* (1340)

Ms. Rosann Wowchuk (Swan River): As we just heard, Mr. Deputy Speaker, the government has made major announcements with respect to the farm crisis, a commitment of $25 an acre in advance from AIDA and an additional $25 that will come from separate sources to be negotiated. I would like to ask the Minister of Agriculture: given that the AIDA agreement with the federal government says that the federal government will contribute the whole cost of AIDA in 1999, can the minister tell this House if in fact the government will have to pay the whole cost of the $25 payment from AIDA and then Manitoba will pay that back retroactively in the year 2000? What is the implication of that going to be on future budgets?

Hon. Harry Enns (Minister of Agriculture): Mr. Deputy Speaker, first of all, allow me to express my appreciation, on behalf of all too many farmers, for the announcement made this morning by Premier Filmon. I just want to express my appreciation as Minister of Agriculture for the support that my colleagues, my government have shown the farmers of Manitoba during their time of need. I do extend that certainly to the opposition members who have in this instance shown us a willingness to support these efforts, which is going to be critical in the coming months as we negotiate with Ottawa their responsibility in covering some of these costs.

My officials are speaking directly with the officials of the Minister of Agriculture from Canada. Many details have to be worked out. As the honourable member for Swan River knows, the administration of the AIDA program in Manitoba and Saskatchewan is being handled by Ottawa, unlike some of the other provinces that have the administration in provincial hands. So there are a number of logistics that have to be worked out as to how these will actually work out in the final solution to the problem. We have made a commitment that we will try to flow some of these monies by mid-August or late August. Certainly, hopefully, my expectation is on, around, or before September 1.

Ms. Wowchuk: I would like to ask the Minister of Agriculture again: given that we do not have a hundred percent participation in crop insurance and given that the $10-an-acre payment with custom seeding is based on crop insurance figures and administered by Crop Insurance, can the minister indicate whether those people who are not in crop insurance are going to still qualify for the unseeded acreage and any of the other payments? Are they going to be disqualified because you do not have crop insurance records on them?

Mr. Enns: Mr. Deputy Speaker, I am very pleased to be able to indicate that the program is inclusive. It includes all unseeded acreage, whether they are covered within the Crop Insurance Program or not. We are fortunate that in Manitoba upwards to 85 percent of the crop land is indeed covered by crop insurance, but to answer the question, it is all inclusive. I am also very pleased to indicate, as is indicated in the release, that we are moving back the date of the custom seeding allowance to June 1. We recognize that when that program was announced, in some instances some deadline dates for some specific crops had already passed by June 15. We also recognize that a considerable amount of activity took place with respect to custom seeding earlier than the 15th of the month.

I know that that was well received last night in Brandon. I am indicating that that program, again, is all inclusive. One does not have to be in the Crop Insurance Program to be acknowledged in these programs.

Ms. Wowchuk: Given that during the Red River flood we had announcements much more quickly than we have had from this disaster and given that we have been asking the government many times now when they are going to negotiate programs such as JERI and programs through the distance assistance program, I would like to ask the Premier why he said at his press conference: we are going to press the federal government on all of these programs.

What have you been waiting for? Why have you not been pressing them up until now to get these programs into place to assure farmers that they are going to have the same kinds of supports that they had during the Red River flood rather than having the stalling that we are having this time around?

* (1345)

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Mr. Deputy Speaker, it did not take the member for Swan River long to fall off her high horse. The member knows full well that we have been pressing the federal government. I made the statement three or four weeks ago that we would pursue every single program that was provided under the 1997 flood of the Red River, and we have been doing exactly that.

My comment was simply with respect to the fact that the federal government has not responded, and so we have to continue to pressure them on every one of these issues that has been raised by the Minister of Agriculture (Mr. Enns), in some cases by the Minister of Government Services (Mr. Pitura) responsible for the Emergency Management Organization, and by myself. Every one of these issues has been laid before the federal government previously, but we have no response. So, obviously, we will continue to pressure them.

Mr. Gord Mackintosh (St. Johns): Mr. Deputy Speaker, to the Premier who has been going to bat for his Justice minister. Yesterday in Estimates the Justice minister gave his report on how he had breached the confidentiality of the so-called gang hotline and said that at a briefing meeting on May 25, staff revealed to him that the line was not confidential and reported my calls to him not to prevent internal abuse, as he first said, not as a technical glitch, as he then said, but the information was given to him to deliberately use for the political purposes of preparing for questions in this Legislature.

