Madam Speaker: Prior to Oral Questions, I would like to draw the attention of all honourable members to the Speaker's Gallery where we have with us today two visitors from Melrose Park, Illinois: Mr. Lennart Johnson, the Most Worthy Grand Patron of the General Grand Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star, and Ms. Dawn Wilson, Most Worthy Grand Esther of the General Grand Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star.
On behalf of all honourable members, I welcome you this afternoon.
Also, seated in the public gallery, we have twenty-five Grades 7 to 9 students from Prairie View School under the direction of Mr. Bernie Friesen. This school is located in the constituency of the honourable Minister of Government Services (Mr. Pitura).
Also, we have thirteen Grades 1 to 8 students from Sunflower Valley Christian School under the direction of Mr. Walter Ziegler. This school is located in the constituency of the honourable member for Emerson (Mr. Penner).
We also have sixteen Grade 9 students from West Kildonan Collegiate under the direction of Mr. Tom Schmidt. This school is located in the constituency of the honourable member for Kildonan (Mr. Chomiak).
On behalf of all honourable members, I welcome you this afternoon.
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Negotiations
Mr. Gary Doer (Leader of the Opposition): Madam Speaker, over 500 people attended a meeting last night in Brandon where many people expressed their view that for the last 18 months to two years this government has been warned about the issues of retaining and recruiting doctors to their community and particularly dealing with the pediatric situation in Brandon.
Of course, last night, Madam Speaker, the minister took a conciliatory approach with the doctors and the MMA. The people were angry at him, so he took a conciliatory approach at that meeting and said: whenever we have taken a co-operative approach to matters with the MMA, good things happen.
Of course, this is in marked contrast to the position the minister took on May 15 where he said that, quote, the MMA was irrelevant. On May 22 he said it was run by people who were, quote, old dogs. He further continued to insult the organization that ultimately is to work with him in a co-operative way.
I would like to ask the Premier: will he take control of the negotiations with the doctors and other health care providers, and will he provide some maturity to these negotiations on behalf of patients here in Manitoba?
Hon. Darren Praznik (Minister of Health): Madam Speaker, there is an irony in the fact today that a former Minister of Health joins us in the gallery. I think if one were to review the clippings from his tenure in office as Minister of Health, he might find that many of the issues do not change in reality, that tactics and strategies in negotiations repeat themselves over and over again.
Madam Speaker, as I indicated last night and as I have said publicly on other occasions, we were embarked on a very different style, an interest-arbitration process, and it got off the rails this spring. The MMA and I will probably disagree on how it got off the rails. From our perspective, it got off the rails when they asked for $7 million on the old contract, whether they were entitled to it or not. They chose to get into the old method of bargaining. That forced us, as they saw withdrawals of services and patient care, to react in the best interests of maintaining patient care. Did we like that? Not necessarily. If there is a willingness to find a new way to resolve this, we are certainly open to it.
Mr. Doer: Madam Speaker, the former Minister of Health always dealt with very tough issues, and I would grant the minister there are always tough issues to be dealt with in that ministry, but he always dealt with them with dignity, with maturity and integrity, unlike the member opposite.
Mr. Gary Doer (Leader of the Opposition): The minister said again last evening that he was not closing any door to deal with the negotiations with the doctors and provisions of services ultimately to patients, which, of course, is the crucial part to all of us in this Chamber. The doctors are willing to return services to patients if the government is willing to agree to arbitration. The people at the meeting last evening believe that arbitration is the best way to resolve this issue.
Will the Premier (Mr. Filmon) have the Minister of Health agree to put all items in dispute before an independent binding arbitration process so that patients can be well served by this process?
Hon. Darren Praznik (Minister of Health): Madam Speaker, I have to say to the Leader of the Opposition: was there dignity and maturity when rural doctors withdrew emergency services when we did have a contract in place on fee for service last year? Was there maturity and dignity when we almost had a withdrawal of services on urban emergencies? Was there dignity and maturity when--I believe it was intensivists threatened to withdraw service during this period? Did the same apply in each and every case that Manitobans have seen services withdrawn as part of a strategy that the MMA clearly said to us they were going to do? Is there dignity and maturity in that? Well, I leave that to the public to decide.
