Mr. Ben Sveinson (La Verendrye): Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak today about the Green Team youth employment program offered by the departments of Rural Development and Natural Resources. The Green Team program creates a winning situation for all involved. The program provides youth with on-the-job experience while they perform a variety of services in our provincial parks and also support community projects.

The rural youth employment program for 1999 is expected to provide up to 750 Manitoba youth with summer jobs in rural communities and provincial parks. Employment will be in one of two Green Team programs. The Natural Resources Green Team employs youth in provincial parks for general maintenance and other duties. The Hometown Green Team employs youth for outdoor jobs on behalf of municipalities, conservation districts, private tourist operators, service clubs, local Chambers of Commerce and other nonprofit natural resource organizations.

Youth in the La Verendrye constituency have found work on Green Team projects in places such as the Whiteshell Provincial Park, the town of Ste. Anne, the R.M. of Tache, among others. I would encourage potential employers to consider this worthwhile program.

Madam Speaker, I applaud the Green Team program for the benefits it provides to our parks, our communities, and most importantly to our young people. Since the program's inception in 1992, the Manitoba Green Team has provided summer jobs for close to 9,000 youth. The Green Team program demonstrates this government's commitment to maintaining our parks and communities and to fostering the development of our young people. I give my support to the Green Team for its continued success. Thank you.

Ms. Rosann Wowchuk (Swan River): Madam Speaker, as I indicated in Question Period, we have a very serious situation in Swan River where our hospital is going to have to be rebuilt because of a mould problem, a problem I believe created by neglect by this government when they put on hold renovations and repairs to the building in 1992 which I believe could have prevented some of this problem. However, the mould is there, and the hospital will have to be closed.

I want to, first of all, commend the staff on the board of the Swan River Hospital facility and the expedient way they have handled this very challenging situation. However, there are many issues that have to be addressed and resolved, and I would like to raise several of them. First of all, I wanted assurances from this government and was disappointed when I did not get them from the Minister of Health (Mr. Stefanson) that the Swan River people and the people of the area would not have to raise 20 percent of the cost for a new facility, as is required by this government's current policy. They could have upgraded the facility in 1992; they did not. I do not believe that local people should be penalized by government policy when this kind of situation arises and a new facility has to be built.

I also, on behalf of the people of the valley, want the assurances of this government that they will not use this as an excuse to downgrade the facility and in fact will look at this as an opportunity and look at bringing new services to the Swan River Valley and the Swan River facility which serves a very large area, but unfortunately I do not think we have that assurance from this minister.

I also want, as I raised with the minister this afternoon, assurances that families are not put through undue hardship because of additional costs that they will have to pay as they are transported around the valley. This is a very serious challenge and one that I will continue to raise on behalf of the people of Swan River Valley who deserve the very best possible health care that we can, and we are not getting it from this government. Thank you.

Mr. Marcel Laurendeau (St. Norbert): Madam Speaker, I ask the members of the House today to join me in offering our congratulations and warmest wishes to all Sikhs in Manitoba who are celebrating the Festival of the Vaisakhi. Today's festival marks the 300th anniversary of the Khalsa, the Order of Pure Beings. In April of 1699, the Tenth Master Guru Gobind Singh established the Khalsa, and its principles became the guides by which Sikh men and women live. The Khalsa's principles of sacrifice, responsibility, accountability, truth, beauty, goodness, and acting for the good of others have guided Sikh men and women for 300 years.

Today is a very special occasion for the Sikhs here and around the world, and we wish them well as they gather and celebrate their spiritual and cultural heritage. We, as a province built on immigration, celebrate today with the many cultures, and today's day is for the Sikhs.

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Inkster): Madam Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I stand today to acknowledge the birth of Khalsa which is celebrated by Sikhs everywhere by Vaisakhi day on April 14. Indeed, tomorrow is a very special day, for it was on April 14, 1699, the Tenth Master Guru Gobind Singh established Khalsa, the Order of Pure Beings.

We acknowledge that it is indeed a tricentennial anniversary which is most significant. I have had the privilege over the last 11 years of representing a community in which many members of the Sikh community have been overwhelming in their hospitality in making not only me but my family and friends feel welcome at the different temples throughout Winnipeg. I extend to members of the Sikh community my personal congratulations along with family, my colleague from The Maples and in fact the Liberal Party.

Congratulations on this very auspicious occasion, and I thank you for the opportunity to say a few words.

* (1430)

Mr. Stan Struthers (Dauphin): Madam Speaker, Friday, April 9, Friday of last week, was a big day for the community of Dauphin. Consolidated Growers and Processors announced on that day the construction of the world’s largest hemp facility--and that is industrial hemp--a plant which I believe has a huge potential for farmers and for people in communities in Manitoba. I also want to point out as well that I was joined that day by my colleague from the Interlake to help our community celebrate what is a good news announcement.

It was only 13 months ago that the federal government approved the use of industrial hemp as a product. In that time a lot has happened in our community of Dauphin. A lot of people have done a lot of very good work in attracting CGP to our area. I have to start by giving congratulations to former mayor Virginia Jamieson, along with the current mayor, Bill Nicholson, and current reeve, George Richardson, for the role they played in convincing CGP to locate their plant near our community.

I also want to save a lot of the thanks and congratulations to those farmers who are members of the hemp growers association, in particular Joe Federowich [phonetic], Jim Mulligan and Jim Pavlin who really spearheaded the drive to get as many farmers as possible to seed hemp, take that risk and diversify their crop operations in order to provide a supply of hemp for CGP and help in their deciding where they were going to build their plant.

The spinoff in related activities with hemp I think are going to be tremendous, and I think the community of Dauphin and the province of Manitoba are well positioned to take advantage of the hemp benefit. So congratulations to my constituents in Dauphin who had a lot of work to do in attracting this company to our area. Thank you, Madam Speaker.