Madam Speaker: Prior to Oral Questions, I would like to draw the attention of all honourable members to the public gallery where we have this afternoon thirty Grade 5 students from the F. W. Gilbert School under the direction of Ms. Jamie Davison. This school is located in the constituency of the honourable Minister of Health (Mr. Praznik).

Also seated in the public gallery we have thirty Grade 9 students from Grant Park High School under the direction of Mr. Norm Roseman. This school is located in the constituency of the honourable member for Crescentwood (Mr. Sale).

On behalf of all honourable members, I welcome you this afternoon.

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Mr. Gary Doer (Leader of the Opposition): Madam Speaker, I think, on behalf of all of us, we would like to thank the Canadian Armed Forces. Some of them just passed by the Legislature a minute ago, and they are getting a very friendly Manitoba sendoff for a great job on behalf of many of our citizens. I know others stay in our community.

I would like to ask the Premier (Mr. Filmon) a question on the flood situation and health care. As we know, there was some elective surgery cancelled during the flood crisis and during the situation that was developing in our communities. Constituents are calling us, quite concerned about what the line-ups will be. They have been concerned about long line-ups to begin with.

I would like to ask the Premier: What has been the cancellation policy of elective surgery in Manitoba during this crisis? What has been the impact on the line-ups for surgery in Manitoba, and what is the strategy to deal with it?

Hon. Darren Praznik (Minister of Health): Madam Speaker, an excellent question from the Leader of the Opposition.

As the member is very much aware, over the last few weeks we faced a number of worst-case-scenario issues within the city of Winnipeg. As we did this, we were at the point where there were potentially 1,490-some beds between hospitals and personal care homes that were at risk, potential risk, should a worst-case scenario develop. Manitoba Health, working through regular channels of emergency services, emergency measures with the various hospitals, managed to develop a variety of plans to accommodate those patients. Part of those plans was, obviously, the cancellation or reduction of elective surgery throughout the city system in order to provide for beds should we have needed them had we had to get into large-scale evacuations.

Madam Speaker, as the crisis tends to lessen, elective surgery has been rescheduled, is being rescheduled, and we obviously are working with those facilities now to figure out exactly how we can make up for the lack of that elective surgery during the process.

So I appreciate the concerns. We have had many calls to our offices, and I hope to have more information as we work out the details over the next number of weeks to accommodate those people.

Mr. Doer: I thank the minister for his answer.

Madam Speaker, people and constituents are quite worried about line-ups that were taking place for surgery and then cancellations of elective surgery due to this crisis in the last month. They are very concerned about what that will mean for surgery that has been postponed and what it will mean for a line-up that they will have to go through now for surgery here in the province of Manitoba.

On March 7, 1995, just prior to the last provincial election, the government acknowledged that there was a problem with line-ups and surgery and announced a $500,000 program to ensure that people received elective surgery. Is the government contemplating a similar type of program to aid Manitobans in their elective surgery and to reduce the unnecessary wait and line-ups in our surgical programs here in Manitoba?

Mr. Praznik: Madam Speaker, at the current time Manitoba Health, with the various hospitals, are just assessing exactly what any backlog will be and hopefully being able to develop plans to accommodate that. Until I, as Health minister, and from an overall viewpoint, have a better sense of exactly what effect this has had on elective surgery, I cannot give to the member opposite, as I am sure he appreciates, an answer to his question. But I do know we recognize this was an emergency situation. I do not think anyone is critical of the system for accommodating that. We hope that the system can accommodate the bulk of that change. I know as of this Sunday people started to move back into facilities. When we have a better handle on the exact effects, then we will have to make a decision with those facilities, how to handle it. I appreciate the member's concern.

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Mr. Doer: Madam Speaker, of course, the minister will know, with the delay in promised capital spending on many of our surgical areas in our hospitals with the tremendous cutbacks that have taken place in our hospitals in terms of operating staff in our urban hospitals and many other hospitals, that our health care facilities are stretched to the limit. So I would like to ask the Premier (Mr. Filmon): Will he have the same priority for the backlog that has been necessitated due to changes in elective surgery based on the flood? Will he have the same priority for that backlog as we had on March 7, just prior to the provincial election being called?