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Last night I indicated that we would look at all methods of settling this issue. But if one goes to arbitration, it is important that the high-priority issues within the fee structure, those areas that, through allocation, the MMA had a very big responsibility in, Madam Speaker, that were left on the low end--and we have seen physicians leave--those would have to be addressed on a priority basis. We would also have to have assurances that, during the process of arbitration, physicians would not unilaterally withdraw services to Manitoba patients.
Mr. Doer: Madam Speaker, the government was warned some four years ago about the inadequacies of their last contract with the doctors in terms of the inadequacies for specialists, the inadequacies to recruit and retain doctors in rural and northern areas, in fact, facts we made with the previous Minister of Health some four years ago. The government has been warned for the last two years about some of these situations, and the contract has expired on March 31. People in Brandon talked about the closing of their practices and leaving the province and leaving the communities that so vitally need them, and today we are informed that on June 1, in Flin Flon, Manitoba, physicians at the Flin Flon Hospital will not be available for on-call surgical services in that community.
Will the government today commit itself to putting all items in dispute before a third party binding arbitration process so the patients in Flin Flon and patients in Brandon or patients now in Winnipeg--or who knows where the next flare-up will take place or the next temper tantrum for this minister will take place--so that people and patients can get services that they have in their health care system and they need under their health care system?
Mr. Praznik: It has not been this minister who has been withdrawing services to the patients of Manitoba. It has been the choice of physicians and the Manitoba Medical Association, and they have to bear that responsibility.
The member talks about many of these issues being flagged four and five years ago, and he is right. But let us remember that the power for allocation within that contract, the choices that the Manitoba Medical Association made as to who would benefit and who would not under the last allotment--[interjection] Yes, it was negotiated; yes, it was given, but it was negotiated. The member talks about the MMA in such glowing terms. Well, they had that responsibility of allocation, and many of the problems we have today that they are now using to bargain for the resources of the people of Manitoba stem from the decisions that they themselves made, yet the member for Concordia gives no responsibility to the MMA for decisions they have made.
If the member wants to talk about what was given away, I reviewed some of the material from when they were in power. I remember giving away extra billings, rights to opt out, Madam Speaker, as part of previous contracts. The fact remains that the real critical issue is to deal with those physician groups that are most under the gun, and any way that allows that to happen we are going to be supportive of.
Home Care Services
Mr. Dave Chomiak (Kildonan): Madam Speaker, most Manitobans are probably not aware, but the portion of home care done by VON services is probably the most crucial to the entire home care system. That is not to say that the other home care is not important, but without the VON services, home care would collapse as we know it. There are some serious shortcomings that are occurring in the home care situation as a result of the difficulties at VON. The minister has a letter that talks about massive disorganization, missed nursing visits, missed treatments, missed insulin injections, insulin administered late, et cetera.
My question to the Minister of Health is: will the Minister of Health investigate the management and the situation at VON with respect to the difficulties in service so that the patients who are receiving home care in Manitoba can be assured that they are going to get the best quality home care, Madam Speaker?
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Hon. Darren Praznik (Minister of Health): Madam Speaker, the observations of the member for Kildonan with respect to the current situation at VON, where in fact there is a labour dispute going on currently, are, from the reports I have, accurate. I would share the same concerns with him.
I can tell you today that in discussions my executive and I had with the Winnipeg long-term community care authority, they are very well aware of that. One would hope that, through the regular processes in the Department of Labour, those matters could be resolved, and obviously attempts should be made to do that. They may be far greater problems than normal salary and bargaining negotiations, and that is where I have concurrence with the member.
Ultimately, the long-term care authority will have to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure service to home care clients in Winnipeg, and we hope the issues can be resolved at the VON. If not, then other options will have to be pursued to ensure good-quality service in the city of Winnipeg.
