Manitoba Hansard — Sitting 35 (28th Legislature, 3rd Session)

28-3-35

Manitoba — Debates (Hansard)

THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 2.30 o'clock, Friday, March 2s; 1969 Opening Prayer by Mr. Speaker. INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS 821 MR . SPEAKER: I take this opportunity to introduce our young guests. We have 68 stU dents of Grade 12 standing from the Garden Valley School. These students are under the direction of Messrs. Rietze, Funk, Wiebe and Mrs. Kekler. This school is located in the con stituency of the Honourable Member for Rhineland. We also have with us today 67 students of Grade 8 standing from the Grant Park School. These students are under the direction of Mrs. Young and Mrs. Dunlop.

This school is located in the constituency of the Honourable the Minister of Industry and Commerce. On behalf of all the honourable members of the Legislative Assembly, I welcome you all here today. Presenting Petitions; Reading and Receiving Petitions; Presenting Repqrts by Standing and Special Committees; Notices of Motion; Introduction of Bills. The Honourable the First Minister. HONOURABLE WALTER WEffi (Premier) (Minnedosa): Mr.

Speaker, I think today that we might, before we enter any of our business, recognize the recognition that has come to a distinguished Manitoban within the last few hours, and I refer to the nomination of The Most Reverend George B. Flahiff, Archbishop of Winnipeg, as Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. Archibishop Flahiff has occupied the diocese of Winnipeg since 1961. He came from St. Michael's College; University of Toronto, where he had long been recognized as one of the most distinguished of Canadian scholars.

The naming of Archbishop Flahiff as Cardinal re cognizes the long and important role of the Roman Catholic Church in the history of Western Canada. He has been a loyal and distinguished citizen of our province since he arrived here in 1961. I know that all of the members of the House will want to join with me in offering our congratulations to Archbishop Flahiff on the announcement that he will become a Cardinal in the near future. And perhaps, Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the House, you would convey the congratulations and the expression of our satisfaction at this news. MR .

GILDAS MOLGAT (Leader of the Opposition) (Ste. Rose): Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I endorse fully the statement of the First Minister, the recognition of this very eminent now Manitoban.

When Archbishop Flahiff came to Winnipeg originally, he was not known here in the west, but I think it can be said that anyone who has had the opportnnity to meet this most distinguished Canadian cannot but be amazed at the understanding of the man, the very broad views that he holds, and I think the improvement, or at least the increased un derstanding that he has brought to Manitoba between the various religious groups in our province. MR . SAUL M. CHERNIACK, Q.C., (St. John's): Mr.

Speaker, if l may, Iw ould like to lend the voice of our group on this side to what has already been said by the First Minister and the Leader of the Official Opposition. There is no doubt that a person in such a position has a great responsibility, not only to his own people but to all people in all societies, and to the extent that his recognition in this field is now established as of the announcement, we certainly welcome it on his behalf. MR . JACOB M. FROESE (Rhineland): Mr.

Speaker, having been unaware of the situation, nevertheless, I would like to join with the First Minister and other members who have spoken on congratulating the -- and also expressing my best wishes to the person involved. ORAL QUESTION PERIOD MR . SPEAKER: The Honourable Leader of the Opposition. MR . MOLGAT: Mr. Speaker, before the Orders of the Day, I would like to address a question- I suppose it should go to the First Minister in the absence of the Minister of Industry and Commerce- has a meeting been called of the Air Policy Liaison Committee, of which a number of members of this House are members ?, MR .

WEIR: No, Mr. Speaker, it hasn't at the present time, but I would expect to have one called within the next few days. MR . SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Inkster. MR . SIDNEY GREEN (lnkster): Mr. Speaker, I would like to address a question to the Honourable the Minister of Municipal Affairs. Do I take it from the announcement in Votes and

822 March 28, 1969 (MR. GREEN cont'd) . . ,Proceedings that it is not the intention of the Minister to proceed with the Bill revising the Municipal Act at this session? HON. OBIE BAIZLEY (Minister of Municipal Affairs) (Osborne): No, Mr. Speaker, it is the intention to proceed with as much haste as we can. MR. GREEN: Mr. Speaker, may I ask another question of the same Minister ? Is the Minister prepared yet to advise whether he will be permitting a revision in the Metro Act to permit old age pensioners to obtain transit services at a reduced rate? MR. BAIZLEY: Mr.

