Manitoba Hansard — 14 April 2011 (Sitting 29, 39th Legislature, 5th Session)

39-5-29

Manitoba — Debates (Hansard)

Fifth Session - Thirty-Ninth Legislature of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba DEBATES and PROCEEDINGS Official Report (Hansard) Published under the authority of The Honourable George Hickes Speaker Vol. LXIII No. 29 - 1:30 p.m., Thursday, April 14, 2011 ISSN 0542-5492

MANITOBA LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Thirty-Ninth Legislature Member Constituency Political Affiliation ALLAN, Nancy, Hon. St. Vital N.D.P. ALTEMEYER, Rob Wolseley N.D.P. ASHTON, Steve, Hon. Thompson N.D.P. BJORNSON, Peter, Hon. Gimli N.D.P. BLADY, Sharon Kirkfield Park N.D.P. BLAIKIE, Bill, Hon. Elmwood N.D.P. BOROTSIK, Rick Brandon West P.C. BRAUN, Erna Rossmere N.D.P. BRICK, Marilyn St. Norbert N.D.P. BRIESE, Stuart Ste. Rose P.C. CALDWELL, Drew Brandon East N.D.P. CHOMIAK, Dave, Hon. Kildonan N.D.P. CULLEN, Cliff Turtle Mountain P.C. DERKACH, Leonard Russell P.C. DEWAR, Gregory Selkirk N.D.P.

DRIEDGER, Myrna Charleswood P.C. DYCK, Peter Pembina P.C. EICHLER, Ralph Lakeside P.C. FAURSCHOU, David Portage la Prairie P.C. GERRARD, Jon, Hon. River Heights Lib. GOERTZEN, Kelvin Steinbach P.C. GRAYDON, Cliff Emerson P.C. HICKES, George, Hon. Point Douglas N.D.P. HOWARD, Jennifer, Hon. Fort Rouge N.D.P. IRVIN-ROSS, Kerri, Hon. Fort Garry N.D.P. JENNISSEN, Gerard Flin Flon N.D.P. JHA, Bidhu Radisson N.D.P. KORZENIOWSKI, Bonnie St. James N.D.P. LEMIEUX, Ron, Hon. La Verendrye N.D.P. MACKINTOSH, Gord, Hon. St. Johns N.D.P. MAGUIRE, Larry Arthur-Virden P.C. MARCELINO, Flor, Hon. Wellington N.D.P.

MARTINDALE, Doug Burrows N.D.P. McFADYEN, Hugh Fort Whyte P.C. McGIFFORD, Diane Lord Roberts N.D.P. MELNICK, Christine, Hon. Riel N.D.P. MITCHELSON, Bonnie River East P.C. NEVAKSHONOFF, Tom Interlake N.D.P. OSWALD, Theresa, Hon. Seine River N.D.P. PEDERSEN, Blaine Carman P.C. REID, Daryl Transcona N.D.P. ROBINSON, Eric, Hon. Rupertsland N.D.P. RONDEAU, Jim, Hon. Assiniboia N.D.P. ROWAT, Leanne Minnedosa P.C. SARAN, Mohinder The Maples N.D.P. SCHULER, Ron Springfield P.C. SELBY, Erin, Hon. Southdale N.D.P. SELINGER, Greg, Hon. St. Boniface N.D.P. STEFANSON, Heather Tuxedo P.C. STRUTHERS, Stan, Hon.

Dauphin-Roblin N.D.P. SWAN, Andrew, Hon. Minto N.D.P. TAILLIEU, Mavis Morris P.C. WHITEHEAD, Frank The Pas N.D.P. WIEBE, Matt Concordia N.D.P. WOWCHUK, Rosann, Hon. Swan River N.D.P. Vacant Inkster Vacant Lac du Bonnet

729 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA Thursday, April 14, 2011 The House met at 1:30 p.m. Mr. Speaker: O Eternal and Almighty God, from Whom all power and wisdom come, we are assembled here before Thee t o f r a m e s u c h l a w s a s may tend to the welfare and prosperity of our province. Grant, O merciful God, we pray Thee, that we may desire only that which is in accordance with Thy will, that we may seek it with wisdom, know it with certainty and accomplish it perfectly for the glory and honour of Thy name and for the welfare of all our people. Amen.

ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS INTRODUCTION OF BILLS Bill 17–The Cooperatives Amendment Act Hon. Gord Mackintosh (Minister of Family Services and Consumer Affairs): Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the Minister for Housing and Community Development (Ms. Irvin-Ross), that Bill 17, The Cooperatives Amendment Act; Loi modifiant la

Loi sur les coopératives, be now read a first time. Motion presented. Mr. Mackintosh: Mr. Speaker, this bill seeks to expand beyond 367 the number and the types of co-ops in Manitoba by allowing groups that normally form separate co-ops, such as consumers or workers or producers or investors, to combine resources and create a co-op together; also, by allowing worker co-ops to include volunteers and contracting parties. It also seeks to modernize business processes and strengthens the eviction app eal process for residents of housing co-ops. Mr.

Speaker: Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion? [Agreed] PETITIONS RCMP Rural Service Mr. Stuart Briese (Ste. Rose): Mr. Speaker, I wish to present the following petition to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. And these are the reasons for this petition: Manitobans deserve to live in a safe environment and feel secure in their homes and their communities. Some regions of rural Manitoba have been hard hit by crime, including residential break and enters, property theft, vandalism and other offences that threaten people's security. In some areas, RCMP detachments are not staffed on a 24-hour basis.

Criminal elements capitalize on this, engaging in crimes at times when officers may not be readily available to respond to calls for service. Some believe the current RCMP detachment boundaries need to be redrawn so that service delivery could be faster and more effective.

We petition the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as follows: To request the Minister of Justice to consider working with the RCMP, the federal government and the communities to develop strategies to address service challenges in rural Manitoba, such as the possibility of having response units that could be dispatched to regions affected by crime waves. And to request the Minister of Justice to consider working with stakeholders to determine if the current RCMP detachment boundaries are designed to ensure the swiftest and most effective service delivery. This petition is signed by D. Councillor, G. Asham, H.

Roulette and many, many other fine Manitobans. Mr. Speaker: In accordance with our rule 132(6), when petitions are read they are deemed to be received by the House. Auto Theft–Court Order Breaches Mr. Kelvin Goertzen (Steinbach): Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker. I wish to present the following petition to the Legislative Assembly.

730 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA April 14, 2011 The background to this petition is as follows: On December 11th of 2009, in Winnipeg, Zdzislaw Andrzejczak was killed when the car that he was driving collided with a stolen vehicle. The death of Mr. Andrzejczak, a husband and a father, along with too many other deaths and injuries involving stolen vehicles, was a preventable tragedy. Many of those accused in fatalities involving stolen vehicles were previously known to police and identified as chronic and high-risk car thieves who had court orders against them.

Chronic car thieves pose a risk to the safety of all Manitobans. We petition the Legislative Assembly as follows: To request the Minister of Justice to consider ensuring that all court orders for car thieves are vigorously monitored and enforced. And to request the Minister of Justice to consider ensuring that all breaches of court orders on car thieves are reported to police and vigorously prosecuted. And, Mr. Speaker, this petition is signed by K. Phillips, K. Grenkow, E. Dow and many, many other Manitobans. Convicted Auto Thieves–Denial of MPI Benefits Mr. Blaine Pedersen (Carman): Mr.

Speaker, I wish to present the following petition to the Legislative Assembly. The background to this petition is as follows: In Manitoba, a car thief convicted of stealing a vehicle involved in a car accident is eligible to receive compensation and assistance for personal injury from Manitoba Public Insurance. Too many Manitoba families have had their lives tragically altered by motor vehicle accidents involving car thieves and stolen vehicles. It is an injustice to victims, their families and law-abiding Manitobans that MPI premiums are used to benefit car thieves involved in these accidents.

We petition the Legislative Assembly as follows: To request that the Minister of Justice deny all MPI benefits to a person fo r injuries received in an accident if he or she is co nvicted of stealing a motor vehicle involved in an accident. And this petition is signed by J. Wood, W. Kissick, C. Bruce and many, many more fine Manitobans. Bipole III–Cost to Manitoba Families Mr. Cliff Cullen (Turtle Mountain): Mr. Speaker, I wish to present the following petition to the Legislative Assembly.

The background to this petition is as follows: Manitoba Hydro has been directed by the provincial government to construct its next high voltage direct transmission line, Bipole III, down the west side of Manitoba. This will cost each family of four in Manitoba $11,748 more than an east-side route, which is also shorter and more reliable. We petition the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as follows: To urge the provincial government to build the Bipole III transmission line on the shorter and more reliable east side of Lake Winnipeg in order to save each Manitoba family of four $11,748.

This petition is signed by E. O'Dowd, L. Kluga, J. Braun and many, many other fine Manitobans. TABLING OF REPORTS Hon. Erin Selby (Minister of Advanced Education and Literacy): Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table the Manitoba Adult Literacy Strategy and Adult Learning Centres in Manitoba, 2009-2010 Annual Reports. * (13:40) MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS Flooding and Ice Jams Update Hon. Steve Ashton (Minister responsible for Emergency Measures): I have a statement, Mr. Speaker. We continue to track towards a 2009-level flood which, Mr. Speaker, was the second largest flood in the province since 1852.

While we do not want to create undue anxiety in the public, it is important to understand that a significant flood risk remains despite a slight decrease in the projected maximum crest in Winnipeg yesterday.

April 14, 2011 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 731 Many areas of the province are experiencing unprecedented overland flooding. Soil saturation levels going into the melt are extremely high across most of the southern part of the province. Overland flooding is unpredictable and is affecting many provincial roads, hundreds of municipal roads and some homes and farmland, particularly in the Interlake areas and areas such as Arborg, St. Laurent, Riverton, Bifrost and Fisher Branch, and in areas such as La Broquerie, Head ingley and St. François Xavier.

As of this morning, there have been 669 people evacuated, largely as precautions due to the lost access to homes. Evacuations are primarily in First Nations communities, including over 500 people from Peguis, 90 from Dauphin River, 24 from Sandy Bay and smaller groups from Fairford and Roseau River First Nations. We've also seen small precautionary evacuations in the RM of Cornwallis due to ice jams along the Assiniboine River, which have also caused some flooding in Spruce Woods Provincial Park. Small evacuations have taken place in the RMs of Montcalm, St.

Laurent and Elton, as well as the health facilities in Gladstone and Wawanesa. I can also inform the House that a precautionary evacuation of the St. Adolphe Personal Care Home will begin in the next coming days. The Province continues to closely monitor the situation in Peguis and other flood-affected areas and is providing assistance as needed. Officials also continue to assess the situation at Morris on Highway 75. I can also inform the House, that as of yesterday, the STARS, S-T-A-R-S, air ambulance, that–has flown 17 missions and conducted nine patient transports after 12 days in operation in Manitoba.

I am advised, Mr. Speaker, that some of these transports were the difference between life and death for the patients. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Stuart Briese (Ste. Rose): I thank the minister for his flood update. I appreciate the opportunity to put a few words on the reco rd in response to the minister's latest update. I'd like to start by thanking the minister and his staff of the department and several others for providing my colleagues and I with an update this morning on the flood situation and how it is unfolding in various regions of the province.

The government's latest update is projecting a lower crest on the Red River, but I know that communities along the Red continue to prepare and must remain vigilant. Precautionary evacuations have taken–have been taken in a number of communities and it's possible more will be required in the next few days. These operations seem to be providing–proceeding very smoothly thanks to the advance planning by the government officials at all levels. There's been a lot of overland flooding associated with this year's flood event.

