Manitoba Hansard — 3 December 2020 (Sitting 26B, 42nd Legislature, 3rd Session)

42-3-26b

Manitoba — Debates (Hansard)

Third Session – Forty-Second Legislature of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba DEBATES and PROCEEDINGS Official Report (Hansard) Published under the authority of The Honourable Myrna Driedger Speaker Vol. LXXV No. 26B - 1:30 p.m., Thursday, December 3, 2020 ISSN 0542-5492

MANITOBA LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Forty-Second Legislature Member Constituency Political Affiliation ADAMS, Danielle Thompson NDP ALTOMARE, Nello Transcona NDP ASAGWARA, Uzoma Union Station NDP BRAR, Diljeet Burrows NDP BUSHIE, Ian Keewatinook NDP CLARKE, Eileen, Hon. Agassiz PC COX, Cathy, Hon. Kildonan-River East PC CULLEN, Cliff, Hon. Spruce Woods PC DRIEDGER, Myrna, Hon. Roblin PC EICHLER, Ralph, Hon. Lakeside PC EWASKO, Wayne Lac du Bonnet PC FIELDING, Scott, Hon. Kirkfield Park PC FONTAINE, Nahanni St. Johns NDP FRIESEN, Cameron, Hon. Morden-Winkler PC GERRARD, Jon, Hon. River Heights Lib.

GOERTZEN, Kelvin, Hon. Steinbach PC GORDON, Audrey Southdale PC GUENTER, Josh Borderland PC GUILLEMARD, Sarah, Hon. Fort Richmond PC HELWER, Reg, Hon. Brandon West PC ISLEIFSON, Len Brandon East PC JOHNSON, Derek Interlake-Gimli PC JOHNSTON, Scott Assiniboia PC KINEW, Wab Fort Rouge NDP LAGASSÉ, Bob Dawson Trail PC LAGIMODIERE, Alan Selkirk PC LAMONT, Dougald St. Boniface Lib. LAMOUREUX, Cindy Tyndall Park Lib.

LATHLIN, Amanda The Pas-Kameesak NDP LINDSEY, Tom Flin Flon NDP MALOWAY, Jim Elmwood NDP MARCELINO, Malaya Notre Dame NDP MARTIN, Shannon McPhillips PC MICHALESKI, Brad Dauphin PC MICKLEFIELD, Andrew Rossmere PC MORLEY-LECOMTE, Janice Seine River PC MOSES, Jamie St. Vital NDP NAYLOR, Lisa Wolseley NDP NESBITT, Greg Riding Mountain PC PALLISTER, Brian, Hon. Fort Whyte PC PEDERSEN, Blaine, Hon. Midland PC PIWNIUK, Doyle Turtle Mountain PC REYES, Jon Waverley PC SALA, Adrien St. James NDP SANDHU, Mintu The Maples NDP SCHULER, Ron, Hon.

Springfield-Ritchot PC SMITH, Andrew Lagimodière PC SMITH, Bernadette Point Douglas NDP SMOOK, Dennis La Vérendrye PC SQUIRES, Rochelle, Hon. Riel PC STEFANSON, Heather, Hon. Tuxedo PC TEITSMA, James Radisson PC WASYLIW, Mark Fort Garry NDP WHARTON, Jeff, Hon. Red River North PC WIEBE, Matt Concordia NDP WISHART, Ian Portage la Prairie PC WOWCHUK, Rick Swan River PC

1269 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA Thursday, December 3, 2020 The House met at 1:30 p.m. Madam Speaker: Good afternoon, everybody. Please be seated. ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS INTRODUCTION OF BILLS Bill 220–The Transportation Infrastructure Amendment Act Mr. Tom Lindsey (Flin Flon): I move, seconded by the member from Thompson, that Bill 220, The Transportation Infrastructure Amendment Act, be now read a first time. Motion presented. Mr. Lindsey: For many people who live in, particularly, northern Manitoba, the cuts that we've seen to snow -clearing operations have led to very unsafe conditions.

In the winter, large snowfalls can be extremely problematic for trying to travel to work, to seek medical care or for other reasons. This bill is an attempt to hold the government to account for making sure that our provincial roadways are cleared in a timely manner and maintained in a safe condition. I look forward to the House's unanimous support for this bill. Thank you. Madam Speaker: Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion? Agreed? [Agreed] Committee reports? Tabling of reports?

MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS Madam Speaker: The honourable Minister of Conservation and Climate, and we did not have the 90 minutes notice sent out. Is there leave of the House to still allow the ministerial– Some Honourable Members: No. Madam Speaker: So are the members indicating that there's no leave to proceed with the ministerial statement? An Honourable Member: Well, if we knew what it was. Hon. Kelvin Goertzen (Government House Leader): Madam Speaker, perhaps the minister can provide a quick, one-sentence description of what it is so that the members opposite can consider it.

And, certainly, I appreciate their opportunity. Madam Speaker: The honourable Minister for Conservation and Climate, for just a brief overview. Hon. Sarah Guillemard (Minister of Conservation and Climate): Madam Speaker, this is about thanking our conservation officers, who have worked very hard this year. Madam Speaker: Is there leave, then, to allow the minister to proceed? Some Honourable Members: Agreed. Madam Speaker: Leave has been granted? [Agreed] Conservation Officers Hon.

Sarah Guillemard (Minister of Conservation and Climate): It is a pleasure to stand in the House today and honour the hard work by our conservation officers, who are committed to addressing unsafe and illegal hunting practices at night, hunting from road- ways and poaching. These are criminal acts and can have deadly consequences. Our brave officers have done their absolute best in protecting Manitobans this hunting season. Newly acquired tech nologies, such as night -vision goggles and enhanced aerial surveillance with infrared capa- bilities, have served to assist officers in their efforts.

Conservation officers have undertaken aerial support on more than 20 occasions to date, which has assisted in enforcement efforts and has already resulted in several night-hunting enforcement actions. Since October 10th, conservation officers have conducted patrols to enforce Manitoba's new Wildlife Amendment Act. This includes charges or appearances, notic es to 45 individuals for serious wildlife offences, warnings–[interjection] Madam Speaker: Order.

1270 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA December 3, 2020 Mrs. Guillemard: –to 19 individuals for night hunting without a permit or for hunting in a moose conservation enclosure, charges–[interjection] Madam Speaker: Order. Mrs. Guillemard: –to 11 individuals for possessing illegally taken wildlife, seizures of nine vehicles, seizures of 18 firearms and restitution orders totalling $20,500. In addition to this, many conservation officers, environment officers and drinking-water officers have stepped up and assisted with enforcement of COVID-19 public health orders.

We thank them for not only upholding conservation efforts but also for keeping Manitobans safe from this virus. Manitoba's conservation officers are doing an incredible and honourable job to keep our community safe. Officers have conducted themselves with a high level of professionalism and have worked hard on meeting our mandate to focus on enforcement efforts and to protect our vulnerable species. It is important that we all recognize these dedi - cated people, and we commend them for their important work for protecting Manitobans.

On behalf of the Manitoba government, a sin - cerest thank you to all our conservation officers. Thank you. Mr. Wab Kinew (Leader of the Official Opposition): Madam Speaker, I do want to thank the conservation officers who are out there doing an important job on behalf of many communities right across Manitoba. Now, unlike the members opposite, who use conservation officers as a political ploy, I, as some - body who is teaching my kids how to hunt safely, regularly speak to conservation officers out in the field, and we have a good relationship, a good working relationship based on mutual respect.

I'm not like one of these city Tories who never heard of a conservation officer before they got elected to this Chamber and then merely fell in line behind the race-baiting, divisive rhetoric launched by this government to try and divide team Manitoba against itself. No, Madam Speaker. I'm part of that salt -of-the-earth Manitoba that knows how to live off the land. I'm not one of these false Tories who couldn't tell you the difference between a clove hitch and a trailer hitch.

I'm a real Manitoban who knows how to procure sustenance from this land, learning it and earning it from the generations that came before me. You know, when I'm out there in the field, or even when I'm bumping into a conservation officer at a place like Dauphin Countryfest or at the mall, and we get a chance to speak, you know what they tell me the No. 1 challenge is that they have on their jobs? The No. 1 challenge that conservation officers have on the job is the fact that they have to work alone in the field because of this Premier (Mr. Pallister) an d this Cabinet's wage freeze.

The wage freeze is making it unsafe for each and every day for conservation officers to work in the field because we're losing all the talent to Saskatchewan, we're losing all the talent to Ontario. And those very few COs that remain here in the province to try and do the right thing are rewarded by a wage freeze and job cut after job cut. So I thank the COs in a real way, and I detest the Province for trying to use them as a political stunt. Madam Speaker: The member's t ime has expired. [interjection] Order. Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Madam Speaker, I ask leave to speak to the minister's statement.

Madam Speaker: Does the member for River Heights have leave to speak to the ministerial statement? [Agreed] Mr. Gerrard: Madam Speaker, I've had the good fortune to go out with conservation officers on occasion, and I want to report that those experiences have been good experiences, that I have found individuals who are conservation officers who are very concerned about wildlife, who are very con - cerned about the future of our fisheries and who have raised these issues related to this on many, many occasions.

There are, of course, problems with the current government in providing insufficient resources to let people do their jobs. There are problems with the current government in providing sufficient staffing resources, and so it is a challenging time in Manitoba to be a conservation officer. I want to also comment on the need for this government to be better understanding of all the people in our province, and I speak in particular of Indigenous people in Manitoba and the rights of

December 3, 2020 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 1271 Indigenous people and the needs of Indigenous people to hunt, to make sure that they can survive –nutrition and eat wild game. I thi nk that this is very important to the Indigenous culture in Manitoba, and in many, many communities is important to get good food because of the limited amounts of food that there is available at high prices in many northern stores. * (13:40) So I applaud the conservation officers in Manitoba for the job that they do, but I question some of the actions of the current government. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

MEMBERS' STATEMENTS Madam Speaker: The honourable member for McPhillips. The honourable member for McPhillips, on a members' statement? Can the member unmute? Princess Auto Mr. Shannon Martin (McPhillips): Yes. I am proud to sit here and give a well -deserved Christmas cheer to one of our own Winnipeg businesses that is spread- ing their own holiday spirit through giving. Starting last December, Princess Auto started donating meals to hospitals in Winnipeg to help lift the burdens of our tireless health- care workers. Each day, Princess Auto is donating 150 lunches and 150 suppers to St.

Boniface Hospital and to the Health Sciences Centre throughout the entire holiday season. That is 600 meals per day every day until December 31st, or 10,200 meals in total. We know that this thoughtful gift will go a long way to help everyone during this unprecedented holiday season. I'd also like to give thanks to their partners for this Christmas operation. Thank you to Fionn's, Salisbury House, WOW factory catering and Trans Canada Brewing Company for providing the food for all the meals.

We are very proud of these local businesses for coming together and giving this large and thoughtful gift to our health sector. This feat couldn't have been done without their partnership, as well as the partnership between the Health Sciences Centre Foundation and Princess Auto Foundation. This instance of giving is hardly unique for Princess Auto. In fact, they even have their own registered charity organization.

They have a large history of giving back to their communities, from donating to Boys & Girls Clubs last December, even donating clear plastic shields that were repurposed into transparent face masks last spring. Already com- ments are pouring in from grateful health- care staff whose lives were made slightly easier by this act. Princess Auto's thoughtful gift has cl early reached forward to the heart of our city and to the hearts of our critical staff. Please join me in giving a well-deserved round of applause to Princess Auto and all our health- care workers. Thank you, Madam Speaker. Home-Care Workers Mr.

Matt Wiebe (Concordia): Madam Speaker, thousands of Manitobans rely on home -care services every day to make sure that they get the care and assistance that they need. Home -care workers across our province work diligently to make sure their clients stay healthy, happy and safe in their homes for longer, the same goals the program had when it was first introduced by an NDP government over forty years ago. Unfortunately, at a time when accessing care while staying home has become more important than ever, the Pall ister government has been making life harder for home-care workers and the clients that they serve.