Speaker, this is a policy decision that will be announced in due course. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Turtle Mountain. MR. EDWARD I. DOW (Turtle Mountain): Mr. Speaker, I would like to direct a question to the Minister of Agriculture, but he's not here today, on a representation that was made to the government here recently by the seed growers of Manitoba asking that some assistance and recognition be given to the changing of the delivery of 600 bushels of grain in exchange for seed to a thousand dollars' worth.

I think it's understandable that the grain this year is of a quality that they won't be able to replace it with good seed, and I'm asking the question as to what disposition has been made of this and where do they sit at the present time. Is there any opportunity of this going through? MR. WEffi: Mr. Speaker, I'll take the question as notice on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for St. John's. MR. CHERNIACK: Mr. Speaker, may. I direct a question to the First Minister.

Has he had an opportunity to ascertain which Minister has been made responsible for the bringing in of the resolution establishing the Committee on Professional Associations ? MR. LYON: Yes, Mr. Speaker, he has. MR. CHERNIACK: Due to the fact that the First Minister is now aware of the answer to the question, would he mind answering it? MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for St. George. MR. ELMAN GUTTORMSON (St. ·George): Mr.

Speaker, on behalf of all the members of the House, I would like to take this opportunity to extend best wishes to a veteran member of the Press Gallery who is sitting in the gallery this afternoon for the last time as a working newspaperman. I'm referring, of course, to Al Sackmann of the Canadian Press, who is a competent and well respected member of the news media. Al is leaving this afternoon to join another field of endeavour and I'm sure we all wish him well in the years ahead. MR . SPEAKER: The Honourable Minister of Municipal Affairs. MR. BAIZLEY: Mr.

Speaker, before the Orders of the Day, I would like to table the correspondence requested of me yesterday by the Honourable Member for Selkirk. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Portage la Prairie. MR. GORDON E. JOHNSTON (Portage la Prairie): Mr. Speaker, I would like to address a question to the acting Minister of Industry and Commerce. Could he give me an answer as to whether or not the Macdonald Airport option has been taken up and whether it was purchased or leased? HON. GURNEY EVANS (Minister of Finance) (Fort Rouge): Mr.

Speaker, my informa tion is that the Macdonald Airport option has not as yet been taken up. The person who holds the option has until April 30th, 1969, to exercise his option. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Rhineland. MR. JACOB M. FROESE (Rhineland): Mr. Speaker, I'd like to address my question to the Honourable Minister of Youth and Education. Some time ago I directed a question to him as to the number of classes in operation in connection with the upgrading schools which was formerly under Program V. Has he got an answer for me yet? There was nothing mentioned in his reply to the estimates yesterday.

HON. DONALD W. CRAIK (Minister of Youth and Education) (St. Vital): No, Mr. Speaker, I don't have the answer for the honourable member yet. While I have the opportunity, Mr. Speaker, I wanted to inform the House that the dates set for the nominations in the four divisions in which referendums are being held - in the event that they are successful and that unitary divisions are formed - that the deadline date for nominations to the boards of the divisions has been set for April 24th, and the election day is set for May 5th.

I would appreciate it, particularly I think if the news media could draw this to the attention of the public so that people can be making their plans even in advance to the referendum date of April 14th.

March 28, 196 9 823 MR . SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for St. John's. MR . CHERNIACK: Mr. Speaker, in view of the fact that the Honourable the First Minister knows the name of the Minister who is charged with the problem of setting up a Com mittee on ProfeS3ional Associations, would he care to inform the House as to who the Minister is, and if he would not, would he care to indicate when we can expect that unnamed Minister to act on his responsibility. HON. STERLING R. LYON, Q. C., (Attorney-General) (Fort Garry): Mr.

