May
7, 2015
HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY PROCEEDINGS
Vol. XLVII No. 11
The
House met at 1:30 p.m.
MR. SPEAKER (Verge):
Order, please!
Admit strangers.
I am
pleased to welcome to the public gallery today Mr. Rodney Drover, Principal
of Virginia Park Elementary.
I am
also pleased to welcome Mr. Jacob Hill from Gunners Cove who, I believe,
will be the subject of a member's statement in a little while.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
Statements by
Members
MR. SPEAKER:
Today we will hear
members' statements from the Districts of St. John's North, The Straits
White Bay North, Bonavista South, Port de Grave, Bellevue, and Signal Hill
Quidi Vidi.
The
hon. the Member for St. John's North.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KIRBY:
Mr. Speaker, I rise today
to recognize students and teachers at Leary's Brook Junior High and Prince
of Wales Collegiate for their participation in the Asper Foundation Human
Rights and Holocaust Studies Program.
This
award-winning national human rights awareness program is designed to promote
tolerance and sensitize students to the consequences of racism through a
specially designed education program.
It
requires students to complete sessions on the Holocaust, human rights,
discrimination against various groups in Canadian and American history, the
civil rights movement, multiculturalism, global leadership, and individual
responsibility.
The
education sessions for this program have taken place on Sundays, with
students using their free time to take part.
Volunteer work is also a required program component and together this
year's program participants have contributed hundreds of hours of community
service.
The
students and their teachers are currently in Washington DC where they have
visited a number of notable historic sites, including the United States
Holocaust Memorial Museum and a number of important monuments relating to
freedom and democracy.
I
ask all hon. members to join me in offering congratulations to students and
teachers at Leary's Brook and PWC on completing this important human rights
program.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
the District of The Straits White Bay North.
MR. MITCHELMORE:
Mr. Speaker, Jacob
Hill, Gunners Cove native, has always tried to inspire youth around him in
any way he can with encouragement, involvement and commitment, especially
through sports.
Jacob founded FTP Ball Hockey Tournament in memory of his late father, Jacob
Hill Sr., in the spirit of his father's positive, kind nature that inspired
him to be who he is today. The
event is held every summer at St. Anthony Polar Centre, with funds going to
Team Cle, honouring the memory of Cleon Smith, giving funds to Kids Sport
NL. As you can see, this one
endeavour reaches out to many other partnerships supporting children in our
Province.
The
annual event also impressed Rogers, sponsor of Hockey Night in Canada.
Jacob's story won the contest What Do You Play For? commercial
premiering nationally during the NHL Playoffs.
Now what young hockey player or fan would not want to have that
opportunity, his own piece of a hockey dream.
The
commercial was quite genuine, heartfelt, and summarized where many hockey
dreams begin, the fun of the game, the commitment of all involved, and the
bond it brings.
I
ask all members to congratulate Jacob Hill on his inspiration at home and
across the country.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
the District of Bonavista South.
MR. LITTLE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
rise in this hon. House today to recognize the commitment of an organization
in my District of Bonavista South.
The Discovery Shooting Club, in the Town of Elliston, formed the
Great War Living History Committee to honour the regional contribution of
the Bonavista Peninsula during the First World War.
Their goal is to keep our Province's history and memory of the First World
War alive. This summer,
volunteers will be dressed in replica Royal Newfoundland Regiment uniforms
and attending community functions around the Bonavista Peninsula.
They will also be performing interpretations, free of charge.
Through these activities, the tragedy and sacrifice experienced by
our Province will be made real for a new generation, Lest We Forget.
The
committee is in the process of documenting everyone who served from our
region. This information is
being placed online at nfldww1.com as a public resource to ensure the
contribution a century ago of the Bonavista Peninsula and area to the
Newfoundland and Labrador's World War One effort is remembered.
Mr.
Speaker, hon. colleagues, please join me in recognizing the continued
dedication of this committee in keeping the history and memory of World War
I veterans alive.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
the District of Port de Grave.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. LITTLEJOHN:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I
rise today to congratulate Jenna Lee Ralph, a Grade 8 student of Holy
Redeemer School, Spaniard's Bay, one of the winners of the Regional Heritage
Fair recently held in St. John's.
Jenna Lee's entry was in the Ambassador's Award category as a part of the
Honour 100 program. She was one
of nineteen students selected to participate in a battlefield tour of
Northern France and Belgium later this year.
In
her essay entitled, In their Footsteps The Life of Matthew Brazil Jenna
Lee takes us on a four year journey through World War I.
She
says Matthew Brazil was a heroic man who received the Military Medal for
conspicuous bravery: under heavy machine gun fire in full view of the enemy,
he ran into the open field to retrieve ammunition from fallen comrades.
Six
months later, he also received the Distinguished Combat Medal for
conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty.
He, along with another famous Newfoundlander and Labradorian, Tommy
Ricketts pushed forward while being shot at by four enemy machine guns.
They broke through the enemy line because of their accurate shooting
and unselfishness providing a path forward for their platoon.
Please wish Jenna Lee well as she retraces the trail of the Royal
Newfoundland Regiment later this summer.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
the District of Bellevue.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. PEACH:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
rise in this hon. House today to recognize a student group from Crescent
Collegiate in Blaketown who are working hard to promote environmental
awareness. They contribute by
educating their peers on recycling and improving their environment.
The
Code Green club currently has approximately eighteen members, and started
about nine years ago with the assistance of Mr. Peter Bishop at Crescent
Collegiate. Within the last two
years, the membership has doubled it is proof that sustainability of our
environment is becoming more and more important to our youth.
The
club regularly stages clean ups around the school and surrounding
communities. They currently run
a recycling program and are planning to start a composting program in the
near future.
For
the past two years, Code Green has received the spirit award for Envirothon.
Envirothon is a hands-on competition for high school students.
The competition tests their knowledge of the environmental
sustainability and resources of this Province.
The students pick their own category before the competition and then
during the Envirothon, they are challenged on the subject of their choosing.
I
ask all members of this House to join me in congratulating the Code Green
team for their efforts to support our environment.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
the District of Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
We
often rise in the House to give recognition to people and groups who have
received particular awards or honours for their individual achievements.
Today I would like to recognize the hard work of a group of people in
the city who together brought an innovative sports pilot project to a school
in my district.
The
Province's first Junior NBA Canada basketball program ran at Virginia Park
Elementary as a pilot project from October to March.
Twenty boys and girls aged five to seven years learned the basics of
basketball, and I would add, of team play.
NBA
Canada supplied the school with two portable basketball nets, and each of
the participants with an NBA jersey, a ball, and a gym bag.
St. Paul's Knights of Columbus contributed the $1,200 needed for the
program.
Director of Operations, Jerry Puddister, and Coach Tony Oliver of the
Swilers Basketball Club worked with Rodney Drover, the principal at Virginia
Park, to get the program started.
Former Sea-Hawks player, David O'Keefe, joined in as a coach.
The young participants developed skills and had fun.
I
ask all members to join me in congratulating everyone involved in making the
Province's first Junior NBA Canada Program such a success and invite my
colleagues to think of schools in their district who might take this up as
it has been started by Virginia Park.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Statements by Ministers.
Statements by
Ministers
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Environment and Conservation.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. CRUMMELL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, I rise today as the Minister Responsible for the Office of Climate
Change and Energy Efficiency to update my hon. colleagues on work recently
undertaken to improve our Provinces' resilience to climate change.
In
the 2011 Climate Change Action Plan, our government committed to ensuring
our Province is prepared for the impacts of climate change.
These impacts include more frequent and intense storm events, which
have the potential to cause increases in flooding and coastal erosion, as
well as significant damages to property and infrastructure.
Mr.
Speaker, preparing for such changes requires ensuring we have access to the
most up-to-date and authoritative information about trends in our Province's
weather patterns.
As
such, last year we contracted a world-class engineering firm to update our
Province's Intensity-Duration-Frequency curves.
These curves are developed from
historical data to predict future rain events.
They are critical tools for ensuring our infrastructure designs are
able to withstand increases in precipitation, including vital
transportation, municipal, marine, and mining infrastructure.
The updated curves are now available online.
Mr.
Speaker, this builds upon work we have already undertaken to ensure our
Province is well positioned to minimize the risks associated with climate
change. This work includes our
2013 climate projections study, which outlines how our Province's climate is
expected to change by mid-century; our innovative approach for completing
flood risk mapping, as we are the first jurisdiction in Canada to
incorporate climate change into these tools; our Hurricane Flood Alert
System, which notifies municipalities throughout the Province of impending
heavy precipitation events; and our ongoing work to monitor coastal erosion
at 112 site throughout the Province, including nine in Labrador.
Mr.
Speaker, it is important to note that, in addition to risks, climate change
will present many opportunities in our Province.
These opportunities include the potential for a longer growing season
and longer summer tourism season, as well as opportunities to capitalize on
the demand for innovation within the green economy.
Research notes that with the right support, employment in the green
economy in this Province could grow by up to 30 per cent by 2020.
As such, our government is developing a green economy action plan,
which will ensure our Province is well positioned to maximize these
opportunities while minimizing risks.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
The Straits White Bay North.
MR. MITCHELMORE:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I
thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement.
Certainly, climate change is one of the greatest long-term challenges
facing jurisdictions around the world.
Climate change will present challenges going forward in our fishery,
with warming water temperatures impacting shellfish, but government
continues to ignore the fishery.
In
government's 2011 Climate Change Action Plan, to no surprise, there is no
commitment to the fishing industry there, given that the progress report
says that all these recommendations and commitments will be based on
available funding year over year over year.
With more money cut from the fisheries budget, will we see this go
forward?
Now,
the minister talked about these IDF curves for rain reports, and that
interests me. I actually went on
the government's website to look at it.
They are federal files. I
tried to access them. There was
a requirement for a username and a password which was not provided, and
there is no access to that.
Coastal erosion and flooding are huge issues, and they can devastate
communities. We saw heavy rains
that have flooded roads like in Croque and also in Hare Bay, areas of
Central. We have to make sure
that we have infrastructure in place to deal with those changes.
In November 2013, we asked in this House about the coastal erosion
report which sat on a shelf for quite a period of time, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It
is great that we have a lot of usable information now over the last few
years. It is an awful lot.
What is needed is revenue not only to municipalities to directly deal
with the replacement of bridges and infrastructure, but we also have to have
a commitment from government to prevent washouts of culverts and bridges
that have been neglected over the years.
We all know; we have heard the arguments.
There is no evidence of a plan for our roads as noted by the Auditor
General. As noted by the title,
Mr. Speaker, it is a Climate Change Action Plan.
We need to see action now, not just a series of ongoing reports.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Child, Youth and Family Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. S. COLLINS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I
rise in this hon. House today to provide an update on the voluntary
Operating Grant Program which was launched this past December.
Providing quality, affordability and sufficiency in regulated child care in
this Province is a priority for this government and we honour that
commitment through a number of programs under our 10-Year Child Care
Strategy entitled, Caring For Our
Future. One of these
programs is the voluntary Operating Grant Program.
Mr.
Speaker, the voluntary Operating Grant Program provides annual operating
grants to eligible regulated child care centres to help offset some of the
costs associated with providing child care.
I am pleased to tell you that since this program was launched just
five months ago, we have had encouraging uptake from licensed child care
centres from all regions of the Province.
As of today, we have received a total of forty-two applications which
represents almost 1,400 more affordable child care spaces.
Through Budget 2015, an additional $1 million has been allocated to
this program bringing this year's total investment to $10.7 million.
Centres that utilize the voluntary Operating Grant Program ensure that
parents have access to more affordable regulated child care spaces.
Parents of children at participating licensed child care centres will
see their fees reduced to current daily subsidy rates.
These rates would be set at $44 per day for infants, $33 a day for
toddlers, $30 a day for children aged three to twelve years in full-day
care, and $14 per day for afterschool programs for children up to twelve
years of age.
Mr.
Speaker, we are constantly monitoring the Operating Grant Program for
potential areas of improvement and are making an effort to engage child care
centres throughout the Province.
In March, our staff held a session in Bay Roberts and there will be other
sessions held in the coming months.
I
encourage all licensed child care centres to consider the voluntary
Operating Grant Program and talk to our knowledgeable staff about how they
can avail of this opportunity and work with the department to help ensure
that parents who choose regulated child care in this Province will receive
quality, sufficient, and affordable services.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's North.
MR. KIRBY:
Thanks to the minister
for an advance copy of his statement.
I do not want to pour cold water on this, Mr. Speaker.
The minister should be embarrassed to get up and say that there
today..
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. KIRBY:
He should be embarrassed.
Forty-two applications, he said.
Sure, applications that is not the number of people who qualified
for the program. The truth of
the matter is that they did not consult with the sector.
This program is a flop.
They based it on outdated information.
It does not reflect reality, and it just goes to show how out of
touch this government is absolutely out of touch.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KIRBY:
AECENL early childhood
educators have spoken out against this.
It says no improvements of family care whatsoever, absolutely no
guarantee they are going to have quality spaces whatsoever.
The
10-Year Child Care Strategy is also off of the rails, Mr. Speaker.
They promised a review of the Inclusion Supports Program last year;
they never delivered. We have no
sign at all of the child care registry that is part of their ten-year
strategy. They are only into the
third year, and it is absolutely off the rails.
He should be embarrassed to get up here and say that today, Mr.
Speaker. You should be
embarrassed.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The
hon. the Member for Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
I,
too, thank the minister for an advance copy of his statement.
However, I am not sure how this new Operating Grant Program is making
child care more affordable or accessible.
It takes gall to be able to say that.
I do not see how he can talk about parents having better access to
affordable child care when there are long wait-lists for quality child care
centres and when fees are still so high at $30 to $44 per day.
This idea is ludicrous; $8 a day in Quebec, Mr. Speaker.
The
only way we will ever have fully affordable, accessible child care with
universally high quality is through a publicly funded and administered child
care program.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Further statements by
ministers?
The
hon. the Minister of Justice and Public Safety.
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, disasters may be beyond our control, but there are ways to reduce
the risk and the impact of whatever emergency we might face whether
natural or human-induced.
This
week is Emergency Preparedness Week throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.
Residents are encouraged to take a few simple steps to become better
prepared to face a range of emergencies anywhere, anytime.
I
recommend all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians follow some simple steps in
relation to emergency preparedness:
Know
the risks Although the consequences of disasters can be similar, knowing
the risks specific to your community and your region can help you better
prepare.
Make
a plan It will help you and your family know what to do.
Get
an emergency kit During an emergency, a number of basic items are
required. You may need to get by
for a few days without tap water or power.
Be prepared to be self-sufficient for at least seventy-two hours in
an emergency.
For
more information about Emergency Preparedness Week and more resources to
help you and your family prepare for all types of emergencies
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. KING:
please visit
www.GetPrepared.ca.
Mr.
Speaker, this week I am also pleased to note that The Weather Network,
federal/ provincial/territorial governments, Environment Canada, and the
broadcast industry have recently launched a new national public alerting
system called Alert Ready. Alert
Ready will notify the public of an event that could have negative impacts,
and can provide advance notice of a potential adverse event so the public
can be better prepared. A public
awareness campaign to promote the system has been airing since early April.
The
first official Alert Ready notice took place yesterday, and was the first
opportunity to test the system with the issuance of an alert by Fire and
Emergency Services-Newfoundland and Labrador to broadcasters, who then
provided the message to the public.
Further tests will occur regularly in the future to keep the system
top of mind for our residents.
I
encourage all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to visit
www.alertready.ca
for more information about the new national public alerting system and,
furthermore, I encourage everyone to be vigilant and listen to these alerts
at all times.
Mr.
Speaker, in conclusion, this Emergency Preparedness Week, let's commit to
take concrete actions to be better prepared.
Experience has shown that individual preparedness and staying
informed go a long way to help all of us cope better both during and after
a major disaster.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Bay of Islands.
MR. JOYCE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
thank the minister for an advance copy.
I am just reading his statement whether natural or human disaster,
Mr. Speaker. Also, without power
or water, be prepared to be self-sufficient.
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians know all about DarkNL and about
power and being self-sufficient.
You
talk about climate change; Mr. Speaker, out in Lark Harbour there was a
meeting, an amalgamation about flooding in the area.
The minister, the Member for St. John's West, never even showed up to
the meeting. I am sure this
minister takes this a lot more serious than most.
I thank the minister for this because it is a big issue for the
Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and I am very confident he will take
his duties much more serious than the minister from St. John's West.
Mr.
Speaker, at this time we must thank the councils around Newfoundland and
Labrador that get prepared for the councils.
I know the government is helping councils to prepare for this, and
residents to prepare for emergencies.
We all have to be ready, Mr. Speaker.
We know there are a lot of emergencies that will happen.
There are a lot of natural disasters that we must be prepared for.
I think this is a great avenue to notify people, and I commend the
government for being helpful with this.
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.
We also caution the public against adverse weather conditions or
emergencies.
Mr.
Speaker, how can people be protected when government has slashed its own
budget for fire and emergency services by 75 per cent in this year's Budget?
Mr. Speaker, $2.7 million to $670,000; disaster assistance slashed
from $1.3 million to less than $100,000.
Is this enough money to protect the people of the Province in an
emergency?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. MURPHY:
The feds have also cut
back drastically on disaster assistance.
Mr. Speaker, while we have to caution the public, we have to say that
based on this Budget it is clear that this government certainly is going to
have issues to be dealing with the public, too.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Further statements by
ministers?
Oral
Questions.
Oral Questions
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Newfoundland Power is concerned that there will be considerable risk of
prolonged transmission failures on the Muskrat Falls transmission line.
They went looking for detailed information from Newfoundland and
Labrador Hydro but they have been denied.
Hydro says the request is outside the scope of the current PUB
investigation on the power system.
I
ask the Premier: Do you support Hydro withholding this information from
Newfoundland Power?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. DALLEY:
Mr. Speaker, I think it
has been well documented, and Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro has been very
open and transparent in working through, particularly the issues that
occurred in January of 2014, and particularly around the Muskrat Falls
Project and all the information that has been made public.
As
well, we are currently going through a process with the PUB around a review,
an internal review, Mr. Speaker.
The PUB has hired Liberty.
Newfoundland Power is an intervener in that process.
All requests that have come forward are being worked through the
Public Utilities Board. I know
on this particular issue, Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro has provided a
fifty-seven page document outlining the information related to reliability
of Muskrat Falls.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Having this information publicly available is really part of a transparent
evaluation that Newfoundland Power is interested in because they say that
the risk involved and they have applied to the Public Utilities Board to
release this information. This
is really not commercially sensitive information at all.
They say that given the power outages that we experienced in 2013,
2014, and 2015, they want a full understanding of what would happen
post-Muskrat Falls, and it is needed.
