LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Mr. Speaker: O Eternal and Almighty God, from Whom all power and wisdom come, we are assembled here before Thee to frame such laws as may tend to the welfare and prosperity of our province. Grant, O merciful God, we pray Thee, that we may desire only that was is in accordance with Thy will, that we may seek it with wisdom and know it with certainty and accomplish it perfectly for the glory and honour of Thy name and for the welfare of all our people. Amen.
Good morning, everyone. Please be seated.
Mr. Speaker: Are we ready to proceed with Bill 200?
An Honourable Member: Yes.
Mr. Speaker: We are.
Mr. Speaker: Okay, we'll call Bill 200, The Coat of Arms, Emblems and the Manitoba Tartan Amendment Act.
Mr. Cameron Friesen (Morden-Winkler): Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the member for Arthur-Virden (Mr. Piwniuk), that Bill 200, The Coat of Arms, Emblems and the Manitoba Tartan Amendment Act, now be read a second time and be referred to a committee of this House.
Motion presented.
Mr. Friesen: It is my delight to rise in the House this morning at second reading for Bill 200, The Coat of Arms, Emblems and the Manitoba Tartan Amendment Act, and have further discussion with my colleagues in the Legislature about designating the mosasaur known as the Tylosaurus pembinensis as the marine reptile fossil emblem of Manitoba.
And I know, Mr. Speaker, that you enjoy every time we get to come back to this subject and, indeed, it seems that more and more we are coming back to this subject of the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre in the city of Morden. And I know my colleagues have a lot of fun joking about archeology and other, let's say, reptiles or fossils that might be suggested that are in this building. I would not–I won't go there.
There's so much to tell, and in the brief time that is allotted to me I will try to convey why it is that I believe that it is the time now to formally recognize this specific reptile fossil that is so important to Manitoba.
Mr. Speaker, I know from past opportunities that I've had to speak to this House there is so much going on at the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre, and I'm so pleased to be joined today by Executive Director Pete Cantelon and a board member from the museum as well, and today I want to say that, as a province, it is important that we have symbols; it is important that we have elements and items and specific things that represent us as a people in the province of Manitoba. This is important to us. Symbols serve to help us identify ourselves, to give us identity. Those symbols speak about our past. Those 'speakals'–those symbols speak about our geography. They speak about the unique landscape, the unique history of Manitoba and of Manitoba's people. They define us; they make us unique, but they also convey to others the uniqueness of this place and all this land that we all love.
So, we know already we have many symbols in the province of Manitoba. We know that we have the prairie crocus, the flower; we have an avian emblem, the great grey owl; we have, of course, the plains bison, and the two most famous bison are those that adorn either side of the grand stair in the Legislature.
We have an official fish, Mr. Speaker. We have–we even have, I believe, an official soil for the province of Manitoba, and these are all good symbols, but I would say, then, the time has come to also recognize the mosasaur, the Tylosaurus pembinensis, in the same way and to adopt in our province an official marine reptile fossil emblem.
Mr. Speaker, when it comes to mosasaurs, basically Morden, in many respects, is ground zero for mosasaurs. A lot of people think about the topography of Manitoba and they think that in ancient times this area would have been populated by dinosaurs, but actually these would have been marine reptiles that populated these areas because, of course, this was an ancient glacier lake.
So now, in modern times, what has happened is there have been deposits, sedimentary deposits that are rich in these fossils and, over the years, more and more of these fossils have been discovered, especially in the area around the city of Morden. This goes back to the early 1970s where, I think, a lot of these fossils were first discovered, and I think if I was to convey this correctly to my colleagues in the Legislature, it had to do at the time with a commercial bentonite operation, I believe, that was working in the area, and as more and more of that land where they were working was continuing to be excavated, they came across a huge treasure trove of fossils.
At that time, volunteers worked very, very hard to get these specimens preserved, put into plaster, and the–one of the fascinating parts of this story is that many of those fossils were preserved, stored in a collection room, but only much later on did the museum have the expertise to be able to actually get into those things, do the cleaning, do the preparation, get the professional scientific community to render an opinion and then to finally exhibit it.
So, right now, I think, I would say CFDC is most known for Bruce the mosasaur, a 13-metre fossil discovered in 1974 in a farmer's field just west of Morden. It is, of course, permanently exhibited at the CFDC in Morden. People should also know, of course, that much more recently, just this spring, the CFDC proudly unveiled the new Suzy the mosasaur. At nine metres, Suzy is also very important. She now becomes the second mosasaur on display in the Mosasaur Hall of CFDC. Mr. Speaker, if you have not seen it, I encourage you to get to Morden and to see that exhibit. I think it's a wonderful thing. It's brilliant to see how that exhibit hall is developing.
But I would also say the reason Suzy is important is because that particular specimen is probably scientifically one of the most important, and so it's–it is generating a lot of enthusiasm and interest in the scientific community.
Mr. Speaker, there are so many reasons why, at this point in time, we should be considering this particular mosasaur, referred to technically as the Tylosaurus pembinensis, as an official symbol of Manitoba.
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I think that many other museums in Manitoba–and don't get me wrong, Mr. Speaker. Every museum is important. Every museum does a fantastic job. But I would say that other museums would be proud to accomplish in a space of 10 or 20 years what the CFDC has managed to do–the accolades, the recognition across the nation and internationally–have been able to do in just a short space of time, perhaps 18 months, 24 months.
Let me name just a few of those things. I had a chance to go to the CFDC and actually go to an excavation site. I was accompanied by Pete Cantelon at that time, as well as the US consul at that time, who was Chris Gunning. What a sight that is. This is not just a museum with exhibits. It's not just a museum with educational programs for students. It is a museum where you can travel to site and actually have the chance to be uncovering these fossils and to make your own discovery, fascinating. I didn't always know what I was looking for but I was accompanied by board member Ted Nelson who was always quick to point something out, to take a magnifying glass and show me this wasn't just dust that I was unveiling, these were tiny teeth of prehistoric beings. And so it was really educational for me.
The CFDC entered into a memorandum of understanding with the University of Manitoba recently. I could indicate to you that there is an article in the most recent edition of the Canadian Geographic magazine focusing on the CFDC and on their exhibits. I could remind you that the Bruce and Suzy, the mosasaurs, grace the cover of Travel Manitoba's new tourism guide.
There's so much to tell. I could tell you that the CFDC is working very hard to achieve a Signature Museum Status in the province of Manitoba. And that would basically bring with it the recognition that this is something extremely unique. It is a single collection. And basically, Mr. Speaker, I have written letters of recommendation to help convey to the minister and the department the importance of that designation for this museum.
Mr. Speaker, in the short time that I have left, let me just say I was so proud to host the CFDC here just weeks ago to formally talk about Suzy the mosasaur. Indeed, we have an exhibit of Suzy the mosasaur just right now at the base of the grand stair in the Legislature. And I'll tell you, over the last two weeks, I have seen so many visitors of the Legislature come by the grand stair, back up, stop and linger for a long time in front of that display, learning more and more and saying, this is in Manitoba? This, a marine reptile, is home to Manitoba?
At that time, I welcomed Pete Cantelon, as well as their new field and collection manager, Victoria Markstrom, board member Ted Nelson and even a field technician for the summer.
Mr. Speaker, there's so much to tell. And I know that my colleagues will put words on the record. I invite the government, I invite the minister this morning, to look at this issue, to consider the merits of this bill that would name this mosasaur as an official symbol of Manitoba. How proud would we be to see lapel pins bearing the mosasaur, just like the new Canadian stamp series, the 3-D dino series, that actually bears the mosasaur as one of those things?
It's the time, this is the place, and we welcome the government to come alongside, support this bill, to name the Tylosaurus pembinensis as an official symbol.
Hon. Flor Marcelino (Minister of Multiculturalism and Literacy): Mr. Speaker, I thank the member from Morden-Winkler for bringing forward Bill 200, The Coat of Arms, Emblems and the Manitoba Tartan Amendment Act.
Mr. Speaker, we are open to the idea of a provincial fossil, as the member had suggested. There are not many places that offer what Manitoba does. We're a growing, diverse and dynamic centre of heritage, arts and culture. We think it's important to represent this province's rich heritage.
Last session, we consulted with experts and the public before introducing a mammal emblem, fish emblem and grass emblem for Manitoba. Last year, we introduced a bill to officially recognize three new provincial emblems: the walleye, the plains bison and the big bluestem. All three of these symbols reflect some important piece of our province's past, present and future. These amendments formally acknowledged and celebrated the natural resources and rich heritage that have sustained and continue to sustain our beautiful province.
Mr. Speaker, we are pleased to hear that the committee has recommended Bruce the mosasaur as Manitoba's provincial fossil, and we thank them for their hard work. In Canada, in–Nova Scotia designated an ancient reptile as its provincial fossil in 2012, and Alberta has designated petrified wood as its provincial stone. British Columbia has also designated a provincial fossil. In the United States, 40 states have designated an official state fossil. A committee of professional paleontologists and amateur fossil enthusiasts looked at designating a provincial fossil. They reviewed potential options and voted on a fossil.
Speaking of modern fossil–Morden fossil discovery centre–the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre in Morden has the largest collection of Cretaceous marine reptiles in Canada and one of the largest collections of marine fossils in the world. It's one of the few museums in the world that only has marine fossils.
In 2006, the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre was made a Manitoba Tourism Star Attraction and is one of the top five travel destinations because of their museum tours, fossil digs and school programs and children's camps. Since 1997, the museum has had over 120,000 visitors. It has contributed almost $8 million to the economy between 1997 and 2014, according to Travel Manitoba's 2014 report.
In May 2014, The Coat of Arms, Emblems and the Manitoba Tartan Act was amended to include big bluestem, walleye and bison as the provincial grass, fish and mammal. Speaking of the coat of arms, Manitoba's shield was granted by King Edward VII in 1905 while its augmented coat of arms was granted by the Right Honourable Ramon Hnatyshyn, Governor General in 1992. Mr. Speaker, at the centre of the arms is the original shield featuring the Cross of St. George and a buffalo standing on a rock. Above the shield is a gold helmet signalling Manitoba's co-sovereign status in Confederation. Surmounting this is a beaver, a national symbol of Canada, holding the province's floral emblem, the prairie crocus, and carrying a royal crown on its back.
