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

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, we have been receiving a number of complaints related to delays in receiving heart surgery in this Province. The most recent incident involves an individual who has been waiting for emergency surgery for six weeks. Each time he was scheduled for surgery it has been cancelled at the last minute. He was even sedated last week when he was advised that the surgery would not take place. The family has been told that these delays are as a result of the lack of beds in the intensive care unit.

I ask the minister: Is, in fact, a lack of intensive care beds at the Health Sciences Centre resulting in cancellation of life-saving heart surgeries?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, one of the areas in which we are doing well in terms of wait times is cardiac by-pass surgery. Last week, in the Wait Times Alliance report, there were a couple of areas that we were not doing so well in, but, Mr. Speaker, what happens, it is my understanding that we try to have the surgeries completed within the benchmark of 180 days. What will happen is that individuals are called in, their surgery is scheduled but it may be postponed based on other more critical surgeries that need to done, whether emergencies arise and the number of beds available.

Mr. Speaker, I will say however, that in terms of the cardiac surgeries that we have, the 182 day benchmark, we are certainly reaching our target in that area and that there are certain influences that result in surgeries being delayed.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, this is not the only incident that has been brought to our attention over the past couple of weeks. It appears that this is becoming a trend and will become an even bigger problem now that summer hours have started and heart surgeries will be reduced from four to two per day. Doctors are frustrated but they have little recourse available to them.

I ask the minister: What is being done to address this growing problem and ensure that individuals needing this surgery receive it in a timely manner?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, Mr. Speaker.

Currently, the Province has three full-time cardiac surgeons who perform all of the cardiac surgeries in the Province. They do it at the Health Sciences Centre.

Mr. Speaker, for example, I can give you some of the reasons why there have been, what I will refer to as same-day cancellations over the last period of time. The hon. member is right, that there were forty-one cancelled due to there being no ICU bed available. Three of them were cancelled due to no bed being available on one of the units. Some were cancelled, Mr. Speaker, on the basis that the first surgical case of the day was too long. One was cancelled due to a patient refusing surgery. Thirteen were cancelled due to no available ICU staff, and five were cancelled due to a patient’s condition.

So, Mr. Speaker, there are a number of factors that contribute to these same-day surgeries being cancelled. It is an issue that is certainly being looked at. I have discussed it with my officials and we are trying to determine what can be done to ensure that individuals who are coming in to have their surgery done can have it done on the date scheduled.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, the minister talked about wait times and how we are doing pretty good reaching targets when it comes to cardiac surgery. Well, Mr. Speaker, having the minister talk about wait times does nothing to help these families who require immediate surgery.

In light of the fact that these problems will only get worse in the coming months when we are on summer hours, I ask the minister: Do you have a plan to ensure that people who need this immediate attention will get such in a timely fashion, and is government prepared to look at or are you looking at sending people out of the Province if necessary to address this urgent need?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, Mr. Speaker.

The department has recently received correspondence from Eastern Health with regard to the funding of two new cardiac surgeons who have been recruited to replace two of the existing surgeons who will be retiring over the next few years.

Mr. Speaker, there is a process, I understand, that takes place once a diagnosis of coronary artery diagnosis has been confirmed. The patients are referred to a review committee. Then, Mr. Speaker, the treatment options are discussed and a decision is made regarding surgery, and a surgical list of patients is prioritized. The national benchmark that is set, Mr. Speaker, is one that we try to certainly comply with and we have been complying with that.

However, I do accept what the member opposite is saying, that there are difficulties; that someone who is waiting to receive surgery is told that it is going to be cancelled that same day. There is certainly an anxiety there, there is no question about that, Mr. Speaker, and we will continuously look at new ways to deal with this. In fact, as of Friday last week, I met with a number of officials in my department, told them I was not satisfied with the progress we were making on wait times and I wanted to see further progress and new ideas brought forward.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Mr. Speaker, I guess we are no further ahead if we have two coming to replace the two that are leaving. It is pretty well the status quo, and that, again, does not give much comfort to those who need the surgery.

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I read the Wait Times Alliance report closely and I can indicate to the member opposite that the issue of the Web site will be rectified as soon as possible. Mr. Speaker, that also the updating of information is something that will be - further emphasises will be placed upon.

Mr. Speaker, in Budget 2010 we outlined a number of ways to reduce wait times in terms of investments of money. Such as, Mr. Speaker, increasing the number of operating rooms, $1.1 million; $348,000 to help reduce CT wait times; $150,000 for two new speech pathologists. Mr. Speaker, we have invested money to operate the MRI services in Central Newfoundland; a $1.15 million to enhance surgical services at Western Memorial Hospital.

