Madam Speaker: Prior to Oral Questions, I would like to draw the attention of all honourable members to the public gallery where we have this afternoon, firstly, a number of visitors from Illinois, one of whom is a member of the state Legislature there.

Also, twenty-nine Grades 9 to 11 students from Westpark School under the direction of Miss Melody Martens. This school is located in the constituency of the honourable member for Portage la Prairie (Mr. Faurschou).

And, fifty-five Grade 5 students from St. Andrews School under the direction of Mrs. Sandra Mulholland. This school is located in the constituency of the honourable member for Selkirk (Mr. Dewar).

On behalf of all honourable members this afternoon, I welcome you.

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Mr. Gary Doer (Leader of the Opposition): Madam Speaker, Miranda Kostiuk visited this Legislature with her daughter on June 2, and the Minister of Health promised to follow up specifically with the family and their concerns about delays and difficulty in having their child get an operation.

We have been informed today that when they were told that the minister would get back to them and follow it up, they have not heard from the minister over the last couple of weeks. There has been no follow-up directly with the family; in fact, they are quite concerned about the lack of follow-up.

Madam Speaker, if information to people is so important that the government can waste thousands and thousands of dollars on ads, why is it not important enough to follow up directly and give information to people after the minister gives that commitment?

Hon. Eric Stefanson (Minister of Health): Madam Speaker, the family that the member refers to, their daughter, Kaela, I believe received the surgical treatment the very next day, on June 3, at Children's Hospital by a general ophthalmologist. So, certainly in terms of the treatment, it was provided very quickly, within 24 hours, in that individual case.

There is the issue that we have one pediatric ophthalmologist, but we do have 26 ophthalmologists in the province of Manitoba. Obviously, they also can provide services to people of all ages, and they do just that, and that is exactly what happened in this particular case.

So there are opportunities to provide those services through the 26 ophthalmologists here in place in Manitoba. We are pursuing the issue of attracting another pediatric ophthalmologist, recognizing when it comes to pediatricians I think the Leader of the Opposition recognizes, or I hope he does, that we have more pediatricians per capita than any other province in all of Canada, so it shows our significant commitment to providing that care to the children here in Manitoba.

But in terms of this particular family, the procedure was provided the next day. We are following up on the attraction of a second pediatric ophthalmologist, and I will certainly be communicating further with the family.

Mr. Doer: And regrettably the person indicated that the only thing the minister wants to do is impress the media, not follow up with the citizen, Madam Speaker.

Mr. Gary Doer (Leader of the Opposition): Madam Speaker, Very Reverend Michael Skrumeda considers the ads a waste of taxpayers' dollars, and he cites his father-in-law who was injured in an accident and taken to the Steinbach hospital, transferred to the Health Sciences Centre, transferred again to the Grace Hospital, and because of a lack of beds and the pressure on that hospital, was moved again to the Steinbach hospital where 48 hours later, regrettably, his father-in-law died. He feels very strongly that the pressure on the health care system contributed to the death of his father-in-law.

I would like to ask the question to the Premier. Would it not make more sense to spend the hundreds of thousands of dollars that the government is spending on propaganda ads, on behalf of the Conservatives, would it not make more sense to spend those monies on ads on patient care in Grace Hospital so people would not have to be discharged early?

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): No government in the history of this province has ever put more money into health care. This government spends the second largest proportion of budget on health care of any province in Canada. This government has increased funding for health by $800 million a year in the 11 years that we have been in office, Madam Speaker. This government has spent 35.5 percent of all of its money on all of its expenditures on health care. It is by far the No. 1 priority.

This has been done continuously over a period of time in which the federal government reduced its transfers to the province for health care by over $260 million a year, and they have only begun in this budget to restore 40 percent of those cuts. And those figures, for the member for Inkster (Mr. Lamoureux) who is chirping away, are right out of the federal budget, $260 million a year less in transfers for health and education. This government is the government that is giving the commitment to make sure that our health care system not only is one of the best in Canada but continues to improve each and every year.

