LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA

Friday, June 17, 1994

The House met at 10 a.m.

PRAYERS

ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS

MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS AND

TABLING OF REPORTS

Manitoba Builder Bonds Series II

Hon. Eric Stefanson (Minister of Finance): Mr. Speaker, I have a ministerial statement for the House.

On April 25 of this year, I announced that due to the enormous success of the initial offering of Manitoba Builder Bonds and the continued desire of Manitobans to invest in their province, the second issue of Manitoba Builder Bonds would go on sale May 24.

It gives me great pleasure to rise in the House today to announce that over 16,000 Manitobans have purchased in excess of $300 million of Builder Bonds Series II.

The combination of HydroBonds and Builder Bonds has now generated in excess of $230 million in interest for Manitobans. Proceeds from the sale will provide a local source of funds and go to work right here in Manitoba and will help the province to create new jobs in a variety of capital and provincial projects.

I would like to extend my thanks to the people of Manitoba who have shown pride and confidence in their province by investing in Manitoba Builder Bonds. Thank you.

Mr. Leonard Evans (Brandon East): I thank the Minister of Finance for that good‑news statement. It is certainly good to hear that Manitobans are prepared to buy the Builder Bonds, and as the minister inferred, the interest payments on those bonds go to Manitobans and hopefully are retained within the province, as opposed to interest payments paid to foreigners or people out of the province.

To that extent, the idea is good, and I am pleased that Manitobans have seen fit to invest in them. We do have concerns that there is not sufficient capital investment in this province. The forecast by Stats Canada of capital investment for this year is that there will be virtually no growth, and that is bad news. That should concern all of us.

There are other signs that our economy is not as active as it should be. We are not getting the growth that we should. Hopefully, these particular Builder Bonds and the revenue from them will assist in government financing. We certainly are pleased with those Manitobans who were prepared to buy those bonds. We are very satisfied, but we would like to see a little bit more action on the economic front. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Paul Edwards (Leader of the Second Opposition): Mr. Speaker, I have spent a lot of time in this House, as have members of my party, talking about the retention of capital within this province‑‑our own investment dollars. Therefore, it does give me great pleasure to acknowledge and recognize that the HydroBond and now the Builder Bond program is obviously a very, very good idea. I am very pleased to see that it is successful.

My predecessor as Finance critic, Mr. Alcock, recognized that when these issues first came out, Mr. Speaker, and we continue to feel that way. I do, however, want to leave on the record that in new investment dollars in this province, there are approximately $640 million invested in new investment dollars through pension funds, through RSP funds, and we are still retaining a very small portion of those over the long haul. Every year, we see that drain of capital. This is an important start. It should be seen just as that, however‑‑a start. There is a need to continually be proactive and creative in retaining those investment dollars for our own people.

I am interested in the Finance minister's comments that these funds will help the province to create new jobs. One hopes that will occur. It certainly has not occurred yet, but the retention of capital is a start. I think we are all looking forward now to any indication that those funds would be put to use by this government to, in fact, create jobs. It has not happened yet, Mr. Speaker.

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Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Health): I am pleased today to table the 1994‑95 Capital Program for the Department of Health.

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INTRODUCTION OF BILLS

Bill 26‑‑An Act to amend An Act to Protect the Health of Non‑Smokers (2)

Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Health): Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the honourable Deputy Premier (Mr. Downey), that leave be given to introduce Bill 26, An Act to amend An Act to Protect the Health of Non‑Smokers (2) (Loi no 2 modifiant la Loi sur la protection de la santé des non‑fumeurs), and that the same be now received and read a first time.

Motion agreed to.

Introduction of Guests

Mr. Speaker: Prior to Oral Questions, may I direct the attention of honourable members to the gallery, where we have with us this morning from the Sir William Osler School 45 English Language students under the direction of Ms. Elaine Dale. This school is located in the constituency of the honourable member for River Heights (Mrs. Carstairs).

On behalf of all honourable members, I would like to welcome you here this morning.

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ORAL QUESTION PERIOD

Health Care System

Disease Control

Mr. Gary Doer (Leader of the Opposition): Mr. Speaker, my question is to the Premier.

