I would like to again ask: what is the contingency plan of the provincial government for unseeded land? Is it similar to what is being proposed by the producers and by the businesses in the community, and can the Premier (Mr. Filmon) please elaborate on the existing business and contingency plan for this crisis?

Hon. Harry Enns (Minister of Agriculture): Madam Speaker, I am pleased to report to the House that, further to conversations that I have already had with our federal minister, the Honourable Lyle Vanclief, I have today faxed him a letter which I would like to table with the House that extends to him an invitation to come and join us on Friday morning in Brandon where we will have an occasion to have him accompany us on touring some of the affected areas, both south and north of the Trans-Canada Highway. I have also indicated in this letter that it is my expectation, my hope that farmers in the stricken areas, wherever that may be in the province of Manitoba, will in the first instance be accorded the same level of support that farmers received during the disastrous 1997 flood of the Red River Valley; specifically, payments that account for input losses like fertilizer that were applied last fall and now are of no use. And, in lieu of the reseeding acreage allowance of $10 an acre that the federal government offered Red River Valley farmers, that that allowance be transferred to a maintenance allowance because these lands have to be maintained and cleared of weed growth that is now profuse throughout that part of the province.

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Mr. Doer: Yesterday, I asked the First Minister about the statement that the federal minister made that he had received no application from Manitoba, and the Premier indicated that he would be writing the Prime Minister. I would like to receive a copy of that correspondence if we could, Madam Speaker, and ask the First Minister–the federal minister, on the weekend, said that there are no new programs to deal with this crisis. Mr. Duhamel said yesterday, or last week, rather, that the minister will meet with Manitoba ministers to discuss new aid packages and new programs to deal with the crisis. There is a great deal of confusion between the two ministers, the federal ministers, and obviously that creates more uncertainty for the producers.

I would like to ask the Premier: will he be alerting the Prime Minister to these apparent contradictions between the two federal ministers and call–it is hard enough to get two governments together, let alone having confusion with two ministers. Let us get a plan that works for farmers and producers, and let us take the leadership in this House.

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Madam Speaker, yes, I did write to the Prime Minister yesterday. I do not have a copy of the letter here, but I will send it over momentarily or within some early time this afternoon to the Leader of the Opposition.

He will note from the letter that was tabled by the Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Enns) to his federal counterpart, Mr. Vanclief, that they had earlier discussed on Friday, May 28, ways in which both the AIDA and NISA programs could be customized to meet the needs of our flood-stricken producers. Those matters have been discussed with the federal people.

I know that in our meeting last week with some of the municipal and KAP leaders from the area, in which we had in attendance the chairman of the Crop Insurance Corporation board and the deputy minister, that those issues were all raised and work is being done on them. In most cases, they require a degree of federal co-operation, but it is certainly our contention that the existing programs can be utilized to provide the funding for farmers on an emergency basis.

Mr. Gary Doer (Leader of the Opposition): Madam Speaker, a new question. We will review this letter, and I thank the minister and government for a copy of it.

We have been advised, in dealing with pension plans for teachers, that Manitoba is the only province in Canada that does not provide the ability of teachers that are on maternity leave to buy back pension entitlements. I would like to know if in fact this is the case, and what policy will the provincial government be taking on this issue?

Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Education and Training): Madam Speaker, I was pleased just a few moments ago to receive a petition from a notable teacher in our province, in this case, Jan Speelman, the president of the Manitoba Teachers' Society, whom we welcome to our Legislative gallery today. I look forward as Ms. Speelman gets comfortable in her position, as I am beginning to in mine, of scheduling a few meetings with Ms. Speelman and/or members of her organization to address a number of issues that I have already had some discussions about, and the one related to the honourable member's question is one of the ones that will be on our agenda for discussion in the very near future.

Mr. Gary Doer (Leader of the Opposition): I thank the minister for his courteous answer, but I do not know if I got an answer to my specific question of what the policy was and what is he going to do about it. It seems to me to be an injustice, if this is the case, one which we should all collectively work to resolve.