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Mr. Doer: I do not think the Reverend Skrumeda will be very impressed with the arrogance and heartlessness of the answer to deal with his father-in-law.

Delores Waletzky has called the minister's office three times and has not had a response from the minister. Her orthopedic surgery that was scheduled in March, cancelled in September, is now scheduled in November, Madam Speaker. She says the TV ads paid for by her tax dollars are not true and therefore should not be paid for by her tax dollars, but rather that money should go into her health care system.

I would like to ask the Premier the same question. Why can we not divert those ads for the Tory purposes, for the health care of the Tory party, and put that into the health care of Manitobans?

Hon. Eric Stefanson (Minister of Health): This budget alone, our 1999 budget that the Leader of the Opposition and his colleagues stood up and supported here in this House, includes $194 million more for health care. I want to give the member an example of some of the things that are being done to address the very issues that he is raising. Madam Speaker, $62 million, or 8 percent more funding will be used to expand surgery capacity and other acute care services, and to give him some examples: 11,000 more mammograms in Manitoba, 15,000 more dialysis treatments, 30 percent more radiotherapy treatments for cancer through an additional $1.3 million, 600 to 700 more procedures for access to hip and knee surgery in the province of Manitoba. Capacity for CT scans will increase by 15 percent, 8,000 more bone density screenings, 12,000 more MRI scans, 3,000 more adult and 300 more children will have access to echocardiogram. That just gives the member a sense of what this budget and the additional resources put in place in this budget are doing to continue to improve access to the entire system for all Manitobans.

Mr. Dave Chomiak (Kildonan): Madam Speaker, perhaps the minister can explain that to some of the individuals who are in the gallery today who attended this morning, individuals who had their orthopedic surgery cancelled and moved back; individuals who have had their family members shifted from hospital to hospital because there are no beds available in our system, individuals who had to go to Riverview to feed their loved ones because there is not enough staff to feed the patients.

Madam Speaker, can the minister explain to us how his $175,000 ads this time and $500,000 ads recently, how one penny of those ads benefit those individuals and those people who are suffering because of their cuts to the health care system?

Hon. Eric Stefanson (Minister of Health): Madam Speaker, again we have members opposite I think as usual wanting to be on all sides of every issue. They are the members who also stood up and supported our budget here just several weeks ago, our budget that includes $2.1 billion for health care, a $194-million increase in health care funding to address the very issues that they are talking about today. I remind the member for Kildonan that we provide 15 million medical services alone in the province of Manitoba; over 240,000 Manitobans access our hospital system alone each and every year.

I have just given the Leader of the Opposition a number of areas where services continue to be improved in the province of Manitoba, where waiting lists are going down for diagnostic services, where we have some of the shortest waiting lists in all of Canada, where waiting lists are going down for surgical procedures so today we have some of the shortest waiting lists in all of Canada. When it comes to per capita support for specialists, for pediatricians, for nurses, the province of Manitoba stacks up amongst the best in all of Canada. That is because we have continued to dedicate more and more money for health care services in our province.

Mr. Chomiak: Madam Speaker, my supplementary to the Minister of Health: will the Minister of Health not admit that the $750,000, three-quarters of a million dollars that they are wasting on Tory propaganda, could go a long way to reducing the waiting lists, much like the $500,000 the government found just before the last provincial election to decrease waiting lists? That $750,000 could go a long way towards easing these waiting lists, not to broadcasting and trying to re-elect this government who have been abysmal in their health care–

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

Mr. Stefanson: Madam Speaker, sometimes I think members opposite just do not listen. I mean I have indicated already, in this budget alone there is $62 million more, 8 percent more funding to expand the surgery capacity and other acute care services, $62 million. And it is doing a number of things that I have outlined for members in this House: improving dialysis service, reducing waiting times for a number of diagnostic testings, whether it is MRIs or CT scans or ultrasounds, providing 600 to 700 more procedures for hip and knee surgeries in the province of Manitoba, $62 million, let alone the remainder of the $194 million added in this budget to increase home care services, to increase personal care home beds, to do a number of things to enhance quality services in health care for the people of Manitoba.

