LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF
Thursday, April 22, 2004
The House met at 1:30 p.m.
PRAYERS
ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS
Proposed PLA–Floodway
Mr. Kelvin Goertzen (Steinbach): I wish to present the following petition to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.
These are the reasons for this petition:
The
The Premier of Manitoba plans to subject all work related to this project to a Project Labour Agreement (PLA).
The proposed PLA would force all employees on the project to belong to a union.
Approximately 95 percent
of heavy construction companies in
The Manitoba Heavy Construction Association has indicated that the forced unionization of all employees may increase the costs of the project by $65 million.
The chair of B.C.'s 2010
Construction Leaders Taskforce has stated, "Major industrial projects
built under project labour agreements from the energy sector in
Organizations including the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the Merit Contractors Association of Manitoba, the Winnipeg Construction Association, the Construction Association of Rural Manitoba and the Canadian Construction Association have publicly opposed the Premier's plan to turn the floodway expansion project into a union-only worksite.
Manitobans deserve an open and fair competition that protects taxpayers from unnecessary costs and respects workers' democratic choice.
Manitobans support the right of any company, both union and non-union, to participate in the expansion of the Red River Floodway.
We petition the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as follows:
To request the Premier of Manitoba to consider ending his Government's forced unionization plan of companies involved with the Red River Floodway expansion.
To request the Premier of Manitoba to consider entering into discussions with business, construction and labour groups to ensure any qualified company and worker, regardless of their union status, is afforded the opportunity to bid and work on the floodway expansion project.
This petition is signed by Bruce Orbanski, Rhonda Block, Laurie Orbanski and others.
Mr. Speaker: In accordance with our Rule 132(6), when a petition is read it is deemed to be received by the House.
Minimum Sitting Days for
Legislative Assembly
Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (
The background to this petition is as follows:
The Manitoba Legislature sat for only 37 days in 2003.
Manitobans expect their Government to be accountable, and the number of sitting days has a direct impact on the issue of public accountability.
Manitobans expect their elected officials to be provided the opportunity to be able to hold the Government accountable.
The Legislative Assembly provides the best forum for all MLAs to debate and ask questions of the Government, and it is critical that all MLAs be provided the time needed in order for them to cover constituent and party duties.
Establishing a minimum number of sitting days could prevent the government of the day from limiting the rights of opposition members from being able to ask questions.
We petition the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as follows:
To request the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba to consider recognizing the need to sit for a minimum of 80 days in any given calendar year.
This petition is signed by Auralee Bergado, Richard Bergado, Everton Griffith and others.
Mr. Speaker: In accordance with our Rule 132 (6), when a petition is read it is deemed to be received by the House.
* (13:35)
Highway 227
Mr. Ralph Eichler (
These are the reasons for this petition.
It is unacceptable for
the residents of
Inclement weather can make Highway 227 treacherous to all drivers.
Allowing better access to
Highway 227 would ease the flow of traffic on the
Residences along Highway 227 are not as accessible to emergency services due to the nature of the current condition of the roadway.
The condition of these gravel roads can cause serious damage to all vehicles, which is unacceptable.
Residents of
We petition the Manitoba Legislative Assembly as follows:
To request that the Minister of Transportation and Government Services to consider having Highway 227 paved from the junction of highways 248 and 227 all the way to Highway 16, the Yellowhead route.
To request the Premier of
Manitoba to consider supporting said initiatives to ensure the safety of all
Manitobans and all Canadians who travel along
Signed by Barb Warburton, Bert Warburton, Valerie Bullock and others.
Mr. Speaker: In accordance with our Rule 132(6), when a petition is read it is deemed to be received by the House.
Proposed PLA–Floodway
Mr. Stuart Murray (Leader of the Official Opposition): I wish to present the following petition to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.
These are the reasons for this petition:
The
The Premier of Manitoba plans to subject all work related to the project to a Project Labour Agreement (PLA).
The proposed PLA would force all employees on the project to belong to a union.
Approximately 95 percent
of heavy construction companies in
The Manitoba Heavy Construction Association has indicated that the forced unionization of all employees may increase the costs of the project by $65 million.
The chair of B.C.'s 2010
Construction Leaders Taskforce has stated, "Major industrial projects
built under project labour agreements from the energy sector in
Organizations including the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the Merit Contractors Association of Manitoba, the Winnipeg Construction Association, the Construction Association of Rural Manitoba and the Canadian Construction Association have publicly opposed the Premier's plan to turn the floodway expansion project into a union-only worksite.
Manitobans deserve an open and fair competition that protects taxpayers from unnecessary costs and respects workers' democratic choice.
Manitobans support the right of any company, both union and non-union, to participate in the expansion of the Red River Floodway.
We petition the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as follows:
To request the Premier of Manitoba to consider ending his Government's forced unionization plan of companies involved with the Red River Floodway expansion.
To request the Premier of Manitoba to consider entering into discussions with business, construction and labour groups to ensure any qualified company and worker, regardless of their union status, is afforded the opportunity to bid and work on the floodway expansion project.
Signed by John Victor, Jo-Ann Koskie, Ron Koskie and others.
Mr. Speaker: In accordance with our Rule 132(6), when a petition is read it is deemed to be received by the House.
Mrs. Mavis Taillieu (Morris): I wish to present the following petition to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.
These are the reasons for this petition:
The
The Premier of Manitoba plans to subject all work related to the project to a Project Labour Agreement (PLA).
The proposed PLA would force all employees on the project to belong to a union.
Approximately 95 percent
of heavy construction companies in
The Manitoba Heavy Construction Association has indicated that the forced unionization of all employees may increase the costs of the project by $65 million.
* (13:40)
The chair of B.C.'s 2010
Construction Leaders Taskforce has stated, "Major industrial projects
built under project labour agreements from the energy sector in
Organizations including the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the Merit Contractors Association of Manitoba, the Winnipeg Construction Association, the Construction Association of Rural Manitoba and the Canadian Construction Association have publicly opposed the Premier's plan to turn the floodway expansion project into a union-only worksite.
Manitobans deserve an open and fair competition that protects taxpayers from unnecessary costs and respects workers' democratic choice.
Manitobans support the right of any company, both union and non-union, to participate in the expansion of the Red River Floodway.
We petition the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as follows:
To request the Premier of Manitoba to consider ending his Government's forced unionization plan of companies involved with the Red River Floodway expansion.
To request the Premier of Manitoba to consider entering into discussions with business, construction and labour groups to ensure any qualified company and worker, regardless of their union status, is afforded the opportunity to bid and work on the floodway expansion project.
Signed by Shirley Aitken, Pat Gagnon, Steve Hodgkinson and others.
Mr. Speaker: In accordance with our Rule 132(6), when a petition is read it is deemed to be received by the House.
Bill 45–The Engineering
and Geoscientific Professions Amendment Act
Hon. Nancy Allan (Minister of Labour and Immigration): I move, seconded by the Minister of Advanced Education (Ms. McGifford), that Bill 45, The Engineering and Geoscientific Professions Amendment Act; Loi modifiant la Loi sur les ingénieurs et les géoscientifiques, be now read for a first time.
Mr. Speaker: It has been moved by the honourable Minister of Labour and Immigration, seconded by the Minister of Advanced Education, that Bill 45, The Engineering and Geoscientific Professions Amendment Act, be now read a first time.
Ms. Allan: Mr. Speaker, this bill enhances the ability of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists to promote the professions of engineering and geoscience and their continued development and to give financial assistance to others.
Mr. Speaker: Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion? [Agreed]
Introduction of Guests
Mr. Speaker: Prior to Oral Questions, I would like to draw the attention of all honourable members to the public gallery where we have with us today Mrs. Kelly Stoney and Mr. Gary DeLaronde. Mrs. Stoney is the legislative page's, Carson Stoney's, mother.
On behalf of all honourable members, I welcome you here today.
Also in the public
gallery we have from
On behalf of all honourable members, I welcome you all here today.
Administrative Costs
Mr. Stuart Murray (Leader of the Official Opposition): Mr. Speaker, in last year's Budget, the Premier said that all departments would improve efficiencies to reduce costs. That never happened.
In this year's Budget, the Premier again said his Government was committed to affordability by reducing administrative costs. In this year's Budget, administrative costs have gone up in the Justice Department, Labour and Immigration, Advanced Education and Training, Transportation, Government Services, Energy, Science and Technology, Mr. Speaker. In Executive Council administrative costs for support for the Premier's office and Executive Council have gone up by $60,000, or 2 percent.
* (13:45)
Mr. Speaker, why, when this Premier said that he was not elected to raise taxes, did he choose to increase user fees and taxes by some $90 million? Why did he do that instead of tightening his belt to reduce administrative costs and make this Government more efficient?
Hon. Gary Doer (Premier): Mr. Speaker, this Budget includes 400 positions that are being reduced in the direct public service. Those positions will be reduced through attrition.
Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.
Mr. Speaker: Order.
Mr. Doer: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The office also includes a 7% reduction in discretionary spending throughout the fiscal year which is in place in all government departments. We believe that we have a proper balance in terms of the initiatives we have taken.
Mr. Speaker, we also want
to say that the evidence again today, with the budget in
We and the Conservatives
of Atlantic Canada and Liberals in other provinces are dealing with fee
increases and some tax increases. In fact, in
Mr. Murray: In this Budget what we on this side of the House and I think what
all Manitobans would expect is what is it that this Premier said. What is it
that he said? Not
He instructed all of his departments to reduce discretionary spending by 7 percent, but last year in the Budget he said he was going to instruct ministers to go line by line and reduce expenditures line by line in the Budget last year. It never happened. The problem is it is this Premier that has the spending control problem. He has got a spending habit.
Interestingly enough, Mr. Speaker, in this Government's own Budget, the Conservation Department, Administrative and Finance has gone up some 4 percent. Meanwhile, programs like Conservation, Environmental Stewardship have gone down.
What is really interesting is that when you get to Health, in his own Budget, at a time when we see this Premier putting $100 million into a new fleet of VLTs, at a time when in Manitoba we have the highest addiction and growing problem, the highest addiction in Canada; in here the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba program was cut. Why, when this Premier said that he was not elected to raise taxes and he was going to reduce administrative costs, has he done just the opposite? Why is that?
Mr. Doer: I am just looking at the Conservative budget in
Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.
Mr. Speaker: Order.
* (13:50)
Mr. Doer: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. They seem to be a little sensitive on the other side.
Spending, I believe, has
gone up over 5 percent in
Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.
Mr. Speaker: Order.
Mr. Doer: Thank you. Well, I can assure the member opposite that the people of
Mr. Murray: Mr. Speaker, this Premier has said that he was not elected to raise taxes. His Budget that he just introduced raised taxes more than $90 million. He has been saying that he will find efficiencies to save money, but administrative costs under his watch continue to rise.
In his Budget, the Department of Education, Citizenship and Youth, and this one is shocking, admin costs have gone up some 9.9 percent. I would like to remind this First Minister that he put a 4% to 5% cap on administrative costs for school divisions. Why the double standard? Why does he preach to school divisions when he cannot live within his own administrative costs budget?
Mr. Doer: Mr. Speaker, I have just been given the numbers from the Addictions Foundation. I am informed the administrative lines are down and the program delivery lines are constant.
Education Department
Administrative Costs
Mrs. Heather Stefanson (Tuxedo): Mr. Speaker, on one hand the Minister of Education (Mr. Bjornson) orders school divisions to cap their administrative costs at 4 percent to 5 percent of their budgets. Yet, on the other hand, we see in this Budget that his own administrative costs in the Department of Education have increased by some 9.9 percent. How can the minister justify a 9.9% increase in administrative costs in his department when he is ordering school divisions to cap their admin costs?
Hon. Greg Selinger (Minister of Finance): Mr. Speaker, the members opposite want to start asking detailed Estimates questions. We are delighted that they are getting ready to go to the detailed Estimates but the macro perspective is this. Our program expenditure–
Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.
Mr. Speaker: Order.
Mr. Selinger: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This is not a fishing expedition, but our overall increase in government spending this year is about 2.2 percent. Our expenditures on a per capita basis are the third lowest in the country, and we have dedicated resources to health care, education, family services and housing. When it comes to education, four years ago when they brought in their first budget, they eliminated over 60 full-time equivalent posts within that department as they streamlined the operation of that department. They currently function with a shared deputy minister and they run a very lean department.
Mrs. Stefanson: Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Education said in a Winnipeg Free Press article on January 28, and I quote, "This is a sustainable way of financing education." Does the minister honestly believe that a 9.9% increase in administrative costs is a sustainable way of financing education?
* (13:55)
Mr. Selinger: The amount of money going to public schools in the last five budgets has increased by $105 million. In addition, there have been improved property tax credits. The members opposite cut them by $75. We increased them by $150. We are the first government in the history of this province that has reduced the education support levy by over $37 million. The total relief for taxpayers on education is over $92 million. The increase in provincial spending in public schools has gone up dramatically, and the formula has been improved to ensure there is more money for teacher professional development, more money for special needs kids and more money for equalization to recognize some school divisions have greater tax-raising capacity than others. We have improved educational financing all across this province.
Mrs. Stefanson: Mr. Speaker, I am astonished. I am asking questions of the Minister of Education about his own department and he is not getting up to answer these questions. The Minister of Education stated, and I quote, "School trustees could avoid large tax increases through prudent planning."
Mr. Speaker, I ask the Minister of Education: Does he consider it to be prudent planning to increase his own administrative costs by 9.9 percent? At a time when he has asked the school divisions to tighten their belts, why is he loosening his?
Mr. Selinger: Mr. Speaker, the member opposite likes to dwell on detail but she has overlooked the actual numbers that are on page 59 in the Estimates of Expenditure, where the significant increase in education expenses is for the Aboriginal Education Directorate. This is an area members opposite ignored for 12 years. All people in this province deserve a proper education, including Aboriginal people. That is why that line has gone up. There is more money to support First Nations people getting a proper education in this province, something you ignored for 12 years.