So, we invested for this year, Mr. Speaker, $4.7 million in reducing wait times. There is obvious – there is other work that has to be done. As I indicated on Friday past, I had my officials together, indicated that there will be a committee put in place within the department, a special division to address the wait times issues; that whatever resources were required by that division will be provided to them and that we will continue to address this very serious issue.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. KELVIN PARSONS: Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, I guess notwithstanding the investments, we still fare very, very poorly on the report card. We have a lot left to do.

Mr. Speaker, every day we receive phone calls from individuals who are very concerned with the amount of time it takes to receive their treatments and surgeries. Unfortunately, as confirmed by the alliance in their report, it is very difficult to get information from this government.

I ask the minister: What actions will you now take from this report to ensure your department’s lack of accountability to the people of this Province when it comes to reporting and reducing the wait times?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Mr. Speaker, all of the e-mails that are sent to my e-mail address come through. None are filtered out, and I can tell you that a lot of them deal with wait times.

I understand, Mr. Speaker, the frustration, the anxiety, the stress of waiting to have a surgical procedure performed, but, Mr. Speaker, the situation is not as dire as the hon. member opposite would have us believe. For example, in hip and knee replacement where we fared very poorly, in Central Health they were 94.7 per cent and 89.7 per cent; Western Health, 100 per cent on hips and 93.3 per cent on knees; in Eastern Health we ran into a problem.

Also, I understand, Mr. Speaker, that in Lab-Grenfell the numbers are suppressed in that we do not have enough surgeries being performed. That is an issue I am going to have to ask Lab-Grenfell to look at considering we have four general surgeons in St. Anthony, and apparently, we also have a hip and knee surgeon. So certainly, we have to look at all of these issues and determine what is going on.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

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

Let’s talk about some of the areas that government does report on. Mr. Speaker, every quarter, this government puts out a press release trying to convince people that they have a handle on wait times in this Province for health procedures. The problem with this approach, as identified in this report, is that the Province only highlights five priority areas, a far cry from the hundreds of complex procedures offered in our health care system. The alliance feels that this reporting must be expanded to include other areas beyond these five priority areas.

I ask the minister: Why doesn’t this government report on other areas to ensure that we receive a true picture and that a true picture is given on the entire health care system in this Province, rather than the five areas that you highlight?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

It is my understanding that the Wait Time Alliance was formed in 2004 and it is consortium of fourteen national medical speciality societies and the Canadian Medical Association. The Wait Time Alliance’s goal, Mr. Speaker, is to improve wait times in five priority benchmarked areas, being: radiation, cardiac bypass, cataracts, diagnostics, and hip and knee replacement.

So, in addition to the national benchmarks which are set, Mr. Speaker, they have also established consensus-based wait time targets in the following areas, such as: obstetrics, gynaecology, emergency gastroenterology, et cetera.

Mr. Speaker, the ministers get together, and the federal government, a number of years ago, said we will provide money, you have to deal with certain – what wait times are you going to address as a priority. In this particular Province, Mr. Speaker, and you remember earlier this year we signed an agreement with the other provinces if we could not reach the benchmarks in radiation therapy that we would send people outside of the Province.

Mr. Speaker, what we have here –

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

The hon. the Opposition House Leader.

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

Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Paediatric Surgical Wait Times Project show that, on average, one-third of children receive surgery past acceptable wait times. The report states, and I quote, "…delays beyond critical times during a child’s development may result in a lifelong disability."

I ask the minister: What is this government doing to address these unacceptable wait times in this Province in paediatric surgery?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Yes, Mr. Speaker, I think if the hon. member had read the report closer he would see that a lot of the criticism in relation to these wait times are outside the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Mr. Speaker, the paediatric section of the report highlights that 73 per cent of children in this country receive surgery within the benchmarks set by the paediatric group; so that is a B grade. There are more than 17,000 waiting longer, Mr. Speaker.

In this Province, it is not an issue here with some of these surgeries, because they undergo surgical treatment - and there are no children currently waiting for either strabismus, which is wandering eye, or cleft lip-palate. There is no one waiting at this point in time for either of these procedures at the Janeway Hospital. So, Mr. Speaker, we are certainly doing well on the paediatric side, and the issues highlighted are certainly serious, but seem to be a bigger problem in the rest of the country.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

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

I say to the minister, I did read the report and read it very carefully. Actually, the more you read it, the scarier it gets when it comes to some of these procedures in this Province.

