MR. SPEAKER: Further petitions?

The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

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

It gives me great pleasure to rise again today to present petition number nine of the porta-potty petition we call it. It is getting to be famously known now in rural Newfoundland. Of course, I speak of the petition on behalf of the people of La Poile in my district who are looking for a washroom, believe it or not. I have had hundreds of e-mails from people saying: Are you serious or is this some kind of joke that you are actually asking that government, who runs the ferry service, provide a washroom for people who use the ferry service? One seems to go hand in hand with the other, but unfortunately, it is not, Mr. Speaker.

I will just read the prayer. It says:

The petition of the undersigned residents humbly sheweth:

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 from time to time for the ferry; and

WHEREAS there is no restroom, waiting room area at the Town of Rose Blanche 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 government to immediately construct and operate a waiting room, restroom facility at the Town of Rose Blanche such that all users of the provincial ferry service which operates out of La Poile may be able to utilize such washroom facilities.

Mr. Speaker, this is, as I say, the ninth petition I have entered here. Tomorrow is Budget Day, hopefully the Minister of Transportation and Works will find it somewhere in the Budget for 2011 that he can provide the most basic facilities for human use in the public. They run the ferry system. They ought to provide the basics, and that includes a washroom.

As I always said earlier, please do not do what the former minister did and treat these people with utter disrespect by simply sticking a porta-potty out on the end of the wharf. The former minister, the Member for Lake Melville did that. It was totally disgusting. The people were disgusted with it and of course it led ultimately to a washroom facility being built there. That is not people asking for something unusual. This is asking for what health and safety requires that people ought to have.

Let’s get beyond this Third World country mentality when it comes to how we treat users of the public ferry service and find the money to put an appropriate washroom facility there so users can avail of it as and when required.