Mr. Speaker, the walleye was named as our provincial fish by Manitoba, and Manitoba's fisheries play a significant role in the lives, cultures and traditions of all Manitobans. Walleye was selected and recommended for adoption as Manitoba's official fish emblem. We all know walleye are found throughout most of the province.
The bison was named as our provincial mammal. The bison has long held great symbolism for our province, and thousands of bison once roamed the prairie. Bison were used as a source of food, clothing and tools. The bison, of course, used on our shield–is used on our shield and as the provincial government logo.
The blue–big bluestem was named as our provincial grass. For centuries, our prairie grasses have been a habitat, a grazing land and a home for generations of people who have lived here, and, of course, for Manitoba's iconic bison.
Last year, we–all of these three symbols reflect–when these three symbols were officially recognized, these symbols reflect very important pieces of our province's past, present and future. This amendment firmly acknowledges and celebrates the natural resources and rich heritage that have sustained and continue to sustain our beautiful province.
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Going back to preserving Manitoba's heritage, we support and promote Manitoba's signature museums so they can grow and remain significant tourist attractions into the future. The Canadian Museum for Human Rights opened in the fall and will attract up to 250 national and international visitors to Manitoba each year, creating nearly 250 jobs and will raise the global profile of Manitoba and Winnipeg.
Our community museum collections educate and entertain while encouraging and supporting a balanced interpretation of our heritage. We are proud to support over 3,000 volunteers who work nearly 120 hours every year to support the 109 community museums throughout the province.
Every year we partner with municipalities to support these museums by investing over $274,000 to ensure that they remain open to the public and not for profit.
We provide the fossil centre with annual funding through the Community Museum Grants Program.
Since 1999 the museum has also received $74,000 from nine different–for nine different projects through the Heritage Grants Program.
We're also supporting the First Nations-led bid to establish a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the east of the province. The nomination process has involved creating a network of linked protected areas in partnership with Ontario and First Nations to sustain North America's largest intact boreal forest.
So, Mr. Speaker, again, I thank the honourable member from Morden-Winkler for bringing this bill forward, and, as I've said, we're open to the idea of a provincial fossil at this time.
Mr. Doyle Piwniuk (Arthur-Virden): Good morning, Mr. Speaker. I'd like to–I'm proud to be here today to talk about Bill 200, the coats of arms and emblems of Manitoba's tartan amendment act.
And I'm honoured here to speak on behalf for our–my member from Morden-Winkler about his wonderful museum that he has in his town. He should be very proud of it, and it's drawn a lot of tourist into the area and into the province of Manitoba.
You know, Drumheller has their note of fame. So Winkler and Morden has theirs and so it's great to–for–to stand here today to talk about this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to come before the honoured members today to put forth the bill that will commemorate the truly unique source of Manitoba pride that will enhance and–the province's pride, benefit our important tourism industry and open the world of new information in generations to come.
Mr. Speaker, the coat of arms, the emblems and the Manitoba tartan amendment act aims to acknowledge the entrenched Manitoba's most famous archeological gem, Bruce the mosasaur, for–as the marine reptile fossil emblem of Manitoba.
Bill 200 has recognized the mosasaur as the Manitoba's official marine reptile fossil emblem following international accolades for the 13-metre fossil that was discovered in 1974 on a farmer's field west of Morden, Manitoba. And now it's home to the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre, the CFDC, in the city of Morden.
The bill is the–highlights the significance of the CFDC's world-class 'monasaur' exhibit that draws attention to Bruce the mosasaur, the world's largest and most celebrated mosasaur at Manitoba's institution.
Morden's famous 'monasaur' specifies continues to gain attention both within the province and around the world, and recognizing that the 'monasaur' is an official symbol of Manitoba and is an important way to continue to celebrate one of Manitoba's greatest archeological treasure.
Bruce is the prehistoric sea creature currently residing in Morden's CFDC. The mosasaur was the huge air-breathing skull-skinned, fresh-eating lizard, often called the T. Rex of the sea.
And, Mr. Speaker, recently Bruce was become quite a celebrity. That 800 million years ago the reptile was awarded a genius–Guinness book of worlds as the–this past September as the world's largest 'monasaur.' And perhaps even more significant than that, Bruce is presented to the world's largest 'monasaur' medal made the children from the CFDC Dino Day Camp on July 26th, 2014. What a delight that must have been for them.
Moreover, Mr. Speaker, in 2013 the Royal Canadian Mint has cast a commemorative quarter recognizing Bruce the 'monasaur' as a T. Rex of the sea. A quickly history lesson, during the late period of over 80 to 90 million years ago, the fearsome aquatic reptile was the largest to roam the western interior seaway. The large shallow sea that would fill the lowlands of northern Canada through the Prairies and plains states and Texas to the Gulf of Mexico. However, they ranged as far–further than just around that would become North America.
The first one, I believe, was discovered in the Netherlands in a limestone quarry near the town of Maastricht in 1764. So to have a fossil like that here in Manitoba was so important to our province, and, again, when you have Drumheller, who attracts millions of visitors on an annual basis, it seems like it's a destination for a lot of Manitobans. We should be having that type of opportunity to have those individuals come to our province and to visit Morden and the other surrounding areas.
I think it's so important, as the critic of tourism, it's–I should be–we should be so proud of this province with all the different gems that we have, and some of them are undiscovered gems throughout the whole province.
You know, we actually have a lot of quarries that we can see fossils when the limestone that we produce, limestone for building materials. We're discovering that there's a lot of fossils within that limestone. And when I was actually in the Parliament Buildings doing a tour I discovered that there was a lot of fossils that–limestone that was actually in the Parliament Buildings is actually from Manitoba and those fossils are in those stones, and I believe that the stones here in this Legislative Assembly building of Manitoba also has a lot of those fossils. And just not recently we had some Tyndall stone that was put in our yard, and, again, it's kind of neat to show the kids how these fossils were so part of our history in this province of Manitoba.
Mr. Speaker, again, I'm hoping that the members of the opposite will support this bill. I know how important it is to our member from Morden-Winkler, and he worked really hard for this bill and he should take a lot of credit for this, and he's proud of his town, and like we are all proud of our own towns and our own communities, our own constituencies and province and, of course, our country Canada too.
And this will–this opportunity to put as a–an emblem on our–for the province, that would be great. Most of the states, 41 states out of the 50, actually have an emblem, a prehistoric emblem, on their–and, you know, that includes their bird emblem, their, you know, the–what makes them unique. You know, there's the animal, like different animals they have in their states and provinces, flower. We have the crocus. We have the buffalo, and now we–the bison, and now we have, hopefully, get the mosasaurus. It would be so good for going forward here and in attracting new tourists to our province.
We are so unique with all the different gems that we have in our province. When–includes Churchill, I was just up there with a number of my colleagues back in August, and we just have a wonderful place to exhibit to the world. We have beluga whales that we went kayaking with, they were bumping the kayaks and that was kind of a neat experience. We saw polar bears.
Again, there was a couple, a mother and son, who were from Spain, Barcelona, Spain, who were up there too. So we're attracting people from international coming to this province, and also with our Human Rights Museum that was just opened this past September. That's so important to our province too, and that's going to bring a lot of people into our city and to our province. And we also have the increase in capacity in our zoo, our Assiniboine zoo, which we should be proud of with the northern exhibit, and, again, it's bringing a lot of tourists into the area.
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So we should just not worry–focus just on Churchill and Winnipeg, but we all have to focus on rural Manitoba, and this is one of the prizes that we have in rural Manitoba. And I hope the members opposite realize that, you know, the rest–rural Manitoba is part of Manitoba, and it's so important to promote this province with the 'archeorectural' finds in Morden and to be part of that–the culture and to have that as a historic museum.
And I also–you know, there's other places in our community, too, that we have, you know, different historic sites and we have, you know, forts. You know, Lower Fort Garry, we have a fort there that brings a lot of tourists into this area. We also have The Forks–again, it was a meeting place for the–when it came to the voyageurs, the First Nations people, we–it was a meeting place. And a lot of trade has been done there and a lot of history has been created in that, The Forks. And we should be proud of it and promote this wonderful province that we have today.
And just sort of in my conclusions, I just wanted to say that Bruce the mosasaurus and Suzy the mosasaurus, those two things that could be put onto our emblem would be so great. And, again, the member from Morden-Winkler would be so proud and be able to take it back to his community to say, look, he provided this bill and this bill has been passed unanimous in this House. And he should be quite proud of that.
And I want to thank everyone for today for giving me the opportunity to speak on this.
Mr. Dave Gaudreau (St. Norbert): I want to thank the member for Morden-Winkler (Mr. Friesen) for bringing this forward today. It's a really interesting topic. I love talking about Manitoba and all we have to offer, our tourism from coast to–the coast up in Churchill all the way down to southern Manitoba.
Morden is one of my favourite constituencies to visit. And, you know, I've been there a couple times and the member's been very generous to show me around. And when we were doing the Morden Corn and Apple Festival, him and his wife showed me and my wife around. It was a very nice time with them down there.
And it's–I totally think that the committee's on the right track with this mosasaur becoming something to recognize in Manitoba. We see Suzy out in the lobby there, and it's pretty impressive to see how big she is. And considering that if those were still in the lakes in Manitoba right now, I don't know if I'd be water-skiing or swimming anymore. It would certainly change how we all interact with our lakes and river systems in Manitoba if that was still the case. She's a pretty scary-looking creature.
I just–I want to say that, you know, we talked–I heard the member for Arthur-Virden (Mr. Piwniuk) talking about rural Manitoba, and I want to assure the member that–you know, that we haven't forgotten about rural Manitoba. I mean, investments in rural Manitoba are many. I know he was saying, you know, that we have to make sure that we look after all of that. And, I mean, the member for Morden‑Winkler, who's moving this wonderful motion, he knows that we're building, you know, the hospital in his area and a personal-care home. And–[interjection] Well, we built the hospital in your area; sorry, it's done. So that's a good thing it's done. Personal-care home, you know, all of the infrastructure and all the roadways which actually helps fund tourism.
You know, Manitoba, when we look at Highway 75, all the upgrades being done helps bring people to this province, the billions of dollars in tourism that come in with all of that. And other investments in rural Manitoba like waste water treatment plants and, you know, all the schools that were being–that are being built, community centres.
