Mr. Gary Doer (Leader of the Opposition): Madam Speaker, my question is to the First Minister (Mr. Filmon).

Since 1990, this government has been promising a co-ordination of health services beds in the city of Winnipeg and talking about a bed registration project. They have been talking about it and promising it in 1990, '91, '92, '93. They re-promised it again in '94 and again in '95, and on and on and on it goes.

Madam Speaker, I would like to ask the Premier, how many operations of heart surgery were cancelled last week at the Health Sciences Centre, and why were those operations cancelled?

Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Health): Madam Speaker, it would be very helpful if the honourable Leader of the Opposition would re-examine his conscience and that of his colleagues and join with all of those health professionals as well as the government in proposing an integrated system for the delivery of health services in the city of Winnipeg.

Certainly we have made available funding to help us deal with the pressures that increasing numbers of surgeries, heart surgeries especially in the last few years--we have provided the funding for that. If the honourable member and his colleagues would get onside, it would certainly be helpful as we establish program management throughout the city of Winnipeg to make use of a bed registry more meaningful and more effective for patients in the city of Winnipeg.

Mr. Doer: I would like to table a letter from Mr. Kowalyk, who resides in The Pas, who was one of many residents of Manitoba who had their operations cancelled. In fact, Mr. Kowalyk was notified four and a half months ago that open-heart surgery would be scheduled and required. He came down to the city of Winnipeg, which is his fourth visit to the city of Winnipeg, and his operation was cancelled the day that it was scheduled to take place. There were many others, and the minister never answered the question of how many and why these operations were cancelled.

Therefore, I would like to ask the Premier (Mr. Filmon), what impact has the cutbacks in funding to the Health Sciences Centre impacted on the bed closures at the Health Sciences Centre and the cancellation of surgery, and what impact has the broken promises of the Premier on capital spending had on Mr. Kowalyk's fate and others that are relying on a Manitoba health care system?

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Mr. McCrae: Madam Speaker, in 1995-96, $941,000 additional was appropriated to the Health Sciences Centre and $894,000 additional approved for the St. Boniface Hospital to cover the increased number of open-heart surgeries performed. In 1996-97, this additional funding was incorporated into the global budgets of these two facilities. In 1993-94, there were in total 523 coronary artery bypass surgeries. The following year there were 594; the following year, 729, and this fiscal year we expect there to be a minimum of 1,000 of these surgeries.

Those numbers are climbing very, very significantly, and because of the incident to which the honourable Leader of the Opposition referred, we have asked Dr. Louis Oppenheimer, who is the head of surgery for the city of Winnipeg, to call the players together to see the best way for these dollars to be appropriated so that patients do not have this happening.

Mr. Doer: Dr. Hamilton in June of this year said that if people have their operations cancelled, they could die waiting for operations that are necessary in terms of heart surgery. Mr. Kowalyk goes on to say that the reason he was given was the lack of beds at the Health Sciences Centre in the intensive care unit.

He goes on to say that this government is arrogant in its behaviour. Its cutbacks have affected his health. His last sentence of his letter to the Premier (Mr. Filmon) and minister is, take it from an old man, Jim, do not grow old and never get sick here in the province of Manitoba.

Is this the quality of health care that this Premier expects from his Minister of Health? When is he going to get a strategy and a plan in place so people can get open-heart surgery when it is scheduled here in the province of Manitoba?

Mr. McCrae: I repeat for the honourable member that surgeries for coronary artery bypass surgeries have literally doubled between 1994 and 1997, which is coming up by the end of this fiscal year. The funding for that has increased very significantly in the last two years, so what the honourable member is calling for is happening. Now we need to get the program managers together with Dr. Oppenheimer to make sure that the programs are running in a co-ordinated fashion.

Ms. Jean Friesen (Wolseley): My question is for the Minister of Education.

A province which chooses not to educate enough young people at the post-secondary level is not going to be able to have anything other than a low-scale, low-wage economy in the 21st Century.

