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

MR. DEAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I am pleased this afternoon to be able to stand and offer this petition. I will read in the prayer.

To the hon. House of Assembly of the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned humbly sheweth:

WHEREAS we the students of French Shore Academy in Port Saunders from the towns of River of Ponds, Hawke’s Bay, Port Saunders, Port aux Choix and Eddies Cove West appreciate the facility we currently learn in; and

WHEREAS unfortunately the sense of fairness and equality existing at school is absent on the outside due to essential services not equally available in all our towns; and

WHEREAS the lack of high-speed Internet in River of Ponds, Hawke’s Bay and Eddies Cove West puts some students or our school in an unacceptable disadvantage at learning today in the twenty-first century;

WHEREUPON your petitioners call upon all Members of the House of Assembly to urge government to direct funding to ensure high-speed Internet services are provided in these towns to allow equality and fairness for all members of our student body.

And as in duty bound your petitioners will ever pray.

Mr. Speaker, this petition is an important issue. It is one in this case that is initiated by students from a school that services four or five communities on the Northern Peninsula, not in my district, but yet they sent me a copy of it. I have been asked if I would bring it forward for them into the House of Assembly and I do that gladly because it is a big issue. It is an issue that at this present time - as people in this Province, we do not see this government really addressing the issue in terms of putting a plan in place of knowing that within a certain time frame or whatever the case might be that communities in this Province can expect to have high-speed Internet services.

What is somewhat ironic about Hawkes Bay, in particular, is that the cable actually runs through the community. Now I accept the fact that I do not know the technical issues involved in tapping into that particular cable, if you will, but I do know that back in 2007 this government spent $15 million on broadband.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

MR. DEAN: At this point, there really is no particular plan as to where it is going. It is about students who do not have access to the Internet in terms of the way that students in other parts of this Province do. Obviously, it handicaps their training. It is a disadvantage. In Hawkes Bay, for example, there are several larger businesses there that – I know of one for sure that had to put in their own satellite system or whatever, costing tens of thousands of dollars so that they could have access to high-speed Internet and do their business properly.

Mr. Speaker, it is not good enough for the minister across the House to try and throw it back and shun it and this kind of thing, because this is a real issue. All the residents of this Province are asking is that the government would deal with it and show us a plan so we can understand how we will have access to high-speed Internet.