, and representing their employer at international trade shows.

Alicia Anderson, an intern at GFT Aerospace Technologies, has stated, "the ExportAdvantage Internship Program allows me to work in international business while remaining in Newfoundland and Labrador. As an employee of GFT Aerospace Technologies, I am able to work in international marketing and help identify international expansion opportunities for the company. It is a great experience."

As highlighted by Ms Anderson, there is much to be gained through engaging youth. They have the ability to introduce fresh perspectives, new ideas, and drive growth.

We, as a government, are very excited that this marriage between export development and youth employment can be encouraged and supported through the internship program.

Businesses, whether they are small, medium or large should make contact with staff from the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development to learn how our programs, such as the ExportAdvantage Internship Program, can help them achieve their goals and objectives.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. DEAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

First of all, I would like to thank the minister for an advance copy of her statement. Any program that we see in the Province that helps to identify export markets, and in particular bring youth together with it and so on, is a good program. We would encourage people in the Province, entrepreneurs, to take advantage of such things.

Identifying export markets and engaging youth are both key for business development and youth retention in the Province, particularly the five recent graduates who have gained employment through this program; it is good to see.

In terms of identifying export markets, we realize that reliable Internet connections are required in rural communities. We know recently through media, for example, that Happy Valley-Goose Bay seems to have run out of room for an Internet connection. That would be a concern for us. Hopefully we can expand those services and see that it is done. A teacher in McCallum said that he could not do his on-line courses provided to him because he did not have high-speed Internet and so on.

I would encourage the minister, and challenge her at the same time, to continue to develop these programs. I wish her well with that, in particular in rural communities, that the local companies can be a part of the program such as stated here today.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

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

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

I, too, thank the minister for the advance copy of her statement, her first one in the portfolio that she is now in. I am very interested in the subsidy to enhance export activity; the more that we can increase export activity, the better. As well, the more that we can employ more people in export activities, the better.

Right now, the internship program that the minister speaks to is involving five companies. I do look forward to hearing about plans that the department has for expanding that subsidy to other companies. It seems similar to the Graduate Employment Program which also benefits a small number of students.

We do need a comprehensive intensive program for post-secondary graduates that will continue to keep our students here, our young people here. We need hundreds of these programs, Mr. Speaker, and I look forward to the day when the government will be able to tell us all of the departments, the social enterprises, a great number of non-profits, and more businesses where we have interns that are staying in the Province during internship and then choose to continue living here.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Further statements by ministers?

The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I proudly rise in this House today to report that 2010 is shaping up to be the best tourism year ever in Newfoundland and Labrador -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH: - with statistics to the end of October indicating a 7.2 per cent increase in non-resident visitation over the same period last year. We are projected to see over half a million visitors this year, the year 2010, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH: This is the first time we will ever have surpassed that figure in our Province's history.

Mr. Speaker, what it boils down to is we have all had someone come to visit this year here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Our $850 million tourism industry continues to grow and this year's success can be attributed, in part, to our efforts to highlight our natural and cultural assets during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games; the 2010 JUNO Awards, hosted here in St. John's; and, of course, the Cupids400 celebrations. It is also a testament to our continuing focus on strategically marketing this Province as a global destination of choice.

Our Find Yourself Here tourism marketing campaign, first launched in 2006, continues to evolve and to receive national and international accolades. With more than thirty awards received this year alone, the campaign has now garnered no less than 100 regional, national and international awards.

The world is taking notice, Mr. Speaker. Last month, National Geographic Traveler magazine named the Avalon Peninsula at the top of ninety-nine coastal destinations throughout the world - a designation that provided incredible international media exposure.

None of this is by accident, Mr. Speaker. Our government has more than doubled the tourism marketing budget in the past seven years from $6 million to $13 million. In 2009, we took it to the next step when we entered into a unique public-private partnership with the tourism industry; launched Uncommon Potential – A Vision for Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism; established a Tourism Board, and began the process of implementing the vision with a view to seeing tourism revenues reach $1.6 billion by 2020.

This has been a remarkable year, Mr. Speaker. In fact, it has been a remarkable seven years, with visitor traffic increasing by 22 per cent since 2003. Next year also looks good, with the cruise industry, in particular, expected to see substantial returns.

I am sure my colleagues in this House share my excitement at the realization of this milestone in our industry – the record tourism year – and look forward to what the future should hold.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

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

I would like to thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement. We all know he did it all by himself.

In all seriousness, some people on the government side would think that we do not compliment government, and the public might think that our job is only to criticize, but in all seriousness it has been a fantastic year in this Province and I commend the government for what they have done in the past number of years in regard to promoting our Province as a tourist destination.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: In fact, some of the ad campaigns that we have seen, the clothesline pieces and so on, hats off. I hope they are done in Newfoundland, but whoever did them, it is a fantastically creative job to show people on the mainland and elsewhere in North America and the world exactly what we have to offer here, and that is why they should visit here.

Of course, from an economic point of view, in my district alone, every one of us here is probably impacted by tourists who come to this Province. Marine Atlantic, for example, is in Port aux Basques, which is in part of my district. Hundreds of people are employed in the terminal there, on the ferry service there. They have certainly had their challenges in the last year or so, Marine Atlantic; some because of capacity; some because of mechanical issues; and some, like every year, because of weather conditions.

I look forward to the two new boats we are going to get with Marine Atlantic this year. One is going to be named, of course, the Blue Puttees, in honour of our Newfoundland Regiment, and the other is going to be named after the Nova Scotia Highlanders brigade. It is great to see that. Hopefully, those issues, in terms of getting people into and out of the Province from that end, and in particular when it comes to the freight service, that it is going to be improved and we will see that as well.

So again, there are some issues. We had people who thought that sometimes you cannot rent a car in St. John's during the tourist season and whatever, but those problems, I am sure, are minor in terms of the big picture. We will see the cruise ship industry increasing here. Whatever the minister can do, and the government can do, to continue promoting that industry in our Province, is a great thing to actually see.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

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

I, too, thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement. His report is an excellent report. I, too, congratulate the ministry on the work that they have done, both in marketing the industry and marketing the Province - they have taken on that marketing in a very serious way – but also thank them for the support that they give to the people who work in the industry, both those who own companies as well as the workers in those companies. There is no doubt that we have made great strides in this Province with regard to tourism.

I look for the day when - and I know the minister does, too, because he has mentioned it in the past - we increase tourism during the winter months, with industry growing during the winter months so that it is not as seasonal an industry as it is right now. Hopefully, we can have people increasing their presence here throughout the year.

In the past, I have said that I really compliment the ministry on the great marketing that it does, and I hope they are sharing their techniques with other departments. I want to repeat that again, Mr. Speaker, that I look forward to when the MOU is released with regard to the fisheries, and I hope that we will see real efforts in the industry with the Department of Fisheries involved in marketing this wonderful resource that we have in this Province, which is linked to the tourism, Mr. Speaker. People do not come here to see empty villages around our bays in Newfoundland and Labrador; they come to see active communities, and that is where our fishery comes in, so let's link those two things together.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Further statements by ministers?

Oral Questions.

Oral Questions

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

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

My question is for the Minister of Health.

The fallout from the doctors' situation is continuing to cause problems in our health care system, as everyone who lives in this Province is aware. A letter dated November 22 sent by Dr. Lydia Hatcher, Chair of the Community Medical Advisory Committee, to Ms Vicki Kaminski, CEO of Eastern Health, about the discipline Ms Kaminski took against thirteen specialists has been brought to our attention. According to the CMAC, proper medical bylaws were not followed by Ms Kaminski in imposing this discipline, and the CMAC considers the actions to be punitive.

I ask the minister: Are you aware of the existence of this letter and the response which the CMAC sent back to Ms Kaminski, and, in particular, did you or your department have any involvement as well in the discipline which Ms Kaminski dealt out to those specialists?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I think the member opposite referred to Dr. Hatcher. I am aware of one letter that came to the Premier's office from Dr. Hatcher that had a couple of hundred signatures from family doctors protesting the issue in relation to the resigning of salaried specialists. The second letter he refers to, no, I am not familiar with that. I am aware that the issue has been raised.

In relation to the issue of what Ms Kaminski did, Ms Kaminski is the CEO of Eastern Health; she has the confidence of myself, as the Minister of Health, and from this government. Mr. Speaker, she is doing a great job over there in difficult circumstances.

I can assure the member opposite that I did not tell, nor do I need to tell, Ms Kaminski how to do her job. As the CEO, she is responsible for the operational aspects of the regional health authority, Mr. Speaker. I do not get involved in that, other than when it comes to a policy issue.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

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

Mr. Minister, this is not about a policy issue; this is about whether Ms Kaminski properly complied with the bylaws of Eastern Health when it came to a process involving discipline. It is quite clear from the correspondence to which I refer, and I am quite prepared to table here in this House, that the doctors involved feel adamantly that the process has not been complied with. They have called upon Ms Kaminski to make apologies to the physicians involved, because they are saying that she did breach, in fact, the bylaws.

It is not just a case of policy, Mr. Minister. The medical bylaws of Eastern Health were just revamped in this last year. It is quite clear that Ms Kaminski has not complied with the medical bylaws when it comes to due process in what she did to these specialists.

I ask the minister: Do you agree with the punitive action that Ms Kaminski took against these specialists? If not, what actions are you prepared to take with regard to her about this issue?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One of the issues that myself and my colleague, the Minister of Finance, spoke to the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association about the other day, was the resigning specialists. Obviously, that is an issue that is out on the table and one that we are discussing fully, Mr. Speaker. We had a very cordial discussion as outlined by the Premier yesterday. We hope to have further discussions in the not too distant future.

Mr. Speaker, we hope that this issue of the resigning salaried specialists can be resolved. If I remember correctly, at one of the information sessions last week one of the doctors indicated that even though she had submitted her resignation, that if a fair and competitive wage package was provided, she wanted to stay in this Province. It is my understanding, Mr. Speaker, that is the general feeling among these specialists.

So at this point the issue of the salaried specialists is front and centre in terms of what we are talking with the medical association about, Mr. Speaker. We will hopefully be able to work that out in the near future.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

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

I am glad to see that the minister referred, in particular, to the salaried specialists because that leads into my next question. We are seeing pronouncements about change of attitude on the part of government and so on, and the minister taking a softer role than he did before. Which brings to mind – and that was my next question – the issue, Mr. Minister, of Dr. Julia Trahey, whom you disclosed private information about some weeks ago in the halls here of Confederation Building.

I ask you, Minister, in order to fix that mess which you created, would it not be a good gesture on your part, as an exercise in good faith, and since this thing is supposed to be on the rails, I ask you: Are you prepared to apologize for what you said about Ms Trahey's private information at that time?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Mr. Speaker, myself and the Minister of Finance sat with Dr. O'Shea and with Mr. Ritter last week. There was some toing and froing as to what has taken place in the past, but what we indicated, Mr. Speaker, is that we have to deal with the present. What the public of this Province is saying to us as a government is that they want to, as best we can within the fiscal framework within which we work, reach a deal with the doctors.

So, Mr. Speaker, we agreed last week that it is no good to go back and to regurgitate everything that has happened in the past; we have to deal with the present and the future. So, Mr. Speaker, last week we looked at the situation and we found that by discussing the present that it is much more productive, much more positive and perhaps more amenable to resolution.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: As for myself, Mr. Speaker, I spent twenty years in a courtroom and oftentimes I had to admit I was wrong. If in fact I am wrong, that is something I can admit and accept again, but at this point in time, Mr. Speaker, we are concentrating on trying to get a deal with the doctors, which is what the public wants.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank you.

It is very saddening, Mr. Speaker, to see that the minister only goes so far in his pronouncements of good faith and keeping things on track.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the House I asked the Premier to tell the people of this Province how much money Emera Energy of Nova Scotia will make transmitting power from Muskrat Falls to Soldier's Pond outside Holyrood. We know Emera will own 29 per cent of the transmission line coming across this Province. We also know that Emera will hold that interest for at least fifty years.

Why has government decided to privatize the transmission of power, when the people of Newfoundland spoke quite loudly and clearly some years ago on privatization of Hydro?

My question to the Premier is: How much money, including profit, will Emera Energy make on the backs of energy consumers here as a result of holding that 29 per cent sweetener which you gave them on the transmission cost; and why the extra sweetener for a company that is already getting thirty-five years of free energy?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, Emera Energy is buying $1.2 billion of energy from Newfoundland and Labrador over the next thirty-five years. They are getting 20 per cent – they are buying 20 per cent of the power from Muskrat Falls, so they will pay 20 per cent of the capital expenses, which is $1.2 billion; they will pay 20 per cent of the maintenance and operational costs of the whole generation and transmission of electricity, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, they will pay – that $1.2 billion translates into $95 megawatt hour escalating to $125 over the life of the contract. Mr. Speaker, let me point out that in -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

Does the hon. Premier have leave to continue her answer?

AN HON. MEMBER: No, Mr. Speaker.

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: That is fine, Mr. Speaker.

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

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate if the Premier does not know the rules of the House in terms of timelines in Question Period and cannot get her question. If she wants to give a speech she should do it elsewhere; this is Question Period.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Mr. Speaker, I ask the Premier, we know that the deal for Muskrat Falls is built on a number of premises; one of those is that energy demand here on the Island is increasing. Another is that the cost of energy at the thermal plant in Holyrood will far exceed that of energy at Muskrat Falls over the long-term. When we asked Nalcor officials for the figures and studies justifying those two assumptions we were told they could be found in the Nalcor filing made with the Public Utilities Board back in July. Well, Mr. Speaker, we have gone through the filings of Nalcor at the Public Utilities Board –

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the hon. member to pose his question now.

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

I ask the Premier: Given that information is not where Nalcor said it was, what information do you have or can you provide to the public to justify your assumption about the future energy needs of this Province?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the Public Utilities Board requires Nalcor to be able to forecast as accurately as they can the demand that the people of the Province will have for electricity not only today but into the future. They are required by law, by legislation – Nalcor is required by legislation, by law – not only to provide that information to the Public Utilities Board but to also provide the Public Utilities Board with the information that will show the Public Utilities Board how they are going to meet that demand.

Mr. Speaker, that information was provided to the Public Utility Board in July. What is unfortunate, Mr. Speaker, is despite the amount of information made available to the Opposition, they still do not seem to be any further enlightened.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

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

Well, I have to ask the Premier for another little piece of information now; because, as I say, the second assumption is about replacing Holyrood. We all know that we are giving Emera the sweet deal; we know there are no outside buyers for this energy yet. Now the taxpayers of Newfoundland are going to bear the sole burden as financers of the deal, it is going to increase our public debt by 50 per cent, and we are going to subsidize the cost of power to Nova Scotia. We know all of those things.

I ask the Premier: Where are the studies and the estimates which justify your claim that the Holyrood power is more expensive than the high-cost energy you want to produce at Muskrat Falls?

Nobody has produced that information, Ms Premier, and I ask you: Where can we get it? Who can provide us with it? Because Nalcor certainly has not provided it to us - or the government.

AN HON. MEMBER: You are not getting your money's worth out of (inaudible).

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, let me say, first of all, that it is absolutely scandalous that a former Cabinet minister under the Grimes Administration, who should be more than familiar with Holyrood, with the generation deficits that are forecast there, Mr. Speaker, who should be fully aware of the environmental impact of thermal generation, would not have any more information than he is demonstrating here today about the need for replacement of Holyrood, or how we are going to do that, and what kinds of costs are going to be involved in that, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we understand the cost of trying to fix Holyrood into the future, which means we have to have significant pieces of work –

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the hon. Premier to answer her question now.

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We would have to spend well over - almost $1 billion to fix Holyrood to a degree that it had at least a minimal effect on the environment, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

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

It was not a tough question. All we are saying is give us the information. Do not get up in the House of Assembly and spout off that you ought to know where to find it; you are aware of this. This is your project, I say to the government. Where is the information to justify the simple question? We do not want any rhetoric. The people here would like to see your facts and your figures.

Mr. Speaker, within days of the Muskrat Falls announcement the former Premier, CEO of Nalcor, and members of the Innu Nation, were in Ottawa for meetings with the federal government. I understand these meetings were to discuss the unresolved issues which the Innu have with the federal government - they have been ongoing for some years - as well as the possibility of securing some financing, possibly loan guarantees for the Muskrat Falls deal. That was some two weeks ago. We have not heard anything back.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the hon. member to phrase his question now.

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Yes, Mr. Speaker.

My question for the Premier is: What happened at those meetings? Were they successful or not? What is the outcome? Is there any kind of update you can give to the people as to where that is going?

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, that question is more appropriately asked to the Innu and to the federal government. I am happy to stand in this House and say today that we have successfully concluded our negotiations with the Innu and we look forward to ratification of what we have negotiated with them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: What the Innu came to us to say, Mr. Speaker, is: We are very satisfied with our negotiations with the provincial government. We have such a level of trust, because of those negotiations over two years, that we are asking you to come with us, to support us, as we go to the federal government to ask that our land claims be settled.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

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

I am absolutely shocked! It was only up to yesterday that the Premier was the Minister of Natural Resources - and she does not know what was going on at the Ottawa meetings? My God, does she expect the people of this Province to believe that? In twenty-four hours they forgot what happened on a file.

Anyway, Mr. Speaker, I have one more question for the Premier here. Mr. Chris Montague, the President of the – excuse me, the Minister of Labrador Affairs might like to help me with the pronunciation.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank you.

NunatuKavut; I stand to be corrected. It is not my native tongue, and I will practice on it the best I can, but the bottom line is Mr. Chris Montague asked the government, and made it quite clear at the announcement downtown of the Muskrat Falls, why there was no consultation. The Premier is on the record as saying there was consultation.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the hon. member to pose his question.

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: I wonder if the Premier could clarify: Was there or was there not any consultation with Mr. Montague and his group; and, if not, do you intend to engage them in proper consultations?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, what I said was that consultation takes place during the environmental assessment, which has been registered - the panel is in place, it is taking place – and, Mr. Speaker, during that process all people who have a view, have a stake, have something to say, have an opportunity to be engaged. Mr. Montague will be engaged and NunatuKavut will be engaged; and, Mr. Speaker, we have provided, through Nalcor, substantial funding to them so that they can get the proper research done and have a comprehensive response to the development of Muskrat Falls.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. DEAN: Mr. Speaker, we all remember last year during the crab fishery dispute, when some harvesters called for the right to land their catches in this Province to sell to outside processors. As we all know, such a practice is contrary to our processing regulations. In light of that, Mr. Speaker, I was surprised to hear reports just yesterday from the Bay of Islands about herring being landed and then trucked out of this Province for processing. I am given to understand the situation is affecting employment at two processing plants in that region.

