Manitoba Hansard — Sitting 39 (29th Legislature, 2nd Session)

29-2-39

Manitoba — Debates (Hansard)

Legislative Assembly of Manitoba DEBATES and PROCEEDINGS Speaker The Honourable Ben Hanuschak Vol. XVII No. 39 2:30p.m., Wednesday, April 15th, 1970. Second Session, 29th Legislature. Printed by R. S. Evans - Queen's Printer for Province of Manitoba

I ELECTORAL DIVISION ARTHUR ASSINIBOIA BIRTLE-RUSSELL BRAN DON EAST BRANDON WEST BURROWS CHARLESWOOD CHURCHILL CR ESCE NTWOOD DAUPHIN ELMWOOD EMERSON FUN FLON FORT GARRY FORT ROUGE GIMLI GLADSTONE INKSTER KILDONAN LAC DU BONNET LAKESIDE LA VERENDRYE LOGAN MINNEDOSA MORRIS OSBORNE PEMBINA POINT DOUGLAS PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE RADISSON RHINELAND RIEL RIVER HEIGHTS ROBLIN ROCK LAKE ROSSMERE RUPERTSLAND ST. BONIFACE ST. GEORGE ST. JAMES ST. JOHNS ST. MATTHEWS ST. VITAL STE.

ROSE SELKIRK SEVEN OAKS SOURIS-KILLARNEY SPRINGFIELD STURGEON CREEK SWAN RIVER THE PAS THOMPSON TRANSCONA VIRDEN WELLINGTON WINNIPEG CENTRE WOLSELEY NAME J. Douglas Watt Steve Patrick Harry E. Graham Hon. Leonard S. Evans Edward McGill Hon. Ben Hanuschak Arthur Moug Gordon Wilbert Beard Cy Gonick Hon. Peter Burtniak Russell J. Doern Gabriel Girard Thomas Barrow L. R. (Bud) Sherman Mrs. Inez Trueman John C. Gottfried James Robert Ferguson Hon. Sidney Green, Q.C. Peter Fox Hon. Sam Uskiw Harry J. Enns. Leonard A. Barkman William Jenkins Walter Weir Warner H.

Jorgenson lan Turnbull George Henderson Donald Malinowski Gordon E. Johnston Harry Shafransky Jacob M. Froese Donald W. Craik Sidney Spivak, Q.C. J. Wally McKenzie Henry J. Einarson Hon. Ed. Schreyer Jean Allard Laurent L. Desjardins William Uruski Hon. A. H. Mackling, Q.C. Hon. Saul Cherniack, Q.C. Wally Johannson J. A. Hardy Gildas Molgat Hon. Howard Pawley Hon. Saul A. Miller Earl McKellar Hon. Rene E. Toupin Frank Johnston James H. Bilton Ron McBryde Hon. Joseph P. Borowski Hon. Russell Paulley Morris McGregor Hon. Philip Petursson J. R. (Bud) Hoyce Leonard H.

Claydon· ADDRESS Reston, Manitoba 10 Red Robin Place, Winnipeg 12 Binscarth, Manitoba Legislative Bldg., Winnipeg 1 2228 Princess Ave., Brandon, 1\ilan. 11 Aster Ave., Winnipeg 17 29 Willow Ridge Rd., Winnipeg 20 103 Copper Rd., Thompson, Man. 115 Kingsway, Winnipeg 9 Legislative Bldg., Winnipeg 1 104 Roberta Ave., Winnipeg 15 25 Lomond Blvd., St. Boniface 6 Cranberry Portage, Manitoba 86 Niagara St., Winnipeg 9 179 Oxford St., Winnipeg 9 44- 3rd Ave., Gimli, Man.

Gladstone, Manitoba Legislative Bldg., Winnipeg 1 627 Prince Rupert Ave., Winnipeg 15 Legislative Bldg., Winnipeg 1 Woodlands, Manitoba Box 130, Steinbach, Man. 1287 Alexander Ave., Winnipeg 3 Room 250, Legislative Bldg., Winnipeg 1 Box 185, Morris, Man. 284 Wildwood Park, Winnipeg 19 Manitou, Manitoba 361 Burrows Ave., Winnipeg 4 Room 248, Legislative Bldg., Winnipeg 1 4 Maplehurst Rd., St. Boniface 6 Box 40, Winkler, Manitoba 2 River Lane, Winnipeg 8 1516 Mathers Bay, West, Winnipeg 9 Inglis, Manitoba Glenboro, Manitoba Legislative Bldg., Winnipeg 1 119 Provencher Ave., St. Boniface 6 357 Des Meurons St., St.

Boniface 6 Box 629, Arborg, Manitoba Legislative Bldg., Winnipeg 1 Legislative Bldg., Winnipeg 1 15-500 Burnell St., Winnipeg 10 11 Glenlawn Ave., Winnipeg 8 463 Kingston Crescent, Winnipeg 8 Legislative Bldg., Winnipeg 1 Legislative Bldg., Winnipeg 1 Nesbitt, Manitoba Legislative Bldg., Winnipeg 1 310 Overdale St., Winnipeg 12 Swan River, Manitoba 56 Paul Ave., The Pas, Manitoba Legislative Bldg., Winnipeg 1 Legislative Bldg., Winnipeg 1 Kenton, Manitoba Legislative Bldg., Winnipeg 1 777 Winnipeg Ave., Winnipeg 3 116'/:z Sherbrook St., Winnipeg 1

THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 2:30 o'clock, Wednesday, April15, 1970 Opening Prayer by Mr. Speaker. 9.37 MR. SPEAKER: Presenting Petitions; Reading and Receiving Petitions; Presenting Re ports by Standing and Special Committees. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS MR. SPEAKER: At this point I should like to direct the attention of the honourable· members to the gallery where we have with us 25 students of Grade 11 standing of the Pine Falls Collegiate. These students are under the direction .of Mr. Kaushall and Mrs. Cook. This school is located in the constituency of the Honourable Member for Rupertsland.

And 19 students of Grade 8 standing of the St. Emile School. These students are under the direction of Mrs. Angele Trudeau. This school is located in the constituency of the Honourable Member for Riel. Thirty students of Grade 9 standing of the West St. Paul School. These' students are under the direction of Mr. S. Pilman. This school is located in the constituency of the Honour able Minister for Municipal Affairs. And 16 students of an Upgrading Class of the· Elmwood High School. These students are under the direction of Mr. Rodin. This school is located in the constituency of the Honourable Member for Elmwood.

On behalf of all the Honourable Members of the Legislative Assembly I welcome you here today. REPORTS BY STANDING AND SPECIAL COMMITTEES MR. SPEAKER: Adjourned debate on the proposed motion of the Honourable Member for The Pas. The Honourable Minister of Mines and Natural Resources. HON. SIDNEY GREEN, Q.C. (Minister of Mines and Natural Resources)(Inkster): Mr. Speaker, I don't intend to say a great deal about this particular report. The members who have spoken have already indicated the nature of the Task Force work and the results that stem from it. I may say, Mr.

Speaker, that I want to indicate to the House that I was not able to participate in the Task Force meetings outside of Greater Winnipeg as much as I would have liked to although I did attend some of them. I rise to speak really for one purpose and that is to disassociate my mm thinking with the remarks that were made by the members who spoke, the Member for Swan River and what I gather his remarks were and the Member for Portage la Prairie who have indicated that the .work of the committee is done and that is should not be reconstituted. At least that's what I gathered from what they said. Mr.

Speaker, when the Task Force began its activities it was unanimously considered that the first phase of its operation would relate to the situation in isolated communities and the people of isolated communities and their problems.

I for one feel that a fairly good job was done in getting the problems as articulated by the people and in assembling, and really it is only in assembling, in assembling the recommendations that came from various sources without any legislative stand being taken with regards to these recommendations, and I think that that's important, and that the first page of the Task Force Report indicates that the legisla tive committee took no position vis-a-vis any of the recommendations but let them come into the House as they were recommended by the Task Force.

I ask members of the Hause to ap preciate that the Task Force was composed of all of the northern MLA's, four people who are closely associated with isolated communities and from the areas themselves, andlhen·three MLA' s who -- the Member for Swan River certainly could be classified as a northern MLA but the Member for Portage and myself would not be classified as northern MLA's -- and we recognized when this report was being assembled that it was coming from a group of people closely associated with the people who had been articulating their differences.

I think that the list of recommendations is a very meaningful one and one which the government is going to look very seriously towards dealing with and there will be before this session of the Legislature matters which affect the democratic life of the communities in northern Manitoba. And I think; Mr. Speaker, without attempting to either colour or discolour the situation that that's fairly j I good action on recommendations from a committee that was just established last fall.

But I _j' emphasize that this was agreed upon by all of the members including the citizen members Of the report as constituting the first phase of the Northern Task Force's responsibility, and that is to obtain the views of people in the north and essentially in isolated communities. And every- body knows that that's exactly what was done. But the notion of having a task force on northern affairs was much more encompassing

938 April 15, 1970 (MR. GREEN cont'd. ). than merely to deal with those particular problems. The whole aspect of northern development generally and the economic future of the north and a northern development plan are part and parcel of the kind of subject that the Northern Task Force was set up for, and I know that several members, including particularly the Member for Ruperts land, felt that that should be part of the first phase of the Northern Task Force report but he went along with the others on the suggestion that it would be wise to deal with the isolated com munities' problem first.

But having dealt with that problem I for one, and I believe that the members of the House should not feel that this represents the total recommendation that is necessary for attemtping to deal with the northern problem. And for that reason, Mr.

Speaker, I am going to certainly be asking the government, and I hope the House, to give immediate con sideration to the recommendation of the Task Force itself, that it be reconstituted and I think that this recommendation indicates that the Force and the Legislative Committee did not con sider that the work had been completed and that there is nothing left to be studied. Certainly the ..... MR. JAMES H. BILTON (Swan River): On a point of privilege, Mr. Speaker, so that there be no misunderstanding. I was one of that group that agreed that the committee be re constituted, but I changed my mind. MR.

GREEN: Fine. Mr. Speaker, I don't know whether the member had a point of privilege. I said that he was one of the people \\ho agreed that the committee should be re constituted; he gets up and says "I did agree that the committee should be reconstituted" so there is no point of privilege. MR. BILTON: I changed my mind. MR •. GREEN: Every woman and every member from Swan River is entitled to change their mind but it doesn't then become a point of privilege. -- (Interjection)-- That's right. But it then does not become a point of privilege.

I thought perhaps I was misquoting my honour able friend but I now am happy to be reassured by him that I was not misquoting him, that I was saying what was correct. And so, Mr. Speaker, I merely say that if members are of the opinion that the work of the Task Force is completed, that a sufficient in depth study has taken place-- and I question how this can be the result, Mr.

Speaker; we worked entirely without expert staff with the exception of the staff that was made available by the Planning and Priorities Committee and everybody including myself can't say too much about how good a job they did in making the arrangements for the meetings and compiling the report and in putting up with people such as myself and the Member for Swan River. So that the staff certainly did a wonderful job.

But if one can suggest that this report without any economic expertise input other than the members ourselves, and I seriously question whether any of us could have given the kind of input that is necessary, with out other expert advice could develop the kind of program for northern Manitoba other than that dealing with the immediate problems of the isolated communities, I question this and I don't think that the government can act in this way. And so, Mr.

