Manitoba Committee Hansard — 9 July 1987 (Private Bills Committee, Sitting 1, 33rd Legislature, 2nd Session)

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Manitoba — Debates (Hansard)

MG-8048 Second Session - Thirty-Third Legislature of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba STANDING COMMITTEE on PRIVATE BILLS 36 Elizabeth 11 Chairman Mr. M. Do/in Constituency of Kildonan VOL. XXXV No. 1 - 10:00 a.m., THURSDAY, 9 JULY, 1987. Printed by the Office of the Queens Printer. Province of Manitoba ISSN 0713-9489

MANITOBA LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Thirty-Third Legislature Members, Constituencies and Political Affiliation NAME ASHTON, Steve BAKER, Clarence BIRT, Charles T. BLAKE, David R. (Dave) BROWN, Arnold BUCKLASCHUK, Hon. John M. CARSTAIRS, Sharon CONNERY, Edward J. COWAN, Hon. Jay CUMMINGS, J. Glen DERKACH, Len DESJARDINS, Hon. Laurent L. DOER, Hon. Gary DOLIN, M11rty DOWNEY, James E. DRIEDGER, Albert DUCHARME, Gerry ENNS, Harry J. ERNST, Jim EV ANS, Hon. Leonard S. FILMON, Gary FINDLAY, Glen M. HAMMOND, Gerrie HARAPIAK, Hon. Harry M. HARAPIAK, Hon. Leonard E. HARPER, Hon. Elijah HEMPHILL, Hon. Maureen JOHNSTON, J.

Frank KOSTYRA,Ho n. Eugene KOVNATS, Abe LECUYER, Hon. Gerard MACKLING, Q.C., Hon. AI MALOWAY, Jim MANNESS, Clayton McCRAE, James C. MERCIER, Q.C., G.M.J. (Gerry) MITCHELSON, Bonnie NORDMAN, Rurik (Ric) OLESON, Charlotte L. ORCHARD, Donald W. PANKRATZ, Helmut PARASIUK, Hon. Wilson PAWLEY, Q.C., Hon. Howard R. PENNER, Q.C., Hon. Roland PHILLIPS, Hon. Myrna A. PLOHMAN, Hon. John ROCAN, C. Denis ROCH, Gille.s (Gil) SANTOS, Conrad SCHROEDER, Q.C., Hon. Victor SCOTT, Don SMITH, Harvey SMITH, Hon. Muriel STORIE, Hon. Jerry T. URUSKI, Hon. Bill WALDING, D. James WASYLYCIA-LEIS, Hon.

Judy CONSTITUENCY Thompson Lac du Bonnet Fort Garry Minnedosa Rhineland Gimli River Heights Portage la Prairie Churchill Ste. Rose Roblin-Russell St. Boniface Con cordia Kildonan Arthur Emerson Aiel Lakeside Charleswood Brandon East Tuxedo Virden Kirkfield Park The Pas Swan River Rupertsland Logan Sturgeon Creek Seven Oaks Niakwa Radisson St. James Elmwood Morris Brandon West St. Norbert River East Assiniboia Gladstone Pembina La Verendrye Transcona Selkirk Fort Rouge Wolseley Dauphin Turtle Mountain Springfield Burrows Rossmere lnkster Ellice Osborne Flin Flon lnterlake St. Vital St.

Johns PARTY NDP NDP PC PC PC NDP LIBERAL PC NDP PC PC NDP NDP NDP PC PC PC PC PC NDP PC PC PC NDP NDP NDP NDP PC NDP PC NDP NDP NDP PC PC PC PC PC PC PC PC NDP NDP NDP NDP NDP PC PC NDP NDP NDP NDP NDP NDP NDP NDP NDP

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON PRIVATE BILLS Thursday, 9 July, 1987 TIME - 10:00 a.m. LOCATION - Winnipeg, Manitoba CHAIRMAN - Mr. M. Dolin (Kildonan) ATTENDANCE - QUORUM - 6 Members of the Committee present: Hon. Messrs. Cowan, Harapiak (The Pas), Harper Messrs. Ashton, Dolin, Driedger, Kovnats, Maloway, Pankratz and Roch APPEA RING: Vern Hannah -Academic Dean, Canadian Nazarene College Dr. David Ewert -President, Mennonite Brethren College Dean Whiteway -Vice-President, Winnipeg Bible College and Seminary David Schroeder -Canadian Mennonite Bible College MATTERS UNDER DISCUSSION: Bill 17 -An Act to amend The Municipal Assessment Act (2); Loi modifiant la

