Manitoba Hansard — Sitting 5 (40th Legislature, 4th Session)

40-4-5

Manitoba — Debates (Hansard)

Fourth Session - Fortieth Legislature of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba DEBATES and PROCEEDINGS Official Report (Hansard) Published under the authority of The Honourable Daryl Reid Speaker Vol. LXVII No. 5 - 1:30 p.m., Wednesday, November 26, 2014 ISSN 0542-5492

MANITOBA LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Fortieth Legislature Member Constituency Political Affiliation ALLAN, Nancy St. Vital NDP ALLUM, James, Hon. Fort Garry-Riverview NDP ALTEMEYER, Rob Wolseley NDP ASHTON, Steve, Hon. Thompson NDP BJORNSON, Peter, Hon. Gimli NDP BLADY, Sharon, Hon. Kirkfield Park NDP BRAUN, Erna, Hon. Rossmere NDP BRIESE, Stuart Agassiz PC CALDWELL, Drew, Hon. Brandon East NDP CHIEF, Kevin, Hon. Point Douglas NDP CHOMIAK, Dave, Hon. Kildonan NDP CROTHERS, Deanne, Hon. St. James NDP CULLEN, Cliff Spruce Woods PC DEWAR, Greg, Hon.

Selkirk NDP DRIEDGER, Myrna Charleswood PC EICHLER, Ralph Lakeside PC EWASKO, Wayne Lac du Bonnet PC FRIESEN, Cameron Morden-Winkler PC GAUDREAU, Dave St. Norbert NDP GERRARD, Jon, Hon. River Heights Liberal GOERTZEN, Kelvin Steinbach PC GRAYDON, Cliff Emerson PC HELWER, Reg Brandon West PC HOWARD, Jennifer Fort Rouge NDP IRVIN-ROSS, Kerri, Hon. Fort Richmond NDP JHA, Bidhu Radisson NDP KOSTYSHYN, Ron, Hon. Swan River NDP LEMIEUX, Ron, Hon. Dawson Trail NDP MACKINTOSH, Gord, Hon. St. Johns NDP MALOWAY, Jim Elmwood NDP MARCELINO, Flor, Hon.

Logan NDP MARCELINO, Ted Tyndall Park NDP MARTIN, Shannon Morris PC MELNICK, Christine Riel NDP MITCHELSON, Bonnie River East PC NEVAKSHONOFF, Tom Interlake NDP OSWALD, Theresa Seine River NDP PALLISTER, Brian Fort Whyte PC PEDERSEN, Blaine Midland PC PETTERSEN, Clarence Flin Flon NDP PIWNIUK, Doyle Arthur-Virden PC REID, Daryl, Hon. Transcona NDP ROBINSON, Eric, Hon. Kewatinook NDP RONDEAU, Jim Assiniboia NDP ROWAT, Leanne Riding Mountain PC SARAN, Mohinder The Maples NDP SCHULER, Ron St. Paul PC SELBY, Erin Southdale NDP SELINGER, Greg, Hon. St.

Boniface NDP SMOOK, Dennis La Verendrye PC STEFANSON, Heather Tuxedo PC STRUTHERS, Stan Dauphin NDP SWAN, Andrew Minto NDP WIEBE, Matt Concordia NDP WIGHT, Melanie, Hon. Burrows NDP WISHART, Ian Portage la Prairie PC Vacant The Pas

131 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA Wednesday, November 26, 2014 The House met at 1:30 p.m. Mr. Speaker: O Eternal and Almighty God, from Whom all power and wisdom come, we are assembled here before Thee to frame such laws as may tend to the welfare and prosperity of our province. Grant, O merciful God, we pray Thee, that we may desire only that which is in accordance with Thy will, that we may seek it with wisdom and know it with certainty and accomplish it per fectly for the glory and honour of Thy name and for the welfare of all our people. Amen. Good afternoon, everyone. Please be seated.

ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS INTRODUCTION OF BILLS Bill 5–The Police Services Amendment Act (First Nation Safety Officers) Hon. James Allum (Minister of Justice and Attorney General): I move, seconded by the Minister of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs (Mr. Robinson), that Bill 5, The Police Services Amendment Act (First Nation Safety Officers), be now read a first time. Motion presented. Mr. Allum : I'm pleased to introduce The Police Services Amendment Act for First Nation safety officers.

First Nations are faced with significant public safety challenges resulting from the federal government's unilateral decision to terminate the band constable program effective March 31st, 2015. This legislation will create a framework for First Nations to enter into agreements with Manitoba, Canada and the local policing authority to create First Nation safety officers. This will replace and improve upon the band constable program. Furthermore, Mr.

Speaker, this legislation also emphasizes a holistic community -based approach to First Nations policing which is adaptive to the diverse characteristics and needs of each individual First Nation community. Thank you. Mr. Speaker: Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion? [Agreed] Any further introductions of bills? Bill 6–The National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Act Hon. Ron Lemieux (Minister of Tourism, Culture, Heritage, Sport and Consumer Protection): I move, seconded by the Minister of Aboriginal and Northern Affairs (Mr.

Robinson), that Bill 6, The National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Act;

Loi sur le Centre national de recherche pour la vérité et la réconciliation, be now read for a first time. Motion presented. Mr. Lemieux: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is a significant undertaking and it is a prestigious honour that Manitoba will be home to the national research centre on Indian reside ntial schools. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established to bring about truth, healing and reconciliation.

It is important that these documents and personal stories be made available for survivors, researchers and others to learn about resid ential schools while respecting the privacy and dignity of those who shared their painful memories. This legislation will empower the University of Manitoba to manage the records so that they are appropriately accessible to promote engagement in regard to residential schools and other issues related to the colonization of indigenous peoples while respecting and protecting the highly sensitive personal information in some of those records. Mr.

Speaker: Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion? [Agreed] Any further introduction of bills? PETITIONS Mr. Speaker: Seeing none, we'll move on to petitions. Election Request Mr. Blaine Pedersen (Midland): I wish to present the following petition to the Legislative Assembly. The background to this petition is as follows:

(1) In 2015 the current provincial government will be in the fourth year of its mandate.

132 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA November 26, 2014

(2) There is a crisis of leadership unfolding on the government side of the House.

(3) According to media reports, the member for Minto stated that the Premier is more concerned about remaining leader than doing things in the best interests of the province.

(4) According to media reports, the member for Seine River stated, if you are in a position where you support the point of view of the leader –of the Premier, your priorities and your projects move up the queue.

(5) According to media reports, the members for Southdale, Dauphin, Seine River, Minto and Fort Rouge stated that the Premier has stopped listening to our advice.

(6) According to media reports, the members for Southdale, Dauphin, Seine River, Minto and Fort Rouge stated, we can no longer work for a Premier who refuses to hear us; he refuses to hear us not just on the leadership issue but also on a wide range of issues in our portfolios.

(7) The concerns over the Premier 's leadership have not been confined to just government members. NDP provincial council member Darlene Dziewit has been reported as saying, we have a crisis here in that I don 't think the people of Manitoba trust our leadership anymore. We petition the Legislative Assembly as follows: To urge the Premier to immediately consider calling an election so that Manitobans can decide who is best placed to govern in the best interests of Manitoba. And this petition is signed by Q. Vandermeulen, J. Gobin, S. Langevin and many more fine Manitobans. Mr.

Speaker: In keeping with our rule 132(6), when petitions are read they are deemed to have been received by the House. Further petititons? Grace Hospital Emergency Room Upgrade and Expansion Mrs. Myrna Driedger (Charleswood): I wish to present the following petition to the Legislative Assembly. These are the reasons for this petition: The provincial government promised to upgrade and expand the Grace Hospital emergency department in 2011 and to complete it by 2015. The Grace Hospital was left as the last of all Winnipeg hospitals to be slated for an emergency room upgrade.

The provincial government has broken another promise to Manitobans by delaying the start of this upgrade by three years, as failure to begin construction in 2013 has left patients and hospital employees facing long wait times, overcrowding and the risk of unsafe conditions and care. This provincial government has allowed ER wait times at the Grace Hospit al to become the worst in Canada at triple the amount of time that emergency physicians recommend. Ambulances in Winnipeg, including at the Grace Hospital, continue to face excessive patient off -load delays that are getting longer every year.

Last year the Grace Hospital in Winnipeg had over 23,000 patients seeking emergency care through the ER department and over 2,000 of those patients left the ER without being seen because they became too frustrated waiting to be seen. * (13:40) Instead of fixing hallway medicine, there are now numbered hallway spaces. We petition the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as follows: To urge the provincial government and the Minister of Health to keep their promise to the people of Manitoba and make the upgrade and expansion of the Grace ER an immediate priority. And this is signed by W. Neufeld, J.M. Nadeau, T.

Wiebe and many others, Mr. Speaker. Highway 10 North and 3rd Street North in Swan River–Traffic Signals Mr. Stuart Briese (Agassiz): Mr. Speaker, I wish to present the following petition to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. And these are the reasons for this petition: Local residents have expressed concerns regarding properties located at the intersection of

November 26, 2014 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 133 Highway 10 north and 3rd Street North in Swan River, including the Swan River regional high school, the Tim Hortons and the Co- op gas bar quadrisect. There are no traffic lights or pedestrian crosswalks at this intersection. Students from the high school run across the highway to access Tim Hortons and the Co -op gas bar. When the daycare centre opens, children will need to cross the highway if they wish to access the wellness centre.

Highway 10 north is a major haul route for farmers and logging trucks, including the potential for a collision–increasing the potential for a collision involving students and/or motorists. This intersection is a dangerous corner for motorists, including school buses making left -hand turns onto the highway from either direction, especially in the hours before and after schoo l and at lunchtime. The traffic on this highway and at this intersection will only increase in the near future with the opening of the wellness centre and the daycare facility.

Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation is only offering to provide a paint ed-line crosswalk with unlit signage but nothing to actually stop the traffic for pedestrian crossing safety. Motorists often disregard painted- line crosswalks, creating a false sense of security for pedestrians who use them. On October the 3rd, 2013, Winkler mourned the loss of one of their 16 -year-old students killed at a crosswalk consisting only of signage.

We petition the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as follows: To request that Manitoba Infrastructure and Transportation consider installing a set of traffic lights, including pedestrian lights, at the intersection of Highway 10 north and 3rd Street North in Swan River. And this petition is signed by J. Foster, R. Minish, W. Hanke and many, many other fine Manitobans. Residential and Vocational Service Organizations–Standard Province-wide Funding Formula Mrs. Leanne Rowat (Riding Mountain): I wish to present the following petition to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.

And the background to this petition is as follows: Funding provided to organizations that provide residential and vocational services to individuals with physical and developmental disabilities in rural areas is significantly lower than the funding levels provided to similar organizations in Winnipeg. This d iscrepancy in funding levels have affected–has affected the recruitment and retention of skilled staff , as average wages do not reflect the complex duties of staff that are similar to health -care aides.

Without increased funding, more –most organi - zations that provide residential and vocational services will be forced to close. The closure of these organizations will severely impact the local economy, as these organizations are often large employers and provide necessary services in the community. The value and quality of life experienced by individuals with special needs residing in a familiar and consistent environment is immeasurable. Closing these organizations and moving these individuals will be incredibly disruptive to their lives and detrimental to their health and well-being.

We petition the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as follows: To request that the Minister of Family Services consider implementing a standard funding formula across the province for organizations that provide residential and vocational services for individuals with physical and developmental disabilities. This petition's signed by A. Milton, H. Jacobson, W. Mate and many, many more concerned Manitobans.

