Manitoba Hansard — 23 July 1971 (Sitting 132, 29th Legislature, 3rd Session)

29-3-132

Manitoba — Debates (Hansard)

THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 2:30 o'clock, Friday, July 23, 1971 Opening Prayer by Mr. Speaker. 3067 MR. SPEAKER: Presenting Petitions; Reading and Receiving Petitions; Presenting Reports by Standing and Special Committees; Ministerial Statements; Tabling of Reports; Notices of Motion; Introduction of Bills; Oral Questions. The Honourable Member for Portage la Prairie. ORAL QUESTION PERIOD MR. GORDON E. JOHNSTON (Portage la Prairie): Mr. Speaker, my question is for the First Minister. By way of explanation, I refer to the City of Portage la Prairie and their garbage disposal unit.

Some years ago the previous administration gave a commitment, that with the routing of the by-pass of No. 1 Highway around Portage la Prairie the administration of the City of Portage la Prairie was given the understanding and commitment that they would receive financial assistance if that same facility had to be relocated, My question . . . MR. SPEAKER: Order, please. I would suggest the honourable member should have had the courtesy of extending and notifying the Minister of a lengthy question of this kind.

I do believe that the oral question period is being abused when long questions of this nature are entertained. The Honourable Member for Portage la Prairie. MR. G. JOHNSTON: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I read the news report about three or four minutes ago. My question is to the First Minister. In view of the commitment given by the previous administration for financial assistance in the relocation of the garbage disposal area at Portage la Prairie, will this government honour that commitment? HON.

EDWARD SCHREYER (Premier) (Rossmere): I think, and I hope, that the honour able member will agree that the government has honoured the contractual arrangements, formal agreements that previous governments have entered into, at least we have tried to the best of our ability to so honour formal agreements. Insofar as commitments and undertakings are concerned, we have in most cases tried our best to honour even those. However, the precise nature of a commitment or undertaking is sometimes subject to

interpretation, so I will have to take the honourable member's question as notice and take it up with the appropriate Minister of Municipal Affairs or my colleague, I believe it's the Minister of Municipal Affairs in this case, and then try to get to the bottom of it. If it was a commitment made in good faith and if it is not in direct confrontation with the general policy intent of this government, we will try to honour it. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Charleswood. MR. ARTHUR MOUG (Charleswood): Mr. Speaker, I'd like to direct a question to the Minister of Government Services.

There's a car been parked for the last few weeks in the Member for Wolseley's parking spot. I wonder if the Minister could check and see if this man is a Member of the Legislature. He bears an MLA sticker on his window. His licence number is AD 6708, Province of Manitoba licence. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Minister of Transportation. HON. JOSEPH P. BOROWSKI (Minister of Public Works and Highways) (Thompson): Yes, I'll certainly check that Mr. Speaker, and I'd like to answer the question for Portage. It's my department that apparently made the commitment on this garbage dump when they re-routed the by-pass.

The commitment was of a nature that they would help clean it up. My department did start to clean it up. Portage la Prairie apparently weren't too interested and started dumping garbage again into the area and our people simply pulled out their equipment. As far as we were concerned that is the extent of the commitment and it has been fulfilled by our department. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Portage la Prairie. MR. G. JOHNSTON: Just on a point of order, Mr. Speaker. The Minister's statement is not true and he knows it. MR. SPEAKER: Order, please. The Honourable First Minister. MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS MR.

SCHREYER : Well, Mr. Speaker, as is evident to honourable members, there is some difference of

interpretation possible in this matter. It will be, as I have said, it will be looked into in greater detail. Mr. Speaker, while I'm on my feet I wonder if by leave I could make a very short July 23, 1971 (MR. SCHREYER cont'd. ) . . . . . announcement. It pertains to a statement I made earlier today.

I'd like to advise members of the Assembly, and I believe this to be significant, that Manitoba has arranged for the extension of the The Pas Manpower Corps directorate to include all of Northern Manitoba so that we will have a designated provincial Manpower Corps which will serve in the area of manpower mobility in training and placement and will hopefully serve as the designated Provincial Manpower Office for purposes of Northern Manitoba Development. ORAL QUESTION PERIOD (Cont'd. ) MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Portage la Prairie. MR. G. JOHNSTON: Mr.