Mr. Praznik: Madam Speaker, with respect to the larger issue of waiting periods for surgery, there are a number of factors that contribute to that, one of which is the way in which we organize the system. One of the challenges for the new Winnipeg Hospital Authority is to get better efficiency and use of that system. The member may be aware that we have operating theatres within the city that are underutilized or not used at all. We have others that are in need of work.

I do not think any members would be too critical of the fact, in trying to meet the very necessary fiscal targets that the province required for our overall fiscal health, we made decisions with respect to capital. That freeze has now, I would not say been lifted but it has been replaced by a new capital program. One of the high priorities in that has been a significant revamping of the Health Sciences Centre, a major capital project. Planning is well underway on that. We are even looking and exploring some ways that the decision on the project on laboratories gives us to make capital improvements faster because of space that becomes available. So we are trying to work those through that in a reasoned and rational manner.

Mr. Dave Chomiak (Kildonan): Madam Speaker, in a plan conceived five or six years ago by the then Minister Don Orchard and his Deputy Minister Frank Maynard, the government embarked on a privatization initiative toward the lab sector. We have since then seen numerous studies that indicate improvements in the lab sector can be garnered for the province through dealing with the question of private labs, but the government has chosen to privatize, in fact, public labs.

My question to the Minister of Health is: Yesterday the minister was somewhat inaccurate in his response, and, I wonder, to assure Manitobans as to exactly what is happening in the public lab system the government is privatizing, will the minister table in the Legislature today the agreement or the agreement that they are proposing entering into so that Manitobans will know precisely what is happening with respect to the privatization of the public labs in the city of Winnipeg, the majority of which do the majority of tests for all citizens of Manitoba?

Hon. Darren Praznik (Minister of Health): Madam Speaker, the issue of laboratory services in the province of Manitoba is a very important one. I think if he were to talk to people who are involved with the Association of Health Care Professionals, which is a partner of MDS, the union that represents the employees who currently work in our labs, and got a sense of their view of labs--they recognize very fully that there are major changes taking place in the provision of laboratory services because of changes in technology. We certainly want to be there.

With respect to tabling a particular contract, I think, as we have discussed in this House, the process we are entering into now is to negotiate a contract with the proponent who came first in the proposal call and solicitation of interest, and there is no possible way I can table that information today. First of all, we do not have a contract, and, secondly, we are into negotiations, and I am sure the member would not want to put at risk those negotiations by tabling very confidential information that will be used in those negotiations.

Mr. Chomiak: Will the minister explain to the House and the people of Manitoba precisely what we are negotiating with? Is MDS going to take over the labs? Are they going to operate them? Are they going to contract other labs? Is Cadham Lab part of the process? Are the rural labs going to be provided?

Madam Speaker, the Premier (Mr. Filmon) is belittling a multimillion-dollar privatization and trying to do it behind closed doors. Manitobans deserve to know what is happening to their public system that they have built up.

Mr. Praznik: First of all, before the member for Kildonan gets too excited, the questions that he asked in terms of the range of what is being negotiated are certainly very relevant, and I am prepared to answer those. The part of the solicitation of interest that is being negotiated today--we will be entering into negotiations--deals specifically with the laboratory services now provided in the eight particular facilities. Whether or not Cadham Lab becomes involved in that or not is a decision that has not been made and does not form part of those negotiations.

With respect to rural services, now that we have in operation our 11 regional hospital authorities, including Brandon, those CEOs and chairs through their council, we have asked them for their input and direction in terms of what type of laboratory services they would look at as being reasonable for their facilities. As well, the new Winnipeg Hospital Authority will be involved in these negotiations, but the contract that we are negotiating with MDS does not include provision for rural and northern labs.

