Mr. Mervin Tweed (Turtle Mountain): Madam Speaker, our government is committed to use every means available to implement tougher penalties for criminals. While members opposite continue to question not only our government's commitment but the commitment of our Crown attorneys, we believe in working in partnership with all stakeholders to ensure public confidence and safety is enhanced.
Yesterday the Minister of Justice announced measures clarifying the conditions under which prosecutors will oppose bail applications by suspected criminals in Manitoba. Utilizing changes in the Criminal Code, the Crown will emphasize public confidence in the justice system, the seriousness of the offence and the potential for a lengthy term of imprisonment as grounds to oppose bail. Even when a judge releases an accused, the Crown will argue for appropriate conditions, such as curfews, nonassociation clauses and other conditions that provide the police with better tools to monitor the accused in the community.
While members on the government side of the House continue to pursue strong law and order, members opposite are more concerned with, according to the Winnipeg Free Press, mastering the 15-second newsclip than with providing the public with other options. It is also worth noting that, while members opposite have in the past disparaged our initiatives, they have a tendency to pause and then claim them as their own. One only has to remember the member for St. Johns' (Mr. Mackintosh) remarks concerning The Parental Responsibility Act, calling it another bell and whistle, yet less than one year later he was touting the need for parents to pay for the child's misdeeds under their proposed operation coverup.
Madam Speaker, Manitobans want a government of substance, and we have delivered. The only thing members opposite have delivered to Manitobans is their usual offering of tired, old rhetoric.
Mr. Tim Sale (Crescentwood): It is with a great sense of humility today that I rise to pay tribute to the people of Israel, past, present and future, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the modern State of Israel.
None in this House need reminding that this state was founded against all odds, against the indifference of the great powers, and the not-so-benign residual occupation by Great Britain under the so-called Palestine mandate.
Madam Speaker, while most western nations are today friends of Israel, we should never forget that those nations were not friends in 1947, that in 1938 we Canadians turned Jews away from our doors, that our most affluent clubs in this city barred Jews from membership until relatively recently, that our University of Manitoba had a quota for Jewish students. We should remember these things, not to flog our guilty consciences but simply for the same reason that numbers of us gathered with those from many cultures and histories for the past three years to read out some of the names of those murdered in death camps during the most recent Holocaust.
We read 2,000 names last Friday, Madam Speaker, a lot of names in two hours, but we read only three-one-hundredths of one percent of those known to have been murdered during the Holocaust. We read that we could publicly lift up their names, publicly say "never again," publicly say that we will remember. Though the survivors become fewer, we will remember. For to remember in biblical terms is literally to put the members back together, to again make them present in a real way. The commitment to remember is all that stands between civility and hope and the law of the jungle and the deep prejudice and fear that dehumanizes those who celebrate different traditions and memories from our past.
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Madam Speaker, we remember the words of the prophet Micah, who saw the possibility of the day when everyone 'neath their vine and fig tree could live in peace and unafraid.
Finally, we remember through this 50th year of the modern state that it is at least 3,000 years since the people of Judah occupied the land and that they through the ages have contributed so much to humankind and their understanding of true justice, mishpat and the ultimate goodness of creation. We give thanks for their contributions to science, to the arts and all knowledge, and we pray for their future as citizens of a peaceful world, Madam Speaker.
Mr. David Faurschou (Portage la Prairie): I rise today on the topic of fetal alcohol syndrome. I want to thank the ministers who announced recently, of Health and of Family Services, this government's commitment to spend over a million dollars over the next three years as a first step towards preventing fetal alcohol syndrome and dealing with its effects.
Every year in Manitoba approximately 200 children are born afflicted with this most tragic and preventable disease. In partnership with the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre and the Nor'West Co-Op Community Health Centre, this program will work with women who are at risk of having FAS babies or who have already had a child with this disease.
I want to mention at this time that earlier this year this government supported a program in Portage la Prairie, a pilot project operated through the Westend Day Care in Portage la Prairie specifically to address those children's needs that are afflicted with fetal alcohol syndrome and fetal alcohol effect, through art and using that creativity to develop their skills.
I stand here today thanking the government for their commitment to the people of Portage la Prairie and indeed all the people of Manitoba, to work towards the wiping out of this most tragic and preventable disease known as fetal alcohol syndrome. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Mr. Gary Doer (Leader of the Opposition): Madam Speaker, I would like to rise today to praise the life and mourn the death of Evan Burns, who passed away Tuesday morning at the age of 36. Evan, of course, was a person who was well known to members of this Chamber. He was a person who had suffered multiple sclerosis, and as such he had worked with all of us on issues that faced disabled people and the challenges disabled people have to live a life of independence and to live a life of dignity.
He had worked, I am sure, with ministers of Health across the way and with those of us on the opposition side. At various forums and areas of discussion on home care policy, he pushed all of us to develop a program for people who are disabled that starts from their needs, not from the government's programs. He pushed all of us to produce alternatives that would make sense for the disabled across our community. He was a very passionate individual and a very articulate individual.
No matter what side of the debate one was on in the home care dispute on the home care privatization, one had to be moved by the passionate speech he made out in front of this Legislative Building just a little over two years ago today. It was one of the finest speeches I have ever heard from a person I agreed with or disagreed with any time inside this Legislature or outside this Legislature. He stated very clearly that he was drawing a line in the slush on the issues of privatization, and he said better than any of us on either side of the debate why it was important--
If I could have leave just to complete my statement, Madam Speaker.
Some Honourable Members: Leave.
Mr. Doer: Thank you.
--for us to have a home care program that worked and started with disabled people. He was a very, very inspiring individual, and his inspiration of ideas and his commitment to his fellow citizens and policies that would make sense for the disabled community I think will live with all of us. It is truly tragic that I rise today in mourning his death, but I am proud to rise in memory of his life. Thank you.
Mr. Gerry McAlpine (Sturgeon Creek): Madam Speaker, I wonder if I may have leave to respond to the comments that were made by the Leader of the Opposition.
Some Honourable Members: Leave.
Madam Speaker: For clarification, there is one member's statement remaining allowable. There are five a day, so if the honourable member wishes to take advantage of that, I would suggest that the independent members are allowed a turn today, and if they are willing to secede their daily rotation to the member for Sturgeon Creek--okay? All right.
Mr. McAlpine: I too would like to add my condolences to the family of Evan Burns, as the Leader of the official opposition has raised. I, too, personally knew Evan Burns, a person with a lot of integrity. He had a lot to offer. I learned a lot from Evan Burns in terms of his struggle for life as a person who suffered from MS and lost his life through his struggle with cancer.
Madam Speaker, we did have a part to play in that struggle that he experienced for a number of years. I do not think there is a person that I have ever experienced that was as brave and really stood for what he believed in terms of creating for other people, not only for himself, but for other people in Manitoba. I, too, would like to share, along with my colleagues from this side of the House, in mourning the death and the passing of Evan Burns. Thank you, Madam Speaker.