Alberta Hansard — 11 April 1988, Evening sitting (20:00) (Legislature 21, Session 3)

19880411

Alberta — Debates (Hansard)

April 11, 1988 ALBERTA HANSARD 347 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ALBERTA Title: Monday, April 11, 1988 8:00 p.m. Date: 88/04/11 [The Committee of Supply met at 8 p. m. ] head: COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY [Mr. Gogo in the Chair] MR. CHAIRMAN: The Committee of Supply will please come to order. Department of Culture and Multiculturalism MR. CHAIRMAN: The government has called the Department of Culture and Multiculturalism tonight, the Hon. Greg Stevens, page 99 of the government estimates book.

Responsibilities of the minister are on that same page, and the authority for the pro gram and description of the program are on page 102. Hon. minister, it's customary for the minister proposing esti mates to the House to make opening comments to his expendi tures. Would the hon. minister care to make opening com ments? Mr. Stevens. MR. STEVENS: Thanks, Mr. Chairman. The 1988 budget for our department reflects our concerted efforts to maintain an impressive level of cultural services for the average citizen of Alberta during a time of economic restraint. It's interesting, Mr.

Chairman and members, that we're discussing this department's budget estimates on the night of the Academy Awards, so I'm going to open an envelope and see if we can find out all the nominees. AN HON. MEMBER: You don't look like Cher, Greg. MR. STEVENS: Oh, I'm sorry; I wish I could. The budget for Culture and Multiculturalism is a reflection of this government's... MR. CHAIRMAN: Hon. minister, could I interrupt you for just a moment? I believe the hon. Member for Stony Plain has re quested we revert to Introduction of Special Guests. Is that cor rect, hon. member?

Would the committee give permission to the reversion to introduction? HON. MEMBERS: Agreed. MR. CHAIRMAN: Member for Stony Plain. head: INTRODUCTION OF SPECIAL GUESTS MR. HERON: Thank you so much, Mr. Chairman. It's my pleasure this evening to introduce the chairman of the board of the Alberta Foundation for the Literary Arts, Dr. Howard Piatt -- I would ask that Dr. Piatt stand -- Randy Heil, who is president of the Heritage Agricultural Society, and Marilynn Dodds, who is executive director of the ag society and runs the Stony Plain Multicultural Centre.

If you'd please stand and receive the warm welcome of this Assembly. head: COMMITTEE OF SUPPLY Department of Culture and Multiculturalism (continued) MR. STEVENS: Mr. Chairman, I think all of us as members, when we have those opportunities to welcome to the Assembly citizens from across this province -- it is a wonderful thing to have people in our galleries when we have these opportunities. Mr.

Chairman, the budget for our department is a reflection of the government's commitment to reducing the size of our deficit but at the same time providing for the needs of all Al- bertans in the areas of culture and multiculturalism. The total funding requirements for the department before the Assembly for '88-89 have been reduced by about $3 million. That's about a 6 percent cut from last year's estimates. Included in this re duction are 9. 5 full-time equivalent man-years, of which four are permanent positions.

I'm very pleased to note that none of these positions is currently occupied, and that is despite the labour-intensive character of the department's programs, and I am very pleased to advise you that my department has been suc cessful in minimizing the personal impact of manpower cuts in this year. The vacancies were created by way of attrition, inter nal redeployment, and retirements.

Now, in implementing those reductions for this coming year, the decreases have been applied in a manner which will allow Culture and Multiculturalism to provide the necessary resources in order to accommodate our cultural and multicultural clients right throughout this province. For instance, we've been able to accommodate the incredible record-breaking attendance levels at such tourism/cultural facilities as our major historic sites and the Tyrrell Museum, and we've done it with less staff and with a reduction in our maintenance budgets.

It's obviously evident, I think, that all employees in the department have handled these restraint measures and the pressures of increased tourism and increased interest in these facilities very well. I think they de serve to be congratulated not only for holding the line on expen ditures but at the same time continuing to provide quality serv ices to the people of Alberta. I think, Mr.

Chairman, I should extend, too, on behalf of the complete department, in fact on behalf of all of the members of the Assembly, our sincere gratitude and thanks to the many vol unteers who devote so much effort in implementing co-operative ventures with our staff in areas such as our workshops for the performing, literary, and visual arts, in areas of board develop ment programs, or in the historic sites and museum operations. Whether they are volunteer boards or they are members or the friends of the various operations, these Albertans are totally dedicated.

They're dedicated to the maintenance and improve ment of the quality of life in our province, and I know they count on our department to help them accomplish these goals. I am very happy to say for the members that the budget presented today indicates our government's sincere commitment to the cultural interests across Alberta at a time when Albertans have undergone some severe difficulties. There are three main initiatives, Mr. Chairman. The first initiative I want to highlight is in vote 2, Cultural Development.

Now, a case in point is the 1 percent increase in the per capita rates for operating grants for Library Services for 1988-89. That's a very important presentation in this budget, a program which benefits nearly everyone in this province. I believe there are only two communities in this province that currently do not have a library service. My government fully recognizes the

348 ALBERTA HANSARD April 11, 1988 valuable contributions of these services and of the libraries to the lives of Albertans. It doesn't matter if you're a senior citizen, if you're someone who is between assignments, some one who is unemployed, a young person, someone seeking to advance themselves, to learn a new language, to learn a new skill. The libraries are there. In addition, the fact that the Shortgrass library system re ceived establishment approval during this year is indicative of our government's continuing commitment to the development of libraries and library systems across the province.

I commend the MLAs in the communities that are involved in the Shortgrass system for their efforts in bringing these community needs to our attention. It's very important to help these systems operate efficiently and effectively that we have capital funding. So over the next two years we will be developing five regional head quarters systems through the use of lottery funds; these systems are in Parkland, Yellowhead, Marigold, Peace, and of course the newest system of all, the Shortgrass system.

The second initiative, in vote 3, the historical resources divi sion, is in conjunction with bringing heritage awareness to Al bertans. A major thrust of our department has been in building cultural tourism and stimulating regional economic growth through heritage resource development. I want to share with the members an interesting fact that's come to our attention recently by independent studies. People coming to this province choose to come for a lot of reasons. We ask them, "Why do you choose Alberta?" And you can group them. Some people say, "Well, I want to go skiing.

" Some people say, "I want to see the moun tains. " Some people say, "The environment in those moun tains. " When you group all of that together and say they come for the mountains, that's the number one reason for people visit ing Alberta to choose this province. Number two is the Alberta Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology in Drumheller. Number three is Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump near Fort Macleod. Number four is Frank Slide in Pincher Creek-Crowsnest.

That's an amazing record of accomplishment of this government, to build those kinds of facilities to involve those communities in this tremendous development of the tourism industry, to imagine the second, third, and fourth rea sons for coming to Alberta are projects that have been built by Albertans for Albertans and our visitors. The Tyrrell Museum, while it continues to break attendance records, is now established as a major international site for world tourists.

But aside from that, it's fast attaining worldwide recognition, international recognition, not only as the finest mu seum of its kind in the world but as a world leader in the science of palaeontology. Another international significance, of course, was the opening of Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump near Fort Macleod last summer. I'm very proud to say that not only will this be the best native history interpretive centre in Canada; it will be a great educational facility for Albertans as well as an international attraction that will significantly contribute to the tourism industry of our province.

If there is a member who has not had the opportunity to visit those sites, I hope they'll let me know, and we'll try to find a way to make sure that when the House rises this summer or this early spring, perhaps, we'll have a chance to show you the incredible achievements at these facilities. In keeping with this proud tradition, the major capital project that my department will continue this year is the Ukrainian Cul tural Heritage Village.

I'm also very pleased to announce that both the Reynolds-Alberta Museum in Wetaskiwin and the Remington-Alberta Carriage Centre in Cardston have received final approvals to commence construction by the Department of Public Works, Supply and Services. Of course, that means our department has received additional operating funding for Reynolds to begin preparation for the

interpretation and display of the major museum artifacts. With the land, the storage facilities, and the basic collection already acquired, the construc tion of the Reynolds facility will complete the project. I think it is something that we should do to honour this contribution, this acquisition. The incredible effort of Mr. Stan Reynolds and, of course, the Minister of Tourism, the Member for Wetaskiwin- Leduc, in ensuring that this gentleman who so generously donated his personal collection as the core of this facility is a tremendous contribution to the people of Alberta.

To assist now in the long-term stimulation of tourism in the area -- for those members who represent the capital area and the region -- we estimate something like 750, 000 visitors in the first year of op eration of that facility. Likewise, completion of the Remington project is among our projects for this year, and I think this, too, is a tribute to the memory and the vision of Don Remington, who passed away, and of course to the efforts of the Member for Cardston and the town of Cardston in ensuring that we would have this opportu nity to show to all Albertans and to visitors here this incredible collection.

This will add to a substantial opportunity for tourism from northern Montana, from Glacier National Park and the Waterton area to the town of Cardston. That will become the gateway to southern Alberta for years and years to come. The third initiative in the budget before the members, Mr. Chairman, is the Alberta Cultural Heritage Amendment Act, 1987, which was proclaimed effective April 1, 1988. I'm very pleased that the Executive Council approved the appointment of the Member for Red Deer- South as the first chairman of the Al berta Multicultural Commission. It's a wonderful challenge for this member.

The commission will have six members: the chairman of the commission, of course, whom I've just men tioned; the chairman of the Alberta Cultural Heritage Council, who is Orest Olineck; an employee of the government under my responsibility; and three other members to be appointed shortly. As a result, the Alberta Cultural Heritage Foundation no longer exists, and I do wish to commend the foundation and all of its members both current and past, the staff of the foundation, for their service and their commitment. The budget before you, Mr.

Chairman, in vote 4, consists of a trust fund and a divisional budget, and all grants and program fundings will be channeled through the trust fund. The ad ministration of the commission will be provided through the heritage development division, which has a budget of about $1. 5 million in the 1988-89 fiscal year. Mr. Chairman, I do want to say that there is no one more conscious than I of the contribution to our province of the artists of Alberta, the arts organizations, and the cultural industries, whether they're galleries, theatres, orchestras, dance companies, film co-operatives, publishers, and others.

In the seven months that I've had this assignment, I've had the opportunity together with my wife, Patricia, to meet with many individuals who are contributing to our quality of life throughout this province and to attend performances, exhibitions, and functions. I am very proud of their accomplishments; I know everyone in this room is proud of their accomplishments. I know that reductions in the budget of our department may seem to them like a reduction in the government's commitment to the arts, but that's not the case, Mr. Chairman, not at all. Through the allocation of lottery profits to the Alberta Art Foun-

April 11, 1988 ALBERTA HANSARD 349 dation or the Alberta Foundation for the Performing Arts or the Alberta Foundation for the Literary Arts or the Alberta Histori cal Resources Foundation -- the readiness of these foundations to work with the government -- we have been able to ensure continuing and stable support to the arts in Alberta even in these periods of economic difficulty. Mr. Chairman, I think we could all reflect -- we've discussed it in the throne speech, and members have made reference to this.

