Madam Speaker: The honourable member for St. Vital, with a member's statement.
Mrs. Shirley Render (St. Vital): Madam Speaker, the people have spoken. Their words were resounding and leave no doubt as to the support our government's direction has achieved with Manitobans. Yesterday was the Charleswood by-election. The people of Charleswood, who have been well served in the past by their elected officials will see this tradition continue with Myrna Driedger. A CEO of Child Find Manitoba and having 23 years experience in the health care field, I have every confidence that Myrna will be an excellent addition to the Manitoba Legislature.
I think it is important to note that Myrna Driedger received 53 percent of the votes cast. Our government has the confidence of the electorate of Charleswood to continue building a province of opportunity. Through continued balanced budgets, our government will reflect the priorities of Manitobans. Madam Speaker, shortly our newest member will join all of us in the Legislature, and I am sure all of us wish her all the very best. Thank you.
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Mr. Steve Ashton (Thompson): I would like to read a poem that was sent to me by Emile Clune. It is in regard to the God Save the Queen issue.
"Take heart, take heart all teachers, there is hope for education/Now Linda Mac has plans to save the younger generation/While proving she does not deserve a wimpy reputation/When the P.M. was in Winnipeg some students climbed on stage/This terrified poor Linda and put her in a rage/But it seems that we misjudged her when she made that little scene/Though she wouldn't save Jean Chretien, she will fight to save the Queen/She is out there bravely facing desperado groups in schools/Who have disobeyed the law for years and broken several rules/But thanks to Linda's courage and her fortitude as well/Young voices sing "God Save the Queen" before the final bell/Now students all across the land are standing to attention/(The fact our health care is in a mess I guess we shouldn't mention)/And Manitoba teachers, overworked and underpaid/Agree that Linda's noble act has put them in the shade/Ride on, ride on brave Linda, how ungrateful we have been/Though you didn't save Jean Chretien, Thank God you saved the Queen."
Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Mr. Jack Penner (Emerson): I am not going to be quite as eloquent, but I am not going to read either. So I think we should ask the honourable member to table the presentation that he just made. I find it interesting.
I want to rise today, Madam Speaker, to invite all the people of this Legislature to the Rural Forum in Brandon. This is the sixth year in a row that Manitoba will be sponsoring its products at a forum and a demonstration of what Manitoba manufacturers and processors can in fact achieve if they are allowed to, within an economic setting, grow and prosper in this province. Many of the rural industries that function in many of our villages and towns in rural Manitoba are going to be there not only displaying and demonstrating their wares but talking about and talking to each other about the possibility of expanding the industries in rural Manitoba.
Value-added production is becoming not only the verbiage that was used a number of years ago but is becoming a reality. Many in the farm community are becoming quite involved in the processing industry and the manufacturing industry. Small businesses, as we all know, remain the strong cornerstone of our rural economy. Our economic base has been strengthened because of what people and the Minister of Rural Development (Mr. Derkach) have done to demonstrate our will as a government to ensure passing not only legislation, regulations that will allow and enable, from an economic standpoint, our rural businesses to prosper and flourish and thereby employing many of our younger people and seeing the growth expand in our rural communities.
So, Madam Speaker, I invite all of you to come out and taste the food, taste the experience, talk to your friends and talk to your neighbours about the greatness of Manitoba.
Ms. Diane McGifford (Osborne): Madam Speaker, I was pleased last night to attend what could best be called a neighbourhood watch revival meeting in the constituency of Osborne. Last night, 350 residents of Riverview and Lord Roberts came to the Lord Roberts School in order to attend this meeting. Clearly, all these citizens are concerned about safety, they are concerned about their homes, and they are certainly concerned about their families and communities. Everyone at this meeting had a story to tell. Either an individual had personally been a victim of theft and vandalism or else knew somebody in the community who had suffered theft and vandalism. Clearly, this meeting hit a chord, and I think the numbers make it clear that it was an important meeting and provided a focus for the community and for our citizens' frustration and anger.
We were pleased last night to be joined by Mr. Tom Hidson, president of Citizens For Crime Awareness, District 6 North, and we want to thank Crime Awareness Officer, Constable Graham Campbell for his educational address, his detailed remarks on safety, on criminal activity, on prevention, on deterrents and on scams. The constable discussed the CAT program designed to combat auto theft and general antiauto-theft techniques. He provided advice on personal security and on safety. Constable Campbell did a thorough job, and we were all enlightened and educated.
I want to thank, too, Madam Speaker, the community organizers of this meeting. Laura Karbyson, Arlene Mason and Jackie Jeffkins were tireless in their work and planning, and they plan to continue their work in the future.
Finally, I want to congratulate all the residents of Osborne who attended the meeting and made a clear commitment to reclaim our community, to protect our families, our homes and our neighbourhood.
Mr. Leonard Evans (Brandon East): I would like to continue on the discussion we had about declining housing starts for a moment or two and try to get the government to realize that we have a very serious situation on our hands when our residential construction industry is lagging behind Saskatchewan, it is lagging behind Alberta, it is lagging behind the country as a whole. As a matter of fact, we rank only seven out of 10, and I am talking about the latest information we have, which is the first quarter of 1998, compared to the first quarter of 1997. It is very interesting to ask yourself: why are we suffering in terms of declining residential housing starts. There are various answers, one of which of course is the loss of population from Manitoba to other provinces, including Saskatchewan, our sister province, having received a net amount of over 1,000 Manitobans in 1997.
In addition to that, we have the problem of declining real wages in this province. All the stats show that we continue to have declining real wages, that is, wages when you squeeze the inflation out of it, and that has to be a factor in people's ability to undertake mortgages for new construction. And why do we have a low real wage situation? It is simply because we have a low wage service sector that is expanding. In fact, the great bulk of the jobs we are getting in this province are of the low wage nature, jobs that do not have much security, jobs that do not offer many benefits, and the other factor, in conclusion, is the fact that we have probably the lowest minimum wage of any province in our good country. Thank you.
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