Speaker, I'm just indicating to the House that I for one, and I hope to be in a position to make this recommendation to the House in due course, feel that there is much more room for the activities of the Northern Task Force and for the type of recommendations that they would be able to obtain relative to the problems of the north generally and particularly towards developing a developmental plan for the economic future of northern Manitoba. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable House Leader of the Liberal Party. MR. GORDON E. JOHNSTON (Portage la Prairie): Would the Minister permit a question? MR. GREEN: Yes. MR. G.

JOHNSTON: Before I put my question I would just point out that I said that the Task Force, if reconstituted, should be with a different directive. They have done what has been required of them in my opinion. So my question would be: is it the intention of the Min ister to recommend different terms of references rather than the ones that were in the last resolution last session? MR. GREEN: Mr. Speaker, I'm willing to look at the terms of the resolution. My im pression was that they were very broad.

My impression, again, was that the Task Force at its first meeting defined the first phase and that the first phase was a study of northern isolated communities and their problems as articulated by the people themselves. If the terms of ref erence are not broad enough to encompass the various things that I have said then certainly I would look to broadening them. My impression is that they were but I'm certainly prepared to take my honourable friend's suggestion and to look at them again.

Aprill5, 1970 939 MB. SPEAKER: Are you ready for the question? The Honourable Member for Churchill. MB. GORDON W. BEARD (Churchill): Would the Honourable Minister not agree that the Task Force was in fact made up of experts, and if so why would they need additional expertise. MB. SPEAKER: Are you ready for the question? The Honourable Member for Rhineland. MR. JACOB M. FROESE (Rhineland): Mr. Chairman, I beg to move, seconded by the Honourable Member for Churchill, that debate be adjourned. MR. SPEAKER presented the motion and after a voice vote declared the motion carried. MR.

SPEAKER: Notices of Motion; Introduction of Bills. IN'I'RODU::TION OF BILLS MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Logan. MR. WILLIAM JENIGNS (Logan) introduced Bill No. 36,

an Act to incorporate The Manitoba Sports Federation - La Federation Manitobaine des Sports. MR. SPEAKER: Orders of the Day. The Honourable First Minister. STATEMENTS HON. ED. SCHREYER (Premier)(Rossmere): Mr. Speaker, I rise to make a statement before Orders of the Day. And I should explain at the outset that the statement has been agreed to bycounselfor Versatile Manufacturing Limited and by the Manitoba Development Fund and by representatives of the Bank of Montreal and by myself. Before I actually commence with the statement I should just like to try and arrive at some clarification of procedure.

I understand that the statement properly can be followed by statements from the Honourable the Leader of the Opposition or someone that he wishes to speak on his behalf and by other party leaders but that no questions are to be entertained midway between their statements, except that statements of course would be normal and allowed as part of our routine question period. That being so, Mr. Speaker, I wish to confirm that negotiations between Versatile Limited and the Manitoba Development Fund have been successfully concluded.

The Board of Directors of the Manitoba Development Fund approved financing for Versatile at a board meeting held on April lOth. A letter of intent finalizing the terms and conditions was signed and accepted today. The Province of Manitoba has confidence in the long-term future of the farm and industrial equipment manufacturing industry and in Versatile's ability to expand and develop its markets.

The Manitoba Development Fund in its proper role in stimulating industrial development has entered into an agreement with Versatile to provide the funds necessary to continue its growth program during the current period of slowdown in the Canadian agricultural industry. Versatile employs approximately 850 people at its Fort Garry plant and produces a wide range of farm products the majority of which are sold in the export market, and as such is an important in dustry in Manitoba as well as to the entire Canadian economy.

As soon as formalities and documentation are cleared we will be tabling in the Legislative Assembly the details of the arrangement in keeping with this government's policy of making full disclosure to the Legisla ture of all major Manitoba Development Fund commitments. We believe, Sir, that the Fund has made an arrangement with the company which will be beneficial to the people of Manitoba and may well set many precedents and departures from past practice.

For the first time the government, acting as custodian of the public fund not only provides the money but is given an opportunity to participate in the equity and growth of this industry. We have also insured, because of the government's participation, direct or in direct, that Versatile will continue its expansion and development program in the Province of Manitoba and will continue to provide employment and production opportunities for an ever growing part of our work force. The company has through Mr. Robinson, its president, ex pressed satisfaction with the arrangement.

He acknowledged that Versatile has recently been suffering a cash shortage because the farming community of Canada were hard pressed for cash. He emphasized that all.market forecasts indicated that the demand for his company's product was increasing but that the customers' ability to pay was temporarily decreased. The government financing enables the company to continue its development and growth even during the current tight money period. I go on to say, Mr.

Speaker, that the financial arrangement provides that in the first stage of the relationship between the Fund and Versatile the Fund will provide additional work ing capital up to six million dollars which will see the company through the current year. During this period a major feasibility and marketing study will be undertaken jointly by the

940 April15, 1970 (MR. SCHREYER cont'd. ). • Fund and the company to project the company's growth and development potential for expansion purposes over the next five years. The company estimates that the result will indicate excellent opportunities which can be accomplished by a significant capital expansion program for new plant and equipment which should qualify for substantial Federal Government grants under Ottawa's DREE or regional development program.

The company projects that with this expansion company sales which hit a record of nearly 34 million dollars last year will increase substantially and the company president advises that this would require further financing. Under the financing arrangement the Fund is not committed to long-term financing but will decide on a future participation after the feasibility studies have been completed about the end of this year.

The new short-term financing can be described as a means of effectively having the Fund and the company get to know each other's operations better in order to ascertain the extent of their future relationship. The Manitoba Development Fund has been given an option to purchase on behalf of the people of Manitoba, Class A common shares which may be exercised in whole or in part at any time up to August 31, 1971. The working capital loaned to versatile is expected to be repaid by the end of December 1970, with interest payable at 10 percent per annum on the amount out standing.

If the Fund exercised its stock option in full it could do so by applying the money owed by Versatile to the Fund against the purchase of these Class A common shares. This would give, if exercised, this woold give the fund, and the people of Manitoba it would be more proper to say, an equity of approximately 25 percent in the company. It is to be emphasized that the Manitoba Development Fund was not legally committed to finance the long-term expansion of Versatile.

Nevertheless, it is our hope and that of the company that the relationship will prove rewarding enough for both parties to warrant further Fund assistance. In expressing its satisfaction with this arrangement the company also con firmed that the arrangement with the Fund now enabled it to plan its future on a long term basis with the development of all of its facilities and the retention of its head office in Manitoba and the agreement with the Manitoba Development Fund guarantees this. The Manitoba Development Fund will be appointing a representative to the Board of Directors of Versatile in due course.

Terms for future financing by the Fund will be negotiated from time to time as the need arises should the Fund decide in future to increase its involvement with the company. The company has also expressed the following view, through its president: "That over the past few weeks we have come to know that there is a genuine community of interest between the government and industry in promoting new industrial activity. We have a lot of things to do now but at least with the finalization of this arrangement we can proceed with our continued growth knowing that we will be located in our home province. " MR.

WALTER WEIR (Leader of the Opposition)(Minnedosa): Mr. Speaker, first of all I'd like to thank the First Minister for his statement. I'm happy to know, as I'm sure all members of the House are, and Manitobans generally, of the continued employment of the 850 people that Versatile have been employing in Fort Garry and we're more than pleased that that would appear to be assured.

There are several questions that come to my mind and I'm sure they come to members on this side of the House but I won't put the First Miruster in the embarrassing position of asking him now because he really wouldn't be in a position to answer them effectively. They would be more appropriate I think in terms of being asked by some of us that might have specifics that we would like following the statement. So I'll attempt Mr. Speaker, to keep from getting into the hassle that we have found ourselves in on previous occasions.

Outside of expressing our pleasure at the continuance of the jobs, may I say that we'll look forward to seeing the documents and expressing probably greater interest when we've been able to apply ourselves to them at some later date which I would hope won't be too long.

The matter of equity and the option to buy an equity and whether or not what the people of Manitoba are committed to is a payment of 25 percent of the value of a company and whether the total that may be contemplated is in the speculated 40 to 45 million dollars that we've seen being projected through the news media, can remain for further consideration. But may I say that I, too have confidence in the long term future of agriculture. People have to eat and it's through agriculture production that this comes about in very large part.

Versatile have proven themselves over the years as competitlve within this field and I'm sure all members of the House want to express every good wish for a continued good future for Versatile. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable House Leader of the Liberal Party.

April 15, 1970 941 MR. G. JOHNSTON: Mr. Speaker, we in this party welcome the Premier's announce ment. It has been in the news for some time now that this firm was considering moving to either another province or even out of the country and it's good to know that it's staying in Manitoba and there is a good working relationship between the administration of Manitoba and the principals of the company. While the statement made was so long that perhaps I and other members did not catch all the implications contained in it, I'm sure that on first blush it sounds like an equitable deal for the province.

I think it's a good idea that the MDF do have a director on the board to rep resent the government or the people's interest in the operation. I don't think the Premier made clear, or perhaps I missed, if when the loan is repaid does the MDF give up its equity share value in some manner, or is there an option for the company to reclaim their shares at any later date? I say again, Mr. Speaker, that we're glad that this company decided to stay in Manitoba and also to expand here.

It's quite a change from having some large loans made tO' principals who live in other countries and we don't know what their financial assets are - this-is quite a welcome switch. MR. FROESE: Mr. Speaker, I too wish to make my views known and I certainly welcome the statement made by the Premier this afternoon in connection with the Versatile ManufactUr ing. Then, too, I think it is welcome in the way that the disclosure is being ma(ie at the time that a loan of this nature is made from public funds by the development fund.

And, too, I think it is indeed very valuable that the government of this province does support an industry such as Versatile which is manufacturing essential items. I think in recent years we've developed too many industries that are manufacturing items that are probably in the luxury class or in the not too essential items.

This is one which the agricultural community of this province will need in years to come and I do hope that the company will stay abreast, will develop new machines and in this way having acquired the necessary funds that it will remain in the position that it can do the necessary research and stay abreast. I also feel that we should take ad vantage of the program that Ottawa has in the way of assistance through grants. If other provinces are taking advantage of it I see no reason \llhy we in Manitoba shouldn't and I too feel that this will be of assistance to the new company.

I'm not sure whether I got the complete statement as far as what assistance will be given to producers in acquiring machines from the company, whether some kind of financing sub sidiary is being set up for that purpose or not or whether they will rely on the present credit programs that we have through our own Agricultural Credit Corporation or the Farm Improve ment Loans that are available to the farmers to purchase the necessary machinery.

I notice that the citizens of this province will now be enabled to acquire shares, I think we have pre cedence of this type - Alberta made shares available when they went into production in the oil ... and the citizens were allowed to acquire shares up to $100, 00 apiece and it was subscribed to over\\helmingly at that time. -- (Interjection) -- It's probably a somev.hat different set-up but the citizens supported it and it got real assistance at that time. So I'm interested to see just how this development will go and sure will be watching it very carefully.

I will have more to say when we get the actual statement so that I can take a closer look on some of the other items, but once more I welcome the assistance that is being given and also that it is being dis closed in the way it is. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Churchill. MR. BEARD: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise to bring greetings from northern Manitoba and show you that we're really with you, whether it be development of the north or the develop ment of southern agriculture industries. I think that the government has made a wonderful step forward.

I think that probably the image of the party will be improved -- and approved. I don't need the water, I'm not going to stay up this long. As an Independent and as a member of northern Manitoba, I say "thank you" to the Minister for such a wonderful announcement and certainly I will support you all the way up on this. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Fort Garry. MR. BUD SHERMAN (Fort Garry): Mr. Speaker, would the First Minister now entertain two questions on the announcement? MR. GREEN: Mr. Speaker, just before this is done, we're trying to establish a certain procedure.