You know, we have more doctors in rural Manitoba practising than any province west of Nova Scotia. So all of those investments in medical school and in bringing more doctors to Manitoba–you know, and I know there's more work to do. And we're there, we're working on it and we're going to bring more people, more doctors to rural Manitoba. And obviously we've–you know, we're–got a really good record. We brought more nurses in and nurse practitioners.
So I want to assure the member that we're not forgetting about rural Manitoba when we're talking about this. You know, we have a really good record on funding for rural Manitoba. You look at things like the UNESCO forest that we're looking at doing right at–it's–that's going to be a huge world attraction for people to come to Manitoba.
And this can tie into it, you know, I'm sure that it's a star attraction now, and bringing people to Manitoba to look at Suzy and Bruce is something that is a really neat tourist attraction for people to come and see.
And, you know, we've very proud to have organizations like the people who join us in the gallery today who dedicate their time and effort to, you know, volunteer to bring these kinds of things life. I mean, it can't–it's–it doesn't happen without people like them and without all of the volunteers in Manitoba. We're known as the volunteer capital of Canada. We have so many people who volunteer in Manitoba, it's fantastic. And, you know, it's nice to see that these things can come to life with this.
And, I mean, I'm very proud of our government, too, for the funding that we provide, you know, through grants to organizations such as this and museums.
The member for Arthur-Virden (Mr. Piwniuk) mentioned the Human Rights Museum which is also another world-class attraction that are bringing people to Manitoba in record numbers. It's more than they ever thought that they would get. In the–since it's been open, they're getting more people through the door than they ever thought they would have.
And I'm sure that, you know, by providing those tourism books that we have that have all the Star Attractions, we're going to direct some of those people from the Human Rights Museum down through that nice, new Highway 75 that's being redone, down and they can cut across and go into Morden and check out the wonderful exhibits that they have there at–one of the largest exhibits in the world actually, so it's fantastic that we see this kind of stuff going on in Manitoba.
I mean, it's really a time where Manitoba is booming. If you look at the changes that have gone on in Manitoba with all of the things, all of the world-class attractions, I mean, things including the Jets, which does bring tourism in. But, you know, the Human Rights Museum, museums such as this–you know, we got the museum of nature now on–that it's been renovated and all of the wonderful exhibits that go on there and some pretty incredible fossils in that one too.
And, you know, we see a lot of reason for people to come to Manitoba. And, you know, we've got these great ads that we've been putting out–the Manitoba heart beats–and, yes, those are fantastic ads that are drawing people into Manitoba. And, you know, we want to attract more tourism all the time. It's fantastic that people want to come here and take part in Manitoba.
You know, I had the opportunity a few years ago to go up to Churchill and see the beluga whales in the harbour and toured the town, and I think it's something that everybody should experience in their lifetime. I actually saw a polar bear and with her cub in town walking through the street, which is–it's something that's a once-in-a-lifetime experience. And I think that every person should come up and experience Manitoba right from up in–down in Morden and Winkler, all the way up to Churchill.
We have so much to offer in every region of the province. You know, we have–our provincial parks are fabulous. We have the museums that have the dinosaurs like this which are–when you go and see them–are just absolutely mind-blowing to think that that actually existed on this planet with us, it's–or not with us but with–on this planet, and if they still existed now, how it would really have changed things, the way we operate.
We–you know, we're trying in Manitoba to create a province that has a lot of ecotourism and resources–manage our resources carefully so we can bring people up here, right? We want to have people come to the world-class UNESCO site which will then again bring people into Morden and Winkler and, you know, showcase the–all we have to offer. The corn and apple fest is another fantastic thing that goes on. [interjection] Yes, and the member showed me around with his wife. He was very gracious and, you know, the–it's such a wonderful area to go to and there's so many parks around the Morden and Winkler area, which is really only a very short drive from Winnipeg. And you look at the difference when you go out there. Just from the landscape at Winnipeg, the landscape changes again.
So, I think that the member's on the right track with looking at creating something like this, and I do think that Bruce and Suzy are pretty amazing specimens for us to look at. And I think we–you know, our government is looking at showcasing them, obviously, with the Star Attractions and doing more with it.
And, you know, I'm hopeful that, you know, we can all work together to continue on with the funding that we provide through grants and programs to museums, because we all know that that's really important. And I know that we have a lot of differences in the House about how we get to balance, but I think that we do agree that, you know, programs like this and the museums and tourism are really important to Manitoba and to the economy of this province, because Manitoba has billions of dollars of tourism dollars that come into our province every year, and it really drives our economy and it helps areas like Morden and Winkler, which I know the member's talked about much in the House. It's expanding and booming and there's lots of growth going on, which is fantastic. We want to see that.
We want Manitoba to grow and continue to grow. And, you know, I mean, it does create its challenges when we have to–you know, we have to build more hospitals and build more schools and build more programs for people, but it's also a fantastic problem to have when we have more people coming here and we're welcoming the world now to Manitoba with some of the world-class exhibits.
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The polar bear exhibit is another one that comes to mind at the zoo at the Assiniboine Park that, you know, it's another world-class exhibit for people to come. And, you know, I think it's really important that we keep on building those kinds of things and attracting people to Manitoba. And I want to thank the members up in the gallery today for all of their hard work to making this happen, and I know it's not an easy task to go out there and, well, find these fossils and then, also, to take care of them and clean them and get them into the state where they are now where they're absolutely pristine and spectacular and put them on display. I know that that's a lot of work.
I know I heard the story of you moving Suzy here to the building, or her head, anyways, and how it was a very nerve-racking ride because you want to make sure that nothing happens to the fossil when it's being transported. So I thought that was a very interesting story to hear that, you know, it's so–you have to be so careful when you're moving these fossils and it's just–I want to thank you very much for all your hard work and continue on, and I hope that we see more of them in the future. I hope you can find some more of these wonderful, huge fossils and unearth them and put them on display for all Manitobans and, in fact, all North America and the world to see.
So thank you very much for all your work. Thank you.
Mr. Shannon Martin (Morris): Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to rise today and speak on Bill 200 put forward by my colleague, the member for Morden-Winkler (Mr. Friesen). When the member offered me the opportunity to come and have–and talk about adding a fossil remains to can–or to Manitoba's emblem, I thought that was a terrific idea. Of course, at the time, I thought it was Godzilla he was taking about and, hence, my eagerness to speak, but I guess Bruce is a close second.
I'd also like to recognize in the gallery Pete Cantelon, who's the executive director of the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre, who's with us today, as well as James Cook, who is a board member of the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre. So I'd like to welcome them to the Chamber and thank them for the work that they've done.
Mr. Speaker, I've had the opportunity to take my children to the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre, and to say that it was enjoyed by all would be a bit of an understatement. In fact, I'm not sure who enjoyed the visit more, my kids or their dad, but we'll that for a discussion for another day.
We've heard mention, and I believe my colleague for Arthur-Virden made reference to Drumheller, Mr. Speaker, and I've also had the opportunity to take my–take our children to Drumheller.
And I've always thought, long before the introduction of Bill 200, that we have our own Drumheller here in Manitoba out in the constituency of Morden-Winkler with the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre. And its uniqueness is simply unparalleled because the beauty or the wonder of what's being offered at the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre is that it complements but doesn't compete with Drumheller in terms of what is offered–with, obviously, Drumheller being more terrestrial dinosaurs that once roamed what is now Canada and, obviously, the Canadian fossil discovery showcasing those creatures that swam and roamed the inland sea. And it's quite something thinking that where we stand today and talk about Bruce was once a sea filled with some of the most fearsome creatures one could imagine.
In fact, I was just conversing with my colleagues about how Hollywood has recently brought the mosasaur to life in the new Jurassic World, and I have no doubt that that kind of publicity and that kind of advertising, I guess, for lack of a better word, will only actually benefit the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre as more young people realize that T. Rexs–or, sorry, that dinosaurs go beyond the standard T. Rexs and that the mosasaur was, in fact, the T. Rex of the sea and quite the creature.
But this really is about an opportunity to showcase a discovery in Manitoba that occurred in 1974. I believe, Mr. Speaker, that it took years of effort and of volunteer effort, and I know my colleague, the member for St. Norbert (Mr. Gaudreau) talked about how Manitoba's known for its volunteer efforts, and he's absolutely right, because it was volunteers back in the '70s that made this happen. And with the limited resources they had, they took a painstaking effort to, obviously, extract these fossils from the ground, and then decades to properly clean them, to–and, more importantly, to display them.
And we just have a sample of the effort involved with Suzy being displayed just outside the–or just beside the Grand Staircase, and it just–it's an incredible thing to see, and I know when just, in fact, this morning before I was coming up, there was a school tour going on, as many school tours go on, and you could just see the–all the children pause when they approached that glass container with Suzy's skull in it, and you could just see the look of awe on their faces, Mr. Speaker. And, really, that's what really this is about; this is about adding this to our coat of arms emblem and the Manitoban–Manitoba tartan to recognize that we have this jewel, and it really, as much–and I give full credit to the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre for their tremendous efforts to date, and to their new facility that they have in Morden.
But, really, let's be honest, Mr. Speaker, we can do so much more when it comes to the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre in terms of showcasing it, in terms of bringing tourists here. Again, as my colleague for Arthur-Virden noted, and when I was at Drumheller, the amount of tourists in the entire community of Drumheller–is built up around that one exhibit or exhibits, plural, but being fossilized remains and, really, Drumheller to Calgary is no different than Morden to Winnipeg. So that opportunity absolutely exists, a template exists, and we need to work towards achieving that goal because if there's one thing all young kids love, it is dinosaurs, and I don't think I would've made the trip out west to Drumheller if it wasn't for the constant requests from my children. And so I would suspect that that would continue on.
More importantly–and the important thing about tourism is to bring new dollars into Manitoba, not just dollars. I mean, obviously, not just dollars outside the city of Morden, but we want to attract tourists from North Dakota, from Ontario, Saskatchewan and from Alberta. And they do come. They come from around the world. I was with my colleague from Arthur-Virden up in Churchill, and we met tourists from Portugal and from China and, really, from–they've really come from all over the world.