Mr. Chomiak: Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for that response, and I want a clarification from the minister to determine whether he in fact is saying what I think he says.
The minister is aware that, despite the labour dispute, there are major problems at VON, including the fact that the long-term care directors quit, the short-term care directors quit, the office manager has quit, the nurses have sent a unanimous letter to management showing lack of respect in the management. There are some major problems at VON, and the department is going to take steps to ensure that those deficiencies are looked after.
Mr. Praznik: Madam Speaker, those are the issues that I have been briefed on by our staff in the Winnipeg long-term community care. As the member is aware, responsibility for home care in the province has been transferred to that organization, a public body.
But let us not forget that the VON is a private, nonprofit organization. It has a board, and it has its management responsibilities. If they are not able to provide the quality of service that we expect in this Legislature that they will provide, then other steps will have to be taken within the regular home care service to ensure the service is provided to Manitobans.
So what I am saying very clearly to the VON today is they better get in and improve their situation or they cannot be relied on to continue to provide service in the city of Winnipeg.
Mr. Chomiak: Madam Speaker, I thank the minister for that clarification. A final supplementary for further clarification: is the minister saying today that the government is prepared to take steps to ensure that the patient care is looked after today, not just in the future in terms of review by a long-term care association, but the care is going to be looked after today to ensure that the patients will receive the care that they require today and tomorrow, but more particularly today, because there are problems in that organization today?
Mr. Praznik: Madam Speaker, the member for Kildonan and I share, I would believe, exactly the same concerns. We do not have the power to necessarily go in and change how the VON manages, but they have a contract to provide service. If they are unable to provide that service, then we would have to find other ways of providing it, because ultimately I think we share the belief that the patients and clients in home care come first, that any loyalty either of us may share to an organization like the VON, which has a long and very excellent history, cannot be put above patient care, and that is a message I have no problem delivering publicly in this House today.
Rural Manitoba
Mr. Steve Ashton (Thompson): If there is any doubt that there is a health care crisis in this province, Madam Speaker, one only has to talk to the residents of Brandon. I thought one of the most telling comments was from one of the participants in the meeting yesterday where I asked the government what they are doing for rural Manitoba in its position of crisis right now. Coming from a constituency in Thompson--yesterday the minister said that he hoped the funding formula, which is being opposed by the health authority, would evolve over a number of years--I am wondering when this government, and I want to ask this to the Premier (Mr. Filmon), when the Premier will understand that the people of rural and northern Manitoba cannot wait a number of years if there is a crisis, and when will he step in and deal with the health care crisis in rural Manitoba that we are seeing throughout the province, respond to the people of Brandon and other communities who see no physician care and a crisis in their own community?
Hon. Darren Praznik (Minister of Health): Just, again, to put into perspective somewhat: in the clippings I was going through last night from other days, I recall, during the tenure when his party was in power, again, a crisis in the emergency room. I think there was a strike in the emergency room with withdrawal of services, and an individual in fact died being transported to Winnipeg. So I tell you these issues do come up from time to time and over and over again, Madam Speaker.
With respect to the specific question of the member for Thompson and funding formulas, with the comments I made yesterday, just to repeat to him: our difficulty with the model that was originally proposed is that literally we would provide a total block of funding in which those RHAs would then purchase service in other areas on behalf of their citizens. We wanted to ensure there was more control over those dollars to ensure a consistent level of service across the province.
With respect to RHAs currently, as they work through their problems and take over their operations, we are keenly aware of some of their shortcomings and deficiencies in funding in areas, and we are going to have to address those in the not-too-distant future.
Mr. Ashton: I am wondering, Madam Speaker, when this minister will stop reading clippings and start looking at the reality of what is going on in health care in this province. I specifically want to ask the minister whether he will recognize that in rural and northern Manitoba it is not even like in the city where you get put in hallways; in many cases you cannot even access medical care. When is the minister going to take action to deal with the crisis in rural and northern health care?