I think that although we've operated in a certain way today that it's not appropriate that other than parties represented in the House be able to speak on statements, because this

942 April15, 1970 (MR. ~REEN cont'd. ). would mean every person who stood as an Independent would have that right, and therefore if not for any other reason than that, the rules require statements from the official parties, so I don't want this to go as a precedent. MR. J, DOUGLAS WATT (Arthur): Mr. Speaker, if we're talking on a point of order .... MR. SCHREYER: Just to clarify. The Honourable Member for Fort Garry asked if he can put two questions and as long as it's clearly understood it's questions before Orders of the Day, not questions as part of this particular procedure. ORAL QUESTION PERIOD . MR.

SHERMAN: ..... before the Orders of the Day, Mr. Speaker. Would the First Minister comment on reports that as much as 40 or 45 million dollars is being contemplated in terms of financial arrangements for Versatile. MR. SCHREYER: Mr .. Speaker, certainly that kind of money is not involved in the agree mentor arrangement which I have just disclosed to the House. That amount of money, 40 to 45 million is something which has been hypothetically projected as being within the realm of possible expansion of this company. MR. SHERMAN: Mr.

Speaker, secondly, could I ask the First Minister, if in the event that the $6 million is not paid back within a prescribed time does the government then acquire 25 percent equity in the company? MR. SCHREYER: Mr. Speaker, there's a bit of a problem here because I'm quite pre pared to answer questions but on the other hand I think honourable members will appreciate that in about two or three days we can table the actual agreement and then they can peruse it and focus in on whatever specifics they would like to question. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Lakeside. MR. HARRY ENNS (Lakeside): Thank you, Mr.

Speaker. A further question then to the First Minister. Would he perhaps then also undertake at the time of the tabling of the letters and documents of the agreement that they've arrived at, also give us some information with respect to a full financial statement of the company, the share structure of the company and a statement of its current inventory both on consignment or on a sold basis. I think the only way that we can make a reasonable assessment of what we're getting into is to have that kind of in formation on the table. MR. SCHREYER: Mr.

Speaker, certainly, as I stated in the announcement, we are going to be tabling the agreement. However, if we were required or asked to table a copy of the prospectus or, not the prospectus but the financial statement, that is, my honourable friend will find, would be contrary to the provisions of the MDF Act; it would require, I believe, an amendment to that Act. But even so, Mr. Speaker, -- (Interjection)-- the honourable member, yes, he could buy one share in the company and then he'd have that entitlement. Unless there be any misunderstanding, I've said all along, Mr.

Speaker, that what was required for public information was a statement of all of the essential parts of any agreement entered into by the fund in any borrowing company. The internal financial arrangement of a borrowing company is something else again, and I'm clearly on the record as saying that we at no time requested that this be done and in turn are not inclined to do it ourselves. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Lakeside. MR. ENNS: A supplementary question, Mr. Speaker.

But surely the First Minister will agree that for the first time through the government Manitobans are buying Class A shares in something and we have to have some idea whether it's a good deal. MR. SPEAKER: Order please, I believe the honourable member is aware he was putting forth an argumentative question and one provocative of debate. The Honourable Member for Assiniboia. MR. STEVE PATRICK (Assiniboia): Mr. Speaker, it's in reference to the same thing. I have another question to the Honourable First Minister.

If the government or MDF exercises its option to buy 25 percent equity and subsequently the loan was repaid, will the government still retain its 25 percent equity or will it offer it back to the corporation or to the people of Manitoba, or will it retain the 25 percent share. MR. SCHREYER: Mr. Speaker, that certainly will be clear when the honourable member reads the agreement which we will table in one or two days, so it's really unnecessary for me to answer just now; except I will, I'll tell him that his first assumption is correct. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Virden.

April 15, 197 0 943 MR. MORRIS McGREGOR (Virden): Mr. Speaker, I'd like to direct this question to the First Minister. Would the government comment on the newspaper report on Rivers Air Base operations, that is the moving of part to Portage and part of the operation to Edmonton? HON, LEONARD s. EVANS (Minister of Industry and Commerce)(Brandon East): Mr. I' Speaker, if I may answer the question for the honourable member on behalf of the Premier- We are distressed to learn of the fact that part of the unit now existing at Rivers Air Base is ·.·• being transferred out of the province.

We're, of course, not as concerned about transfers of personnel between one part of this province and another. However, we are distressed at the fact that the First Minister had the assurance of the Minister of National Defence not long ago that we would be consulted before any changes were announced or any decisions had been made. I would like to inform the House also that I have been trying to get in touch with the Minister of National Defence by telephone. I'm informed he is tied up all afternoon with the Priine Minister.

I have now placed a call to another cabinet minister who happens to come from Manitoba and I can assure the honourable member that we are quite concerned about it and we are taking action as fast as we possibly can. MR. McGREGOR: Then a supplementary question, I assume the government has not been consulted. MR. EVANS: That's a correct assumption. MR. McGREGOR: Still another supplementary. Is the government then now working on an industrial alternative to continue the job in that area, if what we suspect might be a reality, to help Rivers and that general area of Manitoba? MR. EVANS: Mr.

Speaker, this is a very worthwhile suggestion. It was discussed with Mr. Marchand some time ago, the general principle of the iinpact of the removal of the military base from any area within the province, and Mr. Marchand did indicate to members of the government that his department would take a favourable look at such towns, such areas, and would try to alleviate any distress caused by that. As you know, the government has a regional economic development program and we are very concerned that there shall be balanced economic growth within the province. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Lakeside. MR.

ENNS: I direct a question, Mr. Speaker, to the Honourable Minister of Agriculture. Does the Minister support the current discussions taking place in Ottawa with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture and representatives of the Federal Government with respect to a check off on cereal grains? HON. SAMUEL USKIW (Minister of Agriculture)( Lac du Bonnet): I haven't had any com, munication on the subject matter, Mr. Chairman. MR. ENNS: A supplementary question, Mr. Speaker. I simplify the question. Do you support the efforts of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture in this respect? MR.

USKIW: I'm not quite sure what those efforts are, Mr. Chairman, so I can't answer the question. MR. ENNS: Mr. Speaker, let me clarify. The efforts are to ..... MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable House Leader of the Liberal Party. MR. G. JOHNSTON: Mr. Speaker, I would like to direct a question to either the Min ister of Industry and Commerce or the First Minister. It's regarding a news report that a mechanics lien for $137, 000 has been filed against Churchill Forest Industries and one of its associated companies.

My question is, lf the lien is found to be in order by the court, is the Manitoba Development Fund bound to make any payment? MR. SCHREYER: Mr. Speaker, I thiilk that the answer to that question would be that what my honourable friend refers to has to be looked at as a matter of ordinary litigation. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Wolseley. MR. LEONARD H. CLAYOON (Wolseley): Mr. Speaker, they say third time lucky and being a persistent fellow, I'd like to direct a question to the Minister of Cultural Mfairs.

In the light of the statement that there has been a four day reprieve on the demolition of the Hugh John MacDonald House, and in the light of a letter which I have been asked to deliver to you personally, and which I ask the page to now deliver, could I ask the Minister if he will look into this matter again, as he's got two days to do it in, and could he assure us that he Will take another good look at this? HON. PHILIP PETURSSON (Minister of Cultural Affairs)(Wellington): Mr. Speaker, I'd be happy to see the letter.

944 MB. CLAYOON: ..... look into the matter, not just look at the letter. 1\ffi, PETURSSON: I can always do that, Mr. ~eaker. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Arthur. April 15, 1970 MR. WATT: I direct a question to the First Minister. Mr. Speaker, my question to the First Minister is in the area of agriculture.

Since the government has now concluded that the Federal policy insofar as \\heat reduction is concerned is completely inadequate, and since the member ele~ from Selkirk last night on TV agrees with the provincial government that the federal government policy is completely inadequate and in the light of the statement that the Minister made today in regard to Versatile that they will be injecting money into the production of farm machinery, my question now to the Minister is- in the light of all I have said on this short question, Mr. ~eaker, is it now the intention of the First Minister to inject $12 million into agricultural economy in the form of cash payments which was his stated intention some weeks ago?

MR. SCHREYER: Mr. ~eaker, I can advise honourable members that after listening to the Member for Arthur and all his pros I finally found out what the question was. I think the answer is simply to advise the honourable member to look at Hansard for last week when we were going through the estimates of the Department of Agriculture. We did make proposals to the Federal Government about the necessity and desirability of supplementary cash advances or acreage payments.

We indicated a willingness to do so if arrangements could be made for pro rated recovery on cash advances or if arrangements can be made for a sharing of acreage pay m~ts up to a certain amount per acre, and the Minister of Agriculture I believe can advise further whether he is negotiating at the moment. I believe he is. 1\ffi, WATT: Mr. Speaker, I believe the question was referred to the Minister of Agri culture. Could we hear from him on my first question? 1\ffi, USKIW: Mr.

Chairman, I think that I could only state that things are in a state of flux at this point and a statement of policy will be made in due course. MR. WATT: A supplementary question. Could the Minister tell me what a state of flux is? Did I understand .... . MR. SCHREYER: ..... knows full well-- I'm sorry, I was attempting to answer the hon- ourable member. He knows full well that there is no point in saying too much while we are in the process of negotiation with the Federal Government.

The more we say or the more we clarify what provincial policy may be, to that extent we may be weakening our negotiation or bargaining position with Ottawa. 1\ffi, WATT: A further supplementary question, Mr. Speaker. Can we take it for granted then that the Provincial Government are now still negotiating with the Federal Government in respect of cash advances, provincially sponsored cash advances? MR. SCHREYER: Yes, Mr. Speaker, because the Federal Government has proven to be very difficult on this question, unfortunately.

My honourable friend I'm sure will agree with that. 1\ffi, SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Rhineland. MR. FROESE: Mr. Speaker, I would like to address a question to the Honourable the Minister of Industry and Commerce. Could he tell us how many fish plants or fishermen's properties have been declared redundant to date and how much the government has expended in this program? MR. GREEN: Mr. Speaker, the answer to the first question is none; and therefore there is no necessity for an answer to the second question. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Minister of Industry and Commerce. 1\ffi, EVANS: Mr.

Speaker, the Honourable Member from Fort Garry asked a question recently respecting the Air Canada overhaul base personnel being transferred from Winnipeg to Montreal and would the Minister confirm that Air Canada is living up to its commitment to keep that base in operation up to 1971? In the agreement between Air Canada and CAE aircraft it was agreed that except for certain individuals required to remain in Winnipeg at Air Canada's request, permanent employees had the right to go with the new company or to transfer to Dorval. These transfers were to be made over a period of time.

There was no undertaking as to the time period involved. The transfers \\hie!:! ha~·e occurred have been made under the terms of the agreement at the election of the individuals concerned. The Manitoba Government has been advised that Air Canada is living up to and exceeding its commitment with respect to the work load provided to CAE aircraft. There is some speculation as to \\hen and how fast the Viscounts will be retired in view of the developing Federal Government regional air policy. There have

April15, 1970 945 (MR. EVANS cont'd. ) ••••• been, and will continue to be discussions between Air Canada and CAE aircraft about work needed to fulfill the contracted agreements between the two com panies as the Viscount is phased out. There was another question asked by the same member respecting a new power plant shop to be located at DQrval -have I any information on this subject. I can state that Air Canada is constructing what is referred to as a new engine test cell at Dorval.

