Budget 2016

As MUN students protested proposed tuition and fee changes, NDP Caucus members said that a series of government decisions has downloaded the costs of Muskrat Falls to students and their families.

As the House of Assembly resumed for the Spring Session, NDP House Leader Lorraine Michael (MHA, St. John’s East-Quidi Vidi) had strong words for government’s approach to employment. Not only is government harming the economy by laying people off, she says, but its lack of planning and action means the situation will be even worse.

As hundreds of workers gather in St. John’s for the Federation of Labour’s annual convention, NDP House Leader Lorraine Michael (MHA, St. John’s East-Quidi Vidi) asked questions in the House of Assembly about election promises made about cutting public sector jobs, and the post-election reality.

The NDP Critic for the Status of Women wants to see what exactly were the results of the gender analyses the Minister says were applied to recent government legislation. Gerry Rogers (MHA, St. John’s Centre) asked for those results today in the House of Assembly.

NDP Education Critic Lorraine Michael (MHA, St. John’s East-Quidi Vidi) thinks the Liberals’ oft-repeated claims of having done budget populations with 500,000 people (meaning all the people in the province) need to be down-sized.

Michael’s questions in the House of Assembly today focused on the turmoil Budget 2016 has caused in the K-12 school system.

A government amendment completely reversed the original intent of an NDP private member’s motion, so NDP MHAs found themselves in the unusual position of being forced to vote “nay” on their own Private Member’s Day. House Leader Lorraine Michael (MHA, St. John’s East-Quidi Vidi) had tabled the motion, which would have given all members of the House a chance to vote against the Liberal Levy.

NDP House Leader Lorraine Michael (MHA, St. John’s East-Quidi Vidi) has a Private Member’s Motion today in the House of Assembly and she’s calling on the premier to allow a free vote. If approved, the motion would immediately eliminate the levy, which has been the focal point for some of the most outraged protests of an unpopular budget.

Today in the House of Assembly, MHAs have the opportunity to vote for or against dropping the idea of an unfair levy on the province’s taxpayers. The Liberal Levy has sparked outrage throughout the province.

Budget 2016 has once again cut funding for the province's libraries. This time, the Liberals are closing 54 libraries, almost all of them in rural areas.

The closures leave up to 15% of residents more than a 30-minute drive from a library. Thousands of people -- children, seniors, families, people needing Internet access -- will now be unable to acess a library at all.

The NDP Critic for the Status of Women says government is failing the women of the province by refusing to take seriously their many equality concerns. St. John’s Centre MHA Gerry Rogers says the most recent example is the debate surrounding the Liberals’ flagship legislation to create an independent commission to oversee appointments to government agencies, boards, and commissions.