Mr. Praznik: Madam Speaker, if you are going to address issues or problems, I think you have to address them in the context in which they occur, and you have to see where you are going in the long term, and you want to try to resolve issues in the long term and not just band-aid them. When you look back over the history of the last 10, 15, 20-plus years in health care in this province, all across the country, you see huge changes and huge issues and regrettably so many people like the member for Thompson calling every problem and difficulty a crisis, when in fact there are changes going on, and they are there for the long period.
Madam Speaker, what we are attempting to do with regionalization is have a better and more directed use of resources, and we recognize that there are different levels of funding, different levels of service across the province, and that was part of the band-aid approach that occurred for 20-plus years in this province by the nature of health care. We are attempting to resolve that. You have to work them through issue by issue, problem by problem, and the resources, as they are identified, will be put in place to resolve many of those issues.
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Mr. Ashton: Well, I am wondering, Madam Speaker, when this minister will recognize that if you are a pregnant woman and you cannot get an obstetrician, or if you live in Flin Flon and you do not have on-call surgery, it is not context, it is not history, it is not solved by reading clippings from 10, 15, 20 years ago. Those people are facing a crisis in rural and northern Manitoba. When are we going to get action from this minister?
Mr. Praznik: Madam Speaker, I know the member for Thompson may not wish to recall previous questions and answers in this House, but last November, under the direction of my legislative assistant, the member for Turtle Mountain (Mr. Tweed), we launched a major recruitment drive for physicians that resulted in 25 or 30 physicians. We still have 10 physicians in the pool available should we need them. That plugged many of the holes that were there in the system that all members wanted plugged.
One of the issues that came up and came up again in Brandon last night was that until recently the prime responsibility for recruitment often rested in a community with the physician clinics, as we saw in Winkler, where two physicians were recruited, were not comfortable with their working relationship, left, went to Deloraine and are now quite happy there. Those are the kinds of issues one cannot always control. The difference now, of course, with regionalization is regions have a responsibility to recruit and to position physicians. We have been working very closely and setting up those contract positions as they are required, and we will continue to do so, including in Flin Flon.
Caseloads
Mr. Doug Martindale (Burrows): Yesterday in this House the Minister of Family Services refused to agree to review the caseloads of Child and Family Services workers and supervisors, in spite of the fact that report after report after report shows that this is very necessary, and the fact that this government has contributed to the highest caseloads not only in Manitoba but the highest per capita number of children in care in Canada. I am wondering if this minister realizes that it is her responsibility, that Winnipeg Child and Family Services was created by this government and that The Child and Family Services Act is the responsibility of this minister. When is she going to act to initiate a review of the workloads of workers and supervisors?
Hon. Bonnie Mitchelson (Minister of Family Services): I thank my honourable friend for that question. It again allows me to tell Manitobans about the significant increase in resources that we have given year after year to our Winnipeg Child and Family Services agency. Madam Speaker, we have never denied them money to serve and protect children. I indicated quite clearly that there is new leadership at the Winnipeg agency yesterday in my answer and that they are going through a strategic planning process that will be looking at all aspects of the delivery of child welfare in the city of Winnipeg.
Madam Speaker, we have indicated clearly and will continue to indicate that protection of children is our prime responsibility and that the resources are available in the city of Winnipeg for them to do that job.
Mr. Martindale: I would like to ask the Minister of Family Services, since she did not answer yesterday and she did not answer today--and I will repeat the question: will she now undertake a workload review, since the 1994 Children's Advocate report recommended a review of staffing resources; 1996, workers recommended a workload review; 1997, the Mason Report stated that workers cannot meet reporting requirements; and yesterday a Child and Family Services supervisor, giving testimony at an inquest, said that the workers cannot meet the requirements? When will this minister institute a workload review?
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Mrs. Mitchelson: I have answered that question, although my honourable friend--
Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.
Madam Speaker: Order, please.
Mrs. Mitchelson: On a point of order, Madam Speaker, I hear the member for Wellington (Ms. Barrett) again today chirping from her seat in a very rude manner. I listened--
Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.
Madam Speaker: Order, please. The honourable Minister of Family Services, on a point of order.
