Mr. Peter Dyck (Pembina): Madam Speaker, earlier this afternoon, the Maples Collegiate Unity Group held their annual March 4 Unity. It is extremely reassuring to see the strong student-driven community response promoting unity in our society. The youth of our community understand their responsibility in making Manitoba a positive harmonious environment for people of all cultures.
The students participating in today's unity march are creating awareness and understanding between cultures. The unity group is focused on helping their peers and the community at large to support efforts to promote unity and equality among Manitobans of all origins. Today's march was an impressive public awareness event and reflected the students' desire to take their efforts into the community. Our government--
Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.
Madam Speaker: Order, please. I wonder if I might ask for the co-operation of all honourable members. I am experiencing great difficulty hearing the honourable member for Pembina.
Mr. Dyck: Thank you, Madam Speaker. Our government is supportive of schools such as Maples Collegiate in the development and implementation of their own programs to foster respect and understanding. Through these activities, people find a sense of understanding, pride, and respect for each other. Although Manitoba is culturally diverse, it is a single society united by our shared laws, values, aspirations and responsibilities. Our future depends on all members of our community receiving every opportunity for full participation in society.
I would ask all honourable members to join me in commending the Maples Collegiate unity group for their contribution to the well-being of our Manitoba community. Thank you.
Ms. MaryAnn Mihychuk (St. James): Madam Speaker, I had the pleasure to attend the Mid-Canada Mining Corridor Conference in Thompson, Manitoba, on Tuesday, June 2, and had the pleasure of meeting with many of the 120 delegates that came from wide, wide ranges of North America, all the way from North Carolina, coming up to promote their services and equipment to the mining industry in Manitoba, all the way from the east coast of Canada, all the way from British Columbia, including the provinces of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the North-West Territories. It was, once again, a successful event, and I wish to congratulate the organizers.
Madam Speaker, these are companies that provide services for the mining industry in Manitoba. They provide equipment, mining equipment, assay services. Also represented were mining companies and training companies. And how is this relevant to Winnipeg? I think it is particularly potent when Campbell North, the owner of Campbell North, who has a rental equipment service, said: Winnipeggers need to recognize that 30 semis leave Winnipeg every day to drive up Highway 6 with goods for the North, 30 semis a day.
So it is particularly relevant to the people of Winnipeg and it should be to the province of Manitoba. But this government has been taking the line of backing away from the mineral industry and turning its back on the importance of mining to Manitoba. This is an industry second only to agriculture in Manitoba. It employs directly over 4,000 Manitobans and indirectly supports 12,000. It is deplorable that this government did not seem to think it worthy to have a booth or a display representing the province of Manitoba in an international conference held in this very province. Shame on this government and shame on its lack of attention to the mineral industry. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Mr. Jack Penner (Emerson): Madam Speaker, as we all know, this week is National Transportation Week, and National Transportation Week is a time to celebrate, I believe, the efforts of many thousands of Canadians who work in the transportation industry. The week was created to develop a greater public awareness of the vital role that all modes of transportation play in the economy of this province and indeed the country of Canada.
In 1998, the theme of the National Transportation Week is Transportation: Canada's National Resource. This recognized the importance of transportation to the development of Canada and the contribution it still makes today. I want to take the opportunity to salute all those people that work within our Highways department and indeed the ministers who have worked under our term of office to improve the transportation system in our province very dramatically--I cite Highway 75, Highway 8, Highway 7, and many other highways, Highway 59 that we are currently working on--and making the kinds of transportation routes available to the trucking industry especially, improving the services on national lines and our railway industry, recognizing the importance of Winnport in the establishment of Winnport in Manitoba, and the importance of those institutions to the transportation industry.
I also want to recognize that James Edward Foran was named as transportation person of the year. Mr. Foran is a partner of Aikins Macaulay and Thorvaldson and practices transportation law. So the institute is well aware of Canada's and Manitoba's importance of the industry. I want to indicate to you, Madam Speaker, that the importance of 700 semitrailer loads of goods leaving this city of Winnipeg and Manitoba heading south every day of every week is an indication of the importance of the transportation industry in Manitoba. I want to ask all members to join me in congratulating the institute.
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Ms. Marianne Cerilli (Radisson): Madam Speaker, I rise today to raise a very serious matter, one that has occurred in my constituency and should be of great concern to all of us in this Legislature. It involves one of my constituents and her family. It is the fatal traffic accident that occurred on Regent Avenue this last month in front of the Club Regent.
Erica Rose McEvoy was killed upon leaving Club Regent to cross Regent Avenue to catch the bus. She was only 21 years old. This occurred because two vehicles were drag racing eastbound on Regent Avenue. There had also been a previous fatality that occurred in front of Club Regent approximately a year before this where a woman was making a U-turn at Owen Street and Regent to return to Club Regent. This is a common occurrence where vehicles make a U-turn to go to Club Regent when they are eastbound.
Recently there was an egress in the median completed in front of Club Regent to remedy the problem of the U-turns. However, there is still a problem of high speeds on Regent Avenue and the fact that the transit bus is across the street from Club Regent in the middle of a block and there are no traffic lights or crosswalks. Some residents would believe that a crosswalk would solve the problem. Others would feel that crosswalks actually would not solve this problem. There have been some suggestions of moving the bus stop that is across from Club Regent because it is a high-traffic area. I think that this warrants study, that there has to be some serious analysis of the traffic problems on Regent, particularly as this government moves to serve alcohol at Club Regent and there will be continued traffic to and from.
I also want to express at this time my condolences to the family who continue to live in Radisson, and I hope that we can deal with this problem so there will no longer be any fatalities in front of Club Regent.
Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Inkster): Madam Speaker, I stand today to commend and congratulate actually the Maples Unity Group. They have done a wonderful job. I see my colleague from The Maples, who I did not know if he was going to make it back in time, because one of the things that he has done consistently through the three years is he walks with the students from The Maples to the Legislature, and he had to make it back there somehow.
But anyway, what I wanted to be able to do, Madam Speaker, is just acknowledge what is a fantastic effort from a group of wonderful young adults to try to make more Manitobans aware of a very important issue that faces each and every one of us in many different ways, that is, the whole issue of racism.
We have had many different reports in the past that talk about it. The Manitoba Intercultural Council Combatting Racism is one of the ones which I talk about most often. One of the things that came out of that report was that of education. The best way to combat racism is to make people more aware of it, to educate. I think what the students of The Maples have demonstrated is their intentions to make their expressions known to many other Manitobans about a very important issue for them. I commend all of those who were involved in organizing this their third unity march from the Maples school down to the Leg. With those few words, I will leave it at that.