LEGISLATIVE
ASSEMBLY OF
Wednesday,
April 8, 1992
The House met at 1:30
p.m.
PRAYERS
ROUTINE
PROCEEDINGS
PRESENTING
PETITIONS
Mr. Daryl Reid
(Transcona): Mr. Speaker, I beg to present the petition of
Jim Silver, Deborah Smith, Tim Sale and others requesting the Minister of
Justice (Mr. McCrae) call upon the Parliament of
Ms. Marianne Cerilli
(Radisson): Mr. Speaker, I beg to present the petition of
Gwen Sveinson, Tracey Haarsma, Darcie Andres and others requesting the Minister
of Justice (Mr. McCrae) call upon the Parliament of Canada to amend the
Criminal Code to prevent the release of individuals where there is substantial
likelihood of further family violence.
Mr. Oscar Lathlin (The
Pas): Mr. Speaker, I beg to present the petition of
Raymond E. Sinclair, Walter G. Murdock, Oliver T. Flett and others requesting
the government consider funding the Abinochi preschool program to ensure it
continues to operate.
Mr. Speaker: I have reviewed the petition of the
honourable member for The Pas (Mr. Lathlin).
It complies with the privileges and practices of the House and complies
with the rules (by leave). Is it the
will of the House to have the petition read?
The petition of the undersigned citizens
of the
THAT the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry was
launched in April of 1988 to conduct an examination of the relationship between
the justice system and aboriginal people; and
The AJI delivered its report in August of
1991 and concluded that the justice system has been a massive failure for
aboriginal people; and
The AJI report endorsed the inherent right
of aboriginal self‑government and the right of aboriginal communities to
establish an aboriginal justice system; and
The Canadian Bar Association, The Law
Reform Commission of
On January 28, 1992, five months after
releasing the report, the provincial government announced it was not prepared
to proceed with the majority of the recommendations; and
Despite the All‑Party Task Force
Report which endorsed aboriginal self‑government, the provincial
government now rejects a separate and parallel justice system, an Aboriginal
Justice Commission and many other key recommendations which are solely within
provincial jurisdiction.
WHEREFORE your petitioners humbly pray
that the Legislature of the
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(1335)
I have reviewed the petition of the
honourable member for Wolseley (Ms. Friesen).
It complies with the privileges and practices of the House and complies
with the rules. Is it the will of the House
to have the petition read?
The petition of the undersigned citizens of
the
THAT the bail review provisions in the
Criminal Code of
The problem of conjugal and family
violence is a matter of grave concern for all Canadians and requires a
multifaceted approach to ensure that those at risk, particularly women and
children, be protected from further harm.
WHEREFORE your petitioners humbly pray
that the Legislature of the
Introduction
of Guests
Mr. Speaker: Prior to Oral Questions, may I direct the
attention of honourable members to the Speaker's Gallery, where we have with us
this afternoon His Excellency Njuguna Mahugu, the high commissioner of
Also with us this afternoon, in the
Speaker's Gallery, is Mr. Colin Maxwell, who is executive director of the
Canadian Wildlife Federation. On behalf
of all honourable members, I welcome you here this afternoon.
Seated with us this afternoon in the
public gallery, from the Native Business Management Skills Program, we have 21
students. They are under the direction of Carolee Batycki. This school is located in the constituency of
the honourable member for
ORAL
QUESTION PERIOD
Economic
Growth
Government
Strategy
Mr. Gary Doer (Leader of
the Opposition): Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of
Finance.
In November of 1990 and December of 1990
our Minister of Finance made glowing predictions through Hansard. His words are all the way through Hansard
predicting the recession is going to end; the recovery is just around the
corner; the recession is over, Mr. Speaker.
Then, of course, came the spring of 1991, and we had the same glowing
predictions from our Minister of Finance.