Alberta showed the world how well it could put on a show during the wonderful Winter Olympics in Calgary and in Can- more. A big part of the reason we were able to do that is that artists of all kinds -- entertainers, producers, technicians, and the creators who live and work in our province -- and the wonderful organization, the music, the choreography, the opening and the closing ceremonies, the entertainment at the Olympic Plaza, and especially the Olympic Arts Festival: these were the results of our building a society which recognizes and supports the arts. Mr.

Chairman, every summer Alberta Culture and Multicul turalism presents major arts workshops. I'd like to refer to three of them only: Series, Artstrek, and Musicamrose. This year Series '88, the visual arts summer school which is cosponsored by and held at Red Deer College, is the largest residential visual arts school of this kind in Canada. It's one of the biggest and best on the continent. The second one I mentioned, Artstrek, is the summer drama school for young people which takes place for three weeks at the Lakeland College in Vermilion.

Musicamrose is a program of music workshops for band and choral and piano students held at the Camrose Lutheran College. The participants in these programs not only come from the towns themselves but from all over this province, and these summer schools are often the only chance that our students from small communities get to become involved with high-level pro fessional teachers and to have sustained contact with them in this way. Now, it's not only the students and the artists who benefit from these programs.

The boards of these cultural organizations across this province are made up of volunteers, and through this board development program of the department we provide assis tance to help those volunteer boards develop their own policies, their own programs, and to deal with organizational manage ment, and that's a program that's jointly operated with Grant MacEwan Community College. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to commend the group of our team who are the field representatives in Alberta Culture and Multi culturalism.

I know that members will have met field repre sentatives in their various locations in several communities out side Edmonton and Calgary as well as within our two major cities. We depend on these field officers to keep in touch with municipalities and their needs all over the province, to assist local governments, local organizations, in assessing the pro grams of the department and in accessing those programs, and also in establishing their own unique community cultural policy or in assessing the cultural need of that particular community. I'd like to say, Mr.

Chairman, a few words about, well, one or two of the noteworthy individual artists and events that are so wonderful and have done so much for our province. One of our best known and most respected visual artists, Illingworth Kerr, is a subject of a new book that came out in the last few months. His work is also included in that wonderful show of landscape paintings of Alberta called Spaces and Places. There was an

article about Mr. Kerr in, I think, a recent issue of the Alberta Report. I had the pleasure of opening that showing during the Olym pics in Calgary where it was displayed in the Bow Valley Square shopping centre. Now, that exhibition will be going this summer to Hong Kong and to our sister province in China, Heilongjiang. In this regard, I know that I was very pleased the other day when members joined with me in welcoming the first retail outlet for the arts and for the 13 pre-eminent artists in Heilongjiang who will be here in Edmonton, the works of these particular creators.

This is the first time this has been permitted by China, and that's directly as a result of the twinning of our provinces together. Now, the government's program of assistance to writers has had wonderful results. Take one example, Marilyn Halvorson of Sundre who won our writing for youth award in 1982 for her book Cowboys Don't Cry. This year that book has become a beautiful movie made by another Alberta prize winner, Anne Wheeler of Edmonton. I know many of our colleagues, Mr.

Chairman, had the opportunity to see that film when it opened the film festival in the Olympic Arts Festival or at its recent premiere here in Edmonton. Mr. Chairman, we also have Alberta performing artists repre senting our province and our country in Singapore and in Australia over the coming weeks. Small Change Theatre from Edmonton will travel there, and k. d. lang, who has become a major star in the country and western field, will be in Australia this year too. I had the chance to meet k. d. lang when she ap peared as a beginning country singer at the Banff Television Festival five or six years ago.

It was incredible to see the reac tion of people from New York, Chicago, Hollywood, Europe, and Canada to this young woman. Then although there are not many in the press gallery tonight, many of us would have had the chance to see k. d. lang when she appeared at a press spec tacular that was here in Edmonton. We all had a chance to see this young woman perform. A number of other groups and indi vidual Alberta artists will also be making international tours in the coming year, like the Foothills Brass, the Shumka dancers, and the Young Canadians of the Calgary Stampede.

It's not only in international terms that Alberta's artists are flourishing, though. If you look at the tremendous development of festivals throughout our province, I'm sure you will share our pride. We now have important festivals of children's theatre in both our large cities. In addition to Jazz City, Edmonton hosts The Works, which is a major downtown festival focusing on the visual arts. Every August our capital city welcomes the Fringe, which has become one of the most important festivals of small- scale and alternative theatre in North America, if not anywhere in the English-speaking world.

Indeed, artists and performing companies from many other countries in the world perform regularly now in our festivals and in the seasons of our theatre companies, our operas, our symphony orchestras. Indeed, the arts are playing an important

part in making Alberta home to the world. Mr. Chairman, another major event in my department was a major historical discovery of the Devil's Coulee dinosaur egg site on the Milk River Ridge between Stirling and Warner. In late June a fossil eggshell was found by Wendy Sloboda, a local young farm girl with an interest in palaeontology. Following up on the evidence, Kevin Aulenback and Dr. Philip Currie of the Tyrrell Museum of... I'll never say it. I'm going to change that name tomorrow. MRS. CRIPPS: Palaeontology. MR. STEVENS: Thank you, my good colleague from Devon.

350 ALBERTA HANSARD April 11, 1988 But she did, and with their help they confirmed complete dinosaur nests on the site, some of the finest ever found interna tionally. This site contains vital information on the habits and physiology of these intriguing creatures and has attracted worldwide attention. Indeed, as the first word came out of that discovery, there were Japanese scientists in New York who called to Alberta and said, "We must come and see this incred ible discovery. " We have since acquired the site, held an inter national press conference there, and major excavation will start this spring.

The feasibility of a future interpretive centre on the site is also being explored. Aside from those mentioned, I'd like to thank the members for Cardston and Taber-Warner for their assistance in securing the site and working with the surrounding communities in its protection. Again, Mr. Chairman, with the many new provincial heritage attractions that will be or have been built in recent years, it's unfortunate that we sometimes overlook or forget the province's original and major historical facility, which has just celebrated its 20th anniversary as an outstanding cultural and tourist attrac tion.

I believe it might even be in the riding of a young lady sitting close to me tonight. Of course, I'm speaking of the Provincial Museum of Alberta, which opened in 1967. The Provincial Museum has educated us and our children about the diversity of this province's human and natural history and served as an orientation centre for many of the foreign dig nitaries who visit our province each day. One example of this institution's success can be seen now as the Provincial Museum launches its fourth annual festival for National Wildlife Week.

This event involves 26 co-operating associations who offer 40 exhibits and presentations in the natural history area. Indeed, it's the largest event of its kind in Canada, and it's being used as a model elsewhere. Also dating back to 1967, I want to mention the Provincial Archives of Alberta, which play such a crucial role for our prov ince as the custodian of our documentary heritage. I think that without their records it is doubtful that many of the other initia tives in the heritage field could have been achieved.

As so much of their work is behind the scenes, though, few of the ar chival staff have ever been recognized publicly. I'd like to thank these people now for their years of service in safeguarding our heritage, in assisting researchers, and also to note the grow ing field of municipal, institutional, and other archives around the province which provide this incredible, valuable service. We're becoming a world leader, Mr. Chairman, in many aspects of historical resource research, in preservation, and in development. Other countries are approaching us about the possibility for exchanges and joint ventures.

I think perhaps the most signifi cant of these presently is the exchange with the Pacific Rim countries. For the last two years the dinosaur project, the China/Canada/Alberta Ex Terra project, has enabled reciprocal expeditions and research exchanges to take place between our two countries. These have seriously advanced the field of this study and advanced our relationship with each other. One point I would like to clarify for the members is the tem porary closure of the Alberta Natural Resources Science Centre in east Edmonton.

That complex was damaged in last year's tornado; it was closed for a period of time for repairs. But even before the storm its displays and programs were becoming dated, its attendance was not reaching its full potential, and given our economic restraints, I've decided that it's not feasible to continue to operate the centre under its present program. Consequently, it will not be open this summer. At the same time, our officials will be developing a plan to revitalize the themes, the exhibits, and the programs for the complex.

Once these plans are complete and the resources secured, the attrac tion will be reopened. At the same time, of course, the adjacent Strathcona Archaeological Centre will remain unaffected and will continue its normal operation. Mr. Chairman, I'm going to request with your permission that the Member for Red Deer-South give a few remarks about the Multicultural Commission, but I would like to conclude my remarks by saying these comments.

A good cultural environ ment is not only important for all Albertans; but indeed it is an incentive for corporations, for small business, for service indus tries elsewhere to look at Alberta and to move and to locate here, not for the sake of those corporations but for the employ ees of those corporations and small businesses who can and will participate, whether it's on the stage, behind the stage, or at the box office. [interjection] MR. CHAIRMAN: Order please. MR.

STEVENS: And with centres like the Citadel here in Ed monton or the Calgary Centre for Performing Arts or the re gional theatres at Keyano College or at Red Deer College or Lethbridge university or Grande Prairie college or the many lo cal theatre groups -- we could all stand up and mention one or more theatre groups in our constituencies. But whether they're at Rosebud or Foremost or Canmore or Barrhead or Peace River or elsewhere, all of these are providing Albertans with a sense of pride and involvement. Mr.

Chairman, I see in the gallery tonight just a few of the hundreds -- no, the thousands -- of volunteers who work with their communities and organizations. I believe Mr. Uwe Welz, chairman of the Edmonton district Alberta Cultural Heritage Council is here. Mr. Nazir Ahmed, chairman of the Edmonton Multicultural Society is here. Mr. John Hault, president of the Alberta Museums Association is here; Mr. Bob Barton, presi dent of the Friends of Rutherford House. Mr. Vince Richards, Edmonton Public Library, is here. Mr. Bob Maskell of the Al berta Library Board is here. Mr.

Doug Wright and Miss Carole Walker, board members of the Art Foundation, are here, as well as, of course, Marilynn and Howard who were introduced ear lier. All of these citizens and others who are not able to be here serve us well. I would also like to say, Mr.

Chairman, to all members of the Assembly, because every member of this Assembly has at some time or other called our department for advice or assistance -- I'd like to pay a special thank you in my time as Minister of Culture and Multiculturalism to the support of our entire team, to the commitment and effort of our team, headed up by our deputy minister, Mr. Jack O'Neill, by our assistant deputy min isters Bill Byrne, Glen Buick, Beth Bryant, and to Don Doherty and to Murray Maisey and our staff of Vijay Sharma and Faith, in our office, for all their support. Mr.

Chairman, I'll conclude and ask that perhaps the mem bers would consider the remarks of the Member for Red Deer-South. MR. CHAIRMAN: Hon. members, as the members are aware, the hon. Member for Red Deer-South has been appointed by order in council as chairman of the Multicultural Commission. Perhaps the hon. Mr. Oldring would like to make some opening comments to these estimates. Red Deer-South?

April 11, 1988 ALBERTA HANSARD 351 MR. OLDRING: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to take this opportunity to compliment the minister for the energy and the enthusiasm and the sincere interest and dedication that he has greeted his new responsibilities with. The presence and efforts of the minister and his wife, Pat -- because I know that his wife, Pat, does take the time and make the effort to attend an awful lot of these functions with him. But I know that their presence has been felt and appreciated throughout our province in a very short time.

