Mr. Mervin Tweed (Turtle Mountain): Madam Speaker, during the holiday season we are often reminded of the Dickens Christmas classic "Scrooge." It is the story of a man who took a great deal away while returning little. It appears that in the spirit of that tale, the federal Liberal government has enacted its own version of Scrooge with the announcement that it is planning to restore a small portion of the federal transfer cuts that it had planned to take away from our province at the expense of health and social spending.
Even with this week's announcement by the federal government that it would establish a $12.5-billion floor for total cash entitlement to the provinces under the CHST program, our province, Manitobans will receive $228 million less next year than we did two years ago. Perhaps the Prime Minister or the Finance minister for the federal Liberal government was paid a visit by the ghost of election's future which motivated the announcement we heard yesterday, or perhaps the knowledge that they have balanced their books on the backs of Manitobans was affecting their ability to have a peaceful holiday season. Regardless of the season, Manitobans are not fooled by the federal Liberal attempts to play Santa Claus for just one day after having played the role of Scrooge for several years.
The Dickens tale was one which finished with optimism and prosperity. This holiday season, through the combined efforts of our government and Manitobans, our province also has a tremendous reason for optimism. Despite the Grinch-like actions of our federal counterparts, we have a partnership to make Manitoba a province of opportunity and growth, and that is a story we can all take heart in. Thank you.
Mr. Stan Struthers (Dauphin): Madam Speaker, I rise today on a member's statement on behalf of the citizens of the community of Grandview, who are right now in a struggle to maintain the quality of health care that they have become used to over the last number of years.
Madam Speaker, 440 people have signed a petition that has been circulated for just about a week now in the town of Grandview. It is a petition to the Minister of Health (Mr. Praznik), asking the minister to show some leadership and protect their 24-hour emergency care and to protect their ambulance service that serves so well the people in the community of Grandview.
Grandview is a farming community. It has about 2,000 people in the area, and it is located halfway between Dauphin and Roblin. The community of Grandview and the R.M. of Grandview have people who live another 20 to 35 minutes outside of Grandview. So, as you can see, anyone who gets hurt in a farming community, in an industry that is very much a dangerous industry, that is agriculture, would now, if they did not have ambulance service in Grandview and 24-hour emergency care, be transported, in addition to the 30 minutes to either Dauphin or Roblin, another 25 or 30 minutes. The people in Grandview want this minister to know that is just unacceptable, that is too long a time, and that everyone knows, who has any knowledge at all about health care, that the sooner you can get to treat an injury or a sickness, the more chance you have of helping that person and helping that person recover.
So I would like to table the petition right now of over 200 names who have signed this petition in Grandview. Later on in the session, I will be presenting the petitions of the other remaining names, for a total of around 440 at this time. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
* (1430)
Mr. Peter Dyck (Pembina): Madam Speaker, health care is an essential service to which our government devotes the largest portion of its expenditures. I would like to draw the attention of members of the House to a very positive development in Manitoba's health care sector.
Recently, the Ministers of Health (Mr. Praznik) and Education and Training (Mrs. McIntosh) announced that the Assiniboine Community College in Brandon will expand and enhance its practical nursing program. By expanding the licenced practical nursing program, our government is putting even more trained professionals into Manitoba health care facilities. The province has provided $217,000 to ensure a high quality of training, with an emphasis on community-based health care.
The program at the Assiniboine Community College's newly renovated facilities has also been extended by three months. The annual capacity of the practical nursing program will increase to 90 students from 60 by doubling the enrollment at Assiniboine Community College. The college is also said to operate a program accommodating 30 students at the Misericordia Hospital in Winnipeg beginning April of 1998.
Licenced practical nurses are an extremely important component in the delivery of health care in Manitoba. Personal care homes and rural health care facilities, in particular, will benefit immeasurably from the increased contributions made by LPNs.
I applaud my colleagues on this side of the House and our government as a whole for the high priority we assign to health care services and the training provided to health care professionals across our province. We are committed to providing the most efficient and advanced health care system anywhere. Thank you very much, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker: Order, please. In fairness to all members attempting to make members' statements, I wonder if I might ask for the co-operation of all members having private meetings to do so in the loge or outside the Chamber. It is very difficult to hear the members, and I know they want the respect that they are deserved.
Mr. Daryl Reid (Transcona): Madam Speaker, I rise on behalf of the families of mine workers who have been killed on the job. In 1992, 26 miners were killed in an underground coal mine explosion at Stellarton, Nova Scotia, Westray coal mine. Last week, after five and one-half years of waiting for these families, Justice Richard released his findings in a report containing 74 recommendations. Justice Richard named people responsible for the disaster, indicating that a clear hierarchy of responsibility lies with mine management and government.
One quote from Justice Richard states: It is a story of incompetence, of mismanagement, of bureaucratic bungling, of deceit, of ruthlessness, of cover-up, of apathy, of expediency and of cynical indifference.
Justice Richard states that unacceptable performances of the mine safety inspector regulators must surely have destroyed the confidence that the people had in the inspectorate. Justice Richard recommended that Ottawa and the provinces should study accountability of corporate bosses for wrongful or negligent acts of a corporation with an eye to legislating it. I could not agree more.
The Filmon government has a history of letting companies and their owners injure and kill their employees and escape prosecution, and examples that I have demonstrated here in this Legislative Assembly, where companies have closed the doors of their operations only to start up business within weeks under a new name without any responsibility of the owner-managers for their negligence, and I have raised those cases in this Legislature. Dozens of miners have been killed in Manitoba with little or no reaction or action to stop the death march. No education programs, no prosecution, no interest by this government.
The time has come to say that we as a people take workplace safety very seriously and apply the principle to action with more than just 18 inspectors to check 42,000 workplaces in Manitoba, and with the real meaningful powers to be put into the hands of the inspectors to prevent accidents before they happen. Forty-two thousand yearly accident claims must be changed. Twenty-seven thousand Manitoba fatalities last year, including 13 mine deaths since 1990, must not be allowed to go unanswered for the sake of the dead and their families.
An Honourable Member: How many last year?
Mr. Reid: Twenty-seven.
Ms. Becky Barrett (Wellington): Madam Speaker, yesterday Cecil Rhodes School and the community of Weston honoured one of their own. The library at Cecil Rhodes School was renamed the Betty Francis Learning Resource Centre in recognition of her 65 years of service to the community. Betty Francis was born in England on December 26, 1909, and moved to Weston when she was two years old. She spent her first eight years of school at Cecil Rhodes and then graduated from Daniel McIntyre Collegiate. Betty was a student teacher at Cecil Rhodes and spent the first 25 years of her teaching career in rural Manitoba. In 1957, she returned to Cecil Rhodes School where she taught for the next 11 years. Upon her retirement from the paid teaching force in 1968, she began her career as a volunteer at Cecil Rhodes. In all, Betty Francis has worked with children for 65 years, 43 of those at Cecil Rhodes School. At age 88, Betty continues to work several times a week at Cecil Rhodes.
I know all members of the Legislature will join with me, the community at Cecil Rhodes School and the residents of Weston in congratulating Betty Francis on a lifetime spent passing on her love of learning. Generations of students, teachers, parents and the community have been the recipients of Betty Francis's hard work, unselfish commitment and love. We are all the richer for her life.