LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Mr. Speaker: O Eternal and Almighty God, from Whom all power and wisdom come, we are assembled here before Thee to frame such laws as may tend to the welfare and prosperity of our province. Grant, O merciful God, we pray Thee, that we may desire only that which is in accordance with Thy will, that we may seek it with wisdom and know it with certainty and accomplish it perfectly for the glory and honour of Thy name and for the welfare of all our people. Amen.
Good afternoon, everyone. Please be seated.
ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS
Mr. Speaker: Introduction of bills?
Mr. Speaker: Seeing no bills, we'll move on to petitions.
Provincial Trunk Highway 206 and Cedar Avenue in Oakbank–Pedestrian Safety
Mr. Ron Schuler (St. Paul): Mr. Speaker, I wish to present the following petition to the Legislative Assembly.
The background to this petition is as follows:
(1) Every day, hundreds of Manitoba children walk to school in Oakbank and must cross PTH 206 at the intersection with Cedar Avenue.
(2) There have been many dangerous incidents where drivers use the right shoulder to pass vehicles that have stopped at the traffic light waiting to turn left at this intersection.
(3) Law enforcement officials have identified this intersection as a hot spot of concern for the safety of schoolchildren, drivers and emergency responders.
We petition the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as follows:
To urge that the provincial government improve the safety at the pedestrian corridor at the intersection of PTH 206 and Cedar Avenue in Oakbank by considering such steps as highlighting pavement markings to better indicate the location of the shoulders and crosswalk, as well as installing a lighted crosswalk structure.
This is signed by C. Hanuschuk, D. Hughes, S. Johannson and many, many other fine Manitobans.
Mr. Speaker: In keeping with our rule 132(6), when petitions are read they are deemed to have been received by the House.
Province-Wide Long-Term Care–Review Need and Increase Spaces
Mrs. Bonnie Mitchelson (River East): I wish to present the following petition to the Legislative Assembly.
The background to this petition is as follows:
(1) There are currently 125 licensed personal‑care homes, PCHs, across Manitoba, consisting of less than 10,000 beds.
(2) All trends point to an increasingly aging population who will require additional personal‑care‑home facilities.
(3) By some estimates, Manitoba will require an increase of more than 5,100 personal-care-home beds by 2036.
(4) The number of Manitobans with Alzheimer's disease or other dementia-related illness who will require personal-care-home services are steadily increasing and are threatening to double within the current generation.
(5) The last personal-care-home review in many areas, including the Swan River Valley area currently under administration of the Prairie Mountain regional health authority, was conducted in 2008.
(6) Average occupancy rates for personal-care homes across the province are exceeding 97 per cent, with some regions, such as Swan River Valley, witnessing 100 per cent occupancy rates.
(7) These high occupancy rates are creating the conditions where many individuals requiring long-term care are being displaced far away from their families and home community.
We petition the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as follows:
(1) To urge the provincial government to consider immediately enacting a province-wide review of the long-term-care needs of residents in Manitoba.
And (2) to urge the provincial government to recognize the stresses placed upon the health-care system by the current and continuous aging population and consider increasing the availability of long-term-care spaces, PCH beds, in communities across the province.
And, Mr. Speaker, this petition is signed by G. Orton, C. Guslafson, F. Kesterke and many, many other fine Manitobans.
Proposed Lac du Bonnet Marina–Request for Research into Benefits and Costs
Mr. Wayne Ewasko (Lac du Bonnet): I wish to present the following petition to the Legislative Assembly.
And these are the reasons for this petition:
Lac du Bonnet is a recreational area with great natural beauty.
The Winnipeg River is one of the greatest distinguishing cultural and recreational resources in that area.
Manitoba marinas increase recreational access and increase the desirability of properties in their host communities.
The people of Lac du Bonnet overwhelmingly support a public harbourfront marina in Lac du Bonnet.
We petition the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as follows:
To urge the provincial government to consider collaborating with other levels of government to research the economic benefits and construction costs of a marina in Lac du Bonnet.
This petition is signed by D. Marsch, B. Woodfire, E. Hiebert and many, many more fine Manitobans, Mr. Speaker.
Bipole III Land Expropriation–Collective Bargaining Request
Mr. Blaine Pedersen (Midland): I wish to present the following petition to the Legislative Assembly.
The background to this petition is as follows:
On November 19th, 2014, the Premier authorized an order-in-council enabling Manitoba Hydro to take valuable and productive farmland for its controversial Bipole III transmission line project without due process of law.
On November 24th, 2014, the minister responsible for the administration of The Manitoba Hydro Act signed a confirming order for the province of Manitoba declaring that no notice to landowners is required for the seizure of property.
This waiver of notice represents an attack on rural families and their property rights in a modern democratic society. There was not even an opportunity provided for debate in the Manitoba Legislature. In many cases, the private property seized has been part of a family farm for generations.
Manitoba Hydro has claimed that it's only ever expropriated one landowner in its entire history of operation. The provincial government has now gone ahead and instituted expropriation procedures against more than 200 landowners impacted by Bipole III.
Since November 2013, the Manitoba Bipole III Landowner Committee, MBLC, in association with the Canadian Association of Energy and Pipeline Landowner Associations, CAEPLA, have been trying to engage Manitoba Hydro to negotiate a fair business agreement.
For over 14 months, the provincial government and Manitoba Hydro have acted in bad faith in their dealings with Manitoba landowners or their duly authorized agents. Those actions have denied farmers their right to bargain collectively to protect their property and their businesses from Bipole III.
MBLC, CAEPLA has not formed an association to stop the Bipole III project and they are not antidevelopment. MBLC, CAEPLA has simply come together, as a group of people, as Manitobans, to stand up for property rights and the right to collectively bargain for a fair business agreement that protects the future well-being of their businesses.
MBLC, CAEPLA are the–are duly authorized agents for Manitoba landowners who wish to exercise their freedom to associate and negotiate in good faith.
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We petition the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as follows:
To urge that the provincial government immediately direct Manitoba Hydro to engage with MBLC, CAEPLA in order to negotiate a fair business agreement that addresses the many legitimate concerns of farm families affected by the Bipole III transmission line.
And this petition is signed by A. Pauls, P. Fondeur, L. Karlowsky and many more fine Manitobans.
Mr. Speaker: Committee reports? Tabling of reports? Ministerial statements?
Mr. Speaker: Prior to oral questions, I'd like to draw the attention of honourable members to the public gallery where we have with us today Janine Boulanger; Paul and Doreen Brulé; and Eveline Touchette, who are the guests of the honourable Minister of Tourism, Culture, Heritage, Sport and Consumer Protection (Mr. Lemieux).
And also in the public gallery we have with us this afternoon Kristina McMillan and Nancy Heinrichs, who are the guests of the honourable Minister of Children and Youth Opportunities (Ms. Wight).
On behalf of all honourable members, we welcome all of you here this afternoon.
Flood Protection Record
Mr. Brian Pallister (Leader of the Official Opposition): Quite the story in the Free Press today, Mr. Speaker.
The Infrastructure Minister, we know, likes announcements. He's the king of Hoop and Holler, and he did an announcement on July 25th last year saying that he was going to be spending $5 million helping flooded Interlake First Nations with floodfighting equipment.
At 12:10 today, the Premier (Mr. Selinger) issued a statement saying that, when First Nations in the Interlake came to us with an urgent request for flood protection, we acted.
So two questions for the Premier today: Could he table the urgent request or at least tell us when the urgent request was received? And, besides his minister issuing a press release, what specific action was taken to help these flooded bands and the First Nations communities in the Interlake?
Hon. Steve Ashton (Minister responsible for Emergency Measures): Well, Mr. Speaker, first of all, we make no apologies for the efforts we have put in consistently to work with First Nations to improve their ability to fight floods.
And I want to address, in particular, the vulnerability of the people in and around the Lake St. Martin area, four communities chronically flooded now for the better part of half a century, and the degree to which, Mr. Speaker, we have put in place initiatives to protect by diking during major floods, an emergency outlet. But they have indicated that while we construct the permanent outlet, which, again, is going to be a significant improvement for people in that area, their need for flood equipment in the interim.
And, in fact, in July of last year, Mr. Speaker, they raised issues related to the emergency operation, the emergency outlet, both in terms of flood equipment and in terms of fisheries issues. We met with them. I met with the Deputy Premier. I met with the member from the Interlake. We resolved those issues–
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The honourable minister's time on this question has elapsed.
Mr. Pallister: We're concerned about the lack of effort and co-ordination on the part of the government, and this is not exclusively in terms of the issuance of their conflicting press releases either, Mr. Speaker.
Now, the minister speaks about efforts. I just asked him a specific question about what those efforts were; he failed to answer that question. He talked about the meetings, that's true. He talked about consultation, that's true too. And not to suggest that meetings and consultation aren't important, Mr. Speaker, but the Infrastructure Minister did a photo op on July 25th where he announced $5 million would be expended on floodfighting equipment. So that goes a little bit beyond just your usual coffee‑party approach, which is the one the government's taking on many other issues.
Now, apart from the flood photo op that the minister engaged in on July 25th, I want to know what action the government took, what specific action the government took, to help flooded First Nations in the Interlake.
Mr. Ashton: Well, first of all, Mr. Speaker, as is the normal situation in the House, the Leader of the Opposition is only partially correct.
The announcement was made with the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and with the MLA for the area, who's been a strong advocate for those communities, also with the chair of the Interlake regional tribal council. It followed meetings that had taken place.
I want to remind the member that we have put in place, again, the operation of the emergency channel, and there was real concern with First Nations. There was opposition expressed by fishers, by local First Nations, by the IRTC and by the grand chief of AMC about the operation of that outlet, which was critical to our flood response.
Mr. Speaker, in regards to two specific areas, one being fisheries issues, we agreed in principle. We announced in July that we would resolve those issues, and we had several meetings to do that. The other one was in terms of flood–
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The honourable minister's time on this question has elapsed.
Mr. Pallister: Well, I stand corrected by the minister yet again, Mr. Speaker. So it wasn't a photo op; it was photo ops, plural, okay.
Now, my question was in regard to the specific actions the government took, not in terms of the prediscussion but the specific actions. The government cares very much, this minister in particular, about his takeoffs; it's his landings that he seems to have trouble with, Mr. Speaker.
This is a flood photo op that he conducted on July 25th, 2014. At that photo op, he announced that he would be expending 5 million taxpayer-paid dollars on floodfighting equipment. We understand that that was not the case.
This is a dysfunctional government. It does make a lot of empty promises and its dysfunction causes a lot of unnecessary and harmful delays. But it also is a government that abides by secrecy too–far too often.
And so I will ask the minister–the Premier (Mr. Selinger) refuses to respond–after almost a year, would he answer the question, please: What specific action did the government take to fulfill the photo-op promise that the minister made?
Mr. Ashton: Well, first of all, Mr. Speaker, I referenced the fact that two issues were identified. One was in terms of fisheries. We engaged, under leadership of our Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, in a number of follow-up meetings. We committed in principle to dealing with the impacts of the operation of the emergency outlet in terms of fishing, and we did conclude an agreement. So, indeed, it was an announcement, not a photo op. The reality is those fishers now get the compensation that they deserve.
And in terms of the other issues involving the emergency operations centre, I point out, Mr. Speaker, that they came to us in the spring of 2014 after years of chronic flooding. We raised with them our interest in working with them and the federal government on that specifically. They came to us in terms of their immediate need for floodfighting equipment in July and we committed, and I can quote from the letter we wrote on July 18th that we were committing to the $5 million worth of equipment.
I note, by the way, Mr. Speaker, that–
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The minister's time on this question has elapsed.
Competitive Bidding Practices
Mr. Reg Helwer (Brandon West): Mr. Speaker, the Auditor General of Manitoba has blasted the NDP government for waiving competitive bids or not issuing tenders. The minister of MIT went one step further in bypassing Treasury Board for $5 million for floodfighting equipment. This is a clear example of Manitobans paying more and getting less.
What other examples of this abuse of the competitive bid process can we expect to see from this minister?
Hon. Steve Ashton (Minister responsible for Emergency Measures): First of all, Mr. Speaker, the member's incorrect. It did go to Treasury Board. All significant expenditures have to go to Treasury Board, and a tender was put out. So he's wrong on both counts.
And, again, I'd remind people that we, members of this House, that we are committed to the Lake St. Martin communities. We're involved right now in finalizing discussions, in fact, moving in terms of putting in the housing to replace the flood-impacted housing, the chronically mould-infested housing. We have a whole new plan for that area in terms of relocated communities in terms of high ground.
Mr. Speaker, we are correcting 50 years of neglect in those communities. We are committed to those communities and we will continue to be committed to those communities.
Mr. Helwer: Mr. Speaker, the minister responsible for MIT apparently took it upon himself to bypass Manitoba's competitive bid process to buy the flood barriers and ignore Treasury Board.
Why did the minister go against not only government policy but his own government?
Mr. Ashton: Well, first of all, Mr. Speaker, I'll repeat for the member–perhaps he wasn't listening at the time–but it did go to Treasury Board. Every major expenditure has to go to Treasury Board, and in July we were in a flood situation and, as is the case in flood situations–we've had this discussion before–we often have to make decisions.
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We have to deal with real-time flood situations, which we did: an emergency outlet, a protest against that emergency outlet, very clear opposition from First Nations. And we took that seriously. We wanted to develop a working relationship with those communities, both in terms of the emergency outlet and the building of the permanent outlets.
So we did the responsible thing. We engaged in partnership. We engaged in negotiations and discussions, and we announced–not me–not only me, Mr. Speaker, but the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, the MLA for the area and the chief of the IRTC. That's how you deal with these situations: partnership.
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The honourable minister's time on this question has elapsed.
Mr. Helwer: Mr. Speaker, the minister has many excuses, but none of them fly with Manitobans who are tired of this NDP's broken promises.
Why did the minister bypass all government purchasing guidelines? And can he tell us today: Where is this flood equipment actually located?
Mr. Ashton: Well, Mr. Speaker, first of all, we were dealing with a real-time flood situation. We worked in partnership–and I know it's a concept that's alien to members opposite–working in partnership with the First Nations most directly impacted by the flooding.
They raised two issues. They raised the need to deal with fisheries issues, and they raised their interest in proceeding on the emergency operations centres that they had put forward in a proposal, Mr. Speaker, not just to us, to the federal government.
I point out that if there was a real problem with this $5 million worth of equipment, isn't it interesting that they also went to the federal government and the Harper government? The federal government actually has given them funding for $5 million of equipment. So, Mr. Speaker, I hate to say this, but perhaps we have a similar approach, at least this one occasional time, with the Harper government, recognizing the needs of those First Nations communities. It's too bad that members opposite in this House don't recognize that need.
School Attendance Tracking
Mr. Wayne Ewasko (Lac du Bonnet): Mr. Speaker, more than two thirds of the 11,000 kids in care do not graduate from high school and less than half are even ready for school.
Mr. Speaker, there's evidence that this CFS minister couldn't be bothered to get the information on the kids she is supposed to be taking care of.
Can the minister confirm today that school attendance of the more than 11,000 kids in her care are, in fact, not tracked by her department, Mr. Speaker?
Hon. Kerri Irvin-Ross (Minister of Family Services): We work every day with the front-line workers to ensure the protection of Manitoba children. We provide them the services that are necessary.
As we discussed in Estimates, that we have a new IT technology that's coming called Cúram, and when we develop Cúram, we're going to continue to track the services that are being provided, including–as well as school attendance.
But I need to remind the member that the education system itself tracks school attendance. We are working in co-operation with Education to ensure that we are providing the quality of service, ensure that Manitoba children are protected and when they require services, that we're available to do that.
Graduation Rates
Mr. Ewasko: Another future NDP broken promise, Mr. Speaker.
More than two thirds of the 11,000 kids in care do not graduate thanks to this Premier (Mr. Selinger) and his ministers. After 16 years, this NDP government gets another report that gives evidence that the NDP government's failed policies are hurting our most vulnerable children in this province, Mr. Speaker. It is this NDP government that continues to put up the barriers to the ones they should be helping.
Mr. Speaker, Manitobans want action. These kids want action.
Will the Education Minister admit today that his task force is merely a delay tactic, Mr. Speaker?
Hon. James Allum (Minister of Education and Advanced Learning): In fact, we take action every single day, and on every single day, they vote against those actions.
Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, this government invests in public schools to the rate of economic growth every year. We build new schools. We build new gyms. We renovate science labs. We have small class sizes for kindergarten to grade 3.
On this side of the House, we're concerned with the educational quality of every single child in Manitoba.
Mr. Ewasko: Again, Mr. Speaker, if things are so great, I'd like to know why the Minister of Education is so angry again today.
