![\"Text](\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Listen to this article<\/p>\n
Estimated 5 minutes<\/p>\n
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n
Liberal opposition leader John Hogan is used to answering questions, but as the house reconvenes on Monday, he says he\u2019s getting ready to ask them.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re on the other side of the house,\u201d Hogan told CBC News. \u201cBut it doesn’t change our goal. Our goal is to deliver good policy, good legislation and good solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lieutenant Governor \u00a0Joan Marie Aylward is scheduled to deliver a speech from the throne at 2:00 p.m. to officially start the spring session.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The house last sat on May 22, but it stayed closed during the fall session while the votes of three contested electoral districts<\/a> awaited approval for judicial recount.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hogan told CBC News that he is \u201cextremely disappointed\u201d the house remained cancelled, as it could\u2019ve been an opportunity for the new Progressive Conservative government to be held accountable to their election promises.<\/p>\n Since taking office, the PC\u2019s have cancelled several former Liberal government projects<\/a>, including a new hospital in St. John\u2019s and a potential national marine conservation area for the south coast of the island.<\/p>\n Hogan said he\u2019s hoping to hear what the PC\u2019s are going to do, other than cancel pre-existing projects. <\/p>\n \u201cThey’ve really just sort of been a bit negative, as opposed to positive things that they promised that they would do,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Premier Tony Wakeham told reporters on Sunday that he is ready to recommit to promises made during the election.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cOur commitment on making sure that health care becomes more accessible, that people have lower taxes and that we have safer communities,” Wakeham said while speaking during an appearance at the Brier curling championship. “That’s the priorities that you will hear in the throne speech.\u201d<\/p>\n Health care top of mind<\/p>\n Health care is a top priority for Hogan and Wakeham heading into the spring session.\u00a0<\/p>\n While in government, the Liberals released a 10-year health accord<\/a>, aimed at revamping the province\u2019s health-care system.\u00a0<\/p>\n Pointing to recent findings from the Auditor General <\/a>that suggested bonuses were helping retain physicians and nurses, Hogan said the Liberals made \u201cgreat strides\u201d in improving the health-care system.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the PC\u2019s announced last month that Dr. Pat Parfrey \u2014 a principal architect of the health accord \u2014 would be leaving his role <\/a>as the head of N.L\u00a0. Health Services.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hogan said the spring sitting will be a good opportunity to ask more questions about these changes.\u00a0<\/p>\n He also criticized the Premier’s office for hiring a special advisor <\/a>with a $275,000 salary paid by the province\u2019s medical care plan.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re very taken aback by the fact that money was taken from MCP, which everybody knows in this province is for health care,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is now not being used for health care purposes, it\u2019s clearly being used for political advice.\u201d<\/p>\n Churchill Falls MOU nearing deadline<\/p>\n The Churchill Falls Memorandum of Understanding was a hot button item during the election. Meanwhile, questions have swirled around the future of the agreement between N.L. Hydro and Hydro-Qu\u00e9bec since Wakeham called for an independent review.<\/p>\n And the deadline is approaching, as the three-member review panel has been tasked to put together the review by the end of April.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n Hogan said his main question for the PC government is \u201cWhy not continue negotiations?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI understand there’s a panel now reviewing the deal, but it’s okay to continue negotiations while that’s ongoing,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n When the panel was appointed, Hogan questioned the appointment of Michael Wilson, who has publicly stated his disapproval of the MOU.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cSo why are we wasting our time? Why are we spinning our wheels with people that we already know their opinion on this deal?\u201d said Hogan. \u201cLet’s get the Premier in the room with the Premier of Quebec and try and encourage them to get a good deal for Newfoundland and Labrador.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Affordability top of mind for NDP NDP Leader Jim Dinn said his party will be focused on affordability \u2014 which he said ties into many challenges like housing and pharmacare \u2014 as well as the Churchill Falls MOU. <\/p>\n \u201cWe hear a lot of deep frustrations with this. Certainly for us, it will be the Churchill Falls MOU as to what the government plans to do to at least make sure that Labrador has the power it needs,\u201d he told Radio-Canada.<\/p>\n Dinn added he will also be keeping an eye to the issue of transparency, adding when the PCs were the opposition they \u201cdecried\u201d the lack of transparency on the Liberals part.<\/p>\n Download our\u00a0free CBC News app<\/a>\u00a0to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our\u00a0daily headlines newsletter here<\/a>. Click\u00a0here to visit our landing page<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 5 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":317993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[163,521,85,46],"class_list":["post-317992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/317993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772461934_10_default.jpg\")
Liberal leader, John Hogan, prepares to sit in the opposition as the House of Assembly reconvenes for the spring session. (Patrick Butler\/Radio-Canada)<\/p>\n![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772461934_851_default.jpg\")
Premier Tony Wakeham said he is ready to recommit to promises made during the election when the house reopens on Monday. (Julia Israel\/CBC)<\/p>\n![\"Man](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772461935_241_default.jpg\")
NDP Leader Jim Dinn says he’ll be focused on affordability in the spring session. (CBC)<\/p>\n