Mrs. Mitchelson: Thank you, Madam Speaker. I listened very intently to the very serious question that was asked by my honourable friend. I think it is very disrespectful of the member for Wellington, again, as she does on a daily basis, to chirp from her seat in a very rude manner to disrupt my ability to answer the question that was put to me.
Madam Speaker: The honourable member for Thompson, on the same point of order.
Mr. Ashton: On the same point of order, I must say that we are probably half a dozen or a dozen members on this side who are expressing dissatisfaction with the minister's lack of response. I am wondering, Madam Speaker, how come the Minister of Family Services is singling out one member, and I heard exactly what the member was saying. She was pointing to the inadequacy of the response of the minister. That is not rude; that is part of freedom of speech in this Assembly, and I would like to ask you to rule this as being not a point of order.
Madam Speaker: Order, please. On the point of order raised by the honourable Minister of Family Services, I would once again ask for the co-operation of all members in quietly listening to the response. Most members--
Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.
Madam Speaker: Order, please. Every member in this Chamber deserves common courtesy.
Madam Speaker: The honourable Minister of Family Services, to complete her response.
Mrs. Mitchelson: Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. I have answered that question yesterday, and I have answered it again today.
Mr. Martindale: Madam Speaker, I would like to ask the Minister of Family Services: what is it that she is waiting for before she takes action on the issue of workloads which is leaving children at risk, something which certainly violates the legislation? Is she waiting for the inquest report perhaps a year from now? Is she waiting for more tragedies, for more children to die? How long is she going to wait before she takes action?
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Mrs. Mitchelson: I think our government's action speaks for itself. When you look at the budget for Winnipeg Child and Family Services of $38 million in 1990-91 to a budget of $63 million today, I think our government has taken action to provide the resources to try to ensure that children are protected. I know that the Winnipeg agency, through its strategic planning, will develop a plan of action that will address the issue of caseloads and protection of children.
Essential Services
Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Inkster): Madam Speaker, my question is for the Minister of Health. The Minister of Health prior to the current minister would often say he wants to put patients first. Today in Question Period, the Minister of Health says he wants to put patients first along with clients, which are in essence the same thing. My question to the Minister of Health: consistent with his remarks and the remarks of his predecessor, does he not recognize that there is a need in certain areas of health care in deeming it as essential services and not allowing strike situations?
Hon. Darren Praznik (Minister of Health): Madam Speaker, absolutely, and that is why in fact this government brought in essential services legislation. Regrettably, there were a great deal of difficulties in applying that to fee-for-service physicians who were in essence independent operators who receive a fee. I imagine in the planning for that act that that was part of the difficulty why they could not be included.
Mr. Lamoureux: Madam Speaker, then, for clarification: is the Minister of Health saying that there is absolutely no option for the government to take with respect to situations, whether it was the emergency services strike or the threat of obstetricians pulling out services? Is there nothing government can actually do?
Mr. Praznik: Madam Speaker, I know last fall when we faced a strike of emergency doctors in the city of Winnipeg, those who were under collective agreements in the community hospitals would have been covered by the emergency essential services legislation, those who were independent practitioners practising on fee for service would not have been. Part of the difficulty in applying that to fee-for-service independent practitioners is they are not your employee; they are not on a formal contract with you that can require them to work or not. The arrangement is simply they do the work, they get paid; they choose not to do the work, they do not get paid for that particular piece of work they would have done.
Mr. Lamoureux: Madam Speaker, I think the Minister of Health is being somewhat modest in what his abilities actually are, whether it is billing numbers or whatever it might be--
Madam Speaker: Question.
Mr. Lamoureux: Will the Minister of Health acknowledge that in fact there are things which this Minister of Health can do? Maybe what he should be doing is looking at those so that in the future, Madam Speaker, we do not have Manitobans facing a potential crisis situation, which is not fair to the patients of the province?