Happy days are here again; the recession is over; the recovery will take
place;
Again, in this last budget of 1992, we
have the same familiar words from our Minister of Finance (Mr. Manness),
whistling past the economic graveyard, slowly but surely: a renewed sense of optimism is building in
My question to the Minister of Finance
is: What hope can he give the thousands
of Manitobans that are unemployed and the growing thousands of people who are
on social assistance in the
Hon. Clayton Manness
(Minister of Finance): Well, Mr. Speaker, I
feel badly that the member has resorted once again to selectively quote
information. My budget, in the
appendices of course, forecast growth in the province beyond 2 percent. That was on the basis of an average of all
the forecasters. I am led to believe
that there is some downgrading taking place across
I would hope within the course of the next
three or four weeks that I will have a revised number of the average of all the
private forecasting that I can share with the member. TD is the first. I can indicate that there are significant
changes going to come from the Conference Board in their estimates and
forecasts, particularly as it deals with some of the
So I do not expect that
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(1340)
Mr. Doer: Mr. Speaker, hopefully, the other forecasts
will be more favourable to the province.
The Minister of Finance is correct that
the predictions are now being made not only for
My question to the Minister of Finance is
again the same question. You told us two
years ago that the recovery was around the corner. You told us last year that we were going to
lead the way out of the recession in
What hope does this government have and
what strategies does it have, except for being wrong on their predictions, what
strategy do they have to get Manitobans working again and to get people off
social assistance that are employable?
Mr. Manness: Mr. Speaker, one thing when you make a
prediction, it is almost 100 percent sure you are going to be wrong. You are either going to miss it too high, or
you are going too low. I mean that is
the nature of forecasting‑‑[interjection] You would be 100 percent that way too. Yes, everybody is.
To answer the question, we have been
watching very carefully as other provinces have brought down budgets across
I would say the only provinces in
I say to the member that obviously we have
a different philosophy here. He wants
this province to continue to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars in support
of increased deficit. He wants us to continue to defer taxes, but taxes
nevertheless, Mr. Speaker. Right today
one of the greatest handicaps to businesses who are creating jobs are the tax
levels of this provinces vis‑a‑vis jurisdictions to the south.
I would say to him, I would think that he
would want us to do everything within our power to hold back government
spending so that we could reduce even further the tax load, so that indeed
people and entrepreneurs could come forward, create jobs and create the
economic well‑being that he wishes and indeed the government of
Mr. Doer: Mr. Speaker, I would suggest the Minister of
Finance read the Provincial Auditor's report on year‑end statements for
the last four years. He will find we
have gone from a $55‑million operating surplus in the financial affairs
of the province to a $530‑million deficit, so he should not lecture
members opposite on the financial situation of this province. He should stop that kind of charade in this
province.
I would note that the
We have a major downgrading of our growth
predictions for 1992. That has major
implications on the unemployment rates of this province. It has major implications on the number of
people on social assistance, a number that has necessitated a $90‑million
increase in expenditures in two budgets for the many people who are employable
on social assistance. It will provide
reduced revenue to the government, reduced opportunity for our people, reduced
opportunities for our people who are requiring services.
My question to the minister is: Is he just going to talk about right and
wrong predictions, or is he going to come in with a strategy to get Manitobans
working again and getting people off the vicious cycle of social assistance for
employable people?
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(1345)
Mr. Manness: Mr. Speaker, I am not the one talking about
forecasts. It was the Leader of the
Opposition who brought forward the forecast issue, very selectively, I might
add.
I would say to him, if he wants to look at
the ranking, he will see that
Mr. Speaker, I gather in their silence
what they want is the government to borrow hundreds of millions of more dollars
to add to the deficit increasing taxes along the line.
Health
Care System
Anesthetist
Review
Ms. Judy Wasylycia-Leis
(
A year ago they found themselves unhappy
with that study and brought in outside consultants to study the matter. That study was done about 10 months ago. It was released on March 30 to CEOs and heads
of departments in our urban hospitals, and then those hospitals were given 36
hours to roll back the sessional rates in the hospitals of Brandon, Grace, Misericordia
and
I want to ask the minister if he will put
these arbitrary, high‑handed decisions on hold until the community
hospitals, until the professionals, until the anesthetists have had a chance to
respond to the report, provide some input and give some advice to this
government.