I would also like to join the minister in acknowledging the team he has working with him. I know that as an MLA I cer tainly appreciate the assistance and help I've received from his office: from Jack O'Neill, the deputy minister, and Beth Bryant, the assistant deputy minister, and Don and Murray and Vijay and Faith. He's assembled a terrific team in a short time, and that's a compliment both to them and to the minister. Mr. Chairman, I'm pleased to have this opportunity to speak to the recently proclaimed Alberta Multicultural Commission.

The commission is a unique and creative structure which will be the focal point within government for the continued develop ment of multiculturalism in Alberta. Not only will the ethnocul- tural groups, the community organizations and institutions have one agency to turn to for programs and services, but it will also play a role in assisting all government departments in reflecting the principles of multiculturalism in their policies and in their practices.

For it's important not only to our ethnocultural groups but to all Albertans that the objectives of the Alberta Cultural Heritage Act are reflected throughout government and not only in a single department or a single agency.

Therefore, as the first chairman of the commission, I want it recorded very clearly -- and certainly Hansard will see to that here this eve ning -- that I state my commitment to being the advocate for multiculturalism and for the aspirations of our ethnocultural communities with my colleagues here in government I have been in the past and I will continue to be accessible to the eth nocultural groups, and I am looking forward to meeting with them to discuss shared concerns and shared aspirations.

It's also important, however, that education and social serv ice agencies, the media, and business recognize and fully under stand the real value of our culturally diverse population. There fore, I intend to actively promote the current programs of the cultural heritage division and the future programs of the com mission within these sectors. Of course, Mr. Chairman, I'll not be working alone to achieve these objectives.

While the majority of the members of the commission will be appointed within the next few weeks, I am very pleased to have working with me already the chairman of the Alberta Cultural Heritage Council, Mr. Orest Olineck. As some of you here are aware, the council has approximately 180 members, of which the majority are elected by ethnocultural or multicultural groups here in the province. These members par ticipate on eight regional councils and reflect interests from throughout the province.

The council has been in existence since 1972 and has a distinguished history of providing sound advice and recommendations to government I personally am looking forward to working with Mr. Olineck and the council, as I respect and value the tremendous volunteer commitment the council has historically contributed to the development of multi culturalism in Alberta. Mr. Chairman, one of the first tasks of the commission will be to conduct a series of public meetings throughout the prov ince regarding the future directions of multiculturalism.

The commission at this point is merely a structure, and we look for ward to hearing from ethnocultural communities, individuals, institutions, and businesses interested in putting forward ideas for programs they feel can help us carry out the objectives of the Cultural Heritage Act. I expect the consultations will take place within the next six months, but we rely on the advice of the commission board members as to the best format and time line for this process. I would hope that the Alberta Cultural Heritage Council through its chairman will also give us advice and will become actively involved in the process.

I also wish to empha size that while the public hearings are being conducted, the for mer programs of the Alberta Cultural Heritage Foundation and the current programs of the cultural heritage division will con tinue. I would encourage our ethnocultural communities to work with the staff of the cultural heritage division to ensure that the excellent service of the past is maintained in the interim. On that note, Mr. Chairman, I would like at this time to ac knowledge the very significant contribution made by the Alberta Cultural Heritage Foundation over the past 10 years.

To Craig Curtis, the foundation's most recent chairman, to former chair men, to all the board members and former board members and to the staff: I wish to assure them that the commission intends to build upon their achievements as we move forward with the new initiatives for the future. In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, I would like to point out that this new agency, the commission, is a response to the progres sive development of multiculturalism which was originally in troduced by our government in 1972.

Under the leadership of former Premier Lougheed and the first minister of culture, Horst Schmid, our government's commitment to this area was introduced. It continued to flourish under the hon. Mary LeMessurier, who introduced the Alberta Cultural Heritage Act. The commission was envisioned by our Premier, the Hon. Don Getty, and my colleague the Hon. Dennis Anderson, and I think that speaks very clearly of their commitment to multiculturalism in our province today. The Minister of Culture and Multiculturalism, the Hon.

Greg Stevens, and I are privileged to have the responsibility of furthering our government's commitment in this area. I person ally am looking forward to the challenges of the future and to working in partnership with ethnocultural communities to en sure that our programs are relevant and reflect the needs in this area today and well into the future. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. MR. CHAIRMAN: Hon. members, we have 14 people who wish to put questions to the minister in his estimates. Members are aware of Standing Orders, but the Chair would ask the cour tesy of hon. members to be, if possible, as brief as possible.

The hon. Member for Edmonton-Highlands. MS BARRETT: Mr. Chairman, the new Minister of Culture and Multiculturalism has made some very pleasant sounding remarks in opening debate of his estimates. However, I'd like to point out another side of his department, and that is that last year the department sustained an incredible cut of 16. 3 percent and overall is going to attempt to endure a further 6 percent cut this year. I think this proves clearly that the provincial Conservative government considers the arts in Alberta some sort of frill. Now, Mr.

Chairman, it is true that the Alberta government recently decided to allocate several millions of dollars from the lottery funds into the foundation boards that are funded by lot tery funds, but that is hardly the same thing. I can cite letter after letter of references from artists and artists' organizations

352 ALBERTA HANSARD April 11, 1988 and libraries and you name it that make the case that this is an unstable sort of funding, that it is no compensation for direct grant funding, which should be included in the minister's es timates. What it does is it puts all of the people who rely on that funding into an insecure and untenable position. They cannot imagine any sort of ongoing funding. They can't predict from one year to the next, because, you see, in one year it might be politically expedient to give those people adequate funding and in another year -- let's say just after an election -- it might not be.

What they would like to see is adequate direct-grant funding right in the department's estimates itself, Mr. Chairman. Now, I don't want to emphasize too much just the economic importance of the arts in Alberta, but I would point out that the government has been in receipt for four years now of a study conducted by the Woods Gordon company which showed that there were about 2, 500 people employed full time, another 3, 500 people employed part time, plus more than 8, 000 volun teers working directly in the arts sector.

They note that the arts sector has a remarkably high multiplier rate of 2. 5, and I can assure all members of the Assembly that that is a very high mul tiplier. It's higher than agriculture, it's higher than energy, it's higher than most conventional industries, and I will tell you why, Mr. Chairman. It's because it is a very labour-intensive industry. It is also because it is the most underpaid industry, period, in Canada. No single group of people in Canada works for less money, period. No single group of people lives on less money than do pensioners. I mean, that's remarkable.

It has an incredible track record of actually delivering back to govern ments more money than it costs. That's right, Mr. Chairman: for every dollar that the public invests in artists, they get more than a dollar back in taxation revenue -- a remarkable industry that is treated as a frill in our society, I'm sorry to say. Now, I could repeat all the things I have mentioned over the last few years during consideration of this department's budget, but I think I'm going to avoid doing that this year, Mr. Chair man. Anybody who wants to know can see.

I've reamed off statistics and I've made the case, but I want to make the case this year that I don't believe that due consideration is being given through the direct granting parts of the minister's depart ment to applicants who are particularly expressive of a unique Alberta identity, to applicants who want to be more explorative in the work they undertake. I don't think there is a balanced recognition of regional considerations in the divvying up of the relatively few and now small grants that are available within the department itself.

I understand that the department has undertaken recently some sort of project whereby they'll consult with artists, Mr. Chairman, to determine how the money ought to be spent. But instead of establishing something like a systematic arts board and instead of establishing for the department itself a policy statement to which it should be confined in its orientation and funding activities, they have decided to draw people in, ask them to look at an entire wall full of flow charts that's got enough information to fill an encyclopedia, and then make a guess as to what's appropriate.

Well, if you're really interested in democracy, if you're really interested in input, then it's very easy to create a board that would also look after the applications for funding within the department itself. Mr. Chairman, I have received dozens of letters that point out the inadequacy of substituting lottery funding for departmental funding, partly because there is no surety that the money will be there and partly because, I believe, artists are tell ing him -- and the minister will know; I get copies of lots of let ters that are sent to him -- that they want some sort of commit ment to ongoing endeavours.

I point out, for instance, appeals I've made to the minister to have additional funding made available to sponsor a live theatre production, an educational production, in fact, called Feeling Yes, Feeling No as perfonmed by Catalyst Theatre. This pro gram teaches children at school through a very heuristic process that they have the right to say no to advances made to them by adults whom they believe may have suspicious or unhealthy mo tives. It's not a cheap endeavour, but it works. This morning we found out that another seven-year-old child was abducted and sexually abused right here in Edmonton.

Now, the more children that can have exposure to this program, the more chil dren are going to know how to get away from potential abusers. In the long run, you save an awful lot of money if you don't have to have those children first of all experience the human trauma but, secondly, have to experience perhaps an awful lot of visits to psychologists thereafter, other medical attention that may be required, and possibly, although not likely here in Al berta, the costs associated with treating the perpetrators. Those are investments in the future.

They require a certain relationship between the department of culture, the Department of Educa tion, and the Department of Social Services. But believe me, I'm not inventing this stuff. Artists themselves, and not just those involved with Catalyst Theatre, would like to see that sort of networking going on. I wonder if the minister will outline as well, though, his com mitment, which I know the writers and publishers of Alberta have been urging him to undertake, to strike a cultural agree ment with the federal government under ERDA.

This is very important for a very important industry that has not benefited from special contracts that the government could provide but has refused to provide here in Alberta to ensure the ongoing sur vival of that industry. Let's face it; everybody talks about, "Oh, well, the east this and the east that. " If we don't make the in vestment in keeping those people here in Alberta, by God they are going to go east or, in some instances, south. You know, everybody talks about having a diversified economy. Well, that's crucial to a diversified economy. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your note.

Yes, I understand it's been very effective, and I would like to see some sort of commitment from the minister of this department to getting that particular cultural agreement Now, Mr. Chairman, I haven't heard the minister say any thing about the Mulroney trade agreement on the culture indus try here in Alberta or in Canada, but I do know that he has been lobbied by a number of organizations, including the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, commonly known as ACTRA.

What they want is for specific exclusions, not just implicit but specific exclusions from the effects of that agreement should it be approved and implemented, and I have my doubts about that. The reason they do is because they know that if certain protection is not offered and if Canadian content requirements through the CRTC, for instance, are diluted, the opportunities for air-play, video-play, cinematic distribution, video shop distribution, et cetera, are going to be diminished, naturally, because we don't pour the bucks in.

We'll never be able to compete with Hollywood or what have you, but because we don't pour the dollars in, we can be overwhelmed by artists' endeavours from south of the border. Nothing the matter with their endeavours; it's all well and fine. But we do have a unique Canadian identity, and I think we need a greater emphasis on preservation thereof.

April 11, 1988 ALBERTA HANSARD 353 Mr. Chairman, I was startled. I work with an arts committee. Actually, every member of the Official Opposition caucus works with an advisory committee, usually comprised of people who are active in the area or have some expertise. This one fel low on our committee lived in Los Angeles for 18 years, and he described to me -- the sort of cultural wasteland that he experi enced startled me. Let me tell you. He lived in Los Angeles.