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Mr. Chomiak: Can the minister indicate whether or not this contract that is being entered into between MDS and presumably the Winnipeg Health Authority or the hospitals, I am not sure, can the minister indicate whether or not MDS will acquire ownership of the now public facilities? Can the minister indicate whether or not the recommendation in his own advisory report with respect to labs will still see the introduction of a lab board to oversee all lab processes in Manitoba and the division of Manitoba into four lab regions?

Mr. Praznik: With respect to specific assets, I would take that the member is talking about the physical space that is now used in facilities throughout the province. The plan and the proposal that was made by MDS as well as by other bidders was for a consolidation of the bulk of the lab services in one particular location, so the current space there is not being turned over to anyone. In fact, some of that space becomes very critical to us in our capital planning, enabling us to advance improvements to several of our hospitals. That obviously is a factor in consideration.

But let us indicate very clearly that we are not about to enter into a contract, we are about to negotiate one. As I said yesterday, if we are not able to achieve our objectives in those negotiations with this particular consortium, then we will proceed to negotiate with another on the short list that is there.

Mr. Stan Struthers (Dauphin): My question is for the Premier (Mr. Filmon). This morning, farmers who live on the west and the east side of PR 330 met at Sanford in the municipal office to express their concern about the blockage of the Manness and the Domain drains. They have been blocked for three weeks. It has caught all the flood waters and also the natural runoff in the area. They were told that it will be 40 days before the water levels will be reduced.

My question for the Premier is: Water Resources has acknowledged that this situation is not entirely natural. Does the Premier agree with this statement?

Hon. Glen Cummings (Minister of Natural Resources): The situation is indeed one where the Manness Drain has not been functioning. At the same time, we should be aware of the fact that the waters that have risen there would have far exceeded anything that that drain could ever have handled, and in fact it would have funnelled those waters over into the next area of the region.

Mr. Struthers: The concern that farmers have in the area is that they will not be able to get out to do their seeding in that area because of the blockage of these drains. Since the farmers will not only lose their houses but possibly their livelihoods for this year, will the government give special compensation consideration to the farmers of that area?

Mr. Cummings: Madam Speaker, as I said a moment ago, this water is far in excess of anything that might ever have been managed within the local drainage system, and the Department of Natural Resources and the Department of Highways are working as we speak, as a matter of fact, to see what can be done to open the drains in that area. If we consider the total volume of water that has risen in that area of the province, you will find that it is now the reverse of the ice-cube-tray analogy that occurred before. The water rose over the existing roads and became trapped. He might well make an argument that the drains could be opened as soon as possible, and that is exactly what is proceeding. The fact is, this is a matter of the water becoming entrapped behind not only the dike that is there but all of the sections of land. The roads around them are indeed trapping the water. As I said, we are looking today to begin those drains flowing.

Mr. Struthers: The farmers in the area understand the big picture and that the decisions are made for the larger common good, but they are faced with a situation where for 40 days they are going to be off their land without the ability to get their crops in. So I would ask the minister: Given this situation, the farmers are asking for a special consideration, and will the government consider their request for assistance above and beyond the normal crop insurance?

Mr. Cummings: There are a lot of situations similar to this that are occurring across the valley. I will not make comment one way or the other on the gravity of the matter that the member brings forward. We are reviewing all matters, as he knows, but I have to emphasize the enormous volume of water that came up that way. You have to then ask what, if any, impact the drains being left open would have had.

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Mr. Steve Ashton (Thompson): This morning we had the opportunity to deal with the situation at MPIC, and it has been pretty well confirmed that many of the concerns expressed about the way in which this government brought in no-fault insurance in 1993 are coming to fruition, particularly injury claims have been cut from $197 million to $103 million, and many accident victims are concerned about the processes that they are faced with in trying to get fair treatment from Autopac. I would like to ask the minister if he will reflect on the discussions we had this morning and commit today, nearly four years after we proposed in this caucus that there be an advocate for injury victims--will he give victims the same kind of fair treatment that victims are given by Workers Compensation through the advocacy office? Will he give them a fair shake with Autopac?

Hon. James McCrae (Minister charged with the administration of The Manitoba Public Insurance Corporation Act): Madam Speaker, I am moved to observe that after the abuse the ratepayers at MPI took from the previous New Democratic administration in this province, the best possible advocate for the ratepayers of Autopac seems to be the government on this side of the House today here in Manitoba. I listened carefully to the things being said this morning by the honourable member for Thompson. Where we differ seems to be on how to achieve the end upon which we all agree, and that is the best service for the people of Manitoba at the lowest possible cost. He thinks that by having an advocate there is a way to go. We think that having no-fault was an appropriate move to make and that having a review of that no-fault aspect of Autopac after three years' performance of the program was the appropriate thing to do, and that is exactly what we are doing. Unlike the honourable member, I do not wish to prejudge the outcome of the review but will await the results of that review.

Mr. Ashton: Madam Speaker, I am wondering how much longer accident victims at Autopac have to wait to get nothing more than what we proposed in 1993, which is in place in terms of Workers Compensation. Why will he not apply the same model that has worked effectively since the 1980s for Workers Compensation through an advocacy office? Why will he not bring that in today for Autopac victims?

Mr. McCrae: The honourable member wonders how long accident victims have to wait. Well, Madam Speaker, with the move to the PIPP method, we have claimants waiting much, much shorter periods of time to get the proper award and to get the proper justice out of this program than they did under the previous tort program. Again, the honourable member seems to wish for the old system and yet advocates for the new system. As I said to him before, you cannot have both.

Mr. Ashton: Madam Speaker, I do not want accident victims to get shafted by this uncaring government.

Mr. Steve Ashton (Thompson): I want to ask a final supplementary, because the minister this morning seemed to have no knowledge of concerns that have been expressed by accident victims about surveillance. I would like to ask the minister if he will withdraw the suggestion he made this morning that somehow he was not made aware of this, in view of the fact that I have copies of letters here, including responses from the Minister responsible for MPIC himself, indicating there are concerns about the extent to which people are being subjected to surveillance that goes above and beyond any reasonable surveillance. Will he now withdraw the comments he made this morning and look at the current surveillance that is in place to make sure that accident victims are not harassed and are treated fairly by the surveillance unit?

Hon. James McCrae (Minister charged with the administration of The Manitoba Public Insurance Corporation Act): Unfortunately, in our society we need to have police forces to see that the laws of the land are properly enforced. Unfortunately, in the running of an insurance program, you need to have a special investigation unit, because unfortunately, again, a very small number of Manitobans seem to think they can get away with defrauding their fellow taxpayers and fellow ratepayers by acting dishonestly. So, therefore, we do have to have some kind of investigative unit, and, of course, it has to be bound by appropriate restrictions and not proceed in ways that are not appropriate to the circumstances.

No, I will not be withdrawing anything. The honourable member has further evidence to bring to my attention. I said to him that I would follow it up, and any evidence that has been brought forward has been looked into by myself or by the corporation in the past.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Inkster): Madam Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health.

Over the weekend, Madam Speaker, I met with a constituent who had surgery done over at the Seven Oaks Hospital. It was interesting hearing what he had to say with respect to what led up to the surgery, where he went to the Medical Arts Building to a doctor, and the doctor indicated that he required a test. He had to wait, in essence, somewhere around four weeks, unless he was prepared to pay. By paying, he was able to get the test done sooner. Had he not had that test done at that point in time, he would not have been able to have the surgery when he needed to have that surgery.

My question to the Minister of Health: Is he concerned that Manitobans are not necessarily being able to get the tests when they are needed unless they are prepared to pay?

Hon. Darren Praznik (Minister of Health): Madam Speaker, I think all members on this side of the House share that same concern, we would expect. We are spending a great deal of the taxpayers' money to buy medical services and health services for the people of this province, and we would hope and expect that they are going to be organized in a manner that is efficient and delivers those services. When I hear stories such as the one that he has indicated, they certainly raise a level of concern. I look forward when we get into Estimates to getting into the details of these issues with him in those discussions.

