Budget 2015

The NDP critic for Advanced Education and Skills says that while a great deal of attention has deservedly been paid to impending tuition hikes at Memorial University because of a cut in government funding, people should also be concerned about the proposed increase in university residence fees.

NDP Housing critic Gerry Rogers (MHA, St. John’s Centre) is appalled that Newfoundland & Labrador Housing is considering selling off assets at a time when affordable housing is in short supply, shelters are blocked, and community groups are starved for space.

The NDP critic for Advanced Education and Skills returned in Question Period to a topic she first raised last week in the House.

NDP Health Critic Lorraine Michael (MHA, Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi) wants government to come clean: Is the province headed for a single health board, similar to the single English-language school board imposed on students, teachers and parents in 2013?

NDP Business & Rural Development critic George Murphy (MHA, St. John’s East) was told just this morning that visitors marking the centenary of a historic battle in the first world war will not have the opportunity to see a statue of a caribou, similar to the one in Bowring Park in St. John’s, and the five erected at other World War I battle sites in Europe.

NDP Health Critic Lorraine Michael (MHA, Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi) wants to know exactly what government means when it talks about “consolidating” portions of the province’s health authorities. Michael asked today in the House of Assembly whether government is actually talking about privatizing the administration of things like payroll, information technology, finance and purchasing.

NDP Justice and Mental Health Critic Gerry Rogers (MHA, St. John’s Centre) says government has taken a giant step backwards in adequately treating people with mental illnesses. She says neither the Waterford Hospital nor Her Majesty’s Penitentiary is physically suitable for implementing the Recovery Model, widely acknowledge as therapeutic best practice for mental health.

The NDP Critic for Advanced Education and Skills is appalled that government has told the province’s university to make students pay for budgetary shortfalls. Lorraine Michael (MHA, Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi) says Memorial University’s Board of Regents is being asked to approve a budget that reflects a $21 million cut in government grants.

NDP Mental Health critic Gerry Rogers (MHA, St. John’s Centre) pushed the Health Minister today in the House of Assembly for clarification on one of the responses he gave yesterday in Question Period. She says the Waterford Hospital is Canada’s oldest hospital, and long overdue for replacement.

NDP Parliamentary Leader Lorraine Michael (MHA, Signal Hill-Quidi Vidi) says if government thinks numbers are important, it should look at all of them before making decisions. In Question Period today, she started by asking the premier to explain comments he had made.