Christmas Message

Clarenville childcare closure a sign of lacklustre childcare strategy

For Immediate Release

December 17, 2013

Clarenville childcare closure a sign of lacklustre childcare strategy

St. John’s—News that another childcare centre in the province is closing due to a shortage of Early Childhood Educators is unfortunate but not surprising according to St. John’s North MHA Dale Kirby.   

“Last year we saw a childcare centre close its doors after more than 30 years of providing childcare in Labrador West due to an ECE staff shortage and now working families in Clarenville have been hit,” says Kirby. “These problems will not go away until government gets serious about addressing early learning and care deficits.” 

Kirby points out that Early Childhood Educators in Newfoundland and Labrador are among the lowest paid in Canada and public spending on childcare is also amongst the lowest in the country. Last month the Jimmy Pratt Foundation and its partners released a discussion paper calling for the fast-tracking of the province’s child care plan to full implementation by 2016 in order to better pay, recruit, and retain Early Childhood Educators.

“Government’s current childcare strategy will not be fully phased in until 2022,” says Kirby. “By that time, two generations of children will have gone without the full benefit of its impact. This snail-like pace is not good enough for working families who need childcare now.”

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For more information, please contact:

Dale Kirby, MHA

dalekirby@gov.nl.ca

Tel: 709-729-6921

Fall sitting of the House - Where I stood

The House of Assembly sat for a total of 22 days between November 4 and December 10.

I stood in the House to respond to statements made by Ministers on 21 of those days. I also spoke in the debate on 16 different pieces of legislation. This included the legislation to address bullying in schools that I have long been advocating for.

I made 4 separate Member Statements recognizing notable people and happenings in St. John's North, including Silver Cross representative Natasha Lucas; Rabbittown Volunteer of the Year Al Dunphy; St. Andrew's Elementary School's Happy, Healthy Heads project; and the O'Brien Farm Foundation.

I stood to present 20 petitions on behalf of all those who sent signed petitions to me. These petitions were as follows:

• 4 petitions asking for the Intensive Applied Behavioural Analysis Program to be extended beyond Grade 3;
• 3 petitions calling for a comprehensive province-wide strategy for autism spectrum disorder;
• 3 petitions calling on government to introduce a full-day kindergarten program;
• 4 petitions asking for changes to the 1.6 kilometer school busing eligibility policy;
• 2 petitions asking government to fully implement the recommendations of the ISSP/Pathways Commission;
• 2 petitions calling for new legislation and regulations to protect workers in hazardous workplaces; and
• 2 petitions requesting that the Early Learning and Care Supplement be extended to all early childhood educators.

Recognizing the O’Brien Farm Foundation

I made the following statement in the House of Assembly today:

I stand in this honourable House today to recognize the work of the O’Brien Farm Foundation.

The Foundation, established just a couple of years ago, is overseeing the preservation, management and interpretation of the historic O’Brien Farm on Oxen Pond Road in the district of St. John's North.

Thimble Cottage, the former family farm homestead, still stands at the site of O’Brien’s Farm. The Cottage was designated a heritage structure in 1992, and the cottage and the farm represent an important part of our province’s Irish and agricultural heritage.

The O’Brien Farm Foundation, in conjunction with the Newfoundland and Labrador Historic Sites Division, has developed a Master Plan to preserve Thimble Cottage and the O’Brien farm for future generations.

Visiting Thimble Cottage at O’Brien's Farm on Oxen Pond Rd

I attended the Foundation's Annual General Meeting on September 18th, and was excited to hear their plans.

The Foundation hopes to provide programming that will enable future generations of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, and visitors to our province, to learn more about our rich history of Irish settlement and sustainable agricultural practices.

I ask all members to join me in congratulating the O’Brien Farm Foundation on their work, and wishing them the very best success as they move forward

Still no action on government’s promised overhaul of public tendering

For Immediate Release

December 9, 2013

Still no action on government’s promised overhaul of public tendering

St. John’s—With the fall legislative sitting of Newfoundland and Labrador's House of Assembly beginning to wind down, St. John’s North MHA Dale Kirby is questioning the provincial government's inaction on long-promised reform of public tendering practices and procurement legislation.

“Despite their endless promises to overhaul the public tendering process and remove barriers to local firms, government has failed to fulfill this commitment,” says Kirby.

Kirby believes that the current fall sitting of House of Assembly would have been an ideal time to introduce legislative changes to reform the process for public procurement and capital works tendering projects. Such changes are especially needed since contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in goods and services are still being awarded outside of the public tendering process.

"I regularly hear from local business people who are frustrated and feel that the procurement process is stacked against local suppliers," Kirby says. "Our local entrepreneurs just want a level playing field, yet they are often made to jump through hoops with little to show for the effort. They deserve a lot better." 

