April 22, 2015
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS
Vol. XLVII No. 2
The
House met at 2:00 p.m.
MR. SPEAKER (Verge):
Order, please!
I think
I neglected to say admit strangers, but I see some people did get in.
Statements by
Members
MR. SPEAKER:
Today we have members'
statements from Members for the District of Humber Valley, Virginia Waters, St.
Barbe, the District of Port au Port, Trinity Bay de Verde, and the District of
Bonavista North.
The hon.
the Member for the District of Humber Valley.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. BALL:
Mr. Speaker, thank you.
I rise
in this hon. House today to pay tribute to a community leader and a new friend,
Wanda Baker-Foster. Wanda spent her
life dedicated to many worthwhile causes within Deer Lake and across the
Province.
Wanda
embodied the definition of a true volunteer and community builder.
She also maintained a successful career while caring for her family, as a
dedicated wife, the mother of two beautiful children and a wonderful daughter.
Wanda
was an inspiration dedicating her time to a number of community groups including
Deer Lake Minor Hockey, Children's Wish Foundation, The Rotary Club, and the
Silver Blades Figure Skating Club.
In
January, Wanda lost her life in a battle with cancer at the age of forty-four.
She leaves behind her husband, Terry, and two children, Michaela and
Markus.
Mr.
Speaker, I ask all hon. members to join me in paying tribute to an inspirational
woman, dedicated wife, mother, daughter, and a dear friend, Wanda Baker-Foster.
Thank
you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for the
District of Virginia Waters.
MS C. BENNETT:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is
exciting when you hear about a group of young students coming together and using
their talents to help other children.
Today I rise in this hon. House to recognize the students of Ms Alison
Hammond's Grade 6 class at Mary Queen of Peace.
This
group of talented students came up with the idea of a knitting fundraiser to
support the children at the Janeway Hospital.
Led by their teacher, the young artisans came up with a variety of items
they could create and sell as part of their fundraising goal scarves,
headbands, hats, and of course, the ever-popular friendship bracelets.
The ideas were endless.
They set
a bold target of raising $300.
Production began and included many after school knitting sessions.
Finally, on the day of the fundraiser, the lineups for the students'
creations started before they were even ready to sell.
Before
they knew it they had quadrupled their target, raising $1,200.
Children
helping children is there anything more innocent and inspirational.
I ask
all hon. members to join me in thanking these students whose selfless creativity
and generosity demonstrate the true meaning of kindness.
Congratulations students, and keep knitting.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for the
District of St. Barbe.
MR. J. BENNETT:
Mr. Speaker, I rise in this
hon. House to congratulate Todd Wight, co-owner and general manager of Ocean
View Motel, Rocky Harbour, on becoming Newfoundland and Labrador's first
Certified Hotel General Manager.
Todd was officially presented with his certification at Hospitality Newfoundland
and Labrador's Annual Conference and Trade Show in Gander, February 24-26, 2015.
Todd has
been co-owner and general manager of the Ocean View Hotel in Rocky Harbour, Gros
Morne National Park, since 2007. He
has twenty years of experience in the tourism industry, including seven years in
the hotel industry, and previous positions with Hospitality Newfoundland and
Labrador, Gros Morne Gatherings, and the Newfoundland and Labrador Outfitters
Association.
Todd is
also an active volunteer on a number of Newfoundland and Labrador tourism
industry boards, including Gros Morne Gatherings, and Western Newfoundland and
Labrador Destination Management Organization.
He also occupies a Hospitality Newfoundland and Labrador representative
seat on the Newfoundland and Labrador Tourism Board.
Todd has
experienced success implementing his motto, Hire for Attitude, Train for
Skill.
Mr.
Speaker, I ask all members of the House to join me in congratulating Todd Wight
on becoming Newfoundland and Labrador's first Certified Hotel General Manager.
Thank
you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for the
District of Port au Port.
MR. CORNECT:
I rise to congratulate the
winners and nominees who were honoured at the Stephen Awards Banquet held in
Stephenville on April 19 as part of Volunteer Week 2015.
Neil
Drew was honoured with the Citizen of the Year Award while Hannah Blundon was
the recipient of the Youth of the Year Award, both being recognized for their
invaluable volunteer service to the community.
Jesse Byrne won the Junior Male Athlete of the Year Award; Katara White
was presented with the Junior Female Athlete of the Year Award; and Chris Dugas
was presented with the Senior Athlete of the Year Award, for the third time.
Also,
eighteen Certificates of Merit for Outstanding Volunteer Work were presented.
Congratulations are extended to: Denise Alexander, Marie Alexander,
Millie Byrne, Barbara Chipp, the Late Barry Coates, Joannie Coffin, Gary Coffin,
Norma Childs, Wanda Conran, Evelyn Davis, Don Dunphy, Charles Earle, Reg Eddy,
Collin Giles, Paul Grenier, June Kelly, Tony Menchenton, Cody O'Quinn, and
Dorothy (Dot) Pike.
Mr.
Speaker, I ask all hon. members to join with me in congratulating all the
winners and all of the nominees of the Stephen Awards on their invaluable
contributions to our communities, our region, and indeed, our Province.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for the
District of Trinity Bay de Verde.
MR. CROCKER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, I rise in this hon. House today to recognize all those involved in
Baccalieu Idol, a musical competition at Baccalieu Collegiate in Old Perlican.
Baccalieu Collegiate has an outstanding and award-winning music program.
This competition was started to give students an opportunity to showcase
their musical talents. The first
Baccalieu Idol show was in 2003. The
show was a success and since has become an annual event.
Several of the school's former idols have gone on to record CDs and some
are members of bands today that are currently travelling our Province.
On March
21, Baccalieu Collegiate hosted the All Star Baccalieu Idol Reunion.
This concert was a fundraiser with all benefits going towards the
school's music program. These past
and current students were delighted to give back to the music program that
initially gave them so much. It was
a tremendous success raising over $3,400.
I ask
all hon. members to join me in congratulating all of those who organized and
participated in the Baccalieu Idol Reunion Concert.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for the
District of Bonavista North.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. CROSS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am
proud to rise today to recognize the Building Bridges Youth Theatre comprised of
students of Pearson Academy and some recent alumni.
Last
summer, a group of thirteen students from Grades 4-12 answered the call to spend
their entire summer holidays as members casting a play
I Minds A Time, which would be the
focus of the Barbour Living Heritage Village performances at the Neptune 2
Theatre.
The
locally-scripted play portrayed the settling of Newfoundland and Labrador, our
history and our culture through the eyes of Skipper Eli and Aunt Sophie via
drama, vignettes, and song. The
stage production started slowly but ended up being in great demand as sold-out
shows were the norm through the month of August.
The
troupe has grown this year to approximately three dozen eager youth, who write
and deliver four different performances, with the highlight being
Random Passage: The Settling of Cape
Island as a local adaption of Bernice Morgan's novel, set for where it was
written, Cape Island. We call it the
true Random Passage.
There are youth actors, singers, and writers very eager to entertain
locals and visitors alike at the Barbour Village through the 2015 season.
I invite
all of us to visit a performance of the Building Bridges Youth Theatre this
August and you will not be disappointed.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Statements by Ministers.
Statements by
Ministers
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am
pleased to rise in this hon. House to inform members about the Climate Change
Summit that I attended last week.
On April
14, the Province of Quebec hosted a Climate Change Summit in Quebec City to
which all Premiers and territorial leaders were invited.
The purpose of the event was to share experience on efforts to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change, while
exploring the scope for further collaboration.
The summit provided an important opportunity to discuss climate change in
the run up to the United Nations conference in Paris in December where a new
international climate change agreement is due to be considered.
Mr.
Speaker, the thing that struck me about this summit was the degree of consensus
among the jurisdictions present.
Everyone agreed that climate change is a serious challenge and that all
provinces and territories have both the power and responsibility to take action.
There was consensus on the importance of improving resilience to those
climate change impacts that are now inevitable and also an understanding amongst
leaders that transitioning to a lower carbon economy is not only important, but
it is necessary.
The
scale of the climate change challenge is considerable and it sometimes locks
people into thinking about climate change in terms of the risk it poses.
However, a clear message from the summit was that great challenges also
bring great opportunities. Leaders
spoke extensively about the economic opportunities that early action to tackle
climate change can generate.
Mr.
Speaker, I was delighted to represent Newfoundland and Labrador at this
important event and confirm our Province's ongoing commitment to action.
For example, we have committed over $24 million through the Green Fund to
support greenhouse gas reduction projects for businesses and communities.
We have also improved the energy efficiency of over 5,500 low income
homes through our Residential Energy Efficiency Program, saving householders an
average of $720 on their annual energy costs.
In addition, we have worked with the iron ore mining, offshore petroleum,
and refining industries to identify how greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced
at their facilities and have recently completed consultations with large
industry to inform the development of a legislative framework.
Mr.
Speaker, good work has been done, but we know that more will be needed if we are
to meet the greenhouse gas reduction targets in 2020 and 2050.
We are committed to do this and look forward to continuing our work with
other provinces and territories, the federal government, external stakeholders,
and members of this House as we move forward.
I also look forward to further discussions with other premiers on climate
change when I host the Council of Federation here in Newfoundland and Labrador
in July of this year.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
First of all, thank you.
I want
to thank the Premier for the advance copy of his statement.
Of course, the environment is of primary importance to all of us in this
Province. Clean water, clear air,
and a pristine landscape, this is what we offer to the world when we invite
people to come to visit, but more importantly we invite them to come and live.
Protecting our environment must always be a primary duty for any government.
Interesting to note it is not mentioned in this statement today is
that today is Earth Day, a day for all of us to recognize the value of our
little part of the planet. Started
in 1970, Earth Day has grown to become a world-wide event celebrating a clean
and healthy environment. While we
celebrate Earth Day, I think it is fair to say that our environment has never
been more challenged than it is today.
Scientists from all around the world are reminding us that we need to
address this problem.
Dr.
David Barber of the University of Manitoba tells us that the Arctic ice is
melting at an alarming rate. In the
last thirty years, the melt is equivalent to the amount of water in Lake
Superior. This is happening at a
time when we are starting to emerge as Canada's gateway to the North.
So
climate change is a challenge, yet there are opportunities.
Developing new technologies, opening up opportunities for new business
models, and changing the way we run older industries will all be required in the
future.
The 2007
Energy Plan made many promises that this government has yet to keep.
This is not a matter of saying we should do more.
Mr. Speaker, we must do more.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank
the Premier for the advance copy of his statement here today.
While
the provincial government has been doing some good work around climate change,
what is even more remarkable than that, not one mention of climate change was
made in yesterday's federal budget.
Climate change means more extreme weather events that can be particularly costly
to this Province, Mr. Speaker. More
money is needed, for example, by municipalities for everything from larger
culverts to emergency response.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. MURPHY:
It is going to cost this
Province if we do not deal with it.
I agree with the Premier that work needs to continue, but shame on the federal
government for backing away from any federal commitment to this Province.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon.
the Minister of Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KENT:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is
hard to follow that, but I will try.
I rise
in this hon. House today to recognize National Organ and Tissue Donation
Awareness Week, which is taking place from April 19 to April 25.
This week provides an important opportunity to highlight an issue that
impacts thousands of Canadians each year.
Whether
it is a friend, family member, or loved one who is affected, the need for organ
and tissue donation will touch many of us in this Province throughout our lives.
As our population ages the need for donations is increasing as well.
Health
Canada records indicate that approximately 4,500 Canadians wait for organ
transplants each year.
Unfortunately, the reality is that over 200 of these individuals will die while
waiting for a transplant. Despite
Canada having some of the most advanced transplant technologies, some of the
most highly skilled surgeons, and some of the best equipped transplant
hospitals, with only a fraction of Canadians registered to donate, our donation
rates remain lower than many countries in the world.
Mr.
Speaker, I believe we can do better.
The
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is a strong supporter of organ and
tissue donation and transplantation.
Becoming an organ donor only takes a few minutes, but by doing so we can
potentially have a positive impact on the lives of up to seventy-five people.
In fact, we may be saving the lives of up to eight other individuals when
we become organ donors.
Mr.
Speaker, I encourage everyone in Newfoundland and Labrador to indicate their
desire to become an organ donor on their drivers licence applications or
renewals. For more information about
organ and tissue donation and to receive a donor card residents are encouraged
to visit EasternHealth.ca/Give or call toll-free at 1-877-640-1110.
The decision to become an organ donor can mean giving the gift of life
the most precious gift you can offer.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank
the minister for the advance copy of his statement.
Raising
awareness of organ and tissue donations is important because of the impact that
it can have on people waiting for transplants.
For many, transplants mean a new beginning.
As the minister just said, up to eight lives can be positively affected
by a single donor. You can give so
much by just saying you will donate.
The
minister also references that we have lower donation rates than many areas.
Right now in this Province, you have to opt in to be an organ and tissue
donor. We should continue to bring
awareness to organ and tissue donation; but, in addition, maybe it is time we
had the conversation of opting out of organ donation, also referred to as
presumed consent, instead of waiting for people to opt in to be a donor.
A 2009
report showed there was 25 per cent increase in organ donations when there was
presumed consent. Clearly, there
will be some legal, some philosophical conversations; however, this is a
conversation that needs to happen. I
reference Austria where they do have opt out and 99.98 per cent consent.
I
encourage government to start the conversation; the potential is there to
positively affect many lives because of it.
Thank
you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
I, too,
thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement.
This awareness week is extremely important to promote.
Organ donation can extend people's lives.
A recent poll found that while 91 per cent of respondents supported the
idea of organ and tissue donation, only 44 per cent had made the decision to
donate.
This
week the Canadian Blood Services and organ donation organizations across the
country are holding a drive to register 48,000 new donors in forty-eight hours.
I encourage government to do everything possible to encourage more people
to check the box on their driver's licence application or renewal and share
their wishes with their families.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am
pleased to rise today to talk about engaging with our partners, enforcement
agencies, and stakeholders in industry on the importance of prioritizing road
safety.
Provincial roads and highways are used by our residents and visitors alike.
Whether travelling or working on these roads, personal safety is
critically important, and each of us has a responsibility to help ensure
everyone's safety needs are met.
With
this in mind, the Department of Transportation and Works held the first Road
Safety Roundtable in the fall of 2013.
