INVESTING STRATEGICALLY TO STRENGTHEN OUR PROVINCE

Tourism, Culture and Recreation

Mr. Speaker, no area of economic development is more promising or exciting than the celebration and promotion of our culture. It is through our culture that we can teach our children who they are and who they can become. It is through our culture that we can continue to attract tourists from around the globe to experience what is truly unique and worthwhile about Newfoundland and Labrador.

This year, we are investing in the promotion and development of our culture in ways that will empower our children and liberate our artists to seize new opportunities for growth.

On June 29, 2005, we will open one of the most unique and exciting cultural facilities in Canada. The Rooms will house the Archives, Art Gallery, and Museum of Newfoundland and Labrador. They will offer a combination of excellent programs and services, together with effective educational and public outreach programs, to make the institution relevant and meaningful for every child and adult in our province. The $6 million in operational funding that we are providing this year is a tangible example of our government’s commitment to securing and celebrating our rich and dynamic culture.

Support for our artists, heritage groups and provincial cultural events helps maintain the creative energies of many of our stakeholders and sustain them as they contribute to the cultural fabric of our province. In order to support cultural industries, we will provide $1.6 million this year for the province’s Cultural Economic Development Program, a 25% increase over last year. The program provides support for arts and heritage organizations, marketing, professional development, and capacity building. Of this amount, $205,000 will be allocated to support heritage sites and organizations, and $100,000 will be provided for a new Literary Assistance Program designed to assist writers and publishers with the development and production of indigenous works.

The music industry is one of the fastest growing and strongest components of a vibrant arts sector in the province. In recognition of the need to strengthen and build further capacity within the Music Industry Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, our government provided $200,000 last year. To build on the success of 2004, funding of $200,000 will be made available again this year.

Supporting creative people and bringing stability to the conditions under which they work is a key building block of celebrating our identity and fostering creativity. In 2005, the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, which is such an important source of support for our province’s artists, will celebrate its 25th anniversary. Our government’s total contribution to the Arts Council in Budget 2005 is $900,000.

In recognition of the increased potential of the film industry in the province, we will allocate $2.3 million to the Newfoundland and Labrador Film Development Corporation to fulfill its mandate to foster and promote the development and growth of the film and video industry in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Budget 2005 also includes an enhanced Film and Video Industry Tax Credit, which will allow the province’s growing film and video industry to compete effectively with other provinces in Canada.

In recognition of the importance of preserving and promoting the distinctive architecture of our heritage buildings, we are providing $250,000 to the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador this year to continue its important work.

To fully capitalize on the boundless tourism opportunities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, it is vital that we do more to showcase the wide range of sites and events that we have to offer. In our Blueprint, we committed to increase the tourism marketing budget by $1 million per year until it is on par with those of our Atlantic counterparts. To keep our promise, we will provide another $1 million this year, on top of the $1 million last year, to bring our province’s tourism marketing expenditures to $8 million.

Nowhere are the prospects for growing our tourism industry more promising than in Labrador. Along the Trans-Labrador Highway, along the coast and in the new Torngat Mountains National Park, the opportunities for tourism are phenomenal. Destination Labrador is a non-profit organization comprising industry and federal and provincial representatives from all regions of Labrador. The organization is seeking $1.38 million in cost-shared funding over three years to implement a marketing and product development program focused on market readiness. Our province will fulfil its commitment to Destination Labrador by providing $300,000 over the next three years. We know the private sector will rise to the occasion and we encourage the Government of Canada to provide its support for this valuable work.

An important aspect of our culture and a significant generator of tourism activity is our province’s legacy of excellence in sport and recreation. Sport Newfoundland and Labrador and the Rugby Union have advanced a proposal involving the cost-shared construction of a new $4.3 million Provincial Training Centre. Our government is the first funding partner to confirm its investment in the project. We are prepared to step up to the plate with our share of $1.3 million over the next two years to make this facility a reality. We are confident that Sport Newfoundland and Labrador and the Rugby Union will provide their share, and we are urging the Government of Canada and the City of St. John’s to join us in helping Newfoundland and Labrador’s athletes reach their full potential in their chosen sports, while contributing to the province’s economy through sport tourism.

No community recreation event in Newfoundland and Labrador is more unique or cherished than the tri-annual Labrador Winter Games. Organized by the Labrador Winter Games Association and hosted by the Town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, this event will bring together some 450 athletes and 1,000 volunteers representing communities throughout Labrador in March 2006. Our government recognizes the unique opportunity presented by the games, to mobilize Labrador as a community and to enhance the pride and culture of Labrador. We are providing $500,000 in this budget to enable preparations for this event to proceed.

Business and Innovation, Trade and Rural Development

Mr. Speaker, while culture, tourism and recreation offer golden new opportunities for economic development throughout our province, opportunities in other sectors are equally exciting, and we are preparing to do even more to turn the opportunities into success stories in communities throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

This province competes for investment and export market share against many other jurisdictions. Our economic future will be determined by our success in reaching, and ultimately exceeding, not just our nearest competitors in the rest of Canada and other North Atlantic countries, but also the emerging economic powers of the Pacific rim.

Our focus is on building a competitive economy driven by private sector firms selling in competitive markets and operating out of all regions of the province. In our Blueprint, we pledged to bring forward policies and programs that would facilitate the growth of businesses throughout Newfoundland and Labrador.

For the past year and a half, we have talked to people, organizations and businesses throughout the province, and asked them for their input as we developed a strategy to address those issues. We heard that access to capital is a problem for businesses. We heard that community-based economic development groups need more tools to carry out their mandates. We heard that economic and social development should be regionally-based. We have taken these comments and ideas and developed them into a comprehensive diversification plan for the province.

To help address gaps in existing commercial business financing, our government is investing an additional $7.9 million on top of the $2.1 million existing Small Business Seed Capital Equity Program allocation in order to establish a new $10 million Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Fund. This new revolving fund will provide loans and equity investments to small and medium-sized businesses. The fund will target strategic growth sectors, such as manufacturing with special emphasis on value-added production, information and advanced technology, secondary processing, aquaculture and tourism.

This year, we are also doubling the budget for the Business and Market Development Program (BMDP) from $500,000 to $1 million. The increase provides more assistance to new entrepreneurs and expanding small businesses to pursue new business ideas and new markets, including product development, implementing market strategies and advancing new technologies.

To capitalize on excellent opportunities in the information and advanced technology sectors, we are allocating $1 million this year for the implementation of the provincial Innovation Strategy. This strategy is currently being developed in cooperation with the federal government, the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Technology Industries, major firms in the province, Memorial University, the College of the North Atlantic, regional development agencies and other key stakeholders.

Last fall, we also announced our commitment to increase funding for the Ireland Business Partnerships from $100,000 to $300,000 in order to increase efforts to identify, foster and promote trade and partnership opportunities with Ireland in the areas of business, education and culture. Budget 2005 continues that funding commitment.

Our government is determined to ensure that the opportunities are enjoyed, not just by larger centres in our province, but also in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, where the challenges are great but the opportunities are even greater.

Last year, our government established the Rural Secretariat to work with local and regional partners in a collaborative effort to build strong and dynamic communities. We recently announced that the new structure will comprise nine regional councils and one provincial council which will act as advisory bodies to government, providing guidance on rural and regional issues in all parts of the province. Each region will have its own Industrial Diversification Strategy based on its particular strengths. The strategies will be further enhanced by advanced education and applied research and development to cultivate appropriate local industries.

To ensure strategies have the support to move forward, we are establishing a $5 million Regional/Sectoral Diversification Fund. Building upon prime sector strategies, current investment programs and enhanced partnerships with federal government, the fund will allow the Department of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development to broker and support investment opportunities linked to provincial industry development priorities as well as diversification strategies in the regions. Our goal is to contribute to long-term sustainable employment and growth of small and medium-sized enterprises in the regions.

Our total provision of new dollars for strategic investment initiatives this year will surpass $23 million. Each dollar we invest helps to lever more dollars from other investors, creating the kind of momentum that businesses need to grow.

Transportation and Works, and Government Services

Mr. Speaker, our government recognizes the strong connection between infrastructure and opportunity. Strategic investment to improve infrastructure is one of the most effective ways our government can stimulate economic growth and contribute to priority social needs.

Throughout our province, there is a tremendous need for road construction and repair. Last year, we raised the value of the Provincial Roads Program from $23 million to $30 million. This year, we will again provide $30 million plus $3.7 million that is carried over from the previous year, resulting in a $33.7 million commitment to road construction throughout Newfoundland and Labrador in the coming fiscal year.

We will provide a further $40 million, which includes $16.5 million in carry-over, from the Labrador Transportation Initiative Fund to continue work on Phase III of the Trans- Labrador Highway network, plus another $750,000 to build a highway depot between Red Bay and Lodge Bay.

Total expenditures under the Strategic Highways Infrastructure Program, and other federal-provincial programs, are estimated at $31.6 million.

This brings the total expenditure for road work this year to $105 million.

Newfoundland and Labrador’s “highway” network is not entirely land-based. Because of our geography, we do a great deal of our traveling and transporting by sea. As part of our commitment to maintain our marine infrastructure, we are providing $1 million in new funding for capital improvements to the province’s ferry terminals. This funding will enable us to provide quality service to ferry users throughout the province while ensuring our terminals will be taken care of over the long-term.

Our government has expressed serious concerns about the past practice of purchasing vessels that are not fit for service on provincial ferry routes. Our government committed that we would implement a new Vessel Replacement Strategy to ensure we purchase or construct vessels that are seaworthy and cost- effective. The $500,000 we provide this year will enable us to proceed with planning of this important new strategy.

Our total investment of new money in our ferry system this year will be $8.1 million.

Public infrastructure also includes a variety of buildings throughout the province. Government is currently spending approximately $400,000 annually to maintain buildings that are surplus to its needs. Before these buildings can be sold, reused or demolished, it is necessary that we perform environmental assessments and, in some cases, remediation. We will provide $5.4 million this year to facilitate the environmental remediation and demolition of four abandoned buildings.

Mr. Speaker, to follow through on our Blueprint commitment last year to create a Lobbyists Registry, we are investing $250,000 to allow the Government Services department to move forward with our commitment to a publicly-accessible, computerized registry to track lobbyists.

This year, through our Government Services department, we are also providing a capital investment of $844,000 to move forward with phase four of the Companies and Deeds Online (CADO) system. Once phase four is complete in November 2005, consumers will be able to search property deeds online back to the 1980s, enabling searchers to spend less time at the registry, thereby improving efficiency and reducing the costs charged back to clients.

Municipal and Provincial Affairs

Mr. Speaker, infrastructure is vital not only for transportation and public works, but also for municipal development. The funding of municipal infrastructure is a partnership involving our towns and cities. Municipal leaders have told us that the earlier they can get the information on municipal capital works funding, the better they can plan. In fact, the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Municipalities along with engineering and construction firms told us that early announcements would enable them to achieve more favourable tender prices, thereby extending the spending power of the public dollar. That is why our government announced the Municipal Capital Works Program, the Multi-Year Capital Works Program and the Canada/Newfoundland and Labrador Infrastructure Program four months ago on November 26, 2004. The province’s share of $46.5 million brings the total value of this year’s capital works initiatives to $83 million.

We are also busy negotiating two federal infrastructure agreements: namely, the Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund and the rebate of the federal gas tax. The Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund is expected to cost-share infrastructure projects valued at $84 million over five years, while the federal gas tax rebate will invest a total of $82.3 million in municipal environmentally-sustainable infrastructure over five years.

Natural Resources

Mr. Speaker, Newfoundland and Labrador has sufficient natural resources in its inventory to warrant the increasing attention we are getting from around the world. These resources include oil, gas, minerals, hydro, trees, crops, livestock, fish, wildlife and a host of others. Our government is determined to act strategically to ensure that the people of Newfoundland and Labrador are the principal beneficiaries of our natural resource developments.

We are allocating $900,000 to assist the government to position our energy sector to provide for long-term benefits for Newfoundland and Labrador. A portion of this funding, $350,000, will be used to support the development of a comprehensive Energy Plan that will incorporate the views of citizens and industry stakeholders. It will serve as a policy and resource management framework that will help us to plan in advance to meet energy demands for both domestic use and economic development.

In the agriculture sector, our government is prepared to build on its commitment to invest strategically and build capacity for sustained growth. In addition to $10.1 million that Ottawa and the province will provide this year to continue the Agricultural Policy Framework, our government will invest an extra $4 million to support new agricultural initiatives and expand existing programs.

With this funding, we will provide $3.5 million this year as part of a five-year agriculture development program primarily directed to farmland consolidation and long-term development throughout the province. This represents the largest single investment in agriculture-related activities in our province’s history and it represents our new approach to long-term planning.

In the forestry sector, we will enhance the industry’s long-term sustainability by investing in the growth of new trees. We are providing $7.3 million to support various silviculture initiatives in the province, including our tree nurseries at Wooddale and Happy Valley- Goose Bay. The funding will also sustain research and development initiatives dedicated to improving our reforestation efforts.

To improve access to tree stands, we will continue to provide $3.5 million for forest resource road construction. This funding will allow for construction of forest access roads in difficult-to-access areas and partition wood stands near the communities of Roddickton, Main Brook, Point Leamington, Gambo, Gander Bay South and Fox Island River. In addition, it will also provide for resource road construction along the South Coast of Labrador near the communities of Port Hope Simpson, Charlottetown and Cartwright. The economic benefits provided by resource road construction are significant and very welcome in these rural areas of our province.

It is not enough to harvest our trees; we must also ensure we capitalize fully on the opportunities for value-added wood manufacturing. Building on our successes in promoting value-added hardwood manufacturing, we will provide $300,000 to support measures to increase product diversification in the industry.

Last year, we stepped in to fund an Inland Fisheries Enforcement Program to curb poaching because, in our view, the federal government is not adequately living up to its responsibility to provide for enforcement. We are increasing our allocation for this program from $360,000 last year to $800,000 this year to provide additional tools and human resources to protect our Atlantic salmon stocks and other fish species from poaching.

To improve the effectiveness of fisheries development, we will move this year to reorganize the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture in order to coordinate resource, processing and market development activities under a new Seafood Development and Diversification Division. In order to address the important and complicated international trade issues facing the fishing and aquaculture sectors, the department will increase its trade expertise.

Environment and Conservation

Mr. Speaker, promoting sustainable development not only secures our renewable resources for future generations to enjoy, but it generates economic activity of its own.

This year, our government will make a substantial investment in environmental conservation research by establishing at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College a new Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Science. This year, the Institute will become fully operational with two permanent staff and an annual budget allocation of $300,000. By supporting graduate student research, the Institute will facilitate partnerships with the academic community and promote provincial government priorities in natural resource conservation and sustainable use. The Institute will also serve as the coordinating body for students in Corner Brook and at other affiliated institutions nationally.

In moving forward with our Blueprint commitment to create the Centre of Environmental Excellence in Corner Brook, our government has allocated $500,000 in Budget 2005 for a master plan and feasibility studies. Working with Memorial University’s Sir Wilfred Grenfell College and the Corner Brook campus of the College of the North Atlantic, our government will build on the significant environmental industry activity underway in the western region of the province to create the centre and anchor Newfoundland and Labrador as an international leader in applied environmental research and development.

We are also ready to begin implementing a long-term Reinvestment Strategy for the Provincial Parks System. With the provision of $250,000 this year, we will upgrade La Manche Provincial Park by installing a comfort station and related facilities that make the park a more attractive destination for recreation enthusiasts.