How excellent this water tastes!

From just one day's sitting of the Chamber of People's Sycophants.

Just one.

Is it Semi-Annual Cabinet Shuffle Time already?

MS JOHNSON: Where would we be today, Mr. Speaker, had we not done that? Abitibi would be gone off, they would be gone with our hydro assets and all the other assets, and we would still be stuck with the environmental issues today. Best move ever made by this Premier - and there have been lots of good moves certainly made by this Premier and this government, but by far, that was a very, very important issue that was tackled in a very quick time. Just to have the foresight to do that so that we were not stuck with all of the environmental issues, by far, one of the best things. Talk to the people of Grand Falls-Windsor and talk to the people of the other communities and they will certainly agree with the fact that this was one of the best moves that this government ever made.

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MR. T. OSBORNE: Now I will ask the Minister of Health, would he want to return to spending $34 million versus the $125 million we are spending today on health care facilities? Absolutely not!

MR. KENNEDY: No way.

MR. T. OSBORNE: Absolutely not! That is the reason the hospitals were falling apart, Mr. Speaker. That is the reason out in Corner Brook - the Minister of Finance and the Premier are replacing the hospital in Corner Brook and making arrangements for that, because that hospital is falling apart, the one that is out there today. Would you want to keep that hospital, I ask the Minister of Finance?

...

Let’s have a look, Mr. Speaker, at the provincial and territorial general government revenues. The total revenue in this Province, Mr. Speaker, in 2002 was $4,000,078,000. Today, Mr. Speaker, because of the leadership of our Premier, the leadership of our Cabinet and our caucus, today, Mr. Speaker, no, it is not $4,000,078,000, it is $7,000,545,000. That is incredible!

...

Well, let me tell you, Mr. Speaker, the facts and the figures, they speak for themselves. The wise leadership of our Premier, the wise leadership of our Cabinet and our caucus, Mr. Speaker, it speaks for themselves. Housing starts, Mr. Speaker, have seen a huge increase in this Province.

...

We have done better than any other province in Canada. Why, because we are lucky? Well, maybe a little bit; maybe that is part of it. Maybe that is part of it, but you know the answer –

AN HON. MEMBER: Making the right choices.

MR. T. OSBORNE: – and I know the answer. I know the answer. The minister for Labrador knows the answer, and the Minister of Justice, he knows the answer. Now the Member for Port de Grave, he just said he does not know the answer but I will tell you something, Mr. Speaker, the Member for St. John’s North he knows the answer. He knows the answer, the Member for Mount Pearl North, he knows the answer. Yes we have been a little bit lucky there is no doubt about it, we have been a little bit lucky but the reason we have come out better than any other province in Canada, Mr. Speaker, is because of the things we have done over the past six and a half years, the wise management, the leadership of our Premier. The decisions that our caucus and our cabinet have made, Mr. Speaker, those are the reasons that we have come out of this recession better than any other province in Canada. Those are the reasons.

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Now, ten years ago, Mr. Speaker, other provinces in Canada looked at Newfoundland and Labrador as the province that had our hand out, we always had our hand out looking for contributions from the feds. That is the way the rest of Canada looked at us. That is the way we were seen by the rest of Canada. We were always seen as being on the lamb, Mr. Speaker, always with our hand out. But that is not the way they see us anymore. Not only, Mr. Speaker, has our Premier instilled a sense of pride in Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, not only do we have pride in ourselves, Mr. Speaker, but the rest of the country is starting to see Newfoundland and Labrador in a different light. Do we want to go back to the way things were? No, absolutely not. Absolutely not.

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MR. O’BRIEN: The thing that I wanted to say in regard to finding where we were in 2003 as compared to where we are today is all about leadership, Mr. Speaker – it is all about leadership. It is all about taking this Province and having the backbone to stand up to other jurisdictions, up to the federal government, and the oil companies, or whatever had to happen, we had the backbone. We had a Premier that took the lead and the leadership in order to put this Province back on the right track to prosperity and also a future for our children’s children. That is what it is all about.

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As the hon. Member for St. John’s South referenced and referenced many times, do you want to go back into Liberal rule? No, we would not; absolutely not. I do not think we are going to go back there anytime soon regardless of a change in leadership, regardless in changes on the other side of the House, whatever they may do. They are having their AGM in Gander. I do not know where they are having it to because it will not fill the Gander Hotel for sure. Maybe, they are having it in a phone booth as I just heard my hon. colleague reference that they will have it in a phone booth, because I do not think there is anybody too interested when you have the most popular Premier in Canada, the most Premier, probably, of all time, really when history shows in the future in regard to where he has taken this Province in 2003-2004 to where we find ourselves today, which is in a very short period of time, reducing the debt by $3.7 billion, making these investments and with regard to the strategies.

