Province Législature Session Type de discours Date du discours Locuteur Fonction du locuteur Parti politique Terre-Neuve et Labrador 32ème 1ère Discours du Trône 20 avril 1960 Campbell Leonard Macpherson Lieutenant Gouverneur Liberal The people of Newfoundland rejoice in the birth of the young Prince Andrew to our Gracious Queen, and welcome with deep satisfaction the announcement of the forthcoming marriage of the sister of our beloved Queen, The Princess Margaret. It is, I am sure, the universal wish of Newfoundlanders that the Princess will enjoy a long life of happy marriage. I think that we all of us, as Newfoundlanders, may feel proud of the beautiful new Chamber in which the present session, and all future sessions of your House, will be held. This is an historic occasion and it gives me personally the greatest pleasure and pride that it has- fallen to my lot to be the first representative of Her Majesty in this Province to open a session of this Honourable House in its new surroundings. My Ministers were anxious that you should have a Chamber, which would in every way be worthy of the great principles and practices of British parliamentary government, and the centuries' old traditions our Island home. I think you will agree that the architects and builders have succeeded in creating a room which, with its auxiliary offices for Members and their staff, should provide convenience and efficiency that the old Colonial Building is no longer capable of providing. Your Chamber is the point of highest interest in a noble edifice erected to celebrate the first ten years of the greatest blessing, under Heaven, that our people have ever enjoyed. I refer, of course, to the union of Canada and Newfoundland into one country. Mr. Speaker, when I delivered the Speech from the Throne with which I closed the final session of the Thirty-first General Assembly I declared that it was the intention of my Ministers, at this present session, to ask you to enact certain modifications to the labour legislation adopted in the last General Assembly. These modifications will be laid before you for your consideration in the ensuing weeks. My Ministers have given careful consideration to the need for new legislation aimed at protecting the interests of those of our people who labour in the pulpwoods and lumber industry. They feel that the existing legislation, which was so useful when originally enacted, has become antiquated and inadequate. New legislation will be laid before you in the present session. Important as labour legislation is, however, for the purpose of protecting the interests of those engaged in industry, it is even more important to the general well-being of the Province that there should be industry in which our people may engage. My Government are happy to note that success is attending the efforts they have put forth in recent years to bring about industrial and natural resources development in the great territory of Labrador and on the Island of Newfoundland itself. In Labrador, where the British Newfoundland Corporation has been given exclusive rights to the development of the great potential hydro electric power, work has already commenced on the first phase of what we all hope will become one of the great hydro developments of North America. This first phase calls for the production of 120,000 horsepower of hydro electricity to serve another great industrial development rapidly taking shape in the heart of Labrador. I refer to the new iron ore field at Wabush Lake and Carol Lake. My Ministers take great pride in the part they have played in these developments. They have never concealed their deep faith in the industrial possibilities of Labrador, and it is gratifying indeed to find such early justification of this confidence. Here on the Island of Newfoundland itself important mineral developments are rapidly taking place. The new copper mine at Tilt Cove is working with expanding success, and at Little Bay another copper mine is about to commence production. At Bay Verte and in that general area, my Minister have good reason to believe that construction of a very important new asbestos mine, mill and town will commence in the not distant future. The Government are negotiating for the opening of yet another copper mine in that general section of Newfoundland. Construction of the large new salt and fresh fish plant at LaScie has been completed, and my Ministers have entered into an agreement with a large and reputable Newfoundland concern for its operation in the immediate future. I am sure that all the Newfoundlanders will wish Godspeed to this firm in their great undertaking and that our people will watch with increasing interest the outcome of these operations. That outcome may very well determine the future of the fishing industry along that part of our flag-flung coast. The plant is probably the most thoroughly modern and efficient to be found anywhere in North America at the present time. Warm co-operation between fishermen and management, together with a bountiful supply of fish, should result in the success for which we all hope. The Government are pressing forward with their programme of fishery development along the southwest coast of the Province. Two of the fleet of long-liners to be built for that programme have already been launched, and other phases of the project are proceeding without delay. The frozen fish industry in general appears to be in fairly healthy condition, and our devout hope is that this condition will continue into the future. Mr. Speaker, I am sure that all the Members of your Honourable House, and the great majority of our Newfoundland people, will be pleased to know that last year, 1959, witnessed the greatest accomplishment Newfoundland has ever experienced in the building, improving and paving of our roads. Close to $22 million was expended on these projects during the year and although these efforts fell far short or filling the needs of the people under this heading, the fact remains that a great step was taken toward that end. Mr. Speaker, there has been much sadness amongst our