In 1995, Manitoba registered the largest drop of any province except Prince Edward Island in both full-time and part-time university enrollment. Enrollments dropped again this year and have remained stagnant in community colleges.

Will the minister tell the House what steps she has taken to reverse this trend which seriously undermines the economic future of Manitoba?

Hon. Linda McIntosh (Minister of Education and Training): Madam Speaker, I think one has to take the remarks and the preamble that were made in context. The member has known and has known for some time what has been stated not just here but in other circles that when there are plenty of jobs available people are inclined to finish school, take jobs and not go on to post-secondary institutions. Similarly, the reverse is true. That is statistically known. It has been stated by people far more qualified in this area than I am.

The trend for reduced enrollments in university is nationwide, and the member should know as well that the trend in college enrollment is up. I believe one of the things that we are doing that will really assist the strength of the post-secondary education system is to start to see it as a system, and in that regard we will be, hopefully, beginning debate tonight on Bill 32, which will allow for greater articulation between colleges and universities, indeed even in some cases between high schools and colleges, greater mobility of transfer credits for students, a general strengthening of the entire system.

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Ms. Friesen: Could the minister explain then why, in this month's Statistics Canada survey of high school graduates who go on to further education or training, Manitoba again has a worse performance than any other province except New Brunswick? Could she tell us why Saskatchewan is substantially better in this, why Ontario is substantially better, and how this is going to affect the economic future of Manitoba?

Mrs. McIntosh: Madam Speaker, I believe I just indicated to the member that with the growth in job opportunities that has occurred in Manitoba over the last few years more and more people are entering the workforce. As well, we have workforce training. As well, we do have continuing entrance into entrepreneurial endeavours by young people in Manitoba, and the results showing there are very satisfactory.

So I say again that as we move into seeing the post-secondary education as an entire system, we will open up more opportunities for students through the creation of centres of excellence, et cetera, that I believe will strengthen the system and be very good for students in Manitoba.

Ms. Friesen: Madam Speaker, I cannot believe that we have a Minister of Education who has not grasped the connection between--

Madam Speaker: Order, please. I would remind the honourable member for Wolseley that this is not a time for debate and a final supplementary question requires no preamble.

Ms. Friesen: Could the minister explain why Manitoba is now the only province in Canada that has no widely accessible loan remission policy for students who will now face debt loads in the region of $40,000 to $50,000, something which is fuelling the decline in enrollment?

Mrs. McIntosh: Madam Speaker, the member and I have been through this issue on numerous occasions in the past dealing with Access, dealing with availability of student loans, dealing with our relationship with the federal government in the provision of Canada Student Loans. The member knows, for example, in the area of Access students that we have not only the Canada Student Loan loan/bursary program, that we have bursaries available for high-need students to an unlimited amount of a nonrepayable loan.

So I think for those who are in need, which is the group that I believe she is trying to identify here, they can have loans nonrepayable to the government of Manitoba over and above. They can have bursaries, gifts over and above their Canada Student Loan to an unlimited amount, $33,000 whatever the amount is, and I can give her sample cases of those if she would like. I would be willing to do that. I believe I have answered it for her on numerous occasions in the past.

Ms. Marianne Cerilli (Radisson): Madam Speaker, students feel they have no say as this government makes universities less accessible. Tuition fees have been increased by 80 percent to 100 percent under this government, and the government's proposed Council on Post-Secondary Education does not offer much hope in addressing this problem.

Can the minister explain why her proposed post-secondary education bill preamble says, it is essential to promote excellence in the post-secondary education system while ensuring it is accessible and effective--but in the mandate of the council, accessibility and effectiveness are dropped?

Hon. Linda McIntosh (Minister of Education and Training): I have to indicate, first of all, that I do not accept the majority of the preamble put forward by the member. I indicate to the member that we put in last year a 10 percent learning tax credit that enables students to get back 10 percent of the fee that they have paid for tuition and, Madam Speaker, in some cases, that meant that students were paying less last year than they had the year before.