It's taking a heavy toll on provincial and municipal roads across a wide swath of the province and is certainly proving disruptive. The spring melting and breakup accelerates in western Manitoba and moving northward. We can undoubtedly expect to see more of this type of road damage. My colleague the member for Portage la Prairie (Mr. Faurschou) and I had the opportunity last night to survey the situation in the Portage la Prairie, Macdonald, Westbourne, Woodside and Gladstone area. We have seen some retreating of the flood waters in that area, although the Woodside area has still vast areas underwater.

Again, I thank the minister for this latest flood update. Thank you. Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Mr. Speaker, I ask leave to speak to the minister's statement. Mr. Speaker: Does the honourable member have leave? [Agreed] Mr. Gerrard: Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the member for Thompson (Mr. Ashton) for the flood briefing this morning and continuing information and his statement just now. We're all aware that the level of the flood this year is one of the highest on record, probably similar to 2009 on the Red River and fairly close to '76 on the Assiniboine River and, certainly, we need to be ready.

We need to be particularly aware of the overland flooding that is starting to occur increasingly in southwestern Manitoba and I'm sure will be a major factor in western Manitoba. Once again, it's pretty clear that the calls over many years for permanent flood prevention in Peguis are well warranted and should be heeded, and I hope

732 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA April 14, 2011 that the minister and the government will push for such a permanent long-run solution. Thank you, again, for the update, and I look forward to more in the future. Introduction of Guests Mr. Speaker: Prior to oral questions, I'd like to draw the attention of honourable members to the public gallery, where we have with us today recipients of this year's Celebration of Excellence in Teaching–Minister's Awards. They are Katherine Penner of J.R.

Walkof Elementary School, Ralph Backé of Sargent Park School, Gregory Shedden of Sisler High School and Pamela Doerksen of Winnipeg Mennonite Elementary School and Harold Enns, Susan George and Maria Nickel from Woodlands School, and Jerry Sodomlak of Donwood School. And these are the guests of the honourable Minister of Education (Ms. Allan). Also in the gallery we have with us, we have Al Kristofferson and Bill Barlow, who are the guests of the honourable Minister of Entrepreneurship, Training and Trade (Mr. Bjornson).

And also in the gallery we have with us today some active members in the community through their work with the St. James Assiniboine Anglican Church, who are the guests of the honourable member for St. James (Ms. Korzeniowski). And also in the public gallery we have from Winnipeg Mennonite Elementary School Agassiz 14 grade 3 and 4 students under the direction of Mr. Wes Krahn. This school is located in the constituency of the honourable Minister of Housing and Community Development (Ms. Irvin-Ross).

And also in the public gallery, we have from Kildonan-East Collegiate, we have 36 grade 9 students under the direction of Leagh Denysiuk, Erin Lower and Kyle Warnica. This school is located in the constituency of the honourable member for Concordia (Mr. Wiebe). On behalf of all honourable members, I welcome you all here today. ORAL QUESTIONS Manitoba Hydro Bipole III Costs Mr.

Hugh McFadyen (Leader of the Official Opposition): I want to thank the minister for the update today in the House on the flooding situation which is impacting people and communities throughout the province and also thank him for the briefing that he provided this morning for members of the opposition caucus. Mr. Speaker, with resp ect to forward planning on capital matters, by far the largest capital project under way today in Manitoba is the next major transmission line for Manitoba Hydro.

This is a project that is more than six times the budget of the floodway expansion that will have an impact on generations to come in terms of our quality of life here in Manitoba. Manitobans are growing concerned about the conflicting and changing information that comes out of this government with respect to what people can expect to pay. Mr. Speaker, I know they're sensitive about the issue, as they should be, but they failed to mention it in the budget. Exactly tw o weeks ago today, Hydro put out yet another estimate of some $3.2 billion for this project, 14 days ago.

Yesterday in the House the Premier said it's $1.1 billion, shaving over $2 billion off the cost in two weeks. Can the Premier please explain the discrepancy between what he said in the House yesterday and what the CEO of Hydro said two weeks ago? Hon. Greg Selinger (Premier): Mr. Speaker, the cost of the bipole, $1.26 billion, has been confirmed by independent consultants hired by Manitoba Hydro to clarify the numbers. That's been made extremely clear to everybody, including the member opposite.

He continues to want to cancel the converter stations widely acknowledged to be necessary no matter which side of the lake–or anywhere in Manitoba for that matter–additional transmission is built. The member opposite's desire to cancel the converters would leave Manitobans in far worse shape. We would not be able to build Keeyask. We would not be able to build Conawapa. Export revenues would suffer, and rates would go up. That's his vision for the future of Manitoba Hydro: Mothball it like they did in the '90s, run the utility down and prepare for privatization. * (13:50) Mr. McFadyen: Mr.

Speaker, that's now the seventh–the seventh different number, as of today, that this Premier has put out on this project. That's double the number of different costs he put out on the stadium deal, and they haven't even started construction. Seven different numbers–and, in fact, he said in the House just now that the number put out

April 14, 2011 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 733 two weeks ago was just over $1.2 billion. In fact, the number put out two weeks ago was $3.28 billion, announced by the president and CEO of Hydro and reported throughout the media. I want to ask the Premier: Now that they're on their seventh number–it started at $2.2 billion and then went up by 1.7 to $3.9 billion and then went up to $4.1 billion with the documents that were released. Two weeks ago they said $3.3 billion, brought in by the president of Hydro. Today and yesterday, he's saying $1.2 billion. He's knocked $2.2 billion off in two weeks, Mr. Speaker.

I just want to ask the Premier: Is the number he's putting out to Manitobans today a real number or is he just using his old Crocus calculator yet again? Mr. Selinger: Mr. Speaker, only the leader–it's only the Leader of the Official Opposition that wants to cancel the converter stations in Manitoba. That decision on his part–nobody's given him advice to do that. That decision on his part would threaten the future development of the Manitoba economy. The Manitoba economy is a $54-billion economy.

That's a billion dollars a week that we generate in goods and services in this province, and the member opposite wants to cancel the $1.2-billion bipole which would bring reliability and affordability and protection to the Manitoba economy. He wants to cancel the converters, which would make it impossible to build Keeyask and Conawapa. He wants to move the Manitoba economy back to the dark days of the '90s when nothing was done and the Manitoba economy languished. We want to move Manitoba forward.

We want to do it in a way that gives reliable, affordable and good-reputation power to our customers and keeps Manitoba rates the lowest in North America. The only way you can do that is to build Manitoba Hydro, not mothball it. Mr. McFadyen: Mr. Speaker, the NDP government is currently in front of the Public Utilities Board asking them to raise rates on Manitoba families. The reason for that is because of the escalating costs on his west-side–long west-side directive. Mr. Speaker, how does anybody–you know, this is just–it's like the–it's like Crocus; it's like the stadium all over again.

This is a Premier who has now put out seven different numbers on the bipole project. He started at $2.2 billion; it went to $3.9 billion; it went to $4.1 billion; two weeks ago, they dropped it to $3.3 billion. Over two–over the last two weeks, somehow he's found a way to knock it down to $1.1 billion. Now, how are we supposed to believe this Premier and his numbers? Can he just confirm that he's got out his old stadium slide rule and his Crocus calculator and he's just trying to create a smokescreen for Manitoba ratepayers who are going to get stuck paying the bill for his mismanagement of this project. Mr.

Selinger: Mr. Speaker, the member opposite knows full well that converter stations are needed in this province if we're going to build the future of Manitoba Hydro. His reckless and irresponsible decision to unilaterally cancel those converters is one of the things that will set the Manitoba economy on a backward trajectory, move us backwards. Now, let's take a look–let's take a little look at his numbers. He says it'll cost Manitoba families $11,700 [inaudible] 500,000. Mr.

Speaker, you multiply that number by the number of families or ratepayers in Manitoba, it exceeds the cost of–it exceeds the costs of the converter stations. It exceeds the cost of the bipole. It is a number that is so out to lunch, so misleading, so misrepresenting reality, the member should really get up and apologize to the people of Manitoba for the tremendous amount of misinformation he continues to put on the public record every single day he's in office. Lake Winnipeg East-Side All-Weather Road Mr. Speaker: The honourable Leader of the Official Opposition, on a new question. Mr.

Hugh McFadyen (Leader of the Official Opposition): Well, to go from $3.2 billion two weeks ago to $1.1 billion as of yesterday, Mr. Speaker–and, in fact, he and his Finance Minister came out with three different numbers yesterday as they try to roll this price back. By next week, they'll be trying to convince Manitobans that it's free. He's found a bunch of volunteers and a bunch of people to donate some free steel. The reality is rates are going up on the hydro bills, and Manitobans know that fact, and there's nothing that this Premier can do to spin his way out of it. Mr.

Speaker, one–so he left the bipole project out of the budget. One thing he did put in the budget was his plans for the east-side boreal forest highway.

734 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA April 14, 2011 I wonder if he can just provide the House with an update on how he's doing with that highway today, Mr. Speaker. Hon. Greg Selinger (Premier): Mr. Speaker, that long

preamble again contained the usual misinformation the member opposite puts on the record. Let's be clear, Mr. Speaker; let's be clear. There's only one politician in this Legislature that has promised the people of Manitoba to lift hydro rates to the market rates around us, $900 more for every Manitoba ratepayer on an annual basis. That's the Leader of the Official Opposition. There's only one person who has done that.

There's only one person that has mused about privatizing Manitoba Hydro, just like he privatized the telephone system, and now wants to erase all traces of his role in privatizing that telephone system. The strategy is very clear. Run down the utility and disable it from being able to develop its resources. Use that as an excuse to privatize it. They said they wouldn't do that on the telephone system, and now they want to do it with the Manitoba Hydro system. Nobody can trust the member opposite when it comes to Crown corporations. He is the specialist in privatization.

He is the specialist in rolling back the future of Manitoba. And, yes, we will build an all-weather road on the east side of Lake Winnipeg so the people on that side of the lake can have the goods and services and the access to basic essentials that all Manitobans have, and he votes against that. Mr. McFadyen: Mr. Speaker, the Premier has been trying to spin to Manitobans that the reason for his decision to force them to pay more than $11,000 each for his long west-side power line is because of litigation if they touch the boreal forest on the east side of Lake Winnipeg.

I just want to ask the Premier: In connection with the east-side highway project, how many lawsuits to date have been filed in order to stop this project? Mr. Selinger: Here we again have the slippery-slope argument. The winter roads on the east side and, indeed, in many parts of Manitoba are no longer serving those communities because the winter freeze-up has been shortening with changes in the climate.

These communities, these Manitobans, equal in rights and access to every other Manitoban, deserve to have access to decent roads so that they can have the goods and services that all of us enjoy in other parts of Manitoba. The member opposite has consistently voted against any improvements to highways in northern Manitoba. He actually ran on a platform of taking money out of the north for roads and putting it into the south, once again using his approach to wedge politics, to divide Manitobans up against each other.

We have made a commitment in this budget, which he will vote against, to the highest degree of investment in roads in the history of the province, roads in the north, roads in rural Manitoba, roads in the city of Winnipeg and roads in southern Manitoba and, yes, roads on the east side of Lake Winnipeg, and the member opposite will vote against it as he has done every single year he's in the Legislature. Mr. McFadyen: Mr. Speaker, I don't know–I don't understand why the Premier's having such a hard time responding to what's a very simple question.

He said that an east-side transmission line would get tied up in litigation and, yet, Mr. Speaker, he's building the UNESCO expressway to the very boreal forest of the east side of the province that he claims to be concerned about. And I want to ask the Premier if he can confirm that all of this talk about lawsuits on the east side of Lake Winnipeg was completely made up, because as of today not a single person has filed a lawsuit to stop his boreal forest expressway of the east side. * (14:00) Mr. Selinger: Mr. Speaker, I didn't even detect a question there, just a lame defence of his previous argument.