My question to the Premier: what is he going to do with the Justice minister who, and of all ministers, never so much as questioned the appropriateness of collecting and then deliberately using this confidential information, not until he was caught?

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Mr. Deputy Speaker, the member for St. Johns thinks that it is quite okay for him to play politics and utilize and abuse a system that is put in place for the assistance of ordinary Manitobans who have serious issues to deal with. He thinks it is quite fine for him to abuse it, but he does not think it is right for the minister to expose his abuse of the gang hotline and other government services that are put in place legitimately for the use of Manitobans, because he sees nothing wrong with that. I am sure that no instruction from me would make him a more honest man.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: The honourable member for St. Johns, with a supplementary question.

Mr. Mackintosh: Would the Premier, who gives away when he cannot deal with an issue by his answer, tell us what he is going to do about a Justice minister who writes in one of today's papers: "There was absolutely no 'tracing' of numbers"–everyone but the minister understands that is untrue–and that it was all innocent. When the minister gladly tucked away the confidential information, never questioned it and sat on it for three weeks until he could use it for political purposes, who can trust these people?

Mr. Filmon: Mr. Deputy Speaker, talk about the pot calling the kettle black. We are supposed to trust the member for St. Johns who abuses a public open line that is there for the use of people who have a legitimate concern with government and abuses it for his own political purposes, and we are supposed to say that is the right thing to do. Well, I do not accept his ethics.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: The honourable member for St. Johns, with his final supplementary question.

Mr. Mackintosh: It is too bad the Justice minister never called that line to find out it takes five months to get a call back.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order, please. I would like to remind the member, he is aware that there are no preambles to his supplementary questions. The honourable member for St. Johns, to carry on.

Mr. Mackintosh: How can the Premier himself say on radio on Friday that the breach of confidentiality of the line was "something that Mr. Toews did not know because he had just taken it over from the City of Winnipeg Police," when the minister did know, he knew for 25 days, almost one month, and did nothing until he was found out? He made no attempt to ensure confidentiality. How can we trust anything he says?

* (1350)

Mr. Filmon: Mr. Deputy Speaker, you are right to remind the member for St. Johns of the rules of this House, but as a former Deputy Clerk here he believes that the rules are only to be abused by people like him.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, the member opposite knows, and he grins because he thinks that he has made a good, cheap political trick out of this. The public is not fooled by it. They know precisely where he is coming from on this issue, and they know precisely about how serious his concerns are about issues like this.

Mr. Dave Chomiak (Kildonan): My question to the Premier is: how does the Premier explain to Manitobans that yesterday in Estimates the Minister of Justice (Mr. Toews) said that he knew about the breach of the confidentiality of the line for a month, and yet the Premier went on public radio saying that his Justice minister had just found out? How does the Premier explain that obvious discrepancy?

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Mr. Deputy Speaker, clearly the Justice minister had indicated earlier that they had taken over the line earlier and that the information with respect to the 9-4-5 situation had come up more recently and has since been corrected.

Mr. Dave Chomiak (Kildonan): Mr. Deputy Speaker, can the Premier try to explain how it is when the Minister of Family Services (Mrs. Mitchelson) heard about a breach of the line, the breach was rectified and the matter was dealt with, yet his Minister of Justice not only sat on this information but had a briefing note and used it for political purposes in this House? How does the First Minister contrast that, and how can he continue to allow this Justice minister–in fact, how can he continue to defend this Justice minister?

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Obviously, Mr. Deputy Speaker, the member for St. Johns (Mr. Mackintosh) was using his information for pure political purposes and playing political games by phoning in what was the gang line. This is all about politics, and the members opposite can continue to play it all they want, but Manitobans are much smarter than they are.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: The honourable member for Kildonan, with his final supplementary question.

Mr. Chomiak: My final supplementary to the Premier is: can the Premier explain, if this is all about politics, why the Minister of Family Services (Mrs. Mitchelson) immediately corrected the line and did not carry out political activities, and yet his Justice minister had a briefing note, carried out political activities, and in fact the Premier went in the hallway and said what the minister did was wrong? Will the Premier not recognize that what happened under this Justice minister, revealing confidential information, is wrong for the province and has done innumerable harm, Mr. Deputy Speaker, to all, to the justice system in Manitoba? That is a Justice minister who did that.