Madam Speaker, the TRAF board has recommended to the minister and to the government that the former pension governance structure of a combination of teachers, trustees and government appointees be replaced with a four-person, teacher-elected or appointed board, a four-person elected by the government and a chair to be mutually agreeable between the two parties. This seems to have broad support from the existing governance body of the teachers' pension plan. This recommendation I believe was into the government last year. I would like to know: what is the policy of the provincial government to look at a sensible proposal to govern the pensions of teachers?

Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Education and Training): Unfortunately, Madam Speaker, perhaps due to the nature of what we do hear, courtesy is something that is a little too rare, and we might look forward to seeing it around here a little more often in our deliberations.

The issues raised in the petition that I have, as well as raised by the honourable Leader of the Opposition today, are matters that are of interest to myself and to the Minister of Finance (Mr. Gilleshammer), as well, obviously, as to the Manitoba Teachers' Society. We have not made any final decisions about this, but we are indeed interested in the dialogue that might lead to the types of improvements the honourable member is referring to.

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Mr. Gord Mackintosh (St. Johns): To the Minister of Justice. The government is sending the federal Justice minister some recommendations about the federal young offender laws today, I understand. We have no big problems with the particular recommendations, but how does the government, we wonder, think it will have credibility with the federal minister when it is the same government that has the worst record when it comes to dealing with young offenders?

My question to the minister is: instead of just pointing fingers at the federal government, why does this government not clean up its own act and at least start by reducing what are, we are told by Statistics Canada, the worst backlogs in the youth court of all the provinces?

Hon. Vic Toews (Minister of Justice and Attorney General): The member has made certain allegations, and I do not accept his preamble in those allegations.

In respect of the particular recommendations, which were the result of a committee chaired by the member for Emerson (Mr. Penner), a number of government ministers and MLAs went throughout the province to hear what Manitobans had to say about the Young Offenders Act. We wanted to ensure that the federal government not only heard our point of view but the view of Manitobans in the various communities. I think that the recommendations are in fact an indication of the degree to which we wish to work with the federal government, and I think that I have emphasized that comment over and over. There are certain concerns that need to be addressed, and I have asked the federal government, the federal minister in particular, for a meeting to discuss those issues.

Mr. Gord Mackintosh (St. Johns): Would the minister answer this question? Instead of trying to divert attention from this government's pathetic record dealing with young offenders, would it take meaningful action, not just tokenism, to deal with what is the highest, the worst increase in violent youth crime this decade of all the provinces?

Hon. Vic Toews (Minister of Justice and Attorney General): Madam Speaker, I have in fact consulted with most of our police forces, and they indicate that the statistics in fact show that the programs of this government are working, that there are significant decreases in a number of areas in respect of crime statistics. It indicates not only that our tougher policies on bail and other criminal-related matters and processes are working, but also the programs that we are developing to divert youth out of the formal criminal justice system are working.

Madam Speaker, I think the statistics that the police provide me with in fact demonstrate how our programs in fact are working.

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Mr. Mackintosh: Would the minister, who should look to Stats Canada for information, explain what programs he is talking about? How about the 23 Conservative promises on crime? I do not know what ever happened to them, Madam Speaker. How about his phoney boot camps? Maybe he will explain how this government oversaw a rise of criminal street gangs in this province.

Mr. Toews: In fact, Madam Speaker, it is the kind of programs that the member for Burrows (Mr. Martindale) wrote me a letter about, saying that he would like them introduced into the city of Winnipeg because they have been working so effectively in rural Manitoba. In fact, I have had the opportunity to assist many citizens on patrol in other organizations in communities, like the member for St. Johns. I know a committee that he is involved in is involved in applying for a government grant in respect of a particular program. So obviously the member and his community see a great benefit in these programs, and I thank the member for encouraging his community members to take advantage of these programs.

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Madam Speaker, at the request of the Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Doer), I am tabling copies of the letter that I sent to the Prime Minister yesterday.

Mr. Steve Ashton (Thompson): It seems that the term "Tory ethics" is becoming an oxymoron in this province. We are seeing with the latest indication that the replacement of Taras Sokolyk, who was involved in vote splitting, is one Greg Lyle, who was also involved in that case not running additional candidates but trying to get an entire party to follow its candidates.