A second roundtable was held in the fall of 2014, and it is anticipated
that a third will take place this fall.
The purpose of the roundtables is to encourage dialogue between
stakeholders on how we can make our provincial roads a safer place for all.
The
roundtables include presentations by stakeholders and discussions based on three
pillars to creating a safe highway system: engineering, education, and
enforcement. A broad range of topics
has been discussed, for example: traffic control; site control; engineering
solutions that enhance safe work practices during road maintenance and
construction; communications between stakeholders; and development of methods of
educating drivers about safe driving practices in and around construction sites.
The
roundtables have been the impetus for the initiation of a safety awareness
program which includes a media campaign sponsored by Workplace Health, Safety
and Compensation Commission, the Newfoundland and Labrador Construction Safety
Association, law enforcement agencies, and the government.
Past
attendees at the roundtable include representatives from Transportation and
Works, Motor Vehicle Registration of Service NL, the Heavy Civil Association,
Occupational Health and Safety, the Construction Safety Association, NAPE, Royal
Newfoundland Constabulary, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Workplace Health,
Safety and Compensation Commission of Newfoundland and Labrador.
I would like to thank all of those who have attended and hope you will
continue to participate in next year's roundtable.
Their contributions are valuable and critical to the process of ensuring
safety is prioritized and upheld.
I
encourage all hon. members and motorists to always consider how each of us can
create a culture of road safety in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank
the minister for an advance copy of his statement.
When I got it, I could not help but wonder why something as important as
a Ministerial Statement would talk about a roundtable on road safety that took
place six months ago, or would announce a roundtable that is happening six
months from now.
The
reality is we all know the media stories that have been covered lately on road
safety and the need for guardrails and issues around road safety.
That is the reason for this statement: to give the impression that the
minister is on top of things and there is really nothing to worry about.
Mr.
Speaker, the biggest step to achieving road safety should be to have roads and
highways that are safe; roads and highways that are free of ruts, holes, and
other driving hazards; roads and highways that have adequate and safe
guardrails.
Mr.
Speaker, enforcement should also be another priority for government.
When you look at the fact that the Auditor General in 2013 identified
$37.3 million that had accumulated in outstanding fines, road enforcement is not
so prevalent an issue when people know that they do not have to pay the fines;
they can get away with paying their fines.
I
understand, Mr. Speaker, you are about to stand.
My time is up.
Thank
you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank
the minister for the advance copy of his statement here today.
Mr. Speaker, while the minister mentions road safety, he does not mention
the state of our highways, and they are in a state.
They themselves, because of a lack of maintenance and years of neglect,
are hazards in themselves, and that is part of the problem.
This government knows that the real answer is to have a road maintenance
program that does not involve politics.
What
about hearing from members of the public at large, for example?
He has talked about the other various interest groups.
Besides talking about engineering enforcement and education, he should be
talking about another very important element here too; it is about engagement
with the general public. Ask them
how they feel about their roads and listen to the answers they are giving you,
and then act on it.
Thank
you very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
Further
statements?
Oral
Questions.
Oral Questions
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yesterday, government's nineteen-page Speech from the Throne only mentions the
Province's fiscal situation just once.
That is to say they plan to balance the books five years down the road
that is the next decade.
So, I
ask the Premier: With seventeen consecutive months of year over year job losses
in our Province, why wasn't the Province's fiscal situation a priority in this
year's Throne Speech?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Mr. Speaker, I think it is
fair to say that the Province's fiscal circumstances has probably been the topic
discussed more by myself, the Minister of Finance, and members of our government
more than any other topic in recent weeks and recent months.
It is very clear to us how important the fiscal challenges are that we
face. In fact, there are times I
have risen here in this House when members opposite have mocked me for talking
about the fiscal challenges that we face.
It is
very clear to the people of the Province, it is very clear to the Members of the
House of Assembly that we face a very, very difficult challenge, short-term
challenge that is facing us as a Province, Mr. Speaker.
It is not unique to us. It is
the same type of challenge that is facing other provinces, other jurisdictions
that are reliant on oil. We will
announce our way of dealing with that, our plan for the future, when the Budget
is brought down.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well, I
say to the Premier, that it is really not mocking, it is a reality.
When just a few months ago the numbers that were being predicted are
quite different than what we have seen.
Mr.
Speaker, the RCMP is currently investigating the shooting of Don Dunphy by an
RNC officer. However, the RCMP were
involved in the risk assessment before the RNC officer showed up at Mr. Dunphy's
door on Easter Sunday.
I ask
the Premier: Given that the RCMP were involved in this situation, do you think
it is appropriate for them, the RCMP, to be completing this investigation?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Mr. Speaker, the events that
have transpired are clearly tragic in so many ways and will have permanent
impact on a very large number of people and a community.
The circumstances that have taken place, they are no less than tragic.
There is no other way to describe it, Mr. Speaker, than a significant
tragedy that has taken place.
Mr.
Speaker, the RCMP are the police with jurisdiction for the particular area where
this matter transpired. As they took
over the investigation, they had a number of options that were available to
them. One of them was to assign an
independent oversight to their investigation.
They have selected a retired Supreme Court Justice.
I would suggest to members of this House, a well-respected retired
Supreme Court Justice who has significant experience and background and has
provided that person with unfettered access and oversight to the investigation.
Mr. Speaker, we should allow the RCMP to do their investigation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon.
the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We
believe that all the details in this situation will likely not be known until
there is an inquiry into what happened on the events of Easter Sunday.
We believe it is appropriate for this inquiry to happen, to take place
after the investigation is completed as well.
I ask
the Premier: When can the family, and when can the people of Newfoundland and
Labrador expect to see this investigation completed?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Mr. Speaker, I would expect,
and I do expect, that the RCMP will conduct a comprehensive, a full, fair and
frank investigation into the events that have taken place involving the tragic
loss of life of Mr. Dunphy.
Mr.
Speaker, I would not in any way put a timeline or a deadline, impose that upon
the police to complete their investigation.
There is no way for me to know when they are going to complete their
investigation. I asked them to do a
full, fair and frank investigation, complete their work in a comprehensive
manner, Mr. Speaker, and I look forward to seeing what the results of that
investigation are when they have completed their work.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Government has announced that 427 pensioners have been overpaid by $935,000.
However, we have reason to believe there are much larger issues within
oversight of payroll and benefits administration.
There are significant gaps within the government system.
I ask
the Premier: Are there any other issues that have not yet been disclosed with
respect to payroll and benefits administration?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We have
throughout government many capable, competent public servants who do great work
on behalf of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador, and no less can be said
about the people who work with the Human Resource Secretariat, who provide
supports for employees of the public service, who manage our pension plans and
manage our payroll systems, and manage our benefits administration programs.
So, Mr.
Speaker, periodically with administrative functions, whether it is in government
or many organizations, periodically there will be errors that occur that will
reflect they will surface in audits, and that is why we do audits.
That is why we have internal control mechanisms in place, and when those
shortcomings are identified they are corrected.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
In
typical fashion from the Minister of Finance here, it was not about the people
who do the great work within our public service.
We on this side of the House believe that to be true.
What I
asked the minister was: Are you aware of any other issues that you have not
disclosed with respect to payroll and benefits administration?
It is about: Are there things that have not been disclosed yet?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
Anytime in any of our
systems, Mr. Speaker, whether it is payroll or benefits administration, anytime
there is something that is found that has an impact on our employees, they will
be notified. So I say, Mr. Speaker,
the people who do the work that I just described a moment ago, would
periodically run into a circumstance where they need to make contact with an
employee and have a discussion with them about a change that may have to occur
or something that has happened with respect to their benefits that they need to
correct. Those things happen on a
day-to-day basis in the administration of many plans, whether it is within
government or large organizations anywhere.
So I
say, Mr. Speaker, this is routine things that happen in benefit administration
programs or payroll systems, and they are dealt with by the officials when they
occur.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well,
really to add some clarity around the question again because we have not heard
what people want to hear.
Is it,
yes or no? Are there any other
issues that have not yet been disclosed with respect to payroll and benefits
administration? It is really a yes
or no answer.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Let me
just say it one more time. The
Leader of the Opposition would oversimplify something that is sometimes very
in-depth and very important. So,
simple yes and no answers are not always applicable.
Mr.
Speaker, the administration of payroll systems, the administration of benefits
like the people who work in the public service have, require complex structures.
There are a lot of people doing the work on behalf of the employees of
this Province.
I say,
Mr. Speaker, let me repeat again, when something happens that impacts our
employees, they are made aware of it.
The people who work with our Human Resource Secretariat make that contact
and make corrections if they are necessary.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We
understand there are issues around insurance benefits, leave management, the
implementation of a new human resource management system, so we have suggested
and have asked that the Auditor General should be called in to investigate those
concerns.
I ask
the Premier: Will you ask the AG to do a thorough investigation into this
matter?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
Extending invitations to the
AG seems to be a pretty popular thing on behalf of members of the Opposition.
Maybe they are not aware, Mr. Speaker, that the AG can come in any time.
There is no restriction placed on the AG.
If the AG has any reason to believe there is something that needs to be
audited in any aspect of government's operations, he is free and anyone from his
office is free to come in any time at all.
In fact,
the AG does an annual review. The AG
will select various departments that he may want to zero in on and do a complete
audit. Members of the Public
Accounts Committee the Chair of that Committee, in fact, is a member of the
Opposition would very well be aware that the AG does audits all the time on
various aspects of government's operations.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The
Minister of Finance we know the AG can go in there when he or she wants to.
What I asked was but it is not unusual for a minister or for the
Premier to invite the AG, just like they did with the Humber Valley Paving
contract. You can ask the AG to go
in and do that. That was my
question. I guess you are refusing
to do that.
Government was forging ahead to collect this money from seniors, but we now
understand that they have decided not to collect from survivors or those living
in long-term care. We on this side
of the House believe that government should not be going after seniors for this
money.
I ask
the Premier: What criteria are set for who pays and who does not pay?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
Mr. Speaker, the events that
gave rise to the overpayment that the Leader of the Opposition is talking about
were very unfortunate. Through no
fault of their own, there are some 400 retired public servants who find
themselves having been in receipt of an overpayment of their pension.
We realize that this has had and will have a huge impact on many of their
lives. That is a very unfortunate
circumstance.
Mr.
Speaker, to his question, what we are trying to do here is to (a) acknowledge
that the overpayment needs to be the new amount that is required to be paid
out needs to be adjusted and that has happened.
In many cases these overpayments sometimes are substantial, sometimes
they are small amounts. What we are
trying to do is to make sure that any overpayment arrangement does not provide a
hardship for those individuals.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Virginia Waters.
MS C. BENNETT:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Four
years ago, this government rolled out a new human resource management system
called PeopleSoft. This system was
intended to take care of such things as payroll and benefits data.
Government spent over $30 million on the project.
Three different departments were involved: Finance, Human Resource
Secretariat, and the chief information office.
Today we know there are huge gaps in the infrastructure you guys
implemented.
I ask
the minister: Why didn't government provide the proper oversight to ensure that
the $30 million infrastructure investment was implemented correctly?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The
member is correct. Government did
implement a new human resource information system.
The old one had been in place for many, many years.
It was quite antiquated and, quite frankly, it was not supporting the
people of the Province, it was not supporting the employees of the Province, and
did not respond to the requirements of government.
So, they implemented a new system, went to the market, invited proposals,
did a short list, and selected a company to provide that new software system.
They
engaged a consultant to help with the implementation process, while using the
people that are in government. As
with many complex systems when you are making a transition from an old,
antiquated system into a new system, there is going to be a time where there are
implementation bugs to be worked out, and that is what we are working through,
Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Virginia Waters.
MS C. BENNETT:
Mr. Speaker, this government
spent over $30 million on the new system.
This government is unstable.
About fifteen government ministers have been responsible for rolling out this
new system.
I ask
the minister responsible today: Will he be accountable to the people of the
Province and explain how they spent over $30 million and failed to deliver a
reliable, accurate human resource management system?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. WISEMAN:
One of the things I can tell
the member opposite, in anything that this Administration has done since we took
power back in 2003 we will be not only accountable for, but we will stand and
justify to the people of Newfoundland and Labrador everything that we have done,
all of the actions we have taken, all of the money we have spent, all the new
initiatives we have undertaken.
Yesterday, we heard in the Speech from the Throne highlighting some of the
significant investments we made and we are accountable for those.
We will answer to the people of the Province whether or not we spent them
appropriately and whether or not they believe that they have good value for the
investments this government has made over the last twelve years.
Any time
we make a decision, Mr. Speaker, we will always be accountable for that
decision.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.
MS DEMPSTER:
Thank you.
Mr.
Speaker, the Minister of Transportation and Works has now admitted that the 2016
start-up date for the new marine service in Labrador is not achievable.
Nearly one year after the RFP closed, despite three delays and many
assurances that the service would be in place in 2016, we now learn this is just
not going to happen.
I ask
the minister: It is time to be upfront with the people most affected by this
service; what is the new start-up date?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. BRAZIL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I want to make the hon. member opposite aware that my
department, our Premier, and this Administration are committed to the people of
Labrador as we are to the people in all of this Province, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
BRAZIL:
We
engaged in an RFP process that was very engaging.
It was very professionally-ran. We brought in a fairness monitor to
assess exactly what was included in that to assure that the best return on our
investment would be realized.
Mr. Speaker, we are facing a fiscal reality here.
As part of that fiscal reality, we have gone back to the table to look at
exactly what it is that best serves the people of Labrador.
As we move that process forward, we will have a better time frame in the
near future.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.
MS
DEMPSTER:
We
listened to the Throne Speech yesterday talk about Labrador being a priority.
It is not worth the paper it is written on.
Now you cannot afford to give a boat last, least, lowest again.
Mr. Speaker, the existing contract with the
Apollo expires in 2016 in anticipation
of the new service being available for that time.
The minister has publically stated they will be offered an alternate
solution.
I ask the minister again, since I got no answer to the
first question: What contingency plan do you have in place to take the service
beyond 2016?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
BRAZIL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I mentioned earlier, we are committed to the people
of Labrador and we are committed to improving the ferry service there.
As we work towards that process, we are engaging the contracts.
We have two great proponents in four contracts in Labrador that we work
with. Our intention is to continue
to work with those companies to ensure not only do we continue the service, but
find ways to improve it as we move forward on the process of our RFP, Mr.