I have heard this too, as well, in this House of Assembly; I have heard the members in the Opposition reference it is all about strategy and absolutely. As a matter of fact, this Premier demands a strategy. Before he goes forward he wants to see a strategy that stretches out where you are today and where you want to find yourself eight, ten, twelve, fourteen, fifteen years down the road in regard to the issue and the strategy that they are developing. That is called planning. That is called planning for the future. That is exactly what it is. That is exactly what we have to do. We have to plan, and plan, and plan, and plan.

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The main thrust of this government is the leadership provided by our Premier, Danny Williams. He is the one that has the vision, he is the one that had that vision, he is the one that continues to have that vision, and he will continue to have that. As a matter of fact, I will reference an article that was in the National Post this weekend in regard to our Premier, and in regard to the kind of person that he is. They also went down through it and that kind of stuff, and he made some remarks in regard to that particular article that I saw that made him and makes him what he is today, and how he appeals to Canadians and appeals to the average Joe that is on the street. They believe and they can see how genuine a person he is, in regard to his passion, not only for Newfoundland and Labrador – that is where it is centred to, absolutely, but also Canada as well. I think the National Post reporter asked him if he was interested in regard to the federal scene and becoming the Prime Minister of Canada, and I think he said that, listen, my focus is on Newfoundland and Labrador, I am at a certain age, and maybe I do not have time left in the old battery cells to go on to that, because by the time I finish maybe I should retire. I reference that and I say to myself I wish that we had availed of the Premier’s vision and his leadership back twenty years ago. Then, once he cleaned up Newfoundland and Labrador and got us on the right path and whatever he had to do there in regard to the leadership, well then he could certainly go up to Ottawa and probably clean up the mess that we have there as well.

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We have to continue to invest in infrastructure. We have to continue to invest in our programs. That is the reason why we ran a deficit this year. Certainly next year will show too that we will have leadership regardless – and regardless of an election year, we will invest wisely. That is exactly what we do: we invest wisely, we get a bang for our dollar, we get maximum value for our dollar, and that is what it is all about before we spend. That is what this government is known for. That is why we run in the polls in regard to what we see, in regard to the popularity of the Premier, the popularity of this party as the governing party of Newfoundland and Labrador. That is exactly what we do.

...

That is setback in some ways but as the Premier referenced, the decision is so bad that it is actually good because we can use the document now in the United States when we go down, or if the Premier actually goes down to meet with Governors and also in regard to the Maritime provinces. We will go through the appeal process in regard to the courts in Quebec and the Supreme Court of Canada. As referenced by the Premier, we are not going to wait for that either in regard to developing of the Lower Churchill. We are going to move forward on the Lower Churchill. We were doing two parallel things in regard to that development all at the same time with research in regard to the Maritime route, along with the route through Quebec which I cannot believe in regard to the decision that was made. That is it; that is the way Quebec governs itself and that is all that is to it. In the meantime, we will move forward on that and whatnot.

We saw the Premier come home with $2 billion in regard to the Atlantic Accord. I heard the Opposition reference that $2 billion. They believe that it certainly put us on the path to prosperity. They put the value on that $2 billion in regard to all the things that you see and all the good things that you see happening throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, which is as far from the truth as I ever heard because it is all about strategically investing; that is what it is all about.

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MR. HUTCHINGS: At that time, we spoke of and this government spoke of, Mr. Speaker, a new approach to government and economic self-reliance. We know we have done that in terms of the Premier of this government, initiatives over the past number of years, working to be self-reliant, certainly being a have Province, and putting our financial house in order. That was an initiative of this government back in 2003. We have worked hard towards it and continue to work towards it and this Budget continues that process, Mr. Speaker.

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Certainly, I will speak to those in a second, Mr. Speaker, but we continue to do that in terms of expenditures whether it is in education, whether it is in health care, just right across the board, Mr. Speaker, as well, too, to make sure that we take our rightful place in Confederation. We maximize the benefits we receive through the federal government. We play a partners role, and I think in terms of being masters of our own destiny and doing what we as a Province feel we need to do. We have certainly been there and continue to do that under the leadership of the Premier, Mr. Speaker.