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Mr. Dave Chomiak (Kildonan): Madam Speaker, perhaps the minister can explain to the people of Manitoba why it is that we had until recently the longest waiting lists for diagnostic services in the country, the longest surgical lists in the country, and it only took an imminent provincial election for the government for the first time in 11 years to all of a sudden promise the resources, yet they are not delivered yet and will not be down the pike for some time. It took a provincial election for this government to try to do something with those waiting lists.

Hon. Eric Stefanson (Minister of Health): Well, I am glad the member for Kildonan finally acknowledges on the record that waiting lists are coming down and coming down significantly in the province of Manitoba, and it is because of the continual dedication of more resources from our government. During a time when the federal government was reducing funding by $260 million annually, we backfilled all of that money, and we continue to put more money into the system.

Today we finally have the federal government recognizing the errors of their ways and starting to restore some of that money. All of that money is going back into health care services. That is why today we have some of the shortest waiting lists when it comes to diagnostic services and surgical procedures. That is why we have one of the best Home Care programs in all of Canada. That is what we are doing with these resources, dedicating them across the board to our health care system to improve access and quality for all Manitobans.

Mr. Steve Ashton (Thompson): If there is any example, I think, that typifies best the arrogance of this government after 11 years, it is day-in and day-out refusal to listen to the people of Manitoba who are saying that it is insane to spend $675,000 of public money on ads on health care for the purpose of this Conservative Party and not on health care.

I want to ask the Premier if he can confirm that they have already spent $675,000. That amount, just coincidentally, is exactly what they are allowed to spend in an election campaign. We have already seen the equivalent of what they spent in the last election on ads, except this time it is being paid for by the people of Manitoba.

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): I do not consider it arrogance to respond to what people are telling us is the No. 1 priority. We have met with people throughout this province. We were on cabinet tours to over six regions of the province, night after night, throughout the winter months. I met with groups and individuals throughout the city of Winnipeg ridings and talked about the issue of health care. That is why there is over $190 million of additional funding for health care in this budget which the members opposite voted for, because we are listening to the people. We are responding to their priorities, and that is why waiting lists are coming way down. That is why members opposite are only trying to make a political issue of it.

Mr. Ashton: I am wondering if the Premier, who says he is talking to Manitobans–and we have been. We have not found one person that agrees with spending the money on health care ads. I want to ask him: how many people out there are saying spend it on ads, and how many people are saying spend it on health care?

Mr. Filmon: What the public is telling us is that health care ought to be our No. 1 priority. That is why we spend 35.5 percent of our entire provincial budget; that is the second-highest proportion of any province in Canada. That is why the increase this year on health care is over $190 million. That is why we are spending $2.1 billion this year on health care, which is $800 million a year more than it was when we took office in 1988, and that is why we are making the investments that people are telling us are the No. 1 priority.

Mr. Ashton: If the Premier will not answer that question, I am just wondering how long it is going to take and how much more money are they planning on spending. I mean, is this the limit? How much more money are they going to waste on ads instead of putting it where it is needed, the health care of Manitobans?

Mr. Stefanson: I think members opposite are hard of hearing or they just do not want to listen to the answers in terms of the significant commitment we continue to make year in and year out to health care, the significant commitment in this 1999 budget that they voted for. I assume that one of the reasons they voted for the budget was because of the significant commitment to health care, the amount of money going in to reduce waiting times, to relieve hospital overcrowding, to support the retention and recruitment of health care professionals.

In all of the meetings that I have been a part of, people want more information about their health care system. Any surveys indicate people want more information about their health care system. It is incumbent on governments to provide information. It is only members opposite who are afraid of the facts and the real information. They are the only ones who seem to oppose providing information to Manitobans about their health care system.

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Mr. Doug Martindale (Burrows): This morning we heard a very sad story about the late William Lobur, who died after being bounced from two hospitals and died in a third hospital, totally unnecessarily moved from one hospital to another in spite of the fact that he was seriously ill. I would like to ask the Minister of Health: why is your planning so bad that there are not sufficient beds that people have to be discharged from one hospital, discharged from a second hospital, sent to a third hospital where he died after 48 hours and where the doctor said he should never have been transferred, he was too sick? Why is this happening? Why is your planning so bad that this happens to an individual?