134 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA November 26, 2014 Mr. Speaker: Committee reports? TABLING OF REPORTS Hon. James Allum (Minister of Justice and Attorney General): Mr. Speaker, I'd like to table the Human Rights Commission annual report for 2013, the 'discriminary' business practices act annual report for 2013-14 and the annual report concerning complaints on judicial conduct for 2013. Mr. Speaker: Any further tabling of reports? Seeing none, ministerial statements? Introduction of Guests Mr.

Speaker: Prior to oral questions, I'd like to draw the attention of all honourable members to the Speaker's Gallery where we have with us today Shelly and Wayne Davidson, who are the guests of the honourable member for Spruce Woods (Mr. Cullen). On behalf of all honourable members, we welcome you here this afternoon. And also, seated in the public gallery from École sécondaire Neelin High School, 47 grade 9 students under the direction of Ms. Kerri Malazdrewicz and William Savoy, and this group is located in the constituency of the Minister of Municipal Government (Mr. Caldwell).

On behalf of honourable members, we welcome all of you here this afternoon. ORAL QUESTIONS Former Cabinet Ministers Support for Government Mr. Brian Pallister (Leader of the Official Opposition): Well, the dangerous and dysfunctional situation within our provincial government continues, and the question is how long will it take to stabilize, I suppose. I'm sure the Premier's asking himself that very thing. The rebel five have spoken very harshly of our Premier and they have said that he's stopped listening. They've said his priorities are not Manitobans' priorities.

They have said that he refuses to hear them and they've said that they cannot be truthful and hold on to their integrity. Yet now they say that they will vote against a non -confidence motion which is based entirely on their own statements. So they are not confident in the Premier and the government on one hand, but they are confident enough to vote the Premier and government back in on the other. This perpetuates a dangerous instability in our province.

Now, as former front -benchers can't seem to decide if they are rebels or loyalists, so they are trying to be both simultaneously, and this dangerous political instability hurts our province and its people. How long does the Premier think he can count on the support of these returning rebels? Would it be months, weeks or days? Hon. Greg Selinger (Premier): The Throne Speech that we put in front of the people of Manitoba through this Legislature just a few short days ago, Mr. Speaker, spoke to the priorities of Manitobans.

It said there n eeds to be opportunities for young people to get the education and training they need so they can live and work in Manitoba and make a good living. That built upon our commitments to renewing and extending infrastructure in this province, critical infrastructure for economic growth, infrastructure to protect communities from floods and municipal infrastructure to improve the quality of life. And that built on our commitment to protect core services for people, whether it be health care, education or other essential services to families.

And, finally, it built upon our commitment to having the lowest electricity, home heating and auto insurance rates in the country as a bundle and making sure Manitoba stays affordable. So I'm actually of the optimistic view , Mr. Speaker, that all members of the Legislature should vote for the Throne Speech and reject the non-confidence motion, and I look for the members opposite to endorse the Throne Speech and vote against the non-confidence motion. Mr. Pallister: Well, that's highly unlikely, Mr. Speaker, and so is the healing of a rift among government members, I'm afraid.

Of course, the government has underspent in only one department over the last five years and overspent in all others. The one they underspent in is the one they now claim great affection for and that is, of course, infrastructure, Mr. Speaker. Now, Mr. Speaker, the rebel five say that the Premier's priorities have been put ahead of those of Manitobans and the Premier says that the Throne Speech outlin es his priorities. Therefore, the rebels have to decide: either they vote for the Premier's priorities which are, as they have said, not those of Manitobans and support the Throne Speech, or they

November 26, 2014 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 135 vote for Manitoba priorities and against the Throne Speech. They cannot have it both ways without eating their words and looking unprincipled. Now, the rebel vote for this Throne Speech is a clear admission that the priorities of the rebel five are exactly the same as the Premier's priorities. So let me ask the Premier: How long does he suspect this will continue to be the case? Mr. Selinger: Mr. Speaker, the person that didn't hear anything in the House recently was the Leader of the Opposition.

We said the Throne Speech reflected the priorities of Manitobans and that everybody could find a way to support those priorities because their Manitobans have said that their No. 1 priority is infrastructure. Manitobans have said they want good opportunities for their children to live and work in Manitoba.

Manitobans have told us that they want to ensure that the health -care system is there to look after their parents and other members of their families, and Manitobans have said, do those things at the same time because they are our top priorities and keep Manitoba an a ffordable place to live where everybody can have a sense of inclusion and respect. Those are the priorities of the people of Manitoba. I hope the members in the opposition will vote for them because they will then have shown they listen to the people of Manitoba. * (13:50) Mr. Pallister: Well, half his former front bench doesn't believe him, Mr.

Speaker, so who could blame Manitobans for not believing him after he broke his promises? Manitobans are quite rightly asking us, and I'm sure they're asking the members opposite, what all the fuss was about a couple of weeks ago when six MLA mutineers jumped the sinking NDP ship and blamed the captain, and then they went out and they told everyone that would listen that they had to have another captain and the y screamed, replace the captain, they said.

But of course the captain didn't listen to them, but, then again, according to them he doesn't listen to them anyway, and now they all scramble up the ropes back onto the very ship they deserted a few days ago. The question is: How does the captain now trust those former deserters from his own caucus? How long does the captain think it's going to take before there's another mutiny and he has to deal with that? Will it take months, will it take weeks, or will it just take a few days? Mr. Selinger: Mr. Speaker, we come to the House to reflect and identify and respond to the priorities of Manitobans.

That's what the Throne Speech did. Mr. Speaker, we heard students saying they want to make the cost of going to post -secondary institutions more affordable. We had a very specific initiative on interest rates to help them do that. We have the graduate tuition tax rebate in Manitoba which has –a portion of that is available in third and fourth year when people are studying in a post-secondary program. We've expanded our apprenticeship opportunities.

We saw in the Throne Speech a commitment to double the number of online courses in Manitoba through the revamped Campus Manitoba program which will allow people, no matter where they live in Manitoba, as long as they have access to broadband, to be able to study those courses online. And we would like to have more broadband opportunities in Manitoba; it's a little harder to do when the telephone system has been privat ized and we don't have the same ability to guide it in the direction we'd like to. But the reality is this, Mr.

Speaker: All members in this House should consider supporting this Throne Speech because the Throne Speech speaks to the priorities of Manitoba ns, and when we speak to the priorities of Manitobans– Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The honourable First Minister's time has elapsed. Provincial Deficit Reduction Strategy Mr. Cameron Friesen (Morden -Winkler): Well, Mr. Speaker, it's still unclear whether those are the priorities of a premier or of a leadership candidate. Mr. Speaker, the new Finance Minister said in question period that it was the goal of the NDP government to return to surplus in 2016- 17.

However, the NDP ran on a promise to actually eliminate the deficit by 2014. Now, the former former Finance minister, the member for Dauphin (Mr. Struthers), he reaffirmed that commitment to get into balance by 2014 just two years ago, but instead of a balanced budget, Manitoba got a $522-million defici t. They broke their promise in spectacular fashion, but now the new Finance Minister would have Manitobans believe that this time around it is somehow different.

136 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA November 26, 2014 So I ask the new Finance Minister: How will he succeed where his predecessors have failed? Wi ll he disclose today how he's going to eliminate his government's half-billion-dollar deficit? Hon. Greg Dewar (Minister of Finance): I want to thank the member for the question. The–it is our goal of this government to return to surplus in 2016- 2017, Mr. Speaker. As I said, we're going to do so by controlling expenditures, by finding efficiencies and by growing the economy. And we are growing the economy.

We're the third best performing economy in Canada over the last 10 years. As well, our unemployment rate is the third best in the nation as well. But we're not going to do what they want to do and that is to cut $550 million out of health care, out of education and out of infrastructure. Mr. Friesen: Okay, Mr. Speaker, so the new Finance Minister sa ys he's going to get there by controlling expenditures, but I have another recent history lesson for this minister. I remind him that the former Finance minister, the member for Fort Rouge (Ms.

Howard), after the release of last year's third -quarter resul ts, she said she was doing better than she thought, that she was ahead of schedule. But then, at the end of the year when the numbers come out, we find out that she's actually $90 million over her own estimate from just three months before. Even with reco rd revenue accruing to this NDP government from an illegal PST, they still can't curb their spending. But now this new Finance Minister says he will curb the spending.

I call on this new Finance Minister today to tell this House: What is his deficit reduction strategy that would so boldly go where no NDP Finance minister has gone before? Mr. Dewar: Again, as I said earlier, our goal is to return to surplus in 2016- 2017 and, as I said again, we will do so by controlling expenditures and growing the economy, as we're doing. We will not–if we have to respond to a natural disaster, Mr. Speaker, we'll be there, and we need to continue to–a global economy that may be struggling; we will be there as well.

But I do want to remind the members opposite they–their promise to return to balance was in 2018-2019, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Friesen: All right, Mr. Speaker, another lesson for the new Finance Minister. The provincial budget is now over $15 billion. The deficit stands at $522 million. Where the former Finance ministers have failed to curb spending of that government by even 1 per cent, this new Finance Minister is now claiming that he will curb spending by 3.5 per cent; that's w hat it would take to get the government now back into balance.

Yet there is in the Throne Speech not one reference to a deficit reduction strategy and the new Finance Minister has no evidence, no plan, no strategy for the members of this House today. Will the new Finance Minister just admit that while the NDP Finance ministers may keep changing, that it is the same failed record and broken promises of an NDP government that just can't manage and the same response from Manitobans who just don't believe you anymore? Mr. Dewar : Remind the member –I remind the member, Mr.

Speaker, that in this week's speech of the throne we announced a new hospital in Notre Dame de Lourdes, and that will add $35 million to our debt. Are they saying now they don't want us to proceed with that hospital? Are they saying that? I want to say yet again it is our goal to return to surplus. We will do so by controlling expenditures, by growing the economy. We won't do what they did and that's to sell off MTS to pay –to eliminate their deficit. Student Financial Aid Information System Implementation and Costs Mr. Wayne Ewasko (Lac du Bonnet): I think some people should be sticking to the script there, Mr.

Speaker. Mr. Speaker, back in 2007 this spenDP government decided to replace the student financial aid computer program. The tender went out in 2009. I'd like to ask this new Minister of Education today: Is this new program up and running, and what was the cost of that program? Hon. Peter Bjornson (Minister of Education and Advanced Learning): Well, as the member knows, certainly, then, infrastructure at some time requires to be updated. We've been in the process of updating this infrastructure and we're going to do it right, Mr.

Speaker, and phase 2 of the service portion of the project has been a little bit more difficult due to the complexity of it, but there have been some

November 26, 2014 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 137 challenges getting the system up and running within the original time frame. But what's important is the fact that there are student loans available, there ar e bursaries available, and we are supporting education in unprecedented levels, unlike members opposite . I know they cancelled a lot of funding for scholarships. I know that they cut funding to the universities, and that's what they'd do again in their eff ort to save money here in Manitoba. We believe in investing in education and we'll invest in education. Mr.

Ewasko: While sticking with the theme of history lessons today, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to give one for the Education Minister, who once was a history teacher as well. Manitobans are paying more and getting far less, Mr. Speaker, underneath–under this NDP government. Matter of fact, Manitobans are getting nothing when it comes to the Manitoba student financial aid computer system. Mr. Speaker, just to enlighten the Minister of Education, $22 million have been spent on the student financial aid computer system that was supposed to be launched June 2011. They have actually scrapped the program.

So today I would like to ask Mr.–the new Minister o f Education from Gimli: Where's the money gone? Mr. Bjornson: Well, Mr. Speaker, at the end of the day we want a system that's flexible and adaptive, and we know that as we move forward, future upgrades won't require the same type of investment. And, no, it has not been scrapped. We're currently in discussions with the provider on what the next steps would be. * (14:00) And, again, members opposite like to talk about education policy, Mr. Speaker.