He says, "You know, I walked down the street, and I lived in an ordinary residential district, never heard kids practising violin, never heard them practising piano or anything like that. What I heard was their ghetto blasters on. " He says: "Can you im agine? A city the size of Los Angeles only supports one sym phonic orchestra, just like Edmonton does, and they don't per form any more often than the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra performs, and the patronage is no greater?" That's scary. I mean, that's a big city.

Now, what it tells you is that there is a homogenization of cultural life, commonly called entertainment life, south of the border that I think Canadians want to prevent from happening right here in Canada. I think that's true in Al berta as well. Leastwise, that's what my committee tells me. Leastwise, that's what all these people who write to me -- and this is only about a fifth of it -- tell me. Also, I want to know if the minister is prepared finally to release this secret -- the world's best kept secret -- Brown report. The film and video production people in Alberta would love to see it.

It seems to me it was paid for by the Alberta government. Why can't we get a look at it? Mr. Chairman, another thing that comes to my attention re ally surprised me. I'm not sure the minister has fixed this yet; I don't think he has. But that is that even the department's library -- while it's still open for public use, artists themselves can't borrow materials from it anymore. Who can explain that? I mean, that surely has nothing to do with budget cuts or anything.

I have been petitioned by several different organizations, everybody from museums to theatres to performing artists to visual artists, for a commitment for certain types of core funding from the department. Now, of course it's not been forthcoming. I believe that's related to the fact that there is no governing pol icy statement for the arts in the minister's department. There was in about '83, I think -- maybe '84 -- under Mrs. LeMes- surier a policy statement with respect to the multicultural en deavours, but there was never one made with respect to the arts.

And I remind you again that the arts are important, not only eco nomically but also aesthetically. Now I would like to turn just for a moment, Mr. Chairman, to a specific question with respect to vote 2. 8. That is the Major Cultural Facilities Development vote, which shows no funding at all this year, down -- well, obviously 100 percent if it's gone from anything to nothing. I wonder if the minister can explain if that means that there will be no commitment this year to such things as maybe a concert hall in Edmonton or other perform ance centres.

I also wonder if he's been approached and is considering try ing to find a way to help fund particularly a music hall or a per forming arts centre for the University of Calgary, which really has no facility, not even for the rehearsals of their performing artists. If we're going to be training classical artists or musi cians or actually any kind of musicians: not a bad idea if they got a place to rehearse in, not a bad idea if they got a place to perform in. Mr. Chairman, two other things occur to me. One is that the minister talked about the various interpretive centres.

I have been warned that the responsibility for those interpretive centres is going to increasingly be handed over to the friends' societies that operate them, and yet it is not understood that the local communities actually have the direct wherewithal, either through municipal tax base or volunteer and charitable organiza tions, to financially sustain them.

It seems to me that if the gov ernment was so het up about building them, getting them off the ground in the first place, then maybe they ought to indicate some commitment to ongoing funding for them and, secondly, also commit themselves to providing real jobs; that is, not just the summer temporary employment jobs -- you know, minimum wage or slightly above -- for the operation thereof. Finally, Mr. Chairman, I talked to the minister a few days ago in the House during estimates of another department about the funding for libraries.

He indicated that he was pleased to have been able to offer a 1 percent per cap increase to the librar ies in Alberta. I remind the minister that they did take a 3 per cent per cap budget cut last year, so that's nowhere compensat ing even for the cut last year, let alone for the rate of inflation. As you know, municipal tax bases are nowhere near as flexible because they're not related to progressive income taxes.

In many of the centres, Edmonton and Calgary, 80 percent of the funding comes from that municipal tax base, but in the smaller centres the other side of the coin is that they rely extremely heavily on that funding. So while the regional system is going ahead, and I applaud the minister, I also encourage him to try to find ways to convince his cabinet colleagues that libraries are a very cost-effective means of both education and cultural activity for citizens and that they're worth every penny and a few pennies more indeed.

Similarly, I'd like to encourage him to convince his col leagues that the arts in Alberta is not a frill and come up with a policy statement that would indicate that, perhaps establish a democratic board that could be elected, for instance -- I know government isn't always crazy about democracy -- so that they have some sort of control over the funding and understand that they're not merely political footballs that are in and out of favour according to the electoral year. On that note, Mr.

Chairman, I think I've said most of what needs to be said on this aspect I know my colleague the Mem ber for Edmonton-Mill Woods will be talking later on about the multicultural dimensions of the minister's department. MR. CHAIRMAN: Hon. Member for Bow Valley, followed by Edmonton-Mill Woods. MR. MUSGROVE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would just like to make a few comments and ask a few questions about how the department of culture's budget affects Bow Valley. In the interest of being brief, I will mainly discuss Bow Valley tonight.

First, I would like to commend the minister on his actions on getting funding for the Shortgrass regional library, which affects actually Bow Valley, Cypress-Redcliff, and Medicine Hat con stituencies. What a great benefit to those people who have worked for years trying to organize the Shortgrass library. I recall a meeting we were at in Medicine Hat last fall, when it seemed like the only option open at that time would be funding to them by installment.

They were quite willing to accept that, but now for them to have their start-up grant intact this year is probably one of the best news items those people have ever heard in many years. There are some questions I have about the regional library.

354 ALBERTA HANSARD April 11, 1988 One of them is that municipalities such as Bow Island, Brooks, Foremost, Medicine Hat, the county of Forty Mile have all joined the library, which actually involves library systems to about 60, 000 people. However, there are some municipalities within the boundaries of the regional library system that haven't joined. My question would be: what negotiations are going on to try to encourage those people to join the library system? Be cause when all the municipalities join, it certainly becomes a lot better library system.

I understand that small rural/municipal libraries feel that there is not quite the benefit to them as there is to larger centres, and I can recognize that. But they question the good that it will do, these small rural/municipal libraries. The question I keep hearing now from the people of those municipalities is: when will the money be available so they can get on with the actions of the regional library system? Certainly the people of Brooks are saying, "We are prepared to offer some incentive to house the Shortgrass regional library in Brooks.

" Medicine Hat being the larger centre, there is some feeling that it's probably already been established in Medicine Hat. But that question hasn't been answered definitely, and the people of Brooks are still hopeful. It's my understanding that this start-up money is lottery money, and it's a one-time capital expenditure that will start up this system. One of the questions I hear is the operating funds it will take to operate it. Certainly there will be some revenue through users of the library, but it probably won't be adequate to cover the whole operation costs.

Some other things that happened in Bow Valley recently. They have an amateur live theatre in Brooks every year. Previ ously it was handled by the school board and the staff of the school system. Recently, because of some educational cuts and because it was recognized that most of the people taking

part in the live theatre were not students, it has had to become inde pendent. This year I attended their live theatre. It was almost as good, if not as good, a live theatre as I ever attended in any pro fessional live theatre. They played it for five nights; it was a sell-out every night. They did get some funding through the school board and the local recreation district but far short of enough to pay their expenses on operating the play.

They have been asking if there is any way money can be found to cover their deficit Now, all the players in the theatre were volunteers; there was no one paid for taking part There was a minimal charge for the use of the theatre because it did belong to the school board, but the cost of their costumes and their stage set tings was far more than they had anticipated, so they are now sitting at a deficit. I suggested to them that they write to the Al berta historical foundation, which again is lottery money.

I haven't heard whether they were successful in getting funded on that or not One of the highlights in 1987 in Bow Valley constituency was the grand opening of the Tyrrell field station at Dinosaur Provincial Park, a great thing for the community. As a matter of fact, it increased the visitation to the park almost 50 percent in one year. We have got some problems though. The department of culture have done their

part in the field station; however, our park facilities are not adequate to handle the type of visitor population we'll be getting in the future. People go to the Tyr rell Museum in Drumheller, which is terrific. Most of the fos sils have a little plaque on them saying, "This fossil was taken out of Dinosaur Park at Steveville, " so the visitors decide maybe the next stop should be Steveville. There will be an increasing and increasing amount of visitors to Dinosaur Park from now on into the future.

So hopefully we can win a lottery or use some lottery money to improve the park facilities in the near future, because it will become a world visitor destination. Of course, it is also a World Heritage Site at the present time. A few other things have taken place in Bow Valley. I cer tainly have to mention the Brooks aqueduct which was built in 1914 and ceased to be used as a conveyor of water in 1985. But the aqueduct has been preserved as a historical site. Although some of it was done through the initiative of the federal govern ment, it still is a very important part of our culture in Alberta.

It's encouraging to see that it's going to be left and preserved as a site. One of the things I found interesting at the opening of the new water conveyance was that they told us the Brooks aqueduct was built in 1914 at a cost of $750, 000. When they closed it, the irrigation district at that time wanted to demolish it and put out a tender to get it demolished, and the lowest tender they got was a million dollars. So you can see what's happened to the economy of Alberta in the time between 1914 and recently. A couple of little projects that are going on right now I've had some questions about.

One of them is the restoration of an old school down in the Tide Lake area. They have written to the department of culture and teen told that if they do certain things a certain way, they could be funded under the department to re store the school. The problem is that even if it's through the department of culture or the Alberta Historical Foundation, the bills are all paid after the work has been finished.

They have been questioning me, "Where do we get the money to start with?" I've been advised that one of the best places for them to go is their municipality or their local recreation district, and I haven't heard back from them to see how that has worked out. Another program that hasn't recently been finished but has been ongoing for about a year is the restoration of a cemetery in Jenner. Now, we realize that the cemetery restoration program has ceased to exist so people have taken initiative of their own to do something with this.

Most of the people who are buried in that cemetery died with the flu in 1918, and of course one of those people was my paternal grandfather and one of them was my uncle. In those days, because of the flu epidemic, they were not allowed to hold a public gathering, so those people didn't have grave markers or funerals; they were buried there, and it was impossible to identify whose grave was whose.

So with the initiative of my oldest brother and part of our family, along with families of other people that we knew were buried there, there was a stone cairn built last summer with a plaque on it of all the known names of people that were buried there. I believe they could identify something like 26 graves that were used, and I think there's only about 12 names on the plaque. So there's cer tainly quite a few people that couldn't be identified. The cemetery does need a permanent fence put around it That hasn't been done yet, and there's going to be some applica tions put in for some assistance on that.

The plaque and the stone cairn, I believe, will probably be paid for by the families of the people with known relatives that are buried there. I recall a small ceremony we had commemorating this cemetery last summer. I was asked to say a few words, and some of my comments were that the ceremony they held that day was probably the closest some of those people had to a funeral, albeit it was almost 70 years after they had been buried there. So it was quite a historic day as far as that cemetery was concerned. Mr. Chairman, that's some of the things happening in Bow Valley.

Again, on behalf of Cypress-Redcliff and Medicine Hat, I would have to say thank you very much to the minister for the regional library, and I look forward to the answer to

April 11, 1988 ALBERTA HANSARD 355 some of the questions asked. Thank you. MR. CHAIRMAN: The hon. Member for Stony Plain, followed by Edmonton-Mill Woods. MR. HERON: Well, thank you so much, Mr. Chairman, and I thank the hon. Member for Edmonton-Mill Woods for allowing me to go before him. I wanted to say a few words on behalf of my guests in the members' gallery and he so kindly agreed to allow me to go before him, with the restriction that I limit my remarks to five minutes, which I will do. Mr. Minister, you have a good news story, and I want to thank you and congratulate you.