Speaker.
I have only, as recently as an hour ago, had a meeting
with the Nunatsiavut representatives and the First Minister Responsible for
Transportation and had a very open discussion, in which we engaged about ways we
can improve in Labrador. Mr.
Speaker, I have met with councillors up there, I have met with mayors, I have
had direct dialogue, I have had a lot of input, and we are going to continue to
do that (inaudible)
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for St. John's North.
MR.
KIRBY:
Mr.
Speaker, in last year's Budget, this government committed to implementing
full-day Kindergarten for 2016. Now,
yesterday, in the Throne Speech, there was absolutely no mention of full-day
Kindergarten.
I ask the minister responsible:
Was this on oversight on somebody's part, or are you still planning to
implement full-day Kindergarten for 2016?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Acting Minister of Education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
DALLEY:
Mr.
Speaker, yesterday's Speech from the Throne referenced further commitment by our
government to continue the work to improve education in this Province.
We value education; it has always been a priority.
Along the way, as we know, education is not static; it is continuous.
We continue to look for ways to improve it.
We have made commitments around full-day Kindergarten.
Yesterday there was no reference of it, but there was no reference of a
lot of things in the Speech yesterday with respect to
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh,
oh!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR.
DALLEY:
No
reference to a lot of things to do with education, Mr. Speaker, because there
are so many aspects of education.
With respect to full-day Kindergarten, our government
is committed to full-day Kindergarten.
As the Budget rolls out in the days to come and we look at the enormous
investment that this government is making in education, Mr. Speaker, we will
certainly be able to give the answer to the member opposite.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon. the Member for St. John's North.
MR.
KIRBY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
In the 2014 Budget this government stated, and I will
quote, that they would begin the process to implement a universal full-day
Kindergarten program to enhance the early emotional, social and academic
development of children.
So I am not sure what the minister is saying.
Are you still committed to implementing full-day Kindergarten in 2016 or
are you not? Is that on the cutting
table? Or are you still going to go
ahead and implement your commitment for 2016 for full-day Kindergarten?
Yes or no.
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Acting Minister of Education.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
DALLEY:
Mr.
Speaker, obviously I am new to the role as Acting Minister of Education, but I
have watched the discussions back and forth in the House.
Sometimes I understand the member opposite needs it to be clear.
Well, let me be clear; we are committed to full-day
Kindergarten. We have said it.
We said we are going to start the process, and we have started the
process. I cannot get any more
clearer than that, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh,
oh!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.
MR.
MITCHELMORE:
Mr.
Speaker, the new hunting and fishing guide announced fee hikes impacting tens of
thousands of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
I ask the minister: Why increase these fees without
consulting hunters and fishers before you pick their pockets?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
CRUMMELL:
Mr.
Speaker, nobody likes it when fees are increased.
There is nobody in this House who enjoys when fees are increased.
There is nobody in this Province who is happy when fees increase.
We are not happy that fees are increased as well.
Mr. Speaker, we did to go out and consult the people of
the Province. We made them
understand and they do understand the fiscal realities that we are living in
today. We talked about fee
increases. We talked about tax
increases as a ways to deal with our budget situation.
We clearly heard that they want us to continue to look
after the resources. They continue
to want us to maintain the sustainability of the resources that are out there.
Mr. Speaker, fee increases are part of paying for that.
It will help our public Treasury as well.
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for The Straits White Bay North.
MR.
MITCHELMORE:
It
seems like the minister is quite happy to take money out of the pockets of
everyday Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.
The outfitting industry which presells their hunting
packages were not consulted before government slapped non-resident licences with
a 50 per cent increase. Operators in
rural Newfoundland and Labrador are having money snatched from their bottom
lines that will impact the economy due to your government's lack of vision for
small business.
I ask the minister: Since you failed to consultant the
industry, will you release your review that justifies these attacks on small
business and jobs in rural Newfoundland and Labrador?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
CRUMMELL:
Mr.
Speaker, we consulted with the outfitting industry during our consultations for
our moose management plan that we have moving forward.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh,
oh!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR.
CRUMMELL:
We
have over 1,700 people participate in those consultations; 15 per cent of them
were outfitters, according to our data.
We talked about a variety of things.
No, we did not talk directly about fee increases, Mr. Speaker, but we
talked about the sustainability
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh,
oh!
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR.
CRUMMELL:
of the resource, Mr. Speaker. We
talked about what it is going to take to sustain the moose population, the
caribou population, and the black bear population for outfitters and residents
and non-residents going forward.
We spend millions of dollars a year making sure that
these resources are sustainable, that we do the research and science behind
that, and we think the outfitting industry, over time, can make this
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR.
CRUMMELL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for Humber East.
MR.
FLYNN:
Outfitters have said that they were not consulted and the minister finally
agreed, but the 50 per cent increase in big game licence has gone by without any
consultation.
I am asking the Minister of Tourism: Did Environment
and Conservation consult with you before arbitrarily raising these rates, or did
he also leave you in the dark?
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
CRUMMELL:
Mr.
Speaker, I met with the outfitting association just last week.
The Minister of Tourism met with them just a couple of months ago.
The Minister of Tourism committed $100,000 over three years to help
sustain their industry organization.
We are looking to provide some funding as well.
They came to us and that was one of their asks.
They had many asks that they put on the table.
Mr. Speaker, again, when it comes to the fees for
outfitters, we looked at ways that we could have raised revenue for the
Province, we looked at what the fees were for non-residents, we looked at other
jurisdictions, and we decided to bring the fees up to where the levels are in
other jurisdictions. So
non-residents, coming to this Province, are now going to pay their fair share
compared to what they pay in the rest of Canada, Mr. Speaker.
MR.
SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
The
hon. the Member for Humber East.
MR. FLYNN:
Mr. Speaker, these small
business owners stand to lose thousands of dollars I spoke to one in excess of
$20,000 because of the staggering increase in fees.
Outfitters have sold packages in advance, signed binding contracts, with
no way to recover the cost. They are
requesting that you hold off on these increases for at least a year.
We have to stop paying lip service to the tourism industry.
I ask
the Tourism Minister: Will you demand the Environment Minister reverse this
decision and lessen the negative impact on the tourism industry?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Environment and Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. CRUMMELL:
Mr. Speaker, when you look at
the outfitting industry and the business model that they follow I have been
online. I had a look at how they
charge their rates. Mr. Speaker,
some of the outfitters charge their fees, their rates, and then they have their
licence fees separate from that. A
lot of them do that. Everybody is
going to be impacted.
Now, Mr.
Speaker, when you look at a business model and I was in business for
twenty-five years you look one, two, three years out.
Costs can change. Insurance
rates can go up. Cost of labour
could go up. The price of gas could
go up.
Mr.
Speaker, if you take an average hunt, for a moose, for instance, it is about
$5,000 for four or five days hunting.
If an outfitter decided to raise their rate 10 per cent for next year, he
would pick up the lost money for this year.
He would pick up more money for next year and out years.
It would be very profitable for them.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon.
the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
Concerns
have been raised about the protocol surrounding the decision for police to visit
Donald Dunphy's home on Easter Sunday.
I ask
the Premier: Will he commit to establishing an inquiry under the Public
Inquiries Act to look into the protocol and events surrounding the shooting of
Donald Dunphy?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, as I had mentioned earlier, it is a tragic event that occurred
involving the loss of life. Mr.
Dunphy's loss of life is tragic in many, many ways.
Right
now, there is a police investigation ongoing.
The police investigation is also partnered and paired with an independent
oversight by a retired, respected Supreme Court Justice who has great experience
and background in criminal procedures and criminal law.
I think
it is appropriate before we reach any further decisions or attempt to make any
further decisions that we wait for the outcome of the investigation, which I
hope to be a comprehensive, full, fair, and frank investigation carried out by
the RCMP.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I ask
the Premier: Will he please tell this House who deployed the police officer to
Donald Dunphy's house and why?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, I think it would be very inappropriate to try and speculate and lead to
what the outcomes of the investigation are going to be.
I take it the RCMP are doing a full investigation of all of the
circumstances surrounding the actions and what led up to the actions on that
terrible and tragic day. I think it
is just wrong for us to try and speculate or reach a conclusion, or discuss
details of a matter that is still before police investigation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I ask
the Premier: Will he explain the chain of command between government, the
Protective Services Unit, the RNC and the RCMP, and who gives instructions to
the Protective Services Unit?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Mr. Speaker, I think it is
quite clear that the questions being raised by the member opposite are directly
in relation to the loss of life that her previous questions refer to.
I think it would be very inappropriate to discuss any aspect of what is
being investigated by the RCMP until we find the results of that investigation,
receive a report from the RCMP, we have a report from the retired Supreme Court
Justice who is having oversight to it.
I look forward to receiving those reports.
We will make decisions after that, what the next step should be.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The hon.
the Member for St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I ask
the Premier: Are the contents of the email supposedly written and sent by the
RNC officer concerning details of the Dunphy case reflective of the policies of
the Protective Services Unit?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Justice.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As the
Premier said on a number of occasions, the whole issue of the Dunphy shooting is
very tragic, and all of us in this House, I am sure, extend our condolences to
the family.
Let me
be very clear as the Minister of Justice, on behalf of government, to the
member's question. We are not
prepared and will in no way entertain discussing the details that are pertinent
to an ongoing investigation in that case before this House of Assembly until the
investigations are concluded. At
that point in time, as we have been very clear, the Fatalities Act provides me,
as the Minister of Justice and Public Safety, with an opportunity to call an
inquiry if I deem it necessary. It
also provides Cabinet, the Lieutenant Governor in Council with an opportunity to
call for an inquiry if they deem it necessary.
Up until those investigations are concluded, we are not prepared to
discuss those details.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
I remind
the minister his time has expired.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Mr. Speaker, I ask the
Premier: Did anyone in government assist in the writing, editing, or
dissemination of that email?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Justice and Public Safety.
MR. KING:
I can only say, Mr. Speaker,
it is a travesty what I am hearing here this afternoon.
The member opposite is asking the Premier of this Province or the
Minister of Justice to stand on their feet and discuss an ongoing criminal
investigation in this Province. It
is absolutely ridiculous what you are getting on with here today.
There is
no place for any of us in this House of Assembly to discuss the nature of what
transpired between the RNC and Mr. Dunphy and his family and what is currently
before an ongoing investigation. I
say it is shameful for the member to stand on her feet and raise that line of
questioning here in this House of Assembly.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The time
for Question Period has expired.
Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.
Presenting Reports
by Standing and Select Committees
MR. SPEAKER:
I recognize the Member for
Baie Verte Springdale.
MR. POLLARD:
Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the
Select Committee appointed to draft a reply to the Speech from His Honour the
Lieutenant Governor, I am pleased to present the report of the Select Committee
which reads as follows:
To His
Honour The Lieutenant Governor, the hon. Frank Fagan.
May it
please Your Honour, we the Commons of Newfoundland and Labrador in legislative
session assembled beg to thank Your Honour for the Gracious Speech which Your
Honour has addressed to this House.
I move,
seconded by the Member for Fortune Bay Cape La Hune, that the report be
adopted.
MR. SPEAKER:
When shall the report be
received, hon. Government House Leader?
MR. KING:
Now.
MR. SPEAKER:
Now.
On
motion, report received.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. Government House
Leader, I believe you are going to move that the debate be deferred.
MR. KING:
Yes, Mr. Speaker, with
apologies.
I move,
seconded by the Member for Baie Verte Springdale, that debate on that matter
be deferred.
MR. SPEAKER:
Is it the pleasure of the
House to adopt the motion?
All
those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR. SPEAKER:
All those against, 'nay.'
Carried.
Further
reports?
Tabling
of Documents.
Notices
of Motion.
Notices of Motion
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Natural Resources.
MR. DALLEY:
Mr. Speaker, I give notice
that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Hydro
Corporation Act, 2007. (Bill 3)
Mr.
Speaker, I give further notice that I will ask leave to introduce a bill
entitled, An Act To Amend The Canada Newfoundland and Labrador Atlantic Accord
Implementation Newfoundland and Labrador Act.
(Bill 2)
MR. SPEAKER:
Further notices of motion?
The hon.
the Minister of Transportation and Works.
MR. BRAZIL:
Mr. Speaker, I give notice
that I will ask leave to introduce a bill entitled, An Act To Amend The Works,
Service and Transportation Act.
(Bill 4)
MR. SPEAKER:
Further notices of motion?
Answers
to Questions for Which Notice has been Given.
Petitions.
Petitions
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
John's North.
MR. KIRBY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
To the
hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in
Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned residents of Newfoundland
and Labrador humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS
many parents have expressed concern about the impact of overcrowding at Beachy
Cove Elementary on student's mental and physical well-being; and
WHEREAS
many parents have questioned the impact of major space restrictions at Beachy
Cove Elementary and the ability of the school to continue delivering quality
curriculum to their growing student population; and
WHEREAS
many parents have expressed concern about government's prolonged timelines to
plan, tender, and construct the approved intermediate (Grade 5-9) school in
Portugal Cove-St. Phillips;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House
of Assembly to urge government to provide all necessary resources in Budget 2015
and beyond to have the Portugal Cove-St. Phillips intermediate (Grade 5-9)
school constructed, commissioned, and operational for students in September
2016.
As in
duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr.
Speaker, this is not the first time I have presented this petition.
I understand the community is still collecting signatures on this
petition. It is an important one for
the Town of Portugal Cove-St. Phillips for parents out there, for teachers, for
the education community in general.
On a
positive note, the Minister of Transportation and Works has called for tenders
for the construction of this school.
By my count he could correct me if I am wrong I believe there are five new
schools that have been promised now that are going to be constructed and opened
for September 2016. Four of them are
on the Northeast Avalon in the communities of Conception Bay South, Paradise,
Portugal Cove-St. Phillips. They
have
AN HON. MEMBER:
Torbay.
MR. KIRBY:
Torbay as well.
In the case of Torbay, the school board wanted to build a school that was
big enough to go up to Grade 8, but the member for the area said he did not want
a school that was that big; he wanted a smaller school.
So now the school board is going to send an extra grade to that school
for him so they can jam them in sort of the way that they have it done out in
Beachy Cove Elementary now. We will
have to wait and see.
This is
a tall order to get all these schools constructed for September 2016.
Believe it or not I say to the minister, there are people out there who
do not believe that is possible. I
will give him the benefit of the doubt, but this is a really tight timeline.