Speaker, I haven't the list in front of me of the number of Ministers on that committee, but one of the Ministers, who is a member of that committee, will be charged with the responsibility of bringing in the resolution about which he speaks. MR . CHERNIACK: Then I assume, Mr. Speaker, he has not yet been selected. MR . SPEAKER: The Honourable Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs. HON. J .B. CARROLL: (Minister of Tourism and Recreation)(The Pas): Mr.

Speaker, before the Orders of the Day, I'd like to draw to the attention of the members of the House the fact that we are sponsoring ten hospitality seminars in the Department of Tourism and Re creation to help to create a community awareness of the potential of tourism within their area and the role of hospitality in advancing the tourist trade. The first of these seminars, Mr. Speaker, will be held in that wonderful constituency of Swan River next Monday afternoon.

It will be followed by a similar seminar in Virden on April lOth, in Souris on April 13th, Dauphin on April 21st, Brandon on April 23rd, Beausejour on April 28th, Gimli on May 5th, The Pas on May 12th, Flin Flon on May 14th, and Morden on May 26th. In each case the Chambers of Co=erce within the local community are eo-sponsoring the seminar with our department and will be handling enquiries from members of those co=unities that are interested in participating in this seminar. MR . SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Portage la Prairie. MR . JOHNSTON: Mr.

Speaker, I would like to address a question to the Minister who just took his seat. Is there any significance in the fact that all 10 seminars are being held in Conservative ridings? MR . CARROLL: Mr. Speaker, these were selected by the department without consulta tion with the Minister himself. I am quite sure that if the co=unity of Portage la Prairie are interested, I would certainly be happy to have our people contact them and see if we could arrange a similar seminar for that location. MR . SPEAKER: Swan River is Independent. The Honourable Leader of the Opposition. MR .

MOLGAT: I wonder if the Minister would indicate to the House - not now if he doesn't have the information but at a later date - on what basis the various regions were selected. MR . LYON: Their intelligence in voting probably. MR . SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for St. George. MR . GUTTORMSON: Mr. Speaker, I'd like to direct a question to the Minister of Mines and Natural Resources for purposes of clarification. Yesterday he gave us a reply with respect to the sale of the sandbags at Portage la Prairie. Could he tell us were all the bags sold by tender or just one lot? HON. HARRY J.

ENNS (Minister of Mines and Natural Resources)(Rockwood-Iberville): Mr. Speaker, my information has it that all the bags were sold by public tender. MR . SPEAKER: The Honourable Leader of the Opposition. MR . MOLGAT: Mr. Speaker, before the Orders of the Day, I would like to return to the question I asked the First Minister to make sure that there is no possibility of misunder standing on his part or my part. There are two policy committees, or steering committees insofar as the air question dealing with the Air Canada overhaul base, a large co=ittee and a small committee.

I want to make it clear that the question I'm asking is regarding the one that is specifically called the Manitoba Air Policy Liaison Committee, which is the small committee, and to make sure there is :no misunderstanding, that committee has not been called, is that correct? MR . WEffi: Mr. Speaker, not that I am aware of has it been called. There has been some discussion about calling it, but a time hasn't been scheduled or anything yet, but the liaison committee, which is the only Air Policy Liaison Committee that I'm aware of, which is the small committee, I would expect it to be called very shortly.

824 March 28, 1969 MR. MOLGAT: Mr. Speaker, I'd like to address a question to the Minister of Govern ment Services -is that the proper Title? I have, first of all, to refer to a story that appeared in the Winnipeg Tribune on the 25th of January, and it reads as follows: •'An order was sent to heads of branches and offices in the Department of the Attorney-General re security.