I
ask the Premier: Why won't Hydro release this information and allow for that
transparent analysis to occur?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. DALLEY:
Mr. Speaker, it is
interesting to hear the Leader of the Opposition talk about how supportive
he is of Newfoundland Power and the fact that we are going to need more
power, we are going to need to do this, when the whole debate we have had on
Muskrat Falls, they have rejected it.
They have not supported Muskrat Falls.
They have not supported the issue that we need more power.
With
respect to Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro, Mr. Speaker, they have been
open, they have been transparent.
They are making all the information available.
They are working with the Public Utilities Board.
There is a process, Mr. Speaker, through the regulator that if more
information is required, they will ask for it.
I can assure you if they ask for the information, Newfoundland and
Labrador Hydro will provide the information, as they have done for over 850
requests for information. They
have complied with it and they will continue to do so.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It
is very unfortunate that the minister went down that route because it was
not about more power I say, Mr. Speaker.
If the minister had listened to the question, it was about a
transparent analysis. Now I know
they do not like transparent analysis.
They like to hide stuff from the people of the Province.
It
was not about more power, it was about reliable power.
In Manitoba Hydro's report, it said it could take up to two weeks if
those transmission lines went down.
I
ask the minister, just answer the question: Why won't Hydro release this
information?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Natural Resources.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. DALLEY:
Mr. Speaker, Hydro
released a fifty-seven page document on the studies that have been done
around the reliability of the transmission.
Through this process and the evaluations from the PUB and Liberty,
independent review, if there is more information required, they will
absolutely provide that information.
Mr.
Speaker, the audacity of the Leader of the Opposition to stand and talk to
us about withholding information, and about transparency and openness, when
for weeks people have been looking for the $10,000-a-plate dinner list and
nobody will provide it.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. DALLEY:
The audacity to stand
here and accuse us of withholding information that is of interest to the
public when he had not even put out the list of donors for his leadership
bid, Mr. Speaker. The list goes
on
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The
minister seems to be very concerned about the great fundraising efforts that
we on this side of the House have been doing.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. BALL:
As a matter of fact, he
seems to be a little disappointed that he did not attend that function we
had. Many of his friends were
there, I say, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. BALL:
Yesterday, referring to
P3s, the Minister of Transportation and Works said: There is one contract
that we have engaged in with Partnerships BC.
He said they were getting great value for a $35,000 investment, but
last week the Premier said they were involved in a $600,000 contract with
Partnerships BC.
I
ask the Premier: How many contracts does government have with Partnerships
BC? Is the P3 contract worth
$35,000 or $600,000?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
It
is really interesting to listen to the members opposite today talk about
their own positions they take and how they have talked about them, because
it was only this week that the Member for Bay of Islands clearly stated that
the Liberal position was that they did not agree with any type of private,
not-for-profit partnership in health care, Mr. Speaker,
Then
the Leader of the Opposition, speaking on behalf of his pharmacy friends,
came out and said: I am going to qualify this now.
This is only about core health care, Mr. Speaker.
So
every time they move, they change their position.
They always have the position: never let the facts get in the way of
a good story. Mr. Speaker, it is
unfortunate, because over here we rely on the facts.
We
speak for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
We are here to do a job.
We are going to work hard at doing that job.
We are going to protect the best interests of the Province, Mr.
Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The
hon. the Leader of the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
If
the Premier wants to start with the best interests of the people of
Newfoundland and Labrador, maybe he should just answer the question that was
just asked: How many contracts does government have with Partnerships BC?
The
Minister of Transportation and Works, yesterday, mentioned one of $35,000.
The Premier, speaking out of the other side of his mouth last week,
said $600,000. What is it, one
or two?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KENT:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
We
had an initial contract through Transportation and Works with Partnerships
BC for the $35,000 that the minister outlined yesterday.
We are now in the process of finalizing a second agreement, which is
the larger agreement that will take us right to the completion of these
projects.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. KENT:
Speaking of these
projects, Mr. Speaker, it is very clear that the member opposite and his
party do not support constructing thirty-two long-term care beds.
They do not support finding smarter ways to deliver health care
services, obviously. They do not
support attrition plans that will avoid layoffs of public sector workers.
So
while we know what they are against, I can tell you that we do support
seniors, we do support the public service, and we will find better ways to
deliver services to taxpayers.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Well, I am very proud of my colleagues on this side of the House in the
support for seniors, because what do is we want to make sure that we do
control the level of care, we do control the location, and we do control the
costs unlike members on the other side of the House side, who have not
laid out one shred of evidence of anything that I just mentioned.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. BALL:
Bring the details to the
people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Mr.
Speaker, we have learned from Budget Estimates that government has not
allocated any funds for participation in the Agreement on Internal Trade.
This agreement between provinces helps the free movement of people,
goods, services, and investment within Canada.
The Deputy Premier said the Province has withdrawn from further
negotiations within this agreement.
So,
I ask the Premier: Why would you withdraw from negotiations that are aimed
at establishing an open, efficient, and stable market?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Justice and Public Safety.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
have addressed that question a number of times in the House here.
It relates back to our negotiations on CETA and the position that the
federal government has currently taken, which is not to honour an agreement
that was negotiated in good faith by our government.
Our
position has been very clear all across Newfoundland and Labrador and all
across Canada, any chance we have had to speak, that until we find a way
forward, it is our position that we cannot trust the federal government to
negotiate on our behalf; therefore, we have not entrusted them to negotiate
or act on our behalf, or negotiate away any rights that we own here as a
Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.
That
is not to say, Mr. Speaker, that we do not stand in constant communication
with those who are doing the trade on behalf of the federal government.
We will not give away our right to negotiate on our behalf.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of
the Official Opposition.
MR. BALL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
What
I just heard was, we are not going to sit at the table, we are not going to
send representatives to these trade negotiations, but what we are going to
do is we are going to pick up a phone and figure out what went on there.
We are going to communicate in some other fashion.
That is not the way you effectively manage negotiations, I say, Mr.
Speaker.
Raising taxes and withdrawing from trade negotiations sends a message that
our Province is not open for business.
With all provincial economic indicators pointing in the wrong
direction, this further hurts our economy.
So I
ask the Premier: With so much of the provincial economy dependent on trade,
why are you sending a message that we are not open for business?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Justice and Public Safety.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It
is interesting for the leader of the party that does not support expanding
health care to support our seniors,
and those who need services in the Province the most, to paraphrase
my position on trades. So, let
me be very clear. What he just
heard is a policy of a government that stands up and fights for the interest
of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KING:
Not a government that
waffles to public opinion and changes their position from day to day
depending what the pollsters and others say in the Province, Mr. Speaker.
We
took a position that is in the best interest of the Province, and we stand
by that position. Until the
federal government is prepared to come back to the table in good faith, we
will never, never allow somebody else like the federal government to have
the right to negotiate away a right that belongs to Newfoundlanders and
Labradorians. That is a
principle of this government, and we stand by it.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The
hon. the Member for Mount Pearl South.
MR. LANE:
I appreciate the
endorsement.
Mr.
Speaker, in the Auditor General's update of recommendations dating back to
2009, a number of recommendations relate to radiation equipment used in our
hospitals. He references six
recommendations from that year that have not been fully implemented by
Service NL. It is disturbing
because these recommendations relate to approvals for radiation equipment
and the need for certificates of approval to be issued when equipment goes
into service. This could impact
patient safety.
I
ask the minister: Can you tell me why, after five years, almost half of
those recommendations have been ignored?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Service Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. CRUMMELL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Certainly, we take the Auditor General's recommendations very seriously.
We look into all aspects of what he outlines in his recommendations.
We have been working actually and doing a review of our policies; we
are doing a review of the act right now, the legislation and regulations, so
we are a longs way through that review.
We are going to be reporting back very soon to the House.
Actually, the outstanding recommendations in the Auditor General's
report are linked to that review in itself.
We
are moving forward on that. The
oversight is still there, Mr. Speaker, through our Occupational Health and
Safety Division. We will have
the results of that review very shortly.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Mount Pearl South.
MR. LANE:
We have been moving
forward for five years wow.
Mr.
Speaker, one of the AG's recommendations calls for the re-establishment of a
radiation health and safety advisory committee.
This is mandatory under the Radiation Health and Safety Act and
Regulations.
I
ask the minister: Given that you are the one responsible for enforcing
safety regulations in this Province, how can you justify breaking those same
regulations for over five years?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Service Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. CRUMMELL:
Mr. Speaker, we do have
an effective program in place for the inspection and monitoring of radiation
equipment in the Province. We
are going through a very comprehensive review.
We are in the process of that review.
The results of that review are going to become evident in short
order. If there are any changes
that are going to be made, they will be made at that time.
That is going on at the same time as the Auditor General has made his
remarks.
Mr.
Speaker, we are looking into this.
We are working on that.
The people of the Province are safe and our workers of the Province are
safe. We are doing our due
diligence.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS:
The Auditor General
provided an update on recommendations made in 2010 for road ambulance
services. Mr. Speaker, 80 per
cent of the recommendations have not been implemented by the Department of
Health. It points to needing a
new funding structure for the road ambulance program as well as a need to
review standards and policies.
I
ask the minister: Why do we still have a substandard ambulance program after
all these years?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KENT:
Mr. Speaker, we certainly
support the recommendations that are outlined by the Auditor General and we
have made significant progress.
At the same time, there are a number of issues that are related to the
health care system that are complex.
It will take time to implement the recommendations, but I can assure
you that we continue to work on them.
There are four related to road ambulance services that we continue to work
on. We are reviewing
legislation. We are reviewing
existing standards, Mr. Speaker.
We are implementing some of the work that came out of the provincial
ambulance review.
Recommendations related to ambulances have been partially implemented.
We anticipate over the next year they will all be fully implemented,
Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Mr. Speaker, it is
funny how the Minister of Health talks about it taking time to fix things.
I have a bunch of press releases here from 2002 and 2003 from the
Opposition Health critic who now is the Minister of Finance.
He spent a lot of time talking about government's negligence in
dealing with the ambulance operators and not getting contracts signed.
I
ask the Minister of Finance: Why has it taken twelve years for you to get
nothing done? Can you please
confirm to the ambulance operators and paramedics in this Province that you
are an absolute hypocrite?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
Clearly, the language used by the Member for Burgeo La Poile was
unparliamentary. I ask him to
withdraw it, and withdraw it now.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Withdrawn.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Health and Community Services.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KENT:
Well, Mr. Speaker, we see
what the members opposite are capable of.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KENT:
In terms of the road
ambulance review, we have made considerable progress.
Again, the recommendations related to road ambulance, all of them
have been at least partially implemented.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. KENT:
The ones that are not
fully implemented will be fully implemented over the next year.
The review of road ambulances is now complete, it is approved, and as
a result of doing so, the remaining recommendations are now fully
implemented.
I
should note as well, for the interest of the Opposition, there are private
partners involved in the delivery of ambulance service in communities across
this Province. Are they against
that too, Mr. Speaker?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The
hon. the Member for Virginia Waters.
MS C. BENNETT:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
We
know that during times of economic hardship, rates of domestic violence go
up and women's shelters fill.
Sadly, we know this is happening in Lab West where increases in domestic
violence are definitely noticeable.
The Violence Prevention Action Plan expired in 2012, three years ago,
and we were disappointed to see there was no mention of any action plan in
the Throne Speech or the Budget to provide direction and oversight to the
spending.
I
ask the Premier: Why are you budgeting for something over and over again
without providing clear direction in a plan?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Clearly, the reduction of violence, domestic violence, violence in the
workplace, all forms of violence, Mr. Speaker, are important to our
government. We have made
significant efforts in that regard in partnering with the police services of
Newfoundland and Labrador, as well as numerous organizations, community
organizations and community driven organizations around the Province.
Phase II of the action plan will soon be coming, Mr. Speaker.
It will be coming in the very near future.
The violence prevention initiative has been very successful in this
Province. This year, in Budget
2015, we have announced $2.1 million in the provision of Phase II of the
plan and we look forward to it, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Virginia Waters.
MS C. BENNETT:
Mr. Speaker, the plan
the Premier refers to was due in 2012.
In the absence of a plan, government hid the sexual exploitation
report rather than being open about what they doing to combat it.
They deprived families in crisis of the Family Violence Prevention
Court for over two years before changing their mind again.
Prevention and intervention are vital to save lives, Mr. Speaker.
I
ask the Premier: Do you consider it fiscally, socially, or morally
responsible to spend money again and again without a plan, without direction
on clear and critical priorities to reduce violence in our Province?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
PREMIER DAVIS:
Mr. Speaker, when you
initiate plans and you deliver on plans, it does not
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
PREMIER DAVIS:
When you deliver and
initiate plans, Mr. Speaker, it is not a, you start and you stop initiative.
You continue to grow and develop initiatives.
You continue to build on them.
You learn from the successes.
You learn what happened that worked really well, and you also have to
be willing to look at what has not worked as well as you would like it to
do. Then you develop future
plans.
We
have been following our Violence Prevention Initiative very closely, Mr.
Speaker. We have made great
strides in that regard. We have
invested heavily in it. We are
working towards Phase II. It
will be based on the results of Phase I, and it will be based on what we
learned from partners in the community who do great work for the people of
the Province in providing services and supports for those who live in
violence.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Trinity Bay de Verde.
MR. CROCKER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
August 11, 2011, the eve of the last election, government announced a $17
million loan for Canada Fluorspar.
The money was intended to spark economic activity on the Burin
Peninsula. It was to create
hundreds of new jobs, expand local business opportunities, and have a net
economic impact of $380 million.
It is almost four years later, and none of these things have happened.
I
ask the minister: What is the status of this proposal?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The
hon. the Minister of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KING:
I thank the member for
the question, Mr. Speaker.
It
is indeed a pleasure for me to be able to stand up and have acknowledged
that our government delivered, with my support, a loan of that magnitude to
support a growing business in my District of Grand Bank.
So I thank the member for raising that.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KING:
A very good question.
The company continues to work.
The workforce in the community has been building over the last couple
of years. The latest update that
I have, because it is the company that is doing the work we are just
supporting them financially when the time comes they have drawn down some
of the funds, I am told. They
are hoping to move forward with the next phase of the project beyond the
environmental assessment phase within the next couple of months.
Mr.
Speaker, I will gladly speak to the company on the member's behalf if he
would like, because it is a private business that is carrying out the work
there.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Trinity Bay de Verde.
MR. CROCKER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, we know that as of 2013 the company had only accessed $637,000 of
the $17 million. We do not know
what has happened since.
Given that over $13 million of this money has been removed from this year's
Budget, I ask the minister: Is the proposal off the table, and how much
taxpayers' money has been lost?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural Development.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
can say to the member opposite, nothing could be further from the truth that
the money is off the table. I
clearly understand the insinuation though, that if the Liberals were to ever
form the government the money would be off the table.
I will make sure that I communicate that to my constituents.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. KING:
I can say to the member,
that clearly the proposal is not off the table.
The company has great confidence in the world markets.
They have actually discovered more ore over the last couple of
months. A new deposit that
shines a great light on the future for that operation in St. Lawrence, Mr.
Speaker, but it is taking time to get the operation to market.
The
money in the forecast is still there for the commitment we made, as a
government, to that company and it will remain there.
They will draw down from the funds as they see fit.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Carbonear Harbour Grace.
MR. SLADE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Yesterday, the minister stated he was tabling requests, and I quote:
documents on the Fortune plant.
I was expecting an armload of information but all I got was a mere two
sentences.
Now,
Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister: Will he commit to finishing the job and
provide all the information, including audits, on the Fortune plant or is he
waiting for Bill 1 to pass before it becomes clear?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Fisheries and Aquaculture.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. GRANTER:
Mr. Speaker, it is a
pleasure for me to stand to answer the hon. member's question because I have
answered the questions in letters to the hon. member.
I have also answered and tabled the answer to the question that he
asked.
I
will quote right from Hansard, Have there been 110 people working
full-time since the plant opened, and will he tell us how many are currently
working there?
I answered that question
clearly yesterday, and I answered clearly in what I tabled in the House.
I went on to describe and I answered it verbally in this House,
saying there are two ships currently at sea and that the company plans on
opening up the plant in late May or early June for this particular year and
into the fall.
I
also went on to say if not, I will say it here today that the company
has already made arrangements with workers at Fortune.
If they want to get work in St. Lawrence
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. GRANTER:
I can answer further
questions.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Carbonear Harbour Grace.
MR. SLADE:
Mr. Speaker, I can
guarantee the minister, he most certainly did not answer the questions to my
letter of January 11 to him.
Mr.
Speaker, I spoke with the plant union reps today and their information does
not exactly jive with what your two sentence document said.
There have not been 110 full-time jobs as per the requirement of the
2012 agreement.
I
ask the minister: Will you show the workers at Fortune the respect they
deserve and meet with them on their own turf?
Will you also commit to a full independent assessment of this
agreement to ensure all commitments are kept?
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Fisheries and Aquaculture.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. GRANTER:
Mr. Speaker, I want to be
clear, this government was behind the people of Fortune when they were in
trouble.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. GRANTER:
Mr. Speaker, this
government will be behind the people of Fortune in the weeks and the months
and the years ahead.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. GRANTER:
Mr. Speaker, there is
information that is proprietary in any company that does business in the
Province. I am not sure if the
member opposite or if the government opposite want us to disclose
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. GRANTER:
or the Opposition
opposite
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. GRANTER:
want to disclose
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. GRANTER:
if they want to
disclose. I am not sure what
they would do, Mr. Speaker.
Would they disclose proprietary information to the people of Newfoundland
and Labrador?
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.
We
have learned that the Board of Regents at Memorial University are being told
today about government directed tuition increases for international students
and graduate students. Many
international students want to stay and contribute to our Province and fee
increases will drive them away.
I
ask the Premier: Why are you imposing these fees on international students
going against government's immigration strategy?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Advanced Education and Skills.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN:
Mr. Speaker, as we went
through an exercise through the Budget process, Memorial being a part of
boards and agencies, were asked to find their part of it.
The member knows that we do not hold the autonomy.
The Board of Regents and Memorial have the autonomy to make their own
decisions. If they choose to
move down this route, they do so within that structure.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
We
have been informed that the presentation being made to the Board of Regents
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MS MICHAEL:
this afternoon, Mr.
Speaker, indicates certain cuts that are being directed by government.
I am
asking the Premier: Will he confirm that they are being informed today of
government's demand for them to make $4.8 million increases in fees on the
backs of students, the international and graduate students?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Advanced Education and Skills.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN:
Mr. Speaker, we cannot
impose on Memorial. As I have
said, they have autonomy. One
thing we have committed to again in this Budget is to maintain a tuition
freeze for our Canadian undergraduate students.