The people who signed this petition are extremely important in holding
this minister and this government to their commitment.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
Orders of the Day
Private Members'
Day
MR. SPEAKER:
This being Private Members'
Day and it now being 3:00 p.m., we go to Member for Conception Bay South to open
debate on the private member's motion that stands on the Order Paper in his
name.
The hon.
the Member for Conception Bay South.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. HILLIER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is a
pleasure to stand here this afternoon and bring forward this private member's
resolution dealing with a seniors' advocate.
I read into the record the actual motion: BE IT RESOLVED that the House
of Assembly urge government to establish a Seniors' Advocate Office.
Mr.
Speaker, we first committed to establishing this advocate office last fall in
2014. We felt now is an appropriate
time to bring the motion forward and go forward with this office.
We believe this independent power to represent the rights and interests
of seniors must be enshrined in legislation.
Seniors deserve a strong, clear, independent voice to advocate on behalf
of seniors.
Seniors'
issues are a concern for everyone in Newfoundland and Labrador.
For those of us who are not yet seniors, but will have the privilege of
growing old one day, we will all be seniors.
Mr.
Speaker, we have all quoted various statistics dealing with seniors and
demographics that affect seniors and affect all of our population for some time.
One that we use quite often is that 18 per cent of our population over
93,000 people are aged sixty-five plus.
By 2025, one in four Newfoundlanders and Labradorians will be over
sixty-five.
We have
the most rapidly aging population in Canada.
Overall, people are living longer and with that come pressing health care
issues, such as increased incidence of dementia, as well as other disabilities
and chronic conditions. With the
population of Newfoundland and Labrador aging rapidly, the need to establish a
seniors' advocate office to represent today's seniors is more and more pressing.
We have
lost a lot of young people to outmigration.
The cod moratorium of the 1990s sent many young people out west for work.
Many have not returned. A
major component of this population will be the children of today's seniors.
So we have a boom in seniors, while many of their children who could help
care for them and speak on their behalf live outside the Province.
Mr.
Speaker, I would like to put a face on this issue of seniors' advocacy as we
move forward this afternoon. Today
is my mother-in-law's ninetieth birthday.
We have not always seen eye-to-eye as a mother-in-law and a son-in-law,
but we have buried the hatchet and we get along quite fine now.
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
MR. HILLIER:
There you go.
Mr.
Speaker, Florence lives in a supportive care home.
She is a good friend with the Member for Placentia St. Mary's.
She says she has voted both ways in her lifetime.
She is in good health. So, on
behalf of the forty-eight members here I wish Florence a happy birthday.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. HILLIER:
Mr. Speaker, Florence has seven children.
Any one of them could be her advocate at any time on most issues.
Unfortunately, this is not the case for many seniors in our Province.
Hence, we are bringing forward this motion today to ensure that all of
our seniors have an advocate.
Mr.
Speaker, we speak with seniors on a daily basis.
We speak with seniors when we come out of church.
We speak with seniors at the supermarket.
We speak with seniors at the gas station.
Invariably, they want to know, what are your priorities for seniors?
How are you going to help seniors move into the next phase of their
lifetime?
Mr.
Speaker, last month, I sat down with the seniors in my community, and I
referenced this here at another point in time.
It was evident that they were concerned about a bunch of things.
They were concerned about health care.
They were concerned about access to prescription medication.
They were concerned about housing.
They were concerned about recreational opportunities.
They were also concerned about finding their way through the bureaucracy
of government in order to access services.
That is where we are going today, Mr. Speaker, with this private member's
resolution on the seniors' advocate office.
Mr.
Speaker, that group of people should be able to go into their retirement, go
into their golden years, without those concerns.
I say, what are seniors' issues in this Province should be the issues of
every single one of us in this Province.
Mr.
Speaker, we define senior in this Province as someone who is sixty-five-plus
years old. With increased longevity,
that plus could be twenty years, that plus could be thirty years, or that plus
could even be forty years. Within
those plus years, we have varying degrees of skills, we have varying degrees of
experience, we have varying degrees of health and, as a result, we have varying
degrees of ability to advocate for one's self.
With
this motion today, we want to ensure that those who are unable to advocate for
themselves will have their needs looked after by an advocacy office.
Mr.
Speaker, government will point to the new Department of Seniors, Wellness and
Social Development as a testament to their prioritizing seniors' issues.
To be clear, we sincerely appreciate the work of the division of seniors
and their director. All too often,
as we saw earlier this afternoon, when we called government out on a failure to
manage, they shield themselves with the public service in an attempt to divert
attention from this Administration's failure to lead.
Unlike
the Division of Aging and Seniors, a seniors' advocacy office would be
independent from government. The
independence of this advocacy office would be enshrined in legislation.
This independence would ensure that a strong, clear voice represents the
rights and interests of seniors.
A
seniors' advocate would not report to a government minister, or Cabinet.
A seniors' advocate, Mr. Speaker, would report to the House of Assembly
similar to the Child and Youth Advocate, the Citizens' Representative, and the
Auditor General.
Mr.
Speaker, seniors are a population that is vulnerable.
Seniors are vulnerable to poverty.
Seniors are vulnerable to isolation and loneliness.
Seniors are vulnerable to health issues.
Seniors are vulnerable to neglect and abuse.
We need a strong, independent voice to identify, develop, implement, and
evaluate the services and programs they and their families require.
We also
need to keep in mind that seniors have a wide range of experiences and needs.
We need to legislate the creation of a seniors' advocacy office to ensure
seniors have a powerful and independent voice to represent the diversity of
seniors. There are a host of issues
that could benefit greatly from the input of a seniors' advocate including
age-friendly communities, diversity, income and finances, secure housing, active
living, lifelong learning, advanced care planning, and we could go on, Mr.
Speaker.
In
putting together this resolution today we sat down and said now what would be
the specific role, what would this person's job look like?
The role of a seniors' advocate would include monitoring policy,
programs, and services to ensure they are meeting the needs of today's seniors'
health care, transportation, et cetera.
The role
of the seniors' advocate would include raising awareness around ageism and the
experiences of seniors. The role of
the seniors' advocate would include collaborating with seniors, their families
and caregivers, policy makers, and front-line service providers to identify
systemic issues that affect seniors and make recommendations to government
accordingly.
Mr.
Speaker, this advocate would be appointed to the seniors' advocacy office,
selected by the proposed independent appointments commission which is another
Liberal commitment that we have made for some time.
It would be on the basis of merit, not partisan affiliation.
Mr.
Speaker, other advocacy offices in Newfoundland have already set a precedent
here. For instance, the Office of
the Child and Youth Advocate was established by statute the Child and Youth
Advocate Act proclaimed in 2002.
The Advocate for children and youth is a statutory office of the House of
Assembly. The Advocate reports
directly to the Legislature, through the Speaker of the House of Assembly, on
matters relevant to their mandate.
Advocacy
services are provided to children and youth through a central office located in
St. John's, with outreach to all areas of the Province.
Services can be accessed by contacting the office by telephone, email.
Services can also be in person during advocacy outreach, conducted
throughout the Province by advocacy staff.
Mr. Speaker, this is a model similar to what we are envisioning as a
seniors' advocacy office.
Another
office that we have here in Newfoundland, which would be similar to that model,
is the Office of the Citizens' Representative.
That provides Province-wide ombudsman service, again going back to 2002,
and is an independent office of the House of Assembly.
The
primary work of the Citizens' Representative is to accept complaints from
citizens who feel they have been treated unfairly with respect to their contact
with government offices and agencies.
The Citizens' Representative and his staff attempt to mediate citizens'
complaints and if this is not possible, will undertake an impartial and unbiased
investigation. If the complaint
cannot be resolved throughout the investigation, an investigation report is
generated, and recommendations can be made to the House of Assembly.
Again, Mr. Speaker, a similar model to what we are proposing for a
seniors' advocacy office.
Mr.
Speaker, this is not something new to Newfoundland.
This is not something that we are inventing.
The first seniors' advocacy office was opened in British Columbia just
about a year ago. The role in
British Columbia is similar to the role that we have outlined here for our
seniors' advocate. That is,
monitoring senior services, promoting awareness, working collaboratively with
seniors, families, policy makers, service providers, and others to identify
systemic issues that affect seniors and make recommendations to government.
Mr. Speaker, BC's seniors' advocate believes that every province needs a
similar advocacy role for seniors to protect a vulnerable population that is too
often neglected.
To quote
Ms Isobel Mackenzie, I think that seniors are a diverse group of people with
diverse needs. Having an office that can
focus on those issues that affect significant numbers of seniors is important to
ensure that they don't get drowned out in all of the other competing agendas.
Mr.
Speaker, Alberta has since opened a seniors' advocacy office as part of their
health advocates office and we know that the Opposition in Saskatchewan is
calling for a similar office.
Mr.
Speaker, if we were to go back through recent history and ask ourselves where
the seniors' advocate would get involved, what issues would the seniors'
advocate become involved with here in Newfoundland, we go down through the issue
that we have with bed blockage, for instance.
The aging baby boom came as no surprise to anyone, yet government did not
prepare for all of this demographic change.
We, therefore, have seniors stranded in acute care beds for lack of
long-term options.
It is
estimated that one-third of these patients have dementia.
We are not meeting the health care needs of our population because
government failed to understand and prioritize the needs of an aging baby boom.
This bed blockage is costing the system considerably, leaving seniors in
limbo. Mr. Speaker, this is an issue
that a seniors' advocate would certainly have been involved in.
We look
at the Province's denture plan 2013.
Government made significant cuts to the adult dental plan with zero consultation
with dental health professionals.
The adult dental plan now covers only half a set of dentures per year.
Denturists cannot make dentures fit properly when beneficiaries can only
be approved for half a set of dentures per year.
This is a program that demonstrates a lack of respect for seniors,
compromising their dignity. Mr.
Speaker, seniors' dignity is an issue that a seniors' advocate would be involved
in.
Mr.
Speaker, to summarize, we simply urge government to establish a seniors'
advocate office. We have identified
a need for it, we have set out the role of such an office, we have identified
precedence in other parts of the country, we have identified similar offices in
our own Province, and we have identified cases where a seniors' advocate would
undoubtedly have gotten involved. We
now need the support of the remainder of this House to make this a reality.
Thank
you very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS PERRY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is
certainly an honour and a privilege for me to rise in this House of Assembly
today to speak to this very important private member's resolution.
Seniors are a very important part of our population, Mr. Speaker, and I
am sure each and every one of us holds seniors near and dear in our hearts.
I have often had friends say to me sometimes perhaps I have missed my
calling because one of the greatest joys I have in life is working with seniors
in particular.
When you
look at the job of being a politician it is not always easy, it is often very
challenging, but it is very rewarding as well. One
of those greatest rewards comes from the work we do with our seniors and the
assistance we provide to seniors.
I
listened to my colleague in his introduction speak about the issues they see as
to why there is a need for an advocate.
The fact that people are living longer, Mr. Speaker, is something that we
should all be very, very proud of.
It means we get to enjoy our parents, our grandparents, our aunts and our
uncles, our moms and dads, for so much longer.
That is due, in large part, to significant improvements in our overall
health care and our overall well-being as a people.
The
motion calls for the establishment of an office to represent seniors.
He spoke a little bit earlier about one of the concerns they have is
finding their way through the bureaucracy.
I have to say, Mr. Speaker, that as an MHA, that is something I pride
myself on helping seniors with. It
is something I pride myself on helping everyone with seniors, youth, adults.
Anyone who needs help navigating the system, that is the very reason for
our being one of, Mr. Speaker, in addition to our lawmaking role here as
legislators. So, I see our role as
MHAs as being crucial in helping our seniors navigate the system.
Our
Premier, Mr. Speaker, one of the very first things he did when he took office as
Premier was establish a new Department of Seniors and Wellness, and in that he
made a very strong statement to each and every one of us in his caucus, and to
the Province as a whole, of the priority he places on seniors and how important
seniors are to him. Creating this
new department, I believe, certainly does reflect the changing reality in
Newfoundland and Labrador that we do have an aging demographic.
The
member opposite talked about statistics.
By 2025, Statistics Canada estimates that Newfoundland and Labrador will
have the highest proportion of seniors in the country.
So I absolutely agree that seniors are a very key priority.
As we move forward, we must be very cognizant of the fact that anything
and everything we can do to help them in the best manner possible is what we
should be looking at, and I do see a lot of fabulous initiatives that are
underway.
Mr.
Speaker, I have to say there are in this Province already a large number of
advocates for seniors. True, many
seniors do not have children. My mom
had thirteen and I do not have any.
So when I think about aging, I am very cognizant of that fact.
When I look at the health care system, when I look at programs and
services, I am always cognizant of the fact that, we have to look at this as we
are all going to be there one day and we want the very, very best possible for
our seniors, and for all citizens in our Province.
Some of
these agencies, institutions and groups that are in place for seniors include
the Provincial Advisory Council on Aging and Seniors.
This is comprised of thirteen members from across the Province.
The group consults on a regular basis with seniors on issues, on policies
and programs and services that are impacting older citizens and they provide
feedback to government to enhance programs and services that are in place.
As I
just mentioned, the Seniors and Aging division within the Department of Seniors,
Wellness and Social Development is a centre of expertise on seniors' issues.
They have a full contingent of staff who work very closely with
individuals and groups on their various issues to help ensure that their needs
are being met. Seniors can, as I
spoke to, and certainly do contact their MHAs when they have issues of concern.
Speaking
about one of the reasons why I love my job so much and the rewards you see, one
of the huge impacts that we have been able to realize in helping seniors is the
generic drug pricing policy. What a
benefit to all of our citizens, and especially our seniors who can now afford
the type of medications they need to help them continue to improve their
longevity. That is one example of
many. I am going to refer to many
more in a short while.
The
Office of the Citizens' Representative, which is independent of government it
has no connection whatsoever to government, it is an advocacy office hears and
follows up on concerns raised by any citizen if they feel they have not been
fairly treated. Our citizens'
advocate, I do believe, Mr. Speaker, does an excellent job in that regard.
Again,
going back to our role as MHAs and policy-makers, I am proud of a lot of things
we have accomplished and achieved here in this House of Assembly, Mr. Speaker.