This unit will be a separate building as the present engine overhaul shop is not large enough and cannot be ex panded to accommodate the new technology engines of the wide body and supersonic jets which Air Canada now has on order or under option. The existing engine space will be vacated and used for other aircraft overhaul functions. Both the old and the new engine test cells will be part of the one overall complex being prepared to handle the Boeing 747 due to enter service in April 1971; the Lougheed 101 entering service in 1972, Concords expected in 1974 and the Boeing SST's option for still later delivery.

MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Fort Garry. 1\m. SHERMAN: A supplementary question, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for his information. I would like to ask him whether Air Canada workers at the base here have been in communication with him or his department expressing dissatisfaction over the rate at which Air Canada Winnipeg base workers are being phased out and into the Montreal operation.? MR. EVANS: There have been no personal representations made to myself. I'm not aware of anything being made to members of the department. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Attorney-General.

HON, AL MACKLING, Q, C, (Attorney-General)(St. James): Mr. Speaker, quite some time ago the Honourable Member for The Pas asked me a question in respect to the termination of a tenancy of a person who had appeared before the Landlord and Tenant Committee when they held a hearing in The Pas. I requested that my department look into the matter.

I nowhave a report from my department indicating that apparently the tenancy was from month to month and the landlord gave the required notice, that is a month to terminate the lease, and apparently this was in accordance with what the landlord's legal entitlement was under the existing Lan~ lord and Tenant Act. One of the recommendations of the Committee is for change in the Act to prohibit such an event. I'm further advised by enquiry with the Minister of Health and Social Services that this family has received the attention of that department and some assistance has been given. MR.

SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Roblin. MR. J, WALLY McKENZIE (Roblin): Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It's most unfortunate their caucus doesn't function like the caucuses used to function. Before the Orders of the Day, Mr. Speaker, I would like to direct two questions to the Honourable Minister of Cultural Af fairs. First, would the Minister be prepared to give me the

schedule of the dates when the Musical Ride will perform in this province during the summer months of our Centennial year, And the second, the date that the recording of the Centennial song will be released? MR. PETURSSON: Mr. Speaker, the answer to the second question is that while the Manitoba Centennial song is being recorded, I can't give the exact date on which the recording will be issued. I'm sorry I didn't get the gist of the first question. MR. McKENZIE: The dates when the Musical Ride will be scheduled and where they will perform in the province. MR.

PETURSSON: The Musical Ride will be held here and there over the province. I don't know in which direction the horses will prance next. - 1\m, McKENZIE: A supplementary question, Mr. Speaker. Would the Minister be kind enough to give the House the

schedule of it? MR. PETURSSON: Mr. Speaker, I haven't memorized the schedule. Inasmuch as I am not a horseman I don't expect to follow them around the province. If I find the

schedule I will be able to supply you with it. MR. WEill: Mr. Speaker, a supplementary question. Is this the amount of importance that the Minister places on the Musical Ride coming to Manitoba, that if he can find a schedule, he'll tell members of the House and the people of.Manitoba? MR. PETURSSON: I hope the honourable member doesn't expect me to memorize every

schedule of every event that is taking place in the province. The Musical Ride will be here. If you pick up one of these Manitoba '70 booklets I'm sure that it is listed there and you will be able to find the information for yourself.

946 Aprll15, 1970 1\m. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Rupertsland. MR. JEAN ALLARD (Rupertsland): Mr. Speaker, I would like to direct a question to the Minister of Mines and Resources, as to when we can expect some statement on the state of the fishing industry on Lake Winnipeg and in the rest of Manitoba. MR. GREEN: Mr. Speaker, I will be making the statement as soon as I can. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Crescentwood. MR. CY GONICK (Crescentwood): I have a question for the Attorney-General, with regard to the availability of divorce forms from Willson Stationery.

I have heard from constituents of mine who have attempted to enter divorce proceedings without the use of lawyers and have found that the Willson Stationery Store, which is the only store ..... MR. SPEAKER: Has the honourable member a question? MR. GONICK: Yes. I wonder if the Attorney-General has heard that the Willson stationery store has not made these forms available to these 50 women who have sought to purchase them from them? MR. MACKLING: I'm aware of the fact that a number of ladies, Mr. Speaker, have initiated actions on their O\\n and some publicity has been given to that.

I'm given to understand by enquiry with the staff of the Prothonotary's Office of the Court of Queen's Bench that every consideration-- (Interjection) -- the Prothonotary's Office of the Court of Queen's Bench - that every consideration has been given to these ladies in respect to their applications. As to the ready access of forms, legal forms with the named company, I will make enquiry into that and report to the House. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Morris. MR. WARNER -H.

JORGENSON (Morris): On a point of order, I ask you to consider whether those last two questions fall under the urgency that is required for questions under the Orders of the Day. There are definite rules laid down for the kind of questions that can be asked during this period, and I ask you to rule on the eligibility of those two questions. MR. LAURENT L. DESJARDINS (St. Boniface): Mr. Speaker, on the same point of order, I think we should include the third, last one also. MR. GREEN: Mr.

Speaker, I invite you to look at the entire question period and possibly if it would be of use to my honourable friend, perhaps you could give him a note as to which ones were urgent questions and which ones were not. Why should he single out the last two questions? They're MLA's like everybody else. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Point Douglas. MR. DONALD MALINOWSKI (Point Douglas): Mr.

Speaker, before the Orders of the Day, I would like to ask the honourable members, all of them, of this Chamber, for a prayer-- wait a minute, let me finish-- of the three astronauts of Apollo 13 for a safe return to our globe. MR. SCHREYER: Even though the question put by the Honourable Member for Point Douglas strictly speaking may not be in accordance with the rules, nevertheless I would think that every member of this House agrees with the sentiment and will govern himself accordingly. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Leader of the Official Opposition. MR. WEIR: Mr.

Speaker, while I agree that it probably isn't tlle right manner for it to come before the House I'm sure that members of my group would want to associate themselves with those sentiments. MR. SPEAKER: Orders of the Day. ORDERS OF THE DAY- GOVERNMENT BILLS MR. SPEAKER: Second reading. Bill No. 15. The Honourable Attorney-General. MR. GREEN: ..... have that matter stand? (Agreed.) HON. SAUL CHERNIACK, Q. C. (Minister of Finance)(st. Johns): Mr. Speaker, I beg to move, seconded by the Honourable Minister for Transportation, that Mr.

Speaker do now leave the Chair and the House resolve itself into a Committee to consider of the Supply to be granted to Her Majesty. MR. SPEAKER presented the motion and after a voice vote declared the motion carried and the House resolved itself into a Committee of Supply with the Honourable Member for Elm wood in the Chair.

April 15, 1970 947 COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY MR. CHAIRMAN: We are dealing \\1th the Department of Transportation. The last Resolution, No. 100. The Honourable Member for Wolseley. MR. CLAYOON: Mr. Chairman, in dealing with Resolution 100 this has to do with the construction of provincial trunk highways, provincial roads and related projects, and I just would like to look at this in retrospect for just a moment, because I have in my possession, to indicate to the people of Manitoba what has happened over the years in road construction, a 1930 road map.

It's in excellent preserved condition and if you look at this 1930 road map which was forty years ago and you consult the legend in this you will find that the. only paved roads in the Province of Manitoba were from Winnipeg to Headingley, Winnipeg to st. Norbert and on the east side of the Red River down st. Mary's Road and part of ste, Anne's Road and a little bit up to the Bergen cutoff on north Main street. That was the extent of the road-con struction in the Province of Manitoba in 1930.

And I have a road map for 1948.to indicate to you that the only paved roads in the Province of Manitoba at that time were the Trans-Canada. Highway No. 1, the road to Gimli and the road to Selkirk, the road north from Brandon up to Clear Lake. I think the public in Manitoba should take recognition of the fact of the cmitribution of the Conservative Party, which is a progressive government, and the development of the roads that took place since 1948.

I think this is very significant and I say to the Honourable Minister that he's going to have a very difficult target to shoot at if he's going to do anything like what our Party did in theyears just recently gone by. I thought these were of interest because I believe that although people are complaining about roads, will always complain about roads, when you consider what it was and what it is today I think we've got a lot to be thankful for.

And I would say this, that there seemed to be some doubt as to where to put a bridge over the Assiniboine at Brandon and I would suggest to the Minister if he finds himself in great difficulty to find a locatimi, there is a _good location at Waverley and Aubrey street in the City of Winnipeg over the same river. MR. CHAIRMAN: The Honourable Member for Rock L~e. MR. HENRY J, EINARSON (Rock Lake): Mr. Chairman, 1 just want to take a few moments on this particular resolution before we close the Minister's estimates.

I want to deal particularly with one road in my constituency and inform the Minister that there has been considerable work gone on in the past number of months this winter whereby, and I'm refer ring to Provincial Road No. 258, in this connection I was able to get the co-operation of the mayors and reeves of the municipalities and the towns stretching from as far north as Neepawa right down through to Cartwright whereby we had a meeting with the Commissioner of the State of North Dakota in dealing with this particular road as to the iuunbering of this road in the United States and coming into Manitoba, also the fact that the Government of North Dakota have been very interested in co-ordinating their services with our services in Manitoba in connection with the tourist attractions that we have and that they have in their state.

And I think that in view of the fact that we are about to open the Sprucewoods Park which No. 258 runs through the west end of it, we also have a considerable improvement in our tourist at tractions around the lakes, that is Pelican, Rock Lake and Swan Lake, Americans are coming in greater numbers every year from the south. I would like to point out to the Minister that I can take him back to the Gulf of Mexico and follow that highway all the way north clean through to Flin Flon and I'm taking him pretty well into the north country that he is concerned about.

On that particular stretch of road I think I'm safe in saying that there is only about 35 miles in the area which falls in my constituency that is not black-topped; and strange as it may seem but when people hit the roads for a holiday, they look at the map and they take a look at the roads and the conditions of those roads and sometimes when they see a spot or an area there where it is not as well developed as the other parts of it they tend to shy one way or the other.

The people in my area are quite concerned about this and are hoping that they will have some consideration by the Minister and his de partment in probably completing that portion of the road on 258.

I say this because I think there are many elements that you can associate here, not only in the Department of Transportation or Highways but also in the Department of Tourism and Recreation, and I think that the two de- partments could work well together in establishing this because there is that saying, Roads to Resources, roads to places of tourist attractions because also the populations in our urban centres are getting bigger as the years go by and people are now interested in kno'l'l-1ng where they can go to seek recreation in the summer months. For this reason I merely make these

948 April 15, 1970 (MR. EINARSON cont'd. ) ...•• few comments, Mr. Chairman, to bring the attention of the Minister to.this particular part of the highway in my area. Thank you. MR. CHAIRMAN: The Honourable Member for Rhineland. MR. FROESE: Mr. Chairman, this will be my last opportunity I guess to address myself to the Minister of Transportation.

I take it that the present Minister of Transportation is also the Minister of Transportation for waterways because we have no other designation for that in Manitoba, and since the Task Force Report comments and make recommendations in connection with the Port of Churchill. I certainly would support the Member for Churchill in his requests on past occasions, past years that we have development of that port. I know as far as B. c. is concerned that the Federal Government sits back and doesn't take action until the province will really exert itself and goes ahead on its own and then sometimes they will come forward.

I feel that this province should do more about the Port of Churchill than we have in the past. We have facilities there for loading wheat or grain into the ships that come, but what about the other facilities? When we were out there as members of this House on, I think it was the last occa sion, I didn't see much in the way of facilities except for loading of wheat and grain. I feel that something should be done in this area and I think we should go along with some suggestions in this report to have further development of the Port of Churchill.