The Honourable Thelma Forbes, Minister of Government Services, has requested that all offices immediately adopt the practice of destroying discarded office correspondence, including car bon paper, before placing same in wastebasket for removal. Such items should be torn up before throwing away." And it goes on that "Mrs. Forbes is not available for comment." I wonder if this order was isE;ued only to the Department of the Attorney-General or was this a general order to all government departments? HON. THELMA FORBES (Minister of Government Services) (Cypress): Mr.

Speaker, I'm not responsible for what is written in the newspaper. It was sent to all government departments. MR. MOLGAT: A subsequent question, Mr. Speaker. Does the Minister - -this I think followed some items which appeared in newspapers. Does the Minister have reason to believe that the press people are going through the wastebaskets of the government? MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Burrows. MR. BEN HANUSCHAK (Burrows): Mr. Speaker, just for the sake of the record, would you be good enough to check this Order Paper again? I noticed one error on Private Members' Resolutions.

My resolution stands in my name and not that of the Honourable Member for Roblin, and there may be other errors. Would you please have this checked into? MR. SPEAKER: Would you give me the number of the resolution you are referring to? MR. HANUSCHAK: The one that I note is on Page 5, Resolution No. 3, and there may be others. MR, SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Brokenhead. MR.

SAMUEL USKIW (Brokenhead): If I may, for your benefit, I can suggest that if we look at the Order Paper we'll find that there are many errors, that subject matter on the Order Paper has been dealt with on Tuesday - a numbe;r of resolutions that have been either completed or debated. MR. GREEN: Here again, to give you some assistance - if I have the right Order Paper Resolution No. 7 has been disposed of; and Resolution No. 15 are two that I know of that have been disposed of. MR. SPEAKER: ..... opinions of the honourable gentlemen.

The House has now been in session for a month and this is the first reason for complaint. It looks very good on behalf of the printer and I come to his defence. These errors could happen, but the adjustments will be made as pointed out today. MR. GREEN: I assure you there's no complaint, Mr. Speaker, we just thought it proper I to bring it to your attention. MR. SPEAKER: Thank you. The Honourable Minister of Finance. HON. GURNEY EVANS (Minister of Finance) (Fort Rouge): Mr.

Speaker, in answer to an enquiry by the Honourable Member for Burrows, I think he directed his question to the Minister of Government Services but it's within my responsibility. I think his question was with respect to part-time or casual employees being placed on the permanent staff.

He went on to say, "I am informed there are some, and in fact within her department, who have been working for a long time and pretty well on a continual basis and they are still classified as temporary employees and not enjoying some of the benefits which permanent employees are entitled to." I should like to read on to the record some facts in the matter which may help in his study. Employees, other than those on the permanent staff of the Civil Service, fall into three broad categories: (

a) term employees; (b)--and I think quotation marks should be used around the word "departmental". It's a technical term that•s used. It's not really a good description of the classification but that•s the official title, and some further explanation will appear later on as I read the statement. (b) "departmental" employees; and (

c) skilled tradesmen and labourers employed by the Department of Government Services, including electricians, carpenters, plumbers and painters. Term Employees. This category has generally been applicable to those employees who are engaged to provide necessary services until permanent employees can be hired, to staff programs of a temporary nature, to provide vacation or temporary relief, to temporarily augment permanent staff, for instance in seasonal fluctuations in the workload or on a pilot project basis until the workload can be identified and an appropriate establishment developed.

March 28, 1969 825 (Mr. Evans Cont'd) ... Term employees are hired under the terms of

Section 37 of The Civil Service Act. They are normally paid at rates within the salary schedules of the Civil Service Pay Plan. They receive the following staff benefits: (

a) Vacation allowances on the same basis as permanent civil servants. (

b) Sick leave at the same rate as for permanent civil servants. Although term employees accumulate full credits from the first full month of employment, they are not entitled to draw on these accumulated credits until they have been employed for six or more consecutive months. (

c) Pension Plan- term employees do not participate. (

d) Group Life Insurance ,.. term employees do not participate in the Group Life or Dependents Life Insurance. Provisions for term employment represent a desirable and useful resource to manage ment in the Civil Service. Positions established on this basis are continuously under review. The incumbents acquire valuable experience and skills which frequently qualify them for transfer to permanent positions as they become available. "Departmental" Employees. This category of employees is defined under the Depart mental Employees Agreement between the Government and the Manitoba Government Employees Association.

