News Release

Since she was first elected in 2011, St. John’s Centre MHA Gerry Rogers has been an outspoken advocate for the desperate need the province has for a strategy to address the many housing needs faced by the people of the province. A new report on homelessness in the capital city underscores the results of years of neglect by successive Liberal and Conservative governments.

Today in the House of Assembly, NDP MHAs continued efforts to get government to respond to questions about the conflict of interest controversy swirling around the former top public servant in the province. Bernard Coffey was conducting legal actions against public bodies while holding the position of Clerk of the Executive Council.

The National Day of Mourning, first created by the Canadian Labour Congress in 1984 and now observed in 100 countries around the world, serves as a reminder that workplaces continue to be dangerous, even as steady advances are made in legislation to protect workers.

One of the many realities not mentioned in the finance minister’s Budget Speech this year is the fact that government continues to ignore the desperate lack of licensed childcare spaces available in the province for working parents, says NDP Education and ECE Critic Lorraine Michael.

NDP Education Critic Lorraine Michael (MHA, St. John’s East-Quidi Vidi) says government is just paying lip service to pressing needs in the school system while doing as little as possible to fix the problem.

“The $500,000 announced in the budget for student assistants falls far short of what is needed for inclusive education,” said Michael.

Today in the House of Assembly, NDP caucus members continued questioning government ministers on Budget 2017. NDP MHAs Lorraine Michael (St. John’s East-Quidi Vidi) and Gerry Rogers (St. John’s Centre) probed a budget number which appears to point to massive layoffs, and asked about economic indicators.

Anyone listening only to government talking points could be excused for thinking that Budget 2017, delivered last week, was good news. However, aside from, some relief on the new gasoline tax, everything about the new budget is the same as the old one.

St. John’s Centre MHA Gerry Rogers is hosting an event billed as a “Town Hall Mash-Up” tomorrow evening. The event features “seniors and youth in conversation about where our province was, is and needs to go,” says Rogers.

The sale of publicly-owned property has been in the news lately, including the sale of the former Hoyles-Escasoni buildings and land in St. John’s, for just $650,000. Today in the House of Assembly, NDP MHAs tried to get answers on government’s stewardship of real estate assets.

As Budget Day looms in Newfoundland and Labrador, the NDP caucus is concerned there will be a repeat of last year’s kneejerk, short-sighted decisions that cut expenditures without any apparent regard for the future societal and economic harm that would be caused by the cuts. MHAs Lorraine Michael (St. John’s East-Quidi Vidi) and Gerry Rogers (St.