Just like in 2017, when they carved off and privatized over $15 million in home -care contracts, we're once again seeing this government stack the deck against public health care. I have heard from home -care workers across Manitoba who have seen first-hand what's happening on the front lines.

Many workers travelling between clients' homes have not been given adequate PPE, relying solely on the same decades-old expired masks this government gave to ECEs; they have not yet received N95 masks, or have been given the wrong size or fit, and are being mandated to work in PCHs due to a lack of staff and resources –a direct result of this government's refusal to boost funding, hire enough staff and call in the military where necessary at long-term-care facilities. These deliberate actions by the Pallister govern - ment have put the health and safety of home -care workers and the clients they serve at risk.

What's more, like many front -line health -care workers, health-care–home-care employees have been given the short end of the stick by being excluded from the government's $5 wage enhancement. Despite an– unprecedented challenges these workers are facing

1272 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA December 3, 2020 throughout this pandemic, the government still hasn't given them a raise. It's time, Madam Speaker, the government get home-care workers and clients the resources they need by purchasing adequate PPE, investing in dedicated PCH resources and supporting fair wages that rec og- nize their incredible work. On this side of the House, we will continue to call the government to support essential health-care services like home care, and to treat every front -line health -care worker with the respect they deserve. 2020 Retrospective Mr.

Greg Nesbitt (Riding Mountain): It's the end of a year we'd like to forget / But things will improve next year, you can bet. But before we all go I'll share a few rhymes / To perhaps get a smile in these challenging times. Our jobs they have changed with constrained Chamber seating / As we sit in our offices, in Zoom legislative meetings. Sweatpants now can work when wearing your suit / But remember that when speaking, please first press un-mute. Dr. Roussin and Lanette, whose advice we must take / You deniers please listen, this risk is not fake.

Manitobans, we can do this, we're up to the task / Just maintain your distance, and wear a darn mask. I know that it's tough, someone's mood to apprise / But you can tell if they're smiling, just look at their eyes. In QP in this Chamber, some of you are quite vocal / But this year use your voice and holler out, just shop local. These holidays will be different, but still can be sweet / So be thankful and kind, and keep your distance six feet. Unprecedented times, they say, but what do you mean? / Don't you remember, this happened back in 1918.

This COVID pandemic has indeed cast a pall / Over life and how we live it. It impacts us all. No concerts, no markets, no festivals to attend / Just think of the party, when it comes to an end. It's sad for our teams we're unable to cheer / Although our Bombers will be champs for two years. But soon with the promise of a COVID vaccine / We can then go watch a movie on the big screen. Many thanks to the workers who are on the front lines / Your efforts in this struggle are a ray of sunshine. Merry Christmas, season's greetings, let's all raise a glass. / Please stay home, and remember: this too shall pass.

Thank you. Garry Raven Mr. Ian Bushie (Keewatinook): I am always honoured to be able to share the stories of our Indigenous knowledge keepers. As knowledge keepers, our elders pass down customs, traditional knowledge and cultural teachings to ensure that our Indigenous culture survives. Today I would like to share a few words of our late elder Garry Raven, also known by his traditional name, Morning Star. Garry lived most of his life in our Treaty No. 5 traditional territory, with great pride in his community and the land. Garry was a residential school survivor.

Through his strong will and belief in our culture and tradition, Garry was able to hold onto his Indigenous customs and traditions that these schools intended to eliminate. From the ground up, Garry developed Raven's Creek traditional campground, and as a traditional teacher he opened up his home, his land and his life to pass on his knowledge about Indigenous culture, traditional medicines and ceremony. Garry taught at schools and universities and has travelled extensively all over the world shar ing his traditional teachings.

Garry had immense knowledge of the land and the need for the work of conserving our land for future generations and for the importance of sharing your knowledge with others. If you are ever in Washington, DC, I strongly recommend a visit to the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, where you will find the exhibit titled Our Universes in which Garry and our fellow elders from the Sagkeeng Anishinabe nation were instrumental in its creation. Madam Speaker, I would like to end by sharing a quote from Elder Garry Raven. Quote: To be Anishinabe is to understand your place in all creation.

We are spiritual beings on a human journey. Everything in the Anishinabe world is alive.

December 3, 2020 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 1273 Everything has a spirit and everything i s inter - connected. Unquote. Miigwech, Garry Raven. Madam Speaker, I would respectfully request my colleagues in the Chamber to rise and show our respect and appreciation for the contributions of Elder Garry Raven, traditionally known as Morning Star. Thank you and miigwech, Madam Speaker. Tyndall Park Ms. Cindy Lamoureux (Tyndall Park): Today I want to share a few words about the constituency in– which I have the honour of representing, Tyndall Park.

In Tyndall Park, we've got six schools: Garden Grove, Meadows West, Shaughnessy Park, Stanley Knowles, Prairie Rose and Tyndall Park. And with these schools come incredible teachers, child -care workers, students, EAs, administrators and custo- dians.

We also have dedicated transit workers, taxi drivers and driving instructors ensuring everyone can get to school and to work. * (13:50) Which leads me to the many small businesses in Tyndall Park that I am going to attempt to name: 4D Auto Detailing, A2Z Super Mart, Aristocrat, Angelina's Hair City, Axel Auto P arts, Bakerite, Endeavour Electric, Fil -Mart Corp., Gil's Super - market, Hair Technique, Hoffmann's Fine Foods, Jas Indian Cuisine, Jeepney, Kuya's Foods, Kimchi Sushi, Lucita's Restaurant, Marcel's Bakery, My Indigo Indian Street Food, Pam's beauty hair, Presto Pizza, Samosa Crown Sweets, Sardar Super Market, Spa Natural, Tandoor House, The Icing Castle, Topo Clay Boutique and Waterplant 204.

What a mouthful, Madam Speaker. And many of these small businesses I just listed would not be func- tional if it wa sn't for our long- haul truck drivers, warehouse staff and grocers, as they are the ones ensuring that we have the essentials we need. Tyndall Park is home to ACCESS NorWest and to many individuals who work in our health- care system. Every job, from denti stry, pharmacies, to home-care aides, lab techs, security and cleaning and health facilities –thank you for your unstoppable commitment towards the health of Manitobans.

In closing, I want to thank my constituency staff: Carl, Francis, Prab, Ate Adelle an d Tito Robert; our caucus staff: Shandi, Richard, Colin and Colleen; all of our clerks, guards, everyone here at the Leg., and, of course, Madam Speaker, you. * * * Madam Speaker: I have a statement for the House. An Honourable Member: Sorry, Madam Speaker, on a point of order. Point of Order Madam Speaker: Oh, the honourable member for Concordia, on a point of order. Mr. Matt Wiebe (Concordia): My apologies.

I simply wanted to ask of the House if there was leave to have a moment of silence with regards to the member for Keewatinook's (Mr. Bushie) member's statement? Madam Speaker: Is there leave for a moment of silence? [Agreed] Please stand. A moment of silence was observed. Speaker's Statement Madam Speaker: I have a statement for the House. Twenty-twenty has been a year unlike any year we have experienced in our lifetimes. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many changes in our lives and also in how we perform our duties and carry out our responsibilities to those we represent as legislators.

I recognized early on that one of my jobs as Speaker of this Legislature is to protect the health and safety of all MLAs, while ensuring full parliamentary representation and accountability. In order to fulfill these requirements this year many changes were made, including physical distancing measures in the Chamber and engaging the virtual options for carrying out the business of the Assembly.

I would like to take a few moments now to thank and celebrate the incredible team who worked tirelessly over the summer and fall and every day this session, to allow the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba to continue meeting during the pandemic by enabling the option to meet in this hybrid virtual setting. I will get to the team in a moment, but before I do, I first want to thank all members of the Legislative Assembly and any of your staff who assisted in this effort. I deeply appreciate the pat ience you have all shown as we have worked through the odd problem here and there over the last two months.

1274 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA December 3, 2020 Adapting to this hybrid virtual model, with all of its inherent quirks and modifications to existing practices, has been a huge cultural shift for a 150-year- old institution, especially one that is not known for accepting rapid change easily. There were some technical glitches here and there, but no more than the average Zoom meeting. Thank you all for your perseverance and for the appreciation you have shown for our efforts.

As I told you all on October 8th of this year when we held our first sitting in this manner, virtual sittings of the House are complicated operations. There are many moving parts to this endeavour, and our staff devoted many mo nths of intense effort to make this process work as well as it has. As a result of that hard work, the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba now has the ability to continue to meet despite the many necessary restrictions and limitations on life during the COV ID-19 pandemic.

By providing this service to Manitoba's 57 MLAs and therefore allowing the citizens of Manitoba to stay in touch with their Legislature, this team has served our province very well, and for that we should all be truly grateful. In addition to all of the technical requirements which make all of this possible, we also had to consider all of the procedural implications of such a change in our processes. This detailed examination of our rules and procedures happened in parallel to the technical process and took almost as long to perfect.

The culmination of these efforts manifested in the Sessional Order passed by this House on October 7th. This step was a crucial part of making these sittings work. You may not know that through this achievement the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba is leading the country in the depth and breadth of what we have accomplished here. So far this year, the House of Commons, the Senate, as well as the BC and Newfoundland and Labrador legislatures have all employed similar hybrid virtual models to conduct their House sittings, and we benefited from their experiences as we planned our infrastructure.

However, Manitoba is the only jurisdiction in Canada to have successfully conducted three hybrid virtual sittings from three different rooms simultaneously. This incredible accomplishment occurred last month when we considered depart - mental Estimates in the Committee of Supply. Just as these hybrid virtual sittings are far more complicated than a simple Zoom call, conduct ing three hybrid virtual sittings at the same time is exponentially more complicated and difficult, yet we did it, and we will do it again as required. I can tell you that once this session ends, our team will not be resting on their laurels.

Rather, they will continue to improve on the infrastructure which makes this all possible. When the House meets again in 2021, you will see some improvements, and the team will again ensure that we continue to put our best foot forward. I would now like to mention by name all of those who have let their intellect, determination and sheer hard work to making all of this possible. Some of these folks are elsewhere in the building at their posts, some are in the gallery and some on the floor of the House.

I would ask that, for those in the Chamber and the gallery, you please rise when your name is mentioned and stay standing. I will ask members to hold their applause until I have completed the list. First, let me mention the procedural team who determined how to best am end our rules and pro- cedures, ensuring that the businesses of the House remained valid in the hybrid virtual model. Our Clerk, Patricia Chaychuk, led this effort with her usual procedural expertise. Our Journals Clerk, Monique Grenier, ably assisted the C lerk in revising and refining the sessional order.

Research officer and Clerk Assistant, Greg Recksiedler, also assisted in this work and other tasks. Our newest team members are the crew we needed to hire this fall to both operate the cameras in all three rooms and also serve as moderators for the virtual meeting calls: Graeme Leachman, HyunChul Lee, Darin Morash, Graham Parsons, Richard Pope, Derek Robinson, James Rinn, Candace Smith and Tony Wytinck. As part of the development of this process our team conducted several exhaustive live tests of the system, with Assembly staff playing the part of MLAs in the Chamber and virtually.

Our MLA actors included: Danielle Broadfoot, Julie Sass, Vanessa Gregg, Daisy Giesbrecht, Arlene Finkel, Marionne Cronin, Ste phan Day, Todd LaRue, Sharmin Khan and Sherri MacQuarrie. In addition to the virtual component, we also needed to make a number of modifications to the

December 3, 2020 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 1275 Chamber in response to COVID. Clerk's Office Manager Pat Malynyk, Sergeant -at-Arms Dave Shuttleworth a nd Speaker's Office administrator Michele Lapointe -Dixon all procured invaluable supplies for the Chamber to allow us to accommodate essential physical distancing and sanitation measures.