In looking through your votes of some $47 million, I note that your office expenses of some $2 million have decreased by 7. 8 percent. I think this is good fiscal responsibility. It's nice that during the good times your depart ment can share your generosity and creation of special programs, but during these tougher times you've taken a realis tic point of view. That said, I would like to also thank you for personally inter vening and helping with the impending or rumoured library cuts.

Our smaller regional libraries are so dependent on the grants your department provides, and they're so important to our com munity. I know that last year you intervened and met with my constituents with compassion and understanding, and I want to go on record as personally thanking you. On behalf of my guests from the Heritage Agricultural Society, I would like to talk a bit about the Multicultural Centre in Stony Plain, which is a regional facility. Some 15 years ago it was named a multicultural centre, Canada's first. This fine old brick building captures my fond memories, and let me tell you why.

Some 50 years ago this was Stony Plain's high school, and over 35 years ago it was my junior high school. As I say, it captures some memories. It provides a good exhibition of the cultural melting pot that we have in the Stony Plain area. We have many ethnic groups dating back even further than my own homesteading grandparents. So this centre has special sig nificance to me, and I appreciate the grants which come from the several sources. The Stony Plain Multicultural Centre is the first rural art gal lery in Alberta. It houses our museum and the historical ar chives dating up to 1930.

It has a fine crafts store, and it's re ally created a small industry in tourism. Mr. Chairman, I would like to just say that in the last 10 years it's averaged some 80, 000 people per year through the door. It has a very fine res taurant. It offers some of the finest crafts for sale. It has for sale educational heritage programs. But I think it's most impor tant to mention to you, Mr. Minister and Mr. Chairman, that the sales and the revenues from these three components I just men tioned make up 60 percent of the total revenues. So what you have done is create a small industry in tourism in Stony Plain.

I would like to just close and keep to my 10 minutes -- five minutes, hon. member -- by inviting all members and their guests to Stony Plain to visit the Multicultural Centre. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. MR. CHAIRMAN: Hon. Member for Edmonton-Mill Woods. MR. GIBEAULT: Mr.

Chairman, you'll forgive me if I'm not quite as complimentary to our Minister of Culture and Multicul turalism as the Member for Stony Plain, but when you look at the budget figures, it's pretty plain that when we have a cut of 18 percent in financial assistance under Heritage Development and another 23 percent for exposure, it's hard to really get all excited and commend the government for great things. I mean, these are major cuts and they're compounded by cuts that were introduced last year.

I would suggest that the observers in the multicultural community that look at those numbers will reflect on the lack of commitment that represents to the multicultural sector. I want to talk a little bit about the status of the Multicultural Commission. I would pose some questions, perhaps, to either the minister or the new chairman of the Multicultural Commis sion. It seems to me, Mr.

Chairman, that as many members of the multicultural community have expressed to me, this is an unfortunate part of a trend on the part of this government to politicize, in a very partisan way in many cases, appointments to various foundations, boards -- you name it; a politicization, I'm afraid -- and we have fears of the whole grants process.

I've had representations to me already from members of the Por tuguese community and others concerning the lack of respon siveness on the part of the minister to the legitimate repre sentatives of their communities, and I am very apprehensive about the whole direction this Multicultural Commission recom mends. Mr. Chairman, we're going to be watching this very closely as the commission gets itself established, but I have to say that it's already in my mind, and in the minds of many peo ple in the multicultural sector that I've talked to, starting in a jaundiced eye.

I want to talk a little bit about some of the things that are not in this budget element. I mean, we only have three votes, and really what we're talking about is more in terms of multicultural commitment from this government, what's not here rather than what is here. What is not here, for example, is any sort of com mitment, any program, any initiative to assist the municipalities of this province who would like give a financial break, if you like, in terms of exemptions from property taxes for multicul tural facilities.

But the resources of the municipalities are ex tremely limited at that level of government. There have been numerous multicultural organizations who have presented pri vate Bills to the Private Bills Committee of this Legislature ask ing for tax exemption, and there's always this special case that has to be looked at each time. Really, what we need in this situation is a provincial policy.

We need some leadership to say, "Multicultural facilities, eth nocultural centres, community centres are important to the com munities of this province, and we are going to try to encourage them, try to make it easier for them to operate those facilities on the basis of a benefit to the entire community by providing grants to the municipalities from the province in lieu of the property taxes that have been paid.

" So my question to the min ister -- this idea is not new to him -- once again on behalf of many organizations in the multicultural sector that we have dis cussed this with: when are we going to get some kind of initia tive, some commitment from the government in this area? One of the other areas that's very important to the whole eth nocultural sector, Mr. Chairman, is the question of employment equity or economic equity, shall we say, for members of visible minorities in this province.

Now, the federal government, the city of Calgary, many other jurisdictions across the country and elsewhere have indicated commitments to try to enhance the employment access of members of visible minorities. Yet we've had absolutely nothing from this government, not a thing, not even an analysis of the work force to determine what per centage of ethnocultural minorities, of visible minorities, occupy

356 ALBERTA HANSARD April 11, 1988 positions of increasing responsibility in the public service and then to take a look at those percentages and see how they com pare with the population figures in the community at large. The city of Calgary has done that. The federal government, as I said, has done that. They have come up with affirmative measures to try to redress those inequities and those balances. I would like to ask the minister or his new multiculturalism commission chairman: when are we going to address this im portant issue?

I mean, we can't keep skirting around it The Alberta Cultural Heritage Council has been at recent policy con ventions putting forward resolutions to this effect, and still there has been no action on this. If this government is really serious about a commitment to multiculturalism and equality and equity, it has to move on this area, Mr. Chairman. We simply want to know from the government when we can expect some commitment in that regard. I want to say a couple of other things in this particular area, Mr. Chairman.

We have, tragically and unfortunately, in this province of ours some Albertans who have very twisted views of what multiculturalism is, what respect for people means in this province. I'm referring to people like the Aryan Nations and the twisted and sick individuals who bombed the Calgary mosque last summer. Those kinds of things are continuing to set multiculturalism back in this province, to give Albertans a bad name, and I want to know what the minister of multicul turalism or the chairman of his new commission intends to do about these very disturbing developments.

When I look at the Human Rights Commission -- Mr. Chair man, that's under the Department of Labour, I realize -- there is a cut there of 7 percent So obviously there are no new initia tives from that department from that angle to deal with these serious problems. Now, the budget certainly does not show that, but I'd put that to the minister. What is he prepared to do?

Some new initiatives perhaps in co-operation with his col leagues the Minister of Education, the Minister of Labour, and others, members of the cabinet, to try to deal with some of these sick attitudes that still exist in some pockets of this province. Mr.

Chairman, I also want to ask the minister -- again, per haps the chairman of his multiculturalism commission, but par ticularly the minister, because I suspect he must have had some consultations with his federal counterpart about the introduction of the new multiculturalism Act -- to tell the members of this House what analysis he and his department did about the impact this federal initiative would have on multicultural sectors here in Alberta. I haven't heard the minister indicate what his thoughts on that are, what impact he thinks it might have.

Is it because it was of such a marginal and superficial initiative that it wasn't worth commenting on, or just exactly what? So maybe the min ister could explain what collaborations and consultations, if any, took place with his federal counterparts and other provincial ministers across the country with respect to the new federal mul ticulturalism Act.

I also want to ask the minister what his views are in terms of multicultural or ethnocultural publications in the English lan guage that help to give many Albertans for whom English is their first language a much better understanding of the ethnocul tural concerns of various communities in our province, because we have several fine publications. The publication Prairie Link I would suggest is of course one of the best; it gives a very ex cellent perspective on multicultural issues from the Indo- Canadian perspective.

The minister no doubt is aware that the publisher of Prairie Link, for example, the multicultural com munication foundation, a nonprofit foundation, has been trying to get charitable status for its publications from the federal gov ernment and has been turned down in that regard. I would like to ask the minister if he can explain to the House what his views are on those English-language ethnocul tural papers and whether or not he supports their eligibility for charitable status from the income tax department, from Revenue Canada, and whether or not he has made any representations on their behalf.

We discovered recently, Mr. Chairman, that the government is very selective about what they're going to talk to the federal government about on behalf of Alberta people and organizations. But I would ask the minister of multiculturalism what representations, if any, he has made or would be prepared to make on behalf of publications like Prairie Link and others, who publish in the English language but provide a very, very important contribution to multicultural understanding for all Albertans. Now, Mr.

Chairman, I'd also like to make a couple of com ments on vote 2. 8, Major Cultural Facilities Development As you can see in the budget, financial assistance in this area has been totally eliminated, from $2. 7 million last year to zip this year.

Now, I'm waiting to hear the minister's response to what my colleague from Edmonton-Highlands said about the impact that might have on the city of Edmonton's proposal for a concert hall in the downtown area, part of the revitalization of this city, which would go such a long way to not only providing an im portant cultural facility but addressing the tragic unemployment in this city. I'd also like to ask him if he's given any thought to the impact this is going to have -- such a major and drastic budget reduction -- on other proposals.

For example, he may be aware that the Mill Woods Cultural and Recreational Facility Authority, which has been part of the community for a long time and has developed the recreational centre there in Mill Woods, is now looking at a performing arts centre to be located between the public high school in Mill Woods, Percy Page, and the rec reation centre. It's an exciting prospect, Mr.

Chairman, but fa cilities like that need some government support Organizations like MCARFA and others have done their best to raise money privately through bingos and casinos and so on, and there have been other supportive grant programs and this one in the past which have encouraged that effort.

But I'd like the minister to explain how he's going to have us try to encour age community groups to come forward with these kinds of ex citing and innovative proposals, put a lot of time and energy into raising money, if this government is not going to provide any encouragement, any incentive, any sort of supplementary grant to make those facilities a reality in communities throughout this province. Mr. Chairman, those are some of my initial comments. I look forward to the response from the minister and, perhaps as well, from his commission chairman. MR. CHAIRMAN: Hon. Member for Edmonton-Gold Bar. MRS.

HEWES: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'm pleased to be able to make a few comments tonight about the Department of Culture and Multiculturalism. This is a department to which I've given almost unreserved support because I have found it to be very forward-thinking in decades past. I've expressed that on a number of occasions, as well as my admiration, as the minister has expressed -- and I want to echo it -- for the artists. Visual, performing, literary, the filmmakers, the printmakers, the publishers, the scholars, and the archeologists of our province I think are second to none in our country and on the continent,

April 11, 1988 ALBERTA HANSARD 357 and the minister has talked about that, but... You know there's got to be a "but, " Mr. Minister. MR. STEVENS: However. MRS. HEWES: However, I have two major disappointments with this budget that I'd like to speak about briefly. The first one is that once again the budget, even with its constraints, to me seems to fail to acknowledge and recognize and -- "exploit" is too strong a word -- make better use of culture as an industry and as a mechanism, a tool of economic diversification in our province.

The ERDA, back when it existed in its work plan, talked about culture in Alberta, described it in these terms, and the minister's own statement was of interest to me back when he was first appointed to this portfolio in 1987. It's not a quote, Mr. Chairman, but it is a reflection, I believe, of what he was expressing. One of the items is: get federal western initiative dollars for the province's culture industries and to help ensure that the tax reforms presented by Finance minister Michael Wil son in June give a fair shake to individual artists and culture or ganizations.

