Securing a Sustainable Future

Respecting our Natural and Cultural Heritage

Mr. Speaker, protecting our natural environment is a provincial priority. We are dedicating $850,000 this year to fund several components of our climate change and energy efficiency initiatives.

The first component is a $620,000 investment for year one of a three-year, $2 million Newfoundland and Labrador Green Fund, which will help support projects and feasibility studies that contribute to energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reductions. Our Green Fund, which is funded fully by the province, will complement the federally-funded, provincially-delivered EcoAction Trust Fund, under which $8.8 million is allocated this year.

A second component of our $850,000 investment this year is an update of our Climate Change Action Plan, which will give us a better understanding of the challenges we are facing and the actions we will need to take to address them.

A third component is our support of the climate change outreach efforts of nongovernmental organizations such as the Climate Change Education Centre and OceanNet.

Mr. Speaker, island caribou populations that peaked in the mid to late nineties have since declined from about 90,000 animals to an estimated 37,000. Under our Caribou Strategy, we will finance a five-year, $15.3 million scientific research and action program that will include $3.3 million this year to better understand caribou population needs and threats and to identify, test and implement wildlife management practices that can help ensure the long term health of the herds.

Tourism in this province offers incredible opportunities to develop businesses, provide jobs and generate economic activity in all regions. With an additional investment of $1 million this year in tourism marketing, we have doubled our tourism marketing budget since 2004 from $6 million to a total of $12 million. We must keep pace with customer demands, so we are increasing our tourism research budget this year by $425,000 to ensure we have the latest information on tourism market trends and other factors that influence the industry. Our pilot project to extend the tourism season on the Discovery Trail proved so successful in the last two years that we are providing funding to do it again this year and also to extend the season on the Viking Trail. We are allocating $100,000 to maintain the East Coast Trails network, which is among our province’s most celebrated tourism products on the east coast.

Among our most distinctive selling points is our culture, which we are promoting by moving forward with the third year of our Strategic Cultural Plan. We are also investing $100,000 for ongoing cultural research into such projects as the Status of the Artist, and archeology, in order to further support our cultural industries and the people who work within them. This year, we will increase our allocation to the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council by an additional $300,000, meeting our commitment to double the Council’s budget over three years.

Several events this year and in the years just ahead will provide wonderful opportunities to showcase our rich culture and history. An investment of $250,000 will help our province host the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention around the Avalon in August and the East Coast Music Awards in Corner Brook next February as well as other events. Also next year, with an additional investment of $225,000 over two years as we announced just recently, we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the voyage to the North Pole of Captain Bob Bartlett of Brigus.

Through our recreation and sport strategy, Active, Healthy Newfoundland and Labrador, our government continues to support and promote active lifestyles and programs which encourage the development of our athletes. In 2009, we will celebrate the 10th Labrador Winter Games, which are held every three years in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. We will continue to support this event with an allocation of $500,000, which will benefit more than 500 athletes from 30 communities across Labrador.