Mr. Speaker, again, two thirds–more than two thirds of the 11,000 kids in care are not graduating from high school–11,000 kids in care. We are No. 1 in the world for that. The minister of CFS is not tracking school attendance for kids in care or how they are doing in school.
Mr. Speaker, Manitobans are tired of the NDP's broken promises and they are looking for a change.
The Minister of Education admits that his lines of communication amongst his colleagues need a lot of work. We agree with him, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Allum: Well, Mr. Speaker, as I reminded the member last week, I'm not angry; I'm passionate about kids in school, and so should he be, frankly.
But if I have a bit of irritation with the member opposite, it's because of the constant double standard we get from this side of the House. On that side of the House, they have proposed cutting a half a billion dollars from the budget, which will hurt kids in our public education system and hurt–certainly hurt children in care. More than that, they have said that they're going to privatize the child-care system, which would only make it inaccessible to most families in schools.
Mr. Speaker, we now understand what PCs actually mean. It doesn't mean Progressive Conservatives; it means privatizers and cutters.
Timeline for Implementation
Mr. Ian Wishart (Portage la Prairie): Mr. Speaker, this is the government that has led us to the highest child poverty rates in the country. Congratulations.
It's taken this government nine years since the death of Phoenix Sinclair to get to the point of the inquiry results. All through the inquiry process, court challenges extended the timelines. Finally, the report was tabled in January of 2014 and this government committed to immediately act on all of the recommendations, yet two years later, the minister has been quoted as saying 31 are in progress somewhere.
My question is: How does this minister define immediate?
Hon. Kerri Irvin-Ross (Minister of Family Services): This government, since 1999, has taken action on the child-welfare issues of Manitoba. We started by working with our First Nations and Metis partners and devolved the system for leadership by First Nations and Metis people. We're continuing to work with them. We're continuing to see progress.
We know that we have much more work to do. We need to address the root causes of why children are coming into care: colonization, the '60s scoop and the impact of residential schools. We're investing in healing strategies. We're working with communities every day. We're going to continue to do that.
As I've said in this House a number of times, we respect the report that Commissioner Hughes has tabled. We're working on all 62 recommendations. We have made significant progress on 31, and we are working on the other 31 with all of our partners.
Mr. Wishart: I hardly think 11,000 children in care is progress.
Judge Hughes has expressed frustration with the delays this government has put in the way of implementing the report's recommendation, especially this government's decision to call in a third party to develop an implementation plan. Judge Hughes has said, I have never seen a report with recommendations referred to a new body on how to implement.
In this–is it this government's intent to move forward in a timely matter or merely to delay, deflect and deny while vulnerable children remain at risk in the current child and family services system?
Ms. Irvin-Ross: We have taken action on Commissioner Hughes' inquiry. We are acting on all 62 recommendations, but we started long before that. We have tripled the funding. We've hired more workers, more supports for foster parents and making record investments in poverty reduction as well as prevention services.
What we need to remind all Manitobans is what the policies of the members opposite was. It was cut, cut and more cuts: cuts to the child-welfare system by $4.5 million. They didn't stop there. They made cuts to the foster parents as well, and then they discontinued services to children at–that were 16 years old.
We continue to provide services to all Manitoba children, ensure that they have the services that they require to thrive in their communities and, hopefully, when they can, with their families.
Mr. Wishart: It is this government's actions that have made us No. 1 in the country on child poverty.
Now, the minister has introduced The Children's Advocate Act, which should've been the centrepiece of Judge Hughes' recommendation. Instead, the minister has used it as an opportunity to delay the implementation of recommendations a further 15 months while they consult with other government departments.
Now, we already know that the Justice Department has housed kids in the care of CFS, and the damning report from the U of M's 'barni'–barn–Marni Brownell on the education outcomes of children in care certainly suggests really poor results in that area.
Is this minister's priority really improving the conditions for the children in her care? Is she just delaying 'til after April of 2016?
Ms. Irvin-Ross: This government takes very seriously the welfare of all Manitoba children.
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We have taken action every day to protect them, to prevent them from being impacted by trauma. We're going to continue to do that.
I'd like to remind the members what they did to the Children's Advocate when they were in power. The Children's Advocate criticized what they did to foster care, and what they did is the Children Advocate was warned about his open criticism of government policy in regards to foster-care cutbacks in 1993 and interferences were made that if the Children's Advocate did not refrain from the public criticism, that he should consider leaving his position. Shame on them.
Use of Private Agency Nurses
Mrs. Myrna Driedger (Charleswood): Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Minister of Health refused to answer a question, so I want to ask it again.
Her government promised to end what they called the dangerous reliance on nursing overtime. They broke that promise, and now they force nurses to work overtime. Last year they were forced to pay $19 million in just one year in nursing overtime.
So I'd like to ask this Minister of Health to tell us: Why did they break their promise to end the dangerous reliance on nursing overtime?
Hon. Sharon Blady (Minister of Health): I'd like to thank the member for the question, and I would also like to thank Manitoba nurses for what they do, because we have more nurses practising in this province than ever before.
And the best way to deal with overtime issues is to have more nurses. Again, for every one they fired, over three have been hired back and trained, and I'm very pleased to not only be part of a government that did that but have been part of the teaching staff that was hired to ensure that more nurses can be trained. So my thanks to my predecessors who put those teaching spots in place so that I could train nurses before I got the opportunity to work with them here in this Chamber.
So I assure Manitobans that we are working with nurses, and part of that cornerstone in working together around nurses and overtime is the MNU contract that we've successfully negotiated.
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The honourable minister's time on this question has elapsed.
Mrs. Driedger: Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Health obviously doesn't understand the question.
While this NDP government bashes anything private in health care, they are quietly relying on private agency nurses to provide care in the public health-care system. And, Mr. Speaker, thank goodness for that, because these nurses are helping to fill some gaps.
Over the last three to three and a half years, according to freedom of information, the WRHA paid out $9 million on agency nurses. The northern RHA paid over $7 million; Interlake, $5 million; Prairie Mountain, over $6 million; southern, $7 million, for a staggering $35 million on private agency nurses. Some of these nurses have been brought in from Alberta and from British Columbia.
The nurses are obviously needed in–
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The honourable member's time on this question has elapsed.
Ms. Blady: I'd like to thank the member for the question.
Our RHAs, our department, our government, works to ensure that the best possible care is given, and that means making sure that we have nurses where we need them. Whether that's having positions that we are actively seeking nurses to fill, whether that's increasing class sizes, it's about growing the complement. And I appreciate the work that is being done by the RHAs to make sure that there is a nurse at the bedside when needed, and we continue to work with the RHAs and with our local nurses.
Again, we have 2,419 nurses registered to practise in Manitoba since 2011, including the replacement of an estimated 1,731 nurses who retired, still a net gain of 688 more nurses. We've got more nurses.
Is there more to do? Absolutely. Are we committed to doing it–
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The honourable minister's time on this question has elapsed.
Mrs. Driedger: One year of nursing overtime, $19 million; three and a half years of private nurses from private agencies, $35 million. The total amount in this very short time, $54 million. Mr. Speaker, there is obviously a problem here, and this minister is trying to cover it up with NDP spin.
What is the problem? Will she finally admit that her mismanagement is threatening front-line services?
Ms. Blady: I thank the member for the question, and what I will admit to is having a firm dedication and a firm commitment to working with nurses, whether that's increasing teaching spaces, whether that's working with the colleges and with the union to ensure that we get the nurses to the right place at the right time.
And will I–what I won't do is accept the cold-hearted, artificial way that the former government dealt with nurses, whether that was firing 1,000 of them, whether it was having them out here protesting on the front steps of the Legislature, nor the way the Conservative government up in–is dealing with nurses right now in Nelson House.
Will the member opposite stand with us? We've gone and worked with the nurses in Nelson House. Will she get her Conservative colleagues to do the same and support nurses there?
Future Rate Increases
Mr. Ralph Eichler (Lakeside): Mr. Speaker, last week Hydro's vice-president of finance provided to the PUB that with a 3.95 per cent hike, we're simply managing to the decline in our financial health. That same vice-president went further, providing to the PUB: We believe the 3.95 hike are minimum that are required.
Will the minister admit that this NDP government has driven Hydro into such high losses that the PUB will have no choice but to hike the rates all Manitobans because of this NDP's ongoing incompetence?
Hon. Eric Robinson (Minister responsible for Manitoba Hydro): No, I will not admit to that.
Mr. Speaker, a big reason why Hydro is asking for rate increases is to replace aging infrastructure, something that is long overdue. And a lot of the physical infrastructure was installed many, many years ago, during the 1940-1960 period, and a large portion of it in our province will require upgrades to the current system that we have.
Thus is the reason the Hydro people are before the Public Utilities Board.
Mr. Eichler: Mr. Speaker, Hydro's rate hike application didn't stop at the 3.95 rate hike.
Let's hear what Hydro's vice-president of finance had to say about that option: If you look at the losses, they would be reduced to $348 million with a 5 per cent hike versus $900 million at 3.95. Hydro's vice-president, finance, also further said: A 5 per cent hike would assist us in covering our capital and sustaining capital expenditures.
Will the minister admit that Hydro customers will be on the hook because of this NDP mismanagement and at least doubling hydro rates?
Mr. Robinson: No, you know what'll happen, Mr. Speaker, in fact, is Hydro is going to be providing greater and more quality affordable service to Manitobans, not–and there is a responsibility there, as I said in my earlier response, that it requires–the requirement's there in order for us to replace old infrastructure that is direly required.
So I think that in spite of the slight increases that are being requested, we still have among the lowest rates in Canada and in North America.
Mr. Eichler: Stay tuned, Mr. Speaker. We know they're going to double, and so does he.
Mr. Speaker, Manitoba Hydro has indicated the Public Utilities Board that if it doesn't get its proposed rate increase, Manitobans will be facing increases of 6 to 7 per cent three years down the road. Hydro's own vice-president of finance says a 5 per cent rate increase today would be beneficial to the company's bottom line.
Will the minister provide to us today some clear realities about what kind of rate hikes Manitobans can expect at the conclusion of the PUB process, how much more waste and mismanagement is going to cost hard-working Manitobans?
Mr. Robinson: Mr. Speaker, let me try and put this another way. Low hydro rates in Manitoba will continue to keep our province the most affordable place in Canada with our affordability advantage.
Manitobans pay about $700 less a year than our neighbours to the west of us, Saskatchewan, for an average home using about 1,000 kilowatts per month. So this increase will mean an additional $3.20 per month in 2015-16 and $3.33 per month in 2016 and 1917 for an average home that is using that amount of power that I just expressed–
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Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The honourable minister's time on this question has elapsed.
Call for Inquiry
Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Mr. Speaker, the Premier (Mr. Selinger) said in Estimates that he will not call a Manitoba inquiry into missing and murdered women.
But accumulating evidence over the last year shows that the largest number of missing youth are in the care of Child and Family Services, youth for whom today's NDP government is the acting parent. Surely when children under the care of today's NDP are the most likely to be reported missing, we should have an inquiry in Manitoba into what is happening.
Will the Premier today call an inquiry into Manitoba's missing children?
Hon. Kerri Irvin-Ross (Minister of Family Services): We know that the children and youth that are involved in the child-welfare system have complex needs, and we need to ensure that we're providing them with specialized services. That's why we've made investments around assessment and supports as well as improving and increasing the number of specialized beds and treatment beds that we have available.
We have many partners across the province. We have 1,600 beds. In the recent–in the last six months we have increased it by 30 more beds. We partner with our authorities and our agencies, as well as with Knowles Centre, Marymound, as well as Macdonald Youth Services, to provide a good quality service.
I know the member opposite really cares about children. What we should all fear are the members–the Leader of the Opposition and his cuts and more cuts that he will make the system have to accept.
Mr. Gerrard: Mr. Speaker, Manitoba Liberals have provided evidence that the largest number of children reported missing are those in CFS care. The minister herself has said that these children can leave their place of safety and wander around any time of the day or night and that some of these children end up in crack houses. Recently a 17-year-old, while in the care of today's NDP government, ended up in the sex trade.
With the reason for so many missing children in Manitoba being within the government's own purview, when will the Premier call an inquiry to investigate what's going on?
Ms. Irvin-Ross: We continue every day to work with the authorities, the agencies and the community-based organizations as well to address the needs of Manitoba families and children. We make record investments in prevention, but we're also providing specialized treatment resources for them, whether it's within a foster home placement, a group home, with our many partners such as New Directions and Knowles Centre. We'll continue to make those investments.
I tell the minister we are taking action. We are leading the province with–or leading the nation with our strategy of StreetReach, where we're the only province in Canada to have a group of individuals that are dedicated, along with Winnipeg Police Service and the RCMP, to go on the streets to find the high-risk victims, to bring them home and bring them into a place of safety.
We're doing that. I wish he would support that as well.
Mr. Gerrard: Mr. Speaker, members of the government talk about wanting a national inquiry into murdered and missing women, and yet right under their nose there is a problem here in Manitoba.
Mr. Speaker, the facts are unequivocal. Most of the missing children in Manitoba are children in the government's Child and Family Services' care.
The Premier (Mr. Selinger) and his minister are running the CFS system so that youth end up in unsafe places like crack houses. We need a full investigation into what is happening, why so many youths are running away and why a child in the care of today's NDP government is considered by police to be at high risk of sexual exploitation.
When will the Premier act to call the desperately needed inquiry into what–
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The honourable member's time on this question has elapsed.
Ms. Irvin-Ross: I again will reiterate our concern and our commitment to address the needs of families and children across the province. We do it with our record investments in prevention. We also have intervention supports. We work alongside the authorities and the agencies to evaluate and to support families, and when it is needed, when a child needs to be in protection, we're there, because that's the paramount concern is the safety of a child.
We will continue to take those actions. Those actions include tripling the funding for child welfare. It includes hiring more workers. It includes supporting more specialized foster placements as well as more assessment and treatment services for these children.
I again say I know the member opposite cares about the children. We need to fear what the Leader of the Opposition would do if he had control of the child-welfare system; I would say cuts, cuts and more cuts.
Task Force Recommendations
Mr. Dave Gaudreau (St. Norbert): Mr. Speaker, we all love great local food, and I love spending a morning at the St. Norbert Farmers' Market.
Today I had the pleasure of attending the St. Norbert Farmers' Market for a food announcement made on how our province is growing our local food sector. Our government has formed a task force focused on addressing the needs of small-scale food producers and direct farm markets.
Can the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development please tell us all about the progress that has been made to date on these recommendations by the task force?
Hon. Ron Kostyshyn (Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development): It is truly my pleasure to acknowledge the member from St. Norbert and the hard work that he's done towards the movement of the St. Norbert Farmers' Market and continues, not only for the benefit of the consumers that are buying the product but to the people that produce the product and locally grown producers and the farmers who work hard every day for the betterment of food sustainability in the province of Manitoba.
Mr. Speaker, it was truly my pleasure to attend this morning the event in the constituency. And I was proud to bring together members of the small-scale food community to develop recommendations how to grow locally grown food. I would like to acknowledge the stakeholder group who volunteered their time and also from the various businesses and local entrepreneurs and the chairperson, Mr.–Dr. Wayne Lees. I would like to make some recommendations as we have–
Mr. Speaker: Order, please.
The minister's time on this question has elapsed.
Doctor Recruitment
Mr. Cliff Cullen (Spruce Woods): Mr. Speaker, I read with interest the response of the Minister of Health to questions yesterday concerning doctors in Manitoba. We know that 2,300 doctors have left the province under their watch, two more from Glenboro alone just this month. Clearly, this has ramifications for Manitoba families and emergency services.
The political spin is a lot different than the reality faced by Manitoba families. We have more ERs closed than ever before. We have more families without doctors than ever before. Clearly, Manitobans are spending more and getting less.
Mr. Speaker, the question for the minister: How does she rationalize the difference between her political spin and the realities that Manitoba families are facing?
Hon. Sharon Blady (Minister of Health): Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for the question. We are working on this side of the House with doctors, the Doctors Manitoba contract and the fact that we do have more doctors than ever before.
Member opposite and his math seems to forget that for each one of those doctors that he's mentioned leaving, we've replaced them and added more. So we understand on this side that doctors retire, doctors move on. And I'm happy to say that we have been working also with the international medical graduates to ensure that some of those arrive in the community, and I've signed off on paperwork on a handful of them just this week moving out to rural communities.
So we have the doc–yesterday I talked about the Family Doctor for All and, again, we are working hard, whether it's through Family Doctor Finder, whether it's hiring more doctors, we are doing all of these things. And we are working with communities.
So I look forward to working with members in his community for anything that we can do to help getting doctors, nurse practitioners–
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The honourable minister's time on this question has elapsed.
Mr. Cullen: Well, Mr. Speaker, I would suggest that Manitobans are tired of the old NDP broken promises and are looking for a change for the better.