Mr. Praznik: Madam Speaker, on that point the member and I find total agreement. That is obviously something that should be explored. The time, of course, not to do it is when you are in the midst of a dispute and trying to find a means of settling a contract. Obviously, he has flagged billing numbers.
One of the current difficulties, because a fee-for-service contract--and I have said it many times and I have been accused of many things by the opposition as a result. But one of the realities of it, of course, is that you do not have a real strike situation. In a real strike when people withdraw services, they lose their pay cheque, the employer loses the services, and it forces each party ultimately to resolve the issue. In this situation, when obstetricians say we do not take new patients, it takes months and months and months, maybe even a year, before that has any financial effect on those individuals. They can threaten patients in essence without really causing any financial loss to themselves. That is an incredible power. I think many have flagged that in calls and letters to the editor, et cetera, but to create a legislative scheme that changes that is rather complex. Should we explore it? Absolutely, Madam Speaker.
Runway Markers
Mr. Eric Robinson (Rupertsland): Madam Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Highways. This is further to a report that was read this morning in one of the Winnipeg newspapers. I would like to ask the minister if he could tell this House who recommended that the northern airstrips, the runways, be marked with trees as opposed to orange cones that would make it more visible in almost any weather condition.
Hon. Glen Findlay (Minister of Highways and Transportation): Madam Speaker, airports in Manitoba are operated according to Transport Canada guidelines.
Mr. Robinson: Madam Speaker, it has been reported that--of course, contrary to what the minister said.
Mr. Eric Robinson (Rupertsland): The northern airports task force is currently meeting in Thompson today. I understand that. I would like to ask the minister to explain what commitments he has made to the current Highways budget to improve airport safety in northern Manitoba.
Hon. Glen Findlay (Minister of Highways and Transportation): Madam Speaker, in an ongoing fashion, we try to maximize safety at all airports in Manitoba. The task force working group was formed to see if there are other issues that need to be attended to with regard to improving safety in Manitoba airports in the North and elsewhere. I am committed to following through whatever way we can, in conjunction with Transport Canada, to achieve those objectives.
State of Emergency
Hon. Glen Findlay (Minister of Highways and Transportation): Madam Speaker, there certainly was a state of urgency with regard to moving supplies to communities for which winter roads could not be constructed under the normal process because of weather. This government, and particularly this department, responded to be sure that we got the goods in through an emergency process. That process was followed, and the goods were delivered to northern Manitoba.
Mr. Jennissen: Since the cost of bulk foods, shipping housing materials and other supplies that would have gone on the winter roads and now must be shipped by air to the Dene communities at Tadoule Lake and Lac Brochet--this cost has been estimated to be as much as $800,000--I still want to ask the minister why this situation was not clearly labelled an emergency.
Mr. Findlay: Well, Madam Speaker, I have a hard time understanding why the member wants to have it called an emergency. We understood the problem, and we responded by being sure that facilities and operations were set in motion that delivered the goods there. Plus, we signed a memorandum of understanding with the federal government with a process included in it for paying for those extra costs. The job was done. Is he not satisfied with that?
Gag Order
Mr. Gord Mackintosh (St. Johns): To the Minister of Justice, Madam Speaker. Over the past few sittings in the Justice Estimates, the minister has outright refused to answer important and specific questions about his meetings with the Chief Judge where he was rigging the appointment process for provincial judges. Yesterday, for example, he would not even answer with a simple yes or no whether anyone else was present at that meeting.
So my question to the minister is: given this contempt for the Legislature, would the minister confirm--
Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.
Madam Speaker: Order, please. I am experiencing great difficulty hearing the question being posed by the honourable member for St. Johns.
The honourable member for St. Johns, to pose his question, please.
Mr. Mackintosh: Thank you, Madam Speaker. My question for the minister is this. Given this contempt for this Legislature, would the minister confirm that he has arranged with a person outside of this Legislature, namely the Chief Judge, not to account to Manitobans for what took place and to now remain silent on the specifics of this issue?
Hon. Vic Toews (Minister of Justice and Attorney General): Madam Speaker, I have answered these questions extensively, both in the House and at committee. What I find the member doing over and over again is asking the same questions over and over again, and indeed--
An Honourable Member: And you do not answer it.