The technical crew who envisioned, experi - mented, toiled and ultimately implemented everything you see and hear as part of this experience includes Trevor Melanchuk, the Assembly's technical operations administrator, who found answers to the many vexing hardware and software issues that arose with our audio systems in all three rooms; John Kamchen, media specialist from Communication Services Manitoba, who planned, tested and enabled all of the video equipment, cabling and screens you see before you; John was ably assisted in these tasks by Keith Grift and Travis Golby, also from Communication Services Manitoba; Michael Fruck from Legislative Building Information Services was our team's primary IT support for the entire project; Tim Abbott and Kat Tefft, our c lerk assistants and clerks of committees, who led the mammoth project of testing and vetting many video conference platforms, created the guides for virtual members and moderators, as well as conducting one-on-one training sessions will almost every MLA; Becki Derksen, our digital media specialist, who assisted in almost every component of this project, and who took a lead role in training and mentoring our new moderators; and last but not least, Rick Yarish, our Deputy Clerk, who assembled and led this team with great determination and commitment. * (14:00) I would now invite all members in the Chamber and virtually to show their appreciation for this remarkable team.

As we all know, the pandemic we are all enduring and the necessary limitations we are all living with will persist well into 2021. No one knows when w e can emerge from our protective cocoons. We do know, however, that this institution will weather this storm and that the mission of this Assembly shall not be defeated or impeded. We shall carry on, just as the people of Manitoba have asked us to, just as they need us to. Point of Order Madam Speaker: The Leader of the Official Opposition, on a point of order. Mr.

Wab Kinew (Leader of the Official Opposition): Yes, when you're talking MLA actors, can you tell us which actor played which MLA? No, on a more serious level, I wanted to just reiterate, on behalf of our team, the thanks to the many people that you'd already named, but I also wanted to specifically add the folks who work in our leader's office and our caucus, those staff members who assisted in all the preparations.

As well, on the government side, their legislative affairs director, the people in their caucus, the people amongst their political staff who helped to accomplish this and of course, the staff working with the independent Liberal members. I also want to give a special shout -out to the House leaders, who carried out many, many, many hours of negotiations in order to facilitate these meetings. So, of course, to my friend from Steinbach, my colleague from St. Johns and, of course, the member for River Heights (Mr.

Gerrard), I want to say a big kitchi miigwech, merci beaucoup and thank you very much for allowing us to sit. Madam Speaker: I would thank the member for those comments. However, as good as they were, they weren't a point of order, but appreciate the comments. And just to add to this, it takes –it took us about 34 people to bring this together just from the technical side of it. So this isn't an easy, simple process that we were all through, but we have assembled before us an incredible team that actually just did it all and did it in a relatively short period of time, although it did take several months.

So thank you, again, to all of you. Thank you for being here in the gallery to hear these comments. ORAL QUESTIONS Senator Murray Sinclair Retirement Acknowledgment of Service Mr. Wab Kinew (Leader of the Official Opposition): Madam Speaker, this is the last sitting day before Senator Murray Sinclair retires from the Red Chamber. So I want to acknowledge his tremendous service to our province and country. I think we all know the accolades: the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, the pediatric cardiac inquiry, Thunder Bay, service in the Senate and so on.

1276 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA December 3, 2020 I can tell you f rom personal experience that Senator Sinclair is the type of person who can lift you up with encouragement but also call you out when you are not doing right. He's done that for me personally, but he has also done the same for our country and he's done it with a vision of love and hope and a dream of a better tomorrow. So, I want to say a big thank-you for your service to Senator Sinclair. I'm sure the Premier would like to add some words as well. I do have a question about the pandemic, but I wanted to put that on the record first. Hon.

Brian Pallister (Premier): Well, just to add some words on behalf of all of us, I hope, in respect of the thanks we feel, Madam Speaker, for you, for your team, for the work you've done to accommodate this session. This is our 150th year as a province. We've had that celebration dwarfed somewhat by the reality of a global pandemic, but nonetheless, it's in our hearts to celebrate that and to celebrate also the 100th year of beautiful building that we work in.

So many others work in it too, and so I will echo the earlier comments of my colleague and friend and say that this is a time to celebrate the work of all of us here, but also the work of all of us in Manitoba, and to remember those who are suffering as a conseq uence of COVID –in particular those who've lost family members and friends –and to remember also the situation facing many who are without work right now in our province as a consequence of COVID.

We're, all of us, I think, very much consumed by a desire t o focus on addressing COVID as our real opponent in this historic time, the ability to adapt, to be dynamic in these dynamic times has been repre- sented by your people here, and I thank you for that, Madam Speaker. And so I say, again, a thanks to all of you here and to all Manitobans as we move forward together. Madam Speaker: The honourable Leader of the Official Opposition, on a supplementary question. Health-Care Services Government Record Mr.

Wab Kinew (Leader of the Official Opposition): Well, like a needle being pulled off the record, we can stop the Kumbaya right now, because we're very disappointed with this government's failure to prepare for the second wave of the COVID -19 pandemic. Not only did they fail to prepare for COVID, Madam Speaker, but over their time in office, they've been making cuts to health care that have simply been making things worse.

Now, because of that, I want to propose a Christmas list that many Manitobans are asking for this year and see if the Premier wou ld deliver it for them: reopen the Roblin and Grandview ERs, reopen CancerCare at Seven Oaks and Concordia, reverse cuts to personal-care homes, approve the programs to train more nurses, hire staff to fill vacancies throughout the health- care system. Thes e are the needs that we have in the province of Manitoba. Will the Premier listen to the Christmas list that Manitobans have put before him and stop with the cuts? Hon.

Brian Pallister (Premier): Well, the problem with the narrative the member preaches is he doesn't stick to the same narrative. One day we're cutting, the next day spending too much. Madam Speaker, he can't get his story straight over there, but we can. And the reality is people reveal themselves when under stress, and so too do governments, and the fact is that we have risen to the challenges, and we didn't do that overnight. We did that with planning and pre- paration and teamwork for a number of months.

So that's why our lab testing capacity has quadrupled since summer; that's why our contact tracing capacity is up 50 per cent since October. Our modelling three weeks ago suggested that we would have 1,000 cases per day right now, and instead we have less than half that many and we need to drive that down. And, Madam Speaker, this work will continue, because our progress is a little and much more needs to be done. And we are dedicated to making sure we stay focused on the real adversary, and the real adversary for Manitobans is COVID.

Madam Speaker: The honourable Leader of the Official Opposition, on a final supplementary. COVID-19 Testing in Schools Asymptomatic Surveillance Program Mr. Wab Kinew (Leader of the Official Opposition): Madam Speaker, the Premier seems to believe that he is unpopular because he told Manitobans to stay home. No. Premiers in other provinces have told people to stay home and they've remained more popular than ever.

December 3, 2020 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 1277 The difference here is that this Premier and his Cabinet failed to prepare for the second wave of the pandemic. We've documented the cuts to health care that made things worse, but when we get to the education sector, it's been just as bad. We have teachers that are overburdened. We have students who are falling behind, in some cases being left behind on the wrong side of a digital divide. Now, the Premier made an announcement earlier today, but like everything else that they've done during the pandemic, it's fallen short of what Manitobans need.

What people actually want is a targeted surveillance testing program that would include children s o we can actually see if there's community spread happening in schools that includes the students. Will the Premier commit right now to ensuring that the surveillance testing that takes place includes students so that we can understand accurately what's happening with the pandemic? Hon. Brian Pallister (Premier): Well, the difference has been put on display, Madam Speaker. Over the last number of weeks, the NDP appears focused on problems and scoring political points. We're focused on fighting COVID.

And because of that, and because of the work of Manitobans, we'r e the only province west of the Maritimes with lower positivity ratings than two weeks ago. Every other province is facing this challenge too, Madam Speaker. None is facing it with more focus than this team on this side of the House. We're not team hindsight; that's over there. This is team fore - sight.

And that's why today we announced tens of millions of dollars of investment–in additional invest- ment–in rapid testing, so that rapid testing can be made available on our front lines, including with teachers in classrooms so they're able to get back to work and work with their students as they love to do. Madam Speaker, that's the kind of foresight that we put on display. The member opposite puts hindsight only on display. Madam Speaker: The honourable Lea der of the Official Opposition, on a new question. COVID-19 Financial Assistance Support for Small Business Mr.

Wab Kinew (Leader of the Official Opposition): Madam Speaker, the Premier is so out of touch and so misunderstands the needs during the pandemic that he thinks announcing testing programs, after we've already seen hundreds of cases a day for months on end, that that is somehow forward thinking. If he was adequately prepared for the pandemic, we would have been announcing these testing programs in the summertime. Again, when it comes to small business, we know that this government has failed absolutely.

Of course, they talk the rhetoric of business when they're campaigning, but when they get into office, it's nothing but cuts and leaving business owners behind. It's quite remarkable to see that the PCs have alienated the business community during this pandemic, but luckily, we'll continue to stand up for them –stand up for those who are being left behind by overly strict criteria, and those who m ay have qualified but are worried about a clawback. * (14:10) Will the Premier announce today a new business program that will actually deliver the help that businesses need? Hon.

Brian Pallister (Premier): The most generous and consultatively designed business support pro- grams in Canada are testament to our commitment, the commitment of our Finance Minister, of our Economic Development Minister. Madam Speaker, the reality in this stressful time is the solution lies in supports, and we offer those supports and will continue to. Staffing supports offered by our Health Minister for front-line workers is a graphic example –for our personal -care-home workers. Our restrictions are starting to work. Manitobans are listening, they are abiding by them.

Our s upports are going to help us bridge through this challenge. But what will not help is the member's allegations, as false as they may be, and his hindsight. What will help is staffing support benefits, supports for small business, supports for educators, supports for our students and families. That's what we're offering, Madam Speaker. We offer a plan. The member offers peanut gallery instead. Madam Speaker: The honourable Leader of the Official Opposition, on a supplementary question.

1278 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA December 3, 2020 Hydro Rate Increase Request to Cancel Mr. Wab Kinew (Leader of the Official Opposition): Madam Speaker, never has a govern - ment kicked out so many press releases while helping so few people. We know what this government's plan is, the plan that the Premier's talking about. It's his plan to increase the average Manitoban's Hydro bill by $120– $120. Of course, that would be a shame during good times, but during a pandemic, it's downright wrong.

And what's particularly wrong is that you have members here from suburban west Winnipeg, from southwest Winnipeg, from northeast Winnipeg, from rural Manitoba. Of course, nobody from the North on their side, but people from all those other areas who signed up to increase people's Hydro rates during the pandemic. Will the Premier admit that that was wrong, and use the royal assent later today to repeal the increase to Hydro bills that he's rammed down the throats of Manitoba ratepayers? Hon.

Brian Pallister (Premier): The NDP record, Madam Speaker, in government is testament to their dislike and disdain for Manitoba small businesses. Manitoba small-business people understand that. The problem the NDP faces now is they can't get their story straight; they have no plan; they just stoke fear and panic and put it on display. Our Minister of Central Services (Mr. Helwer)– [interjection]–the member from St. Johns knows that our Minister of Central Services faced the challenge of–[interjection] Madam Speaker: Order. Mr. Pallister: –and we know have six months of PPE ready to go.

Our Minister of Families (Mrs. Stefanson) has made extra funds available for front-line workers working with families, working with children. Our Minister of Health's made sure we have adequate staffing at all points in our health response and in our testing response, Madam Speaker. You know we've quadrupled our testing, shortened our turnaround time and maintained our systems for tracking and strengthened them with additional staff. We faced every challenge every step of the way together, while the NDP attacked civil servants and front-line workers. Shame on them.

Madam Speaker: The honourable Leader of the Official Opposition, on a final supplementary. Rent Control Program Request to Implement Mr. Wab Kinew (Leader of the Official Opposition): You know, Madam Speaker, the Premier likes to look in the mirror and imagine that that's what really matters right now. But we know that standing up for Manitobans is what actually matters . It's not about panicking. You know, I have a lot of respect for Candice Bergen, and so I take it seriously when she points out that the Premier here has panicked, is completed panicked, has abandoned all wisdom in the face of panic.