That has been in place since 2005.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. JACKMAN:
Mr. Speaker, I met with
some students from the students' union just before we came over here.
They recognize what this government has done.
Again, I will say the autonomy rests with Memorial University.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Signal Hill Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL:
I am asking the minister
and the Premier: Have they seen the presentation which has been made to some
groups in this Province and which is being made to the Board of Regents
today?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Advanced Education and Skills.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. JACKMAN:
Mr. Speaker, what I
believe I am hearing is that she is asking that we interfere in the
operations of Memorial. As I
have said, Memorial is autonomous.
They make their own decisions.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
In
2012, an independent review of psychiatric services at HMP recommended
government immediately implement the recovery model, the accepted mental
health best practice, noting it is compatible with safety for inmates and
the community, yet this is not possible in the current facility.
Since a new prison is years down the road, I ask the Minister of Justice:
What is he going to do to implement his expert's recommendations?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Justice and Public Safety.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KING:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I
appreciate the question. Our
government will continue to do in the future what we have done for the last
seven or eight years. We have
made significant investments into HMP.
Most
recently in the aftermath of the particular report the hon. member mentions,
I had meetings with correctional workers down there and the leadership team.
We have invested in a security system.
We have invested in infrastructure upgrades to support not only the
correctional officers but as well as the inmates, and we will continue to do
that, Mr. Speaker.
There have been millions of dollars put into Her Majesty's Penitentiary
because we recognize there are health and safety concerns but we have also
invested on the programming side of things in partnership with the John
Howard Society, and we will continue to do that.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's Centre.
MS ROGERS:
Mr. Speaker, the
minister's mental health experts say therapeutic best practices for mental
health are based on the recovery model; yet, his own planners and officials
said the recovery model could not be done in the existing Waterford
building, people are suffering.
I
ask the minister: What is he going to do to ensure the recovery model can be
used if the new Waterford building is years and years away?
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Minister of
Justice and Public Safety.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. KING:
Mr. Speaker, we will
continue to do as we have always done.
We will provide resources to support the staff we have at Her
Majesty's Penitentiary, and I have great confidence in the kinds of
programming they are able to deliver for inmates in partnership with John
Howard Society and others.
We
provide, as I said a few moments ago, significant investments in HMP to
support not only infrastructure but programming, and we will continue to do
that. We have great personnel
there who are working within the conditions they have, making the best
programming decisions they can, and we provide monetary support and human
resource support to the extent that we can and we will continue to do that.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The
time for Question Period has expired.
Presenting Reports by Standing and Select Committees.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
Tabling of Documents.
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 oral health is intrinsically linked to overall health and health
care is universally covered in our Province; and
WHEREAS many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have been forced to wait for a
year or longer for much needed oral surgeries; and
WHEREAS residents with emergency cases and others who need oral surgery must
seek medical attention in other provinces; and
WHEREAS the cost of access to oral surgery outside the Province is
prohibitively expensive for many Newfoundlanders and Labradorians; and
WHEREAS the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador covers only 50 per cent
of travel costs and requires a $400 deductible; and
WHEREAS this financial burden and the lack of adequate oral surgery services
in Newfoundland and Labrador is creating a two-tier system with health care
system;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the
House of Assembly to urge government to ensure that a more adequate level of
access to specialist primary care based oral surgery and oral surgical
procedures is provided in Newfoundland and Labrador.
We
further urge government to review the level of financial assistance
currently provided through the Medical Transportation Assistance Program to
residents who must leave the Province for oral surgeries.
As
in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr.
Speaker, thank God most of us do not have to access the health care system
frequently. My recent experience
with the health care system, due to illness in my family, has really shaken
my confidence. I know people are
working very hard in our health care system, but there are a lot of holes in
the health care system. I cannot
figure out how it is we are spending the sort of money we are spending and
getting some of the things that I personally have witnessed in the last
couple of weeks. I cannot figure
it out.
We
are supposed to have a universal system.
We have the Canada Health Act.
We are supposed to have a universal system but we have these people
in this petition with oral surgeries, there are just no surgeons around to
do it, so they have to go out of the Province.
I
had a constituent contact me the other day.
She said we are selling tickets, $1 each, on $100 or some prize
because her husband has to go out of the Province for surgery, and on and on
it goes. I do not know where
this ends but at some point this government, or the government over here, as
the Member for Humber West pointed out, is going to have to get this fixed.
We cannot continue to spend that sort of money and to have the sorts
of holes and problems and issues that we have.
I
was down in the hospital the other day I mean, there are people out in the
hallways in emergency.
Unbelievable; it is like something from a third-world country, sometimes,
when you look around. I think we
have absolutely got to get a handle on this.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Trinity Bay de Verde.
MR. CROCKER:
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 humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS the Heart's Content Barrens is a very busy connecting road between
Trinity Bay and Conception Bay; and
WHEREAS following the paving and roadwork completed in 2013, the shoulders
of the road has become very narrow; and
WHEREAS the narrow shoulders of the road have created a very unsafe
condition for the travelling public;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the
House of Assembly to urge the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to
eliminate this unsafe condition by widening the shoulders of the Heart's
Content Barrens.
Mr.
Speaker, I am pleased to stand in my place this afternoon and enter this
petition on behalf of the residents of Trinity Bay de Verde.
Route 74, or what those of us from the district call the barrens, is
one of the busiest roads in the district.
It is an important link between Trinity and Conception Bay.
Two ambulance services alone, Mr. Speaker, travel this road over 500
times a year to transport patients to the Carbonear Hospital.
Following the roadwork last summer, the shoulders of the road became very
narrow. The minister and his
department are aware of the situation, Mr. Speaker, and I would thank them
for being very responsive to the issue.
There is more work scheduled to happen on the Heart's Content Barrens this
summer, and the petitioners are asking the department to ensure that upon
completion of this work in 2015, that safety is first and foremost in minds
when dealing with these shoulders.
I
would be remiss also to not mention, Mr. Speaker, that this section of road,
Route 74, does not have cellphone coverage, which is also a grave concern to
the residents of Trinity Bay de Verde.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Conception Bay South.
MR. HILLIER:
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 Route 2 on the Conception Bay South Bypass Road is the second
busiest highway in the Province; and
WHEREAS we must ensure the safety of the residents who use the access road,
especially when driving at night; and
WHEREAS brush clearing can reduce the risk to drivers from the local moose
population;
We,
the undersigned, petition the House of Assembly to urge the government to
allocate funding to include brush clearing for the Manuels Access Road.
Mr.
Speaker, this is several times I have brought this petition forward.
The area we are talking about is the area from Weir's Pit basically
to Fowler's Road. We know that
we have a significant moose population there.
The Department of Transportation and Works has erected moose signs
there to let the people know that there are moose in the area.
Mr.
Speaker, people already know that there are moose in the area.
Moose collisions are common in that area.
We often hear of a moose-car collision near Weir's Pit.
This is the area we are talking about.
Not only do we have the collisions there, but the near misses are the
concerns.
This
is the second busiest highway in the Province.
We have about 25,000 cars a day.
On peak days, we are up over 30,000 cars.
These vehicles are coming from Holyrood, which is in the District of
Harbour Main. They are coming
from the District of Conception Bay South.
They are coming from the District of Topsail.
In fact, Mr. Speaker, this particular petition comes from a group of
people in the Topsail district who really have not gotten any satisfaction
in the past in contacting their MHA.
When
I was a council member in Conception Bay South, I received emails from this
group of people asking me to speak with the Minister of Transportation, who
happened to be their MHA at the time; nothing happened, Mr. Speaker.
The town has written government, the Member for Labrador West when he
was the Minister of Transportation; nothing has happened. The town has
written the current Minister of Transportation; again, nothing happened.
His answer is when we get a new tender, perhaps you will be included.
Mr.
Speaker, the last tender was for nine areas in the Province; all nine were
in government districts. Liberal
districts, the Opposition districts, we have moose problems.
We have woods where moose come out of.
We also have highways where people drive
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. HILLIER:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
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 humbly
sheweth:
WHEREAS in 2012 the provincial government lifted the 8 per cent provincial
portion of the HST on residential heat and light by introducing the
Residential Energy Rebate; and
WHEREAS heat is a necessity of life and a health concern, particularly for
seniors; and
WHEREAS the provincial government has projected oil prices to increase in
the next five years;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the
House of Assembly to urge government to stop taxing home energy and reverse
its decision to abolish the Residential Energy Rebate.
As
in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr.
Speaker, this will be the first of many petitions that I will be presenting
in the House of Assembly on this issue.
On March 28 of 2001 this House was also entertained with a petition
signed by approximately 55,000 residents of Newfoundland and Labrador at a
time when oil prices were low, when home energy was rising, too, at the same
time, asking for government, urging government at that time, to lift the tax
off heat and light in their homes, particularly light as it pertains to
being used as a heat source. It
was a big issue with people. A
lot of people signed it.
We
know, and government knows too, that in their consultation when they brought
it in the minister at the time said he had a conversation with an older
lady on Riverside Drive, which I believe was in his constituency over in the
Corner Brook area. At that
particular time she asked government why they were taxing energy and making
it hard on her.
At
the time, the minister of the day thought it was a good idea in that
particular Budget to lift the tax off heat so it would not be so hard on
seniors. Yet, Mr. Speaker, we
have government in this Budget now putting the tax back on a necessity.
I keep wondering if it is still a
necessity for that older lady who is on Riverside Drive.
Did government consult with her and get the answer from her that it
was okay to raise the energy cost in her home?
Mr.
Speaker, this is also money disposable income, if you will that
consumers could be spending elsewhere.
Spending it on more important things like food, because we know one
of the most important issues out there centered around, and still center
around, the whole question of being able to afford food or fuel.
Mr.
Speaker, this will be the first of many.
It is out there in the general public now.
I thank these constituents for signing this petition at this
particular time.
I
bring notice to government: consider reversing your decision to abolish the
Residential Energy Rebate.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Cartwright L'Anse au Clair.
MS DEMPSTER:
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 humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS the Strait of Belle Isle is a very important
transportation link between Labrador and the Island of Newfoundland; and
WHEREAS both commercial and residential traffic is
continuously increasing because of the opening of the Trans-Labrador Highway
and increased development in Labrador; and
WHEREAS the existing ferry service can no longer
effectively handle the traffic; and
WHEREAS there have been many interruptions in the ferry
service, especially during the 2014-2015 winter season;
WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly
pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Government of
Newfoundland and Labrador to complete a comprehensive feasibility study for
a fixed link across the Strait of Belle Isle that would include a geological
assessment and a full cost analysis.
As in duty bound, your petitioners will ever pray.
Mr.
Speaker, if there is anybody in the entire Province of Newfoundland and
Labrador not aware of the ferry woes that continue to plague the residents
of Labrador and other users around the Province, that Strait of Belle Isle
ferry service, they must be hiding under a rock not to be aware.
Until you are able to have an efficient flow of goods and services from
point A to point B freight, passengers, vehicles Mr. Speaker, the region
cannot help themselves. The
region cannot help themselves to become sustainable.
We
have seen this government bungle ferry contracts so bad.
After three delays, the RFP closed in June 2014, Mr. Speaker, and we
are still no closer to a ferry than we were when they put it out.
It is very disheartening.
I had a mayor say to me yesterday it is an insult to the people and it is a
joke that they are going to go back and do more PR exercises.
It is a stall tactic. It
is nothing but lip service.
Mr.
Speaker, the region has been calling.
With a little bit of long-term planning and vision, we should be
looking at the viability of a fixed link.
We have recently been hearing in the media some movement again now
with Route 138 coming down through.
That is going to make a tremendous difference for the people.
It is going to give the people of Labrador a way out that the
government has refused to do.
We
look at the cost of the ferries; $30 million again in this year's Budget,
Mr. Speaker. We would not have
to look very far into the future before we could see the benefits of a fixed
link. I am happy to know that
our government is on the record that we would support something like this.
It
is what the people want. It is
what the people need. It is what
we need to advance tourism in the region, Mr. Speaker.
I will continue to petition for this study.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER:
Orders of the Day.
Orders of the Day
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Deputy
Government House Leader.
MR. HUTCHINGS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, I move to the Orders of the Day, Motion 1, that this House approves
in general the budgetary policy of the government.
MR. SPEAKER:
We are going into Motion
1, the Budget Speech.
The
hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile speaking to the amendment.
MR. A. PARSONS:
It is not to the
amendment. I will take the time
though, Mr. Speaker.
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Burgeo La Poile, yes, my recollection is that you have approximately ten
minutes speaking to the amendment.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Thank you, Mr.
Speaker.
I am
going to continue on speaking to the non-confidence motion that was brought
in by the Member for Virginia Waters.
I will continue on with some of the comments that I had to make
previously and I will continue on after.
One
of the things I wanted to discuss I mentioned previously that I was going
to talk about health care, I was going to talk about justice, and I am going
to talk about my own district.
So I want to go to the Health budget and that particular aspect of this.
We all know that Health makes up a very large portion of our Budget.
There is no disagreement amongst any member here about the importance
of health but it is amazing how over the course of time things that have
been promised, things that have been asked for, do not always seem to
happen.
Last
year, there was an announcement in Budget 2014 about ambulance service, and
that is a topic I brought up here in the House today.
I brought up ambulance. I
do not know about members on the other side, but I get a number of calls and
emails from ambulance operators, from paramedics, and from people who have a
concern with the ambulance program.
The
Minister of Health wanted to provide a refresher on private operators.
I know full well there are private operators.
Do you know why? Because
they have been without a contract for three years, because members on the
other side do not feel they are important enough to have one with.
Again, I think it is quite hypocritical that we have press releases from
when government was on this side.
You can look at them here; I have them right here.
AN HON. MEMBER:
Who said it?
MR. A. PARSONS:
It was the Minister
of Finance, who was the Opposition Health critic at the time.
It is not from Hansard, it is press releases.
We
are talking about here: government's negligence in dealing with private
ambulance operators. The
minister shows inflexibility.
This one is funny here: they are amazed that the government waited to hold
its first contract talks until five days before the existing contract became
due. Right now, the private
operators have been without a contract for three years.
It
is amazing that you are going to stand here and say something, and then get
in on the other side the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Health
and do nothing to help the private ambulance operators of this Province.
We know there was a bunch of money that was budgeted last year for a
centralized dispatch and to fix things.
Do you know what? I do
not believe and the Minister of Health can correct me if I am wrong, I
will certainly sit down. He is
going to get an opportunity.
Tell me how much money is in this year's Budget for ambulance operators, for
the private operators all over this Province.
Tell me, because right now, I did not see anything.
Last
year, oh, we are going to do this, we are going to do that.
They have been waiting years for a contract, and they actually agreed
in good faith to hold off negotiations to allow for government's ambulance
report to be done because that was going to determine how government was
going to proceed. They got the
report. That was two years ago,
and still these paramedics, the ones we rely on to get us to safety, they
are sitting there and they have nothing.
They have nothing, and working without a contract.
Again, I say to the government, you talk about I think the term used here
is balance and choices. Well,
forgive me if me and every single paramedic and ambulance operator and
citizen in this Province says no thank you; you lost any trust that you had.
You lost absolutely every bit.
You had the opportunity, you had it at first, and you have lost that.
We continue to see that on an everyday basis, I say, Mr. Speaker.
Now
again, I am going to move on because there are so many different aspects to
health care in this Province.
The ambulance program is just one failure of this Budget.
I am going to move on to primary health care, something very
important. We know it is
important because the Premier back when he was running for his leadership
said: I am going to have a health summit.
I am going to have this big health summit.
We are going to go around the Province.
We are going to have big meetings.
We are going to bring in people.
He did it and again, kudos to consultation.
Sometimes I know that consultation is a code word for this government for
delay. When it comes to the
Labrador ferries, they are going to consult now.
They have already been told what they want, but they are not doing
anything about it and they just continue to be slippery about what they are
going to do for the people of Labrador.
I will leave the members that we have for Labrador, who represent
them on a daily basis, to talk more about that.
Going back to primary health care, there was a consultation.
There was a Premier's summit, a big fancy event.
I attended a number of the meetings.
I sat with people. People
took the time to come out. It is
funny because one of the things that came out, one of the key messages, was
primary health care. Now, the
irony is that it was this government that cut the primary health office in
2006. You cut it and now you
have completely I do not know if you would call that a 180 or you do a
360, I guess. You went the
opposite, you cut it, and now you have gone back to that.
To
me, sometimes it seems like when you have been there long enough that you
are completely reversing your own decisions, you have to question the
direction that you are going in.
Anyway, I am going to move on and there is a $2 million investment in
primary health care this year.
It is much needed. We knew it
was much needed; we said so.
This was the government that cut it and now they are bringing it back, and
we will see how that goes.
Again, primary health care is obviously crucial.
I
want to move on to infrastructure.
I mentioned this a little bit in my previous conversation.
There is a lot of infrastructure that has been announced by this
government over the past. Again,
I use a phrase from the Member for Bay of Islands, who has been probably the
loudest advocate for the Corner Brook hospital it the Corner Brook
hospital but we, on the West Coast, know that it is going to service
everybody. The equivalent of
what they have done this year, eight years after it was promised, was
equivalent to oh, we have enough money for another box of nails.
The
former Premier I do not know if it is the former Premier or the former,
former or the one in between because they have had three-and-a-half in the
last year, but the former Premier was the one who stood in this House and
said: I am not quitting until the steel is up.
I say to the Member for Bay of Islands, is the steel up?
MR. JOYCE:
No.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Okay, the steel is
not up, so that is another broken promise.
Now look, we heard it in election 2007, we are going to build a
hospital; election 2011, we are going to build a hospital.
The Member for Humber West, by-election 2011, heard that promise.
I am pretty sure that in election 2015, you can probably save your
ads and save a bit of money because it is the same promise.
It is the same promise.
There has been nothing done.
You
spent $40 million, according to the Minister of Health, on this facility for
the West Coast. The only thing I
can be led to believe is one of two things: (a) you do not know what you are
doing because you promised it and we are no farther ahead we have the
biggest dog park in the Province over there on the West Coast or a driving
range, depending on what you like or (b), you do not care about the people
of the West Coast. You promised
it to them; we need it.
Every day I am getting calls from people in my district who cannot get a bed
in Port aux Basques. They cannot
get a bed in Stephenville. They
cannot get a bed in Corner Brook.
Yet we have seen nothing through all your promises over the last
eight years. I say to you: Good
luck with that promise when you go back to the polls because I am telling
you what, people will not fall for it again.
They
fell for it before, they gave you their trust, and you broke that trust.