They like to talk about investing in our youth, which is really talking out of both sides of their mouths because we know what happened when they were in office: cutting funding for bursaries, cutting funding to the universities, cutting funding for the K -to-12 system. They've already said in their alternative throne speech their way up is to be cutting programs for our students. That's not we're about on this side of the House . We'll continue investing in education. Mr. Ewasko: We're just asking for when the launch date is, Mr. Speaker. Our informants have told us that it's been scrapped. Mr.

Speaker, the Education Minister seemed thrilled yesterday to be holding down the la st spot in the country when it comes to the Pan- Canadian Assessment scores, and today he seems fine with the wasting of $22 million of hard- working Manitobans' money on a new, still-in-the-box computer program. Mr. Speaker, Manitobans have come to understand that this is a spend -more, get -less government, but now they are getting nothing. Where did the money go? Mr. Bjornson: Okay, so what we've been investing in education, Mr.

Speaker, he wants to talk about results: 45 per cent increase in enrolment in our universities, 52 per cent increase in enrolment in colleges, tripled the apprenticeship program. And, actually, I would encourage my critic to read the Throne Speech again, because the very first part of our Throne Speech dealt with an incredible amount of education initiatives, unlike their throne speech alternative, which I think mentioned education two or three times but said nothing about what they would do to the system. What we have done in the system in the past is continue to invest in our system.

We'll continue to listen to students as we did when we heard them say they wanted zero per cent interest on their loans. We delivered that and we're going to continue to deliver more good things to students in Manitoba, and they will have access to affordable education, Mr. Speaker, quality education that we're all proud of on this side of the House. Child Poverty Rates Effectiveness of Policies Mr. Ian Wishart (Portage la Prairie): Mr.

Speaker, it appears we're dead last on education, and the Manitoba Report Card on Child and Family Poverty came out recently and Manitoba has the unfortunate stigma of having the highest child poverty rate in Canada, almost 10 per cent higher than the national average, with 29 per cent of Manitoba children living in party –poverty, sorry, leaving us dead last in the country. This means three out of every 10 children are living in poverty.

138 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA November 26, 2014 After 15 years of NDP government, we are the worst province in Canada. What does the Minister of Children and Youth have to sa y about –to Manitobans about her government's failure for Manitoba children? Hon. Melanie Wight (Minister of Children and Youth Opportunities): I'd like to thank the member for the question. We are making important investments all the time to reduce pover ty and support Manitoba's families and children in our province in so many areas, in housing, in health care, in education, in early childhood development, which is my new portfolio.

I would like to mention that under the Market Basket Measure that, in f act, we have 5,000 fewer Manitobans living in poverty in our province right now than we did in 2002, and we did that through a recession, Mr. Speaker, that was global and that is just fragilely recovering now. So I do think that's something. Do we always want to do more? We always do on this side of the House. We always want to do more, and we are going to be doing more. We have an early childhood strategy coming out and we know that that's one of the areas that makes the biggest difference. Thank you. Mr. Wishart: Mr.

Speaker, since the NDP's much promoted ALL Aboard strategy in 2009, Manitoba's children in poverty rate has actually gotten worse, rising 1.4 per cent while Canada's child poverty rate has decreased 3.1 per cent. The child poverty numbers continue to rise under this new policy and Canada's continue to fall. Is this not yet another example of NDP policy that has failed Manitoba children? Ms. Wight : Some of the things that we have discovered, Mr. Speaker, that have the biggest impact on child poverty is early childhood development, and one of those things is the Prenatal Benefit.

I think we were the first province and we may still be the only province who actually provides a prenatal benefit to moms, and it's a cost -efficient way of helpi ng moms with their babes and it provides them a little bit of money that is enough to improve the nutrition so that their babies are now being born –with healthy babies as opposed to premature, and that's one of the many things. We have another Healthy Baby program, of course, that involves visiting with the moms and really being able to target where they need help early on, Mr.

Speaker, because we have learned that working early on with our children is absolutely the key to the investment in the future and to the lives of these children. Thank you. Mr. Wishart: We are still dead last and falling. Mr. Speaker, f ood bank usage in Manitoba is now at 61,700 people per month. Forty-four per cent of those people are children. Since 2008 that is an increase of more than 50 per cent. I'm sure you're proud of that. It's hard to look at these numbers and believe this government has any real concern at all for those on limited and fixed incomes.

Will this government admit today that their policies to deal with poverty have failed, leaving those on limited and fixed incomes more vulnerable than ever? Ms. Wight: I'm always interested, actually, when the members opposite ask questions about this because, you know, we've increased the minimum wage every year since we came in. And what did you do? What did you do? I don't know. You froze it for seven years. Does that affect poverty? Yes, it does. We are building 1,000 more social housing units. How many did you build? None. None, Mr. Speaker, in all the years that they were in government.

They did not invest in a single one. They did invest in a welfare snitch line, and I remember those signs telling us to call in. That's how they tried to fight poverty. We are on quite a different track here in Manitoba, and do we –are we proud of what we've done? Yes. Do we want to do more? Yes, we do, and we will continue to do more in the future as we invest in Manitoba. Child and Family Services Mental Health and Child Poverty Mrs. Leanne Rowat (Riding Mountain): Yes, Mr. Speaker, they are on track, on a very dangerous track that are putting more and more families at risk.

Yesterday the Family Services Minister said, and I quote: No one is proud of 10,000 children in care. However, those children are safe and they're being protected.

November 26, 2014 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 139 Mr. Speaker, either–or either the minister wasn't listening or she just doesn't want to face the truth. This NDP government is failing policies and more and more children are getting–being put at risk. Having the highest poverty –child poverty rate of any province in this country puts almost 84,000 children at risk. The Social Planning Council indicates that these children are growing up with fewer opportunities and poorer health than their peers.

So I ask the Minister responsible for Child and Youth Opportunities : Does she agree with the evidence that the NDP is putting children at risk, or does she still stand by the Family Services Minister, whose head remains stuck in the sand? Hon. Kerri Irvin -Ross (Minister of Family Services): When we are asked questions around Child and Family Services, they're very, very important. It's important that we look at the whole picture of what's happening in Manitoba and what supports that families need. This government, every day, works in the best interests of families.

We ensure that they have good health care, quality education and good employment. We have more work to do and we're committed to do that. We work every day to ensure that all Manitoba's children are safe and we work every day to ensure the safety of Manitoba children that are in care. What I wanted to say also yesterday is for the families that their children are in care, we're working with reunification with them.

We also are working with 20,000 families; 20,000 families are getting support through different community agencies, through different authorities, ensuring that they're able to stay with their families, because we know the best place for a child is a safe and nurturing home. Mrs. Rowat: Mr. Speaker, we know that this whole picture that the minister's talking about is putting more and more children at risk. In Manitoba, suicide is the leading cause of injury deaths in children over 10 years of age.

According to the office of the Children's Advocate, in 2012-2013 report, there were 17 child and youth suicides, of which 11 of these children were involved with the child-welfare system. Four of these children were only 12 years of age. * (14:10) The Children's Advocate has said that the changing pattern of suicide that now includes a greater proportion of girls and a younger demographic will all speak to the need to re -evaluate our approach to youth suicide, in stark contrast to the Premier, who said last ye ar, resources dedicated to dealing with mental health are going well. Well, really, going well?

Does this Premier believe– Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The honourable member's time has elapsed. Ms. Irvin -Ross: Our priority is the safety of all children in Manitoba. That's why that –we developed the suicide prevention program. That's why we are training professionals all through the province to ensure that they have the resources that they need, the knowledge that they need to help support children. We continue to do that whether it's in rural, northern, whether it's in the urban settings. We are aware of the loss that happens with suicide. Young children committing suicide is a tragedy. We all feel that.

We need to ensure that we're supporting families, providing them with the necessary support so they can support their children. Really, what we need to do is continue to instill hope and promise for them. Mrs. Rowat: Mr. Speaker, Manitobans are hearing from social policy experts who believe that when it comes to setting children up for bright futures, this NDP is failing them and failing them in big ways. Three out of 10 Manitoba children live in poverty, the highest rate of any province. There are over 10,000 children in care, a record high, the highest proportion of all provinces.

Suicide is the leading cause of injury deaths in children over 10 years of age in Manitoba. Tragically, Manitoba has seen at least 25 deaths by suicide of children in care in the last five years, quite the record. Does this min ister truly believe that the worst rate of child poverty of all provinces and an alarmingly high rate of youth suicides year after year demonstrates that children in Manitoba are safe and safeguarded? I don't think so. Ms. Irvin-Ross: I will state it over and over again: Our No. 1 priority is the safety for all Manitoba children.

We work every day with community groups, with families to ensure that they have the resources that they need to support their children. Suicide is a tragedy. We need to continue to ensure that families have the resources they need to provide safe and nurturing environments, that the

140 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA November 26, 2014 services are available for youth with complex needs. We need to ensure that we provide a safety net for all Manitoba's children, and I have confidence on this side of the House that we have done that. We have more work to do, but we are committed to getting that work done to ensure the safety of all Manitoba children. Violence Towards Children High-Risk Offender Applications Mr. Kelvin Goertzen (Stei nbach): Mr. Speaker, under the various NDP attorney generals we've continued to lead the country in violent crime.

That includes violent crime against women, against children and against men. Mr. Speaker, t oo many high- risk offenders reside in Manitoba without any real restraint, without any real check on them. The Criminal Code, under

section 810.1, provides the court an opportunity through the Attorney General to have restrictions on high-risk offenders, those who would commit crimes against children. Will the Attorney General please tell us how many

section 810.1 applications have been made in Manitoba to put restrictions on those who would cause harm against our children? Hon. James Allum (Minister of J ustice and Attorney General): I thank the member for the question. It is a very important matter of public policy, but he's wrong on one thing: In fact, crime is going down in Manitoba. Violent crime has gone down by 11 per cent in the past year, and in Winnipeg alone, according to the violent crime index, it's gone down considerably both in relation to violent crimes and in relation to robbery as well. So, as usual, Mr.

Speaker, the member doesn't have his facts right. But, Mr. Speaker, the main thing on our government is we're not just interested in putting people in jail, we want to keep people from going into prison in the first place. That's why we make sure that kids have –there are opportunities for our young people, that we invest in good educational outcomes for young people and we make sure that our communities remain strong, safe and sustainable. Mr. Goertzen: If the Attorney General doesn't know the answer, he can take it as notice, he can borrow my copy of the Criminal Code, he can certainly read it, Mr.

Speaker, and then answer the question. Under

section 810.2 of the Criminal Code, the Attorney General, through the Department of Justice, can apply for applications to ensure that there are restrictions on those who would commit serious personal injury against persons in Manitoba. This is used commonly in Canada. It's used in many other provinces. This is not a new part of the Criminal Code and it's not unusual. I want to ask the Attorney General: How many applications under

section 810.2 of the Criminal Code have come through the Department of Justice and are currently in place in Manitoba today? Mr. Allum : I think the member knows that in October 2000, just after we were first elected, four glorious terms ago, that the government established the Criminal Organization and High Risk Offender Unit. It was established in October of 2000 to provide more intensive supervision to high- risk offenders, including sex offenders. The unit works collaboratively with prosecutions, police and victim services, and since its inception in 2000, Mr.