One of the many is our Adult Protection Act, which we recently brought
in. That provides a level of
protection to all adults who lack capacity and who are experiencing neglect and
abuse.
It
really touches my heart when we speak to it in the House, especially when we
were passing that act. I remember
feeling very strongly and almost welling up at times at the thought of the abuse
and neglect that can and do happen.
We are doing everything we can through the citizens' advocate, through our new
act, and through the existing agencies to try and help these people in any way
we can. We have come a long way, Mr.
Speaker, and no doubt, a long way yet still to go.
In terms
of the types of initiatives that are in place today for seniors, I spoke about
the generic drug pricing policy, which lowered the cost of drugs for everybody,
but the Newfoundland and Labrador Prescription Drug Program has a component
which is called the 65Plus Plan.
That provides coverage of eligible prescription drugs for seniors who are over
sixty-five years of age who receive Old Age Security and the Guaranteed Income
Supplement. For seniors who are
above that income bracket, the generic drug pricing policy was a significant
help to them.
The
other area I find we helped significantly with as MHAs, we helped with
paperwork, Mr. Speaker. We helped
individuals and citizens fill out applications, particularly seniors, many of
whom, in my experience like my mom, she stayed home and raised thirteen
children. For her, filling out an
application form was not easy.
So, as
an MHA, that is something I take great pride and personal satisfaction from,
when we can sit down at a table and help people put these applications together.
Then, at the end of the day, they receive improvements to their home
whereby they can continue living in their own home for much longer periods.
Whether it is new wheelchair accessibility ramps, whether it is
modification to their bathrooms, or whether it is fixing a leaky roof or windows
that are not energy efficient. That
program certainly does a lot in my opinion to help seniors and all those people
who are more vulnerable in our society.
In terms
of long-term care and community support services, the
Close To Home document that was prepared and released in June 2012
has a ten-year strategy to guide and transform the delivery of long-term care in
the Province. We think with an
investment of nearly $700 million, the provision of long-term care and community
support services across this Province is continually improving.
Again, there is always room for improvement in any area.
We are certainly very focused on making sure seniors remain a huge
priority.
We also
have in place, Mr. Speaker, a Community Rapid Response Team pilot project.
The provincial government is investing $3.1 million to four Community
Rapid Response Teams. They will be
comprised of health professionals who will assess patients at emergency
departments to determine if medically stable patients can return home safely
with enhanced community-based health services, thereby avoiding an admission to
hospital. While the primary target
group for this initiative is seniors, the service will be available to all
adults, and teams are up and running in St. John's, Corner Brook, and Grand
Falls-Windsor. These are some types
of the initiatives that we are looking at putting in place to help seniors.
I do
remember in 2007 some things always stick in your head when you are in
politics. Some things you never
forget. As I was going door-to-door,
I was learning so much before even being elected about what the job would
entail. At almost every door there
was a different issue or a different concern, something you knew that you would
be advocating for on their behalf when you went to the House of Assembly if you
got there.
One
person in particular sat down and we had a lovely visit in her home.
Her question to me was: What are you going to do for seniors?
Mr. Speaker, when I went back to that same house in 2011, this person was
so overjoyed with how much attention our government has paid to seniors.
Even something like the Newfoundland and Labrador Low Income Seniors'
Benefit, which our government has increased over the last few years, today, that
amount is up to $1,036. I know that
come October, November of each year seniors look forward to that payment.
They know these additional funds are coming.
It does help alleviate some of their financial concerns, no doubt.
When we
look at what is out there for seniors in terms of people to speak up for them on
their behalf, I would argue that there are some fantastic groups in this
Province that are doing just that on behalf of seniors.
We also have and I have not talked about these a whole lot, but
completely independent of government, Mr. Speaker, you have seniors groups like
50 Plus Clubs. I know I have five or
six active 50 Plus Clubs in my region.
When they want to talk to me about issues or have concerns, I am a phone
call away and I am at their door. We
bring their concerns back, in this case to the Minister of Seniors, Wellness and
Social Development. The department
works very diligently and the minister, to address those concerns.
We also
have the Seniors Resource Centre, Mr. Speaker, which is a completely independent
body; the 50+ Federation, as I said, independent; the Newfoundland and Labrador
Public Sector Pensioners Association; and other groups such as this who provide
advocacy on behalf of seniors.
Certainly from my point of view in times of fiscal restraint, I would like to
see as much done as we possibly can in terms of programs and services directly
to the senior. I think we have come
a long way in that regard. I have
alluded to a few. I am sure more
will be discussed as the afternoon goes on.
Seniors
are indeed among a very special group of people in our Province.
They have paved the way for us.
They are the reason we are here.
Everything and anything we can do to make life better for them is what
matters. I think those are tangible
things. Tangible things like
improvements to their houses.
Tangible things like the amount of money they are bringing into their
households. Tangible things like
repairs through the Newfoundland and Labrador Home Modification Program, the
energy efficiency program, like the REEP program, Mr. Speaker.
Seniors
are wonderful. As an MHA, I
certainly will advocate for each and every single one, not just in my district
but in the Province as a whole.
Anyone who wants to call me with a seniors' issue, I am here, and I am sure most
of my colleagues in this entire House feel the exact same way.
Certainly I look forward to the rest of this debate this afternoon and I look
forward to, as a Province and a government, continuing to implement programs and
services as identified by the seniors themselves as programs they need and to
continue working with them towards improvements overall.
I
certainly feel confident that the Department of Seniors and Wellness does a
phenomenal role in this regard.
Again I go back to how I started earlier today.
The Premier has, in one of his very first actions as Premier, established
a new Department of Seniors and Wellness.
It clearly speaks to the priority he places on seniors, the priority we
as a government place on seniors, and I look forward to more fabulous things
coming from the Department of Seniors and Wellness.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Virginia Waters.
MS C. BENNETT:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am
pleased to stand in this House today on behalf of the constituents of Virginia
Waters and speak to this private member's resolution that my colleague has read
into the record for today.
Mr.
Speaker, independent power to represent the rights and interests of seniors is
important. That is why we are
advocating that a seniors' advocate, which is an independent office, be
established. It is an independent
voice to advocate on behalf of seniors to government.
As has been spoken to many times already in this House, seniors' issues
are a concern for everyone in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Certainly for those of us who are not seniors yet, if we have the
privilege of growing old one day, we will certainly be seniors.
Mr.
Speaker, members of this House are well aware that Newfoundland and Labrador has
the most rapidly aging population in Canada.
Overall, people are living longer and with that comes pressing health
care issues, such as the increased incidences of dementia as well as other
disabilities and chronic conditions.
I have
heard members opposite talk about government's new department of Seniors,
Wellness and Social Development. I
would like to talk for a minute about the difference between those two and let
me be perfectly clear; we sincerely appreciate the work of the division of
seniors and their director. All too
often, when we call government out on their failure to manage, they shield
themselves with the public service in an attempt to divert attention from this
Administration's failure to lead, but the reality is that this department
employs four people serving almost one-fifth of the entire population.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MS C. BENNETT:
Unlike the Division of Aging
and Seniors, a seniors' advocacy office would be independent from government.
The independence of the seniors' advocate would be enshrined in
legislation. The seniors' advocate
would not report the government minister or Cabinet; the seniors' advocate would
report to the House of Assembly, similar to the Child and Youth Advocate, the
Citizens' Representative, and the Auditor General.
So, why do we need a seniors' advocate?
Quite frankly, the issues facing seniors and seniors themselves are
diverse.
We need
to keep in mind that seniors have a wide range of experiences and needs.
We need to legislate the creation of a seniors' advocacy office to ensure
that seniors have a powerful and independent voice and represent the diversity
of seniors.
There
are a host of issues that could benefit greatly from the input of a seniors'
advocate including age-friendly communities, diversity, income and finances,
home housing, active living, lifelong learning, advanced care planning, safety,
and violence prevention. Mr.
Speaker, one of the most important reasons we need a seniors' advocate is that
seniors are a population that are vulnerable to poverty, to isolation and
loneliness, to health issues, neglect and abuse, including financial abuse.
Mr.
Speaker, it is with this in mind that I would like to speak to the issue that is
facing numerous seniors in our Province, and that is the issue of pension
overpayments. Let me be clear, we
have been speaking out loud and clear on this issue because it has brought undue
stress and uncertainty to many of our pensioners.
While we
do not question the professional capabilities of the liaison Mr. Bonnell, I will
tell you that we take issue with the fact that this government has put him in
this capacity, despite the fact that we have recently learned he is a former
treasurer for a Conservative district association and a former bank manager for
some of the pensioners involved. We
take issue with the fact that these resources could be better focused on
recovering unpaid fines, make sure oil royalties were completed, and the myriad
of things that we have been challenging government to do a better job of
managing their finances with.
We take
issue with the fact that government has their sights set squarely on the wallets
of these pensioners, when we know in the long run they will spend more time and
resources trying to recover what money they can.
Quite frankly, we take issue that this government is ignoring their moral
and legal obligation.
Mr.
Speaker, let me share some comments from many of our constituents about this
situation, and I quote, Shame on government for causing this man undue stress.
It was governments mistake, now live up to it.
Don't even make the attempt to squeeze blood from a turnip.
I'm sure you can find savings elsewhere without causing hardship for our
pensioners.
Another
example: This is wrong. The amounts
owed are small compared to overall government finances.
It was government's mistake.
The government should absorb the loss, given the catastrophic loss it will be
for low-income seniors. They will be
forced to decide between paying the heating bill or buying food.
No one should have to make that desperate choice.
Another
example: The government made the mistake, let them take the hit for it.
How is a pensioner supposed to know that he was overpaid by $18.00 a
month? That government should be
ashamed of themselves. Aren't there
audits required yearly or at least every two years?
This should have been caught years ago.
Somebody really fumbled the ball ... .
Lastly, an example of what our
constituents are saying to us: a true injustice.
Mr.
Speaker, I refer to the moral licence this government has for asking for this
collection of money. After months of
detailing government's financial mismanagement, sadly we are forced to look at
another example, one that is hitting some of our very vulnerable people;
vulnerable people who would have the advantage of having an advocate that worked
for them with a seniors' advocate.
This issue is one that is hitting some very vulnerable people.
I am referring to the clerical error that resulted in 427 seniors being
overpaid their pensions.
The
minister wants to correct the mistake, and the correction is asking seniors to
pay back money they received in error over many, many years.
He has decided not to collect the money from people in long-term care
facilities. He has decided not to
collect the money from survivors, but I continue to be dumbstruck to understand
the rationale for this decision to ask for the money back.
The
reality is, Mr. Speaker, absolutely government has a responsibility to protect
the public purse. It is with this
responsibility in mind that the Leader of the Official Opposition has been
holding government to task. Besides
asking for answers regarding the cancellation of Humber Valley Paving's bond, we
have been challenging government to do a better job in auditing oil royalties,
collecting unpaid fines, expeditiously implementing recommendations of the
Auditor General, and explaining write offs of taxpayers' money to numerous
businesses.
All
these areas represent risk to the public purse and hundreds of millions of
dollars, but instead of aggressively addressing these-risk areas, the Tories
plan to collect a diminished amount of money, and now with an extra cost, the
cost of collecting by asking seventy and eighty year olds to pony up.
These pensioners are being hit by hastily developed and now evolving
government repayment plan, while most of them are already burdened to survive.
Why
couldn't the ministers need to correct it mean to stop future payments and
carrying on? Why has government
chosen to keep people worried and anxious about repaying this money at a time
that the minister now says collection will be limited and even more costly than
the original plan?
Let me
speak now to the legal authority.
Though, there is a statutory right under the Public Service Pensions Act to
recover overpayments, there is also a body of case law which can prevent
recovery of overpayments when individuals have changed their circumstances in
reliance on the understanding that the amount they received was the amount to
which they are entitled to.
For
example, there is a Newfoundland Supreme Court case where the principle was
applied to compel an appeal board to consider whether the attempt of the
department to recover overpayment be denied.
The attempt to recover was denied.
It is unfair to force elderly pensioners to repay monthly money they
honestly received and relied upon to organize their affairs through no fault of
their own. Any overpayment
arrangement offered by the Province, however lenient, would be exacerbated by
the fact that from this point forward their pensions will be reduced to the
correct amount.
Further
to this, section 33 of the Teachers' Pension Plan Act is nearly identical to
section 29 of the Public Service Pension Plan Act.
This is the statutory provision that creates the right of the Province,
and in this case the corporation, to recover an overpayment.
I would note, in both cases that the section of this legislation says
these words, may collect. This
means there is discretion, and it is not mandatory to recover such an
overpayment pursuant to either statutory provision; however, if a decision is
made to pursue recovery of an overpayment, that does not mean the person from
whom it is sought to recover an overpayment does not have what I believe a
strong defence to the overpayment recovery attempt.
The
Newfoundland Supreme Court case I referred to is an example of how the equitable
defence of change in circumstance can be used to prevent the minister from being
permitted to recover the overpayment, and I read from the judge's decision in
the court case. I have been shown no
reason why a defence of change in circumstance, not apply to mistakes of fact of
law made by a Crown official where the legislation authorized in recovery does
not explicitly exclude this defence.
He goes
on to say, the individual in question would have changed her position to enjoy a
more relaxed and a rich standard of life during a period when she was receiving
the overpayments by mistakes. It is
reasonable to expect that they would make expenditures which they would not have
otherwise made upon receipt of those overpayments to which they believe they are
entitled to.
Mr.
Speaker, a seniors' advocate in this situation could easily be asked by these
427 to look objectively at the moral licence this government has to make this
request and, I would argue, at the legal right this government has to make this
request and advocate on behalf of these seniors who are ranging, in some cases,
in their seventies and eighties waiting to hear what this government is going to
do. I do not believe the people of
the Province want seventy and eighty year olds sitting in their homes worried
about when somebody is going to call and give them a description of how they are
going to be paid. So far these
seniors have received multiple phone calls and will continue to receive multiple
letters. Mr. Speaker, some would
argue that that is elder abuse.
Again, a reason why a seniors' advocate independent of government, independent
of government ministers, could do the work of advocating on behalf of seniors.
Quite
frankly, Mr. Speaker, this situation of pension overpayments is the exact reason
why there is a significant difference between what this Premier has done to
support seniors and what the Leader of the Opposition wants to do when he wants
to support seniors, and that is provide an independent advocate that works in
the best interests of seniors only and not in the best interest of the
government.