Daily in this House and over the last couple of years, we have been asking questions about the government's cutbacks in the Department of Health, and the government has repeatedly said that they are allegedly putting resources into the community for disease prevention and for early detection of disease.

Today, unfortunately, and yesterday, unfortunately, we learned through testimony at a public inquiry dealing with the blood supply that senior health consultants and former senior Assistant Deputy Ministers of Health have given testimony that early intervention programs have been gutted by this provincial government, preventative programs have been reduced by this provincial government and that we have been placed at risk by the reductions in services by the provincial government.

I would like to ask the Premier, why has he allowed the situation to deteriorate in this province of Manitoba in terms of overall health, and as the testimony suggests, why has he weakened our ability to fight and respond to communicable diseases in Manitoba at the earliest possible point?

Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Health): Mr. Speaker, we see it as our duty to be as prepared as we can for whatever kinds of epidemic situations might present in the future, as governments have tried to do in the past. In spite of that, there have been medical problems that have developed in the past, although I can say to the honourable member the recent meningitis vaccination program I think by all accounts has been run very well in conjunction with the federal, provincial and aboriginal leadership in this province.

We certainly take seriously any comments made in this vein in front of a public inquiry. We, of course, await like everybody else the recommendations and outcomes that will flow from the Krever inquiry. I think in light of the history of the HIV infection, there is nobody in this country who should claim to be ready as we would like to be ready.

So, Mr. Speaker, we will pay close attention to the comments that have been made and have a look at our prevention programs and our immunization and our disease control programs and monitor them carefully, as we have been doing all along.

Mr. Doer: Mr. Speaker, the testimony goes on to say in terms of Manitoba labs‑‑and we have asked the question about labs on four or five occasions. We have tabled the Hammond report. We have tabled the Bass report. We have talked about the Anderson consulting report.

The testimony goes on to say that spending cuts by the provincial government and provincial laboratories strip our provincial laboratories of basic tools of surveillance and testing that serve as a front‑line defence against epidemic. We have raised this question in the Chamber before to the government. We have quoted the reports that have talked about the skimming that is going on in provincial labs in terms of the rural lab situation, or its creaming, I might say, specifically in the report, the Bass report.

Mr. Speaker, at the same time that we have been raising the question of labs and early defence and prevention, the government has cut positions. In this year's budget alone, they cut 11 positions dealing with the screening of population groups for various indicators of health disease, specifically cholesterol and HIV.

I would like to know, how can the government square its policy of massive cutbacks in our institutions with nurses being laid off and at the same time, cut back community preventative resources to deal in our provincial labs with detection of diseases?

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Mr. McCrae: Mr. Speaker, I suggest to the honourable member that never before in the history of health delivery in Manitoba has there been so much consultation and work being done and networking and integrating of services than presently. I am afraid that what the Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues keep recommending day after day is a further gutting of the health care system in Manitoba which we will not tolerate.

The honourable Leader of the Opposition has made it clear that he is happy to defend the health care policies of the Province of Ontario. He has said that. Each day that he raises questions, I attempt to engage him in debate on issues in Ontario, and he refuses to take part, yet he says he is proud and happy to do so. He is proud and happy to defend the closure of 52 hospitals in Saskatchewan, proud and happy to defend the closure of 5,000 hospital beds in Ontario, and then he and his colleague for Kildonan (Mr. Chomiak) have the nerve to stand in this House and be critical of the meaningful change that is going on in Manitoba to place the appropriate emphasis on prevention and promotion and community care.

You cannot come from all directions at once, Mr. Speaker, and be believed.

Mr. Doer: That is the most pathetic answer I have ever heard in this Chamber, Mr. Speaker. You have‑‑

An Honourable Member: It matched the quality of the question.

Mr. Doer: Well, if the Premier (Mr. Filmon) cared about the situation in health, he would be worried about former ADMs saying that we cannot fight disease anymore. If the Premier had the guts to stand up and answer what is going on in his Health department, you would not have reductions in staff in the labs dealing with AIDS detection.

I apologize, Mr. Speaker, for the use of‑‑

Mr. Speaker: Thank you.