Hon. Donald Orchard
(Minister of Health): Mr. Speaker, my honourable friend, in the
initial stages of her preamble, I believe, was critical of the time in which it
took us to come to some recommended solution to the difficult problem we have
with the recruitment retention and rates of remuneration for anethesiologists
in the
I distinctly recall her being critical of
it taking two years. Now when we have a
report which has been a substantial amount of time in its development, with
wide discussion and consultation involvement of expertise, and we take action on
that, my honourable friend says you are acting too quickly and you should study
it some more.
Mr. Speaker, the issue is very, very
complex, and it has been two years in the making to come to those kinds of
hopeful solutions that will work. Unless
my honourable friend has a suggestion on how better to resolve the problem,
which I did not detect in that rather lengthy preamble, I am afraid I have to
abide by the best advice we could obtain in almost two years of discussion,
study and consultation around the issue.
Ms. Wasylycia-Leis: Mr. Speaker, my question to the minister
was: Why, after spending two years
studying this matter, did this minister and this government then give our urban
hospitals 36 hours to respond to two serious situations, one, the rollback in
obstetrical anesthesia sessional rates at
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The question has been put.
Mr. Orchard: Mr. Speaker, all of those institutions were
part of the consultation process to understand the dynamics of the problem and
to help create a solution. I will admit
that any solution offered by government around the sensitive area of compensation
to physicians is never received with applause unless you pour more money at it.
What we tried to do was arrive at the most
reasoned solution possible, bringing together expert advice and consultation,
work with the professionals, work with the facilities to come to a solution,
which we asked the hospitals, yes, to implement very quickly, because we were
under pressure from those same hospitals to come to a decision of government
that they could implement.
Mr. Speaker, unless my honourable friend
has some solution, other than the one that was proposed, that is better and
will solve the problem quicker, other than the traditional response of pour
more money at the system, I suggest my honourable friend ought to read the
report, consult carefully with the issue to make sure that she understands that
we have probably arrived at the most reasoned solution to a difficult problem.
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(1350)
Ms. Wasylycia-Leis: It is a very serious situation‑‑
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The honourable member kindly put your question,
please.
Ms. Wasylycia-Leis: I want to ask the Minister of Health, what
impact will this kind of policy of confrontation of this government have on
patient care, have on needed surgery, have on services that people of
Mr. Orchard: Mr. Speaker, I would hope that the
professionals who provide anesthesiology service will work with government as
this solution hopefully resolves a number of outstanding issues.
Secondly, I would hope that within the
distribution mechanism that the MMA, as the union bargaining on behalf of all
physicians, that distribution mechanism as we have tried to achieve for
approximately three years with the MMA, would recognize a greater share of the
pie to go to anesthesiologists who are relatively underpaid in the
Simply coming to government saying the
solution we have arrived at is wrong, without a better one, is hardly
appropriate in today's context, Mr. Speaker.
Emergency
Ward Closure
Mr. Gulzar Cheema (The
Maples): Mr. Speaker, my question is for the Minister
of Health.
On January 15 of this year, the Minister
of Health issued a news release about the Urban Hospital Council, which he
established in 1991. The minister's
release said that the Urban Hospital Council had approved the recommendation to
close the emergency ward of
Mr. Speaker, the working group said that
it was opposed to the closing of the Misericordia emergency ward, and it said
that many of the recommendations, and I quote, had been made with inadequate
statistics.
Can the Minister of Health tell us‑‑according
to this group, his own group, the decision is not medically sound, it is not
financially sound‑‑why he is proceeding with this recommendation?
Hon. Donald Orchard
(Minister of Health): Mr. Speaker, when I held the press conference
with the Urban Hospital Council in January, some of the examples of issues‑‑well,
all of the issues being studied were laid out.