I take that serious ly, but I know what's really needed right now is somebody to stand up for the seniors like Deborah Kunkel. Now, what was this government's plan when it came to Deborah, on top of raising her hydro rates? Well, they decided hey, why don't we increase her rent by 30 per cent as well. That's $300 extra a month. Her pension isn't going up by 30 per cent, Madam Speaker. Will the Premier abandon the affordability crisis that he is manufacturing and foisting upon Manitobans and essentially create a rent contro l program that actually works for Manitobans? Hon.

Brian Pallister (Premier): Well, the advantage of the member being in the peanut gallery, Madam Speaker, is he always gets to pretend he's right when he looks in the mirror. I don't pretend we made every- thing–every single decision correctly. I don't pretend that any government is doing that. What I do tell you, Madam Speaker, is that – opposed to some of the members opposite –we're a team; we're ready to work together.

The members opposite are willing to say that we're going too fast and too slow; too high and too low; too broad and too narrow; too soon, too late; too few, too many; and that we should ignore the advice of the leading health experts and follow their advice. The last time I looked, there wasn't a doctor as the leader over there. We'll follow the advice of our health experts. We'll turn the corner together. We'll stand up for Manitobans, Madam Speaker. And m erry Christmas to Manitobans and all the people in this House and across this province who know that 2021 will be our chance to show and shine over COVID.

Thank you. [interjection]

December 3, 2020 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 1279 Madam Speaker: Order. Personal Protective Equipment Request for Distribution of New Supply MLA Uzoma Asagwara (Union Station): Madam Speaker, earlier this year, long-expired surgical masks were sent to facilities in health care, education and child care across the province. It took months for the Pallister government to recognize this mistake, and they put the burden for fixing this onto front -line workers.

Now we learn it wasn't just surgical masks but also 12-year-old N95 masks no longer certified by the manufacturer that were sent to multiple health regions, hospitals and personal-care homes. Why is the minister still, nine months into this pandemic, sending inappropriate personal protective equipment to our front-line workers? Hon.

Cameron Friesen (Minister of Health, Seniors and Active Living): Madam Speaker, in a rare moment of agreement, I would like the Opposition Leader to know that I also brought a list today, a list of issues that the opposition doesn't raise anymore: screening sites, because the number of screening sites for COVID -19 doubled in the last six weeks; wait times at screening sites, because there are 15 new sites and appointment tes ting has now eliminated lineups; Health Links wait times, where the volumes are up but the wait times were cut in half and then cut in half again; virtual tariffs, where we just expanded doctors' virtual tariffs for a third time and a million tariffs already performed.

Madam Speaker, I look forward to continuing on my list. [interjection] Madam Speaker: Order. Order. The honourable member for Union Station, on a supplementary question. MLA Asagwara: Madam Speaker, days away. That's how close this minister said his government was to running out of PPE this spring. Through lack of preparation, important supplies like N95 masks were in short supply. The govern- ment's panicked response to this was to buy $16 million worth of inappropriate mas ks that can't be used, and now nine months into this pandemic, facilities are receiving 12-year-old N95 masks.

This is serious, Madam Speaker: N95s that are used when folks come into contact with those with COVID-19. Will the minister commit to removing these masks today and getting new ones out to our health professionals? Mr. Friesen: Madam Speaker, this is serious: serious improvement in the way that our government has been responding to COVID -19 and keeping Manitobans safe. Lab testing, another issue the opposition won't raise anymore. Why? Because we doubled the number of lab tests in just one month.

Contact tracing, where we've added 350 new, trained callers, and 90 per cent of people now receive within 24 hours the notification–[interjection] Madam Speaker: Order. Mr. Friesen: –financial supports for front-line health- care workers, where we just–[interjection] Madam Speaker: Order. Mr. Friesen: –added retroactive pay for doctors and we just added increased pay for nurses being deployed; Red River training course for new health- care aides: over 100 people have been hired and more start work tomorrow. Madam Speaker, I look forward to continuing with my list.

Madam Speaker: The honourable member for Union Station, on a final supplementary. MLA Asagwara: Madam Speaker, as of today, we have a record number of patients in hospital with COVID-19. This week, we saw a record number of folks die from COVID-19. We have a record number of patients in ICU with COVID -19. This minister is failing, and he should stop bragging and start getting to work on behalf of our front -line health -care workers.

Madam Speaker, the minister sent boxes upon boxes to health- care regions of expired 12- year-old N95 masks –to our health- care workers, to our personal-care homes, to folks working in direct contact with those with COVID -19. He put their health at risk. That's a failure of this minister. * (14:20) Again, I ask: Will the minister remove these masks today and get new ones out to all of our health- care professionals? Mr. Friesen: Madam Speaker, I'm so sorry that the member only blames and gets angry by the improvements that are designed to keep Manitobans safe, but I assure them that–[interjection]

1280 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA December 3, 2020 Madam Speaker: Order. Order. Mr. Friesen: –Manitobans are encouraged by these continued improvements and the way our government is putting the care of Manitobans first. Other things that the opposition won't raise anymore: personal-care-home shelters, where all the shelters are now constructed and the last ones are being delivered to site; rapid tests, where our Premier (Mr. Pallister) today announced $40 million more for– [interjection] Madam Speaker: Order. Mr. Friesen: –rapid testing.

And, Madam Speaker, I only regret this Christmas season I won't even be able to get to the issues of PPE, dedicated sites for health- care workers and mental health response. Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh. Mr. Friesen: And as we meet the n eeds of Manitobans with their mental health issues, they yell– Madam Speaker: The member's time has expired. [interjection] Order. Order. I'm going to ask everybody. I need to be able to hear, and I haven't been able to hear all of the comments that are being made in this question period, so I'm asking for everybody's co-operation.

There's heckling and there's yelling, and yelling is something that is just so unproductive–as is heckling, but the yelling is making it very, very difficult for me to hear. So I'm going to ask for everybody's co - operation, please. Get –if everybody could get in the Christmas spirit, that might help get us through the rest of the day. The honourable member for St. Johns. [interjection] The honourable member for Notre Dame. Internationally Educated Nurses Barriers to Certification Ms.

Malaya Marcelino (Notre Dame): Madam Speaker, I have asked the Health Minister many times in this House to remove unfair barriers for internationally educated nurses so that they can join the fight against COVID. Last week, the Health Minister said that the barriers had been removed; however, the College of Registered Nurses said that it's waiting on a ministerial order. Will the minister stand up and tell the House why he continues to mislead this House and why he is delaying action amidst a pandemic to get qualified nurses on the job today? Hon.

Cameron Friesen (Minister of Health, Seniors and Active Living): Now, the member should try to do more careful preparation in advance of question period. They are, once again, wrong. The ministerial order that she speaks of was signed and off of my desk days and days and days ago. Madam Speaker: The honourable member for Notre Dame, on a supplementary question. [interjection] Order. The honourable member for –[interjection] Order. The honourable member for Notre Dame, on a supplementary question. Ms. Marcelino: Madam Speaker, our province is in a critical nursing shortage.

Top public health officials have identified that health staffing shortages continue to be our chief vulnerability in this fight against this pandemic. We desperately need all the nurses we can to join the fight against COVID. We have dozens of qualified nurses with job offers in hand ready to work, but they cannot because this minister is not acting on this important issue. Will the minister commit to immediately grant the ministerial order requested so that qualified nurses can get to work today? Mr. Friesen: Madam Speaker, with respect to the member, her statements are false; her information is erroneous.

The nurses have been validated by the college. This issue has been resolved. And I understand that the nurses themselves are moving already into work - force as early as tomorrow or Monday. This has been resolved. I ask the member to move on because we've solved this one. Madam Speaker: The honourable member for Notre Dame, on a final supplementary. Ms. Marcelino: The process for credential recognition in Manitoba has too many barriers. It has driven away 23,188 skilled new immigrants and their families in the last three years under this PC government's watch.

Due to unfair barriers set up by regulatory colleges, nurses are part of this out -migration and

December 3, 2020 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 1281 have left to practise in other provinces. This will continue to be a problem for Manitoba if we do not address inequities in our nursing qualification process. Will the minister commit today to working with the nursing colleges to create a fair and affordable nursing qualification process? The nursing colleges do not take my phone calls. They'll take your phone calls. You fix this with the colleges, Minister. Madam Speaker: Just a reminder to the member for Notre Dame that questions are not to be put in the first person. She was just doing that.

They are to be put in the third person. We have that rule in place for a very specific reason and just a reminder and a request to her to please follow that request. Mr. Friesen: The member is still a day late and a dollar short. The issue is resolved. She has erroneous information; she should get caught up. I just listed today in the House 10, 12 different areas where our government has taken action.

I only regret that I was not able to include the issue of internationally educated nurses, where the NDP for years and years did nothing, and we are working with the college to get nurses that we need now more than ever into our work stream. That's our pledge. That's our promise. We'll get it done. Legislative Session Government Intention Ms. Nahanni Fontaine (St. Johns): The House rises today, Madam Speaker, and the Pallister government is still hiding its plans for Manitobans to review.

No other government in Canada has ever conducted itself in this fashion with its agenda hidden out of view for citizens to see. It's unprecedented in the history of this province and across the country. Why is the Pallister government hiding its true intentions? Hon. Brian Pallister (Premier): Frankly, Madam Speaker, I appreciate any question from that member on cover-ups. I mean, the re was no evidence of any work done, but a paycheque was cashed every two weeks for about seven years. Madam Speaker, in terms of health, in terms of our health plans–[interjection] Madam Speaker: Order. Mr.

Pallister: –we've made those public. The NDP was given–[interjection] Madam Speaker: Order. Mr. Pallister: –detailed recommendations on how to improve our emergency services, for example, and the report sat unused for years. Madam Speaker, we've advanced plans to improve our health services, plans to improve our education services, plans that are improving our Child and Family Services. We're going to continue to clean up the mess we inherited from the NDP and that member. Madam Speaker: The honourable member for St. Johns, on a supplementary question. Ms.

Fontaine: The Premier can't even hide his anti - Indigenous racism anymore when he attacks an Indigenous woman from 2016 in this Chamber every opportunity that he has. And we know that there are so many issues the Pallister government is hiding from the public. Their plans to privatize child care and their means to enact it are hidden from view. Their education review and the overhaul of the system is closed in the trunk of the Education Minister's vehicle. Their plans to change police account ability is locked in the Justice Minister's suitcase.

Their plans to overhaul the right of the press and the public to gain access locked away out of view. Why is this government hiding its true intentions? Mr. Pallister: While I was working for years wi th Indigenous women to advance the cause of Indigenous women, the member was leading shout - downs to shout down the pleas of Indigenous woman at House of Commons committee meetings and bragging about it to her friends. If anyone wants to talk about a hidde n agenda in racism, the member's an expert on those things.

The do-good-ignorant-white-people memo was sent not to anyone else, but to that member, and she had no response. She didn't stand up against racism when she had the opportunity. We are. We're advancing initiatives for improving the safety of people in our workplace,

whereas the members opposite covered those up for years. It was no evidence of any attempt on the part of the previous government to protect people, including civil servants. Some oppressive behaviour on the part of senior people in their own government –they were told to tough it out; they were told to suck it up. Madam Speaker, we're taking initiatives forward that are

1282 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA December 3, 2020 protecting people and helping people, and we're going to keep doing that. * (14:30) Madam Speaker: The honourable member for St. Johns, on a final supplementary. Ms. Fontaine: Obviously, the Premier's upset that his full racism is on display today, not only in the House here, but in his press conference. It's not my fault he's racist, Madam Speaker. The government must be ashamed of its own priorities. Otherwise, Madam Speaker, they would have presented them proudly.

Instead, they want to stifle debate and limit public awareness because their agenda is privatization and their agenda is cuts. This is shameful. Why is the Pallister government hiding its true intentions? Mr. Pallister: Our intention is to work in partnership with people, including Indigenous people. That's what we've done, Madam Speaker. The previous NDP government used their plane to go up to The Pas so that they could promise people jobs in Hydro up there in order to get votes in a leadership contest that they had–that they self - imposed on themselves because of a rebellion, Madam Speaker.