The reality is this: The people on the east side have said they need winter roads; they need all-weather roads; they need access for basic goods and services. They have also said they do not like the bipole going down the east side because of the impacts on the environment. There clearly is a difference when the local citizens support all-weather roads so they can have basic goods and services. There is a huge difference there. The member opposite won't acknowledge that. The UNESCO World Heritage opportunity is a world-class opportunity to build ecotourism in this province.

And the member opposite wants to wash that away just like he wants to cut half a billion

April 14, 2011 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 735 dollars out of the budget, which he refuses to debate because he knows it's a good budget. He refuses to debate the budget which will provide all-weather roads, which will provide health care, which will provide education and will keep Manitoba growing as a prosperous economy including developing our hydro resources. Budget Advertising Costs Mrs. Heather Stefanson (Tuxedo): Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Finance admitted that she has veered away from follo wing her own five-year economic plan. Mr.

Speaker, according to a freedom of information response that my office received, the NDP government spent over $200,000 in pre-budget advertising. At a time when this government should be showing fiscal restraint, why are they spending tax dollars advertising an economic plan they have no plan to even follow? Hon. Rosann Wowchuk (Minister of Finance): Mr. Speaker, this is a good budget. This is a budget for the people of Manitoba. This is a budget that addresses all the issues that families have raised with us and they want us to move forward with. Mr.

Speaker, are we spending money on research to promote this budget? Yes, we are. No–every budget that has been put in place by the previous administration, by this administration, has a rollout. There is a rollout and there are dollars spent so that Manitobans know what's in the budget. Obviously the member opposite knows this is a good budget and she doesn't want us to tell Manitoba families about it. Mrs. Stefanson: Well, Mr. Speaker, the minister said yesterday so much as she's not even planning to follow her five-year plan.

Then to add salt to the wound, she decides that she's going to go out and spend $200,000 on advertising pre-budget, before the budget even took place. And if this is what she spent on pre-budget advertising, I'm wondering if she would indicate for the House today how much she plans to spend on post-budget advertising, advertising a budget she has no plan to adhere to, Mr. Speaker. Ms. Wowchuk: Mr. Speaker, when we hit challenging times, we decided that we would not follow the advice of the members opposite. Nine months ago, they were going to cut $500 million out of this budget.

They were going to act just the same way as they did in the '90s, slash and cut, lay people off, lay nurses off, lay doctors off. That's what they announced that they would do nine months ago. They've had a little change of heart, it seems. They are recognizing that there are good things in this budget. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr. McFadyen) said there were good things in this budget, Mr. Speaker. Well, I'm going to tell you, Mr. Speaker, that's the difference between them and us. We listen to the people. We implement what they want in the budget. The members opposite make plans to slash and cut. Mrs.

Stefanson: Mr. Speaker, the fact of the matter is that this Minister of Finance spent over $200,000 advertising a five-year plan she has no plan to adhere to. Why did she waste $200,000–$200,000 that she could have saved that could have gone towards decreasing the deficit? Ms. Wowchuk: Well, Mr. Speaker, the members opposite never did support our five-year plan, because they know it's about the people. They never supported our five-year plan. Our budget in 2010-11 came in $78 million lower than projected.

Our budget is projected to come in $10 million under the projection that we put forward in our five-year plan. Why is this happening, Mr. Speaker? This is happening because there is confidence in Manitoba. Our economy is growing, and with that change in the economy, we are able to deliver for Manitobans, for our families, not slash and cut like the members opposite did. Sandbagging Machine Community Use and Resources Mrs. Leanne Ro wat (Minnedosa): Mr. Speaker, at a March 3rd photo op in Brandon, the Premier (Mr. Selinger) and the member for Brandon East (Mr. Caldwell) unveiled a new sandbagging machine.

I tabled for the House the news release from that event. In it the Premier stated, and I quote: "The new machine will be ready to produce thousands of sandbags for use in the Westman area . . ." End quote. Mr. Speaker, the Premier also acknowledged the risk of flooding along the Assiniboine. This week, states of emergency were declared in several rural municipalities near Brandon, including Cornwallis,

736 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA April 14, 2011 Glenwood, Souris and Elton. Eight people have been evacuated from Douglas. Yet when the town of Souris considered using the new sandbagging machine, they were told they'd have to pay for the sandbags, pay for the sand and supply the volunteers to run it. Mr. Speaker, can the government explain why the sandbagging machine is sitting idle in Brandon while area municipalities are trying to battle the flood? Hon. Steve Ashton (Minister responsible for Emergency Measures): Mr.

Speaker, I think it's important to note that one of the things that we have done over the last two years is expand the tools available in the province. We have brought in Amphibexes. In fact, the Minister of Water Stewardship (Ms. Melnick) recently announced the third Amphibex. They're being deployed throughout the province. We have deployed sandbags, sandbag machines, super sandbags. We have at least three types of flood tubes that are currently being used. We have wave barriers. The reality in deployment is that we look at what's appropriate.

I want to stress that in many areas, by the way, we continue to work with sandbags. So, Mr. Speaker, I'm not sure quite why the member is questioning what is, in this case, a decision made by our Emergency Measures staff and Water Stewardship about what– Mr. Speaker: Order. Mrs. Rowat: I see the members opposite are a bit uncomfortable with this question, and they should be. There is a new sandbagging machine for Westman and Brandon, capable of producing 35,000 sandbags in eight hours, that is sitting idle. In the March 4th Brandon Sun, which I will table, the Premier talked about the merits of the machine.

He stated, and I quote: ". . . what's good about having it out early . . . is they can stockpile sandbags." End quote. Yet there are no sandbags stockpiled in Brandon that could have been trucked out to these communities in need. Mr. Speaker, I ask this government again: You've known about the flood risks for months. Where is the action plan to ensure that the sandbags were made available in advance so that they can quickly be shipped to the communities that needed them? Mr. Ashton: Well, certainly, Mr.

Speaker, I don't know if this is something that the member has been aware of since this morning, but I certainly do want to indicate again, we had a briefing with a dozen members opposite. I've had briefings with members here, and we're more than prepared to get into full detail about the deployment. I want to stress, by the way, that we have been involved with production of sandbags at a number of central locations. I want to stress it's not the only form of flood protection that is used.

We have–the City of Winnipeg, for example, has also been preparing a significant number of sandbags, and in terms of the flood preparation, I want to put on the record that we are going to be spending upwards of $50 million, Mr. Speaker, for this flood event. And I want to make it very clear that when it comes to our government and this Province's approach in terms of flood protection, if we're going to be criticized for anything, it will be in terms of erring on the side of protection and preparation. We've been working diligently as a– Mr. Speaker: Order. * (14:10) Mrs. Rowat: Mr.

Speaker, my question is with regard to the ethics of th is Premier (Mr. Selinger) when he stands and does a photo op and then doesn't fulfill the promises that are being portrayed to the communities. Mr. Speaker, this NDP government has spent $35,000 on a sandbag machine that can make 35,000 sandbags every eight h ours. They staged an impressive photo op where the Premier touted the benefits of the machine which would provide help for Westman region. Yet, as we have seen this week, the–when Brandon area communities and municipalities quickly needed sandbags, there were none available. Where is the logic in that?

Mr. Speaker, will the Premier admit that protecting individuals and communities threatened by flooding should take greater precedence than photo ops, photo ops designed to place him on the front page of the Brandon Sun? Mr. Ashton: Mr. Speaker, I would hope that members opposite would keep politics out of dealing with flood management. And, perhaps, Mr. Speaker–and I'm also surprised that the member opposite didn't even mention the fact that we–within a matter of days, we approved funding for permanent diking in Brandon. At the request of the City of Brandon we approved

April 14, 2011 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 737 the cost sharing, and that is in place protecting residents, 900 residents, in the city of Brandon. I think the member opposite might also wish to talk to the many dedicated staff in our departments, the municipal leaders and officials that are out there. We're dealing with unprecedented flooding in terms of geographic scope at this point. We are looking at a flood that in many areas of the province will be equivalent to the 2009 flood, which was the second worst flood since 1852. Mr.

Speaker, I want to tell the member opposite that we're proud of the response of Manitobans. And, Mr. Speaker, that kind of criticism I think is inappropriate. If the member opposite has concerns, we'll deal with it. We're fighting the flood. That comes first, not the kind of question period politics we're seeing from that member. Town of Rivers Police Officer Funding Mr. Speaker: The honourable member for Minnedosa, on a new question? Mrs. Leanne Ro wat (Minnedosa): I think the message is easy: If you can't deliver, don't do the photo op, Mr. Speaker. Mr.

Speaker, the Town of Rivers has operated a local police detachment for over 100 years and is classified as a primary police agency. They employ three officers and have effectively developed and implemented a community policing plan which was shared with the Justice Department months ago. Recently, Aboriginal and municipal law enforcement, under the Department of Justice, had conveyed to Rivers police chief their support for an additional officer for the Town of Rivers. Unfortunately, in Tuesday's budget, Rivers Police Service was ignored in the funding allocation of new police officers. Mr.

Speaker, I ask the Minister of Justice why he ignored his department's recommendation to allocate an additional police office r for the Rivers Police Service. Hon. Andrew Swan (Min ister of Justice and Attorney General): I'm quite pleased to have a question about our support for policing across the province of Manitoba, and this is a government which, since 1999, has added funding for 255 police officers across this province, in Winnipeg, in Brandon, in many, many centres across the province. Now, in this particular case, we've added additional officers in communities where we've not added officers before.

We've added officers in Altona. We've added an officer in Morden, in Winkler, in Ste. Anne, as well as six communities that have contracts with the RCMP. We relied upon the advice of the RCMP in adding those officers, and we have decided to move with communities with the best plans to make sure that their officers are on the street as soon as possible, enhancing community safety in those communities. That is our priority, Mr. Speaker. Mrs. Rowat: Mr. Speaker, Chief Flannigan said that he was embarrassed by this NDP's government's decision to ignore Rivers community policing needs.

He's confused as to why this–why his agency is the only primary policing agency left out of the funding announcement. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of Justice explain why he believes the community of Rivers does not deserve the same support for the public safety as other communities in Manitoba received? Mr. Swan: And, again, we've worked very closely with police across this province. We've taken their advice on where investments are most needed. And I should point out to the member opposite, there are 13 municipal police forces in Manitoba.

Six of them are receiving additional officers; seven of them aren't, including Rivers. I would point out, we've put our investments where we know we can get the biggest bang for our buck and have officers out on the streets doing the most to enhance safety. With the RCMP, their advice has been on the nature of various communities. I'm actually quite proud of the work that Chief Flannigan and his officers have done in Rivers. Rivers is a community with very, very low levels of crime. It is one of many very, very safe communities in this province.

I've spoken with Chief Flannigan and, as well, have invited him to put forward proposals for further investments that we'll be making in the years to come. Mrs. Rowat: Mr. Speaker, he's saying best bang for his buck; I think he's meaning to say the best political bang for the NDP buck. The entire policing community in Manitoba has been waiting three long years for this NDP government to act on the allocation of federal funds for this type of initiative.

738 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA April 14, 2011 Mr. Speaker, in a recent conversation with the Justice Minister, Chief Flannigan was told that there were funds still available from this source. Mr.–Chief Flannigan said there were still funds available from this source. So Mr. Flannigan's statement, and I quote, is: Since money is available–is still available, this injustice–injustice– could literally be corrected by a stroke of the pen. Mr. Speaker, I ask the minister: Was it lip service or will he actually fund a staff person for the Rivers Police Service today? Mr. Swan: Mr.