Mr. Speaker, the Prairie Mountain region alone has over 40 vacancies. We know that it's least 40, but this government won't even report how many vacancies are in the city of Brandon.
Mr. Speaker, the NDP are now forcing local governments to fund recruiting efforts. Case in point, the Municipality of Killarney-Turtle Mountain: local taxpayers are on the hook for $300,000 to headhunt for three doctors.
Again, Mr. Speaker, the minister's political spin does not match up with the reality that Manitobans are facing. Why is that?
Ms. Blady: Mr. Speaker, I can assure the member that it's partnership between this department and this government with regional health authorities and local communities that helps bring doctors to communities. I appreciate the work done by all members, all stakeholders, in trying to get docs to rural areas. It's a challenge that's faced across the country, but it's about having good, positive working relationships. It's about having a strong Doctors Manitoba contract. And it's about the fact that there are more doctors practising than ever before.
And having tools like the family doc finder, as well as ACCESS centres, primary care, nurse practitioners, physician's assistants, all of these things are part–a part of great medical teams for front lines throughout the province, including rural areas and those rural communities that he mentions.
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And I look forward to working with members of those communities to take things to the next level.
Mr. Cullen: Well, Mr. Speaker, if happy thoughts were the answer, why is the community of Killarney‑Turtle Mountain funding $300,000 to find new doctors?
Mr. Speaker, 2,300 doctors have left the province. We've lost track of how many ERs are closed. Clearly, NDP waste is threatening front-line services. Now, the NDP can't spin their way out of this and the reality facing Manitobans.
When will the minister take real action and–to remedy this real chronic doctor shortage, Mr. Speaker?
Ms. Blady: As I mentioned to the Chamber before, we are working with partners, and I do appreciate the work of that community. Every community works along with other stakeholders to do the best that they can with us, and, again, we have seen a net gain of 665 more doctors.
Members opposite ask about the plan, and we keep telling them our plan, and they don't like it. But I think part of the issue is they don't have a plan, because last week when the member from Morden‑Winkler was talking to Charles Adler, he asked five times for their plan and five times didn't get an answer, and after the interview, Mr. Adler said: I have no idea what they're going to do. You're disappointing me. The PC party is often accused of beating the dead horse, dwelling on the obvious but offering no solutions. You've spent five minutes doing exactly what I said the PCs are accused of doing. You're fulfilling every stereotype that the NDP puts out there.
We have a plan. We're working–
Mr. Speaker: Order. Order. Order, please. Time for oral questions has expired.
Mr. Speaker: It is now time for members' statements.
NorWest Co-op Community Food Centre
Mr. Ted Marcelino (Tyndall Park): Healthy food is a critical part of succeeding in life. However, whole foods and vegetables can be hard to access for some families. Now, thanks to the NorWest Co-op Community Food Centre or NorWest Co-op CFC, eating healthy is a little bit easier for those who live in and around my neck of the woods.
Kristina McMillan, the director of NorWest Co‑op CFC, and Nancy Heinrichs, executive director of NorWest Co-op Community Health, have joined us in the gallery today. They and other staff and volunteers at NorWest Co-op CFC work towards creating a healthy and fair food system for everyone.
The NorWest Co-op CFC focuses on providing three things: access, skills and engagement. For the access, they have a free community meal three times a week. For skills, they have 14 different cooking and gardening programs for both kids and adults. The kids' programs, like the drop-in smoothie program, for example, help kids explore new tastes and learn about good food choices. For engagement, they offer community advocacy training classes for community members who are interested in learning about advocacy work and helping others.
The NorWest Co-op doesn't just provide food for those in the community who need it. They provide health, hope and skills while addressing existing issues of hunger, poverty and poor health. They also serve as a meeting place for all sorts of different people for all–from all sorts of different backgrounds.
Thanks to Kristina McMillan, Nancy Heinrichs and the NorWest Co-op CFC, the Inkster neighbourhood–that's my neck of the woods–
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The honourable member's time for this member's statement has elapsed.
David Jeffries
Mr. Ian Wishart (Portage la Prairie): Mr. Speaker, I rise here today to honour David Jeffries, who has been selected by the Manitoba Agricultural Hall of Fame for his significant and lasting contribution to agriculture in Manitoba.
Born in Toronto, the Jeffries family moved to Portage la Prairie in 1959. First, his older brother, Albert, then David, became involved in the fledgling vegetable industry. Being new to vegetable production, they valued the advice of their neighbours. The value of co-operation would be a major influence on David's career. The farm grew with the vegetable industry in Manitoba, and today they operate one of the largest vegetable farms in Manitoba.
David has also served on the board of Peak of the Market for many years, and David has also been involved nationally, serving as president of the Canadian Horticultural Council in 1998 and continues to this day as vice-chair of the trade and marketing committee. While he was involved with the Canadian Horticultural Council, he helped to create a dispute resolution corporation under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
David is a devoted husband, father and grandfather and has provided continued support to his family and community. David and his two sons continue to run Jeffries Brothers farm operation.
Mr. Speaker, I ask all honourable members to join me in congratulating David Jeffries.
Grande Pointe Homeowners Association
Hon. Ron Lemieux (Minister of Tourism, Culture, Heritage, Sport and Consumer Protection): Mr. Speaker, joining us in the gallery today are Janine Boulanger, Paul and Doreen Brulé and Eveline Touchette from Grande Pointe Homeowners Association. They have made a significant contribution to our community, and I'm happy to recognize them in the House today for their dedication.
The Grande Pointe Homeowners Association was established in 1997 to help families apply for disaster assistance and insurance–sorry–after the flooding. The association has now shifted focus to help beautify Grande Pointe. Many in this Chamber will remember the Premier of the day saying, you chose to live in a flood plain. Why are you coming to me for help?
In 2005, the Rural Municipality of Ritchot donated 20 acres of land in Grande Pointe to the association, and they have since developed it into an outstanding park for the whole community. Over the years, they have added many features like a picnic shelter, labyrinth, an outdoor stage, an outdoor fitness centre, a beach volleyball court and a basketball court that doubles to an ice rink in the winter.
To help build all these features at Grande Pointe Park, the homeowners association has held many fundraising events. Recently, they had–recently, they have just held their sixth annual Concert in the Park. The concert was an outstanding success, over 600 people in attendance. It featured live bands, Elvis and Marilyn Monroe impersonators and entertainment for the kids.
The Grande Pointe Park is a beautiful space that has come to life because of the homeowners association. The park is now used for baseball tournaments, weddings and by the families all year long. It's truly a wonderful–to see the significant contribution you have made to our community.
A big thank you to all the Grande Pointe Homeowners Association volunteers who have worked so hard to give Grande Pointe families a place to connect and be proud of. The constituency of Dawson Trail wouldn't be the same without you.
Thank you so much. Thank you.
Faces of Freedom
Mr. Ralph Eichler (Lakeside): Mr. Speaker, taking care of our veterans is an issue that is very close to my heart as well as Canadians in general.
I would like to take this opportunity to speak to the House today about the non-profit organization, Faces of Freedom Canada Inc. which has been doing great things for our injured veterans.
Faces of Freedom Canada Inc. began by a chance meeting of two passionate waterfowl hunters back in 2007. Retired US Army Colonel Michael Steele and his close friend, Chris Heald, from Manitoba, came up with the idea of hosting a waterfowl hunt for injured veterans. The premise of this event was to have injured veterans from Canada and the United States share a week-long waterfowl hunt in the hopes that spending time outdoors with family and friends would alter their outlook on life for the better.
In 2011, Chris and Mike hosted the inaugural Canada-US Faces of Freedom hunt at Delta's waterfowl research station near Minnedosa, Manitoba. Two wounded Canadian veterans shared a memorable fun-filled week with two of their American comrades. By all accounts, the event was a success. Since then, multiple wounded veterans' hunting excursions have taken place with great success.
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The mission of Faces of Freedom Canada Inc. is to recognize the sacrifices made by our veterans and provide an opportunity for relaxation and healing only the great outdoors can provide. Bringing wounded veterans together to share the joy of the outdoors provides an opportunity for friendship, healing and adjust to civilian life.
Mr. Speaker, on behalf of all members of this House, I want to congratulate Chris Heald, Michael Steele and the Faces of Freedom organization for the initiation–fine work with the Canadian veterans.
Manitoba's Missing Children
Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Mr. Speaker, on May the 6th of this year, Manitoba Liberals tabled information which showed that the majority of children reported missing in Winnipeg are children in the care of today's NDP government in CFS care.
The data also revealed that there has been a dramatic increase in the number of children reported missing each year for at least the last six years.
On May 19th, under questioning in Estimates, the Minister of Family Services (Ms. Irvin-Ross) explained that children in Child and Family Services' care living in group homes are allowed to leave the group home at any time of the day or night. The minister further said group homes were not designed to raise children.
June 14th we learned that a 17-year-old girl who had become involved in the sex trade was in the care of CFS at the time. Clearly, this child was not in a place of safety, which is one of the reasonable expectations for children in CFS care. An explanation is needed into why this child was not in an appropriate place of safety.
Mr. Speaker, the Minister of Family Services (Ms. Irvin-Ross) has also explained in Estimates and elsewhere that StreetReach is an organization involved in finding children in CFS when they leave a group home or other place of care. The minister has said in an interview that StreetReach will go to crack houses to find these children who are missing from CFS care. An explanation is needed into why children in the care of CFS, under today's NDP government, are to be found in such unsafe places as crack houses.
Mr. Speaker, today's NDP want to appear loud in calling for an inquiry into missing and murdered women and yet among the women who are missing and at risk of being murdered are the children in CFS care.
An inquiry is needed to investigate what is happening in Manitoba, why children in CFS care are not in appropriate places of safety and to make recommendations for actions to be taken immediately to reduce the number of children who are missing and at risk of being in an unsafe place, and at risk of being injured or murdered.
Today's NDP government needs to take this situation seriously and call an inquiry into Manitoba's missing children now.
Mr. Speaker: That concludes member statements.
We'll now move on to grievances.
Mr. Speaker: Seeing no grievances, orders of the day, government business.
Hon. Dave Chomiak (Government House Leader): I'd like to move the following bills to concurrence and third reading: Bill 6, Bill 9, Bill 16. Following that, we will call report stage and third reading on Bill 70.
Mr. Speaker: Be calling bills in the following order: Bill 6 followed by bills 9 and 16, and Bill 70.
Mr. Speaker: We'll start by calling under concurrence and third readings, Bill 6, The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Act.
Hon. Dave Chomiak (Government House Leader): I move, seconded by the Minister for Northern and Aboriginal Affairs, that Bill 6, The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Act; Loi sur le Centre national pour la vérité et la réconciliation, as amended and reported from the Standing Committee on Social and Economic Development, be concurred in and be now read for a third time and passed.
Motion presented.
Mr. Speaker: Is there any debate on this matter?
Mr. Doyle Piwniuk (Arthur-Virden): Mr. Speaker, I would like to take–put a few words on the record regarding the Bill 6, the national research centre of truth and reconciliation.
Mr. Speaker, on June 2nd, 2008, the federal government established the Indian Residential School Truth and Reconciliation Commission known in short form as the TRC. With a $60-million budget, the TRC had mandated to assemble records and experiences of Aboriginal people who had attended residential schools in order to acknowledge the wrongdoing of the federal governments of the past and to create a platform for survivals of reconciliation with tragic events.
The University of Manitoba will house these important records in the National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, will have the only location in Canada with these archives on record for public viewing. It's appropriate that the city of Winnipeg was–house that since we do have one of the nicest museums, the Human Rights Museum that was opened this past year. This will bring a lot of people into the city and this gives also opportunity once they see the museum, they can go to the archives of the national research centre and actually look through some of these records. The federal government has done a very good job of compiling these–this information in the archives and the stories of many of the Aboriginal people.
It is my honour, Mr. Speaker, that we will play host to the unique and historical documents that represent those who had ensured the hardships and horrors that were not uncommon to residential schools. These records will help to bring truth and reconciliation to events that are a shame to our great Canadian history. The stories and the various documents will be housed in a centre that will help to educate the public and our communities and better inform the academics and policymakers of the mistakes of our past.
The background, Mr. Speaker, is that the Canadian history was marred for over 150 years of residential schools, and I know my own area, I–the closest one that I was–grew up by was the town of Birtle, which was probably an hour and fifteen minutes from my–from our family farm. I had an aunt and uncle who lived in the town of Birtle and I remember going many times to their house and I remember sitting in their house visiting with my aunt and uncle and I remember looking across the valley in the beautiful town of Birtle and seeing this big building that was on top of the valley, and it was actually the Birdtail River that actually flows through the town of Birtle, and appropriate that we have a reservation called the Birdtail reservation. Again, I feel proud that it's actually in my constituency of Arthur-Virden.
When I sat in my aunt and uncle's house I remember asking my parents, what is that building across the way there, and they told me that it was the residential for Native students. And I remember questioning why aren't they going to schools that we go to school, you know, our own general schools, and they said, well, that was in the past and since then the school has been closed down. And I remember going to–attending high school, and I went to school with many Metis from the San Clara‑Boggy Creek area and I remember a lot–many of them were my schoolmates, and I remember, you know, listening to some of their stories and they're of, you know, hunting and fishing because they all lived around the Duck Mountains, which is a beautiful area to grow up in, and they would tell us some of the stories.
And I was always fascinated by the stories because, again, I lived on the valley, Assiniboine Valley, on the south side of Roblin about 50 miles away from them, but I listened to all these different stories that they had and the trapping and the, you know, trapping of beaver and sometimes some of their parents made a living off of trapping and fishing, and I actually had a cousin who married into a family, the Bouvier family, and I remember my cousin's wife's parents, the mother actually made mukluks and moccasins that they sold all over the world, and what great heritage that we had, and was displayed in the area that I grew up in.
Later my cousin married my–the–Bouvier–into the Bouvier family, and he actually had a lot of heritage that he learned from that family. And my brother also married into the Bell family, again, a Metis family, that I remember my sister-in-law's father would go and harness race all across the area through southern Manitoba and southwestern Saskatchewan. And I–to this day I know people who know who he was because he won a lot of competition, and actually my nephew, who also is now taking up harness racing, is now racing in southwestern Manitoba. He's had the honour of actually–when Virden, before they built the Tundra centre, we had a racetrack, a harness racetrack, and I remember my nephew, who was Metis, won–and his last name was Piwniuk, he actually won and has the record on–the last record on that racetrack, and we–be honoured that he did it in my hometown that my kids grow up in.
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Again, you know, we had residential schools here in Brandon, in Portage la Prairie. I remember driving by the Grand Valley Road and actually seeing one of the schools, residential schools, that were still standing when I first moved to Arthur-Virden. And, again, it must be really hard to see that the building that's now vacant in Birtle and the vacancy, the building in Brandon, until it was demolished, probably in the mid-1990s, for the reminder of a lot of these individuals who went to those residential schools and had to remember the memories that they had in these residential schools, all the mistreating of themselves and missing their families, having to remember what they had to go through and the reminder, and remember in Portage la Prairie they actually had a reporter who is First Nations, and she actually–her mother went to the Portage residential school and they had to revisit when this all–this whole reconciliation was announced, and I remember the media had a lot of different stories about the truth and reconciliation of residential schools, and I remember they went to visit the Portage la Prairie school and I remember her having a lot of memories and saying that her heart sunk when she walked into the school.
And I can just imagine what she had to go through to go to visit and having all those memories come forward, and of being mistreated and abused by, you know, teachers or principals or probably, in some cases, workers in that school.
And we still wouldn't know how many people, how many kids–children were injured or killed in these schools, and records have been destroyed. There's over 200,000 records that have been destroyed that, after 10 to 15 years, these records have been destroyed by these residential schools. That's the only reason that they only had to keep 10 years of those records.
It was also an honour to be in the House and being elected before our first First Nations female MLA was elected this past year from–a member from The Pas, and it was honoured to be here for that, because it comes–brings me memories of being the first in high school in Roblin, Manitoba. And our high school was called Goose Lake High, and I remember we had a reserve not very far from–on the east side of Roblin, which was–I think it was river east reserve. And I remember a classmate, her name is Mavis Amiott, and she was in my grade 12 homeroom class, and she was going to be the very first female or, I believe, probably the first First Nation individual who actually graduated from Goose Lake High, and that was in 1985. I'm trying–I'm dating myself here and, again, it was so honoured to be part of that, to experience it. I remember her family being there at the graduation, and she was so proud to be part of that, our grad class, and we were happy to have her there because it was–it made us all feel good that, you know what, things are changing in our society and we support everybody. We're–I believe that our generation is very inclusive, and I think our children's age groups are even more inclusive, as we saw.
Look at this past week in the city of Winnipeg. We had the gay rights Pride week in Winnipeg, and we had over 40,000 people at the parade, and it shows that, you know, times are changing.