That's how much the NDP acted like they valued Indigenous people: false promises about jobs that Indigenous people needed. [interjection] Madam Speaker: Order. Mr. Pallister: We're creating jobs. We're partnering with Indigenous communities on pulp and paper development, on mining and resource extraction initiatives, Madam Speaker. We got people home to the Interlake and the Indigenous communities where they were out of their communities for half a decade, and the NDP said nothing and did nothing about it. Madam Speaker, we don't need lessons from that member, especially, on issues around racist equality.

We fight for the opportunity for equality for all people, including our Indigenous people in this province. Madam Speaker: I would just remind members that are joining us virtually that there is no opportunity that allows members to unmute their mics to heckle. There is a clear directive that went out to everybody that there is no heckling to occur. That would just complicate this whole process way beyond what is already happening. So, just a reminder to members. Manitoba Hydro Government Relations Mr. Adrien Sala (St.

James): Day by day, one thing is becoming clear: the Premier does not want Manitobans to know what he's doing at Hydro. Since September, the Premier has privatized a profitable subsidiary of Hydro. He's inexplicably ordered another subsidiary to stop work. He's frozen the wages of hundreds of Hydro workers and then, without any consultation, he rammed through a rate hike at four in the mor ning in the hopes Manitobans wouldn't notice. On this side of the House, we know where we stand: for good jobs, low rates and a publicly owned Hydro. And we will continue to fight for it.

Why is the Premier attacking our most important Crown corporation? Hon. Brian Pallister (Premier): In the face of pressure, Madam Speaker, some rise and some don't, and that member makes it clear that he's not rising to the challenge of being accurate in his

preambles or in any of his assertions. The NDP hydro rate increases were, in 2012, 4.4 per cent, and in '13, 3.5 per cent. And now they complain about a 2.9 per cent increase now. Actually, under the NDP, the average increase in hydro bills was 16 and a half per cent higher than the one that we're putting in on an interim basis while we develop– [interjection] Madam Speaker: Order. Mr.

Pallister: –legislation to protect Manitobans' interests in Manitoba Hydro from any future government that can never again be able to do the things the NDP did: to quintuple the debt of Manitoba Hydro and Americanize it without permission from the people of Manitoba. Madam Speaker: The honourable member for St.– [interjection] Order. The honourable member for St. James, on a supplementary question. Mr. Sala: The Premier has spent the entire pandemic attacking our most important Crown corporation. He's demanded hundreds of job cuts from Hydro in the spring, then he cut the wages of thousands of workers.

Now he's carving up and privatizing parts of Hydro that help to keep rates low, and he's making every

December 3, 2020 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 1283 single family and every single business in this pro- vince pay more, in the middle of a pandemic, just in time for the holidays. He's totally and completely disconnected from the realities facing Manitobans. On this side of the House, we don't agree with his actions and we will continue to stand up and speak out against the Premier's plans. Will he reverse his cuts and rake heights at Hydro today? Mr. Pallister: If the member wants to further his leadership aspirations, he's got to do a lot better than that, Madam Speaker.

You know, the NDP has opposed every tax reduction that this government has brought in, and there've been many of them, including opposing taking the PST off people's home insurance, Madam Speaker. Shamefully, the NDP actually added the PST to people's insurance when they insured against loss– tragic loss of their most important asset. Now the member tries to launch–[interjection] Madam Speaker: Order. Mr. Pallister: –a leadership campaign by claiming that he cares about the people of Manitoba, when the NDP actually opposed every tax reduction that we brought forward, including giving $200 to seniors in need.

So, Madam Speaker, the member speaks about issues he knows nothing about. We know something about putting money on the kitchen tables of Manitobans. The NDP are just expert at taking the money off. Madam Speaker: The honourable member for St. James, on a final supplementary. Mr. Sala: So says the Premier who snuck through a rate increase in the dark of night in a piece of legislation that was guaranteed passage. The Premier's smokescreens do not fool anyone. It's clear by now what the Premier's political agenda is for Hydro. [interjection] Madam Speaker: Order. Mr.

Sala: He's going to interfere to rai se rates for families and cut good- paying jobs. He's going to interfere to break up and lay the groundwork to privatize key aspects of Hydro. He's going to interfere without telling Manitobans. He'll attack and use questionable tactics to silence anyone wh o opposes him. We're committed to stopping this agenda because it makes life harder for regular people, workers and families across this province. Will the Premier back off and stop interfering in Manitoba Hydro? Mr. Pallister: I have no desire to silence Manitobans and certainly no desire to silence the member opposite.

Foolishness should be put on display, and the member does it every time he rises in his place. When he rises in his place to attack an–a civil servant in our government's employ who is leading the fight– [interjection] Madam Speaker: Order. Mr. Pallister: –against COVID-19, he demonstrates his own desperation, his own futile attempt, okay, to put himself ahead of everyone else, his disrespect for people in positions of difficulty and stress.

He does that, Madam Speaker, at his peril, when he opposes and his opposition colleagues oppose Seniors Economic Recovery Credit, when they oppose the MPI rebates, when they oppose Disability Economic Support Program, Manitoba Bursary Program, taking the PST off home insurance and instead, Madam Speaker–[interjection] Madam Speaker: Order. Mr.

Pallister: –and instead, Madam Speaker, they stand here and pay lip service to supporting the people of Manitoba while we actually put money on the kitchen tables of Manitoba families and small businesses. [interjection] Madam Speaker, they have nothing but heckling to offer. We offer real supports at a time when they're needed. Manitoba Network Contract Matter Under Consideration Mr. Dougald Lamont (St. Boniface): On October 14th, the Premier rose to the defence of a public servant, saying that he was only ever following his own and Cabinet's orders to a T.

Now, in the last years, Bell MTS and its companies like Epic have received over $570 million in contracts, including a $64 million sole -sourced contract from August 2019, which I table. Now, the Premier argued that that public servants' assets were registered with the Conflict of Interest Commissioner, but when we submitted a freedom of information request, we were denied. But I do table our FIPPA as long–along with a Bell MTS merger contract that

1284 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA December 3, 2020 shows that that public official at one point owned many shares in that company. Can the Premier confirm that the president of the Treasury Board no longer has any financial interest in Bell MTS or BCE? Madam Speaker: Order. Order. Order, please. Could the table please stop the clock. I'm going to remind members that when issues are taken under consideration in a matter of privilege, those issues cannot be raised in the House.

And I am going to remind members that the–this topic that they are choosing to go down right now cannot be asked in the House because that matter of privilege hasn't been decided yet. And I'm going to indicate to the member that he cannot be as king about that particular topic because it is under advisement. * (14:40) And I'm going to remind all honourable members to keep this in mind, as we go forward, with all matters of privilege. Until I bring back a ruling, those –the specifics related to t hose matters of privilege cannot be asked. So the member is going to have to, I think, come up with a new question.

I think he–the member has a– that member–can I just ask the table officers how long the member from St. Boniface went? Oh, the mem - ber's time has expired from asking his question, so he does not get a chance to re-ask. Hon. Brian Pallister (Premier): Madam Speaker, not to respond to the specifics of the allegation except to say that sometimes people sink under pressure, and the member's sinking almost as fast as the member for St. James (Mr. Sala).

To try to attack a civil servant with no data, no research done, to make false allegations, to impugn the integrity of someone who is in–not in a position to defend themselves, this is beyond contempt. The member should be ashamed of himself. Madam Speaker: The–I would ask the table to turn off the clock. Just a reminder to all members, and in the Premier's comments just now, there can be no reference at all in any responses either to this issue that has not been resolved yet. So the honourable member for St. Boniface, on a supplementary question. Bell MTS Merger Government Consultations Mr. Dougald Lamont (St.

Boniface): My questions are about–more broadly, about Bell MTS. So, one of this government's first decisions on being elected in 2016 was whether to support or oppose the Bell MTS merger. And would it seem the Premier has often sided with Bell MTS, even if it means costing Manitobans more money. Now many warned that the Bell MTS merger would cost consumers more, but the Premier was fine with that. Service didn't get better; it got worse. A nd when the CRTC said carriers needed to improve rural service, the Premier sided with Bell MTS against Manitobans.

Now I tabled documents showing the former chair of the PC Manitoba Fund was co-counsel on the Bell MTS merger. Did the Premier ever disc uss the Bell MTS merger with him? Hon. Brian Pallister (Premier): Again, Madam Speaker, the issue the member raises is the renewal of a contract with Bell to provide connectivity services– electronic communication services within govern - ment.

This was th e renewal of a contract that was signed a decade ago, untendered, by the previous NDP government, and it was renewed at a time for a term under the same cost base as the previous contract the NDP signed. [interjection] Madam Speaker: Order. Mr. Pallister: The member is basing this allegation– this innuendo–on that renewal of that contract. Is the member suggesting that, in this time of COVID, that this is a wise time for us to be tendering for electronic service throughout government? Because if he is, he is–[interjection] Madam Speaker: Order. Mr.

Pallister: –totally out of touch with the reality of this unprecedented situation–[interjection] Madam Speaker: Order. Mr. Pallister: If that is what the member for St. Johns (Ms. Fontaine) is suggesting, she should put it on the record rather than heckle from her seat. Madam–[interjection] Madam Speaker: Order. Order.

December 3, 2020 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 1285 Mr. Pallister: –Speaker, people here are focused on this side of the House on fighting COVID. I am entirely unsure, and I'm sure Manitobans are, as to what the heck the member for St. Boniface– Madam Speaker: The member's time has expired. [interjection] The member's time has expired. [interjection] The member's time has expired. The honourable member for St. Boniface, on a final supplementary. Clerk of the Executive Council Federal Oliphant Inquiry Mr. Dougald Lamont (St. Boniface): It seems that the Premier doth protest too much.

When I asked about PC fundraisers possibly benefiting from the Bell MTS merger –its executive council–the Premier responded by saying, quote, give me all that Liberal scandal stuff. However, we submitted a FIPPA for it, but no records exist. It's also surprising, Madam Speaker, giving that the Premier's pick for Clerk of the Executive Council, David McLaughlin, was at the centre of a scandal that was a subject of a 450 -page federal Oliphant inquiry into $300,000 in cash that Karlheinz Schreiber gave to Brian Mulroney. Mr. McLaughlin was in charge of the Bear Head Project that was the subject of that inquiry.

Was the Premier aware of Mr. McLaughlin's role, or is that why he hired him? Madam Speaker: The–[interjection] Order. Hon. Brian Pallister (Premier): Totally missing the point, Madam Speaker. SNC -Lavalin, Jody Wilson - Raybould–and all the member wants to talk about now is Karlheinz Schreiber. Okay. While we stay focused –some rise –over here, these members are rising to the challenge of facing COVID together; some sink –the member opposite is sinking faster than a stone. Small-Business Support Government Initiatives Mr.

James Teitsma (Radisson): I think we can hopefully end this question period on a better note. I can note than nine out of 10 Canadians working in the private sector are employed by small business. Small businesses are the backbone of Manitoba's economy, and COVID-19 has had devastating effects across all sectors, and small businesses are not immune. Small businesses have been forced to find new ways to operate in light of life -saving public-health orders.

So can the Minister of Economic Development and Training please update this House on how our government continues to support small businesses as they innovate and as they adapt through COVID-19? Hon. Ralph Eichler (Minister of Economic Development and Training): Today, we announced $1.5 million that will support chambers' networks to enhance grassroots local programs across the pro- vince, including support for goodlocal.ca. In addition, we evolved our gap program to allow access to federal supports, up -front wage subsidy. Cash is flowing out the door.

We're amplifying the shop-local message through #ShopLocalMB digital campaign, and we're pro viding $5,000 up front to bridge funding to eligible businesses. This is how team Manitoba works to stand up for and support and save small businesses. I invite mem- bers opposite to get on board with this program. Madam Speaker: The time for oral questions has expired. Speaker's Ruling Madam Speaker: And I have a ruling for the House. On March 17th, 2020, the honourable member from St.