Speaker, the member from Minnedosa wants to play politics with–she is suggesting that we've added a police officer in Winkler and a police officer in Morden and a police officer in Altona for political reasons. It may be because every time the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. McFadyen) opens his mouth, more and more seats become target seats for our New Democrats. But having said that, the member from Minnedosa is one of the members who has stood up and has voted against every investment we've made in policing in this province. Every year she stands in her place and she votes against more police officers.

She votes against more Crown attorneys. She votes against more probation officers. She votes against more Corrections officers. I don't need any lessons and our government needs no lessons from one member trying to play politics with historic investments that we are making across this province to keep Manitobans safer, Mr. Speaker. Bethesda Hospital Redevelopment Project Status Mr. Kelvin Goertzen (Steinbach): Mr. Speaker, the more the member talks, the closer Minto becomes to being a target riding for us. Mr.

Speaker, it's now been 1,259 days, more than three years, since the much-needed expansion of the Bethesda ER was announced. The initial announcement came in 2007 and then nothing happened. And then it was announced in 2008–nothing happened; 2009 and nothing happened. It was announced in 2010 and nothing happened, and, lo and behold, on Tuesday, almost unbelievably, it was announ ced again in the budget and still there's no construction date. Now we hear from local Health officials that it's the Premier (Mr. Selinger) who's stalling this project; he is the problem.

Will he stand up and tell us when the construction date for the Bethesda ER is scheduled for, Mr. Speaker? Hon. Theresa Oswald (Minister of Health): Mr. Speaker, certainly nobody can argue the member opposite's passion about the emergency room. I certainly won't. And I can inform the member that, yes, we have been very active in construction projects, capital constr uction projects, across Manitoba. We know, Mr.

Speaker, that during an economic downturn things become more challenging, and members opposite chose to freeze their health capital budget, issued a news release, disparagingly say that they had no choice. We've been forging ahead with capital projects. We're building health capit al across the province and I can commit to the member that we're going to be commencing with construction at Bethesda emergency this spring. Mr. Goertzen: Of course, it was also the Minister of Health who said in this House that we'd be commencing with construction Bethesda last fall, and so it's pretty hard to believe her, Mr Speaker.

More than 700 emails have come in to the Premier to get this project started and to give a construction date. One of the medical professionals who emailed indicated that many assessments in the Bethesda ER are done on stretchers in hallways where complete physical examinations are not possible. I know people lying in hallways in 2011 not able to get an assessment under the NDP. That's their health-care system. Mr. Speaker, I want to ask the Premier why for three years he has put the safety and the health at risk, of residents of the Steinbach region in southeastern Manitoba? * (14:20) Ms. Oswald: Well, Mr.

Speaker, I have the utmost respect for the medical professionals at Bethesda Hospital. They do extraordinary work every day. The employees of the regional health authority that are working on developing capital infrastructure are also working very diligently. Mr. Speaker, we know that since 1999 we have renovated, rebuilt or built from the ground up, brand new, over 100 health facilities. We didn't, when times got tough–we didn't, Mr. Speaker, when times

April 14, 2011 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 739 got tough choose to freeze all health capital spending because we know that health care is the No. 1 priority of Manitobans. And just as an aside, Mr. Speaker, isn't it odd that when he makes reference to us mentioning the Bethesda emergency in the budget last year that he voted against it? Mr. Goertzen: What I voted against was the fact that they froze this project for three years, Mr. Speaker.

By the time the Bethesda ER is finally built, it will have taken longer to plan and build it than it took to plan the Empire State Building, a 102-storey building in New York City. Residents of my riding, who are among the most gracious in all the province, already have come to a conclusion. They have come to a conclusion that this government froze this project for three years because the NDP, the Premier, doesn't like the way they vote.

Won't the Premier just acknowledge–just acknowledge that the reason he froze this project for three years and put the health of residents at risk was because he just doesn't like the way they vote, Mr. Speaker. Ms. Oswald: Mr. Speaker, I just want to say clearly that we support and want to build our health-care system for all Manitobans as evidenced by our commitment to build a new personal care home in Morden-Winkler, an area, I would argue, that, you know, has the most potential to grow for the NDP. I can say that, but I can also say that we've made a commitment to Lac du Bonnet.

We've made a commitment to build a health centre in Grand Rapids. We're building dialysis in Berens River and Peguis First Nation, Mr. Speaker, and we are committed to work to keep the ER services functioning as the tender and the construction happen at Bethesda ER, just as the professionals have asked us to do. Health care is for all Manitobans, not just the special few, Mr. Speaker. Manitoba Hydro Bipole III Underwater Location Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Mr. Speaker, Manitobans were stunned to learn this week that, once again, the NDP is using Manitoba Hydro to cover up this government's mistakes.

Manitobans know that the underwater option for Bipole III is the safest, most financially secure, but was the victim of poor planning by this NDP government. Mr. Speaker, will the Minister of Finance (Ms. Wowchuk) own up to the fact that she goofed by ignoring the underwater option for so long and has been recently ordering Manitoba to send out phony press releases to misread–mislead Manitoba voters? Hon. Greg Selinger (Premier): The underwater option is one that we think has attractive possibilities, and we want to commend John Ryan for the work he's done on that.

And, if it could be done right away, it would be done right away by Manitoba Hydro. The reality is is that it's a concept and a technology to be applied in Manitoba that some feel could be useful in the future but could not be applied immediately. But the work that John Ryan has done and the research he's done to review this option, to look at the technical challenges in terms of moving cable across the prairies an d putting it down the lake and the challenges of ice and the wearability of how long it would last, all of those issues are–require study and thoughtful consideration.

But the reality is that kind of an option was one that was put forward in the spirit of finding a solution to transmission that would be one that everybody could embrace in Manitoba as opposed to the polarized, divisive politics of the members opposite. Mr. Gerrard: I, too, want to congratulate John Ryan on his work and draw the attention to what John Ryan has said on the underwater cable very recently, and I quote: DC ca ble is a technologically viable system right now, and it could have been used for Bipole III except for NDP bungling.

NDP government continuously intervenes with hard-working engineers and makes poor political decisions. I want to say, Mr. Speaker, that the department, the Minister of Finance hit a new low this week when Manitobans learned that Hydro bureaucrats deliberately misled the public with their deceptive stand about the underwater line. Mr. Speaker, enough is enough. When is the Minister responsible for Hydro going to admit that her mismanagement and micromanagement of Hydro is hurting everyday Manitobans?

740 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA April 14, 2011 Hon. Rosann Wowchuk (Min ister charged with the administration of The Manitoba Hydro Act): Mr. Speaker, I, too, want to commend Dr. Ryan for the work that he has done. I want to tell the Leader of the Opposition that I talked to Dr. Ryan this week about this study, and the study that they were doing was looking at the future, the future of where we might use underground cable–underwater cable. They were not looking at whether it could be used for Bipole III, and if he talks to Mr. Ryan he will hear the same thing. Mr.

Ryan believed that the technology could be used earlier, but the study that they were looking at was looking at how we could use the technology of underwater cable into the future, and that study was done. Professionals were hired to look at it and they made some recommendations and they did say that it could be used in the future. Mr. Gerrard: Mr. Speaker, it is the minister, herself, who is, in fact, confused. The public knows that the NDP is doing what it can to discredit the use of the underwater line right now. The minister's department blew it in thei r planning on Bipole III.

One is left to wonder if her micromanagement had something to do with the phony-baloney press release that went out very recently. John Ryan says that the underwater line is viable right now. He's the co-author of this report, and he's aware and has commented that the Hydro press release was very misleading, but it went out to mislead the public anyway. Mr. Speaker, again, because we're fully aware of the micromanagement that takes place from this minister's office, I ask the Minister of Finance if she was the one who ordered Manitoba Hydro to issue the press release and mislead the public. Ms.

Wowchuk: The member opposite is absolutely wrong, Mr. Speaker. He is absolutely wrong, but, of course, that's not the first time. We've heard many comments in this House from the member opposite, the leader of the official Liberal Party, and when we've checked the facts they have not been correct. But I will say to you, Mr. Speaker, the report review panel found that an underwater route was not an option at this time due to the current state of the cable technology and unproven cable transportation methods.

In addition to the technical difficulty, the report also indicated that every metre of underwater route would be up to 6.6 or up to 11.9 times more expensive than the comparable overhead line. Mr. Speaker, we–Manitoba Hydro put in place a panel. The panel made a report and I thank the people who sat on that panel. Mr. Speaker: Time for oral questions has expired. MEMBERS' STATEMENTS Southdale Scouts Hon. Erin Selby (Minister of Advanced Education and Literacy): Mr. Speaker, it's exciting to see the Southdale Scouts taking root in our community.

On February 22nd, the first Southdale scouting group hosted the Baden-Powell potluck supper at the Southdale Community Centre to celebrate the Scout leaders and volunteers. My family and I were happy to be there and to give thanks to the members who are the backbone of the Scouts. Highlights of the evening included recognizing the Scout troop for their first-place finish in this year's Wilderness Challenge, as well as recognizing leaders who completed several different Scouts Canada training courses.

These included winter camping, where two Cub leaders spent a comfortable night in a snow shelter that they made the weekend before, and, of course, th ese are great opportunities for volunteers to then return and transfer their skills to our youth. * (14:30) The supper was both a big success and a small token of our appreciation. Volunteers and leaders give in so many ways that to truly define all their contributions would be impossible.

The Southdale Scout leaders invest passion and energy into making sure that each child recognizes the individual gifts that they have to contribute, and at the end of the evening the Scouts have their chance to demonstrate their teamwork. They invited all of us to race the model cars called Beaver Buggies, Kub Kars and Scout Trucks that they built themselves. Since the Scouting movement began in the 20th century, this tradition has been a safe environment in which to challenge our kids.

The Scouts' motto, "Be Prepared," which not only involves practical skills but also being prepared to help others when they need it. The Scouts continue to uphold this, which is not always easy, but is always rewarding. Thank you to everyone who supported the Scouts at the potluck supper, and to the Scouts

April 14, 2011 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 741 themselves, who were such welcoming hosts. And most of all, thank you to the leaders and volunteers who go so far beyond the minimum of asked of them. Sterling Lyon Mr. Hugh McFadyen (Leader of the Official Opposition): Mr. Speaker, I'm honoured to rise to speak about the life of an extraordinary Manitoban, who had a significant impact on this province. The Honourable Sterling Lyon, former premier of Manitoba, passed away on December 16th, 2010, following a brief illness.

A lawyer by training, who also served as a judge on the Manitoba Court of Appeal, Sterling Lyon was a dedicated public servant. He represented the Progressive Conservative Party formidably in this Legislature for 20 years, as leader of the official opposition, as a minister of the Crown, as premier and, first and foremost, as an MLA. I had the great privilege of knowing Sterling Lyon and benefiting from his tremendous intellect and sharp wit. I will remember him as a man of great integrity, who was a great orator. His passionate commitment to public service is a strong example to young Manitobans.

As premier in the late 1970s, Sterling Lyon played an important role in the patriation of the Canadian constitution and the enactment of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. His firm belief in maintaining the supremacy of elected parliaments led to the introduction of the notwithstanding clause in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Sterling Lyon believed in a combination of fiscal responsibility with prudent public investments to build a better future for all Manitobans.

His dedication as premier led to the expansion of community-based health care and the modernization of social programs while, at the same time, enhancing the economic growth and prosperity of our great province. When he was not engaged with his political life, Sterling Lyon was an outdoor enthusiast. He enjoyed spending time in his vegetable garden, as well as at the family cottage at Delta on Lake Manitoba, usually with a beloved golden retriever at his side. He was also an avid reader of political and historical biographies and, in particular, enjoyed reading the works of Winston Churchill. Mr.

