LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF
Monday, February 17, 1992
The House met at 8 p.m.
MATTER OF URGENT PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Mr. Speaker: The honourable member for
Ms.
Rosann Wowchuk (
There are specific areas that I would like
to raise. The Minister of Northern
Affairs (Mr. Downey) is, I believe, quite aware of one of them. In my constituency the people in one of the
communities, where there is an extremely high unemployment rate, have come up
with a proposal for a tourism development because they want to work. They want to come off welfare. They want to have the opportunity to develop
their community. That is a positive
suggestion.
I hope that the government will look at
this suggestion as well as other suggestions that have come from the people as
ideas on how we can create employment, how people can start to have faith in
their own communities and have some economic growth. For the government to say
that all we are talking about is just throwing money away, there is a way to
redirect the money and this government should seriously look at some of
those. As I say, I would be very pleased
if they would look at the idea that has come forward from my constituency.
Another area that has asked for some
economic development is the community of Rock Ridge, and again the Minister of
Northern Affairs is aware of this. These
people want to complete a subdivision.
The government would be required to put $12,000 into it in exchange for
a fairly substantial amount of money from the federal government, which again
would give economic growth to that community.
Maybe some of the jobs would be short term, but there would be some
training involved and a growth for the community. Again, look at those ideas.
Government also has to look at what they
are doing with our education system and opportunities they are taking away from
our children, particularly in the rural area, when they cut back on programs
that allow our children to get the technological skills that are required to
meet the opportunities of the challenging world facing us ahead. When you take away the opportunities, cut back
on programs, our rural children are not having the same opportunities as urban
children. I would hope the government would
be willing to invest and provide the proper training so these children‑‑our
rural children‑‑can take the same place in society in the
technological jobs that other children are having the opportunity to do.
These are not wasted dollars. It is not the theory of spending for
nothing. These will help our children
and help Manitobans. By training these
children, we will have the real opportunities to have the people trained to
take those jobs if we ever have the opportunity to attract them to this
province.
We are losing far too many of our‑‑the
government also talks about not wanting to spend money on creating jobs. We are losing our most precious
resource. Our young people are having to
leave this province because there are no opportunities here, very few. You look
at the number of people who have left from here and gone out to
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Over the last week I met with LPNs and I
met with daycare workers who are extremely concerned with what this government
is doing with cutbacks in training again.
The cutbacks in these areas of training impact more on women than they
do on men, and it is having a worse effect on rural people. When the courses are not being offered out in
the rural area, you are setting people back. [interjection] My goodness, we can just about blame everything on
that, can we not?
Mr. Speaker, the other area that I am
extremely concerned about is the housing authority, this abandonment which this
government has said that they are doing to‑‑
Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
Mrs.
Shirley Render (St. Vital): Mr.
Speaker, I really looked forward to this discussion this afternoon when the
honourable member for Flin Flon (Mr. Storie) rose earlier today and suggested
that we have an emergency debate on the economic situation in
I am afraid that I was not impressed with
what the members opposite have said, with the exception of the members from the
second party who have made some suggestions.
Although I am not too sure I agree with all their suggestions, I did
like the fact that they said let us work together.
I am afraid I am not impressed with the
members opposite, the official opposition.
It seems to me that the member for Flin Flon (Mr. Storie) said that the
government said there was no problem.
Mr. Speaker, I do not remember this government ever saying that the
economic situation in this province was no problem. In fact, when this government took over we
knew we had a problem even before the recession came, because we knew that this
province had higher taxation than any other province in the country.
Then I listened to the Leader of the
Opposition (Mr. Doer), and it seemed to me that he spent most of his time
literally gleefully talking about how wrong we were in forecasting the end of
the recession. It seemed to me that he
was more concerned with telling us all the negatives instead of saying
something about what we should be doing.
In fact, when I listened to all the members on the opposite side of the
House, I did not hear a single, solitary suggestion as to what this province
should be doing. All I heard was a lot
of whining, a lot of "you should not do this" and "you should
not do that." I did not hear a solid
suggestion as to what we really should be doing.
Since they cannot give us any suggestions,
I think maybe it is up to this side of the House just to reinforce and to
remind the members opposite just what this government has been doing. Since
1988 when we took office, this government has been laying a foundation for
growth. We have kept taxes down. We have worked to control the deficit. We have kept spending under control. I think it is interesting to note that the
federal government and seven other provinces in
I think it should also be pointed out to
members opposite that we have, and by we I am saying this government has worked
hard to build a solid foundation for economic growth. Some of the things that we have done have
been to repeal final offer selection which, I think, was a real blot on the
fair collective bargaining system. We
also brought in legislation to revise The Workers Compensation Act, and as all
of you know, that was first introduced in 1916 and there have been no major
revisions since then. Our revisions have
provided for a return to a balanced financial position and a more competitive
assessment rate, while at the same time helping the workers.
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Now a little closer perhaps to home in what
we have done is the Workforce 2000 program.
This is the first year that this program has really been in operation,
and I think it should be noted by all that the Workforce 2000 program will be
offering Manitobans up to $8 million in private sector training initiatives as
well as training advisory and brokerage services. I do not have any hard and
fast figures with me today, but I understand that the program is up and running
and has trained hundreds of students.
I think one of the things that we have to
remember in this province is that we have to make our students and our
employees competitive, and that is what Workforce 2000 is doing. It is a way of government and employers
working together to provide Manitobans with a good variety of skills. Of course, that is the only way that
This government has also identified
strategic business and industrial developmental opportunities; I am thinking
mainly of the aerospace, environment, health, and information technology sectors. This province soon will be introducing
industrial requirement initiatives to help stimulate the expansion of the province's
industry and, of course, to attract new business.
I
think something that we have shown right from the very start is that we do
remain committed to economic development. That commitment, we are focusing on
innovations in the science and technology areas, such as the expansion or
reactivation of the Churchill research range.
Moving a little farther afield, we will be introducing a new oil and gas
act shortly.
(Mr. Marcel Laurendeau,
Acting Speaker, in the Chair)
Something else that we are going to be
tackling is a very aggressive tourism‑marketing program, and this will be
done, in partnership with industry and corporate sponsors, and this, of course,
will improve our position in the marketplace.
In fact, I think we will soon be announcing‑‑I expect that
we will be announcing‑‑a new Canada‑Manitoba tourism
agreement, which will stimulate the development and promotion of new tourism
products with international market appeal.
Many, many months ago, our Premier
travelled to
Now, something that we hear quite often
from members opposite is to create jobs.
Put money out there and create jobs.
Well, since May 1988 to October of this year, we have seen hundreds and hundreds
of business expansions and relocations here in
I just happen to have some figures here in
front of me. The government has
participated in some of this with repayable loans and grants, and they will
total just over $41 million. Now, if this
had been done under the old NDP Jobs Fund‑‑which the NDP, of course,
continues to suggest that we do, this is the way to generate economic growth‑‑the
creation of those 5,000 jobs would have cost the provincial treasury over $181
million, instead of the figure that I quoted just before. Of course, the problem with that is, it
really is just short‑term jobs with a long‑term debt attached to
it, and that is not what this government is interested in.