Mr. Filmon: Mr. Deputy Speaker, I said before and I will repeat that the Justice minister's actions were inappropriate. They have been corrected, and the only harm that has been done has been to the reputation of the member for St. Johns (Mr. Mackintosh) for playing games with a serious issue.

* (1355)

Mr. Steve Ashton (Opposition House Leader): On a point of order, Mr. Deputy Speaker, the Premier actually, in his last several comments, has broken a number of rules in regard to parliamentary language, and I was checking. He used the term "cheap political way." In fact, that is unparliamentary, Beauchesne Citation 489. He has been attributing motives. I find it ironic; he is doing this when his own Justice minister said, and I quote: "I know that he is checking up on the gang hotline"–this is the member for St. Johns–"and that is good to see that the member from the opposition does that." So not only is the Premier not being parliamentary, he is not even being consistent with his Justice minister. Even his Justice minister, after doing inappropriate things, understood that the member for St. Johns was doing his job.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: We are going to take the matter under advisement. I will get back to the House with that matter.

Mr. Tim Sale (Crescentwood): Mr. Deputy Speaker, in Philippe Cyrenne's study of the frozen food fiasco, he has made it very clear that there are serious problems with the accounting, serious problems with the capacity, serious problems with economies of scale and costs. It is extremely clear in a reading of the report that the claimed savings are not there.

I want to ask the Premier today whether he will take seriously the risk to Manitobans of having 460 personal care home beds under construction without kitchens, having two of our most important hospitals, Health Sciences and St. Boniface, supposedly committed to a system whose own management has said it cannot provide meals to those hospitals. Will the Premier not now act and take over responsibility finally for this mess, put it on hold until there is a business plan, until the Auditor has reviewed the whole situation, Mr. Deputy Speaker, and Manitobans can know for sure that there is going to be decent, nutritious food for all those in all of our health facilities?

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): It is very interesting. I took these questions as notice yesterday from the member for Crescentwood and had my office phone the Centre for Policy Alternatives, which produced the report. They tell us that the report is not available publicly because it has some typos in it and it is being redrafted, and yet it is in the hands of the NDP party in the House. So one has to wonder about the production of this report and the NDP's hand prints all over it so that they have it before it is available for any public review.

As I indicated yesterday, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I will take that as notice on behalf of the Minister of Health (Mr. Stefanson), and obviously we will need to have a copy of the report to review before we can make any response to this kind of question.

Mr. Tim Sale (Crescentwood): Mr. Deputy Speaker, will the Premier, who might want to know that we received our copy the same time as the press received their copies–I am surprised that he is unable to get a copy given that the media all had copies of it. It was distributed widely yesterday, is my understanding. It is surprising that he is not able to find it. I will be glad to ask CCPA to ship over a copy for him if he has any difficulty getting one. I am sure they would be glad to do that.

Mr. Deputy Speaker, Dr. Cyrenne also raises the question–

Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order, please. The honourable member–

Mr. Sale: This is a new question, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: Is this a new question?

Mr. Sale: It is a new question, yes.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: The honourable member for Crescentwood, on a new question.

Mr. Sale: Mr. Deputy Speaker, would the Premier agree with the observation of Dr. Cyrenne that, in particular, patients in long-term care facilities are in real jeopardy because they are not there for a short stay? They are dependent on this food for the rest of their life. Would he agree with members of USSC's board who in private have acknowledged that this facility ought not to serve long-term care patients?

* (1400)

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Mr. Deputy Speaker, obviously we have had the system in place in Riverview Health Centre, which is a long-term care facility, for more than a year, and in fact the satisfaction rating at Riverview is considerably higher than it is in normal hospitals. So I think making blanket statements like that are conclusions that the member opposite would like to draw for his own purposes but are not necessarily valid.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: The honourable member for Crescentwood, with a supplementary question.

Mr. Sale: Will the Premier, given that clearly the information is in his hands, now finally release the amount that was mortgaged, the mortgage rate and all of the other financial details that are clearly in his possession so that this House and this province may know the true costs of this fiasco?

Mr. Filmon: The member opposite is wrong; the information is not clearly in my hands. It is not in my hands at all, Mr. Deputy Speaker. As I said yesterday, I will take the question as notice on behalf of the Minister of Health (Mr. Stefanson) and have him respond appropriately when he returns.