You broke that promise to the people of the West Coast the entire
West Coast. You broke that
promise. It is not acceptable,
but maybe you do not know what you are doing.
Maybe we can forgive you if that is the case.
I do not know if that is incompetence or whatever it is.
That
is just one piece of infrastructure.
There is another one called the Waterford.
It is Her Majesty's Penitentiary's older sister.
It was built in 1854 and there was a promise that we are going to fix
this; we are going to build it.
Do you know what? We have heard
now through this Budget that is on hold.
That is being paused until the fiscal situation improves.
From
what I can gather, the fiscal situation is not going to improve until the
next decade. It would be nice if
we had confirmation. If the
Waterford Hospital is on hold until the next decade, we would like to know
that. A straight answer would be
appreciated for all the people in this Province who rely on that service.
It is funny how actions speak louder than words.
The words are mental health is a priority; the actions are you are
not getting the facility that we promised to you because of the financial
mess that we have created here.
On
that note and I see that my time is running out I would like to move,
Mr. Speaker, a subamendment, seconded by the Member for Bay of Islands, that
the amendment that was previously presented, the non-confidence motion, be
amended by changing the period at the end thereof to a comma, and by adding
immediately thereafter the following words: and that this House also
condemns the government for its failure to present a Budget that reflects
the possibilities which exist in terms of addressing the needs of the people
of this Province.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The
House will take a brief recess to consider the amendment.
This
House in now in recess.
Recess
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
We have considered the amendment to be in order.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for Burgeo La Poile.
MR. A. PARSONS:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is good to be two for two.
I will continue on, and I have another twenty minutes to speak to
Budget 2015, so I am going to switch gears from Health and I just want to
ensure I speak about a couple of other things as I continue on.
One of those, obviously, is my other critic role, which is Justice
as it is now called, Justice and Public Safety.
It used to be called Public Safety, and Justice.
It has been switched around.
A bit of flip-flop going on with the Justice department, depending on
who you listen to.
What I can say about Justice this year, from my initial
glance of the Budget, is that Justice does not appear to be particularly
hard hit. I will get a better
opportunity through Estimates I am talking about in terms of manpower.
I am not talking about infrastructure, because infrastructure is a
different story. Again, in
Justice, the Budget looks to be relatively the same.
That is probably a good thing, because Justice was so
hard hit in Budget 2013 when this government moved ahead and cut the guts
out of it. They had a big uproar
and then two days later they brought in the special committee and they
switched everything that they did.
There was a bit of a flip-flop on Justice there too.
It is a word that they like to use sometimes, but it is funny,
sometimes you have to look in the mirror, Mr. Speaker.
When it comes to the individuals involved in the
system, I think there has been maintenance of the number of people, whether
that is Crowns, whether that is Legal Aid in fact, there was a top-up of
the Legal Aid rates for private lawyers.
So not Legal Aid lawyers, but the individuals that get private
lawyers, there was a raise in those fees.
They have been the same since the 1970s.
That can be a bit of a contentious issue, but certainly I think when
you have the same fees that you had thirty years ago that is a necessary
thing.
I have not heard yet from people whether there are any
cuts in that system. Now, the
Premier's comments in the House lead us to believe that there are more cuts
coming. Sometimes they use the
word attrition, but we know that, especially in health care too and that
is the part that I will come back to at some point, the jobs that are being
lost in health care, because there are jobs being lost when you have this
consolidation.
One of the big things for Justice is that there has
been a number of big announcements, big-ticket items, and I am going to get
an opportunity again in Estimates for Justice, when I get to sit down and
look across at the entire department and all the heads and ask questions.
It is like Christmas when you think about it; I love to sit down and
look across and ask the questions and actually get answers, which is not
always the case, not what you always get in Question Period.
In fact, these days, it seems like we get more questions than we get
answers, which we are fine with that as well.
If you look at last year in Budget 2014 there was a
courthouse in Stephenville announced.
I think there was an RFP on that, but I have not seen a whole lot
moving forward with that. I
think it must be and if I am wrong, the minister and his staff will
correct me and say no, no we are moving ahead, but I think that one is
probably being paused as well.
You need the courthouse in Stephenville.
It is necessary. The
current courthouse is not a very good facility.
Stephenville handles more because it was this government that shut
down circuit courts all across the Province.
For savings of $600 and $700, they shut down courthouses, shut down
circuits. Access to justice
becomes an issue.
Now, we will move to another courthouse.
This is one that was actually announced just in the fall and it was
the former minister, Judy Manning, and the Premier went down to Courtroom
No. 7 and made the big announcement.
It is nice to see an announcement.
The problem was that we got no information on it.
We have no idea when, we got no idea where, we got no idea how we
did get the why. We know why it
is needed, but they make these announcements and there is nothing behind it.
It is sort of, I guess, emblematic of this government: a lot of talk
but nothing behind it. That is
what it seems to be, Mr. Speaker.
That is again another big-ticket item announced; we will see what
happens.
I am hoping it is not like the Corner Brook hospital
where you announced it and you spend a bunch of money getting a plan but you
take so long that you have to go back and spend more millions to get a new
plan, and it is a waste of money.
In this case I am wondering if there is going to be that waste of
money there, because we are obviously not in the position to be wasting
money.
Another one this was another big-ticket item, and
that is Her Majesty's Penitentiary.
Look, we know that it is needed.
Like I said I think the pen was actually built in 1859, and there is
no need to reiterate how decrepit that facility is and how it is really hard
to work there. Again, my primary
fear is not just for the inmates, I fear about the staff in there because
they do very tough work.
It is only when you see a video like we had last year
with that riot. We saw that riot
last year and you actually get to watch it.
It is one of those videos where you have to turn off the news if you
are sat home watching with your kids I turned it off because I do not want
my kids to see what went on there.
It was horrific. It was
brutal, but it is reality.
So we know we need a new facility.
We know there was an announcement made, but it is the same thing.
It is an announcement with no substance behind it.
Again, it is very symptomatic of the current government.
We did see one announcement related to the workers at
the penitentiary. I always make
the joke that by the time it gets done, it is going to be His Majesty's
Penitentiary as opposed to Her Majesty's; that is when we will see it.
We did an announcement of $100,000 for uniforms for the inmates.
I cannot stand here and criticize that because I have asked for it.
In fact, I asked Judy Manning about it when I had a briefing with her
back when she was the minister.
I said: Is this something you are looking at?
Now, I did not get much detail from her then, but we know that it is
in the Budget. I will get an
opportunity to ask the current minister and his staff about the clothing.
People may say: Why are you doing that?
The reason is two-fold.
Number one, we know there is a drug problem at the penitentiary and a lot of
the drugs get into the pen through clothes.
People are getting it sown into their clothes and brought in.
We know that. The guards
see it every day. You have to
search them. You have to go
through it. It is amazing the
ingenuity that is there.
The second part is there is a lot of bad behaviour that
goes on in the penitentiary that is related to clothes.
So if we can eliminate that, there is going to be a savings to
people's safety and it is going to be a savings when it comes to money that
we have to spend to replace clothes or things along those lines.
If we can cut down on the drug trade that is going into that
penitentiary, then it is going to make things that much better.
I think it is a smart investment.
I was surprised to see it this year.
I was surprised to see it, but, look, it is the right move and it is
what the guards want. It is the
correctional officers they will tell you; they get the least glory of
anybody within the system. You
have the police that go out and they are the ones that catch the bad guy and
they go through the system, but it is these guards, 24-7, that have to stand
there and watch these individuals and live among them.
So I say to the correctional officers that are out
there: Thank you for the job that you are doing.
I know sometimes you do not always get the support you need, but we
are happy to ask the questions and get things done, as we have done in the
past. Certainly, I am happy to
do it. I have been in that
penitentiary. I know what it is
like. So I want to have that
opportunity to thank
them for what they do.
Like
I say, Mr. Speaker, it is hard and I will get an opportunity again to
speak to this Budget when you have not done your Estimates, because
Estimates is when you can really get into the nitty-gritty of this Budget
that this government brought down.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. A. PARSONS:
I have not had that
opportunity, but I will get the chance to ask about: what are their plans,
what are their policies. There
are a lot of questions I am going to ask in Estimates.
There was no money actually allotted for inquiries this year.
There is $1,000. They
allot $1,000 for inquiries every year.
It has not been spent in the last little while.
This year they did not allot any money for an inquiry, but it is my
belief that there is going to be money needed for an inquiry this year.
I am willing to go on the record and say it is going to be needed.
We will see what happens there.
There are a lot of things I can ask about.
I can ask about Crown prosecutors.
They do a great job. In
fact, they are so good that they were just asked to do some more work to
oversee an RNC investigation in Corner Brook.
That is something else I can ask about too, ask about what is going
on with that. I look forward to
the opportunity to ask questions about the Crown prosecutor review.
Overall, this government has invested money in justice.
You can look at it and see it.
The problem is sometimes it is almost like they take away from the
money that they have spent by making these ham-handed decisions to cut the
guts out of it, and then they have to come back and fix what they did.
It comes back to this overall message I think the people are really
seeing it is about management.
It is the management that is going on.
Right now, we do not have good management over there.
That is why we think we should be there, because we will provide good
management.
I am
going to move forward. I want to
talk about my district for a second, Burgeo La Poile, which is my home
area. I live in Port aux
Basques. I go to a number of
communities. I am going to
Burgeo tomorrow. One thing I
want to talk about is the Burgeo road.
I heard the Minister of Transportation and Works say today: Yes, we
are keeping that amount of money for roads in the Province.
Now,
a couple of things about the Burgeo road, Route 480, it is about 148
kilometres in length. There is
no cell service on it. The funny
thing is they talk about the money they have spent, but I would like to see,
and I hope we will get this information of where that money is spent.
Because the Burgeo road just got voted and this is one of those
sort of infamous things, you do not want to famous, you want to infamous.
Well, infamously, Burgeo road is now ranked the fourth worse road in
Atlantic Canada. It is so bad
that a culvert in the road, just prior to Christmas, collapsed it
collapsed. It would be funny if
it was not for the fact that a man almost died.
An employee of Transportation and Works drove out there on his way to
work at 5:00 o'clock in the morning and the road collapsed.
He went across, thankfully.
He never went down. He
would likely be dead. I have had
opportunity to speak to this gentleman.
I am
going to talk a little bit more about this because it affects another area.
He went across, the vehicle totalled.
He thought the vehicle was on fire.
With a broken back, he managed to crawl out of the vehicle to the
side of the road. Now, it is
5:00 o'clock in the morning, it is pitch-black.
There are fish trucks coming back and forth and he was scared for his
life. He crawled to the side of
the road.
He
could hear the radio in the truck, he could hear that.
He could not get to it again because he was lying there unable to
move. He cannot call anybody
because there is no cellphone service.
We have not seen any movement on that.
He has a cellphone, but he cannot talk, he cannot use it.
Thankfully, later on somebody came upon him.
He was airlifted and he is on his way to recovery.
I
will not talk about the absolute travesty that is the agency, Workplace
Health, Safety and Compensation Commission, because what they have done to
this gentleman is absolutely disgraceful and shameful.
All I can say is what they have done to this person, this employee of
this government who was gravely injured doing his job what they have done
to him, they should be ashamed of themselves.
He
had to fight to get a walker. I
was not planning on talking about this today, but he wants to talk about it
because he is home relearning how to walk.
This government, through the workplace that is my topic area, but
he is trying to get back upright and he has to fight workers' comp every
step of the way. It is shameful
and it is shocking. If I worked
over there I would likely be embarrassed because, God forbid and I
appreciate the programs they do.
They talked about the safety programs to teach kids.
We need them, because God forbid if you end up on workers' comp.
I tell you what, God forbid.
Anyways, going back to the Burgeo road that he almost died on, I have asked
the minister, and the mayor has asked the minister, to come down and look at
the roads. This is the second
time we have had a road collapse in the last two years.
We are lucky no one has died.
I
have asked the minister now I appreciate the fact that the minister is
busy. I get that, I know that.
I will give his department credit for the work they did when the road
collapsed prior to Christmas and getting people back and forth.
They did their best. The
problem is if you are from Burgeo, or if you go to Burgeo, you do not know
when the next one is going to happen.
It is scary that the department has not come down yet to inspect the
other culverts in the road to see if they are possibly going to collapse.
I
look forward to that road being fixed.
It is not right now, there is still nothing done.
I hope to see it done this summer season.
We will see what happens.
Let alone the fact that the road is in a deplorable condition because this
government refuses to do anything for that road because, I do not know,
maybe they are the wrong colour down there.
Maybe they vote the wrong way.
I do not know how they grade the roads.
I do not know.
Some
members on the other side want to talk about it.
Well, I invite you to come down and drive the road.
Come on down. I will take
you for a tour and we will go past the culverts that are collapsing.
If you want to keep talking about it, get up and talk about it.
Now,
they are talking about the roads.
Some of them do not have to worry because their roads are fine,
because they get an investment in their roads.
They get that investment.
I
would like to see some investment in that road this year.
I would like to know the road is safe for the people who travel to
and from Burgeo, and Ramea, and Grey River, and Franηois.
They would like to know the road is safe and that it is not going to
collapse under them and get injured.
It is real, it has happened, and if you do not do something about it,
it is going to happen again. So
please do not stand there and tell me I am not talking about something that
is important and criticize me for criticizing the state of the road.
It is horrible.
I
could talk about the tourism industry.
Again, I love the ads the department puts out.
They are great ads. We
all love them, but the problem is that tourists like to travel places but it
is hard to travel there when the road is not fit to go on.
When you see contests out there all across Atlantic Canada talking
about the worst roads, so you are making a decision, well, where am I going
to travel? Let's go to Burgeo.
No, I am not going to bring my camper down there to beautiful
Sandbanks Park because I am going to tear the guts out of it driving it down
there. They are not going.
This
is one of the few growth areas that rural Newfoundland and Labrador has, we
know it is a growth area, but this government does nothing to help promote
it. They are stifling it, and it
is unfortunate because they have so much there.
You have the Island of Ramea, it is gorgeous, but to get there you
have to take that road. I guess
they are in the wrong spot. It
is funny actually, and I have a letter sent off.
I am
going to talk about Route 470. I
do not want to leave out my constituents who live in Margaree, Fox Roost,
Isle aux Mort, Burnt Island, Rose Blanche, Harbour Le Cou, Diamond Cove, and
La Poile who have to travel Route 470.
Now their road is a bit better because it has not collapsed, but it
still has not seen any significant work in some time.
Last year, actually, they got a bit of work, and it was only because
they threatened to pull the school buses off because it was not fit to go
on. If I am wrong, we could see
a classification it is like capital works, which I will probably get into
after. Last year, for instance,
the Town of Port aux Basques got a goose egg.
They got shut out and got nothing for capital works.
The first time in years, they told me, first time in years.
So I
say, look, I thought that there was a grading done and we follow that
grading to see who should get what and when they should get it.
I would like to see that.
I think the community would like to see that, but last year Port aux Basques
got nothing, not a thing.
We
continue past Port aux Basques, which is the main point of rubber tire
traffic entering into this Province through Marine Atlantic again, another
area where this government fails to speak.
Oh, Marine Atlantic is federal; well let's leave that to them.
Let's leave that to the feds to take care of that.
It does not affect us.
That is a topic for another day.
I do not have enough time to talk about it all, unfortunately.
You
go down that road, Route 470, they have not had any significant work either.
In fact, we showed a picture yesterday.
The Member for St. John's South showed a picture of two residents of
Rose Blanche canoeing in a pothole in the community.
There is actual photo evidence of it.
It is funny, because it is laughable.
This community has not seen the funds to fix it, because I guess they
are just not important enough.
I
find it hard every time I hear members talk about the investment in the
communities when I literally have not seen any investment in those
communities. That is
unfortunate, Mr. Speaker.
I
see I have a tiny little bit of time left, so what I would like to end off
with is and I will get at least one more opportunity to speak to this
Budget. Look, right now, there
has been a lot of promises made.
This Budget continues to make promises, as the Budget before did, and the
Budget before did, and the Budget before did, but there has been no delivery
on those promises to a lot of people.
That
is unfortunate, and it is called a breach of trust a broken promise is a
breach of trust. Right now, the
people of the Province, especially in my district, they say that there is a
breach of trust here, and they are not going to believe any more promises
that this government wants to make.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER (Littlejohn):
The hon. the
Member for Exploits.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. FORSEY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It
is always a pleasure to get up and represent the wonderful District of
Exploits and the people of Exploits and to be able to speak on the Budget.
You can tell the commitment over on this side.
You just look at the Members for Mount Pearl North and Harbour Main.
They would certainly rather spend their birthday here than anywhere
else, so Happy birthday to both.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. FORSEY:
I use the word
commitment, because we are committed.
As our Budget states, it is a balanced approach and it is all about
choices.
When
the Opposition and the Third Party get up, they will always come out with
information that is not exactly correct.
Hopefully, as we go along, we can get the opportunity to correct
them; but, they come up with so much of it, it is a job to correct them half
of the time because when you do tell them the truth, they still get it
wrong.
I
will try my best in twenty minutes, which is not going to be very long, to
get through some of the items because we do have a commitment to seniors.
We do have a commitment to infrastructure.
We do have a commitment to education.
That is what our Budget states, Mr. Speaker.
There were several things that I wanted to get into right away but because
the Opposition gets up and even during Question Period the Member for St.
John's East made a statement that was incorrect, but I will straighten that
out as I go along and hopefully he will understand it, as the Member for
Burgeo La Poile.
Just
let me say that from 2008 to 2014, the provincial government has invested
$820 million in more than 1,200 waste water, recreational, and municipal
infrastructure projects; $184 million has been invested in water-related
projects since 2008, including the ongoing construction and commissioning of
twenty-five portable water dispensing units.
Budget 2015, Mr. Speaker, will build on this progress.
The reason I mention that now and I wanted to get into it right away
and there will be times that the Opposition will use waste, and that is
unfortunate because I would certainly like for them to go out in the
District of Exploits and tell them that the money they got for the schools,
roads, and municipal infrastructure was a waste.
Mr.
Speaker, the Member for Burgeo La Poile got up and he started talking
about roads. I think that his
party or his party members represented that district when they were in power
and have been representing them for the past number of years.
Just to show a comparison, when I got elected in 2005, which was ten
years ago I missed the first Budget.
We have not gotten our allowance for this year, so in eight years for
roadwork I have been there ten.
Ten years prior to that, the Member for Exploits at that time, who
was a Liberal member and also the Premier of the day, invested $2.5 million
in roadwork. Since I have been
there, we have invested $22 million in roadwork in eight years.
There is no doubt that under the leadership that we had, the revenues were
good, and we were happy to get it.
Did we say no, we do not want it?