people over the decision of the United States of America to withdraw the United States Air Force from Pepperrell Air Force base. The warmest feelings of friendship have existed between the men of this Force and our citizens, and even more than the loss of business done in St-John's our people will feel the loss many friendships made throughout the years. My Ministers are desirous that there should be recorded their appreciation of the sympathetic understanding displayed in this situation by the chief representative in Newfoundland of the Government of United States. There will be laid before you early in the present session copies of the voluminous and comprehensive Report of the Royal Commission which considered the question of Civil Service pensions in this Province. The Report, which was submitted to the Government within the past fortnight, makes a series of recommendations. My Ministers expect to lay certain legislation on these matters before you in the present session. My Ministers may lay before you, also, proposals for the establishment of a contributory pensions plan for Members of the House of Assembly who have given long service in the Legislature. Newfoundland is one of the few remaining Provinces in Canada without such a pensions plan. You will be asked in this session to authorize my Government to proceed with the erection of a large new hospital in the city of Grand Falls. In that important industrial community the citizens and the principle industrial company have been joined by citizens in many nearby towns in making contributions to a fund raised for the purpose of assisting the Government to provide Central Newfoundland with a large new hospital. It is the hope of my Ministers that funds to be provided by you and by the people of Central Newfoundland will be used together with contributions from the Government of Canada under the National Health Grants plan to give the people in that part of Newfoundland the thoroughly modern hospital facilities so badly needed. Construction of our splendid new buildings for the Memorial University of Newfoundland is proceeding rapidly, and there is every expectation that the University will enter the new buildings before the expiration of next year. Just as the existence of this noble Confederation Building has given pride to so many of our people, so also, I feel, will the completion of this magnificent group of buildings being erected just to the westward of us for our University. My Ministers are deeply pleased that the University has succeeded in enlisting a distinguished gentleman in England for the purpose of organizing and leading an extension department for which nothing but good will is felt. My Ministers have become deeply impressed by the need for another departure in the rapidly expanding field of education. They feel that there can be postponed no longer the commencement of construction of a large new College for Trade and Technical Training. This would be an institution in which high school graduates and other students and apprentices would study trade and technical subjects with a view to qualifying themselves for technical positions in industry. It is my Government's intention, when the University removes from its present buildings on the Parade Grounds into the new buildings, to have the present university buildings used for Vocational High School, which will be the principal one of number of such schools throughout the Province. In these schools students taking the last three or four grades up to and including Grade XI would come from the surrounding ordinary schools and nearby for vocational training that would give them the basis for a course of instruction in the new College of Trade and Technical Training. The two institutions would thus be complementary to each other, and would open altogether new opportunities for young men who had no desire to go on to university to become teachers, professional men or graduates in other university fields. My Government's plan is to have this new College of Trade and Technical Training erected somewhere between Confederation Building and the group of university buildings, and their hope is that they may also, in the not distant future, be able to erect still another building in that general area. This would be a building to house the public library, the Newfoundland Museum, a new Art Gallery to be created, and a modern concert hall to serve the community in general. This group of buildings, consisting of Confederation Building at one end and the University at the other, with the College of Trade and Technical and the new arts and culture centre situated between the two, would surely constitute one of the noblest groups of buildings that would be found anywhere in this great country of Canada. Mr. Speaker, my Ministers would not wish this session to open without some reference to the grave problem of Term 29. All of Newfoundland's special rights as they are provided in Term 29 of the Terms of Union by which Canada and Newfoundland united into one country, have, by Act of Parliament, been specifically limited to the year 1962. This means that in another two years or so Newfoundland's constitutional rights, as she understood them, come to an end. My Ministers and the people of Newfoundland will never rest content while this unilateral legislation on the part of the Parliament of Canada is allowed to remain on the Statute Books of Canada. You will not be asked in the present session to take any action in the matter, for the Prime Minister of Canada has already called for the holding of a Dominion-Provincial Conference on the fiscal and financial arrangements between Canada and all the Provinces. This Conference is to be held late in July, and my Ministers do not feel that anything is to be gained by your taking action in the matter before then. Mr. Speaker and Members of the Honourable House of Assembly, I ask that you will grant supply unto Her Majesty. I invoke God’s blessing upon your deliberations and trust that your labours will rebound to the advancement and prosperity of our Province and of its people.