First Session Forty-Ninth General Assembly
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PROVINCE OF NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY First Session Forty-Ninth General Assembly Proceedings of the Standing Committee on Government Services October 5, 2020 - Issue 7 Transportation and Infrastructure Public Procurement Agency Published under the authority of the Speaker of the House of Assembly Honourable Scott Reid, MHA GOVERNMENT SERVICES COMMITTEE Transportation and Infrastructure and Public Procurement Agency Chair: Carol Anne Haley, MHA Vice-Chair: Loyola O’Driscoll Members: Alison Coffin, MHA Christopher Mitchelmore, MHA Pam Parsons, MHA Lloyd Parrott, MHA Perry Trimper, MHA Sherry Gambin-Walsh, MHA Clerk of the Committee: Kimberley Hammond Appearing: Transportation and Infrastructure and Public Procurement Agency Hon. Derrick Bragg, MHA, Minister John Baker, Assistant Deputy Minister, Air and Marine Services Greg Butler, Budget Manager Joe Dunford, Assistant Deputy Minister, Operations Tracy English, Assistant Deputy Minster, Strategic and Corporate Services Cory Grandy, Assistant Deputy Minister, Infrastructure Patrick Morrissey, Departmental Controller Margot Pitcher, Executive Assistant Brian Scott, Director of Communications Bonnie Steele, Departmental Controller, Public Procurement Agency Heather Tizzard, Chief Procurement Officer, Public Procurement Agency Also Present Derek Bennett, MHA, Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Municipalities Jordan Brown, MHA Bernard Davis, MHA, Minister of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation Darrell Hynes, Researcher, Official Opposition Office Steven Kent, Researcher, Third Party Office Paul Lane, MHA October 5, 2020 GOVERNMENT SERVICES COMMITTEE The Committee met at 9 a.m. in the Assembly MS. TIZZARD: Heather Tizzard, Chief Chamber. Procurement Officer, Public Procurement Agency. Pursuant to Standing Order 68, Derek Bennett, MHA for Lewisporte - Twillingate, substitutes MR. GRANDY: Cory Grandy, Deputy Minister for Pam Parsons, MHA for Harbour Grace - Port of Transportation and Infrastructure. de Grave for a portion of the meeting. MS. ENGLISH: Tracy English, Assistant Pursuant to Standing Order 68, Jordan Brown, Deputy Minister of Strategic and Corporate MHA for Labrador West, substitutes for Alison Services. Coffin, MHA for St. John’s East - Quidi Vidi. MR. MORRISSEY: Patrick Morrissey, Pursuant to Standing Order 68, Bernard Davis, Departmental Controller. MHA for Virginia Waters - Pleasantville, substitutes for Pam Parsons, MHA for Harbour MR. DUNFORD: Joe Dunford, Assistant Grace - Port de Grave for a portion of the Deputy Minister of Operations. meeting. MR. BAKER: John Baker, Assistant Deputy CHAIR (Haley): Good morning, everyone. Minister of Air and Marine. Thank you for joining us for the Estimates of the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. MS. STEELE: Bonnie Steele, Departmental Controller, PPA. Our first order of business is to identify a Vice- Chair. I think we should call nominations. MR. SCOTT: Brian Scott, Director of Anybody? Communications. Call for nomination of anyone for Vice-Chair. MR. BUTLER: Greg Butler, Budget Manager. It’s normally, typically from another political party, is that correct? MS. PITCHER: Margot Pitcher, Executive Assistant to the minister. AN HON. MEMBER: I nominate Loyola O’Driscoll. MR. BRAGG: Derrick Bragg, Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure. CHAIR: Any further nominations? Are we going to introduce the other side first? Okay, I will identify the Vice-Chair as Mr. O’Driscoll. CHAIR: Yes, we will in fact. We will move along now with our introductions. I’ll ask the Opposition and the Committee Before I do that I just want to remind all Members, of course, to introduce themselves as participants to wear masks when moving around well. the Chamber here today. As I said, this round of Estimates deals with the Department of MR. PARROTT: Lloyd Parrott, MHA, Terra Transportation and Infrastructure. Nova. Now we’ll pass it over to the minister for his MR. HYNES: Darrell Hynes, I’m a Researcher remarks. You have some 50 minutes to for the Opposition Office. introduce your team. MR. BROWN: Jordan Brown, MHA for MR. BRAGG: The first thing we’ll do is Labrador West. introduce our team. We’ll start right to my right. MR. KENT: Steven Kent, Researcher for the Third Party. 299 October 5, 2020 GOVERNMENT SERVICES COMMITTEE MR. O’DRISCOLL: Loyola O’Driscoll, MHA Public Procurement Agency as it continues to for Ferryland. modernize public procurement, including a launch of a new eProcurement system later this MR. MITCHELMORE: Christopher year in partnership with the Department of Mitchelmore, MHA for St. Barbe - L’Anse aux Transportation and Infrastructure. Meadows. This budget marks a significant change for the MR. BENNETT: Derek Bennett, MHA for new Department of Transportation and Lewisporte - Twillingate. Infrastructure. With the change in name we also welcome an increased focus on infrastructure, MR. TRIMPER: Perry Trimper, MHA, Lake combining the roads and buildings infrastructure Melville. that was in the former Department of Transportation and Works, with municipal MS. GAMBIN-WALSH: Sherry Gambin- Health infrastructure to form a new department. Walsh, MHA, Placentia - St. Mary’s. The funding associated with a new mandate is CHAIR: Okay, Minister, if you could carry on. reflected throughout the Estimates. The budget includes over $519 million in infrastructure CLERK (Hammond): 1.1.01, Public funding supporting a number of projects Procurement Agency. including: $23 million for upgrades to the existing health care facilities; $48 million for MR. BRAGG: Thank you all. ongoing construction of new schools in Gander, Paradise, Bay Roberts and St. Alban’s; $5.5 Before we get into the Public Procurement million to advance a new correctional facility in Agency, I’d like to have 45 minutes to 55 St. John’s and expand the Labrador Correctional minutes for opening remarks, please. As the facility in Happy Valley-Goose Bay; $4.1 Minister of the Department of Transportation million is allocated for wharf infrastructure and Infrastructure and the Public Procurement improvements in Makkovik; $200,000 for a Agency, I want to provide a few opening prefeasibility study for a road to the north, which remarks prior to our Estimates today. would potentially link northern communities to the rest of Labrador; $400,000 to complete an On the desk in front of you, you will find a little engineering study on the scope and replacement zip drive. That’s the answer to every question costs of the wharf in Lewisporte to help inform you’re about to ask today so I guess we can future infrastructure investments; and $46.6 leave now and go home. If we could be so lucky. million for municipal infrastructure projects related to water and sewer, roads and paving This year, the ongoing pandemic impacted all projects, municipal facilities, waste management sectors of our province. In June of this year we projects and other improvement projects. We made changes to the Public Procurement have reached final close on the contract to Regulations to help support the local business design, build and maintain a new adult mental community. A local preference provision was health facility hospital in St. John’s. added to the regulations that mandates an allowance of 10 per cent for local suppliers to a The Transportation and Infrastructure budget for maximum permitted under the trade agreement. ’20-’21 includes $499 million operating and grant funding. Our current account infrastructure In addition, procurement thresholds were is $184 million and our capital account increased to allow more opportunities for public infrastructure is $335 million. We continue to bodies to direct businesses to a limited call see good results in our Provincial Roads Plan. process. We also announced the formation of a The department spent over $155 million on all working group that is tasked with identifying road infrastructure in 2019-20 and for ’20-’21 additional opportunities to improve local the budget is $171.6 million. We have also been preference. We will be consulting with the able to leverage federal funding on cost-shared business community as part of that process. I programs for highway infrastructure throughout look forward to continuing the work of the the province. 300 October 5, 2020 GOVERNMENT SERVICES COMMITTEE Highway safety is one of the top priorities of our expenses relating to COVID-19 of department. We are continuing to install approximately $580,000. This is mostly related highway cameras across the province. In ’19-’20 to the purchase of PPE, plexiglass and other we installed cameras in Badger, Birchy supplies. Narrows, Lewisporte, Port au Port and Port Saunders for approximately $129,800. In early A little note on our employees. TI has 1,683 2019 we began providing a new ferry service employees as of March 31, 2020. This includes across the Strait of Belle Isle at an annual 84 employees on 13-week contracts. Of these contracted cost of $11.9 million. A new ferry employees: 1,520 are unionized non- service for Northern Labrador began mid-2019 management, 163 are management; 1,462 are at an annual cost of $14.6 million. male, 221 female; 765 are permanent, with 320 seasonal, 582 temporary, 16 contractual; 985 for Working with our partners we implemented a Operations Branch; 245 for Air and Marine number of changes this season. One of those Services; 314 for our Infrastructure Branch; 139 changes is the online freight tracking system that for Strategic and Corporate Services; 605 are on allows customers to track the progress of their the Avalon, 353 in Eastern, 252 in Central, 398 orders. Better management of shipments due to in Western, 75 in Labrador. Throughout new freight and shed racks in Goose Bay: All government’s attrition plan the department has freight is now placed in containers at ports to an attrition target of $809,000 in 2018-20, which avoid damage from the weather. A revised includes 24 positions. For 2021-2022, the weekly schedule enables more daytime department has an attrition plan of $678,300 and departures from all ports. I’m pleased to say in 26 fewer positions over two years. 2020 the service did not have a single weather delay until September.