MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, just yesterday the Premier bitterly complained about the way we were being treated at the hands of Quebec. Yet, in tender after tender this Province is awarding major construction contracts to Quebec companies. This government is feeding Quebec with one hand and beating them over the head with the other hand, I say to you, Premier. Quebec contractors are able to operate freely in this Province while restrictive labour practices effectively bar our own contractors from doing work in that Province.

I ask the Premier: Why are you awarding contracts to Quebec companies when our own contractors are restricted in competing for contracts in Quebec?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, the message that I delivered yesterday to Ottawa is that when we play in the Canadian Federation we play fair. We play by the rules and we expect to be treated equally, and we laid out our case before the people of Ottawa yesterday. We indicated that we have gone through the proper procedures with groups like the Régie; that we had attempted to negotiate fairly. We asked for redress for the great inequity that was done under the Upper Churchill. We expect Quebec, that when they make international statements on climate change and reduction of greenhouse gases that they do not on the other hand then turn around and try, and basically prevent what is possibly the best greenhouse gas project and clean energy project in all of North America.

When I spoke yesterday in Quebec I also spoke about our Labrador boundary, which has been not publicly disputed by the Province of Quebec but in maps have been presented inaccurately so that they can improperly portray that they actually have ownership of the Labrador area, which is very, very important to us.

When it comes to contracts, there are certain rules. There are certainly agreements with regard to internal trade and we follow those rules and we respect those rules and we expect to be treated fairly when we go to the Province of Quebec. The fact that one province acts improperly, it does not mean that we have to turn around and do the same.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, just a week ago, as the Premier was staging another lashing for Quebec, his government awarded a $31 million contract for the RNC headquarters in St. John’s to a Quebec company. The second lowest bidder, a Newfoundland company was at $33 million, a difference of less than 5 per cent of the total cost of the contract.

I ask the Premier: Why is it that you can lash out at Quebec, like you did in your speech yesterday and say that Quebec has, and I quote: Demonstrated the Province’s bias, arrogance and discriminatory business practices towards our Province, yet you are handing out taxpayers’ money in Newfoundland and Labrador to Quebec companies?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HEDDERSON: As usual, Mr. Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition should check her facts. Basically, a tender has been put out, proponents have put in their bids and it has not been awarded yet, as simple as that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Maybe the tender is not awarded but those are the notes. Let me tell you the tenders that are awarded, because I just got it off the tendering list, it did not say, Mr. Speaker. Let me tell you the ones that were, a Quebec company was awarded a $12 million contract for a school in L’Anse-au-Loup while the Newfoundland company was less than 2 per cent shy of the lowest bidder. A Quebec company was awarded a $50 million contract for a long-term care centre in Corner Brook and the next lowest bidder, a Newfoundland company, was less than 5 per cent. A highway contract in Labrador was awarded to a Quebec company, when the Newfoundland and Labrador company was $25,000 over what the $12 million bid was.

I ask the Premier today: Why is it that you are not looking after our own construction and trades industries in Newfoundland and Labrador, and keeping that money right here at home?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, is the Leader of the Opposition alleging that we should break the Public Tender Act? Is that basically what she wants the government to do?

Those rules and those regulations are there for a very, very good reason, and that is that people play by the rules. Two wrongs do not make a right. The fact that Quebec is operating in the manner in which they are operating, the fact that they are being greedy, and they are being arrogant, and they are being discriminate, trying to protect their market dominance, that does not mean that it is right. It does not mean that we should treat the other members of the federation the same way, if we are going to have respect and we are going to have credibility when we go to Ottawa to make the case. It certainly seems that her colleagues certainly agree.

Yesterday, I remember standing, at the end of the speech that I gave, and looking up at the people who were standing in the room, which happened to be everybody, and it included: Judy Foote, Scott Simms, Siobhan Coady, Todd Russell, and Gerry Byrne. They seemed to agree with what the government is doing in Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Mr. Speaker, you cannot have it both ways. You cannot say on the one hand we are being milked by Quebec, and on the other hand we are writing cheques for taxpayers’ money and giving it to Quebec companies.

I say to government opposite, you talk about the Agreement on Internal Trade, but it is perfectly acceptable if the government wants to put exemption clauses into ferry contracts or in fibre optic contracts, which we have seen happen in the Province, Mr. Speaker. So, if there is a will, there is a way.