One of the issues that was laid out was the closure of emergency
departments from, I think, it is 10 p.m. to 8 a.m. Even one hospital was suggested to undertake
that.
That recommendation has come in and is
before the Urban Hospital Council. Now
the normal process‑‑and I simply indicate to my honourable friend
that this is one of the decisions that I hope the Urban Hospital Council will
advance as a recommendation, one way or another, in the very near future, but
the process is not complete. I have not
been asked by the
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(1355)
Mr. Cheema: Mr. Speaker, we have said many times that we
will help the minister on health care reform, and this decision by his own
group is not medically sound and not financially sound.
Can the minister tell this House today,
according to his own judgment, does he still favour this decision or not?
Mr. Orchard: Mr. Speaker, with all due respect to my
honourable friend, that is exactly the kind of process that we put those
recommended courses of actions through at the
The feedback on the feasibility of any
recommended course of action is given to the Urban Hospital Council. If in their expert opinion it will work, I
would suspect they will pass that recommendation on for implementation, for
consideration of implementation to myself.
Government ultimately will make that decision.
Now if as my honourable friend says, the
experts in the system question the medical effectiveness of that decision or its
cost, then I would think the Urban Hospital Council would be very cautious in
making that kind of a recommendation to government as government would be in
accepting it, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Cheema: Mr. Speaker, can the minister make a promise
in this House that in future such a major decision must be released in this
House by the minister, not by us?
Mr. Orchard: I hate to use farmer vernacular, but my
honourable friend has the cart before the horse, because I do not know how many
times I have to tell my honourable friend that the Urban Hospital Council has
not recommended a decision on emergency ward or emergency department hours of
operation‑‑period and paragraph.
One of the recommendations from the study
group was to consider closing. That has
been through that consultation process that was just urged upon me by the first
opposition party. Mr. Speaker, the
essence of that consultation will guide the Urban Hospital Council to a
recommendation to be made to me, I hope, in the near future. When that is given to me, I will gladly, as I
indicated in Estimates yesterday and the day before, share it with my
honourable friend.
Dutch Elm
Disease Program
Provincial
Funding
Ms. Jean Friesen
(Wolseley): My question is for the Minister of Natural
Resources.
The City of
My question for the minister is: What evidence leads the minister to believe
that his reduction of 50 percent of the funding for this program will enable us
to maintain those tolerable loss rates?
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(1400)
Hon. Harry Enns
(Minister of Natural Resources): Mr.
Speaker, first of all, let me commend the honourable member because she does
understand the problem and she asks the appropriate question. We cannot do anything other than restrict and
hopefully delay the onslaught of the disease.
Best professional evidence says that if we can keep the diseased and
dying trees to below the 2 percent level, then we in Winnipeg‑‑and
I might say we have done in this instance a much better job than many other
jurisdictions across the North American continent in controlling this disease‑‑are
doing the right thing.
It is precisely the question that she asks
that I am fully prepared to examine. I
am fully prepared to review the current level of support for the Dutch elm
disease program, and if my professional advisers, forestry advisers in the City
of Winnipeg or indeed in the Department of Forestry in my department, tell me
that I am putting at risk of exceeding that 2 percent level, then as I have
said before, I believe, in this House, I am prepared to revisit the level of
funding currently established in the budget exercise.
Ms. Friesen: Mr. Speaker, I thank the minister for that.
I would like the minister to acknowledge
that part of the program's success is due to the fact that the City of Winnipeg
has substantially increased its funding and that whereas the $700,000
provincial grant of 1989 was 48 percent of the total required, but in 1990 that
700,000 was only 35 percent of what was necessary to maintain this tolerable
loss rate of less than 2 percent.
Mr. Enns: Well, Mr. Speaker, the honourable member
makes it difficult for me to respond, because far be it for me to take on
prominent urban Tories on this question of fighting Dutch elm disease, not to
mention the wife of a former Leader of mine, now a senator, or indeed others
who have expressed concern about this.
