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Oral
Questions
December 9, 2008
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| In the House | Question
Period
MS
JONES:
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, with the
ongoing economic turmoil that is taking place around the
world and across the country, we were pleasantly
surprised today to learn of the Province’s surplus,
and that it has increased from $554 million to $1.27
billion.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I only get thirty minutes
in Question Period, so I ask they keep the applause
short and the answers coming.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh,
oh!
MS JONES:
Mr. Speaker, it is indeed good news, especially what you
have seen in our Province over the last few months, with
the price of oil down and nickel falling. I think
everybody in this Province would certainly be pleased to
know that we are in the fiscal position that we are
today, but what my question is about – earlier the
Premier had made statements saying that we were on
target in terms of our budgeting and where our surplus
was. We certainly were not expecting to see the amount
of surplus that is there today.
I am
just wondering why the Department of Finance would have
forecast that we were on target a few months ago, but
yet be showing today that there was a surmountable
increase. I am just wondering what occurred in that
period of time that would have changed how they forecast
their numbers.
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr.
Speaker, I have indicated certainly over the course of
the last month that we expected to exceed our surplus,
and that was certainly the case.
Our estimates at the
beginning of the year are conservative estimates because
we do not want to exceed expectations for the people in
the Province. We are very pleasantly surprised and
absolutely delighted that we have a surplus which is
exemplary right across the country. I think we should
stand, as Newfoundland and Labradorians today, and be
extremely proud of what we have accomplished.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: We
can monitor the price of oil, and we budgeted it at $87.
We did have a ramp up; it went up to over $140. Now it
is ramped down to $40 - $44 today, I think - however,
production is a variable. The year before, production at
Terra Nova, if I remember correctly, was down by two or
three months, which has a significant impact on the
bottom line.
Until you know where you
are throughout your production - for example, if Terra
Nova went down, or Hibernia went down, that would have a
dramatic effect on our numbers. We are never really
sure, until we actually get there, exactly what the
numbers are going to be because probably the bigger
variance is not only the price of oil but also the
production of oil. That is why we had to be very careful
in our comments. We did certainly indicate that we were
going to exceed our surplus.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I ask because we need to
have confidence in the numbers that are being released.
If there was a shift in the position of what Finance was
projecting a few months ago until now, obviously that
would be a tremendous concern for us.
In the announcement, the
minister also noted that the Province’s pension funds
are being negatively impacted because of this economic
downturn and the slumping financial markets. I
would ask today if you can provide me an update on the
recent losses in our pension fund, and what impact that
will have on a go-forward basis.
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
The hon. the Minister of
Finance and President of Treasury Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. KENNEDY: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
As the Leader of the
Opposition is aware, in 2006 we paid $1.953 billion into
the Teachers’ Pension Plan, and a further $982 million
into the Public Service Pension Plan 2007, trying to
bring these pension plans up to the funding levels of 80
per cent to 85 per cent, which is suggested.
The recent downturn in
the economy and what has happened, Mr. Speaker, has
resulted in approximately, right now, a shortfall of
$1.5 billion in terms of our pension funds. That is not
unexpected in light of everything that has gone on, and
some of the figures I think I gave last night in terms
of losses by the banks.
One figure, though, that
becomes important, Mr. Speaker, although we have
decreased our debt servicing charges by approximately
$200 million, there could be a result in the pension
cost next year of an extra $180 million.
At this point there has
certainly been a loss, but one that we feel is
manageable and that we will keep under control.
Thank you.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
The minister cited that
infrastructure funding in his economic update is a key
factor to helping the economy continue to create jobs
and to create activity over the next little while.
In light of what has
happened in Grand Falls-Windsor with AbitibiBowater
shutting down, the layoffs in Wabush Mines, and the
downscaling of other mining sectors in the Province that
we are aware of already, I would like to ask the
minister: Is government going
to put more money into an infrastructure program this
year over and above what was contained in the six-year
plan of which we are into the third year now?
MR.
SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury
Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. KENNEDY: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
We are acutely aware of
what is taking place in Grand Falls-Windsor and in
Wabush, but I think we have to keep in perspective - and
I think there was a letter to the editor today from the
union in Grand Falls - that AbitibiBowater, this is a
process that they have been on to for a while in terms
of they were putting no money into the mill, they were
looking for a way out. As for the Wabush Mines
situation, that is one we are monitoring closely.
It might interest the
Leader of the Opposition to know that myself and the
Premier met with a number of business people today and
we talked about this infrastructure. Essentially what we
were told - and these are leading businessmen in this
city, or in the Province actually - is that there is
nothing further we can put into infrastructure; we do
not have the capacity. The $4 billion six-year plan is
as much as we can handle right now along with the Vale
Inco, Hebron, and then hopefully the Lower Churchill. So
we are at capacity, there are not enough workers, and
there is simply no way that we can do anything more with
infrastructure right now.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I do not really buy that
argument when you look at the thousands who are on the
way home from Alberta, who are going to be looking for
jobs in the next year as well, so you might want to
enter that into your calculations.
Mr. Speaker,
infrastructure spending is no doubt one of the things
that has been cited that is necessary to drive the
economy. Last year, the Province committed to $440
million in infrastructure in the last budget. I
understand a lot of that money was not spent simply
because tenders came in over budget and were not
contracted.
Can
the minister give me an update today on how much of the
$440 million was not spent on the targeted
infrastructure that it was allocated for in the last
budget?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury
Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. KENNEDY: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I am looking at my notes,
Mr. Speaker. My recollection of last year’s budget is
that we had budgeted $673 million for infrastructure
spending, and in the update today we have indicated
there is approximately $500 million that has been spent
and we will spend another $1 billion over the next two
years.
It is important, and
whether or not the – I understand that the Leader of
the Opposition does not understand. Nor would I
necessarily expect her to. The reality is that this is
not artificial spending here. We are not borrowing to
spend on infrastructure. We are taking $1 billion and
putting into infrastructure.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. KENNEDY: What
we are doing is we are trying to be cognizant of the
cost. We are looking at the fact that sometimes there is
only one bid, and we are looking at cost overruns. If
contracts cannot proceed because of that, so be it, but
we have to be prudent. We have to ensure that we are
getting the best value for our dollar, and that is
something that we are continually monitoring as a
Cabinet, under the guidance of the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I say to the minister, I
understand full well and I understand that there was
infrastructure money committed in the Budget and
announced that has not been spent.
I ask
if he can provide an update on what amount of that money
still has not been spent in infrastructure in the
Province, and if there is any possibility that it will
be spent in the next fiscal year?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury
Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. KENNEDY: Mr.
Speaker, as I outlined today, if there is one thing that
the Liberal Opposition should understand is that when we
took office in 2003 the debt stood at $11.5 billion, it
is now down to $9.2 billion.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. KENNEDY: The
deficit, the current deficit at the time was almost a
billion dollars. Today we are into surplus for the
fourth year in a row. So, it is not a matter of what you
think or what you understand, what we are telling you -
and you can take it from the economists, you can take it
from the accountants - the money is being spent. And,
for the information of the Opposition Leader, the year
is not over. It does not end until March 31. We will
continue to spend money on infrastructure as planned.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
You know, it is actually
laughable when you listen to the minister and he talks
about how they came into this with a deficit and now we
have a surplus. I would like to remind him sometimes
where that surplus comes from. Where the royalties come
from and from what deals they come from, minister.
Mr. Speaker, in the
announcement that was made today there was no stimulus
package I guess in terms of support for the resource
sectors or the manufacturing sectors in the Province. I
understand that they did finally meet with some people
in the business community, of which a few days ago they
did not seem to think they needed to consult with anyone
except the inner circles of government.
I ask the minister today:
Is government looking at any
specific programs that will help local producers or
manufactures to weather the downturn that we are seeing
in the economy?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr.
Speaker, as the Opposition well knows, we have had a
Business Advisory Board in place for I guess the last
four years. Is that correct minister?