I was pleased to hear that at the time and antici pated action in regard to it, but alas, it doesn't appear to me to have developed in the way that I think the minister expressed and that I had hoped for. I think the whole culture industry has been underdeveloped, underestimated. I believe it has immense potential for industrial growth; it's labour intensive. It is an indigenous part of the whole spectrum of diversification of the western provinces, Al berta in particular. It does not appear to have been capitalized on at this point by this budget.

It now appears, in fact, to be stalled by the western diversification office, and perhaps the minister would tell us in his comments what his relationship with that office has been and what precisely they're prepared to do with it. For instance, Mr. Chairman, I understand the publishing in dustry in '85 generated $50 million in sales. Trade in education publishing was around $33 million, of which $18 million was used for Alberta education purposes. But 84 percent of those books came from outside Alberta.

Frankly, I don't understand that absence of initiative in this department to use that part of our industry in developing a firmer foothold in diversification. Mr. Chairman, the second major disappointment is in multi cultural development. Like many, I welcomed this when it was announced about a year ago and waited with eagerness to hear how it would be applied in our province. In the throne speech it's referred to once again this year. There are no major devel opments in the interim, but once again the throne speech says: The multicultural commission, to be chaired by a Member of the Legislative Assembly . . .

No news there. . . .will be established to strengthen my government's commit ment to the many ethnocultural communities that enrich the lives of all Albertans. The minister, in fact, in his opening remarks referred to multi cultural clients which I thought was an interesting reference and, perhaps, bespeaks exactly how we're thinking about this par ticular part of the department. But, Mr.

Chairman, I had perceived this -- and I've spoken before in this House about my pleasure at seeing this develop ment -- as a mechanism for tolerance and understanding in our province, for fairness and justice to improve and stabilize race relations in our multicultural, pluralistic province, and also as a mechanism for economic growth. Once again, while we have just got the commission established, it seems to me we have failed to build and develop on that potential that has been there all along and for which Alberta, incidentally, is very famous. Mr.

Chairman, I have failed really to find out where it's referred to in any particular in the budget. I guess it's still buried in cul tural heritage, which is reduced, and perhaps the minister would tell us how he intends to have a major thrust in this direction while gravely reducing the budget. But I would like to draw to his attention and to the attention of the Chairman something I'm sure they've all seen, and this is the federal government's Intergovernmental Committee Report on Multiculturalism. I would commend it to you for serious reading over and over. I have found it quite a useful document.

Unfortunately, the federal government didn't see fit to employ many of these recommendations in the development of Bill C- 93. I don't know what the minister's thoughts are on that Bill and its relationship to our developing department and legislation here in Alberta. He may want to tell us about that as well. But in this particular document Mr. Chairman, this committee refers to eight principles that I believe would serve us well.

Now, I accept that the Multiculturalism Commission will want to travel the province and talk with many groups and peo ple about their needs and what they see developing out of this, but it seems to me that that's no reason to delay action, because in fact here is the beginning of a blueprint It may not apply precisely to Alberta's situation, but it's a reason and a setting for action now. No need to wait; no need to stall until we've gone through all of the hearings. Here are the kinds of things that the federal committee has talked about and that they have found would serve us at least as well in Alberta.

They're talking about Multiculturalism as the philosophy that reflects the diversity of Canadians including those of British, French and Native origin, and it is not a policy only for minority ethnocultural communities. It is not I repeat a policy only for minority ethnocultural com munities. It should benefit all Canadians. Hopefully that's the basis of our department here. The second one is the "Advancement of Multiculturalism within a Bilingual Framework. " We've heard nothing of that. The third is "Equality of Opportunity.

" It should ensure for all Canadians, social, economic, cultural, and political equality. The fourth, "Preservation and Enhancement of Cultural Diver sity" within the Charter. The fifth -- again something I referred to earlier, Mr. Chairman -- the "Elimination of Discrimination. " That should be part of the intent of this commission and this

section of our department. The "Establishment of Affirmative Measures, " the "Enhancement of Heritage Languages, " and the "Support for Immigrant Integration. " Here is, I believe, backed up by considerable documentation, a ready-made blueprint for us to get into action in this particular department and that we do not have to wait and go through lengthy hearings with the public. Not to say that they won't be useful, but we don't have to wait until after that happens to do it I am concerned, however, Mr.

Chairman, that there's no money, and if we're going to act on it we have to have resources to do it Now, I have to assume -- and I hope I'm wrong in this, Mr. Chairman -- that the fact of the matter is that what we're going to do is get into a long session of chatting with the public about it, and that there's no intent for any action until that process has been completed. I think it would be a great pity if we waited for that.

358 ALBERTA HANSARD April 11, 1988 Mr. Chairman, just to complete with multiculturalism, I've said this before and I'll say it again: we're not just talking about the multicultural client. We're not talking about singing, danc ing, and food. We're talking about the economy. We're talking about using the immense business skills of particular ethnic groups and the immense health and propriety of their family relationships and community relationships. We're talking about relating it to immigrants, particularly immigrant women in our communities.

We're talking about the relationship between the Multiculturalism Commission and our municipalities, who in many ways are going to be the driving force, and we're talking about the relationship of multiculturalism to bilingualism. Mr. Chairman, I find that whole aspect of this new department ab sent, and I regret that Mr. Chairman, just a comment or two about the lottery ad vances. I accept the decision of the government to put more funding into the literary and arts foundations that have been the beneficiaries of lottery funds in the past.

I believe this will be a real boon to them this year, but I do want to reiterate that this is not stable funding nor can it be counted on, and I fear it will un necessarily raise expectations within those beneficiaries that this funding will continue from year to year. We're talking here about labour-intensive activities in many of our cultural and ar tistic organizations in our communities across the province. We're talking about jobs, Mr. Chairman. We're talking about people's lives.

If we want committed organizations, I think we have to do better than to provide them with short-term, iffy funding, no matter how great a benefit it is in this one particular year. So I would like there to be more stability in our funding that we are able to provide from lottery advances. [Mr. Musgreave in the Chair] I do commend the minister for the lottery funding that's go ing into the regional library development. I am a supporter of the library systems; I believe they are of immense importance to us all the time, but of particular importance during recessions and times when people are hard up.

Libraries perform an enor mously useful function in our lives, in our communities, rural and urban. So I'm grateful that you have seen fit to extend the library system in the south of the province. I am concerned that your increases in library funding in general were what I would consider there and visible but all too modest and simply don't keep up with the necessities of library services in our cities and towns. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to ask the minister if any further con sideration has been given to re-establishing the Extension library at the University of Alberta.

I think this was a great loss to our community and one that many people have suffered from, par ticularly in the north of the province. It's with regret that I saw it go. Mr. Chairman, one or two specifics from the budget I was concerned that in all of this we have no emphasis whatsoever on native culture and native art Perhaps the minister would tell me if it's in here someplace, and if so, where I might dig it out from the budget figures. I find the budget very difficult to decipher, because it tells us -- as all budgets do -- so very, very little about where, in fact, the funds are going.

I believe here again that the native culture and native art of our province can be of immense economic benefit both to native peoples and to Albertans in general, and would hope that some investment is being made in that part of our province. Mr. Chairman, this budget reflects once again a reduction - a 6 percent reduction overall -- and that reduction is reflected in almost every department; slight increases in some, but not in any way matching up to the rate of inflation or to put us back to where we were before last year's cuts.

I don't believe that it, in fact, reflects the kind of commitment Albertans want from their government and from the department of culture. I believe they want a great deal more thought given to culture as industry, cul ture as economic diversification, multiculturalism as a benefit to all Albertans, not just to the ethnic communities. But I believe they would like to see some real leadership in regard to that I don't believe the budget reflects a deep understanding of the potential of the cultural industry in our province, regardless of what we're talking about. The last thing, Mr.

Chairman, I just want to mention briefly is that the minister in his comments didn't talk about a strong, growing relationship with other departments. I would like to think that it's there with economic development, with immigra tion. With tourism, I think we're still miles behind there when it comes to integrating our tourism activities with our cultural ac tivities, with our parks and recreation activities, and I believe we have much to learn and much to benefit if a much stronger rela tionship can be developed there. What this budget does reflect to me, Mr.

Chairman, is a growing dependence, a growing thrust from the government out to the community to force communities once again to undertake more and more of the responsibility not only for their activities but for providing all the resources necessary to make them go. I see it not as a progressive budget which they have been in the past, and for that I must express my regret. MR. DEPUTY CHAIRMAN: The hon. Member for Drumheller. MR. SCHUMACHER: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First, I would like to welcome the: minister to this portfolio.

I haven't had the opportunity of congratulating him on that appointment and to say how much his enthusiasm and energy and eloquence is appreciated in leading the cultural sphere of our province's activity and to say how useful it's been as far as two elements that are related to my constituency. Some eight years ago I was involved in a small way in the first regional library system, the Marigold system, which has proven a real success and has been emulated throughout most of the province.

As has been pointed out by the minister and my hon. friend from Bow Valley, we now have a new regional li brary system in the Shortgrass system. As far as the Marigold system, the first one in the province, is concerned, it's really appreciative of the new money for capital funding for its head quarters building at Strath more. The hon. Member for Edmonton-Gold Bar has just men tioned economic diversification and development and the role the Department of Culture and Multiculturalism could play in that area.

I would like to certainly point out to her that it is playing a vital and active role, and hold up the example of the Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology, Mr. Minister. The economic impact on our region as a result of the presence of that institu tion is $9. 7 million in the last fiscal year. Now, that's a real im pact, and it affects all businesses in the area.

I just can't say enough about the positive way in which the staff of that museum are working with the general population of Drumheller and dis trict in helping them to realize the economic benefits brought to them by the hundreds of thousands -- and now millions -- of people who are visiting the Drumheller valley in order to enjoy

April 11, 1988 ALBERTA HANSARD 359 the Tyrrell Museum of Palaeontology. This institution continues to break all projected attendance records, and during the Olympics the Tyrrell Museum received substantial media coverage in Australia, Japan, South Korea, the United States, France, and England. It's little wonder that it is now amongst the second or third destinations in our province as a result of the wonderful coverage our province has received as a result of people visiting the Tyrrell and reporting it to their citizens. Furthermore, we've also had royal visitors during that period.

The Queen of Sweden, the Crown Prince of Norway, the Grand Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg were all visitors who enjoyed the facilities at the Tyrrell Museum. During the dinosaur egg site discovery media coverage ex tended across Canada, the United States, West Germany, France, the Soviet Union, and was a major news item in Japan. During the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump opening, over 200 reporters, both Canadian and European, publicized the attrac tion.

All of this coverage, most of which was without cost to us as Albertans, will advance Alberta's position in the highly com petitive international tourism market. So the Department of Culture and Multiculturalism is, in fact, promoting the develop ment of our economy through tourism. The Hon. Member for Edmonton-Highlands suggested that the friends foundations of the various museums and other things of that sort were going to be operating those facilities. She thought it was terrible that the Department of Culture and Multi culturalism wasn't operating them; we were going to depend on volunteers.