Of course we did not. We
wanted the district to be brought up to standard.
That is what we were trying to do.
Mr.
Speaker, I just spoke about investment in municipal water and
infrastructure. In 2005, when I
sat down with the Minister of Municipal Affairs
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. FORSEY:
Yes, they do not want to
hear all the good stuff. They
will get up and they will just say the things that are not correct, I say,
Mr. Speaker. That is what they
will do. They will get up there
and they will try to mislead the people of the Province, but that is not
going to happen. The people of
the Province are more intelligent than that.
Out
in the District of Exploits, they know what we have done.
They know what we received.
They know where we are right now.
They know that we have choices to make and they are hoping that we
make some good choices. That is
why we are out there and we are explaining the choices that we made.
Hopefully, it is going to resonate with the people.
Mr.
Speaker, in 2005 actually 2006 because like I said I missed the Budget in
2005; I could not believe it.
When I got the requests from the communities, just in the District of
Exploits, it was $35 million worth of requests.
I do not know what the former Administration did when they were there
because they represented the district for fifteen years.
They
just do not seem to want to listen.
They do not understand the facts.
They do not understand why the money was invested.
The money was invested because we had an infrastructure deficit.
We were in a very poor condition.
This year, when I looked at the requests from the municipalities out
there, the request this year was less than 10 per cent of what it was ten
years ago.
That
is an investment in infrastructure that communities like the Town of
Northern Arm, or the Town of Peterview, or the Town of Bishop's Falls, or
Cottrell's Cove, or Point of Bay, or Leading Tickles, or Phillips Head
these people needed their water lines.
They needed it done; they need upgrades, Mr. Speaker.
As
well, Bishop's Falls, this year we are completing or trying to complete a
$14 million sewage treatment system in the Town of Bishop's Falls.
We will have the best I see the Minister of Municipal Affairs is
looking at me there and I hope he is still with me after I sit down too
because we need to finish that project.
We do have one of the best salmon recreational fishing rivers in
North America in the Exploits River, and we want to make sure that it is
pristine and we want to make sure that we can use it for recreation and
whatever else that is going to attract tourism in the area.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. FORSEY:
Mr. Speaker, in Budget
2013 our commitment to completing a review of provincial-municipal fiscal
framework within two years, under the Member for Gander when he started this
work with MNL well, it is now two years later and we have delivered on
that commitment.
Our
Premier has announced the new Community Sustainability Partnership will
provide an additional investment of $46 million over the next three years to
assist communities in ensuring they can provide quality services to the
residents and businesses of Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. FORSEY:
Now, Mr. Speaker, there
is a lot of information there, but I probably will not get to all of it.
What
was the response from MNL, Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador?
Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador have applauded the
commitment of our government. Their president has said that this Budget
finally set in motion a long-term plan towards sustainable revenue that will
allow municipalities to meet demands such as drinking water, waste water,
and fire services. That is from
the President of MNL.
Now,
Mr. Speaker, I also mentioned fire services.
When the Member for St. John's because I am not going to leave out
the Third Party either. When the
Member for St. John's East maybe it is because he got shaved yesterday
with the Minister of Health and maybe he lost a few things while he was
doing it. He got up to say that
we cut the budget for fire and emergency equipment.
He got up and that is what he said. Now
he is going to get up and say that it is different.
MR. MURPHY:
A point of order.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
A
point of order, the hon. the Member for St. John's East.
MR. MURPHY:
Just to correct the
Member for Exploits. I said
there was a cut in Emergency Services, 6.1.03 in the Budget, page 18.20, the
monies amount goes from $2.7 million to $646,000.
It is on the record.
MR. SPEAKER:
There is no point of
order.
The
hon. the Member for Exploits.
MR. FORSEY:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I
appreciate that.
Now,
anybody can have this document I have here.
AN HON. MEMBER:
Table it.
MR. FORSEY:
Not a problem.
It is from the fire chiefs association of Newfoundland and Labrador.
The
Member for St. John's East and anybody else over there can say that we are
not doing the right thing. Well,
listen to this, he says the name is Vince MacKenzie by the way, if you do
not know; he is a friend of mine from Central Newfoundland The provincial
budget came down today and I am pleased that there were no cuts to the fire
service I remind the Member for St. John's East.
Funding for fire trucks and equipment remained at last year's record
high level of over $5 million.
MR. J. BENNETT:
That is because it is
an election year.
MR. FORSEY:
It was not an election
year last year, I say to the Member for St. Barbe.
They still seem to heckle and they do a lot of smiling over there.
I guess they do not take the operations of the Province very serious,
Mr. Speaker, because everything is a joke to them.
Everything they have to laugh at or heckle at.
That is all they seem to do over there.
I have seen parties being arrogant before, but I think this takes the
cake.
This is the second year in a row that this funding is in place over the
core funding of 1.6 million. That
means there will be a continued effort to upgrade fire equipment in the
province.
Mr.
Speaker, I have a lot of respect for firefighters, volunteer firefighters
especially, and most of our members on this side do.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. FORSEY:
We do.
As a matter of fact, last Saturday night I did spend time with the
volunteer fire department of Peterview.
It was their fiftieth anniversary.
Fifty years of providing protection to the community and the
surrounding area. They need
equipment like this so they can do their job, Mr. Speaker.
Have
we done the right things? I
believe we did. Have we
investment more than probably we should have?
Maybe we have, but the cause and the need was there.
We wanted to make sure they had the services and the equipment to do
it.
He
goes on to say: Our NL Fire Services Association has worked hard over the
years to lobby for increases and they have; I talked to Vince many times
about it. He has turned up to
Budget consultations and I have seen him there.
He was very consistent in what he was doing because he is one of the
main supporters of fire services.
in the cost shared program and we are
pleased that the funding was held even through this tough budget.
Was
it a tough Budget? Yes, it was.
Of course it was a tough Budget, but it is all about choices.
Under the leadership of our Premier, he came up with some new ways to
move forward.
MR. RUSSELL:
Strike a balance.
MR. FORSEY:
Strike a balance,
absolutely, I say to the Member for Lake Melville and Minister of Labrador
and Aboriginal Affairs. Strike a
balance; that is what this is all about.
It is all about the approach and the choices, Mr. Speaker.
Our leader is doing this and doing it very well.
Grants for our Learn Not To Burn Program and the association's operating
grant were maintained as well.
Again, I am pleased with the result of this year's budget announcements and
thank government for continued support to fire services.
The
association will continue to work further.
There is still much work to be done around the areas of training and
regionalization. That was
another thing that was brought into the Budget as well, Mr. Speaker, to set
up to work with the communities, to work and look at regionalization.
We have been doing it out in Central Newfoundland.
Right now in our district and in Grand Falls-Windsor, in our communities, we
share services now. When one
community needs a backup for fire services, all they have to do is call
their neighbour next door and they got it.
We share the same water services, we share the same waste disposal,
we share a lot of services, and that is the way to go.
This is what he is saying here.
They do a lot of training today.
Why? Because we support
them in it, because we need them, and they offer their best.
So
they say: We ask for more protection officers in the Province to support
fire departments. Given this
year's deficit Budget, the job cuts, we have to wait further to come to
fruition. So he was not sure,
but this year's Budget maintains current levels.
We are thankful for that.
There you go. He is thankful for
this year's Budget and what we did last year and what we did this year, Mr.
Speaker.
Did
we do wrong by doing that? I do
not think so. If you leave it to
the Opposition over there, they get up, one wants to cut, one wants to
sharpen their pencil. I was
listening to her on a talk show the other day, the Member for Virginia
Waters. The host said: What are
you going to do? Well, we are
going to repeal the 2 per cent, but we are going to sharpen our pencils
because we need to cut down, basically.
Now,
they are sharpening their pencils, but they are not telling us where they
are going to start cutting, making all those little marks and crossing
people out and
AN HON. MEMBER:
Cutting services.
MR. FORSEY:
cutting services, but
they are going to do it. That is
the scary part; they are going to do it.
Now,
the other way is their leader is not sure.
He figures they should borrow more and go more and more and more in
debt, but they cannot seem to be onside on that and they do not have a plan
to do so. I guess they just have
different opinions, Mr. Speaker.
That is basically where they are.
Mr.
Speaker, when I started I said that we have made a commitment to seniors and
age-friendly communities; investing in inclusive communities and
age-friendly communities. Budget
2015, and I will just name a couple, approximately $180 million in the
Provincial Home Support Program; $42.1 million in Low Income Seniors Tax
Benefit.
That
seniors' tax benefit comes out every fall, and it is up to $1,059.
Did we cut it? No, we did
not. We did not cut it because
we believe in seniors. That is
why our leader formed a department responsible for seniors.
I think our minister is doing a great job and he is a good advocate.
He is a good advocate for the seniors of Newfoundland and Labrador.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
AN HON. MEMBER:
He is a senior
himself.
MR. FORSEY:
He is getting there himself, so there you go.
Mr.
Speaker, we have had people out there saying, because they do not listen
again, they do not listen they will always say something but they will
always say something that is not right.
I
heard the other day that one of the members over there got up and said:
government over there, they love to hear themselves talk.
That is what he said. Not
any more than they do, Mr. Speaker, but the only thing is when we talk we
have something to say. That is
the difference.
AN HON. MEMBER:
We speak from
actions.
MR. FORSEY:
Yes, we can speak from actions, more than just words, Mr. Speaker.
To
aid active, healthy living, $24.9 million to sport and recreational
infrastructure projects, bringing the total investment since 2004 to $169.6
million.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. FORSEY:
Is there a problem over
there, Mr. Speaker?
Mr.
Speaker, I know you have not said order very much because there is no noise
on this side, I am able to control myself, but on the other side it is not
very quiet. It is too bad they
do not have something to say when they get up.
They do have something to say because they do like to hear themselves
talk, but it is all words and no action.
Mr.
Speaker, $8.8 million under the Home Repair Program getting back to the
Home Heating Rebate Program, that is still in place.
We kept that in place.
Some people said, oh, that is cancelled.
Well, it is not cancelled.
That is not cancelled, I say to the people out in the Province of
Newfoundland and Labrador and to the seniors.
That is not cancelled.
We
also moved the GST rebate that you can get, GST credit, from $40 to $300.
Not only did we raise the income of it but we also raised the income
of the
MS PERRY:
Threshold.
MR. FORSEY:
Threshold, thank you very
much. Every now and then you are
looking for a word, and I thank the Member for Fortune Bay Cape La Hune.
We
went from $15,000 to $30,000.
Anyone with a $30,000 income or less, can now avail of that $300; $5.4
million to create new affordable housing units through the investment in
Affordable Housing Program.
I
see my time is just about up. I
am sure I will get another chance, and I thank you very much for the
opportunity.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
St. John's South.
MR. OSBORNE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, I want to talk a little bit about the Budget this year.
I am going to start on questions that I asked this week in the House
of Assembly because this Province has gone through the wealthiest period,
the wealthiest decade we have ever witnessed, and even though we have had
the wealthiest decade this Province has ever witnessed, the Province, the
provincial government, the PC Government has failed to ensure that during
that wealthy period that they put a little bit of money aside to ensure that
the Province was able to sustain a drop in oil prices.
We
knew there was a drop in oil production.
We knew that oil production was slowing down.
That was well documented.
It was well known. Government
knew it, the economists knew it, the Auditor General knew it.
The Auditor General talked about it in 2006 and gave a warning to
government at that particular time that government cannot put all of its
eggs in the oil basket, but unfortunately that is what happened, Mr.
Speaker.
Government failed to ensure that not only at the time were they living
within their means because they continued to let the deficit grow and grow,
even though we had great wealth, even though they knew oil production was
going to slow and that the prices of oil were volatile.
In fact, the proof of that was just a couple of years ago when
Premier Dunderdale, at that time, predicted $124 a barrel of oil on an
annual basis. That was the
average on an annual basis. Most
people, at that particular time, said that number was absolutely out to
lunch. They did not achieve the
$124 on an annual basis. I am
not even sure if they broke $124 a barrel that year; nevertheless, they
certainly did not come anywhere near $124 on an annual basis.
Instead of using oil royalties to do one-time spending, if you need to fix a
building, repair a school, build a hospital, all right, we will put money in
the Budget on a one-time basis this year out of the oil royalties, but not
add it to the Budget and allow the Budget to continue to balloon.
In 2003, the Budget of this Province was, I think, $4.3 billion.
This year, Mr. Speaker, it is over $8 billion, closer to $9 billion.
We
have essentially, as a Province, doubled our annual Budget, which government
knew. The economists, the
Auditor General, everybody knew that would not be sustainable once oil
production started to slow, but that is what government did.
The
questions that I asked this week, Mr. Speaker, were about the roads in the
Province. Government
continuously stand and they boast and I will talk a little bit about that
through my comments during the twenty minutes that I have to speak to the
Budget; but, Mr. Speaker, government continuously stand and talk about how
good this is, how good that is, how good a job they are doing in different
areas.
Mr.
Speaker, on roads alone and we have had the Minister of Transportation and
the Minister of Transportation before that, and the Premier say what a
fantastic job they were doing on roads in this Province.
We know that the people of Nippers Harbour stood in protest because
of the condition of their roads.
They asked government to either relocate them or repair their road, do one
or the other, but their pleas to government, their calls to government went
unheard.
In
Conche their road is full of potholes.
In fact, they are that big they call them craters on the Great
Northern Peninsula. They have
great potholes, Mr. Speaker. We
know that Placentia, Cape St. Mary's, and Argentia, those areas have been
complaining for years. We have
seen pictures in the paper. We
have heard people complain. We
have heard calls to the Open Line shows.
Those calls, for a large part, have gone unanswered.
We
know in the paper this week there was a story about the road from
Charlottetown to Port Hope Simpson where people were complaining there was
nothing left on the road to grade.
There were ruts in the road and there was nothing left to grade.
The road is atrocious. It
is absolutely deplorable.
We
talked about Rose Blanche and the fact that in Rose Blanche people canoed in
the pothole two years ago as a demonstration to try and get attention to the
fact they needed the road done.
They have been asking for repairs for years prior to that.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. OSBORNE:
They canoed in the
pothole when there was enough water in that pothole to put a canoe in it.
In the picture you can see the canoe in the pothole and a vehicle
driving through the pothole as well.
It is still there. It is
still not repaired.
Mr.
Speaker, we have seen calls from the people of Port aux Basques, from
Bristol's Hope, Freshwater, and Riverhead.
We have received calls from all of these communities every time
government talks about how great the roads are.
I have talked about the road from York Harbour to Lark Harbour and
how people had a storm there a couple of years ago and storm damage.
They are still waiting on repairs to that.
I received calls from people in Duntara.
We have received calls from people around the Province, from all
areas of the Province. We have
received several calls.
Continuously, we receive calls from around the Province.
Mr.
Speaker, just since the Budget of last week it is one week ago today that
the Budget was brought down. I
just want to look at some of the newspaper articles since the Budget was
brought down.
There is no money for a LGBT Office, Mr. Speaker.
There was an editorial in the paper the same day by Russell Wangersky
who talked about: Economist Wade Locke made the point.
So did Vic Young, when he was head of the Royal Commission on our
place in Canada. Successive
auditors general made the point repeatedly in their reports having said that
we cannot put all of our financial eggs in the oil basket because the bottom
could drop out of it.
He
talks about how Auditor General John Noseworthy in 2006 said, However, it
has to be recognized that oil revenues are volatile and oil is a
non-renewable resource with a limited life.
While it is encouraging that government has made some progress
regarding past annual deficits, prudent fiscal management and spending
within its means has to remain a priority for government if it is to make
progress in improving the province's financial position.
Russell Wangersky says of government: They obviously got right on
that, because they did not.
From
the same day in the media, Mr. Speaker, the headline: Are we tumbling into
a bottomless pit? It talks
about how in March 2010, Tom Marshall was reflecting on the diminishing
returns of oil. He had a chart
up that showed mineral production in the Province was hitting a wall.
He was Finance Minister at that time.
He said that, The natural production, there was a big decline that
started this year and it is going to continue.
He
said that, The government has been perfectly aware all along that oil
wealth is limited and unpredictable, that it is non-renewable.
Marshall admitted that the good times were coming to an end or at least
that things would never be quite as good as they were
.
That
was in 2010, Mr. Speaker. We are
now looking at the 2015 Budget.
So government will say it was unpredictable, it was out of our control.
We could not control what happened with oil prices, but they
predicted it in 2010. The
Auditor General predicted it in 2006, but this year the Finance Minister
stood it was out of our control.
We could not control it.
They had to borrow $2 billion.
It is a billion dollar deficit.
They
are going to raise the HST which is absolutely a job killer.
It will absolutely slow the economy.
Now government predicts it will only slow the economy by half a
percentage in the GDP. At least
they are acknowledging that it will slow the economy.
It will slow the economy.
That is the reality. It will
kill jobs, and that is the reality.
Mr.
Speaker, government says it is out of their control.
It was not out of their control.
They knew it all along.
They could have lived within their means.
They could have put money into a heritage fund like Alberta did so
that when the bottom fell out of oil prices, or oil production slowed down,
they would be able to continue to provide the services that they say people
have become accustomed to.
Mr.
Speaker, we look at the Budget this year and the fact that government
projected, I think it was 1,400-and-some-odd jobs were going to be
eliminated through attrition.
Well they did not tell the whole truth.
They did not reveal all the numbers on Budget day because we have
since found out that through the health boards there are more cuts.
We have since found that out, almost another 300.
Then
on top of that, a couple of days ago when our leader during Question Period
asked: Well is that it, are there any more?
You obviously were not forthright in telling the people that it was
not just 1,400, it is closer to 1,800.
We found out through a little bit of digging, a little bit of
question asking, but we found out.
Are there any more than that?
The Premier waltzes out to the scrum area, stands before the cameras
and says yes, there could be more.
Well how many? We are not
prepared to say yet. We cannot
tell you that yet. We are still
working on it.
Mr.
Speaker, you know something.
That has been a pattern of this government where they will only tell you a
little bit and you have to figure out the rest.
Now they tried under Bill 29 a couple of years ago.
They tried under Bill 29 to ensure that the media would not be able
to dig, that the Opposition or the Third Party would not be able to dig, and
that the general public would not be able to dig to find out what was not
being told as the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Even Bill 29, even though it was told again and again that it was not
a good piece of legislation under public pressure, pressure from the
Opposition, and pressure from the media they finally repealed Bill 29, Mr.
Speaker, but at a cost of a million dollars to the taxpayers of this
Province.
I
want to go back to the fact that they will talk and I have reams of
statements or articles from the media.
I want to go back and talk about an announcement that was made the
day before Budget day last week, last Wednesday, just to give an indication
of exactly how government operates.