AN HON. MEMBER: (Inaudible).
PREMIER WILLIAMS: We
have met with them on a regular basis and they have kept
us informed. They have given us advice, we have listened
to that advice, we have acted upon that advice, and we
put in place our fiscal and monetary policy as a result
of it.
Since then, everybody
knows that what we put in place here in order to be in
the position that we are in, which is an extremely good
position – the Opposition should be up actually
lauding the position we are in. We are basically putting
lots of money into the infrastructure and creating jobs,
reducing debt, lowering taxes, we have funded up our
pension funds at a time when they needed to be funded
up, what they never thought we could do.
Do you know what is most
important? Do you know what I like the most? Barack
Obama is listening to what we are doing here.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: That
is a great compliment to this Province, because I have a
lot of respect for that person. Obama outlines
initiatives to create 2.5 million jobs; make public
buildings more efficient; repair roads and bridges;
modernize schools; increase broadband access –
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh,
oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: He
will do it right because we did it right and he can have
our (inaudible) any day of the week.
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
Well, at least we know
that the Premier has opportunities for other employment.
Maybe he will become the advisor to Mr. Obama or
President Obama, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, also today,
the minister again gave notice to the public sector
unions in this Province that December 31 is a deadline
for them to either accept government’s wage offer or
risk losing a portion of what is currently on the table.
I ask, minister: Why
are you arbitrarily choosing a date for these unions to
come to the table and to sign a contract, as opposed to
going through the appropriate collective bargaining
process and work through these issues jointly?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury
Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. KENNEDY: There
is no arbitrary date. December 31 is a very good date;
it is the end of the calendar year.
Mr. Speaker, 20 per cent
in any day and age is a more than generous wage offer.
PREMIER WILLIAMS: Absolutely.
MR. KENNEDY: Twenty
percent compounded over four years is 21.5 per cent. We
saw PSAC accept – or they would have been legislated
– 6.85 per cent increase. We have seen increases in
other provinces. The teachers in Ontario were told to
take 12 per cent or the deal would be off the table.
What we have done is we
are saying to the unions - and I wrote them a letter on
Friday after informing most of them in person that this
is the way it is. There is an economic reality to this
world; that we will be going into deficit, potentially
going into deficit next year. We need to get some
economic certainty and labour peace. Now, you can
quibble or argue, call it what you like –
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
MR. KENNEDY: -
over the ands and the ors, but at the end of the day,
this package is about money, and 20 per cent is
something that we stand by and is more than generous.
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I
would like to ask the minister why he is not using that
same kind of a tactic to negotiate a settlement here, as
opposed to arbitrarily pushing the backs of union
leaders against the wall.
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury
Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. KENNEDY: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, after I came
into this portfolio I met with all of the union leaders.
I have met with a number of the union presidents on
numerous occasions, and all but one meeting went well.
So, it is not a matter of
arbitrarily imposing our will upon the unions. What we
are saying to them is, CUPE accepted this deal back as
far as March, I think it was – March or April of last
year - that it is there and it is time to either do it
or not do it, but it is time.
Now, the 20 per cent is
there. I would say if I were in their position, 8 per
cent before Christmas would be especially generous. If
you want to stimulate the economy, you put 8 per cent
into the hands of 38,000 people prior to Christmas and
watch what will happen.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Leader of the Opposition.
MS JONES: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
Just one final question
with regard to the statement on the economy piece. The
minister also indicated that they were working with the
other Atlantic Premiers, they had identified three
infrastructure projects that they felt the federal
government should invest in: the Atlantic Gateway, the
creation of green energy transmission, and affordable
housing.
I ask the minister: Are
there other infrastructure initiatives that your
government has identified for Newfoundland and Labrador
that you will be putting forward to the federal
government, asking them to make those investments and to
fast-track them at this time?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Premier.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS: If
I may speak to that - because the Atlantic Premiers met
yesterday in Prince Edward Island, and Minister Skinner
represented me at those meetings - the position that we
put forward with regard to the Atlantic Gateway is a
very comprehensive position, a very well thought through
strategy that has been worked through by the previous
minister and the current minister, which deals with,
first of all, an Oceans Agency for Newfoundland and
Labrador.