Vital raised a matter of privilege regarding the government's use of omnibus legislation and how that has obstructed members' ability to do their jobs. The member concluded by moving, and I quote, "that this matter be referred to a committee of the Legislature". End quote. The honourable Government House Leader (Mr. Goertzen) and the honourable member for River Heights (Mr. Gerrard) also spoke to the matter of privilege before the Deputy Speaker took the matter under advisement. I thank all honourable members for their advice to the Chair.

As members know, two conditions must be met in order to establish a prima facie case of privilege. First, was the issue raised at the earliest opportunity and, second, has sufficient evidence been provided to de - monstrate that the privileges of the House have been breached. The honourable member argued for a broad

interpretation of the timeliness condition, referencing the need for contextual analysis in a holistic sense. Upon review, I am unconvinced by his argument and,

1286 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA December 3, 2020 accordingly, I am ruling that the test of timeliness was not met. Regarding the second issue, as members know, a matter concerning the methods by which the House proceeds in the conduct of business is a matter of order, not privilege. Joseph Maingot, in the second edition of Parliamentary Privilege in Canada, states on page 14 that, and I quote, allegations of breach of privilege by a member in the House that amount to complaints about procedures and practices in the House are, by their very nature, matters of order. End quote.

With the greatest of respect then, I rule that the matter raised does not fulfill the criteria of a prima facie case of privilege. Speaker's Statement Madam Speaker: And I also have a brief statement for the House. As the House is expected to adjourn later today for our winter break, I would encourage all members to remove the contents of their desks today. I would further encourage members to recycle as much of the material as possible. The blue bins here in the C hamber are designated for recycling of Hansard only.

Any other material you would like to recycle may be placed in the larger recycling con - tainers in the message rooms located just outside the Chamber. Thank you. * (14:50) PETITIONS Vivian Sand Facility Project–Clean Environment Commission Review Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): I wish to present the following petition to the Legislative Assembly. The background to this petition is as follows: The Vivian sands project is a proposed silica sand mine and processing plant to be built in the RM of Springfield.

The overall project includes mining claims of over 85,000 hectares, making it the largest claim ever given to a single company in Manitoba's history. It is larger than the city of Winnipeg, which is four thousand–46,410 hectares.

(2) The amount of dry, solid sand mined or produced last year–per year according to the EAP is 1.36 million tons, and much of this sand will be used in fracking. A major concern of the proposed mine and plant is tha t, if developed, it could contaminate the Sandilands aquifer, including both carbonate and sandstone aquifers, which covers much of south- eastern Manitoba. It has excellent water quality and is the water source for tens of thousands of Manitobans, including many municipal water systems, agriculture, industry, private wells and an abundance of wildlife and ecosystems.

Further, people in the Indigenous communities that are potentially affected by this were not afforded the required Indigenous consultation from either federal or provincial government officials. The sustainable yield of the combined sandstone and carbonate aquifers has still not yet been established by provincial authorities. The mine could cause leaching of acid and heavy metals and pollu te the aquifer, as it will go down 200 feet into the Winnipeg formation of the sandstone aquifer.

There is concern that the shale, which separates the carbonate and sandstone aquifers –sand and pyritic oolite itself contains sulphides–will, when exposed to injected air from the CanWhite Sands extraction process, turn to acid. An additional concern with the proposed mine and plant is the potential to pollute the Brokenhead River and the aquatic food chain leading to Lake Winnipeg.

Residents in the area have expressed fears of being overexposed to silica dust during production, as there has been a demonstrated lack of safety and environmental procedures by the CanWhite Sands Corporation during the exploratory drilling phase. Signage and fencing has been po or; identifying and required mine claim tags were missing; there were no warnings for silica dust exposure and no coverings to prevent exposure of the silica stockpiles to the elements. Residents' concerns include the fact that boreholes, which should hav e been promptly and properly sealed, were left open for a year.

The drilling of hundreds of improperly sealed boreholes yearly create significant risk of surface contamination, mixing of aquifer waters and drainage of 'surcal' fecal matter into the aquifer. There is also a risk of subsidence around each borehole as a result of sand extraction.

December 3, 2020 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 1287 There is also a –potential transboundary issues that need to be addressed as the aquifers extend into Minnesota. This project should not proceed, as no licensing conditions and mitigation measures will alleviate the risk to all Manitobans and the environment since CanWhite Sands Corporation plans to use an unprece- dented mining technique with no established safe outcome.

The corporation has gone on record indicating that it does not know how to mine for the silica in the water supply and needs to develop a new extraction methodology that has never been done before. Contamination of the aquifers and the environ- ment is irreversible and there are many surface sources of high purity silica that can be extracted without endangering two essential regional aquifers. We petition the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as follows:

(1) To urge the provincial government to undertake a combined review of the Vivian Sand Facility processing plant and the mining/extraction portion of the operation as a class 3 development with a review of Manitoba's Clean Environment Commission to include public hearings and participant funding.

(2) To urge the provincial government to halt a ll activity at the mine and plant until the Clean Environment Commission's review is completed and the project proposal has been thoroughly evaluated. Signed by Henryka Schroeder, Jamie Kazmanski [phonetic] and James [phonetic] McEwan and many others. Thank you. Merci. Miigwech. Madam Speaker: In accordance with our rule 133(6), when petitions are read they are deemed to be received by the House. The honourable member for Tyndall Park, on a petition. Cochlear Implant Program Ms.

Cindy Lamoureux (Tyndall Park): I wish to present the following petition to the Legislative Assembly. The background to this petition is as follows: People who suffer hearing loss due to aging, illness, employment or accident not only lose the ability to communicate effec tively with friends, relatives or colleagues; they also can experience unemployment, social isolation and struggles with mental health.

A cochlear implant is a life -changing electronic device that allows deaf people to receive and process sounds and spee ch, and also can partially restore hearing in people who have severe hearing loss and who do not benefit from conventional hearing aids. A processor behind the ear captures and processes sound signals which are transmitted to a receiver implanted into the skull that relays the information to the inner ear. The technology has been available since 1989 through the central speech of hearing clinic, founded in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The Surgical Hearing Implant Program began implanting patients in the fall of 2011 and marked the completion of 250 cochlear implant surgeries in Manitoba in the summer of 2018. The program has implanted about 60 devices since the summer of 2018, as it is only able to implant about 40 to 45 devices per year. There are no upfront costs to Manitoba residents who proceed with cochlear implant surgery, as Manitoba Health covers the surgical procedure, internal implant and the first external sound processor. Newfoundland and Manitoba have the highest estimated implantation costs of all provinces.

Alberta has one of the best programs with Alberta aids for daily living, and their cost share means the patient pays only approximately $500 out of pocket. Assistive Devices Program in Ontario covers 75 per cent of the cost, up to a maximum amount of $5,444, for a cochlear implant replacement speech processor. The BC Adult Cochlear Implant Program offers subsidized replacements to aging sound processors through the Sound Processor Replacement Program. This provincially funded program is available to those cochlear implant recipients whose sound processors have reached six to seven years old.

The cochlear implant is a lifelong commitment. However, as the technology changes over time, parts of the software become no longer functional or available. The cost of upgrading a cochlear implant in Manitoba of approximately $11,000 is much more expensive than in any other provinces, as adult patients are responsible for the upgrade costs of their sound processor. In Manitoba, pediatric patients, who are eligible for funding assistance through the Cochlear Implant

1288 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA December 3, 2020 Speech Processor Replacement Program, which pro - vides up to 80 per cent of the replacement costs associated with a device upgrade. It is unreasonable that this technology is inaccessible to many citizens of Manitoba who must choose between hearing and deafness due to financial constraints because the costs of maintaining the equipment are prohibitive for low -income earners or those on a fixed income, such as old age pension or Employment and Income Assistance.

We petition the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as follows: To urge the provincial government to provide financing for upgrades to the cochlear implant covered under medicare, or provide funding assist - ance through the Cochlear Implant Speech Processor Replacement Program to assist with the replacement costs associated with a device upgrade. This petition has been signed by many Manitobans. Madam Speaker: Does the member for Elmwood (Mr. Maloway) wish to read his petition? No? We will move on then to grievances? And then orders of the day. ORDERS OF THE DAY GOVERNMENT BUSINESS House Business Hon.

Kelvin Goertzen (Government House Leader): I hope to indulge the House of a series of matters before calling government business. Madam Speaker, I move, seconded by the member for St. Johns (Ms. Fontaine), that the fees paid with respect to–I will first, before I do a motion, as the severe instr uction from the–and–but also very wise instruction from the clerk's desk, make a com - mittee announcement.

On House business: would you like to–I'd like to announce that Standing Committee on Legislative Affairs will meet on Monday, January 11th, 2021, at 1 p.m. to consider the following report: the annual report of the Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth for the fiscal year ending March 31st, 2020. Madam Speaker: It has been announced that the Standing Committee on Legislative Affairs will meet on Monday, January 11th, 2021 at 1 p.m. to consider the following report: Annual Report of the Manitoba Advocate for Children and Youth for the fiscal year ending March 31st, 2020. * (15:00) Mr.

Goertzen: I'd like to announce that, in addition to the report previously referred, that the report titled Proposal to Modify the Voting Process will be considered at the December 7th, 2020 meeting of the Standing Committee on Legislative Affairs. Madam Speaker: It has been announced, in addition to the report previously referred, that the report titled Proposal to Modify the Voting Process will also be considered at the December 7th, 2020 meeting of the Standing Committee on Legislative Affairs. Mr. Goertzen: I'm going to be asking for leave for an extension of the current Sessional Order.

However, in co-ordination with both the Official Opposition House Leader (Ms. Fontaine) and the member for River Heights (Mr. Gerrard), I do want to provide a few words of context. While the Sessional Order deals with issues of virtual participation as a way to ensure safety for the staff and members of this Assembly and the Manitoba Legislature, it is the desire and the intention of all political parties and members to return as many sitting members to the Assembly as soon as is possible, given the current health situation.

So, while we are seeking to extend the Sessional Order, we all recognize that this is not our desired state, and we will continue to meet with public health officials and seek advice as the pandemic develops, and if we are able to return more members to the Assembly prior to June 1st of 2021, that is the desire and the intention of all of us. Therefore, in accordance with

section 36 of the Sessional Order passed by this House on October 8th, 2020, and amended on November 19th, 2020, I'm seeking leave of the House to further amend that same Sessional Order so that in the first paragraph, December 3rd, 2020 is replaced by June 1st, 2021. For clarity of the House, this would mean that all of the provisions of this Sessional Order would remain in effect until June 1st, 2021, rather than expiring today. Madam Speaker: Is there leave to further amend the Sessional Order passed by this House on October 8th, 2020, and amended on November 19th, 2020, so that in the first paragraph, December 3rd, 2020 is replaced by June 1st, 2021?

December 3, 2020 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 1289 Is there leave? [Agreed] Mr. Goertzen: Is there leave of the House to waive rule 137(2) to allow bills which have been introduced this session to be distributed to members inter - sessionally, specifically between December 4th, 2020 and March 2nd, 2021? For clarity, for each bill, the sponsoring minister would provide the usual written authorization to the Clerk of the Legislature; the Government House Leader will advise the Opposition House L eader and the member for River Heights (Mr. Gerrard) in writing that the bill has been authorized for distribution.

Once the authorization letter is received, the Clerk will distribute the bill in hard copy to the caucus offices and to the Legislative offices of the independ- ent members. The bill will also be sent electronically to all members. Madam Speaker: Is there leave to waive rule 130– An Honourable Member: No. Madam Speaker: I would prefer if members could wait 'til I actually ask if there's leav e before they weigh in on that.

Is there leave to waive rule 137(2) to allow bills which have been introduced this session to be dis - tributed to members intersessionally, specifically between December 4th, 2020 and March 2nd, 2021. For clarity for each bill, the sponsoring minister will provide the usual written authorization to the Clerk of the Legislature; the Government House Leader will advise the Opposition House Leader and the member for River Heights in writing that the bill has been authorized for distribution.