Budget
Tax Increases
Mr. John Loewen (
In its pre-budget
submission, the Business Council of Manitoba, who represents
I would ask the Finance
Minister to explain to the Premier (Mr. Doer), who says that he was not elected
to raise taxes, why the Finance Minister completely ignored the advice
received from
Hon. Greg Selinger (Minister of Finance): Mr. Speaker, the member completely overlooks the fact that we have reduced the corporate tax rate in this province for the first time since the Second World War. The member completely overlooks the fact that we have changed the exemption for capital taxes to a deduction so no business pays any tax on the first $5 million of capital now, something members opposite ignored for 12 years. The member ignores completely that we have reduced business taxes $74 million. The corporate rate has gone from 17 percent to 15.5 percent and it is on its way down to 14.5 percent. The small business rate has gone from 8 percent to 5 percent. The band of income covered has gone from $200,000 to $360,000 and is on its way up to $400,000, surpassing anything they did in 12 years.
Mr. Loewen: Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate that the minister did not take time
either to listen to the Business Council or to read their submission because it
states quite emphatically, the corporate tax gap remains, and we urge the
Government to initiate further reductions to provide
I would like him to explain to the Premier and to the business community why he has not only completely ignored their advice and their pleas to reduce taxes but in fact has done exactly the opposite and raised taxes by expanding the PST. Does he not understand he is stifling our economy and killing jobs?
Mr. Selinger: Mr. Speaker, private investment in this province is at a historic
high and that fact alone belies every statement the member opposite just made.
But if he wants facts, if he wants facts and analyses that will help him focus
his thoughts, I would encourage him to look in the Manitoba Advantage on page 14 where the internal rates of return
for small and large manufacturing companies in cities like
* (14:00)
Mr. Loewen: Mr. Speaker, I would remind this minister I am not making statements,
I am quoting from
So much for a promise
made is a promise kept, Mr. Speaker. We cannot believe anything this Premier or
his Finance Minister tells us. The Doer government has indicated that they are
unwilling to listen to the advice of the Business Council. Instead of raising
taxes, why did this Government not make another choice, reduce administrative
expenses, get a handle on their own expenses and make
Mr. Selinger: Mr. Speaker, it was just in the last session in the fall the same
member was up asking us to spend more money, spend more money for agricultural
producers, spend more money in health care. This member, one day, wants to
spend more; the next day he wants to selectively quote briefs from certain
organizations within this province. The facts are the following: The
competitive advantage for manufacturing in this province is the best across the
country for cities the size of
Diesel Gas
Tax Increase
Mr. Jack Reimer (Southdale): Mr. Speaker, back in September of last year the Premier (Mr. Doer) stated, and I quote, "My position stands that we did not get elected to raise taxes." Then, in November of last year, two months later, the Premier states again, and I quote, "We did not get elected to raise taxes."
Now, less than five months later, what does the Premier say to Winnipeg Transit when the diesel tax increases will cost an extra $95,000 per year for the City? Does he say raise the ticket prices to pay for this tax increase?
Hon. Greg Selinger (Minister of Finance): Mr. Speaker, fuel taxes in this province, second lowest in the country and our capital program–
Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.
Mr. Speaker: Order.
Mr. Selinger: Mr. Speaker, not only are the fuel taxes the second lowest in the country but our capital program for highways infrastructure is the highest it has ever been in the history of this province. That was at $120 million. This year, we have added an additional $10 million to that historic high number of $120 million. Next year, we are adding $20 million more for $30 million more over the historic high of $120 million.
All of our motive fuel and gas taxes are dedicated to infrastructure and we are going to be accountable for that through new legislation. We will show Manitobans how we make their dollars work for them.
Mr. Reimer: The Government is going to tell them how to spend the money. I like that line.
Provincial Sales Tax
Professional Services
Mr. Jack Reimer
(Southdale): Mr. Speaker, back in September of last
year this Premier (Mr. Doer) stated, and I quote again, "My position stands
that we did not get elected to raise taxes." Again, in November of last
year, two months later, the Premier states, and I quote again, "We did not
get elected to raise taxes." Now, less than five months later, we see the
sales tax announced on professional services like accountants, architects,
out-services that the City of
Hon. Greg Selinger (Minister of Finance): Mr. Speaker, when members opposite raised or extended the sales tax back in '93 on baby supplies, on safety clothing, footwear and equipment, on school supplies, I mean they even increased taxes on sewing patterns, they said it was not a tax increase. The premier of the time said it was an extension of the tax base.
Not only that, when it comes to supporting municipalities, we are the only province in Canada that shares corporate and personal income taxes with the municipalities through the Provincial Municipal Tax Sharing agreement, the only province in Canada to share growth revenues with our municipalities.
City of
Funding
Mr. Jack Reimer (Southdale): The minister mentions they are the only provincial government to share with the municipalities, but they are also the provincial government that is raising the taxes.
My question is: You are
raising the taxes for diesel fuel for Winnipeg Transit. You are raising the
taxes for professional services for the City of
The citizens of
Hon. Greg Selinger
(Minister of Finance): In my previous answer, I
pointed out we are the only province in
Just a couple of weeks
ago, the three levels of government, the provincial government, the federal
government and the civic government, made a commitment to building a rapid
transit corridor in the city of Winnipeg. Never before done, and it was with
the co-operation of the three levels of government that we made that commitment
to public transit infrastructure, something that has been on the books of the
city of Winnipeg for at least 15 years. This Government helped find a positive
solution to improve public transit in the city of
Master Labour Agreement
Mr. Stuart Murray (Leader of the Official Opposition): Mr. Speaker, in 1999 the Premier said, "Elect me and I will end hallway medicine in six months with $15 million."
After the election he said, "Well, that is what I said, but it is not really what I meant."
After the
First this Doer government says that a project labour agreement, forced unionization and forced union dues are a done deal. They are non-negotiable, Mr. Speaker. Then the Premier said that no, they are up for negotiation. This Premier's word has less and less credibility as every day goes by.
Now the Premier has been presented a solution from the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce that addresses all of his supposed concerns regarding the floodway expansion project. Will he do the right thing and adopt their solutions?
Hon. Gary Doer (Premier): I have just had the opportunity to look at the education and citizenship lines, Mr. Speaker. In terms of the financial administration services in government, there is actually a reduction in spending in the Department of Education. In terms of Human Resource Services in the department, or the Systems and Technology, there are reductions.
Mr. Speaker, for the members opposite to make that claim, there is a major deficit in this province and it is a research deficit on behalf of the leader and that opposition party.
Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.
Mr. Speaker: Order. I would like to once again remind all honourable members, if the Speaker is standing, all members should be seated and the Speaker should be heard in silence. I also remind all honourable members that the clock is still running. You are going to be getting less questions and answers, so I would ask the co-operation of all honourable members, please.
* (14:10)
Mr. Murray: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. When it comes to credibility, this Premier should be very, very careful because it is he who has stated that he was not elected to raise taxes. He said that to this House. He said that to Manitobans and what did he do in this last Budget? He raised them by over $90 million. That is something that this Premier should remind himself before he answers questions.
The Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce has put forward a solution that addresses all of the Premier's supposed concerns about the expansion of the floodway project. The Chamber's solution sets out a process that would ensure there is no labour disruption. It would ensure good wages are paid. It would ensure appropriate education, training and skills upgrade for new and existing workers are provided. It would ensure that contracts were let at the lowest cost to the taxpayers and for the ultimate goal of delivering the project on time and on budget. Importantly, the chamber's solution would achieve these objectives without forced unionization and forcing non-unionized workers to pay union dues.
Will the Premier please put aside the ideology of his union-boss friends and listen to what the public is saying? Stop forced unionization on the floodway project. Get on with building it. The Chamber has come up with a solution. Will he not listen to them?
Mr. Doer: Mr. Speaker, we have advice from the members opposite for me to replace Mr. Fox-Decent in terms of their petition that they have been reading on the hour, every hour in the House. We have the Chamber of Commerce today with some suggestions. We had on Monday a letter from one of the advocates on behalf of some of the private interests on the floodway, recommending that Mr. Wally Fox-Decent be appointed to have an independent role in this regard. All this advice is useful. The members opposite have different views than Mr. Lorenc, it appears, in terms of who should be involved in this. I have great confidence in Wally Fox-Decent. I ask whether the members opposite do.
Mr. Murray: Mr. Speaker, I believe it is the people of
All the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce and other members of the public are saying to this Premier is we respect the fact that people have the right to choose. People have chosen. The heavy construction industry is 95% non-unionized. The Chamber of Commerce has come forward with a solution because they also believe it is important to get on with the building of the floodway.
Mr. Speaker, will the Premier do the right thing? Will he listen to Manitobans? The Chamber of Commerce? Will he listen to the solution and take forced unionization off the table and get on with building the floodway?
Mr. Doer: It is interesting, because about four questions ago they made a
false statement about the Aboriginal training being an administrative cost. We
know what they did to Aboriginal training. We know what they did to ACCESS
programs. One of the key issues in
the floodway for us, besides no strikes and lockouts, besides coming in on time
and on budget, besides having a program that deals with recreation, is to have
more participation with trained people and Aboriginal people in
Expansion Budget
Mr. Kelvin Goertzen (Steinbach): Yesterday, the Minister of Water Stewardship (Mr. Ashton) tried to downplay the additional cost to building a floodway as a result of the new PST on professional services. He also tried to downplay the fact that costs for the floodway project have increased by $40 million before digging has even begun. The Minister of Finance (Mr. Selinger) says that there is no line-by-line budget for this particular project to speak of.
Is there anyone on that side of the House who is standing up for taxpayers' dollars on this project?
Hon. Gary Doer (Premier): Mr. Speaker, we have a number of reports from the IJC and our own reports dealing with the overall project in terms of the cost. One of the areas that is still being worked on, and we certainly will make available to the House through our engineers, is some of the ground-water impacts from the building of the floodway in the mid-sixties. There are still some issues of aquifers in the northeast quadrant of the province, and we are concerned about that. We want to make sure that the design of the floodway expansion includes that total issue.
Mr. Speaker, the agreement we have with the federal government is for a $240-million stage. That stage will in essence, besides recreation, besides improvement of the gates to give us more protection in the summer, and some of the investments we have made in downtown Winnipeg and other locations, also include the ability to go from a 1-in-90 year–
An Honourable Member: What does the IJC have to do with this?
Mr. Doer: The Member for Emerson (Mr. Penner) asked what the IJC has to do with it. He will note that the IJC had two different numbers with two different reports. I suggest he read them, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Goertzen: I think for the first time we have heard an admission from the Premier in the House that there really is not a budget for this project. He says he is going to come in on time and on budget, but there is not a budget. So I am pretty sure he will meet that low expectation.
Mr. Speaker, in December of last year, the Premier was full of praise for the federal government for exempting the floodway project from the cost of GST. Yet, yesterday, when the Doer government admitted that there will be a new PST applied to the project, they trivialized it saying that it will only amount to a few hundred thousand dollars. Can the Minister of Water Stewardship or anybody on that side of the House please tell us why there is such a two-faced position on this issue?
Mr. Doer: As I said, there will be a recreation component of 1 percent of the
expenditures. There will be improvements in the flood gates. It deals longer
term with the sustainability of some of the investments in tourism, investments
in the city of
I am interested, Mr.
Speaker. I was curious to note in the paper on the weekend that there was an
article dealing with the federal government. In fact, it was Brian Mulroney
that had had a labour management agreement to build the
Master Labour Agreement
Mr. Kelvin Goertzen
(Steinbach): Mr. Speaker, this morning the Winnipeg
Chamber of Commerce released a
solution piece to help clean up the Premier's mess regarding the floodway
project and contradictory statements from the Government regarding forced
unionization and forced union dues. Today we hear there really is not a
finalized budget on this particular project. We are into another phase, praising
one level of government for taking off a tax and then applying their own tax.
There is not a premier who is in more of a need of a solution than this Premier
here in
Will he take the lifeline that has been offered by the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce and try to regain the confidence thereby lost by all Manitobans on his mishandling of this particular project?
Hon. Gary Doer (Premier): I am just looking at the petition, and there are some components that have been raised by the Chamber of Commerce dealing with the floodway which includes training. Mr. Speaker, training–
Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.
Mr. Speaker: Order.
Mr. Doer: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, I know training is a foreign concept to members opposite but it is–
Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.
Mr. Speaker: Order.
Mr. Doer: Thank you, Mr. Speaker. It is very important to us, and I am pleased that the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce has noted it as one of the issues to deal with. Some of that training will take place hopefully with some of the skilled trades that will be involved and be able to provide apprenticeship programs so that we not only have short-term training, but we have long-term skills left in our community because this is not the only construction project of a major nature that we are going to have in Manitoba.
Unlike the mothball policies of members opposite, Mr. Speaker, we are going to build the floodway. We are going to get approval hopefully from the Clean Environment Commission and build dams and build this province. We are going to build the province and build the future. The Flat Earth Society members opposite can raise all these issues. The Chamber position is different from the Tory petition. The Tory petition is different from Chris Lorenc's position. We will manage all that advice and get it done.
* (14:20)
Provincial Sales Tax
Professional Services
Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (
My question is related to back in September of 2003. The minister was explaining the difference between the PST and GST inside the committee room and I quote what the minister said, "Average Manitobans would pay significantly more for the services and goods they receive, so that is considered a disadvantage which we believe still exists today." That was just last September, Mr. Speaker. My question to the minister is: Why does he now believe it is no longer to the disadvantage of consumers to have this type of a tax put on to them?
Hon. Greg Selinger (Minister of Finance): Mr. Speaker, the short answer is because we have reduced personal income tax rates. We have reduced the small business tax rate. We have reduced the corporate tax rate. We have reduced the ESL. Manitobans now, because of our economic and tax policies, have personal disposable income 5% more in the last five years versus a 5% decline in the 10 years before that. Manitobans are better off.