Mr. Lamoureux: Madam Speaker, I am wondering if the minister can indicate what he would suggest Manitobans who cannot afford to pay these extra fees--what would he recommend that they do in order to get the test done in a more timely fashion?

Mr. Praznik: Madam Speaker, the instance that the member raises in many ways is similar to that raised by the member for Brandon East (Mr. Leonard Evans) last week with respect to a bone scan. We work through many of those issues, and I know a great deal of the work that was done by my predecessor, the member for Brandon West (Mr. McCrae), was to look not at just ad hoc situations, which has been the tendency, I think, over 30 years of health care in our system in which to deal with particular issues, but to look to the systemic way in which we organize these services. He laid much of the groundwork for the reforms that we are now implementing that I think at the end of the day are going to work to alleviate many of these situations of long line-ups. I look forward to the discussion in Estimates again, with respect to bone scan and to these particular areas, because often the solutions tend to be more based on how we organize than other particular issues.

Mr. Lamoureux: Madam Speaker, to that end then, does the minister feel safe in stating that indeed these line-ups have been going down over the years or have they been stagnant? What sort of general direction is the government taking Manitobans with respect to these tests?

Mr. Praznik: Madam Speaker, let us put a couple of things into context. I think the debate in the federal election last night demonstrated very clearly that the Liberal Party, which he represents and campaigns for, has made a significant, a huge reduction in transfer payments to provide for health care, and yet, despite that, this government and many others have backfilled dollar for dollar to replace that money.

Mr. Lamoureux: Madam Speaker, the Minister of Health has taken the opportunity of using his third response to attempt to sidetrack the issue of responsibilities that this government has. VLT revenues, equalization payments have more than compensated any deductions from the federal government, and the federal government has reinstated in most part those finances, so there is no excuse. Take responsibility for your own actions, Mr. Minister.

Madam Speaker: The honourable Leader of the official opposition, on the same point of order.

Mr. Gary Doer (Leader of the Opposition): On the same point of order, I think that it is in order to discuss federal cutbacks. It is in order to discuss Jean Charest's promise to cancel $8 billion in health care spending in 1993, and to discuss Jean Chretien's cut of $7.5 billion and its impact on people. We say a plague on both your houses, and we say that is in order, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker: The honourable member for Inkster did not have a point of order.

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Mr. Praznik: Thank you, Madam Speaker. The point that I was making is that the health care system has had a massive reduction of dollars to it from federal governments over the past number of years. This administration has backfilled that money. Now that is part of it. Secondly, the way in which we organize the system to make sure things will work efficiently is an area that we are now addressing. But, for a member of the Liberal Party to get up and be critical, I would love to see him try to defend his federal Leader's plan to eliminate the GST that they seem to have forgotten as well.

Mr. Daryl Reid (Transcona): Madam Speaker, in 1991, the Filmon government grossly overreacted when they introduced Bill 59, The Workers Compensation Amendment Act. For the last five years, injured workers in this province, in addition to their injuries, have paid the financial price. Long-term-injury claimants suffer an additional 10 percent initial penalty on their wages. In addition, a further 10 percent penalty is applied after two years of long-term disability.

I want to ask the Minister of Labour, who is responsible for the Workers Compensation Board, if it is his government's policy to cut the wage-loss benefits of injured workers to balance the books and then give a $40-million insurance premium rebate to employers at one period of time within the same months and then yesterday give another $8.7-million rebate to employers while injured workers get absolutely no improvements in their benefits after having suffered the loss in 1991. Is that fair?

Hon. Harold Gilleshammer (Minister of Labour): Madam Speaker, my honourable friend wants to talk about some of the history of the Workers Compensation Board. This board operated very well in the late '70s and early '80s until about 1984 when it started to accumulate a debt, and that debt, which started in 1984, went up to $232 million. That was accumulated in a four-year period under the NDP government. We are very pleased that the board has taken steps to remedy that situation. That debt has now been completely eliminated. They are putting in place a rate stabilization fund. They are reducing the rates, and they are also offering service enhancements. I take my hat off to the board for the tremendous decisions they have made to eradicate that debt and to put the corporation on a sound fiscal basis.