And so, as noted by previous speakers, we have a number of world-class top-drawer attractions here in Manitoba. We have the Canadian Museum for Human Rights that we were touring. The number–a number of–that I've a toured a number of times, and you really need to tour it a number of times, actually take in the full breadth of what's being offered as the Canadian museum of human rights. Obviously, Journey to Churchill is one of our newer exhibits with the Assiniboine Park Zoo; the Manitoba Museum is on a refurbishment as well. So all of these form a larger jigsaw, part of a jigsaw puzzle in terms of tourism here in Manitoba.
Now, I know my colleague for St. Norbert maybe got a little bit off track when he started talking about the delivery of health care and doctors here in Manitoba, and just so he knows, I think Bruce is beyond the help of today's medical practitioners, but, as Hollywood shows us, nothing is outside the realm–[interjection] the elm–well, there you go. My colleague for Morden-Winkler did note that they did give Bruce the mosasaur, an MIR–MRI, sorry. And, obviously, they wanted to see what was within that skull cavity, and it's amazing what you can learn using that kind of technology, Mr. Speaker.
So, Mr. Speaker, with those brief comments, again, I urge this House to pass Bill 200, to move it on to the next stage that The Coat of Arms, Emblems and the Manitoba Tartan Amendment Act be recognized as something here in the province of Manitoba that would add to our tourist diversity.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Clarence Pettersen (Flin Flon): First I have to thank you for letting the children leave because what I'm about to talk about in regards to the dinosaurs of Manitoba could be a bit scary. And I have to thank the honourable–or the member from Morden‑Winkler for bringing up such an important topic, and he talked about Bruce, and he talked about different dinosaurs that they have found around Morden, and it's–that's exciting.
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I know I've taken my kids to Drumheller and any–in 33 years of teaching, probably the one topic that gets the interests of kids and students is dinosaurs. So I think the topic is right on, and I–almost I'm thinking that the member from Morden-Winkler is doing a casting call for Jurassic Park, Manitoba, and I noticed the member from Morris with his tie and that, you know, could be one of the star actors. And I'm hoping maybe I can be looked at myself.
But getting back to the dinosaur and the marine dinosaur that was found in Morden, apparently this is–we're talking 13 metres? Yes, 13 metres. Now, we're talking a big marine fish. Now I don't know if–[interjection] Or reptile, thank you. Reptile. I don't know if the members in here realize that some of these reptiles that have been known as long gone and fossilized, in 1932, a German scientist just off Madagascar and South Africa found a fish, the coelacanth, that was long presumed, for 40 million years, to be long gone. And I want to make note, and I want people to hear this, and thank goodness the children are not here, that we have–and we call it–and not too many people up in Flin Flon like to even talk about it–we talk about the jackasaurus. And the jackasaurus is known to be in Lake Athapap. And the, you know, the members up in the gallery maybe can expand on this if we had time, but the jackasaurus, well known to the fishermen up north, there's been sightings, there's been evidence but nothing on camera. So I think recognizing dinosaurs in Manitoba is a great thing. I'm just–I guess you could say I'm a little perturbed that the walleye was named the fish of Manitoba. I thought the jack would be named, you know, the jackasaurus, in respect to it possibly still could be alive.
But I just know that the members in the House, we have a job to do, and any time we can promote Manitoba is a good idea. And I know I taught for two years in Carman and been down to Morden many times coaching and whatever. And it's a great area, and any time we can promote Morden with Bruce, or someone was even bringing up yappasaurus, I know mini fossils have been found in this building, Mr. Speaker. And I'm not talking right in here, but when you go out of this building, there is examples of fossils in the walls of this building, and I think that is really neat that our heritage was built on and continues to be built on the fossils of Manitoba and will continue to be built on.
I also want to recognize that as we go forward in life, it's always to–good to look back to our past. And any time that we can look in history or in science about the past is something that we can all benefit from. And I want to tie in mining here. At one time, prospectors used to go up north and, you know, be chipping rocks to find out what the minerals were or whatever. Now, geologists, when they go north, would just take a piece of rock, will cut out, actually, a piece of rock in the shield and to find out the history of it. From the history of a rock they can tell, possibly, what minerals could be around there. For instance, we have a park in northeastern Manitoba close to the–well, Churchill, I guess. And it's some of the oldest rock in Manitoba, and this rock possibly could have diamonds. So from the history of the rock, possibly, there could be diamonds and maybe, in the future, diamond mines.
So any time that we learn about the history, like the marinasaurus that is found in Morden or up north, if we ever do catch the jackasaurus–yes, I do need a drink here. Any time I talk about the jackasaurus, I get quite thirsty. I don't know, it seems like water and jackasaurus or a drink and jackasaurus tend to get me going. [interjection] Thank you. And, in fact, maybe I–like my honourable member right here mentioned, maybe there could be a drink named after it, like jackasaurus and Coke or whatever.
But this, you know, in all seriousness, history–history–of Manitoba is important and the dinosaur fossils, the marine fossils that we find in here is really great for the students of Manitoba to show the diversity of geology throughout Manitoba and how this can help the future. And I really thank, in the gallery, you guys coming down. Maybe, like I say, I can get you up in Flin Flon with proper fishing gear that nobody down south here uses, but is special gear that's used to try and find the jackasaurus, and you'd be geared up with leaded boots so you won't be just pulled right out of the boat. We'll tie you down and, believe me, it's an experience. If you ever get a bite from a jackasaurus, believe me, not too many people can live and tell about it.
But thank you, Mr. Speaker, for giving me the short time to speak on this. Thank you from the member of Morden for bringing this up. Thank you from the member of Morris. I–my vote is yes, I think he'd be one of the leading candidates in the movie Jurassic Park Manitoba.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.
Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Mr. Speaker, just a few words in support of this bill and the initiative of the member from Morden-Winkler.
I have–I am a supporter of this initiative. I think it would be a good idea. Bruce is well known. Many years ago I visited Bruce and the mosasaur when it was first–he was first assembled and wrote a blog note on it which was–became a quite a popular bog for people to visit with photos of Bruce. I think he could be a very popular feature of Manitoba's heraldry, so let's go for it.
Thank you.
Hon. Drew Caldwell (Minister of Municipal Government): Well, Mr. Speaker, I do also want to recognize the folks in the gallery from Morden and the Canadian centre; the work that they do in Morden is very valuable. I, like others here, have visited the museum. I have family down in Manitou area, Morden area. It's a great museum and the work you do is very much appreciated by the people of the province of Manitoba and I think it significantly places Morden on a national-international context and sort–in regards to that sort of infrastructure and that sort of cultural infrastructure not only in Manitoba and Canada, but internationally.
I felt like I was down a rabbit hole there for a minute when I was listening to some of the debate, but I did want to get up and put some serious comments on the record in regard to the bill.
Members will know that a committee of professional paleontologists and fossil enthusiasts are looking at designating a provincial fossil, and they have reviewed potential options and voted on a fossil for that, and that we are pleased as a government to hear that this committee has recommended the mosasaur as Manitoba's provincial fossil and that process is well under way and nearing completion. Members opposite would know that when they brought this bill forth here. But there is a process under way that involves the field and professionals in the field and probably yourselves in terms of moving that forward.
And I do think it's important that we respect that process and we will get to the right decision for the province of Manitoba through following that process and not circumventing it in this Chamber for partisan reasons, quite frankly.
Mr. Speaker, I do–I think it's important to note–
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Mr. Speaker: Order, please.
When this matter is again before the House, the honourable member for Brandon East (Mr. Caldwell) will have seven minutes remaining.
Res. 5–Overcoming Barriers to Good Jobs
Mr. Speaker: The hour being 11 a.m., it is now time for private members' resolutions, and the resolution under consideration this morning is entitled Overcoming Barriers to Good Jobs, sponsored by the honourable member for Flin Flon.
Mr. Clarence Pettersen (Flin Flon): Overcoming Barriers to Good Jobs: whereas many Manitobans encounter different types of barriers when looking for a job, whether these are social, geographical or economic–[interjection] Oh, I'm sorry.
I move, seconded by the member from Le Pas,
WHEREAS many Manitobans encounter different types of barriers when looking for a job, whether these are social, geographical or economic; and
WHEREAS the provincial government believes in helping all Manitobans find good jobs and grow the province's skilled workplace; and
WHEREAS the provincial government collaborates and partners with Manitoba employers and non-profits to deliver services and programming aimed at breaking down barriers to employment; and
WHEREAS Manitoba maintains one of the lowest unemployment rates across the nation; and
WHEREAS important partnerships and organizations like Red River college, the University College of the North, the Canadian Community Economic Development Network, the 'manido' institute for trades and technology, the Northern Manitoba Mining Academy and many other organizations and employers across the province are crucial in developing innovative and creative programs to break down barriers, promote social inclusion and make the province stronger; and
WHEREAS these initiatives help more women explore careers in the trades, help military personnel get their skilled trades credentials recognized and ease the transition to civilian employment, make it easier for northerners to access good jobs and provide opportunities to those with multiple barriers to employment, including employment and income assistant partnerships; and
WHEREAS as a senior minister, the Leader of the Official Opposition made cuts that hurt 'vulneral' people, like cutting social assistant, freezing the minimum wage and cutting funding to Manitoba organizations like friendship centres that help support the most vulnerable Manitobans.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba acknowledge the good work that partner organizations are doing to eliminate barriers to employment in Manitoba; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that that Legislative Assembly of Manitoba be urged to call on the provincial government to continue partnering with these and other organizations to help Manitobans gain access to training and good jobs so they can raise a family and build a home right here in Manitoba.
Mr. Speaker: It's been moved by the honourable member for Flin Flon (Mr. Pettersen), seconded by the honourable member for The Pas (Ms. Lathlin),
WHEREAS many Manitobans encounter different types of barriers when looking for a job, whether these are social, geographical or economic–dispense?
Some Honourable Members: Dispense.
Mr. Speaker: Dispense.