Once the authorization letter is received, the Clerk will distribute the bill in hard copy to the caucus offices and to the Legislative offices of the independent members. The bill will also be sent electronically to all members. Is there leave? Some Honourable Members: Agreed. An Honourable Member: No. Madam Speaker: Leave has been denied. * * * Mr.

Goertzen: I'm seeking leave for the House to not see the clock today until (1) the question is put on concurrence and third reading of Bi ll 7, 9, 42, 208, 218, 300 and 301; and (2) royal assent is granted to all bills that pass concurrence and third reading today, as well as Bill 4 and 211. Is there also leave (1) to allow a motion to be moved today without notice for the refund of fees related to Bill 301; and (2) for the Standing Committee on Social and Economic Development, scheduled to meet at 6 p.m. tonight, to not begin until the House has risen in the event that the House sits past 5 p.m.?

Madam Speaker: Is there leave for the House to not see the clock today until (1) the question is put on concurrence and third reading of Bill 7, 9, 42, 208, 218, 300 and 301; (2) royal assent is granted to all bills that pass concurrence and third reading today, as well as bills 4 and 211? Is ther e also leave (3) to allow a motion to be moved today without notice for the refund of fees related to Bill 301; and (4) for the Standing Committee on Social and Economic Development scheduled to meet tonight at 6 p.m., to not begin until the House has rise n in the event that the House sits past 5 p.m.?

Is there leave? [Agreed] Mr. Goertzen: I'll end where I accidentally began. GOVERNMENT MOTION Hon. Kelvin Goertzen (Government House Leader): So I move, seconded by the member for St. Johns (Ms. Fontaine), that the fees paid with respect to Bill 301, The Winnipeg Humane Society Foundation Incorporation Amendment Act, be refunded less the cost of printing. Motion presented. Madam Speaker: Is there any debate? No? Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion? [Agreed] I declare the motion carried. * * * Mr.

Goertzen: For business this afternoon, could you please call for a third reading Bill 7, The Planning Amendment Act; third reading of Bill 9, The Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act; third reading of Bill 42, The Remote Witnessing and Commissioning Act; third reading of Bill 208, The Wildlife Amendment Act; third reading of Bill 300, The United Church of Canada Amendment Act; third reading of Bill 218, The Som ali Heritage Week Act; and third reading of Bill 301, The

1290 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA December 3, 2020 Winnipeg Humane Society Foundation Incorporation Amendment Act. Madam Speaker: It has been announced that the House will consider the following bills this afternoon: 7, 9, 42, 208, 300, 218 and 301. CONCURRENCE AND THIRD READINGS Bill 7–The Planning Amendment Act Madam Speaker: I will therefore call concurrence and third reading of Bill 7, The Planning Amendment Act. Hon. Rochelle Squires (Minister of Municipal Relations): Madam Speaker, I move, seconded by the Minister of Education (Mr. Goertzen), that Bill 7, The Planning Amendment Act; Loi modifiant la

Loi sur l'aménagement du territoire, reported from the Standing Committee on Social and Economic Development, be concurred in and be now read f or a third time and passed. Motion presented. Ms. Squires: Madam Speaker, Bill 7 will amend The Planning Act to extend subdivision approving authority to the City of Brandon. This bill demonstrates that the government of Manitoba is committed to moder nizing planning processes, streamlining approval processes and reducing administrative burdens for municipalities.

Land-use planning is a partnership between the Province of Manitoba and municipalities and planning districts. The Province of Manitoba re tains a strong interest in planning and regional approaches to sustainable development and protecting our natural resources.

For example, preserving agricultural land, protecting water resources, maintaining the integrity of the provincial transportation network and miti - gating impacts of flooding are key areas of interest for our province. * (15:10) Amendments to The Planning Act under Bill 7 continue to uphold the provincial -municipal partner- ship in land- use planning while supporting greater local decision making on subdivisions for the City of Brandon. Mr.

Doyle Piwniuk, Deputy Speaker, in the Chair The city of Brandon is Manitoba's second largest urban centre, and demonstrates both a high capacity and competence in land use planning and develop- ment. This bill will allow Brandon to maintain sub- division approving authority independent of its membership in the current Brandon and Area Planning District, ensuring continuity of land- use planning services in the city as it transforms itself into the Keystone Planning District without Brandon as a member.

This proposed legislation responds directly to a request made by the City of Brandon seeking the same level of subdivision approving authori ty already granted in the city of Winnipeg. I also note that representatives from the City of Brandon, rural muni- cipality of Cornwallis and the rural municipality of Elton all presented in favour of Bill 7 at the standing committee held last Thursday even ing and called on all MLAs to pass this bill expeditiously.

The bill also authorizes the minister to make regulations designating other municipal councils as approving authorities and to establish eligibility requirements and conditions for when a counci l can approve subdivisions. This authority to approve subdivisions will be based on municipalities demon- strating that they have the capacity to meet the requirements and conditions to administer subdivision approvals in a professional and transparent manner. The Province of Manitoba's committed to continuing to engage with key stakeholders on the substance of the regulations that will be developed under Bill 7.

Overall, the proposed bill maintains the provincial-municipal partnership and land- use planning, while also recognizing greater local decision making on subdivisions for the City of Brandon and in times other authorized municipalities. I'm pleased to present Bill 7, The Planning Amendment Act, to the House for the third reading and call on all members to support the City of Brandon and the RMs of Elton and Cornwallis and pass this bill without delay. Mr.

Deputy Speaker, as this is my last moment to stand in this House before we rise for our winter break, I do want to take an opportunity to thank all the staff, the Speaker's–from the Speaker's office and all of our clerks here. I wish them a very happy holidays. I'd also like to extend my greetings to my critic, the member for Concordia (Mr. Wiebe), and wish him and his family a happy holiday sea son. And I'd also like to say to my friend from Union Station, who had showed incredible kindness at a time when it was most

December 3, 2020 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 1291 needed, for that I want to say thank you and wish them a happy winter holiday. Thank you. Mr. Matt Wiebe (Concordia): I just want to, before I begin, echo the comments of the Minister for Municipal Relations and wish her and her family a merry Christmas, to everybody in the House and the Chamber, especially to the staff, the clerks who have helped us get to where we are in terms of the technology and allowing us to participate as we have. Thanks to everybody for the work that they've done. I did want to put a few words on the record with regards to Bill 7.

I think it is an important piece of legislation and I'm glad that we are h ere now, you know, one could say at the eleventh hour of the legislative session, finally moving forward on this bill.

The minister noted that there has been quite a bit of a delay with this particular piece of legislation originally brought last year to the Legislature as a different bill and because of the actions of this govern- ment–the unwillingness, first of all, to call this bill and to prioritize it in last fall's session to get it done for the people of Brandon and then, of course, we saw in the beginning of this fall session a proroguement of the House and no ability to move that legislation forward.

We've been on the record in support of this legislation, and glad that the government is finally getting on board and finally moving forward with this to work with the people of Brandon. I won't spend too much time, Mr. Deputy Speaker, talking about the good people of Brandon because I know that the member for Fort Rouge (Mr. Kinew), our Leader of the Opposition, did so very well the last time this ca me during second reading. We certainly had a great opportunity during public committee to hear from folks in Brandon, from the RM of Cornwallis and from the RM of Elton.

And to express to them how much we appreciate the work that they're doing. We know that the Keystone Planning District will be successful, as it has been in the past in another format, and we support the work that they are doing and are happy to support it. The unfortunate part of all of this, of course, though, is that the same sort of l evel of co-operation that the government is now finally showing for the people of Brandon, they still refuse to show to the rest of the municipalities across Manitoba.

And, of course, I'm talking about, you know, the bills that this government is bringing forward with regards to planning. Now, the minister wants to indicate that this is some sort of, you know, partnership that they want to replicate, that they want to bring elsewhere to other relationships, but that's not the path that, in fact, they're taking. What they're, in fact, doing in other jurisdiction is not listening to those local elected officials on the ground.

They're not listening to those reeves and to those mayors in all the municipalities across Manitoba, and, in fact, they are trying t o push forward legislation that will take power away from those municipalities, and we think that's wrong. We know that Manitobans want a government that upholds virtues of consistency and transparency. So, while, of course, we don't oppose this particula r designation, we know that the minister is handing herself broad regulatory powers through this par - ticular bill. Manitobans would be better served, we believe, Mr.

Deputy Speaker, if instead they went to the people of Manitoba when changes like this are to be made and asked for their input and their support. Manitobans look to their government to ade - quately co-ordinate with members across all levels of government, and none are more important than the local governments across our province, but we know that the Premier (Mr. Pallister) and his government does not know how to foster these good relationships with those municipal governments. And they've, in fact, made things more difficult for them, and we hear this time and time again.

When we go out, we r each out to municipal leaders across this province, when we have a chance to meet with them and speak with them at the recent AMM convention happening–happened virtually this year, of course, Mr. Deputy Speaker, but still was a great opportunity to hear from our municipal friends. And we heard from them how things have been getting more difficult for them at their level of government. We know that operating grants have been frozen in municipalities since 2016.

We know that infrastructure spending, of course, continues to be underspent by hundreds of millions of dollars, and then when it comes to the community's ability to plan their own future, we know that this government does not respect local decision making. For instance, Mr. Deputy Speaker, in 2018 they passed Bill 19, the planning amendment act, which undermined local decision making around livestock operations.

The bill made it harder for local objections to be heard, and they made changes to local bylaws that made it so that large-scale livestock operations no longer required conditional-use or a zoning bylaw and

1292 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA December 3, 2020 any decisions that were made locally about large-scale livestock operations or aggregate quarry operations were then appealable to the Municipal Board. As we saw previously, in Bill 19, the Pallister govern ment values the development and the developers' concerns rather than the concerns of the local people and especially of the local elected officials in muni - cipalities.

We heard, certainly, on this issue and on so many others from local reeves and councillors who urge the government to not pull away and not step back on these responsibilities that they have. In this latest committee, Mr. Deputy Speaker, we heard Bill Courtice from the RM of Cornwallis, Ross Farley from the RM of Elton and Ryan Nickel from the City of Brandon. And all of them, you know, sort of came to the same, you know, thank you for finally getting moving on this. But you could tell that their concern goes much deeper than just this particular piece of legislation.

They' re happy that the government is finally moving on it, but they know first-hand the way that this government has worked, or the lack of work that's being done, with local municipalities across the province. And I'm sure that they have the same misgivings as the AMM has expressed and other municipalities have expressed with regards to Bill 37. And, you know Madam Speaker –Mr. Deputy Speaker, this is where, you know, most municipalities are focused right now, concerned about what the future will bring.

Again, this government is not willing to show its hand with regards to its legislation, broadly, but we know that Bill 37 is heavy -handed and it certainly gives more power to overrule local communities regarding development and expropriation. * (15:20) We know that, if it is passed, it takes away the power from local municipalities; it takes away the local voice of the municipalities; allow the minister to establish planning regions, including the composition of Winnipeg's capital region, simply by a stroke of a pen, by regulation.

It overrules the decision- making by having the municipal board have the final say with regards to key land use planning processes, such as zoning, zoning amendments, secondary plans, secon- dary plan amendments, conditional approvals, sub - divisions and development agreements.

You would think that, you know, this–you know, while this takes away the power from local muni - cipalities and gives it to the municipal board and to others, that this would be something that developers would be be hind, but even they are saying they're concerned about how that bill will impact their ability to get things done because they understand how important it is to have that local input. Bill 37 is universally opposed by communities across Manitoba, including the mayor of the City of Winnipeg, Brian Bowman. The capital region, the mayors and the reeves across Manitoba joined with him.

He said Bill 37 disenfranchises residents from having an equitable voice and is definitely a step backwards in terms of openne ss, transparency and accountability. This is just one example, Mr. Deputy Speaker, of how this government continues to not listen to the voices of our municipalities, to listen to the voices of our local elected officials, and it's been frustrating, I can tell you, from their perspective, that the minister continues not to listen and continues to push through that bad legislation.