I see no allocation for im provement of that port anywheres·in the estimates at all and certainly we should at least discuss it and see what can be done. I would like to hear from the Minister what he has in mind in the way of development for that port because I feel that this is a port that can be developed, this is a port that we as Manitobans should have interest in and if it is too far north should we have a port further south on the Hudson's Bay?

Certainly this is something that we can develop, something that we should develop and why not ship more of our grain through this port and also if we do that that when these ships come in that they could also bring other goods down to that particular port and they could be distributed to the west. I don't think we should be completely dependent on Fort William or Port Arthur, or as it is now known, Thunder Bay; I think we should take initiative and do something about it as Manitobans. I'm sure that if the province doesn't exert itself more than it has in the past that nothing will be done.

I fell that we have to be prodding them, that we have to take the initiative. B. C. didn't get anything done. Their facilities were old, nothing new developed so the province finally went ahead, then the Federal Government came along. But until the province went ahead nothing was done and now they're getting the Roberts-Banks Port where they're going to load millions and millions of tons of coal and shipping it, exporting it, and this is a real boon to the Province of B. C. Surely something should be in the offing for Manitoba. What about all the ore that is being shipped out?

All the minerals that are being processed or probably not being processed to the fullest extent or to the extent that we would like to see it. Surely this ls being shipped - and where ls it going? Just south? Because if we can use our port in any way for this purpose, let's develop it and let's make something out of it. I certainly support the Member for Churchill in his efforts in past years in this direction and I think we should do something about it. MR. CHAIRMAN: The Honourable Member for Churchill. MR. BEARD: Mr.

Chairman, I couldn't resist rising and putting on record my thanks to the Member for Rhineland because I was very angry with him the other night-- and I won't go back over that. But I can say right now that I'm rather surprised there's one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight members of the government in the House when we're discussing roads. I hope the Minister will remember that and cut them off. A MEMBER: He has already. MR.

BEARD: The only one question that I want to pose, or suggestion, and it is not really made in a humourous nature but I understand that the Minister of Transportation is seriously considering the building of the new bridge at Thompson and in complimenting hlm on beginning this necessary improvement in our system, I would pose the suggestion that the Bailey Bridge that will be abandoned at that time be moved if possible to Churchill and use be made in spanning the Churchill River so that people can get over to the Fort.

It would be a wonderful innovation during an all year round basis and certainly it's just impossible, far too often during the tourist season, for these people to get over. You can't use usual boats because of the problems of the tides coming in and of course the current of the river at the river mouth. I think if they would back it up a little further up the river I'm sure that possibly they'd find some space which would be narrow enough on whlch they could use thls. I don't know whether

April15, 1870 9ML (MR. BEARD cont'd. ). it's economically feasible or not; I think the Minister of Tourism and Recreation would be interested. I don't know what the cost would be but I would appreciate if you would take it under consideration and keep it in mind. MR. G. JOHNSTON: Mr. Chairman, I move the Committee rise. We won't have a quorum soon anyways. MR. CHAIRMAN presented the motion and after a voice vote declared the motion lost. MR. G. JOHNSTON: Yeas and nays, Mr. Chairman. MR. CHAIRMAN: Yeas and nays. Call in the members.

For the benefit of any member who may have been out of the House, the resolution is ,, ,, proposed by the Leader of the Liberal Party that the Chairman leave the Chair. All those- in favour please rise. A COUNTED VOTE was taken the result being as follows: Yeas, 22; Nays, 28. MR. CHAIRMAN: I declare the motion lost and proceed with Resolution 100. The Ho~ ourable Member for Virden. MR. McGREGOR: Mr. Chairman, on speaking to this resolution I would just Jjke to bring the Minister up to date on, not necessarily a grievance,lmtmytlioughtsregardingsome of the highway programs in my area.

I'm thinking of PTH 257 which leads west of Virden. This is a road that's used a lot; people do like to get off No. 1 and you turn at Virden and go west. We have a small chunk there of 6 miles that is not pavement. We go into Saskatchewan's No. 16 and it's a real poor way I think for people leaving our province that last 6 mi~es, and also coming into the province from the west, it's not the best welcome. I hope while I've lost the round this year, that the Minister would give it serious consideration in the future. Also PTH 41 north and south at the west side of the province.

This Jlas been one that we worked with the former ministers trying to first get it completed and then get a top on. It seemed to me it did take three deaths of young people to influence the Minister's thinking and we did have it a year ago on our March 1st program, it was there and this has been lost. I think this is very important. In that general area we have no hardtop. I was absent last night back in my constituency with the Honourable Member for St. George; I understand the Member from Roblin made some comment on highway 83.

Well I would just like to confirm the date, 12th, 13th and 14th of June; I cordially invite all members to be there. I think it's very pos sible that this House will be sitting but I will be speaking further on that probably when . Tourism and Recreation comes up. I fortunately, or unfortunately, was elected International President of this Highway Association. It does go from Mexico to Swan River-- (Interjectio:n)- I hope you're right, Mr. Minister. That's very much encouragement. I would like to think that too. I would like to see it reach right to the Bay.

I might add, two years ago accompanied by the Honourable Member for Roblin, Iwentdownto Abilene and they wanted me to say soma thing on the Alcan highway, and informing some of my Cabinet colleagues, one of them sent back the information and on the bottom was handwritten- "Don't forget 1Morris, Texas is dry" and I really thought he was trying to give me a message to go down there and be a good fellow, but when I got down there Texas was liquor dry, so I think we've got a lot to learn with our back and forth and I would like to -- I see there is some repairing on 83 and I'm happy that we can tell our American friends that we are trying to do our bit in this continuous road and I just, with that, thank you.

MR. CHAIRMAN: The Honourable Member for Brandon West. MR. EDWARD McGILL (Brandon West): Mr. Chairman, I wanted to draw the attention of the Honourable Minister to a problem in western Manitoba, and again it's somewhat like the Honourable Member from Virden related, it's an unimproved road surface connecting two paved roads, Trans Canada No. 1 and highway 21.

Now the problem here is that heavy traffic, truck traffic and passenger traffic is going from No. 1 across public road No. 455, and that's just in the area of Alexander, and it's cutting across there in order to save about 8 miles .in travelling on hard surface. Now the road has been receiving very little maintenance and it's in a very serious state of disrepair at the moment. It's carrying a lot of traffic because of the mileage saved by westbound traffic on No. 1 cutting across 455 and going up 21, and eastbound traffic coming from the north on 21 and cutting across 455. Now the situation there, Mr.

Minister, is that the surface has deteriorated to such an extent that it's very qifficult .with normal maintenance to try and make a road out of it. I would hope that the Minister would look at this problem pretty carefully and see what he can do to providing a surface there that ~., reasonable for the amount of traffic that's using it. Thank you.

950, April15, 1979 , MR.' CHAIRMAN: The Honourable Member for Emerson. , ·MR. GABRIEL GIRARD(Emerson): Mr. Chairman, I wish at the outset to congratulate the Minister on his frank and forthright way of approaching the business of transportation and highways. I sometimes wish that being very close together some of his straightforwardness would rub off on the verbal Minister of Agriculture and in some cases have an equal balance, where we have fact and fluency a Little more balanced.

I wish to express my appreciation to the Minister for the road program that he has in cluded in my constituency, and certainly none of those that he has included would. I consider unimportant. However, I'm sure that he has heard before of a certain highway called highway 201, better known as the Morden-Sprague. I was very interested to note when he said pre viously that he was one who had read and re-read several Hansards and I am sure that my pre- . decessor the Honourable Mr. Tanchak has repeated that particular problem in this Chamber on many occasions.

I would just like to know from the Minister whether he is in agreement with the policies of the past government, which seemed to indicate very little development or certainly not enough development on that particular highway and if it is his intention to continue this kind of policy. I was hopeful, I was hopeful that this year we could see a striking change and much more progress being made on that particular road and I must assure the Minister that I am absolutely convinced that the requests are justified and sensible and I certainly wish to impress upon him the urgency and the importance of that project. MR.

CHAIRMAN: The Honourable Member for Gladstone. MR. J. R. FERGUSON (Gladstone): Mr. Chairman, my remarks will be fairly brief, but in looking through the program I find that I must be living in, or my constituency must have been one of the best developed ones in Manitoba. .However, l~~oill not dwell on that too long. We are quite willing to go along with the project this year of building the roads in the north, but we would certainly appreciate the fact that we in the south will not be altogether forgotten.

Now one of the things I would like to bring to the attention of the Minister is the fact that in the rural areas we are facing a program of heavy rail abandonment and concentrating our grain deliveries, what there are going to be, in the larger centres. I think that this is one place that possibly the government should be taking a bit of a look at, because in the farming industry we will be forced into larger trucks. larger hauling distances and I think that it would be a good idea if we had a few arteries that were developed away or from these elevators that are established.

This is just a thought but I would like to point out to the Minister it may be something that hasn't been brought to his attention. Another thing I would like to bring out is, I don't know whether there is any truth to it or not, but I have been led to believe that there is going to be a bit of a cutback on the main tenance of the numbered roads, and whether this is a rumour or fact I don't know, he can tell me when he replies. But this is one place that we would in the rural areas would certainly appreciate that this maintenance be kept up as much as is possible.

I don't think that there is a great deal more that I have to say. I would certainly like in the next year's estimates to have my constituency possibly remembered just a little bit more than it was this. With these few words I'll thank you, Mr. Chairman. MR. CHAIRMAN: The Honourable Member for Morris. MR. JORGENSON: Mr. Chairman, I just want to deal briefly with one aspect of the road maintenance program the Minister announced when he introduced his estimates.

This new system of maintenance where the roads are going to be numbered and according to the designa tion that is going to apply to each road, they will determine how many times that that road will be graded. I suggest to the Minister that this is another one of those ivory towered programs. As sociating the Honourable the Minister with an ivory tower seems a little bit incongruous · but nonetheless this is the case. I don't know how he expects a program of that nature to work and still maintain roads.

There are certain areas of tbe province that receive more rainfall. than others and anybody that's lived in the rural areasknowsthatthe amount of rainfall has a great deal to do with the number of times that a road needs maintenance. My honourable friend the Minister of Health and Welfare is one of those that even today is greatly affected by that pro gram because of the condition of road 330; that road today should be graded because it is almost in an impassable condition, but according to the Minister's formula if there was a- well the Premier mentions road to St. Elizabeth.

I'm happy to announce, although it's not in

April15, 1970 (MR. JORGENSON cont' d.). • my constituency, that the Minister is putting a pavelh•oad , right to my farm and I'm happy about that. I really can't complain too much if I'm golllg"to get a paved road right to the farm, but I am concerned about his formula for.grading roads an4 tbe· possibility that this system is going to work. I submit, Sir, that it's going to create many hard; ships in certain areas where excessive rainfall may occur and in areas where the roads, be- c cause of lack of gravel or such, may require more attention and more maintena11ce than other roads.

I don't know how you can tell that a road will require so many gradings each year simp ly by attaching a colour or a number to it. I would hope that the Minister may want to try this system out for a short time but I hope that it doesn't become a policy to be followed simply because it's been adopted at the present time. I would hope that they put it on a trial basis, I don't mind that; but I suggest, Sir, th~ · · the system is not going to work and he's going to have many complaints about road maintenance throughout this province as a result of attempting to use it. MR. CHAIRMAN: The Honourable Minister. HON.