Mr. Steve Ashton (Thompson): Mr. Deputy Speaker, MTS is having its annual meeting today, and what is interesting is that once again the government will be there with its golden share. We are not sure if it is Jules Benson this year. Once again, people, I think, given especially the lockout situation facing MTS employees, are going to ask some very serious questions about the government's conflict of interest given the fact that MTS has donated $6,204 to the Conservative Party and MTS Mobility, $1,438, not to leave out Bill Baines, the president of MTS, and Tom Stefanson, who gave $500 and a thousand dollars apiece.

I want to ask the Premier how he can explain to the people of Manitoba, given the fact he has four representatives on the board and the government holds a special share, that this government is now kicking back money to the Conservative Party in the form of $6,000, money that is coming directly, Mr. Deputy Speaker, from the people of Manitoba.

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Mr. Deputy Speaker, I remind the member opposite that many of his government's appointees in the '80s, the New Democratic government of the Pawley-Doer era, the deputy ministers used to kick back money to the NDP, and many of their appointees to boards and commissions and Crown corporations used to kick back money, as he puts it, to the NDP. He did not find that inappropriate. It was the incestuous relationship, of course, that ultimately brought down the New Democratic Party, because their very Crown corporations that they were politically manipulating became a big millstone around their neck that defeated them in 1988.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: The honourable member for Thompson, with his supplementary question.

Mr. Ashton: Mr. Deputy Speaker, will the Premier answer the question? How can he justify MTS donating $7,642 to his campaign fund when in fact the same MTS still has four members on the board appointed by the government and the government still holds a special share? How does he justify the ratepayers of MTS giving money to his political party?

Mr. Filmon: I repeat, Mr. Deputy Speaker: they had their own appointees giving money back to the NDP party; people who they gave jobs to fed back a tithe to the NDP party. That is the kind of incestuous relationship that prevailed under the New Democratic Party. They had their member for Kildonan (Mr. Chomiak) going to people who were suppliers to their Crown corporations. He had the list of suppliers, and he was raising money from them as the New Democratic representative. They did not see anything wrong with that incestuous relationship. These are the kinds of things that they did that they somehow think today are correct and all above board, but they lost because of the way in which they manipulated or attempted to manipulate the Crown corporations of this province.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: The honourable member for Thompson, with his final supplementary question.

Mr. Ashton: Mr. Deputy Speaker, will the Premier recognize that under the NDP we had a publicly owned phone company that did not donate money to political parties? Will he now explain how he can justify having MTS, the privatized MTS with government members on the board, now giving money to his political party? If he does not understand that is wrong and unethical, it shows how little he has learned from the Monnin inquiry.

Mr. Filmon: Mr. Deputy Speaker, what the New Democrats did, they had one of the members of their Crown Corporations Council, the now member for Kildonan (Mr. Chomiak), go with a list of people who were suppliers to the Crown corporations and put the arm on them, twist their arms to give donations to the party.

Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order, please.

Mr. Dave Chomiak (Kildonan): Mr. Deputy Speaker, the Premier has been wrong so often in this Chamber, I am sure he does not want to continue to be wrong as he has in the Monnin inquiry, as he has in the justice matters. The Premier has not only got the facts wrong, but he has in fact got the dates wrong. So I think the Premier better check his facts and his dates before he makes any kind of accusations or aspersions about anybody in this House because the Premier is dead wrong. He is dead wrong, inaccurate.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order, please. The honourable member for Kildonan did not have a point of order. It is clearly a dispute over the facts.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: The honourable First Minister, to continue with the answer.

The honourable member for Thompson.

Mr. Ashton: I believe I had asked the First Minister a question, how he can justify the $7,642 from MTS going straight to his political party, and I think, after the point of order, we would all appreciate an answer from this Premier on a very serious matter that affects a lot of people in this province.

Mr. Filmon: I would like to know how the member for Thompson justifies the $27.5 million that his government blew on the MTX fiasco that was paid for by the ratepayers of Manitoba Telephone System that drove up our rates in this province for telephones because of the political actions of the New Democratic Party when they were running the telephone system.

Bone Density Scans

Mr. Deputy Speaker: The honourable member for Osborne.

Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.

Ms. Diane McGifford (Osborne): Mr. Deputy Speaker–

Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order, please. I would like to remind members I have recognized the honourable member for Osborne to put a question, but if the honourable members want to carry on discussion we will not be able to hear the question.

The honourable member for Osborne, to carry on.

