MR. SPEAKER: Further petitions?

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

MR. DEAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is my pleasure again today to present a petition on behalf of my district on the moving of the air ambulance service. I would just like to reference the comment of the Premier a moment ago when he said that it was not a political move. He referenced the petition that was presented last summer, some 3,000 signatures from Labrador.

I want to remind the Premier and the minister and this government that we have presented 5,000 signatures from people along the Northern Peninsula and the West Coast and Southern Labrador on this movement. We have attempted many times to arrange meetings with the Premier. Our council has met with the minister, I have met with the minister, there have been numerous e-mails and letters come through. There have been public rallies, there have been demonstrations, you name it; it has taken place.

At no time since this decision was made six weeks ago have we been able to even get the minister to reconsider what is being done; to get the government and the Premier to really sit back, and whether they should take a second look at this decision that was made. It is very difficult to get away from the conclusion that this was a political decision. When the decision was first announced, I was one of the first people to stand and say that I did not think it was political, that I believed it was a lack of information and so on. I have to stand today, Mr. Speaker, and acknowledge with many other people in this Province who have acknowledged the same that it is very political.

Even though we have been able to present much information that discredits this report, discredits the process, here we are again this week with the minister announcing that they are going to fast track it and move the aircraft to Goose Bay. No medevac team in place; the service is just not there to properly do the thing and so on. Again, a service that has been in St. Anthony servicing the Province well, I might add, for fifty-five years, all of a sudden you have to move it out before you are really ready to do it.

It is one thing to say that it is not political but really, many residents of this Province have already made that conclusion and some day, I am sure, that the government members might even want to acknowledge that as well. It is very unfortunate that this kind of a decision gets made because of sour politics, if you will. The fact that you would take a service that is so vital to this Province, that you would remove a piece of the economic engine that drives our district and so on, and that you would do that just to kind of get even at a district if you will, or whatever the case might be. There are other options. Options have been placed before this government and yet there has been -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask hon. members to my left for their co-operation.

The hon. the Member for The Straits & White Bay North has been recognized on a petition and is still using his time to present the petition.

The hon. member.

MR. DEAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Again, we have offered solutions. We have tried to be a part of finding a way through this. Residents have worked tirelessly in organizing and presenting the facts from many who work with Labrador Grenfell and –

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

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

MR. DEAN: yet, it has all fallen on deaf ears. Unfortunately, I guess that will be a reflection of the government –

MR. SPEAKER: Please, does the hon. member have leave?

MR. DEAN: – and in time we will see the outcome of that.