Speaker, the unit has supervised 856 high- risk offenders. Mr. Goertzen: If he wants to pick up a copy of the Criminal Code, they're available in better bookstores everywhere, Mr. Speaker. He'll find

section 810 on page 699 of the most recent version of the Criminal Code. British Columbia has recently stated that they have 300–more than 300 applications under 810 of the Criminal Code to try to prevent serious offenders, both against children and adults who would commi t crimes against other adults as well, Mr. Speaker. Their Attorney General has published that information. I understand this Attorney General probably has never read

section 810 of the Criminal Code, but I'm asking him to either take this question as not ice and provide the answer another time or tell us how many applications under

section 810 of the Criminal Code currently exist in Manitoba to protect children, to protect women and to protect men who are otherwise victims of crime and violent crime in Manitoba. Mr. Allum : Well, Mr. Speaker, I know that the member opposite went to law school, and I know that he prides himself on being a very cagey lawyer, and his torqued hyperbole, though, makes no impact on me. The fact of this matter is this government h as done hard work not only on violent crime and

November 26, 2014 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 141 reducing violent crime but on dealing with sex offenders. We've also decreased –[interjection] Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the members opposite for their help in this question. We've obviously done much to prevent crime. We've made sure that people are safe and secure in their communities. Mr. Speaker, the member opposite wants to take people and throw they–away the keys. We believe in the people of Manitoba. We're going to provide safe– Mr. Spea ker: Order, please. The honourable minister's time has elapsed. Point of Order Mr.

Speaker: The honourable member for Steinbach, on a point of order. Mr. Goertzen: Mr. Speaker, I asked a very specific question on a very specific part of the Criminal Code. He does not have to answer the question. He can take it as notice and provide it later on. But what is not an option for him is to take a very serious issue about w omen who are at risk, children who are at risk, men who are at risk and try to politicize that.

If he doesn't know the answer –if he doesn't know the answer–and it's very readily available if he asks his officials in the Department of Justice, he should take it as notice and not disgrace himself and everybody else in this House. Mr. Speaker: The honourable Government House Leader, on the same point of order. Hon. Steve Ashton (Government House Leader ): Well, Mr. Speaker, first of all, the member opposite has many opportunities to ask questions. I don't know if he bothered to ask questions about this in Estimates where detailed questions are asked. I note that there are other options available.

Three members have chosen to ask questions, written questions, detailed questions on the Order Paper, and I think the member opposite indicated quite clearly that he had to get the last word. And I would suggest not only does he not have a point of order, but comments using language such as disgraceful–I think the member opposite should look in the mirror. The bottom line is here he's entitled to ask any question he wants. He could put it on the information–any false information he wants, but it is the Minister of Justice's (Mr.

Allum) prerogative to respond and cor rect the record, and that's exactly what he was doing, correcting the false information put on the record by the Opposition House Leader. * (14:20) Mr. Speaker: Order, please.

I think all honourable members will know that I've referenced the House of Com mons Procedure and Practice, second edition, several times in this House in past sessions, and I think honourable members may recall, too, that I've also mentioned to all of us that it is not up to the Speaker to determine the quality or the contents of a particular answer to a question that may have been posed in this House and there is no provision in our rules or in the practices that would require or in any way permit the Speaker to insist of–on certain answers, so I must respectfully rule that there is no point of order in this particular matter. * * * Mr.

Speaker: Now, question period to continue. PST Increase Infrastructure Spending Record Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): A year ago the Premier said in his Throne Speech every dollar raised from the new point of PST will be fully dedicated to new investments in core infrastructure over and above existing spending levels. In September we found out that in the first year of the PST increase that $75 million of that money was not used to fund infrastructure.

Yesterday Manitoba Liberals exposed the fact that today's NDP are actually borrowing much of the money for the new infrastructure and are not using money from the PST increase. Why did the Premier fail to keep his commitment to spend every dollar r aised from the new point of PST on infrastructure? Hon. Greg Selinger (Premier): Mr. Speaker, as we indicated in our five -year plan, any money that for whatever reason wasn't spent in the plan would be rolled over. The $75 million is rolled over.

The PST supports investments in infrastructure and is matched up with the investments in infrastructure which have grown the economy by 8,100 jobs in the last year, provided $1.1- billion boost in economic growth in the province, Mr. Speaker, and provided good jobs and opportunities for young people and continues to allow us to have a steady-as-she-goes economy, among the third best in the country over the last decade.

142 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA November 26, 2014 Mr. Gerrard: Mr. Speaker, the NDP –today's NDP introduced the PST increase from 7 to 8 per cent i n April of 2013, with a wide variety of explanations as to how the Premier was going to spend the money. By November 2013, the Premier made it clear that every dollar of the PST increase would be spent on core infrastructure over and above the existing levels. It's now clear that instead of spending the PST money on infrastructure, he is borrowing much of the money spent on infrastructure and spending the money from the PST on other items.

Can the Premier tell us today what other items he is spending the PST money on besides infrastructure? Mr. Selinger: Mr. Speaker, as I've said, we've matched infrastructure investment with the amount we've raised on the PST. We've done it without making major cuts to core services, which are very important. We've said that the PST has allowed us to make these infrastructure investments at the same time as we've protected core services in health, education, services to families. I'm–it's regrettable the member opposite has not supported that and voted against that, but it has created more jobs.

It has helped lift the economy in Manitoba. At the same time, we've protected core services. And, Mr. Speaker, as we move forward we will look at ways to increase our expenditure on infrastructure. As we met with the Association of Manitoba Municipalities this morning, we indicated that we believe we can put more resources to municipal bridges program because municipal bridges are a very important part of what local municipalities need in order to have access to their communities. So as the economy grows, we will invest even more money in infrastructure in Manitoba. Mr. Gerrard: Mr.

Speaker, the Premier said every single dollar fr om that increase in PST would go to infrastructure, but it's not happening. Whether it is infrastructure spending, his approach to child poverty, to education or child and family services, he has failed to live up to his commitments. The Premier and toda y's NDP have failed to live up to the expectations of Manitobans. I ask the Premier: Why is there such a disconnect between what the Premier says he will do and what the Premier actually does? Mr. Selinger: Mr.

Speaker, we've seen reductions in the numbe r of people living in poverty under our Market Basket Measure, including children. We've seen increased investments in infrastructure. In the 1990s, when the members opposite were in office, they actually raised gas tax and cut the roads budget. We've done the opposite. Last year we spent over $844 million on infrastructure in Manitoba. We protected communities from floods. You can see the evidence of that in Brandon this spring.

After 2011, we committed about $28 million to building a dike in Brandon that will protect that community, and it made a gigantic difference when the flood of the summer of 2014 came. So those investments are paying off as we speak. Homes and communities all along Lake Manitoba have seen increased diking. They've seen their h omes lifted up. They've seen their homes moved back. Cottages, for the first time ever, have received support for structural improvements to their cottages to protect them as well, and we've seen the fortification of the dikes on the east side of Portage la Prairie, Mr.

Speaker, and more work has to be done. And in this Throne Speech you saw a commitment to an outlet on Lake Manitoba that will flow an additional 7,500 cubic feet a second, the equivalent of five Olympic-sized pools– Mr. Speaker: Order, pl ease. The honourable First Minister's time has elapsed. Valeant Canada New Facility (Steinbach) Mr. Dave Gaudreau (St. Norbert): Mr. Speaker, we know that supporting rural Manitoba is a key priority. One of the ways that our government is investing and contributing to the success is by collaborating with private sector partners to invest in good jobs for Manitoba families.

Just yesterday the Minister of Jobs and the Economy was out in Steinbach to make an important announcement about how our government i s supporting job creation and economic growth in southeastern Manitoba's largest employer.

November 26, 2014 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 143 Can the Minister of Jobs and the Economy please inform the House about this wonderful announcement? Hon. Kevin Chief (Minister of Jobs and the Economy): As the me mber for Steinbach (Mr. Goertzen) always says, it's worth a trip to Steinbach, and it certainly was yesterday. I was very proud to join Charles Perez from Valeant as well as Mayor Goertzen and Kent Ledingham from the Steinbach Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Speaker.

We're incredibly proud that Valeant is actually moving, expanding their operations in Manitoba, in rural Manitoba, creating new jobs, training. One of the things that they talked about yesterday was the cost of doing business in Manitoba is more affordable and more stable. They were incredibly proud of our ability to hire and retain staff. We've always said we have the fastest growing demographic. The most talented young people in the nation live in Manitoba, and through yesterday's announcement we'r e keeping them here. It's a message of collaboration, a message of partnership and we want to work together. Mr.

Speaker, I just want to say in closing that it is cold season, and one of the things we should all be proud of, support a local business, buy cold– Mr. Speaker: The honourable minister's time has elapsed. Minister of Municipal Government Alternative Energy Comments Mr. Ralph Eichler (Lakeside): Yes, we're very proud of the hard work that the member from Steinbach does for all members of the House. Mr.

Speaker, at the recent meetings of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities, the new minister of local government told that group maybe instead of building Bipole III and more dams, we should be looking at alternative energy sources. I would like to ask the minister for local government: Would he enlighten the House on what he meant by that statement? Hon. Drew Caldwell (Minister of Municipal Government): Well– Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh. Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Mr.

Caldwell: I'd like to thank my honourable friend the member for Lakeside for the question and for almost paying attention during my remarks yesterday. Mr. Speaker, I also wanted –I'm wearing the Manitoba tartan today in honour of the 16th annual Association of Manitoba Municipalities convention that's taking place. I was on the founding board of that association as well as the last board of the Union of Manitoba Municipalities, which jacket I'm wearing today. It's the Manitoba tartan, for people who may be interested. And, Mr.

Speaker, all municipal officials are working with this government to build our province. We're building infrastructure. We're building flood protection. We're working together to make Manitoba the most prosperous province in Canada. We've got the third best economy in this country and our ambitions are to grow– Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The honourable minister's time has elapsed. Time for oral questions has expired. MEMBERS' STATEMENTS Mr. Speaker: It is now time for members' statements. Snow Lake Mr.

Clarence Pettersen (Flin Flon): If you love hockey and you've–from the North, then chances are that you've heard the story of Kenny Baird, who was drafted ahead of Larry Robinson in the 1971 NHL draft and played one season with the Jets. Kenny came from a town in my constituency that shares his underdog status, that doesn't get its fair share of attention when we talk about northern Manitoba. * (14:30) Snow Lake is a small community of just over 700 people that sits east of the city of Flin Flon, and just like its neighbour to the west, Snow Lake has its legacy firmly rested in the mining industry.

Two major mining operations recently opened in Snow Lake, which has been incredibly exciting news for the town. With the 373 permanent jobs now c reated with Lalor and Reed Lake mines and more jobs to come, stability and economic prosperity has taken root in the community. Workers are in demand and residents have housing ready and waiting. And with the mines hiring so many workers there is ample opportunity for spinoff businesses to flourish. Snow Lake is a safe, stable and, above all, beautiful community for people to call home. Sitting

144 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA November 26, 2014 right on the shores of Snow Lake itself, this community is a paradise for those who love the outdoors. Fishing, boating, bird watching, hiking and berry picking are all the activities that the loyal supporters enjoy during the summer months. The Snow Lake Golf and Country Club has a nine -hole golf course and families can go swimming right next to town, either at Suns et or the Purple Sandy Beach. The nearby Wekusko Falls Provincial Park is fantastic for camping and canoeing.

Of course, this is a vibrant community all year round, with grounds–groomed cross-country trails, a curling rink, a hockey rink and plenty of ice fishing. This community loves to keep warm through the winter by staying active. When Manitobans dream about living life on the lake their first thoughts might drift to Kenora, but Snow Lake is a jewel of a community right here in Manitoba. With the quali ty of life available in this community, Manitoba should look no further than Snow Lake. Thank you. Stella Monaster Mr.