My question for the minister is this: Minister, have you give permission for herring to be shipped out of this Province for processing in this one particular case and, if so, why? If you have not given permission, are you aware of this situation and what can we expect you to do about it?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, at this time of the year it is not the first time that this has been done. At the request of the industry, that exemption has been granted in the past and it is continued this year up until I believe it is probably to the end of this month, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. DEAN: Mr. Speaker, Hurricane Igor hit our Province on September 21, 2010, and devastated many homes and communities. Since then, people have been trying to get their lives back on track. I understand some 1,500 claims have been sent in to this government and approximately 200 people affected have received cheques. It is now two weeks before Christmas, and many people are still not back in their homes after waiting close to three months.

I ask the minister to explain to the people of the Province the reason for this inordinate delay to process and update on these claims, including how much longer these people will have to wait to get a cheque in their hands.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: Mr. Speaker, I am very happy to get the question because it gives me an opportunity to thank all the people in regard to FES-NL, Transportation and Works, and Human Resources, Labour and Employment with regard to how they have reacted to an unprecedented –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: - event in Newfoundland and Labrador. We are moving through the claims process as fast and as quickly as we can, unprecedented in regard to other events that happened in our past, one being Badger. We are still trying to work out the details, Mr. Speaker, because of poor accounting, poor processing in regard to the claims themselves.

The people really who should be commended here in this event are the people who were affected. As Randy Simms said to me on Open Line one morning, the people of FES-NL must be doing a great job in regard to reacting to the people's needs in the various areas across the Province because I am not getting any calls. I rest my case on that, Mr. Speaker. We are moving as quickly as we possibly can, and continue to do so.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. DEAN: Mr. Speaker, I always knew the Open Line had a great impact in this Province, but I did not realize it was to that extent. Mr. Speaker, just this morning we heard the Reverend Eric Squires expressing frustration in the media about families in the Catalina area who are falling between the cracks, as he phrased it. These families do not qualify for government or non-profit assistance to provide repairs to their homes.

I ask the minister again: Is he aware of this? Has he been in touch with those people or the Reverend to hear first-hand about this hurt, devastation, and loss of hope, and, more importantly, to find ways to provide much needed assistance to these people?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O'BRIEN: Mr. Speaker, in regard to the FES-NL, I gave direction to FES-NL some time ago to make sure that we are in constant contact with the affected people in regard to their homes, their lives, and everything else that they are dealing with in regard to this unprecedented event. We are making 135 calls a day in regard to the claims that we have received. We have actually made over 2,000 calls in November alone. We keep in constant contact with them.

As for Reverend Squires, Reverend Squires is certainly right in what he is saying in regard to there has not been a lot of response in regard to the not-for-profit organizations; the uptake is not as great as we expected. We have been working with them as well, to identify areas that they can actually help those homeowners that are not covered under the federal program in the guidelines that we have to follow in regard to reacting to this event.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. BUTLER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The need for long-term care is a concern for all areas of the Province, as there is a serious lack of chronic care beds. In June of this year, government built and opened a new long-term care facility in Corner Brook, but recent reports stated it is woefully understaffed. Family members from the area are telling horror stories about the care their parents are receiving. Patients have been found on the floor, Mr. Speaker; others have been sitting in their own feces for hours. This is from a government that has constantly touted its strategic planning.

I ask the minister: What is your government doing to fix this mess, and make sure it does not happen again?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The Corner Brook long-term care facility, which is a 236 bed facility, opened June 21, 2010. In fact, Mr. Speaker, the permanent staff at the home has increased by thirty-eight members. I am aware, as the member opposite points out, that between July 15 and September 23 there were a number of open forums in which people outlined their concerns. I know that there was another meeting recently, Mr. Speaker, on November 16 or 20.

I met with the CEO of Western Health last week, Susan Gillam. I discussed with Ms Gillam what steps were being taken out there to improve the operational aspects of the home, to address the issues raised by the residents. Mr. Speaker, Ms Gillam is in constant contact with the staff members. What I indicated that day, Mr. Speaker, is that the government is here, the department is here, to fully support Ms Gillam as she tries to fix up whatever problems are there, and if there are staffing issues required we will certainly provide them in this year's budget.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. BUTLER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This facility is not the only facility with staffing issues. Just last week we received a call from a member of the staff at Hoyles-Escasoni telling us about the poor treatment their patients are receiving. There are not enough staff, there are not enough lifts, seniors are spending their days in bed because they do not have enough staff and resources to get them out, and the list goes on.

I ask the minister: Why are our most vulnerable beings treated this way by this government?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One of the reasons this year that we embarked upon the long-term care strategy consultation sessions was to find out exactly what is going on out there from families who have members in these facilities, and also to hear from staff members.

Mr. Speaker, we held approximately twenty sessions in nineteen communities throughout the Province; I had six roundtable consultations with various groups. Mr. Speaker, we have taken all the information we heard, we are correlating it now, and we are trying to determine how it will fit into development of the strategy.

To give you an example, Mr. Speaker, of how we are responding, Debbie Forward, the president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Nurses' Union, met with me, and indicated that she felt that the skill mix was not appropriate. What we did, Mr. Speaker, as a government, is indicate to Ms Forward that we are interested in working with the nurses, and I have actually ordered a skill mix review to address some of the issues raised by them.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

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

Mr. Speaker, on August 2, I was shocked to hear the Minister of Education announce he was closing the School for the Deaf, especially since he said in the House on May 27 he had no plans to do so. Mr. Speaker, this terrible decision has devastated the deaf community of this Province.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister of Education: Will he stand in this House, in the presence of representatives of that community, acknowledge his mistake, reverse his decision, and make a firm commitment to honour the rights of deaf children in this Province?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KING: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the member opposite for her question and I welcome people in the gallery who are here today and have a vested interest in this topic.

The fact of the matter is, first of all, government did not make a policy decision to close the School for the Deaf. The School for the Deaf was closed because of a number of factors. Predominantly, Mr. Speaker, it was because of parental choice and student choice: that they wanted to be integrated into other school systems where they could be with their peers and they could access more opportunity for socialization, better co-curricular and extracurricular activities, and perhaps most importantly, Mr. Speaker, better educational programs that will better prepare them for the future.

Mr. Speaker, if there is any acknowledgement here of where my position is, it is that I made a decision with government to support the students who are currently in the system based on what they felt were the needs and interests that they wanted to pursue.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

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

I will just point out to the minister that I, too, have read the many letters that he has received with information showing that it was government policy that led to the closure of the school.

Mr. Speaker, the right of deaf children to be educated in their own language – American Sign Language –and culture is protected by Canada's Constitution and United Nations Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Rights of the Child, to both of which Canada is a signatory.

Mr. Speaker, government provides for the francophone children of the Province to be educated in their own language as it should; yet, the minister has chosen to take this right from deaf children.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister why he has walked all over the rights of the deaf children of this Province, and what is he going to do to undo this injustice?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Education.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KING: Mr. Speaker, on many occasions in the last four months I have heard the member opposite be very nasty and very personal towards me on Open Line stations and otherwise, even in this House today where she is heckling me now when I am trying to answer the question.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to speak directly to you, and I am going to ignore the perspective being proposed opposite. What I will say to you, Mr. Speaker, is that everybody in society has rights, not just one particular community.

With the greatest respect to the letters and the positions articulated by the member opposite, let me tell you that I could hold up lots and lots of letters, and they are from students currently in the system, who say to me: I do not want my right to go to school with my friends taken away because somebody who attended that school twenty years ago feels I ought not to do so. So, Mr. Speaker, I stand here today defending the rights of the students who are currently - currently - being educated in the system.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The time allotted for questions and answers has expired.

Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.

Tabling of Documents.

Tabling of Documents

MR. SPEAKER: In accordance with subsection 43(4) of the House of Assembly Accountability, Integrity and Administration Act, I am informing the House today that the Audit Committee did not recommend an auditor to be appointed by the Management Commission to audit the 2009-2010 accounts of the Legislature before the March 31 end of that fiscal year. Therefore, the Auditor General has audited the accounts of the Legislature for that particular year.

Further tabling of documents?

Notices of Motion.

Notices of Motion

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Municipal Affairs.

MR. O'BRIEN: Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Municipalities Act, 1999. (Bill 43)

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motion?

The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

MR. KENNEDY: Mr. Speaker, I give notice that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Licensed Practical Nurses Act, 2005. (Bill 41)

Mr. Speaker, I also give notice that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Regional Health Authorities Act. (Bill 42)

MR. SPEAKER: Further notices of motion?

Answers to Questions for which Notice has been Given.

Petitions.

Petitions

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

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

I will read the prayer of the petition. I think that is the practice that we have to do here.

WHEREAS Coley's Point Primary is a wooden structure built in the early 1960s; and

WHEREAS a consultant's report recommended that a new school be built to replace Coley's Point Primary; and

WHEREAS the student population is increasing yearly and constitutes a system of K-3; and

WHEREAS this forty-nine-year-old wooden structure should be replaced for the safety of both staff and students;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, call upon Members of the House of Assembly to urge government to take action and proceed with the construction of a new primary school at Coley's Point.

Mr. Speaker, having said that on behalf of those residents, I want to say that, no doubt about it, this forty-nine-year-old structure has served the residents of that area over that period to the fullest degree. We hear announcements on new schools being built in different areas, and rightly so. We hear of major changes coming to the school systems here in the greater St. John's area.

Mr. Speaker, in that particular area those people are asking that government would consider the construction of this new school based on a consultant's report. I know full well that the board itself supported the recommendations from the consultant's report, and we had hoped that something would have gone forward to see this take place.

Mr. Speaker, also in the particular area, I guess why they are asking for it is not only because of the age of the building. We know the space is not available for the amount of children that attend that school, which is increasing on a yearly basis. Only a couple of years ago students had to be moved; the Grade 4 students had to be moved into the Amalgamated Academy, which takes in Grade 5 to Grade 9. That is all fine, but still, this facility cannot carry out the numbers that are attending there from the K-4 system.

Mr. Speaker, I know just a couple of years ago there was an issue that had to be dealt with, with air quality. We are glad that was dealt with. I guess it was in the basement area of the building. That has been resolved, but this facility is an old facility. Hopefully, Mr. Speaker, government can see, in their wisdom, this year when the new Budget comes down, that this will be one that will be placed high on their priority list. I know it is high on their priority list, but we just want to hear that announcement that something will be done, Mr. Speaker.

On behalf of those residents, I say it is an honour and a pleasure to present this, yet another petition with regard to the construction of a new primary school for Coley's Point.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Further petitions?

Orders of the Day.

Orders of the Day

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

MS BURKE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the hon. Minister of Government Services, to ask leave to introduce a bill, An Act To Amend The Real Estate Trading Act, Bill 32, and I further move that the said bill be now read a first time.

MR. SPEAKER: It is properly moved and seconded that the hon. the Minister of Government Services shall have leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Real Estate Trading Act, Bill 32, and that Bill 32 be now read a first time.

Is it the pleasure of the House that the hon. minister shall leave to introduce Bill 32, and that this bill be now read a first time?

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

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

The motion is carried.

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Government Services to introduce a bill, "An Act To Amend The Real Estate Trading Act", carried. (Bill 32)

CLERK: A bill, An Act To Amend The Real Estate Trading Act. (Bill 32)

MR. SPEAKER: Bill 32 has now been read a first time.

When shall Bill 32 be read a second time?

MS BURKE: Tomorrow, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Tomorrow.

On motion, Bill 32 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

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

MS BURKE: Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the hon. Minister of Government Services, to ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Consumer Protection And Business Practices Act No. 2, Bill 33, and I further move that the said bill be now read a first time.

MR. SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that the hon. the Minister of Government Services shall have leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Consumer Protection And Business Practices Act No. 2, Bill 33, and that Bill 33 be now read a first time.

Is it the pleasure of the House that the hon. minister shall have leave to introduce Bill 33 and that this bill be now read a first time?

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

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

The motion is carried.

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Government Services to introduce a bill, "An Act To Amend The Consumer Protection And Business Practices Act No. 2", carried. (Bill 33)

CLERK: A bill, An Act To Amend The Consumer Protection And Business Practices Act No. 2. (Bill 33)

MR. SPEAKER: Bill 33 has now been read a first time.

When shall Bill 33 be read a second time?

MS BURKE: Tomorrow, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Tomorrow.

On motion, Bill 33 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

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

MS BURKE: Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the hon. Minister of Government Services, to ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Mortgage Brokers Act, Bill 34, and I further move that the said bill be now read a first time.

MR. SPEAKER: It is properly moved and seconded that the hon. the Minister of Government Services shall have leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Mortgage Brokers Act, Bill 34, and that Bill 34 be now read a first time.

Is it the pleasure of the House that the hon. minister shall have leave to introduce Bill 34 and that this bill be now read a first time?

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

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

The motion is carried.

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Government Services to introduce a bill, "An Act To Amend The Mortgage Brokers Act", carried. (Bill 34)

CLERK: A bill, An Act To Amend The Mortgage Brokers Act. (Bill 34)

MR. SPEAKER: Bill 34 has now been read a first time.

When shall the said bill be read a second time?

MS BURKE: Tomorrow, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Tomorrow.

On motion, Bill 34 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

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

MS BURKE: Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the hon. Minister of Government Services, to ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Public Safety Act, Bill 35, and I further move that the said act be now read a first time.

MR. SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that the hon. the Minister of Government Services shall have leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Public Safety Act, Bill 35, and that Bill 35 be now read a first time.

Is it the pleasure of the House that Bill 35 be now read a first time?

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

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

The motion is carried.

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Government Services to introduce a bill, "An Act To Amend The Public Safety Act", carried. (Bill 35)

CLERK: A bill, An Act To Amend The Public Safety Act. (Bill 35)

MR. SPEAKER: Bill 35 has now been read a first time.

When shall Bill 35 be read a second time?

MS BURKE: Tomorrow, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Tomorrow.

On motion, Bill 35 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

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

MS BURKE: Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the hon. Minister of Justice and Attorney General, to ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Judicature Act, Bill 36, and I further move that the said bill be now read a first time.

MR. SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that the hon. the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General shall have leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Judicature Act, Bill 36, and that this bill be now read a first time.

Shall the hon. minister have leave to introduce the said bill and it be now read a first time?

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

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

The motion is carried.

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General to introduce a bill, "An Act To Amend The Judicature Act", carried. (Bill 36)

CLERK: A bill, An Act To Amend The Judicature Act. (Bill 36)

MR. SPEAKER: Bill 36 has now been read a first time.

When shall Bill 36 be read a second time?

MS BURKE: On tomorrow, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Tomorrow.

On motion, Bill 36 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

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

MS BURKE: Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the hon. Minister of Justice and Attorney General, to ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Statutes Act, Bill 37, and I further move that the said bill be now read a first time.

MR. SPEAKER: It is properly moved and seconded that the hon. the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General shall have leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Statutes Act, Bill 37, and that Bill 37 be now read a first time.

Is it the pleasure of the House that the said minister shall have leave to introduce Bill 37 and that this bill be now read a first time?

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

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

The motion is carried.

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General to introduce a bill, "An Act To Amend The Statutes Act", carried. (Bill 37)

CLERK A bill, An Act To Amend The Statutes Act. (Bill 37)

MR. SPEAKER: Bill 37 has now been read a first time.

When shall Bill 37 be read a second time?

MS BURKE: On tomorrow, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Tomorrow.

On motion, Bill 37 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition on a point of order.

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Just for the record, Mr. Speaker, we do not have a copy of Bill 37. It is not a big issue. We are not going to get into any of this until Thursday anyway, but I just wanted to let the Government House Leader know that we do not have Bill 37, which is the normal procedure when you call it for first reading, I understand.

MR. SPEAKER: Just for information, our bills are usually distributed prior to second reading, I say to the hon. member. Normally, the House provides the bill prior to second reading. I think our Standing Orders state clearly that the bills are to be distributed prior to second reading. While members may have gotten the first reading of bills, that is fine, but the bills have to be distributed prior to second reading, according to the Standing Orders of the House.

The hon. the Government House Leader.

MS BURKE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the hon. Minister of Justice and Attorney General, to ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Remove Anomalies And Errors In The Statute Law, Bill 38, and I further move that the said bill be now read a first time.

MR. SPEAKER: It is moved and seconded that the hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General shall have leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Remove Anomalies And Errors In The Statute Law, Bill 38, and that Bill 38 be now read a first time.

Is it the pleasure of the House that Bill 38 be now read a first time?

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

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

The motion is carried.

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General to introduce a bill, "An Act To Remove Anomalies And Errors In The Statute Law", carried. (Bill 38)

CLERK: A bill, An Act To Remove Anomalies And Errors In The Statute Law. (Bill 38)

MR. SPEAKER: Bill 38 has now been read a first time.

When shall Bill 38 be read a second time?

MS BURKE: Tomorrow, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Tomorrow.

On motion, Bill 38 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

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

MS BURKE: Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the hon. Minister of Justice and Attorney General, to ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Justices And Public Authorities Protection Act, Bill 39, and I further move that the said bill be now read a first time.

MR. SPEAKER: It is properly moved and seconded that the hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General shall have leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Justices And Public Authorities Protection Act, Bill 39, and that Bill 39 be now read a first time.

Is it the pleasure of the House that the said minister shall have leave to introduce Bill 39, and that this bill be now read a first time?

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

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

The motion is carried.

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General to introduce a bill, "An Act To Amend The Justices And Public Authorities Protection Act", carried. (Bill 39)

CLERK: A bill, An Act To Amend The Justices And Public Authorities Protection Act. (Bill 39)

MR. SPEAKER: Bill 39 has now been read a first time.

When shall Bill 39 be read a second time?

MS BURKE: Tomorrow, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Tomorrow.