AIDS Prevention Programs

Government Strategy

Mr. Gary Doer (Leader of the Opposition): This is a very serious situation, Mr. Speaker. You have a lab body that is saying they cannot handle the cuts anymore. Our defence is gone. You have people in community health who are experts saying that we have gutted the system so much that we cannot deal with the prevention of disease and epidemics at the first line. This is very, very serious.

Mr. Speaker, we have asked questions before about AIDS, the fact that AIDS is spreading, according to Health and Welfare Canada, and has the potential to spread at a rate equal to the rate of AIDS that was contracted in the AIDS community 10 years ago in our aboriginal population. It talks about the tremendous at‑risk situation here in the province of Manitoba, including in many of our urban centres.

Mr. Speaker, Manitoba is one of only two provinces in Canada that does not have a formal AIDS strategy. We have also gutted all our preventative staff and now gutted our lab staff to deal with the situation.

I would like to ask the Premier (Mr. Filmon), will he instruct his Minister of Health to reinstate our resources to prevent disease, to prevent disease spread, to prevent epidemics and to develop an intelligent and forthright and honest and aggressive AIDs epidemic strategy prevention program in the province of Manitoba?

Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Health): The honourable Leader of the Opposition should have a chat with his spokesperson for Health, Mr. Speaker, because during the Estimates process, we discussed at some length the development of epidemiology services in Manitoba and the department's intention to make that service more effective, so that we can have a better understanding than in past generations of the development of disease in Manitoba.

So, Mr. Speaker, while I have said that we will look carefully at what Dr. MacDonald and others have had to say before the Krever inquiry, it ought not to come as any surprise to the honourable member that the reason for having inquiries is finding out those things that we need to find out in order to make improvements.

That is exactly what we have been embarked on in the last few years here in Manitoba, improving our health care system. I mean, you cannot defend Ontario and Saskatchewan on the one hand and then come along and suggest that we should be criticized here in Manitoba.

When you look at the levels of funding for health care services in Manitoba over the last number of years, when you look at the percentage of health care spending in Manitoba as a percentage of total spending, which is the best measure of the commitment of any government, you will see that never before in the history of Manitoba has any government been more committed to a safe and effective health care system than the present government right here in Manitoba.

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Laboratory and Imaging Services

Layoffs

Mr. Dave Chomiak (Kildonan): Mr. Speaker, the minister refuses to answer the question. The minister completely misses the point. It had to come out at a federal inquiry what is wrong in the department, and still the minister does not acknowledge the difficulties that were raised by our Leader and the problems in the department. At least the minister could acknowledge the problem, but, no, he is keeping his head in the sand and refusing to acknowledge it.

My question to the minister is, why did you cut 11 staff from your Laboratory and Imaging Services department, which undercuts the ability of the department to screen for diseases like HIV?

Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Health): You see, Mr. Speaker, the difference between my approach and that of the honourable members opposite is that they will defend the approach in Ontario and the approach in Saskatchewan. I will acknowledge that in Manitoba, there is always room for improvement. That is the difference in approach.

I remember honourable members, when they were going around hacking and slashing here in Manitoba, defend, defend, defend or deny, deny, deny, and that is not the right approach either, Mr. Speaker.

Working together with health care professionals, with health care providers, with health care consumers, acknowledging where you are weak, building on where you are strong, that is what you should be doing in building a good health care system that will be sustainable for generations to come, but I reject the approach that chokes the health care system to death being advocated by honourable members opposite.

AIDS Prevention Programs

Government Strategy

Mr. Dave Chomiak (Kildonan): Mr. Speaker, when we asked the minister on May 19 why Manitoba was one of two provinces without an AIDS strategy, the minister would not answer the question, and he has refused to answer the question today.

Why, given what we know, given what has happened, given that we are supposed to be emphasizing prevention, why does this government not have an overall AIDS strategy and approach to this disease?

Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Health): Mr. Speaker, the honourable member raises the issue of an AIDS strategy. I have met with the AIDS Advisory Committee. That committee continues to do its work and to advise the government. We will pay heed to the AIDS Advisory Committee in the development of programs.