I look at my own family; my mother-in-law, who came from Jamaica, but her ancestors actually came from Africa, but that wasn't her choice to go to Jamaica. They were actually put on ships and sent to Jamaica and became slaves and were enslaved for many centuries in these islands, and in the North America.
And, again, I think the reconciliation does not just start with our First Nations, too, but also to other people who actually had to endure these hardships and I meant, like, many slaves who have–who actually escaped–you know, they came to Canada, too, and, again, as they were–they had freedom in Canada. They weren't really treated the best in our country, too, at first because, you know, they were different. Back in 18-something–1867, say from 1850 to 1867, after the Civil War, you know, they endured a lot of criticism and racism and, you know, now–I remember–this is about 20 years ago–I remember there was a clash in Halifax with–a clash between the blacks and whites, and again, I think this reconciliation can also be for everybody, for any nation whose people come here for–if they're refugees, you know, there's a lot of healing. And this is a process that we can start with our First Nations people but also with many people who come to this beautiful country of ours in Canada.
And like I said, I would like to see more co-operation and working together. And once this reconciliation and all these archives are there, how do we go from where we are today into the future? What is the goal with this reconciliation? We need to have steps to make sure that–what's going to happen in one year from now, what's going to happen in five years, 10 years and 20 years?
And so this is why we want to make sure that we work together as a nation. And I'm really proud that our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, Conservative leader, who actually apologized to the First Nation people about the residential schools, and actually going to the Pope and getting–educating the rest of the world about this whole issues and situations here.
When I became the first–the MLA in Arthur‑Virden, I was also proud, in my first year as an MLA, Sioux Valley, who–again, the Sioux who came from the United States who were chased out of the United States into Canada here–don't have a treaty. They don't have a treaty right now, and that the unfortunate thing is it was only up to this year that they actually had a–became a self-governing First Nation group.
And I've been able–I was very honoured to get to know Chief Tacan, who I met, have many meetings with, and I have such a respect for the–for that man. He actually took me on a tour of Sioux Valley First Nation, and some of the problems, again, they were also situated with a major flood that closed their major artery of highway going through their community. And I just feel that this person has leadership.
And I think what the First Nations people need is leaders like Chief Tacan to move them forward, to heal them and to work with our leaders and in our communities when it comes to, you know, working together at co-operating with economic initiatives. Because I think there's a big opportunity. We have a good workforce with our First Nation people. We have the oil patch in my constituency that would be very important to get these people, because right now we don't have enough trained people. We have the jobs in Arthur-Virden, but we don't have enough trained people. And we need to work with our First Nation people to make sure that they come together and they have such a value of work ethics that they can go forward on this.
And one thing I talked to Chief Tacan, when he actually decided that he was going to go self‑governing, he knew that if he went, talked to the general population and got a vote that they wouldn't–that he wouldn't been successful. But he was smart enough to–he was a very intelligent person who decided that, let's talk to each of the segment of the age of the demographics.
First, he talked to the elders. And a lot of them, again, they had a lot of bitterness of the first–of the residential schools and all the bitterness that they had. But this is where he needed to talk to, you know, the middle age, the ones that had families, on what they felt that they needed to want to go forward. And he actually had–was able to talk to him directly on that case.
Then the third group that he talked to was the youth. And the youth–and what was he was astonished by was the youth wanted everything that our kids want in the general population. They want to learn technology. They want to be trained and get a good job. They want to see opportunities that other people–what everybody else has in our society.
And it was actually passed that they were going to be self-governed, and that was because a person with a vision, and I believe that with the vision of our First Nation people, our chiefs, there's going to be great opportunities going forward here.
And I'm really–be happy to work with them in our constituency and into the–into this province, and once we form government and working with them as a co-operative, getting them opportunities. And that's what the First Nations want, they want opportunities. They want a hand up, not a handout. And I believe that there's great opportunity in this case.
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What I also want to say, Mr. Speaker, is that I remember also my kids play baseball, and we had a number of little towns that we actually played against and, you know, we would go out and there might be two or three parents. And these kids were quite young so they needed a lot of parents there to make sure that they have–they could focus on–when the ball came out, they didn't get hurt when the baseball was coming their way. And sometimes, as a coach, you would–like, there would be about two of us or three of us trying to organize it and keep them focused, and sometimes coaching young kids was like herding cats. You know, they were all over the place; they were picking dandelions. And, again, every town you went to, there was maybe one or two people–parents that would help out.
But when we went to the–when I went–we went to Sioux Valley First Nation and we played against their team, one of–the amazing part was there were so many more parents who were there to help out their kids. And that was what I was really so happy to see because this generation of our First Nations people want to be engaged with their kids, and I–seeing that in first-hand for myself. And I believe that again there's a big opportunity in that population.
This is the way to–the chance to–the reconciliation–the heal process–and at the same time, we need in the North to work with our First Nations people to get them trained to work so that they'd work in hydro, so they can work in the mines up in–and develop those mines so that there's an opportunity for First Nations people to get ahead.
Our side here at–on the House, we believe that there's a great opportunity for that to happen. We went to visit the northern communities up in Churchill, Flin Flon, The Pas, and they all say, we want opportunities, we want to be skilled, we want to learn more.
And the first thing it starts with is education and training, and I believe that if we give that to them, it's like feed a man a fish and he'll eat for a day; teach him how to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime. And this gives an opportunity to eat for a lifetime.
And also, Mr. Speaker, I had an opportunity in my–was one of my goals as I was growing up on a farm in–on a dairy farm and never had a chance to leave our farm more than an hour away because we had to get back to milk the cows–was when I was going to get old enough to save enough money to go to college–save enough money–my goal was to go to Australia, and I actually fulfilled that goal. It was one of my first big goals I had that if I couldn't fulfill this goal, I never had any–I could never fill any–fulfill any other goals. So I went to Australia in 1990. I went–I started work at Investors Group in 1988, worked and saved money like crazy, I've lived like a student even when I worked. And so anyways, I went to Australia in 1990. I saved enough money; I went with a friend from college who grew up in the city here in Winnipeg and we went travelling for over six months to Australia.
Again, in Australia, one thing that I–stood in my mind was the Aboriginal people of Australia. We were fortunate to go in the outback and to a lot of the communities along the coast where there was a lot of Aboriginal people who lived, and there was–I saw first-hand, too, that there was some challenges there they had, too. And I think they've–were treated the same way as our First Nations people. They tried to assimilate the people the same thing. I believe that there was residential schools because, again, you know, the Anglican Church who was in Australia at the time was the same church that took our First Nations children away to go to residential schools and, again, they had the same issues. And, like I said, our First Nations are very similar to Australia, and I think every Commonwealth country had the same issues with their 'indigelous' people. And this is why I think, as a–not just in Canada, but as in the general–the world, there's a lot of reconciliation that has to happen to countries–the Europeans that took over a lot of the land in their colonies.
And, like I said, again, I look back at Jamaica and some of the islands like Fiji. I went to Fiji, too; that was another country I went to. Again, they actually took the slaves from Africa and actually used the slaves in Fiji, and they also, after–a lot of these colonies actually then also transported people from India to these islands, once 'slavely' was abolished, for cheap labour.
And being in Fiji it was quite interesting. I was wondering why an island in the middle of nowhere actually had the black population and also had the East Indian population. And I realized that these were all people who were brought from other–from all those other countries to the islands to work, first as slaves and then for cheap labour. And so these people, now they're actually working together, living together on the island. I know there was a coup that just happened just before we were in Fiji between the blacks and the first–the East Indian population. But they're working together to work and have opportunities for the island. And it's nice to travel to see what's happening in other parts of the world too. Because, again, we can bring these–this experiences back to our country of Canada and to work with our First Nations people, Mr. Speaker.
Again, this research centre–the residential school and–national research centre of truth and reconciliation, again, it was actually–came together at the U of M, at the University of Manitoba with a $60-million budget that was to compile all this information. And, again, we're going to be able to go to the U of M to do research. We're going to have people who are from our First Nations, people who can now go and look at the archives and learn about their history and what some of the injustice and–that has happened to their ancestors over the 150 years of residential schools.
And, Mr. Speaker, I would like to say that, you know, the school in Birtle, I hope someday that they can demolish that because it is becoming an eyesore in the community, but also it's bringing back a lot of bad memories for a lot of our First Nations people who have actually had to go through that town and actually have that memory of that school.
You know, again, I would just like to say, you know, we don't know what the numbers were of–from 1867 to 1940, how many individuals of children actually have died being in residential schools. And I can't imagine what parents had to deal with when they actually heard that at one point that they would probably hear back from their children and find out they no longer have been living because of an accident or abuse that had happened in their residential schools, Mr. Speaker.
Again, we as–like did the federal government, you know, dealing with this is probably the big step to move forward with our First Nations people and also to do everything possible to reconcile and to make sure that we give every of them all the opportunities that they can move forward and we can heal and we can actually have, you know, do some training and training opportunities for our First Nations people, to invest in our First Nations people too.
I believe that the opportunities that happened on our First Nations reservations–we need to bring opportunity to them. Because if we don't, those places don't have the land mass and to, you know, have the mill rights, maybe they don't have, but work with them to bring, let's say, manufacturing, to their individual reservations.
One thing I've noticed in my constituency, I went to different Hutterite colonies to do some of my campaigning, to visit with them. And what I found about the Hutterite colonies, at one time, their primary for agriculture, they would only farm–farming practices, they would raise hogs or chickens or cattle, and grain farm or produce different products–agriculture products, such as making their own cheeses, making other products that they can sell in the market–farmers' markets. But as the population of their Hutterite population grows, there is a need that agriculture is not going to sustain those colonies any more. And what they have come up with is that they came up with the opportunity to bring manufacturing to their colony. And when I went visiting, every colony–there's like five Hutterite colonies in my constituency. One is Maple Grove, the other one is Decker, Souris River, and we also have boundary 'blane' and–
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An Honourable Member: You're making these up.
Mr. Piwniuk: No, these are real names. And we actually–when I went to visit all five of them, the amazing part I was surprised about was that each one of them had some type of manufacturing. One actually made piping; they took pipe–sheets of metal and they created piping with a machine. Some of them actually made plastics, making plastics for wheels, and they actually carve them and compress the plastic and create wheels so that they can sell it to Canadian Tire barbecues. And so they're coming up with these really neat initiatives, and some of them are making cabinets. And some of them are making stonework, when it comes to marble countertops, headstones that they've created. They're very resourceful.
And I think what we need to do with our First Nation people is give them opportunities to bring manufacturing into their own reservations, because I think there's an opportunity there for them to be–do some training. And again, we have a young workforce in that population.
And again, by talking to the individuals, talking to the chiefs, their youth want the opportunities that our youth have and they want the technology. They want to advance in technology. They all have cellphones. They all feel that this is what they want. And what we need to do is give them and heal them and train them for the opportunities that they can actually have.
And the sky's the limit when it comes to innovations and technology in this day and age. You don't have to be in a major centre to do any kind of manufacturing. With this network of transportation and technology, you can be anywhere in the world and do well for yourself. And I think this is what we need to do is educate our First Nation people, and this is part of the reconciliation, I believe, that'll go forward here. And the sky is the limit here.
And what also I would like to say, too, Mr. Speaker, before I finish, is we've been around First Nation people in around our area. I remember my dad, he had one of his best friends was Marcel Amiotte. He was actually from the Waywayseecappo reserve. And what Marcel–my dad always talked about Marcel was that–we raised horses, and if there was a horse that we could not break–my two brothers and I, we tried to break in horses all the time. Sometimes there was just ones that we couldn't; it was just too dangerous. And–but they needed some extra work done. And Marcel, who was my dad's good friend, would always take this horse in, and he also would have a number of other people on the First Nation who would love to break these horses in. And it was amazing, when we got these horses back, how great these horses were behaved, and it was like night and day. This person knew, was connected to animals.
And what I remember, going to see Marcel or he'd come over to our place, he's always had a group of young kids with him because he was so respected in his community. And it was so amazing to have a role model for that community. They looked up to him. They always wanted to be around him because he had wisdom. He gave them, also, attention that a lot of them wanted so badly to have. And you know, again, he was a good role model for that group of–for that reserve.
And again, I also–that's exactly what we all, in our own lives, want is role models. And everybody in this House has a role model that they really believe in. And I believe that our First Nation is–has role models like that who are going to bring them out of this reconciliation and truth and reconciliation and these residential schools.
Because, you know, my son actually was–played on a hockey team and a baseball team with a young individual–Native child. And his grandmother was a teacher in one of–in our junior high in Virden. And she had–again, another role model. She was at every single hockey game when the kids played hockey. She was there for baseball. She was there always, constantly–that was her grandson–and her husband also. Her name was Linda Eastman. And everybody in the community has so much respect for this individual. Again, she's from the Oak Lake reserve and she, again–I can't say more about this amazing woman who just has this warm heart and–
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The honourable member's time has elapsed.
Hon. Ron Lemieux (Minister of Tourism, Culture, Heritage, Sport and Consumer Protection): I just want to put a couple of comments on the record.
First of all, I'd like to thank and recognize the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the University of Manitoba. Thanks to their efforts, Manitobans and Canadians everywhere will have a resource so that the painful legacy of residential schools is not forgotten but rather educates and promotes reconciliation with Canada's Aboriginals and indigenous peoples.
Finally, I would like to recognize and thank the survivors of the residential school system for their courage and resilience in coming forward and sharing their painful memories. It is through these accounts that we learn the truth and begin the path to reconciliation. We are committed to honouring their courage, and through the university and the national research centre, the records will be treated with the utmost respect and dignity for generations of Manitobans and Canadians to come.
Mr. Speaker, I also would like to thank each and every member of the opposition for their thoughtful consideration with regard to fast passage of this legislation, and also the colleagues on this side of the House for also recognizing the importance of this legislation even though it resides within my department–the National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation act–and so, with that, I want to thank the House and all members for a quick passage of this legislation.
The University of Manitoba needs that passage quickly, as well as the federal government and others, and to ensure that these documents get to the university and national research centre as quickly as possible and is housed at the University of Manitoba campus thousands of video, audio-recorded statements from the survivors affected by residential schools, millions of archival documents and photographs from the Government of Canada and Canadian church entities, works of art, artifacts and other expressions of reconciliation presented at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission events, and research collected and prepared by the commission.
So, with that, Mr. Speaker, I just want to say thank you to all members of the Legislature for recognizing the importance of this act and quick passage. Thank you.
Mr. Ian Wishart (Portage la Prairie): It's a pleasure to rise to put a few words on the record regarding Bill 6, the National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation act, and on June 2nd, 2008, the federal government established the Indian Residential School Truth and Reconciliation Commission, known in short as the TRC, with a $60‑million budget.
The TRC has had a mandate to assemble records of the experiences of the Aboriginal people who attended residential schools in order to acknowledge the wrongdoings of the federal government in the past and to create a platform for survivors to reconcile with the tragic events.
And, in my own community, Mr. Speaker, we have had quite a lengthy history. We had a residential school that operated until the mid-'60s from some time in the 1930s. I can't establish the actual initial date but quite a period of time. And, over the years, I have had an opportunity to speak to a number of people, both who attended the school as school-age children and who worked there, sometimes as teachers, sometimes in the administration of that school.
It was a bit different then. Many of them, because of the close proximity of the three reserves that it served and the three that I continue to represent, that being Long Plain First Nation, Dakota Tipi and Fort la Reine, both are Sioux nations–many of–there were many situations where children actually attended on a day basis, though there were certainly some that actually resided at the school, but it is a little different because of that. There was a little stronger linkage left between families and kids that attended the school, which is very positive, and perhaps that explains to some degree the very, very few reports we have had of problems with that residential school.
It certainly wasn't immune to them, but it had very, very few concerns, and having looked at some of the comments that were made regarding residential schools, that particular school doesn't appear very much, which is probably a good thing in many ways and certainly will not provide a divisive force in the community, because we are working very hard to work together with these three reserves that are in close proximity to the city. In fact, we have a fourth reserve, Sandy Bay First Nation, that is not too far out of the community and we certainly feel the influence of this rather large community in Portage la Prairie very often.
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I certainly have been told, as I said many times, stories by people that worked there and some that attended there, and there's some good and bad on both sides. Certainly, I've been told by one individual who worked there that the holiday season was a–the Christmas season was a very sad time at the school because many of the children could go home to their families for those that were close by, but there was always some that couldn't get away for whatever reason, and it was kind of a lonely time, so the staff that worked there always made sure that they had a Christmas celebration and a Christmas dinner for these students that stayed at the school and which were often a fairly reasonable number–would be 20 to 30 children–and that there were presents always–so they always made sure that there were presents under the tree for these kids and that it was a very sad season for many of them because they missed their families so much and they were kind of by themselves for–during a lot of it.