On motion, Bill 39 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

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

MS BURKE: Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the hon. Minister of Government Services, to ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Consumer Protection And Business Practices Act No. 3, Bill 40, and I further move that the said bill be now read a first time.

MR. SPEAKER: It is properly moved and seconded that the hon. the Minister of Government Services shall have leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Consumer Protection And Business Practices Act No. 3, Bill 40, and that the said bill be now read a first time.

Is it the pleasure of the House that the minister shall have leave to introduce Bill 40 and that this bill be now read a first time?

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

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

The motion is carried.

Motion, the hon. the Minister of Government Services to introduce a bill, "An Act To Amend The Consumer Protection And Business Practices Act No. 3", carried. (Bill 40)

CLERK: A bill, An Act To Amend The Consumer Protection And Business Practices Act No. 3. (Bill 40)

MR. SPEAKER: Bill 40 has now been read a first time.

When shall Bill 40 be read a second time?

MS BURKE: Tomorrow, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: Tomorrow.

On motion, Bill 40 read a first time, ordered read a second time on tomorrow.

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

MS BURKE: Mr. Speaker, I call from the Order Paper, under Orders of the Day, No. 2, Address in Reply.

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

MR. FRENCH: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, first, before I get into Address in Reply, it certainly would be remiss of me if I did not compliment our current Premier. I was delighted to see her take on the role. It had the endorsement of all our caucus, Mr. Speaker, and I guess it -

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH: It certainly speaks to the team on this side, Mr. Speaker. She was our obvious choice and has acted as Deputy Premier for the last number of years, and is certainly very fitting in the role. I can say with some assurance - obviously, it was highlighted about the fact that she is the first woman to ever take on that role. It is amazing here now in the House, actually, as we look around; the Leader of the Opposition is a woman, and the Leader of the NDP is a woman. I just think, as a Province, Mr. Speaker, we are at the leading edge in the country and it is a remarkable feat at last, for all these years - and I am sure the Premier could tell you a lot more stories about some of the barriers that have been placed in front of women.

I can speak for my own house, Mr. Speaker. I can certainly say that it was a fairly proud house where I am from, living with my mother, my wife and my eleven-year-old daughter; I can tell you, they were more than proud the day she was sworn in as Premier, and certainly delighted. I was reminded of it when I got home as well, how much it meant to them to see the first woman appointed as Premier of our Province.

I also want to congratulate Mr. David Brazil, and welcome him to the team. I know Dave is going to play an active role. Dave is replacing a very good colleague of ours, the late Dianne Whalen who, unfortunately, passed away. I know Dave has big shoes to fill, but I know he is up to the task. We are more than happy to have him on the team. He will get to have his say and argue and grumble and complain like all the rest of us and we will welcome it with open arms, Mr. Speaker, and think nothing of it. Again, I certainly want to welcome Dave to the team and to congratulate our current Premier.

Mr. Speaker, just speaking to the piece on teams, I guess it is something that we have been doing and concentrating hard on since we first got elected as a government, and that is engaging people. We spent quite a bit of time doing consultations at all different levels, right across the Province – sometimes unfairly criticized, I might add. Looking at it now, it is probably a little bit of our own fault why we do get some criticism sometimes because maybe we do not promote the fact that we do as much consultation as we do in the various industries throughout the Province.

Of course, I am very much involved with the tourism industry, and I can just tell you a little bit about the tourism industry and how that works, and how this is an industry-driven plan that we have. It is not a government-driven plan; it is very much an industry-driven plan. It has been created to be industry-driven. It is working very, very successfully. Sure, we have doubled the investment in tourism over the last number of years, but really the plan, Mr. Speaker, comes from the ground up.

I can tell you that when we did the Tourism Vision, one of the things that came out of the Tourism Vision was the fact that we should have a tourism board, and this board should be made up of a number of different representatives. It should be made up of government representatives, of course. People who are experts in marketing and have been around the tourism industry for a long, long time understand the barriers, understand the way we can have success in the industry. That is one point, Mr. Speaker.

Then we created these Destination Marketing Organizations, Mr. Speaker. The rationale behind Destination Marketing Organizations – which we are now going to move to destination management organizations, as I will explain very, very shortly – is that at one point in this Province we had twenty-eight regional marketing organizations. We had spoken to federal counterparts who thought that was just too many to fund; and to be totally frank with you, Mr. Speaker, some of these groups were doing better jobs than others. Many of them were run by volunteers; some of them had some paid staff on and managed to scrape and scrimp to get people there. So, Mr. Speaker, we realize the importance of building the team out in the regions that can market the region and now can get involved in the product development of that region and the co-ordination of tourism in the various areas.

As a matter of fact, one of the things that we have done already when it comes to a quality control piece and an information piece is that we are now tying the regional Destination Marketing Organizations' home pages, computers and so on, into the provincial one. Eventually, Mr. Speaker, you will come to Newfoundland and Labrador on the Web and you will be able to explore every region of the Province. We are certainly delighted about that.

We have all kinds of information and records to talk about, but really, Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to point out that this is very much an industry-driven success that we have been having. I have to take my hat off to the many ambassadors we have out there. Right now I am a believer that the people of Newfoundland and Labrador all are ambassadors for our Province, because I always point out that no matter where you go in Newfoundland and Labrador now and you run into a tourist, you like to take the time to have a chat with them, to inform them of nice places to go, to be part of their experience. It does not matter which wharf you walk on in Newfoundland and Labrador right now, Mr. Speaker, you will find someone who will give you a helping hand.

It brings me to this, too, one of my favourite stories of the summer. I ran into two women who had come from Ontario. I found out they were tourists, in the Deer Lake airport, and decided that I just had to ask them how they ended up here. Of course, their first comment was: well, the reason I ended up here was because of the ads, I had to come see it. They had been here for, I think it was seven or nine days, I cannot quite remember what it was. They started to laugh, telling me about some of the experiences they had; which were very serious in the first case, however, it turned into a great story.

They had been driving up the Northern Peninsula and had run out of gas after a couple of days there. They were two women, they were sitting in their car, and it was late in the evening. They were not really sure what they were going to do, until a truck pulls in behind them and someone taps on their window. She said I dropped the window about an inch; I was not quite sure what to expect. A gentleman's nose sticks in and he said: Are you out of gas? She said, I believe so; I am not sure, but I think so. He said I will look after it for you. He goes back to his truck, he had a gas can, he put whatever he had into the car and she drove away. Her comment to me, Mr. Speaker, was that does not happen on the 401. I said, no, I believe that. I have not spent a lot of time on the 401 but I have driven on it. I can assure you, she was telling me no lie when she told me that did not happen on the 401.

She continued her story, and the two ladies were actually bubbling with the week they had, or the nine days they had had. The night before they had been coming back down the Peninsula and decided to stop at a restaurant. They were discussing, having a great chat about what was on the menu. They were not quite sure what to have. One of the appetizers they had talked about ordering, the lady next door to them ordered. They were very curious to see how this was prepared and how it came out. Throughout the meal and waiting for their appetizer they kept talking about it. The lady a couple of tables over must have heard them. When she received her appetizer, of course, they were watching to see how it looked and how it was prepared. She took the plate, after eating off it for five minutes, and came over to their table and sat down and insisted that they try the appetizer that the lady next door had ordered. Of course, they quickly said no, no, God no, I cannot; but the lady insisted and stayed at their table and told them she was not going to leave until they sampled her appetizer. Mr. Speaker, again, she responded to me: that does not happen in Toronto. I said, no, that probably does not happen in Toronto.

Mr. Speaker, that is the kind of people we have in this Province. That is the kind of thing that is happening out there. That was just two experiences that these two, now ambassadors for Newfoundland and Labrador, are telling to hundreds of people in Ontario. So, you have to thank the people of this Province for taking up the tourism call, for ringing the tourism bell and being part of this industry, and it is going a long, long way.

Mr. Speaker, we have had some great news in the tourism industry. Our air passenger traffic this year is up 6.5 per cent over previous years. Phenomenal, phenomenal, Mr. Speaker. Our cruise ship industry, the number of ports of call is up 24 per cent, and our cruise ship visitors are up 37 per cent. Now, Mr. Speaker, if you recall the year previous to 2009, the world economy took a significant downturn, and we felt it here in Newfoundland but we felt it from the cruise ship industry. Even though we increased our tourism numbers, the only area that we went down in was in the cruise ship industry. Mr. Speaker, as I spoke about earlier in my member's statement, that is one area now that is on the rebound significantly, and I certainly believe we are headed in the right direction. Our tourism board, again, has done what they can to make sure that this does not go south on us, and of course it is increasing rapidly.

Our occupancy rates, again, are up 2 per cent, Mr. Speaker, over previous years. I could go on forever. I always love to tell the stories about the people I run into and people you talk to. Just recently - I could speak for twenty minutes on conventions alone here in this Province and what it has done, and the way things are unfolding in conventions here in the Province.

I would like to talk to you a little bit about this Canadian Press article, Mr. Speaker, that I have here. It was written – because I know the people in Hansard will torment me at some point looking for it. It was actually a piece that was in The Telegram from the Canadian Press, on Monday, November 29, Mr. Speaker. It says – this was written about the record number of conventions in St. John's – "The chance to blend business with a bit of adventure is drawing record numbers of convention goers to St. John's, NL, where even the most buttoned-down crowd can have some fun.

"It doesn't hurt that this colourful seaside city on the eastern edge of Canada welcomes conference delegates with warmth and cosmopolitan flair." Whoever thought they would consider Newfoundland and Labrador with cosmopolitan flair. We have come a long way, Mr. Speaker, and it is looking better all the time.

"It boasts an array of top-notch restaurants, a rocking nightlife and features some of the friendliest cabbies on the planet. Shop owners frequently display City of St. John's window posters announcing the latest big meeting in town.

"So it's perhaps little wonder that the capital of The Rock, population 100,000, is bucking national tourism trends."

Mr. Speaker, they are interviewing here a gentleman from the Canadian Bar Association, which held its national legal conference in St. John's twice since 1998, and plan again to have it here in 2014. This is Chief Executive Officer John Hoyles, and I will just quote what he has to say, Mr. Speaker. "There was just a very special atmosphere that you don't get anywhere else. I guess the one word I would use is warmth." Mr. Speaker, again that is what our people offer to our visitors here in this Province. Just to give you a few little statistics on conventions here in the last little while. The capital region attracted an average of eighty-four conventions – those accounting for fifty or more guest rooms per night with the number of delegates and room nights averaging 18,800 and 41,300 respectively, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, just to go down through some of the statistics that we have, in 2006, seventy-seven meetings and conventions booked at least fifty delegates with 19,000 delegates and 40,400 room nights. In 2008, we had seventy-eight meetings and conventions with 16,000 delegates and 42,000 room nights. In 2009, eighty-one meetings and conventions with 17,500 delegates and 36,800 room nights. Mr. Speaker, room nights are expected to increase by 14 per cent this year over the 2009 level. Mr. Speaker, that is the kind of thing that is happening in our tourism industry, taking off in leaps and bounds to say the least.

I could go on; there are a couple of more pieces that I would like to speak to, Mr. Speaker, one of which was written by – I have a quote here from Jeff Anderson from Parks Canada talking a little bit about Rocky Harbour and, of course, Gros Morne National Park.

I would like to read a little bit of the Western Star, Mr. Speaker, published on October 29, 2010. "Rocky Harbour – Its stunning beauty and hundreds of kilometres of hiking trails and welcoming towns bring people from all over the world to Gros Morne National Park. It tops many people's lists as a favourite vacation destination and now the park is the Province's top spot and one of the country's top 11 places to go in a recreation vehicle… The results came from the top 100 spots to RV in Canada contest put out by Go RVing Canada, the Recreation Vehicle Dealers Association of Canada and the Canadian Tourism Commission." Mr. Speaker, the contest focused on RV enthusiasts across the country and allowed Canadians to submit their favourite spot to RV camp in Canada.

I will just leave you with a quote from Jeff Anderson – he is a superintendent; actually, I believe I have met Jeff in my travels this past summer. "Here in Gros Morne Parks Canada prides itself on facilitating amazing experiences for our guests from around the world."

Mr. Speaker, we are not talking about our neighbours any more and tending to our neighbours which we have done down through the years, down through centuries. What we now are doing, Mr. Speaker, is giving that same warmth and that same feeling to people, not only within our country, but indeed throughout the world, Mr. Speaker. That is something we should all be very proud of in this House, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, it would be remiss of me, I guess, if I did not talk about probably the biggest award we have received here in this Province in quite some time. It is one that has gained – I cannot remember the value but I did see it one time, it should be several million of dollars worth of ad value when it comes to the recognition we have gotten from this one particular award. Mr. Speaker, that award is – it was the Avalon Peninsula that won the award – for the top coastal destination by National Geographic Traveler. Mr. Speaker, that was in the November issue of the National Geographic Traveler magazine and they rated ninety-nine coastal tourism destinations in the world. Mr. Speaker, it is pretty phenomenal some of the places that we beat out.

In the competition were places like Wales, New Zealand, Hawaii, Italy, Australia, and even other provinces within our own country, Mr. Speaker, but they thought that Newfoundland and Labrador is certainly the place to be.

Mr. Speaker, this international publication recognizes scenic beauty and authentic experiences that make Newfoundland and Labrador a highly desirable travel destination. That is something we are very, very proud of. Like I said, although we have our offshore oil and so on, Mr. Speaker, and we are making great strides in that area, we have also maintained our cultural and our heritage lifestyles, and our facilities.

Again, it is something that I am very, very proud of. There are many, many not-for-profit groups, and there are many, many for-profit businesses out there that have taken the industry to the next level. You are now being offered a top-notch meal; you are offered a top-notch service, and an authentic experience, Mr. Speaker, that you do not find everywhere. That is why people are taking the time to come here.

Of course, Mr. Speaker, we have won a hundred awards in our advertising campaign now, national, international, and local awards through Atlantic Canada. One recently was a gold CASSIES, which is the Canadian Advertising Success Stories; we have won nine Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International awards, the HSMAI; we have won seventeen Atlantic Regional Innovation Creativity and Enterprise awards, the ICE Awards; a Cannes International Advertising award for Ancient Land, which was the tenth chapter in our ten chapters right now of highlighting our tourism across the globe.

Let me just say, Mr. Speaker, we have some more interesting ones in the can; there are some great ideas building. Look forward in the coming months to some new ads, some great ads that are going to highlight our people and our place of being right here in the Province, and promote us as a destination that people anywhere in the world would like to come.

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, one of the things that is talked about a lot when we talk about our tourism and how well we have promoted tourism and how our tourism numbers are doing; it is not to be lost where a lot of that comes from. A lot of that comes from our culture and from our heritage, Mr. Speaker.

I guess to summarize: What we have done as a government, the leadership that this government has had over the last eight, nine years, Mr. Speaker, is that previous ministers and previous Cabinets had the foresight to see where this was going and quickly realized and quickly supported it, our cultural and our heritage industries to enhance our tourism. Cultural tourism, Mr. Speaker, is probably one of the places that this Province is going, and going in a hurry. That is why we have taken programming money from $3 million, what it was when we took over government in 2003, to today, Mr. Speaker, it is a $9 million annualized investment into the cultural heritage industries in this Province. That continues to enhance it, continues to promote our tourism. I believe, Mr. Speaker, that we are certainly headed on the right track.

I cannot forget the promotions that we did during the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Vancouver. We were there with ninety of our artists performing on an international stage, night after night. Some performed every single night; we had others perform intervals throughout the show. Atlantic Canada House, we partnered with our other cousins from Atlantic Canada. Mr. Speaker, I think today the announcement that we had in the private member's statement is because of the promotion that we did during the Olympic and Paralympic winter games.

As well, of course, we followed up from that. We had the JUNOS here in our Province. I think, Mr. Speaker, we invested $1.1 million into the JUNOS. Our return on investment, Mr. Speaker, is believed to be $12.8 million.

Mr. Speaker, these are the kinds of strategic investments as a Province that we have made over the last several years, when it comes to our tourism product. The bang we have received for our buck is unbelievable, Mr. Speaker.

I could go on. The Cupids 400 celebration cost this Province - $5.3 million was our total investment. We are being told that the project revenue from that is $15 million -

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

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

MR. FRENCH: Just to clue up, Mr. Speaker, if I could.

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

AN HON. MEMBER: By leave.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Tourism, by leave.

MR. FRENCH: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I certainly will clue up because I realize others have some issues they want to speak about as well.

I just want to say that, as a government, we have consulted with the people over the last seven or eight years. We have spent quite a bit of time doing it. We believe in building our different industries, as the tourism industry, from the ground up. We are now doing other work, Mr. Speaker, with groups like outfitters and so on, and we will continue to work with the residents of this Province.

I am a believer - as I know our government believes - that it is the way governments operate and should run: building industries from the ground up and getting advice from the people who mark their X's. Mr. Speaker, we believe in that, and we are going to continue to do that.

Thank you very much.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS POTTLE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It gives me great pleasure to stand here with my colleagues today in this hon. House and offer my Address in Reply to the 2010 Speech from the Throne.

Before I begin my address, I would like to take a few moments to offer my sincere condolences to the family and friends of the late Dianne Whalen, a remarkable woman who added a wealth of knowledge and experience to this government. Dianne was dedicated, hard-working and had a great sense of humour, Mr. Speaker. Many times she had us laughing, in tears, telling her funny personal moments. Even as she battled her own fight with cancer, Dianne continued to work very hard in Cabinet and for her constituents. She is very much missed. We were blessed to have known her and have worked alongside her.

Mr. Speaker, we know that cancer has affected so many people and so many families across our Province. I would like to also offer my thoughts and prayers to the Leader of the Official Opposition as she wages her own personal war against the dreaded disease. She, too, is a very strong woman who dearly loves Labrador and her District of Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair.

Mr. Speaker, in the 2010 Speech from the Throne government stated, "…our province is moving forward with incredible momentum and unshakeable optimism into a new era of self-reliance full of the kinds of opportunities for which generations of our people have long strived."

I believe much of our progress can be attributed to this government under the great leadership and legacy of former Premier Danny Williams. As we continue to move forward under our new Premier, the first female Premier of our Province, a very proud moment for all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and especially for the women of our Province, I am confident that we will continue to make the right investments for today, the right investments for our children, and the right investments for our future.