Is it the pleasure of the House to consider the resolution as printed on today's Order Paper? [Agreed]
WHEREAS many Manitobans encounter different types of barriers when looking for a job, whether these are social, geographical or economic; and
WHEREAS the Provincial Government believes in helping all Manitobans find good jobs and grow the province's skilled workforce; and
WHEREAS the Provincial Government collaborates and partners with Manitoba employers and non-profits to deliver services and programming aimed at breaking down barriers to employment; and
WHEREAS Manitoba maintains one of the lowest unemployment rates across the nation; and
WHEREAS important partnerships with organizations like Red River College, the University College of the North, the Canadian Community Economic Development Network, the Manitoba Institute for Trades and Technology, the Northern Manitoba Mining Academy and many other organizations and employers across the province are crucial in developing innovative and creative programs to break down barriers, promote social inclusion and make the province stronger; and
WHEREAS these initiatives help more women explore careers in the trades, help military personnel get their skilled trades credentials recognized and ease the transition to civilian employment, make it easier for northerners to access good jobs and provide opportunities to those with multiple barriers to employment, including Employment and Income Assistance participants; and
WHEREAS as a senior minister, the leader of the Official Opposition made cuts that hurt vulnerable people, like cutting social assistance, freezing the minimum wage and cutting funding to Manitoba organizations like Friendship Centres that help support the most vulnerable Manitobans.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba acknowledge the good work that partner organizations are doing to eliminate barriers to employment in Manitoba; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba be urged to call on the Provincial Government to continue partnering with these and other organizations to help Manitobans gain access to training and good jobs so they can raise a family and build a home right here in Manitoba.
Mr. Speaker: The resolution is in order.
Mr. Pettersen: Yes, this PMR is very important to me and it's important to me not just because I'm from the North, Mr. Speaker, but it's important to all Manitobans, and it's about hope. It's about hope to get a job. It's about hope to get that job, make some money, be able to follow your dreams, build a house, get a car, start a business. This is what jobs and the economy is all about. This is what hope is all about.
And I would like to take some time to look at a northern perspective, and I'm sure my colleagues would like to show our perspective throughout Manitoba.
This is a very, very important PMR because it recognizes that some people within Manitoba need opportunities, Mr. Speaker, and need, I guess you could say, some advantages in the workplace, where they can get educated, where they can get trained to do jobs that will help them build a skill and build a career. And I think our government is doing that.
I think it's important that we realize that the organizations that we're partnering with, and when I look up North, I look at Red River college, Assiniboine Community College, college of the North, the Canadian Economic Development Network, the Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology, the Northern Manitoba Mining Academy and many other organizations. With this partnership and with promoting apprenticeships, this gives youth–it gives opportunities to all Manitobans throughout the province.
In the North, with our money being spelt–spent on providing better roads, it gives opportunities to people in isolated areas to go to jobs that are in the North. Mining, directly and indirectly, promotes something like 6,500 jobs. And I'm not just talking mining in the North, I'm obviously talking about the oil industry. That's a lot of jobs. And these jobs are good-paying jobs. I know with mining in the North, you've got to realize that we have a couple distinctions. One is we've got some of the highest per capita income paid to some of my constituents, but I also have some of the lowest per capita income. So we, as a province, are looking at, through training, through schooling, through apprenticeships, we hope to get people that haven't had that opportunity, haven't had that hope–okay, and that's, again, I've been mentioning it throughout–haven't got that hope to be able to feed their family or send their kids to school or get the opportunities where it can better their life, better themselves.
Through the jobs and the–good jobs and the economy are overcoming barriers. It's important because I think most of us in here, and I'm speaking for myself, we didn't have the barriers. I remember when I talked to Chief Arlen Dumas, he would say, Clarence, I just want the opportunities that you had growing up in a mining town and your dad had a good job. And he's right. I mean, I–my dad worked in the HudBay for 33 years and he worked there, tough job, but he worked there and he provided for his family and gave me opportunities.
And that's what this province is trying to do, Mr. Speaker, and that's what our Premier (Mr. Selinger) is leading us, and that is leading us to where jobs and the economy is No. 1. And also we want to show that the–Manitoba, through hydro, through mining, through any job for that matter, is a benefit to all of us, because if people have jobs, they're paying taxes, they're buying goods, and this helps everybody. And I know we've looked at statistics back and forth, where Manitoba has a very low unemployment rate. We have a very high retail rate, where people are buying goods. And I think this is a strong, strong message to all Manitobans.
The one confusing thing that I have is–last week, Mr. Speaker, we had a PMR on mining by the opposition, and I was very disappointed because they–in the gallery, they brought in some of the mining, important mining people, and they didn't even have enough speakers to speak on their resolution. And it's very important to me. They, you know, said that mining is not doing good. And I pride myself on working very hard, but I also pride the mining minister who has adapted to different situations within mining in Manitoba.
Like I say, the Fraser Institute, the institute that some say is the bible of the Conservative Party, has stated that we're doing quite well in Manitoba. But in my speech in that PMR, I stated, yes, there's work to do, and yes, we'll adapt to the different situations. And that's why we're–I thank the minister of mines for looking at different opportunities. I know he's met with the president of the mining–or prospectors association in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. And we look at things and how we can tweak things to make them better.
And we want the jobs in Manitoba here. We want them to stay in Manitoba. And I think this PMR is looking at barriers, whether it's in mining, whether it's in farming, whether it's in manufacturing, we've got to look at ways to create jobs in Manitoba, but also to keep the jobs here. It's very competitive out in the world today, Mr. Speaker, and we have to be at our sharpest to make sure that we are getting what Manitoba deserves.
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One thing, again, I'm disappointed in, I think the opposition always has their glass half empty. And they're saying, you know, if we got in power, we would cut back $500 million; we'd cut social programs; we'd cut teachers; we'd cut–you know, we would do a lot of cutting. And if they see what happened in Nova Scotia, it's quite sad, and I know our province has a vision and our Premier is working, all of us together, on that vision. The budget–what happened in Nova Scotia–the budget granted funding–or cut funding to departments of community services, environment, 'nashital' resources, seniors, health, wellness and particularly hard hit. I'm saying that this could possibly happen here with the doom and gloom in the opposition. And I think we have to realize that we cannot afford that.
A positive, innovative and visionary plan is necessary. We have that. Cutting services for those in need now will only lead to greater costs later. We're finding that throughout the world, people look to Manitoba as one of the economies that is doing very well. And I'm proud of my colleagues working in that direction. The–these programs often restore the capacity of families and individuals undergoing difficult times to become healthy, productive and contributive members of communities. Manitoba's vision to build promises economic and social prosperity. Cutting crucial services is not a plan at all.
That's what I wanted to put on record is that we have a plan. We have a plan to grow; we have a plan with jobs in the economy. We have a plan for the future. And the future is important, that our children and children's children can benefit from the work we're doing today.
And I have to say I'm proud of the direction we're going, and I know members on our side is going to talk about some of the recent developments and recent statistics, and, like I said, it's unfortunate that when we hear the opposition, they don't really seem to have any alternatives. We're all wondering: What would they do? Well, we know they would cut. We know they would cut because the Leader of the Opposition said, we would cut. We would have two‑tier medical system. We, you know, we–health care would be, you know, cut. We know teachers would be cut. We know that the public service, whatever, things would be cut. And how is this going to benefit Manitobans? How is there going to be a certainty? We got to have a certainty. And the certainty is in strong, stable government, and that strong, stable government is us, and we are going to get that train moving in the right direction. I know someone–[interjection] Yes.
And thank you, Mr. Speaker, for letting me put a few words on this great PMR. Thank you.
Mrs. Heather Stefanson (Tuxedo): I want to thank the member for Flin Flon (Mr. Pettersen) for bringing forward this very important resolution today for debate in the Manitoba Legislature.
In fact, Mr. Speaker, you know, we wouldn't have had to have had this kind of a resolution if the NDP government had done their job for the past 16 years, but the fact of the matter is because they haven't done their job and they have to come up with resolutions entitled Overcoming Barriers to Good Jobs because, unfortunately, there is a shortage of skilled workers in this province. And we know that–and I know the member for Flin Flon didn't support his leader in the latest leadership race, and I know there's other members in the House that also didn't support him. And I know that they recognize that, perhaps, he has created some of those barriers to good jobs in Manitoba. And we would agree with those people, and I hope that members opposite will see fit to vote this resolution down today because of some of the details that are put in it.
In fact, you know, here's a government that cannot run on its own track record for the last 16 years. They've got nothing positive to say. That they continuously have to go back to the 1990s and fabricate things about the Leader of the Opposition is absolutely unbelievable, Mr. Speaker. But that is a sign of a desperate government that's out of touch with reality, that is tired, out of steam. They can't think up some of their own ideas, and so they have to go back and blame others. And whether or not they blame the Filmon government of the past, whether or not they blame the federal government–they even blame the floods–they blame everybody else but themselves for what has gone on.
And the fact of the matter is we wouldn't have to be before this Manitoba Legislature having this kind of a debate today had the NDP government done its job for the last 16 years to create the kinds of jobs that are good for growing our economy here in Manitoba, Mr. Speaker. But we wouldn't have to be debating something called Overcoming Barriers to Good Jobs in our economy had they done their job for the last 16 years. So that is the first unfortunate part about this.
But I do want to talk a little bit about–a number of us have been up to the North in the last little while and we have–we had a great–great–discussion with many people in northern communities, Mr. Speaker, and we heard loud and clear from people that they're very concerned about the state of our economy in northern Manitoba. There's so much potential for northern Manitoba that has been squandered under this NDP government, and residents in northern Manitoba are starting to see that, especially in the mining industry where jobs have been jeopardized in northern Manitoba as a result of the policies of this NDP government, and Manitobans recognize that.
They recognize that this NDP government's priorities is not about creating good quality jobs in this province. It's about protecting their own political careers, Mr. Speaker, and that's the unfortunate part about all of this. Anything that we debate in the Manitoba Legislature seems to be more about protecting themselves politically than doing what's in the best interest of Manitobans. And I think if they truly believed in creating good jobs–and we all know how the economy grows in Manitoba. It's about creating jobs in the private sector. It's about the small- and mid-size-business private sector in Manitoba. Those are the ones that create the jobs. That's what we on this side of the House believe, but members opposite believe that they create jobs in Manitoba, that it's government that creates the jobs. They're the only ones that create jobs in Manitoba, meaning government, and that is just completely backwards from reality.
And I just–I want to remind members opposite, also, when we were in northern Manitoba we heard about the latest apprenticeship rules that the government changed and how they have had a negative impact because we know there is a shortage of skilled workers–we heard that loud and clear–whether or not it be in the mining industry or other industries in northern Manitoba. And I think it's–what's really unfortunate is the members don't care about that. As long as they continue to do whatever will protect their own political careers, Mr. Speaker, it doesn't matter about what happens to Manitobans. They don't care about those.