So I do not think that the member is telling the full story when she gets to her feet to make those pronouncements because with the rebates available it has been very helpful for students, and students have applauded that loudly and clearly and consistently and formally through their associated organizations.

Madam Speaker, this Council on Post-Secondary Education has been applauded by student groups. The University of Manitoba Students' Union--and I know we have a small group here led by a member of the Choices group that wishes us to examine the Choices budget as an alternative for what to do here--but I indicate to you that the University of Manitoba Students' Union presented us with a petition, with a document called the Path to Excellence endorsing this particular council that the member for Radisson thinks is not good. That is the largest student body in the province, who do not belong to the small group of 12 or 15 people who came here today.

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Ms. Cerilli: Madam Speaker, perhaps the minister can answer the question, why does the mandate of her proposed Council on Post-Secondary Education not include accessibility when it was acknowledged in the preamble to the bill that accessibility is essential in education?

Mrs. McIntosh: Madam Speaker, it was acknowledged in the preamble of the bill--I mean, the member has answered her own question in the asking of it--but I also indicate the whole purpose of the bill is in terms of co-ordinating the system and creating greater mobility, greater acceptance of transfer of credits, greater opportunity for centres of excellence, less overlap, less duplication, saving more time, energy and money for students.

Let me give you one example. A student who takes a diploma in civil technology right now at a community college, under the old system, wanting then to take a degree in civil engineering, would have to repeat many of the courses taken at the college that had already been taken, passed and utilized. Under the new system with the articulation of the credit transfers, that same student would not have to, in all hope and all likelihood, repeat courses already taken and passed. That would save the student time, money and energy and free up a spot for another student who might have wanted that place.

Ms. Marianne Cerilli (Radisson): My final supplementary, Madam Speaker: Will the minister explain to the House how students will make their concerns about accessibility and tuition fees known to the council? How will they participate on this new council so that their voices are part of the decision making?

Hon. Linda McIntosh (Minister of Education and Training): Madam Speaker, I am glad that the members opposite have finally begun to ask some questions on Bill 32 because to date they have not shown any interest in this topic in this Chamber.

An Honourable Member: That is not true.

Mrs. McIntosh: Check Hansard and find the number of questions they have asked on this bill, and I think you will see that is true. But we do have some 12 or 15 people in the gallery, which I think maybe has spurred them to ask some questions.

I would indicate that the students will be consulted on a regular basis by the council, as will faculty members, as will boards of governors, as will be all the other interest groups in education. They will be included that way, as all the other groups are. We have indicated our strong commitment to students being involved. We have gone so far as to increase student representation on boards of governors and boards of regents at the post-secondary institutions to ensure that not only do they get to communicate via the boards of governors, they will also be communicating via their own official student representations on a regular basis with the council, and we will see that that occurs.

Mr. Steve Ashton (Thompson): Madam Speaker, on Thursday I asked the Minister responsible for MTS (Mr. Findlay) how he did not see the obvious conflict of interest with the MTS financial adviser group, 161 Bay Street, Toronto, Ontario, consisting of three brokerage firms, CIBC Wood Gundy, RBC Dominion Securities and Richardson Greenshields, which are all going to be selling shares, according to the minister, in terms of MTS. He at that time said he saw no conflict of interest. Of course, this is the same minister who said there was no conflict in him buying shares personally.

I would like to ask the Premier if he will do the right thing and recognize there is a conflict of interest and disqualify these brokerage firms from benefiting from the upwards of $25 million in commissions that will result from the sale of our telephone company.

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Madam Speaker, this of course is still substantially less money than the NDP squandered on the sands of Saudi Arabia when they tried to set up a telecommunications business in Saudi Arabia with Manitoba government money, with Manitoba taxpayers' money, the kind of stupidity that we typically get from the members opposite.