Danny Williams was indeed a great Premier. His legacy included so much. We could be here all evening talking about what this government did during his term; however, I would like to take a moment to mention a number of items that meant a lot to me as an Aboriginal woman and a person of Labrador. Premier Williams was captivated by the Big Land, he showed his commitment time and time again. He did not wait for the Lower Churchill to be announced, he knew Labrador had serious infrastructure issues, and even more serious social issues. Through such initiatives like the Poverty Reduction Strategy and the Northern Strategic Plan for Labrador, we have seen transportation, education, and health care infrastructure improved to unprecedented levels.

Closer to myself, personally, I was very impressed with Premier Williams approach and policies toward Aboriginal people throughout this Province. I was there in August 2009 when this government addressed a wrongdoing from governments past. In a very emotional ceremony, then Premier Danny Williams, along with the Minister of Labrador Affairs, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation, President Lyall, and with close to fifty former residents, we unveiled a plaque in the former community of Hebron commemorating the forced relocation of the people of that region - a very moving and memorable moment for me indeed.

Prior to the ceremony in January 2005 - and I recall it was a very cold, cold Labrador day - Premier Williams offered an official and very moving apology to the residents of Nutak and Hebron for closing their communities in 1956 and 1959. I remember being in that school gymnasium in Nain, that was packed, and Premier Williams delivered his apology. His apology was accepted by the relocatees. It was very emotional, very empowering, and it will be with me forever, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, there is much more that can be referenced, including this Province that hosted the first ever National Aboriginal Women's Summit in Corner Brook in 2007. We continue to host annual Aboriginal women's gatherings and conferences in this Province for our own Aboriginal people here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The signing of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement, which saw the formation of Nunatsiavut in December of 2005, was also another historic moment for Premier Williams. I would also like to add that on December 1, just last week, the five Inuit communities on the North Coast of Labrador celebrated their fifth anniversary. They held celebrations and had community events such as a community feast, drum dancing, and Inuit games. They had parades and they celebrated with much pride for their fifth anniversary. As well, I would like to add that government hosted the first ever joint Cabinet meetings with Nunatsiavut this past October here in St. John's. Meetings that we all hope will become an annual event.

The signing of the New Dawn Agreement with the Innu of Labrador was particularly gratifying as it had allowed the Lower Churchill project to gain momentum with the historic signing of the Lower Churchill project this past November. It clearly demonstrated this government's commitment to the Aboriginal people of Labrador.

The Innu Nation has indicated that they would like to settle the land claims issues in principle with the federal government before proceeding with ratification of the New Dawn, and our government respects this perspective. The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has offered assistance to the Innu Nation to help them through the process of ratification. We have recently met with the new leadership of the Innu Nation. We feel we have positive discussions on these matters, and we look forward to continuing this dialogue with the Innu Nation and their people.

Mr. Speaker, when I first entered Cabinet, I felt a great need, not only to tell my fellow members of Cabinet of the challenges faced by the people of the Torngat Mountain district but I felt it necessary that they come and see it first-hand, meet the people, talk to the people on the ground. I am pleased to say that I have arranged for several visits by Cabinet colleagues who will tell you that after spending the best part of their day travelling in multiple aircraft, stepping foot into a remote Northern Labrador community can be a life-changing experience - and one I truly highly recommend.

I firmly believe that thanks to my efforts, we have a Cabinet that is better informed of the many concerns of Aboriginal people, including those who live in rural and remote communities, than any other Cabinet before.

Today, if I have a conversation with the Minister of Justice about the policing levels in the community of Postville, I know that he can better understand my views because he has been to Postville, he sat there and listened to the residents of the community, he understands the challenges of policing there and why they were desperately calling for it. I can say that for the majority of my Cabinet colleagues now on the various issues that face my region.

I think it is important to point out that the social and economic challenges faced by many people in Newfoundland and Labrador can often seem all that more profound in our Aboriginal communities. There are addiction issues, violence, emotional, physical and verbal abuse, and our women and children are usually the recipients of much of this abuse. In terms of violence, we know that in Canada Aboriginal women are three-and-a-half times more likely than non-Aboriginal women to be victims of violence, and some 75 per cent of sexual assault survivors in Aboriginal communities are young women under the age of eighteen. These are horrific standards by any measure. That is why the government I belong to is investing heavily in efforts to support and to end violence in Aboriginal communities, along with initiatives throughout the Province through our Violence Prevention Initiative. We are in year five of a six-year action plan, with an annual budget of some $2 million. Our community partners include Aboriginal women's organizations and governments, some ten regional co-ordinating committees against violence, and our many community organizations and service and community groups.

Sometimes when we are faced with a lot of the negative it can be difficult to focus on the positive, but there is much to be positive about in our Aboriginal communities. In my role as minister, I have had the privilege to see it first hand; for example, the ongoing implementation of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement and the signing of the Tshash Petapen, or New Dawn Agreement. An eventual completion of a land claims and self-government agreement with the Innu will provide Inuit and Innu with access to resource royalties and impact and benefits agreements. This will allow them to participate and benefit from economic development in their regions, improve social outcomes, and promote healthy Aboriginal communities.

Labrador is a region with nearly boundless potential for economic development, and my government is doing everything it can to make certain that development happens in a sustainable and responsible manner in consultation with the people of Labrador, including Aboriginal people and groups. We are a government that is making every effort to do open and effective consultations, which is why we are currently working to establish a consultation policy with Aboriginal peoples and groups.

There is much that is positive happening on the Island of Newfoundland as well. The provincial government enjoys a co-operative working relationship with the Federation of Newfoundland Indians and the Miawpukek First Nation of Conne River.

This past summer, Chief Sagamaw Joe of Conne River and the self-government negotiating team, met with the provincial Cabinet, including Premier Williams, to outline their aspirations toward self-government. This was an historic event, the first time the full Newfoundland and Labrador Cabinet had met with an Aboriginal organization in the Province; a truly proud moment for me, indeed, Mr. Speaker. This meeting was a testament to Sagamaw Joe's leadership and determination; a great man indeed.

The Mi'kmaq of Conne River has been recognized as a model Aboriginal community, and their annual powwow has received national acclaim as a first-rate attraction for travellers. They did again this past summer, host another great, very moving, amazing powwow in their community.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Newfoundland Indians continues to implement a landless band agreement with the federal government, which members voted to ratify in March of 2008. The establishment of the band is being delayed by the registration process, as the number of applications received greatly exceeded what was expected. However, the federal government and the FNI anticipate this process will be completed and the band formally established by the end of 2010.

Sometimes, Mr. Speaker, when I need inspiration as an Aboriginal woman, or as Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, or just as me, I think about my sisters in the Newfoundland Aboriginal Women's Network who are based in Central and Western Newfoundland, who are working very hard to rediscover and restore the culture and traditions of the Mi'kmaq. At a special ceremony, the women of NAWN honoured me with my very own spirit name, which I accepted with great pride. They are at the forefront of a great resurgence of Aboriginal culture in the Province. A visit to the summer powwows in Conne River and Flat Bay will certainly attest to the groundswell of interest and celebration of Aboriginal people in their unique cultures and traditions.

We have made tremendous progress in addressing Aboriginal issues in Newfoundland and Labrador, and the rest of Canada is noticing. This past September I had the great pleasure of attending a Women's Leadership Summit in Iqaluit, Nunavut. For me, personally, I was extremely honoured to represent the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Aboriginal women of this Province at such a prestigious gathering.

I was provided the chance to participate in a panel discussion of women and political leadership with an impressive lineup that included Eva Aariak, Premier of Nunavut, the hon. Leona Aglukkaq, Federal Minister of Health, and Mary Simon, President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. I also got to visit, Mr. Speaker, when I was up there, what is known as Angel Street. It was founded in Iqaluit to remember women of violence. So I was very pleased to have the opportunity to visit the original Angel Street here in our great Country of Canada. By any measure, that was an outstanding gathering of leaders that I sat with at the panel and I felt tremendous pride in the opportunity to speak about what was accomplished here in Newfoundland and Labrador under this Administration.

As minister, my role within government is to bring the Aboriginal lens to all activities of government that concern Aboriginal people. I believe it is an essential perspective, one that has proven results throughout Newfoundland and Labrador. For example, this government continues to support substantial efforts to stop violence against Aboriginal women and children. Some recent initiatives include: new funding for shelters in Hopedale, Rigolet and Nain; the expansion of the Family Justice Services in Labrador to serve Aboriginal coastal communities; and an increase of regular police presence in the community of Postville.

There was $125,000 in the current Budget to Aboriginal women in Labrador to help develop and deliver a series of capacity building workshops in the five Inuit communities on the North Coast of Labrador. These workshops will assist Aboriginal women to access programs and services that will result in real differences in their lives and allow them to share in available social and economic benefits.

The Newfoundland Aboriginal Women's Network was provided $100,000 in funding through Budget 2010 to address issues in their communities, such as poverty and violence, in ways that are culturally sensitive.

Aboriginal youth continue to benefit from the Suicide and Detrimental Lifestyles Grant Program, which is administered through Aboriginal Affairs. This program provides $100,000 in funding to Aboriginal organizations to develop innovative programs that are targeted at improving the well-being of Aboriginal youth throughout the Province.

In justice matters, Aboriginal leaders have clearly stated that they want a justice system that understands the unique circumstances of their people. Some initiatives that respond to that need include an Aboriginal interpretation project for Innu and Inuit communities, and the publication of Innu-aimun and Inuktitut glossaries in criminal law and family law. As well, the Innu Healing Path Program, in partnership with the Innu Nation, allows for the delivery of a more holistic and culturally responsive service to Innu involved in the criminal justice system by addressing underlying causes of criminal behaviour.

This government also recognizes that addressing the health needs of Aboriginal people can require a response that is sensitive to their unique circumstances and challenges. We have responded through the recent establishment of mental health case management services for individuals with serious mental illnesses, the hiring of an Aboriginal consultant for the Department of Health and Community Services, and improvement to dental services.

As one can see, the influence of the Aboriginal Affairs Branch is influencing policy and directives throughout government. For the fiscal year 2010-2011, notable Aboriginal Affairs initiatives identified in the Aboriginal Affairs grants section include $484,000 for implementation of the Labrador Inuit Land Claims Agreement, and the previously mentioned $100,000 to address suicide and detrimental lifestyles issues amongst Aboriginal youth through the Suicide and Detrimental Lifestyles Grant Program.

Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I would like to state that as a member of this government, and as Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, I am very proud of what has been accomplished throughout Newfoundland and Labrador for all of our citizens, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike. We are not a government to rest easily, and we will continue to work very hard in our efforts to be a leader in social and economic development.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is my pleasure to stand in the House today. In the last couple of weeks, there have been a lot of events in our Province, a lot of changes with our Party, but what you will see, Mr. Speaker, and what we will show the people of this Province over the next upcoming weeks and months is that we are steady, we are a team, and we will continue to do the work that we have been doing for the last seven years.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Mr. Speaker, one of the areas that we will continue to do that work is in the health care system. Mr. Speaker, the health care system is always subject to criticism. We heard the Leader of the Third Party engage in criticism yesterday, and so be it. As I explained, Mr. Speaker, in this House and in public on many occasions, as the Minister of Health, I am acutely aware of the impact of the health care system on people's lives. I am aware, Mr. Speaker, that when someone is waiting to have a procedure done, or someone has a bad experience in the hospital, then it is no good for me, as the Minister of Health, to argue: Well, look at what we are doing with all of the money we are putting into the health care system.

Mr. Speaker, there are two ways that the health care system functions - at least two ways, I suppose I could put it that way. One is on the very individual level. I know, Mr. Speaker, as a parent, as a child, as a husband myself that when I look at my own family's involvement in the health care system, as all of our families are, then it is much harder to be objective. What we have to try to do, Mr. Speaker, is to acknowledge the shortfalls in the system, recognize that there are areas that we can improve, and, very importantly, emphasize the good things that we are doing in this Province.

One of the difficulties, Mr. Speaker, and I will allude to this shortly, is when we talk billions of dollars, it is not something the average person relates to. So, when we say we are putting $2.7 billion into the health care system, people do not really have an idea what that means. Mr. Speaker, when we give $1,000 to a seniors' group and that seniors' group can take that $1,000, they can go on a field trip, or they can have a function, or they can engage in a wellness project, Mr. Speaker, that is a tangible example of how that $1,000 has an impact. So, to them, that $1,000 means more than the $2.7 billion simply as a result of the sheer, incomprehensible number that $2.7 billion is.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday we heard in the House of Assembly the Leader of the NDP talk about our health care system. Mr. Speaker, an interesting poll came out yesterday, and it is very interesting actually. It would be surprising to many. Angus Reid did a public opinion poll of people across this country as to the health care system. They published the report. It was done between February 2009 to November 2010, and it involved 55,501 randomly selected Canadian adults. Anyone who knows anything about polling - and I certainly do not profess, Mr. Speaker, to know anything about polling – that is a huge number of people.

Guess what, Mr. Speaker - and I have not even had a chance to inform my fellow members of the House yet with this. Just listen to the results for Newfoundland and Labrador and then compare that to what has been said by the Opposition and by the Third Party. Overall, Newfoundland and Labrador ranked third in the country for the delivery and maintenance of health care service just behind Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: When asked about the overall experience patients had when visiting a family doctor or general practitioner, Mr. Speaker, Newfoundland and Labrador tied for first in the country with Nova Scotia and Quebec.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: When people were asked about their experience in visiting specialists, Mr. Speaker, Newfoundland and Labrador was second in the country.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Mr. Speaker, when we got to people receiving advanced diagnostic tests such as MRIs or CAT scans, Newfoundland and Labrador, in terms of our people ranking the experience, ranked it at 92 per cent positive - tied for second in the country.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Mr. Speaker, when we got then to the overall positive experiences held by patients spending one or more nights at a hospital over the past two years, we were third in the country. Mr. Speaker, what I have done, I have outlined five categories where Newfoundland and Labrador ranked first in one, second or tied for second in two, or third and tied for third in two more. That is not a bad picture of what is going on with health care in this Province.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Now, do we have problems? Certainly, Mr. Speaker. Trying to fix up a health care system where you have – I think Eastern Health alone has 12,000 employees. Mr. Speaker, one area we did not rank too well in was in the emergency room satisfaction. I acknowledged that in the House of Assembly yesterday when the Leader of the Third Party asked me that question. We have to fix up the emergency rooms.

Where is the part of our system, Mr. Speaker, that the average person has the first contract? It is either the general practitioner's office - the family practitioner's office - or the emergency. Mr. Speaker, we have heard the dissatisfaction. On Friday of this week I will be having meetings in relation to, what can we do about fixing up emergency services?

I recently read an article in the paper, Mr. Speaker, something that they have done out west. What we are going to do - we are not going to reinvent the wheel here, Mr. Speaker - we are going to see what they have done in Ontario. We are going to see what they have done in BC. We are going to identify those best practices and we are going to avail of them, but we are not only going to do that in St. John's. We know there are pressures on the St. John's hospitals by the shear number of people. We are going to do it throughout the Province. Because that is what we do as a government, Mr. Speaker, we take a truly provincial approach. We listen to what the people of this Province have to say and then we try to incorporate into our governance what we hear.

Two examples I want to give you today, Mr. Speaker, are the long-term care and community support services strategy. Now my colleague, the Member for Ferryland and Parliamentary Secretary to the Department of Health, conducted a lot of these consultations, and I would like to recognize him here today, Mr. Speaker, for the great job that he did and say thank you to him.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: I know the member has a young family, and he got up, Mr. Speaker, and went throughout this Province and did a great job in listening and hearing what people had to say.

Now I had the opportunity myself, Mr. Speaker, to attend at least six or seven of these consultation sessions. The first one I did was with the House Leader, and also the MHA for Port au Port, out in Stephenville; a very informative session. I can remember clearly one of the family members coming forward and saying: we need some entertainment for our people in the home there in Bay St. George - which we toured that day.

AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).

MR. KENNEDY: Yes. Again, the great culture of the West Coast of Newfoundland, Mr. Speaker, and the Port au Port Peninsula, and we said: yes, that sounds like a good idea. They were saying, can you just have someone come in and tell a story every now and then, sing a song, do something to liven up their lives? I said that is a great idea, and we have identified a master storyteller and entertainer who we hope to be able to do that in the not too distant future.

Mr. Speaker, the next one I did was in Springdale. The MHA for Springdale was with me, but I will not get into that tour today, Mr. Speaker, because that was something else. The first day I had a Big Turk bar for supper; the member kept us going so much, but it was great to get out there and listen and talk to the people.

Mr. Speaker, there is this great program out there in Springdale, a senior's program, I think it is living for older adults or - I am looking at my colleague to try to get the actual name. Life for older adults or –

AN HON. MEMBER: Life Unlimited For Older Adults.

MR. KENNEDY: I do not know if I am supposed to do that, but anyway, Mr. Speaker, Life Unlimited For Older Adults. The shear enthusiasm and passion that this volunteer group brought to the table, Mr. Speaker, it is absolutely amazing the ideas coming from these people. Last year they were one out there - again, if I remember correctly, they got one of the age-friendly Newfoundland and Labrador either town or grants. I remember that, and secondly, there was a wellness grant. This is a group, Mr. Speaker - just think about how we do this as a government. Say if one of those grants are $30,000 - I am trying to remember exactly what this group is doing, but from a lot of these seniors' groups I heard, Mr. Speaker, were singing and dancing and bus tours and visiting and socializing.

When we look at the long-term care strategy, Mr. Speaker, and community support services strategy, one of the issues we have to look at is: how do we take our older people, how do we help them out of isolation? How do we help them meet and engage with people? That is what we are seeing, Mr. Speaker, and that is what groups like the Springdale group – and I remember clearly at that session.

I also, Mr. Speaker, had the opportunity to do a session in my hometown of Carbonear, my district, and again, a very informative session, some great ideas; a great interaction with the people, quite to the point where people who had no intention to say anything came forward and offered their opinion.

I am looking for my colleague, Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Tourism and Culture, we went to Conception Bay South and we had an interesting session out there. Again, people were very frank. People came forward and expressed their opinions. This is what we need in our personal care homes. This is what we need in our long-term care facilities. This is what we need in our community care homes.