We have programs in operation now which are having an effect, and if the honourable member would care to look back on our discussions in the Estimates discussion, I can also bring forward facts and figures for the honourable member about the number of people who have been contacted, people we have worked with in this particular area, at a time when the honourable member can ask those questions, and I will make that detail available to him.

Mr. Chomiak: The members of the minister's own advisory committee are angry at some of the things he has done with respect to AIDS. Mr. Speaker, we will provide the minister with an example of an AIDS strategy from other provinces at some later date, so he can finally start to work on that process.

Public Health Services

Government Support

Mr. Dave Chomiak (Kildonan): My final supplementary: Will this government now enhance the ability of public sector labs, public nurses and others involved in the public sector to carry out their functions adequately so things like Chagas disease and other things can be screened for and so that the health and protection of Manitobans can be foremost in the minds of this government, not simply cutbacks?

Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Health): Mr. Speaker, again, you cannot come in here and suggest that our laboratory advisory committees are not appropriate and then come along and say you have got to do something about labs.

You cannot have it both ways, and, by the way, there is staff of private labs, people who day in and day out provide services in laboratory services who want to meet with me, because they are very upset with some of the things that the honourable member and his colleagues have been saying about the services provided by the good people who work in private and public labs.

Health Care System

Privatization

Mr. Paul Edwards (Leader of the Second Opposition): Mr. Speaker, last night, the chief of medical staff at Brandon General Hospital, a Dr. William Myers, made some very interesting comments, and I have a transcript of them because when I first heard about them, I was concerned about those statements. I want to very briefly ask the Minister of Health what he thinks of them.

The chief of medical staff, Dr. Myers, said private health care is inevitable. He went on to say that the sooner people accept that reality, the better off they would be, and he went on to say that it has become a very sacred issue for politicians, but they have found they cannot afford it, so they are contracting the service and still maintaining the front that they are providing the same level of care. It is simply not true.

Mr. Speaker, this is a very influential doctor in the Brandon community and indeed in the province. He has made those statements at a public meeting, the annual general meeting of the Brandon General Hospital.

Will the Minister of Health today put on the record if he disagrees with those comments, put it on the record publicly today, because a very influential man in this community has said specifically that we must, he believes, move to private health care?

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Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Health): Mr. Speaker, I was not at the meeting. I did not hear what Dr. Myers had to say. It may be that Dr. Myers has personal opinions. I am sure the honourable member has personal opinions, and other people have personal opinions.

What we are committed to here in Manitoba are the principles enshrined in the Canada Health Act. What we are committed to is the best‑‑and I will quote Dr. Bill Myers from a conversation I had with him one day: We are going to have the best health care system we Canadians can afford to have. That is the way Dr. Myers put it when he was talking to me.

I cannot account for anything he might have said last night, but we are committed to the principles enshrined in the Canada Health Act and the best possible health care system we can provide, working with all manner of health care professionals. I am happy to work with Dr. Myers. I have had many conversations with Dr. Myers about some of his views.

I do not accept that private health care is inevitable, not as long as we have a will, as we do on this side of the House, to preserve our health care system. There are some on the other side of the House who would move to destroy our health system, Mr. Speaker, and I will not tolerate that.

Mr. Edwards: I appreciate the latter comments of the Minister of Health which are in direct contradiction to what Dr. Myers has said.

I would ask the Minister of Health to communicate those comments to Dr. Myers who, agreed, has a right to private opinions, but he is a very public man. He stated it in a public venue, the annual general meeting, and he does have a significant amount of respect in the medical community, Mr. Speaker.

He went on to say that if you believe that, that is, that you can avoid a two‑tier system, you are very gullible, and I do not think people are. He argued a two‑tier system would allow people to obtain services that medicare has had to ration or cut.

Will the Minister of Health‑‑obviously knowing Dr. Myers very well‑‑speak to him and specifically indicate to him that this type of theory, that we have to move to a two‑tier system, is simply not on in this province and that he should refrain from comments such as that in public venues when they are so at odds with‑‑when he is the chief of medical staff at a hospital, and he is speaking to the annual general meeting?

