[The Legislature rose on Friday, December 20, 1996, to meet again at the call of the Speaker.]

MR. SPEAKER: Please be seated.

SERGEANT-AT-ARMS: His Honour the Lieutenant Governor is without.

MR. SPEAKER: Admit His Honour, the Lieutenant Governor.

[The Speaker and Clerks left the Chamber.]

[The Lieutenant Governor, Hon. John James Kinley, preceded by his escort and by Mr. Douglas Giles, Acting Sergeant-at-Arms, bearing the Mace, entered the House of Assembly Chamber. The Lieutenant Governor then took his seat on the Throne.]

[The Sergeant-at-Arms then departed and re-entered the Chamber followed by the Speaker, the Honourable Wayne Gaudet; the Chief Clerk of the House, Roderick MacArthur, Q.C.; and the Acting Assistant Clerk, Arthur Fordham, Q.C.]

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[The Speaker, with the Sergeant-at-Arms on his right and the Clerks on either side, took up his position at the foot of the Speaker's Table.]

SERGEANT-AT-ARMS: It is the wish of His Honour that the ladies and gentlemen please be seated.

THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR: Mr. Speaker and Members of the House of Assembly, in closing this, the Fourth Session of the Fifty-sixth General Assembly convened in the province, I desire to thank you for the attention and consideration you have given to the measures which have come before you.

New and important legislative measures have been passed, including:

An Act Respecting the Interprovincial Enforcement of Subpoenas.

An Act Respecting Occupational Health and Safety.

An Act to Amend Chapter 5 of the Acts of 1990, the Children and Family Services Act.

An Act to Prevent Cruelty to Animals and to Aid Animals that are in Distress.

An Act to Amalgamate the Governors of Dalhousie College and University and the Technical University of Nova Scotia as Dalhousie University.

An Act to Revise and Consolidate the Laws of the Province Respecting the Fishery and to Encourage and Promote Programs to Sustain and Improve the Fishery.

An Act to Incorporate the Izaak Walton Killam-Grace Health Centre for Children, Women and Families.

An Act to Encourage and Facilitate Community-based Planning for Economic, Social and Institutional Change.

Private and Local Bills respecting a number of matters received the approval of the House.

I thank you for the ample provision you have made for the Public Service, and I assure you that the utmost care will be taken to see that the amounts voted are expended in an economical manner and in the best interests of the Province.

I now bid you farewell and tender you my very best wishes for your personal prosperity and happiness throughout the year.

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HON. JOHN SAVAGE (The Premier): Mr. Speaker and Members of the House of Assembly, it is the will and pleasure of His Honour the Lieutenant Governor that this the Fourth Session of the Fifty-sixth General Assembly be prorogued, and this session is accordingly prorogued and that the Fifth Session of the said General Assembly meet at 2:00 o'clock in the afternoon on this day for the dispatch of business.

[The Speaker and Clerks left the Chamber.]

[The Lieutenant Governor left the Chamber.]

[The House rose at 11:09 a.m.]

QUESTION NO. 29

By: Mr. John Leefe (Queens)

To: Hon. Wayne Adams (Minister of the Environment)

(1) From April 1, 1996 to October 1, 1996, how many beverage containers were sold in Nova Scotia (as evidenced by how many deposits were received by the RRF)? How many beverage containers were recovered by the RRF in the same time period?

(2) How many beverage containers were collected by other methods (i.e. blue bag programs, bottle dealers, et cetera) from April 1, 1995 to October 1, 1995?

(3) How many blue bag programs are in operation in Nova Scotia today? (List the communities that have blue bag programs.) How many were in operation on March 31, 1996? (List the communities.)

(4) How much money has the RRF paid in handling fees to depot operators in the first six months of the deposit program? In transportation costs? In processing fees?

(5) How many milk containers were collected in the first six months of the deposit program? How much did the RRF pay to collect, transport and process milk containers? What revenue did the RRF receive from the sale of used milk containers?