Mr. Lamoureux: Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Finance, if you take money out of this pocket here and put money back in this pocket here, at the end of the day, there is less money that is going in the pockets, basic economics.
Mr. Speaker, when you think of a consumption tax, the NDP–
Mr. Speaker: Order. I have been standing here for about a minute trying to get the attention of honourable members. We only have so much time for Question Period and we are trying to get as many questions and answers in. When a Speaker is standing, all members should be seated and the Speaker should be heard in silence. I ask the co-operation again of all honourable members.
Mr. Lamoureux: Mr. Speaker, I do not see the humour in taxing from one pocket to another. At the end of the day, Manitobans are paying more taxes.
When you think of a consumption tax, Mr. Speaker, the NDP would say that if you can afford to buy it or consume it, then you can afford to pay a tax on it. I would argue people at times have no option but to have to use a service, for example, legal services. This Government will be blindly charging hundreds of dollars in new taxes for a single parent experiencing financial difficulties that has no choice but to go through court proceedings. Will the Minister of Finance acknowledge that his tax grab on services will have a more negative impact on lower income people because this Government did not provide for any form of rebate?
Mr. Selinger: Mr. Speaker, there is a personal tax credit in the Budget and all legal services that are eligible for legal aid will not have this tax applied to them. Unlike the Liberal government, when we take $10 out of our left pocket and put it in our right pocket, it multiplies to $15. When they take $10 out, it shrinks to $5 because they bleed it off to their friends.
Mr. Speaker: Time for Oral Questions has expired. We will now move on to members' statements.
Earth Day
Mr. Drew Caldwell (Brandon East): Mr. Speaker, today is an important day, not just for Manitobans, but for all people who inhabit this small planet. It is the one day a year that we formally set aside to consider something so essential to our survival that all of us should be thinking about it every day. Today, Earth Day, all Manitobans are asked to think of our environment and specifically about the health of our all too fragile ecosystem.
Why do we need an Earth
Day? Mr. Speaker, we need this day because for the first time in the planet's
long history one species, humankind, is dramatically changing our environment.
Through human activities we are creating devastating changes to the planet's
climate. It is because of this very real threat of climate change that this
Government has made the environment such a high priority. That is why yesterday
we announced the Climate Change Community Challenge, the C4 program. This
program, working in conjunction with the federal One-Tonne Challenge, will challenge us and assist
communities in
This program will enable communities to work together to take action on climate change and will allow us all to walk more gently on the Earth. In particular, I want to salute young people who have heard, understood and are taking action everyday to do their part to help save our planet. The C4 program is just one piece in our ongoing commitment to Manitobans to help them deal with climate change in real and permanent ways.
Mr. Speaker, there is no
more precious resource than the stuff of life itself, our water. Manitobans
understand the importance of water and that it is our collective responsibility
to ensure a safe and clean supply for centuries to come. That is why we have
created the Department of Water Stewardship, the first department solely
responsible for the care of water in
We know that Manitobans care deeply for their communities and for the wider world. Our record of international involvement speaks clearly about our water vision and we know that when we challenge communities to cut down on pollution, creating an easily accessible agency to help people cut waste or dedicating a government department to safeguard water and the quality of our water, Manitobans will respond because they care. Thank you.
Mr. Jack Penner (Emerson): Mr. Speaker, I find it absolutely astounding that this Government will not have a ministerial statement on Earth Day, but we will make a statement.
Mr. Speaker, I rise this day to congratulate contributors to a healthy Earth. An article written by Peter Holle, I believe, described the contribution made by scientists, businesses and the farmers. He singled out Dr. Norman Borlaug, founder of Green Revolution, who celebrated his ninetieth birthday this year. Mr. Borlaug developed wheat varieties that today yield 10 times what wheat varieties would have yielded during the sixties. Doctor Borlaug received a Nobel Prize in 1970 and is credited with saving billions of lives.
Many people will mark the day by cleaning up parks and yards and by planting trees, but the single most important contributor to our ecological health will likely be ignored, Mr. Speaker. These are the thousands of farmers that have adopted the technology and science-based methods to improve and protect the soil and water of our Earth. The billions of dollars that farmers have spent to achieve a healthier Earth has largely been ignored. This action, however, has allowed, according to Conservation International, nearly half of our planet's total land to remain as untamed wilderness.
As Mr. Holle says on Earth Day, Mr. Speaker, let us take a moment to honour the contributions of modern farmers to this planet's health. Three cheers for the scientists, growers and middlemen who have simultaneously liberated us from hunger and preserving our open spaces. Thank you.
Ukrainian Easter
Celebration
Mr. Doug Martindale
(Burrows): Khrystos Voskres! Christ is Risen! On
Wednesday, April 14, I attended the annual breakfast of Ralph Brown School in
celebration of Ukrainian Easter and brought greetings on behalf of the Minister
of Education, Citizenship and Youth (Mr. Bjornson).
The morning began with the joyous and pleasant voices of the choir, followed by excellent traditional Ukrainian dancing. Both of these groups performed under the superb direction of Mrs. Harkavy. It was an outstanding and impressive display of talent.
Mr. Speaker, in the Ukrainian church during the time of Easter it is customary for the Easter baskets to be blessed. These special baskets symbolize family unity and the hope for a happy and prosperous year. They are filled with napkins embroidered with the most intricate detail and overflow with many delicacies such as Paska, butter, salt, ham, sausage, cheese, beets with horseradish, pysanky and Krashanky. Father Harkavy and Father Isidore were there to bless the Easter baskets before they were brought home by the children to be shared with their families.
I want to congratulate the 135 students in the English-Ukrainian Bilingual Program and the principal, Mrs. Linda Bulka, for inviting me to their wonderful celebration of Ukrainian Easter. I would also like to congratulate them for their hard work in decorating the gym, providing entertainment, putting together their baskets and learning about Ukrainian religious traditions by participating in this important celebration. I would also like to thank the parent organization for devoting so much time in preparation for this special day.
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Glenlawn Collegiate
Theatrical Production
Ms. Theresa Oswald (
Mr. Speaker, the history of musical theatre excellence at Glenlawn Collegiate is undeniable. Students at Glenlawn have the option of enrolling in a credit course in theatre production and, as a result, participation in this large school enterprise is very high. Students gain meaningful hands-on experience in organizing, planning, constructing and producing a major musical with a cast of over 50 performers. The musical accomplishment is also expertly provided by many accomplished student musicians. This year the orchestra was comprised of Trevor Robinson, Simon Christie, Chris Butcher, Heather Gardner, Gerard Modrzejewski, Jessica Bernardin, Matt Gelley, Michael Kosowski, Denim Kehler, Leigh Fischer, Ron Krug and Paula McLeod, and indeed they were outstanding.
The performance, under the musical direction of Marilyn Redekop and artistic direction of Maria Kives, was one of the most outstanding in the school's history. Jessica Strong, in the role of Marian, charmed the audience with her award-winning vocal talent, while Evan Sapach, as Harold Hill, clearly had charisma to burn.
The skillful and engaging
performance of the quartet, comprised of Ben Campbell, Emily Walker, Kim Van
Aerselaer and Jordan Day, were a favourite of the residents from
The list of students with significant lead roles is deep. Congratulations are due to Jamie Guidolin, Jillian Sandison, Kevin Parsons, Matt Mihaychuk, Kate Jestadt, Richard Hornung, Michael McDermid, Buffy Cowtan, Lindsay Hammond, Simon Walker, Lora Peters, Kelly Stokotelny, Emily Northam, Micheline Lessard-Lesk and Ryan McDonald.
The success of all the lead actors was beautifully supported by the townspeople, the kids, the dancers, the salesmen, the wa tan ye girls and the ladies' auxiliary. In all, the production of The Music Man was one that made all members of the community very proud. It is worthy to note that all the seniors were treated with dignity and respect. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Flooding (
Mr. Tom Nevakshonoff
(Interlake): Communities in the Interlake are
recovering from recent flash flooding, Mr. Speaker. Flooding on the
Mr. Speaker, the people
of the Fisher River Cree Nation and Peguis First Nation battled the rising
Mr. Speaker, I would like
to recognize and thank some of the people who worked to evacuate people and
protect communities. The Manitoba Association of Native Firefighters skilfully
co-ordinated the evacuation of over 900 residents to
The Department of Water Stewardship provided regular and ongoing flood forecasts and Manitoba Emergency Measures Organization maintained close contact to provide assistance and information.
Thanks to the many volunteers from the community, who have done outstanding work as part of the flood control efforts. Under the skillful guidance of flood co-ordinator Colin Williams, over 350 community members have been working continuously at sandbagging and now at cleaning up flood water. The work of Glen Gulay, Eugene Ratt and Robert Slater in aerial photography was especially significant.
Mr. Speaker, as water levels recede, the clean-up efforts continue so that people may return as soon as possible to their homes. Once again, we have seen communities and individuals rise to the challenge of protecting their friends and neighbours from harm's way. Thank you.
ORDERS OF THE DAY
GOVERNMENT BUSINESS
(Fourth Day of Debate)
Mr. Speaker: Resume debate on the proposed motion of the honourable Minister of Finance (Mr. Selinger) and the proposed motion of the honourable Leader of the Official Opposition (Mr. Murray) in amendment thereto, standing in the name of the honourable Minister of Industry, Economic Development and Mines (Mr. Smith), who has 23 minutes remaining.
Hon. Scott Smith (Minister
of Industry, Economic Development and Mines): Mr.
Speaker, to continue on, balanced budget pays down the debt and avoids using
the Fiscal Stabilization for the first time since it has been introduced here,
in the
Mr. Speaker, when you take into consideration the amount of jobs that have been created in this province over the last four and five years, doubling the amount that were created through the nineties. You take the number of 3100 jobs created per year by the previous government. You look at our record of 6500 jobs being created. It is obvious, 100% increase in jobs for Manitobans. What is notable about the creation of jobs certainly has been that the large percentage of those jobs, well over 80 percent, have been full-time jobs.
Mr. Conrad Santos, Deputy Speaker, in the Chair
When you look at a per capita basis and you take into consideration, I know the members opposite have mentioned in Question Period about affordable government. Well, on a per capita basis this province is rating third on its expenditures right across the nation, on a per capita basis on the cost to taxpayers on government services that are delivered.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, it is because of the rationalization and the efficiencies that this Government has created since we have been elected in '99, compounding year over year by the budgets that have been introduced by this Finance Minister for Manitobans. It is beginning to take a serious effect on positive sides when people notice, certainly, that Manitobans today, their purchasing power is 5 percent better than when we were elected. That is a considerable amount in a short period of time, considering under the previous government over a decade through the nineties, the purchasing power for Manitobans decreased by 5 percent.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the
purchasing power that we have initiated and brought back, has actually given
Manitobans approximately 10% more expendable money in their pocket through the
initiatives that this Government has taken in a short five-year period. When
you look at the Nesbitt Burns report, I think it is something that most
Manitobans can relate to. When you take into consideration people work day
after day on economic research and research right across the nation, when they
put
When you pay down the
debt, which Manitobans can relate to their own homes, year over year, when you
have a mortgage and you have other costs and things that are important to you
and you pay that down. That is important to Manitobans. When their personal
wealth increases and they can expend that money on other things that they would
like to have, they can relate to that. Certainly, that is exactly what
Mr. Deputy Speaker, this Government, unlike the previous government, has reduced the debt year over year, and, certainly, combined with that, the pension liability. The government opposite, the Tory government, had taken and swept under the rug, and let accumulate and grow year after year after year. People can relate that you cannot take outstanding loans and then not pay on them. The compound interest on that alone over the years under the previous government had become so unmanageable that if this Government had not been elected in '99 at a time when it was, Manitoba would be facing crisis right now under the previous government's financial planning.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, sticking to a Doer government's initiative, certainly, on a doable, long-term plan that is predictable and transparent and easy for people to understand and follow is something that this Government has worked very hard at. Under this Finance Minister, we have seen historic job growth. We have seen historic amounts of personnel coming back to Manitoba, young people coming back to Manitoba because of a vision that we have had, in part economic planning, in part an economic strategy that I can tell you is really beginning to work.
* (14:40)
People are starting to
see it. When you see numbers of people coming back to
Again, we are seeing it. After the dark days and the disasters of the nineties, we are finally turning it around. We have taken education and made it affordable for families in decreasing the costs of education and post-secondary and maintaining and keeping that. It has given families the ability to be able to afford to send their families to school to have that education. It is a no-brainer, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
It is a simple strategy, but the other government would not do that. Not only would they not do that and make it affordable for families to come out and have people with a higher education that obviously creates wealth in a province by having better-paying jobs and assisting business in the province to grow and expand and compete on a world-wide basis, the other government did not do that. Not only did they not do that, they did not re-invest in any of the capital. They let our universities and our colleges begin to deteriorate and other provinces have an advantage. Mr. Deputy Speaker, we now have an advantage of that re-investment into the capital at historic levels both in post-secondary and in K to S4 of rebuilding that system, giving young Manitobans the ability to go learn and come out with an education and come into a workforce highly trained, highly skilled and being part of a system that supplies intellectual development and quality to business to compete against anybody in the world.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the
challenges in the past year with the BSE, obviously in transportation where we
had the issue of SARS, we had the second-worst fire season ever in Manitoba's
history approaching on $60 million of costs and expenditure. Still, this
Government, still this Premier (Mr. Doer), the Minister of Finance (Mr.
Selinger) and the members on this side of the House were able to adjust what is
crucially important for Manitobans. The health care system has improved; the
educational system has improved; the vision for young people to stay in
Mr. Deputy Speaker, year after year in our budgets we have set the bar very high and we have set a challenge certainly to the departments. Departments are holding the line and, in fact, a number of the departments, 12 departments, are looking at actual cost decreases.