And if they did, Mr. Speaker, then they would listen to people that–the hard-working people who put together the 2008 Apprentice–ship Futures Commission report. And that report stated, and I quote: The standard ratio of journey–persons to apprentices across all trades and for all apprenticeship levels are considered by employer groups and those representing the equity groups to be a barrier to access and engagement in the apprenticeship system.
And they went on to say: This is especially evident in the northern and rural communities where it is very difficult to find qualified journeypersons. This ratio is perceived to negatively impact the journeyperson's individual productivity, the ability of employers to effectively utilize their resources and the employers' willingness to–and capacity to hire potential apprentices, including those from the identified equity groups. There are few training models that require one-to-one instruction. In fact, it was mentioned that there is no such requirement for the technical training component where there may be extensive practical applications situations. It was also suggested that level 3 and 4 apprentices for the most part do not require one-on-one supervision and could assume supervision for levels 1 and 2 apprenticeship–apprentices.
So, clearly, the government's own commission sees that there's barriers to getting a job that remain unaddressed, Mr. Speaker. The fact is that the government doesn't listen. They don't listen to their own reports that they come out with, and that's the unfortunate part about this.
Now, again, I want to go into just talking a little bit about–because members opposite like to put false information when it comes to the economic track record of Manitoba over the course of the last number of years, especially since this current Premier (Mr. Selinger) came in to power in 2009 and when he took over as leader of their party for the first time. We know that there was another time a few months ago where he once again came–became leader of his party.
But the facts speak for themselves, Mr. Speaker, and I want to just highlight a few facts that members opposite seem to just gloss over and maybe turn a blind eye to because they don't want to accept the fact that these are facts and these are the reality.
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And I want to talk about the city of Winnipeg. Since 2009, when this Premier first became the leader of his party, the job growth in Winnipeg was second worst in the country, and that's nothing to write home about, and this is exactly why members opposite should vote against this. And I know, again, members opposite, there's many of them that didn't support this leader for the leadership of their party and to remain Premier of this province, Mr. Speaker, and they should listen to this, because this is the harsh reality. I think many of them know it, and I think it–that's the reason why many of them voted against this Premier to remain the leader of their party.
But the facts speak for themselves, Mr. Speaker, and it goes on. So, of the top 10 major cities in Canada, again, since 2009, when this Premier took over the leadership of his party, the employment rate in Winnipeg decreased more than any other major city in Canada. That is nothing to be proud about, and Winnipeg's labour force was the second last in Canada in growth.
Not only that, Mr. Speaker, but unemployment grew the third most. In fact, seven of the 10 biggest city–Canadian cities reduced unemployment over the period when we–when our unemployment grew the third most in our country. Winnipeg's unemployment rate saw the second biggest increase in Canada. Only two other top-10 cities had unemployment increases since 2009.
So clearly, Mr. Speaker, this government doesn't know what they're talking about when it comes to economic performance, when it comes to job indicators and job creation in our province and in our city, and I think what's unfortunate is that they–and they have been, since this Premier (Mr. Selinger) came into power, when he took over the leadership of his party in 2009, the economy has been nine out of–has been the second last growing economy in our country. And that is unfortunate that they won't come to terms with reality; that those are the facts and they refuse to look at the facts when it comes to things. They want to nitpick in different numbers and make themselves look good because they need to protect their own political careers, and it's unfortunate that that's all that they care about.
So, Mr. Speaker, I would again encourage members opposite, especially those that believe that, you know, overcoming to barriers–overcoming barriers to good jobs, it should have been something that they worked on over the last 16 years; they haven't. This government has clearly failed at it. This resolution talks about things back in the 1990s. It has nothing to do with the reality that this government has had 16 years to address this problem, and they failed.
Thank you very much.
Ms. Amanda Lathlin (The Pas): Good morning, Mr. Speaker. I'm proud to hear–to be supporting our resolution today. Many individuals in our province face a variety of barriers when seeking employment. We are committed to helping all Manitobans find good work that will help them build a life in our province. Our government is partnering with several organizations that are working to break down barriers to employment. We support these initiatives and call for further engagement with partner organizations that will ultimately help reduce unemployment rates in Manitoba.
When people have opportunities to access good‑paying jobs, their quality of life improves dramatically. Let me share with you, Mr. Speaker. My older brother, Curtis Lathlin, in regards to improving life, was–I sponsored him when he enrolled in the Jobs Skills North program. That program addressed the root of our unemployment by providing job-readiness skills. These students probably did not have goals prior to this program. This program helped our people realize goals, overcome these barriers, improve job-readiness skills, resumes, cover letters, interviews and even obtaining certificates that would be significant in finding employment.
My brother graduated. He was probably the most popular student in that program, and with that he moved out of my home. He's now paying rent on his own. His self-esteem, confidence is through the roof. He has a good-paying job now at the Kikiwak Inn. This is because of a job-readiness skills program provided by the jobs and economy department.
We are committed to reducing gender and demographic disparities in skills–skilled trades to give women and people of traditionally under-represented groups more opportunities for advancement in these fields. Right now women only make up 10 per cent of the workforce in the skilled trades. Right now, women only make up 10 per cent of the workforce in the skilled trades, and only 2 per cent of that in trades traditionally dominated by men. We want to improve those stats by making these trades more representative.
Again, I cannot mention UCN enough. When I walk down the hallway where our trades classrooms are, it's truly an honour when I see women walking out of those classrooms–carpentry programs, millwright programs. A woman from Moose Lake even high-fived me when she got out of a truck; she was just–her first time in a truck in the truck driving course program. Now that was empowering, that was a very empowering to me.
Also, too, with UCN, I just want to share with our members here our mission statement. When I was employed there and as a northerner this is why I was truly honoured to be working in that organization. Now listen to our mission statement: Our mission is to ensure northern communities and people will have access to educational opportunities, knowledge and skills while being inclusive and respectful of diverse northern and Aboriginal values and beliefs.
So with that mission statement I was always honoured to walk into those doors and report to work every day.
Also check out our UCN website. It's a wonderful website that will share success stories, reality, if you will, provided by our government for students here in the North; check it out, ucn.ca. I welcome people to attend our graduation at UCN, June 16th and June 18th. Come and see the reality of our students graduating and contributing to our economy and to our labour force.
Also, too, with women in trades, I was asked by a teacher at the RD Parker high school–collegiate in Thompson by an instructor to help him, how would he be able to increase and encourage more women to enter the trades. The first name that entered my mind was Annette Head of Opaskwayak Cree Nation. She's a Red Seal certified carpenter. So I got them together and I–she went there to go speak to the class to encourage women to enter the trades.
Through our partnership with the University College of the North, we are providing more opportunities for students to learn skilled trades with dual credit programming that will help high school students get into trades earlier. Now let's go further than that. The Career Trek program addressed young children and two of my daughters graduated from that program this year. [interjection] Yes. And with that they were exposed and introduced to our programs that are offered in the North, such as trades, nursing and even natural resources. My two daughters graduated from that program, Elyse and Natanis. And guess what, after a week of being in that program, or several weeks, I should say, my daughter Natanis came out of the program wanting to be a nurse. My daughter Elyse came out of program wanting to be a politician.
We are also helping to support the mining industry and create more opportunities for young people in the North to stay and work close to home. The Northern Manitoba Mining Academy in Flin Flon offers extensive training and the latest equipment and proper safety procedures. When I was with UCN, with human resources, I was honoured to be part of that interview process to hire qualified Northern Manitoba Mining Academy co-ordinator.
Now another thing I want to share, when I was an employment counsellor with Employment Manitoba, which it was called then, I want to share some success stories. You know, I understand the role of our critics, but I just want to share some success stories.
I've worked as a team and helped provide opportunities for a single mother and a single father to overcome their barrier which was no child care. They wanted to go to a training program at UCN. Also, too, I was part of the team, too, to enroll students into our Job Skills North program. As their employment counsellor, Mr. Speaker, we worked together to overcome their barriers by putting in place a solid plan to address their goal to improve their quality of life.
And with that, I just want to share that I was part of a wonderful committee that consisted of our universities and colleges in Manitoba–UCN, U of W, U of M, Red River College, Assiniboine Community College, Brandon University and MITT. It was a committee whose goal is to increase employment of our under-represented groups within our post‑secondary schools.
* (11:30)
So with that I just want to say that I support this resolution, and I was proud to be part of the process during my career and especially right now.
Thank you.
Mr. Shannon Martin (Morris): Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to rise today and put some comments on the record to this resolution.
I thought it was interesting the member for Flin Flon (Mr. Pettersen), during his opening remarks, talked about how he'd been quite confused last week. And yet when I listened to him make his remarks and wax eloquently about the leadership of his Premier (Mr. Selinger), I was a little bit confused, Mr. Speaker, because it seemed only just a few short months ago that he was warning that we got to have the member for St. Boniface (Mr. Selinger) resign so that we can move forward, and that he's had his career and it's time to move out and have somebody else lead this party.
You know, the member for Flin Flon said, are you going to stay on, and the Titanic's going down, are you going to jump? And then he went on and he said, he knows where I stand, I tried to persuade him to resign for the betterment of the people of Manitoba, not to think about himself, but to think about the harm he will do to the people of Manitoba.
So it was very interesting, Mr. Speaker, to hear the member for Flin Flon this morning say–you know, talk about how much he supports and endorses his Premier when, you know, just, again, a few short months ago he was anything but supportive of his Premier. In fact, that was part of the whole coup against the Premier and how the Premier wasn't really representing the interests or the priorities of Manitobans, and during that entire time frame, and I would suggest probably for months leading up to that time frame, the government was in virtual paralysis with very little getting done.
But, Mr. Speaker, I've read the resolution and it is–it's an interesting resolution and it talked about how the provincial government collaborates and partners with non-profits to deliver services and programs aimed at breaking down barriers to employment, and I agree that's an important role for government, is to work with the non-profit sector. There are a number of very well-run non-profits in our province and in the city of Winnipeg.
Mr. Speaker, I had the good fortune to be involved with a not-for-profit for several years versus as a board member, and then for several years as its executive director. So I saw first-hand the work that the non-profit did, more importantly the work that the individuals who were employed there did in terms of their role in breaking barriers to employment.