I would say to the Premier today, in asking this question, Mr. Speaker, I would ask: When are we going to stop the practice of giving contracts outside of the Province, to the Province of Quebec, while they are shafting us, Premier?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: The Leader of the Opposition has finally acknowledged that Quebec are shafting us.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: It took a long while for this government to get this through to the Leader of the Opposition. Perhaps it was some of the facts that we laid out yesterday. Perhaps it was the fact that in 2008 the Government of Quebec took $2.3 billion from this Province, and we received $50 million. Perhaps it was the fact that the equivalent of what we were losing on the Upper Churchill, a contract that was entered into by a Liberal government at the time, the amount that we are loosing on a per capita basis in Newfoundland and Labrador, if that was in Ontario, would be the equivalent of $38 billion a year. That is the magnitude of the inequity that is happening.

What we have done now is, we have gone to New York, we have gone to Calgary, we gone to the Nation’s Capital in Ottawa, and we will not stop there because we are going to state our case that is based on fairness, equity, and justice. The way to handle that is not to turn around and do the improper actions that are being alleged by the hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, but it is really hard to understand why a government who is so convinced they are being shafted by Quebec, that the people of the Province are being milked for all we are worth, but yet they have given out hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to Quebec companies.

Mr. Speaker, Nalcor confirmed yesterday that it will appeal the recent Régie decision in Quebec. We know that the Premier has been criticizing the Régie, calling them biased, and a kangaroo court.

I ask the Premier: How will your critical comments help the Province’s case before the Régie during this appeal process?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Premier and Minister of Natural Resources.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker

Mr. Speaker, you should practice what you preach. Mr. Speaker, just last week we had a private member’s bill in this House with regard to the Régie ruling. There was quite ado, why the Opposition had to wait for a week for the English translation.

Mr. Speaker, during that time you would have thought that the Leader of the Opposition would have made herself familiar with the rules, with the law around the Open Access Transmission Tariff. She did not, Mr. Speaker. What we heard in this House of Assembly, Mr. Speaker, was a spirited defence of the Régie decision against Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: I say to the minister, I just state the facts. I do not write the cheques for the Quebec companies. That is your job, Minister.

Mr. Speaker, Hydro-Quebec and the State of Vermont have announced a twenty-six-year power agreement that will be finalized by the end of June. The Régie decision stated that our Province had not identified any firm markets or customers for Lower Churchill power. Meanwhile, Quebec is moving forward, Mr. Speaker, with long-term agreements in the United States.

I ask the Premier: Why hasn’t your government been able to clearly identify any long-term customers for the Lower Churchill power, and did you initiate any negotiations to secure a power deal with Vermont?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, we have, as I have indicated, spoken in New York. We have been in constant discussions with the various governors of the New England States. An MOU was signed with Governor Carcieri. We have spoken to Governor Douglas, we have spoken to Governor Baldacci, but the simple thing is that if you do not have power to sell you cannot sign a power contract. That is pretty simple, as far as I am concerned.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the gravel section of the Trans-Labrador Highway between Red Bay and Mary’s Harbour is in deplorable condition. Parents in the community of Lodge Bay today have said they will no longer allow their children to attend school until the road is deemed fit for the bus to travel over.

I ask the minister today: Are you willing to commit some funding to put a layer of crushed stone on this section of road, that will allow these children to be able to commute back and forth to school?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HEDDERSON: Yes, Mr. Speaker.

With regard to that section of road, it is one of the more heavily graded sections of the highway and it has been done over the last couple of weeks. In my conversation with the Leader of the Opposition a day or so ago, I certainly indicated that we would be sending a grader back, that we would be providing some crushed stone and hopefully take care of any of the problems that are situated around that particular section.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The section of highway between the Shadow Pond area and Mary’s Harbour, Mr. Speaker, is a really heavily used section of highway. It has not had any crushed stone on it for over ten years, from what I understand. Mr. Speaker, this section of the Trans-Labrador Highway is used to transport children to school, to transport patients to hospital, and it is also one of the main sections of the Trans-Labrador Highway. Today there are contractors in the area crushing stone, and I understand from highways that there is no significant stockpile of stone in that area.

I ask the minister: Will he commit to addressing this problem and having some stone crushed and stockpiled and put on the road? You cannot put there what is not there.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HEDDERSON: Mr. Speaker, in response to the question, I think there are 1,500 kilometres of Trans-Labrador Highway and we are doing our best with the resources that we have to keep that 1,500 kilometres of highway open to the travelling public. Certainly, we are going to address the problem, as I have indicated in my previous answer, and we will continue to do our best to keep the road in the shape that we would like it to be in.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the House of Assembly has been open for almost three months and we have yet to see the government’s promised animal welfare legislation. The Department of Natural Resources stated in The Telegram that the new act was expected to be tabled before the May 24 weekend. Mr. Speaker, we are still waiting to see the piece of legislation.

I ask the minister: Is this legislation coming forward during this session? If so, when will it be tabled in the House?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources and Deputy Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, I did say that we were going to introduce the legislation in this session of the House of Assembly; I did not give a timeline. Now, I can file the notice of motion right here now, Mr. Speaker, or we can wait until the proper time in the Legislature.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: That is the way it is supposed to be, Mr. Speaker, responding to the Opposition immediately.

Anyway, Mr. Speaker, now that the minister is ready to table the motion – so, hopefully, we will see the legislation in the next few days - maybe she can tell me today, because under our current Animal Protection Act an individual who has committed a first or second offence will not be charged less than $50 or more than $200, and if it is a third offence the fine will not be less than $200 or more than $500. We know that in other provinces, like New Brunswick, animal abusers face up to –

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources and Deputy Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As I said in my earlier answer, we will be introducing the legislation. We will be providing copies of the legislation next week. Mr. Speaker, we have done a broad consultation with a number of interest groups across this Province. The legislation, I believe, is a very good piece of legislation.

I am not going to get into the details of it here in Question Period today, but I ask the Leader of the Opposition to stay tuned I think she will be very pleased with what we are bringing forward.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I sat down because it was so much noise and I was not going to yell, so I did not even ask the minister a question.

I will ask the minister the question: Will the new legislation increase the punishments and fines for the abuse and neglect of animals?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Natural Resources and Deputy Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Yes, Mr. Speaker.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One of the other concerns that were outlined was dogs that are kept on chains. The legislation currently says that they can be chained for twenty-four hours a day up to 365 days a year, and this is one of the points that have been brought forward by the SPCA.

I ask the minister: Will this issue be addressed in the new legislation?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Deputy Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS DUNDERDALE: Mr. Speaker, as I said, we did a broad consultation in the Province and one of the major consultations we did was with the SPCA who made a number of recommendations to us, most of those recommendations have been incorporated into the legislation, Mr. Speaker, and I will be happy to debate with the Leader of the Opposition all of those provisions next week here on the floor.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Port de Grave.

MR. BUTLER: Mr. Speaker, every day we hear of more moose-vehicle collisions taking place on our Province’s highways, yet besides putting up a few signs, paying for some advertising or cutting some extra brush government is doing very little to address this problem.

Earlier this year, the government announced that 2,154 extra moose licences would be issued. Of that number, the Save Our People Action Committee estimated that 1,500 were dormant licences from last year. So the actual increase is very small.

I ask the minister: Is government willing to increase the number of moose licences each year in an effort to control the moose population?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I thank the member for his question. It is a very serious matter, and it is one that we do not want to see, of course, anybody get into accidents, and certainly our deepest apologies go out to those who have been involved in fatal accidents.

Mr. Speaker, back in February, we did announce some changes. There were 2,154 additional licences available to residents, was the wording. So, he is correct, 1,514 of those came from unused licences from the outfitters, but there is an additional – they were not being used, so the moose were not having an opportunity to be hunted, so we wanted to see that would be hunted.

There is also fifty additional to the charities, bringing that up to 200, which is a fantastic initiative that we did in this government, and it is receiving a lot of praise from the charitable organizations. There are also additional licences as part of our regular surveys. At that time, we also announced a five-year moose management plan, extensions to the season and some other (inaudible).

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for the District of Port de Grave.

MR. BUTLER: Mr. Speaker, we know there is an estimate between 120,000 to 150,000 moose in the Province, and each year we are told that 30,000 more calves are being born. Mr. Speaker, we understand there are 28,000 licences issued with a 70 per cent success rate. So, Mr. Speaker, we are hardly keeping up with the birth rate.

Mr. Speaker, it has been reported that the Province of New Brunswick will be installing more moose fencing along their major highways. Clearly, they believe that moose fencing saves lives and are taking action to address the problem. The Save Our People Action Committee has been encouraging government to look at putting fences in problem areas where statistics show a higher number of accidents.

I ask the minister: Is fencing certain sections of the highway in this Province something government is willing to consider?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Transportation and Works.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HEDDERSON: Mr. Speaker, naturally, we will consider any kind of a strategy that can help improve the safety on our highways. Fencing is one of those. Obviously, there is a great different between this Province and New Brunswick. They have controlled highways, and that is where they are fencing, as opposed to the type of highways, our geography, and so on.

Again, we have it under consideration, and obviously, not only that, but other strategies as well. If it can be proven, I guess, that we can incorporate them, it is a possibility.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Port de Grave.

MR. BUTLER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I want to thank the minister for his response.

Maybe a couple of the areas where something could be done similar to that would be in our Parks Canada where they estimate that there are 5,000 moose in Gros Morne and 1,000 moose in Terra Nova.

Mr. Speaker, the committee has also suggested establishing a 1-800 number so that nuisance moose can be reported and removed from the area by wildlife officers.

I ask the minister: Why has government not looked at establishing this type of reporting mechanism to prevent accidents before they occur?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we have had several proposals from SOPAC. The Minister of Natural Resources, the Minister of Transportation and Works and myself, we have met with the committee on several occasions and we are going to meet with them again in the future, so we are certainly open to all of the proposals that they put forward.

What people need to remember though is that the majority of moose accidents happen at night. Of course, reporting these at night and having people come out and shoot the moose at night is something that has safety issues from another perspective, Mr. Speaker. A lot of the accidents certainly happen – you are seeing more moose sightings lately on the Outer Ring Road and within cities and, of course, it is against the law to shoot across the highway and it is against the law to shoot within cities.

So, there are some issues that I have with their proposal, but it is not to say we are not considering it. We are considering all of the proposals that they have before us.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Port de Grave.

MR. BUTLER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I appreciate the minister’s comments that they are trying to deal with the various issues.

Some of the reports that we get back, people are saying that government is looking at nuisance moose as if it is an endangered species. Mr. Speaker, that is a tongue twister, no doubt about it.

Mr. Speaker, my next question to the minister is that the Save Our People Action Committee has asked government to evaluate a number of options to address the growing number of accidents in our Province. To date, there is disappointment being expressed that more concrete action is not being taken.

I ask the minister: Do you have any concrete plan in place to address the growing problem of moose-vehicle collisions in our Province, or are you willing at the present time to accept the status quo?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Environment and Conservation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, between the Department of Transportation and Works and the Department of Environment and Conservation, we are constantly consulting with our counterparts in other jurisdictions to see if there are measures there that would work here. We did a thorough review of where the moose licences are. We did increased surveys to see if we can increase the licences, which we did in some areas.

Mr. Speaker, specifically to the 1,500 unused outfitter licences, more than half of those were right along the Trans-Canada and particularly in the Central Region. Mr. Speaker, I think by allowing the residents to hunt those licences you are going to see a dramatic decrease in the number of moose along the highways, but that is not to tell people that there still are not going to be moose around the highways. The highways intersect their habitat and I would not want to give anybody a false assurance out there that there are not going to be any moose because there is certainly going to be moose. So we ask people to be cautious…

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Member for the District of Port de Grave.

MR. BUTLER: Mr. Speaker, during Estimate we were assured that any legal business or tourist signs on the Province’s highways would be left untouched. However, there are reports that signs are being removed and discarded while the owner has a legal permit.

I ask the minister: Can you explain to us today and to business owners around the Province why legal signs are being removed from the highways?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, the TODS program was something we explored simply because one of the major complaints we were getting from our tourists coming into the Province was signage. We took that very, very seriously.

What the member has asked: Is there illegal signs being taken down? Of course, there are illegal signs being taken down. Mr. Speaker, if you have a permit for a sign today there is nobody going to take that sign. Now, if that happened in error, certainly it can be replaced without a problem, Mr Speaker, but I can assure you that anybody that has a permit for a sign, a legal sign, can leave it up today.

Thank you.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Port de Grave.

MR. BUTLER: Mr. Speaker, with all due respect, I say to the minister, it will not be a problem for the tourist any more because they are all sawed down.

Mr. Speaker, we are getting closer to the tourist season which is a crucial time for many local business owners. The signs that they put on the highway to promote their businesses generate a great source of income for them and their families. Yet, there are business owners who are seeing their legal signs being sawed down and discarded off by burning or burying them.

I ask the minister: If this continues to happen, will government offer these legal sign owner’s compensation for such unlawful activities?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH: Mr. Speaker, it if is an illegal sign it is taken down. If it is a legal sign it is left up. It is as simple as that. I do not know what else to say to the hon. member, Mr. Speaker.

If the hon. member would stay tuned, Mr. Speaker, soon signage will be a way of the past. He will be listening to the eight track radio, Mr. Speaker, and we will be dealing with GPSs. So I say to him to get on board, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Port de Grave.

MR. BUTLER: I would say, Mr. Speaker, I do not know what I am listening to but I assure the minister he should listen to the Minister of Government Services and the Minister of Transportation because they know what is going on.

Mr. Speaker, there are many small communities around our Province that depend on unique signage to attract tourists and locals to what they have to offer. This is the lifeblood of many people in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

I ask the minister: Why are signs being removed before the TODS program is really ready for full implementation?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Recreation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH: Mr. Speaker, there was a law made, I guess in this House, a long, long time ago, a number of years ago, and I guess a year ago or a year-and-a-half ago we started enforcing that law and removing illegal signs. I cannot make it any simpler than that. The law always existed and illegal signs are now coming down.

We are in the process, Mr. Speaker, about to roll out a TODS program. We are consulting with people in various areas across this Province. Mr. Speaker, we are going to do it and we are going to do it right, so that not only do the tourism operators benefit, Mr. Speaker, but also the people who visit us here on a regular basis.

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.

Mr. Speaker, Bill 1, An Act Respecting The Care And Protection Of Children And Youth, reduces the number of permitted temporary orders from three to two and the maximum time a child will spend in a temporary order process from two years to eighteen months. Mr. Speaker, the act can impose deadlines but there will have to be resources and supports earmarked within the justice system to ensure these deadlines are met.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services, how will she ensure that these new timelines will be met by the court system?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. F. COLLINS: Mr. Speaker, as was pointed out by the Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services in her debate in the last few days, that this act will be a year before it is proclaimed and during that time, Mr. Speaker, the intricacies and any service problems or interactions between the act and the courts will be worked out in that length of time.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL: Yes, Mr. Speaker.

I wonder, could I ask the minister to give us some detail about what they are identifying as the problems within the court system at the moment because even now timelines are not being met?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Justice and the Attorney General.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. F. COLLINS: Mr. Speaker, the basic tenets of the act, having to do with the court system, is not radically changed from the old act. There are situations in the court system all the time where time deadlines are extended. The opportunity here for the presentation is ten days. That will be in effect. The thirty-day date for a hearing is in effect. At the presentation hearing there may be some reasons, all kinds of reasons why the date of the thirty days may not be effective. So this is nothing radically different from any court procedure.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Member for the District of Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi.

MS MICHAEL: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The minister is not getting the point. There are times when it is not working and he did not answer the question, but I guess I will just have to wait and see.

Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services says that she held consultations – and I know she did – with social workers and community and not-for-profit groups and that people are pleased with the new act. Front line social workers are continuing to tell me their concerns about not having enough resources for this act to be implemented. They also told me that they also felt reluctant when they were at consultations themselves to voice their concerns.

So, Mr. Speaker, I would like to know from the minister, what she is planning to ensure the involvement of the experienced voice of front-line workers in the development of the regulations that will make the new legislation operational?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader and the Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS BURKE: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

One thing I can talk about is the consultation process I did with front-line social workers. Mr. Speaker, I visited fifty out of the fifty-two offices last summer. I held meetings with all staff when I went to those offices. Then I specifically met with the social workers alone with no other people in the room other than the front-line social workers. Once we did those consultations with the front-line social workers, we also gave them the contact information - if there were any further comments, anything they needed to say, anything they forgot to say - of the Deputy Minister, and we have heard from the front-line social workers.

In addition to that, there are a number of roles that we are taking on, whether it is redesigning the organizational chart or the legislation or our strategic plan, and for every step of the major work we are doing, we have a focus group of front-line social workers. I have engaged the front-line social workers in every single way possible to make sure their voices are heard.

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.

Mr. Speaker, one of the things that front-line workers are saying to me is that there are an insufficient number of people on the front line in order for them to do their work in the way it needs to be done. Now I know the minister has said publicly that she does not have a problem, that there are no vacancies, or if there are in the front-line workers, they are being filled and the complement of workers is there. What the concern is is that the number of workers is insufficient.

I am asking the minister: Is she going to be doing an analysis to look at the need for increasing the number of front-line workers so that they can do both the administrative work that they have to do as well as the work of protecting children and youth?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Government House Leader and Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS BURKE: Mr. Speaker, up to this point we have done an extensive analysis of what resources we need to deliver the services of this department to the families and to the children in Newfoundland and Labrador.

What we have seen, Mr. Speaker, is in the last few years an investment of over $24 million in Child, Youth and Family Services, 200 new positions, but very little progress made in how we do our work. We have announced in this Budget that there be an additional twenty-seven positions put in Child, Youth and Family Services.

What is alarming, Mr. Speaker, is that we have 312 social workers employed with Child, Youth and Family Services and, for some reason, we are unable to provide services effectively to the 5,974 children that need it. If we run the statistics for every social worker we have with Child, Youth and Family Services, we would have a caseload of less than twenty. What I can say, Mr. Speaker, is there is room for change, there is commitment for change and this government will use the resources that we have to deliver the best possible service that we can.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The time allotted for questions and answers has expired.