We think that
Newfoundland and Labrador should be the equivalent of
the space agency in Canada – the Canadian Space Agency
- Newfoundland and Labrador should be the Oceans Agency.
A big venture, a big expenditure, it would create a lot
of jobs here, put a lot of employment here, but we would
be the Canadian leader in that particular area, and
hopefully world leader, so we are nicely positioned.
The second piece of the
Atlantic Gateway is we are trying to position ourselves
as a North Atlantic Gateway, to open us up so that we
can get up into the Northwest Passage, the arctic
sovereignty issues, in order to service Greenland,
Nunavut and Iqaluit, and also to position us from a
Canadian perspective so that we are ideally positioned.
That would include looking at upgrading the facilities
in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Argentia perhaps. St.
Anthony would be another port that would be upgraded.
That is part of it.
If I may just have
fifteen or twenty seconds, Mr. Speaker, the second piece
is the whole transmission. What we are saying is,
because the Lower Churchill will not start tomorrow, if
we are going to get a piece of this infrastructure
money, we would like to get into the transmission side
of it. That is a fairly significant capital expenditure.
We are saying we should try and build the Atlantic
transmission from Labrador to the Maritimes if, in fact,
that Maritime route becomes open.
The third piece is
affordable housing. We feel affordable housing is a
really, really important piece in this Province, so we
have launched that.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
PREMIER WILLIAMS:
The penitentiary would be there as well, but if you go
in with too big a list you will end up with nothing, so
we are trying to prioritize, establish our priorities,
and hopefully the Canadian government – I have already
spoken to Peter McKay. I spoke to him last Friday for an
extensive period of time. Certainly, on the first two
items he was very receptive and the other item is a
joint exercise from all the Premiers.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
My questions are for the
Minister of Justice.
The Department of Justice
is responsible for the security of all government
information and privacy information in this Province.
Yesterday, the department released a report on
corrections with redactions, or blacked-out information.
The security features used to withhold this potentially
sensitive information, including names, was amateurish
at best.
I ask the minister - this
is the fourth time this year, the fourth breach in this
year of private information from government - what
assurance do the people of the Province have with regard
to the protection of their private information by
government?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. T. MARSHALL: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
We have a law in this
Province that we are all bound by; it is called the
Access to Information and the Protection of Privacy Act.
Under that act it specifies that the people of this
Province are entitled to information that government
would have involving them, but the act also points out
the fact that there are certain situations where we
cannot disclose the information. It is mandatory that we
do not disclose the information. One of those is when it
has to do with the release of privacy information.
When the report, the
corrections report, yesterday was put on the Web,
unfortunately, through inadvertence, the report was put
on in a way that I think one of the media in the city
was able to take the report from the Web, cut and paste
it, change it to a different format – I am certainly
not an expert in this area – and the redacted
information became available.
We were advised about
that. The officials of the department acted
appropriately and quickly to correct the matter. That
has now been done. While it was unfortunate, the
important thing is that we have the report that is going
to lead this Province to bring corrections in this
Province into the light after many years and many
decades of darkness.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
Whether it is accidental
or because somebody tampers, the bottom line is that
private information is getting out about people that
ought not to be out there. The question is: What are we
going to do to ensure in future that it does not happen?
It is fine to say we apologize and we are sorry and we
took it down, but the fact is people were impacted.
Mr. Speaker, I personally
brought this to the attention of the minister yesterday
here in the House of Assembly about the potentially
private information that was in the possession, not only
of the media. The Opposition had a copy of it, the media
had it, it is in the public domain, as a result of the
Department of Justice’s sloppiness, quite frankly. You
advised me at that time minister that the information
was not to be disclosed. In fact, you gave me a warning
not to disclose it here in this House yesterday. Yet,
the media had it all over the airwaves yesterday and the
supper hour broadcast.