Speaker, on behalf of the entire Progressive Conservative caucus, I'd like to extend my condolences to the family of Sterling Lyon, including his children Nancy, Andrea, Peter, Jennifer and Jonathon. In addition to being a deeply committed public servant, Sterling Lyon was also a devoted husband, father and grandfather, and I know that's how he'll be remembered by his family. Sterling Lyon's passing is a loss for all Manitobans, and his legacy will not be forgotten. St. James the Assiniboine Anglican Church Ms. Bonnie Korzeniowski (St. James): Mr.

Speaker, I rise today to commend and support the outreach work of the St. James the Assiniboine Anglican church. This March, I was invited to attend an event hosted by the church and Winnipeg Harvest called Famine Feast. This unique event aimed to raise awareness of the plight of those living in refugee camps around the world. Unlike your typical fundraising dinner, each person who attended the event was given a randomly numbered refugee card and only a small ration of rice and beans, equal to what would be served in a typical refugee camp.

I think it would be fair to say that we all went home feeling especially fortunate. For us this was barely a taste of the kind of poverty present in refugee camps, but this can be a family's reality for months or years at a time. Furthermore, we know that, even here in our own province, too many families struggle to put food on the table. But in the end, that was the goal of the evening: to raise awaren ess and to provide our support. The proceeds of this event went to support Winnipeg Harvest, which tries to ensure that we all have enough to eat right here in Manitoba.

Another important project that the church supports is an after school drop-in centre at George Waters Middle School through the Manitoba Justice Lighthouse program. The centre provides a whole range of opportunities for youth in the St. James area. Proceeds from the Famine Feast also went to support the important outreach work that the church has been doing for a number of years, such as raising funds to build a medical unit in the remote village of Myungwe, Uganda.

The silver lining to learn about some of the world's greatest injustices is that it inspires us to take action and support the work that has immeasurable benefits for not only St. James, but for all Manitobans and even places beyond our own borders. It is projects like these that remind us of the significance of the phrase: Think global, act local.

742 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA April 14, 2011 I think all Manitobans envision a time where everyone in the world gets enough to eat, and we all have our part to play. Once again, thank you to the St. James the Assiniboine Anglican Church, to Reverend Canon Murray Still and Paul Hazelton, here in our gallery today, and to Doreen Webb for her work with the Lighthouse program. And thank you to all the volunteers for their hard work and contributions. Keep up the good work. Education Week Mr. Cliff Cullen (Turtle Mountain): Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to rise today to recognize Education Week.

Education Week was officially kicked off in Manitoba on Monday, April 11th, and runs until the 15th. This year's theme is "Our Classrooms are the World" and celebrates international education. Every year over 85 countries around the world recognize Education Week and take the opportunity to celebrate education and its importance for successful futures. In Ma nitoba, Education Week will be marked by thousands of teachers, students and supporters of education, province-wide.

International education is one of the key ways that cultural co-operation and understanding can be fostered here in Manitoba and around the world. As our province and country become increasingly multicultural, and as the barriers to communication across the globe are cut down, intercultural dialogue will continue to grow in importance. Work has been done in Manitoba to make it easier for international students to come and study in our province. Some of the countries who have worked on this initiative include China, Germany, Italy, India, Australia a nd Switzerland.

The number of international students in Manitoba has increased over the last few years. And as has been done in previous years, the Manitoba School Boards Association and the Manitoba Teachers' Society have partnered with the Manitoba government to make Education Week come to life. The Manitoba School Boards Association website offers ideas for ways to mark the occasion. This is the fourth year that Education Week has been recognized in Manitoba.

Last year's theme was "Public Schools: Open Doors, Open Minds." The celebration of diversity during Education Week will help our children learn, and remind us all about the importance of cultural understanding among people globally. As well, our educators, family–families and everyone involved in students' success deserve praise for the great work that they do. MV Namao Hon. Peter Bjornson (M inister of Entrepreneur- ship, Training and Trade): Mr. Speaker, the health of Lake Winnipeg is something that all Manitobans have a stake in.

Gimli is proud to be the permanent berth for the research vessel used by the Lake Winnipeg Research Consortium, LWRC, the MV Namao, and we're also proud to support the work of its general manager, Dr. Kristofferson. His dedication, optimism and the scientific research that his team is conducting are invaluable to the–determining the future of our lake. The LWRC is a co-operative group of about 30 agencies and organizations who contribute to the study of Lake Winnipeg. Dr. Allan Kristofferson, a lifelong Gimli resident, is a fisheries biologist and general manager of the LWRC.

He has been a consistent advocate for the lake since the group's inception in 1998, and under his leadership the MV Namao was converted from a Canadian Coast Guard vessel to a ship now owned and operated solely by the Lake Winnipeg Research Consortium. It tours the lake in spring, summer and fall, surveying 65 stations and taking samples of the water and zooplankton. Scientific research from the last 70 years, including that of Lake Winnipeg Research Consortium, demonstrates that the lake is overfertilized, depriving the ecosystem of essential oxygen.

The consortium uses the Namao as a platform for both research and educational outreach, including the Lake Ecology Field Program, which invites students between grades 6 and 12 to spend a half day out on the water and participate in hands-on research activities. Dr. Kristofferson does not downplay the gravity of Lake Winnipeg's condition, but he is also an eternal optimist. He believes in people's individual power to make a difference, by changing their personal lifestyles to be more eco-friendly. Dr. Kristofferson firmly believes, as I do, that we can restore the lake to an ecological balance.

Gimli has been home to the MV Namao since 2000, but our

April 14, 2011 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 743 community has been tied to the lake for much longer than that. Thank you to Dr. Kristofferson, and thank you to the crew of the Namao, for your dedicated research and advocacy on behalf of one of Manitoba's most precious resources. * (14:40) Mr. Speaker, I'm very pleased that Dr. Kristofferson has joined us in the gallery today. He is also joined by Mr.

Bill Barlow, a member of the board of directors of Lake Winnipeg Research Consortium, and I'd like members to join me in thanking them for the good work that they are doing on behalf of Manitobans for the health of Lake Winnipeg. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. ORDERS OF THE DAY GOVERNMENT BUSINESS BUDGET DEBATE (Third Day of Debate) Mr. Speaker: Resume debate on the proposed motion of the honourable Minister of Finance (Ms. Wowchuk) that this House approves in general the budgetary policy of the government, and the proposed motion of the honourable Leader of the Official Opposition (Mr.

McFadyen) in amendment thereto, standing in the name of the honourable member–Minister for Labour and Immigration, who has 18 minutes remaining. Hon. Jennifer Howard (Minister of Labour and Immigration): Mr. Speaker, it's my pleasure to continue some of the comments I was making yesterday about the budget.

And now, you know, I've had an evening and a night to digest the amendment motion that came forward from the Leader of the Opposition and, you know, much like a sweet and fluffy dessert that is a bit appealing in the moment, but then you feel hungry not that long afterwards and a thirst for something real to digest, that's much how I felt after reading this amendment. Lots of sweet words, nice sentiments, feel warm and fuzzy that, finally, after 11 years they've come to the conclusion that this government is on the right track, is doing things that Manitobans want and want us to do more of.

But then, you know, there's a few little hints in the resolution in the amendment of really where they would take Manitoba. And I'm going to start by looking at the part of their motion that calls on the provincial government to undertake a spending review process. Now, when I first read this I thought, where have I heard that phrase before? It sounds familiar. I can't quite place it, and then it dawned on me. One of the most famous spending review processes in all of Manitoba history was that undertaken by Connie Curran under the last Tory government.

So let's talk a little bit about what came out of that spending review process that was the brainchild of the Leader of the Opposition when he was working in Premier Filmon's office. Well, let's–some of the things that we were left with from the spending review process that Connie Curran undertook when she looked at health care in Manitoba, well, included interesting recommendations. What were one of those recommendations? Well, one of those recommendations resulted in a lot fewer nurses working in Manitoba.

She was very consistent with her advice that really one of the problems with health care was there're just too many gosh darn nurses delivering care to patients, and if you could get rid of some of those nurses, well, you can save some money. And so we saw, throughout that decade, a thousand nurses fired and 500 more driven away from the province of Manitoba under the guise of spending review. What other kinds of things did that spending review process result in?

Well, although it's hard to believe today, when you look at the need for family doctors and the nu mber of doctors that are committing to come and work and practice in Manitoba, in fact, you know, throughout the 1990s–the last time that we had a Tory government in this province–medical school spaces were actually cut. They believed that the way to deliver better health care was to have fewer doctors. So that's the formula: fewer doctors and fewer nurses delivering care for people's families.

In fact, the medical school spaces went down from 85 spaces to 70 spaces, and it's only through this government, through constant, steady progress that we've managed to increase those medical school spaces again and again so that now we're training over a hundred doctors in the medical school. In fact, you know, throughout that period, there were fewer doctors practising in Manitoba, over a hundred doctors fewer between '94 and '98. And it's very interesting, if you looked at the graphs of nurses and doctors, if you look at them in the 10 years from

744 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA April 14, 2011 1990 to '99, and then you look at them in the subsequent years, you see a very similar curve, looks very much like an S. It goes down, down, down, down through the Tory years, and then it goes up, up, up, up through the NDP years. It's a U curve that is very clear in those graphs. You know what else they did to review the spending of health care? They froze all health capital. They actually put out a news release saying that we have no choice but to not invest in another personal care home or another hospital, in the time that they were in government.

And you know the kinds of things that that resulted in when we came into government were fruit flies buzzing around the Health Sciences Centre operating rooms. The trauma centre of the province had–[interjection]–fruit flies buzzing around the Health Sciences Centre operating rooms. Well, I hear the member for Springfield (Mr. Schuler) says it isn't true. Well, he should go there and talk to some of the nurses that worked in that OR at the time, because that's exactly what they to ld us over and over again. In fact, you know, we went to talk to them about finally–finally–building and renovating that hospital.

It took a few tries before we could get them to believe that somebody was actually finally going to take their concerns seriously, because it certainly wasn't the experience that they had had for the previous 10 years. And now, you know, we don't–but we don't really even have to look as far back as the 1990s to know what the cost would be to health care if the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. McFadyen) had his way. We just have to look–let's look at 2008. In 2008, the Leader of the Opposition said he thought health-care spending should increase at the rate of economic growth.

And that might sound like something that could be defended, but let's be clear what that would mean in this budget. If that's the kind of idea, if that's the kind of philosophy that's going to inform his spending review process, then what that will mean to Manitobans is a cut of $756 million out of this year's health budget, close to a billion dollars cut out of the health budget. Now, we thought last year when they promised to cut half a billion out of the entire budget that that would be a tremendous cost to Manitobans; I can't imagine what $750 million cut out of the health budget would look like.

And so it's clear that those priorities are not the priorities of Manitobans. This is not what Manitoba families want, and once again we've seen from the Leader of the Opposition that he just doesn't get what's important to Manitoba families. Ms. Marilyn Brick, Deputy Speaker, in the Chair And then, you know, the other thing that we see in this resolution that he brought forward was once again reiterating the same misstatements and misinformation that he's been putting on the record for a long time now about Bipole III and what that would mean for Manitobans.

And I suppose, Madam Deputy Speaker, that one shouldn't be surprised, although disappointed, that there is a kind of cynical view of politics on the other side that, really, if you keep saying something that you know is not exactly accurate, if you say that over and over again, if you say that loud enough, people are going to believe you. And the more inaccurate it is, the more people will believe you, and that seems to be the kind of view of politics that they subscribe to on the other side. They know full well that the bipole will not cost what they're saying that it will cost. They know that.