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

Hon. Eric Stefanson (Minister of Health): Well, Madam Speaker, I am certainly prepared to look into the individual aspects of–the individual's name that the member brings here today, but I believe we have a very strong and credible health care system. Certainly the feedback that I get from Manitobans on an overall basis is very positive about our health care system. Again, the member for Kildonan (Mr. Chomiak) I know agrees with this. When people access our health care system, they are very proud of the services they get, and that is a compliment to the nurses, the doctors, to the health care aides, to the people that are working in our health care facilities and providing those services day in and day out.

We provide over 15 million medical services each and every year. We provide over 240,000 services each and every year in our hospital system, again a significant commitment to the quality health care of all Manitobans, and our system is providing that. But I will certainly look into this specific case that the member brings here today.

Mr. Doug Martindale (Burrows): I would like to ask the Minister of Health or the Premier: why is your government spending $750,000 when the people of Manitoba, patients, family and friends of patients are saying take off the TV ads, spend the money instead on health care? How many nurses could you hire for $750,000, and how many beds could you reopen for $750,000 so that people will not die?

Hon. Eric Stefanson (Minister of Health): The member for Burrows talks about $750,000. This budget alone includes $194 million more for health care services. It includes an all-time record spending on health care of $2.1 billion. It includes spending of $5.6 million each and every day on our health care system to address all of the issues that I have outlined for the member when we have had discussions during the Estimates process. The member himself from Kildonan acknowledged that waiting lists are coming down. In some areas we have amongst the shortest waiting lists in all of Canada when it comes to diagnostics and surgery.

When you look at our number of surgeons and specialists per capita, we are amongst the best in Canada. When you look at our pediatricians per capita, we are amongst the best in Canada. When you look at our nursing ratio, in spite of the fact we still need more nurses in Manitoba, we stack up amongst the best in Canada, and when it comes to nurses, this budget alone includes $32.5 million to recruit 650 nurses, a number of commitments right across the board for health care that members opposite, I am assuming, supported that budget for all of those reasons, or I certainly hope they did, Madam Speaker.

Mr. Martindale: Will the Minister of Health listen to the people of Manitoba, cancel the health care ads, get the Conservative Party to pay for the $750,000 and use that $750,000 to hire nurses and reopen beds? Will he do that?

Mr. Stefanson: Well, Madam Speaker, I can only repeat for the benefit of the member for Burrows and his colleagues that this budget alone, the 1999 budget that they voted for, that they supported I am sure because of the significant commitment to health care in this budget, includes $194 million more for services in all of these areas, for services to improve access to diagnostic and surgery, for more services to home care.

Home care alone has $20 million more in this budget, now $147 million being spent on the Home Care program in the province of Manitoba, $15 million more for our personal care home program, $62 million more for expanding surgery capacity and other acute care services, doing all of the things that they talk about and they have asked us day in and day out to do, we are doing in the province of Manitoba. This budget is helping to accomplish that, and we are seeing significant improvement in all of those areas in our health care system.

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Inkster): Madam Speaker, over the weekend we had heard from a farmer who expressed a great deal of concern in terms of expropriation–

Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.

Madam Speaker: Order, please.

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Mr. Lamoureux: Yes, as I was saying, a great deal of concern from a particular farmer in regard to owning some property. N.M. Paterson and Sons Limited is proposing to build a grain elevator in the northwest corner of the city, a large plot of land, invested millions of dollars, now wants to have access to Inkster Boulevard. And I look to the Minister of Highways to indicate the government's position on expropriation of land for private companies.