I can tell you the
economic strategy on a growing economy is enabling us to do that. Last year, as
difficult as the year was, we had a 1.9% growth exceeding the national growth
of about 1.7, and that is a positive. That shows
People realize it, people look at it, and certainly people from other provinces are looking at that as well, $311 million dollars annually cut on personal income tax for Manitobans, which does go back into the economy and does create wealth for many others. People in small business, people in large business and certainly inner trade is more positive when there is more money in the economy.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, when you take a small-business person in Manitoba, which is the backbone of the small business and certainly of the business community in any province, in any state, anywhere in the world, and you take tangibles of their 8 percent on the small business tax rate, reducing it year after year after year down to 5 percent now and then down to 4.5 percent moving ahead, small businesses notice, recognize that and appreciate it. That allows small business to reinvest in their businesses, to hire more people, to put that money back into the economy and move the economy ahead. Moving the threshold and rising with that threshold for small business up to $400,000 a year from around $250,000 a year for that tax threshold has been critically important.
When you take large corporations and large business on the capital purchases of those large businesses and not tax capital purchases until after $5 million, that is probably why we have seen historic levels of capitalization of business in Manitoba, even though we have had challenges with America, certainly with the rising dollar for our Canadian dollar, which does impede international trade, does impede trade with America.
We have seen capitalization in small business. We have seen it with large business. We have seen it with municipalities. That is a sign of confidence in the economy. Any economist in Economics 101, when you see large capitalization in any industry, in any business, it is a sign of stability and it is a sign that there is a stability in the economy that people respect and understand and know that there are not going to be surprises moving ahead.
Promises made are
promises kept. This Government has done it year after year after year, even
with the challenges that we have had on a difficult financial year. Being proud
to be one of the few provinces or states in
Mr. Deputy Speaker, $74 million annually since 2000 and continuing to fall in small business taxes is a considerable amount of dollars. Small business recognizes that and they know it. When you see, as the Minister of Finance (Mr. Selinger) has mentioned many, many times, and members opposite have said, oh, it is not being competitive; it is not moving ahead fast enough. Corporate income tax at 17 percent has sat here since the Second World War.
As we have reduced the corporate income tax for the first time in 50 years in this province, it is going to fall to 14.5 percent after 2005, an incredible decrease in corporate income tax. That is recognized as well by large business. Certainly, the equipment and business increase of 50 percent on income tax and depreciation rates is also recognized.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, we
have done this with challenges. Certainly, we have been able to take and
maintain an affordable government. The elimination of the 400 staff through
attrition, saving $30 million, has been well recognized. It has been something
that this Government has trimmed, that we have cut. We are doing more with
less. Certainly, the employees in the
In the 12 departments that, in fact, the reduced spending will happen, we will have challenges. We are up to meet those challenges and we will do it.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, a further $32.5-million reduction in the Province's borrowing costs, which I might add are among the lowest in the country, has been achieved year after year after year through the diligence of this Finance Minister with the hard work of the people in that department, in Finance, working under the direction of the minister to reduce those costs. Those have been considerable.
The milestones that I will highlight: the housing prices in Manitoba generally are up 24 percent since 1999; the disposable income in the last year alone has risen by 3.1 percent, outpacing the national growth; the lowest inflation rate in Canada, with the lowest hydro rates and the lowest automobile insurance rates in Canada, is being maintained; over 1000 young people coming back to the province, as opposed to in the years in the nineties losing approximately the same number of 1000; the population rate growing, the highest that we have seen since 1986; and the numbers of doctors is at a 10-year high, the numbers of nurses graduated has tripled since 1999. Those initiatives Manitobans recognize each and every day in their lives.
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In creating more opportunities
for young people to support and stay here in
Mr.Deputy Speaker, new support for Aboriginal education, and our English as a Second Language, Special Needs, and libraries, certainly does help to support our immigration qualities that, quite frankly, have been spectacular in this last number of years, working with the Minister of Labour (Ms. Allan) and her department.
We know there are challenges ahead. We know that the challenges in health are immense, and we are seeing it in many other provinces where, in fact, the challenges in health and the cost increases in health are rising at near-double-digit figures. This Minister of Health (Mr. Chomiak) has brought our health care system and turned it around, left hallway health care way in the background, that we inherited from the previous government. It is making commitments to Manitobans on reductions and wait times and doing it at one of the best rates. Although we have funded health care at historic levels in the province since we have been elected, we are now bringing it under control where our health care costs, because of the efficiencies that have been created through the Minister of Health working with the Minister of Finance (Mr. Selinger) under this Government, are setting the examples for the rest of Canada in many, many areas.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I can tell you that health care remains critical to Manitobans. It remains the number one issue for Manitobans, and certainly we have seen a turnaround in health care of historic levels on expenditures. We saw it in Brandon, where the Regional Health Centre in Brandon that was promised seven times throughout the nineties by the previous government, people in Brandon were let down.
The plan and the work
that the health care minister did, Mr. Deputy Speaker, the diligence that was
done, the planning of the overall health care budget, which now is about 42
percent of our budget line, all of the things that were important to
Brandonites started to materialize. Now, just a short time ago, we had a
ribbon-cutting at the
In moving ahead, with
that in our Budget, the MRI, the first one outside the city of
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I
commend this minister. I commend the Minister of Finance (Mr. Selinger) and the
hard work that was done to bring this Budget forward for Manitobans. It is the
reason that we are seeing headlines saying now,
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the
partnerships that we have developed with small business and with large business
and certainly with working people in
Critically important, Mr.
Deputy Speaker, has been the protection of water and our environment, and
today, on environmental day, the new support for
So, Mr. Deputy Speaker,
moving ahead with that water stewardship and creating and having a department,
one of the first in
Just in closing, I congratulate the minister on this motion. Certainly, I am supporting it as I do know most Manitobans support as well. Thank you very much.
Mr. Deputy Speaker: Who stood first? The honourable Member for Morris. I am sorry, the
honourable Member for
Hon. Jon Gerrard (
Last year, Mr. Deputy Speaker, the NDP budget projected expenditures of $7.25 billion, but, by the time the end of the year had come, the Budget shows they actually spent almost $7.4 billion, more than $135 million over budget. Overall, the provincial government spent more than it raised so the provincial general purpose debt has risen by $54 million.
Liberals believe the NDP should have shown the integrity to reduce ministers' salaries by 20 percent as required in the balanced budget legislation when the government has a deficit. To have used a Tory loophole, to have squirmed through a Tory loophole is abhorrent. When we have a Liberal government, we will eliminate that loophole. It is a bad Tory loophole.
Mr. Singleton would go further than I in looking at the extent of the deficit, because he tends to refer to the consolidated operations of the Government including the Crown corporations. Well, if we do this, there is a whopping increase in the size of deficit this last year in consolidated operations. This deficit in consolidated operations a year ago was projected to be about $110 million for this past year but, in fact, looking at the budget papers we can see clearly that the deficit this past year on consolidated operations was more than $500 million. That is a deficit greater than $400 million more than budgeted. That is called missing the mark by a long way. If the Budget was a promise, it sure was not a promise kept.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the Premier (Mr. Doer) and the Minister of Finance (Mr. Selinger) may make all sorts of claims about this year's Budget, but promises and performance did not match last year and we really do not have expectations that they are going to match this year. How can we believe they will not raid the rainy day fund next year when they raided it last year for $143 million?
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Mr. Deputy Speaker, we anticipate, when the track record from this year is completed, that the NDP will likely overspend again. Their credibility is getting poorer. The predictions that they are making are getting farther from the mark. The irony is that the situation last year would have been far, far worse if federal transfers to the Government of Manitoba had not increased by $287 million. Almost daily, the Premier chastises the federal government in the Legislature. Ironically, he was saved last year by substantial help from the federal government. As it was, his performance and his Government's performance were terrible. They are just very lucky that the federal government came to their aid so that it was not a lot worse.
Let us look at health care, Mr. Deputy Speaker. It is over budget again, by about $40 million. The NDP cannot manage budgets very well. We have seen this year after year. This year the NDP are taking it out on the sick who need medicines by raising Pharmacare deductibles. I have spoken up against this 5% rise in Pharmacare deductibles. It weakens the Pharmacare program. It targets those who are sick and who need medication. There are far better ways to reduce drug costs, in particular, using better approaches to ensuring drugs used are effective and are prescribed only when really needed. It is just one area of health care where there is huge room for improvement in management, which has been sadly lacking.
Let me give you another
example. The NDP have been very poor at investing in the Manitoba Health
Research Council to underpin innovation and improvement in health care to
improve standards, to find new ways to do things. The budget for the Manitoba
Health Research Council is just the same as it was 12 years ago. It went down
and up a little bit, but it is the same now as it was in 1992. Moreover, when
the funding through the Manitoba Health Research Council should be improved to
spur the innovation needed, should probably be about 0.5 percent of
When it comes to rural health care, there are many rural communities which have concerns and many of these concerns are only enhanced by recent reports.
Let me give one example. The community of McGregor has wanted, for a number of years, to switch from a hospital to a local health care centre promoting health. They have been trying to do this for four years, and they have been stonewalled every month, every year, every day, by this NDP government. A community which wants to move ahead is being stonewalled. What kind of an example is that to rural communities? A very poor example by this Government, where a community wants to move to a wellness model. No, we are not interested in that.
When they say that to McGregor, they say that to every community in this province. We are not interested in moving to a wellness model. We are not interested in moving away from the old model. You can forget about that. We are going to stonewall you as a community if you want to try that.
When it comes to promoting healthy living, this is a government which talks but does not act. One of the fundamental components of healthy living is sports and fitness and better lifestyles. Overall, the program funding of this Government, excluding the debt, has gone up by 21 percent over the last four years since 1999, but the funding for sports and fitness has remained the same, in fact decreased slightly this year. It seems an odd way to promote healthy living by decreasing support for sports and healthy activities.
It is a sorry government that cannot do better than this. The Government, the NDP, should be ashamed of themselves. They should be embarrassed to have brought forth a budget where they talk about healthy living and decrease the funding for sports.
My goodness, what a government which cannot get its priorities straight. In education funding, this year the Government missed a golden opportunity for major change. There is needed a huge change and overhaul in the way education is financed in this province. We have argued for a number of years that there should be 80% provincial funding, but the Tories took it down from 72 percent to 62 percent and the NDP have taken it from 62 percent down to 57 percent, and I am sure, when everything is said and done, at the end of this year it will be less than that.
The Government has
decided not to act. We see, because of the approach that they are taking, they
are offloading once again on school boards and local school taxes will have to
rise, and that will affect people all over
When it comes to the environment and to water stewardship, we see an increase in the budgets for administration and conservation. We see a big increase in the budget for administration in Water Stewardship. Mr. Deputy Speaker, yesterday I said it was 47 percent, but I miscalculated. I must admit it is actually an 88% increase in administrative costs for the Water Stewardship Department, an 88% increase for the Minister of Water Stewardship (Mr. Ashton).
Well, it is a sad day
because, when we look at the details of the rest of the Budget, the Minister of
Water Stewardship has reduced funding for fisheries and water quality services
by $463,000. He has reduced the budget for surface water management by 6
percent since 1999. He has reduced the budget for ground water management by 9
percent since 1999. He has reduced the budget for aquatic ecosystem management
by 15.5 percent since 2001. This is hardly a reasonable approach to improving
the stewardship of surface and ground water and aquatic ecosystems in
Indeed, it is a sad and sorry day to see this is happening. The minister is hiring or bringing in more people for his administrative bureaucracy, and at the same time reducing the critical services that Manitobans actually need to improve the quality of the lakes and the water systems in our province.
I talked about
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When it comes to taxes, we have heard the Premier (Mr. Doer) say on numerous occasions, "I was not elected to raise taxes." This has been repeated over and over and over, until it has become the mantra of this Government. Day after day after day we have heard, "I was not elected to raise taxes." Well, we just have to look at this year's Budget. The Premier is raising not one tax, but all sorts of taxes and all sorts of user fees. Is it any wonder that the credibility of this Government is going down the tubes?
The Premier is so desperate he is even raising taxes on women who need legal help to get child support. Due to legislation, not all of which may be bad but some of which has problems on maintenance enforcement, people are going to need more legal help than before, but that is going to be taxed. That is the style of this Government. We will push you where you have no choice to get services for which you are going to be taxed. We are going to grab those taxes, says the NDP government.
The Premier is raising taxes on justice. Raising taxes on those who seek legal help to have justice, to right a wrong, to get human rights. This Government is raising taxes on fundamental justice. What an extraordinary move.
The Premier is so desperate that he is raising taxes on those who choose to use legal means to try and improve the environment, to protect the environment. "Oh, no, but if you want to do good things, we are going to tax you," says the Premier.
You know, one of the ironic things, Mr. Deputy Speaker, is that the Premier was listening to some of the things that Glen Murray was saying about decreasing certain business taxes and increasing consumption taxes. Well, the Premier grabbed Mr. Murray's clothes while he was swimming and he has presented them on budget day.
The Premier has not
helped
Glen Murray had the due thought to consult with people, to talk to people, to give them an idea of where he was thinking of going and to having a whole series of town hall meetings, which had a vigorous discussion. Oh, but the Premier and his Finance Minister, oh, no, they were not going to let anybody know that they were going to tax legal services, that they were going to tax justice, that they were going to tax those who want to help the environment, that they were going to tax families who need legal help to help their children.
Overall, curiously, for a lot of businesses there may be a decrease in business tax from 5 to 4.5 percent, but an increase in the retail sales tax of 7 percent for a lot of these is going to offset or more than offset that. So the Premier and the Finance Minister in the way they have organized this, you know, have probably done a disservice to a lot of businesses, and I am hearing that and I hope that the Minister of Finance (Mr. Selinger) is also hearing that.