Then I went to Bonavista, Mr. Speaker, did a session up in Bonavista. Again, a great session where we met with the town council first; then I went and visited the hospital there, and then did the long-term care session. Then the Speaker of the House, we went and visited a personal care home, and I have to tell you, when I sat there, and talking to the people who were in that personal care home, they were very comfortable, but what I saw, Mr. Speaker, was the fact that they were with each other, the fact that they were in a clean, safe environment where their needs were being looked after. So, we are aware, Mr. Speaker, that we have to look at the personal care homes. We are aware of the financial viability issues that some of these homes face, and we will address that as we move along.

Mr. Speaker, we are currently trying to put all of this together in terms of developing our long-term care strategy because we recognize the importance of hearing what people say to us; working with other departments, my department, Mr. Speaker, and the Department of Human Resources, Labour and Employment, because we had the crossover in the disabilities issues. The Department of Education has certain involvement. So what we have are these horizontal initiatives that cross over departments and we work together.

Mr. Speaker, my favourite part of the summer – it was great, actually, from my perspective - was I managed to get out, as Minister of Health, and visit so many facilities in our Province, to see for myself: what are the needs out there? How are people doing? How can we improve the system?

Mr. Speaker, what we did this year, we put out, overall - I think it was in the period of the spring and months - over $25 million in capital equipment and renovations monies into these facilities.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: One of my favourite trips, although I had quite a number - I do not see my friend, the MHA for The Isles of Notre Dame. I missed my flight out of St. John's, so then we had to get in the car, we drove out to catch the ferry to Change Islands that night. I arrived in Change Islands at about 10:00 o'clock that night, and half the town were there to meet us. They heard we were coming, and we had a great discussion. They said: look, this is what we need. What we want, what we would like to see - I forget what they called me, if it was minister, or Jerome, or whatever, or something else. Anyway, Mr. Speaker, they said we would like to see a doctor here every couple of weeks. That is not an unreasonable request. So we are taking steps now to ensure that a doctor visits Change Islands.

Mr. Speaker, I remember that night. We stayed there after we finished our work at about 11:00 o'clock and I remember being at the bed and breakfast we were staying in and going out on the balcony, myself and my colleague, and the fresh air, the smell of it, the salt air, Mr. Speaker, it really hit me as to: why do people want to live in rural areas of this Province? Because they are so beautiful, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: It was a quiet and a serenity that oftentimes I do not feel, Mr. Speaker, but at that particular moment in time, on that particular night, I felt it.

Now, Mr. Speaker, the next day we went to Twillingate, and then we went to the New World Island clinic. We have this great doctor there in the New World Island clinic. The doctor was so appreciative that we were putting money into the clinic in which he worked. All we were doing, Mr. Speaker, was trying to ensure that as a doctor, him and his staff, and very importantly our patients, have facilities which are up to standard. We did the same thing with the MHA for Port au Port when we went to the Lourdes clinic, Mr. Speaker. Not a lot of money does it take to make people happy.

Mr. Speaker, my favourite, again, in terms of a crowd reaction, was when we went to Trepassey with the MHA for Ferryland. Mr. Speaker, we went down there and there is, again, a great doctor down there who has been serving the community for so long. He just wanted a couple of things just to be able to deliver services to his people, I guess is the way we would describe it.

Mr. Speaker, we went down there, the room was packed, and for $135,000 I can tell you the reaction we got from those people was absolutely amazing. Mr. Speaker, it stemmed from the fact that we went there, we listened to what they had to say, and we listened to their doctor who has served them so well.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Mr. Speaker, we also travelled up in Baie Verte. The issue of the wander garden was a great idea for patients who suffer from Alzheimer's. They were going to build this beautiful garden where people could go out and they could walk around. One of the dangers, obviously, with Alzheimer's patients and Dementia patients is them getting out and wandering. So the whole plan there, and again, Mr. Speaker, just such a great feeling in that hospital on that day that we were doing something to help our seniors but also the administrator of the hospital who had a vision that she wanted to see brought to fruition, and again, not a lot of money allowed her to do that.

Mr. Speaker, I took the float plane to Conne River, and that was an interesting experience. It was a great way to get there as opposed to driving, a nice ride. We went to Harbour Breton. I remember, Mr. Speaker, we were sitting there and we had the announcements for Harbour Breton and a number of little islands around. Again, I look to the MHA for guidance, but there was Gaultois, McCallum, then we went to St. Alban's later that day, Mr. Speaker. What we were doing, we were putting so much money into each of those clinics, again to say to the people: We recognize you want to live here, we recognize your right to live here, and we appreciate the fact, as a government, that you want to live here. So what we have to do, considering the importance of health services, is provide those services.

Mr. Speaker, we went to Buchans where a number of years ago there were concerns that Buchans was going to be closed down. Now Buchans, Mr. Speaker, has gone through a hard time with the remediation and with everything that has happened. When we went to Buchans that day, Mr. Speaker, and we announced upgrades for their electrical system, what we were saying to the people of Buchans is not only are we fixing up your hospital for you but we are not closing you down. We recognize the importance of your hospital. So, you can feel it in the room, and the mayor out there has been great in terms of our dealings with him. Mr. Speaker, you could feel it in the room, a sense of relief that this is for real.

We went to Botwood - a great long-term care facility there in Botwood. We went to Arnold's Cove with the MHA for Bellevue where there was an ambulance service; Clarenville with my colleague, the Minister of Business, and announced monies on the Burin Peninsula; Labrador West where myself and my colleague had a unique experience back in April. In my political naivety, we said: Well, let's have a public forum in Lab West, maybe fifty or 100 people will show up. I can handle that, and we will have an informative session. That stemmed out of our visit November 27, 2009.

Mr. Speaker, 500 people showed up. There were 200 people outside. They had a stereo system. They told us what they wanted in their health care system. They told us what their needs were. Mr. Speaker, we listened, because do you know what? Three months later we went back - they identified the CAT scan as a crucial piece of equipment that they needed stemming from an unfortunate incident that happened on April 18 with an industrial accident – and we announced that piece of equipment. What we are saying to these people, the same people who were in the room: We hear what you have to say, and we are listening to you.

Mr. Speaker, if you go to Lab West now, you see this new hospital going up and a new college going up. It is quite amazing. The place is booming. As a government, we recognize. I would really like to thank my colleague, the Member for Labrador West, in terms of his hard work and –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: - although that particular night, Mr. Speaker, we got a going over, at the end of the day we heard what people have to say.

I guess, Mr. Speaker, the message I want to deliver here today to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador: Although things have changed, we will continue to be that strong team that we are. We will be steady, and we will continue with the same policies.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Also, Mr. Speaker, as the Premier said in the Throne Speech, and this is especially true in health care - the Premier, as he was then: You can either look at it one or two ways; either the glass is half full or the glass is half empty. We prefer to look at it, Mr. Speaker, that the glass is more than half full, and we are going to fill it up the rest of the way.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Responsible for Business.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. WISEMAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is my pleasure today to stand in this House and provide some comments with respect to the Speech from the Throne. It has been some time now since we heard the Speech from the Thorne back in March of 2010. Since the last sitting, there have been a lot of changes since the Speech from the Throne. In fact, even if you look at the last sitting of this Legislature, there have been a number of changes since that time.

I want to take advantage of my first time on my feet since this session started to congratulate our new Premier on her being sworn in on Friday. We have heard some references to the historic day that was, the first time in our history that Newfoundland and Labrador has had a woman as a Premier.

I say, Mr. Speaker, the Premier today, as much as, yes, she made history and she is a woman, but she is an extremely talented individual. Regardless of her gender, she is extremely capable, very competent, and will serve this Province well in that portfolio, I say, Mr. Speaker. So, as a caucus, we could not have endorsed a better person for the Premier of this Province and will provide the tremendous leadership that we will need as we move forward.

There have been a number of other changes and I want to take this time to acknowledge. We have a newly elected colleague sitting in the Speaker's gallery this evening, Mr. Speaker, just recently elected to the District of Conception Bay East & Bell Island. I want to congratulate him on a great victory, and he will be a wonderful addition to our caucus. He made a major contribution to the people of his district already as a resident of that area and a person who has made a contribution to the social fibre and recreational activities in that particular district. We are looking forward very much to having him a part of our caucus, a part of our government, and his district will be well served by the contribution that he will make on their behalf.

I want to also acknowledge my colleague behind me, the Member for Bonavista North, on his recent appointment and movement into Cabinet as Minister of Government Services. He has been a long standing-member of this Assembly, a person who has provided great representation to his district, and a great contribution to the discussions and debates that we have had in our Legislature, and he has made a welcomed contribution to our Cabinet.

So there have been a number of changes, and I would be remiss if I did not take advantage of this opportunity to pass on my best wishes for our colleague in this House, the Member for Cartwright-L'Anse au Clair, who we all know has some health challenges that she is dealing with, as I understand it. We all wish her well. I am certain that she is listening to this debate this afternoon, listening to the proceedings of the House as someone who may not be with us today, but at the same time, has a keen interest in the activity of the Legislature. So, to you out there, I wish you well and a speedy recovery. In fact, I am looking forward to having you back in the House as Leader of the Opposition as we move through this year's agenda and we move into next year with a couple of sessions leading in to next fall's general election. So, we look forward to her continued spirited debate and contribution to what takes place in this Legislature.

Now, the Speech from the Throne, it is a time of the year – and I said it was March of 2010 when we had this one delivered; March 22 to be exact, I say, Mr. Speaker. You can always gauge the direction that a government may be moving when you listen to the Speech from the Throne. There is always a message in there.

If you look at this years Speech from the Throne, it has been no different than many others that have been delivered in this House, but one of the interesting things, I say, Mr. Speaker, at the very beginning, the very first page, and I think it is important to read. It says, "Mr. Speaker and Members of the House of Assembly:" - this is read by His Honour Lieutenant-Governor - "Newfoundland and Labrador has come a very long way since My Government was first elected to office in 2003." Never before in this Legislature has there been a more accurate statement made, than as of this date, March of 2010, when the Lieutenant-Governor read that in his opening sentence in his message.

In fact, we have made tremendous progress during that period of time, from 2003 up until now. There are a couple of reasons for that, I say, Mr. Speaker. The reasons for that success are also embedded in this Speech from the Throne. The Speech from the Throne talks about a lot of accomplishments, talks about our future direction. Well, I just want to highlight a couple of key pieces because I think it is an important message that is embedded in here, which has been the key to this government's success since 2003. It has been the principle reason why the people of Newfoundland and Labrador have readily endorsed this government's agenda, have readily supported the agendas that we have moved forward, and why they in a very resounding way renewed our mandate again back in 2007.

There are a couple of key words that are embedded in this document, Mr. Speaker. Let's just take one of them, as we talked about the area of the new Department of Child, Youth and Family Services, as it talks about working with the Department of Education on an Early Learning and Child Care Strategy. This will be a co-ordinated effort with the Department of Education, Mr. Speaker.

The next area talks about poverty reduction and the key successes that we have had in our efforts to reduce poverty in this Province. When we formed government back in 2003, we were the Province that had the highest rate of poverty in the country. As of the date of this publication, which is the Speech from the Throne in March of 2010, we had moved to the third lowest; a significant, remarkable accomplishment in a very short period of time. The reason it came about, once again, Mr. Speaker, embedded in this document, talks about the co-ordination across departments.

One of the things that, if you continue to read through, the word collaborative, the word co-ordinated, the word consultation, is used repeatedly in this document because that has been our hallmark, Mr. Speaker. The hallmark of good government has been responding to the people of the Province, responding to the people who elect them.

Constituents of Newfoundland and Labrador have enjoyed the benefit of having a government working on their behalf, who through our method of operation, our thrust as government departments, we work collaboratively with each other within government. It involves Cabinet ministers who sit around a Cabinet table; it involves a caucus who sits around a larger table, all with a view of providing collective input into the policy decisions that flows from the government of today.

In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, because it all just does not take place in this Legislature, it all does not take place within our caucus room nor in the departments throughout government, but we work within the communities in which we live. Each of us as MHAs engage in community organizations, engage with community councils, engage with fire departments, and other volunteer organizations throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, and then as a government we engage with the associations and organizations that represent their interests collectively. That has been the trademark of this government, I say, Mr. Speaker. So it has served us well.

Particularly, as we look at some of the things that have contributed to some of the successes that we have had, and the Department of Business - when we were established back in 2004, the mandate of our department was to provide business leadership within the Province. The principle function was to attract new investment to the Province, bring new investment, bring new money into the Province, or to bring new business to the Province; to provide some direction with respect to the reduction in red tape; to lead the regulatory reform process within government; to make a contribution to creating a vibrant business climate so the private sector would be comfortable investing their money because they saw an opportunity for long-term return.

If you look at where we are today as a Province, we talked about leading the country in GDP growth. Last week, I think the middle of the week, The Globe and Mail, front page reference: the success of Newfoundland and Labrador. One of the references was that we will lead the country in growth in GDP this coming year. We are leading the county in housing starts. We are among the leaders in the country when it comes to the increased retail sales. We have seen our personal incomes go up. We have seen unemployment numbers go down. We have seen employment numbers go up. So the climate is ripe for investment. The reason it is ripe for investment is because we have taken a multi-pronged approach to creating an environment so that it is conducive to invest here.

One of the things that I find, as we talk to businesses and potential investors across this country as we travel, and outside of Canada as well, one of the first questions they will talk about is: What is the availability of the skilled human resources that we need? A basic, fundamental question; companies are only successful if they have the human resources that they need to advance their business agenda.

One of the things that we talk about is creating a climate for investment. Even though we are the Department of Business, we are extremely interested, keenly interested in our education system. That is why, as we worked on our business investment attraction strategy for Newfoundland and Labrador, the Department of Education, and particularly the Minister of Education, were a critical component of that strategy; a critical contributor to that piece of work, Mr. Speaker. Because without having a very capable, very competent, well-trained workforce, we are not going to be able to attract the kind of investment that we need to stimulate and continue to grow our economy.

Let me tell you a little story, Mr. Speaker, and I think this speaks volumes for how we very strategically as a Province have worked with people in the Department of Finance, my colleague the Minister of Finance, in working out and looking at the kind of tax regime that we need in this Province, both corporate tax and personal income tax rates and structures, to create a climate where people want to invest and create a climate where investment opportunities are rewarded, responded financially. We work with the Department of Education, again, in creating the kind of structure and infrastructure in the educational system that supports that kind of growth.

This one particular company - I will just share with you - is an Alberta-based company, established a number of years ago. Some of the key people who were within that organization as it grew were from Newfoundland and Labrador. They were able to recruit Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to be a key part of their organization in the early years as they were growing and developing. They achieved so much success, Mr. Speaker, that they continue to have prosperity and, in fact, recruited more Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. A few years back those Newfoundlanders and Labradorians wanted to come home. Rather than lose those key employees, the company said: well, if you want to go back to Newfoundland and Labrador, we will set up an office back there and you can work for us and continue to work for us, but you can do it back home if you want. That is exactly what they did.

The story goes on, Mr. Speaker, because that company has continued to have success and continued to grow, both in St. John's and in Alberta. They realized that the talent pool they are continuing to attract are Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. They have now come to the realization: it makes a lot more sense for us to have our entire operation in St. John's rather than being split in two parts of the country, because our talent pool is coming out of Memorial University and the College of the North Atlantic, so that is where we should be.

That did not come about accidentally, I say, Mr. Speaker. That came about as a result of our very strategic investments in our education system. There is such an inter-relationship, I say, Mr. Speaker. As we talk about, in our department, attracting new investment to the Province, we can only do that if we approach that strategy from a variety of fronts. Therefore, we engage with my colleague in Education, my colleague in HRLE, and my colleague in Finance. All of us have a vested interest in creating a climate, creating a culture where we have: (a) a tax regime that is attractive for business; (b) we have the skilled human resources that we will need to work with. We create labour legislation and an environment through HRLE, the supports that they put in place, to assist with training programs and retraining programs. We have a labour climate that is conducive to business growth and prosperity.

When we start talking about our success - and it is impossible to talk about our success economically without talking about our success socially. It is impossible to talk about the reasons for our success in isolation of any one department. Our ability to grow our economy - the real reason that we have been successful in bringing new investment to Newfoundland and Labrador is because we have: (a) a number of business reasons to be here in terms of turning a profit on the product or service that you sell, but we also have created an environment where your employees are able to attract the human resources that you need because they, in turn, have a quality of life that has been supported by strategic infrastructure investments.

So, when we start talking about our education system, when we start talking about our health system, when we talk about our transportation infrastructure, these are all very strategic investments that have been made to advance the agenda for Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. That is to have a stable, sustainable, long-term, economic, bright future for ourselves, but at the same time being able to have a revenue stream that allows us to support the social programs that are critical for us to have a quality of life through our education programs, through our are health system, and those are the kinds of integrations that exist within our government.

When we start talking about our success or when we start talking about our future we can not talk about any one program or service in isolation. We cannot talk about any one department of government in isolation, nor can government do it by itself. The successes we have had in a business, for example, whether it has been attracting new business organizations to the Province or new investments, we work closely as a government with industry associations. We have the oil and gas industry, for example. We have the technology industry and ocean industry technology. There are a variety of industries out there that have evolved in Newfoundland and Labrador, and they, through their industry associations, are working continuously with government to advance their agenda, their prosperity, while at the same time contributing to the growth of the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador.

So I say, Mr. Speaker, the success of any one jurisdiction - and Newfoundland and Labrador has been blessed in recent years, because we are able to boast a prosperity that we have not experienced as a Province in our history. We are now the leaders in the country on many, many fronts. The reason we have that enviable position within this Nation is because back in 2003, our government started on a process, embarked on a journey and we recognized that we cannot do this by ourselves. There is no one individual; there is no one department within government that can take this on by themselves. Government in and of itself, as a whole, cannot do this by themselves. They need to work collaboratively with communities, community agencies and organizations, municipalities, the non-profit sector, the list goes on.

So we have now, in the last seven years, we have woven a web. We have a network of strategically thinking people within government. We have our tentacles, and we have interwoven the work of the provincial government with the work of municipal governments. We have taken the for-profit sector and the non-profit sector and woven their agendas together. We have developed strategies across government and working with communities so that we can advance the collective best wishes of all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, which is to have a vibrant, sustainable economy with people who are healthy, people who are vibrant, people who have optimism about their future, and they are living in sustainable regions, sustainable communities – healthy, sustainable communities.