But what I asked of the minister –I–in fact, I couldn't get an answer from her, so I asked the reeves and the representatives from the RMs and City of Brandon. I asked them exactly what was the process, how did you get this moving, what was the secret sauce that you guys used that made this actually work for your particular region. And, you know, they said that they opened up a l ine of communication; they reached out to departmental officials; they did ab- solutely everything that they could.

And even at best, even when they did the absolute best job of communicating with this government–this is a simple change, Mr. Deputy Speaker, a simple change that simply takes a structure that wasn't working and puts into law a structure that will work for this particular planning district–even at that point, they couldn’t get this moving forward and they couldn't get the government to react fast enough to have this in place for when they wanted to, which was January of 2020. So, as I said as I began, Mr.

Deputy Speaker, I'm glad that we can push the government here to get this moving–to get this bill moving forward. I'm glad that we can stand with the people of Brandon and of Westman to say that this is an important bill that we will support and we will e nsure it gets royal assent today so that they can move forward in the Keystone Planning District starting in January 2021, that we can move past this.

December 3, 2020 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 1293 And we will continue to stand with them as they oppose the further changes that they –that are hap - pening across the province more broadly with regards to municipal relations, while they stand opposed to the cuts that they've seen in their local municipalities, the freezes and the downloading of responsibility over and over again with no funding and no support. These are serious issues, Mr. Deputy Speaker. The official opposition will continue to stand with municipalities and represent their voices here in the Legislature.

We hope that the government will listen, will rescind or amend legislation as requested by the AMM and by municipalities and, maybe for once, listen to the people of the municipalities in Manitoba, the local elected officials, hear their voice in the Legislature and stand up for them rather than jamming through and taking back more power at every turn. So, with those few words, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I hope that this bill does move forward, that we move forward on royal assent and this moves forward today. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Mr.

Deputy Speaker, I want to congratulate the councils of the RM of Cornwallis, the RM of Elton and the City of Brandon for their ability to work together and to find an equitable and satisfactory way to move forward. This piece of legislation is a part of that pro cess, and it will allow the City of Brandon to look after its own subdivision and that is a good step forward. I think, overall, these are substantive and good changes.

I've talked to one of the councillors recently in Brandon who's very supportive of this initiative, and I think that it will benefit the people of the city of Brandon and the changes in terms of the planning district will benefit the RM of Cornwallis and the RM of Elton. So, thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for the opportunity to put a few wor ds on the record, and I look forward to many, many successful years ahead for the City of Brandon, for the RM of Cornwallis and for the RM of Elton. Thank you. Mr. Deputy Speaker: Any other further speakers?

Is the House ready for the question? [Agreed] The question before the House is the concurrence and third reading of Bill 7, The Planning Amendment Act. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion? Agreed? [Agreed] Bill 9–The Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act Mr. Deputy Speaker: So now we'll go on to Bill 9, The Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act. The honourable member for justice –or, no, the Minister for Justice. Hon. Cliff Cullen (Minister of Justice and Attorney General): I move, seconded by the Minister of Education (Mr.

Goertzen), that Bill 9, The Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act, reported from the Standing Committee on Justice, be concurred in and be now read for a third time and passed. Motion presented. Mr. Cullen: Just for the record, I do actually represent the community of justice, so you were correct on both occasions, Mr. Deputy Speaker. It is my pleasure to rise and give third reading to Bill 9, The Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act today.

This bill will allow our Province to join many others in a class-action lawsuit aimed at holding opioid manufacturers accountable for the damaging effects their products have had on the health and well-being of Manitobans. This bill is another step in our government's commitment to address mental health and addictions challenges in our province. I look forward to the sup- port of this House and the passage of this bill so that we can take on those companies that have created such significant and ongoing harm. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Ms. Nahanni Fontaine (St.

Johns): To put some final words on the record in respect of Bill 9. The other day when we were doing second reading, Deputy Speaker, of Bill 9, I had put a little bit of words on the record about my own mom. I had shared that and I wanted to share that, you know. Of course, I posted that video and, you know, in honour of my mom because, of course, it was her birthday two days later.

And in response, I had so many messages, kind messages, thoughtful messages, but I also had mes - sages from people that are struggling, that their own family members are struggling, including a young woman who her father died in July of an overdose. And I asked this young woman, I said, had your father been dealing with addictions for a long time and she said no, she said he had started dealing with addictions

1294 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA December 3, 2020 only in 2017. And so here's this young woman starting her path in her life and in, you know, three short years lost her father to addictions, to overdose. * (15:30) And so I want to bring her words into the House this afternoon and let her know how important she is and how important her father was and how her father deserved all the supports that he should have been entitled to. And that I lift her up for the courage of reaching out, and I lift her up for the courage of supporting her father.

I had other folks who reached out the me, including folks that are on the frontlines of addictions, working in some of our prevention organizations and harm reduction organizations, who shared with me that this year alone there's been over 4 00–based on their knowledge and research and being on the frontlines, there's been over 400 overdoses in Manitoba. And I want to take this opportunity to remind the House that the member for Point Douglas (Mrs. Smith) has been asking repeatedly in the House since we returned back in October if the Pallister government could provide the statistics on overdoses in Manitoba.

And to this very second–it is 3:31 on Thursday, December 3rd–we still haven't been offered that information. And that's critical information. You know, I know that, you know, like most Canadians, we've watched in awe the public health doctor in BC, who is just phenomenal. Like, on so many fronts, the way that she's handled the pandemic. But coupled with handling the pandemic, she's also talked about the overdoses that BC is dealing with. And she's done it in such a genuine, com - passionate, loving way.

And I commend her for that, because the families of–who are left behind deserve to have that recognition and citizens deserve to know what the statistics are in their particular province. And so, I ask the Pallister government. I ask those–the Health Minister, I ask them to release those statistics to Manitobans, so that Manitobans can see the effect of overdose in our province and the effe ct that it has in the lives of families like this young woman.

Finally, I just want to say as well, from all the people that reached out to me, I want to acknowledge each and every one of them, the commitment and dedication that they had and still have to their loved one. I said–in my second reading debate, I said, you know, when you're a family member dealing with a loved one who has addictions, you try everything, Deputy Speaker. You yell at them, you cry with them, you plead with them, you laugh with them, you rage with them, you give them all of the love that you have while trying to keep away that fear that we all intrinsically have.

And so, to all of those Manitobans, I want them to know that I see them and I hear them, and that I stand with them as we continue to fight for resources and supports and recognition for folks who are struggling with addictions. And again, I ask our Premier (Mr. Pallister), I ask our Health Minister to take this issue seriously and to put in the supports that are needed because we all deserve equity. We all deserve the ability to access those resources and those supports, regardless of whether or not we have addictions. And with that, I say miigwech. Hon.

Jon Gerrard (River Heights): I rise to speak to this bill, which is geared to allow Manitoba to join in a lawsuit together with British Columbia and a num - ber of other provinces, to seek payment from the large pharmaceutical companies who've been involved in selling and promoting opioids. It is right and proper that we do this, and that we try to recover some funds, which we can use to help those who have addictions and make sure that we have the right services and supports here.

But, as we do this, I think it is also really important that we don't let our focus shift from help - ing Manitobans who have addictions. Too many Manitobans have addictions. We need to collect better data on the number of people who have had overdoses and, further than that, the number of people who have addictions to opioids.

We need to co llect this information so that we have the information that we need to properly pursue this lawsuit, but we also need to have this information so that we can better address the opioid addiction and the problem of overdoses and ensure that we have better treatment and better care for those who have opioid addictions and that we have sufficient staff and resources to help those who have addictions. We need this information, in part, so that we have the information as to what the cost will be for treating these individuals properly and adequately. We need to know the number of health professionals.

We need to know the extent of the resources that we need. We are too low right now on staff treating addictions. We are

December 3, 2020 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 1295 too behind on the provision of adequate information but we certainly need, as we get into the lawsuit, a much better understanding of the real cost that the job that we need to do, which is to help and treat those who have addictions and to help them move beyond their addictions into a more productive lifestyle.

Unless we have that information on the costs that it will take to treat people properly and the resources– human resources and other resources that it will take– we will not be able to properly budget in the upcoming budget but, more than that , we need this information to properly pursue this lawsuit because if we under - estimate the cost of treating and helping people, then we will underestimate the amount of money that we're asking for from this lawsuit.

And so I call on this government to do this job properly, to make sure that they really have the proper information on what is needed to help and treat people adequately in terms of human resources, in terms of other resources and so that we can properly budget for this so that we can be ready with the lawsuit and give the courts the proper information for them to act in deciding what any settlement might be. So I say to the minister and to the government, please do your due diligence. Make sure that the information is there. Make sure that we know what the costs and the resources are to do the job properly.

We will be in a better position to pursue this lawsuit if we know the damage that has been done from the opioid addictions. We will know better to pursue this lawsuit if we know the costs of helping people adequately. We must have this information for the lawsuit but we must have this information to help people properly who have opioid addictions. There are too many who are still calling out for help. I get emails and messages and calls very fre - quently, including from Brandon, from Winnipeg and from elsewhere in rural Manitoba of the desperate needs of so many individuals. It is a tragic situation.

It is a difficult situation to deal with but that is what governments are there for: to deal with difficult circumstances, to help people adequately and to make sure that the resources and the human resources are there and that we can do the job that we need to do. Thank you. * (15:40) Mr. Deputy Speaker: Is there any further speakers? Is the House ready for the question? Some Honourable Members: Question. Mr. Deputy Speaker: The question before the House is concurrence and third reading of Bill 9, The Opioid Damages and Health Care Costs Recovery Act. Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion?

Agreed? [Agreed]. I declare the motion carried. DEBATE ON CONCURRENCE AND THIRD READINGS Bill 42–The Remote Witnessing and Commissioning Act (Various Acts Amended) Mr. Deputy Speaker: So now we'll go on to debate in concurrence of third reading of Bill 42, The Remote Witnessing and Commissioning Act , various acts amendment. It –we–on the –we have–the honourable member for Point Douglas (Mrs. Smith) has 13 minutes remaining. [interjection] Is there leave to have the bill remain standing? Some Honourable Members: No. Mr. Deputy Speaker: No? It was –leave has been denied. Any more speakers?

Is the House ready for the question? An Honourable Member: Question. Mr. Deputy Speaker: The question before the House is the concurrence and third reading of Bill 42, The Remote Witnessing and Commissioning Act (Various Acts Amended). Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion? Agreed? [Agreed]. I declare the motion carried. CONCURRENCE AND THIRD READINGS– PUBLIC BILLS Bill 208–The Wildlife Amendment Act (Protecting Property from Water and Wildlife Damage) Mr.

Deputy Speaker: So now, we'll go on to concurrence and third reading of Bill 208, The Wildlife Amendment Act (Protecting Property from Water and Wildlife Damage). Mr. Derek Johnson (Interlake-Gimli): I move, seconded by the member from Dauphin, that Bill 208, The Wildlife Amendment Act (Protecting Property

1296 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA December 3, 2020 from Water and Wildlife Damage), be reported from the Committee of the Whole and concurred in and now be read for a third time and passed. Mr. Dep uty Speaker: It has been moved by the honourable member for Interlake -Gimli (Mr. Johnson), seconded by the honourable member for Dauphin (Mr. Michaleski), that Bill 208, The Wildlife Amendment Act (Protecting Property from Water and Wildlife Damage), rep orted and from the Committee of the Whole, be concurred in and now read for the third time and passed. Mr.

Johnson: Bill 208 will amend The Wildlife Act to allow local authorities to make decisions on their watersheds with respect to natural debris accumu - lation. This is great legislation; let's get it moved. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker. Ms. Cindy Lamoureux (Tyndall Park): I don't have comments on this bill, Mr.

Document details

Collection	Manitoba — Debates (Hansard)
Citation	42-3-26b
Type	hansard
Volume / chapter	42nd 3rd hansardpdf 26b.pdf
Language	en
Format	pdf
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	b6925142f5f3b213086af2e13835aa275db5769f

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