Friday, December 16, 1994
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA
Friday, December 16, 1994
The House met at 10 a.m.
PRAYERS
ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS
PRESENTING PETITIONS
Physical Education in Schools
Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Inkster): Mr. Speaker, I beg to present the petition of Lauren Laxdal, Barbara Korol, Janina Rekrut and others urging the Minister responsible for Education (Mr. Manness) to consider reinstating physical education as a compulsory core subject area.
Mr. Doug Martindale (Burrows): Mr. Speaker, I beg to present the petition of L. Denis, T. McNeill, R. Schaubroeck and others urging the Minister of Education (Mr. Manness) to consider maintaining physical education as part of the core curriculum from kindergarten to senior high.
Mr. Clif Evans (Interlake): Mr. Speaker, I beg to present the petition of Mike Mauws, Kenn McDonald, Betty Reimche and others urging the Minister of Education (Mr. Manness) to consider maintaining physical education as part of the core curriculum from kindergarten to senior high.
Mr. Harry Schellenberg (Rossmere): Mr. Speaker, I beg to present the petition of Olive D. Dawson, Miles Jones, Jay Sullivan and others urging the Minister of Education (Mr. Manness) to consider maintaining physical education as part of the core curriculum from kindergarten to senior high.
Handi-Transit
Mr. George Hickes (Point Douglas): I beg to present the petition of Louise Maurukis, Katherine Hlady, Richard Gouthro and others urging the Minister of Urban Affairs (Mrs. McIntosh) to consider working with the City of Winnipeg and the disabled to develop a long-term plan to maintain Handi-Transit service and ensure that disabled Manitobans will continue to have access to Handi-Transit service.
Physical Education in Schools
Ms. Jean Friesen (Wolseley): Mr. Speaker, I beg to present the petition of M. Gisiger, M. Bjornson, M. Kowall and others urging the Minister of Education (Mr. Manness) to consider maintaining physical education as part of the core curriculum from kindergarten to senior high.
* (1005)
READING AND RECEIVING PETITIONS
Canada Post--Unsolicited Mail
Mr. Speaker: I have reviewed the petition of the honourable member (Ms. Friesen). It complies with the privileges and the practices of this House and it complies with the rules (by leave). Is it the will of the House to have the petition read?
Some Honourable Members: Dispense.
Mr. Speaker: Dispense.
The petition of the undersigned residents of the province of Manitoba humbly sheweth that:
WHEREAS each year over four billion advertisements and flyers are mailed to Canadian households by Canada Post alone; and
WHEREAS the number of trees used to produce this vast quantity of unwanted advertising is substantial; and
WHEREAS the amount of junk mail has doubled in the past five years; and
WHEREAS much of this advertising material is non-recyclable and ends up in landfills costing municipalities millions of dollars each year; and
WHEREAS repeated requests from consumers to have Canada Post not deliver junk mail at their homes have been denied; and
WHEREAS if it was mandatory that advertisers and distributors of unsolicited mail and flyers use only recycled material in all unsolicited mail and flyers delivered by Canada Post, this material could be recycled.
WHEREFORE your petitioners humbly pray that the Legislative Assembly request the federal minister responsible for Canada Post to consider bringing in legislation requiring all unsolicited mail and flyers to use recycled materials.
Physical Education in Schools
Mr. Speaker: I have reviewed the petition of the honourable member (Mr. Lamoureux). It complies with the privileges and the practices of this House and it complies with the rules. Is it the will of the House to have the petition read?
An Honourable Member: Yes.
Mr. Speaker: The Clerk will read.
Mr. Clerk (William Remnant): The petition of the undersigned citizens of the province of Manitoba humbly sheweth that:
THAT in July 1994, the Minister of Education introduced an action plan entitled Renewing Education: New Directions;
THAT this report will make physical education an optional course in Grades 9 to 12;
THAT the physical education curriculum should be regularly reviewed to ensure that it meets the needs of students;
THAT the government is failing to recognize the benefits of physical education such as improved physical fitness, more active lifestyles, health promotion, self-discipline, skill development, stress reduction, strengthened peer relationships, weight regulation, stronger bones, reduced risk of health diseases and improved self-confidence.
WHEREFORE your petitioners humbly pray that the Legislative Assembly urge the Minister responsible for Education to consider reinstating physical education as a compulsory core subject area.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS AND
TABLING OF REPORTS
Hon. Eric Stefanson (Minister of Finance): Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table two reports: the Quarterly Financial Report for the Manitoba Public Insurance Corporation, and the Statement as to the Fidelity Bonds on deposit with the Minister of Finance, pursuant to Chapter 230 of The Public Officers Act.