An Honourable Member: Not true.

Mr. Ashton: I notice the Tory ethics commissioner is speaking from the back bench saying it is not true. I wish I could ask him a few questions about this, but I can only ask questions to the Premier.

Since the Premier has indicated that he has conducted his own investigation into this matter, I am wondering if it is the same kind of investigation he conducted in the Monnin inquiry where he said on Monday, June 22, that he was satisfied from his investigations, and it turned out the only person he asked was Taras Sokolyk. What kind of investigation did he take into the role of Mr. Lyle in the vote-splitting scam in British Columbia?

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Madam Speaker, any of the information that is available from British Columbia through the news reports indicates that Mr. Lyle was the person who put an end to the proposal. I think that that demonstrates ethical conduct, unlike the chairman of the NDP campaign who is the person who is proud of exam cheating and promotes it by breaking the rules of the provincial exams and sharing the copy of the exam before it is written with the math teacher.

Mr. Ashton: Madam Speaker, if the Premier is saying that his investigation involved reading newspaper reports, I am wondering if, in looking at those same reports, he can confirm that essentially what happened is that the Liberals and Socreds of British Columbia could not reach a deal, that Mr. Lyle's role was saying there was no deal, that Mr. Lyle in fact was involved in back-room negotiations and attempting to set up a situation very similar to what we saw here in Manitoba in terms of vote splitting.

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Mr. Filmon: As usual, the member brings false information to this House. Mr. Lyle and each of the persons who were involved in the meeting confirmed that he was the person who said that he and his party would not participate in this. That is unlike the chairman of the NDP campaign in Manitoba who is proud that he attempted to subvert the use of provincial-wide examinations by opening the copy of the examination before it was to be written and sharing it with the math teacher in the school, Madam Speaker, and then firing the whistle-blower who publicly identified him for that act. That is the kind of ethics that is leading the NDP campaign, and that is why we are seeing questions like this.

Mr. Ashton: I am wondering if the First Minister was showing today just how little he has learned from the Monnin inquiry that cited his party in terms of Judge Monnin never having seen so many liars in his career on the bench.

I want to ask the Premier again what investigation he conducted. Was it the same investigation he conducted with Taras Sokolyk? Why did he not deal with the fact that Mr. Lyle was involved with back-room dealing and, in fact, what happened in British Columbia was the deal fell through, not that Mr. Lyle was showing any ethical conduct at all? He was there; he was part of it, and he is very similar to Taras Sokolyk in his approach to ethics.

Mr. Filmon: Madam Speaker, if the member for Thompson wants to talk about the report of Mr. Justice Monnin, he should read pages 57 and 58, in which he says about his member for Crescentwood (Mr. Sale): "Sale, by his own admission, told Sorokowski, 'it is my understanding that if you don't want to meet with the investigators you don't have to,'" which is contrary to what he was saying in this House, to what New Democrats were saying in this House, that they wanted an open investigation, and contrary to our laws which require full disclosure.

Madam Speaker, on the other hand, Mr. Lyle is the person who attended the meeting to say he wanted no part of any of that kind of action.

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Inkster): Madam Speaker, I want to do some follow-up questions that I asked the Minister of Education the other day in committee, on May 26. There was a schoolteacher, and the Premier (Mr. Filmon) made reference to it in his answer. This particular schoolteacher, a year ago, did something which was mandated by this government, and that was to administer a standard exam. He followed the guidelines of this Department of Education that set forward saying he had to report a breach. As a result of reporting that breach, now, as opposed to teaching math, he is teaching computer classes. This government has done nothing in ensuring that justice was being delivered in this particular case.

I ask the Minister responsible for Education, as I asked him the other day in committee room: what is this government doing to ensure that an investigation which was supposed to be done months ago is in fact brought back to this Chamber?

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Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Education and Training): The honourable member would be incorrect to suggest the government has done nothing, but, on the other hand, the government shares the frustration of the honourable member for Inkster in the length of time the investigation is taking into the conduct complained of, that being a breach of the provincial standards test protocol. I understand there are people involved here whose lives and future and reputation are at stake. When a person allegedly makes a breach of this type, it ought to be remembered that other people's lives are very much affected.