I ask the minister: Have
you determined whether it was in fact unlawful for this
information to be revealed, and do you intend to pursue
any legal remedies for so doing?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. T. MARSHALL: Mr.
Speaker, as I previously said, the information that was
put on inadvertently enabled the ‘redactation’, if
that is a correct word, to be removed. There is - when
privacy information is released, if it is disclosed
without authorization, there is a sanction contained in
the legislation if it is wilfully released without
permission. In this course, there was no intent to
release the information. It wad done through
inadvertence. It was unfortunate. The problem has now
been corrected and we will now move forward with this
wonderful report. The issue is not some minor computer
glitch. The issue is the fact that after decades of
darkness this Province is going to pay attention to
correcting what is going on in the prisons of this
Province, and it is about time.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank
you.
I guess we will see in
the future, Mr. Minister, whether it is a simple case or
not. We already know, for example, that government may
be facing lawsuits from the fired superintendent and the
deputy superintendent as regards to wrongful dismissal
suits. Now you have opened yourself up, I would suggest,
to a lawsuit from them and others for a breach of their
privacy rights.
I ask the minister: What
action have you taken since yesterday to ensure
appropriate redress is made to these individuals as a
result of this breach?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. T. MARSHALL: Mr.
Speaker, the Department of Justice contains a civil
litigation division that provides legal advice to
government. If any citizen feel that their rights have
been somehow breached or impacted by any action of
government, they certainly have the right to take
whatever action against government they consider
appropriate.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank
you.
Minister, we understand
having seen some of the information that was blacked
out, that some of the blacked out information, in fact,
dealt with security issues in some of the institutions
around the Province. Obviously, it was blacked out for
the reason that you did not want certain individuals,
probably inmates, to become aware of it, but I suggest
now they are indeed aware of it.
Based upon that, I ask: What
has been done, or has any immediate actions been taken,
particularly in the Labrador correctional facility and
the West Coast correctional facility where two pieces of
this blacked out information, I suggest very security
sensitive, is now in the public domain? Has any action
been taken to ensure that those security risks and life
safety issues, in fact, have been removed in those two
facilities?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. T. MARSHALL: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
When my predecessor, the
present Minister of Finance, who was the Minister of
Justice, announced the fact that the commissioners had
been retained, it was clearly announced at that time
that all the information would be released, subject to
privacy and security concerns. Obviously, the
information, through inadvertence, was released through
the media. I understand the Liberal Opposition also was
able to do the same thing and get the information. The
information should not be disclosed.
Anyone who introduces
privacy information that should not be put out, while
they are not governed by ATIPP, as we are, would be
governed by federal privacy legislation and the
appropriate remedies will be examined, and in due
course, the necessary information would be obtained and
government will take the corrective action.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank
you.
Mr. Minister, I
appreciate your answers in regards to how it got out
there and so on, but the last question was dealing with
the issue of just actually very sensitive, I would
suggest, security information about these two facilities
out there, and it could very well be in the hands of
people who should not have it.
My question was: Have
you done anything since yesterday to ensure that those
two particular institutions where those security risks
have been identified have now been corrected?
MR.
SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General.
SOME HON. MEMBERS:
Hear, hear!
MR. T. MARSHALL: Mr.
Speaker, I have confidence in the new management and
leadership in the prison correction system to take
whatever actions is necessary as a result of the fact
that a member of the media, one of the medias in this
Province, releases information which should not have
been released.
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Opposition House Leader.
MR. KELVIN PARSONS: I
say to the Minister of Transportation, I do not know if
they did have it figured out. They had it out there in
the first place and it never should have been.
My last question for the
minister. Minister, I heard a comment by yourself in the
media today, the first time I think I have heard, with
regards to the penitentiary, the possibility of the
Province building a penitentiary for provincial
prisoners, and I noticed the Premier alluded to it today
in his answers to one of the questions as well on where
it would fit on the priority scale as a possibility.