Well, I can assure her that's not the situation. As far as the Friends of the Tyrrell Museum is concerned -- and that's the only one I have any knowledge of -- they are being active in being friends of the museum, granted, but not to the extent of operating the institution; it's to provide funds to pro vide things, extras that might not otherwise be available. But I can assure you that the museum is certainly perfectly and well staffed by a great and highly qualified group of individuals in the operation and scientific endeavours that are associated with that organization.

The Department of Culture and Multiculturalism has also been very encouraging to an organization called the Rosebud School of the Arts, an organization that is petitioning for a pri vate Bill of this Legislature to help it popularize the arts in our province. Their philosophy is that art should be freely available to all citizens of our province no matter where you're located, certainly not just in the major centres of Calgary and Edmonton.

I've heard pleas for funds for a new concert hall in Edmonton a couple of times this evening, but the philosophy of the people who are behind the Rosebud School of the Arts is in the nature of people who have been promoting hockey for many years, try ing to have small teams scattered throughout our land. As result of that widespread use of amateur hockey, we have developed a great reputation internationally as being amongst the best in hockey competition.

The idea is that we should have a similar approach to the arts, have them available and active in small groups throughout our society across the province and in that way develop a better artistic community in the country. I'm hoping that the Department of Culture and Multiculturalism will remain sensitive to that idea and approach to the spreading of the arts in our province. Mr.

Chairman, in closing, I would like the minister to be sen sitive to the fact -- and he alluded to the discovery of the dinosaur eggs in southern Alberta last summer -- that those eggs were discovered by somebody who wasn't a civil servant or bureaucrat. They were discovered by an interested and en thusiastic Albertan. Most of the displays in our museums in this province in the field of palaeontology have been the result of that very type of person, people who are amateurs.

It should also be remembered that there's probably more of our ar chaeological or paleontological assets destroyed by weathering than any group of people who go out in the field searching for them. So I hope our Department of Cultural and Multicul turalism will foster and encourage more and more people who are just genuinely interested in dinosaurs and fossils in becom ing active and make it possible for them to become active in searching for these resources.

Because there's no way that we can hire enough civil servants to do the job, and we must in volve as many of our natural population to work with our gov ernment in finding all the resources and developing those re sources in the years ahead. Again, in

summary, I think the minister has done an ad mirable job of doing the things that his department is charged with doing in a time of restraint, and he is to be congratulated in the way in which he has brought a financial program for the bet terment of this area of our province. I certainly look forward to working with him in that area during the next year. Thank you. MR. DEPUTY CHAIRMAN: The hon. Member for St. Paul. MR. DROBOT: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to also commend the minister for having done an excellent job over the last year.

His department has been involved in and completed some very exciting projects over the last few years. It's projects such as those and the new ones that add so much appeal and in terest to our province. We are fortunate in Alberta to have been blessed with a very colourful and varied history between the dinosaurs, the fur traders, our native history, and our native culture.

The develop ment of our tourist industry, based on the development of our cultural past, is an important part of diversifying our economy, but we must be careful to ensure equal growth and support of heritage projects from all parts of the province. I am particularly interested in the heritage surrounding the fur trading years. This is an excellent cultural tourism opportu nity in northeastern Alberta: the Fort George-Buckingham House research and interpretive trails project. The project has been on the back burner for 10 years or so because of a lack of funding.

The Elk Point historical society has spent much time and effort on this project Can you imagine two large forts, the Hudson's Bay and the North West fur company, vying for the native fur trade? That was even before Fort Edmonton was ever established. It's an opportune time while we're so actively involved in capitalizing on all our assets in that area to consider such a project. The project will provide historical research on the Fort George-Buckingham House historic site and for the construction of interpretive trails at the site.

The wonderful work in planning by the historic site service, the dedicated work by the Elk Point historical society, a dynamic volunteer group, must be recognized. This work is done in anticipation of creating an accessible and pleasant site for visitors from the general public in order to tell the story of the early fur traders in northeastern Alberta and the waterways, the North Saskatchewan River, which was used for travel. This project in conjunction with later phases of development the society has in mind, will provide a tourism industry base which will facilitate much job creation in the area as well. The

360 ALBERTA HANSARD April 11, 1988 Elk Point historical society has done much in the way of raising and applying for financial assistance. Is the minister aware of this particular project, and if so, is he aware of any specific rea sons why Elk Point historical society's project has remained on the back burner so long? Of course, Mr. Chairman, representing a very multicultural area, I am pleased with the new commission and the effect it will have on promoting multiculturalism in this great province. I could talk about the northeast library services. All I can say is, Mr.

Minister, you're doing a great job and so is your department To the opposition who are so critical of the Culture and Mul ticultural department I would say: A horse can't pull while kicking -- A fact I merely mention. And he can't kick while pulling, Which is my chief contention. So be like the good old horse, And quit your doggone picking. Just volunteer for Culture, my friends; You'll have no time for kicking. MR. STEVENS: It's very difficult to follow one of Alberta's poets like that Mr.

Chairman, in responding to the questions and the obser vations and submissions, first of all I would like to compliment all the members who have spoken this evening so far. There is obviously a grasp and an understanding -- and sometimes even agreement -- on the incredible support of the culture community towards the health and the well-being of all Albertans, and I re ally appreciated having the suggestions and the concerns identified. To respond briefly, Mr. Chairman, to the questions that have been raised, perhaps beginning with the Member for Edmonton-Highlands.

She indicated that the department had undergone two extensive cutback years. I would like to remind all members that yes, while Alberta faced an incredible deficit with a reduction of 65 percent of its resource revenue in one year last year, and all departments faced reductions, Culture pro vided its share. But while it's true that the figures show a 16 percent reduction last year in the overall commitment in the budget terms, it was a net reduction of about 10 percent At least 6 percent or nearly half of that amount was due to projects that had been completed.

And similarly this year, in the budget before the members, although there is a 6 percent reduction shown, I'll show how that is made up by lottery dollars; in other words, dollars for the Centre for Performing Arts and the Citadel of about $1. 5 million will be provided, rather than from the department's budget In fact, the department's budget for those cultural community pro grams remains the highest per capita budget in Canada. But balance is needed. Government can't do, nor should it ever do, all for culture.

Obviously, culture or multicultural com munities must do much for themselves, must do much by them selves as individuals. I'm very pleased that we are having internal reviews in our department and we are involving our cultural community clients. We're asking them for their advice as to how our de partment is seen: how are our forms made; are the forms too complicated; do we require too much in the way of advanced information or even ongoing accounting, while we're making sure that we're well received throughout the community"?

And similarly, I expect the Multicultural Commission will explore those same areas with the ethnocultural communities. As far as the Catalyst Theatre is concerned, and the member raised that I did appreciate receiving her comments earlier this year regarding the importance and, obviously, the impact of the production on audiences of children. As mentioned, it's a very serious matter, and our hearts are with the family involved and the young child involved in the situation now in the last day or two here in Edmonton.

This particular work has been funded indirectly for the past several years through an operational grant from the department, but it's actually more directly funded by such groups as the Kinsmen, the RCMP, Alberta Social Ser vices, and Alberta Education. There has been absolutely no re duction in the funding by the Department of Culture and Multiculturalism. The immediate problem lies in the nature of the work itself.

Each engagement involves about a week of comprehensive programming which can cost in the neighbourhood of several thousand dollars, and with Catalyst Theatre we found that gener ally the school systems cannot afford more than about $300 to $650 per engagement, but we are working carefully with the theatre, and if we can find some way of helping them continue, we'll do that With regard to ERDA, which we have been negotiating for the last two years, for the information of all members, I am working with my colleague the Minister of Federal and Inter governmental Affairs to explore the options that may be avail able to Alberta, and this, I think, will respond to the questions from the Member for Edmonton-Gold Bar.

We are very much encouraged by the climate which has been created by the west ern diversification initiative which has made very specific men tion of cultural sector programs. These programs are being worked on now, and while; it's difficult for me to give you any definite or finite assessment of how this will come out, I have a very positive feeling that we will be successful. I have had good relations with the Minister of Communications, the Hon. Flora MacDonald, and of course with the Hon. Bill McKnight the minister responsible for the Western Diversification Office.

I should say, too, that as part of that program we have had very, very positive reactions from the office with respect to our Canada/China/Alberta Ex Terra program, which I think in the next few years will see literally not only hundreds of thousands of people seeing and studying and exploring the dinosaur story; it will see also the possibility of those moneys expended by both levels of government and raised through the private sector for the foundation in fact returned many times over. So I'm hopeful that will help.

With regard to the question raised by the member about the Brown study, I have asked my officials to meet with other gov ernment agencies. I know that there are concerns about film support and the development in the province. Of course, my colleague the Minister of Economic Development and Trade has introduced a Bill before the Assembly which will see a number of changes in the Motion Picture Development Corporation, par ticularly increased funding and in the area of equity. So I think that working together with my colleague in those areas, we'll see some results.

I can't, though, put into place a number of the recommendations, simply because of increased expenditures which are not available to the department in this time of restraint. Regarding the Edmonton concert hall, again raised by a num ber of members tonight but beginning with the Member for Edmonton-Highlands, there has never been to this point an ap plication or submission made to the department. We have had

April 11, 1988 ALBERTA HANSARD 361 consultations since early 1983, when the proposal was being worked on, and as far as I know, the operation and the capital budget that has been presented by the persons behind the pro posal are certainly those that have been given to the department. We've not had any indication of what level, if any, of provincial assistance may be requested by those behind the proposal. I should say, though, that I can well understand and appreciate the concern and the effort of the community.

I had the opportunity to speak to several conductors traveling across the country who commented on the quality and level of the facilities -- the acous tics, the room for storage, the actual spaces available -- much beyond both the northern and southern Alberta Jubilees in the Jack Singer hall and the Citadel and, of course, in the Red Deer College. In fact, one of the conductors said that the Red Deer College facility and the Jack Singer facility were the finest that he and his orchestra had had the opportunity to play in. With regard to free trade, Mr. Chairman, I can only repeat this.

We are talking in the case of free trade about an economic agreement. We're talking about an international trade agree ment that every other nation of this world would wish to have with the United States. In that agreement there is specific refer ence to the fact that the cultural community, the cultural indus try of both countries, is not affected. In fact, the agreement lists those areas of our cultural industry that both governments or either government may continue or may enhance programs of support to, to ensure that our sovereignty, our cultural heritage, our cultural community will be safeguarded.

So I'm very, very positive about our free trade program. With the library concerns -- and I appreciate that the mem bers who have spoken have indicated how pleased they were, too, that we were able to make these adjustments in our programs. I can say this for members: I have, and perhaps they have too, received overwhelming letters of appreciation and support from the library organizations throughout the province. Yes, it's true that there was a reduction last year, and yes, a 1 percent increase this year is not in any way going to make up for that reduction or for the impact of inflation.

We understand that, and I believe they understand it as well. But what I do be lieve is that they have developed new management skills. They are developing new ways to reach out, and they are coping with this change in our total society. I should say this: our per capita rate increase, when we apply those increases, will reach to the major libraries perhaps 15, 20 percent of their budgets. Many more dollars, of course, are raised through the community and from the municipality.

