MR. SPEAKER:
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
MS JONES:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today to present a petition
on behalf of the public sector pensioners in the
Province, a petition –
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Oh, oh!
MR. SPEAKER:
Order, please!
Order, please!
The Chair has recognized the hon.
the Leader of the Opposition. I ask members to kindly
respect the will of the member to deliver her petition
and listen to the petition as delivered.
The hon. the Leader of the
Opposition.
MS JONES:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
You can hardly get a question in,
in Question Period, and now you cannot get a petition
in. Anyway, Mr. Speaker, I am presenting a petition
today on behalf of the public sector pensioners in
Newfoundland and Labrador.
Mr. Speaker, this is a group of
people who feel that their issue has not been adequately
addressed by the current government and they feel that
they should have an opportunity to bring their issues to
government directly and to work co-operatively with them
to have it addressed.
This particular petition, Mr.
Speaker, is signed by 7,000 public sector pensioners
across Newfoundland and Labrador. I will read it into
the record:
To the hon. House of Assembly of
the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament
assembled. The petition of the undersigned residents of
the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador humbly sheweth:
WHEREAS
provincial public sector pensioners in the Province of
Newfoundland and Labrador contributed to a pension fund
during their employment years; and
WHEREAS
the provincial government was and continues to be the
trustee of the pension fund; and
WHEREAS
prior to 1989, government, from time to time, provided
for increases in pension payments to enable pensioners
to keep up with the cost of living; and
WHEREAS
workers who retired in the 1990s have reduced pensions
due to government’s financial restraints at that time;
and
WHEREAS
current pensioners have not received a fair and
equitable pension increase for twenty-one years and are
falling behind the cost of living;
WHEREUPON
the undersigned, your petitioners, humbly pray and call
upon the House of Assembly to urge government to provide
pension increases that will allow former provincial
government employees to live in dignity after their
years of contribution to the development of this
Province.
And as in duty bound your
petitioners will ever pray.
Mr. Speaker, this petition is
signed by public sector pensioners who are retired from
all over the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador from
almost every single community that you can imagine
throughout this Province. Many of those individuals feel
that because the proper contributions were not paid in
at the appropriate times, that today they are losing
money as part of their public sector pension plan.
Mr. Speaker, they also feel that
they deserve to have a level of respect from the
employer whom they have served for so many years in this
Province, served for so many years at a time when there
was no money out there, at a time when they understood
that the revenues were not available in Newfoundland and
Labrador; but, Mr. Speaker, because of good oil deals
that were done by previous governments, by other Liberal
Premiers in this Province, because of that, today,
Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, as a whole, can enjoy
seeing a tremendous amount of wealth in our Province,
can look forward to seeing more money to be spent on
different aspects of our society.
Mr. Speaker, the people who are
petitioning the House of Assembly today, the public
sector pensioners - I said it was 5,000, it is actually
9,000 of them who have signed this petition - are asking
for the government to show them some respect and to
honour their issue and to do what is right by public
sector pensioners.