I have already talked about the fact that on Budget day there was
1,420 or 1,430 jobs going to be cut, and now we find out that it is
1,800-plus because we still do not have all the figures.
We
know that on Wednesday of last week municipalities were all brought into a
room. They were all told of a
new fiscal arrangement that government was going to make with
municipalities. The
municipalities all cheered. It
was great news. Less than
twenty-four hours later, Mr. Speaker, after the municipalities all gave
their statements in the media, rah, rah, rah, what a great announcement.
Less
than twenty-four hours later, Mr. Speaker, we had some folks from different
municipalities saying that they were absolutely shocked to find out that the
HST was going to go up because that took away some of the great news they
got the day before. No doubt
there is still benefit in the announcement that was made the day before, but
the point is the government opposite, the PC government, will only give you
some of the story. They will
only give you some of the details.
When you dig and find out the rest and put all the pieces of the
puzzle together to get the full picture, you realize that they only gave you
half the goods. I will say that
they only give you the half the goods because the rest of it was not so good
at all. What had to be dug out
was not so good at all.
I
will continue on with some of the media reports again from May 4, Mayor
concerned about ferry service.
Another story, Co-operation needed to find ferry service solutions.
Mr. Speaker: residents voting for possible relocation, and that is in
the community of McCallum. By
the way, I got a call from somebody in that community complaining about
their roads as well, oddly enough.
Talking about P3s, Mr. Speaker, and people complaining about P3s: The
Privatization of Health Care now, this is all from the same day, May 4,
one day, May 4, and I have every day.
I took collections of different media stories every day since the
Budget. Privatization of Health
Care people complaining about the privatization of health care.
Now, opposite, they will tell you what a great position government is
in, what a great position the Province is in.
No need to complain, Mr. Speaker.
It is only the Opposition who are complaining.
Well, we did not write these stories; we did not write these
headlines. These are people
around the Province.
Food
bank in Labrador West is finding it hard to keep the shelves stocked, Mr.
Speaker, another story from May 4. The Budget, Devastating to Small
Schools, another headline. A
lot of frustration that comes from a Mr. Dinn talking about the cuts in
Labrador to education. RFP
review ongoing: Transportation and Works and that story was also on May
4, and that was as a result of complaints in Muskrat Falls that the protocol
is not being followed for job hiring in Muskrat Falls but there is nothing
to complain about.
Here
we go, here is a story, Mr. Speaker, about the Trans-Labrador Highway: Large
ruts in the Trans-Labrador Highway complaining yet the roads are great,
all the roads are great. That is
from May 4 as well. This is the
story I was talking about:
no topping left on the road to grade.
That is from Cartwright to Port Hope Simpson
MS DEMPSTER:
Charlottetown.
MR. OSBORNE:
Charlottetown, sorry, to
Port Hope Simpson.
Another story: Businesses will suffer from HST hike
.
These are just the headlines, Mr. Speaker, all the details are in the
stories, but government paints a very rosy picture.
That is not what we are reading in the headlines.
Again, that is a headline from May 4.
MR. WISEMAN:
Don Mills (inaudible).
MR. OSBORNE:
No, we have not gotten to
Don Mills yet, I say to the Finance Minister.
We have not gotten to Don Mills yet.
Mr.
Speaker, broken equipment delays breast biopsy, again from May 4.
There is no backup plan in place.
MUN staring down $20 million in cuts everything is rosy; the
Minister of Finance will try to tell you everything is rosy.
I do not think so; I do not think it is.
LGBT advocates disappointed with the lack of movement of inclusion
within the provincial Budget.
Mr.
Speaker, I see that you are asking me to wind things up here.
I have lots more to say on the Budget and I will get to those.
I have media stories from every day.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Cape St. Francis.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. K. PARSONS:
Thank you very much,
Mr. Speaker.
Again today it is a pleasure to get up here to represent the beautiful
District of Cape St. Francis. I
know my colleague for Exploits wanted to wish a couple of birthday greetings
today but I do too, to my colleague here on the side of me and to the
gentleman down there where the light is shining off his head and there is
kind of a glare coming up this way.
Happy Birthday to both of you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. K. PARSONS:
I congratulate the
two hon. members in here for doing what they did yesterday in taking the
Shave for the Brave. It is a
great cause and it is great to see that you do that stuff, a really good job
out there to do that stuff. I
really appreciate it.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. K. PARSONS:
Mr. Speaker, I am
going to get up here today and I am going to try to be positive.
There is a lot to be positive about.
We live in a great country, we live in a great Province, and I live
in a great community. I try to
do the best I can, but I know the poor Member for Burgeo La Poile
yesterday with his cufflinks I notice he does not have them on today he
is not very positive today. He
is in a bit of a sad mood, but that is another story altogether.
I will not go there at all.
Mr.
Speaker, we are here today and we are talking about the Budget.
The Budget is an interesting thing because what is going to happen
and what you will see in the next couple of weeks is a difference of
opinions. People will have a
different opinion and that side will have one opinion and we will have
another opinion. I am not saying
who is right and wrong, but it is a different way of putting out the
perspective of how we see things actually are.
I
have two children and I look at a budget they have households.
I have one son who is trying to build a house now and I have another
daughter who just built a house a little while ago.
You sit down and you talk to them, like my father did with me.
We
realize that, listen here, there is so much money to be spent and you have
to spend it the best way you can.
Your wishes are not always what you you can wish for what you want,
but you can only afford to spend so much, and that is so important.
It is no different with government; it is no different with
businesses. I am sure there are
businesses in the Province, when they do up their budgets they have a wish
list that is a mile long, and it is the same thing in here.
In
my district, for example, I have all kinds of things that I would like to
see done, and hope to get done.
I would like to have everything perfect.
Over the last number of years I have to say we did pretty good, but
there are still a lot of things to be done, just like there are in all other
districts.
I
look at today, and I know the situation government finds itself in today is
a little different than what I see happening in this neck of the woods, in
the Northeast Avalon. I drive
down Torbay Road in the evenings and I see new buildings, a big new Canadian
Tire. I think it is the biggest
Canadian Tire store in Eastern Canada that is down there now; if you go down
towards Stavanger Drive area, all these new businesses there.
In
my district, yes, there is good growth.
I was in the garage the other day and a young fellow came by the
house and told me that he is planning on starting his house this year too.
Himself and his girlfriend, both of them are working.
He is a fisherman, actually.
He is doing very well with the fishery.
I am going to talk a little bit about the fishery later on.
His girlfriend has a good job, she is an engineer.
They are planning on building their house.
I was talking to him about what kind of house they are going to build
and things like that, but they have a budget.
They realize that while they are doing good they have to budget their
money properly. That is what we
are doing, and that is what we are trying to do.
We
can have all different ways, and people have different ideas of how to spend
money, how to do it and what we should do, what we should spend it on, and
what we should not spend it on.
Today I am just going to touch base on what we have done.
We have made a choice, and that is what governments have to do.
You have choices to make and you make choices.
Right now with revenues that we have seen, and people on the other side will
say, oh, you should have known it was going to drop down to $45 a barrel.
You should have known this.
This is common knowledge.
Everyone out there knew it. I do
not think so.
I
look around at what is happening in Saskatchewan, Alberta, and the rest of
Canada, I do not think everybody realized there was going to be a drop in
oil prices, and that is a drop in revenue except probably George Murphy,
now he would probably know. I am
sorry, the Member for St. John's East.
When
things happen like that you have to make adjustments, and we are making
adjustments along the way. There
are things we have to do. Do you
know what? Our spending is still
up there. We are still spending
$8.1 billion on the needs. There
are a lot of good things we are doing, and that is what I want to talk about
today, the good things that we are doing in this Province.
We
have a plan; there is a plan in place.
I have listened to the Opposition.
I listened to their plan.
I will talk a little bit about that later on, the difference between them
and the difference between us. In
your life you will always find that there are ups and downs.
In
2002-2003, when we came into government I was not a part of this
government then, but it was a pretty rough time for the Province, the
finances of the Province. There
was talk of bankruptcy and everything else like that.
We got through that. We
made a plan. There was a plan
that went forward and that plan worked out.
That came true. Oil
prices went up and everything was good.
We started spending money on infrastructure, to put money back into
schools and roads and hospitals and everything else.
That is what you have to do.
If
we look at what happened in 2008 and the economy down in the United States
with the housing and everything else, it just dropped off.
It went boom, down like that, but we had a plan then also.
We invested in infrastructure.
I would say out of all the provinces in Canada, Newfoundland and
Labrador came out way ahead of everyone else because there was a plan in
place.
Our
minister put toward a plan the other day, and this is the plan we have for
five years to make sure that we stay where we are.
While there are some bumps in the road here in government and with
the revenues we have, I believe that outside I will talk a little bit now
about the fishery. I understand
because I know a bit about the fishery.
I have a brother who is involved in it.
I have a lot of friends who are involved in the fishery.
Who
thought when the moratorium came in that we would have a fishery like we
have today? Our fishermen and
I know the members who talked about it here, that most fishermen today are
doing really, really well. They
are doing well because the crab is doing well.
Now there are some parts of the Province where the crab is not so
good. I talked to a fisherman
the other night who told me he was off from using it.
He went out and hauled 300 pots and never got what they normally get
out in that area.
I
know down my way, they went out the other day and normally where they get
7,000 or 8,000 pounds, they came in with 17,000 or 18,000 pounds.
The fishermen are doing well.
That is a part of our economy that people did not realize was going
to do as good as what it is doing.
These people are doing well.
That is great to see, because no one believed the fishery would ever come
back to where it was in the heyday of the cod fishery, because the cod
fishery was huge. It was huge
for us. My family owned a
trucking company. We used to
truck cod out of Torbay, Flatrock, Pouch Cove, Bauline, Portugal Cove, and
St. John's. So we used to truck
millions of pounds of cod. I
think one year it was 22 million, and we used to truck a lot of capelin.
When
the cod moratorium came in everybody thought the fishery was gone, but do
you know what? That is the type
of people we are. We went to
somewhere else. We went into the
crab, and that is what Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are all about.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. K. PARSONS:
We will adjust to the
times, when times are good and times are bad.
We will make adjustments and make sure that we get that level play
and everybody's life is good because we live in a great Province.
Just
a little bit on the fishery. It
is great to see that our fishermen are doing good because they are the heart
and soul. I look at the cod
fishery I love going out jigging cod.
I love it. I love getting
out to the food fishery. I have
noticed in the last couple of years that it is unbelievable.
One drift and you have your fifteen fish and you are in out of there.
The size of the fish is after growing and it is really good.
Hopefully, we can make adjustments.
I
know in this Budget there is some money there for marketing.
I think that is where we have to be.
When our cod fishery does come back and it is important that our
cod fishery does come back because it is going to be important for rural
Newfoundland and Labrador, it is going to be really important for rural
Newfoundland and Labrador, it will keep people in their communities we
have to make sure that we have a plan.
That is the big thing; make sure we have a plan in place.
What
happened in the 1970s and 1980s with our cod cannot happen again in the
future because people want quality.
You have to make sure that I can remember when we used to be down
we would prong the fish out of the boat, prong the fish up on the wharf,
prong the fish in the back of the truck, and there was no ice on it.
By the time it got up to the fish plant it was almost like soup.
We cannot be in that stage anymore.
That is a plan that has to be made in the fishery.
That is where we are today with our Budget, we have to make a plan.
Mr.
Speaker, I got off track a little bit.
I did not want to talk that much about that.
I want to talk about our public servants.
I go over in the department of hardworking department, a lot of
good people in the Department of Business, Tourism, Culture and Rural
Development. I watch every day
people coming in and out of the office.
I was on the phone the other day in the parking lot and I was
watching all the young people coming in and out in the morning, coming out
of our building.
People may say listen here, the public service is too big.
It is way too big; you have to do something about the public service.
It is way too big. The
plan we have in place is not to eliminate all the young people.
If we had massive layoffs in our public service, like some people are
after suggesting, who would get laid off?
It would be the people who are just getting hired.
Mr.
Speaker, they are the people we have to make sure that we keep.
Through attrition, as people in the next I think there are 46,000
employees in our public service.
Through the next number of years there are going to be I think 9,600 up for
retirement. If we have to reduce
our public service, the way to do it is to make sure that we keep our young
people in.
The
plan that we have in place, the plan that the minister put forward and it
seems to me that it is a great plan for every ten who do retire, we are
going to make sure that eight comes back.
So there definitely will be two who will not be replaced.
Through this plan, we are going to keep the people who we should be
keeping. We are going to keep
the young people working. We are
going to keep the young people.
If
you go with a layoff or anything in the public service, the first ones to
get cut are the young people.
These are young people, like I just spoke about a little while ago, who are
starting homes, who are hoping to start a family in the next couple of
years. How devastating would
that be for a young person to come in here after Budget day and told okay,
we are going to cut 400 jobs here and we are going to cut 400 jobs there.
Who is going to feel it?
They are the ones going to feel it.
Their plan probably is reduce the public service, get rid of all
these young people. That is not
our plan; we are going to keep our young people working because they are our
biggest asset.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. K. PARSONS:
Mr. Speaker, again, I
have listened to members over the way and they talk about the Auditor
General, the Auditor General says yes, our public service is too big; but I
believe that the plan that the minister and our Premier put in place, with
attrition, is the way to go. It
is the way to go because we are going to keep the biggest resource, and we
are not going to impact the impact that comes with massive layoffs and
stuff like this is huge because it affects the whole economy, it affects all
our communities, when young people are laid off.
I
spoke to a gentleman last night and we were talking about the same thing.
He said this and that, and I explained to him why I felt attrition
was the way to go. He said: I
never even thought of it like that.
I did not realize that; that is true.
The
people who are working in our public service I went to a retirement the
other day over in a department, a lady retired after thirty-seven years.
She put her time in, thirty-seven years.
I was talking to some other people that they are going within the
next year or so or next two years.
That is great to see that they are going to get their retirement and
everything else, but do you know what?
They look forward to going and they are going to go but at least the
young person there were young people there that day and they have a whole
future ahead of them, and that is the important thing.
That is why this plan is a great plan.
I
love the plan that we are doing with public service because we all agree
the Auditor General is after telling us it is way too big and everything
else. We agree with that, there
is no doubt about it, and we have to find efficiencies to make sure that we
run everything. It would be a
bad move, a brutal move, to do that to young people in this Province.
So
this is a plan we have and today, I look back and I look at my phone
sometimes and my daughter and son are around and I will hand it to them to
do something for me. Because our
young people today are really educated, they are smart, they are great when
it comes to technologies, and they know all the new technologies and
everything else. I look at the
young Pages here today; I bet you they could teach me a lot on how to run my
BlackBerry or get on and do this or whatever because that is what they do
today. The information that they
could find, they would find it a hundred times faster than what I will ever
find it. It is important that we
keep young in work and it is important that we show them that we appreciate
everything that they do.
Now,
Mr. Speaker, I also want to talk I know the hon. member across the way for
St. John's South talked about municipalities and the money that we gave to
municipalities last week. It is
very important because I am a former Mayor of the Town of Flatrock.
Do you know what? When
people got money, like towns got money, it shows that if there is money
there people become interested because you can attract more people to run
for councils and stuff like that.
It is a hard time when municipalities are out there fighting for
every cent and people say what am I going to do that for, but when they see
what we have done last week in putting money back into municipalities I am
just going to give you an example of some of the towns in my district.
A
town like Pouch Cove, in three years' time, they are going to get an
additional $96,000, and that is huge; $96,000 is what that town is going to
get. That is over and above
their municipal capital operating grant from what it is now.
That gives that town the ability they have some issues.
AN HON. MEMBER:
(Inaudible).
MR. K. PARSONS:
They do not want to
do that at all.
Do
you know what that does, Mr. Speaker?
They can go look now and say okay, when we do our budget in three
years' time we are hoping that we will get an increase because most towns in
the Province, the only income that they have is through residential taxes.
You do not want to be charging your mill rates up so high but
everybody has a want.
It
is like what is across the way, Oppositions, they have a want; we have a
want in our district for our people, and there is only so much money to go
around. That is why we have
budgets. That is why we do
budgets like we do. Isn't this a
great thing to do for our towns because what it is doing, it will encourage
people to run and these are volunteers, by the way.
They get up and volunteer because they can see that they can make a
difference in their towns.
I
spoke to all of the mayors in my district and they were all happy with this.
They said it is a great move; this is fantastic.
Also, at the announcement the minister spoke about some things that
towns can do to offset costs to other towns.
In my district there are towns that share services and that is a
great thing to do; fire services are shared by all of the towns in the area.
That is what you have to do because as much as we would all want to
have six or seven fire departments, sometimes you just cannot afford it.
This is huge and it is nice to see.
I
know the minister encouraged that that day and also the President of MNL
said this is the way we have to go, and it is.
It is being smart with our money and stuff like that.
Mr.
Speaker, I want to talk a little bit too because I know I am getting down
there and I really want to talk about education.
Education to me is important because it is what we need to do; we
need to make sure that everybody in this Province gets the best possible
education they can have.
Do
you know what would have been an easy thing to do in this Budget?
It would have been: Listen, we put a tuition freeze in there for this
number of years so look, we just cannot afford it anymore.
We did not do that, because we value our students.
We value making sure that they get the best possible education.
I am sure come Budget time every year that students are concerned
about it, and they are always concerned about it.
We
are investing money in the post-secondary education like never before.
We have to make sure that our students have the opportunities to do
have everything that is out there engineering.
There are all kinds of opportunities in this Province.
Never before are the opportunities there.
Our
students have the lowest tuition rate in all of Canada.
That shows the importance that this government places on our
post-secondary students. That is
so important because they are our future.
They are the people who will be in these seats someday, and they are
the people who will be starting businesses and starting everything else.
It is so important that we show them that we support them.
It is important that they do not come out with debt loads that are
unbearable, that they have to wait ten years to build a home, or buy their
first car, or whatever. It is
important that we really do support them.
Mr.
Speaker, I look at the Budget again and I look at positive things we are
doing in education. I am not
going to mention on this speech because I know I am going to get another
twenty minutes later on and I will talk about it a little bit more.
The schools that we are building and here in the Northeast Avalon
we have noticed in Paradise, CBS, and even up the Southern Shore up in
Mobile, the new school for Witless Bay area.
I
drove up and watched the hockey game one night.
I had not been up there in a while since I used to go up there
playing hockey where they were all cheering for me.
Anyway, Mr. Speaker, I drove up there and all the news homes that are
up there now, it is amazing. It
is amazing to see. It is
important that we do these investments.
Mr.
Speaker, there is only so much money to go around and here is the plan that
we put in place. We said okay,
we are going to have to raise taxes a little bit.