But I want to assure the honourable member that us little farm folks,
woodlands ranchers have perhaps even a deeper and greater understanding of this
problem.
That is why we are fighting Dutch elm
disease in 41 rural municipalities and are adding to that another five municipalities
while I stand, Mr. Speaker, which is something that honourable members opposite
sometimes in their urban flavour forget that that Dutch elm disease does not
know borders, is not just contained to the city of Winnipeg.
It is an important issue in the city of
Ms. Friesen: Will the minister then make the commitment to
review that program to increase the funding so that the 5,000 dead elms which
are the real danger to the riverbanks and to the rural municipalities, can be
treated, removed‑‑
Some Honourable Members:
Oh, oh.
Mr. Speaker: Order, please.
Ms. Friesen: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the minister to make the
commitment to restore the funding so that the dead elms that are along the
riverbanks can be removed in ways that they could not be removed last year
because of inadequate funding, and so that the municipalities and the city
along the rivers, the
Mr. Enns: Mr. Speaker, my colleague the Minister of
Urban Affairs (Mr. Ernst) reminds me, and correctly so, that this government
increased the overall funding to the City of
It is entirely within the purview of the
City of
Chinese
CookingWine
Mr. George Hickes (Point
Today we have learned that another
Manitoban is believed to have died as a result of consumption of Chinese
cooking wine. Community groups have repeatedly called on the government to
respond to the growing problem of abuse of this product by restricting its
sales in a manner that would prevent misuse.
Will the Minister responsible for the
Liquor Control Commission inform the House what action her department will be
taking to address this issue?
Hon. Linda McIntosh
(Minister charged with the administration of The Liquor Control Act): Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Point
Douglas for his question and his concern in this issue. We have a committee going. It is a nonpotable abuse coalition
committee. It has members on it from the
Main Street Project, from the substance abuse coalition, from the Manitoba
Pharmaceutical Association, Point Douglas Residents' Committee, and the
Those products are currently being tested
by laboratories; results should be coming back from those labs before too long.
The committee will deliberate on those results to see what action we could or
should take.
Mr. Hickes: My question is to the same minister.
Since 1989,
Mrs. McIntosh: Mr. Speaker, in various jurisdictions across
If as a result of our study we determine
that this should be considered something that should come under the Liquor
Control Commission or under the Department of Health or some other area of
government, then some definitions may have to be changed in the act.
Solvent
Abuse
Legislation
Proclamation
'Mr. George Hickes
(Point Douglas): My final question is to the Minister of
Health.
Will he now, given the apparent death of
yet another person due to nonalcoholic beverage abuse, and also given this
government's statements of commitment to stopping such abuse, finally proclaim
the antisolvent abuse legislation introduced by the member for
Hon. Donald Orchard
(Minister of Health): Mr. Speaker, I think my honourable friend the
Minister responsible for the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission addressed the
issue in how a course of action might be undertaken, which I think will
effectively deal with the sale of such products and that, Sir, should be
accomplishable within existing statute.
Women's
Directorate
Assistant Deputy Minister Competition
Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (
The minister made a commitment last summer
to an open competition for the appointment of the Assistant Deputy Minister for
the Women's Directorate. That never took
place because this minister cancelled the competition.
The reason why it was cancelled is because
she says that there were no qualified candidates; and that is her opinion, not
my opinion.
My question is to the minister. Why is the minister trying to leave the false
impression that the competition was cancelled by the Civil Service when, in
fact, it was cancelled from the Minister responsible for the Status of Women?
Hon. Bonnie Mitchelson (Minister
responsible for the Status of Women): Mr.
Speaker, I have never tried to leave any false impressions on the record. As a matter of fact, I am satisfied that I
followed proper procedures in consultation with the Civil Service Commission
and, in fact, the competition was cancelled by my office and I have never
indicated otherwise.
It is government's prerogative to make
technical appointments in instances of senior Civil Service positions. I followed that process and I believe I
followed the proper process.