So it was–I was interested, Mr. Speaker, or a bit dismayed when the government, in the resolution that was brought forward, talked about, you know, these organizations that broke down barriers. They made no real reference to a large contingent of, again, of not-for-profits here in the city of Winnipeg, who are working every day to break down those barriers and achieve those employment goals for their participants.
I mean the vision impaired resource centre, Mr. Speaker, great, great organization that does a lot of fine work here in the city of Winnipeg, opportunities employment, which is actually just down the street on Portage and–on Donald, again a good organization. Their executive director is a dynamic individual that believes passionately in what he does.
Mr. Speaker, Reaching E-Quality Employment Services, which I had the good fortune to be a part of for several years, again, they take their mission to heart in terms of working with persons who self‑identify as persons with disabilities. Youth Employment Services, another great organization in the Exchange District, again, focusing on young people who have barriers to employment and working with them to overcome those barriers. Again, there's the DASCH program for persons with intellectual disabilities. There's the CAHRD program. The Independent Living Resource Centre, the HOPE centre, the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Society for Manitobans with Disabilities, so there is a significant, significant number of non-profits here in the city of Winnipeg who every day get up, go to work and do their part in terms of breaking down the barriers that this resolution speaks to.
I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, I know in terms of my work with the non-profit sector and seeing the work they did and the process involved, I mean individuals would come through our doors and, I mean, obviously, there was an assessment process and it would start with simple just a–with almost a questionnaire to sort of get a–learn a little bit more background and to try to find out which of the programs that we as an organization offer would best suit this individual, their self-identified barriers and potentially their goals in terms of next steps towards finding employment.
And we weren't always the best organization in terms of helping that particular individual. The individual may be–may have been better served by another organization such as the visually–visual–sorry, the Vision Impaired Resource centre, and so we would absolutely make referrals to another agency and say, you know, this other agency is actually in a better position and they have better experience helping individuals who share your employment barrier and, in turn, we received many, many referrals from other agencies.
And then–so the next part, Mr. Speaker, is they would sit down with an employment counsellor and begin that one-on-one component and really get down to working on their–on identifying, you know, gaps in their life skills, their employment skills, working on how to start looking for work. And for a lot of individuals that came through our door, it was really these basic skills, you know, how do I write a cover letter, you know, how do I write a resume, how do I even look for work? I mean, even looking for work has changed phenomenally over the years. Really, the days of you simply just going around and dropping off a resume are going by the wayside. In a lot of instances it's even the old-style resumes are going by the wayside as a number of organizations, especially large organizations that use electronic means and electronic portals which, in fact, have their own limitations. I remember working with a few of them because they were timed portals in which you had a set time, and I believe it may be have been 10 or 20 minutes in which you had to complete your application. And we had clients of ours coming forward and saying, you know, because of my disability, I simply don't have the ability to complete this within the 20 minutes. Now, that's not to say they can't complete it. They just needed more time. They're able to provide all the information required, but, again, maybe it was, you know, in the–whether it was chronic fatigue syndrome or maybe it was the result of paralysis, they may have required additional time and support.
But we did see a lot of success, Mr. Speaker. We saw individuals come through our door who, again, self-identified as a person with a disability or health condition, and we helped work with them and worked with the employer in terms of, you know, now that we've identified that barrier, the potential barrier to employment, how do we overcome that barrier? How do we work with that employer? And one of the biggest misconceptions out there, especially for employers that we worked hard on overcoming–and I'll be honest; a great deal of more work has to be done. And I know the member for Fort Rouge (Ms. Howard) during her tenure as minister responsible for Persons with Disabilities worked hard on this file as well.
But, Mr. Speaker, it was that misconception that accommodation for persons with disabilities was somehow financially onerous for an employer that suddenly you would need all sorts of new equipment and, in fact, it would be a burden to the employer. And nothing could be further from the truth. Again, Statistics Canada–and I know members opposite don't care for Statistics Canada as of late–but Statistics Canada suggested that the average accommodation was under $500 and, in fact, persons with disabilities had a better attendance record than persons without disabilities as well, and in follow‑ups with employers, we found that employers actually found that they added not only to the, obviously, the diversity of the workplace, but they added to the morale of the workplace and opened up new learning opportunities.
I remember one individual, Mr. Speaker–and obviously, I won't use their name, so I'll just say Sue–who was–had a–who was deaf. And we were able to achieve an employment opportunity in the customer service sector. And, again, this is where technology comes in. Obviously, American Sign Language is a–is the backbone of the deaf community, but for a lot of individuals, you know, besides some rudimentary phrases, it can be a bit of a challenge to learn. And smart phones have made a tremendous advancement in terms of being able to communicate with persons of visual–or, sorry, with hearing impairments.
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Mr. Speaker, I always think it's interesting, as well, when the members opposite talk about barriers. They don't talk about–and they talk about funding reductions. They don't talk about their own recent clawback. They went to every non-profit, they went to 122 non-profits they fund, and they said, we want you to give back 4 per cent of your allocated funds. We want this back.
The member for Burrows (Ms. Wight), I remember, was ranting and raving about, you're making this up and prove it, Mr. Speaker. And yet, FOIs suggest otherwise. In fact, they don't just suggest, they prove otherwise.
Mr. Speaker: Order, please. The honourable member's time for this has elapsed.
Hon. Dave Chomiak (Government House Leader): Mr. Speaker, on House business.
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to rule 31(8), I'm announcing that the private member's resolution to be considered next Tuesday will be one put forward by the honourable member for St. Norbert (Mr. Gaudreau). The title of the resolution is 2015 Year of Sport.
Mr. Speaker: It has been announced that the private member's resolution that will be considered next Tuesday will be the one put forward by the honourable member for St. Norbert, and the title of the resolution is 2015 Year of Sport, for the information of the House.
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Mr. Speaker: Now, further debate.
Mr. Dave Gaudreau (St. Norbert): Mr. Speaker, it's always a pleasure to get up after the opposition speaks to then put some actual facts on the record.
I just wanted to say I'm glad the member for Morris (Mr. Martin) recognizes that training youth is important. It was great to hear. Actually, I was just talking with the member for St. Vital (Ms. Allan), who was the minister of Education at the time, and she made a big announcement in his area about trades and training, and we invested in a big school in the area. And she said she actually saw the member for Morris out in the crowd. So I'm just kind of disappointed he didn't mention it in his speech. I mean, it's, you know, the millions of dollars that we've invested into his area to help training and trades, you'd think that that would be important when we're talking about jobs and the economy.
But you know, when we look at their record overall, when you look at–you know, I know the member for Tuxedo (Mrs. Stefanson) doesn't like to talk about the past. They want to erase history because it's not kind to them. But we can talk about the present and what their party is doing federally, which was to underspend the budget on youth training and for people who have disabilities by $92 million. They underspent it in a time when, in Canada, the youth unemployment rate is 17.2 per cent. So, you know, he likes to talk about youth training, but their party actually doesn't put their money where their mouth is when it comes to youth training. They actually don't fund it, Mr. Speaker.
They like to talk a big game and they like to complain about what we do, and they say that they–oh, well, it's terrible, terrible, terrible. Well, you know, the member for Tuxedo got up last week and she said she likes to believe in StatsCan numbers. Well, StatsCan came out with a great number: the highest retail sales in the country, Mr. Speaker, right here in Manitoba. You know what StatsCan also said? We're the No. 1 city, Winnipeg is the No. 1 city for growth of western Canada–oh, another great news story. But all they want to do–they hate all this good news. That's the problem.
They want to just whine and whine and talk about how terrible it is and the sky is falling. But, you know, you go to stores everywhere, and it's packed. People are spending money. I was out this weekend, you know, buying flowers for the yard and the garden, and I couldn't believe the amount of people there, like, spending money in our economy, Mr. Speaker.
And that is because the economy here is actually doing really well, despite the negative nellies on the other side. You know, we hear them talking about how it's just terrible. Then why are we tied for the second lowest unemployment rate in the country, Mr. Speaker, if it's so bad here? You know, like, according to them, then why are we the second lowest unemployment rate in the country?
You know, they don't like talking about history because under her and the Leader of the Opposition, the unemployment rate was almost double what it is now. They hit over 10 per cent underneath them. We're under 6, we're at–I think we're at 5.4, depending on what time of the month; it fluctuates. But we're the second lowest in the country, almost half of what it was underneath them. So of course they hate history. History sucks for them. It's totally not a friend to them. History is a terrible thing.
I mean, that's why, when they were in power, they actually tried to remove history from the programming in school, because they don't want you to know about it. Why do you think right now the federal government has ordered the museum, a national museum in Ottawa, to take away the exhibit about the 1919 General Strike? Because history's not kind to the Conservatives. They don't want to remember all the stuff that labour has done, Mr. Speaker.
You know, he–she wants to talk about job creation and the economy, and she's–she–I know that they don't ever build anything, Mr. Speaker, and that's probably why she doesn't realize, the member for Tuxedo has no idea, that actually governments do create some jobs. We create jobs when we hire more doctors, like we have in Manitoba, and we hire more nurses. That's not private sector work. It would be underneath them, because they would privatize health care, but under us, we hire more doctors and we hire more nurses, and then they shop in the economy. And when that happens, it creates more jobs.
They also–I know the member for Tuxedo likes to think that all the jobs–she said, well, jobs should be in the private sector. Well, good thing, because you know what, there's another great stat: four out of five jobs created in Manitoba have been in the private sector, Mr. Speaker. Thousands of jobs have been created. Four out of five in the private sector, despite what the member of Tuxedo likes to put all that false information on the record. They have no clue because they've never built anything. They wouldn't know.
When we're doing all this construction on the roadway, it's not all provincial workers doing this work; it's private contractors. Your–you know what? If your–if she'd like to go and talk to maybe the Manitoba Heavy Construction Association, they might actually talk to her about that and say, you know, it's fantastic. All of our members, people like, you know, PCL and Maple Leaf Construction, man, they can't get enough workers because the jobs being created for road construction and construction in this province right now, is second to none. It's phenomenal and we're building like never before. Those are private sector jobs, the ones that the member for Tuxedo says that they would like to create.