The short answer to the question is that the policy decision of course was made by government, that the government accepted a broad cross-section of analysis that included, obviously, economic analysis based on the rapidly changing technology in the field of telecommunications, based on the $800 million of debt that currently is guaranteed by the taxpayers of Manitoba and based on a whole series of factors about what would be best for the provision of telecommunications services in future to the population of Manitoba. Based on that, we made our policy decision.

Mr. Ashton: Madam Speaker, I will try again. Will the First Minister not recognize that it is an obvious conflict of interest when this study that was produced by these three brokerage firms was the only study that was done prior to the privatization, when in fact MTS did no internal studies, something MTS has confirmed? How does he not see that getting up to $25 million worth of commissions is a conflict of interest with recommending the sale in the first place?

Mr. Filmon: Madam Speaker, I repeat because obviously the member for Thompson has difficulty understanding. The government listened to many, many different people and undertook analyses of a whole variety of different perspectives on the issue. The policy decision was made as a result of a composite of all of the information available to us.

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Mr. Ashton: Madam Speaker, I would appreciate the Premier tabling anything from MTS because they have said to me in writing that they did not do a single study before the decision was made.

Mr. Steve Ashton (Thompson): My final supplementary to the Premier: Since we already have a $400,000 advertising contract in which Barb Biggar, the former press secretary to the Premier, is benefiting and now the three brokerage firms benefiting from the commission, who is doing the legal work of the sale of MTS, and could the Premier indicate the name of the firm and the lawyers involved so we can get some idea of who else is going to benefit at our expense in the province of Manitoba?

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Madam Speaker, because there are many different interests, obviously, that must be protected in this whole issue, there is one firm that is engaged by the Manitoba Telephone System, there is one firm that is engaged by the people doing the initial public offering and there is one firm that is engaged by the Province of Manitoba. So, as a result, the three firms, as I understand it, all of whom are doing work in order to protect the various interests in this whole deal, include the firms of Thompson Dorfman Sweatman, Aikins Macaulay and Pitblado & Hoskin.

Madam Speaker: The honourable member for Inkster. [applause]

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Inkster): Madam Speaker, I appreciate the gesture made from both sides of the House towards the past weekend.

Having said that, the task that I have been requested is to once again come forward and ask another important question on behalf of the public of Manitoba.

Madam Speaker, the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals has been attempting to get the gross amounts paid to private laboratories in Manitoba, in fact, through Freedom of Information, had made application, were denied and then they went to the Ombudsman's office. The Ombudsman's office then recommended that the Department of Health release the information.

On October 9, I asked the Minister of Health for the information. I am wondering if the Minister of Health can provide for this House the progress that he has made to date, and I will table a copy of the letter from the provincial Ombudsman.

Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Health): Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question the honourable member asks. He has asked it before. I have put a response to him. I guess I could say it is in the mail, but that sometimes does not work. The response explains the reason for turning down the application for the information. If the honourable member wishes, I can seek to break that information out into a more generic way so that we do not name names of clinics or individual physicians. I do not think that is necessarily what the honourable member wants. It may be what the union wants, but I do not propose to engage in revealing proprietary--or information which is not given out on a routine basis dealing with other professionals, and that would be the reason for that.

Certainly, for the purposes that the honourable member wants the information, I think we can make the type of information he wants available, with the kind of quality that might suit his interest.

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Mr. Lamoureux: Madam Speaker, I would ask the Minister of Health--no doubt he has seen the provincial Ombudsman's letter or the request, the recommendations--are there any aspects of the letter from the Ombudsman's office that he would disagree with?

Mr. McCrae: Madam Speaker, to the extent that we would decline to follow a particular recommendation, it is to that extent that we would disagree with the recommendation, but I think I understand why the honourable member is seeking the information. He is trying to make a point that there might be some conflict involved with private laboratories and their billings, and to that extent, we can talk about that. But I have declined to give out information dealing with individuals on the basis set out in the letter that he will soon be receiving from me, if the federal Liberals can get the mail moving.