JOSEPH P. BOROWSKI (Minister of Transportation)(Thompson): I'm notglvingyou any roads. I don't know why you're cheering. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to start off where we left off last night, the Member for Brandon asked a couple of questions about a parti~utar hill. We have checked with our district engineer and it appears we have a standard in the, province; I'm not sure it's a good standard but that is the present standard, and that is if a hill is fi.ve. percent or less grade per mile, five percent or less, we don't give truck lanes for it, If it's over five percent that we will build a crawling lane for trucks.

This particular hill is 3. 9 per cent and this is the reason that there is no truck lane on this particular stretch of road. I would like to deal briefly- I'm sorry the former Minister of Education is not here - we had a disagreement about driver education in schools. I have asked for a report frotp. Mr. Dygala our Registrar of Motor Vehicles. I find that indeed we don't have any program in his school, as I suspected we didn't have. I know certainly we didn't have it in Thompson..

What we do have is an extra curricular program which covers about four percent of the eligible students in Manitoba, and one of the items mentioned yesterday, the increase in appropriation to cover that. That was increased from $100,000 to $150,000. I would just like to give you a brief breakdown of this driver education that we have for schools. First of all, we bring in teachers from across Manitoba that want to teach childr.en in school driver education. The teachers are brought, their insurance companies pay for their cost of coming in and the cost of room and board in Wlllnipeg_.

To this program last year we put in $100,000 and each student contributed $20 out of their own pocket. I wou!d just like to give you a brief breakdown: Rural high schools offering driver education- 42; and there is metro high scJ!,ools 30 and vocational schools 2, a total of 74 schools in all of Manitoba. Cars used. These cars are supplied by local dealers. There were 74 cars supplied last year at no cost -- I'm sorry it's $1. 00 to our department. At the end of the year when we returned the car back they would pay us back the $1. 00.

Last year a total of 3, 047 students graduated- this is approximately four percent. I'm glad the former Minister is back. Only four percent of the students in Manitoba have benefitted from this program. The program was started in 1966 by the previous administration. The first year appropriation was $50,000, 1, 170 students graduated. Thls year since we are ap propriating $150,000 it is our hope that proportionately the number of students taking the course will rise which would ,roughly speaking) come to about 4, 500 which is a drop in the bucket. You know it's just not doing the job that we would like to do.

This is why I mentioned that it should be as part of the curriculum in school, rather than extra curricular, and I hope that the Min ister of Education, the present Minister, is listening and will consider putting such a program in because as long as we continue this program or any other program it's a patchwork stopgap and it's just not going to do the work that we want done. One other interesting statistic that I received from Mr.

Dygala is that the students that take this course, most of their insurance companies give them a reduced premium, and statls-: tics also .show that a student completing this course, after two years of buying insurance the saving will pay for his course and that is of course $20. 00, which is his contribUtion. Several of the members have complained about the various roads.

The Me.mber for Rock Lake mentioned Highway 258 from No. 2 and several of his colleagues have complained, and they have been down to see me personally complaining about the roads; I must tell them in all . honesty I agree that the roads are bad; I've seen these roads. The problem is, where do you

952 April 15, 1970 (MR. BOROWSKI cont' d.). draw the line and where do you allocate your money? As I've indicated earlier, if we had $100 million we could spend it and justify every penny. The problem I have- and I don't want to sound political, but it's a problem- the Conservative government had been in office for eleven years; these areas that you're complaining about have been rep resented by Conservative MLAs for all those years.

For some strange reason they couldn't convince their government to do these roads and, you know, how do I convince my colleagues that they should do something that your friends refused to do last year? You know, it's a real problem, and I don't want to be political about it but it's a fact. The other thing to remember is that we are presumably elected for four years and even if we agree with what you're asking, it may take four years, it may take three years, some will take two, some will be done this year, and I just want you to bear that in mind.

Our program is supposed to be spread over four years, so possibly some of the complaints that you raised may be looked after between this budget and the fourth budget that we'll be bringing down. The Member for Churchill talks about the Thompson Bridge, the old Bailey Bridge which we have been bitterly complaining about for years, about moving it to Churchill. I'm not sure whether this is economically feasible, whether it m~es any sense moving an old dilapidated piece of junk, First World War junk- and that's what it is.

The Mayor in Thompson had been -- (Interjection)-- well, it's worse than the Arlington Bridge. This is really bad. What people in Thompson are considering, because of its location they may enclose it and have a convention centre over the river. So you may not be able to get it if the Mayor and Council decide they want to keep it there and enclose it and use this as a convention centre - it's kind of a unique drawing card. The Member for Emerson talks about Highway 201.

I am very familiar with it; I've been on it also; and I should point out to him that a great deal of money has been spent by the pre virus admlnlstration and by our government last year. I don't have the figures at hand but it's a substantial sum. We're also committed to build a very expensive bridge down there. We're waiting for the Board of Transport Commissioners, the CN I believe, or is it the CPR, to make a commitment which would pay for the bulk of this bridge.

I may as well tell them now, while I'm discussing this particular area, I received word this morning from Hamilton that the beams will be underway in about a week for the Letellier Bridge that he's been so concerned about the last few weeks and that the bridge should be open at the end of this month. The Member for Gladstone and the Member for Morris were talking about the maintenance program and they're concerned about cutbacks. Well, I can assure him that there will be cut backs. Our experts and Roy Jorgenson and Associates that were hired by the previous admin istration-- (Interjection)- no relation to him.

I thought it was and that's probably the reason why I wanted to scrap it. But they hired him and it's going to cost, I think it's going to cost our department about $180, 000. That's a lot of money. And they did on-the- spot testing where they would grade a road- we have the traffic counts going I don't know how many years back- they'd grade the road and then would come back next week and check the road and see what the traffic did to that grading in one week.

They'd take another stretch twenty miles away and they would do the same thing but they'd grade it twice and at the end of the week they'd check, and they found that in fact many places we were grading once for nothing. In other words, instead of grading once a week we were grading twice a week. Other places, where we should have been grading twice a week we were grading once a week. There's no question that some areas are going to suffer while others will benefit. Now the Membe:- for Morris was very skeptical of this and I suppose if his government was in office there'd be reason to be skeptical.

I can assure him that we intend to apply the formula as recommended by the consulting firm, and I'll just read you a couple of lines of what this program is all about: "The Maintenance Management System is composed of seven elements"- and this talks about standards. "All PTHs and PRs are classified using traffic counts and adjusted where local conditions warrant it, and local conditions could be soil con ditions, it could be rain, it could be a lot of farmers hauling beets or beans, or it could be heavy traffic hauling something else. All these things are taken into consideration.

By so doing, all roads of the same class receive the same level of service regardless of where they're situated in the province." And that's really the key to the whole program: regardless of where they're situated. Not just Conservative constituencies as used to be the practice at one time, but in all constituencies, and this will take it out of my jurisdiction because each district en gineer will in fact have this program, and without consulting the Deputy or myself he will go ahead and carry out this program as it's outlined in this report.

Aprll15, 1970 953 MR. JORGENSON: Mr. Chairman, may I just say that if Roy Jorgenson has reCommended · this program, I'm prepared to give it a fair trial. MR. BOROWSKI: He recommended it. There are three standards attached in the prcr gram, dragging, mowing and dust control. Mowing may not be very important- cutting the grass making hay; but dust control is very important.

One of the problems we're running into this year as a lot of people are painting up their homes and fixing up their yards for Centennial Year, and they're concerned that they fix up the place and there's heavy traffic on ·there and the dust happens to be blowing the wrong way, they'll just cover it over with dust. And the old system again was one of these hop, skip and jump. Some constituencies received dust control, which incidentally is very expensive; some didn't.

Under this program here it's down to a very fine art where each village, each community and homes along the roads will receive dust treat ment, again based on the need, which means that it's based on a traffic count, and this will be done on the same basis for all areas in the province regardless of where they are situated. There's many other important features in this report and one of the features that most members would appreciate is that it is going to bring down our costs from $1, 194;151 to $868,048, a saving of $326,103.

Now this is a real saving; it's not a paper saving; and when you consider that you're still going to get the service, good service, and you get that kind of saving, I think we'll appreciate that the program is well worth it, and in fact the previous gov ernment should be congratulated on being far-sighted enough to hire these consultants to bring forth such a program. I hope I've answered all the questions. If I haven't, I'll be very glad to entertain theni. · MR. CHAIRMAN: Resolution 100--Passed. That completes the Department of Transportation. Over one page, our next department, Youth and Education.

The Honourable Minister. • • • • • continued on next page

954 April 15, 1970 HON. SAUL A. MILLER (Minister of Youth and Education)(Seven Oaks): Thank you. Mr. Chairman, by my calculations we have about 54 hours left and I wouldn't be surprised if this ended the estimates for this year. --(Interjection) -- All on education. Mr.

Chairman, before I go into my opening remarks I want to acknowledge a real debt of gratitude that I feel to my Deputy Minister, the Assistant Deputy Ministers of the Department, the. various branch heads, as a matter of fact all members of my staff, who without their sup port I could never have achieved in the few months that we•ve been in office anything like the knowledge that I've tried to achieve. It is a large department and certainly without their backup I would simply have been drowned and swallowed up by the sheer volume of the work that this department undertakes. . Mr.

Chairman, as the honourable members are aware, the department is much too large really to discuss in terms of making many really meaningful generalizations. One can point here and there to pertinent factors which have made change necessary in one or two areas, but by and large one must deal with the particular areas themselves in some depth in order to acquire a proper understanding of why changes have become necessary; for example, how the dynamics of social change sometimes affect programs.

The major portion of the over $11 million increase in the department's estimates are a reflection of the increasing educational needs of an increasingly complex industrial age. On the other hand there is another kind of change involved, and that is the qualitative, qualitative in nature, since it involves not simply an extension of old programs and attempting to cope with new circumstances, but rather the adoption of new priorities in certain previously undeveloped areas of departmental policy, and it is in this realm of qualitative change that our innovations occur.

It is also within this framework of change that certain generalities may be permitted since it is here that the effects of a different kind of outlook might be best observed. In a department as large as mine it would be nonsense to say that a new government and a new Minister can effect the department's doings on a wholesale basis within a few months; nor would that be nec essarily a desirable goal. I am by nature a cautious individual and I don't rush in and change things around till I am satisfied that a change is desirable and it will achieve something.

In any case, the greater portion of our expenditures must be geared towards the maintenance of programs which affect the lives of so many Manitobans on a day to day basis. We can emphasize certain aspects of those programs and we can de-emphasize others; we can tinker with some of them mechanically so as to provide more efficient programmatic processes; but our basic responsibility in this regard is to administer existing programs as they effect and in turn are affected by the requirements of a growing 1developing Manitoba.

That the Universities Grants Commission will have an increased allocation of $6 million is an example of our response both to the demands of more Manitobans in seeking the best education possible and to the requirements incumbent upon us to facilitate those provincial institutions whose growth may be seen to parallel in so many ways the development of our province. We can make no bones about accepting the necessity for such an increase in those expen ditures, recognizing that they are a.Il investment that will yield multiple benefits to the province.

At the same time, we also recognize and accept the necessity to provide the opportunity to take proper advantage of the availability of educational services. For this reason members will note an increase of over a million dollars to student aid.

The determination of this government to do everything within its power to make it possible for more students to have access to what ever level of education is suitable to their abilities and to their interests was demonstrated last fall when immediate steps were taken to meet a need arising from inadequate funds by including at that time $75, 000 for student aid purposes in our supplementary estimates. A few figures might help to illustrate the way this year's increased funds have been tentatively allocated for certain of our major support areas.

