Mr. Speaker, this is my first speech outside of questions and comments. It is my turn to reply to the Speech from the Throne, but before I begin, I want to thank the constituents of Coast of Bays—Central—Notre Dame for giving me the honour to be here. I want to thank the former constituents of Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor for providing the last 11 and a half years of representation.
I would be remiss if I did not congratulate one particular individual who will be here this week, and that is Mr. Dwight Ball, who recently won the election and is now the premier designate of Newfoundland and Labrador. I want to wish him all the best, as well as his new cabinet and the new government. I look forward to working with them.
Over the past little while, as I travelled around, primarily through central Newfoundland, certainly in the past three months throughout the election, the discussion was more about openness. Discussion in Newfoundland and Labrador took on a theme of getting back to business, getting back to governing, getting back to listening, and getting back to providing people with investments, with hope, and with clarity so they could get on with their lives and they, their children, and their grandchildren could succeed.
For Newfoundland and Labrador, it was very adversarial, going way back to the mid-2000s when we had what was then called the ABC campaign, the “anybody but Conservative” campaign in Newfoundland and Labrador. One would expect a Liberal or NDP government at the time waging war against the Conservatives, but, in fact, it was the Conservative Party of Newfoundland and Labrador that waged that war against the Conservatives of Ottawa. This gives people an idea of the kind of situation with which we were faced. Now that I think about it, they were Progressive Conservatives in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Throughout the debate on the Speech from the Throne, I have heard many themes that are of particular interest to me and my constituents, for several reasons. For many years, particularly in central Newfoundland, one of the greatest exports, as most people would know, has been in the seafood industry, whether it be cod, crab, shrimp, mackerel, all other species throughout the area. It has been a fantastic export and has sustained the 140 communities in my riding for over 500 years. Mining and forestry are also a big part of that. However, lately we have seen a far greater export come on the scene, and that is the export of skilled trades.
Back in 1992, the greatest layoff in Canadian history took place when the fishery was closed in Newfoundland and Labrador. Millions of people were out of work at that time. The goal was to re-educate. The goal was to create colleges, to bring money to invest in skills so people could transition to making a living and help the communities survive.
At the time, there was a lot of contention about it. People said that by doing this, there could not be five carpenters or five salons in a town of about 20 people, that it was just not possible. At that time, the colleges were becoming bigger and adapting to the world market, not just the Canadian market, and that is key.
Now people who live in my riding spend weeks at a time flying to places like Nigeria, Russia, Norway, all over Northern Africa, and, of course, Alberta and Saskatchewan, with the trades they have acquired. I bring all of that up because the only reason people were able to survive and flourish through the recession of 2008 was because the province was able to export its people, their trades, their skills and their talents.
The only way that happened was because back in 1992 to 1996, we were able to have a discussion about what would be best for not just those who were laid off in the fishery but for those who followed. Their children and grandchildren are now benefiting from the investments that were made back then.
That brings me to today with regard to infrastructure. We are doubling up on an infrastructure investment for a very good reason. We are investing not just in roads, bridges, and Internet connectivity, we are also investing in the future of our youth to provide them with the facilities, the jobs, and the skills that follow.
There is a myriad of opportunities presented in the Speech from the Throne that I am so proud of for several reasons, such as the well-being of Canadians and a new health accord.
I spoke earlier about the ABC campaign and how tumultuous it was, not just with my province but with other provinces as well. I mean, God forbid the prime minister of our country would have a discussion with the premiers. It seems like that was sacrosanct for a while. It was almost to the point where we took for granted that we could not have an open discussion within one room among three territorial leaders, the premiers of 10 provinces and one prime minister. This used to happen all the time. I remember the days when we would see former Prime Minister Trudeau and others, even Brian Mulroney, a true Conservative, have these discussions, but they just disappeared, and nobody had these discussions anymore. This is why the Conservatives get angry when we talk about having a discussion with the provinces. They know they could not get that part done. Nor did they want to.
I will get back to the health accord and the cuts that were made to the health accord. The one that was done ran out in 2010. In many cases, the wait times were reduced in 2005 when we brought this in. We also looked at a more generous home care, which is also in our platform and which I look forward to as well.
I want to get to something else that happens in Atlantic Canada. It is about employment insurance, but not just employment insurance. This is about seasonal work. It is about people who engage in seasonal work, not just in Atlantic Canada but all over the country, in construction, forestry, farming, the agriculture sector, and fishing. We know that many places need the workers, which is why many avail themselves of the temporary foreign workers program. However, the employment insurance program did not help either.
What bothered me the most in the last session was that people who were on employment insurance were treated as those who wanted to milk the system for what they could get out of it. However, employment insurance represented a way of life, because they wanted to succeed in their communities and it allowed industries to succeed. It is not just the people on employment insurance who needed it the most, but companies also needed it as well because they needed the workers. However, that discussion never took place.
In the last session I served as the democratic reform critic, and I am very proud of what has been said so far on our democratic institutions. The reason why I am proud is that we made a commitment regarding the first past the post system, because it does not work for most Canadians. We decided that it was time for us to have a national discussion.
We know that discussions took place in British Columbia, Ontario and Prince Edward Island. It was a great exercise for many people, because they had to learn about our system and how we elected our representatives in a truly democratic and responsible way. Many ideas did not get off the ground, and the fundamental changes were not made. However, if that is the case, why can we not, as a federal government, make that discussion possible coast to coast to coast? It is about time that happened. We know we have the status quo. We know another party wants to have a particular type of proportional representation.
We decided to have this open discussion with people who had never had that discussion before. In Newfoundland and Labrador, we have never had a provincial discussion based on what type of system we would like to transition to, if we chose to do that. Therefore, what I like about this is that we will undergo a process that allows Canadians to have that discussion. It may be with premiers. It may be with certain groups such as Fair Vote Canada and others. At least the discussion will be one that will be responsible.
The first thing I learned when I came here in 2004 was to listen far more than talk, and right now I will leave it at that.