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Exploits.
MR. FORSEY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is
always a pleasure to stand up in this House of Assembly and speak on any type of
legislation and statements that come to the floor.
Today, in particular, I am really pleased to have the opportunity to
address the House of Assembly especially when it comes to our most vulnerable,
which is our seniors.
Mr.
Speaker, this government which I am a part of and our Premier, along with all of
us, everybody in this House, and I mean everyone in this House, certainly have a
focus and a heart for looking after our seniors.
I
probably will take an opportunity to just talk about it on a personal issue, in
a personal way, that I am sure a lot of us can do the very same thing.
I had the good fortune to be able to look after my parent for a number of
years who had serious disabilities, but the programs that were in place, Mr.
Speaker and I know you are quite familiar with a lot of them that this
government provides made my job a lot easier, and the services that we were able
to provide for my parent.
As a
matter of fact, after her passing, I have the opportunity again now to look
after a parent which is one of my in-laws, my wife's parent, under the same
circumstances, Mr. Speaker. I think
we all have a feel for what we need to do.
We are becoming seniors some of us are getting pretty close ourselves
and we are going to be looking for this sort of thing.
This
government has put a seniors' department in place.
Our Premier, when he was sworn in back in last September, early October,
one of his mandates was to set up the department for seniors.
I must say, our minister is doing quite the bang up job on it.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. FORSEY:
That particular department
was set up to sort of set a path for where we want to go as a government, and
what we want to do and the initiatives we want to bring in to support our
seniors and there have been many, but what we were able to do with the
formation of this department was to put all of our services provided to seniors
in the one department. Prior to
that, we were running all over the place.
If we wanted something to do with housing, we went to one department.
If we wanted something to do with health or dental or whatever it was, we
had to go to another department.
Now, it is all under the umbrella of one department.
Looking
after our seniors and our seniors' needs I think is one of the main focuses
certainly of this government and of this Premier; otherwise, he would not have
formed the department that he did.
It was new, it was his idea, and it was a great initiative for this government,
Mr. Speaker.
In doing
so and I know the Opposition, I am sure their heart is in the right place,
like ours is, but I was listening to a talk show a while ago and I remember the
host saying the Opposition says that we are overspending, but they want us to
spend more.
We have
a department right now that is working very, very well, but the Opposition wants
us to spend more money for an advocate, which is going to be a greater cost to
the government and to the Province.
They say one thing over here, but they are saying a different thing over here.
You cannot do that.
You cannot say that someone is overspending, but then when they stand up
they want you spend more. That does
not even make sense. I really do not
understand their reasoning. They
will get up there and they will say that we are overspending.
Mr.
Speaker, I listened to a couple of speakers today, and I listened to my
colleague for Fortune Bay Cape La Hune who spoke about a lot of the services
that we provide. She did a very good
job, and I am sure could have continued longer if she had the time.
I know that I am probably going to be repetitious, but that is what you
get when you are speaking on such a topic like seniors that we have so much
consideration and interest in.
We are
now and will continue to listen.
That is why we have the department for seniors.
We also have the Citizens' Representative which is the go-to person.
It is already in place. If
there is an issue in the Province and they feel they have been done wrong, or
they need some assistance to make sure they are on the right path besides the
department, besides the MHAs who live in the districts and represent the
districts, that is the Citizens' Representative's job.
That is what he is there for.
He can access all that information for any citizen out there, senior or not, and
can look after their interest.
Also,
Mr. Speaker, the Provincial Advisory Council on Aging and Seniors and I do
believe my colleague for Fortune Bay Cape La Hune mentioned this one has
thirteen members throughout the Province.
This group consults with seniors on issues, policies, and services
impacting older adults and provides feedback to government.
Mr.
Speaker, seniors can contact their MHAs.
Every district out there has an MHA and I am sure we are all available to
the seniors. I will just speak for
the District of Exploits. I have
always had the opportunity to visit the 50 Plus Clubs and the seniors clubs.
I have sat down with them. We
have programs in place for funding that they can apply to for their recreation,
for healthy aging, and for wellness.
They take advantage of that. They
love it actually. Every group of
seniors out there who I deal with really takes advantage of this and appreciate
this because it gets them out, it keeps them active, and it keeps them healthy.
That is what our goal is, to keep people more
MR. POLLARD:
Engaged.
MR. FORSEY:
engaged.
I thank the Member for Baie Verte Springdale for that.
I lose a word every now and then but he
picks it up for me. I really
appreciate that, so do not move.
When I
visit them they talk about actually, I will talk about one group.
One group went out of the district because we did not have a bowling
alley in our district; they had to go to Grand Falls-Windsor.
They went to Grand Falls-Windsor for bowling because we were able to
support them in their trip and their activity, and they asked me to come along
with them. They really enjoyed it.
Mr.
Speaker, MHAs are the main contact for seniors.
They come to my office like they do I am sure in all district offices.
They come in and they say I am looking for a form for the rebate, the
Home Heating Rebate program. We have
hundreds of them come in. They come
in and they want to know about the Home Repair Program.
They want to know about the REEP program, and then they will ask for the
applications. They will ask us to
help them fill it out. That is what
we are all about.
I do not
think a seniors' advocate is going to go out into the district and sit down with
a senior and help them fill out an application.
It is not going to happen.
That is what we are there for, Mr. Speaker.
The
Seniors and Aging division with the Department of Seniors, Wellness and Social
Development is a centre of expertise on seniors' issues.
When it comes to seniors' issues, the Seniors and Aging division within
the Department of Seniors, Wellness and Social Development is the place.
That is where they need to go.
Mr.
Speaker, I also recall some of the things this government has put in place.
I know I do not have time to talk about all of it, but my colleague
brought up the Adult Protection Act.
I remember when we introduced that here in the House of Assembly a couple of
years ago I had the opportunity to speak on it.
In a lot of cases, years ago I guess adults were probably being neglected
and probably being abused, but like everything, we have come a long way, Mr.
Speaker.
We
brought in this protection and this act for anybody out there.
By the way, I know there has already been a report done on it a couple of
weeks ago. This can apply to someone
in their own home if they are being abused, someone in a personal care home or
in a nursing home. So that
protection is there, and it does not affect the one who is reporting it.
The one who is reporting it does not get involved in the report.
That was
a very, very important act we brought in there, Mr. Speaker.
It will continue to help our adults who cannot really look after
themselves and cannot protect themselves.
For the ones who are still active and the aging who are getting out and
having recreation, Mr. Speaker, we have put lot of supports and funding in place
for our seniors.
I would
just like to touch on a couple of investments we have made as a department
through, now the Department of Seniors.
I mentioned Newfoundland and Labrador Housing a little earlier and the
Home Repair Program. Well, the
Affordable Housing Agreement, this year we signed an unprecedented five-year
agreement with the federal government of $68 million, which extends into the
Home Repair Program, and 2,100 households with low income to repair their home
have already taken advantage of it.
This is like a huge program.
When I
say affordable housing affordable housing, yes, for people, but these are
senior people. These are mostly
seniors who take advantage of this so they can live in comfortable housing, live
independently, because it is affordable.
They do not have to go through the expense and the cost they went through
years ago, Mr. Speaker, because of the services that we brought in.
The
Residential Energy Efficiency Program I know I referred to it earlier as the
REEP program and that is what it is, the Residential Energy Efficiency Program
$12 million over three years to assist up to 1,000 low-income homeowners per
year with energy retrofits. That is
the kind of things we are doing as a government.
That is the initiatives we are bringing in as a government, and it is all
under the one umbrella now which makes it a lot easier.
There
are so many other programs that we have brought in.
I know my colleague from Fortune Bay Cape La Hune mentioned the drug
program, which is an awesome program; also the dental program, which is an
awesome program.
I meet
with seniors on a day-to-day basis in my district.
I am sure every member does, because we have a soft spot for them.
We want to listen and we want to help them.
I do not think we would pass a senior and say we are not doing anything
for them. That is not going to
happen. That is not where we are.
So, as a
government, and as a member of this government, I feel that the initiatives we
have taken have been tremendous.
Yes, we have more to do. There is no
question about it, but I am glad our Premier brought in the department for
seniors.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. FORSEY:
Absolutely, we all appreciate
it. I am certainly pleased to be
able to work with the minister for the department of seniors.
We have all been able to access the information that we need, as an MHA,
to bring it back to the people we want to look after, which is our most
vulnerable and our most favourite, which is our seniors, Mr. Speaker.
With
that, I will take my chair.
Thank
you very much for the time.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for St.
John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
I am
very happy to stand and to speak to this private member's motion that reads: BE
IT RESOLVED that the House of Assembly urge Government to establish a Seniors'
Advocate Office.
Clear,
plain and simple, no ambiguity here, nothing to wonder about.
I believe that the issue is clear, that the issue is that simple.
I would
like to start off by congratulating this government for establishing a
Department of Seniors, Wellness and Social Development.
I know the department is getting its feet under it, that it is looking at
innovative ways of serving the needs of seniors across the Province.
I have to say, Mr. Speaker, I applaud that initiative.
I am very, very glad to see that.
I have
had several opportunities to speak to the current Minister of Seniors, Wellness
and Social Development on a number of issues that affect seniors.
I believe he was very attentive.
I believe he took some of the concerns I brought to him on behalf of my
constituents, I believe he took them seriously, but there are a number of issues
that are not being addressed, or that the department cannot address, or that the
department does not feel is in its mandate, or that this government is not
prepared to address. Some of those
issues we have to look at. We have
to see, what would be the role of a seniors' advocate?
I would
also like to start off by saying we have to stop talking about seniors as if all
our seniors are vulnerable, little, frightened, isolated, incapacitated people.
That is not the truth. As we
age, oftentimes we need different kinds of services, or as we age we may need
more services. For some, their
senior years are more difficult because of issues of poverty, because of issues
of health or ill health, because of issues of geographical isolation or distance
from support services.
We
cannot keep talking about our seniors as if it is just one big block of
vulnerable, frightened, timorous people.
As a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, many seniors are able to speak on their
own behalf. We are seeing more and
more activism on behalf of seniors undertaken by seniors, and that is a good
thing.
I
imagine you would be wondering, well, am I supporting this or not?
Absolutely, Mr. Speaker, I am supporting this private member's motion.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MS ROGERS:
I am absolutely supporting
this private member's motion, not because the new Seniors, Wellness and Social
Development department is not doing a good job I am confident that it will
attempt to do the best job it possibly can.
We have
to look at the reality that we are facing.
We all know we have all talked about this that the proportion of our
population is aging. That
proportion, that geographic, that demographic shift is happening rapidly.
There are no if, ands, or buts about it.
That presents certain challenges to us.
We are
going to have to be very vigilant, extremely vigilant about the basic human
rights of seniors in Newfoundland and Labrador.
We are going to have to be very vigilant about the needs.
Also,
when we see our shrinking health care dollars particularly when we see the end
of the Canada Health Accord. When we
see our shrinking health care dollars and it is not that seniors are a drain
on our health care system. We know
that the cost of health care increases in end-of-life services, not necessarily
that seniors are overburdening our health care system.
There
are a lot of seniors who are in great shape and have been in great shape.
They will live their sixties, their seventies, their eighties in great
shape so we have to stop seeing them as absolutely vulnerable.
We have to stop seeing them as a drain on our health care dollars.
That is not the reality of the lives of seniors in our Province, but
again because of our geography, because of poverty, because of ill health and
chronic health conditions, there are certain problems and there are certain
challenges.
This
role of seniors' advocate is definitely not about helping people to fill out
forms. That would be absolutely
ridiculous, and I do not think that is what is being proposed.
We have to look at, our challenge and we have heard this in the House
in the fast few months, the economic challenge that we have, with the shrinking
cost of oil and how that has impacted us.
So, we are going to have to constantly balance in the next little while
this what the government is telling us constantly balance costs and costs of
services. How do we keep costs
affordable by maintaining access to care and maintaining actual access to care?
What
would be the role of the seniors' advocate and again, we are supporting a
seniors' advocate because in December of 2014 my colleague, the Member for
Signal Hill Quidi Vidi, in this House called and asked the Premier to establish
an office of a seniors' advocate. We
are definitely, definitely supporting this.
What she said is that an independent seniors' advocate would oversee the
provision of provincial senior services such as health, personal services,
housing, transportation, income supports, to name a few.
The role of that seniors' advocate is to look at everything that
government does through the lens of the experience of seniors and the needs of
seniors.
It is
long overdue. We see that there is a
movement in other provinces and in other countries to have a seniors' advocate
to do that kind of work. What kind
of work would a seniors' advocate do?
Well, you can be darn sure, Mr. Speaker, that the seniors' advocate would
be listening to people who are talking about changes in the adult dental
program. They want to take a look at
that. They want to sink their teeth
into that issue, because that is an issue that affects not only whether or not
somebody has pearly whites, but it affects people's general health, also a
general sense of well-being.
A
seniors' advocate would look at the issue of housing.
We know almost every mayor in Newfoundland and Labrador last year
identified housing as one of the main issues in their communities and identified
that they felt that there was a housing crisis, particularly as it relates to
seniors. We have seniors all over
the Province who are living in houses that are too big for them, yet they cannot
afford to downsize. We also have
seniors who are renting. I know I
have mentioned this in the House a number of times.
We have the highest proportion in the whole country of seniors in receipt
of OAS and GIS, which means that their average income is $1,100 a month.
So
imagine if you are a senior living alone and you have to rent.
So, a very modest estimate renting a safe, accessible unit for a senior,
$700, you would be hard-pressed. Mr.
Speaker, we know you would be hard-pressed.
Certainly in St. John's, in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Lab City, you would
be a hard-pressed to find anything under $1,000.
Let us
pretend you could actually find something for $700.
Now you have $1,100 a month to live on.
So your rent is $700. Your
heat and light, conservatively, is $200.
Your phone and cable because that is not a luxury, that is a necessity
that is $100. So out of $1,100,
already before you talk about transportation, before you talk about food, before
you talk about clothing, before you talk about getting a haircut, before you
talk about buying your granddaughter a graduation present, your expenses before
any of that are $1,000 a month, and your income is only $1,100.
You
could be darn sure that a seniors' advocate is going to look at something like
that, because a seniors' advocate is going to say we have a problem here.
We have a growing population of seniors.