When it comes to farmers, the Budget raises taxes on legal and accounting services, on the diesel used by truckers for transporting farm products. But the reduction in education tax on farmland will not start until 2005, because the NDP government this year has unloaded costs onto school boards. This means that local school board taxes are rising and most farmers can expect to see an increase in the education tax they pay. It is sad that the NDP's Budget makes the situation worse for lots of farmers in this province instead of better.
Mr. Speaker in the Chair
When it comes to cities
and the city of
Young people. It fails to create a real vision, to have steps to improve things for young people. And rural communities. There is a lack of approach to help with tourism, local economic development, museums, heritage buildings and so on. Well the NDP spent more to put people in jails, they spent less on heritage. The capital budget for heritage buildings has decreased from $300,000 in 1999, to $210,000 in the present year. Either figure is clearly inadequate, given the importance Manitobans place on heritage and the need for attention to heritage buildings.
Mr. Speaker, we believe there is a better way. I believe there is a better way to manage the Province’s finances. We also believe that the Budget should have provided clearer direction for the province by better matching spending to critical priorities, like healthy living, like cleaning up Manitoba’s lakes, like preserving and restoring our heritage as well as providing a clearer vision for economic growth and for attracting people to Manitoba.
We see that
So, Mr. Speaker, I now
move, seconded by the MLA for
THAT the amendment be amended by adding thereto the following words:
And further regrets that this Budget also ignores present and future needs of Manitobans by:
(j) failing to set priorities well and to manage fiscal resources well;
(k) failing to reduce minister's salaries by 20 percent in
recognition of the deficit incurred in the last fiscal year and the resultant
increase in the general purpose debt of
(l) failing to support improvements in water stewardship and instead increasing administration and bureaucracy while failing to provide adequate support to surface and ground water management and fisheries and water quality;
(m) failing to provide adequate attention to healthy living by
failing to provide adequate attention to sports funding in
* (15:20)
Mr. Speaker: The amendment is in order.
It has been moved by the
honourable member for
THAT the amendment be amended by adding thereto the following words:
And further regrets that this Budget also ignores present and future needs of Manitobans by
(j) failing to set priorities well and to manage fiscal resources well;
(k) failing to reduce ministers' salaries
by 20 percent in recognition of the deficit incurred in the last fiscal year
and the reluctant increase in the general purpose debt of
(l) failing to support improvements in water stewardship and instead increasing administration and bureaucracy while failing to provide adequate support to surface and ground water management and fisheries and water quality;
(m) failing to provide adequate attention to health living by
failing to provide adequate attention to sports funding in
Mr. Bidhu Jha (Radisson): I rise here to speak on Budget 2004, presented to this House by our brilliant Minister of Finance, the Honourable Greg Selinger. [interjection]
Mr. Speaker: Order. I am sorry, but I just have to make a correction that I made. When I was in k., it should read:
(k) failing to reduce ministers'
salaries by 20 percent in recognition of the deficit incurred in the last
fiscal year and the resultant increase in the general purpose debt of
That is how it should read. That is the correction I am making. It was my own error.
The honourable Member for Radisson, to continue.
Mr. Jha: Yes, I would like to speak on the Budget 2004 presented to this House by our brilliant Minister of Finance, the Honourable Greg Selinger. I congratulate this great minister for his courageous and bold step in presenting a budget which is balanced as per the balanced budget legislation. Needless to say, this minister has been trained in the world's best school of management, called the London School of Economics.
Mr. Deputy Speaker in the Chair
This Minister of Finance
has demonstrated his skills of really being a Doctor of Philosophy. His
professional skills, his passion of social justice and his philosophical
commitment to our party's ideals have delivered the best possible budget at
this time, when we are faced with BSE crisis, forest fires and several other
challenges. The manufacturing sector has faced a lot of hurdles because of the
higher dollar, but this minister has done a remarkable job by making a budget
that is balanced and has purpose for all people of
Mr. Deputy Speaker, this is my first experience in this Legislature, and I must say that listening to the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Murray) makes me understand why this party is sitting on that side of the House. I understand that the role of opposition is to ask questions on the Government's policies and issues, but as a new MLA, I have yet to hear and listen from the Opposition concrete advice where we are working together to solve a problem that is good for all people of Manitoba.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I was
expecting during the BSE crisis that the Opposition would walk with the
Minister of Agriculture, go to
So I think, Mr. Deputy Speaker, as a new rookie MLA, I am astonished to see and hear contradictory suggestions from that side. I have heard the Health critic many times on the individual tragic cases happening in hospitals. As much as this is a very sad thing for all of us, to bring such issues time and time again onto the floor speaks of politicking and also the dignity of the families and of the departed souls. I feel very sad that such issues are brought onto the floor of the House and the political tone is not fair and dignified.
No one likes to see waiting lists, but I must say that, very firmly, to fix a health care system takes time. It takes time to train a doctor. It takes 10 years to get a doctor trained in the school, starting from the first year to the specialization. It takes a number of years for the nurses to be trained. They are not like French fries that you put potatoes in the oven and you eat. So I think it is a very serious matter that, when you build things, it takes times to build and after the period, then you see the results. We started training doctors and nurses and now we will see the results.
I remember, Mr. Deputy Speaker, 1996 when I lost my brother. My brother passed away waiting for surgery when I had my best friend in the medical system here. They could not help because the wait line was too long. I had two children; they were medical doctors, and I remember my daughter was saying that she may not find a job here because, at that time, all the nurses were fired and medical practice nurses were really scared of living in this province.
It was, I believe, Mr.
Deputy Speaker, that the hidden agenda at that time was Americanization of
medicine in
I think there are a lot
of things that this Government has done and this Minister of Health has done,
which is remarkable. I like to say that the new state of the art Brandon
Regional Health Centre recently opened is to provide enhanced services to the
Westman region.
I think there is a new hope rising when these nurses and doctors have been trained in hospitals. Within a few years, there will be more doctors, more nurses to practise, and the burden on the doctors who are having a stressful time now will be alleviated.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I think the whole approach, which you see, is towards progress, towards a very positive approach to solving a very serious problem of health care.
* (15:30)
We have seen, Mr. Deputy
Speaker, that the scientific culture of this province, universities, has
brought brilliant scholars that are wonderful scientists working now in
The Budget speaks loud at the Government's fiscal management skills by optimizing human resources and not replacing 400 workers, that positions are being frozen or cancelled. This Budget has addressed issues of economic plan by giving business tax reductions of $74 million annually since 2000, and continue to fall.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, let
me, for the record, state that it was under the then-NDP government that the
seed of the film industry was sowed right here in
This takes vision.
Anything that we do in the society takes vision. It is hard work and the
results do not come instantly. It takes time. The film and video production tax
credit enhancement to include rural and northern initiatives, to encourage film
activity outside
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I know that these kinds of actions, which are futuristic, take money, energy, guts and time, but only if you look ahead, unless you look for future, you are a short-lived, short-visioned government that will be a bandage treatment to a cancer patient. So I think I am very, very pleased to see that the direction the Government has taken is in the right direction. The Budget has been balanced in the time that it is extremely difficult to really see where to cut and what not to cut, but we have done a remarkable job and I commend the Minister of Finance (Mr. Selinger) again for his remarkable job.
I think that the raising of the families, Mr. Deputy Speaker, always look ahead. When you have a family and you look for your children's future, education, their health, you need to see what is ahead, what will be 20 years from now, not what is happening today. So I think that the visionary plans that this Government and the Premier (Mr. Doer) have, specifically the Premier's vision of future alternative energy, is something that the future generation 50 years from now will remember. The creation of the Department of Energy, Science and Technology is an example of this vision. I think this department, which will look at the new energy alternatives which will generate an alternative sustainable growth to the province's resources, is again very visionary.
I must say, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that looking at the plans of energy enhancement of development of new hydro, new dams, a lot of people will think: Why are you doing this when we have an abundance of energy. We are exporting energy. We are preserving energy. We are looking at the future. We are not trying to fix it now and make things look better and the future dark. That is the difference between a government which has a vision and a government that wants to short-live and literally sell the soul to privatization and society be literally not a fair, equitable society.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, my comment is that we
have an abundance of resources, and water being one of the scarce resources on
this Earth is something that again this Government has demonstrated by bringing
the new Ministry of Water Stewardship, which is led by Minister Ashton. He is a
minister that gets things done. I am very happy to see the response on this
floodway expansion that Minister Ashton has led. This is going to be, again, a
historical thing, to have
I think, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that a lot of
my colleagues have already spoken on the highlights of the Budget. I will not
waste the time of the House by repeating those. All I would like to say in
conclusion is that this land of ours called
I truly endorse this Budget, Mr. Deputy Speaker, which is not only brilliant, it is the most difficult time, balanced budget. I again commend the Minister of Finance (Mr. Selinger) and the Premier (Mr. Doer) for leading all our colleagues to have this Budget passed in this House.
Mrs. Mavis Taillieu (Morris): Mr. Deputy Speaker, I would just like the opportunity to put a few words on the record about this very bad Budget. I feel like I am sitting through a rerun of a very bad movie. I never liked the movie before and I do not like it any better now. Unfortunately, I know how it will end, and I do not like that either.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, how many of you
remember the six disastrous years in the 1980s that Howard Pawley's NDP
governed
After throwing money
around like confetti at a wedding, the NDP then did what they do now. They
tried to borrow and tax their way out of debt instead of controlling
expenditures. As they approached the 1990s,
By 1999, Gary Filmon was
able to project that over a billion dollars of new revenue would be coming into
But the NDP still did not get it, Mr. Deputy Speaker. They cannot spend your way out of debt. You cannot tax a nation into prosperity. That is what they are trying to do; balance the books on the backs of the people instead of handling their money properly. They have resorted to their usual solution: Tax, and tax in mean-spirited ways, through the back door and indirect, hidden attacks that eat away at the fabric of our province.
* (15:40)
The Government will tell you, for example, that it has imposed no new burden on farmers. Yet certain professional services will now be subject to PST. Farmers will feel the negative impact. Has the NDP considered what this new PST will do to farmers? Farmers have to pay legal and accounting services. Now, after suffering through drought and grasshoppers and BSE, farmers have to pay 7 percent extra now for accounting costs. They will face increased costs as well because of the increased tax on diesel fuel which truckers transporting their grain and livestock will now have to charge.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, it is interesting to note that while farmers and other consumers will now have to pay PST for professional services, those engaged in collective bargaining will not have to. Why are union negotiations exempt and farmers' operations not? Well, maybe the answer is self-evident. The lack of commitment to the farming community may come from a lack of understanding of the complexities of the agricultural industry, or it may come from a lack of caring. But, whatever the reason, the lack of commitment stands out as a glaring indication of what farmers can expect from the NDP. They can expect to feel abandoned.
The most miserly and mean-spirited hit in this Budget is the increased deductible for Pharmacare. Please do not tell me it will cost just a little bit more. When you are poor, you do not have a little bit more. What this means is that there will be people who will decide that they just cannot afford to buy their prescription medication. If you do not believe that, then you have no empathy for or realistic understanding of those who are struggling. Seniors, people on fixed incomes and families who have high pharmaceutical costs are feeling nervous about the implications of this change. Is it the start of a gradual chipping away of this essential program? This is a program which should be moving to provide increased, not decreased, benefits.
In today's world, pharmaceutical advances have made it possible for patients to live longer and healthier lives. As research progresses, there would be more and better pharmaceutical discoveries capable of sustaining life and improving life quality. Will these drugs be affordable for all those who need them or only for those who can pay for them out of their own pockets? This cut in Pharmacare benefits affects the most vulnerable of our citizens. It is an area of essential need. Why did the NDP choose this particular program to attack as a cost-cutting measure?
One becomes increasingly concerned, Mr. Deputy Speaker, as the NDP looks around for places to find money. The Government simply never considers the idea of not spending. It is the best way to find money. Instead, the NDP goes after the things we need to be sustainable, like the rainy day fund, the things we need to protect for the benefit of consumers, like Manitoba Hydro and the essential programs in health like Pharmacare.
What concerns us, what alarms us is that the obsession to spend is always there. Never is it fully addressed. Like addicts who struggle with the curse of their addiction, the NDP does not recognize the full extent of this problem.
These NDP MLAs do not see that during their brief tenure they have undone much of the true good that was created during the Filmon years. They do not recognize the ultimate harm that their tax-and-spend mentality will do to this province.
I know a person who works in the demolition business. He and his co-workers can demolish a building in a very short time. I also know many people who work in the construction industry. They are builders. Anyone who watches demolition and construction jobs will tell you that it takes longer to build than it does to destroy, longer to renovate than it does to tear down. Just as it takes a long time to build and a short time to destroy, it takes longer to undo harm than it does to undo good.
When the NDP runs out of coasting time and the real results of their actions are revealed to Manitobans, the people will ask us to come back to government and build things up again, and we will. The trouble with having to constantly rebuild is that building can be a messy process. It is a lengthy process. It requires strength and endurance and an ability to keep the vision of the final creation in your mind as you work. Sometimes the status quo, the familiar, old habits, are easier in the short-term.
The NDP think this is the short-term time. Manitobans can see this in the Budget. There is no vision, no direction, no long-term understanding. To be perfectly plain, today's NDP spent tomorrow's money yesterday. When tomorrow comes the NDP and their supporters will ask what happened and then spend more money on public relations to find some way to blame someone else for the troubles facing this province.
We know what these troubles are. We have read this script before. These troubles emanate from high spending, high taxes and intrusive socialistic government which over-regulates, undervalues and drives away entrepreneurs. Socialism cannot exist unless those who generate wealth are able to produce and create the wealth for the socialists to tax. It seems counterproductive to alienate those producers and have them settle in other, more business-friendly places.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I think many of my socialist colleagues here in this Chamber mean well. Socialism is, after all, a benevolent theory which has only one major drawback. It does not work. History shows us that. What would happen if all the wealth creators disappeared or all the producers closed down their factories and businesses? I could imagine the resulting chaos. I do not think the NDP can.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the NDP is going to claw back property tax credits, and it says it will give the balance directly to school divisions. With what criteria and conditions, may I ask? What controls are in place? Have the NDP not already made it close to impossible to get school taxes under control by its own handling of education underfunding while at the same time imposing amalgamations of mismatched school divisions, with all the costly harmonization of public-sector collective agreements, programs and policies that that entails?