The frustration I have is that repeatedly we have asked the school division involved to report to us on the status of the investigation, and admittedly the investigation is taking a very long time, thus my own frustration. The latest news we have from the division which is investigating this alleged breach is that their report to the Department of Education and Training should be available before the end of the school year. But I can tell the honourable member, if he is frustrated, so am I, because I believe if you are going to have a quality standards testing–

Madam Speaker: Order, please.

Mr. Lamoureux: Madam Speaker, how does the Minister of Education justify to a teacher–forget the politics of the issue–who did what he was supposed to do and reported a breach, how does he justify sitting back, taking no action, while we have told this government months ago that there was an injustice that took place, and this government stood back and did absolutely nothing, other than instruct an investigation at the school board level but has not stood up for the teacher whatsoever? Shame on you.

Madam Speaker: Order, please. The question has been put.

Mr. McCrae: Madam Speaker, I can understand the honourable member's frustration, but I suggest he might try taking it out on people who are alleged to have been responsible for wrong-doing in this case that have this kind of an impact on people's lives.

I have said I share the honourable member's frustration, and then, through the Deputy Minister of Education, am endeavouring to get a report. The dangerous thing about trying to rush an investigation is then you leave yourself open to a suggestion that the investigation was not done properly, but we do have concerns about whether that investigation is being done properly simply because it is taking so long.

People's rights are at stake here. There is a very serious allegation of a principal at a high school in Winnipeg inappropriately opening an exam test before he was supposed to do so. That is a very serious thing, because we want to have integrity in our system of standards in our school system and integrity in our system of tests. Any breaches of security protocol like this, or alleged breaches like this, ought to be handled very seriously, and we do. So I can only say I share the honourable member's frustration, but we are urging the school division involved to make that report available to us so that appropriate action can be taken.

Mr. Lamoureux: Madam Speaker, we are questioning the integrity of the standards exams and the way in which this whole issue has been breached.

Madam Speaker, my question to the Minister of Education, put quite simply: what message is this government sending to teachers, who have the responsibility to follow the directive of this minister, when this minister does not stand by the teachers when it comes time to report a breach? What message is he sending to thousands of teachers in the province of Manitoba?

Mr. McCrae: Madam Speaker, the difficulty the honourable member identifies is that there are agencies there to ensure that people's rights are protected. In the case of a teacher in the province of Manitoba, under collective agreements, the Manitoba Teachers' Society is there to look after the rights of teachers. But I still want to get to the bottom of whether the difficulties suffered by the teacher referred to by the honourable member are a direct result of the activities of the school principal who allegedly inappropriately breached examination protocol. That is where the finger ought to be pointed, and we are attempting to get to the bottom of this with every effort that we can bring forward.

Ms. MaryAnn Mihychuk (St. James): Manitoba's metallic minerals industry is worth approximately a billion dollars. Quarry minerals are worth $80 million, and our petroleum industry is worth approximately $80 million.

How can the Minister of Energy and Mines justify the fact that there are five quarry inspectors, four petroleum inspectors and only one metallic minerals inspector, and, to add salt to the wound, that inspector is required to do all quarry inspections in northern Manitoba?

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Hon. David Newman (Minister of Energy and Mines): Madam Speaker, I have no difficulty answering that question. We have two inspectors slotted for the minerals industry, and in this temporary adjustment period, we have contracted out services for that function to be performed by a very competent individual.

With respect to the method that we are endeavouring to implement in the minerals part, we trust essentially in the honour system of the people that do the staking, and the whole goal is to make the people that do the staking and are engaged in the exploration field take more responsibility for the ethical standards and legal standards that they observe in the performance of their functions. So we are tightening that up very considerably in light of a recent decision of the Mining Board.

Ms. MaryAnn Mihychuk (St. James): It is unclear that this minister understands the importance of the government's responsibility to regulate. Madam Speaker, does the minister understand the government's responsibility to have sufficient inspectors to inspect all mining claims? For instance, recently one major mining company lost $160,000 on one claim because that claim was fraudulently staked.

