Mr. Jack Penner (Emerson): Madam Speaker, I rise before the members of the House today to speak about an exciting event that is taking place in my constituency and in the community of Altona.

On April 6, the annual Altona Festival of the Arts got underway and will run until May 2. The festival session is taking place in Altona at the Altona Mennonite Church. Close to 600 participants are registered to perform at the Altona Festival of the Arts this year, making it one of the largest arts festivals in all of Manitoba. They are drawn not only from the Altona area but also from areas all over southern Manitoba. The communities of Morris, Carman and Vita and many other communities in southern Manitoba have registered contestants in this area. In fact, the festival draws from such a broad geographical area that the co-ordinating committee is currently asking the public to suggest a new name for the festival that would better identify it as a regional event.

The festival features several different arts forms, including vocal, choral, stringed instruments, speech arts and piano. The lights concert, featuring the highlight performances of all the sessions, will wrap up this year's festival. The Altona Festival of the Arts offers a great opportunity for performers to showcase their talents and encourage the community to become actively involved in the arts. I commend the festival president, Loren Hiebert, and the members of the festival committee, along with the many volunteers, who put a great deal of time and effort into making this festival a real success.

Mr. Eric Robinson (Rupertsland): This afternoon I would like to just comment on the recent comments of the Supreme Court, regarding the incarceration rate of aboriginal people, who called it a national disgrace. The Supreme Court stated in recent years that sentences of imprisonment of aboriginal people have increased at an appalling rate. The court said that aboriginal people are imprisoned in grossly disproportionate numbers, with a male treaty Indian 25 times as likely to be admitted to a provincial jail than a non-native. A female treaty Indian is 131 times as likely to go to jail as a nontreaty woman is. Even more disturbing, the disproportionate numbers are still growing. The court predicts that the matter will be even worse in the future unless the trends are dealt with quickly. Poverty, lack of opportunity for educational training and employment have combined to give many aboriginal people a sense of powerlessness and despair, and all too frequently this results in their becoming involved with the justice system.

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As the 1991 Aboriginal Justice Inquiry report stated in its opening sentence: Our justice system has failed aboriginal people on a massive scale. The AJI said that it is not merely that the justice system has failed aboriginal people, justice has also been denied to them. This is even truer today than it was in 1991. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Mr. Ben Sveinson (La Verendrye): Madam Speaker, last Friday, I, along with the First Minister, the Honourable Gary Filmon, had the pleasure of participating in the announcement of the new Villa Youville Personal Care Home in Ste. Anne. The new $8-million, 66-bed facility will replace the current personal care home now housed in a series of hostel buildings. The old structures will be renovated by Villa Youville Incorporated to provide additional housing options for the seniors in the area. The new accommodations will be constructed on a new site on the south side of the river connecting the existing facility. The personal care home will incorporate design features such as provisions for residents with Alzheimer's disease, wider corridors, space for adult daycare programs and a larger multipurpose room. An enclosed walkway will connect the two sites. This modern facility will ensure our seniors receive top-quality care in a home-like setting. This community has told us how important Villa Youville is, and we want to ensure the tradition of caring offered at this facility continues.

As we enter the next millennium, seniors in Ste. Anne, Lorette, Richer, La Broquerie and the surrounding area will be assured they do not have to leave their communities in order to receive quality care in a compassionate and caring environment. This facility will be a welcome addition to Ste. Anne. I would extend warm congratulations to Claude Lachance, director of the Villa Youville, and the chair and board of directors for the participation, consultations, discussions and the plans on the future of Villa Youville. Please join me in wishing them continued success in the days and years to come. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Ms. Diane McGifford (Osborne): Madam Speaker, I was pleased to attend on Saturday night the culmination of Manitoba Book Week featuring the annual Manitoba writing and publishers awards, co-sponsored by the Association of Manitoba Book Publishers and the Manitoba Writers Guild. The highlight of the evening was the keynote address by Tomson Highway. Peppered with humour and decidedly iconoclastic, he outlined Manitoba's literary evolution and the international reputation of our writers.

I know all MLAs will join me in congratulating all nominees and acknowledging our economic and cultural debts to these writers, designers and publishers. The winners were, first of all, Manitoba Book Design of the Year Award for Kelly Clark, publisher, University of Manitoba, designer, Fran Carmichael; Best Ilustrated Book of the Year Award, Cartoon Charlie: The Life and Art of Animation Pioneer Charles Thorson, Great Plains Publications by Gene Walz; Le prix literraire des caisses populaires, Tant que le fleuve coule par Marie Jack; McNally Robinson Book for Young People Award, Diane Wieler for Drive, Groundwood Books; John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer to Deborah Keahey; The Mary Scorer Award for Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher to Art and Illustration for the Classroom, Peguis Publishers. Finally, the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award to Miriam Toews for A Boy of Good Breeding, Stoddart Publishing.

In closing, again, we congratulate all nominees and winners and thank them for their contributions to Manitoba.

Mr. David Faurschou (Portage la Prairie): Madam Speaker, last Thursday my colleague the Honourable Merv Tweed and myself, along with Baljit Nanda and Karm Sahl of K & G Mushrooms Foods Limited, participated in the announcement and sod turning of a $5.4-million expansion of their operations near Portage la Prairie.

I am immensely proud of this announcement and all of the work that has gone into this announcement and creation of almost 40 new jobs in Portage la Prairie over the next two years. This $5.4-million expansion came with the assistance of a $1.5-million repayable loan from Manitoba Industrial Opportunities Program.

I want to thank the principals of K & G Mushrooms out of Denver, Colorado, that have shown their immense support of the Manitoba economy, but truly, Madam Speaker, we have earned that support because here in Manitoba we have been able to show persons abroad that we truly have a climate for economic prosperity here in this province.

K & G Mushrooms will be embracing the technology that will increase by 30 percent the output of the Portage la Prairie plant. K & G Foods is able to significantly increase this output by increasing the per–square–foot number of mushrooms. Furthermore, K & G Foods has been able to utilize new technologies to access markets here and abroad. This expansion will be completed in September and will allow the company to increase its exports to the United States. Thank you.

Mr. Doug Martindale (Burrows): Madam Speaker, I have a committee change.

I move, seconded by the member for Swan River (Ms. Wowchuk), that the composition of the Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections (7 p.m. this evening) be amended as follows: St. James (Ms. Mihychuk) for Osborne (Ms. McGifford).

Madam Speaker: The honourable member for Gimli, with committee changes.

Mr. Edward Helwer (Gimli): Madam Speaker, I move, seconded by the member for Gladstone (Mr. Rocan), that the composition of the Standing Committee on Privileges and Elections for Monday, April 26, 1999, (7 p.m.), be amended as follows: the member for Morris (Mr. Pitura) for the member for Charleswood (Mrs. Driedger), the member for Emerson (Mr. Penner) for the member for La Verendrye (Mr. Sveinson).