MEMBERS' STATEMENTS

Canadian National Customer Service Centre

Mr. Gerry McAlpine (Sturgeon Creek): Madam Speaker, our government, through responsible leadership, nine years of no tax increases, economic initiatives and a balanced budget that protects Manitoba taxpayers, has created a truly attractive business climate. This business climate has recently attracted a new investor in the province. Canadian National has opened a customer support centre in the city of Winnipeg, and this centre is the most up-to-date, high-tech customer service centre in North America.

Canadian National invested $100 million in information management technology and approximately $7.5 million in training aimed at improving its customer focus. This massive investment in Winnipeg brings with it employees from 25 locations across Canada. A total of 500 people are now employed at the customer service centre; 400 of these jobs are new to Winnipeg. These new employees have bought houses, goods and services in Winnipeg and will continue to live and raise their families here in this province.

The economic boost to Winnipeg will be enjoyed by a great number of businesses and citizens. The new centre in Winnipeg is the hub of a complex business requiring 24-hour-a-day, seven days per week of co-ordinating everything from order taking to final delivery. The centre handles 45,000 calls per week, varying from billing inquiries to updates on the whereabouts of a load.

On behalf of all Manitobans, I would like to welcome Canadian National's new customer support centre and the new 400 employees to the province of Manitoba. Let us all, Madam Speaker, get behind this initiative and celebrate the tremendous announcement for the future of all Manitobans who will benefit from these jobs and the injection into this positive economy.

Federal Government Policies

Mr. Oscar Lathlin (The Pas): Madam Speaker, I would like to read a statement here that I wrote for myself.

In the last federal election, the Liberals promised Manitobans that they would do things differently from the Mulroney government. For example, they said that a million tonnes of grain would go through the Port of Churchill each year, VIA Rail would be maintained, the GST would be scrapped, CBC would thrive, et cetera. Instead of acting on these promises and doing things differently, the Liberals have simply broken their promises and they continue the Mulroney agenda.

Rural and northern airports are being dumped upon local municipalities. At The Pas, Gary Hopper, the local firefighter, was disciplined and then fired when he spoke against the fire truck being locked and barricaded in The Pas Airport garage. Now the province is also dumping the Clearwater Lake airport on the community of The Pas. Similar stories are being told across the province from the loss of the weather station at Norway House, Berens River and the Thompson control tower to the dumping of Lynn Lake, Flin Flon, Dauphin, Brandon and Gillam, amongst others.

As well, the Liberals have broken a major promise on rail transportation. Protection of branchlines has been scrapped. CNR was sold off to the Americans. Over 11,000 employees have been cut in the last three years with more to be cut in the next few years. The Liberals proclaimed their new Canada Transportation Act on July 1 giving railways the right to sell or abandon any lines as long as they give notice. The next day, privately owned CN announced it was abandoning northern Manitoba, as well as lines in the Interlake and the Parkland. Since that date, the president has said he can sell northern lines as salvage to China or Zimbabwe for $65 million. In the next three months since the announcement, neither the provincial government nor the federal government has had any success in ensuring that somehow all of the threatened lines will not end up as scrap overseas.

Thank you for listening to me, Madam Speaker.

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Youth Business Institute

Mr. Mervin Tweed (Turtle Mountain): A week ago the Minister of Rural Development (Mr. Derkach) announced our province's commitment to support business training for young people. The Chamber of Commerce Youth Business Institute will use the money to support business people training in high schools through a partnership combining educators and business people involved in local Chambers of Commerce across the country.

Manitoba's youth remain our greatest resource and our greatest hope for the future. Through support for programs like the Youth Business Institute, we hope to be able to provide high school students with the entrepreneurial skills they will need to launch successful careers. Statistically, Manitoba's economy relies heavily on small businesses. Providing youth with the skills they need now will help ensure that a greater number of viable new businesses will prosper in the future.

Madam Speaker, this government is working to make Manitoba a better place for young people. We are attempting to reform post-secondary education in order to strengthen employment opportunities for our young people. We are investing in business training for our young people. This government cares about the future of this province, and that is why we are investing in our youth and that is why this government will help make Manitoba strong. Thank you.

Island Lake Fish Plant

Mr. Eric Robinson (Rupertsland): Madam Speaker, I am very pleased today to congratulate the people of Garden Hill on the opening of the Island Lake Fish Plant in that community.

This new enterprise, in operation for some six weeks now, has begun hiring as many as 50 local people and is making commercial fishing viable for some 150 fishermen in the area which encompasses Garden Hill, Wasagamack, St.Theresa Point and Red Sucker Lake. This is truly good news for northern Manitoba.

The elimination of the federal freight subsidy for commercial fishing along with a cut in the provincial subsidy virtually ended commercial fishing in many northern communities, including the Island Lake area. With this new plant and sales of processed fish to markets beyond Manitoba itself, the Island Lake area is showing by example what can be done in the North. The plant cost more than $1 million to construct and was built without government funding. The plant manager, Barry Barney from Minneapolis, has identified and begun shipping to American markets local pickerel.

The Island Lake area is known in this province as one of the best for pickerel and other popular commercial fish. Regrettably, due to the cost of shipping whole fish, commercial fishing has become virtually extinct.

The Island Lake Opakitawek Co-op is a model that will be looked at by many other First Nations communities in this province. It is worth noting that the plant can process some 3,175 kilograms of fish a day and that there already are plans for expansion. The fact that Ministic Air is owned 98 percent by the Garden Hill First Nation gives the plant and community an added asset in shipping and marketing fish processed at the co-op.

On behalf of all members of the Legislature, I want to state our support and encouragement for this very worthwhile endeavour.

Canadian Wheat Board

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Inkster): Madam Speaker, I want to take this opportunity just to express some concern with respect to the Canadian Wheat Board to the government because I do believe the government has been very successful at sitting on the fence on this particular issue, and it is interesting when we have the federal minister who in fact has taken a fairly strong supportive stand of the Canadian Wheat Board. I think this is a time in which provincial Legislatures and particularly the Provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta need to be sending a very strong message to Ottawa in terms of what we feel is in the best interests of the farmers in the province of Manitoba, and on that particular issue, it is really disappointing to see that the government has not articulated as to what it believes is the future of the Canadian Wheat Board.

They have decided to sit back and let people speculate as to what they might think their position actually might be, and I think that is most unfortunate because whatever we can do to reinforce the strength of the Canadian Wheat Board we should be doing, and it is not to say that we oppose any change within the Wheat Board. The vast majority of farmers would like to see some change with respect to the Wheat Board, but a vast majority of those farmers do not want to see the Wheat Board undermined and this is something which the government appears, because it is being so silent on the issue, to support.

That is definitely not in the best interests of the grain farmers in the province of Manitoba, and that is one of the reasons why we ask this government that if you want to start taking legal action--you were quick to jump up on your feet on the gun registration--why not be quick on your feet and jump up or stand up for the grain farmers. With those very few words, we ask and suggest the government stand up and represent the vast majority of the wheat farmers and reinforce the importance of the Canadian Wheat Board. Thank you, Madam Speaker.