Mr. Lamoureux: It is likely going through interdepartmental mail as opposed to Canada Post, I must make reference to the Minister of Health.

My question is to the Minister of Health. Is the Minister of Health prepared to review the information that is being let out in terms of trying to make it easier for--whether it is an opposition member or interest groups or individuals that are interested in getting important information--is the minister prepared to review what the current policy is within the Ministry of Health with the idea of relaxing some of those rules so that Manitobans can find out exactly what this government is doing with respect to health care reform?

Mr. McCrae: If the honourable member has some new information to bring to bear on the issue itself, I welcome his input and look forward to hearing from him as to what criteria he might suggest we look at in order to make decisions about the provision of information. Suffice it to say though, we, through my colleague the Minister of Culture, Heritage and Citizenship (Mr. Gilleshammer), have a discussion underway in Manitoba about access to information along with a discussion about what information we should hold back so that people's health records can be protected from scrutiny by those who ought not to be scrutinizing our health records.

Maybe the honourable member, the Liberal Party as a whole may have something to offer to us in terms of the discussion that is underway in Manitoba which might well be useful as we move toward bringing forward legislation on these topics.

Mr. Stan Struthers (Dauphin): My question is for the Minister of Agriculture, who has acknowledged that on March 15, during the 1995 provincial election, a fake cheque for $30,000 was given to Kim Sigurdson, a Conservative candidate in St. Boniface and to Robert Gaudry, an official of the Interlake Metis Association.

This fake grant was written up in the Interlake papers but never paid, resulting in losses to organizations and individuals who had made commitments on the basis of the cheque.

Could the minister tell the House whether or not he and other ministers had subsequent discussions with those involved in the bogus cheque episode in regard to the expansion of fishing activities of aboriginal fishers?

Hon. Harry Enns (Minister of Agriculture): Madam Speaker, let me make it abundantly clear that in the first instance there was no cheque. There was a commitment, a letter of intent that the Department of Rural Development under its REDI program was prepared to provide support to a fish company, the Spirit River fish company, on a project that has long been a particular ambition of mine as the MLA for the area, that is, to find some appropriate way to utilize the millions of pounds of rough fish that are cast aside every year in our fisheries.

The specific agreement called for some very specific things to be accomplished before a cheque would be drawn. What the honourable member is referring to there is a letter of intent being passed to these principals. Regrettably, the conditions of the agreement were not carried out, and no cheque was ever issued.

Madam Speaker: The honourable member for Dauphin, with a supplementary question.

Mr. Struthers: Could the minister tell the House the nature of the discussions with Mr. Sigurdson and others regarding their fishing, processing and export activities?

Mr. Enns: The nature of the discussions is very simple to provide. It was with a great deal of enthusiasm that I as a representative for the community of St. Laurent, which regrettably has an unemployment rate that is unacceptable, which borders and sits on a resource on Lake Manitoba that sees millions of these rough fish wasted and in fact become an environmental hazard as they are left to rot on the shore, in the bushes and on the ice every year, it has been, as I have said now several times, as long as I have been the member for Lakeside, an ambition of mine to try to arrive at some economic use for the rough fish.

So I embraced, I was a very strong supporter for the project. I was able to help convince the economic development group within the Department of Rural Development to consider the application but there were various--and I might say this is not the first project of this kind. Freshwater Fish has tried on different occasions. There were very specific commitments made by the proponents with respect to being eligible for these monies. Those commitments were not met, Madam Speaker.

Mr. Struthers: Could the minister tell the House whether or not these discussions are in any way related to certain charges under The Fisheries Act against Mr. Robert Gaudry?

Mr. Enns: Madam Speaker, my understanding is Mr. Robert Gaudry is facing certain charges for illegally using small mesh net and for fishing without a fishing licence. Most fishermen in Manitoba are aware of these preconditions prior to fishing in the province of Manitoba.