But in rural Alberta in small towns, small communities in the regional systems, our support as a government for those services that are so necessary away from the big cities may amount in some cases to 65 or as high as 70 to 75 percent of the budget. So the announcement of a 1 percent increase, I think, was received very well across the province. I should say that we have assisted the Peace library system to accept the collection of the extension library of the University of Alberta. Now, those books will still be available to the people of Alberta, particularly those in the northern parts of the province.

The five regional library systems are currently dis cussing ways to provide library services to the people elsewhere who don't have access to those. I think through our commit ment now and in terms of, as the Member for Edmonton-Gold Bar mentioned, our capital program in the lottery dollars, through the establishment grants and through additional grants, through our operating grants, those library systems will be able to improve services. I think the point is understood. I should say that, of course, the funding came from the Department of Advanced Education. I think we've been able to work well on that. Mr.

Chairman, the Member for Bow Valley I think raised very well the efforts of the communities there in helping Shortgrass develop itself and stand up. In fact, as he said at a meeting, they said, "We'd even take the money over three years or two years or whatever. " So I'm very pleased that we were able to provide that. For the members for Bow Valley, Cypress-Redcliff, and Medicine Hat, I know that their commu nities will soon be very quickly working together to sort this out. I can say that the moneys are being obtained very quickly and they will flow very quickly.

I believe the cheque is prob ably in the process of some computer somewhere. You can ex pect it very soon to the Shortgrass communities. I should say that the start-up moneys, though, are not from lotteries. They are there as part of our operating grants support system, so I will be taking my turn, of course, each year in front of Treasury Board.

But once the government has made the commitment and has undertaken an agreement and as municipalities are encouraged within by themselves, by their communities, by their members of the organizations, we will be there to provide the additional support to ensure that those sys tems are available. Obviously, that's within the context of the overall budgetary guidelines that we have. For theatre assistance we can in some cases, in a unique cir cumstance, if there are unique circumstances, provide advice and in some cases even assistance.

I think if the member would ensure that that particular situation is brought to my attention, we will see if there are some ways to either help them obtain funding in some other way or perhaps we'll be able to direct them to the various foundations, perhaps the performing arts foundation, to see if there's some backstopping available, par ticularly if it's a short-term crisis.

I very much appreciated the Member for Bow Valley bring ing to my attention the need to follow up now on the dinosaur country concept, the idea that when we have an internationally acclaimed facility and we have additional communities that want to share in that, I think working together we can do that. I would refer him and his constituents very much to our colleague the Minister of Tourism and the tourism initiatives announced recently.

I think working together in Culture, Tourism, and Recreation and Parks with the municipalities, with the private sector, we can take advantage of this unique opportunity to study a life-form that disappeared some 60 million years ago and yet which is still causing so much interest. I appreciated also, Mr. Chairman, the Brooks aqueduct remarks, because I had the privilege of being at a meeting of engineers in Alberta when I think 20 -- 10 in the south and 10 in the north -- engineering projects over the last 100 years were identified, such as the microwave tower system and the oil sands development.

One of them was, of course, the Brooks aqueduct, and I'm very pleased that we'll be seeing that further. I should mention for the member that while I appreciate that it costs more to remove things today than it cost to build it, I'm very positive about it. I think it's since 1986 that we've had a plan ning team with representatives of all parties involved who have completed this agreement, a development concept, and we're working on a federal/provincial cost-sharing agreement cur rently. I hope that it will be implemented possibly by the spring of '89 if not earlier.

At that time ownership of the site and the facilities will be transferred to Alberta Culture and Multicul turalism. It would then be managed just as a natural part of our network of provincial historic sites.

362 ALBERTA HANSARD April 11, 1988 The problem, Mr. Chairman, of having bills paid after the moneys are spent is one that I recognize -- all of us recognize -- in a small community. On the other hand, our stewardship of public moneys is such that we must ensure that the moneys that are going to be provided in the form of grants or loans are made on the basis of commitments made by the individual, by the or ganization, by the municipality.

What I would suggest for the member's assistance is that if we can reach a letter of undertak ing or an agreement on any program, perhaps that letter or that commitment for that undertaking can be used by the municipality or the organization to obtain volunteer support in a loan way with, obviously, the moneys to be paid back once the funds are expended and the grant is paid. It's difficult, I know, for some individuals and organizations, but I think we have a responsibility to ensure that those moneys are spent in those ap propriate areas.

As far as the plaque and the cairn for the cemetery, I hope we can continue to give advice and work with the member and provide some assistance in the area of advice. As far as moneys are concerned, no, the program no longer exists, but there are always ways we can look at unique opportunities such as this. Shortly I'll be going with the Member for Pincher Creek- Crowsnest to recognize the tragic mine disaster some 85 years ago, I believe, and I know that that ceremony will be very mov ing as well. Mr. Chairman, the Member for Stony Plain brought to my attention some very interesting observations.

I must admit, and with apologies to him and the guests here tonight from his riding, I've not had the opportunity yet to actually visit the centre. I know that the new commissioner of the Multicultural Commission will be one of the first people out there as well. But I do want to compliment his community and the organiza tions, because the multicultural community is so much a part of our industry for tourism and economic development.

And work ing together with Tourism, with Economic Development, and with all of the other areas, I think we can continue -- perhaps the word exploit is wrong -- to develop and nurture the contacts with other countries, with other trading nations, through our own Alberta families and individuals. I should say that when the member complimented the depart ment for its reduction of vote 1, though, it would not be fair if I did not mention that as I gaze upwards into the faces of my offi cials, they have advised me that we are probably cutting to the bone.

I do want to say that tonight We have eliminated posi tions, we have stopped doing things we would like to do, we have set aside some of the programs which would involve sys tems development to a better degree. So I say that we, with the help of my officials, certainly have gone as far as we believe we can and still maintain the delivery of the programs. What we have to look at of course, is: can we deliver the programs in different ways? Can we utilize the services of the friends and other organizations to assist us, which may then mean we would need less administration. Mr.

Chairman, the Member for Edmonton-Mill Woods made reference to the fact that there is an apparent -- or he may even feel that there is lack of commitment to the funding of the multi cultural efforts of this government I don't know how anyone can say that, given the announcement of the last few days which takes the commitment last year in terms of lottery dollars to the Alberta cultural foundation and the budget of last year and the reserve fund, totals that add up to about $4 million and now ap proach $6 million.

I know it's not before the member tonight; I know that those lottery dollar announcements were made. But notwithstanding his concern about that, to go from $4 million to $6 million for the multicultural efforts of this government is not a lack of commitment. But you don't measure a government's commitment by dollars alone; you measure the government's commitment in terms of each department, each minister, each caucus member and, indeed, the Legislature and how we respond.

What we need to do, in my opinion, is ensure that the doors that may be closed or the windows that are not open, windows of opportunity -- that government is there to open those doors, to see that they're not barricaded to members of any race, of any religion, from any place of origin.

We do that in a number of ways: through our immigration services, working with Career Development and Employment; we do that with the Human Rights Commission on a complaint basis or on a public relations basis; we do that with the Minister of Labour; we do that through functions of the Culture and Multiculturalism depart ment There are so many things that are going on all the time. And we also do that by working with the Alberta heritage coun cil, and as my colleague mentioned earlier, that will continue.

No single member of this government, no single member of the public, would need to fear discrimination or prejudice being set out by this government I'll tell you what I'd like to say to the Member for Edmonton-Mill Woods, and I'll say it to him tonight: I hope that this government never undertakes a survey of asking people to name their race, their religion, their creed, their country of origin, their disability, or whatever else this government may have in lists of its personnel or may be asked to obtain in the private sector.

I think that's exactly abhorrent to what the peo ple that I have been meeting with would tell you. They don't want to be categorized. So for the member to say that we should be doing studies to determine how many people are left- handed or how many people are missing a leg or how many peo ple are from Sri Lanka or how many people are native Canadian, to ask them to identify those characteristics is ab horrent to what we are here for. Surely we are here for equality of opportunity notwithstanding anyone's background or anyone's place of origin.

Employment selection must be done on the basis of merit, qualifications, and suitability. The difficulty is -- and the Mem ber for Edmonton-Gold Bar mentioned this -- in the native com munity or in the new immigrants and in some cases the first generations of new Albertans, where there are barriers due to a lack of basic language understanding and training in the lan guage of the community or where there are barriers through dis crimination, indeed prejudice of managers or employment recruiters. Those things we need to work on very, very, very much.

But you can't legislate attitudes; you can only educate and provide encouragement I have not commented on the federal Act Mr. Chairman, because I think the ethnocultural community, indeed all Al bertans, should be considering that Act very carefully and mak ing their comments known to their federal members. I have spoken to the former minister of state and look forward in the next while to discussion with the recently appointed minister of state.

I believe the Bill is talking basically about maintaining individuality, community, and sharing, and of course for some time now Alberta has led the way in the establishment of pro grams in that area. We are looking into whether or not we should increase our advertising support to the ethnic press. I think there were over 300 advertisements by this government in the various ethnic

April 11, 1988 ALBERTA HANSARD 363 newspapers and radio and television stations in the last year. No requests have been given to me by The Prairie Link, and I would encourage the publisher and the editor of The Prairie Link to continue to discuss his concerns with his federal member or with the federal minister, and certainly if he needs my advice as to whom to reach, and I wouldn't expect that he would, I would be pleased to do that. As far as the MCR program, Mr. Chairman, I hope that our government is never requested to take the decisions away from the municipalities.

Our programs are based on local initiative and local decision-making. It's true that there may be an or ganization that may wish this government to have provided funding directly to it, and perhaps at times when we are all frustrated with situations, we might like to direct fund. But we've not taken that; we've asked the municipalities to make the decisions about their own priorities.

Regarding the comments about the Portuguese community, I've never spoken in the Assembly about any particular com munity, but what I would say is that all of the organizations, whatever their ethnocultural grouping, hold meetings and they elect one person to represent them on the heritage council. Now, occasionally nominations can come in incorrectly, and that may be because of the fact that the organization hasn't con tacted us and had our advice. So we sometimes find in the case of a community that we get one or more representatives nominated.

Well, if after discussion with the group there's any conflict and it's not able to be resolved, we even offer to provide mediation. All of these procedures were utilized for the particu lar community in question, but they could not come to a deci sion regarding one representative. Because those internal con flicts -- and that can happen to any one of us; it happens in this House -- could not be resolved, we are trying to find a way of handling that by offering a split representation, which seems to be a fair and equitable "Solomon" decision to proceed with.

This would enable both representatives to serve for an equal term of office on council. We've only had about 5 percent of the appointments in that way with difficulty, and of those nine, I think, five have resulted in splitting, and there are four that are still outstanding. So there are no procedures that have been broken, no irregularities; it's just a matter of working it out Mr. Chairman, with regard to the Member for Edmonton- Gold Bar and

Document details

Collection	Alberta — Debates (Hansard)
Citation	19880411
Type	hansard
Volume / chapter	L21 S3 19880411 2000 01 han.pdf
Language	en
Format	json
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	d7e4dda078afa5f3c51b088b99b7deb07cb83f6e

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