Deputy Prime Minister--Resignation

Mr. Mervin Tweed (Turtle Mountain): Eight days ago, I rose in this House and asked for the resignation of the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, Sheila Copps. Eight days ago, Madam Speaker, the federal Liberals harmonized the GST--[interjection]

Madam Speaker: Order, please. I am sure that all honourable members would like to hear the comments of the honourable member for Turtle Mountain.

Mr. Tweed: Eight days ago, Madam Speaker, the federal Liberals harmonized the GST with the PST in three Atlantic provinces, and it was reminded to Ms. Copps that she had used the word “abolish” with regard to the GST, as opposed to harmonize. I was forced to refer to the dictionary for definition to make my point, and there is nothing of abolish in the word “harmonize.”

Today, Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate Ms. Copps for doing the right thing. I understand it is her intention to run again in the new election, in the by-election, and I suggest that is a good thing for all Canadians, because then she will not be able to sit in the appointed Senate, in which she will draw a wage for the rest of her life.

It also brings to my attention that I would like to question where the Manitoba federal MPs stood on this issue, as I perused all forms of media to find out if they had or were willing to voice an opinion, and I found that they were not. Again, I would like to suggest that I congratulate her for doing the right thing.

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

May Day

Ms. Becky Barrett (Wellington): Madam Speaker, May Day has a long and glorious history. Originally May 1 was a day of people's festivals celebrating the arrival of spring. At the turn of this century, after several workers were killed by government tactics used while breaking up a strike, workers selected May 1 as a day to honour workers and their cause.

Today, workers across the world are marching in solidarity. Here in Manitoba we are faced with a shameful spectacle of an arrogant government whose callous, unforgivable actions have as their only goal the breaking of home care workers' spirits while giving aid and succour to their close personal friends in We Care and their corporate allies in Great-West Life. Even Alberta, whose Premier was with us today, listened to the people and dealt with the laundry workers in a fair and humane manner. This government should listen to the Premier of Alberta.

We in the New Democratic Party are proud to recommit our principled support for the home care workers here in Manitoba and stand in solidarity with workers around the world.

Thank you.

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RCMP Rescue--Emerson Area

Mr. Jack Penner (Emerson): I want to rise today and congratulate the Premier (Mr. Filmon) and thank the Premier and the ministers of our government for taking the time to come out and witness the devastation that has taken place in many of the communities in the R.M. of Montcalm, the R.M. of Franklin and, indeed, all the communities in the Red River Valley and the devastation that the flood waters have caused there, and also to take time by our government to ensure the recognition of the volunteer work that has been done.

Primarily, I want to rise today and recognize the bravery and the quick thinking of two people in the case of where Mrs. Charlie Sawatsky, Margaret Sawatsky, walked along a railway bridge and fell into the Red River. It was the quick thinking of the wife of the mayor of the town of Emerson, Daphne Arseny, who heard the screams, ran to the hospital and phoned the ambulance and the fire department and the RCMP, and that quick thought brought the RCMP to the river fast enough that the sergeant, John Fleming, could rescue, dive into the water, and while he was swimming to Mrs. Sawatsky's aid, Mrs. Sawatsky slipped under the water. He dove beneath the water, beneath the logs and retrieved Mrs. Sawatsky and brought her back to safety.

It is this kind of action, this kind of volunteerism and this kind of involvement that is typical of the people in the Red River Valley in its current state of emergency. Therefore, the constituents of Emerson thank the government for recognizing the dilemma that we are in, and we thank the RCMP and the wife of the mayor of Emerson for the quickness of thought and putting his own life in danger, Sergeant John Fleming, for his actions.

Lyme Disease

Mr. Tim Sale (Crescentwood): I would like to thank you, Madam Speaker, for allowing distribution of this sheet on Lyme disease in the House to all members.

Lyme disease, as many members know, is a pernicious disease caused by a bacterium that is carried by a tick that has made its way into Canada. For many years the government was reluctant to recognize that this was a very real disease and is very, very debilitating and neurologically damaging to the people who contract it and do not have it caught in the early stages.

This is the season of the year that we have to begin to be concerned about this particular disease, and I want to commend the Lyme Borreliosis group for its work in public education and its attempts to get the government to be more proactive in warning Manitobans about this disease. For every life that is ruined by chronic Lyme Borreliosis, we can talk about hundreds of thousands of dollars lost to our economy and an equally large sum in medical treatment being spent unnecessarily because the disease was not caught at an early stage.

Members of this group were told, unfortunately, just this week that nothing could be done by the government to bring this issue to the attention of the public this year because of the home care strike. We do not accept that everything that is important in Manitoba has to go on hold because the government is inept at handling a forced privatization of their own choosing.

I commend the work of this group to all members of the House. I hope all members will put this pamphlet in their constituency offices. I hope the government will see the error of their ways and immediately produce an attractive and a very readable pamphlet following the good work of this committee which, by the way, has been in concert with Dr. John Guilfoyle and his office. All this information has been approved by Dr. Guilfoyle. The thing that is missing is the government will not put a very few hundred dollars together to print a brochure making this widely available. Thank you.

Home Care Services

Mr. Conrad Santos (Broadway): Madam Speaker, the Premier (Mr. Filmon) just stated that privatizing home care is intended to introduce an alternative system of economic competition; yet the fact that there is only one or few private entrepreneurs means that there in fact will be no competition. There will be economic oligopoly and, at most, private monopoly replacing public monopoly.

When the seniors from Minnesota came here to buy at half the cost price some medical prescription drugs, they said that they spend an average of $500 for prescription drugs and only 12 percent, or about $60, is covered by their insurance companies. Then they said: I get the feeling that people who want to make money out of the private system are pushing for it.

When anyone places monetary private interest above public interest in preserving the health of its citizens, the government loses its legitimate right to rule. When publicly elected people allow themselves to be used by profit-seeking supporters to advance their private interests above the welfare of the people, particularly the welfare of the sick and the elderly, such acts become detestable and morally reprehensible.

Placing love of money above concern for people is morally wrong, for the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil from which some have strayed from the faith for their greediness and pierced themselves through with many sorrows, for those who decide to be rich fall into the temptation and a snare and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and in perdition.

We in the official opposition, in solidarity with the home care workers, in deep concern with the elderly and the sick, are trying to keep home care a public enterprise because the health of the people, next to life, is an utmost matter of public interest.