Mr. Tim Sale (Crescentwood): Madam Speaker, the cheque in question was a pay cheque of one of the minister's own employees, and it shows clearly in the picture.

For years aboriginal fishers have sought ways of making a living by using all the fish they catch instead of having to throw the rough fish away. They protested what they consider unfair quotas on Lake Winnipeg where they are restricted to less than 20 percent of the overall lake quotas.

Will the Minister of Natural Resources acknowledge that he and the Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Enns) met with Mr. Sigurdson and others to discuss this issue during the summer and fall of 1995?

Hon. Albert Driedger (Minister of Natural Resources): Madam Speaker, I can confirm that the meeting took place. I also want to confirm the fact that when the aboriginal groups from Island Lake basically made application to be exempt, I was the proponent who brought it forward to the federal minister, who is still the minister responsible for making those decisions.

Further to that, it was also in agreement with the group that basically wanted to expand beyond the Island Lake area in terms of exemptions of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation. However, the federal minister saw fit to deny that request. I am still working with the groups in terms of doing further exemptions.

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Mr. Tim Sale (Crescentwood): Madam Speaker, will the minister confirm that there were discussions regarding the taking of fish for processing and for export from a northern lake without interference from Fisheries officers?

Hon. Albert Driedger (Minister of Natural Resources): What I will confirm, Madam Speaker, is the fact that a request was made for allowing to export processed fish from the fish plant in the Interlake, and my response always was I had no objection to them moving the fish from the lake up north and to the processing plant, but it is not within my jurisdiction to give any authorization for the export beyond the Manitoba boundaries.

Mr. Sale: Madam Speaker, on a new question. I will table a signed statement from three individuals which claims not only that these conversations took place but that also the ministers knew that what they told these people to go ahead and do was illegal.

Will the minister acknowledge that the meetings took place, that both ministers suggested that they would look the other way when the law was being broken in regard to the taking and exporting of fish from Sisipuk Lake?

Mr. Driedger: Madam Speaker, as usual, I find big skepticism in terms of anything that this member brings forward, because he is developing a history of trying to be down in the gutter somewhere trying to find things that he cannot substantiate, and he cannot substantiate many of these things. I have said that I--

Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.

Madam Speaker: Order, please. The honourable Minister of Natural Resources, to complete his response.

Mr. Driedger: Madam Speaker, this member has invariably, at various times, brought accusations to this House that he can never substantiate, and I deny any of the allegations that he has put on the record here today.

Mr. Eric Robinson (Rupertsland): Madam Speaker, my questions are for the Minister or Acting Minister of Transportation.

A year ago, CN was privatized without any upgrading of the Bay Line, and this was followed by the Canada Transportation Act abolishing the protection of branchlines and branchline subsidies, giving the CN, the new CN, the right to abandon all of northern Manitoba.

I would like to ask the acting minister why he and his colleagues did not fight for upgrading of the Bay Line and the port prior to these events.

Hon. Albert Driedger (Acting Minister of Highways and Transportation): Madam Speaker, I will take that question as notice on behalf of the Minister of Highways and Transportation (Mr. Findlay), but I also want to say at the same time that the record of this government, in terms of protecting the Bay Line or fighting for anything that happens in Churchill, is something that is on record and we are very proud of the position that we have taken to date.

Mr. Robinson: Madam Speaker, last year this Legislature unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing Gateway North Transportation system in their bid to establish a Bay Line network from Yorkton to Churchill.

I would like to ask the acting minister, when did this government switch its position from supporting the GNTS proposal of a Bay Line network from Yorkton to Churchill to supporting CN's plan of selling only the lines north of The Pas?

Mr. Driedger: Madam Speaker, I will take the specifics of that question as notice as well, but I can just indicate that my knowledge of what is happening right now with the Minister of Highways and Transportation, that ongoing negotiations are taking place on the positive side. We hope there is going to be a positive solution to the problem.

