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

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

Mr. Speaker, I am back again with, what I call a porta-potty petition, I guess. The Minister of Transportation would be very pleased to hear this. First of all, I will read it in for the record, Mr. Speaker.

WHEREAS the people of La Poile must use the provincial ferry system in order to travel to and from La Poile; and

WHEREAS the people of La Poile and visitors are required to wait at the Town of Rose Blanche-Harbour Le Cou from time to time for ferry services – all of the time, actually; and

WHEREAS there is no restroom waiting area at the Town of Rose Blanche-Harbour Le Cou where users of the ferry service may utilize washroom facilities; and

WHEREAS citizens of all ages, including men, women, children, seniors and disabled persons, require washroom facilities as a basic human need in the course of their travels, and particularly while awaiting the transit systems; and

WHEREAS it is an abuse of human dignity as well as health and safety regulations to allow such degrading and dehumanizing circumstances to continue;

WHEREUPON the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call upon the House of Assembly to urge the Department of Transportation and Works to immediately construct and operate a washroom-restroom facility at the Town of Rose Blanche-Harbour Le Cou such that all users of the provincial ferry system may be able to utilize such waiting area-washroom facilities.

As in duty bound your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, the House will recall that some years ago I brought a similar petition to this House on behalf of the residents of Ramea and Grey River. We called it the porta-potty petition because the government response – not this minister but the prior minister – the government response at the time – it was in the middle of January or February – was to put porta-potties outside the wharf. Now, that is hardly practical, of course, in rural Newfoundland in the middle of winter when people are waiting on a wharf, waiting for the ferry to arrive, and the ferry is late.

Of course, the government, in its wisdom – I think it was eighty-seven petitions after we first started – they built such a facility down in Burgeo to accommodate the people in Ramea and in Grey River who use that coastal service.

It is not only the resident; it is any tourist, for example, who comes to this Province. Nobody arrives at the ferry terminal just in time to drive on board the boat. Quite often, the boat might be late due to weather conditions and so on and people actually need to use the washroom. We had embarrassing incidents previously when children, women, adults, kids, had to use the washroom out on the side of the dock. That might have been acceptable back 200 years ago, but it is certainly not acceptable in this day and age when anybody is using a public transit system.

That is the genesis of this petition, Mr. Speaker. I have gotten several petitions from the people of La Poile in that regard, and I will be bringing those forward as time goes on.