The NDP, Mr. Deputy Speaker, with its simplistic view of life, think that because some mergers work then all mergers will work. The NDP think that central control always works better than local control. They do not investigate variables or make pragmatic decisions. They do not do their homework on forced amalgamations. Do they not understand that commercial companies will make decisions to merge only if they expect to achieve cost reductions through synergies, pooling of sales, general administrative expenses resulting in reducions of staff? They make these decisions after careful cost-benefit analysis and market study. They can decide if an amalgamation should proceed or not. Moreover, they go to choose their partners.
A merger between company A and C may not work, while a merger between company A and F might. Not doing such analysis has a real potential to see costs go up as well as down. As the taxpayers are beginning to find out now, central planning, where the bureaucrats have the only input into legislation that affects everybody, does not work. People want to be involved. Look at Bill 40, The Planning Amendment Act; Bill 22, The Water Protection Act; Bill 23, The Red River Floodway Act; look at forced unionization on the floodway project. No input from the people affected because Big Brother thinks he knows best.
* (15:50)
Taxes are going up under this Budget. The increased taxes will not be offset by other tax cuts the NDP referred to in their budget speech, because some of these cuts were made in previous years and some will not take place this year but rather some time in the future, maybe.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, as Tom Brodbeck stated in The Winnipeg Sun on April 20, "Once you take out all the spin, half-truths and outright lies from the NDP's budget, you will see the overall taxes are going up more than $70 million this year." I think that is $90 million this year. Overall provincial debt will rise by $800 million to an unprecedented $19.3 billion. We have more money coming into Broadway and yet this Government continues to spend more than it receives. That way spells disaster, but like the captain of the Titanic, the NDP cannot see beyond the tip of the iceberg.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the
Government here should review what happened not that many years ago when
The NDP started their tenure with a wealthy revenue stream and transfers from the federal government had increased substantially, but there is a reason the phrase "tax and spend" was coined to describe the NDP. It seems to be in their very nature. They could not use this new revenue in a responsible and realistic manner because the NDP have never learned how to reduce costs or how to control their urge to spend. We still are not through the scary part of the movie yet. The NDP has based their economic forecast on a rosy future that includes, among other things, an 8.6% increase in retail sales tax this year.
Many have already expressed worry about the projections are unrealistically optimistic and allow no room for any unforeseen expenditures, no room. We need to hope even more than we usually do that no forest fires or floods will challenge our province this year, that no federal recession will occur, that there will be no substantial decrease in our revenues. We need to hope that more than ever, because the NDP have drained our rainy day fund, robbed our Manitoba Hydro Corporation, and is now caving in to its addiction to taxing.
John McCallum, a highly
respected economist and professor at the
Joseph Barnsely, of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce, echoed that concern when he said, "We are starting with a bloated government budget. This Government has grossly overspent in the past. Unlike in the past, this Government now has to demonstrate it has the will and the skill to control spending. To demonstrate both will and skill, the Government must first possess them."
This Government wants to
increase the costs of a major, important project in
I do want to acknowledge that there is one tiny thing good in this Budget, one bright spot. There is a little bit more money for Culture, Heritage and Tourism. Tom Brodbeck's column yesterday on the Budget said, "of 26 separate spending lines . . 17 are going up, . . . Even Culture, Heritage and Tourism." So I am pleased about that.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the
Government has extended the tax credit program and provided an additional 5%
rebate for movie productions in rural
Unfortunately, there is little else to get excited about in this Budget. As I said in the beginning of my remarks I feel like I am watching the rerun of a very bad movie, but I guess we will see it through to the end. I hope when it is over we can just destroy that tape and never see it again. Thank you very much.
Mr. Drew Caldwell (Brandon
East): It is a privilege to rise as the Member for
Brandon East and place a few words on the record with regard to the provincial budget.
This is my fifth budget speech and the fifth budget our Government has placed
before the Legislature. It is also our toughest budget as a government but it
is also a budget which continues to invest in our priorities of education, of
health care, of economic development, and of building a better
In commencing my remarks,
I would be remiss as a proud New Democrat from Brandon East if I did not first
comment on the speech on the Budget from the Member for
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the surreal speech we heard from the Leader of the Opposition, full of empty rhetoric and nonsense, really does reflect the sorry state of his party today. As my colleague from Thompson noted, this speech was probably the shortest on record ever made by an Opposition Leader in this House. It really does point to the disarray of a party purporting to be in contention for power. While opposition budget speeches are supposed to be full of passion and legitimate options for government spending, this speech seemed to be made simply out of the obligation to speak.
However, in saying
nothing, the members opposite also speak volumes. I will therefore take the
opportunity to review some of the statements made by the Member for
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I
would like to quote from the Member for
* (16:00)
I think that the Member
for
Mr. Deputy Speaker, we do have a vision on this side of the House, a vision where all Manitobans are valued, where all Manitobans are respected, where all Manitobans are included, where all Manitobans are supported. We have a vision of social justice for all Manitobans, of compassion for all Manitobans, of a sense of community, a sense of inclusion and community for all Manitobans, where education is a right and not a privilege, where all have access to quality health care, not where money determines who has access and who does not.
We believe, Mr. Deputy Speaker, in a vision where communities are strong, where communities are growing, where communities are dynamic, where the wealth of our communities and the worth of our communities and the wealth and worth of our province is judged not by how well we treat our strongest and most advantaged citizens but how well we treat our weakest and most disadvantaged.
We have a vision of
optimism, Mr. Deputy Speaker, a vision of realism, a vision of building for the
future of this province. That is why we are investing in our colleges and
universities, in our public school system, in our health care infrastructure
and health care human resources, in urban renewal, in housing, in growth in the
city of
I will touch upon a few of those investments, Mr. Deputy Speaker, in a few moments. But I think it is important to note that there is, on this side of the House, an articulated vision, an articulated series of policies, and an articulated optimism in our future.
In the areas of colleges
and universities, Mr. Deputy Speaker, we have invested over $100 million in
college and university infrastructure. In my home community of
In the
At
Mr. Deputy Speaker, in
health care, in my home community again, seven times over, 11 years members
opposite in government promised the creation and redevelopment of the Brandon
Regional Health Centre. Seven times citizens in western
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I was proud to attend with the Premier (Mr. Doer), with my colleague from Brandon West, at the unveiling of the new Brandon Regional Health Centre last month. A state-of-the-art $70-million health care facility that will provide, and is providing, world-class health care excellence for rural Manitobans in western Manitoba.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, in
addition to the creation of the Brandon Regional Health Centre, I had the
privilege to be present at an announcement a little over a year ago for the
establishment of the first magnetic resonancing facility outside of the
In terms of urban
renewal, I have made reference to
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the
Premier (Mr. Doer) likes to make reference to the phrase, "
The renaissance that has
taken place in this province under the Doer government, Mr. Deputy Speaker, is
unprecedented in the history of this province and I am certainly very, very
proud to be part of a government that believes in building a
Mr. Deputy Speaker, in terms of housing, this Government has provided more affordable housing in our four and a half short years in office than the members opposite did in their entire eleven years in office under the Filmon administration, both in my home city of Brandon, where we are pushing towards 500 affordable housing units, and in the city of Winnipeg, where we are in the 2000 range, and throughout the province, where we have exciting initiatives being proposed. This is one area where we can all be rightly proud on this side of the House, in terms of providing opportunities for Manitobans of low and moderately low income.
Perhaps the largest project that we have underway as a government and which is taking increasing prominence in this 2004–2005 Budget is the floodway, the floodway expansion. The floodway will provide over one half a billion dollars' worth of employment opportunities, recreation opportunities, community development opportunities, and preserve the 700 000 residents of the city of Winnipeg in the event of catastrophic flood situations such as we have seen, even within this decade with the flood of the century, such as we have seen over the years and over the decades in Manitoba. I am very, very proud to be part of a government that believes in undertaking massive capital works of this nature so that all Manitobans can have safety and security within the Perimeter, and without the Perimeter, when we think of the Assiniboine floodway in Portage, the Shellmouth Dam upstream from Brandon on the Assiniboine River and, as I suggest, the Winnipeg Floodway.
Also, Mr. Deputy Speaker,
I think it would be remiss if I did not touch upon hydro, which is the greatest
natural economic advantage and economic development generator in
I should take a second to
contrast this, again, to members opposite. The two greatest innovations made by
members opposite when they held office in
* (16:10)
The Leader of the Opposition spoke so briefly on education, on health care, on the disadvantage and, indeed, on the Budget itself, that he did not do so much of a disservice to us as he did to factual reality. On education, the member spoke perhaps 15 lines of nonsense and rhetoric on property taxation, and a few other lines cynically hugging teachers.
Well, Mr. Deputy Speaker, let us look at the record on taxation and investment in the public school system. We, on this side of the House, have expanded the educational property tax credit to each homeowner in the province to $400 a year. Members opposite, when they held office, reduced the education property tax credit available to Manitobans. They actually took money out of the pockets of every homeowner in the province.
We have put in place a
program to reduce the educational support levy, the provincial property tax on
education for three years running now, three budgets running. We have annually
reduced this property tax on Manitobans by nearly $100 million. Again, I will
place that in context to the record of the members opposite, where, for 11
years, they did nothing to reduce the educational support levy. For 11 budgets,
they had the opportunity to reduce the property tax burden placed upon
We made a solid commitment, a solid policy initiative to tie expanding educational investment to the rate of growth in the economy and for every budget, for five budgets we have met that promise or exceeded it. My colleague the Member for Gimli, the Minister of Education (Mr. Bjornson), in the House a short while ago talked about gauging the weather when we look at the educational investment and he talked about the Tory record. We can make the analogy with temperatures, where it was minus two, minus two, minus three, zero. Oh, it is plus one today, there is an election on the horizon. Minus two, minus three. We will contrast that record of cynicism and cutbacks to educational investment to our record of solid investment, meeting or exceeding the rate of growth in the economy for five years running. The largest sustained investment in our public school system in the province's history.
Let us not forget the capital infrastructure in our public school system, the bricks and mortar, as it were, of our public school system. In 1999, we inherited a public school system and a public school infrastructure that was crumbling. Every year since coming to office we have invested heavily in our capital infrastructure in the public school system, nearly a quarter of a billion dollars since coming to office, and tens of millions in additional dollars in this Budget alone.
Finally, Mr. Deputy Speaker, let us not forget about the adult learning centre legacy, where over $40 million of public money went out the door of this Legislature without a legislative framework in place to account for that money under the watch of members opposite when they were in office.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, this issue stunk so badly that when I was minister we had to call in the provincial auditor, who went on to identify millions of dollars more completely unaccounted for under this scheme that was directing tens of millions of dollars without a legislative framework.
This was a personally tough issue for me, Mr. Deputy Speaker. It was a very personally tough issue. It was a tough issue for me. It was a tough issue for loved ones who were also personally affected for my defence of the fiscal responsibility and accountability of this Chamber and resulted in much personal slander and ad hominem attacks being delivered my way by members opposite. I remember the slander of criminal fraud being made against me. This was particularly reprehensible and particularly tough both upon myself and loved ones. When there is no defence, the tactic of members opposite is to slander and deliver ad hominem attacks against those of us on this side of the House.
Nonetheless, we did the
right thing in providing accountability to
More than this, however, Mr. Deputy Speaker, our record on education taxation is the polar opposite of members opposite. We have and will continue to deliver meaningful relief to property taxpayers and deliver meaningful programs and meaningful investment to educators.
In one of the other
education issues, Mr. Deputy Speaker, the Member for
Well, Mr. Deputy Speaker,
I am glad that the Member for
It was Sterling Lyon who
first politicized me to action as a student activist in the late 1970s by
scorning educators and immensely raising tuition. In fact, one year I seem to
recall a 20% increase in tuition in a single year. Fortunately,
I would remind members opposite that when we took office in 1999 the collective bargaining rights for teachers had been gutted. Educators were scorned and ridiculed, oftentimes in this Chamber, oftentimes in the public outside of this Chamber. I would remind members opposite that our schools were crumbling, that commercial television was being introduced into the classroom as part of the curriculum, that children who still believed in Santa Claus, Grade 3 children, were being subjected to standardized testing and that no sustainable plan was in place for the funding of our public schools.
We on this side of the House are very proud to have restored teachers’ collective bargaining rights. We are proud to support the good work that educators do in our classrooms and our colleges and our universities across the province and support the good work that educators do in our adult learning centres that today are second to none in this country.
We believe that pedagogic principles should inform what goes on in the classroom, should inform the daily classroom activity and should inform testing. In post-secondary education, we believe in the tuition cuts that we imposed in 1999 and the freeze that was subsequently added to those cuts. Budget 2004-05 continues that freeze.
In no small way, the policies that the Member for Lord Roberts (Ms. McGifford) has put into place has led to the largest expansion in university and college enrolment in recent history. The policies that the member has put into place in terms of capital expansion have restored the infrastructure deficit left by members opposite.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, on the area of education, our record is clear. We stand in stark contrast, proudly stand in stark contrast, to the members opposite, who speak nothing but nonsense when they purport to support public education and our public educators.
* (16:20)
On page 993 of Hansard,
Mr. Deputy Speaker, the Member for
Most telling of all, the
Member for
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I cannot think of an area that more starkly divides this House than our belief in a quality, affordable, publicly supported health care system, and members opposite who see the profit motive as the only thing guiding health care in this province.
The words that the Member
for
On the issue of two-tier health care, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I will be happy, for as long as I am an elected official, previously as a city councillor, today as an MLA, in the future as a citizen, to each and every day be proud to defend and proud to stand up for Canada's public health care system. I will take that to a doorstep. I will take to a senior home. I will take that to any debate, any time, anywhere, to debate with members opposite their vision of a private, profit health care system, an American model versus a Canadian model, where all Manitobans, all Canadians, are valued not because of the size of their pocketbook, but because of the depth of their need.
On the issue of the
disadvantaged, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I will continue. In addition to providing
for the largest growth in affordable housing opportunities in recent history,
we have also provided increases to assistance rates to the most vulnerable
members of our community in this province. We have introduced Healthy Child
It is very tough to make
sense of some of the comments from the Member for
Finally, Mr. Deputy
Speaker, there are many other areas I could speak to, but there is just a
couple more in concluding my remarks. It twigged, when the Member for Morris
(Mrs. Taillieu) was speaking, that the Member for
In contrast to that, we, on this side of the House, have doubled the investment in Pharmacare during our five years in office, and have listed a thousand new drugs to support seniors, and support those in ill health in Manitoba, who need drug products to lead healthier and better lives. Finally, Mr. Deputy Speaker–I see my light flashing–the heartland of strength for today's Tories is rural Manitoba, a small heartland, smaller than ever before, but still a heartland. In Westman, my home region, the Tories remain particularly strong, but that, too, is changing.
Why? Well, let us just
look at the issue of highways. I will conclude by talking about the historic
levels of investment in our public road system: $120 million last year, $130
million this year with more increases to come; $140 million to come. We are
twinning the
Mr. Larry Maguire
(Arthur-Virden): It is my privilege to stand before
this House today, and provide some insight into the why we brought forth a
non-confidence motion in this particular budget that the Government put before
this House, this vast, spending, no-control ship that the NDP are leading in
It is unfortunate, the
member from
But, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I want to first say that, as the representative for Arthur-Virden, there are a great many entrepreneurs and many fine citizens in that corner of the province of Manitoba who have worked extremely hard over the past year to try and survive. The reason they have survived is because of their own initiative. It is because of their strength of families. It is because of their ability to work together in communities. In spite of the fact that a number of folks are still leaving, that our population has decreased somewhat, it is those remaining people who give the strength of those communities and the local citizens who have actually kept the web and the fabric of southwest Manitoba together in the constituency of Arthur-Virden, from the Peace Gardens to Elkhorn and all the communities in between.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, it is due, in no part, with no thanks at all to this provincial government. I think the budgets we have seen, the true colours coming out since the election last summer of this Government and its policies it has put forward and its platforms are giving Manitobans extreme reason as to why they would doubt how they voted last year.
* (16:30)
I want to add that it
became very, very obvious to some of us who announced early that the Premier
(Mr. Doer) was calling an early election last year. He did not have to call an
election to get his regular four-year term for another six or eight months, but
he did. He called the election for last June in
We knew, or our suspicions were there at least because we did not have access to the books of this Province, but it was becoming very apparent with the unbalanced books they had had, the money they had stolen from Manitoba Hydro, the funds they had raided from the rainy day fund, all of the pots of gold they had taken away from the ends of the rainbow, to even get halfway back to where they were when Mr. Pawley left government is a shame.
They knew there were no
more pots of gold left to pick up from, Mr. Deputy Speaker. They knew they were
going to have to go and raise taxes to the citizens of
Now, if that was not
suspicious enough, my honourable colleague from the constituency of Morris has
just pointed out that nobody in
Now the spending of this Province has gone from $5.9 billion in 1999 to this Budget before us today of $7.4 billion. It is on the same incline. It is on the same incline as it was in the '84 to '88 period. My, how quickly we forget.
I want to point out the
differences. The members across the road will say, I will make an analogy here,
there are a number of things they could have done with those dollars. They
could have brought things under control to make the future of
I want to say that over
the years the
Mr. Harry Schellenberg,
Acting Speaker, in the Chair
Next year, I daresay, if
the Premier is able to come anywhere close to keeping his word, he will
completely eliminate the debt in the province of Alberta, no deficit, no debt.
Now that is fiscal management, at the same time as he has continued to provide
education and health care and all of the other social programs that
We often hear how it is so much cheaper to live in Manitoba, but I want to tell you that in Alberta, if you look at the government of the day, in their own budget that they just brought down, if you add personal income taxes–their personal income taxes and their health premiums together, and Manitoba's personal income tax–even though we do not have those personal health premiums, it is still $200 less overall in the province of Alberta.
They always give us the
example, oh, but it is so much–you have to add the health care costs on in
Even after this Budget,
and we made a lot of cause about this in the last budget this Government
brought down, in fact the last two budgets, we were, first of all, the highest
taxed personally west of Québec. We were the highest taxed last year west of
I want to draw an analogy
back to those years in the eighties and the early nineties. Members across the
way say that the debt in
Llet us be very clear
that if balanced budget legislation in
In the early nineties and
the late eighties, Mr. Acting Speaker, in this province we were in a recession.
These two colleagues in front of me here and members who were in the government
and Cabinet ministers of the day in Manitoba under the Conservative government
of Gary Filmon were trying to balance the books at a time when the federal
government had cut over $300 million away in the fiscal area and transfer
payments for health care. At a time when interest rates were extremely high
across the country and in
I want to point out that the Conservative government, under Eric Stefanson and my former colleague from Minnedosa, Harold Gilleshammer, balanced the books in those tough times in this province–
An Honourable Member: Both sets of books.
Mr. Maguire: –balanced them, all of them. This Government cannot even balance the
books at 2% interest rates. We have got the lowest interest rates in, probably,
Mr. Deputy Speaker in the Chair
Some members across the way
want to talk about accountants in some of the banking institutions that they
deal with across the
* (16:40)
That, Mr. Deputy Speaker,
at a time when they are taxing Manitobans to the tune of $90-million new money.
The Premier (Mr. Doer) said he was not elected to raise taxes. He did not mean
it, and he did not mean that he was going to fix health or end hallway medicine
in six months with $15 million, even though he has spent now something like
$1.2 billion more in health care. How many multiples of $15 million is that?
Seventy times of what he said it would be. No wonder you are smiling; you know
the numbers. This Government has spent seventy times the amount of money that
they said they would to end hallway medicine in six months, and they still have
not fixed it. It would be a different thing if there still were not people in
the hallways of
They just feel like they
would be short-changing the future of health care in
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I
think that the point has been well made that this Government are not fiscal
managers. Every one of the departments that we have looked at today, you know,
in spite of the fact that they have said we are going to reduce administration
costs, our leader pointed out today in Question Period all of the various areas
that this Government has increased administration costs and reduced funds to
front-line operations, health care, education, justice, agriculture. The next
thing they are going to do is do what
Well, yes, and the colleague from
Steinbach indicated the closure of rural hospitals. Well, that saved a lot of
money in
So, I want to just reiterate that point because it is one that I think that Manitobans will defeat this Government on in three years' time. It is the one crucible, if the floodway does not fix them before then, that will cause citizens of Manitoba to come back to the Conservative Party in this province and say, "We want you to do what you had to do after the Pawley government left, and that is come back and clean up the mess left by these high-spending socialists in the province of Manitoba."
Mr. Deputy Speaker, we said in 1999 that there could be a fair balance between social spending and tax relief in the province. I want to go back to saying that the only difference between the Alberta government and the Manitoba government, when you look at the proportions of excesses in their budgets over the last number of years, has been that the Alberta government actually reduced their debt. Even this Government, in their own Budget today, has indicated that there is a $30-million saving by paying down some debt since they came to power, and they put that due to the fact that they reduced some of the debt in Manitoba, when it really has more to do with the reduction of the interest rates on that debt in the province of Manitoba.
There is a big difference,
Mr. Deputy Speaker. The citizens of
I want to give just one
more example of how this Government who proclaims that they have been such a
fiscally responsible manager has done absolutely nothing to try and hold their
spending under control. All you have to do is compare the spending of the 2003
Budget compared to the 2004 Budget. If you look at what the revenue side of the
2003 Budget was, it was some, and I see some of the members flipping through to
try and find out where that was, it was $7.302 billion. That was the estimate
of revenue that the
We know that this Government
inflated the revenue this year as they did last year, saying that they were
going to have a growth process of 3 and it came in at 1.9. Who is going to
believe them this year, because they only had to take $583 million extra to
balance the books last year. This year they are saying, "Well, we will do
it for 10 percent or roughly 8 percent of what it was last year at 58." I
do not think there is a Manitoban left alive that believes that this Government
is going to come in and not have to dip into that $3-million surplus. I mean,
that is just above as much of a farce as
I want to go back to the disaster that struck our rural areas this particular past year in the BSE issue. Now, I stood up in this House and challenged the Minister of Agriculture (Ms. Wowchuk) and the Premier during Question Period to at least put the hundred thousands of dollars that they spent on their advertising campaign to go out and say that they had made $180 million available to Manitoba farmers and actually tell Manitoba farmers what they paid out. There is a huge difference between saying I will lend you another $100 million and put you further in debt, and actually putting some money in their pockets.
A cash advance would have
done that. Our leader and Ag critic came out and did that in early July some
six weeks after the May 20 BSE cow was found. This Government had $43 million
in their budget under these risk management programs for use in these kinds of
areas, Mr. Deputy Speaker. It has come to our attention, and I am sure more of
it will be borne out in Estimates, that this Government did not even spend that
much in regard to the BSE issue in the
Then we had some forest fires that they could not budget for either. There is not a government in any province that does not do some budgeting for forest fires in any given year.
Mr. Deputy Speaker, I want to point out that this is a shame to come in with these kinds of rhetorical statements and press releases. It is as bad as the Justice Minister, who every time there was an issue that came up last year and was challenged by our Justice critics, would put out another press release and say he had done something, and really nothing happened. [interjection]
* (16:50)
In this case, another farmer fell, but they did not care. They did not take any more actions than putting out another press release and saying, well, we made a hundred million available. We made 12 million available for transportation. We got a two-cent-a-pound feeder program out here, $2 a head, rather, for our feeder program that they announced on the first of August, retroactive to the early part of June, said it would continue until October 15 and, within three weeks of putting the thing out, cancelled it on July 20. They did not even carry out the last one, two, almost three months of a five-month program, only got it going for about six months and said they ran out of money. Well, what they really did was draw it back and realign it and put it into a transportation program to haul feed.
I also challenge the
Agriculture Minister by saying what in the blazes are these farmers in the
drought-stricken areas of
Well, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I do not know how many farmers have come to me this winter–I have lost track there have been so many–that said this was the biggest farce in the world. We had to take the longest way to get from A to B that we could possibly record on any map and still have any cause. Some of the fellows were in such poor dire straits that they absolutely had to qualify for some of those funds because it was actually the money they were using to put the feed on the truck to get it to haul in the first place.
So what does this Government do? Well, they come out in this Budget and tax these farmers some more. [interjection] Real good idea. Well, no. I asked the Finance Minister (Mr. Selinger) about his diesel fuel increase. I said, "Surely you are not going to increase diesel fuel to farmers on their production, on their day-to-day work on their tractors and their own grain-hauling equipment." He said, "Well, of course not, we are making it parallel to gas taxes. Of course they are not taxed on purple gas when they are fuel for production." I said, "Well, thank heaven, but at the same time you have just increased their production costs on every tonne of fertilizer that gets delivered to the yard, on every load of hogs, or beef, or chickens, or eggs. Anything else that leaves the farming operation, this Government taxed it."
Like somebody said in the House the other day, "If it moves, they taxed it." I have to say, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that while I have lived in the rural area all of my life and that my responsibilities in this House are now critic to rural development and Transportation, that it is most disappointing to look at a government that surely must recognize that we have four or five of the top trucking companies in Canada based in Winnipeg, based in Manitoba, some of them in Brandon. [interjection]
Steinbach as well, the member from there, he is always sharp. He never wants you to forget about that area in the world, the southeast and the southwest. We will help take care of this whole province in the long run, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
I want you to know that
this Government does not care about farmers. They do not care about truckers
either. How could any government that has any hint of responsibility increase
diesel fuel taxes to a commercial trucking industry that has most of the
trucking industry head offices in
Also, in this Budget,
they increased the vehicle licensing and registration fees, this Budget alone
$23. But, since this Government came in, that tax has gone up by $43 a unit.
Now, you know, many of us who now live in communities or even in cities have
one or two vehicles, so it might cost us, what, the member from
But, if you are a farmer
in
If there is a place that
they can get money to keep up their activities and their spending habits that
this Premier has, in
I want to say, Mr. Deputy Speaker, as I did earlier, that this Government has not spent all of the budget that it had on highways last year. We look forward to the minister being able to explain that one when he gets into estimates.
We are also wanting to
let him know that, if it had not have been for the 2000 petitions that we got
together and put forward in this house, that No. 1 highway would never have
seen any dirt moved either. This Government would not have acted on No. 1
highway if it had not have been for the thousands of petitions that were put
forth by the citizens of that region to get it built and twinned in the first
place. They did not care about safety, Mr. Deputy Speaker. They were not caring
about safety, and they were not caring about that. If they were really to care
about safety, they would have been out there on the
The member from that area only knows how many accidents, and how many people have been killed on that–
Mr. Deputy Speaker: The honourable member's time has expired.
Mr. Daryl Reid (Transcona): It is my pleasure to rise to add my comments about Budget '04.
I want to say, and start off first thanking my colleagues in our Government for the excellent work that they have done in preparation, and in drafting of this provincial budget this year, and in past years. Mr. Deputy Speaker, this has been an exceptionally challenging year for Manitobans and for our Government as we tried to balance the finances of our province.
My colleagues in this House and I listened to the members opposite. It is interesting. They seem to forget the BSE issue that they had raised from time to time in the Chamber here, and the cost that was associated with that, that our Government had to absorb. An unbudgeted, unallocated expense, in the sense that no one could predict that BSE would be facing us as a major challenge in this province. We had committed some $170 million towards solving that BSE challenge in this province.