Ralph Eichler (Lakeside): I'm honoured to stand before you today and congratulate Inwood resident, Stella Monaster, on celebrating her 100th birthday; truly a memorable milestone. Stella has lived through the Great Depression, two World Wars, four royal monarchs and 19 Canadian prime ministers. Stella grew up on a farm in Fisher Branch with her parents and two brothers, John and Donald. 'Eagel' to work at the age of 15 years of age, she took a train to Inwood and worked cleaning, serving and helping in the kitchen in the Hillside Hotel for four and a half years.

She met her husband, Harry, and the couple moved to a farm near Inwoo d where they raised chickens, cows and boarded local school teachers. Unfortunately, Harry passed away three years after their marriage. Remaining on a farm, Stella met Steve Monaster, her second husband. The pair married in 1940. Together they raised and farmed with two children, Randy and Kathy. Once her children were grown, Stella took a job in Inwood at the Olsen's grocery store. At age of 71, after 19 years of service, Stella retired. Steve and her sold the farm and moved into town.

In 1980, Stella and Steve celebrated their 40th anniversary. Steve passed away in 1987, leaving Stella a widow once again. In her later years, Stella never stop –let age stop her from doing what she loved. She curled until she was 84 years old. Even at 100 years old she keeps active: baking, cooking and gardening. It is rare, as an MLA, to have an opportunity to acknowledge such milestones. Stella is a true inspiration to us all. Having said that, I'd like to extend sincere wishes on my behalf as well as the Legislative Assembly here in Manitoba. Arpena Babaian Ms.

Theresa Oswald (Seine River): It is my pleasure to stand in the House today to pay tribute to one of Manitoba's most brilliant teachers and administrators. Arpena Babaian, currently principal of Samuel Burland School, will retire at Christmastime after 40 years of outstanding service to children and families of Manitoba and, indeed, around the world. I had the privilege of first knowing Ms. Babaian when she came to Minnetonka School when I was a student in gra de 4.

She was a vibrant, spectacular bombshell of a teacher that encouraged all students to participate in athletic competitions, rough -and- tumble play and leadership activities, no matter what gender the student may be. Ms. Babaian taught young girls to l ean in long before anyone had even heard the term. Ms. Babaian was my language arts teacher in addition to being my coach throughout junior high. She drove us hard to excel at athletics and to be gracious in victory and brave in defeat. It was a magical t ime.

She demanded excellence from her students and challenged us with complex texts and literary greats that were well beyond our years. I have no doubt it was Ms. Babaian's influence, along with my grade 12 English teacher, Mr. Peter Cowie, that inspired me to pursue a career in teaching with a major, of course, in English. Ms. Babaian returned from a teaching post in Germany with a husband, her beloved Stew, and a continued passion for education. Our lives intersected again at Glenlawn Collegiate where I began my own teaching career.

Even though she was much busier then, raising her two beautiful daughters, Anoosh and Alex, she always had time for questions and to offer critique and advice to a beginning teacher. There was no such thing as good enough. Ms . Babaian believed in excellence every day, all the time, and, indeed, our students deserved no less.

November 26, 2014 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 145 Mr. Speaker, there will be many tributes to Ms. Babaian in the days ahead, as her professional accomplishments make up a list as long as my arm. I want to offer my personal thanks to Ms. Babaian, my darling Arpi, who has been a teacher, coach, mentor, confidante and a friend for almost my entire life. She is the friend who will tell you when you have broccoli in your teeth, when your boyfriends are lousy and when your lesson plans just aren't up to snuff.

But she's also a friend who will be there when your mother dies, when your child is sick or when your career takes a path that you perhaps haven't planned. She will always be the one who cheers most loudly from the stands and who will weep for joy when there –when she is there watching your dreams come true, the same dreams she was so very much a part of making a reality. I hope all members of this House will join me in congratulating Ms. Babaian on a brilliant 40 years of teaching and on a life so well lived thus far. Canada World Youth Mr. Wayne Ewasko (Lac du Bonnet): Mr.

Speaker, since its founding in 1971, which, I must say, was a great year for many things, Canada World Youth has offered volunteer programs for youth from Canada and abroad. To date, over 37,000 young people have participated in their programs. Their programs have allowed youth the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to not only participate in our society but to help create a better one. Canada World Youth has also developed some unique Aboriginal youth programs over the past five years. Aboriginal youth participation in their programs has quadrupled.

In June of this year in Charlottetown they co -hosted with the Mi'kmaq Confederacy of Prince Edward Island a national Aboriginal youth symposium called Aboriginal Youth and Confederation, Learning from the Past and Building for the Future. The conference focused on Aboriginal issues in the context of Confederation, and over 50 Abori ginal youth from across Canada attended. Fittingly, this conference occurred on the 150th anniversary of the Charlottetown Conference, which as we all know was a major step on the path to creating this great country of ours.

The success of Canada World Y outh has been noted and copied in other countries. In 1989 the Netherlands created a program inspired by the Canada World Youth program. Sweden followed suit four years later and Great Britain created one of their own in 1999. As you all know, Manitoba is home to many great volunteers. According to Statistics Canada data, Manitobans volunteer over 74 million hours a year. In addition, over 86 per cent of Manitobans donate to charitable causes every year. In 2010 the total value of those donations were al most $450 million. Those stats are something we should all be very proud of. Mr.

Speaker, in closing, not only have thousands of youth participated in Canada World Youth programs, but thousands more have benefited from their programming. It is a pleasure to recognize them and the contributions they have made over the years. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Child Poverty in Manitoba Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Mr. Speaker, Monday this week, Campaign 2000 released its Manitoba child and family report card for 2014. It's a devastating assessment of conditions in our province.

Manitoba has the highest rate of child poverty of any province in Canada at 29 per cent, 10 per cent more than the average for all of Canada. Jim Silver recently commented in the Free Press on the persistence in Manitoba of a deep, complex and damaging poverty. The numbers of children coming into our food banks are the highest per capita of any province. Tragically, today's NDP government has been very ineffective in addressing poverty.

It took the NDP until 2009, that's 10 years, to bring in the ALL Aboard strategy, and this was done only after they'd rejected legislation brought in by the Manitoba Liberals to ensure a much better approach to poverty in our province. The ALL Aboard strategy has largely been a dismal failure. It lacked many of the critical ingredients such as a specific goal for reducing poverty, a comprehensive approach and an annual legislative debate present in the Liberal legislation. * (14:40) Sid Frankel performed a careful analysis of the NDP's ALL Aboard strategy.

He found it was, and I quote: So incompletely articulated that it cannot act as a reliable guide for pol icy implementation, is not evaluable and renders government unaccountable. The first 31 months of ALL Aboard do not demonstrate effectiveness in poverty reduction

146 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA November 26, 2014 compared to all of Canada, regardless of the measure. Children fare especially poorly. Campaign 2000's follow -up on the ALL Aboard strategy observed a 1.4 per cent increase in Manitoba's child poverty rate from 2008 to 2012–not much effect. For years, the NDP resisted increasing support for shelter rates for those on social assistance and low incomes. After intense pressure from about 150 different organizations, today's NDP announced that they'd increase the shelter rates to 75 per cent of market rates in four years.

Once again, under today's NDP, those who are poor, wait. It's time for a much stronger and much more effective approach to reduce child poverty in our province. Mr. Speaker: I believe that concludes members' statements. House Business Hon. Steve Ashton (Government House Leader ): On House business, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker: On House business. Mr. Ashton: I'd like to ask if you will please canvass the House to see if there is agreement to waive rules 31(2) and 31(3) for this session as per the agreement by House leaders.

This will eliminate the need to submit all private members' resol utions within 14 days of the Throne Speech debate for selection as prioritized, and instead will allow the government and opposition House leaders to announce the private members' resolutions for consideration one week in advance. Mr. Speaker: Is there leave of the House to waive rules 31(2) and 31(3) for this session as per the agreement by House leaders?

This will eliminate the need to submit all private members' resolutions within 14 days of the Throne Speech for selection as prioritized and instead will allow the government and opposition House leaders to announce the private members' resolutions for consideration one week in advance. [Agreed] Thank honourable members. ORDERS OF THE DAY GOVERNMENT BUSINESS THRONE SPEECH (Fourth Day of Debate) Mr. Speaker: We'll now proceed to orders of the day, government business, and to resume the adjourned debate on the proposed motion of the honourable member for Wolseley (Mr.

Altemeyer) and the amendment thereto, standing in the name of the honourable member for Midland, who has 28 minutes remaining. Mr. Blaine Pedersen (Midland): As I was just about to start yesterday when we ran out of time, but I was mentioning the summer fairs and festivals that I attended throughout my constituency over the summer, including the Manitou honey and garlic festival; the Harvest Moon Festival in Clearwater, which is always a great event and everyone should take that one in.

Some 1,500 people show up in the community of Clearwater, which probably boasts about 60 people for the rest of the year, so it's quite an event there. I also was at Walinga manufacturing, and they celebrated a significant anniversary and continue to manufacture feed truck boxes, truck boxes for handling feed, and they are marketing around the world. A nd it's really amazing the equipment that they've got in there and the computerized equipment that they have in their shop. So it's a great institution. Mr.

Tom Nevakshonoff, Deputy Speaker, in the Chair Of course, being the Agriculture critic for our party–and I've travelled the province in the agricultural regions and throughout all of Manitoba over the summer –in Midland constituency we were very fortunate to generally have very good crops as compared to other areas, and also with the better markets in the cattle and hog industries it has been quite a good year within my constituency, although you–certainly is not province-wide, as I was into the southwest Manitoba a number of times with my colleague from Arthur-Virden, touring there and just seeing the d evastation from the rainfall events and the continuation from the last number of years, the hardships that a lot of those producers are having.

In the Interlake we continue to see the damages, both Interlake and Westlake, of the high levels of Lake Manitoba and the Shoal lakes and what that's done to really prime agriculture land in terms of the– particularly in the cattle industry in terms of the pasture and feed situations there, and we're seeing that now with some sell- off of the cow herds through–from t hose areas, because I talked to a producer this morning at AMM and he told me that he sold off half his herd. He says, I just got tired of fighting the water, and that's unfortunate.

That's going to hurt our economy going forward, and this – Lake Manitoba water levels and the Shoal Lake

November 26, 2014 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 147 levels need to be addressed not in 10 years but in three years, which we feel is quite doable there. The Swan River Valley, talking to producers there and there's concern variable crop conditions throughout their area and kind of goes –you can field the field. But there –the concern now is with Cargill elevators shutting their elevator down in Swan River, leaving them with only a Pioneer just north of town and actually the rail line, there is concern about the viability of the r ail line there.

And so it's certainly been an interesting summer on the ag scene we – throughout all of Manitoba. But coming back to my own constituency this summer and into this fall, I was very fortunate to be invited to the citizenship court where we ha ve some very good friends and entrepreneurs in Carman who, three of them now, have got their citizenship and the one fellow's wife is about to get her citizenship. They will notify me and hopefully I can attend that ceremony.

And when I was at one of the ceremonies, I was actually sitting beside a young lady from –originally from Afghanistan, and her mother was getting her citizenship. She is not able to get hers until she's 18 because she came in on her mother's passport. And the stories that she was abl e to tell me about her journey to Canada from Afghanistan is –we certainly–sometimes we just don't appreciate how good we have it in this country, as compared to many of our new citizens, and they are such a valuable contribution to our country when they choose to move to Canada and move to Manitoba.

I attended the Remembrance Day just this past November in Carman. There was over 700 people in attendance there. There's usually a large crowd there but this year it was overflowing. They didn't even have en ough chairs for everybody to sit in and, of course, marking the 100th year of the start of the Great War and the war that was to end all wars and very poignant and also, of course, with the recent killings of the soldiers in both Ottawa and Quebec, it was a very emotional day.