We have been able to achieve that because of that collaborative effort, but the work is not done yet. Much is left to be done, and much will be done. What is really important, I say, Mr. Speaker, the last seven years, we have a solid foundation, we have process in place that embodies a level of co-operation within government and outside of government in connecting with community agencies that will lead us and provide us with the impetus for continued growth and prosperity as we move forward.

I say, Mr. Speaker, for the benefit of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians who are witnessing a government in transition, you can sit there today with a high-level of confidence that the journey that we are on and embarked upon in 2003 will continue, and will continue to provide that level of leadership, that level of strong governance that will lead us well into the future and continue to build on the successes that we have all enjoyed.

I say, Mr. Speaker, as we reflect on the Speech from the Throne - and I will conclude my comments by going back to where I started which is the Speech from the Throne itself - embodied in the Speech from the Throne was a message. A message of optimism, a message that a government is wanting to work with communities, work in collaboration with community-based organizations, and working across government departments collectively, co-ordinating our efforts for the betterment of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians. That is the strong message that is embodied in this Speech from the Throne. This is a Speech from the Throne that is guiding our activities today, and will guide us well into the future.

I thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity for these short words, and thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

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

I am very happy to stand this afternoon and have a few words to say in the Address in Reply to the Speech from the Throne. It all seems such a long time ago now. The issues that existed back when the Speech from the Throne was made; of course, we are still dealing with here in the Province, many of them. There are a couple that I would really like to speak to this afternoon that I think have an urgent nature to them.

The first one, and probably the key thing that I want to speak to, is the issue of workers rights and the situation of labour in this Province at the moment. It is very disconcerting that right now in this Province - and I do know that some action has begun on at least one of those strikes - we have so much going on around labour.

We have, for example, a seventeen-month legal strike of workers in Labrador - the workers from the Voisey's Bay mine, the workers who have now stood through one whole winter and will be going into another winter standing on picket lines in a strike that is legal, but with a company that does not want to recognize those legal rights. With a company that does not have a history in Canada, let alone in Newfoundland and Labrador; a company that is known throughout the world for ignoring the rights of workers, for trying to get as much as they possibly can from workers for as little money as possible; a company that is close to being the largest and the most profitable mining company in the world.

This company is holding hostage a small group of workers in Labrador, just over 200 workers, for nothing else but claiming their rights. They are trying to take back from those workers the benefits that those workers have had. They are trying to take back from those workers the right to maintain benefits that have become recognized in this country as something that is a given for workers.

In this country, in Canada, we have developed a culture where what happens in the workplace is not just decided by the managers, it is not just decided by those who own the workplaces. We have developed joint committees, for example, in workplaces where the workers and managers together sit and talk about issues, for example, occupational health and safety issues, which is where this spirit of working together first came from. They talk about how workplaces are designed; they make those decisions together. They talk about scheduling together, and it is not seen as something that should not be the right of workers. It is developed as something that is the right of workers; that is the right of those who are in the workplace to sit with managers and to design together what affects the workers in the workplace.

We have a company, in the shape of Vale, a company which calls that something that goes against their rights. Because they come out of a different culture, they come out of a different corporate culture, they come out of a different mentality, and they are on record as saying that they are not going to have workers tell them how to run their business; therefore, they do not want joint committees in that workplace. They do not want committees where workers and management together work on issues together.

This is just one of the ways in which, Mr. Speaker, this company is not fitting into our country, and what we have to do is to let them know they cannot get away with this. They have to learn that if they are going to do business in Canada, if they are going to do business in Newfoundland and Labrador, then they have to make sure that they are abiding by the culture that we are used to in this country.

It is very disconcerting to know that if we had had, in this country, anti-scab legislation in place, I know for certain that this strike would not still be going on. We would not have a seventeen-month strike; the longest in the history of our Province. This is disgraceful! It is absolutely unacceptable that these workers are out there continuing to fight for their rights, continuing to fight for something that other workers in the Province have, that their colleagues - because they are colleagues - over in Lab West, the kinds of things that are in their workplace are the kinds of things that the workers in Voisey's Bay want to continue in their own workplace. Yet, this company, Vale, is just making sure that it does not happen. They are trying to break the spirit of these workers, Mr. Speaker. If Vale could not continue production and could not continue to make money, they would not still have these workers on strike.

Mr. Speaker, it just begs for this Province to put in place anti-scab legislation. Anti-scab legislation can be put in place immediately and it can be made operative immediately. If that happened, Mr. Speaker, I promise you, that Vale strike would end pretty quickly because that company would not want to stop production.

In a Province such as Quebec, Mr. Speaker, where they do have anti-scab legislation, they have a much better track record when it comes to strikes, to the length of strikes, and to the number of those strikes because they have proven by having anti-scab legislation that it does not benefit the companies to call a stalemate for too long. If it is too long, if the stalemate is too long then they lose money.

Mr. Speaker, they continue to have anti-scab legislation in Quebec because it works, not just for the workers, it works also for the companies and both sides benefit by having the anti-scab legislation. If it were not so, Mr. Speaker, then they would not have continued having that legislation in place in Quebec for as long as they have. Everybody knows that it has benefited them, that when they have strikes they end pretty quickly and they do not have as many strikes; because the companies know that it is not going to benefit them to have a strike. I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, it does not benefit the workers to have a strike. It does not benefit the workers to be on strike.

These workers in Labrador, whom I have met with on a number of occasions now, are not gaining anything by being on strike. They do not know how they are going to make it through another winter, because of the expenses that they have, because of the small pay that they get. The small strike pay just keeps the wolf away from the door. There are bills that they are unable to pay, et cetera, but these workers so believe in their rights and they so believe in the need to be involved in discussions around their workplace and in maintaining the structures that they are used to, which involves workers in decision making with management, Mr. Speaker, they are not going to give up. They are determined to stay out. Their motto is, as some of you in the House, I am sure, have heard: One day longer, one day stronger. They look at each other as they say that, and they mean it.

Mr. Speaker, we have to make sure that they can keep on, and they should not have to do it on strike because at some point that motto may all of a sudden fall away because they cannot keep going. We have a responsibility in this House, Mr. Speaker, to look at what is happening with those workers in Labrador, and the government has a responsibility to bring this to an end. A way in which they could bring it to an end would be through anti-scab legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I cannot tell you how disconcerting it is to think about what is going on. When you look at, for example, the workers with Purity Factories here in St. John's, these workers now – which began sort of benignly, it is now a two-month lockout of workers. Here we have a lockout. This is the interesting thing; that the company has stopped these workers from being on strike, which is very, very interesting. They have stopped them from being on strike by doing the lockout.

Why does this company do it? Well, this company is looking at what is happening in Labrador. They are seeing a seventeen-month-old strike on and they are saying: Oh, yes, we can do this too. We can do a lockout, and there is nothing to stop us from doing a lockout. There is no legislation that stops us from doing a lockout. We do not have to prove why we are doing the lockout. We can do the lockout and we can get away with it. So they are the ones who have caused the stoppage of work.

Mr. Speaker, we have a climate that is developing now in our Province at a time when the Province is supposedly doing well; at a time when many people in the Province are doing better; at a time when we should be on top of the heap. We have a situation where ordinary workers are having their rights denied, ordinary workers are being forced on picket lines – whether those picket lines are for strikes or for lockouts – and ordinary workers are recognizing that nobody values them.

Well, Mr. Speaker, I have spoken to many of the workers, both in Voisey's Bay and also on the picket line at Purity Factories. These workers are very articulate. They understand the labour disputes that they are part of. They understand what is going on. What they say to me is: We do not count as workers. We just do not count. If they counted, these strikes would not still be going on. One of the women, for example, on the picket line, who is locked out by Purity Factories, said to me recently: The company has to remember that they do not make their money without us. The strikers in Voisey's Bay say the same thing, but what is happening up there is that that company is making its money without the workers who are on strike, and it is making it because this government refuses to bring in anti-scab legislation.

We have had moments with this government, under the former Premier, and with the Minister responsible for Labrador Affairs where they sort of gave assurances to the workers in Labrador: Oh yes, we are going to look at the whole anti-scab legislation issue. We are concerned, and we do understand that this needs to be looked at. This government has done nothing, hiding behind the tripartite committee, which is not dealing with anti-scab legislation because the corporate sector does not want to deal with anti-scab legislation.

This government has a responsibility to the workers, but then it does not understand that responsibility so well when you consider what is going on with the workers on the Burin Peninsula, with the employment support workers on the Burin Peninsula; workers that this government is responsible for, but a government that does not want to recognize its responsibility for the Burin workers.

Now, I do understand that the Premier has directed that discussions have to begin again, and I think they have started with regard to the Burin workers. I am delighted to see that, and I hoping that what is going on now is going to give us a very quick resolution to that strike. The attitude up to now has been that these workers do not have the rights of other workers, they do not have the right, as workers, in the classification that has been given them, they are being asked to give up that classification, and they are being told: no, we do not want you to get the benefit of being a public service sector worker. Well, Mr. Speaker, that is not acceptable.

What is this government trying to prove? The amount of money it would take to do what is being asked with regard to the Burin workers is something like $17,000 a year. So, Mr. Speaker, what is the principle that this government is acting on? I would like to say it is a lack of principle that they are acting on, because if they cared about the workers, something would happen. So, I have to hope that under the direction of the new Premier that we are going to see the minister responsible making sure that this comes to an end, that this whole nonsense about the classification of the workers is put to rest, and that this is settled. I believe it can be settled really quickly the minute this government is able to say we are giving up on that whole issue of the classification.

Mr. Speaker, what kind of a climate is government helping to create when it will treat a group of its own workers the way that they are treating the fifteen workers on the Burin Peninsula? It even sounds ludicrous, Mr. Speaker, when you say that we are talking about fifteen workers - fifteen workers who are among the lowest paid workers in the Province. Fifteen workers who worked with people who are mentally and developmentally delayed, so that those people can have a positive work experience. Workers who are doing extremely important work for very little money, and this government, on some kind of, I do not know, bad feeling is not settling with these workers.

It does not make any sense, Mr. Speaker. I mean, even the leaders of the union that represent these workers have said over and over again publicly that they do not understand. They do not understand what is going on. They do not understand, Mr. Speaker, why government is being so obstinate with these workers.

Mr. Speaker, right now we have more strikes going on at the same time in our Province than we have ever had before, and we have two of the longest strikes in the history of the Province going on. So, can this government be proud of that kind of a record, Mr. Speaker, that these labour disputes are happening? Not to mention, the inability of this government to come to an agreement with the doctors. Now, once again, I am very happy that the new Premier has given direction to ministers, as she put it herself. She has given direction to the two ministers responsible to get back at the table. We know that is happening, and we are being given hope that we are going to have a resolution by Christmas. I certainly hope that we will.

I think it is extremely important because when it comes to the whole dispute with the doctors, Mr. Speaker, some people can say: Well, why are we caring about that, these are some of the best paid people in the Province? That is not the point. The point is that we are in competition with people in other parts of the country. We are in competition even just with Atlantic Canada. If we are going to keep the best and the brightest medical people here in this Province, for the good of the people of this Province - and that is the bottom line: for the good of the people of this Province and our health care system - then we have to be willing to make sure that they are paid on par with Atlantic Canada, but also that there is not discrepancy and inequality within the system here. Of course, this is the bottom line of what is happening in the dispute with the doctors, but I am hopeful that this is coming to an end and that we are going to see a resolution.

Mr. Speaker, the two things that I really believe this government needs to look at is the whole thing of what I have already mentioned, that is anti-scab legislation - anti-scab legislation that both Quebec and BC have. I know that this government has quoted sometimes: Well, Ontario had it and they got rid of it. Mr. Speaker, the loss of the anti-scab legislation in Ontario came after a very brief moment when Ontario had it simply because a government came in that ideologically did not want it. There was no evaluation done of how it worked and it was not in place long enough to see how it would work in Ontario. We do know it has worked for many years in BC and Quebec.

The other piece of legislation, Mr. Speaker, that we need that also helps protect workers' rights is the whistle-blower legislation. We have aspects of whistle-blower legislation within the House of Assembly legislation and some aspects in the medical system, but, Mr. Speaker, we need an overall piece of legislation allowing for whistle-blower protection so that people who see something going wrong in the workplace can name it and can name it safely.

These are two pieces of legislation that would really bring a sense of security to workers, a sense of safety to workers, and a sense that they are being valued. I just find that this Province, which wants to be leaders of so many things, this government which likes to say all of the time that they are leaders, they are on top and they are bringing us to the top of the heap, well then, let's bring us to the top of the heap when it comes to workers' rights in this Province and in this country. Let's bring us to the top of the heap when it comes to the labour situation, because we are not at the top of the heap when we have two of the longest strikes in our history going on and when we have four strikes at a time going on in the Province. That is not the top of the heap, Mr. Speaker. That is a shame. It is a shame and it is a shame that has to be recognized by this government.

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

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

MS MICHAEL: Just to clue up, Mr. Speaker?

MR. SPEAKER: Does the hon. member have leave just to clue up?

AN HON. MEMBER: Just to clue up.

MR. SPEAKER: Just to clue up.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

So, I was almost at the end there. This is what I am presenting to government - it is not the first time they have heard me say it - I do hope that we will at least get a resolution before Christmas of two strikes that are ongoing. Well, one is the strike on the Burin Peninsula; the other is the labour dispute with the doctors. I encourage the ministers who are involved to make sure that it happens, both for the sake of the workers and their families, and in the case of the doctors, in particular, for the sake of our health care system.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: It is the pleasure of the Chair to recognize the hon. Minister of Natural Resources; the Minister Responsible for the Forestry and Agrifoods Agency; and the Member for St. John's Centre.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

Mr. Speaker, like my colleagues here in the House who have already been on their feet for the past two days, it is my pleasure to stand and to speak to the Speech from the Throne. As somebody has commented already, it does seem like some time ago that we heard the Speech from the Throne, but it was March 22 of this year that we heard the Speech from the Throne.

Before I get into my commentary, I would like to welcome everybody back to the House of Assembly, Mr. Speaker. I enjoy the House of Assembly. Members on this side of the House enjoy being in the House of Assembly. It is an opportunity for us to make sure that the people of the Province see their government and see their elected officials in action. While it does make for busy days for those of us who are here in the House, I think it is time that we find very beneficial and very fulfilling. It certainly makes it easy for us, I believe, as a government, to put out for the people the kinds of things that we are working on as a government, to get our messages out so that people understand what it is we are doing and how it is that we are working on behalf of the people.

Mr. Speaker, one of the other things that I would like to comment on while we are here in the House of Assembly - and this will lead into some of my comments that I will make in a second about the Speech from the Throne - is that change occurs. When we came back to this session of the House, we have seen change. Some of that change has already been referenced, Mr. Speaker, and I will not dwell on it, but we have a new Premier and we will have a by-election occur to fill that seat and some new person will come in at that time, and sit on this side of the House I have no doubt.

We have had one of our hon. members, Minister Dianne Whalen, a good friend to all of us, who is no longer with us in this House of Assembly. We have the Leader of the Opposition who is going through some personally trying times. Again, as has been said by other members, I want to extend my best wishes to her and hope that she does very well. I look forward to seeing her back in the House of Assembly very soon occupying the chair that she so rightly deserves, so vigorously occupies, and vigorously defends on the Opposition side. We have also had a new member just recently elected who will be sworn in, I would assume, in the next week or so for Conception Bay East & Bell Island.

So, change occurs, change happens, but the workings of government continue on. It is on that preface that I want to start my remarks by saying that we are a new government with a new leader in some ways, but we are the same government. We are the same government in a lot of ways, Mr. Speaker, because of the pillars that we came into government on in 2003. We came into government on the pillars of what I would refer to as being fiscally conservative and being socially progressive. We came into government on being people who would consult, who would listen to their constituents and make sure that the issues that their constituents brought forth were issues that government listened to, government acted upon and then government enacted in terms of some of its regulatory regime, legislative regime and some of the strategies that we have brought forward.

We have been criticized by the members opposite for having too many strategies. We have been criticized by members opposite. I have heard them say: you are a government of strategies. I take that as a compliment. I am not sure they mean it as a compliment when they say it to us, but I take that as a compliment because every time we come up with a new strategy as a government, we are coming up with another set of solutions to the issues and problems that have been identified by the people of this Province. It is very difficult to do all of the things at once. Every day there are new issues that come up that we have to deal with, but what we do, Mr. Speaker, is we come forth with our strategies to address a cluster of issues that have been brought forward by a particular group of individuals or a particular segment of our society.

I am not going to read them all out because I only have twenty minutes, but I am going to just name some. The Poverty Reduction Strategy - I will come back to it in terms of my own commentary on it, but we have heard it mentioned here before. So, we have a Poverty Reduction Strategy that is meant to address some issues from people from that segment of society who have come forward with issues that they feel are important to them. By releasing a Poverty Reduction Strategy, we have indicated that we believe those issues are important to us as a government as well.

We have a Disability Policy Office that is doing consultations to form a strategy of inclusion in our Province - one that I believe very strongly in - in terms of people who have disabilities; they could be physical, they could be mental, or they could be all kinds of other disabilities that they have. There was a segment of our population who we believe, because of the consultations that we have, need to have government working on their behalf. We will come forward with the strategy on that.

We have an infrastructure strategy. We have all heard the magic term, stimulus. Our infrastructure strategy was a response, I would say, to our business community, it was a response to our municipal leaders who indicated that they needed things done in their communities, our social community leaders, people with our community centres, our Boys and Girls Clubs, our volunteer fire departments. All of those kinds of people in our communities who said: Keep things going the way they are going; keep building on the momentum that you brought into this Province. So, there is an infrastructure strategy.

I believe, Mr. Speaker, if memory serves me correctly, about $800 million or $900 million was allocated in the Speech from the Throne for this coming Budget year that we would spend on infrastructure. I believe over the next four or five years –

AN HON. MEMBER: More than $1 billion.

MR. SKINNER: - we are looking at $4 billion to $5 billion being spent. I am being told by one of my colleagues that actually the number was not $800 million to $900 million; it was just over $1 billion in our infrastructure strategy for this year. So, lots of money being spent on that.

