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Petition
Presented December 15, 2008
Long Island Causeway
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MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I stand today to present
a petition on behalf of the Long Island Causeway
committee. This is a group of people, not just in Long
Island but from all around that particular area, who
have been lobbying government and, in particular, their
member and the Minister of Transportation and Works to
have a causeway built to Long Island.
Mr. Speaker, there was a
commitment made under a previous Administration that a
causeway would be built to Long Island connecting it
with the Pelly’s Island area. Most people that would
not be familiar with this area should understand that on
Long Island there is no school and all the children are
ferried everyday and then put on a bus and bussed over a
gravel road to Pelly’s Island which is where they go
to school. So for people on Long Island, having a
causeway was probably a dream they had for many years
and was very excited back in 2001and 2002 when they
learned that one could be built there at a cost, I think
it was, of somewhere around $20 million.
Mr. Speaker, when this
current Administration took office in 2003 one of their
first pieces of business was to cancel the Long Island
Causeway. Not necessarily put it on hold, not to rethink
it, but to absolutely cancel it.
Mr. Speaker, it took them
from 2003 right up until 2008, nearly five years to
decide what would be the transportation mode for the
people in Long Island. Mr. Speaker, at the end of the
day, what they announced was that there would be a new
ferry for the people of Long Island and Little Bay
Islands. People might say: Well, a new ferry, that is a
good thing; they are going to get a new ferry going to
Long Island. In reality, the ferry will be shared with
Little Bay Islands, which means that both communities
will have a downgrading of their service. In fact, after
twenty-five years, this is the worst service that will
ever be seen in Long Island as a result of this
Administration’s decisions.
Mr. Speaker, these
decisions were not made in consultation with the people
of Long Island. In fact, they were not even made in
consultation with their own MHA, who had been lobbying
to have the causeway built for the people in that
community. His voice was not even heard inside the
caucus and inside of the government opposite, as I am
sure is the case for many other MHAs. If they only were
to step forward on some of these issues and actually
tell the real story, I am sure we would find out that
there are many others over there whose voices are going
in the wilderness and not being heard.
This particular ferry is
not being done for the people of Long Island. In fact,
if it was, the minister would have at least given and
shown them the respect and courtesy and decency of going
to Long Island to announce the ferry, but, in fact, they
announced it in Marystown as a big industrial project
for the people of the Burin Peninsula, to date, which we
have yet to see any work started on the two ferries down
there. The e-mails that I am getting from people in
Marystown and from the Burin Peninsula area are telling
me that there is no activity ongoing around these
ferries whatsoever. What was supposed to be a good news
announcement to increase industry –
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
I remind the hon. the
Leader of the Opposition that her time for presenting a
petition has long expired.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I have dozens of these
petitions for Long Island, so I will present more
tomorrow. |