And our –we see the veterans come and the veterans are getting fewer each year from the Second World War and I know a number of them personally and it's great to see them there but they're also having–it's just getting harder for the m to get out each year as they age. But we certainly appreciate what they've done, and you think about the –as they read the honour rolls at these Remembrance Day services and the ultimate sacrifice that these soldiers gave just to uphold the democracy and our right to vote, and too often we take that for granted.

And I was sitting there at that Remembrance Day service and I was comparing that to the dysfunction that we see across the aisle and the right to vote being taken away from Manitobans and a government that feels that they don't need to talk to Manitobans. They will decide –the NDP members opposite will decide what is best for Manitobans, and that's a question of integrity. It's a question of ethical behaviour, and it's a sad reflection on Manitoba.

And we're hearing this from business people who travel the world, and they brought us stories back about there's concern of the dysfunction within this government because dysfunction affects business and business does not like instability, and that's what we have here in this province. And when you have members of their own caucus talking about –the member for Seine River (Ms. Oswald) talking about sometimes doing the right thing isn't the easy path and being truthful and holding on to your integrity is something my parents raised me to do and I honour them today with that. Well, where's the integrity here?

You said the Premier (Mr. Selinger) is not listening to you. You don't agree with what the Premier is, and the next day she says she's going to support the Throne Speech. So where is the integrity in that? * (14:50) And that is concerning, and Manitobans –it's concerning. I heard that loud and clear as I travelled the province in the last month and I heard it loud and clear the last two days being at the AMM conference. Municipal leaders are shaking their heads and saying, how is this going to affect us, like, what is going to happen? And, of course, we don't have the answers.

I don't even think this government has the answers of how they're going to s olve their internal battles, but it's affecting Manitobans, and when it affects Manitobans, it affects all of us. Moody's bond- rating agency issued a negative rating, and the reason that they issued a negative rating was because they called it execution r isk. Basically, execution risk, it means they don't believe what this government is telling them. We know that this is going to cost Manitobans more in interest costs.

We're already spending $821 million just to pay the interest on our debt, which is going up constantly every year as my colleague from Morden-Winkler–emphasizing again today about deficits and growing debt and just a lack of concern,

148 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA November 26, 2014 no plans, no–there's no idea of how they will even begin to address this. And this –as this interest cost continues to rise, that affects front -line services in health, education. It takes money away when you have to pay the interest. It takes that money away from where we could be putting into front -line services in health and education. We have record -low inte rest rates. There's nowhere for interest rates to go but up.

It's not a matter of whether they will rise, it is a matter of when they will rise, and that is what's really disturbing for us and for Manitobans. Every day we see we're paying more. The NDP s olution is to spend more, but the problem with that is that they're spending more and we're getting less. Every day they spend more. Their solution to everything is spend more, but they don't talk about results. And, if they were to talk about results, the y would talk about being last in health- care services, they'd be last in education, they'd be last in –no, pardon me, we're first in child poverty.

And that's a terrible record to have. That family of four living in Regina today pays $3,200 less every year in taxes. Now, that may not seem like much to members opposite, but to a family of four that's a lot of money. That's a family vacation; that's a extra payment on the house. It's money that they can use in their family, but in Manitoba that money is gone because we are not competitive with them. As I sit and I watch the distrust and the confusion amongst the NDP across the way–we have a Premier (Mr. Selinger) who is adamant about staying in power.

And this Premier seems to be going to use the office of hi s premiership to buy delegates for his leadership vote. It'll certainly be interesting to see how they decide who is eligible to vote, how this leadership will unfold, but it's hurting Manitobans while they decide. The NDP's engrossed in their plummeting p olls. They seem to –they've forgotten what the real function of government is. And it's about survival. It's about placing blame on each other, whether it be –and it's interesting, now they're even pointing fingers at each other.

It wasn't enough to blame the feds, our party, the First Nations; they blame everybody, they blame Manitobans and they're even blaming each other now, and that's unfortunate. It costs Manitobans with this chaos that they've created. And, as I said, in the meantime, we're last in education scores, math, reading and science. Our young people face an uncertain future when we have that. We all know the importance of education. We're last in health-care wait times.

Ask anyone in Manitoba who's on a waiting list how long that waiting list is once they see the specialist to actually get on the waiting list, never mind how long it takes to get to that specialist. You can't continue to operate like that. We need to have common sense to solve these issues. Health care is the largest issue that my constituency office faces day in and day out, and it's about waiting lists, it's about access, it's about how to find their way through the system. And I have a very personal issue just in the last while.

A good friend of mine is facing brain cancer and now he's been told by Manitoba Health that he's not eligible for cancer drugs, and that's just not acceptable. We have to find a way to address these health-care wait lines and health -care issues that we face. We're the highest numbers in per cap ita for food bank use. Where is the solution in this? Where is this government on this? We're the highest numbers per capita in child poverty. Violent crimes –the new Attorney General (Mr. Allum) today wouldn't even take a question on notice to find an answ er for it.

Instead, he spilled more NDP rhetoric, which had nothing to do with the question. Manitoba Hydro faces a very uncertain future with this NDP government. That came through loud and clear at the AMM convention this morning in questions to the ministers. The Bipole III west waste line began at $1.1 billion; it's now up to $4.6 billion. That's just the latest cost estimate, and as four times the original cost, and they barely got started on this. We know that from their record of building Wuskwatim dam that it started out at $800 million and then ended up at $1.6 billion.

So, does that mean, then, that we're going to be over $9 billion on a Bipole west line that's 25 per cent less efficient, that's 500 kilometres longer, that takes in some of the–affects some of the most fertile land we have in Manitoba? But, rather than deal with these issues Manitobans–that Manitobans face each and every day, the NDP's focused on themselves, and they're focused on their internal battles. It's about self-preservation. It's about blaming each other. It's about looking for a scapegoat. It's about preserving the vote tax. Manitobans don't matter to this government.

They take over $1 million out of the –of

November 26, 2014 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 149 taxpayers' money just to pay themselves first, and that's wrong. It's interesting to see them huddling in groups these days when we're in this House, and one could speculate, well, is that a new alliance, or who's talking about who there. It's about total dysfunction. It's about self-preservation. It's not about what is best for Manitobans, and Manitobans are concerned.

You only have to talk to anyone, and I spoke with a civil servant last week at one of our wonderful Manitoba liquor stores as I stopped to pick up some groceries, and she expressed concern about this government, and yet she didn't want to–she certainly didn't want to be publicized because she didn't want to see any retribution back on her, so–but she was very adamant about her concerns there. So how long will the infighting continue? How much will th is infighting cost Manitobans? The concerns that Manitobans have continue to be out there.

The dissidents –the dissident five, six, nine, whatever it is –they said the PST was not the issue. PST was not the issue. The more somebody says something is not the issue, that's what the issue is, and you can tell me it's not the issue, but the fact that you're talking about it, we know that's what the issue is. They say it's not about the PST, but it's about the PST because it was trust that was broken in –from– for Manitobans from this government. It's about a lack of respect of this government.

First, they broadened the –after claiming that we would not change the PST, we would not increase taxes, then they broadened the PST to include insurance, haircuts, registrat ion fees on vehicles, fuel taxes. This costs Manitoba families each and every day. * (15:00) And then that wasn't enough. Then they increased–a 14 per cent increase in the PST, and they try to tell you it's not about the PST? Of course, it's about the PS T because you're taking money from Manitoba families. Our debt under this current Premier (Mr. Selinger) has gone from $18 billion to $32 billion.

It's a number that is almost unfathomable, but we see what it costs us in interest costs each and every year and it's going to go up. It's going to cost him –us– more. But, rather than expand and rather than deal with other jurisdictions, other provinces, this government remains focused on self -preservation. We should be in the New West Partnership with our neighbours to the west. That's a given. There's no need not to be, and yet this government is so focused on themselves that they won't touch that. They won't even ask. Perhaps they're afraid to ask.

Maybe they're afraid of the answer they'll get when they ask. The focus on the leadership battle comes at the province–at the expense of this province, and the focus on the plummeting polls will cost Manitobans. I hear it loud and clear because I talk to Manitobans each and every day. They're tired of the false promises. This NDP government has no values. They have no ethics. They have no integrity. But Manitobans do; Manitobans have not lost their ethical behaviour. Manitobans have not lost their integrity, but this government has–and we'll continue to talk to Man itobans. We'll continue to listen to Manitobans.

We will continue to earn the trust of Manitobans. That's what hard work is all about, and we will continue because all we have to do is tell the truth, and that's what we'll continue to do. Mr. Deputy Speak er, if there was any ethics, if there was any integrity within this government they would support the amendment to this Throne Speech. They would vote against this Throne Speech and we would be into an election. Thank you. Hon.

Peter Bjornson (Minister of Education and Advanced Learning): I'm very pleased to rise in the Chamber today and put a few words on the record about the Throne Speech that has been presented. And, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I'd like to start by thanking my constituents in Gimli where we celebrated the 125th Islendingadagurinn this summer, and I was absolutely delighted that my mom had the honour of being the Fjallkona for Islendingadagurinn this year.

I was also very pleased to join Mayor Tony Pimentel and his committee in Winnipeg Beach when they celebrated their centennial celebration in Winnipeg Beach, another fine community that has certainly done well by our government in terms of our investments in infrastructure and supports for t he community. And, certainly, as many of us did enjoy the summer, it was, albeit a short summer, it was something that Manitobans do very well, and that is celebrate our summers and the many festivals and activities that go on year in, year o ut–or pardon me, year after year, summer after summer in Manitoba.

I'd like to welcome the table officers back for this session, our interns that are now assigned to our

150 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA November 26, 2014 caucuses and, of course, the pages that are going to have an interesting experience i n what has proven to be a very punchy and raucous session as –and I'm very much looking forward to further debate on this Throne Speech, which, I think, is quite a telling characteristic of a tale of two parties, if you will. For the first time, and I know that the opposition has, as the member from River East said yesterday, they can have it both ways in opposition.

They can have it both ways, I believe, is what she talked about yesterday in terms of what they can put on the record. And for the first time since I've been in this Chamber I've seen an alternative throne speech from the opposition, and it's really quite an interesting contrast when you hold up the two documents and look at these two documents. One, ours, is a vision for the province of Manitoba with a very good strategy to achieve good things for all Manitobans.

And the other, well, I'm really still trying to figure it out, quite frankly, because what it looks like to me, if it was a document to talk about their vision for the province of Mani toba, it's essentially a rehash of every private member's bill that we've debated in this Chamber over the last 10 years that members opposite have brought to the Chamber floor. It doesn't have any vision, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for the future of the province of Manitoba, and like I said yesterday in question period, I can imagine what they're talking about in their caucus when they talk about a strategy around education.

What have you got? Nothing. Any ideas? No, I've got nothing. I think that's clear by their vision as outlined in the throne speech. I think it mentions education three times, wh ich is encouraging, but it doesn't say anything about what they would do to make our education system a better system. By contrast, you've looked at our Throne Speech, and I think it's the first five pages, if I'm not mistaken, perhaps more, that deal w ith our education–our outline for –our vision for education and moving forward. Oh, I stand corrected; it's actually six and a half pages, Mr.

Deputy Speaker, talking about our vision for education in the province of Manitoba. And this is a plan that will o pen so many doors for so many students in Manitoba so they have so many options available to them. It is a plan to work with our universities and post-secondary institutions to ensure that students can achieve credits in the high school level that are transferrable to post -secondary institutions.