We have begun to put in place a new
structure for economic development in
*
(2015)
Now, this economic development board will
be serving as the key focal point of our government's efforts to encourage entrepreneurship,
economic growth, and job creation. This
board will be supported by a second element, I guess you could call it, the
Economic Development secretariat, and the third part of this partnership is the
formation of the Economic Innovation and Technology Council. This council, as some of you are aware, will include
representatives from the academic, business and labour sectors, as well as
appointments from the community at large. The first priority of this council
will be to review and evaluate current government and private sector
expenditures on innovation. Of course,
there are also a myriad of other things that the council will be doing.
Just to sum up really the strong point of
this council, I will simply say that the Economic Development Board will be working
to ensure that it is both the private and the public sector that the economic
development efforts of each of these areas is complementary to each other, that
neither will be working in isolation, that neither will have tunnel
vision. It is the development of a solid
working partnership or relationship between the private and the public sector,
which is what this government is promoting, and which will allow this province
to react quickly and effectively to capitalize on the economic opportunities as
they begin to develop.
Thank you, Mr. Acting Speaker.
Mr. Paul
Edwards (St. James): Mr. Acting
Speaker, it does give me pleasure to rise as we recommence or continue this
session for the first time. I want to
say that I find it particularly important and particularly gratifying to be
speaking so early on these very important economic issues which face our
province. Indeed, the province is in a deep recession that has plagued the country,
but we do not see the leadership from
We had hoped we would receive more
leadership from the provincial government quite frankly, because they have
always distanced themselves from the federal government as they should and have
talked of being an innovative government. We have been sorely disappointed in the lack
of innovation, the lack of free thinking on the part of the government. How ironic, however, that this comes forward
in the form of a matter of urgent public interest from the New Democratic
Party.
I heard in the preamble, it was mentioned
some 57,000 jobs; well, that may be. My
question is, have they factored in the however many are out on the street, as
we speak, at their headquarters? There
are a few more people out of work‑‑[interjection]. It might be
57,009 or 10. I do not know that their
figure is accurate and I would like a verification of the exact figure, because
they know it. Believe me, they know it. Even out of power, the NDP have a knack for
putting people out of work. It is
unbelievable. Is there any more telling
tale of why they are not in power and never should be in power, Mr. Acting
Speaker? For members' benefit, I was at
the site of the pickets and I want to just put on the record some of the horrendous
employer abuses of authority which are being called to the attention on the
picket line‑‑the withdrawal of maternity benefits.
Some
Honourable Members: Oh, oh.
Mr.
Edwards: Yes, they have decided to
move away from 100 percent funding and fall back on the UIC regime, the UIC
regime which they have roundly criticized does not represent 100 percent compensation. No. 2, contracting out. Of all the employers' sins, they are
contracting out it appears, Mr. Acting Speaker. It is frankly hard to
believe. Hypocrisy has reached new
highs, I am afraid. Wait, there is a
third, and quite possibly the most damning, cutbacks in wages. Those are the allegations which are being
made. I am not at the negotiating table,
but who am I to question those who picket and know the issues best and who
raise those three issues on the signs as they picket right here in this city.
* (2020)
Mr. Acting Speaker, I want to know who is
negotiating for the NDP. Is it Eugene
Kostyra out of retirement? I think he
knows the skills. Is it perhaps the
former member for Churchill, perhaps the Leader of the NDP himself. He knows all the tricks and has certainly got
the skills. He has indicated many times
he has been at the negotiating table.
Well, he is at it now.
Mr. Acting Speaker, this is the party that
runs to join every picket line in the province wherever it is. Whatever the issue, the New Democratic Party
has consistently run for the picket line.
Where is the reporter? Where is
the picket line? I am in. Well, as I say, we have learned of the new
heights of hypocrisy to which the New Democratic Party will go, and so while I
am not surprised, I am a bit surprised at the shamelessness with which they
come forward today and complain entirely and put the blame entirely on others
for the loss of work in this province.
Having said that, there is no question that the government deserves much
of the blame for the current state of affairs in this province.
Mr. Acting Speaker, the challenge was
put. Where are the solutions? That was the challenge that was put by the
Minister of Finance (Mr. Manness). Let
me take these brief few minutes to put forward a few. First and foremost, the Conservative government
must abandon the trickle‑down theory of economics. That is the theory by
which the decisions are made here and in
Today, as we speak, in
The government knows and has indicated many
times the swelling of the welfare roles.
Well, how is it going to help that we are going to continue to have
business‑‑ultimately, I believe, business may believe in
In
* (2025)
Another solution, Mr. Acting Speaker, we
need a labour adjustment strategy. I
have talked about this for years and years.
It is high time that the government started to come through on the
commitments it made when we went into the Free Trade Agreement. The government said at that time, as you will
recall, as they were leading us into the Free Trade Agreement: Do not
worry. We understand that the average
Canadian worker will have four or five job changes in their career. We wrote a whole book on it called the de
Grandpre Report.
Mr. Acting Speaker, that report indicated
very clearly the absolutely essential nature of a labour adjustment strategy if
we were even possibly to win under the Free Trade Agreement. Have we seen it? We have seen a pittance. We have seen words and no action. There is no consistent, cohesive labour
adjustment strategy in this country, let alone in this province. So that is solution No. 2.
Solution No. 3, Mr. Acting Speaker. Take another look at where this government is
going. I see the Minister of the Environment
(Mr. Cummings) here and I want him to take another look at Conawapa.
Mr. Acting Speaker, we have on the record
now indications that the projections which Conawapa was approved by‑‑
The
Acting Speaker (Mr. Laurendeau):
Order, please.
Mr.
Oscar Lathlin (The Pas): Mr. Acting
Speaker, I also appreciate the opportunity to be able to rise today to speak on
a very critical issue that is facing all Manitobans today. I am not going to be quoting you statistics,
because we all know what they are. We
know what the numbers are, and this government knows very well what those
numbers are as well, so I am not going to bother giving you numbers and
statistics.
What I would like to, instead, talk about,
Mr. Acting Speaker, is touch on the human cost that this government and its policies
are inflicting on the citizens of
Recently, I had the opportunity to visit
the communities in my constituency and talk to the community leaders, the
business people, the workers, the elders, and the young people. I must say that the mood of the people I
visited has not changed at all from the time that I last visited them, which
was in the late spring. That mood is one
of despair, fear, hopelessness and anger.
I also very clearly recognize the feeling
of people who were wanting to give up or who, in some cases, were already
giving up‑‑people who were laid off from their place of employment,
people who were forced onto UI benefits and onto welfare. I think that is an extremely sad
situation. It makes me sad anyway as I
travel around the North visiting the people who reside there.
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It is extremely sad, because when people
allow themselves or who are forced to get to that point, when people are no
longer feeling good about themselves and feeling depressed and, yes, in some
cases, even blaming themselves for being in a situation that they find
themselves in. The family unit begins to
disintegrate, and the social breakdown, of course, inevitably begins to manifest
itself in the community.
The crime rate goes up. I think all of us know that. You do not have to be a social worker to know
that. All one has to do is have common
sense. Read the police reports and the
evidence is very clear. The abuse of
drugs and alcohol worsens, families break up, family violence increases, as the
Minister of Justice (Mr. McCrae) was trying to point out to me a while ago, and
in the end the cost of the government far outweighs the cost‑cutting measures
that this government so steadfastly adheres to.
This is an incredibly high human cost to pay, yet this government says
it is proud of what it has done, it is proud of what it is doing.
In spite of what this government is doing
to the North, the spirit of those people will not be broken, I can guarantee
that. They will continue to survive.
This deplorable situation, Mr. Acting Speaker, is, of course, not unique
to the North, as a result of this Conservative government's policy.
The despair is being felt all over the
province, but what I wanted to emphasize is that when this government is trying
to determine the pulse of
The province is not only comprised of the
South; it also includes the northern part of the province. The unemployment rate, the amount of social
assistance that is being issued in
I think I can understand maybe why things
are always worse in the North, and I will give you three reasons. For one thing, this government has gone on
record in this Chamber that the North is to be ridiculed and belittled. The Minister of Northern Affairs (Mr. Downey)
not too long ago has told this Assembly that the North just did not know how to
vote. So that shows us how much
commitment and how sensitive the minister is towards the needs of the North.
The other reason that I can think of is that
the majority of the approximately one million people live in the South, and
that is where the vote is. That is one
reality that the people from the North have to live with, unfortunately. The other reason, my final reason, for this
apparent neglect for the North, which I often think about, Mr. Acting Speaker,
is that in the Northern Affairs area the majority of the population comprises
of aboriginal people.
Now, Mr. Acting Speaker, I happen to know
where the aboriginal people stand in this government's agenda. This government has never had the intention
to enhance the growth and development of aboriginal people. All we have to do is look at its track
record. The other thing that one has to
do, besides looking at this government's track record and its dealing with aboriginal
people, is to look at all those programs which were funded by way of federal‑provincial
agreements. Programs, such as ACCESS,
the Northern Development Agreement, just to name two, were done away with while
this government stood idly by saying absolutely nothing.
As if that were not enough, Mr. Acting
Speaker, this government proceeded to cut the budgets and lay off workers at KCC,
Natural Resources and other employment and training programs in the North. The other thing that this government always
does is: It is the federal government,
it is the international situation, it is what is happening in other provinces,
but you know, who is the government of
When George Petty flew into town some time
in the spring of 1989, there was much hullabaloo about all the benefits that
Repap was going to bring, jobs and wealth.
Today, after three years, Repap has yet to deliver anything in the way
of additional jobs, and worse, it has nothing in its forecast in the way of additional
jobs for the next three or four years.
This is what Repap officials tell me when I visit them in The Pas. What we have instead is a reduced work force
at The Pas and workers who are being laid off every two or three months, yet
this government will stand here and tell this Chamber that it is proud of what
it has been able to do through Repap.
The Northern Economic Development Commission‑‑
The
Acting Speaker (Mr. Laurendeau):
Order, please. Time is up.
Hon.
James Downey (Minister of Energy and Mines): Mr. Acting Speaker, I rise to participate in
this debate which, by the appearance today, caught the opposition somewhat by
surprise, I think. To hear the speeches,
either they were not prepared or they are not serious about the emergency
debate which they brought before this Assembly.
I want to just touch briefly on a couple of
issues. First of all, I want to
acknowledge the hard work and effort of the previous Minister of Energy and
Mines, who is in the House tonight, and his sincere effort to put forward
policies and programs to encourage the mining industry in this province and to deal
with the energy issues.
I realize that 10 minutes goes very
quickly, so maybe we should go for a rule change and give us a little more time
when we are on matters of such importance to the province. Our message is good; it is clear. I want to talk particularly as it relates to
two areas. One is a brief one on
history, and the other is what we are doing and where I think we should be
going as a province.
First of all, let us look at the whole
energy question and
Let us just take a look at the history of
it. We had a Premier who, I believe, had
a lot of vision and foresight in the development of rural hydro‑electrification,
and that was in the person of D.L. Campbell.
Why did D.L. Campbell develop rural electrification? Because it was the right thing to do. It was the right thing to do to help the
economy of rural
What followed that was the vision of Duff
Roblin, with the further development of hydro‑electric power on the
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That was thrown out by the NDP government
of Howard Pawley, the creation of jobs due to the electricity development in Manitoba‑‑followed
by the Howard Pawley government who said what?
We should build more dams in the North, we should build Limestone, we
should speed up the development of the Limestone Generating Station, supported
again by the people of
The election of the Filmon government: What has changed, Mr. Acting Speaker? I think the people of
Secondly, we said it should go through the
most extensive environmental process available and known today, federally and provincially. Yes, Mr. Acting Speaker, and that is a
process that is in place. What has
changed are two processes.
The theme of the Leader of the Opposition
(Mr. Doer) today was this: We need to do
something about the economy and create jobs, jobs, jobs. His words, Mr. Acting Speaker, his words in 1989,
and notice how he has shifted. The
Leader of the New Democratic Party said in 1989, this is what he said, he was supportive
of Conawapa project when it was first announced in 1989. In fact, he claimed Premier Pawley's NDP
government had signed an agreement between
In fact, he projected 30,000 to 35,000
person years of employment over its 10 year construction schedule. This is the Leader of the New Democratic
Party. Here is what he said as well;
this was on April 6, 1988: Hydro is one
of the greatest resources, and we will continue to be committed to the orderly development
of our
An
Honourable Member: Who said that?
Mr.
Downey: The Leader of the New
Democratic Party. Again, he reiterated
in the Budget Debate of 1988, and this is partially what he said: And we will fight the mothballing of our
Manitoba Hydro program right down the line this session and the next session of
the Legislature.
He would fight the mothballing of
Conawapa. That is what he was going to
do. He further said: The economic realities are very important,
but we must consider the environment.
Oh, there is something starting to change
here. We must consider the environment
as also very important in our deliberation and make it the No. 1 priority.
That is a change. We started to feel a little shift coming in
the New Democratic Party position, from mothballing now to saying the
environment is No. 1. There must have
been some shifting in the political winds.
It must have been something for the opportunism of the Leader of the New
Democratic Party. Here is what he
further said, and this is November 15 of 1990.
He is asking the minister: Will
the government assure us that there will be no construction until all licences
that are necessary are issued provincially and federally?
What licences did the New Democratic Party
have in place for the building of Limestone, for the building of the any of the
dams that he was involved with?
Absolutely none. We have now seen
again, in the
I challenge the member for Thompson (Mr.
Ashton), The Pas (Mr. Lathlin), Rupertsland (Mr. Harper) and Churchill. I challenge the member for Flin Flon (Mr.
Storie) and also the member who used to live in Churchill. What is his position? Well, I will tell you
what his position was. Let us go to the position
of Mr. Hickes. This was the position of
Mr. Hickes: I want to ask the Minister
of Energy and Mines, considering his personal views on affirmative action, what
consultation and planning is now going on to ensure northerners get these opportunities
again with Conawapa.
He wants his people to have‑‑the
question was put directly, NDP MLA Mr. Hickes, who is the NDP Energy critic who
voiced his support for Conawapa during the 1990 Budget Debate. He said, when the question was put: yes, I do support it. You see, an honest man. The member for Flin Flon (Mr. Storie), what
did the member for Flin Flon say in July 1988?
I hope that the new Minister responsible for Hydro, meaning Mr. Neufeld,
and the new chairperson of the Manitoba Hydro will not let the opportunity pass
to continue to develop our hydro resource.
The bottom line is this. The members from northern
It is time to challenge their Leader. Are they going to take the side of the
northerners and the Natives for job creation and economic development, or are
they going to say, we are not prepared to stand up and live up to our beliefs?
Mr. Acting Speaker, I can assure you that
there is a proper process in place. We
expect it to be followed but we expect‑‑
The Acting
Speaker (Mr. Laurendeau): Order,
please.
Mr.
Downey: ‑‑the Leader of
the New Democratic Party (Mr. Doer) and the members of his party to stand up
and be counted when it comes to the important issues in this province.
Mr.
Kevin Lamoureux (
Mr. Acting Speaker, I want to accept the
challenge of the Minister of Finance (Mr. Manness) and, as I have stated in speaking
to the motion, that this debate is necessary and it was very important that
members stood up in the House and made some positive suggestions, some
recommendations to contribute to try to turn things around.
The free trade deal, no doubt, has had a
major impact on
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I want to talk very briefly about a program
that was just brought to my attention the other day, a program that was, in fact,
being cut in an inadvertent fashion, and that is called the RRAP program. RRAP stands for the Residential
Rehabilitation Assistance Program. In a
nutshell, it is a program that allows homeowners to improve their house through
applying for grants, through applying for loans, loan forgiveness. It is a joint program that the City of
In this particular instance, the number of
inspectors are being cut back. As a
direct result, there are not going to be as many applications being processed. There will not be as many applications being
approved. Thereby, we are going to
have: 1) jobs are going to be lost; and
2) revitalization is very important to all of our urban and rural areas, and it
is not going to help out the whole question of revitalizing our older communities.
I use this as an example that the
government through each and every department has a multitude of different
programs, that if they were to look into each program and come up with ideas or
new initiatives, because they have the resources, we know that, to look at the
different programs, to enhance the programs that are already within, to
possibly come up with additional programs such as one that was cut back with
the Department of Housing regarding the housing co‑op HomeStart Program.
These are all programs that contributed not
only direct jobs, they also provided indirect jobs, and these were permanent
jobs in the sense that they were training jobs.
These are jobs that we have right now.
Currently, a very high percentage of unemployed‑‑the Premier
(Mr. Filmon) himself has often talked about the importance of creating
construction work, construction jobs.
There are a good number of jobs in that area, in the housing co‑ops. I have always been an advocate of converting non‑profit
housing into housing co‑ops, wherever possible, and the government really
has not acted on what I believe is an excellent resolution, that was introduced
a session ago. [interjection]
By the Liberal Party, to the Minister of
Health. The Liberal Party has
contributed in many different ways by bringing forward resolutions, as we have
seen today, with bills, coming up with very positive ideas and, to the
government's credit, they have actually adopted a couple of them. I believe that there are some other
resolutions that are out there that would provide the jobs, that would not
necessarily cost money.
We talk about the housing co‑op. By having the non‑profit housing turn
into housing co‑ops, you are giving an individual the opportunity to own
their home, to have better‑‑I would suggest that home‑owners,
co‑op members, take very good care of their premises, will do more work
inside their premises, creating more demand for different products, and so
forth.
When I think in terms of the Minister of
Health (Mr. Orchard)‑‑because the Minister of Health quite often
asks for positive suggestions and ideas in terms of how he might better be able
to spend our tax dollars‑‑I believe, and I know the Minister of
Health is taking advantage of the leader of the Liberal Party's comments out at
Minnedosa in regard to personal care homes.
There is a demand for personal care homes in the city and in some areas
in rural Manitoba‑‑
An
Honourable Member: What did she
say? I forget. What did she say?
Mr.
Lamoureux: ‑‑and this
might be an opportune time for the government to invest into expanding their
personal care homes.
The Deputy Premier (Mr. Downey) asks, what
is it that she said? Well, in fact, I
was there, and the Deputy Premier‑‑
Point of Order
The Acting Speaker (Mr.
Laurendeau): Order, please.
Hon.
Harold Gilleshammer (Minister of Family Services): Thank you, Mr. Acting Speaker. I think the people of Minnedosa would really
like to have some clarification of that comment on turfing 50 percent of the
people out of the personal care homes.
They certainly felt she meant it.
The
Acting Speaker (Mr. Laurendeau):
Order, please. The honourable
minister did not have a point of order.
* * *
Mr.
Lamoureux: Mr. Acting Speaker, I
hope that time will be taken off and that I will be given back another two
minutes anyway. I would like to make
quick reference. The Leader of the Liberal
Party (Mrs. Carstairs) does not believe that you should hold seniors in a
health institution if you do not have to, unlike the government. If the government says to the seniors that
they have to stay in a health‑care facility, whether it is the
If that is the message that they want to
send out to Manitobans, that is fine, but I will tell you that is not in the best
interests of our seniors. If the seniors
that are in the health‑care institutions feel that they would be better
served in a personal care home and the minister does not want to open his eyes
to realize and to listen to what the seniors are in fact saying, well, that is
his problem. It is a very valid
suggestion that the Leader of the Liberal Party (Mrs. Carstairs) had brought forward. Unfortunately, members and ministers have
attempted to take advantage and to blow it out of proportion and misquote. They
were not there, and I am telling you I was there. I did listen to what the Leader of the
Liberal Party was saying, and that was the gist of it.
Mr. Acting Speaker, there are things that
the government can do that will improve the lifestyles of all Manitobans and creating
jobs is one of the major issues in my riding.
I had a survey that went out just about eight‑nine months ago, and
in tabulating the results‑‑every Premier wants me to table it. The Premier (Mr. Filmon) likely already has a
copy of it. He had a copy of my previous
ones, and if he does not, the Premier can ask me, and I will be more than happy
to share with him the results. If the Premier or the Deputy Premier (Mr.
Downey) wants to come and sit down with me, I would be more than happy to
review it, because I do not mind sharing the concerns of my constituents if I
feel that the government is in fact going to take them very seriously.
I see the light is flashing, and I do want
to just conclude by saying‑‑[interjection]
If there is leave I will be more than happy to.
To conclude, the government's ideas in the past two, two and a half
years have not been working in attempting to get the economy in
The
Acting Speaker (Mr. Laurendeau):
Order, please.
Mr.
Edward Connery (
(Mrs. Louise Dacquay,
Deputy Speaker, in the Chair)
Madam Deputy Speaker, when they were in
government, they were void of any ideas as to how to create jobs except through
the Jobs Fund, which cost us something like $250 million and really did not
create‑‑maybe a handful of full‑time jobs.
Madam Deputy Speaker, that is not the way
to go. We have to talk about long‑term
jobs that are going to be paid for by the purchasers of those goods. I respect the member for
The member for
* (2100)
I would also like to point out the
upgrading of HBM&S at Flin Flon, which the NDP had not moved on, but now we
are funding. It took quite a while of
negotiation, and I have to say to the department, thank God, we have got
it. Now it is going to do something
substantial for Flin Flon. It is going
to ensure that the North survives. The
member for The Pas (Mr. Lathlin), I guess, does not want to hear these
comments, but he should, because those are jobs for the northern people. I think that was a major thrust, costing a
lot of money, Manitobans' money, and I think it was in the right direction.
Madam Deputy Speaker, job creation is many
faceted, and I agree with what our government has done in trying to bring in place
the deficit to get our spending under control to create an environment that
business will want to come to this province and invest. When you have a runaway deficit, a runaway
inflation, you are not going to have businesses come to this province.
We talk about little job creations, and the
member for The Pas (Mr. Lathlin) was complaining about they did not have enough
tree planting at their project at The Pas.
I want to say, through the NDP years, the Dakota Plains Reserve just
southwest of
The NDP would not give them a contract to
grow trees. When we got into government,
I worked with the department, and I want to thank the member for
Madam Deputy Speaker, I have not heard one
word mentioned today about tourism. Tourism
can be one of the greatest generators of job creation that we can have. I am not going to be critical of the minister
who has tourism, because I have said many times in this House already, that the
minister is an excellent minister, he has too many portfolios to look after,
and he cannot do them all well. I see
him here at seven o'clock in the morning when I come early, and he is here late
at night, and he is here on the weekends, so members opposite do not need to say
anything. That minister is working as
hard as he can.
We do need, I believe, a separate
department for tourism, where we can have some emphasis put on it, where people
can go out and work with the industry and have the time to listen to them and
to create something that, I think, is well worthwhile, but you can remember the
thrust of the NDP when they were in power.
Do you remember the World Expo in
An
Honourable Member: Not all the
provinces.
Mr.
Connery: Well, the western provinces
did. We were the laughingstock at
Expo. We were ashamed to tell the people
of the world what we had. Members talk
about the beauty of the North. We had people from all over the world coming to
Madam Deputy Speaker, the greatest thrust
that I think we can do as a province for job creation is to divert water from
the
It is also going to require support from
your party, the NDP party, to allow us to do that. I would hope that the member for Radisson
(Ms. Cerilli), who is the environmental critic, would listen, because she did
canoe down the
Madam Deputy Speaker, if we divert water to
that very rich southern
The member for‑‑where is he
from?‑‑Reverend Blackjack from Burrows‑‑
Point of Order
Mr. Steve Ashton
(Opposition House Leader): I would like to ask you
to call the member to order. It is one
of the clearer customs in this House and as part of our rules that all members refer
to‑‑as honourable members, they are referred to as the honourable
member for a particular constituency. It
is not in order for members to get up and use terms such as that when referring
to a member. I would like to ask you to
have the member withdraw that and resume with a more normal way of addressing
members in this House.
Mr.
Connery: I would be glad to withdraw
the comment in the context that they are objecting to, but the phrase
"Blackjack" came because he was walking with the casino strikers, and
he is supposedly opposed to gambling.
That is the only reason we use that, Madam Deputy Speaker.
* * *
Mr.
Connery: I would hope that members
opposite would support this government when we come to bring proposals forward
for the diversion of water, not only for the
If you look in Carberry and see the number
of people working in that plant in rural
So, Madam Deputy Speaker, I would
absolutely beg of the members opposite, when we do bring something forward to
divert water and to create a dam to hold additional water, that they will
support us and not run off on some crazy tangent because they are going to say
it is environmentally hazardous. Everything we do has some effect on the
environment, I agree. The fact that the people drove here to this Legislature
today had a greater impact on the environment than a dam is going to have, but
we do it because we have to come here.
Madam Deputy Speaker, another area that I
think we have to take a look at from the point of job creation is some of our labour
legislation. We withdrew FOS, which was
a serious deterrent to job creation. I
think we may need to take a look at a couple of other items, and I say that
sincerely because they are deterrents to bringing business here to
Mr. Dave
Chomiak (Kildonan): Madam Deputy
Speaker, it is indeed ironic that we heard comments several speakers ago from
the Deputy Premier, the Minister responsible for Northern Affairs (Mr. Downey),
about the developments in northern
I am not an economist, and quite obviously
members opposite are not either. Madam
Deputy Speaker, I have always been a firm believer that the best advice one can
receive is from one's constituents.
Frankly, you cannot be a better representative than to reflect the
opinions of the people of
* (2110)
Last week was particularly interesting, and
I will quote to you some of the comments because I am on the doorstep every single
week. It is clear to me that the No. 1
issue on the minds of the constituents of Kildonan, and I suspect all of the
people in Manitoba‑‑and I have been in the North recently and rural
Manitoba‑‑is the economy and the devastating effect that the recession
and the lack of government action is having on the economy of
My constituents know that this stand‑aside
government has done nothing, has done zero, to help the economy. We do not blame the Filmon government of
My constituents, the people of Kildonan,
are not fooled. They know that the government privatization initiatives, like those
of the federal Tories, have been a failure.
They know that you do not help the economy by putting hundreds and
indeed thousands of people out of work.
In fact, if you just look at the fiascos
occurring at the Department of Education, you can see the difficulty in
unloading hundreds and hundreds of jobs in the Department of Education, hurting
rural
The devastation that has occurred in rural
My constituents know that cutbacks in
education do not improve the economy, but hurt it. They know that driving people out of work
onto UIC, off of workers compensation onto welfare does not help the
economy. They know that cutbacks to
social services hurt in the long run, Madam Deputy Speaker. I often use the analogy, remember the Fram
Oil commercial, you pay me now or you pay me later. The cost, not just in economic terms, but in social
terms, as a result of the government's cutbacks in economics, in education and
in social programs will cost us far more in the long run.
Madam Deputy Speaker, my constituents know
that government involvement as one of the participants in the economy, not stepping
aside, is a crucial factor in the economy of
So the message, very clearly from my
constituents, is for the government to be involved, to do something. There were at least three households two
weeks ago that told me the government has got to do something. That is aside from all the people who said, we
have no job, we have problems, our kids are staying at home. At least three
separate households said the government has got to do something.
Madam Deputy Speaker, what solutions did we
in the New Democratic Party offer? We
have already proposed a summit of all groups in society to begin to work
together to develop some strategies and some goals, some common efforts. Unfortunately, we have been unable to convince
the government opposite, nor have we been able to convince the members of the
Liberal Party. It is unfortunate that
they do not recognize and do not realize that by pulling together, by working
in a small economy‑‑one million people, a small economy in the
context of this entire global network‑‑if only we pull together,
can we develop some future for the children of
Madam Deputy Speaker, the Conservative
government ideology is blind adherence to the concept of competition,
greed. Total reliance on this
competition factor has been one of the factors that has hurt this economy but
has prevented the government from doing anything concrete to drag us out of
this terrible recession, perhaps the worst since the '30s, certainly the worst in
10 years.
* (2120)
Madam Deputy Speaker, members opposite
astonish me for the lack of policies and direction by this government, no plan,
no strategy, just a step‑aside strategy.
Step aside, things will work out.
Even the least sophisticated business would have a strategic plan. Even the least sophisticated business would identify
priorities. Even the least sophisticated
business would identify programs for training, but from this government we see nothing. We see a step‑aside strategy. We see an approach that says, just let events
go on, we will be a cork on the ocean.
Now we know what the effect of this has
been‑‑57,000 people unemployed.
What do we tell these people? I
see them every single week in my constituency.
There is not a single street in the area that I represent where there
are not some people who are unemployed.
What do I tell these people? They
say, what is happening to this economy?
I say the government is stepping aside.
They are doing nothing.
The only thing this government knows, Madam
Deputy Speaker, is blind allegiance to its federal master to its ideology, the GST
and free trade. The GST and free trade
are going to drag us out of this. The
public knows; my constituents know. Of
course, the government can do nothing unless it has credibility with the public. Unless they have credibility, the public will
not believe even their rhetoric. What do
we hear from this government? Jobs,
jobs, jobs; eliminate the deficit; balance the budget; no tax increases.
What has happened in four years of Tory
government? It has been elimination of
jobs, the deficit has risen, the budget certainly is not balanced, and we see
massive tax increases at the local level, a tremendous offloading. All of the pledges have been broken, not just
by Mulroney, their supporter, but by this government. This government was elected to a large extent
for an economic pledge, and it has failed miserably on that count.
I have been on the street door‑to‑door
regularly since the election and, as I indicated, there is not a single street
where people are not suffering and hurting as a result of the economic malaise
this province is in, this government's lack of action. What is the government's
response? Defend Mulroney, no training initiatives,
no strategy to get out of the economic malaise, and no economic summit to bring
together all the participants in our economy to deal with it.
Madam Deputy Speaker, the other failure by
this government is its massive tax offloading.
Probably one of the best boosts that you could give to our economy would
be in the form of a tax break. Imagine
what the removal of the GST could mean to cross‑border shopping,
something members opposite have cried about since the House began, and they
have not done it, nor have the Liberal Party.
Unfortunately, even the Liberals have fallen into the Tory trap that the
GST must stay.
Madam
Deputy Speaker: Order, please. The honourable member's time has expired.
Mr.
Gulzar Cheema (The Maples): Madam
Deputy Speaker, I will be quite brief and will not be very polite to some of
the comments. I will start by saying that, like the member for Kildonan (Mr. Chomiak),
I have been knocking on doors and I did some surveying, a very accurate survey
which has a lot of meaning. Most of the people
in my area, do you know what they told me?
That the taxes and deficit is the No. 1 problem.
The member for Kildonan has just put on the
record that this government should spend money, that they should balance the budget. You should know how much the deficit was
inflated by your party from 1986 until 1988, and how much interest we are paying
on that debt, close to about $560 million per year. That $560 million could be spent on a lot of
education and training programs, so I do not think anybody has to learn from
the mistake of your party. I think you
are a reasonable person, so let us not go back 10 years. I think we have to talk about the problem now.
Madam Deputy Speaker, I admire the member
for Kildonan, the way he is working, but you should tell exactly what your constituents
are saying. Your constituents are no
different from mine. They are the middle
class, middle class income and they are telling us, smarten up, do not tell the
lies, tell the truth, tell how we are going to pay for all the promises. All the things the NDP are saying, who is
going to pay for that?
Madam Deputy Speaker‑‑[interjection]
Madam
Deputy Speaker: Order, please. Would the honourable member for Elmwood (Mr.
Maloway) please refrain from the banter. I am having great difficulty hearing
the honourable member for The Maples (Mr. Cheema).
Mr.
Cheema: Madam Deputy Speaker, I am
not criticizing the present members. I
am simply telling them, please review your record and then make comments on the
record, because we are wasting taxpayers' money if we are not telling the
truth. The No. 1 problem individuals are
saying again, they are saying higher taxes‑‑
Point of Order
Mr. Chomiak: Madam Deputy Speaker, I have talked with over
7,000 constituents since the last election, and the No. 1 issue in my constituency
is the economy. I would like to put that
on the record, so the member accusing me of not telling the truth is, in fact,
inaccurate.
Madam
Deputy Speaker: The honourable
member for Kildonan (Mr. Chomiak) does not have a point of order. It is a dispute over the facts.
* * *
Mr.
Cheema: Madam Deputy Speaker, I was
not accusing the member for Kildonan (Mr. Chomiak), and he knows full
well. I was simply telling him what the
constituents are saying. They are simply
telling us‑‑I was simply telling him, let us please tell the truth
to the people of
This party is saying, let us spend more and
more and more. Who is going to pay for it, Madam Deputy Speaker? They love them in
Madam Deputy Speaker, I was simply saying
that we have to be very careful, and the carefulness must be in a way that the responsibility
will come on us, because in four years' time we may not be here and then the
individuals are going to accuse us of not telling the truth. Simply, I am asking that we should be a
little bit more responsible, come up with positive ideas and not demand more
and more. [interjection]
Madam Deputy Speaker, the member for
Elmwood (Mr. Maloway) keeps on chirping from his chair and says, let us put the
doctors on salary. Why not? We are not refusing that. We are not advocating for doctors or
anyone. We are advocating for taxpayers
who have put their confidence and have told us, please do the job
properly. If that is the way we are
going to do our job we should not be here, we should be doing something else.
Some of us would not be able to make a
living if we were not here. It is very
sad how things have come to this country and specifically how we see the
individuals who are highly qualified, who have education from
I am not an expert. I do not have many ideas. I am simply asking, let us put our faith in
the people of
The second investment where we can really
do well is the health care industry, except I disagree with the Minister of Health
(Mr. Orchard) except for the one idea of selling the Americans our health care
system. It will not solve the problem, but
the high‑tech industry in the area of the health sector can be
improved. The drug companies have
already shown some interest in
The second is, as they announced in the
past two or three budgets, a very progressive budget for the building of
personal care homes. Why not start those
now? Why not invest in the infrastructure
for some of the hospitals or some of the community clinics or some other
aspects of health care? That can be
done. That will create jobs for the time being and also stimulate our economy,
plus will give the resources where they are needed the most. We have to see that the money is well spent.
As I said earlier, we have to be very
careful that every cent, every dollar we spend, must be spent in the most
possible way that it will bring some rewards back to the people of
I think we have to be careful how we would
even conduct ourselves in this House.
That is why we in our party are asking this government, especially in
health care, that we want them to take some responsible action, be careful,
have some policies which will save money.
We are not asking, demanding to just throw money at each and every
problem in the health care. We are asking
them simply spend smart, spend wisely and invest in
You have to invest in people and that is
what I think this government should do.
That is what my constituents are telling me. In terms of property taxes they are saying
they are fed up with the taxes, lower those taxes. The property taxes are very high. They said that the people should be the ones
who should be given the priority, not a specific political party or a specific group
of individuals or special interest groups.
When you align yourself with one specific interest group you are not
going to do good for the rest of the people.
You are paid to represent the views of each and every Manitoban and work
for all of them.
* (2130)
Madam Deputy Speaker, I sincerely hope that
the intentions are right for most of the members in this House. In my earlier comment, I said that I do not
have any kind of disrespect for the member for Kildonan (Mr. Chomiak). I am simply telling them that he is one of
the brightest stars, then please let us work and make sure that we are telling
the individual the right things to do and not telling something outside the
House and different things at different times just to suit what a specific
group of individuals want to hear.
I think that is a very dangerous path that
has happened in the past. If it
continues to happen, then many of us will not be back in this House. I think it is a tragedy that this institution
cannot have a long‑term plan because most of us have four years
here. In four years' time there is so
much that individual can achieve. If you
have a sense for the future and if you are going to plan well for the
Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker.
Mr.
Gerry McAlpine (Sturgeon Creek):
Madam Deputy Speaker, I am pleased to stand and speak in this debate on
the
However, I am amazed, as many members on
this side of the House are amazed, by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Doer)
and the member for Flin Flon (Mr. Storie), who have raised this matter in the
House as though they have all the answers.
At least that is what they would want their supporters to believe. I
have been in business myself since 1971 when the NDP brought in our infamous
MPIC because insurance rates in
Madam Deputy Speaker, the Leader of the
Opposition (Mr. Doer) and the member for Flin Flon (Mr. Storie) raised this in
the House today, but they offer no solutions.
No, they criticize and point fingers at this side of the House as though
we created this dilemma. However, let us
be reminded who really is responsible for the failures in
We also have to be conscious of the fact
that it was during good times, when revenues were at 16 percent to 18 percent compared
to our zero and 2 percent or even close to that that this government have
experienced during our term in office.
Madam Deputy Speaker, although the
opposition offers no solutions, it is probably better that they do not, with
their past records of proven experience of failures, which I will not dwell on.
The opposition talk about and criticize our
government's initiatives, but they cannot even settle a simple dispute with their
own staff, who are, by the way, on strike this very moment and are walking the
picket lines.
Madam Deputy Speaker, they talk about being
the party for the people. What
hypocrisy. They talk about urgency. We on this side of the House recognized the
urgency months ago with the government initiatives like the Crocus Investment
Fund, the Vision Capital Fund and the Mineral Exploration Incentive program as
well as the Rural Development Bonds that create not only a strong business base
in rural Manitoba, but create much needed employment in this province.
With this, people of
First and foremost, if we are going to
succeed through these difficult times, we cannot go out and spend, spend and
spend as our oppositions across the way would have us do. We must work together. I commend the members in the second
opposition in their suggestion of working in co‑operation to come out of
this difficult time.
Together with business and workers alike, our
government must remain focused on this agenda, and I know that I have the
support of my constituents in Sturgeon Creek, who continue to remind me from
door to door that we are on the right track.
We have also initiated the formation of the Community Choices program,
which we hope will be as effective as it is popular; also a new Manitoba
Economic Innovation and Technology Council that will link and draw upon
resources in government, business, labour and the research community to help
guide Manitoba toward economic leadership and technological innovation.
Today, in the House, we heard our Minister
of Agriculture (Mr. Findlay) talk about balance. The success of business today in employment
is one of balance and creating harmony in all sectors of the economy, not just
in the work force like the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Doer) with his union
backers and Mr. Daryl Bean, whom he idolizes, with the big pay cheques and the
vicious threats on the picket lines.
This government, I am proud to say, are
envisionary and leading with good solid business common sense. This government is reaching out beyond our
borders, and I believe all Manitobans are grateful for that.
As an example, months ago an economic
environmental agreement was signed by our Premier (Mr. Filmon) and the Russian
minister of the economy of
This agreement has the potential of
creating benefits for both sides, and I would suggest that this is only the
beginning and an example of how the members of this side of the House are proposed
to govern. The priorities of this
agreement are increased trade, scientific and technical exchanges, agricultural,
research, forestry and mineral development, hydro generation and transmission,
and northern development, and many others.
Madam Deputy Speaker, while we talk about
hydro generation and northern development, we talk about the hydro generation
and transmission along with the northern development. I wonder what is going to happen when we come
to talk about Conawapa, which the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Doer) is on
record of opposing. How are the people of Flin Flon, how are the people of The
Pas and Rupertsland and Thompson going to justify this opposition by so many on
the other side when it is going to create employment to the extent that it is
going to put people to work? Are they going
to answer their members at the polls in the next election? I hope so. If they were, then I would be out there
talking to them right now if I were them.
* (2140)
Members on the other side of the House try
to botch up another project when they talk about Conawapa, and they do not recognize
that this is a project which is probably going to be the largest project in the
world. With our water resources in this
province, which stretches from the B.C. Rockies to the
We on this side of the House are encouraged
by responses from people in the business community when they talk about
projects of this magnitude, and we are encouraged by the member for The Maples
(Mr. Cheema) when he talks about co‑operation and looking at options that
will help Manitobans grow out of these difficult times. The business community recognized that this
government's agenda is one that is not only healthy for the small business for this
province, but also the employees and also the unemployed.
The government of
Thank you.
Mr.
Conrad Santos (Broadway): Madam
Deputy Speaker, I would like to start on a more optimistic perspective. Despite our economic difficulties the economy
of
If we look at the resources of
Now, if this is the case, why are we
suffering economically in
The ironic thing about this is that the
high interest rate policy contributed to additional expenses for business
firms, the high cost of borrowing. What
would a business firm do if they had to pay high interest on the money that
they borrow to run their enterprise?
They will simply tack up and up the interest to the price they
charge. If you add the interest alone
with the other taxes‑‑the provincial sales tax, the general goods
and services tax‑‑to the price of goods, then the price will
escalate and the consumer, in the face of economic difficulties, will naturally
think twice before they will buy capital goods. Necessities they have to buy
because they have to eat regardless of whether the economy is good or bad.
With respect to capital purchases like
cars, refrigerators, housing‑‑those things that can be postponed‑‑the
consumers will not buy. When they will
not buy, the producers will not produce and when the producers will not
produce, they will have to lay off certain workers. When they lay off workers, then there will be
a high level of unemployment in our economy.
When there is high level of unemployment in our economy, naturally,
there will be less number of people who will pay into social security deductions,
like unemployment insurance deductions.
You know, we always think that when we have
our Canada Pension Plan we are really preparing for our retirement. The trouble is that the payment now, the
deduction now, is being used exactly right now also for paying someone else's
retirement. When there are less and less workers who are employed and less and
less contributing to that fund of money which is supposed to be earning
interest and which is supposed to be invested in securities for the future, you
know that sooner or later, by simply the passage of time, this Canada Pension
Plan will be empty at the bottom. That
is one of the causes of our economic difficulties. In order to pay for the present retirement or
present unemployment rate, we have to take from that fund, but there are fewer
and fewer people contributing to it now that they are now unemployed. Sooner or later this fund will be exhausted.
What we need is to take a look at our taxation
policy. Take the present situation, the
present rule about entertainment business deductions. We allow business, corporate firms and a self‑employed
professional to deduct from their tax bills because of what they call
"business entertainment," so they can enjoy private boxes in stadiums
and arenas. They can stage lavish parties
for their employees, for their executives to some kind of seminars, and they
can deduct this in their tax liability.
This will cause more and more cost to our government, contributing to the
federal deficit.
There is also special treatment that we in
our present tax rules give to certain forms of income, for example, the capital
gains tax. We also have special
treatment for income in the form of dividends, as compared to salaries of
ordinary working Canadians. Because of
this special treatment, we are adding more and more to our annual federal
deficit.
They also enjoy in the corporate world what
is known as deferred income taxes. They
can be federal taxes. Every corporate
executive knows that this deferred tax will likely never be paid. This contributes to the increase in our
federal deficit. Because of this federal
deficit then, the federal government is in no position to redistribute the
public resources to the provinces.
Naturally, the federal government starts cutting. It starts cutting federal transfer payments.
What is the solution? The solution is to get rid of those special
tax treatments so that everybody will have the same level of liability as
taxpayers. Whether they are business
people or workers, they should pay the same amount of taxes. They should all contribute to the tax burden
of society in an equal manner.
If you remove all the fancy business
expenses and deductions, they will have to contribute to the maintenance of our
national economy. Because of this
inequality in equity, unfairness in our tax system, there is a greater burden
of the tax being carried by working people, individual human beings, and less
burden on the part of corporate enterprise.
* (2150)
(Mr. Speaker in the
Chair)
If there is to be fairness in carrying the
burdens of civilized society, then both the corporate and individual taxpayer
should have the same level of liability in carrying the burdens of society.
Moreover, we should change our
attitude. Now let us look at some of
these transfer payments. Let us see how
they are distributed. Lately, we have
heard about $700 million federal aid to the agricultural sector. Let us look at how this is distributed. Who really benefits from those federal
subsidies? Walker and Horry in their study called Government Spending‑‑[interjection] No, not that one.
Mr.
Speaker: Order, please. The honourable member's time has expired.
Hon.
Leonard Derkach (Minister of Rural Development): Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to enter into this
debate this evening. I must say that the
tone of today's debate has been interesting to say the least. When we began this afternoon, it was obvious
that members of the opposition parties were, or appeared to be, ready to debate
the serious issues of the economy that we are facing here in
I do not think there is a member in this
House who is happy with the plight of the Canadian economy, with where we are
as a province. I do not think there is a
single member in this House who likes to see people unemployed, who likes to
see people on the welfare roll, who likes to see people who cannot make a living
in our province. Let me say that I think
we live in one of the finest parts of this country; we live in the best part of
this world.
We have come through a recession, or we are
still living in a recession, and one that is not going away very quickly. While we are going through this recession, we
have had to adjust our ways of life, we have had to adjust the ways we make
livings, and indeed it has cost us dearly in some respects.
When I heard the member for Broadway (Mr.
Santos) begin his speech just moments ago, I thought I would be encouraged by
what I was beginning to hear from him, because it seemed that finally from the
opposition we were hearing something that would perhaps lead to giving us some
advice, to perhaps giving us some solutions as to why our economy is where it
is at from the perspective of the NDP.
However, it was not long before he slid
back into the old rhetoric that we have heard time and time again from the opposition
benches. That is sad, because when the
opposition made the motion to have this emergency debate today, I thought that
they were ready, I thought that they had prepared, I thought that they had done
some homework in trying to bring together some solutions as to how we could
improve our economy. That did not happen. It did not come to fruition.
As a matter of fact, they seemed to be on a
completely different track than most provinces in this country. We can look to the NDP government in
Mr. Speaker, I thought we would hear today
that there would be some meaningful debate from the opposition benches as to
the initiatives that have been undertaken by this government and perhaps there
would be suggestions as to how some of these initiatives could be improved, how
some of these initiatives could be changed to help the
Over the last four years this government
has embarked on some very positive proactive programs that I am sure will put
this province in very good shape when this recession finally ends. We could talk about programs like the Crocus
development fund, a program which allows people in the workplace to invest into
the economy of this province. It allows
those people who are workers to invest in the businesses that they are working
in.
It is not government that is going to
motivate the economy of this province by itself. It takes a partnership approach, a partnership
between government and the private sector, and the people of the communities.
The workers are a very integral part of
that, and that is why the Crocus fund was put into place. If the opposition have some suggestions as to
how that Crocus fund could be improved, we did not hear them this afternoon.
Mr. Speaker, we also put in a program
called the Grow Bond program, rural development bonds to help our rural
economies, our rural communities set their own directions, be able to invest in
their own communities, and allow those communities to grow. This has been a very positive initiative, and
yet all I have heard from the opposition side is negative, negative, negative,
about any one of these initiatives. They
have not been listening to Manitobans, because Manitobans are very high on Grow
Bonds. Manitobans are still out there saying the Grow Bond program is going to
work to help revitalize the economy. I
am glad to see that the Leader of the Opposition is here, because I listened very
carefully to the remarks of the Leader of the Opposition.
I listened very carefully to the solutions,
the possible solutions that the Leader of the Opposition might present to the Chamber
this afternoon. There was not one
solution that he presented to the Chamber that was meaningful, that would get
this province back on track, but should I be surprised, Mr. Speaker? I do not
think so.
We have heard the opposition criticize the
moves of decentralization.
Decentralization in this province has worked very well. I have been to many openings of
decentralizations and rural communities are extremely proud of those
decentralization offices that have been developed. To date we have not heard a great deal of
negative response from people who use the services of the decentralized
offices. We are hearing that the
services are delivered just as quickly and adequately as they ever have been.
I heard the member for Kildonan (Mr.
Chomiak), the critic for Education, talk about the need for a strategic
plan. He talked about the fact that any
organization needs a strategic plan, and then in the next breath he said the
Department of Education had a strategic plan, but it really meant nothing. Where is he coming from? First he says we need a strategic plan, then
he criticizes the strategic plan.
Mr. Speaker, we heard the Minister of
Natural Resources (Mr. Enns) talk about‑‑
Mr.
Speaker: Order, please. The hour being 10 p.m., I am interrupting the
proceedings according to Rule 21(4). The
debate on this matter is terminated.
The House is now adjourned and stands
adjourned until 1:30 p.m. tomorrow (Tuesday).