Ms. McGifford: My questions are for the Premier. In September of 1997, in response to an unconscionable one-year waiting list, this Premier promised additional funding for bone density testing which is central in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of osteoporosis which particularly affects women. Now we learn that the breast care fiasco has reoccurred, this time with bone density testing.

So I want to ask the Premier today if he could explain how shutting down the bone density testing at the Winnipeg Clinic, with only one machine operating and functioning at St. Boniface, will fulfill his promise of cutting waiting lists for bone density testing.

* (1410)

Hon. Darren Praznik (Acting Minister of Health): I can just tell the member that most of her information is not quite correct. I just remind her that the Minister of Health (Mr. Stefanson) and the Minister of Education (Mr. McCrae) opened a bone density program in Brandon that will accommodate some 4,000 individuals. I think the information currently being put out by the Winnipeg Clinic with respect to lists is blatantly wrong, but I will take that question as notice, and the Minister of Health will give the exact information to the Assembly later.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: The honourable member for Osborne, with a supplementary question.

Ms. McGifford: I would like to ask the Premier how a 14-week waiting list at St. Boniface with one machine functioning in the city of Winnipeg will fulfill the promise that he made to the women of Manitoba in September 1997. Contrary to what the Minister of Highways said, his information is wrong.

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): When there was a women's conference that brought in speakers from all across Canada here in our province two years ago this spring, 1997, it was pointed out at that time by one of the speakers at one of the seminars–and it is too bad that the member opposite did not attend; she might have become better informed–that we had a waiting list of 19 months at that time for bone density scans. So now that the waiting list is down to 14 weeks, it is definitely showing the tremendous progress because of the tremendous investment that we are making, and we are doing thousands and thousands of these bone scans that we were not able to do before. That is the progress that we are committed to, and it will continue to come down under this government because we are taking action on issues like this.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: The honourable member for Osborne, with her final supplementary question.

Ms. McGifford: I would like to ask the Premier if in shutting down the Winnipeg Clinic's machine and only operating one machine at St. Boniface when two were promised, is his plan to increase the waiting list and return to that 19-month waiting list?

Mr. Filmon: No, Mr. Deputy Speaker, that would be the NDP way of doing things; that is not our way of doing things.

Mr. Dave Chomiak (Kildonan): Mr. Deputy Speaker, I would like the Premier to explain, and perhaps this explains, this accounts for so much that we see in Health, how it is, with a 14-week waiting list for bone density scans, the province has ordered Winnipeg Clinic to shut down the alternative, the other bone density scanner in the city of Winnipeg. How is it that poor planning by this Health department would shut down the only other bone density scanner when there is a waiting list of 14 weeks?

Hon. Darren Praznik (Acting Minister of Health): Mr. Deputy Speaker, first of all, we just indicated, if members would listen, that another bone density was announced for Brandon, and secondly, remember what was happening at the Winnipeg Clinic. They were extra billing, in contravention to the Canada Health Act. Is the position now of the New Democratic Party that the Canada Health Act means nothing?

Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: Order, please. Let me remind honourable members that the clock is ticking.

Mr. Chomiak: With a new question, Mr. Deputy Speaker, to the Premier (Mr. Filmon) or the former minister or the former minister: can the government explain, the government that funded that Winnipeg Clinic operation until recently–can the government and Premier explain why it took eight months from the time the member for Brandon raised the two-year waiting list in this House for the Premier to then go and announce that he would do something about waiting lists, and why are they building up the waiting lists again?

Mr. Praznik: Mr. Deputy Speaker, just, again, how wrong the members are in their information. It was the Manitoba Clinic, not the Winnipeg Clinic, that the Ministry of Health bought a number of scans on. The Winnipeg Clinic purchased their own machine, have been providing the tests and charging Manitobans for the tests, contrary to the Canada Health Act, and I gather now the NDP support two-tier medicine.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: The honourable member for Kildonan, with a supplementary question.

Mr. Chomiak: Mr. Deputy Speaker, can the Premier or the minister explain why it is in Estimates the minister said last week that they would be reducing the waiting lists to virtually no wait, and yet, as of June 29, there is a 14-week waiting list for bone density scanners? Can they explain that?

Mr. Praznik: Mr. Deputy Speaker, first of all, look, from 19 months down to 14 weeks for an illness which is a long-term issue of determining bone density to provide for calcium. We are not talking about MRIs. We are not talking about CAT scans where the need is immediate. Fourteen weeks or less are within a very acceptable realm, and it is coming down and will as the Brandon operation continues.