Hon. Rosemary Vodrey (Minister responsible for the Status of Women): Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table the Manitoba Women's Advisory Council Annual Report 1993-94.
Hon. Harold Gilleshammer (Minister charged with the administration of The Liquor Control Act): Mr. Speaker, I wish to table the Annual Report for the Manitoba Liquor Control Commission for the year 1993-94, as well as the first two quarterly reports for this year.
Hon. Glen Cummings (Minister of Environment): Mr. Speaker, I would like to table the 1993-94 Annual Report for the Department of Environment.
Hon. Jim Ernst (Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs): Mr. Speaker, I would like to table the 1993 calendar year report for the Residential Tenancies Branch and the Residential Tenancies Commission.
Social Assistance Information-Sharing Agreement
Hon. Bonnie Mitchelson (Minister of Family Services): Mr. Speaker, I have a statement for the House, and I have copies.
Today I have the pleasure of announcing that we have signed an information-sharing agreement with Saskatchewan. This agreement enables Manitoba and Saskatchewan to identify where social assistance payments may have been duplicated between the two provinces.
Mr. Speaker, the vast majority of welfare recipients are honest people with a genuine need for assistance. Unfortunately, there are some individuals who are abusing this system, and their abuse is taking money away from needy families.
With this new information-sharing agreement in place, our governments will be able to ensure social assistance money goes to those who need it most. The agreement will help us detect those people who are not following the rules and are unlawfully taking money away from a valuable social program. Under the agreement, computer files will be compared in order to identify potential cases of abuse. All of the information will be kept confidential, and it will be used only for investigations.
Manitoba has a similar agreement in place with British Columbia, and we are working on similar arrangements with Alberta, Ontario and the Yukon. We all share the same goal: to ensure people who need social assistance receive it. We can help to achieve this by putting a stop to cases where welfare is being abused. Welfare fraud is a crime. It takes resources away from vulnerable people in our communities and it will not be tolerated.
Mr. Speaker, this new agreement complements other initiatives underway to ensure welfare dollars are spent responsibly. We have created a unit to investigate welfare abuse, and we have initiated a verification process that regularly matches client information with Unemployment Insurance, Vital Statistics and Revenue Canada. We have also introduced a telephone line for reporting fraud. The welfare fraud line was announced on June 29, 1994. As of November 18, 1994, 2,179 calls have been received. Of these, 1,583 calls were forwarded to field staff and they are now being dealt with. In fact, corrective action has already taken place in 188 of those cases. It is estimated that the savings from these cases alone is about $827,000.
Mr. Speaker, now those dollars can be used to help other people who require assistance. I believe strongly that we must support and protect the most vulnerable in our society while ensuring the accountability in our assistance program. This new agreement with Saskatchewan and our other initiatives will help us achieve this goal.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Doug Martindale (Burrows): Mr. Speaker, we thank the minister for her statement this morning. It is not news to us, of course. We knew this government was entering agreements with other provinces, and I think this is probably the third or fourth province that they have entered into agreement or had negotiations with.
* (1010)
Unfortunately, some of the minister's rhetoric is a little excessive. She talks about redirecting money to people in need when in fact none of the money will be redirected to people on social assistance, and the same with the welfare fraud line. No one can object to taxpayers' money being saved, but the money that is saved will not go to those people in need. It will just be less money put out by her government's department.
If this government really wanted to save money it would cancel the Workforce 2000 program with grants to corporations and particularly their corporate Tory friends. At the same time this government is not doing anything to help low-income people. In fact, they have cut back on programs. They have announced the Taking Charge! program which will not get anybody off social assistance. They have no goals as to how many people will be employed as a result of the Taking Charge! program. They have closed two Human Resources Opportunity Centres, and they are downsizing the Single Parent Job Access Program. So we are disappointed that this government is targeting low-income people, and in many cases, very unfairly. I am told by people in the community that once there is an allegation of fraud, people's benefits are cut off. In other words, they are guilty until proven innocent, which would not happen anywhere else in the justice system in Canada but does happen in Manitoba under this government. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Ms. Norma McCormick (Osborne): Mr. Speaker, again we have further evidence that this government is picking on the most disadvantaged and vulnerable of Manitoba's citizens. We continue to learn from this minister about the amount of money saved by these draconian measures but never anything about the cost of pursuing them.
We have evidence that we are finding other kinds of criminal activity going unchecked. We learned yesterday of the Prime Oil situation in which a person who has cost the taxpayers $300,000 is in fact fined $400. We also know that there are $14 million in unclaimed retail sales tax still uncollected.
If we are stewarding the resources of the citizens of Manitoba we might want to direct our energy and attention in other directions. Thank you.