Hon. David Newman (Minister of Energy and Mines): Madam Speaker, that is the decision of the Mining Board that I just referred to in answering the first question. One of the consequences of anyone committing a fraud, which may or may not be caught by someone observing it, is that other people are injured by that fraud, and Bre-X is probably the best example world-wide of that taking place. The one thing is for sure, you cannot, simply by spending money in sort of a paternalistic way, supervise everybody doing everything they do in this particular business. The approach of my department and the philosophy of my government is to impose more individual and self-responsibility rather than to build up an internal bureaucracy of civil servants to effectively be the guardians of everyone out there. So we are encouraging a self-responsibility approach to this particular issue.

Ms. Mihychuk: Will the minister admit that his new Mines Act is totally incompetent and weak, and in fact is unable to press charges in a situation that just came before the Mining Board where 40 claims were proved to be fraudulently staked? Is it not true that the government does not have the availability–

Madam Speaker: Order, please. The question has been put.

Mr. Newman: Madam Speaker, one of the features of the process for applying to be a claim staker is one must be licensed to be a claim staker. The particular instance here, the individual who was the fraudulent perpetrator had his licence suspended for two years and must reapply to ever have it reinstated again. There is also another legal consequence in that one files a statutory declaration supporting the information about the appropriateness of the staking. To violate a statutory declaration, as the Minister of Justice (Mr. Toews) well knows, involves a criminal offence. So there can be legal recourse for filing a false statutory declaration.

Mr. Gerard Jennissen (Flin Flon): My questions are also for the minister responsible for mining. When did the government find out about the fraudulent staking?

Hon. David Newman (Minister of Energy and Mines): Madam Speaker, I do not have the exact date that that was brought to the attention of the particular department, but I will undertake to bring that information back to the House.

Mr. Jennissen: Given the urgency for exploration, particularly in the Lynn Lake and Leaf Rapids region, what specific actions has the minister taken to reassure exploration companies and the entire industry that this government will not tolerate fraudulent claims?

Mr. Newman: Madam Speaker, without in any way intending to be facetious but being as absolutely sincere in providing the best opinion I can on that matter, the best assurance the mining industry feels that they can be given that their interests will be protected against fraudulent activity is to have the Progressive Conservative government re-elected.

Mr. Dave Chomiak (Kildonan): Madam Speaker, given the dialogue and the discourse we have heard this morning, I hope that the Minister of Education will bring the same vigour and the members will be as concerned about the investigation that is taking place about We Care Services as they are about a breach of the exam regulations.

I would like to ask the Minister of Education: given the close relationship between We Care Health Services, which is long standing between the government and We Care, can the minister advise who will be undertaking the investigation that we asked for yesterday in the Legislature from his department? Who will be undertaking it, and when can we see the results of that investigation so that those issues can be remedied and those individuals can receive some form of compensation or recovery from this government?

Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Education and Training): Madam Speaker, with respect to injuries sustained unfortunately by anybody on our streets or roads and highways here in the province of Manitoba, through the Manitoba Public Insurance there is recourse to assistance for those who are unfortunately hurt. With respect to the school involved, that is a private vocational school governed by The Private Vocational Schools Act of this province, and we have a unit in the department that is investigating the allegations made yesterday by the honourable member.

Mr. Chomiak: Madam Speaker, I wonder if the minister might take the step in fact to agree to meet with the students from that class to hear first-hand the experiences, the difficulties, the problems and all of the circumstances surrounding that horrible incident. Will the minister agree to meet with those students, as I have, to talk to them about their concerns and what problems occur at that particular school?

Mr. McCrae: Madam Speaker, I think before I make a commitment to do that–the honourable member knows that if it is appropriate for me to meet with anybody who wants to meet with me, I would do that if it was an appropriate thing to do. But I think it would be an appropriate thing also to await the initial findings that are sent my way by the branch that is looking into this before I make any such commitment. I think also it needs to be said that anyone involved in a highway accident like that has recourse to justice through the Manitoba Public Insurance Corporation.