Mr. Reid: Well, will the same minister then please explain how it is fair that the nearly $60-million surplus announced, that not one cent will find its way to the injured workers or their families, while the other WCB stakeholders, the employers, receive a $49-million premium rebate as a result of the actions, the gross overreaction of your Bill 59 which penalizes the injured workers of this province up to $50 a week in addition to hundreds of thousands of dollars for those who are killed in this province? How is that fair for those families?

Mr. Gilleshammer: Madam Speaker, I find it difficult to understand the honourable member being so critical of the board. The board has done a tremendous job, a board chaired by Wally Fox-Decent and made up of representatives from workers, from employers, and representatives of public interest. They have had to grapple with these issues, and they have made tremendous strides.

A couple of weeks ago in committee--and I will read from Hansard--the member for Transcona said: "I have trust and confidence in members of the board and in Mr. Fox-Decent." Now, some two weeks later, he is being very critical of the decisions that the board has made, and I do not understand that.

Mr. Reid: Madam Speaker, I am critical of the government's gross overreaction through Bill 59; that is what I am critical of.

Mr. Daryl Reid (Transcona): I want to ask this minister, this government and this Premier: If you have any common decency in you, will you move to restore the benefits that you took away from the injured workers and their families in this province through Bill 59, since there is projected to be surpluses in the Workers Compensation system in the coming years? You have given it to the employers now, but will you restore the benefits for those workers and their families, if you have any common decency?

Hon. Harold Gilleshammer (Minister of Labour): Madam Speaker, when the member criticizes the decisions that were announced yesterday, those were decisions of the board, not of the government. This is the same board that the honourable member spoke so highly of in committee only two weeks ago.

The real issue here is to look at the benefits that the Manitoba program offers in relation to other provinces. In terms of income replacement rates, in terms of maximum insurable earnings, and in terms of the maximum impairment awards, Manitoba compares very favourably with what other provinces do.

Mr. Jim Maloway (Elmwood): Madam Speaker, my question is to the Deputy Premier.

While Karen Alcock was the project manager of ManGlobe and a shareholder, she negotiated contracts with the federal government, and one such contract was the federal Department of Industry. Since the minister approved the hiring of the management of the ManGlobe project, would he check with the board of ManGlobe and provide us with a list of all the federal government contracts negotiated by Karen Alcock and update this House on the various stages the contracts were at when Karen Alcock was fired?

Hon. James Downey (Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism): Madam Speaker, as I have indicated previously to the member, when issues are related to the federal government, it should be to the federal government that the member is asking his question. However, I have tried to be as co-operative as possible with this member and will attempt what I can to help him to acquire the information.

Mr. Jim Maloway (Elmwood): I would like to ask the same minister: Can the minister check with the management and board of ManGlobe and determine how the federal government contracts affected the value of Karen Alcock's shares in ManGlobe? And would the minister release a copy of the unanimous shareholders' agreement?

Hon. James Downey (Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism): Again I believe it would be appropriate for the member to ask either the federal government and/or the management of ManGlobe these specific questions. As I have indicated previously, I will attempt to assist the member all I can, but I think it is important that he ask the appropriate government.

Mr. Jim Maloway (Elmwood): My final supplementary is to the same minister. The minister has been asked many times to table a copy of the Canada-Manitoba Communications Agreement with ManGlobe. Will he stop sitting on this information and table this contract today?

Hon. James Downey (Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism): Madam Speaker, I do not believe that there would be any problem other than it could in fact in some way impact on the company which the agreement has been signed with, and I will make sure before I do provide it that there would not be anything that would be harmful to that business. I would hope that the member would also appreciate the fact that there is a business operating as ManGlobe, hiring people and providing services, and it is in fact generating some income for those individuals within that company. I would hope he would be conscious of that, that there is in fact a business that is operating, far different from MTX that the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Doer) was fully involved in.