But there were also some very fun times. You know, being right–it's actually right on the lakeshore of Crescent Lake in Portage, and there were skating parties in the wintertime, and it was certainly a lot of fun, and boating opportunities in the summer. So there were certainly some positive events that occurred in that as well.
But I don't mean to make light of this whole process, Mr. Speaker. Certainly, the problem of residential school has made a significant impact on the First Nations community, and I have talked to many, many families that can trace family issues back to the impact of residential schools on their family.
It's not mentioned very much, even in the whole process of truth and reconciliation, but Metis families also were impacted by this, though they did not have residential schools; they had special day schools in most cases. And we do have even today a significant population of Metis in our area, including a couple of communities like St. Ambroise and St. François that are actually pretty much all Metis–certainly a very strong element–many of whom made their living hunting, fishing on Lake Manitoba and it's certainly a very significant impact. And it–even to this day, they talk back about the issues that were–occurred at that time. And they did feel, frankly, Mr. Speaker, a little left out in this process. They certainly had things to say, though they, themselves, were not directly impacted by residential schools.
It was a time when being First Nations or Metis was not something that was considered positive in the community–something that has moved on, I think, to a significant degree, Mr. Speaker.
We have very positive working relationships with our First Nations, Long Plain First Nation being actually the first one to have an urban reserve in the province of Manitoba here in Winnipeg, and which they celebrated about four months ago the official opening, and it's certainly a step forward. It provides them with a commercial opportunity that they did not have because, as is almost always the case with First Nations, they are not in a place where a considerable commercial opportunity usually is available to them. Their locations sometimes aren't the best and certainly sometimes the land around them is not the best.
However, we also have an exception in that regard, too, because the Long Plan First Nation has some of the nicest agricultural land available in Manitoba and a very significant block available to them and which they acquired, some before and some after their settlement, which they purchased themselves. And they farm some of it. They're quite innovative in their farming practice. It's still a learning process in terms of what they do. And some of it they rent to some of their neighbours, so it certainly worked–working out very well. They've–they're become a significant player in the potato industry in Manitoba in the Portage area, and that's very positive, and have had some ventures in horticultural crops other than that and also some livestock ventures as well. So they're certainly working to move that forward.
Mr. Speaker, the University of Manitoba will house these important records of the National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, and we are the only location in Canada that will archive these records for public viewing. And I think that that's particularly important because there will be people returning to this point in history by looking at the records and doing some evaluations of the long-term impact. I think it's certainly valuable to the researchers, but it's also appropriate because we have this human rights museum in Winnipeg here, though I don't believe currently there is a display in the museum on–in regards to this. I hope that sometime in the future there will be one.
The actual residential school in Portage la Prairie is actually in the process of being converted into a museum with–holding paraphernalia and items from the residential schools period. A lot of has–is unavailable. Many of the records are destroyed, but there are certainly items that have been kept. And actually some of them was at the Portage museum and has been returned to the First Nations to put into their residential school museum as it's being developed. And it's not fully open at this point, but there's certainly some items there. And it's nice to have some history, even though it may be a piece of history that we're not particularly proud of, looking down the road, Mr. Speaker. And it will provide an opportunity, I hope, in the future to become a focal point so that people can become educated about what occurred, and begin to understand what it did, not only to the communities it was in, but the communities where the children came from, and certainly that was one that had a significant impact. And as I have said earlier, some of the things about our local community make it somewhat unique in terms of, perhaps, minimizing the impact, but certainly I don't intend to minimize the impact across Canada.
And, in my role as critic for Child and Family Services, I've certainly talked to many families who are struggling yet with the issue of what constitutes good family structure, what makes a good parent. And, of course, we all know that there is no manual that comes with the kids to make us all good parents. But if we don't–we learn by role models. And we have–if you've never had a good role model, it is very hard on the family to actually understand a particularly–or to put in place, particularly, a good family structure.
And First Nations families are culturally unique in many ways. They certainly have a different approach to dealing with kids. They would hardly be accused, I think, by modern standards, of being helicopter parents by any stretch of the imagination. They are far more, as modern terms, would be open range. We hear open-range kids these days, and open-range parenting, which lets the kids find out a few more things for themselves.
An Honourable Member: Free range.
Mr. Wishart: Free range, sorry. Thank you. I may, perhaps–the wrong terminology.
And, frankly, that's how I grew up, Mr. Speaker. Most of our–my parents' style was more free range. Living on a farm community, very safe other than what you might do to yourself. And you were basically shown where the door was and told when to come back, and usually it was in time to help with the chores. So you had a definite timeline and you best not be late. And so you got pretty good at determining what time of day it was by looking up at the sun, and saying, time to head for home no matter how far away I might be, and get there by the certain time. And, certainly, that is more consistent, I think, with what we see with some of the First Nations parenting style.
Modern times have changed a fair bit of that. It's certainly quite different in an urban setting than it is in a rural setting, but there are still a great number of First Nations out there in very rural settings, in fact, some of them borderline wilderness settings. And they still practice, to some degree, that style. And the kids learn a great deal from observing nature around them and they apply that into what they learn in the education system.
And we've had some discussions recently about shortfalls in the education system, whether they be through Child and Family Services or just First Nations schooling, which certainly has its issues all by itself.
And we certainly respect the fact that they have a unique style and I think that we need to provide them with the opportunities to establish that style and make what–put in place programs that will work for them now and into the future.
But part of that, I think, really has to be–we need to re-establish parenting styles, and whether we teach the kids in schools or we can get the parents to demonstrate it in the community, I think either way will certainly be valuable. But I think it is important that we move forward with that.
And some of the recommendations certainly touched on these issues, from the commission's work in–regarding the residential schools, the TRC's work. And we hope that they're successful in establishing some plan of action that will move us forward. And I think that that's probably the most important recommendation.
I know that there were many people that felt much better after having told their story, and that is part of the reconciliation process that occurred.
We've certainly seen other places around the world where reconciliation actions have helped resolve some of the ill will in the community, and certainly there's an element of that that is still remaining.
But I think what's important here is that we look at–for opportunities to resolve the problems that occur and put them behind us so that we can all begin to move forward together, because I think it's particularly important that we do solve these problems.
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We work and live very closely with the three First Nations communities that are basically right on the edge of the city of Portage la Prairie, in the RM of Portage la Prairie. And I think it's important for us all that we find solutions where we can all work together and move forward together. We often have discussions about, well, why is Portage so slow in terms of growth, because it hasn't changed a great deal probably in the last 30 years in terms of numbers–that's the city itself; the RM actually has grown quite substantially during that time–and so it's often a chicken-and-egg argument, who's getting the growth and who's not getting the growth.
But the First Nations clearly are a big part of that growth. They are now branching out with housing off reserve, often in the city of Portage la Prairie, and have a number of housing projects that they themselves built, run and manage, and in many cases, it contains First Nations people but not always. So they have become, certainly, a big part of the housing in our local community. And now we are beginning to see a number of First Nations businesses, some on reserve, some actually in the city, that are being successful and getting into the marketplace and bringing a certain type of recognition to the community that makes us perhaps a little different than some other communities, where we see, certainly, different types of values and different types of businessmen in the community. And I think that's really a great thing.
And I think to move forward as a community, we need to get all of us working together in some form or the other. We don't all have to see things exactly equally and the same, but we do need to all work together for the betterment of our own communities and the people in the community. And that provides us with a significant number of opportunities, and I look forward to those types of things in the future.
And, if dealing with the issue of residential schools–and the building still stands in Portage as a part of the museum, so it will be an element in the future–we need to face up to that problem that occurred, and situation, and what happened because of that policy that was really, dare we say it, developed in the 1880s and continued right up into the 1990s when the last one was closed. So here we have a part of three centuries that has made a significant mark on a population that is now part of our community. So we certainly need to work to deal with that.
It reminds me a little bit, the–we have a significant Ukrainian population in our community, and, of course, they have certain elements of times that they celebrate and some that they recognize, such as the Holocaust and the starvation periods where they were subject to, and it caused–back in the Ukraine–and it caused a great deal of immigration to another part of the world and why we have so many in our community. And there's some parallels because people are impacted by both those types of events.
So we look for opportunities to work with our First Nations and our Metis population in Portage and begin to find some healing and move forward from that process so that we can heal as a community and move forward as a community and do what is necessary to try and find the solutions by recognizing each other's histories, the part of the problems that were back there and why they occurred. But we can't rewrite history. We need to recognize history and learn from history and move forward from there.
So, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to put a few words on the record, and I leave the opportunity for anyone else who wishes to speak.
Mr. Speaker: Is the House ready for the question? Any further debate?
An Honourable Member: Question.
Mr. Speaker: Question. The question before the House is concurrence and third reading of Bill 6, The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Act.
Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion? [Agreed]
Mr. Speaker: We'll now move on to call Bill 9, The Chartered Professional Accountants Act.
Is someone moving the motion?
Hon. Gord Mackintosh (Minister of Justice and Attorney General): I move, seconded by the Minister of Finance (Mr. Dewar), that Bill 9, The Chartered Professional Accountants Act, reported from the Standing Committee on Social and Economic Development, be concurred in and be now read for a third time and passed.
Motion presented.
Mr. Speaker: Is there any debate on this matter? No debate on this matter?
Mr. Cameron Friesen (Morden-Winkler): Mr. Speaker, it's my pleasure to rise at third reading and put a few comments on the record with respect to Bill 9, The Chartered Professional Accountants Act, and this is a–I'm encouraged to have this bill in front of the House at third reading. I know it's going to be encouraging for CPA Manitoba and, indeed, for many stakeholder groups in Manitoba to know that this is–this bill is now at this stage. It was not always with a tremendous optimism that various groups were looking at the progress of this bill though the Manitoba Legislature, and so I know, hanging in the balance as well, are the many students who are currently undertaking their exams and preparing to actually practice in this field under the new designation under CPA.
I think that what a lot of Manitobans perhaps don’t realize is that were we in Manitoba to be in the situation where September would arrive and this bill would not receive royal assent, we would essentially have a whole new cohort of graduates coming into this field of accounting unable to use the new designation of CPA, Chartered Professional Accountant, and I assure you, Mr. Speaker, that would not be a good thing.
Mr. Rob Altemeyer, Acting Speaker, in the Chair
Indeed, in this province, as in other things, Manitoba doesn't always lead when it comes to legislation of this kind. Oftentimes the approach is to see what other larger jurisdictions do and then we follow along. And there's merit in that in cases, because with a province of 1.35 million people often larger jurisdictions have more resources and sometimes we can see what is done in other jurisdictions and then we can take a measured approach. We can look at the approach that was taken, we can weigh it and analyze the benefits. We can look at the shortcomings and, of course, in all things, we look for the application of those ideas in the context that is Manitoba, because we know not all jurisdictions are the same. When we look across the country we see that there has been a variable approach when it has come to enacting the legislation that is necessary to bring in these accreditation designations that were formally CMA, CGA, and CA, and replacing that with this new designation of CPA, Chartered Professional Accountant.
So we find ourselves now, in the latter part of June, where indeed most–in most other jurisdictions in Canada the legislation necessary to bring about this new designation has either been passed, or it's quite a long ways down the road, I believe, and I'm sure that my colleagues will correct me if I'm out of date with this, but I believe that currently seven provinces have passed similar legislation, and I believe that in five of those provinces, namely Quebec, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador, I believe that the legislation has already been proclaimed.
I know that in two other provinces the royal assent has been received and the bill is awaiting proclamation. And also, I think that in Nova Scotia it's a little bit of a different situation. But, in any case, what you can see, Mr. Deputy Speaker, is that we're certainly not the first to the table when it comes to this and so we've been able to see what other provinces have done and then we have been–I've seen here that the Finance Minister has introduced this bill. He introduced the bill, I believe, in early December–could have been late November–early December in our short Throne Speech sitting of last year.
And so we had an opportunity, of course, to go forward more quickly with this bill. I would remind the House, as I did at second reading, that we could have proceeded with more haste on this bill. That could have been the case had the Legislature in Manitoba come back into session earlier. Indeed, that was our call as an opposition party, appealing to government in January, in February, in March, and in April to bring the House back in session. The government might not have been in a hurry to introduce legislation to bring the House back in session. The government might not have been in a hurry to introduce legislation, but as in Bill 9, there were other stakeholder groups anxious to see legislation proceed, and that is our job as legislators on both sides of this House, to undertake to both introduce legislation, to weigh it, to adjudicate it, to measure it, and then to enact such legislation as we think best serves the province of Manitoba.
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Now, of course, I guess the question could be asked what was the–what were these government members doing that took them off topic, that took them off of a focus on Bill 9 and, indeed, other bills in this Legislature. And, you know, we know what the government was doing. As a matter of fact, it was splashed all over the headlines in the papers throughout Manitoba starting in November–I guess October-November. And I do want to again indicate for this House, and I did so at second reading, that I thought it was very interesting that I had a meeting with one of the stakeholder groups on this very bill on the exact day that the Premier (Mr. Selinger) of this province was under siege in his own office and media sources were parked outside of his office, essentially sealing him in because we're unaware of any escape route other than rappelling down the side of the third floor on the north side of the building. So essentially he was contained–[interjection] Oh, second floor, I stand corrected. I thank the member for Selkirk (Mr. Dewar) for correcting me; it's the second floor, not third floor.
But, yes, so the Premier was there and into the building come these stakeholders to meet on the bill and proceeding to the office they couldn't help but take note of the fact that a lot of the media sources were camped outside of the Premier's office waiting for a statement in response to five senior members of his Cabinet publicly denouncing his leadership and calling for him to resign. And I remember remarking to the stakeholders at that time and said this is the backdrop now to your efforts to bring enacting legislation that would enable this designation, this new designation to be used in Manitoba. That's the backdrop.
And indeed then when this–when groups would ask me about the progress of this bill through the Legislature, I could say that in all honesty in January, in February and in March when this legislation was being debated–introduced, debated, considered at committee in other provinces, those provinces including Quebec, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador, Alberta and BC and Nova Scotia–in Manitoba, well, this Chamber was shuttered and there was no debate because this government had not called this House back into session. We had to wait until the last day, I believe, of April to be back in this House looking at this legislation.
So now we're on a very fixed timeline and I know there's been a lot of days where walking down the hall to the Chamber I know the Finance Minister and I would engage in conversation and ask about–I would ask questions about whether we can move this forward, whether we can get to this business and so pleased to have the bill here today in third reading.
By no means is this a perfect bill, but it's at least good to have the bill up in third reading. Of course, we know that from committee stage about two weeks ago there have been a number of concerns raised by groups in Manitoba about the content of this bill and one of those has to do with a section of the legislation that purports to restrict public accounting services. And what was noted in committee and what was noted, of course, by others, as well, is there seems to be discrepancy between the original press release that went out in that late November, perhaps the first day of December of 2014, when the bill was introduced in the Manitoba Legislature–a difference in language, important difference between the language of the press release and the language of the actual legislation.
And the press release made it sound like public accounting services including audits and reviews wouldn't meet national standards; it would only be conducted by registered accountants that had the required training and experiences. And then in the bill itself there is a difference, an important difference, where it notes that audits and reviews would be undertaken by only those individuals who could professionally carry out that work, but it allows an out for someone to conduct an audit and review engagement but whose report omits a statement that the work was done or purported to having been done in accordance with the CPA Canada Handbook. So that was a point that came up at the committee stage that says that, essentially, this legislation as currently worded creates, perhaps, an inadvertent loophole. I'm assuming it's inadvertent, but maybe it was the minister's intent to do so.
In the final analysis, I believe what it essentially means, Mr. Deputy Speaker, is that there wouldn't be dramatic change from current provisions because in the province of Manitoba, I believe I'm accurate in stating that audits and review engagements have never been completely just the property–or just practised only until this point by CAs, CGAs and CMAs. There hasn't been that restriction. Now, essentially, the language of this bill in clause 38 would then enable other groups from continuing to provide these public accounting services.
And it's probably important for us just to be clear about what we're talking about when we're talking about public accounting services. So when a professional accountant is providing a public accounting service, you're basically providing an assurance. You're testing. You're assessing the financial statements of a company, of an entity, of some kind of group. And you are using your professional expertise. You're using your designation. You're using your years of experience, all of that in order to make a representation of the financial affairs of this organization. I should mention in order to make an accurate representation of the financial affairs of the organization.
So it's important because, of course, a professional is basically putting his reputation on the line and saying, yes, having reviewed this information and done a careful analysis of it, either in the context of an audit or of a review, then they basically sign off of it. And that ratification, then, becomes important because the public relies on that information. The public relies on it for concerns around investing, around lending, around employment, around donations. So this information is read by other professionals. It is reviewed, it is assessed, and then transactions are made, business decisions are made on the basis of those attestations provided by those professionals. So it's, of course, essential in all of this that the public be protected like in so many other areas of our legislative discourse here, that we need to provide a very high level of assurance to Manitobans that their–that the public interest is protected.