Mr. McCrae: Mr. Speaker, the honourable member is right about Dr. Myers. He is an extremely well respected practitioner in Manitoba, and he certainly enjoys my respect. There is no question about that, and his services in the Westman area are valued very highly by many, many people in that area.

I might not agree with everything Dr. Myers says, but I sure do not agree with stifling him and gagging him so that he cannot speak. I always thought, Mr. Speaker, that one of the things about liberalism was that people were entitled to express their opinions, and now the honourable member wants me to stick a gag on Dr. Myers. Well, no, I will not be doing that, I can tell you that.

Mr. Edwards: This government has placed more gag orders on the thousands of employees they have in government than any other government in the history of the province.

The record will reflect that I certainly did not ask the minister to impose a gag order. What I am asking this minister to do is to publicly express his rejection of the theory that we must move to a two‑tier private health care system, and he should contact Dr. Myers in his very influential position with the Brandon General Hospital and make that view known publicly in Brandon and around this province today, Mr. Speaker.

Point of Order

Mr. Jerry Storie (Flin Flon): I would ask you, Mr. Speaker, whether this question, in fact, is in order. The individual whom the Liberal Leader is talking about is a private citizen. I am not sure that it is within the government's purview to control what someone thinks or says in the province of Manitoba. Is that in order? Is it in within the area of the government's competence?

Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The honourable member does not have a point of order.

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Mr. McCrae: Well, Mr. Speaker, to use an expression often used by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Doer), the Leader of the Liberal Party seems to be suggesting that I take Dr. Myers to the woodshed.

Point of Order

Mrs. Sharon Carstairs (River Heights): Mr. Speaker, we have had enough of the use of that phrase in this House to last in perpetuity. You have it within your power to make that expression unparliamentary, and I would ask you to do so.

Mr. Speaker: Order, please. On the point of order raised by the honourable member for River Heights, it is indeed unfortunate that the word as clearly enunciated by the Minister of Health, referenced by the honourable member for River Heights, does not show up in Beauchesne's under unparliamentary language.

But, again, I would remind all honourable members to pick and choose your words very carefully.

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Mr. McCrae: In any event, Mr. Speaker, when I said what I said, the Leader of the Liberal Party said: Yes, I do suggest to take Dr. Myers to the woodshed.

Point of Order

Mr. Edwards: Mr. Speaker, on a point of order, I have asked this minister to call Dr. Myers and tell him that he is wrong that we must move to a two‑tier‑‑

Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The honourable member does not have a point of order. That is clearly a dispute over the facts. There is no point of order.

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Mr. Speaker: Now, the honourable Minister of Health, to finish with his response.

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Mr. McCrae: Mr. Speaker, the honourable member may know Dr. Myers, but if I were to do as the honourable Leader of the Liberal Party is suggesting I do, use my muscle as a Minister of Health to go and tell Dr. Myers what he should or should not be saying in this free country of ours, I can tell you, Dr. Myers would waste no time dispatching me on the point, and I would respect him for it if I ever tried to do such a thing.

Dr. Myers is entitled to his opinion. I disagree with the opinion as expressed by the Leader of the Liberal Party today. I do not know how much more public I can be, Mr. Speaker, than to‑‑

Mr. Speaker: Order, please.

Community‑Based Policing

Government Strategy

Mr. Gord Mackintosh (St. Johns): Mr. Speaker, this week, Mr. Chris Braiden, the former superintendent of the Edmonton Police Service and the acknowledged expert on community‑based policing in North America was in the city to advise the Winnipeg Police Services. Mr. Braiden makes the point that policing is off the rails here and that we must get officers out of their cars and into the community and working with neighbourhoods.

My question for the Minister of Justice is, would she explain why her department does not have a single program in place to ensure that Manitoba police forces can be transformed to community‑based policing?

Hon. Rosemary Vodrey (Minister of Justice and Attorney General): Mr. Speaker, as the member knows and this government has demonstrated, we have a very strong commitment to community consultation, to working with communities. The member, I am sure, knows that the RCMP has a system in place in which they do work with communities, where communities have the opportunity to determine what kind of services they would like to have, what would best serve their community.