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(1410)
Mr. Lamoureux: It is beyond me how this minister can dare to
blame the Civil Service. How can she
possibly do it given, Mr. Speaker, and I quote‑‑
Mr. Speaker: Order, please.
Mr. Lamoureux: Mr. Speaker, my question is: How can she blame the Civil Service in a
letter in which, and I quote, I also wish to advise that the decision has been
made to cancel the competition as the government has chosen to make an
appointment through an alternative method?
That means the minister‑‑
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The question has been put.
Mrs. Mitchelson: That is exactly what I said in my first
answer.
Mr. Lamoureux: Mr. Speaker, to the minister responsible for
the Civil Service. I make reference to
the‑‑
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. Would the honourable member for
Mr. Lamoureux: Mr. Speaker, in reference to the Hay Report
my question to the minister is: How does
the minister justify what the Minister responsible for the Status of Women has
done given, and I quote from the report, the control that ministers appear to
have over who gets approval‑‑
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The question has been put.
Mrs. Mitchelson: The ranting and raving that we hear from the
member for
I have four letters from people within the
community and within government who have highly recommended Theresa Harvey as
the right person for the job.
Human
Resources
Mr. Gregory Dewar
(Selkirk): Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Minister of
Family Services.
I have a letter here from the mayor of
Selkirk addressed to the Minister of Family Services, and I will quote: I urge you on behalf of the people of Selkirk
who will lose the most to reconsider the closure of the Selkirk Human Resource
Opportunity Centre.
I also have a letter from the Selkirk
local and the Manitoba Metis Federation again condemning the closure.
Considering the mounting opposition to the
closure, will the minister now stop the planned closure of the centre?
Hon. Harold Gilleshammer
(Minister of Family Services): Mr.
Speaker, day after day, we have opposition members asking us to spend more
money in a variety of areas and certainly Family Services is one of the areas
where this government has made a priority.
We have increased the spending in Family
Services almost 9 percent this year.
That compares very favourably with a budget that was brought forward by‑‑a
pretend budget mind you‑‑members opposite. I forget the name of the people who were
referenced in a petition earlier, but in their wildest dreams they were going
to increase spending in Family Services by 5 percent.
We have had to make some difficult
decisions to be able to create new programming, to create a new program in
social allowances for the disabled, to make additional expenditures in daycare,
to make additional expenditures in child welfare, and do some very creative and
innovative things.
We have legislation before the House now
that we will be talking about later this afternoon, and I am sure members
opposite will want to support that.
Mr. Dewar: This government is bragging about the amount
of individuals on welfare. It is
terrible.
Will the minister delay the dismantling of
the centre until he has a chance to meet with groups who are working on
alternatives to the closure?
Mr. Gilleshammer: Mr. Speaker, as I was just starting to
indicate, we have a lot of additional programming that Family Services is
embarking on this year including the maintenance of the CareerStart Program
that the member for Brandon East (Mr. Leonard Evans) frequently asks about, the
creation of the Partners with Youth program that we will be unveiling some
details about in the near future.
There are times when difficult decisions
and certain adjustments have to be made to allow us to create new programming
and to add to the expenditures in this department. The adjustment that the member is referring
to was one of those difficult decisions.
Mr. Dewar: The minister refuses to answer the
questions. One of the reasons these
individuals are in the training plant is, of course, because they have little
money.
My question to the minister is: What is he going to do to provide these
individuals who will now be forced to travel from Selkirk to Gimli, from
Selkirk to
Mr. Gilleshammer: Mr. Speaker, perhaps the member should have
been at Estimates the other day. We were
discussing the Estimates of the Department of Family Services, and the critic
for the NDP and the acting critic for the Liberals were asking some questions
on this area, and we talked about programming that we have for individuals who
are on social allowances. I can say to
the member that there are new initiatives being taken to attempt to get
recipients of social allowances into the work force. The members who are currently taking that
program will continue to take it and later on be served in other areas.