Hon. Darren Praznik (Minister of Highways and Transportation): Madam Speaker, first of all, it has always been a policy of the Department of Highways to be able to accommodate, in our highway planning and construction of roads, industrial development that takes place anywhere in the province. One of the prime purposes of our highway system is to be able to ensure that there is movement of trade goods and accommodation of commerce in our province. We work with municipal people and certainly those who are building large facilities that require access to our road system to attempt to accommodate traffic flows in a safe manner that sees further economic development in our province. And we will–imagine whoever is the minister–continue to do that because that is the prime purpose of our highway system.

Mr. Lamoureux: Madam Speaker, then just for clarification from the Minister of Highways: is it the government's policy then to take action of expropriation on behalf of a private company on to someone else's land? Does the minister not realize the impact that that actually takes on the individual who is getting their land taken away, potentially?

Mr. Praznik: Madam Speaker, first of all, the government nor this department expropriates land on behalf of a private developer. If an expropriation is involved in this particular piece, it will be for the purposes of building a public roadway. From time to time, in most of our highway projects, land, particularly where we are building a new road, a new access road, or expanding a public roadway to accommodate residential development, to accommodate economic development, whatever, if we are unable to purchase land and it is a sufficient enough public purpose, then we proceed to expropriate.

I would be delighted to discuss the details of this particular situation with the member, in Estimates, when I have my staff with me who have more detail. But we do not expropriate land for private purpose. We expropriate land, where required, for public roadways.

Mr. Lamoureux: Madam Speaker, then again for clarification from the Minister of Highways, if I understand what the Minister of Highways is saying, I ask the Minister of Highways then: will he then give assurances that, in this particular instance, if in fact it is for private use for a grain elevator, in fact the government would not be in a position then to expropriate an access to Inkster Boulevard?

Mr. Praznik: Madam Speaker, I would be delighted to discuss, when we are in Estimates, the specifics of this particular plan.

But I would just remind the member that when facilities are being constructed that require intermodal relationships, the linkage of roadways with railways, often there are very limited places where those types of facilities can be constructed to take advantage of intermodal opportunities. In many of the debates and questions that we have had in this House, the need to accommodate intermodal transportation is critical to prevent unwarranted further truck traffic on our roadways when rail is an option. So I would be delighted to discuss those issues with the member.

Hon. Darren Praznik (Minister of Highways and Transportation): Madam Speaker, if I may while I am on feet, yesterday a question was taken as notice on my behalf, a question by the member for Swan River (Ms. Wowchuk), and I have to say to her doze djakoyu [thank you very much] for asking it.

I must admit to the House that is one of those moments that I think every member fears when within one's department a decision is made by administrators. I am very pleased to inform the House today that as soon as I became aware of the issue, that decision has been cancelled and reversed. I have asked my administrator in that area to prepare a proposal to me to provide for a full range of language opportunities.

I will say I do accept my responsibility, and I offer an apology on behalf of the department. I just hope the Leader of the Opposition has the same courage to accept his responsibility with respect to his campaign manager and what happened in Seven Oaks School Division.

Ms. Rosann Wowchuk (Swan River): Madam Speaker, the announcement of $10 an acre to help with seeding was welcomed in some parts of the province, but in many parts of the province, such as the Melita area, it will be of little help because the soil is in such poor condition and it is a bigger weed problem that they are dealing with. I want to ask the minister when he is going to recognize that this program is not going to help, given that the Premier (Mr. Filmon) has alluded to a $50 per acre payment. When are we going to have an announcement of a specific payment that is going to help these farmers who will not be able to get on their land or take advantage of any program to seed this year?

Hon. Harry Enns (Minister of Agriculture): Madam Speaker, I want to assure the honourable member for Swan River that all of us on this side of the House, from the Premier to a number of us ministers who have spent considerable time in that area, recognize, have recognized for some time that there is a very serious problem that too many of our farmers are facing not only in the southwest part of the province, although that is the predominant area. It includes areas along the northwest, north of the Trans-Canada, as well as in the southeastern part of the province. Negotiations are underway with my federal counterparts. Senior officials from the Department of Agriculture are talking daily with the federal officials on how we can best apply the federal-provincial programs to address this issue.