Mr. Robinson: Since leaving lines south of The Pas with CN means that CN will be trying to ship grain from Saskatchewan to British Columbia rather than through the Port of Churchill, how does this government think that it is in the Manitoba interest to have the Bay Line cut off?

Mr. Driedger: Madam Speaker, again, I will have to take that question as notice on behalf of the Minister of Highways and Transportation.

Ms. Rosann Wowchuk (Swan River): Madam Speaker, the high water levels around Lake Winnipegosis, Lake Manitoba and Lake Dauphin have caused serious problems for cattle producers in the area in that they are unable to take off their hay crop. I know the Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Enns) visited the area.

I want to ask the Minister of Agriculture, what steps has he taken to resolve the problem facing the cattle producers in the area, and has a compensation program been put in place to assist the producers?

Hon. Harry Enns (Minister of Agriculture): Madam Speaker, the honourable member is correct that some three or four weeks ago I, along with some senior officials of the Departments of Agriculture and Natural Resources, visited the area north of Dauphin Lake and the Winnipegosis area. There are some serious problems being created by general levels of high water.

I have subsequently also heard and understood, and that does not surprise me as a modest cattle producer myself, that all efforts are being made, even late in the season, to gather in what native hay is available in those areas. I have asked the Department of Agriculture to pay specific attention to these areas in helping the cattle producers formulate rations of alternative sources, straw, grains, molasses and so forth.

No specific compensation project is being entertained by the department and by the government at this time however. It is one of the difficulties facing cattle producers who use these lands, most of them 90 percent, 95 percent Crown lands adjacent to our large lakes, which in periods of high water and somewhat higher than normal rainfall, as we have experienced the last two or three years, bring about these conditions.

Ms. Wowchuk: I want to ask the minister responsible for disaster assistance, since cattle producers feel that the high levels at the lake are due to the increased flow through the Portage Diversion and this flow was increased to spare the city of Portage from flooding, why will the minister of disaster assistance not look into disaster assistance for these producers? It was his city that was saved and it is these producers who are now being sacrificed because of high lake levels. Why are they not being treated fairly?

Hon. Brian Pallister (Minister of Government Services): It may not have come to the attention of the member, but the majority of damage that was done this year and the claims that occurred as a consequence of the damage done due to high water levels occurred in the Red River Valley basin and in the communities north of the city of Winnipeg. That is where we had substantial claim activity.

When one diverts the Assiniboine, which, by the way, for the member opposite, flows into the Red River, one is doing that, not to benefit a specific community, so the assertion of the member is a ridiculous one, of course. When water is diverted up the Assiniboine Diversion, it does not flow down the Assiniboine to the Red. We had damage occurring throughout the basin this year; claims are in the process of being dealt with. For the member's benefit, her constituents or the people that she raises as concerns in this province will be dealt with in the same fair and evenhanded manner as other claimants are dealt with by our department.

Ms. Rosann Wowchuk (Swan River): Madam Speaker, I want to ask the Minister of Agriculture if he will recognize that he has made an error in removing the crop insurance coverage for wild hay, and is his department considering reinstating the crop insurance to cover wild hay that would help these producers who feel that they have indeed been sacrificed by the high lake levels that have been posed on those lakes?

Hon. Harry Enns (Minister of Agriculture): Madam Speaker, that indeed was one of the positive suggestions that was made by individual producers. They made it very plain that the simple reinstatement of the old program would not work. It was a program based on area, and one of the reasons why it was dropped in '94 was lack of participation by these same producers. They did ask--and I have forwarded those instructions to the board and to the senior management of Manitoba Crop Insurance Corporation--to, over the winter months, re-examine the question of whether or not a system of crop insurance, dealing with the individual farms, could be instituted for the coming year, and that is being actively pursued by the corporation.

Madam Speaker: Time for Oral Questions has expired.