Mr. Ben Sveinson (La Verendrye): Madam Speaker, our government remains committed to promoting rural development. This is seen in our recent decision to provide Brandon University with $255,000 in provincial assistance to support its new master's degree program in rural development. This master's program will be the only one of its kind in the prairie region. Taken together with the Rural Development resources available through Assiniboine Community College and the new community outreach desk, this will firmly establish Manitoba as a centre of excellence in this field of study.
The master's program will graduate trained professionals, community leaders and entrepreneurs who will further encourage rural people to initiate and lead local and regional development. It will combine theory and practice, linking students to communities through co-operative education experience programs.
As an outgrowth of Brandon University's strong commitment to community service, students in the program will join with the faculty to create a community outreach desk. This service will promote greater collaboration and knowledge transfer between the university and rural communities. Rural Manitobans have been working hard expanding the rural economy. By graduating specialists who understand the priorities and challenges facing our rural communities, we can be assured that the economic growth of our rural home towns will continue. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Ms. Becky Barrett (Wellington): Manitoba has been at or near the top in the child poverty ranks since at least 1990, and today, unfortunately, according to the latest National Council of Welfare statistics, we are again No. 1 in child poverty in Canada.
Child poverty in Canada is at a 17-year high, and over 25.5 percent of the children in the province of Manitoba today are poor. This is an incredible, incredible record. We are first overall in child poverty. We are first overall in child poverty rates for two-parent families, the working poor, and we are second by one-half of one percentage point to the province of Newfoundland in child poverty for single-parent families. This is a shameful record in the province of Manitoba, particularly in light of the fact that in 1995 in the Filmon Vision, the Tory platform document, they said, and I quote: our policies reflect an holistic approach to meeting the needs of every child.
Well, the statistics paint a very different picture, do they not, Madam Speaker? I am a member of the NDP child task force which has gone throughout the province of Manitoba in the last few months, and we have heard the same stories. If this government would ever get outside of this building and consult with the people of Manitoba, they would find the same thing, too.
The programs of this government, far from taking an holistic approach to meeting the needs of children, have been cut. The policies of this government have been cuts to programs like foster care, cuts to programs like Access, to friendship centres, lack of community resources, lack of ability of communities throughout this province, north, south, east and west, urban, rural, and aboriginal to meet the needs of their children, whether they are two-parent families, one-parent families, throughout the province, because of the specific policies of this government which have been to cut programs and to reduce municipalities' abilities to provide support for their children.
How can the minister--
Madam Speaker: Order, please. The honourable member's time has long expired.
Mr. David Faurschou (Portage la Prairie): Madam Speaker, I rise this afternoon on the issue of public safety and that of victims' rights. Recently our Minister of Justice (Mr. Toews) proposed the strongest civil remedies in Canada to be made available to victims of domestic violence and stalking. The proposals are to provide quick, simple and inexpensive access to protection orders that allow for broader preventative orders and compensation from the abuser or stalker for victims' monetary lawsuits. As well, the victims have the right to sue for damages resulting from their stalking. Our government recognizes that safety and security of the individual, our families and our communities are vital to our quality of life. The proposed legislation reflects the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission on stalking and was developed with input from the Lavoie implementation committee.
Madam Speaker, perpetrators of domestic violence and stalking must be sent a clear message that their actions will not be tolerated. No one has the right to intimidate or harass another person. All of us, as legislators, must use every means in our power to ensure that criminals pay the consequences for their criminal act. As well, our government must continue to lobby the federal government to enhance this legislation through the changes in the Criminal Code. Thank you very much.
Ms. Rosann Wowchuk (Swan River): Madam Speaker, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Reid Bewski, a Senior 4 student at the Ethelbert School, who has been selected as one of the six national winners of the Youth Merit Awards program sponsored by regional cable television. This award recognizes young people who have made a difference in their home towns by their various volunteer activities and their efforts to make their community a better place in which to live. Nominees were judged on their actual activities supported by relevant material, certificates, record of achievement, letters of recognition from people and organizations in the community and newspaper stories.
Reid received his award at the regional school and had received a presentation from a representative of regional cable service. Reid has a genuine love for all types of sports, and it is his interest in working with young people that has been his main motivation to get involved in athletic activities. His involvement in helping with athletic activities in the school has given him the opportunity to show his leadership skills.
Besides being involved with athletics, he has been involved with many other extracurricular activities in his school and in his communities. Reid recognized that his school coach, who was a part-time phys ed teacher, had a very heavy workload and as a result of that he became involved and took on the responsibility to coach various teams in the school, including Grade 5 boys and girls co-ed co-operative soccer teams, Grades 6 and 7 soccer teams and junior boys basketball teams.
He is also very involved in the school and community operating video and sound equipment in approximately 40 different community and school events. He is very involved in the 4-H. It is this skill that led him to use his experience and knowledge in establishing an Internet for the Ethelbert District Development Board and he designed a website to make Ethelbert more accessible to the world. The completion of the project involved approximately 200 hours of volunteer work.
I would also like to extend my congratulations to Bryna Sclater of Waskada, Manitoba, who also received this award.
Mr. Denis Rocan (Gladstone): With the loss of the Crow rate transportation subsidy, all producers in Manitoba and western Canada have been seeking alternative crops and value-added production to supplement their cash receipts.
I would like to share with you the story of a constituent of mine, Mr. Irvin Milne. In 1997, he formed the Mekiwin Corporation. He and his partner saw the opportunity for alternate crop production and a major market for the processed crop in the nutriceutical and pharmaceutical markets. I am pleased the Manitoba government is helping producers and entrepreneurs access this new market. Nutriceuticals such as echinacea, ginseng, and St. John's Wort are surging in demand. Now, with assistance of a REDI grant, the Mekiwin Corporation is conducting a feasibility study aimed at learning the nutrient value and processing methods of horseradish. Several potential uses for horseradish have been discovered in both the pharmaceutical and nutriceutical industries.
Producers across Manitoba are thriving and diversifying in the post-Crow era, and the provincial government, through programs such as the Rural Economic Development Initiative, is helping them take advantage of new and growing markets. Manitoba producers and processors are responsible for one of every nine jobs in this province. The agricultural industry is an integral part of our economy, and I am pleased that we are doing whatever we can to ensure that it remains strong and healthy. Thank you.