It ensures that students that achieve credits in one post-secondary institution who might wish to change their field of study and go to another post -secondary institution will receive credit for the credits that they achieved in their previous post-secondary institution. It is a plan that looks at regional opportunities where we will recognize the opportunities for particular regions to enhance their training programs to meet future labour market demands and needs within their communities.

And a really good example of that is one that we've committed to in the Throne Speech with respect to the northeast Interlake training facility, working with our First Nations partners in Peguis, in Fisher River, the surrounding municipalities and RMs who are going to work together to realize a facility that can provide training for First Nations, but not only First Nations residents but also for individuals from the surrounding municipalities so they can get training close to home.

Now, of course, not everyone's going to have an opportunity to be trained close to home, so I think it was fabulous that we announced, as per the rally of the Canadian Federation of Students, the first province in western Canada to eliminate int erest on student loans, Mr. Deputy Speaker. And that's going to have a tremendous impact. It's going to save on average $1,600 if a student has a $10,000 student loan at the end of their career. They'll save $1,600 on payments on that student loan by getting zero interest on that.

And I think that's going to make a big difference for those students who will stay in Manitoba because we have the tuition rebate, where they will get 60 per cent of their tuition back through their income taxes over five years. S o they get money that they can invest in homes and cars and start a family when they start their job here in Manitoba. And that's something I think we can really be proud of here on this side of the House as a serious investment in education.

So, when you go through these six pages, you see that these first six pages of the Throne Speech – and I know it's my education focus as my background and as the newly minted, or, like my colleague said, the old–my opposition candidate said, the old Education minister. Oh, my goodness, old Education Minister. I'm feeling very young and energized, quite frankly, and I feel very energized because of this Throne Speech that has a plan for education in the province of Manitoba, Mr. Deputy Speaker. And I love the idea that we are looking at no closed doors, only open doors for our students.

I love the idea that we're going to be working for

November 26, 2014 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 151 specialized programming, and a great example of that was what we saw at Sisler and the vision that the students and teachers at Sisler High School had for a cyber-security academy. And I might be dating myself here, but I remember the movie WarGames with Matthew Broderick–that’s a few years back–but this notion of these young students learning how to use computer systems to identify threa ts to cyber security and being the only place that they can get this training, other than in military academies in the United States, from my understanding.

It's the only academy of its kind, and they're actually going to be teaching university students th ese courses at Sisler High School. These academies are absolutely fabulous vehicles to promote what we do exceptionally well at our schools, and this is a great example of partnerships that has been able to deliver this particular program at Sisler High School. And it's not just the programs, it's the capital. Our campuses have had 80 major capital projects, a $1.1-billion investment in capital.

And I remember the former premier, Premier Doer, talking about the fact that when we first got into office, you had a leaky roof in the engineering building at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Manitoba –$1.1 billion invested in capital. And that's an incredible commitment to the students of Manitoba.

So we've invested that in capital that also supports community. * (15:10) One of the first opportunities I had to cut a ribbon as the new Minister of Education and Advanced Learning was the incredible fieldhouse that we worked with the University of Winnipeg to develop, and what's unique about that facility is that they have an agreement in writing that 30 per cent of the time it will be available to the community.

I think that's an exceptional example of engaging your community when we are spending public money to build a public building primarily for the university, but to ensure that the community has access to that building so all people in the area can enjoy recreational opportunities in that particular environment. So what have we done with these 80 new buildings? We've also increased the number of students that are participating in our post -secondary system. Since we've been in office, college enrolment is up by 52 per cent, Mr. Deputy Speaker, 52 per cent. University enrolment is up by 42 per cent.

Those are very significant numbers, and I think the only thing that went up when the members opposite were in office was tuition fees, if I'm not mistaken, 142 per cent. I think that's the figure, 132, 142 per cent, 132 per cent I stand corrected, and what did that mean for students? What did that mean when their tuition fees went up and they cut bursaries and they cut scholarships? They abandoned the schools in Manitoba, the post-secondary institutions in Manitoba. They cut funding to these post-secondary institutions and, yes, we're looking at funding universities here.

The increase that we provided to the universities this year and compared to other jurisdictions we found a way to invest in our universities when other jurisdictions like Alberta cut 7 per cent from their university funding. O il-rich Alberta cut 7 per cent from their universities in one budget year. Yes, they did increase it 5 per cent the next, but imagine a 7 per cent cut and what that's going to do to impact the universities. We haven’t been cutting funding.

We find ways to continue to fund universities, even though we've been involved in a very difficult economic downturn for –a global economic downturn, and add to the mix the fact that we got successive floods of incredible magnitude year after year it seems. It seems we have two seasons winter and flood in Manitoba in the last few years, and what does that mean?

That means that we have to reinvest in infrastructure and we have invested in infrastructure, and this Throne Speech also speaks to the importance of infrastructure as far as flood protection is concerned, $450 million to help the people on Lake Manitoba and Lake St. Martin to address the infrastructure needs so that all Manitobans can be protected by the infrastructure investments in flood mitigation.

And I think it's really something that people in Winnipeg sometimes don't remember, that we're having floods in Manitoba, because of the flood protection that we have in Winnipeg with the expansion of the floodway because we don't hear about devastating effects on property in southern Manitoba because I believe only one property was flooded in floods of significant magnitude –of the same magnitude since–of 1997 compared to the thousands of properties that were damaged in 1997 because of all the mitigation efforts that have been under way to prevent flooding.

And we do know from a one -in-350-year flood, which, coincidentally, we had two years later –we do know that there's a billion dollars needed to address those infrastructure

152 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA November 26, 2014 needs to ensure that Manitobans in southwest Manitoba are all safe to the same degree as people living in Winnipeg and people living in southern Manitoba.

And, of course, that infrastructure is not just flood-protection infrastructure, but we're also talking about highway infrastructure and the announcement that was made in Morris just recently bringing the bridge to a safety standard and Internet –pardon me– interstate standards to support the corridor that we have uninterrupted transportation of goods to the United States and from the United States through Highway 75. So this is a Throne Speech that talks about investing in our future whether it's in education, whether it's in infrastructure.

Now, when I look at the opposition's throne speech it's really quite an interesting read, I have to admit, if not a comical read, and one of the things that I found really curious was they talk about migration, outmigration in the province of Manitoba. And they use a particular example where they talk about the population of Steinbach and Brandon, and they compare the number of people that have left the province of Manitoba with the number of people living in Steinbach and Brandon.

Well, that's a rather curious thing to do, because in 1999 the –or, pardon me–in 2011 the population of Steinbach had gone up 22 per cent from 2006; the population of Brandon had gone up 10.3 per cent from 2006. So they're using these two cities as examples, and Steinbach, if you see the headline, talks about how it has leapfrogged into the third largest city in Manitoba because of the growth that we’ve seen in Steinbach. What they neglect to mention is the fact that we have a net increase of 140,000 people in Manitoba. And they talk about population decline.

It's interesting Tory math, but we do know –we do know–that when you go back to the previous decade, when they were in office, when they were last steering the ship, we do know that there was a net decrease of 33,000 people from the province of Manitoba–a net decrease. The population did decline for a decade that they were in office. Our population has grown 140,000 since we've come into office.

And that 33,000 decline in population is the equivalent to a sellout at the Investors Group Field, which is government-built, and the number of people that come to Manitoba on average is the equivalent of a sellout of the MTS Centre, which we partnered to help build. And that's what we do as a government.

We work with our communities, we work with our partners and we build this province, and we know that investments –strategic investments in infrastructure, whether it's school capital, whether it's flood protection, whether it's economic -development engines such as the Investors Group Field, such as the True North–or, pardon me, the MTS Centre, such as partnering with the fede ral government and all those private contributors to the Human Rights Museum, whether it's the incredible infrastructure at the Journey to Churchill –these are all important capital projects.

And the member talked about having attended AMM, and it's alway s great walking over to the Convention Centre, seeing that partnership and that investment in the Convention Centre which will be one of the nicest convention centres in Canada for this size of city and that size of footprint that the Convention Centre will now have, where people can come and take advantage of the critical mass of things that we're doing here in Manitoba.

I was also very proud, if not very cold, the other day when I was standing outside to see the opening of the latest provincial park with the Upper Fort –or, pardon me, Lower Fort Garry –pardon me –let's get that straight: the Upper Fort Garry park, and I think that speaks volumes to the vision of a government to work with a community to take a prime piece of real estate like that but recognize the value of the heritage of that site and the green space and the importance of having that green space in downtown Winnipeg, and recognizing the historic importance to preserve that.

And I was very proud to be there with the Minister of Conservation and Water Stewardship (Mr. Mackintosh) when the ribbon was cut on that first phase of that particular project. We are developing an incredible critical mass of attractions here in the city of Winnipeg. We are developing incredible, critical mass of infr astructure throughout the province of Manitoba, and people are noticing. At the AMM today, I was very pleased to hear what leaders of the AMM had to say about the working relationship we have with their organization.

Sometimes you have to go elsewhere to realize how good you have it back at home, and that was the message I got from the AMM. Some of their executives were saying how they go to the FFMC conferences and they find out that – did I say FFMC? That's Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation–I guess I want the Federation of

November 26, 2014 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 153 Canadian Municipalities –[interjection] FCM, thank you very much; I should correct that. They go to FCM and they say that other provinces –or other – pardon me –other municipal partners cannot believe the working relationship that they enjoy with us here in the province of Manitoba. They cannot believe the partnership that we have with our municipalities. They cannot believe how they were so quick to access the build Canada initiative, because we were ready and we worked with them and w e made it happen, Mr. Deputy Speaker. It's about relationships.

It's about building capacity. It's about doing what’s right for your communities and doing what's right for your province, and that's what we've been doing. And there are so many things that we can talk about with respect to how we intend to move forward in this Throne Speech, and I wish I had more than the half hour that's afforded me for this purpose. * (15:20) So, after we've talked about education and laying the groundwork for more opportunities for our youth, the second part of the Throne Speech talks about creating jobs and building a stronger economy.

Now, when you look at our vision versus the vision of members opposite, that question was raised today in the AMM. I was asked why can' t you get rid of education taxes off of small businesses. But I was able to remind the individual that we eliminated the small business tax, the first province to do so, the only province to do so from 9 per cent to zero. So, if you have a taxable income of $500,000 and you have been seeing your small business tax decreased as we phased it down to zero per cent, you would have saved over half a million dollars in taxes.

The only province to do it, and I'm very proud of that record. And everything that I heard from small businesses, the vast majority of them, taxes were not their issue. Their issue was primarily a trained, educated workforce, which goes back to

part 1 of the Throne Speech, our investment in education, our no wrong door, our opening -doors philosophy that students should have an opportunity to explore a number of different careers, a number of different options and to have an opportunity to find good employment here in Manitoba, good jobs in Manitoba, and that's what the pathways are in our education system. And they could be part of our $700- million investment in highways. They could be part of our $3.7-billion investment in highways over five years.

They could be part of the spinoff jobs that will come as a result of that, whether they're running their own restaurants and serving these individuals who are working on their highways, whether they're opening up their own shops to service and maintain the equipment, whether they're building new opportunities as tradespersons or as careers– professional careers in support of all the things that'll be happening. And, unlike members opposite, it's curious if you look at their infrastructure plans versus ours. Our infrastructure touches every corner of this province. We build for every Manitoban.

We build from corner to corner, from boundary from boundary, from the 49th to the Arctic Circle. We build infrastructure for every Manitoban, including the east -side road which I think is a very important commitment that we have made to the First Nations on the east side, and that is a project that I'm very proud of where these communities will be connected to the rest of the province over the next 20 years as we develop the east-side road to support industry and opportunities on the east side.