We have the highest percentage of seniors in receipt of OAS and GIS.
We have the highest percentage of seniors in the country, therefore,
living below the poverty line. If I
was seniors' advocate, I can tell you I sure would want to be looking at that.
I would
want to look at every policy and every procedure and every piece of legislation
that might affect how seniors are able to live and thrive and survive in our
communities. Because the prosperity
that we experience today, the society that we have today, was built on their
backs, by the sweat of their brow.
All of us are the product of a senior right now even though some of us are
still seniors. Unfortunately, many
of us, our folks have passed on because of our ages.
What
else would a seniors' advocate look at?
I would think that a seniors' advocate would look at the whole issue of
rent supplements and how they affect seniors.
So if you are in one apartment and for some reason you are being evicted
because the landlord is going to double the rent, or renovate or whatever, and
you want to live in that same neighbourhood that is close to your church and
close to your community and close to your favourite grocery store, and close to
your doctor and your hospital, well what happens now is that if you are going to
get a rent supplement because you have had one before, you cannot get one and
take it with you. You have to go
where the rent supplements are attached to the rental units.
We know that is not working in the lives of seniors.
I have
heard a little hint from the Minister Responsible for Seniors, Wellness and
Social Development that he is looking at that, because he gets it.
That is why it is so important to have a department of seniors because
hopefully then the minister gets it.
He gets what impacts the lives of seniors in our Province.
I am
kind of hoping I have been talking about this for a few years now, making
those rent supplements affordable, particularly for seniors.
I am thinking that is the kind of thing that a seniors' advocate is going
to look at. The seniors' advocate is
also going to look at the Home Heating Rebate.
Do you know what happens right now?
If you live in an apartment building or a house where you are paying rent
and your heat and light is included in your rent, you are not eligible for the
Home Heating Rebate. Did you know
that?
It makes
no sense because you are paying for heat and light because it is included in
your rent. If you were not, your
rent would be lower and then you would be paying directly to the utility.
I would think that the seniors' advocate would be looking at that kind of
thing.
The
other thing that the seniors' advocate would be looking at is the whole issue of
long-term care, and boy that is a big one, Mr. Speaker.
It is a big one because we have so many seniors living in long-term care
and so many seniors on waiting lists.
We know that there are seniors in hospitals who are ready to move on but
there is no place for them to move to, or they have to move far away from their
communities, far away from their spouse, or far away from their family and all
of their supports.
I cannot
imagine how horrible that would be to be eighty-seven years old, to be
physically feeble, and to be sent to a long-term care facility far away from
your family, from your spouse, from the person who you slept in that bed beside
them for sixty years; I cannot imagine how tough that must be.
The
other thing a seniors' advocate will look at is the whole issue of home care and
how so many seniors have told us they want to live in their home and they need
just a little bit more care in order to be able to do that.
It is far less expensive on our system, yet we do not have a
comprehensive public home care system.
We have a system where people have to pay out of their pockets for home
care. There is a needs assessment.
We have a system that sometimes is not managed very well.
My
previous home phone number was one digit off from the phone number of a home
care agency. How many times seniors
would call me by accident because it was one digit off and they would say, where
are you? My home care worker is not
here, I am alone, I cannot get out of bed, and I need help.
So a
seniors' advocate would look at those kinds of issues, on the kinds of issues
that affect the lives of seniors.
Government at this point because we know that the needs are growing and they
are growing exponentially and rapidly, one would think that a government, in
fact, would want the services of a seniors' advocate.
I can assure you that the seniors of Newfoundland and Labrador certainly
want the services of a seniors' advocate.
That is what this is about.
It is about serving the needs of seniors and responding to their needs.
Thank
you very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER (Littlejohn):
The hon. the
Minister of Seniors, Wellness and Social Development.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is
certainly an interesting debate. It
is a very personal debate.
Mr.
Speaker, when you get called into Cabinet, you get a call from the Premier.
The Premier will say to you have a little chat.
It seems like he will hold you out there for a little bit because you are
not sure what he is going to say to you and where he is going to put you.
There are some departments you may not want to go into.
Mr.
Speaker, he called me and he said we are constructing a new Department of
Seniors, Wellness and Social Development and I would like for you to lead it.
Then he went on to speak about why.
In that, there is always that personal side.
Many of
us, like the member just mentioned, lost our parents.
My father died very young. My
mother died just a little over two years ago.
The thing that has changed, Mr. Speaker and people have talked about
demographics. I believe the Member
for Fortune Bay Cape La Hune said there were twelve children in her family.
Well, I
jokingly say this about my family.
My father and two of his brothers and their wives, between three families there
are forty children. I said it is a
double baseball team, a busload of kids.
Mr. Speaker, the thing about my mother was that there were enough of us
all of her ten children are alive to provide and take turns to help out with
her care and, very fortunately, she did not spend time in hospital.
Mr.
Speaker, we know the demographics have changed.
The Member for Fortune Bay La Hune said twelve; she has no children.
I have to say I have five children.
We have eleven grandchildren and another one on the way, so I am hoping
we have enough that you know, I am a little grey on the top somebody will
look after me.
Mr.
Speaker, the thing that we have facing us is a demographic that we just simply
cannot ignore and, more importantly, we should not ignore.
I have had the opportunity to speak on several occasions in front of
groups that represent seniors, or 50 Plus Clubs, and the one thing that I have
said over and over again: We should never allow our seniors to become to be seen
as liabilities. We know there is a
challenge, Mr. Senior Mr. Speaker, I can assure you one thing.
You are not quite there yet, Mr. Speaker.
The grey is starting to come through, Mr. Speaker; that is the first
sign.
Mr.
Speaker, on a serious note, and people have said it here, these are the people
who have built our communities, they are the grandparents of our children and
they are the ones who have served on the committees in our Province, served on
the church groups, and they deserve our utmost respect.
Some of
the people have talked about MHAs getting calls.
I went to the district of the Member for Cape St. Francis and to see how,
as MHAs, he and all of us interact with seniors.
We want to do our best and departments.
I do not want to negate the Department of Transportation and Works, but
that is a department that is about asphalt and roads.
This department that we have, that I am in charge of, is about people and
one particular part of that department is around seniors.
I, as
minister, I have said it and I am going to say it again, that I am going to do
my utmost to make sure seniors get the representation that they deserve.
A
question comes down, and it has been presented by the Opposition party, is do we
have a seniors' advocate? Mr.
Speaker, I am about trying to do and get the dollars that I can that best fit
where and serve the seniors of this Province.
Then people will have to make a judgement on that.
The
Member for Conception Bay South, I saw him in church.
I go to church regularly. I
saw him there one day. I did not
know he was a Liberal until the election came around.
Likewise, we see in our churches when we go there the demographics, the
number of older people who are there.
They deserve to get from us and get from government and get from our
coffers what they can. From my
perspective, I do believe seniors have access to enough groups and individuals,
like the Citizens' Rep that has been mentioned, that they can have their voice
heard.
Now,
what we have to do, Mr. Speaker, is we have to invest our dollars in programs
that support seniors. The Member for
St. John's Centre mentioned a number of people who are on OAS, Old Age Security.
Mr. Speaker, she is right.
Look at the income they get. What is
it that we can do to support them?
One of
the things that we have done is we put in the prescription drug plan, the 65Plus
Plan. That ensures that those on low
income pay no more than $6 for a prescription when they go there.
Now, that costs us $50 million a year.
I do not want to tag dollars on it, but I just say that to point out some
of the investments we have made to ensure that these people, those on the lower
end, are supported so that they can get their prescription.
The
age-friendly grants that we put out there.
The low income benefit; all of us know many of our constituents will look
to when that dollar arrives in the mail in October.
It has gone from $971 I think it is up to $1,036.
So it is something that comes in their hands that they recognize.
I do not think people realize sometimes that it costs around $40 million
to put that in place.
Then,
through Newfoundland and Labrador Housing, I can guarantee you there is not an
MHA in this House who does not know what the Provincial Home Repair Program is.
MS ROGERS:
(Inaudible).
MR. JACKMAN:
There is a what?
MS ROGERS:
There is a problem with it
(inaudible).
MR. JACKMAN:
If there is a problem with
it, Mr. Speaker, to the Member for St. John's Centre, that is the thing we need
to put our investments in, to work on that.
She has made some suggestions, Mr. Speaker, I will not give her credit
for it, but we were looking at it because when I went into the department first,
I had a couple of requests come to me and asked about portable subsidies.
Mr.
Speaker, we are taking a look at it to see if we can trust some of our people
out there, Mr. Speaker. We can trust
our people out there to decide, this is where I want to live and would you allow
me to take my dollar with me to go there; but, we are not going the whole gamut
right in the first phase. We will
try it in particular areas and then if it is successful, then we do further
implementation.
Mr.
Speaker, another issue I have seen is the challenge in urban rural, there is no
doubt about it.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. JACKMAN:
There is no doubt about it,
that the challenge in the urban areas sometimes the cost of living, there is
no doubt, is higher than what it would be in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.
So let's explore and see what opportunities exist that could make it
better for those who live in urban areas.
We know, for example, that with what has happened in the past number of
years with the oil industry coming more online, we know where rentals have gone.
We know where the cost of living is.
Let's take a look at those types of things and see where it can take us,
Mr. Speaker.
Another
thing we are attempting to do, we have a pilot transportation project happening.
I had not really thought of it before, but I went to federal-provincial
territorial meetings on seniors a few months back, and they were asking and
talking about seniors issues and they identified what the three top issues were
facing seniors. One was finance.
The second is housing. This
is the one that I had not thought of that much, it was isolation.
It is isolation.
Just
think of a senior who lives alone in a house, and our winters sometimes start in
November and go right on through to June, and these people are confined.
Think of the mental strength that a person needs to be able to live in
those circumstances. Therefore, one
of the things we have done, Mr. Speaker, is we are attempting pilot projects in
five areas of the Province. We are
doing a project with the Red Cross, we are doing a project with the St. John's
Metrobus, and we are doing one in Springdale, Cape St. George, and Clarenville.
Mr.
Speaker, what that will provide us is information to be able to assist all
people, but we find that many of the programs we put in place to assist our
entire population, the seniors take up a fair number of them.
From that we will garner more information and then make some further
decisions as we move into supporting seniors.
If I go
down through the list, the Provincial Home Repair Program and I believe it was
the Member for Exploits who mentioned the Affordable Housing agreement that we
have entered into with the federal government, $68 million; $40 million of that
will continue into the Provincial Home Repair Program, those types of programs.
The other $28 million or so will go into these affordable units.
All of
us in this House in every side of government have recently received some of
these in their districts. The great
thing that I have to say that I see with these is they do get services provided,
like snow clearing and whatnot, and it allows seniors to age in their own
communities longer with less to maintain.
The most important part of that is they maintain their independence.
Another good part of it, Mr. Speaker, is sometimes they are built quite
close together and they are company for each other.
They might be built and a balcony is there so that seniors can interact
with each other.
I would
say another group that many of us have mentioned here, the 50 Plus Clubs that we
are getting and this is an interesting dynamic that I have seen.
You are getting some of the 50 Plus people getting in there.
These are the ones who are engaging the seniors and then getting them out
into the community, getting them to become a part of their club, and then
getting them out of their homes.
Mr.
Speaker, my time is winding down. I
am going to end where I started off.
One is that when I received the call from the Premier I knew what his commitment
was to the seniors of this Province and this department.
There is no doubt about that.
The
second part, Mr. Speaker, is the two words that I started mentioning when I
started speaking about seniors; one is respect.
These are the people who have built our Province.
They deserve our respect. The
second thing is that I as minister none of us on this side, our Premier, and I
doubt if anybody across the floor ever wants to see seniors be argued about as
they almost seem like liabilities.
We should never, never get to that place.
Mr.
Speaker, while we may not always agree on the things that are happening and the
proposals that come forward I think all of us agree that we have to do our
utmost for the seniors of our Province and as our government.
From our department I can assure that will happen.
Thank
you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am
very happy to stand and speak to this private member's resolution today moved by
my colleague from Conception Bay South.
It is an important topic, it is an important issue, and it is an
important PMR. It is certainly a
substantive one and one that we were hoping to see some support for today.
It is a concept that the Official Opposition, led by our leader, has put
forward now for months that this should happen.
Let me
preface my comments here today by saying that I have no doubt every single
individual in this House right now, all the members of the House, care for
seniors and want the best interests of seniors to be met and to be looked after.
Let's make sure that is not an issue right off the top.
I have no doubt every one of us.
I
listened to the comments by the Member for Exploits and he is talking about
getting contacted by seniors. Again
I think that is something that all forty-eight of us have in common.
We are contacted by members of our constituency and many times they are
seniors. We do our utmost to help
them, whether it is filling out forms, whether it is providing information, you
name it, but what we are asking for is something different than that.
I want
to provide a little bit of background.
Something that we did as the Official Opposition team back in the fall
was we did a series of meetings across the Province called Lets Connect.
It was a chance for us as the Official Opposition to get out across the
Province and meet with seniors and hear directly of their needs.
More importantly, rather than listening to politicians talk, it was a
chance for politicians to listen.
That is what we wanted to do.
I was
very lucky I started in my hometown of Port aux Basques and went to Burgeo.
We were in Corner Brook, we were in Bay Roberts, we were in Winterton,
Arnold's Cove, Lewisporte and we ended off actually in Southlands.
The first thing I would say is we were amazed at the response that we
got, just the turn out, the people showing up.
You never know when you have meetings if people have any interest in
showing up or being a part of it, but going by the turnout we were pretty
impressed. I cannot forget Winterton. We were in Winterton.
I do not want to forget the good folks there in Trinity Bay de Verde.
Number
one, they were showing up; number two, they were talking.
They were telling us those issues.
They were letting us know.
Some of those issues happen to be very specific.
Some of them, in fact, were very individual.
Some were systemic. Some were
common across the Province no matter where you were.
One
thing happened while we were doing this tour.
The interest we had unfortunately we did not get to the rest of the
places because the House of Assembly was called back in.
I know the Member for CBS, who is also the MHA responsible for Seniors,
Wellness and Social Development for our team, is getting out there in the
different communities. He is
listening to people. We had such
great success. We are going to
continue doing it.
During
that tour it was actually announced that the Department of Seniors, Wellness and
Social Development was created. So I
had people say to me: What do you think of that?