Mr. Speaker: Time for Oral Questions has expired.
Order, please. Prior to Orders of the Day, I would like to
tell the House that if debate on the Address for Papers in private members'
hour is concluded before 6 p.m., I will be bringing down my ruling respecting
private members' Resolution 4.
NONPOLITICAL
STATEMENTS
Hon. Bonnie Mitchelson
(Minister responsible for Multiculturalism): Mr. Speaker, might I have leave to make a
nonpolitical statement?
Mr. Speaker: Does the honourable minister have leave?
Some Honourable Members:
Leave.
Mr. Speaker: Leave.
It is agreed.
Mrs. Mitchelson: Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to recognize
an honour being given to two distinguished Manitobans. This afternoon in
Recipients are eligible for this honour
only once in a lifetime and are recommended to the minister by an advisory
panel. Recipients are chosen from across
the country on the basis of activities which promote the values of Canadian
citizenship and encourage citizenship participation. The activities of Mr. MacDonell and Mr.
Anderson have underscored the shared values and beliefs of freedom, justice,
equality and respect for diversity that characterize Canadian citizenship.
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(1420)
Their generosity and initiative have made
a unique contribution to
I am also pleased to point out that Mr.
MacDonell is the founding member of the Citizenship Council of Manitoba, a
strong reflection of his commitment to making this community and this country a
better place for all.
Mr. Anderson or O.T., as he is called by
all who know him, is equally deserving of this recognition for his efforts to
improve our community. O.T. immigrated
to
He was instrumental in the creation and
establishment of the multicultural policies within our educational system. His dedication to the multicultural ideal is
illustrated by his work in ethnocultural promotion. O.T. has served as president of the Jamaican
Association of Manitoba and has played a strong role in the development and
success of the Folk Arts Council of Winnipeg.
Mr. Anderson's tireless efforts have been twice recognized, in 1987 and
in 1990, with the City of
As the current chairperson of the Manitoba
Multicultural Resource Centre, it is evident O.T.'s dedication and energies
have not diminished. Mr. MacDonell and
Mr. Anderson have both served
Ms. Marianne Cerilli
(Radisson): May I have leave to make a nonpolitical
statement?
Mr. Speaker: Does the honourable member for Radisson have
leave to make a nonpolitical statement?
Leave. It is agreed.
Ms. Cerilli: I would just like to join with the Minister
responsible for Multiculturalism (Mrs. Mitchelson) in recognizing the award
being given to Mr. Anderson and Mr. MacDonell.
Both of these individuals have contributed an incredible amount of time
to issues of citizenship and multiculturalism in combating racism in
Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (
Mr. Speaker: Does the honourable member for
Mr. Lamoureux: Mr. Speaker, I too wanted to stand up and
echo some of the remarks that were made from the minister to both Mr. MacDonell
and Mr. Anderson. In particular, as many
people who know Mr. Anderson, Mr. Anderson likes to be addressed as O.T., whom
I have come to know over the last number of years as an individual who is just
a fantastic person to sit down and to talk to about multiculturalism.
One of the things that I have always
suggested, Mr. Speaker, is as a critic for Culture, Heritage and Citizenship,
and concentrating on multiculturalism, it is always a benefit to be able to go
out and meet with many different individuals, leaders of the different ethnic
communities. O.T. is one of those
individuals who is so knowledgeable about multiculturalism that he would amaze
a great number of individuals in this Chamber and could keep us glued to our
seats and give unlimited time to talk about the importance of multiculturalism,
what multiculturalism is really all about.
I have had the opportunity on several
occasions to sit down and to hear his words and wisdom regarding
multiculturalism and how he feels about the multicultural
ORDERS OF
THE DAY
Hon. Clayton Manness
(Government House Leader): Mr. Speaker, would
you call the bills in the following order:
Second Readings, Bills 61, 62, 64 and 70, and then adjourned debate Bill
45? That is it. If we will duly finish Bill 45, I will call
additional bills after that.
Mr. Speaker: