ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corp. (NLHC) will no longer be a Crown corporation.
Finance Minister Siobhan Coady announced in her 2024 budget speech that NLHC will be integrated into the government.
Sherry Hillier, president of CUPE NL, found out 15 minutes before Coady made her speech. There was no consultation or indication that this change was coming, Hillier said.
"I think this government actually needs to learn the definition of consultation, because I was notified at 1:45 p.m. that the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation is going under core government services," Hillier said.
No preparation
Budget 2024 was full of surprises, but not because of shiny announcements.
Instead, all groups, except the Liberal government, went into the 2024 budget speech blind.
Opposition parties, labour leaders, interest groups, and others were not briefed because of safety concerns.
Police in riot gear had lined parts of the Confederation Building after fish harvester protests, which managed to delay the delivery of the provincial budget protesters blocked all entrances to the Confederation Building on Wednesday.
On Thursday, staff were advised to work from home. The public gallery was closed.
Labour leaders gathered at NAPE headquarters to watch the budget speech and do media interviews.
PC and NDP MHAs took in the budget speech and spoke to the media at the Alt Hotel in downtown St. John's.
Coady delivered her speech to a near-empty legislature.
Federation of labour
Coady was still giving her speech when Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour president Jessica McCormick spoke to Saltwire.
"We are, like many people, still kind of poring over the budget documents and watching the minister's speech in real time to try to pick up on what will be relevant to members of the federation of labour," McCormick said.
She immediately noticed the Newfoundland Labrador Opportunity Secretariat and the establishment of a council that would include representation from labour unions, industry, and government. McCormick said this is positive as they talk about what jobs in the future will look like.
"That was a recommendation from the federation of labour and pre-budget consultations, something that's very important to us when we talk about a just transition and a green economy."
The federation of labour also called for pensions and benefits for early childhood educators and measures to improve workers' rights, including making it easier to join a union and banning the use of replacement workers during strikes and lockouts.
"We didn't see any language around that in the budget documents."
McCormick said Budget 2024 looks like a pre-election budget and called it a budget in an echo chamber given the day's circumstances.
"We normally would participate in a budget lock-in where we have the opportunity to ask questions of the Department of Finance and it's disappointing not to have that opportunity today or get a copy of some of these documents in advance so that we could have some time to go over them."
NLTA
Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association (NLTA) president Trent Langdon started his interview with Saltwire by acknowledging his use of written notes.
"I don't normally look at notes, but this is all brand new information that I just received," Langdon said.
This year, education wasn't mentioned once in the budget highlights.
"We're not pleased with this budget at all, to be honest," he said.
While the province has announced three new schools leading up to the 2024 budget, Langdon said there was little to address the day-to-day needs of students and teachers.
"We certainly wanted acknowledgement of the fatigue that's in the system right now. We're in triage mode every single day," he said
"Recruitment, retention. There's some focus on that, but it's focused on hard-to-fill areas that have been issues in this province for years and decades. So let's truly get to the root of what the problem is here. We have (substitute teacher) shortages. Teachers are unable to do the job that they need to do," he said.
Langdon wants to meet with the minister of Education.
"I have no faith in this budget, that this is going to do anything to improve the system."
Allied health professionals
Association of Allied Health Professionals (AAHP) president Gord Piercey was left with questions on health-care spending.
"There are some things that are worthy of note. There's going to be some spending by the looks of things on mental health and addictions," Piercey said.
"There's a dollar amount there of $15 million for mental health and addictions, and clearly, I would love to have a conversation with the minister of Health. I'm hoping to have that in the coming days, about what the priorities will be for that."
The AAHP is also looking for an expansion of family care team services.
Piercey said the budget shows the health-care system is still in turmoil.
"At the front end I'm thinking, it's going to take more to deal with some of the issues that we're seeing in the health-care system than this budget is currently portraying to us," he said.
"I'm a little disappointed that there wasn't more reference to allied health professionals in the budget.
"We're often the people who prevent hospitalizations or keep people from out of hospital, keep them well in their homes, in their communities and we've had that dialogue with government during the collective bargaining process."
Piercey said the AAHP wants the government to fund the recruitment and retention of allied health professionals.
CUPE
CUPE president Sherry Hillier said she was frustrated by Budget 2024. In combination with the lack of consultation about the NLHC's integration with the provincial government, she was disheartened to see no wage increases for early childhood educators and personal care attendants.
"We would have loved to have been a part of that consultation and we'll be following closely when it comes to Newfoundland Labrador Housing," Hillier said.
"We weren't asking for a lot."
She called the budget a spending budget.
"The spending is leaning towards, what? For the future, we don't know, but it's certainly a spending budget," Hillier said.
"I'm too pissed off, I have nothing else to say."
NAPE
NAPE president Jerry Earle wasn't familiar with the budget details when he spoke with SaltWire, but his initial reaction was that Budget 2024 is a "stay-the-course-type budget."
"We will quickly sift through the budget, as we do. We have people that will pore through now that we actually have access to it and see what it means for our membership, and our membership works in every community or in every sector," Earle said.
His main hope is no increased privatization.
"We certainly hope there are no indications around and move towards further privatization as we've seen with our air ambulance or with our highways," Earle said.
Regarding Her Majesty's Penitentiary, he said Budget 2024 isn't going to build a new prison, and he assumes the allotted funds are for processing.
"The minister did say, and said as recently as a couple of weeks ago to frontline correction officers, myself and the leadership, that shovels will be in the ground next spring. We heard that before, but we're going to try to push to the next direction.
"That's a facility that is absolutely essential and if it's not about the inmates – which it also has to be – it's about the workers there. They deserve a workplace that is safe, that is respectful and let them do what they need to do for people that are incarcerated," Earle said.
Nurses
Registered Nurses Union of Newfoundland and Labrador (RNUNL) president Yvette Coffey had a small written note in her hand as she spoke with SaltWire. She called the budget a "big missed opportunity."
"We put in pre-budget submissions. One was safe hours of nursing regulations so nurses aren't working 16- to 24-hour shifts, which is not only unsafe for them but also unsafe for the people that we look after in the province," Coffey said.
"We need to get rid of the private agency nursing that's happening throughout the province and we offered a solution of using our travel locum that we have with Labrador expanded out to rural and remote in Newfoundland for an extra $25 an hour, much better and more cost-efficient than $312 an hour to a company from Ontario who's providing private agencies.
"Ten million dollars for virtual care. We've already talked about the best care is in person care, where someone puts a hand on you and listens to you and talks to you.
"We would like to see nurse practitioner-led clinics to help with the primary health-care access," Coffey said.
The RNUNL was also looking for the elimination of clinical fees for nursing students, or payment for their clinical hours.
"They have to pay to come in and give us free labour, because they're actually helping out because we are so short. You look at engineering, engineering students are 90 per cent male. They actually get paid big bucks to go and do their internships," Coffey said.
"We need to either eliminate fees that these nursing students are paying to do their clinical or we need to pay them. Enough is enough with that female-dominated profession. We should be investing in the people in this province, in our nursing students."
Business groups weigh in
The Atlantic Chamber of Commerce, Municipalities NL and St. John's Board of Trade released statements in response to Budget 2024.
After the government's decision to reduce the corporate tax rates for small businesses, Rhonda Tulk-Lane, CEO of the Atlantic Chamber of Commerce, said, "The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has made it clear that the province is seeking to become more competitive and is open for business."
Municipalities NL (MNL) was happy to see the province support municipal fiscal stability. Still, it is looking for adequate funding for municipal fire services, training and infrastructure.
In a news release, MNL said, "Funding for fire department responses beyond municipal boundaries had not increased in a decade, while costs have sharply increased. Municipal fire departments, largely staffed by volunteers, are increasingly asked to respond to calls outside municipal boundaries."
MNL is also looking for a commitment to overhauling outdated legislation, including the Three Cities Acts and the Taxation of Utilities and Cable Television Companies Act, to address lost municipal revenue.
MNL president Amy Coady said it looks forward to continuing to advocate for vibrant, sustainable communities.
The St. John's Board of Trade said it is optimistic about Budget 2024.
"This budget marks a commitment to enhancing competitiveness, supporting businesses through investments in red tape reduction, and promising no new taxes, tax increases, or fee increases," the St. John's Board of Trade stated in a news release.
Education
Memorial University of Newfoundland Students Union (MUNSU) and Canadian Federation of Students for Newfoundland and Labrador (CSF-NL) representatives were extremely disappointed in Budget 2024 and what it means for the province's students.
"MUNSU was looking for a reversal of the disastrous cuts to Memorial, disastrous defunding of Memorial, our only public university, and was looking to renew the 22-year-long successful tuition freeze, which kept university affordable for young people and kept them in the province," MUNSU director of external affairs, communication and research John Harris said.
The provincial government continued to defund the Memorial University of Newfoundland and maintain its core operating grant for the College of the North Atlantic.
CSF-NL representative Mary Feltham said Budget 2024 was disrespectful to students and the province's future.
"We're essentially seeing the government completely disrespect the youth and folks who want to go back as adult learners and mature learners to fill the gaps in health care and within the trades industry. Essentially what I'm reading is them saying we don't care about you and we don't care about this province," Feltham said.