Now I heard two plans from the other side.
One plan was to as far as I could read what she was talking about
mainly cut the public service.
That would be a plan to do. Like
I said earlier, I would not want to do that because if we do, we cut the
young people. We cut the people
who are just starting off in life and need that break.
As an MHA I always try to do my best for young people because once
they get their foot in the door, they will prove themselves.
That is what they do here in public service in our Province.
The
other solution that I saw was to borrow more, to stretch our deficits out a
longer period of time. Mr.
Speaker, who is going to pay for it in the future? Our young people will pay
for it, and our children, and someday my grandchildren hopefully will
end up paying for those costs.
Mr.
Speaker, I believe that the plan that we put forward is the right plan.
It is the right plan for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.
I am very proud to be part of that plan.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER (Cross):
The hon. the
Member for Signal Hill Quidi
Vidi
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you very much, Mr.
Speaker.
I am
delighted to be able to stand and speak in the first round on the Budget.
I say first round because, of course, I will get two more
opportunities specifically as part of the Budget debate as all the rest of
us. I will not try to cover
everything today that I want to say.
That is impossible, but I am going to set a framework for the
discussions I want to hold as this Budget debate continues.
It
was sort of hard to figure out where to start with this Budget.
Let's go. Let's see what
I have decided. Let's hope that
the members of the government across the way understand what it is I am
talking about because there is an awful lot they do not seem to understand,
Mr. Speaker. I am going to try
to get them to understand the reality of what it is they have presented to
us.
When
I look at the Budget Speech and it is important to do that, it is
important to see what the government is saying and what they are laying out,
not just look at the figures and the numbers.
We see some interesting things in the Budget Speech.
The
first thing I would like to say and this is at the very beginning of the
Speech, the minister actually said, Let me begin by speaking, not about the
immediate, short-term fiscal challenges we are facing, but about the new
approaches we are taking to build a stronger province for the long term.
I thought that was a very interesting statement; I am not going to
look just at the immediate, the little short term, I want to look at the big
picture.
I
cannot help but think what a different position we would be in today if this
government had to have had the same thinking five years ago, seven years
ago, or nine years ago. If they
had to have had that same thinking I do not think we would be where we are
today. I think we would be in a
much better situation.
I am
going to go back for the moment to 2007.
In 2007, this government was so short sighted, was so much focused on
the short term, on the short plan, that they made decisions then that have
helped us get into the positon we are in today and that was the decision to
start cutting. Not cutting
expenditures, but to start cutting revenue, to start cutting income; to
start cutting taxes from those who could afford to pay taxes; to stop
cutting taxes from corporations.
That was the beginning. That was
so short sighted that it is shocking because it is the basis of where we are
today.
I
want to speak about some more language in that Budget because it helps me
get focused on what it is I want to talk about.
The government is good at using language to sort of fog things over,
to use language that is sort of highfalutin.
People are going to be impressed by the language.
So what they do in this Budget is they have based the Budget
discussion on what they are calling: Eight Long-Term Principles.
When
you look at their Eight Long-Term Principles what do we really see?
Are they principles? A
principle and I am sure everybody has this understanding is something
that is a basic value. A
principle is something that is at the basis of what we believe.
A principle is something that drives us.
Fairness is a principle. Justice
is a principle. Trust is a
principle. They are principles.
What do we have here? Principle number one: We Will Cultivate a
Culture of Cost Management. That
is an action. That is not a
principle. I do not see what
principle is involved in that.
Let's look at number two: We Will Refocus to Strengthen Health Services.
That is not a principle. Again,
it is plan, it is a thought. It
is something they may do. We
Will Ensure Trades Education is Industry-Driven.
That is not a principle.
Once again, it is a thought they are having that they are probably going to
do this. They do not even say
how they are going to do it. The
forth one: We Will Develop an Attrition Plan.
None of these are principles.
I
would love it if they had thought about the principles that should be in a
Budget to drive the Budget. The
principle of taking care of people, that is a principle.
Putting people first, that is a principle.
Treating people with fairness and justice; these are principles, not
these actions that they put there.
Let's use the word principle because it makes people thing that we
are thinking on a high plane.
They
are not thinking on a high plane.
That is the problem. They
are trying to get people to think we are in a situation that they had no
control over, that we are in a situation that is almost impossible to deal
with, that we are in a situation that requires drastic actions that hurt
people. If you want a principle,
hurting people seems to be their principle.
That is what this Budget is all about, people who are going to suffer
from the actions that are in this Budget.
I
want to look at two of the so-called principles they have here, Mr. Speaker.
I want to look at the first one.
The first one is cultivating a culture of cost management.
What the language really is:
we will launch a process to overhaul our existing program and
service delivery model in order to contain expenditure growth.
What
does that mean, Mr. Speaker? To
contain expenditure growth, that means
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MS MICHAEL:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It
is hard enough to speak here when there is a normal sound.
When you have people shouting across the room at each other I just
find it unacceptable, I have to say.
People in the room can think whatever they want about my saying that,
but it is not right.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MS MICHAEL:
Talking about the
so-called first principle, they want to put in place something to contain
expenditure growth. The message
to the people is that expenditures are out of control, expenditures are
going mad, and expenditures are growing.
You
do not talk about expenditures in isolation.
If you talk about expenditures you do it in the context of revenue as
well. An expenditure is either
small or large depending on the money that people have, the money that is in
the Budget. If the Budget can
deal with the expenditures, it is not necessarily expenditure growth.
That is what this government is not doing.
It uses language without basing it in facts.
Let's look at some facts with regard to expenditure growth.
I am going to be making reference during my speech this afternoon to
a study that was done by two economists who did an analysis of our economy
in 2014. The report came out in
November of 2014. It is called
Newfoundland and Labrador: Options for
a Strong Economy. The
economists are Diana Gibson and Greg Flanagan.
I put all that out there so that the government may go look for it
and they might learn something if they read this report, which is an
excellent report.
Now,
this report looks at revenue and the revenue realities of this Province, and
it looks at expenditures. I want
to talk about what they say about expenditures.
I am taking the point form from the executive summary, but the report
backs up everything that I am going to be saying.
This
report has found by doing research and economic analysis that the provincial
government expenditures have fallen from 30 per cent of the GDP the Gross
Domestic Product in the 1990s to 18 per cent in 2013 two years ago.
So, in the context of our Gross Domestic Product and our capabilities
around production, what these economists have found in actual fact is not
that we are going mad with expenditures, but we are more and more dealing
with our expenditures in a very good way in terms of our capability.
This
is really important, because it puts us that 18 per cent in 2013 right
in the middle of the pack in Canada.
We were not down at the bottom.
We were not up at the top.
We were right in the middle of the pack.
That was a change from the 1990s to 2013.
Now
what they also found, which should not be a surprise, is something that the
government says they want to find by hiring an external consultant.
Under their number one so-called principle I am going to call it
action they want to appoint an external consultant with the expertise to
examine the structure of the provincial government and its agencies for
efficiency improvements. Here is the
one I love
help us answer questions such as: Why does it cost 45 per
cent more in this province than in certain other jurisdictions to deliver
the services people need?
Now,
how much money are they going to spend on hiring an external consultant to
answer that question, when we have a study done right here by we, I mean
us, the public, a publicly published document in my hands.
This document says, Delivering services in NL costs more due to: a
much older population, difficult geography, more rural population, cost of
living increases (resource booms are expensive), and higher rates of
unemployment and poverty. NL needs to
spend more than other provinces to offer citizens the same level of
services. The report concludes
that spending is not out of control.
Now,
I find that really fascinating.
So we are going to hire a consultant, this government is going to hire an
external consultant, to come up with the same thing.
Spending is not out of control
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MS MICHAEL:
Yet this government is
trying to get people to believe that cutting inside of government is
essential, that it is needed and it is part of a long-term plan.
That means that they do not see a reversal.
They are saying that they are not looking at the short term.
They are saying that this is for the future.
Let's look at it. When somebody
goes in now to get their driver's licence because every so many years you
have to have your picture taken.
So, now you go in and you sit and you wait for two-and-a-half hours.
What are we going to get with this consultant when he comes up with a
plan or she comes up with a plan?
It only takes a whole day now to have to go and get your picture
taken. So, go in and wait for
four or five hours.
Go
into an ER, sit there for seven hours now.
What are we going to do, sit there for twenty hours?
You go on the phone to people on Income Support, go on the phone to
try to get somebody to speak to and deal with a problem they have; sometimes
they are sitting on the phone for up to three hours.
How long are they going to have to wait now, five hours, six hours,
or a whole day on the phone?
This
government is not being realistic about what we already know.
We do not need an external consultant to tell us what the Gibson and
Flanagan report tells us about why it is more expensive.
We do not need a report to tell us that and we surely do not a report
to tell us that we do not have enough front-line workers delivering services
to people. We do not.
Every place you go now in government departments where you originally
may have had places for people to be served by maybe six people, you now see
maybe half of the kiosks where they can go and get served and nobody in
them, because this government already cut people back in 2010.
Now, some of them they had to bring back because they found out they
had made big mistakes.
This
is a wonderful plan they have in place: hire an external consultant to tell
us what other people already have told us.
We know the reason for it.
So that more cuts can be made, people will get less services, and you
will have overloaded staff people, people working overloaded.
I
would like this government, I would like the ministers they cannot look
around their departments and see that their staff are working all the time,
nonstop? They cannot see it?
If they see that there are people sitting around doing nothing,
wouldn't they be able inside of their department, without an external
consultant, to figure out if something was going wrong?
This is fantastic to hear them say this.
The
other so-called principle that they are talking about is the principle: We
Will Develop an Attrition Plan.
So we will develop a plan to get rid of positions.
We will develop a plan whereby our younger people will not have as
many jobs available to them. We
will develop a plan where a position that was deemed necessary, when all of
a sudden somebody is retiring, is no longer deemed necessary.
That means somebody else is going to have to do that person's job
along with the job they are now doing.
That is what it means.
That
is not a principle and that is not an act that has any sense behind it
whatsoever. That type of
thinking and the type of thinking that they have outlined is cost
management. I love the language:
cost management. Those so-called
principles are principles that in actual fact are identified by economists
as bad for the economy.
The
report done by Gibson and Flanagan is called Prosperity for All.
They did two reports actually.
One was the one I was quoting from and then they did one called
Prosperity for All. Both of
these documents, both of these reports, through economic analysis, indicate
that a strong public sector is actually strong for the economy.
We should not be hitting ourselves on the back because we have a
strong public sector. We should
be looking at the fact that is good for the economy because we have workers
who are working for good salaries.
We have workers who have benefits.
We have workers who are giving to the economy.
Getting rid of jobs of that nature hurts the economy.
What
is bothering me is they are saying this is their vision for the future.
They are not using that word, but that is what they are saying.
This is their plan for the future: have fewer people working.
What is going to happen with our young people who are looking for
jobs? They are already leaving
the Province. They are going to
continue.
When
they looked at oil and gas, which is where they have put all their hopes and
dreams oil and gas, the industry here in this Province is not a big
employer. When it comes to
industry it has, per capita, the least employment per capita.
So putting your eggs in a basket of that industry is not helping the
unemployment in our Province.
What
is this government going to be doing about unemployment?
Because that is one of the things shown as a reason why we need so
many services. We have so many
people unemployed and we still have so many people living in poverty.
What are they doing about that?
Where is their plan in the future for dealing with that?
Where is their plan in the future for having a health care system based on
primary health care so that people are healthier and not needing as much
chronic care? Where is their
plan for that? Where is their
plan for youth retention?
Because everything they are doing here is working against our youth.
It is working against young people having a hope of staying in this
Province with a well-paying job.
That is the problem.
The
latest news about what they did to Memorial, we know what they did, $20
million is no longer going from the government to Memorial University, and
then letting Memorial University places where they think they can start
doing cutting. That will be on
the backs of the students, on the backs of our young people.
Mr.
Speaker, that is their plan for the future, the plan of not looking just at
the moment. I agree with not
just looking at the moment and having a plan for the future, but not their
plan, which is going to be a plan of further pain and suffering of people in
this Province.
It
is too bad their plan did not include, for example, undoing some of the tax
cuts they did for the people who are better off in this Province.
Why, when they looked at the tax system, didn't they go back to where
we were in 2007 when they first started these cuts?
I do
not have time to go there today, Mr. Speaker, but that is where I will be
picking up the second time I speak to this Budget.
Thank you very much.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Member for
Baie Verte Springdale.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. POLLARD:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I am
certainly delighted to take my place in the House of Assembly this afternoon
to speak to Budget 2015: Balancing
Choices for a Promising Future.
Mr.
Speaker, I am also proud to be part of the Premier's team who is bold,
decisive, dedicated, hardworking, determined, very sincere and is willing to
think outside the box. I am
proud to be part of that team. I
would also like to acknowledge the efforts and the outstanding work and job
of the Minister of Finance and his department.
In fact, the whole Cabinet for their diligent and stellar work on
preparing this Budget, Mr. Speaker.
Furthermore, I think this is I am sure it is.
This week is Mental Health Week.
I just want to applaud all stakeholders for working together to
increase awareness, to increase the stigma, and to increase access to
programs and services that are provided by our government, and through
communities and agencies and whatever.
Mr. Speaker, I am happy to say that Budget 2015 will enhance these
initiatives as well.
I
would also like to acknowledge the stellar efforts of the Transportation and
Works officials, Fire and Emergency Services Newfoundland and Labrador, the
Premier, the Minister of Transportation and Works, the Minister of Municipal
Affairs, and the Minister Responsible for Fire and Emergency Services.
Mr. Speaker, you ask why?
Well, as you all know, this past weekend there was excessive flooding due to
I think it was over 34 millimetres of rain fall on the Northeast Coast of
the Province. My area received a
lot of damage. Last weekend I
travelled around the district. I
went on the Baie Verte Peninsula.
I visited the mayors in the Baie Verte area, Middle Arm, Burlington
area, to examine the damage due to the flooding.
I went to Beachside, Little Bay area.
I went to King's Point area, Rattling Brook area.
For
two days, Friday and Saturday, I travelled these areas and I had some good
discussions with the people on the ground.
Guess what? I want to
applaud the RCMP as well, the local people, the local responders like the
firefighters, the mayors, councillors, and Central Health.
Because I asked a question to the people in that area: Were there any
holes, any gaps in your emergency plan?
They said, no, they were very, very pleased with the way everybody
responded.
They
had good words to say about the highway workers.
I was in King's Point where they received a lot of damage.
Their mayor and officials were really, really appreciative of the
early response. Everybody was on
top of the what should I say damage and flooding in that area.
Everybody was happy. It
could have been a lot worse they say, so they displayed a very positive
attitude towards it all.
As
their MHA, I am proud to say that they are happy.
Government officials really provided a quick response as well.
I just want to pass that on, Mr. Speaker, because it is very
important to everybody.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. POLLARD:
Everybody worked together and saw their emergency plan, the protocols that
the town officials put in place worked.
I want to applaud everybody, Mr. Speaker.
Of
course, that leads us into the next topic. I
would like to throw out a big shout out to all the volunteers.
As you know, the past couple of weeks I suppose or so, there was
volunteer awareness week as well.
Again a big shout out to mayors, councillors, coaches, firefighters,
you name it, Mr. Speaker, volunteers which we all know is the backbone of
any community. They sustain our
community. They enrich our
community.
Without our volunteers, especially the seniors, Mr. Speaker, I do not know
where we would be. Seniors and
other volunteers as well, including youth, they continue to give up their
valuable time, talent, and energy to offer their programs and services to
enrich our communities and our lives.
I
just want to say a great big thank you as well to the volunteers, not only
in my district, Mr. Speaker, but the entire Province.
As MHAs here, we all know I have conversed with most MHAs here.
They all do appreciate the work of our tireless volunteers.
On behalf of everybody, I just want to say a great big thank you to
our volunteers.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. POLLARD:
I am happy to note as
well, Mr. Speaker, that in Budget
2015: Balancing Choices for a Promising Future the Fire and Emergency
Services budget is maintained and protected.
That is huge. I am sure
they will appreciate that. As
you heard the Member for Exploits say, the provincial Fire Chief, Vince
MacKenzie, was very happy with the Budget.
Mr.
Speaker, the choices we made as a government are grounded I like this in
one core or one overarching, overriding principle.
What is that principle?
That principle is every decision that we make as a government, what is in
the best interests of the people of Newfoundland and Labrador?
That is the key question.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. POLLARD:
That is the premise, that
is the foundation upon which every decision as a government can be made.
I
like the eight long-term principles upon which our Budget is built.
I will just go over them very quickly, just name them and then I will
move on: 1. says it will cultivate a cost-management culture; 2. Strengthen
Health Services; 3. Ensure Trades Education is Industry-Driven; 4., there
will be an attrition plan developed; 5. We Will Adopt Longer-Range
Infrastructure Planning; 6. We Will Focus on Regional Clusters; 7. We Will
Implement a Strategic Deficit Reduction Plan; and 8. We Will Establish a
Generations Fund. I look upon
these eight long-term foundations or long-term principles or long-term
planks, I think that each one of these are very solid so that we could build
a solid foundation in the future.
Mr.
Speaker, part of the Budget as well I think the Member for Cape St.
Francis alluded to earlier was the section dealing with communities.
As a former mayor and deputy mayor and councillor, I spent seven
years serving the Town of Springdale; four years as mayor.
Like my colleague, and several others here who served on council or
as mayors, we do appreciate the needs of communities.
Some of them are very small, some of them have a very shrinking tax
base, and they operate on a shoestring budget.
So any extra dollars that communities can get, they will take it and
they will be happy to take it.
I
applaud the Premier and this government and the work of the former Minister
of Municipal Affairs and the current Minister of Municipal Affairs in the
last two years, and the MNL president by the way, for working and partnering
upon this new Community Sustainability Partnership that we have forged in
this Budget. They say I am
looking at it now it is over $46 million over the next three years for
this new funding, so to speak.
I am
very proud of that, Mr. Speaker, because I know first-hand I served as
mayor and deputy mayor and councillor of a town below 3,000, and I know the
importance of extra dollars to these communities for water and sewer
projects, for infrastructure projects, to offer programs for their seniors.
That is very, very important and I want to commend this government
for forging that relationship with our communities, getting the job done,
Mr. Speaker.
Now,
in this Budget, still with the theme of municipalities, this Budget protects
the cost-shared ratios. I talked
to mayors in my district, Mr. Speaker.
They were very, very proud that the 90-10, the 80-20, and the 70-30,
to my understanding, is protected, is maintained, for the next three years,
the cost-shared ratios. In my
district, it is all 90-10. I do
not have a community that is 80-20, so it is all 90-10.