So the other parts of the Throne Speech that are certainly not last but not least in any way, shape or form that I think speaks to our vision versus their vision is the fact that we're going to prevent–or we're going to– pardon me –invest in prevention and protecting front-line services. Now, it's curious, when I look at the opposition's throne speech, they talk about reducing spending as a way up. Reducing spending is a way up for young people by improving the quality of education. I did say they referenced education maybe once or twice.

I'm not sure how reducing the spending is going to be a way up, because I saw the reduced spending on education when I was a teacher in Gimli High School. I saw the impact that that had on our classrooms.

I saw the impact that that had on the teachers, and they ignored so many issues in education time and time again, and it was actually – there were a couple of times when I sat down with my principal and had a conversation about career changes because I was really, really having a hard time–really having a hard time dealing with the fact that our system was getting so underresourced that the hands were tied by our school, by the provincial government's actions, that our school boards were faced with really tough decisions. For five years I actually didn't have a permanent job.

I was always the lowest on the seniority list and

154 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA November 26, 2014 it took five years before I knew that I had a permanent job in my school division, and I often talked to my principal about what other options might be available to me. But, thankfully, things changed in 1999 when we were first elected to this Chamber as a government, and I was very pleased to join the team in 2003 and be part of a team that invests in protecting those front-line services in education, in health care and in services that matter most to Manitobans. And we've seen many examples of that.

It wasn't that long ago I was in Selkirk, where my good friend, the Minister of Finance (Mr. Dewar), he was unable to attend that event that day because he's a very bu sy man. But I gave greetings on his behalf and it was the celebration of the new cancer hub and the cancer navigator program in Selkirk, and the importance of that particular investment for people who are suffering from cancer and the scourge of cancer and to know that there is somebody there to navigate their journey and help them every step of the way. And it's such a distinct difference between our vision and their vision.

And I have to–I've said it before but I'll say it again, I distinctly remember th e 2007 election, when we promised to build a dialysis unit in Gimli and I was essentially accosted by my opposition campaign manager. The opposition campaign manager came up to me and said, what the expletive deleted are you doing? We can't afford this. We don't need this. That's what they said. And I was very pleased to open that centre in 2011 and you should have seen the joy in the faces of those individuals who have been very positively impacted because they can go and get dialysis at home.

When you have an 80 -year-old man who had to drive every second day to get dialysis–he had tears in his eyes, talking about what that meant to get the service that he needed to save his life at home. And what did they say? We don't need this; we can't afford this. There's such a sharp contrast between us and them and they've demonstrated that in this alternate throne speech.

I'm really not sure what this alternate throne speech is, like I said, other than a rehash of every failed private members' bill that they've brought to the table, which we've debated in this Chamber, which we have said this is why this isn't going to work, this is why this is not right for Manitoba. There's no vision in that throne speech. But look at the Throne Speech that we've presented to Manitobans.

Look at the vision we have for education, look at the vision that we have for infrastructure, look at the vision that we have for jobs and the economy, look at the vision that we have for child care–the vision that we have for child care. I kno w our federal party has been saying that – [interjection]–I believe you'll have an opportunity to have your speech there, young man, so maybe just sit tight. The vision that we have for child care in this province, towards universally accessible child care, that is a vision that we share with our federal party, universal child care.

Now we know that we had an agreement with the federal government at one time, but, unfortunately, when the Liberal government lost and we had signed that agreement with them to bring forward towards universal accessible child care, the Conservative government came in and what did they do? They cancelled it. They cancelled it– An Honourable Member: Like postal service. Mr.

Bjornson: Like postal service, like other –like veterans' services, like health transfers to the provinces, like health clinics, women's clinics, as well, all these things that the federal government cancelled that we have tried our best to backfill, we've tried our best to meet the needs of those who are left out the door by the federal government's initiatives and their cutting of services. Now, why do I raise the federal government? Because that's the vision of the members opposite: cut, cut, cut. We don't subsc ribe to that. We know that strategic investments will drive the economy.

We know that strategic investments will create jobs. We know that strategic investments will allow parents to have a choice for child -care needs so that they can get those jobs, so they can go to the schools that we're building, so they can access the university and college courses that we are funding, so they can get that student loan and not have to worry about paying interest on it, so that they can go through opened doors and create a better life for their friends and for their family.

So it's quite a contrast again and I know that I am running out of time but I do want to say that after a very positive session with many members from the AMM, after a very positive experience at AMM and good discussions, I must say I was very distraught to hear what the Leader of the Opposition had to say. * (15:30)

November 26, 2014 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA 155 Now, it's not unusual for the opposition to say silly things. I remember them saying, there was no bullying in school when we were in office; thank you very much to the MLA for Charleswood. I remember them saying, well, there was no car theft when we were in office; thank you very much, the MLA from–the former MLA from Morris. I remember them saying, oh, if you're getting bullied on the Internet, the answer is simple, just don't go there; thank you very much, MLA for Emerson. They say silly things, but what was really offensive to me was another silly thing.

Their leader has allowed that tradition to continue. He stood up in front of the AMM and said, the NDP is going door to door and saying I should not be the next premier because I'm from rural Manitoba. He said that to the delegates at AMM. I'm–I don't know what to say. I mean, how ridiculous an assertion is that? That is absolutely ridiculous and insulting to those of us from rural Manitoba, and to suggest that we would do that is absolutely ludicrous. But, like I say, they have a tradition of saying silly things.

I remember a former Education minister, he used to teach phys. ed., I be lieve his name was Len Derkach, who actually said, you know what, we're going to cut frivolous things out of the education system like phys. ed. and music and art. That's what Len Derkach said, the former minister of Education. They say silly things. And, you know, that's one thing about being in public office: when you're standing up in front of cameras, when you're standing up in front of microphones, things that you say are accounted for. And they will be held accountable.

And our vision is for a better Manitoba, growing Manitoba, and I'm very proud to be on this side of the House represent the fine constituents of Gimli, and I'm certainly looking forward to representing them for many, many years to come. Thank you. Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): I ri se to talk about the NDP's Throne Speech, but first I want to say some thank- yous to the residents of River Heights, to the staff who work in my office, to Rana Bokhari, the Manitoba Liberal Leader, and to those who support from around the province the Manitoba Liberal Party. Now I'll respond to the Throne Speech.

My overall impression is that the media are right. The Premier (Mr. Selinger) must have spent most of the last five months battling internal turmoil within his caucus because there's little of th e planning I would usually expect in the Throne Speech. A throne speech is the chance to talk about the big issues, the challenges and the opportunities. A throne speech should talk about the challenges faced by the province and what solutions the governme nt will implement to meet these challenges.

As in other areas, a good plan depends on, first, a good understanding of the problem demonstrated in an articulate definition of the issue. In the case of the NDP Throne Speech, there was a poor definition of the problems and then a poor outline of the plan to address these problems. I will begin by focusing on a report of the Broadbent Institute. This report looked at the well-being of Canadians across Canada. Sadly, Manitobans' social well -being was rated the lowest of all the provinces. There were specific reasons for this.

Today's NDP has failed to recognize the importance of social well -being and the importance of issues which were raised by the Broadbent Institute. As I go through my response to the Speech from the Throne, I will mention aspects of the Broadbent Institute study of social well -being and address the areas where Manitoba came up short. First, education: The Throne Speech starts with a discussion of education, but sadly the Throne Speech doesn't address one of the most important issues of today, the fact that our students are doing poorly when assessed in comparison to other provinces.

Let's take a look at the results of the Pan -Canadian Assessment of mathematics, reading and science. This is an assessment done by the councillors of ministers of Education Canada, of which Manitoba's Minister of Education is a member. The results for Manitoba on today's –under today's NDP were abysmal. Among all provinces, Manitoba was dead last in science, reading and mathematics. The impact is across the spectrum of students, with more Manitoba students having low scores and few Manitoba students having high scores.

The results are so bad they threaten to pull our students and our province backwards and to cause major difficulties in several areas for many years to come. The issue here is the quality of the education our children are receiving. This is an issue that affects children and their future, and it affects our families and communities because the future of our families and our communities depends on our children and how well they do. It is a shortcoming for Manitoba that was highlighted in the Broadbent Institute study of social

156 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA November 26, 2014 well-being. It should've been addressed in the Throne Speech. It was not. Let us examine the results a little closer. Manitoba was not just last in science. We were 35 points lower than the Canadian average and 40 points lower than Alberta. Manitoba was not just last in reading. Manitoba was 39 points below the Canadian average and 55 points below Ontario. Manitoba was not just last in math. We were 36 points below the Canadian average and 56 points below Quebec. Manitoba was not just last in science learning overall.

Manitoba was last in physical and earth sciences and second last in life sciences. Manitoba was last in scientific inquiry and problem solving and second last in scientific reasoning. Manitoba wasn't even close to the Canadian average in any of these areas and was 56 points behind Alberta in scientific inquiry. The tombstone of the NDP will read: Through poor management and terrible implementation the NDP government of 1999 to 2015 failed the children of our province so badly that they fell behind every other province in Canada in reading, mathematics and science.

Ev en the Free Press highlighted this in an editorial, saying that the approach of today's NDP high cost and low outcome isn't acceptable. The Free Press goes on to say that Manitoba's NDP has a nasty habit of pandering to voters as opposed to promoting innovations that might make services better and cheaper. Sadly, in the Throne Speech, not only do we not see an acknowledgement that the quality of education in the outcomes of our students are important, but if we do not see the needed commitment to look at how we improve education while stemming the rise in costs.

To be fair, the Throne Speech did make a positive step in addressing student debt, saying it would in next year's budget eliminate the interest on student loans. But we still don't know whether this will be for all students or just some students and when it will actually start. It must also be said that the funding pressures on universities and the recent announcement that the University of Manitoba must face deep budget cuts emphasizes the fact that the NDP broke their multi - year funding commitment to our universities and instituted cutbacks in the last two budgets which are partly to blame for this problem.

Second, health care: As in education, the

section in the Throne Speech on health fails to focus on the most critical questions which exist in health care today for Manitoba. Recently, a report released by the Canadian Institute for Health Information on September 18th showed that Winnipeg's hospitals had very long wait times in their emergen cy rooms. The longest of these was the Grace Hospital where the 90th percentile of waits was 9.1 hours. Dr. Howard Ovens, co- author of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians statement on emergency departments, said nine hours is really a very troubling figure.

The idea of actually waiting nine hours in an emergency room is disturbing. The Throne Speech doesn't recognize the extent of the problem, and though the Throne Speech announces funding for redevelopment at the Grace Hospital including a new emergency room, we all know what happened after redevelopment of the Health Sciences Centre emergency room: Brian Sinclair died waiting 34 hours to get help. It's more than just building structures. It's about improving operating procedures as well. But the issue of the emergency rooms is larger than this.

Through a Freedom of Information request we found that there were over 750 days in 23 Manitoba hospitals outside Winnipeg where the emergency room was closed and not available to those who had an em ergency. This also was not recognized in the Throne Speech, and no plan at all was mentioned to address this problem. And there are other critical health issues which are inadequately dealt with. Mental health is one.

Except for a brief reference to post traumatic stress disorder, mental or brain health is not mentioned, this in spite of the fact that the Broadbent Institute highlighted the fact that Manitobans had the lowest self-perceived mental health of any province. It's an important issue for Manito bans and it sh

Document details

Collection	Manitoba — Debates (Hansard)
Citation	40-4-5
Type	hansard
Volume / chapter	40th 4th hansardpdf 5.pdf
Language	en
Format	pdf
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	cddf7bb7613ef58f1d3617cdc2644ed4fbf38900

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