(6) How many tons of newsprint was collected from April 1, 1996 to October 1, 1996? Of corrugated cardboard? How much did depot operators receive for collecting newsprint? For collecting corrugated cardboard? How much revenue did the RRF receive from the sale of old newsprint? Of old corrugated cardboard?

(7) It has been reported that $2.50 of the $3.00 tire tax will be used for the collection, transportation and processing of used tires. The other 50 cents will go to the RRF. Assuming that the tax has no negative impact on the tire sales in Nova Scotia, how much money will the RRF receive annually from the tire tax?

(8) How many stewardship agreements have been reached with specific industries? Will the agreements be made public?

QUESTION NO. 30

By: Mr. George Archibald (Kings North)

To: Hon. Bernard Boudreau (Minister of Health)

An article dated November 2, 1996 in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald outlined an Atlantic region study of teen drug use. It found that those, ". . . whose school marks average less than 60 per cent are likely drinkers, smokers and users of marijuana and hashish.". The paper stated that the survey was conducted last March on 3,790 senior and junior high school students in Nova Scotia who filled out the questionnaire anonymously. The article also stated that the provincial departments of health and education worked with Dalhousie University on the Nova Scotia survey.

(1) Has the Department of Health had any follow-up since the survey?

(2) Will the department be utilizing the results from the survey and if so, how?

QUESTION NO. 31

By: Mr. Alfred MacLeod (Cape Breton West)

To: Hon. John MacEachern (Minister of Community Services)

With regard to the Department of Community Services:

(1) Will the minister confirm that all of the recommendations made in the Lunenburg review have been acted upon?

(2) If not all of the recommendations have been adopted, which ones have not been adopted and the reason why they have not been adopted.

(3) Will the minister provide the staffing levels, particularly child protection workers and case workers, throughout the province, as at November 1, 1994; November 1, 1995; and November 1, 1996?

(4) With regard to day care services, what is the staff to child ratio in the various age categories?

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(5) With regard to day care staff, what level of education or what courses are required to be considered appropriate for day care staff? Do all staff have to be ECE qualified? Do supervisors have to be ECE qualified? Is there a requirement or a ratio requirement of ECE qualified to non-qualified staff permissible in a day care?

(6) Do staff have to be paid staff to be counted in the staff to child ratio?

QUESTION NO. 32

By: Mr. Alfred MacLeod (Cape Breton West)

To: Hon. John MacEachern (Minister of Community Services)

You have indicated that your department is undertaking a review of grants and other funding to community agencies.

(1) Who is doing this review?

(2) If it is being done by a committee, who is on the committee?

(3) How was the membership of the committee determined?

(4) Were representatives of agencies asked to be on the committee?

(5) If so, by whom?

(6) If representatives of agencies are not on the committee, why are they not on the committee?

(7) Has the committee consulted with each agency and in what form did the consultation take (i.e. personal visits, phone calls, et cetera)?

(8) What is the mandate of the committee? Who determined the mandate and on what was it based (i.e. needs of communities or strictly budgetary)?

(9) What is the time line of the review process? When will the review be completed? To whom will the final recommendations be presented?

(10) When will agencies know the results of the review?

(11) The 3 per cent cut was announced through the media and it is through this media coverage that agencies found out that their budgets were to be cut. Which agencies did the minister ask to meet with to discuss this cut before the cut was announced?

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(12) If it is decided that an agency does not fit under the core services and objectives of the department, when will they be advised?

(13) Will the minister undertake to ensure that all the agencies affected are notified first by him rather than through the media of any future announcements that involve the agencies?

(14) What obligation does the department see that it has if it, after this review, refuses to fund an agency?

QUESTION NO. 33

By: Mr. Ronald Russell (Hants West)

To: Hon. Manning MacDonald (Minister of Labour)

(1) Has the minister reviewed the case of the former McColl-Frontenac Inc. employees in Nova Scotia in their battle against Imperial Oil which has made numerous attempts to recover severance payments made to 179 affected employees?

(2) Will the minister set down a time-frame to investigate the manner in which Imperial Oil is pursuing their former employees regarding benefits which have already been committed to said individuals?