Madam Speaker: Order, please.
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Mr. Toews: The suggestion that was made to me by the member for Thompson (Mr. Ashton) is that I should simply refuse to answer. Now I did not take that suggestion. I will answer questions that I believe are relevant to the Estimates of my department, and if the member has any questions to ask that are relevant to the Estimates of my department, I will respond in an appropriate fashion.
Mr. Mackintosh: Well, there is the proof, Madam Speaker.
My question to the minister: did the minister not make a secret deal with the Chief Judge of Manitoba that neither would again speak publicly on this very public issue, there is a gag order on the Chief Judge in order to have damage control for the government and on the minister so he has an excuse not to give conflicting and unbelievable accounts even further of what he did?
Mr. Toews: Well, Madam Speaker, you can see again how he has asked a number of questions, and so I want to be very careful how I answer any one of these questions.
What I can say in respect of this question--if the member is asking whether there are any legal consequences flowing by the statement made by me on May 13, all I can indicate is that if the Chief Justice, or Judge, I should say, decides to make any further statements or comments, she is entitled to do so. The member keeps on referring to some kind of a gag order. I have no control over a Chief Judge in the way he suggests that I do.
Mr. Mackintosh: Would the minister explain, after he told this House that it was his understanding as a result of discussion she would not speak further, since when does the minister believe that he is accountable to a back-room deal rather than to Manitobans? I mean, is this not sure proof of a government in office too long?
Mr. Toews: Madam Speaker, I am not presumptuous enough to assume that I know what the people of Manitoba want on a day-to-day basis. I believe that this government has provided good government over the past 10 years, and I am very proud to be associated with this particular government. So if that is the answer that the member wants in respect of his last question, that is my answer.
Funding
Ms. MaryAnn Mihychuk (St. James): My question is to the Minister of Mines. Ore reserves and deposits are depleting at a fast rate in Manitoba, and a number of mines have closed down operations which has adversely affected the welfare and employment of persons in the North and in mining communities. It is therefore essential to provide financial assistance to small, independent Manitoba prospectors in an effort to discover new ore bodies, particularly in traditional mining community areas. Can the minister explain why this government and he have decided to cut the Prospectors Program by more than 50 percent?
Hon. David Newman (Minister of Energy and Mines): Madam Speaker, I do not know what she is talking about. That has not been done.
Ms. Mihychuk: Madam Speaker, perhaps the minister can read his own Orders-in-Council. Last year, in 1997-98, the prospectors' fund received $300,000. Is he aware that his own department is cutting that program to $125,000, cut by more than 50 percent this coming year?
Mr. Newman: Madam Speaker, the Prospectors Assistance Program is currently under review, and recommendations are in the process of being developed.
Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.
Madam Speaker: Order, please.
Ms. Mihychuk: Madam Speaker, in all seriousness, the situation in mining is urgent. Will the minister agree to reinstate the funding for the Prospectors Assistance Program? Will he expand it, and will he include First Nations people in this needed program?
Mr. Newman: Madam Speaker, the solution to the challenge on mining in the province of Manitoba goes beyond political solutions and beyond rhetoric in this Legislature and certainly even beyond modest efforts on our part to make sure that we are competitive in attracting investment to the province. The kinds of things that we as a government are doing are reflected by a meeting that is going on this morning, with the full knowledge of the honourable member for St. James (Ms. Mihychuk), and that is a development through a workshopping process this morning in the presence of aboriginal elders and other members of the aboriginal community from the North and elsewhere in one of the local hotels.
The mining industry is well represented there. They are attempting to establish a relationship based on standards. Hopefully, what might emerge from that is content in the relationship which will allow the ninth point of our mining strategy to be put into practice in northern Manitoba. Once we establish a positive relationship between aboriginal people and mining explorationists and mining companies, then it will be even more attractive for investment. That will make the difference.
Madam Speaker: Time for Oral Questions has expired.