Executive Council
December 14, 2016

Government Advanced Legislative Agenda

House of Assembly Fall Session Supports Residents and Protects Vulnerable People

Legislation focused on supporting residents, as well as continuing to improve openness, transparency and accountability, highlighted the fall sitting of the House of Assembly.

“Over the last year our government set forward an ambitious legislative agenda. We have advanced important initiatives to support residents and protect vulnerable people in our communities. We have also been able to do this while actioning our vision for the future and maintaining our government’s guiding principles of greater openness, transparency and accountability.”
- The Honourable Dwight Ball, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador

Combined, 64 pieces of legislation have been passed in the House of Assembly in 2016. Examples of important legislative initiatives that were advanced in the fall include:

• Supporting the province’s aging population by creating an Office of the Seniors’ Advocate to ensure that government policies, programs and services meet their needs. The office will work collaboratively with seniors, their families, caregivers, policy makers and frontline service providers to identify and address systemic issues facing seniors.
• Providing presumptive cancer coverage to the career and volunteer firefighters that help protect the province’s families and communities.
• Strengthening the protection of individuals who have difficulty accessing credit through traditional lending institutions by requiring payday lenders to be licensed and imposing restrictions and obligations that protect consumers.
• Modernizing how public bodies purchase goods and services by replacing the decades old Public Tender Act. The new legislation brings greater transparency to the procurement process and shifts from just getting the best price to getting the best value.
• Balancing the rights of individuals to secure, respectful and private access to legal medical services, with the rights of others to protest or express dissent.
• Ensuring the most high-risk and vulnerable young people who severely and persistently abuse drugs receive treatment for their addiction even when they cannot make that decision for themselves.
• Bringing openness and transparency to government expenditures through an annual listing of all employees in departments and a number of agencies, boards, commissions, health care bodies, educational bodies and Crown corporations who receive total compensation of more than $100,000 in a year.
• Increasing Compassionate Care Leave provisions from eight to 28 weeks, which allows family members to care for a gravely ill family member and not have to worry about job security during this very difficult time in their lives.
• Improving access to Crown lands to residents and businesses so that the true value of these assets can be realized in communities across the province. With these amendments, government is enhancing accessibility and enforcement by making much needed improvements to its processes and practices.

“As we wrap-up the fall sitting and 2016 comes to an end, I wish the individuals who contribute to the legislative process, all public service employees, all my colleagues in the legislature and everyone in Newfoundland and Labrador a Merry Christmas. I look forward to continuing our progress in 2017.”
- Premier Ball

The complete list of legislation passed in the House of Assembly is available at www.assembly.nl.ca/business/bills/ga48session1.htm .

QUICK FACTS

• The Provincial Government introduced and passed 64 pieces of legislation in 2016.
• The legislative agenda supports residents and protects vulnerable people in our communities, and maintains a commitment to openness, transparency and accountability.
• The complete list of legislation passed in the House of Assembly is available at www.assembly.nl.ca/business/bills/ga48session1.htm .

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Media contact:

Michelle Cannizzaro Director of Communications Office of the Premier 709-729-3960 michellecannizzaro@gov.nl.ca

2016 12 14                              1:30 p.m.