Mr. Speaker, on June 8, we questioned the Minister of Environment relating to infrastructure in Placentia Bay to deal with oil spills, including tugboat services that would be required. The minister did not seem to have any information at that time, or interested enough to challenge the federal government on their oil spill response preparedness and the infrastructure needed to react to a spill. We learned last evening, through a CBC story, that Transport Canada actually relaxed the rules related to tugboat services in Placentia Bay in April of this year. The FFAW has expressed concern as to what this could mean in the event of a spill.

I ask the minister: Were you aware of these changes, and if so, why did you not advise the House of Assembly of that information when you were questioned in this House three weeks ago?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, this is certainly a concern of ours. Anything that happens in the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, particularly in Placentia Bay for the fisherpeople and the people who live in and around it, certainly is a concern of ours.

Mr. Speaker, when I did hear this, I put a call in to the federal Minister of Transport Canada. They have graciously accepted to take a call from us tomorrow. They are very receptive to the concerns we have, and I will be speaking with them on this tomorrow.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

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

Over the past several weeks, we have seen the damage that can occur when a major oil spill takes place. Placentia Bay has been identified as the most likely place in Canada for an oil spill to take place, and it is predicted that an oil spill in the range of 10,000 barrels will likely occur there within the next thirty years.

I ask the minister: In light of these concerning statistics, why would any changes be allowed that would weaken the oil response in Placentia Bay; and why have you not been involved in this prior to now when somebody brings it to your attention?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker, we are very involved. Of course, the Department of Environment and Conservation and the Department of Natural Resources are very involved in this. As the hon. member opposite would know, the Minister of Natural Resources and government commissioned Captain Mark Turner to do a complete review; included in that review will be Placentia Bay.

Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned in the House before, we also participate on REET, which is the Regional Environmental Emergencies Team, and that is a very comprehensive team. There is a lot of information sharing that happens there. Certainly, if anything should happen, we would be on the ground to help out in any way possible we can.

The key, Mr. Speaker, is prevention. I have had discussions with the Coast Guard, with the federal minister’s office, and the Minister of Transport Canada’s office in ensuring that all of the policies and the procedures that they have in place are certainly acceptable.

Mr. Speaker, this review that is being done by Captain Mark Turner will certainly capture all of that. If there is anything we can do to make our waters safer here, we will certainly do it (inaudible).

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. BUTLER: Mr. Speaker, the Save Our People Action Committee, it is my understanding, met with government today to discuss the ways of addressing issues related to moose-vehicle collisions. I have to say, this is not the first time that the committee has brought forward issues to the government in trying to get some concrete action to address this problem.

I ask the minister: Did you commit to any new concrete measures or investments that will help address the growing issue in our Province?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MS JOHNSON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Yes, the Minister of Natural Resources, the Minister of Transportation and Works, and myself and officials did meet with the committee this morning. It was a lengthy meeting. We had a good discussion for almost two hours.

It was a really good opportunity to share information, to report back to the committee as to the work we have been doing. We have been doing a lot of research with other jurisdictions. I gave them some more information in terms of the moose management plan that we intend to do consultations on in the near future. We explained some further information in terms of the moose management and licensing regime. There were also discussions around fencing, and clearly, the Minister of Transportation and Works highlighted all of the work we are doing in terms of brush cutting around the Province and he showed them areas where they have identified as priorities and we have done.

We have listened to them and we have committed to having further discussions and keeping the communication lines open.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. BUTLER: Mr. Speaker, I want to say I am glad the meeting went well.

Mr. Speaker, the committee has brought forward a number of proposals to the government in the past and my understanding according to the media yesterday they were bringing forward eight additional recommendations at this meeting. I was just wondering if any of the issues that have been discussed with regard to including fencing of dangerous sections of our highway or the establishment of the 1-800 number to try and bring the report on nuisance moose on our highways.

I ask the minister: Have they committed to implementing any of the options that have been brought forward by SOPAC?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. HEDDERSON: Yes, Mr. Speaker, we spoke on any number of strategies that would be possible perhaps to make the roads safer with regard to moose-vehicle accidents.

With regard to fencing, obviously that is under review now as we look at the success or lack of success in other jurisdictions and, of course, presented back to the committee today that fencing does entail a lot of challenges, given our geography, given our snowfall, given the road system that is here in Newfoundland and Labrador. We did make a commitment, Mr. Speaker, to the committee that we would be undertaking the proper research to look at the suggestions that they brought forward. We will keep in constant communication with them and report back any progress or any information that is applicable to this particular issue.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. BUTLER: Mr. Speaker, we have in the past heard a lot of rhetoric from government on their plans to address the problem of moose-vehicle collisions in this Province, but I have to say, to date we have not seen a lot of action. I know each and every week that goes by we hear talk of accidents where people’s lives are changed due to serious injuries.