I meet both with the chief of the Winnipeg Police and also the head of the RCMP and make sure that I am aware of issues of concern. However, the departments themselves have to look at an internal management strategy and a direction that they wish to go in and how they will actually achieve it.

Mr. Mackintosh: Would the Minister of Justice explain how a move to community‑based policing can be listed in her Detailed Estimates as an objective of her department when there is no action plan, there is no program in place, either taken or planned?

Mrs. Vodrey: Mr. Speaker, the member obviously paid no attention in the course of Estimates. I wonder where he was in the course of Estimates in terms of his thinking, because he did not hear any of the discussion when we discussed the Law Enforcement line, when we discussed the RCMP's work with the community, with the community groups that they report to and that they continually work with. It is through those groups‑‑and there were examples raised in the process of Estimates‑‑that citizens had the opportunity to speak about the type of policing they want.

So that certainly is in place. The member obviously just missed it, like he misses a lot of other things.

Mr. Mackintosh: Mr. Speaker, I resent those personal remarks, and I think we should talk about the issues.

I reviewed Hansard this morning and the Estimates and, given that the minister said that all she was doing for community‑based policing was encouraging the RCMP to work with community advisory groups, I ask the minister, will she assure Winnipeggers that she will now meet with the chief of the Winnipeg Police Services and help him and help the department so we can achieve community‑based policing in Winnipeg, we can get officers continuously visibly deployed in communities?

Mrs. Vodrey: Mr. Speaker, I am glad the member made reference to the earlier discussion. It seems that one question says it did not happen; another question says it did. So, in fact, we did discuss community‑based policing. We did discuss the RCMP's role in this area in terms of the City of Winnipeg Police. As the member knows, they also report very directly to the Winnipeg City Council and that they are, in fact, employees of the City of Winnipeg.

I have the opportunity to meet with them to discuss issues of importance, but this is also an area of their own internal management, and they have to work at it also with their own employers.

Blood Transfusion Recipients

Communication Policy

Mr. Dave Chomiak (Kildonan): Mr. Speaker, today we learn at the Krever inquiry that Dr. John Guilfoyle indicated he attempted to contact all individuals who had received blood transfusions in Manitoba between 1985 and the present.

Can the minister advise the House what the departmental strategy has been and is with respect to notifying recipients of blood transfusions between '85 and the present?

Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Health): Mr. Speaker, I am just as uncomfortable as before in discussing matters that are presently before a commission of inquiry. The honourable member asks questions that flow from testimony being given before a commission of inquiry. I recall many times during the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry, the Hughes review, questions arising as a result of testimony given before those inquiries, and I tried very hard to stay away from getting involved in something that is presently before a commission of inquiry.

Needless to say, I think the previous questions asked by the honourable member, are answered in a general way, as I have tried to answer them, to assure the honourable member and everyone else that as these allegations get made in front of a commission of inquiry, we certainly do look into them as they come up, but we try not to engage in a whole lot of comment about them, as they are properly before Mr. Justice Krever.

Mr. Chomiak: Mr. Speaker, these are the minister's own officials, and these are health policies that apply today.

My question again to the minister is, what steps has the department taken to notify individuals who have received blood transfusions prior to 1985?

Mr. McCrae: Mr. Speaker, I will get the detail for the honourable member and discuss it with the honourable member outside the realm of the Chamber, as these matters are presently before the Krever inquiry.

Mr. Chomiak: Mr. Speaker, maybe also, can the minister explain why Dr. John Guilfoyle who testified today was stonewalled by the department last year when he attempted to notify individuals about blood transfusions, why the department stonewalled his attempt to notify the public?

Mr. McCrae: As I said, Mr. Speaker, these questions are the subject of discussion before the Krever inquiry. I do not mind having a private conversation with the honourable member about this, but I do not want to say anything that might jeopardize the work of the Krever inquiry. That would be the inappropriate thing to do, and I am a little bit surprised that the honourable member, with his particular training, would raise the matter in the way he has today.

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Training/Employment Creation

Federal Discussions

Ms. Jean Friesen (Wolseley): Mr. Speaker, yesterday, Newfoundland and the federal government announced a strategic initiative in education and job creation‑‑$4.4 million to assist students to attend universities and colleges and $3 million for jobs for recent graduates.