Speaker, in the absence of the Minister of Labour, I direct my question to the First Minister or the Acting Minister of Labour. What steps, if any, are being taken to avert the impending strikes in the building trades in Greater Winnipeg., MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable First Minister. MR. SCHREYER: Well, Mr. Speaker, I thought that the Minister of Labour had made it clear that the steps that were being taken had to do with the appointment of an industrial dispute enquiry which is being conducted by Mr.

D\.!ncan Jessiman, that this move has the concurrence of both sides to the impending dispute and hopefully by virtue of the work done by this commis sion of enquiry the dispute can be averted. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Leader of the Opposition. MR. SIDNEY SPIVAK, Q.C. (Leader of the Opposition) (River Heights): Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of Mines and Natural Resources. I wonder whether he can indicate . to the House whether his department or he is aware of any new information with respect to mercury pollution on the lakes, rivers in Manitoba. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Minister of Mines. MR.

GREEN: Mr. Speaker, I'll have to take the question as notice. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Birtle-Russell. MR. HARRY E. GRAHAM (Birtle-Russell): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. My question is a supplementary to the First Minister to the question asked by the Member for Portage. Will the Enquiry Commission that is established into the building trades in Winnipeg, will their decision be binding on both parties? MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable First Minister. MR. SCHREYER: Mr. Speaker, this Enquiry Commission is established pursuant to the terms of the Labour Relations Act.

The honourable member if he reads the Act will find that in that circumstance the recommendations of course are not binding. I suppose that theoreti cally both sides could in advance pledge themselves to abide by the recommendations but that is not the case in this instance. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Rhineland. MR. JACOB M. FROESE (Rhineland): Yes, Mr . .Speaker, Hl like to address a question to the Minister of Finance, Does the government expect to increase the .rates in hydro to those areas served by Manitoba Hydro once the unicity bill is passed? MR. SPEAKER: The question is hypothetical.

The Honourable Minister of Finance. HON. SAUL CHERNIACK, Q. C. (Ninister of Finance) (St. Johns): Mr. Chairman, I understood the question to be is the government planning to increase the rates of hydro. I don't know any occasion on which government has increasad the rates of hydro, either city or l\fanitoba. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Lakeside. Sorry. The Honourable Member for Rhineland. MR. FROESE: Yes, a further question to the Minister of Finance. Has he any idea as to how much the Manitoi:)a Hydro will be in the red two years from now" MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Minister of Finance. MR.

CHERNIACK: I'm under the impression that the Jlfanitoba Hydro plants are not on the Red River. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Lakeside. MR. HARRY J. ENNS (Lakeside): Mr. Speaker, I direct a question to the Honourable the House Leader. When can we expect the report of the Public Utilities Committee" MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Minister of Mines. MR. GREEN: Mr. Speaker, I indicated that I would expect the report to be in before the session is over. MR. SPEAKER: Orders of the Day. The Honourable House Leader. July 23, 1971 MR. GREEN: Mr.

Speaker, my information as a result of this morning's discussion is that everybody is agreeable to now going into Law Amendments Committee to deal with the bills before that committee but I believe that the Mace should remain on the table and the Speaker just informally leave the Chair. MR. SPEAKER: Thank you. I am now leaving the Chair to return at the call of the Assembly. **** ** Sitting Resumed MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable House Leader. MR. GREEN: Mr. Speaker, the Law Amendments Committee is still in its deliberations.

It's the general intention to adjourn the House now, to come back again at 8:00 o'clock to adjourn to Law Amendments Committee with the Mace on the table. I move, Mr. Speaker, seconded by the Honourable the Minister of Tourism and Recreation that the House do now adjourn. MR. SPEAKER presented the motion and after a voice vote declared the motion carried and the House adjourned until 8:00 o'clock, Friday evening.

Document details

Collection	Manitoba — Debates (Hansard)
Citation	29-3-132
Type	hansard
Volume / chapter	29th 3rd hansardpdf 132.pdf
Language	en
Format	pdf
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	4091bbd9b0d0e75293334eec9b96101648b28721

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