MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

Further petitions?

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker

I stand today to present a petition on behalf of the people from Twillingate-New World Island from the District of The Isles of Notre Dame. Mr. Speaker, these people are petitioning the House of Assembly because the government basically closed down five acute care beds in their health care facility at the Notre Dame Bay Memorial Hospital. Mr. Speaker, they closed them down during the summer with a commitment that they were going to reopen those beds in the fall, which is normally what happens in every area of the Province.

In this case, when the fall came, government did not reopen the beds. In fact, they went out there, on the ground, and made a public announcement that they were going to put four restorative care beds into the hospital. People thought they were getting an enhanced service and they were getting five new beds for restorative care when all they were doing was changing the acute care beds, which were needed in the area and that people wanted to see and wanted to keep, and they re-designated them as restorative care beds. So in fact, Mr. Speaker, they did not add anything to Notre Dame Bay Memorial Hospital. They left the impression that they were going to.

In addition to that, they actually went out there and held a news conference. The member for the area and the Minister of Health stood there and told people that they were going to add restorative care beds to Notre Dame Bay Memorial Hospital when, in fact, what they were doing was taking the five acute care beds that were in the hospital, that they had shut down temporarily for a period of time, and re-designating them.

Well, that upset people, Mr. Speaker. It really upset people in that area to the point that we had thousands of people sign petitions from communities like Bay View, Herring Neck, Durrell, Moreton’s Harbour, Summerford, Virgin Arm, Twillingate, Carter’s Cove, Toogood Arm, Crow Head, Bridgeport, and Valley Pond. Mr. Speaker, all over the district people were really upset because they felt like they had been deceived because they were told that their acute care beds would be closed for the summer, which was not unusual. The five beds would reopen in the fall. Instead, their MHA shows up with the minister in tow, has a big news conference, and says we are going to give you five restorative care beds, when they took their very acute beds and re-designated them.