They are very proud. What
does that do, Mr. Speaker? It
gives those small communities the ability to do some work because they can
manage to come up with their 10 per cent, Mr. Speaker.
Further in this Budget, the MOGs are maintained; I believe it is $22
million. That is huge, Mr.
Speaker. That is protected in
this Budget as well. Of course,
the third thing in the Budget pertaining to the communities that I gleaned
out of the Budget 2015: Balancing
Choices for a Promising Future was a new Community Sustainability
Partnership. Like my colleague
earlier, the Member for Cape St. Francis, alluded to I think I have over
thirty communities in my district that is huge; that is extra money that
they will get due to this new partnership.
I
have had the opportunity to probably phone eight or ten mayors so far I am
in the process of contacting all of the mayors of these communities to let
them know how they are impacted.
Just as an example, Mr. Speaker, if I could I do not think I can see this
without putting on my magnifying glasses, so you do not have to make fun at
me that is better.
The
Town of Baie Verte, over the next three years, due to the extra revenue from
the HST rebate and sharing the gas tax, the Town of Baie Verte will receive
rough figures $115,000; the Town of Burlington will receive $49,000;
Fleur de Lys, for example, will receive $42,000; King's Point will receive
$53,000; Middle Arm, $36,000; Westport, $39,000; La Scie, $82,000;
Springdale, $187,000. Now, those
are some examples. I apologize I
do not have every community here added up yet, but I will certainly contact
every town there and let them know how they are impacted.
So,
that is huge, Mr. Speaker. The
mayors and councillors, they welcome that new revenue that they can get.
I do again, I have to emphasize, I have to reinforce, and I have to
applaud the efforts of the Minister of Municipal Affairs and our Premier,
and former Municipal Affairs Ministers, for forging and developing this
partnership for our communities, because that is what working together is
all about. It is all about
partnering, and it is all about making our communities safe and sustainable
for years to come.
Mr.
Speaker, also in this Budget, I would like to point out that there are solid
investments in infrastructure.
In Budget 2015, we have $600 million allotted for public infrastructure.
Over the past ten years, I just might point out, $6.6 billion was
invested in schools, health care facilities, roads, ferries, and
helicopters. You might say well,
what is the importance of that?
Well, the importance of that infrastructure is this: We created jobs.
We created a legacy. We
improved the quality of life for the people of the Province.
We have left a legacy of quality.
It was certainly an investment.
It was not squandered. It
was not wasted. It was an
investment. The experts, the
economists, say that when you invest in infrastructure, it is a wise
decision. It is a wise move.
So that is exactly what we did.
I
will just give you an example, Mr. Speaker, over the years.
I am sure every MHA in this room can point out example after example
after example probably in every community in their district of some way they
have shaped and impacted their district, or their towns, or their
communities. For example, in
Fleur de Lys should I have gone to them and said no, you cannot have your $1
million fire hall? We cannot
afford it. We are going to save
it instead so go without your fire hall.
No.
Would I go to Baie Verte and say no, you cannot have your $2.5 million for
Phase I of your municipal complex and the fire hall will be opening
hopefully this summer? We are
going to save the money instead.
We are not going to spend it on you.
We are not going to invest it in the fire hall.
Should we not have built the $16.7 million K-12 school in Baie Verte?
Should we not have invested $7 million in water quality in the Town
of Baie Verte? I can go on.
Every community I can give you examples, Mr. Speaker, of how we have
spent or how we have invested wisely in every community in my district.
Most every MHA can do the same thing here.
That
is good stuff. That is good
investment, Mr. Speaker. That is
showing that you are effective.
It is showing that you care about people.
You want to invest in infrastructure.
When you are investing in infrastructure, you are also investing in
people. That is very, very
important.
Another example is we have invested $27 million in the ferry in Little Bay
Islands and Long Island. We have
invested in numerous water and sewer projects in my district, and Springdale
availed of that. I am happy to
say, Mr. Speaker, that in this year's Budget, I am happy to report that $2.3
million is in Budget 2015 for further developments of the new Green Bay
health care facility that will be built in Springdale.
I am
proud, Mr. Speaker, to see that is moving forward.
I appreciate the efforts of this government and the minister.
I might point out as well, while I remember this, I really have to
applaud the Minister of Health and Community Services.
He is like a whirlwind in the office.
Nobody can keep up with him.
He is energetic, he is smart, and he is doing a tremendous job.
Furthermore, I would like to applaud the efforts of the executive team and
the Department of Health and Community Services.
They are outstanding people.
They are very, very professional and very, very knowledgeable.
It is great. It is good
to see. Again, I just wanted to
applaud the efforts of the Health and Community Services department.
Mr.
Speaker, I have a few minutes left.
It is very, very important for me and I am delighted to speak to this
Budget this afternoon. I am sure
I will have other opportunities as well to speak to some amendments,
subamendments, or whatever.
Have
a good evening everybody and have a good weekend.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER (Verge):
Order, please!
The
hon. the Member for Carbonear Harbour Grace.
MR. SLADE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The
Member for Exploits, you are still a little bit out of season, Sir.
Mr.
Speaker, I do not know what it is in this House.
Every time I have to get up here to speak I always end up on the back
of the last member who spoke, the Member for Baie Verte Springdale.
I will tell you it is a job to get up behind him.
He is a wonderful fellow.
AN HON. MEMBER:
He is a hard act to
follow.
MR. SLADE:
He is a hard act to
follow.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SLADE:
Mr. Speaker, I am going
to do a little bit on my district.
I have heard you guys over there talk before about all that you do
and the roads and that. In some
cases you do, there is no doubt about that.
In some cases you do.
I
have some concerns in my district and I am going to bring them to the
forefront here. If it sounds
like I am being repetitive it is because I am being repetitive.
You guys did nothing to help in regard to those situations.
That is where I am on that, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, I want to talk about Freshwater.
It might sound funny to call it Freshwater because Freshwater is
loaded with arsenic. So it is
not really fresh water, it is very bad water.
I have brought it here. I
have brought it here in a petition.
I have brought it here in other forms.
I spoke to the minister on the issue.
Hopefully somebody over there is going to listen and do something
with that situation in Freshwater this year rather than next year.
We have people down there drinking that water and I am very
concerned. I am very concerned
for the people of my district and I will continue to bring it here until
this government does something about it.
Mr. Speaker, again in Bristol's Hope and Freshwater we have a lot of issues
with regard to the Beach Road area.
I brought that here on a petition too.
I am going to tell you the Beach Road area was something that was
given up on by this government.
It was given up on because they were the ones who maintained those two
roads.
What
you have done now, by leaving them alone and letting them decay the way they
have, you have actually barred people in, pinned people in.
In the case of an emergency, a fire or anything, you could have had
the job done on those people. I
am going to tell you something, if anything happens in either one of those
communities, I will certainly be holding this government responsible for the
neglect that they have done to those people, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, just imagine, to date we have 150 towns and communities on boil
water orders, and a number are on do not consume orders.
This is the case in Freshwater.
The arsenic levels in this well are four times the allowable Canadian
limit. It is just not good
enough. It is just not good
enough to say the people in Freshwater do not deserve decent drinking water.
They have to have it and this government has a responsibility.
Mr.
Speaker, when I was on council, when I was the Mayor of Carbonear, I will
tell you something that the government was doing at that point in time.
I have attended many seminars over my years out around Gander and
that. At one point in time,
government did actually have something in place where their first order of
business was clean drinking waters for communities.
At that point in time they were putting money into it.
It kind of just fell off the rails.
It is gone. They do not
care. They have no concern about
people. I am concerned about the
people in Freshwater I can assure you of that.
Mr.
Speaker, many communities in my district and we all know that they need
infrastructure. Every community
in Newfoundland and Labrador always needs infrastructure.
In my district, we talk about paving roads and one thing or another.
Last year, the Minister of Transportation and Works asked us to
AN HON. MEMBER:
What?
MR. SLADE:
Not the present minister,
the former minister. They asked
us to put three roads forward that you felt needed to be paved and we did
so. Mr. Speaker, that was a
useless exercise I have to say.
AN HON. MEMBER:
You never got a cent.
MR. SLADE:
No, not one of them got
done. Now at that point in time
they could have the minister at that time, I think, was from Labrador
West. I am not right sure.
Mr.
Speaker, it was a useless exercise.
Unfortunately, they could have probably, at that point in time, tack
coated them and saved them.
After this winter, there is no saving those roads now absolutely no saving
those roads now.
In
Bryant's Cove, you have a road going out over there that is called Point
Road. The buses are now in a
position where they are going to refuse to go out over those roads to pick
up the school children for the simple fact that it is just too dangerous.
It is too dangerous for the kids to be aboard the buses, bouncing
around and that. Mr. Speaker,
that was one of the roads that this Province probably could have saved too.
Mr.
Speaker, in Riverhead, Harbour Grace, the government went a few years ago
and did do a little bit of paving along there.
What they did was the ditch that was on the high side of the road.
The road was elevated to the opposite.
Now I have six homes down there that every time there is a rainfall,
the water is actually going in through the houses.
That is not good enough.
That is simply not good enough.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SLADE:
Then the government turns
around, looks at it and says: It is not our responsibility.
You are the one who did it, so it is your responsibility, Mr.
Speaker. It is just absolutely
unbelievable.
AN HON. MEMBER:
How about Harvey
Street, Sam?
MR. SLADE:
Mr. Speaker, Harvey
Street in Harbour Grace was supposed to be completed over two years ago.
It was supposed to be finished and it is not done.
When you leave Riverhead to go into Harbour Grace, I will tell you
something. I would suggest to
the Minister of Transportation and Works and I would ask him in a very
respectful way: Mr. Minister, could you please go and look at it because it
needs to be done.
Mr.
Speaker, just to add to that, of course the Tickett Road is no better.
I explained that the last time I was here.
I spoke about how the boundary line is on part of the Member for Port
de Grave's district and that side of the road is fine.
The side that is down in my end of the district is just absolutely
gone. It is not fit to drive
over.
The
Member for Port de Grave, he is quite content, as we say, with the road up
in his side of the district, Mr. Speaker, I assure you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SLADE:
Now, Mr. Speaker, those
guys over there, they think they are being funny here today.
They think they are being very funny by doing that, but I can assure
them of one thing, that the people in Newfoundland and Labrador will
remember you guys over there, I will promise you.
So you can make all the fun you want over there.
You can make all the fun you want over there.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SLADE:
I will tell you, Mr.
Speaker, they can turn around and make all the fun they want over there.
I will guarantee you that.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER (Verge):
Order, please!
MR. SLADE:
Mr. Speaker, I often
heard it said here that Carbonear got the new hospital, or the new long-term
health care facility, and you got a new school.
So what does that mean?
Can anybody over there answer me?
What does that mean? Does
that mean that Carbonear Harbour Grace District deserves not a decent road
to drive on? Is that what you
are saying to me? If that is
what they are saying to me, they are wrong, and the people in my district
will remember what you did.
Mr.
Speaker, the line painting in Carbonear in front of the TC Square.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. SLADE:
Now listen, Mr. Speaker,
we had to fight with this government and I will give credit where credit
is due. Mr. Kennedy was here; he
went out there one day and got involved in an accident himself.
He came back here and got the lights put there by the mall.
It is something the Town of Carbonear was fighting for, for years.
Guess what? The lights
are there, but when the Department of Transportation does the roads, they
paint the stripping on it but they do not put any directional arrows on it.
I am telling you something, it is a wonderful crowd wonderful
crowd, wonderful.
Lady
Lake Road, they have been on a list here for twenty years to get a bit of
work done on it. Tickett Road
the same thing, and on and on it goes.
Now,
I am going to tell you, I heard the members across the way talking about how
wonderful and how much they care about the people in the Province.
They talk about how much they care about our seniors.
I am going to tell you something, there is nobody in this
House any more respectful of our seniors than I am nobody.
I made a special trip to the mall last Friday, a
special trip to the mall to go over there and talk to constituents, talk to
our senior citizens. One senior
citizen came up and said to me:
Sam, I am going to tell you something.
You often heard the old clichι about our seniors over around the
malls in the wintertime to stay warm.
I said: yes, ma'am. She
said: we are going to living over here now.
If that is what you guys are going to do to our senior citizens,
shame on you, shame on you.
I am
going to stray clear of the district there just for a little.
I am going to tell you something, I am very proud to serve the people
in my district. I am indeed, Mr.
Speaker. I will tell you
something, if you have compassion about you and you listen to the people,
and you hear what people are saying, I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, they know
that you are genuine and sincere.
They know from this lot across here that they are certainly not
genuine or sincere.
Mr.
Speaker, I will tell you what does not please me.
It is the disinterest and lack of direction and missed opportunity
this government has displayed towards the fishery.
Our fishery department used to be one of the most prominent
departments in government. They
used to have high-profile ministers who had vision and stayed around for a
few years to learn the ropes.
Instead, what we have is this Tory government.
In the last twelve years, there have been revolving doors around the
fishery ministers. None of them
are staying around long enough to get their heads wrapped around the job
that needs to be done and very few with the heart and soul for this
important resource.
Mr.
Speaker, I heard the Member for Cape St. Francis over there today speaking,
and when the Member for Cape St. Francis speaks I always listen.
I will tell you the reason why, Mr. Speaker.
There is a man who has compassion in his heart about the fishermen,
about the fish plant workers, what they go through and what they accomplish.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. SLADE:
Like I said here before, Mr. Speaker, I have no problem making that comment.
If they are fair over there, I will say they are fair.
If I don't think they are fair, they are not fair, and that is just
being down to earth.
Take
notice, the member over there from Harbour Main is doing a little bit of
mumbling. I say to that member
over there, Mr. Speaker, he will get his twenty minutes now later on, so
just hang on there now.
This
government has been all about turning on an oil tap.
With this government, the fishery be damned, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, I do not even know where to begin to start thinking about this
government. Maybe we can begin
with the recent austerity Budget.
There was a little over $21 million allocated for the fishery.
They slashed the fishery budget by $8 million from last year.
Guess what, Mr. Speaker?
They did not spend all of their budget last year; $4 million was left on the
table.
Mr.
Speaker, I would like to just elaborate a little bit on that.
What do I say to fish harvesters in 3PS who for the last three years
had to leave their fish in the water because they had no markets?
If somebody on the other side was bright enough, maybe they would
have said, God, you know, there is $4 million there, maybe guys we should be
out looking for markets.
God,
I cannot believe it. I cannot
believe you guys would let that go unchallenged.
I will tell you something, you are getting marked with it.
I assure them, Mr. Speaker, they are getting marked with it.
MR. DALLEY:
A point of order.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The
hon. the Minister of Natural Resources on a point of order.
MR. DALLEY:
(Inaudible) I would just
like to inform the member opposite, we put $80 million on the table for
market to support private business in this Province, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
There is no point of order.
The
hon. the Member for Carbonear Harbour Grace.
MR. SLADE:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr.
Speaker, they also sold the marketing arm of FPI.
The gentlemen who purchased that are up there now boasting about the
billions that is doing.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
MR. SLADE:
Mr. Speaker, if they had
the energy, vision, and interest that $4 million would have been spent, but
that is not the most telling statistic.
Let's go back to 2012.
They allocated nearly $50 million.
So a clear sign they lost interest in the fishery since 2012.
The
fishery budget had dropped from $49.7 million all the way down to this
year's allocation of $21.6 million.
That is a 56.8 per cent loss in the fishery budget, Mr. Speaker.
This is a government that claims that they are interested in steering
the fishing boat through successful times.
This is a government that uses as their Budget theme balancing
choices and promising futures.
You cannot grow a future if you are not interested.
You certainly cannot grow it if you are not investing in it.
Mr.
Speaker, I rose in the House several times, including today, and asked about
the plant in Fortune. The
workers down there feel they have been ignored and mistreated, not just by
their employer, but by their very own government.
I am not too good at math either, but I am going to try this.
OCI
are going to open the doors for the first time on June 1.
Correct? That is six
months. They are going to close
their doors again by July 30 and then again sometime in October.
Mr. Speaker, I am not good on math either, but I think I might be a
little bit better, we will say, than the Minister of Finance I am
thinking.
Mr.
Speaker, guess what? That tells
me that the 110 jobs that were promised down there to be full time are
nowhere near full time. That is
what that tells me.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SLADE:
That is exactly what that
tells me. I will tell you, Mr.
Speaker, what he did yesterday in this House certainly was not very
respectful. To hand a one-pager
with two words on it, or two lines, two sentences; that is not helping those
workers down in Fortune who deserves a little respect and deserves to have
representation in this House from their members.
They deserve representation.
While I have a breath in my body, I will stand here and fight for
their cause, I will tell you that.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. DALLEY:
A point of order.
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The
hon. the Minister of Natural Resources, on a point of order.
MR. DALLEY:
A really good speech.
The point being, Mr. Speaker, I am glad to hear he is going to stand
and support the people of Fortune because when we had to make that decision
to support them, the Liberals were nowhere to be found.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
There is no point of order.
The
hon. the Member for Carbonear Harbour Grace.
MR. SLADE:
Mr. Speaker, I will say
this: Right now with the people in Fortune and the plant workers in Fortune,
the Tories are nowhere to be found.
I will say that. They are
nowhere to be found.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SLADE:
They know what is going
on down there. They know it is
wrong.
Mr.
Speaker, this is absolutely unbelievable what is happening in this place,
for members who represent the people down there, which are on that side of
the House, not to be speaking there.
If the company is doing wrong, tell the company you are breaking your
lease, you are breaking your contract with the people down in Fortune and
stand up and fight for them.
That is what needs to be done here.
It is unbelievable.
I do
not have much very much time left, but I am sure I will get a chance to get
up and speak again. Do you know
when government fell down on the job here when it came to the fishery?
I am going to tell you.
It was back in 2005 when government tried to introduce RMS.
After that did not get through this House, from there the fish
harvesters were dropped, the fish plant workers were dropped, and this
government has done nothing since to improve that.
Those are the facts.
By
the way, Mr. Speaker, I know because I was one of the ones who was standing
out on that parking lot fighting for my very being and the people who were
around me. I know because I was
there when you guys tried to turn around and take away our rights.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, my time is out.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
The
hon. the Acting Government House Leader.
MR. DALLEY:
Mr. Speaker, given the
time of day, I move, seconded by the Minister of Health and Community
Services, that the House now close.
MR. SPEAKER:
The motion is that this
House do now adjourn.
All
those in favour, 'aye.'
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Aye.
MR. SPEAKER:
All those against, 'nay.'
This
House stands adjourned until Monday at 1:30 o'clock.
On
motion, the House at its rising adjourned until tomorrow, Monday, 1:30 p.m.