We have an Air Access Strategy that one of my colleagues, the Minister of Business, has been working on and has released. That has to do with people being able to get to and get out of the Province. That has all kinds of impacts in terms of economic impacts, social impacts on businesses and so on, all kinds of important things for us there.

In the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, which Minister Sullivan is now the minister responsible for, there is an ocean tech strategy. There is an innovation strategy dealing with the new knowledge economy, dealing with new industries and trying to utilize existing resources that we have in new and innovative ways. There is a Youth Retention and Attraction Strategy that we have heard a lot about; there is a Mineral Strategy that we are working on; there is a healthy aging strategy, and on and on and on it goes, Mr. Speaker.

The point I am making is that because of the work that each and every member in the government does in their own constituency, because of the work that the ministers are doing in their ministerial portfolios, we are reaching out and touching every sector of the Province. Every sector of the Province in terms of the social sector, the business sector, the educational sector, the health sector; all of those areas of the Province are being impacted and being consulted by us as members.

The reason why that is important is it gives people a direct voice to government. We are not sitting in here thinking that we are removed from the people or we are remote from the people. We are not thinking that we are in some type of an ivory tower where people cannot access us. Every one of us in this House of Assembly, while we are sitting here today, has e-mails and phone calls coming in to us. We will return those tonight, and tomorrow night, and over the coming days. Those are people who are reaching out to us, expressing concerns, expressing issues that they feel should be important to the government. We take that information and we consult.

With the Poverty Reduction Strategy, Mr. Speaker, just by way of example, we had extensive consultations before that strategy was implemented. We went out to dozens of communities and dozens of groups and talked with them about what they felt should be in a strategy to improve our standing from being the Province with the highest level of poverty to the Province with the lowest level of poverty over a ten-year period. We started that work in 2004. Once we did that consultation process, we did not just sort of keep all that information to ourselves and say: well, here is our strategy. No, no, Mr. Speaker, we did not do that. We are often accused of not being accountable and not being transparent.

Well, I will tell you how accountable and transparent we are, in particular when it comes to the Poverty Reduction Strategy. We put together a document that we sort of called, unofficially: What We Heard; and we sent that document back out to the community that we had spoken in, to the many communities that we had spoken in. We said to the people: here is what we heard from you. Now, before we put our strategy in place, before we form government policy, before we create all of the initiatives that we are going to create, we want to make sure you agree with what we are putting down that we heard. We want to make sure that we heard you correctly. We want to make sure that we have represented all of your concerns in this document as we move forward.

We consulted with them first, took a whole bunch of notes, listened very attentively, came back and put all that together in a working document that we passed back out to them, and said have a final look at it before we move forward. They came back to us, gave us some more information, and we had our first Poverty Reduction Strategy in 2006. Guess what else we have done, Mr. Speaker, with regard to that? It is something that this government has a reputation for. It is a hallmark of how we do our business. We committed to coming back out every two years and consulting again. So we are doing that again now. In 2010 we just finished a bunch of poverty reduction consultations, and we have a ministerial committee that is working very diligently to get ready in preparation for our budget process for new poverty reduction initiatives, reviewing the poverty reduction initiatives that we have.

That particular strategy, Mr. Speaker, started out – my numbers, I am going to use ballpark numbers – in the $30 million range in 2006. It grew to over $60 million, over $80 million. Today it is over $130 million in that strategy, and there are over eighty initiatives that have been identified in that strategy that we are using to prevent, to reduce, and to alleviate poverty. Those are the three things that we are trying to do: prevent, reduce, and alleviate poverty, and we have been successful.

As was referenced earlier, at the time the Speech from the Throne was put together, we had gone from the Province with the highest level of poverty in the country to the third highest – lowest, I guess, whatever what you look at it, but we had improved our standing. We had improved our standing from being the Province with the highest level, to the Province with the third lowest level.

Now, does that mean that there are not people in Newfoundland and Labrador who are still experiencing some effects of poverty and struggling with that? Absolutely not! We know that they are. We are realists. I walk the streets every day; I talk to people every day. I know we still have challenges that we have to face, but the point is we are aware of them and we are working on them. Every day we will continue to work on them. It is not a static document, it is not a static strategy, and that is the beauty of these strategies. All of the ones that were referenced before – there are dozens of them. I probably mentioned a couple of dozen earlier. The beauty of them is that they are all living, breathing documents. We are constantly changing them.

In the department that I previously occupied, of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, we had an innovation strategy for four years. Well, we did a review in this year that we are currently in and we hopefully will be able to launch the continuation of the innovation strategy in the next Budget year. It is not something that we created and we said we would leave it there forever; we would never look at it again. It was something that we created as a government. We worked in this case with the business community, in particular with the knowledge community in our Province. We have listened to them. We have gotten feedback. We have gone out and done some consultations. We have talked to people who worked with us in the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development who accessed our programs and were successful in accessing them, some who tried to access them and were unsuccessful, and some who did not even try to access the programs for whatever reasons.

We have talked to all of those businesses and those business owners, large and small, and we have gotten feedback from them on what they feel worked with the innovation strategy, what they feel was not working and what they felt we needed to improve upon. We, as a Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, with my officials, sat down and we have been using that information for the last four or five months to put together some suggestions as we move forward with an updated innovation strategy.

Mr. Speaker, my point is we are listening to the people. We do it because we feel it has value for us a government. We think that the people's input makes for good government policy. If any of these strategies that I referenced earlier are any indication, there is no doubt in my mind that listening to the people does lead to good government policy. So it is important that we keep doing that.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I want to switch, just for a second. I want to move on to talk about some of the issues that were identified by my hon. colleague from the District of Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi, in terms of what is going on in terms of our labour climate here – our labour relations climate, I guess, I should refer to it as. We do have a strategic partnership. That is the first thing I am going to say. It is a tripartite group, recognized across the country as being a very successful example of how business, labour and government can work together. We have been doing that. We have been doing that for a number of years. We are doing it today.

We have all of the appropriate people at the table: senior labour officials from a variety of labour areas, senior business officials from a variety of business areas, and senior government officials. They are working collectively to try and move forward and improve upon our labour relations climate. I would suggest to you they are doing a very good job of that, in the face of some of the challenges that they are facing. I would say to you, if we did not have that group and if they were not working together things would be a lot worse than they are today. So I think there is value in what they are doing. I think they are doing a very good job and I think they are moving the agenda forward, but it is being done in a spirit of co-operation. It is being done in a spirit of trying to understand the other person's point of view and being done in a spirit of trying to make each other aware, all three parties aware, of what we believe is the way we should move forward and trying to find some common ground with all of those.

How successful have they been? Well, I think they have been very successful. Right now, Mr. Speaker, just by way of example, there are more people working in Newfoundland and Labrador right now than at other time in our history. The Minister of Finance just gave a fiscal update to the Province, and one of the things that improved dramatically was that personal income tax monies being collected had gone up considerable over what we had budgeted. That is because there were people working, and not only were more people working, they were working in jobs that were paying them more money. Why were people getting paid more money? Well, one of the things was our minimum wage.

We had a minimum wage consultation process that we went through a couple of years ago and we made a commitment – actually, the line came from the labour movement, but it was $10 by 2010; $10 an hour in minimum wage by the year 2010. So, myself and other people in this hon. House did consultations across the Province; met in many nooks and crannies of the Province. We talked to business groups, talked to labour groups, talked to community groups, talked to single family homes, single wage-earner homes, talked to youth who were working part-time jobs, talked to people who are working two, and, in some cases, three jobs trying to keep things going. All of that was done as a part of our consultation process.

Our minimum wage consultation process took our minimum wage from, I believe it was $6.25 - and I am going from memory here - up to $10 an hour; a significant increase. We were the highest in Atlantic Canada for a while. I am not sure if we are right now, but if we are not we are certainly very near the top. The consultations that we did allowed us an opportunity to hear from the people who wanted a higher minimum wage and why they felt they wanted a higher minimum wage, and we heard from the people who felt that the minimum wage needed to increase but maybe not as aggressively as $10 an hour by 2010. I do not remember anyone telling us that the minimum wage should not have gone up or could not have gone up. There were people who wanted to impress upon government that it had to be done in a controlled manner, there had to be lots of notice given for people who are going to impacted by the minimum wage, and certainly we did those consultations. I would suggest to you, Mr. Speaker, that there were people who may have thought businesses were going to close and things were going to go bad because of the minimum wage increasing. I think government did a good job of taking all of those varied opinions, all of those different points of views, and putting those together into a minimum wage strategy that everybody benefited by and everybody was able to adjust to. I think we have done a good job of that. A good job was done because we consulted with the groups who were being affected, and that is important for us. It is important for us to understand that while we are in here making policy, making laws, making regulations; it is impacting the people outside these four walls. It is the people who are being impacted who should have input into what it is we are doing. They need to understand what it is we are doing.

Mr. Speaker, I want to speak as well, if I could, just a little bit in terms of a broader perspective about, as we move forward as a government, under the direction of our new Premier, we are always in a state of change, we are always in a state of flux. That is a good thing. I do not think that is a bad thing. Some people think you always have to be sort of in total control and you always have to have a firm grip on the wheel. Sometimes when you are leading the government, sometimes when you are a governing party you cannot necessarily be like that every day. Things happen that you have no control over. Things happen that cause you sometimes to shift course. Things happen that you do not expect to happen and you have to respond to that.

So, having some uneasiness, having some trepidation – sometimes, as a minister, I do not have answers for things. That is not a bad thing. I make no apologizes for that. I think what that says is we are human and we are trying to deal with the realities of the situation in the Province as we find ourselves today. We are in here trying to do the best we can using our own resources, and we have lots of resources available to us as a government, but we are also listening to the people who elected us. I never forget that I am here first and foremost in this House of Assembly because of the good graces of the people of St. John's Centre. There are about 10,000 or 11,000 people in that district, some of them who voted for me, enough of them to get me into this House of Assembly, and when I got elected into this House of Assembly I had to make sure that I represented those people first. I am here as their member of the House of Assembly. That is what guides my thought process, that is what guides the work that I do. I thank them every day for the opportunity and the privilege to be able to do that. I am also here as a minister of this government because of the good graces of the Premier. As long as she wants me to stay here and do the work I am doing, I will continue to do that. I will take a broader pan-provincial perspective and try to understand the impacts that happen to all of the people of the Province, not just the people of St. John's Centre, as I am doing my work.

Mr. Speaker, I am conscious of the time. I understand that we have limited time to speak, and I do want to give other members an opportunity. So, I thank you for the opportunity and look forward to standing again someday.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The Chair recognizes the Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs; the Minister Responsible for the Volunteer and Non-Profit Sector; and the MHA for Mount Pearl South.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DENINE: Big title, big title.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Before I get into the body of what I want to say today, I want to say a special thank you to the outgoing Premier, Premier Williams, for all the commitment and dedication to our Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. He showed great leadership over his time here in his office, and we certainly wish him all the best in his retirement.

Mr. Speaker, I also wanted to say a special congratulations to the new Premier coming in, Premier Dunderdale, and the support that this caucus has for her – 100 per cent, Mr. Speaker, of support, and she is going –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. DENINE: Under her leadership, we will still bring the policies that our government has been bringing forth, and continue to build on that strong foundation that was left.

Mr. Speaker, I also want to say a special tribute to the hon. Dianne Whalen who passed away. She will be sadly missed by this House of Assembly. She was a great part of it, a great person, a very kind individual, and a great leader in her own right. As a person who was the Mayor of Mount Pearl and she was the Mayor of Paradise, we had a great friendship going there, and I want to pass on condolence to her family, and that she will always be remembered here in this House.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to say congratulations to our new elected Member for Conception Bay East & Bell Island. That is Mr. David Brazil who was elected in the by-election after the passing of Minister Whalen. I travelled his district with him and knocked on many doors, and let me tell you that the respect that they had for Dave, for our candidate, was overwhelming; also, unlike what you heard from the Leader of the NDP, the respect that they had for his government and the initiatives that they put forward - very impressive.

Mr. Speaker, we have a member missing also, the Leader of the Opposition, and I know my colleagues here in the House of Assembly wish her all the best in her illness, and we wish her back as soon as possible. We are thinking about her and have a few prayers to say for her on her behalf.

Mr. Speaker, today I was very impressed with the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation when he announced the 7.2 per cent increase in visitations here from outside the Province in our tourism industry. That is 500,000 people coming from outside of our Province to visit us. That is absolutely amazing.

I tell you, when I went across this Province and this country, met people from other parts of Canada, other parts of the States, the first thing they mentioned to me was the beauty, the culture and the traditions that we have in Newfoundland and Labrador. Those things were portrayed in the films that portrayed our place as one of the most beautiful places to live and to come and visit. Let me tell you, the advertising campaigns were second to none and we should all be very, very proud because people were very, very pleased to see them.

Mr. Speaker, when we talk about consultations, I know in the fall there was a lot of consultation going on. You hear in the media: Oh, this government is all about consultations; all they want to do is sit down, listen, and just let people talk. Well, let me tell you, Mr. Speaker, if that was what we were doing and we were going to take those reports, put them on a shelf and let them gather dust, then I would be one of the critics of it. Mr. Speaker, that is not our trademark as a government – that is not our trademark as a government. Our trademark is to go listen to the people, form the strategy from what we hear from the people, and then put it into practice. We have done that time and time and time again.

Mr. Speaker, I go back to the time when I was in Human Resources, Labour and Employment. I was Parliamentary Secretary to the minister then and the minister, who is the House Leader now, sent me to go speak to the stakeholders groups at a seniors' complex in St. John's. I remember going there, and I said to the minister before I went: What message do I deliver to the stakeholders there? She said: The message you deliver is that what we hear from them we will be putting it into practice, we will be putting it into our policies, and we will put it into every department that has anything to do with poverty reduction. Make sure that is one of our priorities.

Mr. Speaker, I remember going there and there was one gentleman; he was in the back of the room. He sort of, not kind of interrupted - it was more of an interaction, and it was very gentlemanly on his part. He said: Dave, we are tired of listening, we are tired of talking about this problem of poverty reduction; when are you going to put things into action? Mr. Speaker, do you know something? I met that person about three or four years after and I said to him: How do you think our Poverty Reduction Strategy is going? He said: I cannot say enough about it. You are the leaders in the country. Not only did he say it, Mr. Speaker, but also the media and other Provinces are saying it. They are coming looking to us for directions.

Mr. Speaker, I told him at the time: no, we are not going to just listen, we are going to put it into practice, and that is what we did. That is why the consultations are so important. Getting out, listening to the grassroots people, the people who are on the streets, and then forming our policies and the direction from what you hear.

Mr. Speaker, the poverty reduction, since its inception, we spent $482.7 million. This year alone, Mr. Speaker, we put in $134 million. Now, Mr. Speaker, what that says to me is that our actions speak louder than our words. We are the ones putting this policy in place to help reduce poverty.

As my hon. colleague, the Minister of Natural Resources said, we are starting things, we are moving ahead. He witnessed that there are a lot of things we need to do, we all recognize that. We have not covered every step, but let me tell you, Mr. Speaker, we have taken a giant step towards solving it; a giant step. Will we ever be there, Mr. Speaker? We will continue to hammer away at it, we will be continuing to make improvements, we will continue to make policies that will reduce it, continue to give support for people below the poverty line, continue to put in heat, continue to put in money for food, housing, clothing, education. Mr. Speaker, we will continue to do that, and that is what we need to do in our consultations.

Mr. Speaker, I was also there when we did the long-term care consultations. We sat back and we listened to the people and what they had to say. My hon. colleague, the Parliamentary Secretary to Health and Community Services and Member for Ferryland, he was the one leading this. Let me tell you, we sat back and we listened to the people. That was what we were supposed to do, sit back and see what they had to say. Not to engage in discussions, but listen to what they had to say. That was so important.

Mr. Speaker, let me tell you, the comments came back, number one, on our poverty reduction that people said: we were so glad of the initiatives that this government has brought forward, it helped out tremendously. Then they said we need to do some other things, and they mentioned them.

We did the long-term care facilities, and that, Mr. Speaker, is going to form policies into the future. That strategy will roll out because looking after our elderly is very, very important. That is one of the focuses that this government will be all about.

Mr. Speaker, if you are going to consult for the sake of consulting, do not waste the people's time; do not waste the people's time. If you are going to consult and you are going to let that formulate the policies and the strategy of a government, then that is what we need to do. Do you know something? I said it before; this is our trademark and the trademark that we are known for. We are known for sitting down, listening to the people and putting that strategy in place. That is what those two initiatives will be doing.

Mr. Speaker, I want to talk about the department that I have, and I have a very important section. Mr. Speaker, it is the Volunteer and Non-Profit Sector. Last March I attended the Lions convention in Gander, which I have done the previous two years. Mr. Speaker, I said to them - and I hope people are listening in terms of what I am going to say. I said to them: Can you imagine if everyone in Newfoundland and Labrador stopped volunteering today? Well, a kind of a hush went over the conference. Somebody said: Well, what is the minister trying to say up there? So I said: just think about it - I was talking to the Lions, it could have been any other service group or any other charitable group - think about what you do; think about the services that you deliver to your communities across this Province that are so vital.

Mr. Speaker, when that session ended I had a friend of mine come down, and he said to me: Dave, when you said that, I did not realize what we were doing as Lions. I did not realize the contribution that we are making is not only to our communities but to the Province, to the country and to the world. He said when I started listing off all of the things that we were involved with, he said: Oh, my God, if we stopped doing that what kind of a void would that put in our volunteer and non-profit sector? What kind of void would that put in our communities all across this Province that each and every one of the MHAs in here represents? I ask all the MHAs here today, think about it in your own respective districts, if everyone stopped volunteering how much of a problem that would be. Mr. Speaker, what they do is priceless. What they do is appreciated. What they do is what this government cares about.

Mr. Speaker, out of that, I went out when I first became the minister, my first objective was to get out, similar to the consultations, and listen to what the people had to say. Now, what better place to go than to meet a group of volunteers and sit down across the table from them and listen to what they have to say?