I am just wondering: How
serious are we at this point in terms of the possibility
of a go it alone approach with regards to the building
of a penitentiary, and has any work, in fact, been done
to date or is this just a we hope to sort of thing in
the future?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Justice and Attorney General.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. T. MARSHALL: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I thank the hon. member
for his question.
The position of the
Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is quite simply
that, we have a correctional system, a unique system,
here in this Province where we house both provincial and
federal prisoners in our correctional institutions.
Obviously, the new institution that is to be built in
this Province, it is in the interests of the federal
government to join with us in building that new
facility, and we continue to call upon them and we
continue to engage them to do so.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi
Vidi.
MS MICHAEL: Thank
you very much, Mr. Speaker.
As we know, Mr. Speaker,
each day there are new developments in the global
economic crisis; however, in the financial update that
we received today from the Minister of Finance there is
nothing new announced to deal with this rapidly changing
situation.
The Finance Minister’s
statement mentions that he will evaluate later on
whether or not we have the ability to accelerate
infrastructure spending in spite of knowing that the
surplus will be over $700 million greater than that
which was forecast.
I have to ask the
minister, Mr. Speaker: Why is he not evaluating the
situation now with the information that he has, and use
some of the surplus to accelerate infrastructure
spending now?
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Finance and President of Treasury
Board.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. KENNEDY: Mr.
Speaker, we are evaluating as we go along.
Nothing new! A $1.27
billion surplus, reducing debt to $9.2 billion, funding
pension plans, creating jobs, and mega projects: Nothing
new! I don’t know what the hon. member’s definition
of new is, but this all seems to be fairly new to me.
What I would suggest, Mr.
Speaker – and perhaps the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi
Vidi didn’t hear my answer to the Leader of the
Opposition. We met with a number of leading business
people today and we discussed the issue of
infrastructure. The indications that were given to
myself and the Premier were that we do not have the
capacity. They cannot take on any more work. There is no
further construction that can be done. Between Vale
Inco, the building of hospitals, schools, and highways,
we are on bust and that is as far as we can go.
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
MR. KENNEDY: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Member for Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL: Thank
you very much, Mr. Speaker.
The Minister of Finance
has referred to increase in jobs. Well, right now our
unemployment rate in this Province has not changed since
2007. We are stagnant. We have gone up .1 per cent. We
need jobs here.
Why didn’t the minister
look at things like getting new training going, getting
more women trained in trades and technology, putting
more money into the jobs, into the training and jobs
that will help us deal with the infrastructure issues?
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh,
oh!
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
The hon. the Member for
Signal Hill–Quidi Vidi.
MS MICHAEL: Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
I did ask a question. I
am asking the minister why more money, new money, is not
put into the area of training so that we can deal with
the infrastructure needs, because the needs are there.
The Premier talked about the schools. We need more
money. I have a school in my district that has been
waiting years for improvements and extensions, so speak
to that, Minister, or the Premier.
MR. SPEAKER: The
hon. the Minister of Education and Government House
Leader.
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MS BURKE: Mr.
Speaker, certainly this government has been very
proactive in trying to ensure that we have more skilled
trades people in Newfoundland and Labrador. One of the
initiatives that we have brought in is the skilled
trades program in our high schools and, Mr. Speaker, we
have asked for schools to have 50 per cent of
participation in those programs to be females.
We also have Centennial
Scholarships from Alberta and two-thirds of those
scholarships, Mr. Speaker, go to women who are training
in the skilled trades. We have doubled the capacity of
our skilled trades at the College of the North Atlantic
and, Mr. Speaker, we had a task force on skilled trades,
which we take very seriously, and we will continue to
implement the recommendations of that Skills Task Force.
I gave a Ministerial
Statement just last week, Mr. Speaker, that spoke of the
increase in numbers of females in non-traditional trades
being apprentices, and government’s investment to make
sure that we hire apprentices in our government
departments, boards and agencies.
So, Mr. Speaker, we are
very committed to ensuring (inaudible).
SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear,
hear!
MR. SPEAKER: Order,
please!
The time allotted for
questions and answers has expired. |