I said: All I can tell you right now is that I like the idea.
I will say, credit to the member aside, they put a very senior,
experienced minister in the portfolio.
I think they showed that they wanted someone who it was not their first
portfolio. I have great respect for
the member opposite, that was certainly pardon the pun.
They put
an individual in who I have great respect for.
I know that he cares for seniors.
All I could say at the time because I did not know the mandate, I did
not know what the direction was. I
said I like the idea but we have to see how it works out.
So far I
have no issue with the department. I
know they care about seniors. We all
deal with that, the different initiatives, the different ideas.
Where we disagree is we feel that there is a need for an independent
voice for the seniors of this Province that is not controlled by a government,
that is not controlled by politicians, and that is not controlled by depending
on which party is in place.
We want
an advocate who is independent, funded as the Child and Youth Advocate is, as
the Citizens' Representative is.
Funded, but you have that mandate and your job is to go out and represent the
best interests of that constituency.
Child, Youth and Family Services; we know what their mandate is.
The Citizens' Representative represents
all constituents. In this case, we
think there is a need for an independent voice to represent seniors.
That is all there is to it.
The fact
is right now, at the end of day, partisan interests are in control of government
departments. That is how this works,
but we need independence. We need
someone who is going to be there whether there is a change in government,
whether there is a change in party, whether there is a change in minister,
whether there is a change in bureaucrats.
You need someone there who is going to speak out for seniors, speak out
on specific issues or speak out on systemic issues.
Two
things I would say. The Member for
Exploits mentioned we as MHAs advocate for our constituents, many of whom happen
to be seniors. I agree, we do
advocate for seniors, but we also advocate for children, for parents, for
workers, and for businesses. We
advocate for constituents. We
advocate for every single person in our constituency.
That is our job. I think we
all do that to the best of our ability.
I know everybody on the other side, I know people on this side.
That is what we do. That is
why we want to get elected and that is why we want to do the job, but we are not
specifically advocates for seniors.
We have
many other hats that we wear. We
have to come in here in the House.
Many members on the other side are ministers.
So in some cases you represent the Cabinet, the government, and that can
be a conflict. We need someone,
regardless of who is there, who is going to represent seniors.
The
second thing I would say is they are trying to say that the Department of
Seniors, Wellness and Social Development is there, therefore, that is going to
take care of seniors and that is fine.
The Department of Child, Youth and Family Services is there, but they
still need a Child and Youth Advocate.
At the end of the day you need someone independent who can advocate for a
vulnerable population, someone who needs a voice to speak out on behalf of them.
In that case it is children.
We are saying that many seniors are vulnerable.
It is a population that is growing.
They need an independent voice that is going to represent them.
That is what we are saying.
We look
at legislation here where we talk about the Adult Protection Act and it
specifically mentions vulnerable seniors who need protection.
Well now let's put someone in there who can go out there and look at
systemic issues. I used the Child
and Youth Advocate because that is what we know and see.
As the member mentioned, there is
precedent for this across the country.
We are not reinventing the wheel here, we are taking best practices.
Just
yesterday government talked about we need to be leaders.
In this case, look, it is not about leading; it is about doing the right
thing and looking to other provinces to see how something successful can be
brought here. There is precedent for
this. You can look at this and see
how it is done.
The
Child and Youth Advocate will come out and in many cases they investigate based
on specific episodes that have happened.
You look at the various reports that the Advocate has released talking
about specific incidents, whether it is the fire on Springdale Street.
In many cases they will look at this is a systemic issue within the
department that is responsible for protecting them.
So we
might see a case of where the department, even though they are trying to do
their best, there are still issues that happen.
We have seen that in CYFS where, no fault with the people trying it, but
that is the whole purpose behind it.
Systemic issues happen due to gaps in service.
This is what is going on here.
We are
saying the Department of Seniors
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. A. PARSONS:
We are not complaining about
that. That is good.
I was glad to hear the Member for St. John's Centre, number one, the fact
that she and her team support this initiative, but she also mentioned too that
the department is good; I applaud you for what you are doing.
It is the same thing coming from us.
We do not have an issue there, but why would you not want to put an
individual, an independent voice there, that can truly protect seniors?
Why would you not want to do that?
I know one reason they would not want to do it.
The member mentioned it: cost.
How are you going to pay for it?
I say, you cannot stand here in the House and talk about the seniors are
important and we need to do everything we can for seniors and then in another
space say, but we cannot afford to do that.
You cannot do that. We are
saying that it is that important that you have to make this happen.
Again, there is precedent for cost.
We can make this happen.
I could get into this big spiel on where could you find
the money and talk about there has been money wasted in certain things on the
other side whether it is the ATIPP report that cost $1 million or Parliamentary
Secretaries, but I do not want to get into that.
I want to stay with the topic at hand.
We announced months ago that we feel there is a need for a seniors'
advocacy office funded and their job is to come out and make sure that seniors
are protected.
Again, that is not going to stop MHAs from doing our
job. We are going to continue to
lobby for seniors. We are going to
continue to worry about seniors and work for seniors.
That is not going to change, but we have an independent voice there that
is going to say politics aside, allegiances aside, our job is seniors and we are
going to make sure they are protected.
We will come out in reports saying what we think the issues are, and to
make sure that steps are taken and recommendations are taken to protect that.
That is what the Child and Youth Advocate does.
We do not have anybody questioning the importance or the need for that.
We all applaud it and say we need that; that is a good thing.
When the Department of CYFS was created, we said we
need that, that is a good thing; but it is the Child and Youth Advocate that
years later has said here are some of the gaps and issues in that department.
Get it fixed. Now we have a
newly created Department of Seniors and Wellness and if we are still seeing
those issues and gaps down the road that seniors' advocate can say look
whether there was a Liberal government, a PC government, or an NDP government,
they are going to say look, we do not care, fix it, and that is the purpose
here.
Right now we do not have this.
At the end of the day, it is controlled by partisan interest.
That is what we are saying and again, if you want to go further, we
would say that the advocate itself should be picked by the independent
appointments commission to make sure the politics is taken out of it, to put the
right people in place so that it is not cronies placed in these positions.
That it is the right people with the right background.
Given the fact that one-quarter of our population is
going to be seniors in the next decade and you think about it, that is a huge
number we need to take steps now to make sure that population is protected.
I do not care whether you live in a rural district like I do, if you live
in an urban district, they have many issues which are specific and related to
the area that they live. They also
have commonalities, issues that stretch across this Province and affect all
seniors. An advocate could ensure
that these were looked at and provide guidance and advice to this government, to
any government, to say this is what we need to do to make sure they are not
exploited.
I think I have made my points clear.
I do not think there is a need to be repetitive.
What I would say is every time you stand up and talk about how important
seniors are, do not stand up and say we are not going to do the right thing for
seniors because it is going to cost too much.
You cannot do that. I would
ask that you please consider this.
Please support this resolution because we think it is
the right step. We think it is an
important step, and one that hopefully all parties can get behind and support.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR.
SPEAKER:
If
the hon. Member for Conception Bay South speaks, it will close debate.
The hon. the Member for Conception Bay South.
MR.
HILLIER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is my pleasure to speak last on this debate and
bring it to some closure. I would
like to be able to say ditto to what the Member for Burgeo La Poile said and
then sit down because he did a fabulous job of summing up.
As we have gone through this afternoon, I made a few
notes. I just want to go back over
some of the things that were said here and maybe clarify a few items.
I thank all of those people who took part in the debate this afternoon.
It has been a great exchange.
I think it will do well for seniors in the Province.
I recognize the Member for Fortune Bay Cape La Hune
who spoke very positively for seniors, as do most of us or not most of us,
Sir, all of us speak very positively about seniors and our concerns for seniors
in our communities. She talked about
the work she does as an MHA.
Obviously, we all do that same work as an MHA.
She points out other groups that help seniors, but, Mr.
Speaker, one of the concerns about other groups that help seniors and I know
the 50 Plus Clubs have been mentioned here a fair bit this afternoon is that
they are all dependent on volunteers.
If they disappear, all that support is not there that we are assuming
would be there for seniors.
She also referenced the Adult Protection Act as a
service for seniors. There is no
doubt that it does cover seniors, but it also covers many more people within the
Province and it is not specific to seniors.
Mr. Speaker, the Adult Protection Act gives a director the legislative
authority to intervene on behalf of adults incapable of caring for themselves.
A seniors' advocate, on the other hand, would focus specifically on
seniors and give legislative authority to an independent voice in government on
the rights and interests of all seniors, not just those requiring protection and
intervention.
While the seniors' advocate may investigate an
individual case, the advocate will also be legislated to identify systemic
issues, which my colleague for Burgeo La Poile referenced a few moments ago.
Then, Mr. Speaker, my colleague for Virginia Waters very eloquently
discussed the philosophy of the seniors' advocate and why the seniors' advocate
is such a concern for us. Then she
went into significant detail, I guess, on the most current issue that we feel
would fall within the prevue of a seniors' advocate, that is this whole issue of
pension clawback and the impact that it will have on many of our seniors in
paying it back.
One thing that she points out in terms of the advocate
that we propose is that this person would be independent of government and
answering only to the House of Assembly not an appointment, not a political
appointment, and I guess the concern is the perception of bias.
I am not suggesting bias, but the perception of bias.
This needs to be open and clear, and an independent advocate would ensure
that that took place.
I thank the Member for Exploits for his commentary.
Again, there is lots of support out there for seniors; but going back to
the fact that a lot of these organizations are volunteer organization is
government saying that they are depending on volunteers to make sure that
seniors get the support that they need?
Sure, volunteers play a major role in a lot of the aspects in our
communities, one being with seniors and I guess the Member for St. John's
Centre referenced it. With seniors'
groups, you have two groups of seniors.
You have those within a seniors' group who are doing great things for the
community, but one of the great things that they are doing for the community is
supporting other seniors who are in those groups.
Mr. Speaker, I could still go back to the fact that
these are volunteer groups. Is that where we need to be
putting the support for seniors, on the backs of volunteers?
I thank
the Member for St. John's Centre for her support of our motion.
Just one correction, I guess, and that is that we called for this
seniors' advocate back in October.
It is just a correction. I am sure
you did in December, but we did in October as well.
The one
area that
MS ROGERS:
(Inaudible).
MR. HILLIER:
All right, let's see.
There is
one item she did mention that resonates with me in my district and that is
housing for seniors. So many people,
so many seniors, Mr. Speaker, are concerned about on one hand affordable
housing, but on the other hand being stuck as individual seniors in the family
home. Having to look after the
family home as an individual, the cost of looking after the family home, the
cost of maintenance of that family home, simple things like mowing the grass and
shoveling the snow.
I know
in my district it is an issue with seniors that I picture one lady right now,
Rex, I have to get out of my home because it is too big for me, but there is
nowhere to go. In the meantime I
know there are three housing initiatives within the town, three housing cottage
groups, I believe, of ten or eleven, but they are all full.
I know she said to me last time we were in church, Minister, I had my
cottage all decorated and now I find out that the person who was trying to put
the proposal through did not get the funding.
So she is back for another year, another winter, or what have you, back
in the family home.
Mr.
Speaker, the Minister of Seniors and Wellness again spoke very passionately
about seniors in general. I know
this has been a very civil debate this evening, but one comment he made was that
seniors have access to enough. My
concern is that enough, while there are a lot of services out there for seniors,
they do not cover I guess two characteristics; one is that they are legislated
and they are independent of government.
The enough that seniors have are either one or the other.
They are independent of government in that they are volunteer groups.
So they are either independent of government those that are independent
of government are volunteer groups, or they are legislated.
If they are legislated, it is part of government.
What we
are suggesting is an entity that is both independent and legislated.
Right now, that exists in the form of a Child and Youth Advocate and a
citizens' advocate.
Mr.
Speaker, my colleague for Burgeo La Poile, as always, when he stands to speak,
is very eloquent in his presentation.
We are not prepared as a party to sit still and accept what we have.
We saw the Throne Speech come down yesterday.
We were told so many times we are going to continue to do this, this is
what we have done, and so on. We are
not prepared to sit still and function in that manner.
As we
just debated a little bit, in October we said that within one year of taking
office, the Liberal Party would institute a seniors' advocacy office.
Mr. Speaker, we are now moving up that timeline and calling for a
seniors' advocacy office today in this debate.
To sum
things up, and a similar summary that I mentioned in my earlier speech, we
simply urge government to establish a seniors' advocacy office.
We have identified a need for it.
We have set out the role of such an office.
We have identified precedence in other parts of the country.
We have identified similar offices in our Province.
Mr. Speaker, we have identified cases where a senior's advocate would
have undoubtedly gotten involved. We
now need the support from the remainder of this House to bring it to reality.
Thank
you very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER (Verge):
Order, please!
It is
the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?
All
those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR. SPEAKER:
All those against, 'nay.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Nay.
MR. SPEAKER:
The motion is defeated.
AN HON. MEMBER:
Division.
MR. SPEAKER:
Division has been called.
Summon
the members.
Division
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
All
those in favour of the motion, please stand.
CLERK:
Mr. Ball, Mr. Andrew Parsons,
Mr. Osborne, Mr. Joyce, Ms Cathy Bennett, Mr. Jim Bennett, Mr. Slade, Mr.
Mitchelmore, Ms Dempster, Mr. Edmunds, Mr. Kirby, Mr. Lane, Mr. Hillier, Mr.
Flynn, Mr. Crocker, Ms Michael, Mr. Murphy, Ms Rogers.
MR. SPEAKER:
All those against the motion,
please stand.
CLERK:
Mr. King, Mr. Hutchings, Mr.
Kent, Mr. Dalley, Mr. Crummell, Mr. Sandy Collins, Mr. Felix Collins, Mr.
Jackman, Mr. Granter, Mr. Littlejohn, Mr. Cross, Ms Perry, Mr. Brazil, Mr.
Russell, Mr. Forsey, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Dinn, Mr. Cornect, Mr. Hedderson, Mr. Kevin
Parsons, Mr. Little, Mr. Pollard, Mr. Peach, Mr. McGrath.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
CLERK:
Mr. Speaker, the ayes,
eighteen, the nays, twenty-four.
MR. SPEAKER:
The motion is defeated.
This
being Wednesday, Private Members' Day, the business of the House concluded, the
House now stands adjourned until tomorrow, Thursday, at 1:30 o'clock.