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Ms. Rosann Wowchuk (Swan River): And certainly we recognize that there are other parts of the province, such as Grandview, Gilbert Plains, the Interlake, where there are seeding problems, but it is the southwest part of the province that is the hardest hit. I would like to ask the government what they are going to do for the businesses in the communities that feel that their businesses are at risk because of lack of cash flow in the communities. Given that there was a JERI program that was applied for to help the people in the Red River Valley businesses, why is the government not moving more quickly to have these same kinds of programs established to help the other businesses that are suffering because of this disaster?

Hon. Frank Pitura (Minister of Government Services): I appreciate the member's comment with respect to the businesses and the concerns that they have on the western side of the province and in fact anywhere in the province where they are having a great deal of difficulty getting their crop in the ground.

I would like to share with the member that I have had a phone conversation and I have subsequently followed up with a letter to the minister responsible for the Western Diversification Fund and that is the minister, Ron Duhamel. I have asked him for his appreciation and his co-operation in addressing the situation here, similar to the way the situation was addressed in the Red River Valley in 1997 with programs such as the Custom Seeding Program. I have even gone as far as adding spraying to that part of the request, as well as a cash advance program, as well as aspects of the JERI program that might pertain to the producers in the western side of the province. So I have put that request forward, and I have yet to have a response from the minister.

Ms. Rosann Wowchuk (Swan River): I would like to ask the minister whether he will table for us the correspondence that he has on this matter and tell this House why this government has not informed the business community and the farmers in the area about what options are there. We spoke to them last night, and they said nobody from this government told them anything about the possibilities of getting funding from a program like JERI.

Hon. Frank Pitura (Minister of Government Services): Madam Speaker, I believe the correspondence that the member is referring to has already been shared with the Leader of the official opposition. We spent all day last Friday meeting with groups on the western side of the province. We discussed these issues with them at that time, and in fact asked that they support us in our request to the federal government to participate in these programs with us that I just mentioned to the honourable member. So it is there that our request is in place, and we have discussed this with many individual groups out on the western side of the province.

Mr. Tim Sale (Crescentwood): Yesterday I raised questions about a conflict of interest between an employee, a senior staff member of the Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism, and his work and a client of his and a private loan. The minister responsible said that the report from the Civil Service Commission had found that there was no conflict. I wonder if he would like to correct the record because that is not quite what the deputy minister wrote. He wrote, and I quote: The report, however, goes on to consider the question of whether or not Mr. Robertson's private business dealings may have resulted in an apparent conflict of interest or the apprehension of a conflict of interest.

Would he like to expand on his answer and recognize that the Civil Service Commission did in fact find that this man had breached the conflict of interest rules of this province, because they deal with conflict apprehension; they do deal with–

Madam Speaker: Order, please.

Hon. Mervin Tweed (Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism): As I suggested to the member for Crescentwood yesterday, upon hearing the allegations that were brought forward, I asked the deputy minister to get involved. He contacted the Civil Service Commission who carried out an investigation, and the conclusion was as I stated, that the employee accused was found not to be in direct conflict of interest.

I would suggest to the member opposite that due process has been followed. We went to the Civil Service Commission to get an independent evaluation of the situation. They came forward. The member opposite continues to try and partake in character assassination of employees of the government. I think that is shameful, and I can tell you that the member, if he wants to continue in that vein, then that is certainly his prerogative, but I can suggest to the members here today that we have offered to the person who brought the allegation forward that there is an alternative method for him to follow. If he is not pleased with the investigation, he can contact the Ombudsman, who would investigate the procedure that has taken place.

Mr. Sale: Does the report not say that Mr. Robertson's private business dealings with Mr. Collette may have resulted in an apparent conflict of interest, which is a central issue in the conflict guidelines? That is what the report said. It is what the deputy minister wrote, and I will table the letter, Madam Speaker.

Mr. Tweed: The suggestion that there was an apparent conflict of interest is what was said and why we brought in the Civil Service Commission to do the investigation. The member opposite continues to slander and attack people that work in the public service in the province of Manitoba, and I think he should be ashamed of that.