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For more information, please contact:

Dale Kirby, MHA

dalekirby@gov.nl.ca

Tel: 709-729-6921

Students' international test results reason for alarm: Kirby

For Immediate Release

December 4, 2013

Students' international test results reason for alarm: Kirby

St. John’s—St. John’s North MHA Dale Kirby says the results for Newfoundland and Labrador students on an international test of skills in reading, mathematics, and science are reason for alarm.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international assessment of the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students. It assessed the competencies of 15-year-olds in 65 countries and provides a detailed breakdown of results for the Canadian provinces.

“The results on this test show that Newfoundland and Labrador students' results continue to decline in a number of areas of the assessment,” Kirby says. “Students in Newfoundland and Labrador consistently achieved lower than the Canadian average on many of these measures in mathematics, reading, and science.”

The PISA results also indicate that, compared to the other Canadian provinces, the gender gap between the reading abilities of boys and girls in Newfoundland and Labrador is the largest. 

“I hope the Minister of Education will take these results seriously and reconsider the cuts made this year to teachers, student resources, and library services,” said Kirby. “If anything, these test scores indicate that our students need more support in reading, mathematics, and science”.

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For more information, please contact:

Dale Kirby, MHA

dalekirby@gov.nl.ca

Tel: 709-729-6921

MHA welcomes government action on bullying but questions program funding

For Immediate Release

December 3, 2013

MHA welcomes government action on bullying but questions program funding

St. John’s—St. John’s North MHA Dale Kirby is welcoming the proposed amendments to the Schools Act, 1997 which will define and seek to address bullying in schools. The amendments to be debated in the House of Assembly this week will require every school to have a school code of conduct and require teachers, principals, school councils, school boards, and directors to promote a safe and caring learning environment.

“I am pleased to see that the Minister of Education has finally agreed to make these needed changes to the legislation,” says Kirby. “On May 14, 2012, I introduced a private member’s motion in the House of Assembly in order to enshrine anti-bullying measures in the province’s Schools Act. It’s great to see some progress on this issue.”

With the new legislation coming into force in the near future, Kirby says there is still much work to be done to ensure that schools are safe and that there are proper procedures and consequences when bullying occurs in schools. In addition, Kirby is concerned that schools do not currently have the resources to fully implement this initiative.

“After this year’s teacher cuts, the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers Association (NLTA) School Administrators’ Council (SAC) pointed out that increases in responsibility for the implementation of new policies related to school councils, healthy and active living, safe and caring schools, inclusive education, My Gay-Straight Alliance, KinderStart, 21st Century Learning, instructional technology integration,  accounting and controls, electronic report cards, school security, building maintenance, as well as others have stretched existing school resources to the breaking point,” says Kirby.

“No student should be placed at risk of being targeted and victimized because of a school environment where bullying goes unchallenged,” Kirby said. “Teachers and school staff need the resources to ensure that proper preventative measures are in place, along with clear protocols for reporting incidents of school bullying.”

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For more information, please contact:

Dale Kirby, MHA

dalekirby@gov.nl.ca

Tel: 709-729-6921

MHA says disabilities strategy falling short

For Immediate Release

December 2, 2013

 MHA says disabilities strategy falling short

St. John’s—As the province prepares to mark the International Day of Persons with Disabilities tomorrow, St. John’s North MHA Dale Kirby is pointing out that the much-touted provincial inclusion strategy is falling short.

The International Day of Persons with Disabilities is a day to promote the rights of persons with disabilities and a better understanding of disability-related issues. The main theme this year is “Break Barriers, Open Doors: for an inclusive society and development for all.”

Kirby points out that while the inclusion strategy announced in April 2012 committed to strengthening disability-related supports, there have been few notable improvements in assistance for students with disabilities.

“More than six years ago, the ISSP-Pathways Commission recommended the creation of new Teacher Assistant positions to help students with special education needs,” Kirby says. “Newfoundland and Labrador is the only province in Canada that does not have Teacher Assistants to help teachers meet the academic needs of students with special needs. Parents and teachers, and one report after another, have been calling for our province to catch up with the rest of the country.”

Kirby also points out that the status of funding for persons with disabilities from the Labour Market Agreement for Persons with Disabilities (LMAPD) appears to be in limbo. Earlier this month, Kirby asked the Minister of Advanced Education and Skills if recent LMAPD program applicants had their funding for post-secondary studies approved for 2013. There is some indication that very few, if any, received funding.

“I hope government will observe the International Day of Persons with Disabilities by doing far more to strengthen disability-related supports for students in the K-12 system and at the post-secondary level,” said Kirby. “Very few concrete measures have been put in place since the inclusion strategy was released.”

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For more information, please contact:

Dale Kirby, MHA

dalekirby@gov.nl.ca

Tel: 709-729-6921