It doesn't matter; the facts don't matter to them. But, you know, let's take a look at what really the real agenda is over on the other side there for Manitoba Hydro, because I was also thinking last night to where–where have we seen this played before? Where has this happened before where there's a lot of talk about a Crown corporation and a lot of talk about how badly they're doing and how bad everything is? Well, the last Crown corporation that I remember the members of the opposition talking about in that way was the Manitoba Telephone System.

And, you know, the Manitoba Telephone System, the sale of that stays in my mind, as I know it does many, many members in this House, because it was for me one of those formative moments where I saw something that belonged to all Manitobans sold off, sold off without regard to the wishes, to the desires of the people that owned it: everybody in Manitoba. And it's not like, you know, they ran and said, we're going to sell off the MTS. Nobody promised that, that I can recall anyways in that election. But soon after they were elected, that was exactly what they planned to do.

And, you know, you look at that sale and you look at the biography and some of the things that the Leader of the Opposition was very proud to brag about when he was running for leader, that one of

April 14, 2011 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 745 those things was the fact that he was–and he's pad this in his bio–he was one of the top strategists for Premier Filmon. He was an adviser on major files, including the sale of MTS. And it's not his only experience with privatization. In fact, he's a bit of a specialist in privatization. He's had a lot of practice. * (14:50) Another thing that he is very proud of, including amongst his accomplishments, is providing strategic counsel to former Ontario Premier Mike Harris when he tried to privatize Ontario Hydro.

So he's had some practice when it comes to privatizing hydro and he's–loves to talk about it, something that he's very proud of. In fact, he's already said, as late as 2007, that he would look at involving the private sector to finance hydro projects. It's already out there. They're laying the groundwork for that kind of privatization. And a lot of what they say and do about the bipole project is simply that: laying the groundwork for a time when, God forbid, they should ever have the reigns of power, they would sell Manitoba Hydro, just like they did the telephone system.

Because that's the kind of vision that they have over there, a very short-term vision: immediate gain and no real regard for the future of Manitobans. So I know in the coming months they're going to be doing everything they can to look like they're going to deliver the kind of progressive, steady government that we have delivered for the last 12 years. But I don't share their cynical view of Manitobans. I don't believe that Manitobans are fooled by this last-minute desperate flip-flop, that suddenly, you know, they haven't met a nurse or a police officer that they didn't like.

I believe that Manitobans will remember these positions that they've taken over the last decade, over the last 10 months. We don't even have to look that long ago. It was only nine months ago that every one of them stood in their places and voted for an amendment that would have taken half a billion dollars out of the budget, that would have cut funding to education, that would have cut funding to health care and child care, that would have cut funding to conservation of our valuable natural resources. Every one of them voted for that. So that is the opposition and the Leader of the Opposition (Mr.

McFadyen) of nine months ago. And today, they would have us believe that they have changed course, that they have seen the light. And what will they do nine months from now? I think that's the question that we all have to be asking. This is not a motion that you can believe in. It's not an opposition you can believe in. So with that, Madam Deputy Speaker, I'll conclude my remarks and sit in my seat and be very interested to hear what other members of the House have to say. Thank you very much. Mr.

Rick Borotsik (Brandon West): I appreciate the opportunity to put, hopefully, some words that the members opposite will listen to on the record with respect to the budget. We do know that the member who just spoke, the Minister of Labour, took some time to analyze the amendment that's been put forward and obviously didn't perhaps understand the amendment quite as she should have. We know that there are significant improvements in the amendments to the budget, and I would suspect that each and every member opposite should look at, very seriously, supporting this amendment.

The amendment does speak of some certain areas within the budget that , historically, have been Conservative policies that have been put forward in this budget, and she did mention police officers. Certainly, our member from Steinbach supports police, supports justice and supports resources being put into the police forces. And we, in fact, do support additional police officers.

Quite frankly, those police officers should have been put into place some times sooner, because this government did have $14 million of federal money some three years ago that they've been holding on to and not putting into the police forces of Brandon or Altona or Winnipeg or, for that matter, Rivers. Rivers, they didn't put any police force–any police officers in Rivers. But that is a positive step forward, certainly is, to help police forces w ithin the province and give them additional resources.

I certainly looked at the budget and personally looked very favourably at the four-year capital infrastructure and recreation program that has been proposed by this government because I do have a couple of projects in the city of Brandon which,

746 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA April 14, 2011 in fact, could take advantage of a long-term funded recreational project, whether it be with the Sportsplex or with the Keystone Centre, which is more of a provincial facility than it is just simply one for the city of Brandon. So that's very positive, and we look at that and certainly support that, and I do. I don't know if the members opposite remember or not, but when I was standing in this House over the last three years with budgets, I was the one who always suggested an increase in basic personal tax exemption.

I–they probably don't remember that, but I was the one who suggested and made comparisons to other provinces, in that basic personal tax exemptions is a very good way to put money into pockets of Manitobans. That way, people who make more money, and if they have a higher basic personal tax exemption, don't have to pay as many taxes on it. What a great, great thought process.

Now, the government of the day, and in this particular budget, have taken baby steps because, you see, they don't use the inflationary factors or cost of living to increase the basic personal tax exemption, and they haven't over the past numbers of years. But they are going to give a $250 increase in that, from $8,134 to $8,384, which isn't going to amount to an awful lot of money, but at least it's a start. And we're going to have a thousand dollars over the next four years, $250 a year for four years, which should've happened a long time ago.

But, unfortunately, Madam Deputy Speaker, it still is a very small part because, you see, in Saskatchewan right now the basic personal tax exemption is some $14,000 and in Alberta it's some $16,000. But it's a crawl, not necessarily a walk and certainly not a run, but it's something that's positive going forward. So there are certain aspects of the budget that are somewhat positive. We talk about some new schools. We talk about–well, we haven't necessarily talked about it, but there was some discussion about the continued relocation of ACC from its current campus to the North Hill campus and that's positive.

We've been suggesting that for any numbers of years in this House. But there are red flags, too. There are a number of red flags in this budget. There are a number of ways that they should be–the budget should be improved. And certainly we look at one of those red flags and that's deficit and debt. And I do know the difference between the two, a deficit on an annual basis as opposed to an accumulated debt that's going forward in the province of Manitoba.

The deficit this year, as you're probably aware, in this budget, is some $510 million because they've also taken $50 million out of the Fiscal Stabilization Fund. So they have expended more than they've taken in on revenue. And that's fine for the Minister of Finance (Ms. Wowchuk), to say that we'll do this for a short period of time, but that deficit, in my opinion, is a structural deficit. It's becoming a structural deficit. It's not something that is going to be reduced over the next numbers of years.

In fact, that deficit is the same as it was last year and the same as I suspect it's going to be next year because when you do a structural deficit on an annual basis you continue to spend more money than you get in revenues. Now, the revenues have increased in the province of Manitoba because there isn't necessarily that recession. In fact, we've heard a number of comments from the members on the other side that we are doing so very, very well here in the province of Manitoba that everybody else is envious.

Well, we are increasing our revenues but they're only increasing by about 2 per cent, but the expenses have increased by 5.5 per cent. Now, it doesn't take an economist or a business person to recognize that when you're spending 5.5 per cent more of the total yet only taking in 2 per cent more in revenues, that's going to be a deficit. That means you have less money, that you're spending more than you're actually taking in. That is scary when it becomes a structural deficit, and that's where we're heading with this government at the present time, Madam Deputy Speaker.

And that, I think, we have to look at very carefully and I think the government has to look at very carefully, as well. Now, the debt is equally as disappointing and equally as difficult to get a handle on with this particular government because right now they're–they've increased th e debt from last year by $1.6 billion. And I was looking through the budget documents and it seems that there's some cash requirements going forward in this budget document for Manitoba Hydro. There's cash requirements required for the deficit that they're going to incur.

There's cash requirements that are necessary for other capital expenditures and those cash requirements, unfortunately, are $2.7 billion. They have cash requirements of $2.7 billion. They have no revenue streams to cover that off. So that means they're going to borrow the money again. Well, right now our debt's at $25 billion in the

April 14, 2011 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 747 province of Manitoba. An additional 2.7 is going to take it to around that $28-billion mark and, Madam Deputy Speaker, that's a red flag. * (15:00) It's a red flag for the opposition. It should be a red flag for the government because it's going to be a red flag for those people who lend the money to us because eventually the inte rest rates are going to go up, and we're going to have to pay more money to banks outside of the province of Manitoba. Right now, we're spending $800 million in debt servicing; $800 million a year go to debt servicing.

That's going to grow quite dramatically in the next little while. So, Madam Deputy Speaker, this amendment, which should be supported by the government, speaks of two things. No. 1 is they would like a review of the expenses. In fact, it says: efforts to lower the deficit and control debt through the spending review process that will reduce waste, protect front-line social services and bring a more balanced fiscal approach to government. Pretty solid, pretty solid amendment, something that should well be accepted by everyone.

Now, the other portion of this amendment speaks to Bipole III, and in Bipole III what they're saying simply is, let Manitoba Hydro manage its own affairs. Do not allow government and political interference to dictate what Manitoba Hydro is going to do for the province of Manitoba and its ratepayers. Because, quite frankly, there is some red flags and some concerns with Manitoba Hydro and the way it's operating at the present time with that government interference. The Premier (Mr.

Seli nger), former minister responsible for Manitoba Hydro, told Manitoba Hydro that they had to go down the west side for a Bipole III instead of the east side. Now, that in itself is wrong because Manitoba Hydro over the last 20 years had been planning on going the east side. All of a sudden, someone over there decided that there was this epiphany and they were going to go down the west side and spend or waste some $4 billion. That in itself is wrong, Madam Deputy Speaker, because, quite frankly, when they did their

summary budgets, they use Manitoba Hydro's net profits to balance off their net loss or their deficit for the Province of Manitoba. The

summary budget uses the net income from Manitoba Hydro. That net income was $346 million–$346 million–in 2008, but only $134 million in this budget. It's going in the wrong direction. So, please, Madam Deputy Speaker, I implore the members opposite to follow this amendment, allow these two improvements to go forward, and all Manitobans will be better for it. Thank you. Hon. Nancy Allan (Minister of Education): I'm so pleased to have some time today in this Legislature to put some words on the record in regards to our budget, Budget 2011.

It is our vision for Manitobans and we–I know this will come as no surprise to members opposite, but I will be supporting this budget with my colleagues on this side of the House. We believe that Budget 2011 is a budget that keeps Manitoba moving forward. It's a plan that is working. We–I'd want–I would like to compliment the Minister of Finance (Ms. Wowchuk), who went across this province and consulted with the communities and families and employers and stakeholders in this province in regards to what they felt were the priorities for our province.

You know, we've all seen the Maclean's article, that it compliments Manitoba in regards to how well it is doing. It–we're called the Manitoba miracle, and I believe that it is the hard work of a lot of stakeholders in our community that are working with us to keep Manitobans working and to keep our economy thriving. We are going to continue to invest, of course, in our health-care system because we want that health- care system to be there for people when they need services, and we will continue to work to protect our front-line services in health care.

And, of course, one of the most important things that we have done, Madam Deputy Speaker, is we have, you know, more doctors and more nurses in the province of Manitoba. And I remember the days of the '90s when, you know, the Progressive Conservatives were going through a similar kind of economic recession in this province and their response to that recession was to cut the number of seats for training for doctors at the University of Manitoba. That was their vision for the province, and that is not our vision for the province of Manitoba.