So, I ask the minister: When will the people of this Province see some real action from this government on the moose problem in Newfoundland and Labrador?

MR. SPEAKER: The hon. the Premier.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Mr. Speaker, the people of the Province are seeing some action. I received a letter from a family who had been travelling along the highway, it said: Hi Danny, I just wanted to express my deep appreciation to you and the workers of the Department of Transportation -

MR. SPEAKER: Order, please!

I ask the hon. Premier to paraphrase the letter or to just sum up the content of the letter but not to read directly.

The hon. the Premier.

PREMIER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

They indicated that they were passing along the highway, in the Kona Beach area when a moose came out. Basically, the bottom line on the correspondence that was sent to me, the person said to me that it had been on their mind all day and they felt that they had to contact the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador to say thank you, and on behalf of their family and their coworkers and fellow Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, they expressed to me and to the rest of the members of government: Please continue to clear the brush along the highway because today it saved my life.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. BUTLER: Mr. Speaker, I have to concur with what the Premier said, no doubt clearing brush will really help but there is a lot of it that has to be done in various areas of the Province.

Mr. Speaker, the Seniors Resource Centre has been forced to cut two full-time positions and two part-time positions because of funding shortfalls. As a result, the Grocery Bus Program, the Lifelong Learners Program, the Seniors Bridging Cultures Program, and the Friday Friendship Program will have to be cut. The resource centre has asked government for help in addressing these shortfalls but has yet to get a response.

I ask the minister: Is government willing to provide any additional funding so that those programs can be maintained?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. KENNEDY: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is my understanding that the Seniors Resource Centre has a budget of approximately $600,000 to $700,000 per year that we provide them with a number of different grants. From my department there is, I think a $50,000 annualized funding and then another $45,000 for a community caregivers program. They also, Mr. Speaker, I understand receive some other money from government. The difficulty with it, Mr. Speaker, and I reviewed this with my officials last week, is that we have no real understanding as to what services they provide and what services other senior centres in this Province provide.

Mr. Speaker, we have numerous seniors organizations, we have seniors groups in every district. So what I have instructed my officials to do is to go back to the - give me a list of all the seniors organizations in this Province, who does what, what can be done by our senior’s office within the department, and to determine, Mr. Speaker, what exactly the role of the Seniors Resource Centre is today as compared to what it was when I think they started ten or twenty years ago.

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

MR. BUTLER: Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

It is a concern, because it was only last year the hon. members, one of his colleagues and myself attended the opening of the Seniors Resource Centre in Spaniard’s Bay. So it is not going back ten or fifteen years. This is a resource centre that was only opened last year.

Mr. Speaker, the biggest shortfall in funding comes from the federal government, and the Seniors Resource Centre certainly recognizes that there appears to be a change in culture within the federal system in providing grants to groups such as theirs.

I ask the minister: Is this a concern within the Office for Aging and Seniors, and if so, what is being done to address this change in the federal attitude and will the programs just disappear totally?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

The member opposite has certainly highlighted one of the difficulties that the Seniors Resource Centre finds themselves in today, and that is the cutting in federal funding. Unfortunately, what happens, Mr. Speaker, and I can remember having the conversation with the Seniors Resource Centre when they were going to open up a satellite office. I said: now, the federal government are going to give you funding, will it be sustainable? Of course, it was not, and now they come to us.

What we are doing to do, Mr. Speaker, in both the Office for Aging and Seniors, and in consultation with the development of our long-term care strategy and community service strategy, is look at the services that are provided by various groups to ensure that there is no overlap. Obviously, Mr. Speaker, we are committed to our seniors as a government. We have made gigantic strides, Mr. Speaker, $200,000 recently in Age-Friendly Grants. What we have to do is look at, how can we deliver the services as efficiently and effectively as possible to most of the seniors in this Province and not necessarily support one single group?

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

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

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

Reports on labour negotiations between Nalcor and the IBEW indicate that talks are going badly. So badly, in fact, that representatives of the IBEW Local 1615 are talking about their first ever strike against Newfoundland and Labrador Hydro. A major stumbling block appears to be Nalcor’s refusal to accept government’s standard template offer of 20 per cent. According to government statements at the time, this 20 per cent template offer was not optional. The minister was very clear, every public service union was offered this deal and no other deal would be considered.