But, wait, oh, history, Mr. Speaker. Let's look at their record when they spent $92 million a year on roads compared to our over $700 million on roads. And I know she wouldn't think that that creates jobs because, you know, in their mind nobody builds the roads, they just appear. They just happen–$92 million a year–made sure that those roads would just happen. Well, that's not how it is because the captains of industry have never built a thing in this province. They don't know how to build. Because what got built underneath them? Oh, nothing. That's why they hate history.
You know, it's unbelievable for them to talk about what they want to–like, the false information that's put on the record. Let's just look to the east of us, when we look at Nova Scotia's budget. The member for Morris (Mr. Martin) talked about how great private sector is and how all of these community groups are fantastic. Well, then he must be raging angry at the Conservative government out east because you know what they did in their budget? They reduced funding grants for all of the people in community service, environmental, natural, health, resources, seniors, health and wellness. All those things were cut, Mr. Speaker.
You know what? Here, we're investing in that, so he must be very happy with our budget. He talked about how he really would like youth investment. Well, he must be angry with this federal masters and overlords because they're cutting youth investment. Had they had spent that $92 million on youth training, maybe we wouldn't have a 17.2 per cent national youth unemployment rate, Mr. Speaker.
It's–they are the government of cuts. That's all they would do. UCN wouldn't exist underneath them. They voted against it. They didn't want anything to do with UCN. They didn't want to build campuses in Thompson. They didn't want to build campuses in The Pas. Because to them north Winnipeg is nothing more than the north Perimeter–or north Manitoba is nothing more than the north Perimeter. That's as far as they go, Mr. Speaker. They don't invest in the North.
They like to say, oh, we visited the North. Once? They went up there once on a–once in 15 years for a fact-finding mission and then they come out with their northern strategy which was absolutely terrible. Their northern strategy would be to cut–cut $550 million from the budget, 70,000 job losses, because people would be unemployed, because we're not building roads. And not private sector job–or public sector jobs, private sector jobs would be cut, Mr. Speaker. So the member for Tuxedo (Mrs. Stefanson) would be very angry at that; private sector jobs are being cut.
You know, they talk about–a big game about investing but when it comes down to it, all they do is whine about how terrible things are because they have nothing. In the end they have nothing because Manitoba is doing very well underneath our government, Mr. Speaker. We are building like never before. You cannot drive anywhere in this province without running into construction sites. And at those construction sites are people working in good jobs.
The member for Tuxedo put more false information on the record, whining about how our–that we have a shortage of trades in Manitoba. It's across North America. Let's put that on the record. It's not unique to Manitoba. But what's unique in Manitoba is that we're investing in the programs. We've doubled the amount of apprentices, over doubled them, 10,000 more apprentices being trained right here in Manitoba. Underneath them, what would happen? Cuts, just like they did. That's why they don't like history because what they did was cut the programs that had tradespeople coming through. Instead, we're building.
I was at Red River last week with the Minister of Education and the Premier (Mr. Selinger). And we announced a $60-million investment in training and the trades. You know what the member for Tuxedo did? She voted against that budget that funds that. So she wants to have it both ways. Oh, Mr. Speaker, we have not enough people in this province, we don't have enough trade people, but I won't support any funding that will actually train the trade people. That's the difference when you get our government; we fund all of these things.
* (11:50)
So with those few truths on the record, I thank you very much.
Mr. Wayne Ewasko (Lac du Bonnet): Mr. Speaker, good morning to you and to my colleagues in this House.
It's very interesting that the member from St. Norbert stands up today and crows about various things in regards to history lessons. And, Mr. Speaker, on this side of the House, we don't need any lessons from that member over there, because if he was listening to his own history lesson, it was only a short few months ago when he couldn't figure out which leader within his party he was supporting. And he stands up today crowing from all sides of the House, echoing throughout this fantastic building of ours, when he wasn't even supporting the Premier (Mr. Selinger) back then. Matter of fact, he's still, I think, going from door to door trying to get a petition signed or a solidarity pledge. That's what it was.
Now, in regards to the resolution put forward by the member from Flin Flon–no–Flin Flon, I appreciate the member from Flin Flon also standing up and putting a few words on the record in regards to the resolution that he brought forward because, as the member from St. Norbert almost filibustered this resolution on his own, the member from Flin Flon also didn't–wasn't supporting the Premier in the last leadership race.
So we're going–I'm going to put a few words on the record in regards to the resolution, and it is interesting that this NDP government in reality was in the business of creating the barriers to the employment by strangling our economy with high taxes and tape, broken-promise government, and they continue to do that each and every day in this House, Mr. Speaker. I was going to say every year, but it's each and every day.
The title of the resolution is Overcoming Barriers to Good Jobs. I know that my colleague from Tuxedo who started off the debate on this resolution had mentioned that the fact is the member from Flin Flon wouldn't have needed to bring forward a resolution titled Overcoming Barriers to Good Jobs if his own government wouldn't have spent the last 16 years creating those barriers for people, and instead of talking all the time, get actual–those words into actions, Mr. Speaker.
This resolution is correct in stating that there are different types of barriers to getting a good job, and we all know that, Mr. Speaker. We're all human beings, we're all Manitobans, we're all taxpayers, and we know that in last year's budget–guessed that our economy was going to grow 2.2 per cent just last year, but, in fact, last year's budget, they estimated was that it actually only grew by half that amount. So even their forecasters–and we're not even going to get into the flooding situation within this wonderful province of ours, but some of their forecasters are missing the mark, and I blame it on the leadership.
I blame it on the leadership within this NDP government, because I do believe that we have fantastic people working in this province of ours, whether that's in Manitoba Infrastructure, whether that's in the Education Department, also our teachers, our teacher's aides, all our support staff, our bus drivers, our professors at the colleges and universities. I just do see that our biggest barrier to creating a stable economy, more jobs for our youth, is the fact that our leadership are spending far more time going door to door knocking and trying to protect their own jobs as opposed to actually putting some of their talk into action and creating those opportunities for Manitobans.
Matter of fact, we know that almost 2,000 fewer Manitobans had a job in 2014 than the year before. That's not steady growth, Mr. Speaker. That's the third biggest–third largest decline in Canada. [interjection] And if the member from Burrows has–you know, wants to put a few words on the record, I'm sure she's more than able to stand up in the next few minutes and put a few words on the record to dispute. I applaud her to stand up and do some of that research.
Out of the 10 largest cities in Canada, Winnipeg ranks last place for job creation since the end of the recession in 2009. Winnipeg has only had 4 per cent more jobs now than it did when the Premier took office and only 4 per cent more than it did when the recession officially ended.
Now, I know that the government side, the NDP government side, likes to always talk about how much we love Saskatchewan and we always talk about how great Saskatchewan is doing, so I'm going to put a few words on the record in regards to how well Ontario has done. So the Ontario city of Kitchener grew three times faster than Winnipeg; 12 per cent more people have jobs in Kitchener, Cambridge, Waterloo, than in 2009.
Job creation in cities like Quebec and Toronto was twice as fast as it was here in Winnipeg since the recession. All the other major cities in Canada have recovered from the recession, but Winnipeg is still trying to cope with its NDP government. It would be unreasonable to wonder why it has been worse for Winnipeg's economy, besides the fact that it's been under leadership of this present NDP government.
Mr. Speaker, I do want to speak to a few of the education issues within our province because that is truly close and dear to my own heart, coming from the teaching profession. And I would like to talk about some of the, again, the barriers and some of the things that we've said that we're going to support or possibly do–or do, I should say, when we win the next election in April, on April 19th, 2016. I'm looking forward to that date.
You know, Mr. Speaker, the current apprenticeship-to-journeyman ratio in this province is one-to-one. The PC party would increase the ratio to one-to-two, one journeyman to two apprentices. Alberta already allows for this ratio in most trades and Ontario does for many trades as well. As a matter of fact, from the 2008 Apprenticeship Futures Commission report, which is their report, it says–and I know that the member from Tuxedo mentioned a little bit of this earlier, but I think it's worthwhile repeating because it just shows the arrogance that is within this NDP government where they're not even willing to listen to their own people, to their own commissioned reports.
So, Mr. Speaker, the commissioned report says–from 2008–the standard ratio of journeyperson's to apprentices across all trades and for all apprenticeship levels are considered by employer groups and those representing the equity groups to be a barrier to access and engagement in the apprenticeship system. I quote: This is especially evident in the northern and rural areas where it's very difficult to find qualified journeypersons. This ratio is perceived to negatively impact the journeyperson's individual productivity, the ability of employers to effectively utilize their resources, and the employers' willingness and capacity to hire potential apprentices including those from the identified equity groups. End quote. Another one, quote: There are few training models that require one-to-one instruction. In fact, it was mentioned that there is no such requirement for the technical training component where there may be extensive practical application situations. End quote.
Mr. Speaker, these are–this is the commissioned report by this government to this government in 2008. The member from Flin Flon is a member who, you know, was a colleague with her teacher up in that area as well, in the northern communities. Where are they? They've got the commissioned reports, all they have to do is implement some of those recommendations and be open and transparent and receptive to a lot of those suggestions. But instead of doing anything about removing or reducing this barrier to access, this government has now put forward a resolution to pat itself on the back while it continues to ignore the problem.
The NDP government should be focused on critical issues that are impacting people in Manitoba, including children and youth who are the future of this province, Mr. Speaker, but instead they are failing young people. We continue to pay far more and we're getting far less for our tax dollars.
They continue to take our deficit and increase our debt almost exponentially, Mr. Speaker. I think this year again we've–they missed their mark last year. Their estimated deficit was, you know, 300‑and-some million. They think it's chump change. They actually surpassed that estimated debt by–or deficit by 20 per cent plus, and this year they create a budget that, again, is another 20 per cent on top of that, and that's just estimated so you might as well tack on another 20 per cent on top of that.
Mr. Speaker, under the NDP government our high school graduation rate is perpetually one of the worst in the country. This year Manitoba scored last of all provinces in math, in reading and in science on the last Pan-Canadian Assessment, and also scored among the lowest in the country on the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment, which is PISA, this year. And it saddens me because I'm a teacher and I know darn well that the reasons that the–
Mr. Speaker: Order, please.
When this matter is again before the House, the honourable member for Lac du Bonnet (Mr. Ewasko) will have one minute remaining.
The hour being 12 noon, this House is recessed and stands recessed until 1:30 p.m. this afternoon.