We believe that we must continue to invest in health care so that Manitobans can have the services that they need when they need them, and we will continue to do that. I'd like to comment, of course, because I am the Minister of Education, I'd like to say–make a few comments of–about our education system. We believe that our education system, and many of the educators that I've had the privilege of working with over the course of the last 18 months have told us

748 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA April 14, 2011 that we have the best education system, right here in Manitoba, in the world. And I want to thank the educators and the administrators and the trustees and the parents and all of our education partners that are working hard, every day, on behalf of the parents and the students in our education system. We have–education is the equalizer in our society, regardless of your economic background, regardless of your circumstances.

If you have an education you can participate in our economy, you can participate in our society, and it's lifted many, many people up in regards to, you know, their education, how they can participate in jobs and careers, and that is certainly something that we have been very focused on in regards to the strategies that we've been working on and our education reform strategies over the last year. Of course, as everyone knows, we cannot have an economic strategy without an education strategy, and we have made record investments in our public education system through our funding formula.

We made a promise in 1999 to fund our education system every year at the rate of economic growth. We have met that commitment every year for 12 consecutive years and we will continue to invest in our public education system because we know that that's an investment in our economy, it's an investment in our communities, it's an investment in families and it's an investment in our young people. We do, of course, remember the record in the 1990s when the Progressive Conservative Party froze or reduced funding for five consecutive years.

And, you know, there was so little money put into our public education system during that time. You know, I often say to people, can you imagine if you didn't fix your car for 12 years, you know, or you didn't put anything into your house for 12 years. Can you imagine the kinds of investments that you would have to make to repair it or bring it back to health because you had such a disrespect for the public education system? And that's what we've been doing since we got into government.

We have been making sustainable investments in our public education system because we know that that is an investment that is critically important to all of Manitoba. I'd also like to mentio n, because another area that was ignored throughout the 1990s, when the Progressive Conservatives were in power, was the public investment into our infrastructure. And we have worked hard on our investment strategy in regards to building new schools and repairing new schools. I just had the pleasure of making our school capital announcement last week and–with the Premier (Mr. Selinger), and it was well received.

In fact, it was so well received that the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. McFadyen) is actually supporting it in his, you know, in his motion to the budget. He appreciates our funding announcement so much. And so, you know, oh yes, well, you know, the MLA for Steinbach is chirping from his seat.

I was pleased to be, you know, to be in his community about a month ago, and to turn the sod for his new middle school there, and I was so pleased when the superintendent, Ken Klassen, told me that I will always be welcome in that community, and that he's going to make me an honorary minister in Steinbach, and that he's going to invite me to all of his events in Steinbach regardless of, you know, regardless of what community I'm in–you know, portfolio I'm in.

We've had such a great working relationship with everyone in Steinbach, and I want the MLA for Steinbach to know that. * (15:10) I do want to just comment, as well, in regards to the capital budget, you know, announcement that we made last week, you know. I think it's important, you know, to remember the Tories' commitment to public education, and particularly the one that they made in the 2000 election–2007 election campaign. It–the Leader of the Opposition said that he think–he thought the education budget wouldn't have to increase because enrolment was declining.

And that was his commitment to the public education system in 2007. And that is certainly not our commitment. We are going to continue to invest in our public education system. We're going to invest in our funding formula. Through the funding formula we're going to continue to invest in schools. We're going to continue to invest in our daycares in schools. We're very pleased that our schools recently have seen over 400 spaces put in schools, 400 daycare spaces put in schools because of our moratorium legislation. So we're going to continue to work with school divisions.

We also announced, in our capital budget, something I'm very excited about. It's called an Active Schools Fund, and it's a five-year, $50-million investment in our gymnasium construction and renewal program. And this is very, very important because everyone knows that we now have mandatory physical education in Manitoba.

April 14, 2011 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 749 It was introduced in 2008. And, you know, we all know that the healthier kids are, the more they achieve academically, and the more that they are going to learn in school, the healthier they are. So we believe that we have now married up our–that particular education policy with our capital policy and, I have to tell you, it was very well received in the field.

We will be working with our school divisions, in regards to what those priority gymnasiums and renovations will be, and we will continue to keep healthy kids in our communities so that they can continue to learn and participate in our economy. Some additional funding, you know, that we had to put into the budget this year was $20 million, and that $20 million is for existing schools, and that's for the air quality mechanical systems, roofing, structural and building envelope renewal. And I noticed that the Progressive Conservative Party was critical of this announcement when it was announced by the Premier (Mr.

Seling er). And I just want to remind them, you know, once again, you know, when you don't put any funding into school divisions for 12 long years, things fall into disrepair, and you've got to make investments in that–in those schools. And we've been putting historic amounts of money into our public education system, and this is just another boost to assist those school divisions that are having difficulties in regards to repairs, make sure that the spaces are incredible learning environments for our young people so that they can continue to be academically successful in our learning institutions.

We also announced a hundred dollar–a hundred- thousand-dollar-per-new-school construction project to support the greening of outdoor spaces, and this is very, very exciting. An Honourable Member: And winter. Ms. Allan: All of the educational–well, there's actually an

article in The Globe and Mail that I'm sure the MLA for Steinbach would like to read, about how important outdoor spaces are to learning, and outdoor learning spaces provide young people with an opportunity to learn in a different way than they learn in the traditional classroom. And this has been very, very well received by the field and we're very excited about this new initiative. So that it's not just the physical space of the school that you're providing for young people to learn in, but it's an outdoor sustainable environment for young people to learn to be active citizens in our society.

And, of course, the other piece of funding that we announced in that budget that we're very excited about is a–$3 million for projects to improve accessibility for those students with disabilities. We have had some situations recently, you know, where we have young people that have mobility issues. It may be an elevator, it may be something that the school is–requires so that we can provide opportunities for those young people with disabilities to be mobile in the school.

And we will continue to do that, work with our school divisions, provide them with sustainable funding in both areas because we believe that education is the equalizer. This is what drives our economy and grows healthy communities. Of course, I have to take a moment to talk about property taxes. You know, I remember, you know, in the '90s when taxes were, you know, spiralling and schools were stagnating because of the underfunding of the Progressive Conservatives, and, you know, we have had a very, very serious tax-mitigation strategy here at the same time as we've been investing in our public education system.

The Education Property Tax Credit is going to increase this year in this budget, from $700, from $650 and, of course, that's a huge tax saving for Manitobans. It's an additional tax relief of $16 million. And, of course, I'm sure members across the way will be critical of it because, you know, they said, you know, well, it's about time you got around to this.

Well, I just want to remind members opposite that in 1999, when we got into power, that tax credit was $250, and we have slowly made progress over the years to the $700 in 2011, and it's in the budget, and I know that Manitobans will be pleased to see that in this budget. I want you to know that that tax credit will help 293,000 homeowners and 128,000 tenants. So we're very pleased that that is in the budget. The other tax-mitigation strategy that we have had is completely and totally eliminating the education support levy.

This is a further savings to Manitobans of over $145 million annually; every year they save that. And, of course, the other tax incentive–the other tax-mitigation strategy we've had is the tax incentive grant. It's a grant that is provided to school divisions, and they have to keep their mill rate at the mill rate from the previous year.

750 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA April 14, 2011 Officials in my department work with school divisions in regards to protecting front-line services and working with them in regards to what the challenges are that they'r e having in their school divisions. And we're very, very pleased that this tax incentive grant has been very, very positive over the last four years. The first year we introduced it, 17 school divisions took it, and then the second year we introduced it, 23 school divisions took it. Then last year, when we introduced it, 30 school divisions took it–or sorry, 25 school divisions took it.

And this year, 27 school divisions took it and another three school divisions didn't have to take it at all because the funding that they were receiving through the funding formula was enough funding for them to keep their mill rate at the mill rate from the previous year. So we actually have 30 out of 37 school divisions that are holding the line on mill rates in 2011. This is significant, Madam Deputy Speaker. Stats Canada has identified Manitoba as the only province in the country to see property taxes remain relatively stable since the year 2000.

Our tax increase has been 1.2 per cent overall, while the average Canadian increase was 33.7 per cent. So, you know, we're very pleased that at the same time that we are investing in our public education, that will benefit, we believe, all Manitobans, we're also providing tax relief for homeowners so that they do not see their–so that they can remain in their homes and they don't see their taxes go up. Obviously, I'd like to take this opportunity to talk a little bit about what an incredible quality education system that we have here in the province of Manitoba.

You know, we have so many incredible educators, principals, superintendents, vice-principals, just so many wonderful people working in our public education system. And, today, I had the opportunity to celebrate the excellence in teaching, and it was the Minister's Awards. And I'd like to thank the previous minister of Education–it was his idea to implement this incredible event. * (15:20) And today I had the honour of recognizing some very, very, very talented people.

We presented awards for teaching excell ence to Katherine Penner for early years teaching ex cellence; in the middle years, Ralph Backé; teaching excellence in the senior years, Gregory Shedden; the outstanding new teacher, Pamela Doerksen; and the team collaboration award this year went to three teachers, Harold Enns, Susan George and Maria Nickel, and we recognized a principal this year who, for his–as an outstanding school leader, and that was Jerry Sodomlak. And it really was an incredible ceremony downstairs in the dining room.

The award recipients had their families with them and, of course, their nominators. This is a very special award because these individuals that receive this award today were nominated by their peers. And I don't think there is any other recognition that you can receive that is more important than when you receive an award from the people that work with you, that think so highly of the work that you do in your organization, in your school, that they think enough of you to nominate you for the award.

And it was very, very moving to hear their stories about the work that they are doing in our public education system, and I just want to, on behalf of all of my colleagues–and I know my colleagues across the way feel the same way. We really need to take a moment to recognize all of the absolute incredible work that has been–being done by all of the individuals in our public education system. They really are one of the reasons, Madam Deputy Speaker, that our graduation rate, quite frankly, has increased as much as it has over the last 10 years. Our graduation rate has gone from 72 per cent to 82.7 per cent.

It was mentioned in the budget speech, and we're very, very proud of that. And it is the work that has been done by all of our education partners in our public education system, and they have participated in that success with us. I'd like to just talk for a couple of minutes about our–my legislation, Preparing Students for Success Act. We will be raising the mandatory age in Manitoba from 16 to 18 for going to school. And this is a piece of legislation that we believe will help young people participate in our economy.

It'll help them move from our post–move from our K-to-12 system and move into our post-secondary system. If we can–we know that quite often young people could become disengaged in the public education system around the age of nine–or around grade 9, excuse me. And we know that by working with teachers and providing programs and services to teachers that, if we have teacher mentors in schools, and that was an

April 14, 2011 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 751 initiative that we started–a pilot project we started three years ago. If we have mentors working with those young people that we think are vulnerable of dropping out of school, that we can work one on one with them, and we can enco urage them to stay in school. You know, not every young person fits into the traditional classroom. Lots of young people, you know, need to know their teacher on a more personal basis. They need to have a real connection with the teacher. The teacher needs to know the–their name.

The teacher needs to know their personal circumstances. That young person, they could be a single parent living on their own. They could be a young person who is working two jobs to help their family. They could be young people that have maybe struggled in the past with attaining their credits, and they're just not sure, you know, how to get back on track–and these kinds of programs that we have already happening here in the province of Manitoba, some of the best programs. You know, I had an opportunity to visit the off-campus school in Bran don, the Neelin High School.

What a remarkable, remarkable program, and I want to congratulate the Brandon School Division for that program. They've graduated over 250 students who dropped out of school. And one of the most incredible stories I heard was a young man who dropped out of school. He ended up in the jail system, and when he got out, he went straight to that off-campus school and he connected with those teachers and he got back on track and he is now an engineer. And when he graduated, everyone was so proud of him, and it just brings tears to your eyes what these kinds of programs can do.