Can the minister provide an update on these negotiations, and will Nalcor be required to abide by government’s 20 per cent template offer?

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, the Opposition House Leader is absolutely correct, negotiations are ongoing. Those negotiations, Mr. Speaker, are arm’s-length from government. They are between Nalcor and their employees. We encourage both of them to work diligently towards coming to a resolution of the issues. Other than that, Mr. Speaker, I do not have any comment to make on this matter.

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, since 1985 government has received recommendations to make the Human Rights Commission truly independent by making it an agency answerable to the House of Assembly. In 2009, the Auditor General, himself the head of an independent agency answerable to the House, outlined the importance of the commissioners being truly independent.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister of Justice: Why is government still refusing to give the Human Rights Commission true independence?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. F. COLLINS: Mr. Speaker, the Human Rights Commission has been compared to the Child and Youth Advocate’s Office and the office of the chief representative, who report to the House of Assembly. These groups, Mr. Speaker, are oversight groups that deal with complaints against the practices, services and policies of government. The Human Rights Commission, on the other hand, Mr. Speaker, deal with the rights and complaints of individuals. Government is not necessarily the focus of these complaints.

Mr. Speaker, as far as the government is concerned and the Human Rights Commission itself is concerned, the system is working fine as it is and that is the way it will stay.

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.

Mr. Speaker, in his 2008 report, the Auditor General spoke to some serious systemic issues related to the functioning of the Human Rights Commission and to something that the minister has just referenced.

There were concerns regarding a perceived conflict of interest when the commission has to hear cases in which government is named as a respondent. So, while the commission has a broader field of area to cover, it also covers cases when the government is a respondent.

The problem is that with these new amendments to the act the minister continues to control the commission’s funding, another potential source of conflict of interest. Mr. Speaker, there still is time to make change as we have not yet passed this bill.

So I ask the minister if he would do some more thinking about this issue because the potential for conflict of interest is there and was identified by the Auditor General.

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. F. COLLINS: Mr. Speaker, if I recall the gist of the report by the Auditor General dealt with a matter of resources that the commission was experiencing several backlogs, did not have the resources to do the job and so on. Since that time, Mr. Speaker, we have invested $500,000 this year alone to provide two extra lawyers and a human rights specialist. We have also put $100,000 into public education. The budget now, Mr. Speaker, of the Human Rights Commission is $1.2 million.

I think, Mr. Speaker, the concerns that were raised by the Auditor General have now been alleviated. Plus the fact there has not been one complaint to date about the independence being in jeopardy with that commission.

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.

I would suggest to the minister that he not cherry pick from the Auditor General’s report. Yes, the resource was one issue but the issue of conflict of interest was also an issue that the Auditor General spoke to.

Mr. Speaker, the United Nations adopted a new definition of disability which Canada recognized when we signed a convention on the rights of persons with disabilities in 2007. This new model recognizes that a disability is not something that resides in the individual as the result of some impairment but should be seen as the result of the interaction between a person and his or her environment.

Mr. Speaker, the minister knows this. He knows that is in the UN declaration, yet decided not to include this more modern, inclusive definition in the code.

So I ask the minister: Why wouldn’t the government adopt this new definition?

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. F. COLLINS: Mr. Speaker, the department took its direction on the issue of disability from the disability office of this government, which is the proper place to take that direction.

Mr. Speaker, it took the form of several discussions back and forth with the disability office. We looked at a number of jurisdictions. After a lot of consultation and a lot of toing and froing, the consensus of opinion was that the definition of disability that we now have in the act was the best one to go with, and that is the one we did.

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.

I am so glad we are better than the United Nations.

Mr. Speaker, transgendered people experience some of the highest rates of violence and discrimination in Canada. Recent human rights cases demonstrate that unless gender identity is specifically included as a prohibited ground of discrimination, the ability of transgendered persons to access employment rights, parental rights, health care, and even basic safety will continue to be challenged.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister of Justice if he will consider amending this bill to include gender identity as a prohibited ground of discrimination in the act.

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

SOME HON. MEMBERS: Hear, hear!

MR. F. COLLINS: Mr. Speaker, transgendered identity is an evolving issue, and it has a long ways to go before we can pin it down to a definition in an act. In the discussions that we had on this issue, from the other jurisdictions across the country, there was no way you could pin down and define a transgendered identity for the purpose of this act. Mr. Speaker, we were also convinced and persuaded by the Human Rights Commission that any transgendered identity issues can be done under the provision of sex.

MR. SPEAKER: The time allotted for questions and answers has expired.