Our secondary bursaries have been increased by $20, 000, or by 10. 3 percent over last year; $620, 000 has been added to our Uiiiversity Undergraduate Bursaries Fund, or an increase of 79. 7 percent over last year; our Post Graduate Bursaries Fund has been increased by $15, 000, that is by 50 percent; our Technical Technology Bursaries have been boosted by $166, 000 or by 123.4 percent. I should like also to draw to the attelition vf the honourable members to certain other changes which I am sure will be of interest and will meet with their approval.

Within the Student Aid Program for this year provision has been made specifically for adults, or what is known as mature students. Formerly, students at our Winnipeg Health Education Centre were

April 15, 1970 955 (MR. MILLER cont'd) ..... assisted from the general monies allocated to secondary school bursaries. This year a specific allocation has been made for this purpose. More significant, however, is the provision of some $145, 000 in the estimates for mature students. These , , monies are intended to provide a measure of assistance for adults who are registered as 'mature students at one of our universities and are attempting to establish the necessary credits to be accepted as full time students.

Previously, no bursary support was available for these students until they had been accepted for· full time study. Also under student aid, Mr. Chairman, there are allocations of $100, 000- $75, 000 to a student summer employment program and $25, 000 to a summer enrichment program, both of which are closely related by design. All members here are aware of the growing problem of student summer employment. Our labour market is not geared to accept the vast numbers of employables for such short periods of time.

At the same tiine, it is our belief that the creation of jobs with public funds just for the sake of making work is not necessarily the best solution to the problem. We have therefore attempted to set up an employment program which will be most beneficial to both students in terms of the degree of their financial needs, their qualifications and their interest, and of course the public with whose funds they are being employed.

On the other hand, there's also been set up a student placement office for referral to summer positions available in mainline departments and Crown corporations, as well as oper ating as a communications clearing house for the assembling of relevant data regarding past and present government summer employment practices. Hopefully, we will thereby be able to assure in future an equitable distribution of government jobs based on a uniform criteria of utility, because in the past it seems such jobs were given out on a somewhat catc)l.;...as-catc}l...:can basis.

We are adhering to the notion of public responsibility by seeing the jobs will be provided to the greatest extent possible on a confirmed need qualification basis. The public dollar will thus go furthest in terms of aiding those who most require financial support to continue their education. For this year the placement office will act more as a communications cleartilg house than a job referral agency.

For one thing, there are numbers of students counting on jobs they held last summer who have budgeted for their next years of studies according to their reasonable expectations of being able to come back to their jobs. At the same time it should be pointed out that there are jobs in certain parts of Manitoba for which it would not be feasible to force applicants to go through some agency in Winnipeg or other major centre. All such positions will be handled as before, using whatever means for hiring in those locations which are feasible for the various line departments concerned.

In any case, the placement office will be going into full operation on April 15th, and that is today I believe. There are two types of jobs involved in the program we envisage; that is jobs through the mainline departments which are not budgeted for for lack of funds in the preliminary ·estimates but which are still judged to be needed and of value for the departments to have done for them, and jobs through our summer enrichment program. The latter job creations, we feel, may be measured in terms of direct social value.

Indeed, the members I hope will be interested to know that the program was originally conceived in terms of the recognized need for summer employment, but the emphasis has fallen now upon the social service aspect of the program. The government recognizes that the barriers preventing the individual fulfillment in our education system are more than merely financial. And this applies to all levels of education.

Despite a free primary and secondary educational system, not all social classes of our young people profit co-equally, and ultimately they do not have real equality of opportunity either towards future educational endeavours or in terms of employment prospects. Research has shown that the problem begins at the intermediate level with students who do not have the bene fit of meaningful extra-curricular activities related to their in-school educational experiences.

The children suffering most from these imperfections are those from homes with a low income where there is too often a lack of interest, or motivation sometimes, towards the supplementing of public school education. This deprivation of an important aspect of education relegates many of our young to positions outside the mainstream of our society at a very early age. So the allocation for the programs, which is the $25, 000 I referred to previously, is a program which will be under the directorship of Mr. Victor Pruden.

It will be run at Frontier Collegiate at Cranberry Portage over a period extending from the beginning of July to the middle of August. There are to be two sessions each. Now this may change somewhat·but as of today this is what it looks like, two sessions each, accommodating about 150 children in the

956 April 15, 1970 (MR. MILLER cont'd) •.... 10 to 12 year age bracket. Initially, the program is being run on an experimental basis and cb,ildren from c.ertain designated areas which are now serviced by W~peg and Frontier School Divisions will be taken on. we hope to be able to extend the . program and enlarge its scope over future summers.

For the present, its utility may be measured in terms of a fuller utilization of existing educational facilities and the provision of approximately 25 meaningful summer jobs providing not only income for university students but a vital learning experience to students employed in the program, as well of course as the redeeming value, social value of such a program. All told then, Mr. Chairman, our student placement program should be able to provide a minimum of between 75 to 100 jobs which will have been provided out of the direct budget allotment.

Members have already heard of the $1.2 million further available for student aid purposes admjnistered through the Canada Assistance Act by my colleague the Minister of Health and Social Development. Members should further .note this is an indication of this government's attitude towards the question of educational support, and that in fact education is a very closely tied-in aspect of social development and support of students should be fostered on the same basis as other aspects of social development, that is1 to be geared towards aiding the fulfillment of the individuals in our society.

Support to the individual in need who possesses the capacity and the desire to better himself through education should not be viewed as attaching a stigma to that individual, but rather as a duty upon government and the public in aiding the process of fulfillment and hence the well-being of the individual. In this regard as well, the inclusion of the summer enrichment program I referred to under student aid should in no way be viewed as accidental or irregular.

Rather, it is indicative of the recognition on our part that the conception of the purpose of student aid must be widened to include the consideration of factors other than the purely financial which affect the educa tional progress of our citizens. There are many young members of our society who are handicapped because of barriers relating to cultural motivational factors.

Although equality of opportunity has been defined in tP-rms of similarity of treatment as exemplified in our elemen tary .and secondary schools, that is the education by the provision of free texts and the absence of fees, the insufficiency of this definition may be seen as reflected in the dramatic dropout rate of native pupils for example at the secondary level.

To attempt to deal with such problems, an allocation of $250, 000 has been made in our student aid program for special pilot projects designed to encourage at first a small, but hopefully a potentially large number of the disadvan taged, to compete satisfactorily within our educational system. By way of example of one such special project, it will be designed to encourage northern native people who wish to live in and serve their community to enter teacher training programs at our universities. The rationale in part of course is to provide more native teachers for predominantly native communities.

Such teachers versed in their own native tongue, conversant with native culture and the local living conditions, would obviously be best suited to motivate the students in those areas. The obvious and well-intentioned answer to this problem might be, let's provide more bursaries to encourage native people's entrance into the teaching programs and just leave it at that. But no matter how well-intentioned that response it is insufficient, and experience has shown that in providing solutions to certain fundamental problems more must be done. Again I must repeat the problem is more than simply financial.

It rarely occurs to us to follow up the argument with an analysis of what in fact happens to many northern native people when they go to our post secondary institutions. Research lias shown that they drop out despite all the financial support possible in totally disproportionate numbers to their school fellows. Now why is this? I put these questions, which in themselves I think should provide the answer to the members.

How would you or I react to be placed in a new locale in an environment with such mechanical paraphernalia as traffic lights, electric stoves, things which are completely foreign and strange to us, all of which we've never perhaps seen in our lives. How would we react if we were lodged in a dwelling. house with almost nothing in common with our fellow boarders and asked to fend for ourselves. Therefore, one of the projects will be geared to dealing with this particular problem.

Proper environmental aid will be provided to attempt to assure as smooth a transition as possible for teaching students coming from our northern points. Now such are the many aspects of a general student aid program as defined in this government's terms, Mr. Chairman. I would like now to turn to the important area of curriculum development which, as the honourable members are aware, are the focus of considerable attention by educators

April 15, 1970 95'1 (MR. MILLER cont'd) •.... everywhere. A number of areas are undergoing further reVi' sion as part of the constant updating process, and this is one of the factors that we have to - recognize, that education never stays or stands still, there is the constant change and the constant change is essential. So that we have witnessed the greater involvement of an increas ing number of teaching personnel and programs and the evaluation of programs.

We move away from prescriptively-styled curriculum publications to those characterized by greater breadth and flexibility, the authorization of a wider range of textual materials and the encour agement of experimentation in new approaches and in new methods. Mr. Chairman, as the decade of the '60's was important for curriculum growth, that of the '70's will have even greater significance. The pace of educational change is so swift that it is impossible to identify all those elements that will during the course of the next ten years impinge upon the educational system in Manitoba.

At the same time there are certain directions that are evident and these I would like to discuss briefly. Initially, I wish to draw to the attention of the honourable members certain basic pri~r ciples relative to curriculum responsibility that will be developed and that will represent a new departure.

Specifically, it is intended to recognize the complexity of the educational sys tem through the allocation of clear and precise responsibility in the area of curriculum decision-making, so that there is a clear understanding of the respective roles of the province, school system and the teachers, so as to form an effective three-way partnership in the over all curriculum design.

The essential purpose underlying the decision-making rationale that is being conceived is the development of a framework that will permit and encourage sound and realistic detailed planning of curriculum and instruction at the local level without sacrificing those elements of provincial coordination and service that have supplied the foundation of our educational system. And it will be equally necessary in the future, as it has been in the past, to provide the necessary articulation within the system. The development of such a partnership, Mr.

Chairman, in a more practical and realistic way than has hitherto been possible is a logical outgrowth of the recognition of the fact that curriculum may no longer be regarded as a fixed body of content presented according to some predetermined pattern, but rather as a variety of experiences geared more specifically to individual student interests.

Thus the emphasis on learning resources and the eVident needs of individual students are combining with a de-emphasis of rigid grade standards to bring forward a new look at the learning process and the means to realize an appropriate pattern of education for students who will live out much of their lives in the 21st century. In developments already under way, and others that may be anticipated in the near future; there is already considerable evidence of the trend to which I have alluded.

In its preliminary statement a few weeks ago for example, CORE, which is the Committee on the Reorganization of Secondary Schools, emphasized the fact that the educational system must be ongoing, flexible and centred on the human needs of the students that it is designed to serve. The Interim Report of this Committee is expected in the fall and I anticipate that it will provide important guide lines for the future of our secondary schools.

And I would like to point out that on this commit tee the students take an active part as well .so that we are getting the input from the clients who receive the service from the educational system. Again, a memorandum that was distributed in February emphasized the fact that course names, that is course designations such as university entrance, general and combined, will no longer be used in our high schools but rather from the total range of courses available in these formerly separate patterns, schools will be encouraged to provide programs more spec ifically suited to individual student needs.

A number of the curriculum councils - these are the bodies that are presently studying future developments in individual subject areas - will be reporting this year and it is anticipated that their recommendations will further serve to e~r dorse a more flexible curriculum design geared to individual interests. We are beginning the task of identifying such further steps as may be necessary. In this regard the area of language teaching and programs for children of Indian- Metis ancestry at both the elementary and secondary levels are high on our list of priorities.