Indeed, if I even just think about the actions of the member for Charleswood (Mrs. Driedger), who has been advocating on behalf of paramedics and their desire to be regulated as a health profession in the province of Manitoba, even that issue in a totally different sphere comes down to important issues around protection of the public. We want to make sure that they are regulated so that they are providing service, meeting a threshold, being professionally trained, having the ability to advance their training, but then also giving the public the confidence in knowing that if someone does not carry out those professional duties in a manner consistent with that designation, that there is–there are channels available for that individual to be challenged, to be disciplined and even, in severe cases, for that individual to lose their professional designation.
I guess CPA Manitoba would say it's exactly that kind of function that they will then perform in the province of Manitoba. So, on one hand, of course, we are balancing that important need to protect the public. On the other hand, we must acknowledge, as well, that until this time, these public accounting services, including reviews and audits, have not been restricted.
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So that means that until this time, another group, another company, another individual, you know, whatever their qualifications or background, could provide these services. Of course, they wouldn't have been putting a CGA stamp at the bottom; they wouldn't have been putting a CA's stamp at the bottom, but they still kind of provided the service. And we've heard testimony at committee that that perhaps doesn't represent the public enough–or protect the public enough. And I know that is the interest, then, of CPA Manitoba. They were trying to, of course, make sure that these services–these public accounting services would be restricted to only CPAs.
So, as it is now, we know that an individual could still do an audit or review engagement, and as long as they didn't state at the end of that engagement that they had done so in accordance with the CPA handbook, well, then, they could do the work because there's nothing here in the minister's bill that would restrict that.
I asked the minister at the committee stage if he would comment on the–on some of the witnesses who were heard at committee or some of the presenters, and he didn't have a comment. He said that his legislation was good just the way it was, so I guess that means that he seems to think he's got it all figured out, even though we had presenters to say there are important areas here that could be improved. So we still continue to look at other models. This is certainly, by no means, perfect legislation, but we have a concern about that.
Also, I guess, we should mention on the record, as well, that none of these public accounting services would restrict the lower level of engagement and those being compilations. So, at this point in time, there'd be nothing in this legislation that would restrict compilations. I believe that in one jurisdiction–it might've been–I shouldn't speculate, but I believe there was one jurisdiction in which even compilations were restricted. It could've been Quebec. I will speculate here; I believe it's in Quebec that even compilations are restricted to CPAs and that–it might also be the case in PEI that that is done. So, in this case, there is no such restriction.
And I know that this bill also contains a clause where it talks about accessibility being an issue. And I think that all professionals who provide these services would say accessibility isn't–you know, needs to be considered–not sure I can agree completely with the way the bill is constructed in that I know that professional groups go to great lengths to make sure that their services are accessible, not just on a geographic basis. They–you can overcome geographic hurdles in many ways with Internet and with various forms of advertising, and services can be delivered virtually. So much can now be shared through scanning and faxing of documents and teleconferencing. There's so many ways that technology can make the world smaller.
But also I would state that there are other accessibility issues that could be examined, as well, and that geography does not–is not the only limiting factor when it comes to accessibility. I would just note one–and maybe invite the Minister of Finance (Mr. Dewar) to engage on this if he would, and that is–probably he and I both continue to hear from groups around Manitoba. There are provincial requirements that require that non-profit groups and community non-profit groups–I'm–that they have to–in order to continue to operate–receive an annual audit of their books.
Now, on the face of it, that sounds reasonable. It sounds like the public would be protected for all entities and agencies and non-profit groups to have to undergo an annual audit. But the fact of the matter is, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that in practice it's not that simple. We're talking about non-profit groups and some community organizations that have financials that often don't exceed 50 or 60 thousand dollars per year in an operating year. Now, when you consider that an engagement like an audit could cost a group of this size three, four, five thousand dollars, that is a significant part of their operating. It can be 5 per cent, 6 per cent, 7 per cent of their entire revenue for the year. If a group like this receives a government grant for $5,000, that grant goes directly to pay for the requirement of an audit.
I would suggest that there are issues about accessibility here that perhaps in the future we're going to have to unpack more. I'll raise just one example. I had a meeting just a while ago with a community-owned veterinarian board. So some of our veterinarian services in the province of Manitoba, of course, as the Minister of Agriculture will know–I know he's listening attentively here–but some of these organizations, their business is for-profit models. But other ones are community-owned boards that basically, they provide the facility and then practitioners can practice in that place. Now I've made the Minister of Agriculture aware of the fact that even in my own community, a community veterinary board with total expenditures of the year, I think of $60,000, are still required to undergo an annual audit of about $5,000. It seems unreasonable.
And I would suggest–and I believe there is many professionals around the province who continue to suggest–and these boards and non-profit groups continue to suggest that you could still ensure the public is protected while being able to provide some relief from a requirement that seems onerous. I would believe that with the practitioners that we have in the area of accountancy in the province of Manitoba, I think that they would be able to help us with this and they would be able to provide relief for some of these non-profit groups.
Perhaps there are things that could be considered about an annual audit on a five-year basis, or a two‑ and three-year basis, and then, perhaps, compilations can be provided in the alternating years.
We understand there are a number of ways that assurances can be given and that representations can be made of the financial affairs of an organization. And I would suggest this is one place in which we need to better examine accessibility, not from a geographic point of view, but also from a point of view of how non-profits operate throughout this province.
So it's something I want to take to the minister and ask for his feedback on and perhaps, based on the collaborative work that has been done here on Bill 9, he and I will look forward to working collaboratively on other things in the future as well. Perhaps collaboration in this place is not in short supply after all, even if it's sometimes isn't the bench–the front benches of that caucus over there.
So that is one point I would definitely make, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
I think I would want to sum them up, my remarks, by saying, as we said before, that we're balancing off on one hand important protections for the public in public accounting services. On the other hand, of course, what we're trying to do is understand that right now there are people who make their livelihoods in this way. And so really there's nothing in this bill that restricts them from continuing to make their livelihood providing audits and review engagements and that's certainly a concern that some have made.
As I stated earlier, the bill is now here at third reading. I know there are a number of groups in Manitoba that will take comfort from knowing that we're at least at third reading now. And so I encourage the government to continue to make a priority out of this bill, to make sure that they give their full focus. And I am optimistic that nothing will stand in the way of helping this bill, while not perfect, get to the point of royal assent in the near future.
It's not only the designation, as we said. It's not only the hard work that's been done by all these groups, even in their own bylaws. In all of these groups, Mr. Deputy Speaker, these own groups, CMA and CGA and CA Manitoba, have all had to do considerable work in their own bylaws. That's kind of the pre-work that needed to be done to allow this legislation to go forward. So that hard work's been done. I believe that work is completed. But right now, of course, we know there are graduates who are coming through these programs, whose futures hang in the balance, and that is an important consideration as well.
So, Mr. Deputy Speaker, with those comments, we continue to say it's not a perfect legislation, but it does allow these designations to come together under one, and that's a good step forward for the province of Manitoba. And I'll just–I'll cede the floor now for those who would like to make additional comment on this bill.
Hon. Greg Dewar (Minister of Finance): It's my pleasure to rise to end the debate on Bill 9, The Chartered Professional Accountants Act, Mr. Speaker.
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As members have noted, across Canada, accountants are merging together into a new chartered professional accounting–accountant designation or CPA, Mr. Speaker. This, of course, will replace the three types of accountant that currently work across Canada: the chartered accountants, certified management accountants and certified general accountants. They'll merge into a single new self–single self-regulatory body which will oversee the profession.
The merger has received support from members of the three existing professional accountant bodies. And when this bill is passed, the 7,000 members in good standing with one of the three professional accounting bodies will automatically become members of CPA. And as the member mentioned, there's a class currently–individuals are currently studying for this now, and the expectation is that they'll graduate later on this year and they'll have this designation, Mr. Speaker.
Of course, Mr. Speaker, it's–CPA will be required to carry out its duties in the manner that serves the public interest, ensuring that all professional accountants in Manitoba will meet common educational requirements and standards.
We have taken–we have ensured that Bill 9 will–takes into account the advice we've received through public consultations from important stakeholders like small business, non-profit organizations and charities who use accounting services, Mr. Speaker.
Manitoba's legislation is less restrictive than other provinces. It responds to concerns we've heard from bookkeepers in small organizations, to ensure charities and non-profits and small businesses, as well as smaller communities that don't have professional accountants, aren't negatively affected by this legislation, Mr. Speaker. Compiling of financial statements will not be restrictive, which means bookkeepers and any other financial service workers can continue to offer this service.
We feel, Mr. Speaker, that this is the–that our approach strikes the right balance between ensuring professional standards are held to–professional accountants, excuse me, are held to national standards and protecting the public interest.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank all those who presented–and groups who presented at committee stage. And as well, I want to thank the Department of Finance staff who–for their hard work in preparing this legislation.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The Acting Speaker (Rob Altemeyer): [inaudible] Oh, I heard a no.
Mr. Reg Helwer (Brandon West): Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to rise to bill–to speak to Bill 9, and about the professional–Chartered Professional Accountants Act, and interesting to see the mergers between the CGA, the CA and the CMA disciplines.
And as you–I'm sure many people know, within each of those designations, there are many disciplines as well, where we have forensic auditors and tax auditors. And so it's–I will think–will probably bring some clarity to individuals and, obviously, we have CPAs in the US, as well. So, indeed, some clarity to businesses and individuals around Canada and Manitoba on how this process will work.
As a business owner, I have employed many, from all of these disciplines, and paid a couple dollars out as a client and taken their advice. And, indeed, it is advice to the owner or to the individual. You have to decide what to do with that advice because at the end of the day it is the individual or the business owner that is responsible for the actions of that business. And so you take the advice of the CA, the CGA, the CMA, and now to be CPA, and you decide how to proceed ahead with that.
So very good consultations with all groups, I'm sure. And I've heard from a lot of individuals in these concerned groups. They were concerned about the pace of the process here and whether is moving too fast or too slow, sometimes not at all, whether there proper consultations. And I think what we see in this act is, well, kind of typical the way that government legislation works. They've tried to offend as few as possible and maybe they offend all of them. So, you know, as it moves forward, I'm sure we will figure out things that should have been done differently or still need to be changed as we move ahead with it.
Interesting to see how the professions are going to change and how they will amend their operations and merge them together. Obviously, there's–in historical terms, there's recognition for many people, maybe–many distinguished individuals or fellows of the chartered accountants. And I know that very honoured that I had a father-in-law that was an FCA and, of course, many friends that are, as well. I think it was the only second time in my life when I wore a tuxedo–first being, of course, at my wedding–when we went to him being inducted as an FCA, and he was very proud of that designation, as we all were during that evening in Winnipeg here, with his fellow FCAs at the black-tie event, with all of his family around him. Of course, he's–Mr. George Horne has since passed away, but he was very honoured by the association to be selected as an FCA and to be honoured as such. So we have several, of course, friends across the country that are similar.
In fact, one of the large accounting organizations that has developed in Canada and in Western Canada–indeed, in Brandon–started as Meyers Norris Penny and has merged and developed and expanded across the country. I was very fortunate to know all of those founders and, indeed, in my younger years as a teenager did spend some time with Mr. Don Penny to try to figure out where this individual was going to end up in life and what advice he had for me and where I should go. Now, politics, interestingly, wasn't on the topic for those ones. We had lots of other conversations on other areas that I might look at for disciplines, but politics was not one, although he has given me lots of advice since then, since I've been elected, and is, indeed, I think, pleased with what's happening in my career these days even though it's always different, Mr. Speaker–Mr. Acting Deputy Speaker.
So this act is, as I said, quite an interesting one that tries to merge them all together. When I've looked at other professional organizations that are protected by this type of legislation–as I've said, sometimes, we offend people; sometimes, we leave some out and there has to be some amendments or some changes to regulations after the fact. And I'm sure we will see that in operation with this act when it does eventually become law, that the new CPAs will look at it and go, well, you know, there was actually something we should have amended here to make sure that other people are able to continue with their current practice or that we needed to bring that practice under the CPA designation.
So those things, I'm sure, we will deal with over time. You can't–you hope to deal with everything in the legislation, but, obviously, there are changes in the world and changes in the–even in the accounting world. Sometimes, I know, you don't believe that it does change, but it does change with some rapidity in how we're going to look at particular agreements, how we're going to look at particular assets, depreciations, those types of things.
So there are areas of accounting that are revisited every day and every year, I know, when they look and change their generally accepted accounting practices on what needs to be included, what needs to be excluded and how we move along with that.
So I think, in general, Mr. Acting Deputy Speaker, it's something that looks like it has the support of most of the CGAs, CMAs and CAs in the province of Manitoba, and they will move along as we accomplish this type of thing and put the legislation in force, and then they'll try to figure out how the legislation applies to their own designations and how it will all merge together. And I'm sure most of the individuals in Manitoba will not recognize that there has been much change, because it's the individuals that perform the activity for the individual or the corporation that you're dealing with–the individual now CPA as opposed to CA, CMA, CGA. Those are the people that you deal with on a day-to-day basis for your accounting, auditing needs. And they will continue to be those individuals that are a part of our businesses, a part of our advisory group, and they will continue to be an important part, of course, of business and tax and such in Manitoba.
So, when I look at the individuals that are going into those designations now, and they're writing, of course, the universal final exams, and the way they study for those–the discipline that's required is something that is quite something, Mr. Acting Deputy Speaker, and very proud of those people that have moved through that and been successful. I know the studying is long, it's hard. Sometimes they need some breaks, but it is, in the end, a–when they have success and receive that designation, often, of course, always very proud of it, as we are proud of them.
* (16:00)
So, interesting, Mr. Acting Deputy Speaker, how this act has come to be, and as I said, we've had lots of consultations with all the groups, and I'm not sure that in the end everything was reflected in the act. We can't always put that in. But it's a step, and I know that we will see other steps along the way as–after this act, should it be passed, that they'll see that we want to–they need to make some changes down into the future.
So, with those words, I am sure there are others that may wish to speak to this so will allow them to do so, and I'm very pleased to speak to it today.
Thank you, Mr. Acting Deputy Speaker.
Mr. Blaine Pedersen (Midland): The member for Dawson Trail (Mr. Lemieux) seems to be in a hurry today, but I'm sure he'll get his chance to speak to this bill too if he likes.
And in speaking to the Bill 9, The Chartered Professional Accountants Act, certainly it seems like a good idea to bring the three groups of them together: the certified general accountants, the chartered accountants and the certified management accountants. And many of us have had lots of experience dealing with accountants, and they are very professional people to deal with.
I know from my farming career, there was obviously a–you had a special relationship with your accountant come near the end of your fiscal year, whenever that was, and in terms of figuring out your tax position because obviously the tax system is very complicated nowadays and the various aspects of businesses to put in, and it was–I always had very good advice from our local accountant that we used during our farm.
And, when I look through this bill, I see that most of this bill–there's three parts of this bill that come into effect upon royal assent, and the rest of it will come into effect–the vast majority of the bill comes into effect upon proclamation as–and it comes into force to be set by proclamation. And I noticed in looking through some briefing notes on this that British Columbia's CPA legislation received royal assent on March 25th of this year, just a few months ago, coming-into-force date yet to be set by a proclamation. Alberta's legislation–royal assent was on December 14th, just this past year; it's still yet to be proclaimed. And Saskatchewan, May 14th, 2014, and yet it's to be set–date set by proclamation also, and so it really piqued my interest on this.
Here's another good argument for being in the New West Partnership. If we were in the New West Partnership, if Manitoba was in the New West Partnership, perhaps we would be working with these three other provinces to make sure that we harmonize legislation so that it makes it the same across all provinces because many companies deal in more than one province, and if you're dealing in all–with our neighbours to the west, it would simplify some aspects of accounting and making sure that they are in compliance with various tax regulations and the like. So it's unfortunate that this government has not seen fit, has–seems to be very shy of asking the other three provinces to join the new west–to be able to join the New West Partnership with them. And so, again, this government just seems to be not taking advantage of a situation that could help to strengthen and loosen just some of that red tape and regulations that affect all companies.
And so we're–certainly would like to see that happen, and with this bill, from the practical standpoint from within Manitoba, it seems to be a good step, although the devil's always in the details in how these regulations end up being written and how they will be rolled out and when they will actually come into effect is–remains the question that has not been answered to date. And I know my colleague from Morden-Winkler touched upon it, and I would like to reinforce this point too is for our smaller not-for-profits, non-profits, organizations that are right now required to do an audit, professional audit and, given the size of their budgets, a relatively small size of their budgets, in order to have to pay for this, there's two aspects of this: First of all, the cost of having a certified accountant do the audit and sign off on the audit, and the second thing that many people who are not involved don't realize, but once you are involved in this, you become very aware of it, and that is the time restraints and time demands on our volunteer sector, because many of these organizations are volunteers, run by volunteers, run by community‑minded people, and the amount of time that they have to put into preparing the books to be sent to an auditor, as an accountant for an audit, and the amount of time that they spend with those to get that audit completed and then having it come back.