The needs in Newfoundland are obvious, but in Manitoba, our youth unemployment rates have at times climbed to over 25 percent, and in northern Manitoba, the unemployment rates are extremely high.

I want to ask the Minister of Education and Training, what specific proposals have been made by the government of Manitoba to the federal government for post‑secondary education and training for young Manitobans?

Hon. Clayton Manness (Minister of Education and Training): Mr. Speaker, firstly, I want to correct part of the record when the member talks about youth unemployment rates. I believe that our youth unemployment rate in Manitoba for the last census is around 16.5 percent, one of the best in the country and dropping significantly from where it was several months ago. So Manitoba virtually leads the land with respect to the low ranking of the unemployment rate with respect to the youth category.

We continue to work closely with the federal government. Just yesterday, I was involved in a signing with the federal government with respect to the health care products industry and training associated with, again, that industry. We continue to try to work together to find those areas, Mr. Speaker, where indeed there will be jobs upon further training opportunities, and we continue to contribute significant amounts of money under our budgetary responsibility.

Unemployment Insurance Commission

Training Freeze

Ms. Jean Friesen (Wolseley): Mr. Speaker, has the minister then, since he has been in conversation with the federal government, yet prepared a response to the question I put to him at the beginning of the week, asking about the impact of the de facto freeze in unemployment insurance training monies in Manitoba, what the impact of that is on the community college enrollments for this fall, and what the impact of that is on the thousands of unemployed Manitobans who cannot access any training funds from the unemployment insurance funds?

Hon. Clayton Manness (Minister of Education and Training): Mr. Speaker, the member is well aware, through the social safety net reform, that this is a broader issue. The member, if she was reading the paper at all, would know that my colleague the Minister of Family Services (Mrs. Mitchelson) was meeting with other ministers across the country with respect to the whole reform process, and obviously some dimension of the time was directed to that point.

Specific to her question, we are still no further ahead with an understanding as to how the federal government is going to revamp this whole program.

Labour Force Strategic Plan

Development

Ms. Jean Friesen (Wolseley): Will this minister make the commitment that he has refused to make for every single year that this government has been in office, and that is, to prepare a labour force strategic plan for Manitoba which will inform the public discussion, which will enable Manitobans to understand what opportunities can be made available to them and which will give some educational direction which is absolutely lacking in this government in its discussions with the federal government?

Hon. Clayton Manness (Minister of Education and Training): Mr. Speaker, I categorically reject the comment and the assertion made by the member for Wolseley. There is not a lack of direction as presented by this government.

As I indicated to the member over and over and over again in Estimates review, the thrust is contained within the Framework for Economic Growth. Those are the strategic areas of growth. We are trying to make our educational institutions understand that in greater measure, and with respect to setting forth a labour market development board, we have tried to do that, but that has not been as easy. As a matter of fact, there has not been a province over the course of the last number of months that has been able to, itself, come around.

So this whole process of trying to marry supply with demand within the labour market development area is certainly understood by this government, and I dare say with respect to the approach that we put forward through the Framework for Economic Growth, we have gone further than any other province in this country.

Income Security Program

Pending Bodily Injury Claims

Ms. Norma McCormick (Osborne): My question is to the Minister of Family Services.

This week, I received a letter received by an income security recipient who was injured as a passenger in a motor vehicle accident. On May 30, she received a letter from Winnipeg South Income Security office advising her that she was to provide detail on a pending bodily injury claim and that future benefits would be on hold until this information was provided.

Is it consistent with department policy to interrupt this family's income awaiting the adjudication of a pending bodily injury claim?

Hon. Bonnie Mitchelson (Minister of Family Services): I will take the detail of that question as notice and provide information back to my honourable friend, but I would hope that if there are specific issues and there are people in Manitoba who are suffering financially as a result of some decision that has been made, that this would be brought to my attention personally at the very earliest opportunity, so I could look into and investigate that circumstance and ensure that Manitobans are being treated with compassion and with fairness, Mr. Speaker.

Communication Policy