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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, during the Finance Minister’s Budget consultations, personal care home operators made a lengthy submission to government of some of the challenges that they face asking government to address their problems. The personal care association, Mr. Speaker, did an independent review on the impacts that changes of this government’s board and lodging rates as well as the increase in minimum wage would have on their business. The report verified, Mr. Speaker, what the home owners have already known that the monthly subsidy increase for seniors in personal care homes were not sufficient.

I ask the minister today: Will government commit to granting an appropriate rental rate so that the personal care homes in this Province can provide the kind of service that is being legislated by government?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

This government has invested over $200 million since its first mandate to address high priority needs within the system. Mr. Speaker, there has been $110 million invested in infrastructure and $103 million in home support wages and personal care homes. To put it in perspective, Mr. Speaker, there has been $38.5 million invested since 2005-2006 to increase the home support hourly subsidy rates. Since 2004, government has increased the personal care home subsidy rate from $1,172 to $1,717; increased by $584 a month, Mr. Speaker, since 2004.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: So I would suggest, Mr. Speaker, that the steps we are taking are certainly ones that should be seen as very positive, ones that are addressing the needs in the community, and ones that we continue to work on.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The minister also knows that along with those increases came very specific legislation and requirements of personal care home owners that actually clawed back a great deal of what those subsidies were.

One of the challenges, Mr. Speaker, that they have is financing for small personal care homes. The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation offers long-term financing rates to larger personal care homes with fifty beds or more, however, the financing options for smaller homes are not the same.

We are asking the minister today: If government will assist with mortgage loan insurances, which the larger homes access though Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, and make those kinds of programs allowable to small personal care homes through provincial revenues, Mr. Speaker?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, Mr. Speaker, I am aware of the situation that the member opposite talks about.

I recently met with one of the larger personal care homes and they are not even looking for increases in the amounts of subsidies. They are looking for ways that we can improve their ability to offer service, but, Mr. Speaker, let’s look at - not only did I outline what we have done since 2004, let’s look at what we have done in the 2010 Budget to deal with the issues of personal care homes.

Mr. Speaker, we put $8.9 million in this year’s Budget for an increase in the home support hourly subsidy rate by an additional seventy-five cents on July 1, 2010. We, Mr. Speaker, invested $3.2 million to increase the personal care home subsidy rate and the number of portable subsidies to expand to respond to current personal care home wait-lists. So, Mr. Speaker, we have increased the personal care home subsidy by another $73, to $1,717 from $1,644, with a hundred new portable subsidies. Mr. Speaker, again I reiterate that since 2004 we have increased the personal care home subsidy rate from $1,172 to $1,717.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Leader of the Opposition.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

What the minister fails to mention, Mr. Speaker, is that over those same periods of time they have also forced additional costs upon these home owners for staffing requirements, Mr. Speaker, and new formulas that they have introduced into the system.

Mr. Speaker, the minister did not give us any assurances as to whether the provincial government will make available a program for small personal care home operators in the Province. I would like to ask him again, Mr. Speaker, because when government last addressed this issue they referred to the program under Innovation, Trade and Rural Development, but we know that that program, Mr. Speaker, has interest rates that are probably three times higher than what the federal loans program is that is afforded to larger operators.

I ask you, minister: Are you prepared to look at a program that will meet the needs of these home operators?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

As we have indicated on numerous occasions, and as I have indicated in this House and publicly, we are committed to providing the services required to allow our seniors to be treated with dignity and respect, but it does not mean, Mr. Speaker, focusing on one particular area. What we are looking at, we have increased the home care subsidy rates. We have increased the personal care home subsidy rates, but let’s also look, Mr. Speaker, at what we are doing with our infrastructure. We have invested, Mr. Speaker, this year, $27.3 million for the continuation and development of long-term care in St. John’s for 460 residents. We were in Corner Brook last weekend where we opened up a beautiful facility in Corner Brook. Happy Valley-Goose Bay, a facility is opening up. We have announced a facility in Carbonear that will house 250 people.

So what we are doing, Mr. Speaker, we are trying to deal with all aspects of providing services to our seniors, and it does not simply mean focusing on one particular area, such as smaller personal care homes. There is a much larger picture, and we are addressing that picture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, but the minister chooses to confuse the issue. He is talking about apples and oranges.

Long-term care and personal care homes are two very different groups of people that are being served, minister, and people with two very different sets of needs, I say. A senior living in a personal care home has to give up their entire pension cheque and gets to keep about $150 of expenses for that month. In last year’s Budget, government provided a cap on home care rates in the Province so that seniors would have to pay significantly less for home care services. However, they did not provide the same treatment for those who wanted or needed to go into a home.

I ask the minister: When will government put a subsidy rate in place for personal care homes that is on par with the subsidy rate for people who are choosing home care?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Mr. Speaker, it is not the minister who is choosing to confuse the questions; it appears to be the Leader of the Opposition who either does not understand or simply refuses to understand and thereby is confusing the issue.

What we are looking at is a continuum of care, Mr. Speaker. We want to keep our seniors in their homes as long as possible, so home care becomes very important there. What did we do last year? We increased the various rates there, Mr. Speaker, to assist in that respect. Then we continued to build our long-term care facilities. We are increasing personal care home subsidy rates. We are looking at, Mr. Speaker, the long-term care strategy, and as I have indicated, we hope to be doing consultations this summer.

So, Mr. Speaker, we are looking at that continuum of care. The smaller personal care homes are part of it, but it is a private business, Mr. Speaker, just as the bigger, long-term – excuse me, personal care homes. It is a business. What we are trying to do, Mr. Speaker, is provide the levels of care from level one to level four, but always allowing for our seniors to remain in their homes if they can do so.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I will tell you what I am not confusing here, and that is the letter that was sent by the Premier, when he was the Leader of the Opposition, to a personal care home operator in this Province saying that the plight of personal care home operators were unacceptable.

Mr. Speaker, I am not confusing the fact that the seventy-five cents that the minister talks about in increases is also subject to clawbacks in allowances by the federal government. They are the only government, Mr. Speaker, that has done that since they have been in power.

In the last Budget, Mr. Speaker, personal care homes received an increase of $73 per person per month. We have spoken to the Personal Care Home Association that represents about forty of the smaller homes and eight of the larger homes in rural areas of the Province. No one from this association was consulted to determine the effect the increase would have for these homes.

I ask the minister: If you are not talking to this association or any of its members, why not, and who are you talking to when making these policy changes?

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

The member opposite refers to the letter written by the Premier referring to the plight of the personal care homes. I think we have addressed that and I have gone through this in great detail today.

Mr. Speaker, when you see an increase of $584 since 2004, that is a significant increase in the personal care home subsidy. When you see in this Budget alone, Mr. Speaker, an increase of $8.9 million for a seventy-five cent increase in the home support hourly subsidy rate, we are continuing to invest, Mr. Speaker, in our long-term care and community support services. We are, Mr. Speaker, continuing to build infrastructure. These are significant investments, Mr. Speaker, and one of the reasons we have to do it, because when this group was in government they did not do anything at all. They let these people suffer in silence. The Premier wrote that letter and we have addressed the situation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Well, I say to the minister, they are not suffering in silence now; they are making their views quite known.

Mr. Speaker, the preliminary work shows that personal care homes in this Province, compared to the rest of Atlantic Canada, has the lowest subsidized rate, I say to you, minister. The highest minimum wage, the highest staff to resident ratio and yet they are compensated the least by any government.

I ask the minister: Has your government completed a review to determine whether subsidies should be increased in our Province to closer match the rates that are being paid in other Atlantic Provinces?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Now, I do not know if I understood the hon. member correctly, but is she complaining that our minimum wage is too high? Is that what I heard over there, that we are paying too much money to our home care and personal care home workers? Is that what I heard, because that is an interesting position, Mr. Speaker?

Mr. Speaker, we are actively engaged in dealing with the long-term care and community support services strategy. As I indicated during earlier sessions of this House, and during Estimates, we are aggressively attempting to put this strategy in place but we are not stopping while we are waiting for the strategy to be put in place, Mr. Speaker. We are investing significantly. We went out to Lewisporte recently and turned the sod for the new long-term care facility in Lewisporte, Mr. Speaker, which is an investment of, again, another $8 million to start that. We are going to finalize a long-term care facility in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. We will engage in consultations, Mr. Speaker, this summer and these smaller personal care homes, like home support workers, like family members will have their opportunity to present their case and be heard.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Small rural personal care homes have their hands tied as a result of government’s policies. No one is complaining about the minimum wage, Mr. Speaker, but accept the reality. These businesses have higher costs because of the minimum wage, because of the night security being added, because of the new models of staffing that the government has implemented. Yet, Mr. Speaker, their subsidies they are given does not measure up to compensate for all of those costs.

I ask the minister: Is he prepared to address this in some meaningful way and will he commit to include the personal care home association in formulating the long-term care strategy for the Province because at the current time this particular group of people do not feel that they are included.

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Mr. Speaker, I would suggest that anyone in this Province or the people of this Province would consider a $200 million investment as addressing a situation in a meaningful way. Mr. Speaker, again $12 million in this year’s Budget to deal with it.

I forgot to mention earlier that there was $1.5 million in this year’s Budget to support the continued implementation of what is called the InterRAI suite of assessment tools for long-term care and home care in the Province. Mr. Speaker, the difficulty is, I understand from talking to people in the industry and my officials, is that someone who is classified as a level two can remain in a personal care home, but that line between level two and level three where you go into a long-term care facility is one that is sometimes difficult to determine and thereby can be very subjective.

So this InterRAI suite of tools will bring an objective assessment. It will allow us - and I have been in some of these larger personal care homes, I have to tell you they offer all the social amenities, they are doing a very good job and we are willing to work with all stakeholders in this system.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Opposition Leader.

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

If was asking about long-term care today the minister would be talking about personal care. You ask about personal care and he talks about home care and long-term care.

Mr. Speaker, the provincial government provided an update to the people of Hopedale last night related to contamination in their community. Concerns were expressed related to PCBs and other chemicals that were present, including near a residential areas, an issue that was raised in the community, I think, about a year ago, Mr. Speaker.

I ask the minister: Can you outline what problems have been identified and what actions will be taken to address these concerns?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH: Mr. Speaker, as a government we certainly take these issues very, very seriously and so signs, that is why today as we speak we have two ministers up at the site last night and held a public meeting. The Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, the Minister of Environment was there with the people on the ground in Hopedale.

Mr. Speaker, just to support the people of Hopedale, in this year’s Budget, the 2010-2011 Budget, we committed $1 million to assist in the cleanup of Hopedale. Whatever we can do to assist, we certainly will.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Of course the minister did not give me an answer in terms of what the problems were that were identified.

Mr. Speaker, there are concerns being raised that some of the residential areas of the town may have used contaminated soil as backfill for their houses. We know that government reacted when similar issues were identified in Buchans in residential neighbourhoods.

I ask the minister: What are the estimated costs of cleaning up these sites? Will government commit funding to immediately address the contaminated areas of Hopedale and when will this work be completed?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. FRENCH: Mr. Speaker, as a Province, I would just like to let the hon. member know, that we certainly have already done some remediation in the area and will certainly continue to do soil samples and air samples over the next few shorts months.

We realize there is a short time frame here during the summer construction season, but we are certainly there with the people. We assured them last night again, with a brief conversation that I had with my hon. colleagues, that we will certainly stand with them and clean up the environmental mess that unfortunately was left behind some years ago by American bases, not only in this place but throughout various places around our Province.

We have been left with this cleanup, Mr. Speaker, and as we did in Buchans, we will step up once again.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MS JONES: I thank the minister for his answer.

There have been some concerns expressed about the health impacts also associated with the years of eating wild berries that grew in the area before the scope of the contamination was known.

I ask the minister: We know that government plans to hire a toxicologist to review the environmental report, but does government plan on testing residents for the presence of any chemicals as was done recently in Buchans when these issues were identified?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Health and Community Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I know that the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs was in Hopedale last night. She was accompanied by the medical officer from Labrador-Grenfell. Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding from the report that was provided by the environmental group who looked at this that there were no immediate health concerns. However, issues recently arose as to whether or not there would be or could be long-term effects.

So what we did, Mr. Speaker, is the same thing we did in Buchans. We hired an individual by the name of Dr. Ray Copes. I happened to be present in Buchans with my colleagues, the Minister of Human Resources, Labour and Employment and the Minister of Environment, when Dr. Copes provided his report. He is a very confident individual, very knowledgeable and very experienced in this type of situation. Dr. Copes has been retained and will review the situation and will report once he has an opportunity to review all the facts of the case, Mr. Speaker.

So, the environmental report has been prepared, the remediation is ongoing, and we are examining the health concerns, Mr. Speaker (inaudible).

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. DEAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we understand that reshaping the fishery in the months and years ahead will mean that will likely be plant closures in our Province. The corporate sector will dictate the closures and the decisions will be based on a business model approach that that is their business. Our concern is that they will have little regard to sustaining rural communities.

So I ask the minister: Can he commit here today to ensuring that a regional plant concept and strategy will be part of the final outcome of the MOU process so that fish plants are left in rural Newfoundland to sustain these regions now and into the future?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: I am starting to see, Mr. Speaker, that they are warming up to the MOU process anyway.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, as I have said many times, the industry players who are sitting around the table in this MOU process are the ones who can make a difference.

Mr. Speaker, the one thing about it, if we do not do something within the next two, three, four years, we will see more of the communities suffer. So, the intention of us, as a government, is that rather than let people suffer through this painfully, we hope that the parties will all come together and develop a plan here that will certainly strengthen rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. DEAN: Yes, Mr. Speaker, we have discussed the MOU process many times in this Legislature, and while we support the spirit of moving toward long-term solutions to stabilize the industry, we recognize that the MOU, at the same time, has many shortfalls. One of these is the fact that it addresses the effects but not the cause of fishery problems. There is still a basic issue with the biomass of our resources. In particular, the fact the cod and shrimp are below historic levels.

So I ask the minister: How is he aggressively addressing the recovery of our resource with his federal counterpart?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, I met with Minister Shea on Saturday, and two of the species, plus turbot, I will add, I spoke to Minister Shea about. I indicated to her the last-in first-out formula is not one that we definitely – we do not support it. Certainly, there is a huge impact on the Northeast and the North Coast of this Province. We have asked and she has committed to taking a look at that. We certainly hope, Mr. Speaker, that she will consider this strongly and that she will change for the future.

Also, Mr. Speaker, we outlined to her where we are within the MOU process. We said to her that we will have a progress report by July 11, and that she can expect that, early fall, we will be presenting to her a unified plan of action coming from the MOU process.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. DEAN: Mr. Speaker, in a few years we will hit the twentieth year anniversary of the cod moratorium, and sadly there will be little chance that we will be celebrating that anniversary. Despite the establishment of the cod recovery team in 2005, and the strategies and action plans it produced, there has been little or no progress in rebuilding our resource. The recovery of our cod stocks, Mr. Speaker, is the single, largest legacy we can leave our children and grandchildren, and yet this government is not taking this responsibility seriously in the seven years they have been in government.

I ask the minister: How does he intend to support rural Newfoundland and Labrador if this government does not make the recovery of cod more of a priority?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Mr. Speaker, the member is missing one important point. It is more than cod that we have to protect, Mr. Speaker. I would say to the member opposite that one of the most important species right in this Province right now is the crab. If the bottom were to fall out of crab, this Province would be in the direst of straits.

So, Mr. Speaker, not only do we have to look at crab, but there has to research done around all the species. There is one thing he is right in, Mr. Speaker, if the resource is not there and it is not protected, there will not be a fishery. So that is where we have to start. We are looking at certain issues within our own government around research in that regard, Mr. Speaker.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. DEAN: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Because we asked a question about one part of the resource does not mean we recognize the other species involved, Mr. Speaker, and we will ask questions about these certainly.

The Government of New Brunswick is taking a leadership role, Mr. Speaker, in the fishery in several initiatives, though its fishery is smaller compared to our $1 billion a year industry. Just recently, the New Brunswick government responded to lobster fishermen’s request for assistance by providing an $11 million loan to assist them through their challenges. Last week their minister, Rick Doucet, announced that he was inviting members or ministers from other Atlantic Provinces and the federal government to join him in a symposium to deal with the potential impact of oil spills on Atlantic Canada’s seafood industry. Clearly, the minister of New Brunswick is concerned about this issue.

I ask the Minister of Fisheries today: If he has received this invitation, and if he will participate in this summit, and if so, can he tell us when and where it will take place?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. JACKMAN: Yes, Mr. Speaker, I did receive the invitation and will certainly be willing to attend any meeting. We will sit down with anyone to talk about issues related to the fishery.

Mr. Speaker, around the restructuring within this Province, the minister from New Brunswick acted in the manner that he did. In this Province, Mr. Speaker, we have much control over our own destiny. Therefore, Mr. Speaker, I again go back to a process of restructuring that is required within this Province. It is going to take commitment and true grit on behalf of the people that are involved in this entire process, Mr. Speaker.

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, there have been numerous housing announcements lately, but the minister in most cases is talking about money committed a year ago and allocated by last July under the Affordable Housing Initiative. Mr. Speaker, both the federal and provincial levels of government committed to three more years of that initiative, but we have heard nothing concrete so far this year.

So, Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister Responsible for Housing: Will he give us an update on the Affordable Housing Initiative and when the next proposal call will happen?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister Responsible for the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HEDDERSON: Mr. Speaker, in response to the member’s question from across the House. Again, this government certainly have invested over the last number of years significantly in social housing, both in maintenance, in renovation of our units, and of course the construction of new units.

With regard to our Affordable Housing Initiative with the federal government, it is not a one year thing, but we certainly have over the last two to three years now, basically been involved in that Affordable Housing Initiative. When it is finished this year, and perhaps even a little bit next year, we will have put, Mr. Speaker, close to 1,000 units in the system, affordable housing for our seniors and people with disabilities.

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, affordable housing groups across the Province were hoping that the government would provide bridging funds until the next phase of the Affordable Housing Initiative kicks in. The minister did not say that there is another phase, but there is supposed to be. So, Mr. Speaker, these groups have projects ready and they are waiting for funds to build more affordable housing which they were told was going to happen. If they do not start soon they could lose the construction season.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister: Will this government allocate bridging funds so that new affordable housing projects can be planned now while they are waiting for the announcement on the Affordable Housing Initiative?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister Responsible for the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HEDDERSON: Mr. Speaker, once again, as I pointed out, we have an ongoing Affordable Housing Initiative that is continuing year to year, and it is up to this particular year and into the future. We, as a government, will continue to invest in this Affordable Housing Initiative to make sure that we are meeting the needs that are out there.

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.

Another minister who has learned how to not answer questions.

Mr. Speaker, the Community Coalition on Housing and Homelessness –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Oh, oh!

MS MICHAEL: He did not.

The Community Coalition on Housing and Homelessness in Corner Brook says there is a serious lack of housing for seniors, students and people with disabilities and affordable housing in general. Mr. Speaker, Corner Brook has the lowest rental vacancy rate in Atlantic Canada at 0.4 per cent. Skilled workers and professionals that are needed in the Corner Brook economy are not moving there because housing is so unaffordable and scarce.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister: When will this government recognize that the shortage of affordable housing is affecting our economy and do something about it?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister Responsible for the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HEDDERSON: Mr. Speaker, again, I will pass over the fact that I am not getting up and answering questions. I believe that I have gotten up and answered the questions and clearly indicated –

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HEDDERSON: - the commitment that this government has put towards social housing. Now when you talk about affordable housing, you are in another sphere because you are talking about basically getting into rentals and that sort of thing. We are talking about, or at least I am talking about, the Minister Responsible for the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing which is about affordable housing, social housing and for people with incomes less than $32,500.

Now, if we want to go further, I will refer to the Minister of Education and talk about the thousands of units that are going in place for Grenfell and Memorial University when we talk about that. We will also talk about other ways that this government is certainly investing in the people of Newfoundland and Labrador and I will stand on my feet any time and…

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

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

MS MICHAEL: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.

I clearly, throughout each of my questions, talked about the Affordable Housing Initiative which this government is part of and he is the minister responsible.

Mr. Speaker, tenants across the Province are seeing their rents doubled and tripled, since he wants me to talk about rental housing, and some are being evicted without just cause by landlords who want to renovate and charge high-end rents. The Residential Tenancies Act allows landlords to do this while other provinces have placed limits on rent increases and evictions when rents start to go through the roof.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister: Will his government commit to making changes in the Residential Tenancies Act in order to bring us up to standards in other provinces with protection for renters?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Minister of Government Services.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. O’BRIEN: Yes, Mr. Speaker.

First, I would like to inform the hon. member that the Residential Tenancies Act is under total review, with the view of bringing it in line to current practices and best practices across all jurisdictions, but as well, we are having a look at rental control.

I have to correct the hon. member, there are very few provinces today have actually rental control legislation in place. They certainly found challenges in regard to that in the private sector but we are a government that researches our legislation, researches our opportunities. We recognize the need, we recognize that there are challenges out there in the market. Certainly, we will have a look at it over a period of time in a consultation process. We will take that period of time and then we will have a look at it over that.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The time allotted for questions and answers has expired.