And I've seen it time and time again, in a volunteer organization the local treasurer of that organization has put tremendous effort into getting this–the books in shape, getting the books to the auditor, getting them back, and then having them presented at an annual meeting and everybody just giving a blank stare, as they really don't know what was happening, what really happened there in this financial statement that was just presented.
If we could somehow loosen this up a little bit–there always must be accountability, and as my friend from Morden-Winkler suggested, perhaps a three-year audit or compilation–an annual compilation just–there are many people that are qualified to do books but don't have the designation of the professional accountants. They could do a compilation of the books and then perhaps every third year or something like that, that you could actually have a chartered accountant do an audit on it and just in order to help our volunteer sector. Our volunteer sector is increasingly under time constraints and demands and they really do need some help in here.
This bill doesn't address that, but it is a good time to be able to speak to this and just to bring it to the attention of government members. I'm not sure if they are even aware of the demands that they're putting on the volunteer sector, and we all know that Manitoba is the home of the most active volunteers in Canada and we are–our communities run on volunteers, so anything we can do to assist them would certainly help their sector, and, at the same time, it would not impinge upon this act.
So, Mr. Acting Deputy Speaker, I would–I look forward to this bill coming into effect. Again, the member for Dawson Trail (Mr. Lemieux) seems to be in a real panic to have this bill passed, and yet he cannot tell me when this bill will actually be proclaimed, so I will certainly cede the floor to him so that he can stand up and tell us when this bill will actually come into effect, be proclaimed, so that then we have more 'assurity' that this bill will actually take effect and not just another bill passed to sit on the shelf waiting for proclamation.
Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
The Acting Speaker (Rob Altemeyer): Seeing no further speakers, is the House ready for the question?
Some Honourable Members: Question.
The Acting Speaker (Rob Altemeyer): The question is concurrence and third reading on Bill 9, The Chartered Professional Accountants Act.
Is it the will of the House to adopt the motion? [Agreed]
Bill 16–The Terry Fox Legacy Act
The Acting Speaker (Rob Altemeyer): Next item of business, again on concurrence and third readings, is Bill 16, The Terry Fox Legacy Act.
Hon. Gord Mackintosh (Minister of Justice and Attorney General): I move, seconded by the Minister of Health that Bill 16, The Terry Fox Legacy Act; Loi commémorative de Terry Fox, reported from the Standing Committee on Social and Economic Development, be concurred in and be now read for a third time and passed.
Motion presented.
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Hon. Sharon Blady (Minister of Health): I'm very happy to see that the bill has made it to this point, and I begin today with the words of Terry's eldest brother, Fred: Four years ago today, we not only lost a mom and grandma, but the one who carried 'teggy'–Terry's legacy on her shoulders for 30-plus years. If not for Betty Fox, the Terry Fox Foundation wouldn't be what it is today. Mom always enjoyed sharing Terry's stories and expressing her thanks to the many volunteers, supporters and donors for their hard work and passion in keeping Terry's dream alive.
Mr. Speaker in the Chair
It is four years today that Betty Lou Fox, born Betty Lou Wark, passed away. She was born in Boissevain, raised in Melita and in her teens moved to Winnipeg where she would later meet her husband, Rolland, or Rolly Fox. And they would get married and have four wonderful children, one of whom was Terry.
When he passed away, there was so much public attention on his cause and his death, Betty found no time to grieve her own son, as her support for her son continued. She took on the development of the Terry Fox Run with the Canadian Cancer Society. That organization would later grow to be the Terry Fox Foundation, and Betty took on the lead in many parts of the run and the foundation, ensuring that Terry's wishes and goals were reflected in the run's organization. It's estimated that she spoke to more than 400,000 schoolchildren alone during her 25 years of touring the country, leaving each and every child with the inspirational story of the Marathon of Hope. And her final words of every speech were: Never, ever give up on your dreams.
I'd like to thank Betty and the family for everything that they've done to preserve Terry's legacy, and I hope that this legislation will be one more part in that. I'd also like to thank them for the work that the foundation and the related Terry Fox Research Institute have done and the impact that it has had on Manitoba. There are some researchers here in the province of Manitoba who have benefited from this research and have therefore made results and research findings that have helped all cancer patients in some way, shape or form.
Dr. Jim Davie from the University of Manitoba, who is a research–Terry Fox Research Institute Prairie Node leader–his inspiration, he says, it isn't just Terry; he says, it's a family thing. Other families might've said, you're going to run across Canada on one leg? Are you out of your mind? But, no, they supported him; the family was behind him 100 per cent and still is. Terry's intuition, Terry's bravery and what he did for Canadian research trumps anything else I've heard. And again, that speaks to the legacy of his mother, Betty.
We also have Dr. Mark Nachtigal, who's from the University of Manitoba, who is one of the Terry Fox New Investigators. And he talks about how when he was in high school when he heard about Terry Fox, and he actually hoped to run with Terry but, unfortunately, when Terry's journey stopped in Thunder Bay, he didn't get that chance.
But he says: Fortunately for me, when I started my own cancer research laboratory in 1998, I became a Terry Fox New Investigator. It's been a great opportunity and I do anything I can to help promote the Terry Fox story, to help promote research in this area. For me, it is a way of living true to his memory and what he wanted to promote. Realistically, a lot of cancer research conducted to this day is because of what Terry did. Terry has inspired me but after I became a cancer researcher he became even more inspirational, and it's become a much more poignant and important story to make sure people know and remember.
The Terry Fox Research Institute also has the Rising Star program and it provides two annual entrance scholarships to young, bright students interested in doing biomedical research with areas of emphasis for Terry Fox. They help labs connect–develop connections with other Terry Fox labs across the country, and it becomes a way for folks to integrate some of the groups and the hard work, all the different things that come as a means of benefiting everyone.
And I'd like to thank Dr. Spencer Gibson from CancerCare Manitoba, who was one of the Terry Fox Rising Star graduates, because he says, at the end of the day, you want things to be better for cancer patients, and I hope that the Rising Stars program will be a model that we will able–be able to grow further at the Terry Fox Research Institute and other organizations as well.
And what is most promising in terms of this legacy started by Terry and maintained for so many years by his mother, Betty, is seeing the impact that it's having on young researchers, including a master's of science student from the University of Manitoba, Alexander–Alexandra Ciapala, who attended her very first Terry Fox Research Institute Annual Scientific Meeting this year in St. John's, Newfoundland. And she says, that how it has shown me what a truly brilliant and innovative community has been founded on the hopes of one man who ran a marathon a day across Canada, and I am proud to be part of it. I have come from this meeting having gained knowledge, friendship and mentors. Also thanks to the TFRI Rising Stars scholarship. I have been given the opportunity to spend this summer in Vancouver at another TR–TFRI-funded lab, learning a new technique, knowledge that I can bring back with me to further our research and teach to other trainees. I'm very grateful for the opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, the legacy of Terry Fox is alive and well, and so much of that is because of his mother, Betty. Betty not only raised a phenomenal son, but when cancer took that son away from her, she went and built the foundation, the foundation that has, again, left us a wonderful legacy and keeps Terry's memory alive and keeps research alive and well.
And, with that, I would like to thank Betty for all the work she did. I would like to thank the family for the work that they continue to do and for their support of this legislation. And I think the best way to–for me to wrap up my thoughts on this and what it is that we're doing with this legislation is to close with the words of Terry himself: Even if I don't finish, we need others to continue. It's got to keep going without me.
Terry, we're going to keep things going.
Mr. Speaker: Prior to recognizing the honourable member for Lac du Bonnet, I'd like to draw the attention of honourable members to the public gallery where we have with us this afternoon from Finland, I believe–not Finland, pardon me–Iceland. I knew I would get it wrong. That's the test to see if the House was paying attention.
I'd like to welcome Eyglό Harðardόttir, who is the minister of social housing–of Social Affairs and Housing, and welcome to the province of Manitoba and enjoy your stay here.
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Mr. Speaker: I'm happy to see that members of the House are paying attention this afternoon.
The honourable–I'm sure I did catch the honourable member for Gimli's (Mr. Bjornson) attention–the honourable member for Lac du Bonnet.
Mr. Wayne Ewasko (Lac du Bonnet): Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise today to put a few words on the record for Bill 16, The Terry Fox Legacy Act.
As we know, Terry Fox has been a great inspiration to many, many, many Canadians from our youth right through to our seniors, Mr. Speaker. The bill–this bill is going to proclaim the first Monday in August of each year as Terry Fox Day and the second Sunday after Labour Day of each year as Terry Fox Run Day. And it gives me, again, great pleasure to stand up and to help endorse this bill and bring it forward, something that has been long coming. I've been waiting for it for quite some time.
As I've said before, Terry Fox is one of Canada's greatest inspirations due to his efforts to raise money and awareness for cancer research. He is forever remembered in the hearts of Canadians as a symbol of courage, determination and perseverance.
Mr. Speaker, perhaps unknown to some, Terry Fox is a Manitoban. He was born in Winnipeg on July 28th, 1958, but raised in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. As the birth province of this great Canadian, it is our responsibility to honour his endeavour.
At 18 years of age, Terry faced a devastating hurdle in his life. He was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma, bone cancer, and had his right leg amputated six inches above the knee in 1977. While in the hospital, Terry was overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients and decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. He would call his journey the Marathon of Hope.
In high school and university, Terry Fox was a very determined distance runner and basketball player. His athletic skills could be attributed to a swift rehabilitation, as it only took three weeks after the amputation procedure for Terry to walk again with the help of an artificial leg.
Mr. Speaker, his determination and hard work in his endeavour is truly admirable. Terry started his Marathon of Hope in St. John's, Newfoundland on April 12th, 1980, after 18 months and running over 5,000 kilometres to prepare for this undertaking. He ran close to 42 kilometres a day through Canada's Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario.
However, on September 1st, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres, Terry was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario because cancer had appeared in his lungs. The entire nation was stunned and saddened.
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To acknowledge his tenacity and courage, Terry Fox was presented with the Companion of the Order of Canada by former premier of Manitoba and former governor-general, Ed Schreyer, in September of 1980. He was the youngest person ever named a Companion of the Order of Canada.
Mr. Speaker, sadly, Terry Fox passed away on June 28th, 1981, at the age of 22. In September of that year, the first Terry Fox Run was held at more than 760 sites in Canada and around the world. The event attracts 300,000 participants and raises 3 and a half million dollars.
Terry's dream was to raise $1 from every Canadian for cancer research. By February 1st, 1981, that dream was realized. The Terry Fox Marathon of Hope funded–totalled $24.17 million. Currently, the Terry Fox Foundation is responsible for supporting close to $20 million in discovery-based research each year in Canada. To date, over $650 million has been raised worldwide for cancer research in Terry's name through the annual Terry Fox Run held across Canada and around the world.
We know, Mr. Speaker, that many of the students from this great province of ours participate in the Terry Fox Run yearly, and I know that a lot of the schools do a lot of promoting of the event each and every year. And the students go across their communities and to their friends and relatives to help raise money for this very important cause.
Since the–his death in June of 1981, countless awards, memorials and accolades have been established in his honour, including being the first Canadian to be featured on the loonie that was in circulation and an image of the iconic Terry Fox monument in Ottawa on the new Canadian passports.
There are currently 14 schools and 15 roads in Canada named after Terry Fox to honour his memory and his contributions to cancer research and elsewhere.
Mr. Speaker, British Columbia passed the Terry Fox Day Act on November 28th, 2014, which proclaims that the second Sunday after Labour Day will now be officially known as Terry Fox Day. A bill outlining similar legislation, also entitled the Terry Fox Day Act, passed its second reading in Ontario unanimously this March. It is high time that Manitoba, the birthplace of Terry Fox, commemorate this great Canadian as well.
Mr. Speaker, we are proud to recognize that this year marks the 31st–35th anniversary of the Marathon of Hope and Terry's legacy of supporting and promoting cancer research. Manitobans are proud to continue supporting Terry's cause by participating in and supporting cancer research and awareness.
Mr. Speaker, our front-line providers face more challenges each and every day within our health-care system, more than they ever have before. That is why the PCs are committed to creating a confident work environment for all front-line workers including our nurses, doctors, therapists, aides, and all other health professionals. Manitoba's Progressive Conservatives are determined to work together to make Manitoba a healthier place to live and, as such, have made it a measurable priority to improve mental-health-care access throughout the province as well.
Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, Terry Fox was undoubtedly an inspirational Canadian. As an athlete, humanitarian and cancer-research activist, he should be commemorated by the Province of Manitoba.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Ron Schuler (St. Paul): As always, it's an honour to stand up in this Legislature and be able to debate bills, in particular, a bill that honours a true Canadian legend.
I remember the Terry Fox Run and all the things that were going on at that time. I can remember–of course, considerably younger than I am today–I remember when he dipped his foot into the ocean on the east coast and he was going to run across Canada. He was a dynamic young individual, well spoken, nice-looking young man, and he had a vision. He had an idea that he was going to raise cancer awareness, and he was going to raise some money while he was at it. And he did a great job at it, Mr. Speaker.
And when you look at some of the statistics, what he was planning and what he was doing–and keep in mind, this is a young, barely out of high school student–he was planning on running approximately 5,000 kilometres in total. And, if you speak to people from Europe, you know–5,000 kilometres, that's like from Berlin to Moscow–and they just can't conceivably think that somehow that would be within one country, that you would run all those kilometres. And here was this young guy, he had gone through one of the most traumatic things that you can go through psychologically, and that's cancer. He had lost a leg to it. He went through all the treatments. And he decided he was going to do something different for his country and for a cause. And just that alone, Mr. Speaker, warrants him to get the recognition that he got. But it's even more than that, because I think everybody in this Chamber knows maybe themselves or others who have a great idea. We hear it all the time, what we should do. Or I hear it at home all the time, you know, what would be a really great idea, and what, basically, we mean by that: It would be a great idea for others. In fact, I have a good friend of mine who always said, you know, I should write a book about that. And, if he actually wrote a book, we'd have a whole library just in his writings, and he never gets around to it.
Here was a young man in the likes of Terry Fox who came up with an idea, thought it through and decided to go through with it with a lot of support from his family, a lot of support from friends. But it was really a test of human endurance. You know, there were times, I know, because watching news and that kind of stuff, when he was walking across Canada and they–they'd interview him, and here was this young man drenched, wet as a rat, as we say, hair matted down from the rain that he had been caught in, but did he give up? Did he say, you know what, it's getting cold, I'm wet, I'm not feeling good? You know, there's nobody out here.
I remember when he was crossing Ontario. You know, he got through–past Thunder Bay and heading towards Kenora, and for our guests in the gallery who haven't ever gone that direction from Thunder Bay to Kenora, dare I say it's a little sparse. Not that they would know that from where they come from. I mean, Canada, at times, can be sparse. There would have been not really much to look at. There probably would have been a lot of bugs around. It wasn't exactly the most pleasant experience, but he always seemed to have hope when he spoke. There was always hope in what he had to say. He was always looking forward to the next day. And he'd say, well, you know what, it's going to rain a little bit, but tomorrow's going to be better. And there was a young guy who was just absolutely full of hope and enthusiasm. He wanted to raise money; he wanted to raise the profile of cancer and, really, an inspiration for young people like myself.
Now, here is a young individual who also knew that–I suspect he knew within himself that time was running out on him. And I actually remember the interview when he had to stop his race because health was starting to be a bit of a problem, and he choked back the tears, and he said, I've got to stop my quest right now–and I'm paraphrasing here, Mr. Speaker. But he did say that I'm going to be back; I will continue this; I'm going to continue the race.
Now, history will show that that was not going to happen, and maybe that's what makes this even a bigger story is the fact that with all his hope and with everything that he had within him and with his drive and enthusiasm, he still wasn't able to finish the race. And that's where we all come in. We are there to continue the race for Terry Fox. And I know my children who are a generation–two generations after him, they have wonderful Terry Fox runs in their schools. They raise money. And what's important is not that they're raising money, which is important, not just that they're raising the profile of cancer, which is important, but it's about them recognizing that we all have to be part of something, and we have to continue where others have left off.
Terry Fox did not fail. Terry Fox left probably half of the race, half of what he was trying to do, for us to complete. And the point is that we should try to defeat cancer. And I think that's what he wanted to do. In fact, a lot of what he's done–I don't think people understand what cancer research is about. We happen to have friends of ours–our Member of Parliament, her husband struggled with cancer and he beat it. But there was a lot of things that were being done for him because he needed a bone marrow transplant. They couldn't find a match here in North America, so they found him a partial match in Europe. Well, that was part of that research. And, actually, they flew the bone marrow in because it has to be withdrawn and then it's got to be transplanted. In fact, I–Mr. Speaker, I correct myself there. I believe they did transport the individual here and they did the transplant here. I'm not quite sure. But that's what a lot of the research dollars go to is that. Because it was a partial match, they wanted to see how that would work. And it worked. And they moved the entire science of cancer research another generation forward because they're starting to figure out how to get partial matches of bone marrow to take in a recipient.
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And, you know, I know we are all very pleased to know that Bart Smith survived. He went through some very, very tough times with his cancer, but he survived, and that's what Terry Fox wanted. He wanted us to continue the race. He wanted us to continue the fight against cancer, although he's not here to see it anymore. And when you think he was, I believe, it's 22 years old when he succumbed to his cancer, what a dynamic–what a leader, like, talk about vision, talk about somebody who can see into the future and say: You know what? Although I'm not going to finish this, I would like you to continue.
And that's where Canadians have really done themselves proud. They have really gone out of their way to continue the race that Terry Fox started. They continue the activities. The schools do a wonderful program, and for those who haven't had a chance to participate in the Terry Fox Run, it really is wonderful, and it's got a lot of great support behind it. A lot of companies get behind it and back it, and there's really important money being raised for the kinds of research that we talked about that are now helping real individuals.
I know for a fact, Mr. Speaker, that my mother who struggled with cancer and didn't quite make it, but the breast cancer treatments back in the 1960s were crude and primitive compared to what we have today. And it's because of people donating money; it's because of people doing these activities that raises the money that allows researchers and those who are good and knowledgeable in this, gives them the money and the means to move the research further.
In fact, I've referenced before the honourable member for River Heights, (Mr. Gerrard) the Liberal member for River Heights, was a pediatric oncologist, and I've said to a lot of people it's very unfortunate that he ever got elected because he was such a good pediatric oncologist, and I know that he did a lot of good work. And it was individuals like him, and it's individuals like him, that continue to do the research, that take the money that was raised by the Terry Fox organization and others, that take that and move the cancer research.
The survival rates every 10 years increase substantially. They increase the life expectancy. And the stuff that's being done for those who've not had a tour of the cancer foundation here at the Health Sciences Centre, they do just remarkable work. And for children who are suffering with leukemia, they've created beautiful wards, nice toys for the kids to play as they're getting their chemo and their various treatments. They just make the entire thing so much more humane, and that's what Terry Fox would have wanted. That's what a young 22-year-old who, Mr. Speaker, maybe if he hadn't have done the race, maybe if he hadn't have done that, it wouldn't have been so hard on his body, and maybe he would have lived. But he would rather have given his life so that others would get the kind of research that could increase the life expectancy and, in fact, the cures for cancer research.
So today is a great day. We definitely want to see this bill move forward. Again, it's recognizing a great Canadian, an individual who has done a lot for this country, an individual who's done a lot for all of us because I would point out to everybody in this House, there by the grace of God go I, or there by the grace of God go we. Someday we also might be beneficiaries of what Terry Fox did.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Peter Bjornson (Gimli): Mr. Speaker, I'd just like to briefly add a couple of comments on this debate today, and I think it's very appropriate that we have this bill before the House to commemorate a great Canadian in Terry Fox, and, certainly, the significance for me as a young man growing up seeing his journey unfold on television, national television, was very touching, very powerful. And we actually took the song written by Rod Stewart, Never Give Up on a Dream. That was my grad theme song, and it really spoke to Terry Fox's vision to never give up on the dream.
And I also would like to say, though not specific to this bill, but related to what we do as historians, is recognize days of significance. I think it's very important to recognize this day as Terry Fox Day on the August long weekend, which is also, of course, Islendingadagurinn, where we'll be celebrating our Icelandic heritage, and I'm very pleased that you acknowledged the presence of Minister Harðardóttir today as well as my good friend Hjálmar Hannesson, who is the consul. I'd like to acknowledge him in the gallery as well, and they, of course, are here today to celebrate Jon Sigurdsson Day, which we brought in the legislation and passed unanimously in this Chamber to recognize the significance of the Icelanders and their contribution to western Canada primarily, but also to Canadian society as a whole. So, as a history teacher passionate about our country but also passionate about my roots, I'm very pleased that we're having this debate today of all days and very pleased that the members will be supporting–commemorating Terry Fox's memory appropriately on the August long weekend.
So, with those few words, Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to speak today.
Mrs. Myrna Driedger (Charleswood): I, too, would like to put a few comments on the record about this bill, and I would like to acknowledge what was a very inspirational speech by my colleague from St. Paul, because he did capture a lot of the language that is so appropriate around what Terry Fox did. And I think he captured a lot of the elements of that in the eloquent words that he put on the record, and I just want to say that it was very fitting in acknowledging Terry Fox.
I think most of us, if not just about everybody in Canada, would certainly have in their mind this image of Terry Fox running, running towards us, running across northern Ontario. I think that is where a lot of us, you know, started to really see him as he was coming towards Manitoba. He certainly was running in an area where there were a lot of trees, a road and not much else. And I understood that his best friend was driving the motorhome behind him, and I think there was a story there about the commitment between the two of them, and it certainly is inspirational hearing that the friend was out there driving along behind his friend for the journey that was taken.
He was a great inspiration, and he really is an icon in Canada. He is part of our history and in–will always be a chapter in Canadian history, and that's how I think we'll all remember him. He has become so much larger than life in what he did. I think we're inspired by his youth, inspired by his tenacity, his passion, his commitment, and it's sometimes hard to imagine how an 18-year-old goes through all of this, a young, athletic, dynamic 18-year-old that then makes the decision that he is going to make–to do this run. We all watched his gait as he ran, and that could not have been all that comfortable. And, you know, as you watched, it wasn't just a man running; it was a young man running with more effort than probably most of us could even imagine. And it just showed us what a remarkable, remarkable person this was.
I am happy to see that we are going to create two days here in Manitoba to acknowledge Terry Fox. One is close to his birthdate, and the other one is related to the run day. And many of us have been involved one way or another in a Terry Fox Run, you know, whether it was through schools with our kids through schools or, you know, as MLAs right now having an opportunity to go with school kids into this and to watch the excitement on their faces. And they know a lot about what they're doing and why they're doing it. And I think that's really important that we are educating our young people about cancer but about this young cancer hero, because we are going to have a significant increase in the number of people that are going to be diagnosed with cancer as we have this demographic coming before us of baby boomers, and, as people age, cancer becomes more prevalent. And, because we're going to have so many baby boomers, we're going to see more and more cancer. I have already lost a couple of girlfriends to cancer. I know of several friends that I have that are also now struggling with it, and I think we're all going to experience it more and more.
I am grateful for the fact that we continue to raise money for cancer research through, you know, not only the Terry Fox Foundation but through what our own CancerCare foundation does here in Manitoba.
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I know Janice Filmon was on that board for very many years, having gone through her own cancer journey. She, in her own dynamic way, also became a champion of trying to address the need for more cancer research. And she was certainly a significant player in many of the growth areas of CancerCare Manitoba. And I think we certainly are in debt to her for what she has been able to do. She, like Terry Fox, wants to see some positive changes. They want to see more research. And we do need to be there; we do need to support the research.
I really liked what my colleague from St. Paul said in terms of picking up where Terry Fox left off. He did have a Marathon of Hope. I don't think that marathon is over. There are so many cancers out there, and it is an opportunity for all of us in whatever way to support continuing that Marathon of Hope.
Certainly, his mother became well known to many, many people, too, who again was another champion in this journey of trying to, you know, raise the funds so that we can defeat cancer and not let cancer defeat us. And there are a lot of people that have, you know, grown around this issue to become very, very strong individuals that feel very compelled to be part of the, you know, evolution of taking on cancer and saying that we can defeat it.
I really admire the people right now that are involved, for instance, in the Kick Butt Run, because they are out there trying very hard to address the challenges of colorectal cancer. The–you know, the people in the communities–and there are many, because it was women in Manitoba that actually were the ones that were the driving force to move Manitoba ahead around breast cancer. It was Manitoba women that actually raised the money to put the mobile mammography machines on the road. I was very proud to be a part of the Filmon government that actually created the breath–the comprehensive Breast Health Centre and made that a reality.
I was also–felt very privileged to be able to have several conversations with our minister of Health in the late '90s to encourage him to put the prostate cancer centre in place at CancerCare, because the building was going on; we had an opportunity to put another floor in there. It wasn't part of the plan, but the minister of Health of the day, Eric Stefanson, saw the need. It was put before him; he realized that we do and did need to go further in addressing prostate cancer, and, you know, the support was there for the beginning of the prostate cancer centre for men. So those are important pieces in what is happening in Manitoba and at CancerCare.
And, certainly, also, Dr. Dhaliwal was such a visionary in CancerCare in Manitoba, and he was a real–he did have a lot of vision for the changes that could come forward, and he was a driving force in putting his ideas forward, putting his passion forward, and I think all of us really do have, you know, an obligation to recognize what he did and how well he did it, because certainly he was another person again that had a vision for, you know, changing the dynamic with CancerCare and with cancer, and he fought for it.
Certainly, I think all of us, as we are addressing the issue of Terry Fox and looking at his, you know, his run and recognizing that he really became a symbol for everybody for courage, determination and perseverance. We saw this young man with curly hair and his T-shirt, running down the highway, and, again, that iconic image is certainly implanted in the minds of many. He did become an inspiration for people. And I think all of us have an ability to now, you know, grab on to that and continue this journey as many have done over the last number of years.
And I'm happy to see that Manitoba is going to recognize him in this way. He was born here in this province, and it is fitting that we should be looking at a way to honour him, and it is our responsibility to honour him, his endeavour and all that he stood for. He really did show us that people can face devastating hurdles in their lives. Hard to imagine a young man of that age with osteogenic sarcoma; you know right from the beginning that that is not always going to have a happy ending, and it certainly didn't for him. But what it has done is he became a catalyst for so much in this country, and the amount of money that we can raise for cancer research may not have been there had it not been for what he did and the way he inspired all of us.
So, certainly, we're in support of the legislation. We look forward to the times that we will be able to, you know, acknowledge that this day is there to recognize this remarkable young man, to say thank you to his family for what they have done in, you know, in taking all of this forward so that Canada is going to benefit from really a huge loss by losing this young Canadian. And it was such a test of human endurance that could certainly give us all a little bit more faith in many other parts of our lives, too, by just thinking of what this young man did and how he drew from inside himself and made it happen and how the support of friends and family got him through a lot of the challenging times. Indeed, a remarkable, remarkable individual. And so I certainly stand here in support of The Terry Fox Legacy Act.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Dennis Smook (La Verendrye): Indeed, it is an honour today to stand up and say a few words to a great Canadian. This, The Terry Fox Legacy Act, is exactly what it is. This bill proclaims the first Monday in August of each year as Terry Fox Day and the second Sunday after Labour Day of each year as the Terry Fox Run Day.
Terry Fox was an incredible person. We can all agree that he inspired many, many Canadians in their efforts to raise money and to–awareness of cancer research. Cancer is a disease that we've all been trying to eradicate over the last number of years, and Terry's efforts to help in raising money for research was incredible. We've all been affected by cancer in some way or another, but what Terry did was truly above and beyond what most of us have done. Like, a lot of people, you know, they feel sorry for themselves, or they do things. And he did something that was totally unselfish. He was a young man, 18 years of age, who passed away at the age of 22. He deserves to be recognized. We need to continually remember and remind ourselves as some of us grow older, and we need to encourage the young generation to remember Terry Fox.
I know that I've made several trips from Ontario and have driven by the spot where he ended his run. At one time, I even believe that on one of my trips I passed his cavalcade. I can't say that for sure, but I remember it, and, to me, I believe it was because a few years later, after I went by the memorial just on the other side of Thunder Bay, it–I saw the sign there and it was kind of important, you know, that I could remember that.
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We as Canadians are–need to remember all the different things that affect us, and we need to help each other out in things like raising money for this disease. Some of us have been lucky and have gotten over it; some haven't. And it's the ones of us who have who really feel affected by what he did.
It–this is–excuse me–this is a very important bill. And I just hope that people in life can continue to remember him and do something extraordinary to help this disease.
Mrs. Bonnie Mitchelson (River East): I feel honoured and privileged to stand in my place in this Legislature and support Bill 16, The Terry Fox Legacy Act, and remember a remarkable young Manitoban. He was born right here in Manitoba, although he did–he was raised in British Columbia, but–[interjection] Oh, the Speaker reminds me–Mr. Speaker, I thank you for reminding me that he was born in Transcona, the constituency of our Speaker of the Legislature today.
And so I'm pleased to be able to put a few comments on the record. And, you know, it's hard to believe that it was 35 years ago, the anniversary of his run and his death, 35 years, Mr. Speaker, that we are celebrating. And, for many of us, the memory of Terry Fox is very fresh in our minds. I can remember, and many of us can remember, the pictures that we saw on TV as he journeyed across from the east coast right through into Ontario and into Thunder Bay. We remember very vividly the struggles that he endured, his limp and his gait. It could not have been an easy undertaking, and we do know that he struggled and persevered until he could no longer continue to run.
And Mr. Speaker, over 5,000 kilometres and millions of dollars later that he raised for the very valuable research that has been done and continues to be done in our country and around the world to advance the treatment and the cure for many, many cancers, that I find it hard to imagine how an 18‑year-old could have the maturity and the vision that he had to undertake such an onerous task. And we have to celebrate him for the contribution that he made and for his ability to travel all that distance.
And, you know, we were all so very saddened when he had to succumb to the cancer spreading to his lungs and stopping his journey. But my colleague from St. Paul put it so eloquently, that we have been tasked with continuing to support his vision and his legacy. We were challenged as a community, and I think we've risen to the challenge, to continue to keep his memory alive and to continue to do what needs to be done to raise the funds for cancer research.
And I hear on a yearly basis–I have two young grandchildren, and Lauren and Serah are very proud every year to run in the Terry Fox Run or walk for Terry Fox at their Emerson Elementary school. It's something that many schools right throughout our province undertake on a yearly basis. And, you know, it's so great to see these young people take that run or that walk so very seriously. And, in fact, we have kept his memory alive through the children that continue to support and raise money for cancer research in our schools. So I am reminded every year of the commitment and the contribution that he made.
You know he faced, you know, many, many challenges. And when we look at cancer research and how far it's come, I remember in my days before politics–and that was quite a few years ago when I worked as a registered nurse on some of the medical wards–and, you know, the women that I looked after that had breast cancer, Mr. Speaker, I can't remember any one of them surviving. It was a death sentence at that time, and it was terrible. I looked after men that had lung cancer and saw very healthy robust men come into the hospital that had just been diagnosed with lung cancer, and within a year, those same men were just not the same. They were on their death bed, and it was really a death sentence when you developed cancer back in the late '60s or early '70s.
But we've seen such great advances today, and there are so many cancer survivors as a result of the research that has been done. And I've seen young children that have made great advances and have certainly had their lives extended, Mr. Speaker, as a result of the research that has been done.
And I know that my colleague from St. Paul did mention the member for River Heights (Mr. Gerrard), who was a pediatric oncologist. And I know that he has dealt with children, or he did, when he was practising his profession, children in my community, and Mr. Speaker, he was so very highly regarded for the work that he did to advance cancer research.
And, you know, as we continue today, we can never forget the contribution that Terry Fox made to help to raise money for this very needed and very valuable research that has impacted and supported so very many in our community.
Mr. Speaker, many continue to raise money. There are so very many prominent people today in our community that are ensuring that the legacy of Terry Fox continues, and this is just one small way that we can join together in this Legislature, set aside partisan politics, and support a bill that, in fact, truly recognizes and honours a young individual who made such a difference in the lives of so many.
Thank you.
Mr. Speaker: Is there any further debate on this bill?
Is the House ready for the question?
Some Honourable Members: Question.
Mr. Speaker: The question before the House is concurrence and third reading of Bill 16, The Terry Fox Legacy Act.
Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion? [Agreed]
Mr. Kelvin Goertzen (Official Opposition House Leader): Is it the will of the House to see that it passed unanimously, Mr. Speaker?
Mr. Speaker: Is it the will of the House to let the record show that this bill has passed unanimously? [Agreed]
* * *
Hon. Dave Chomiak (Government House Leader): Is it the will of the House to call it 5 o'clock?
Mr. Speaker: Is it the will of the House to call it 5 p.m.? [Agreed]
The hour being 5 p.m., this House is adjourned and stands adjourned until 10 a.m. tomorrow morning.