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Ms. Rosann Wowchuk (Swan River): Sawmill operators in the Swan River Valley continue to face difficulties because of lack of wood supply. People who bought quota last year were promised by the then Minister of Natural Resources that if they were successful in bidding for quota, they would have a long-term wood supply for their sawmills.

This unfortunately is not the case, and these sawmill operators are now at risk of losing their investment. I want to quote from a letter which I will table: Not only are my son and I losing our livelihood, eight men are also losing their jobs. Again, if nothing is done to this situation immediately, I stand to lose everything I worked for in the last 40 years.

I ask the Minister of Natural Resources what steps he is going to take to ensure that the promises that were made by his government that there would be wood supply for small sawmill operators will be kept.

Hon. Glen Cummings (Minister of Natural Resources): Madam Speaker, I will take a look at the letter the member tabled with some interest because it is my understanding that there were a number of quotas that were put up for auction which would be available to the operators in the area. I would assume that perhaps this was an unsuccessful bidder, but perhaps there is more to the story.

Ms. Wowchuk: The minister is wrong. It is a successful bidder who has bid but has no wood supply. Since the minister's office has known about this problem since early in January, and since the minister took the time to come to Swan River to attend a loggers and haulers banquet, to attend the fish enhancement banquet and hand out a cheque, why did he not take the time to meet with these loggers who are having their livelihoods taken away from them because they cannot get wood for their sawmills?

Mr. Cummings: Madam Speaker, I made every attempt to meet with the operators in the area. If there is a desire on the part of this particular individual to meet with us, I will be more than glad to do so. I think there is a situation that is probably not all that surprising in that we have seen a tremendous rise in the interest and the demand for not only logs available for chipping but also saw logs, and there is a tremendous competition between the various operators in the valley and across the province. I am more than glad to review this particular situation.

Ms. Wowchuk: Given that this is not a problem of only one sawmill operator, lots of operators are having difficulty and they are being given the runaround from Natural Resources to Repap to Louisiana-Pacific, will the minister convene a meeting of his staff, Louisiana-Pacific, Repap and the quota holders to see that this problem is resolved and sawmill operators can continue to operate and provide a livelihood for their families?

Mr. Cummings: Madam Speaker, lest the member forgets, there are operators in her home constituency that have taken significant advantage of the opportunities and are expanding and buying up quotas and operations. In scanning this letter, I would be interested to find out why this operator says that he is unable to continue or obtain the appropriate saw logs that may have something to do with the nature of the quota, but I will certainly review it.

Mr. Leonard Evans (Brandon East): I have a question for the Minister of Finance. We now have data on employment in the first four months of 1997, and while we see that total employment has indeed risen by 3.3 percent compared with the same period last year, there is a disturbing trend evident. We have an expansion of lower-paying personal service and retail sector jobs but a serious decline of higher-paying jobs in the transportation, communication, utilities and construction sectors. This trend is substantiated by the latest data on average weekly wages where Manitoba had the second-lowest increase in Canada only after Newfoundland so far this year.

My question to the minister is: Will the minister acknowledge that Manitoba is becoming characterized as a low-wage economy, becoming even lower?

Hon. Eric Stefanson (Minister of Finance): Madam Speaker, I will certainly acknowledge no such thing in terms of if you look at the increase in average weekly earnings over the last several years in Manitoba, they have been amongst the best in all of Canada. But I think what the member for Brandon East continues to fail to acknowledge and recognize is that Manitoba today, in the first four months of 1997, has the best job growth in all of Canada.

It is also important, Madam Speaker, that every single solitary one of those jobs created in Manitoba is created in the private sector with private-sector investment, and 70 percent of those jobs are full-time jobs. That is nothing but good news for all of the economy of Manitoba, and it would be great to see the member for Brandon East start to recognize some of that.

Madam Speaker: Order, please. Time for Oral Questions has expired.