The Acting Chairperson (Mr. Dyck): Order, please. Will the Committee of Supply please come to order. This section of the Committee of Supply will be considering the Estimates of the Department of Family Services.

Does the honourable Minister of Family Services have an opening statement?

Hon. Bonnie Mitchelson (Minister of Family Services): I am pleased to present the 1999-2000 expenditure Estimates for the Department of Family Services to this committee. I look forward to a constructive discussion on our programs and policies with members of the opposition and all committee members. I know from past experience that I think we have had good dialogue and good discussion around the issues that present themselves in the Department of Family Services.

I strongly believe that Manitoba is one of the very best places in Canada in which to live and to raise a family. Today Manitoba enjoys an economic climate that has many Manitobans participating in the workforce and earning income to support their families rather than being dependent on government assistance.

I believe that our government's steady course to promote economic prosperity has laid the foundation needed to ensure the protection of essential social services for future generations. A strong economy is necessary to generate the resources needed to ensure the availability of high-quality services such as health care, education, and social services. I believe that investing early in the lives of children will help them to become healthy and productive adults and prevent costly intervention in the long term. Children are the future of our society and of our province's economic life.

I also believe in the value of a partnership approach to addressing shared challenges. As a result, the community has been actively involved with the department in defining and implementing solutions to help Manitobans in need.

I am very pleased to say that we have been able to increase the funding for Manitoba Family Services in 1999-2000 by 5.5 percent or $36.6 million. Of particular note is an $8.7-million increase for the Adult Services area of the Community Living division. Additionally, there will be an $8.8-million increase for the maintenance of children and external agencies in the Child, Family and Community Development area, and a $5.3-million increase to Child Day Care services, both in the Child and Family Services division.

I will provide more detailed information on the division later, but first I would like to say a few words about the department as a whole. The Department of Family Services exists in order to help Manitoba families to be strong and responsible and to help adults to be self-sufficient. The department provides a broad range of social services and is responsible for encouraging individual, family, and community responsibility, independence and self-sufficiency, while assisting Manitobans in need, keeping children safe and protected, and supporting adults living with a mental disability to safely live and participate in the community.

The department has four main operating divisions: Administration and Finance, Employment and Income Assistance, Community Living, and Child and Family Services. The department has two internal service providers: Human Resource Services, and Policy and Planning. The Social Services Advisory Committee and appeal body reports directly to me.

The agenda for my department for 1999-2000 is an ambitious and exciting one. We intend to continue to reform Manitoba's welfare system by working actively in partnership with the community to assist more clients to gain independence, implement the expansion of the Child Day Care program to support more parents, continue to implement the regulations, policies, standards, and guidelines associated with the new Adoption Act and the amendments to The Child and Family Services Act, continue to implement and expand initiatives designed to identify problems early, and provide supports to help families better meet the needs of their children, expand and enhance community-based support services for adults with a mental disability, and work with the federal government and with other provinces and territories on the further development of the National Child Benefit system.

I am also pleased to advise that the department is playing an active role in helping to redesign how the public interacts with government. As part of the Better Systems Initiative, my department is a partner in the Integrated Case Management Project. Under this project, we are working to achieve a more integrated and client-centred approach to the delivery of human services through process modernization, organizational redesign, and technological development. We hope to streamline the way the department serves our clients and gathers and keeps client information. We will reduce the number of times clients must provide the same information to different programs. We are also looking at how best to use technology to provide the public with better ways to get the information they need in order to access the most appropriate services.

The Employment and Income Assistance Division provides employment support and financial assistance to Manitobans in need, and field resources to deliver employment and income assistance in income supplement programs. As part of our Employment First approach to welfare reform, numerous partnerships have been developed with businesses, local governments and community organizations to create job opportunities for clients. We are proud to say that we have the lowest unemployment rate in Canada and the second lowest percentage of its population in Canada on welfare.

Although our previous reforms have been successful, more can and must be done. We know that Manitobans want to work, and we are taking additional steps to help them achieve their goals. Government assistance is a last resort. It should not be easier to get welfare than work. While we believe in providing for those in need, we also believe in mutual responsibility. You only take out if you put in.

Our economy is witnessing unprecedented growth, which gives us a greater opportunity to match people with jobs. When job opportunities exist for people and supports are provided to increase skills, there is a mutual responsibility for people to accept jobs. Every month, some 500 people walk through the door looking for welfare assistance. We want to connect these individuals with the jobs that are available because we all know that a lifetime on welfare is a commitment to a lifetime of poverty.

Since our government began reforming the welfare system in 1996, the caseload for clients participating in welfare reform has dropped by 9,900.

The Acting Chairperson (Mr. Dyck): Order, please. The hour being six o'clock, committee rise.