Let us have a look at the allegations the honourable member is making and find out what actually there is to them and what it is the honourable member is alleging is wrong or inappropriate versus the information we get as a result of looking into the matter. So I think the honourable member is trying to exploit some perceived relationship between this private company and myself or members of the government. You know, usually it is sort of beneath the honourable member for Kildonan to do that sort of thing. He leaves that to members like the member for Crescentwood (Mr. Sale) or his seatmate from Concordia to do that sort of dirty work. It is not usually like the honourable member for Kildonan to be engaged in that.

Mr. Chomiak: Madam Speaker, perhaps the minister can explain, and I have been through this before with the minister on Holiday Haven and other issues, why the accident occurred in September and the minister was made aware of it, and we are only now, eight months later, having an investigation into something that was as a result of an accident occurring under a school governed by this government where people were sent to that school by this government, where people were injured under this government, where people cannot get remedy under this government, cannot sue. Why did it take eight months for this minister to be made aware of this incident? Perhaps we are justified being a bit suspicious about the relationship with this government.

Madam Speaker: Order, please. The question has been put.

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Mr. McCrae: Madam Speaker, the honourable member seems so ideologically hidebound that he is unable to apply any common sense to any particular situation. That is unfortunate for him, I suggest, but it is not unfortunate for us as long as he stays over on the other side of the House where he belongs.

Madam Speaker, the fact is that there are many private vocational schools in this province providing valuable services to people. The honourable member thinks that if there is something that is privately operated or owned, it is bad. Frankly, let us look at the facts of the matter, leave it at that and deal with the facts and not with the ideological tirades of the honourable member.

Ms. Diane McGifford (Osborne): Madam Speaker, last week and yesterday we asked the Health minister questions, which he avoided directly answering, about problems in breast cancer care which stem from the June 15 closure at Misericordia Hospital and the delayed opening of the clinic at St. Boniface. I want to return to this topic today, and I want to assure the minister that my questions are not about breast screening.

Does the minister not know, despite information circulated by Jan Currie, that at a recent clinic 39 women, no less, 39 were lined up waiting to see Virginia Fraser at the Misericordia clinic? The Misericordia clinic remains a site of choice for women, regardless of this government's attempt to close this clinic.

Hon. Eric Stefanson (Minister of Health): Madam Speaker, as I have indicated in response to questions from the member for Osborne, all of the services are still available to Manitoba women. The services now will be provided by the physicians from their individual clinics. I believe staff at Misericordia breast care centre are providing that transitional service in terms of redirecting patients to the private offices to be absolutely certain that women who require this service are getting that service on a timely basis.

So again, the services continue to be in place, and the new facility at Tache is expected to be open no later than September 1, potentially earlier.

Ms. McGifford: Madam Speaker, I wanted to demonstrate to the minister that women want this clinic to continue.

Is the minister not aware, and again this is contrary to information released by Jan Currie, that staff have already taken summer holidays, and so they would be available to provide education programs throughout the summer? This clinic does not have to close on June 15.

Mr. Stefanson: Again, Madam Speaker, there are services that certainly will be continuing. The Hope Breast Cancer Information and Resource Centre will continue to operate from its current location at 691 Wolseley Avenue. The Manitoba Breast Screening Program will continue to operate from its current site at 25 Sherbrook Street. So again, those services continue to be in place. The additional services for Manitoba women will be provided by physicians from their clinics.

Ms. McGifford: Madam Speaker, I want to ask this minister to admit that, given this administration's record with broken promises, given the failure of the new clinic to open in the spring when it was first promised, I would like him to admit that there is no reason for Manitobans to really believe that the Tache clinic will open on September 1.

Mr. Stefanson: Well, Madam Speaker, that is absolutely dead wrong. All Manitobans need to do is look at the number of improvements in our health care system, whether it be the significant capital projects that are underway all across Manitoba, whether it is the introduction of the Breast Screening Program in 1995, introduced by this government, now screening some 33,000 women each and every year. I believe that budget year was probably voted against by members opposite when the program was introduced back in 1995.

This budget that we brought down includes $2.1 million for health care, $194-million increase, and all of a sudden members opposite saw the wisdom to support this budget which continues to support programs like the Breast Screening Program, now screening a record level of women in Manitoba, some 33,000 each and every year.

Madam Speaker: Time for Oral Questions has expired.