Further in keeping with this government's avowed belief in the necessity to strengthen the proviD.ce's cultural mosaic, my department has under active study the question of the lowering of the grades in which language instruction may be introduced. It is proposed that children starting even at the kindergarten level might be able to take such subjects as Cree or Saulteaux, Ukrainian, German and perhaps others, anywhere where the ethnic enrolment and the corresponding interest could warrant such innovation. A bill dealing with French as a second language, in I I I - i

958 April15, 1970 (MR. MILLER cont•d) .•... keeping with the Parliament of Canada's declaration in this regard, will be introduced later .during this session and I'm sure will be of interest to the House when it is introduced. Since the kind of changes to which I have alluded will necessitate a considerable change in the attitude and behaviour of students, teachers and administrators alike, it is recognized that they will not be accomplished overnight and that they will likely go ahead on a broken front as schools and school systems and people show themselves ready to assume new responsibil ities. .

In all of these developments the department and the Curriculum Branch, specifically the branch itself, must play an important role, not only because certain fundamental patterns within the educational system are defined most efficiently though perhaps not exclusively at the provincial level, but also because of the necessity to provide for the functional development of services to establish and to maintain liaison between the varying levels of decision-making and of adequate evaluatory procedures in regard to a total provincial instructional design.

The provincial curriculum is perceived specifically as centering on three primary functions:

(1) The development of provincial programs that seek to maintain continuity and cohesion through the provision of a broad frame of reference rather than through a narrow prescription; (2) the act of involvement and the necessary professional development of the adminis trators and teachers; ( 3) the stimulation, encouragement and support of planned, innovative practices at provincial and at local levels; and (4) to work with local schools and school systems in the adaptation of provincial pro grams and in the construction of special programs to meet local needs.

Members are already aware that over the past few years both the department and the High School Examination Board have progressively reduced their involvement in central external examinations. Increasingly the task of measurement and evaluation has been transferred to the schools to parallel their increasing involvement in curriculum development and the greater flexibility of course and subject treatment. Amongst other amendments to the education department 1\Ct, which will be presented very shortly for your consl.deration~ill be one abolishing the High School Examination Board.

This change has been discussed with and agreed to by all those bodies represented on the High School Examination Board, including the universities. The monies formerly diverted to the functions of the High School Examination Board will now be applied to providing a central testing service which will develop diagnostic and achievement tests.on a province-wide basis to include a scoring and evaluation service. These tests will be used to assist pupils, teachers and parents in educational progress and standards for diag nostic, remedial and educational guidance programs and purposes.

As part of this testing service, it is proposed that the department will assume the cost of the SACU tests for all those Grade 12 students planning to go on to post secondary education either in Manitoba or elsewhere. For the benefit of some members, who I am sure as I throw out abbreviations they will feel as I did when I had these abbreviations thrown at me, I didn't know what they meant, SACU stands for Service for Admission to University and Colleges.

Now since these tests will be free to Manitoba residents. it is assumed that they will become part of the admission documents required by our three provincial universities and by our community colleges, to be used in conjunction with school based academic achievements in the admission procedures of these universities. The groundwork for these changes was laid by the research director§ of our department and I would now like to touch upon some of their functions.

One new function is the co-ordination and development both within the department and outside of the growing use of electronic methods of data gathering and retrieval. Work is already under way within the department in converting teacher records to punch card and tape form, and in fact we have already been able to make use of the existing data in several small research projects done internally.

In addition, the directorate is working nationally with the Dominion Bureau of statistics and with other provinces to produce standardized forms and pro cedures for data gathering and retrieval in a number of areas which lend themselves most conveniently and effectively to these problems. Locally, a Manitoba education information and access system has been set up jointly with a number of school divisions which are venturing into electronic data· processing to ensure that our growing involvement. in this medium proceeds on a cooperative basis.

One example of this cooperation was a recent grant to the Winnipeg School Division for research and development in electronic data processing.

April 15, 1970 (MR. MILLER cont'

d) The research and planning involvement of the department have been growing. steadily through the research directorate. Internally, the director and his assistants are membeFs (){ the basic planning team for the government's newly developed PPBP which is the Planning and Programming Budgeting Process. In addition they provide advice, consultation and profes sional services for a number of research projects that are now being carried out by other directorates. The directorate is also responsible for the distribution. of funds to support re search projects within the province.

An example of the type of projects supported were given in the recently tabled annual report of the department which all members have received. I would like now to make mention of a number of changes we have made in the interests of efficiency - and economy I hope. We have decided to end the operations of our Attendance Branch. As far as could be determined, the branch was simply duplicating work already done in the schools in compiling attendance records and the original rationale for the branch's existence no longer applies.

The branch will formally cease operations in September and its termination should represent a saving of about $30, 000 a year. Also, we are establishing a central bulk purchasing system. The purpose of this will be, we hope, to lower the cost of purchasing equipment for the schools. The best example I can think of "Offhand is the purchase of school buses which we hope will be done on a central bulk purchasing basis and I think that some savings can be realized.

At the same time we are taking a very close look at our present policy regarding the supplying of texts, that is textbooks, and I anticipate being able to effect further economies in that area. We couldn't move in this area this year, but hopefully for next year we will come up with some new ideas. I should now like to touch, Mr. Chairman, on developments in the area of vocational high schools. Now as members are aware, the Federal Government has approved so far five regional comprehensive vocational schools. They are located in Selkirk, Dauphin, Metro East, Metro West and Swan Valley.

Tenders have been received and construction contracts have been awarded for the schools at Dauphin and Selkirk. We hope that the projects in the other three areas mentioned will also be moving forward very soon. Consideration is also being given to submissions which have been received from other areas in the province, and occupational interest inventories and surveys are being conducted by our vocational high school directorate in cooperation with local authorities in a number of these areas.

During the coming year we hope to establish future priorities in terms of estab lished needs for accommodation and broader training in other areas of Manitoba. I would like to say at this point a word, Mr. Chairman, about vocational high school grants which are included in the estimates under Financial Support Services. Now these funds provide for adult evening schools.

They include the citizenship classes offered by the school divisions and for the establishment and operating grants or 50 percent courses in business education, vocational and industrial courses, and grants for practical art subjects like indus trial art shops and home economics. The steady growth of these various classes in our schools is a matter of great satisfaction to the government, not only in adult education but in vocational subjects and home economics.

The increasing provision for adult evening classes of all kinds reflect the growing interest in education as a continuing process in the lives of our citizens as well as a community interest in making wider use of our school facilities. At the same time, increasing provision of business education and vocational industrial courses and practical arts and home economics classes assures that a wider range of educational opportun ities and choice of. subjects is being made available to more of our Manitoba students who have been restricted for so long to a limited academically-oriented program.

These latter courses will also serve as excellent preparation for admission to our community colleges. We have one major alteration in the vocational high school grant system, or grant struc ture.

Effective September 1 an additional per capita grant will be available to unitary school divisions which operate recognized business education and/or industrial vocational courses, In addition to the regular grants earned under the present foundation program, a per capita grant of $325 per pupil per annum will be payable on behalf of industrial vocational students and $125 per pupil per annum for business education students.

In this way we hope to make possible the attendance of more pupils at high schools offering such programs who are from other divisions and to recognize the higher costs of these programs, Members will be further interested to hear that we have revised our grant system in the area of special education. The present grant structure for special education provides m"Onies

960 April 15, 1970 (MR. :MILLER cont'd) .•.•. to school divisions on the basis of handicapped children being enrolled in special categories and special classes. There has to be a minimum of eight - children with the same handicap enrolled in a class, which is certified by the health authorities as belonging to that particular category in order for special educational grants to be paid. There are five accepted categories - mentally retarded, physically handicapped, mentally disabled, the hard of hearing and the visually impaired.

But they were not in themselves in dicative of the need to support financially special services, and other types of educationally handicapped children. and particularly children with perceptual handicaps, those who are culturally different, and the environmentally deprived, and in the past some of these children have been labelled mentally retarded and placed in appropriate classes, sometimes, perhaps deliberately, in order to obtain for them more individualized approach than could be offered in the regular stream, and in all too many cases for the sake of administrative convenience. Mr.

Chairman, research and experience in numerous pilot projects in many other jurisdictions has clearly indicated that this approach was totally improper for the latter named categories, and in fact it did them more harm than good. As long as financial support for special services was tied to the special class concept, to the categorization, there would be a tendency to extend, mostly for administrative purposes, special class establishments and to continue thereby to misplace into the special class children who are educationally handicapped rather than mentally retarded.

Thus effective September 1, 1970, we will discontinue the enrolment formula for teachers of special education classes and will substitute a formula which will allow a more flexible han dling of instruction, allowing school boards to determine whether they will discontinue some of the special classes and place special class teachers in regular classes for at least part of their time. The new formula is One authorized teacher for each 500 pupils in a division.

In addition, there will be an authorized teacher grant calculated on the basis of one teacher for each 2, 500 pupils in unitary school divisions for specialist purposes. Mr. Chairman, at this point I would like to make a few comments about our Youth and Manpower Branch, and as well, I would like to remark on the concept of the community college in itself.

The purpose of the community college is to meet specific educational needs of a large segment of the community - high school graduates, young people, even though they may not be high school graduates, also mothers and fathers, mature workers and pre-apprentice trainees.

It should provide courses, many non-degree courses in arts and sciences, trades and technologies, business procedure, commercial practices, public services, and in the broad field of adult education, all within one building or integrated complex, and Manitoba's three community colleges will continue to produce skilled artisans in many different trades and technologies, to develop supervisory and management personnel in various fields of supply and service.

They will also provide training for adult workers who want to become qualified in some new trade or who want to become better qualified in the field of work in which they already earn their living. We have introduced new opportunities for course study. Young people and adults will be able to enroll in one or more selected segments of the complete course. For example, a young man wanting to take training in front-end alignment will be able to do so in the future without having to enroll in the complete automotive mechanics course.

Similarly, a young woman wishing to study personnel relations as a segment of the hotel and restaurant management course, will be able to do just that without having to enroll in the whole course as heretofore. The community colleges will provide basic opportunities for enrolment in many personal improvement subjects such as public affairs, philosophy, recreation and crafts, which will help mature people to understand themselves and others better, and through which they may be helped to live fuller lives in various forms of self-expression.

Graduates who obtain diplomas or certificates from any one of Manitoba's three commun ity colleges may be assured that these symbols of competence will be readily recognized and accepted by prospective employers in all parts of Canada. The contents of the courses have been carefully developed and assessed by advisory boards and committees on which local leaders in business, industry, labour and education serve with distinction. Courses are topical to begin with and their content is kept in line with changes that take place in methods and tech niques in business, industry and public service institutions.

The community college courses themselves are highly regarded by the business and industrial world and the graduates find ready acceptance as new employees in many different

April 15, 1970 9$1 (MR. MILLER eont•d) .•.. sectors of the economy. Although it does not directly prepare' students for higher education, some will go on to take university work; The community college stands on its own. It develops and operates its own courses; it confers its own diplomas and · certificates; its business is to produce well-trained, competent graduates who because of their skills and their knowledge will find immediate employment upon graduation. Furthermore, and perhaps most important, the community college is closely identified with the entire com munity of young people and adults.

Through many different kinds of courses, short term and long term, for pre-employment as well as self-improvement, courses offered day or night six days a week all the year round, the community college will serve a large

section of the entire community. Members will be interested to know that we have created a Community Colleges Council to replace the old provincial technical and advisory board in the role of advising the department regarding future developm

Document details

Collection	Manitoba — Debates (Hansard)
Citation	29-2-39
Type	hansard
Volume / chapter	29th 2nd hansardpdf 39.pdf
Language	en
Format	pdf
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	4a58d7284645bc947318cefbfdb4758778f0227b

Source file is stored in the law ingest library (pdf).