Mr. Sale: Has the minister told Mr. Robertson that he should not loan any more personal money to any clients as the assistant deputy minister responsible for business development and industry development in this province? He is responsible for every industry, every business. He should not be loaning private money to any businesses.

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

Mr. Tweed: Madam Speaker, the member of allegation continues to bring forward arguments that the process was not followed. Indeed, the process was followed, and the Civil Service Commission came back and reported to my deputy minister that the employee named was found not to be in direct conflict of interest.

Again, I have to emphasize continually to the member opposite that to bring forward allegations on a constant basis as he does, which, after investigation and throughout time, tends to prove not totally factual, is shameful on behalf of the member opposite, and I think he should feel that way.

Mr. Dave Chomiak (Kildonan): Madam Speaker, earlier in Question Period we raised the issue of the surgery for Miranda Kostiuk's daughter, and the minister, as usual, evaded the question and said everything was fine and dandy. Well, we are informed that the surgery did not go well, and there is a major problem. I want the minister to understand that the surgery did not go well because the pediatric ophthalmologist did not do the surgery.

Can the minister please explain why the government–[interjection] Well, perhaps you can talk to the mother who is waiting in the hallway to talk to the minister, Madam Speaker. Can the minister explain to the mother and to the House why this province does not have those kinds of specialists available?

Hon. Eric Stefanson (Minister of Health): Well, that is an interesting accusation by the member opposite, because the information that my department has provided is that the pediatric ophthalmologist does an assessment, does the referral, but that on-call ophthalmology service is provided by the 18 adult ophthalmologists who perform the pediatric surgery in most cases. So it is not at all uncommon that one out of the other 26 ophthalmologists should be performing the surgery and also to be performing the pediatric surgery.

So, once again, I do not know what his motive is here in terms of obviously questioning the capabilities of an individual ophthalmologist in the province of Manitoba, who certainly has the medical and educational expertise to provide these kinds of services. In terms of the original request, this service was provided within 24 hours to the individual.

But again, the process is certainly one that it is these other ophthalmologists who in many cases perform the pediatric surgery that the member opposite is now accusing an ophthalmologist of–I do not know what he is suggesting here, whether or not the ophthalmologist did not perform the function properly or not. I say shame to him.

Mr. Chomiak: Madam Speaker, there are three problems that are wrong in this: firstly, the minister did not get back; secondly, that you have to wait eight months to get a pediatric ophthalmologist; and thirdly, why you have to go to Alberta to get the surgery done.

Madam Speaker: Order, please. Does the honourable member for Kildonan have a question?

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Mr. Chomiak: Yes, Madam Speaker. Those are the questions that the minister has to answer, those three questions.

Mr. Stefanson: Well, Madam Speaker, I go back to his root question, what expertise he has to be questioning the individual medical abilities of an ophthalmologist, to come here and make that kind of a suggestion in this House. I really call into question what his motive is or what his research is on this issue. The process is very clear in terms of the role the pediatric ophthalmologist plays and the role that the other 26 ophthalmologists play in performing the surgery.

An Honourable Member: Have a heart.

Mr. Stefanson: The Leader of the Opposition (Mr. Doer) says "have a heart." This case was brought to attention and was addressed in 24 hours in terms of the surgery being performed for the individual. We have indicated that we have 26 ophthalmologists in the province of Manitoba. We have indicated that we are pursuing the recruitment of an additional pediatric ophthalmologist.

But again, I question what the motive or objective is of the member for Kildonan questioning the abilities of an ophthalmologist here in Manitoba.

Madam Speaker: Time for Oral Questions has expired.

Madam Speaker: Prior to members' statements, I would like to draw the attention of all honourable members–

Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.

Madam Speaker: Order, please. Oral Questions time has expired. I am attempting to introduce another class that has just arrived.

I would like to draw the attention of all honourable members to the public gallery where we have this afternoon twelve Grade 5 students from Westpark School under the direction of Mr. Wayne Sawatzky. This school is located in the constituency of the honourable member for Portage la Prairie (Mr. Faurschou).

On behalf of all honourable members, I welcome you this afternoon.