This work is normally seasonal and the staffs are frequently referred to as "casual" em_ployees or "time certificate" employees. The major employers of this group of employees are the Departments of Transportation, Mines and Natural Resources, including the Water Control and Conservation Branch, and Tourism and Recrea tion. Rates of pay are in accordance with the negotiated agreement between the Government and the Manitoba Employees Association, and reference is made to pages 12, 13 and 14 of that Agreement. "Departmental" employees receive the following fringe benefits: (

a) Vacation allowances on the same basis as permanent civil servants - pages 15, 16 and 17. (

b) Sick leave as specified in the collective agreement- pages 18 and 19. (

c) Pension Plan - participation if the employee works two consecutive years, if not less than 1, 984 hours per year. (

d) Group Life Insurance- these employees qualify for group life or dependents life insurance provided they work a minimum of 1, 344 hours in any one calendar year. Skilled tradesmen and labourers employed by the Department of Government Services including electricians, carpenters and painters. A special situation has existed with respect to this group for some years. The employees of this category declined a request that they join the permanent Civil Service at the prevalent rates of pay in favour of entitlement to rates of pay established for the respective trade groups under the C.onstruction Industry Wages Act. This group of employees is entitled to fringe benefits as follows: (

a) Vacation Allowances- two weeks• vacation for 11 consecutive months of employment, or four percent of vacation pay, in conformity with The Vacations with Pay Act. (

b) Sick leave - there are no sick leave credits. (

c) Pension - as with "departmental" employees described earlier. (

d) Group Life Insurance- as described earlier for departmental employees. I might add a remark that I made in connection with a question of my honourable friend from Lakeside the other day that considerable effort is now being made to transfer those who have been on term employment for considerable lengths of time into established positions. There have, in fact, been "term" employees continuously at work in the Civil Service some times for years.

That seems an anomaly and we are endeavouring now to sort out these posi tions, and have been for some time, so that they will occupy so-called permanent positions and be removed from the "term" class. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Burrows. MR. HANUSCHAK: I wish to thank the Honourable Minister for his answer. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Portage la Prairie. MR. JOHNSTON: Mr. Speaker, I would like to address a question to the Honourable Minister of Mines and Natural Resources.

I believe we were given to understand by the Minister that we would be given copies of the Southern Indian Lake hearings transcript today. Pm wondering if we're still going to get them. HON. HARRY J, ENNS (Minister of Mines and Natural Resources) (Rockwood-Iberville): Mr. Speaker, my office is preparing some of these copies and I had hoped to have them for the members today. I may still be able to do so later on and give them in the hands of the

826 March 28, 1969 (Mr. Enns Cont'd) ... Party Leaders, perhaps during the committee hearings later on this afternoon. MR. SPEAKER: The Honourable Member for Rhineland. MR. FROESE: Mr. Speaker, in case we get to committee, will we be getting Hansard later on this afternoon, because I would appreciate getting last night's Hansard so I could check back on the Minister's remarks. Will they be divided? MR. SPEAKER: Orders of the Day. The Honourable the Attorney-General. MR. LYON: Mr.

Speaker, I believe it's agreed now that the House will adjourn and members will go into Law Amendments Committee to hopefully conclude the hearings that we have going on in that committee. I beg to move, seconded bythg Honourable Provincial Treasurer, that the House do now adjourn. MR. SPEAKER presented th e motion and after a voice vote declared the motion carried and the House adjourned until 2. 30 Monday afternoon.

Document details

Collection	Manitoba — Debates (Hansard)
Citation	28-3-35
Type	hansard
Volume / chapter	28th 3rd hansardpdf 35.pdf
Language	en
Format	pdf
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	9ec1eee37dd6c32fc7b0b5b16ee39d8298f3d051

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