But it is obvious from the questions that the members opposite have confused the Manitoba Clinic with the Winnipeg Clinic that has been operating contrary to the Canada Health Act and billing Manitobans for the service. I gather today they support that extra billing.

Mr. Gord Mackintosh (St. Johns): To the Premier, and further to his answers earlier in Question Period. Aside from the breach of confidentiality of the gang hotline, aside from the fact that the messages were not retrieved on this gang hotline for periods of five months, the Premier said on open-line radio on Friday that the breach of confidentiality was, and I quote: something that Mr. Toews did not know because he had just taken over the line from the City of Winnipeg Police.

Would the First Minister now admit that the Justice minister knew for 25 days, did nothing until he was caught, and what the Premier said on open-line radio on Friday was a one big, bald-faced you know what?

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Mr. Deputy Speaker, we all know what the member for St. Johns is.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: The honourable member for St. Johns, with his second supplementary question.

Mr. Mackintosh: Can this Premier just come clean and apologize for having said that the Justice minister did not know about the breach of confidentiality when he know all along, for 25 days, or will the Premier instead distance himself from his Justice minister and just admit maybe that the Justice minister misled him? Is that his defence?

Mr. Filmon: As I have indicated, what the Justice minister did was inappropriate, and that matter has all been cleared up. The members here just go over and over again for their own political purposes. If this is all they have to deal with, if this is what they were screaming for nine months: Let us back into session; we have all these issues we want to talk about; we have all these ideas we want to talk about; let us at them; we have so many different areas that we want to cover.

Is this all there is, Mr. Deputy Speaker? Give me a break.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: The honourable member for St. Johns, with his final supplementary question.

Mr. Mackintosh: Does the First Minister not understand the seriousness of the Premier of the province of Manitoba telling Manitobans something that was patently untrue in the face of information that was entirely contradictory? Does he not understand how this is a matter of his credibility, the credibility of this government, no small matter? Will he 'fess up and confess that he made untrue statements, Mr. Deputy Speaker?

Mr. Filmon: Mr. Deputy Speaker, it was absolutely true that the Minister of Justice did not know about the possibility of tracing those calls from an internal system until after he took them over from the Winnipeg Police Service, and that is exactly what happened.

Mr. Leonard Evans (Brandon East): Mr. Deputy Speaker, I would like to ask the Premier or perhaps the Acting Minister of Labour a question pertaining to the safety issues at the Simplot ammonia plant in Brandon. I had previously asked the minister responsible for a report updating the situation. He had not at that time received any information from his staff. I want to ask the Premier and the government whether they have received any reports or information yet from the appropriate officials respecting the details of the very serious accidents that occurred, not only the last few weeks but last fall as well, which have indeed caused a lot of concern and serious anxiety in the city of Brandon, not only in Brandon East but in Brandon West as well.

Hon. Glen Cummings (Acting Minister of Labour): On behalf of the Minister of Labour (Mr. Radcliffe), I will take that question under notice and indicate that I know he is pursuing the information that the member has been asking about with continued vigour.

* (1420)

Explosions–Independent Inquiry

Mr. Deputy Speaker: The honourable member for Brandon East, with his supplementary question.

Mr. Leonard Evans (Brandon East): I thank the acting minister for that information.

I would ask him if he could also reply to this question or take it as notice, whether the government has received any correspondence or any communication from the City of Brandon respecting the establishment of an independent inquiry that could be jointly sponsored by the city and the Province of Manitoba.

Hon. Glen Cummings (Acting Minister of Labour): Mr. Deputy Speaker, I will take that as notice.

Mr. Deputy Speaker: Time for Question Period has expired. No? Do we have 15 seconds left? I am sorry.

The honourable member for Brandon East, with one final supplementary question.

Mr. L. Evans: Has the government familiarized itself with the availability of expertise in the field of ammonia plant safety, and is the government aware that the American Institute of Chemical Engineers has volumes and volumes of material on the safety performance of ammonia plants and that they have, indeed, expertise that could be made available to the government, to the city to conduct this independent inquiry?

Mr. Cummings: Mr. Deputy Speaker, on the question of whether or not we could bring in American experts, I will take that as notice on behalf of the Minister of Labour (Mr. Radcliffe).

Mr. Deputy Speaker: Time for Question Period has expired.