Not to mention, the
second-worst forest fire year in the history of the
Now, in addition to that, Mr. Deputy Speaker, we are facing additional challenges this year with the federal government withdrawing some funding, $104 million from health care in this province, which is, again, an additional challenge for us.
I wish the first
ministers in
Well, Mr. Deputy Speaker, you can
never tell when you are negotiating with Liberals. It is one of those things
that you have to face. So I wish the premiers in
* (17:00)
Well, we will see the commitment of Liberals, perhaps, later on this year when the first ministers and the Prime Minister go to the table to see if the Liberals are actually, indeed, interested in fulfilling the promises that were contained in the red book when they talk about a national Pharmacare program and participation in the Home Care program, two areas that are sorely lacking federal participation.
Mr. Speaker in the Chair
Mr. Speaker, I encourage
the Member for
I want to say, Mr. Speaker, I am proud of the work that our Minister of Finance has done in bringing forward the current budget. This minister, under exceptionally difficult and challenging circumstances, has managed to once again balance our Budget in every sense of the word. We have followed the balanced budget legislation in this province. We continue to fund the pension liability and pay down the debt in this province, and have not done it this year as previous governments have by drawing on the Fiscal Stabilization Fund. Now, the member opposite can laugh about that, but it is unfortunate that his government had to draw on the Fiscal Stabilization Fund to do that.
In addition to that, I
just listened to the comments that were coming out just in this last day or so
about the
Mr. Speaker, in this province, we had continued to make our investments in health care. I am proud of the work that our Minister of Health (Mr. Chomiak) has done to continue to build our health care system, to train more people in health care, the nurses, the doctors, the health care professionals that are involved in the health care system to rebuild that health care system after the devastating years, the dark years of the Tory government in this province. What they did to undermine health care in this province is they moved their way along the path towards privatization of health care. As the Member for Brandon East (Mr. Caldwell) has said, "Any time, any place, anywhere, we will go out and we will debate the issue of your privatized health care philosophy versus our public health care philosophy in this province."
We have contributed, I
believe, about $116 million of new health care funds in this province, which, I
believe, is about a little over 5% increase. We are putting $100 million into
the new Health Sciences Centre project in this city of Winnipeg, $100-million
project; $100 million that I can say we are proud of. I can remember in my 14
years as a member of this Legislature, the previous government, the Filmon
administration, promising seven times to expand the
Our Government has
purchased new CT scanners; we have purchased new MRIs; we have purchased new
dialysis machines, new ultrasound machines. We have the first gamma knife
machine in Canada here in Manitoba, and we are proud of the new capital
investment we have made in our health care system to help reduce the waiting
lists for all of the people of Manitoba. We have not played favourites. We have
placed those machines in different areas of the province, even represented by
some of the members opposite. For example, Mr. Speaker, Steinbach and Winkler
have those machines, in Portage La Prairie. So we have made the investments for
the people of
In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, we have expanded coverage for our Pharmacare program for Manitobans. We have, as the Minister of Health has said here, placed 1000 new drugs onto the drug formulary of this province, the cutting edge drugs that Manitobans want, who call our offices frequently and, I am sure, call offices of members opposite, wanting to have access to those new drugs. Yes, we have had to ask Manitobans to contribute a small amount more towards the cost of the operation of the Pharmacare program, but with the 20% increase in the Pharmacare cost in this province–I remember in my time in this Legislative Chamber when the members opposite were in government, where they gutted the Pharmacare program and made it income tested, and the devastating impact that that had on people in my community, I am sure in every community of this province. I recollect that very clearly when that decision was made by the Conservative government of the day. We have put $5.6 million more into our Pharmacare program in this province, in addition to the additional drugs that we have put onto the drug formulary.
Mr. Speaker, with respect
to education, I think our new Minister of Education (Mr. Bjornson) is doing an
exceptional job as he works to build our education system of this province. We
have, as we committed to do, continued to cut the educational support levy off
the property tax bills of Manitobans. This year, we have cut a further $10
million from the ESL costs of Manitobans for a three-year total now of $92
million, less education property taxes that Manitobans do not now have to pay
as a result of our Minister of Finance (Mr. Selinger) and our Minister of
Education's initiative to reduce ESL. That will mean that for an average home
in my community, just this year alone, $33 less in provincial ESL education
property tax with respect to that. [interjection]
Let us talk about school taxes. I can recall sitting in the seat there where, perhaps, the Member for Tuxedo (Mrs. Stefanson) is sitting now, listening to the Minister of Finance and Minister of Education, when you announced for my community that you were cutting the education support for my community, 2 percent, 2% cut the next year. Oh, it is election year, zero. Next year, after the election, you were successful in coming back into office again. You cut the support for the education in my community, again, after the election. That went on year after year after year, and you continued to erode public education in my community and the education of everyone that is in this room here today.
I have to say, Mr. Speaker, that I am proud that every year that we have been in government, we have funded public education at or exceeded the growth of the economy of our province. This year, we funded it at 1.8 percent for my community, which means an additional 1.3-million new dollars went into my school division this year; 1.3-million new dollars. That is despite a slight declining enrolment in student population in my school division. So there was more money going into my school division to help fund public education.
At the same time, Mr. Speaker, we have continued to fund and to keep our commitment with respect to the post-secondary tuition freeze. I am proud of that. That enables more people in my community to attend college and university, to go on to have those high-skilled jobs that we want them to have when they finish their education.
Mr. Speaker, I want to
talk a bit about highways, Transportation and Government Services, something
that I have close and near and dear to my heart. I listened to and have read
the comments from some of the members opposite with respect to the highways'
capital program that we have here and the work that our minister of highways
and transportation has undertaken on behalf of the people of
An Honourable Member: And he is going to cut the ribbon in five years.
* (17:10)
Mr. Reid: Well, you can keep dreaming. I guess it is always good to have a dream or a vision for the future. Where would we be without dreams? You can continue along that tract if that is your vision.
I have to say that I was quite proud, in addition to the Member for Rossmere (Mr. Schellenberg) and the Member for Radisson (Mr. Jha) who played an active role in this process, the Member for Selkirk (Mr. Dewar) was there with us, along with the Minister of Transportation and Government Services (Mr. Lemieux). We were proud that we were able to work within our Government and with our Minister of Transportation and Government Services to finally get this project moving when the members opposite had 11 years to twin that highway and did not do that job.
Mr. Speaker, let me share
with members opposite about some of the things. I know the Member for
That functional design
study was done and completed by Reid Crowther for the department in 1988. In addition to that, it took until
1996, eight years after that study was completed, for the then Filmon
government to start that first section of twinning of the
An Honourable Member: I have never said that in my life.
Mr. Reid: Well, perhaps we said it about you then.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud
that our minister and our Government has now committed to a $65-million project
to complete the
The work that has to be
undertaken to complete this project is pretty detailed. There has to be an
environmental study, something the Member for
We also have, in addition to that, Mr. Speaker, because we do require a number of components to have this project moving forward, we are committed this year, our Government is committed to moving that project forward. We are going to bank up the land around the CPR tracks to make sure we can construct that interchange, that overpass.
An Honourable Member: Delay, delay, delay.
Mr. Reid: Well, your government I remember, and I live in Transcona next to where that site is, I remember it was about two years that you banked that land and shaped it before you did anything with the overpass over the CPR tracks, so do not tell us that we cannot take that time to make sure the project is done right because we are going to do it right.
The department of highways and transportation, I cannot say enough good things about the folks that work in that department. Over the course of the last several years, I have had the opportunity to work with the folks very closely, and I can say they are some of the most dedicated folks you will find in all of the civil service, not only in this province, but of any province in Canada that I have had the fortune to talk with civil servants working for the different governments. I am quite proud of the folks working in our civil service and, in particular, in Transportation and Government Services.
Mr. Speaker, we are going to make a $65 million investment. That is going to be some $30 million for the interchange at 59 highway, something that you in the Conservative government, could not do in 11 years: 11 years, you could not build that interchange. It is going to cost us another, oh, I would say, about $8-10 million to do the overpass over the CPR tracks, which we are in preparation for this year. It is going to cost about $1 million a kilometre, so about $16 million to do the asphalt on that route there.
We have the interchange point to the CNR tracks in Highway 15, in my community, that we have a dilemma there, because CNR, historically, even when the Conservatives were in government, would not give a commitment to keeping that rail line there well into the future, before we would expend that kind of money.
Mr. Speaker, that is another area that we are going to have to address, with respect to that. So that is some of the information with respect to Highway 15, and I hope the Member for Springfield (Mr. Schuler) will know and understand that there is much work that has to go into this, and we are committed to this project. It is nice that he came on board now that we are going to move forward with this project.
Mr. Speaker, I also want
to say about the Member for River East (Mrs. Mitchelson), I listened to some of
the comments that she had made in this Chamber here when the Budget was being
spoken by the Minister of Finance (Mr. Selinger). I listened to what the Member
for River East said where she does not support the rapid transit system that
the tripartite levels of government are now engaged in. Now, you can talk about
those studies that have been ongoing for a number of years. The studies have
been done [interjection]
Come over to the city of
So we are going to be a
partner in the first phase, and then there is a functional design study for
phase 2, which will move out to northeast
The Member for River East
is saying forget it, scrap the rapid transit system, because we do not need it.
Well, I can tell you that the people of northeast
Now, I listened to the
Member for
Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.
Mr. Speaker: Order. All members are honourable members in the House, and, when singling out a specific member, we should use caution in the words that we choose. So I caution the honourable Member for Transcona, and I want to make sure that all members pick and choose their words very carefully, because each and every member is an honourable member in this House.
Mr. Reid: Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and if I offended any member, I withdraw those comments.
Mr. Speaker, I listened
when the Minister of Finance (Mr. Selinger) was reading the Budget in the House
here, and the Minister of Finance was referring to a section with respect to
our centre for disease control. We have, and I am proud of this, the only Level
4 lab in
I was appalled that the
Member for
An Honourable Member: You are making that up, too.
Mr. Reid: No, I am not making it up. There are other members of the House–
* (17:20)
An Honourable Member: It is right there in Hansard, is it not?
Mr. Reid: Well, if that is your choice to deny what you said in this House
when other members were present, that is your choice. Mr. Speaker, I was
appalled the Member for
We have many new
initiatives as a part of our government operations. We are going to finish the
twinning of the highway to the
We have taken some steps to reduce the civil service positions that were–[interjection] You can say that, but I guess you will have to wait, will you not stay tuned. We are going to be saving money with respect to that.
Mr. Speaker, we are also taking the steps to combine the department of Driver Vehicle Licencing with Manitoba Public Insurance to reduce the duplication, the administration and to improve customer service for the people of Manitoba. I think that is a wise step, and while we have much work to do to make sure that moves forward smoothly, it is something that our Government has undertaken. One of the cautions I will say to members of the House, is to make sure that we would have a separate regulatory function and that the regulatory functions of DVL do not transfer over to MPI because I think it is important to have a separation between regulation and the other operational functions.
We have as a part of our
Government, and I listened to the speech of the Leader of the Official
Opposition (Mr. Murray), and I want to quote the comments that particular
individual said. It says in his statement that the Premier has no plans to grow
a
Mr. Speaker, I have
mentioned many of the issues here today with respect to how we are growing the
economy in
I want to tell some of
the members opposite about a friend of mine that happens to have a construction
company, and that friend of mine was talking to me last year about construction
on the project. I was asking him how his business was doing. I know the member
for Headingley, this individual would be familiar to her, but I will not
mention the name on the record here. This individual said that since the NDP
has come to government, he has never, ever had so much construction work as he
has had; in fact, he cannot keep up with the all work that he has. [interjection]
Well, the interesting part is that he is a Conservative. It would seem unusual that I would pay off my Conservative friends.
Mr. Speaker, I also had a chance at a funeral in my community this week, unfortunately, one of my constituents, a long-time community member, passed away after a lengthy illness. It was a sad occasion, but in those different events one has the opportunity to talk with members of the community. I was proud this individual came up to me and said that he works in the film industry. This individual said to me, "Thank you, thank you, thank you for the work that you have done to maintain the film industry of this province, because you have made my life more comfortable and have given me more work to keep me employed in that industry." I am proud that our Government has kept that commitment, and has made an opportunity. We have built the film and sound industry of our province, and we have done a lot of good work. I would like to congratulate our minister responsible for the work that has gone on with respect to that.
Mr. Speaker, I listen to
the statements the Leader of the Official Opposition (Mr. Murray) said that the
Premier (Mr. Doer) has no plans to grow the
I think, Mr. Speaker,
that it will not be too far down the road that the Albertans will be looking to
Mr. Speaker, we have
committed $140 million to the City of
Mr. Speaker, our
population is increasing. It is the highest it has been on an annual basis
since 1986. We have over 1000 more young people coming to the
We have, Mr. Speaker, I
believe, the lowest hydro rates in
We have the lowest
automobile insurance rates in all of
We have the lowest
unemployment in
An Honourable Member: Thank you, Reg Alcock.
Mr. Reid: Thank you who? Reg who? That is the new guy, is it not? The guy who just came on the scene.
An
Honourable Member: Jean
Chrétien, Paul Martin.
Mr. Reid: Yes, right, they sure helped us in
Take $155 million a year
in fuel tax out of
Mr. Speaker, as we have often said in our statements that we make to Manitobans, and I have said only some of the things that I wanted to say here because I wanted to talk more about our work with respect to highways. We have, in our province, made a significant investment. We have accomplished–
Mr. Speaker: Order.
Mr. Kelvin Goertzen (Steinbach): Is it the will of the House to call it 5:30?
Mr. Speaker: The honourable Member for Transcona's time had expired.
Is there a will of the House to call it 5:30? [Agreed]
When this matter is again before the House, the debate will remain open.
The hour being 5:30 p.m., this House is adjourned and stands adjourned until 10 a.m. tomorrow (Friday).