Loi sur !'evaluation municipale

(2) Bill 30 -

An Act to amend

An Act to Incorporate "Pine Ridge Golf Club"; Loi modifiant la Loi intitulee "An Act to Incorporate 'Pine Ridge Golf Club'" Bill 54 -An Act to Validate By-Law No. 3678 of The Rural Municipality of St. Andrews; Loi validant l'arrete no 3678 de la municipalite rurale de St. Andrews Bill 55 -An Act to amend

An Act to incorporate Southwood Golf and Country club; Loi modifiant la Loi intitulee "An Act to incorporate Southwood Golf and Country Club" CLERK OF COMMITTEES, Ms. S. Clive: The first order of business at the committee meeting this morning will be to elect a chairperson for this committee, as we have none. Are there any nominations? Mr. Harapiak. HON. H. HARAPIAK: I move that Marty Dolin be the Chairman of the committee. MS. CLERK OF COMMITTEES: Mr. Dolin has been nominated. No other nominations. Would you please come forward and take the Chair. MR. CHAIRMAN: Committee will come to order. 1 BILL NO. 17- THE MUNICIPAL ACT

(2) MR. CHAIRMAN: The first item of business is presenters. We have three presenters on Bill 17. First, Vern Hannah, Academic Dean, Canadian Nazarene College, Winnipeg. Mr. Hannah. MR. V. HANNAH: Thank you, Sir. I want to express appreciation for this opportunity of addressing the committee, and I speak on behalf of our President Hightower and the Administration of Canadian Nazarene College. Dr. Hightower is unable to be here today; he is out of town.

This is, of course, a culmination of a formal process begun in 1979, as far as our institution is concerned, when we began to make efforts through the city, and then through the former P.C. Government, and have been with the present government now for some time. We would like to express appreciation for the manner in which this bill has been handled in the Legislature, for the bipartisan way in which the members have supported it; and I do want to express appreciation for the government and for the members of the Progressive Conservative Party, in particular , Mr. Driedger, who has introduced the bill.

We feel that this is a demonstration of the democratic process and the free vote is very much an evidence of that, we believe, and so we're very appreciative of the way this has been handled and accepted in the House. There are three major issues, as far as we are concerned. The first one is the matter of fairness and non-discrimination inasmuch as several other colleges located, some of them, on the campuses of the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg, which do teach religious courses are funded, and have been for some time by the province and are, of course, in the tax exempt status.

Also the universities themselves teach religion courses as part of the curriculum of the universities. The second issue, the fact that Manitoba is the only province in Canada that has not, up to this point, funded private colleges of the nature of ours.

Thirdly, the small religious colleges, we feel, represent a very meaningful contribution to the educational mosaic of the province, and bring a great deal of business and money to their communities, as well as the fact that a number of our students who come from various parts of Canada -and literally, we have students from every province in Canada -and a number of them decide to stay here and settle down in Manitoba, mostly in Winnipeg. So we believe that the college is making a contribution not only educationally but to the cultural and economic well-being of the city and province as well.

The passage of Bill 17, as it is presently before the Legislature, will mean that Canadian Nazarene College

Thursday, 9 July, 1987 this year will save $96,000 in taxes. Because of the reassessment this year, our taxes jumped from $68,000 last year to $96,000 and that represents almost 9 percent of our operating budget; that would be this year if we were faced with $96,000 and that would be a very severe hardship on us. Since 1970, our college has paid over $600,000 in property taxes and we feel that this matter is very crucial to us. We want to express our appreciation to the government and to the Progressive Conservative Party -and particularly Mr.

Driedger who has introduced the bill -and we appreciate this opportunity of being here this morning to make this statement. Thank you. MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Mr. Hannah. Are there any questions for Mr. Hannah? Seeing none, thank you, Mr. Hannah. The next presenter is Dr. David Ewert, President, Mennonite Bretheren College. Dr. Ewert. DR. D. EW ERT : Thank you, Sir. We appreciate the efforts that are being made to seek tax relief for our colleges. The Mennonite Bretheren College was established in Winnipeg in 1944 and has operated continuously now for 43 years.

The college enrolls about 200 students annually in its three-year program of studies leading to a Bachelor's degree. For 17 years, our college has been affiliated with the University of Winnipeg. With the exception of courses that are related to the work of the church, all our courses are available to students for university credit. Since the University of Winnipeg does not have a music department, we have an agreement with the university that their students make our department theirs. The college employs 15 regular faculty, 12 part-time, and 17 staff members, and has an operating budget of $1.3 million .

We received no government grants and all the monies for operations come from our churches and from student fees. For all these many years -43 -we have paid municipal taxes on our college facilities. At present that amounts to $50,000 a year because we are in the core area. lt is less than my colleague just suggested. We believe that we should be relieved of this tax burden in view of the fact that other theological colleges, like St. John's, St. Paul's and others, and the university, are not asked to pay these taxes.

We are not asking for favours, but it is our considered opinion that there should be fairness in the treatment of our academic institutions and we appreciate so much the efforts that are made to create that kind of fairness. MR. CHAIRMAN: Any questions for Dr. Ewert? Thank you very much. Dr. The next presenter is Dean Whiteway, Vice-President, Winnipeg Bible College and Seminary. Dean Whiteway. MR. D. WHIT EWAY: Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I have to tell you that I am more accustomed to sitting where you are than where I am, but it is a privilege to participate in this kind of an exercise.

There are still very few countries in the world where a private 2 citizen can have this kind of access to those who govern over us. I count that as a very coveted privilege, and I want you to know that. Of course I, with the other members who have presented, want to thank the Member for Emerson for taking the leadership in this, and certainly all the members of the House who -well, let me put it this way. lt certainly gives the legislative process in its best light, and that has not gone unnoticed.

So we appreciate the cooperation and the support from all members of the House or members from all parties of the House. We appreciate that. During the debate, there was some concern by members as to the exclusiveness of the bill, that other charities might be involved and that's commendable. But as those in the legislative process know, no one single bill can cover all the deficiencies or one single bill cannot bring about total justice for all.

That kind of an attitude is commendable by members who would want to include other charities, but this bill makes a great deal of sense in that it does group together colleges which have similar characteristics and similar major problems in the area of taxation. I want you members to know the impact this will make, what a good thing you really have done. In the scope of the financial affairs of Winnipeg Bible College and Seminary, the amount that we pay in taxes that this bill will address represents 7 percent of the funds that we need each year through donations.

Now that may seem to be a small amount but, as you know, it is often that last 7 percent that can make or break the financial viability of any enterprise . So we want you to know that this makes a tremendous impact on our financial affairs. We are grateful, we are appreciative and we are deeply thankful. Thank you, Sir. MR. CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Dean Whiteway. Are there any questions of Dean Whiteway? No? Thank you very much. Okay, we can proceed. Okay, we have one further presenter, Mr. Schroeder. MR. D.

SCHROEDER: I would like, on behalf of the Canadian Mennonite Bible College, to also express our thanks for the efforts that have been taken by this House to correct a situation that has existed for some time. CMBC, the Canadian Mennonite Bible College, is a teaching centre of the University of Manitoba, and I've been correcting the same papers with people from St. John's College and St. Andrew's and so on since the 1960's, but have not always had the same treatment in terms of taxes. So we really appreciate this bill and what it seeks to do for the colleges. I just want to say that Dr. John H.

Neufeld, President of CMBC, called me by phone to express his personal regrets that he could not be here to deliver this thanks himself, and asked me to do so. Thank you very much. MR. CHAIRMAN: Any questions for Mr. Schroeder? No? Thank you Mr. Schroeder. Okay. Bill 17, how do you wish to proceed? The bill as a whole-pass; Title-pass. Bill be reported.

Thursday, 9 July, 1987 BILL NO. 30 -

AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE "PINE RIDGE GOLF CLUB" MR. CHAIRMAN: Okay, the next bill we have is Bill 30,

An Act to Amend the "Pine Ridge Golf Club." We have no presenters on Bill 30. Bill-pass; Title-pass. Bill be reported. BILL NO . 54 -

AN ACT TO VALIDATE BY-LAW NO. 3678 OF THE RURAL MUNICIPALITY OF ST. ANDREWS MR. CHAIRMAN: The next is Bill 54,

An Act to Validate By-Law No. 3678 of The Rural Municipality of 3 St.Andrews. What is your wish on this bill? Bill as a whole-pass; Title-pass. Bill be reported. BILL NO. 55 -

AN ACT TO INCORPORATE SOUTHWOOD GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB MR. CHAIRMAN: The next one, Bill 55,

An Act to amend the Southwood Golf and Country Club. Bill as a whole-pass; Title-pass. Bill be reported. No further business. Committee rise. COMMITTEE ROSE AT: 10:15 a.m.

Document details

Collection	Manitoba — Debates (Hansard)
Citation	33-2-pb1
Type	hansard
Volume / chapter	33rd 2nd hansardpdf pb1.pdf
Language	en
Format	pdf
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	e9c2cd41013582e847ddd091bb2373d0d408ed29

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