Mr. Speaker, I met with over seventeen communities, 273 people participated. There were twenty-two round table discussions, ninety-four communities, and 197 community organizations that came out to sit down and have a chat with me. There was no formal agenda; just sit down and listen to what they wanted to tell us about volunteerism. Mr. Speaker, that spoke volumes of what volunteers are all about. That was in – I will tell you the time of year – the middle of the summer. That was in the middle of the summer and let me tell you, there were days the temperature was twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight degrees but thirty or forty volunteers came to a community hall to sit down and tell me what they thought. That is dedication, that is commitment, and they are the heart of the communities, Mr. Speaker. They are the ones we need to listen to.

Also, at the end of the consultations – I should not call them consultations, they were talks, round table talks - every person who participated, every single person who participated, we sent them out the minutes of that meeting and kept them apprised. Even today as we bring on new initiatives, we keep these people in close contact; the stakeholders, the ones who do an awful lot in each one of our communities here in this House of Assembly that we represent. These people are so vital, the people who pick up the sword, pick up the heavy weight that is in the communities, they are the ones who make a difference. They are the ones that we need to be proud of.

Mr. Speaker, from those consultations they asked whether or not we could put together a representation of community groups, and we did that. Last March, in Corner Brook, we had a volunteer summit. We had over eighty groups represented. Some of the groups we had represented were: the Association of New Canadians; Red Cross; Grenfell College; MUN site; the Executive Director of FINALY!; the Stella Burry; people who deal with mental health issues; Newfoundland and Labrador Housing; student councils; student unions; community youth networks; the Friendship Centre in Harbour Breton; we had, as I mentioned, the Red Cross; the Lung Association; the Community Sector Council; and the list goes on and on and on.

So, Mr. Speaker, you can see we had a great cross-section sitting down to listen to what they thought about how the volunteer sector should move on. When we did, Mr. Speaker, we were there for a day-and-a-half, and we put together a booklet. There were two things that came out of it. We put together a booklet with ten goals, and what we want to achieve, and we put that in the booklet form and sent it out to each and every single person who volunteered or came to that volunteer summit. Number two, we still have a working committee that is out, as we move forward with those goals; that will be our road to doing things with the volunteer sector. We listen to them.

Mr. Speaker, that, to me, was a great accomplishment. That, to me, was a great two days. That, to me, was so rewarding in sitting down and listening to those people, because those people spoke from the heart, those people knew what they were talking about, and those people were on the ground. They were the grassroots people. These are the ones that we need, and we have a record of listening to them.

Mr. Speaker, in doing that, one of the things we wanted to do, one of the things that came out, is that we want to recognize our volunteers. We want to recognize our volunteers for the things, as I mentioned, they do in their communities, and each member here in the House of Assembly, if they cannot think of twenty or thirty within the next couple of minutes then there is something wrong. Every year we have Volunteer Week in April, and I go around to different community events thanking volunteers; but, Mr. Speaker, volunteers are not just one week of the year. Volunteers are every day of the year, every single day, twenty-four hours a day, helping out somewhere, someone.

Mr. Speaker, in that we launched, in August, what we called the Who Cares? campaign. Now, Mr. Speaker, the answer to that question is very easy. The Who Cares? are the volunteer and the non-profit sector cares. We have had advertising on TV, commercials on TV, both stations, during the news hour, and had great reviews on that. We have profiled different people in the Province, in different regions of our Province, all over Newfoundland and Labrador, in the community papers. Number two, we developed a Web site, a Who Cares? Web site: whocaresnl.ca. So, if anyone is listening now, if they want to go in and say a thank you to a volunteer they can do it. They can go in and just click a thank you, they can go in and pledge a thank you, just write a little sentence about an individual who has helped them out, or they can place a video. That has been very, very productive.

Now, Mr. Speaker, there was one event that happened just back in September and that was Hurricane Igor. Hurricane Igor was an event that devastated certain regions of our Province. Guess who were the first people out to lend a helping hand to those people in need? You had your volunteer firefighters, your community groups - people helping out the people in need. You go into the Web site and you look down, you scroll down the thank you's there and you can see; some of the headlines were: Thank you to so-and-so for bringing some gas so I could get my generator started. Thank you to so-and-so for bringing me some drinking water so that I would have water for food. Thank you for someone helping me out with a medical issue.

Mr. Speaker, all of these are thank you's to the thousands, to the 197,000 volunteers in Newfoundland and Labrador, the people who make a difference in all our communities that we represent. I am glad to represent those people because we listened to those people; they are helping my department out of where we are going to go in the future. The Who Cares? campaign was one of the ideas that came out of that.

One of the other ideas, Mr. Speaker, that I want to speak of - my time is going down pretty fast- is the URock Awards. The URock Awards are for our young people, the people thirty and under who give so much freely of their time - very, very young leaders of our communities of our Province. Last year there was sixty-five nominated. If you go to their applications, what was sent in about them, Mr. Speaker, I can tell you, the future of Newfoundland and Labrador is in good hands. That was done back last March. There were seven recipients, one youth group that was recognized. The awards are coming out for this year and we hope to have them out in the mail and into the public very, very soon.

Mr. Speaker, those are some of the things that we have done as a government. The theme that I hope that I give to the people who are listening today is that yes, we have consultations; yes, we are proud of them; and yes, it is going to help develop strategies; no, they will not sit on a shelf and gather dust. Those policies with this government, this trademark of what we are all about, will never be sitting on a shelf waiting for something to happen. We will take the proactive steps to make sure that we build on the solid foundation that has been laid since we have been in office.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. MARSHALL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is a pleasure for me to join with my colleagues here in the House of Assembly in speaking on the Address in Reply. It is great to be back here in the House after an absence; and, like everyone else, you can only comment on all the changes that have been taking place lately. I know I have always said that the only constant that we see in politics is change. I have, in my office, like many do, a framed picture of myself and all my colleagues who were elected back in the election of 2003. When I look at that picture today, I see the changes of who is gone and who is still here.

We have to mention, obviously, our former Premier Williams, who led us and did so much for this Province and did so much for our party on this side of the House, but did so much for Newfoundland and Labrador. We said our goodbyes in Corner Brook at the Pepsi Centre last week, where the people of Corner Brook came and expressed their gratitude and their appreciation to him, and wished him well on his retirement and his future.

Obviously, for me to lose a colleague like that, a friend like that, a person who encouraged me to enter politics many years ago, and who did me the honour of appointing me as his Attorney General and Minister of Justice, and subsequently as Minister of Finance, is a great loss to all of us and we wish him very well.

With change, we now have a new Premier. We now have Premier Dunderdale, and she has served in this party and is such a capable person, who represented the Women's Policy Office here, who was Minister of INTRD. Her background, of course, is as a social worker, so she therefore knows that side as well, and while being in government as Minister of INTRD, and later as Minister of Natural Resources, has certainly gained valuable experience on the economic side in dealing with all of the major oil and gas projects that this Province has initiated, the three major fields that we have acquired equity interest in, the hydro file, as well, and what is important to the people of my district, Humber East, which she has done as Minister Responsible for the Forestry and Agrifoods sector, in the help and the aid that she has given to the sawmill industry and the help that she has given to the pulp and paper industry in the City of Corner Brook, certainly will augur well as these industries attempt to find new ways to survive in what is quite a challenging, challenging environment with a falling demand for newsprint, a falling demand for forest products, given what is happening in the United States, given the recession that hurts so much, given the fact that the dollar is so high, which certainly impacts in a very negative way sales of sawmill products and sales of forestry products and newsprint, in particular, and fish, of course, into the US market. As our dollar rises we all know, those of us who have grown up in communities, in fishing communities and in forestry communities, we know when the Canadian dollar rises that means that companies are not making as much money and that makes it harder. When the dollar is down, they make more profits, they expand, they hire more people, and that is normally a good thing. She understands that industry and that will augur well for us in the future.

Another change, of course, is the loss of our dear colleague, Dianne Whalen. Dianne and I came into this House of Assembly at that same time. We sat at the Cabinet table together for the first time. I remember very well we were down at the far end of the table sitting there chatting, and she was a delight. As everybody has said, she regaled us with some of her stories, and she will be greatly, greatly missed.

Also, the Leader of the Opposition is not here in the House today. We understand that she is going through a tough time and our thoughts and our hearts and our prayers are certainly with her at this time. Although we are on the opposite sides of the aisle and although we get involved in the debate and sometimes we say things we wish we do not say, certainly, friendships are maintained and the Leader of the Opposition is certainly very well respected in this House. She is a feisty and powerful Leader of the Opposition, and she is missed and we wish her a speedy, speedy recovery and look forward to her return.

I also want to welcome David Brazil who is the new Member for Conception Bay East & Bell Island. He has been sitting here all day, when he does not have to. He will be a major asset to the people of the Province. We look forward to him taking his place here in the House of Assembly and taking part in debates, and we look forward to hearing from him in that regard.

I also want to congratulate my new Cabinet colleagues: the Member for St. John's Centre, the former Minister of INTRD who is now the Minister of Natural Resources, a very important file for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador; the Member for Grand Falls-Windsor-Buchans who moves from Human Resources, Labour and Employment to ITRD; and, of course, the Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services, the Government House Leader, the Member for St. George's-Stephenville East, who now becomes the Acting Minister of Human Resources, Labour and Employment. Change will continue to happen and good change will happen for the betterment of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Last week, Mr. Speaker, I had an opportunity to deliver what is called the mid-year update in my capacity as the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board. Now, we all know that the Finance Minister, everybody knows, gives the Budget. When the Finance Minister stands in his or her place, in giving that Budget, on Budget Day, the Budget is a forecast. The Budget is an estimate of what the revenues are going to be and what the expenses are going to be over the next twelve months, and then what the result of those two things are going to be. Is there going to be a surplus? If we are taking in more money than we are spending, we are going to have a surplus. If we spend more money than we are taking in, we are going to have a deficit. The Finance Minister also says what he or she predicts that the net debt of the Province is going to be at the end of the year.

Remember, it is an estimate, and, remember, it is a forecast. Sometimes we cannot predict the future. Therefore, what happens is that halfway through the year, after six months is gone in the fiscal year, the Finance Minister normally gives what is called an update. At that point, we now have actual numbers for six months. Now, it usually takes another month or two to gather all the information, because the information comes in afterwards. There is information that has to be obtained from the government in Ottawa, certainly on our taxes, our corporate taxes and our income taxes and our HST is gathered for us and administered for us and collected for us under a tax agreement by the Government of Canada, so we have to wait for the information to come from them. Also, in terms of spending we have to canvas all of the different departments to see what their spending plans are for the year and whether they have changed or not.

So, when we did the mid-year update, we compared ourselves to the Budget, and in the Budget we looked at the revenue and we said: What is our revenue going to be this year? We made a prediction that the revenue would be about $6.8 billion and that we would spend about $7 billion. So, $6.8 billion of revenue, expenses of $7 billion would lead to a deficit of about $200 million - $194.3 million to be exact.

Halfway through the year, we now found that our revenues were not $6.8 billion, they had gone up to $7.1 billion. We are now anticipating, after six months of actual results, and six months now forecast, that the revenues will increase to $7.1 billion. Our expenses are also going up. They are going to go up by about $96 million. So, our revenues are up by $303 million, our expenses are going up by $96 million. So, revenues to $7.1 billion, expenses about the same, and we are anticipating a surplus of $12.3 million. Instead of a deficit of $194 million, we are now having a surplus of $12 million.

The question is: Why is that happening? What is happening to the revenue? Why is our revenue $303 million more than we thought it was going to be at Budget time? When we look at our figures, we see that our personal income tax, according to the Government of Canada, is going to be up about $31 million. We see that our sales tax is going to stay the same, but there is certain information that is going to come from the Government of Canada in December, where they are going to give us an update on the HST numbers, and we could see a bit of an uptick there. In terms of corporate income tax, our corporate income taxes are up $165 million more than we forecasted Budget time. Of that $165 million, $120 million of it is coming from the oil and gas sector, which again shows how reliant we are on the oil industry in this Province.

Our offshore royalties are up $65 million, and I will go into a little more detail as to why that has happened. We are now expected that our royalties from the offshore will be $2.2 billion for this year, while mining tax revenue from Voisey's Bay and the IOC, Wabush Mines, will be about $114 million. Now, the mining industry is sizzling in this Province. The Member for Labrador West can tell everybody in this House that. There are mines going right now, and there is a possibility that we could have eight mines there in the not too distant future. Yet, our revenues from mining taxes and mining royalties are $114 million, compared to the oil industry, where the royalties are $2.2 billion. It just shows the magnitude of the oil industry, the oil sector, and how it affects our fiscal status, our fiscal position, here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

We have, again, a $303 million increase. When you are predicting, and when you are forecasting the revenues, obviously what is going to happen to oil royalties is going to have a big effect on where we are in this Province and where we are in our budget. Our oil royalties are a function of three different things: one is the price of oil, one is the production that comes out of the ground, and the other one is the exchange rate of the Canadian dollar with the American dollar.

Guessing what oil prices are going to be for the next twelve months is not easy. Even though we attempted to be very aggressive this year, we forecasted that oil prices would be $83.48. We now think they are going to be $2.42 lower, to $81.06 for the whole year. Of course, oil prices are something that we do not have control over. Oil prices are set in the world market; we do not control it. We rely on experts, an organization called PIRA, down in New York to tell us what they think the future is going to be. We also talk to the Government of Canada. We talk to other governments, such as the government in Alberta and Saskatchewan, to help us make that assessment. We know that oil is generally going up but we also know how volatile it is.

In terms of production numbers, we have to rely on the C-NLOPB and we have to rely on the oil companies to tell us what those production numbers are going to be. The production this year is going to be about 12 million barrels more than we forecast at Budget time. The Hibernia field is going to be 17 million barrels more than we were told it was going to be at the start of the year. Terra Nova is going to be down about 1.5 million barrels and White Rose is going to be down just under 4 million barrels. The net effect of that will be 12 million barrels. If we have less production coming out of the ground, obviously our revenues will go up. That is the main cause of the fact that oil revenues are $65 million more than we had anticipated at Budget time.

The other thing, of course, is the American dollar. We get paid our royalties in American dollars. So you think that is a good thing and you think that that would protect us from any fluctuations, but if the Canadian dollar is trading at say, fifty cents compared to the US dollar - you see we pay our bills in Canadian dollars. So when we get an American dollar in royalty, if the Canadian dollar is trading at fifty cents, well that American dollar will give us two Canadian dollars to pay our bills. When the Canadian dollar rises and approaches parity, well then when we take our American dollar in royalty and exchange that back to the Canadian dollar, we only get one now instead of two. So you can see how a rising dollar impacts us negatively.

It is extremely difficult to predict what oil prices are going to be in the future. Yet, I notice the media has - every year when we do the Budget and every year when we do the mid-year update, the media always says: oh, you were very low in the numbers. You did it deliberately, and we did it in order to make ourselves look good when the real results would come out; but, of course, we did not. We were very aggressive in our price of oil. As a matter of fact, we were $2.41 too high. We do not know what the production numbers are going to be. We have to rely on someone else to tell us that. We do not control that. Obviously, we do not control how the Canadian dollar is doing compared to the American dollar.

I would say to members of the media, who feel that we are underestimating: Well, why don't they make the prediction? When we do the Budget next year, maybe what they can do is they can give us their prediction and we will see how right they are, and they will see how difficult it is to try to forecast what royalties are going to be to the Province.

In terms of sensitivity, to show the effect of changes, a $1 increase in the price of oil will mean an additional $7.6 million to our revenues; a $1 decrease in the price of oil will mean a loss of $7.6 million. A one cent drop in the Canadian dollar will result in about $6.76 million of extra money for us, and a one cent increase in the Canadian dollar will result in $6.12 million negative effect to us. So, it just goes to show how reliant we are on oil royalties, and we know that we have done extremely well as production has increased over the years. Our wealth that we are experiencing is because of increased production coming out each year but we now know in the forecast that the production is going to be less and less. So unless the price rises, unless the dollar lowers, our revenues from oil in fact will be lower. That raises the reasons why we have to make sure that we diversify the economy so that we are diversified and we can stay wealthy even when the oil is gone, as one day it will be gone.

There is a famous Texas oil man named Boone Pickens, who said that oil was pretty hard to find, but he said once you find it and you start taking it out of the ground, it comes out of the ground very, very quickly, and we must always remember that. We must always look to ways to diversify the economy for that day when the oil and gas is gone, and gone it will be one day.

In terms of diversifying the economy, the deal that was announced before Premier Williams retired and announced by the present Premier, as the then Minister of Natural Resources, the deal will go a long way, subject of course to final sanction, subject to ratification by the Innu, subject to the environmental assessment. If that deal comes through to fruition, that will help us diversify the economy away from oil and onto a renewable resource: hydro.

You have to ask yourselves why we do a deal like this. Why do we do it in the first place? Well, we are doing this deal because, first of all, it is going to make the hydro rates that people pay a lot lower than they otherwise would be. Secondly, it is going to ensure that we have hydro power, energy power that is going to light up our cities and heat our homes until the end of time. Thirdly, it is going to enable us to accomplish 60 per cent of our greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. So it is going to enable us to shut down Holyrood and we will be 60 per cent of the way there. We still have 40 per cent to go, it is going to be tough to get there, but this is a big help.

Most important of all, what this deal is going to do – and when I mention economic diversification you will see what I mean here – is this deal is going to provide the Treasury of this Province with revenues of about $672 million on average every year; $672 million in the dividend to the people of this Province on average every year for thirty-five years. This deal will be a gold mine for the people of the Province. The revenues will allow us to pay down the debt that we take out to pay for this project, and, in addition to that, provide us with half a billion dollars a year, on average, for thirty-five years. That will make the people of this Province have this money –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. MARSHALL: – to spend on things like doctors, nurses, hospital care and home care, and to make our lives a heck of a lot better in the future for our children and our grandchildren.

So, I look forward to the discussion on the deal. We look forward to the final sanction to this project, and I look forward to debate in the House of Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER (Fitzgerald): The hon. the Government House Leader.

MS BURKE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the hon. the Minister of Finance, that this House do now adjourn.

MR. SPEAKER: It is properly moved and seconded that this House do now adjourn.

All those in favour, ‘aye'.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Aye.

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

This House now stands adjourned until 2:00 o'clock tomorrow, being Wednesday.

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