I was at the Manitoba School Boards Association awards evening. It seems like just a couple of weeks ago, but I'm sure it may have been longer, and Argyle School received an award from the Manitoba School Boards Association because it's an alternative school and it provides programming for young people that doesn't fit into the traditional classroom, and these are the kinds of programs that we are going to develop.

This legislation is going to go into place and we're going to continue to work with our education partners so that young people, when they go to school and they're in school and they might lose their way, we're going to be able to make sure that we identify those young people, we engage them and we find a way to get them back on track so the doors aren't clos ed to them so that they can get that diploma in their hands, so that they can move on to the post-secondary education system, whether it's university, whether it's college, whether it's a technical-vocational program.

We're going to do more work in regards to setting up programs for apprentices. We're going to do more work in setting up apprentice option programs in the senior years. And, of course, I have to talk about my daughter who is an electrician apprentice who just wrote last week her final exams at Red River College and will be a journeyperson.

She is so fortunate that she got into a trade because that's what turns her on and we got to find more programs for more kids that turn them on because when they get turned on, they get the–they are on and they will succeed and they will get jobs and they will participate in our economy and they will build healthy communities all across this province.

And that's what this legislation is going to do, and I'm very, very pleased with it, and I'm quite sure that members opposite will be voting for that legislation when it's in the House because I'm quite sure that they know that this is what's good for our–for Manitoba and what's good for young people and what's good for parents, families and communities. I do want to make some comments about early childhood education because I'm very, very thrilled that my department has set up an Early Childhood Education Unit in the Department of Education. This is something that I believe is absolutely critical.

We all know that the investments that you make in young people–or in really young people, are the most important investments that you can make. We were the first jurisdiction in Canada to have an early childhood education–or to have a Manitoba Healthy Child Committee of Cabinet and a Manitoba Healthy Child portfolio, and the reason for that was we know that the investments that you make in the early years are investments and learning that will last far beyond any other kind of learning that happens. It's absolutely critical. And, you know, we've had great success with our parent-child coalitions.

We've had great success with out Triple P programs, and we've had, you know, great success, you know, with our early development instruments, an EDI instrument that is used by–it's a measurement taken by kindergarten teachers so that they can identify whether that child is ready to go to school. And in our last–in our recent funding announcement in January, we identified funding for all school divisions so that if school divisions need

752 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA April 14, 2011 more programs and services to identify those young people when they get to school that aren't quite ready to–that might be vulnerable and might need more help, that funding is there for those school divisions to provide programs and services to them so that we can get them ready to learn. * (15:30) The Early Childhood Education Unit is very, very exciting. We put it together in my department with no new funding, and they are going to work with all of our partners.

They're also going to work with Healthy Child portfolio and they will continue to work alongside our partners because what we're going to do is promote integrated programming and services to support families before they reach kindergarten. That is absolutely, critically important for us. It is an investment that we are going to make because we have now–we now know that it's–what's really important is not the K-to-12 system; it's before sometimes that baby is even born, and we need to work with those parents to get ready for that baby being born.

The Healthy Baby benefit, we all know that prenatal benefit, how important that benefit was–or is, and we need to continue to work with young people, get them ready for the K-to-12 system and then move them through that K-to-12 system into the post-secondary system. So we're really taking a holistic approach to our public education system for all young people, and that's one reason why I am so proud to be part of this government. And I am so proud to vote for this budget because this really is a budget that invests in Manitoba families.

It's a budget that takes their priorities into account, and there is nothing more important than investments that we make that continues to keep our economy growing. We're going to continue to strengthen our front-line services. We're going to continue to create jobs; we have the lowest unemployment rate in this country and we're proud of that. We're going to continue to grow our population; we have more young families building their future here in Manitoba than ever before in this province, and we are proud of the work that we have done in that regard. We're going to continue to move Manitoba forward.

We're going to continue to invest in Manitoba, in the priorities that we believe are Manitobans' priorities. Thank you very much. I see my time is almost out, but I encourage members opposite to remember the dark days of the '90s and maybe–[interjection] – yes, and, you know, because I remember it every day as a school trustee–when I was a school trustee. I remember it quite often as I look across the way and remember their record and then think about the investments that we have made on behalf of Manitoba families here in our province. Thank you. Mrs.

Leanne Ro wat (Minnedosa): It's a privilege for me to rise today to speak to the budget amendment motion as was brought forward by the Leader of the Official Op position (Mr. McFadyen). What we're looking for is a sensible approach to budget improvements, and amendments presented by the Leader of the Opposition are reasonable and they are responsible. We're pleased to finally see a number of measures and initiatives be part of this budget, measures we have been calling for for many years.

And it is, however, unfortunate that it took so many years and for Manitobans to face another election year for this government to move on many of these initiatives. Policing and justice. We've been calling on this government to increase policing services for years and more police to start cracking down on violent crime and make our communities safer. We've seen, you know, this government receive a substantial amount of money well over three years ago.

We've had a number of policing organizations within the province wondering when this government was going to actually address the shortages, and of course they would wait until the election year to make those announcements. Unfortunately for Rivers, my community did not see the benefit of an additional police officer, but I'm trusting that the minister will take the questions raised in question period today and the comments made by the chief with regard to the need within that community and do the right thing and revisit his decision.

He did indicate there was still some additional money left in that initiative, so I'm assuming that he still has an opportunity to revisit that and help out the good people of community–of Rivers. Advanced education and training. Universities have been asking for a long-term funding strategy plan for a number of years, and we're pleased to see that this government has finally listened to them and we're waiting to see if the colleges in the province will be the beneficiaries of the same plan.

When I was the critic for post-secondary education a number of years back, this was an issue that came up continually when we met with the presidents and the

April 14, 2011 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 753 administrators within the facility, so I'm pleased to see that this was recognized as a need, and we look forward to seeing how this government will lay out its strategy. Students, too, have said that they'd like to see predictability in tuition fees, something that we hope they will receive from this budget, and we need to hear from the new Minister of Advanced Education (Ms. Selby) about whether this will apply to each facility.

I have two children, one in grade 11 and one in grade 10, and I'm looking at this announcement and this promise very closely, as I will be looking at tuition fees for my children down the road, and I really want to see if this government actually did make a promise that they will be able to keep in that area. Education and health. We've seen this government fail so many young people–young students in this province.

We see a policy that this minister was just speaking to, of having students stay in school until they're 18 y ears of age, and I've heard from all of my schools with having concerns with regard to that policy and wondering how that is going to be implemented. I–so I'm looking forward to the minister sharing more about that policy and, actually, how she thinks that this is going to actually work within the school system; how they're going to make young people accountable to the school system to their 18th year, and how schools are actually going to be able to enforce that type of a policy. Health bureaucracy.

Well, we've seen this government fail Manitobans in so many ways, with regard to the ballooning bureaucracy within the RHAs, and we've asked this government to do a review, to have a look at the RHAs, and to look at the administrative costs, and to help make those costs more transparent to Manitobans, instead of burying them in different parts of their budget. We really want to see this government take some leadership in this area. And I think that once they do, we would then see a better-run system.

We have communities like Minnedosa and Neepawa who are waiting for this government to show some leadership on th eir new–their concept of a health facility proposal. We have 11 municipalities who have signed off on a memorandum of understanding, waiting for this government to make a decision on a facility that was introduced and supported by the doctors of the region. So we look forward to this government doing some smart things in the health area, and we're assuming that that could be done sooner rather than later. Insulin pumps.

We've been calling on the government to make this option available to young people with diabetes for years, and it's good to see them come to the table for the young people with diabetes. And we hope that it will give options to young people with diabetes and make their lives easier to manage, because this is a disease that is actually growing in this province, and we don't appear to have any type of a strategy to address the diabetes epidemic in our province. And I believe this is just one small step in addressing this illness and making life easier for so many Manitobans. Water stewardship.

It's rather interesting that we have a minister that is very invisible to the community–to the–to Manitobans. We hear that from so many municipalities, that they just can't get a meeting with the minister, that they can't get her attention. And it's very unfortunate that that has taken place and that that's the perception that Manitobans have of a government; that it should be more open and transparent, and show that they actually want to work with Manitobans.

So, when we see that this government is talking about addressing some of the issues that are out there, I look forward to seeing what this minister will actually be able to put forward. Water management problems exact a considerable toll–economic toll on individual communities and the larger provincial economy. And not only economic toll, but emotional toll.

We see families that have lost their livelihoods because of poor management structures, and we need to see a better system in place, and we need this government to take a leadership role in addressing that. * (15:40) When Budget 2011-12, the government formally acknowledged that there is still more work to be done, and we agree. There's a lot of work to be done in this area. Progressive Conservatives have long toted the need for a comprehensive water management study for this province, and it's positive that this NDP government is finally listening to us on this very, very important issue.

We recognize the importance of added capital investments in water management, such as drainage, dams and control structures and culvert replacements, and this commitment is particularly timely in light of the excessive moisture challenges

754 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA April 14, 2011 of recent years. I know that so many municipalities across the province and, in particular, in my constituency, that I'm aware of, where they're going to have to rebuild so much infrastructure, and I really believe that this government has a role–a leadership role to play in making sure that these communities' needs are addressed. We also appreciate the government's recognition of the valuable work being done by conservation districts.

They play a very critical role in managing matters like water on our landscape, and we support their ongoing efforts across the province. Conservation districts are a key resource for me when I'm asking questions on behalf of my constituents who may have concerns with regard to a management issue of water, and I believe that they should be respected and treated very, very well by this government as a resource for all of us within this Chamber. Family services. In the area of child care–we believe that more child-care spaces and spaces for nursery schools are always welcome.

But let's be very clear that this only scratches the surface on addressing the issues within child care. I hear from my child-care centres within my constituency that frozen operating grants and a shortage of workers are making their facilities very stressful environments to work in.

They are finding that they need to be looking at an increase in their operating grants to address this–the extra burden that are being put on facilities to meet the needs of safety within the facilities, and I believe that when government offloads regulations and requirements without providing the supports to address that, and working with a frozen operating grant, that really makes it a challenge for facilities to maintain what they have. My children both attended child-care centre in Souris. The workers are amazing.

The director was a strong leader within the community, as well as within the centre, and I believe that child-care spaces are an integral part of a community. Whether it be in Winnipeg, in the north, or in rural Manitoba, it is a tool that community development people look at as an asset for a community, and I believe that we just need to build on that asset. Bipole III. While we're pleased to see the above measures be part of the budget, a number of issues remain within this budget which should be addressed, which are unaddr essed, and Bipole III is one of them.

We believe, Madam Deputy Speaker, that one of the major issues we continue to see with this budget and this government is its continued support for routing the required Bipole III transmission line on the west side of the province. Manitoba Hydro has recommended building this transmission line along the east side of Manitoba, and we believe that is the better route. So, Madam Deputy Speaker, we believe that there are so many things that this government can be doing, should be doing.

The budget amendments presented by our leader are excellent, and I believe that, going into an election year, I truly believe that the amendment should be supported. We can make Manitoba a better province and show that we are working together to make Manitoba a have province, which we presently do not see in our province. Thank you. Ms. Erna Braun (Rossmere): Madam Deputy Speaker, thank you very much for this opportunity to rise in support of our Budget 2011. Our budget shows that our government is on track with its five-year economic plan.

Our recovery has been strong and steady, and, indeed, we are coming out of o

Document details

Collection	Manitoba — Debates (Hansard)
Citation	39-5-29
Type	hansard
Volume / chapter	39th 5th hansardpdf 29.pdf
Language	en
Format	pdf
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	667d6ed4cf3825b9d06a2eb774de72e15e4d8973

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