Ramah Hebrew School
Mr. Mike Radcliffe (River Heights): Madam Speaker, I would like to draw the attention of the House to the accomplishments of the Ramah Hebrew School in my constituency of River Heights.
Ramah Hebrew School has been in River Heights since 1958 and has played an important and unique role in both the Jewish community and our community as a whole. The school belongs to the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue and is a part of the Jewish school board.
Ramah Hebrew School teaches approximately 200 in both preschool and elementary programs ranging in age from three-year-olds to Grade 6. Half the school day is used for teaching the provincial curriculum and the other half is reserved for the Hebrew language schooling.
(Mr. Marcel Laurendeau, Deputy Speaker, in the Chair)
Last year the Grade 3 class at the school was honoured with a visit by Premier Filmon which was held in conjunction with Manitoba's 125th birthday celebrations. The Premier and I were quite taken with how bright and verbal the students were and how this unique form of education has instilled a strong sense of community in our children at such a young age.
This will be Ramah's last year in River Heights. Next year the school will be operating out of the Asper Community Campus in Tuxedo together with a number of Jewish educational and cultural organizations.
I would ask all honourable members to join with me in wishing Ramah Hebrew School all the best in their new and improved facilities in the Asper Community Campus. Thank you very much, Mr. Deputy Speaker.
Winnipeg Police Association Annual Charity Ball
Mr. Gary Kowalski (The Maples): Mr. Deputy Speaker, today I rise to make mention of the fine work done by the Winnipeg Police Association. On Saturday, May 18, I attended the 72nd annual charity ball of the Winnipeg Police Association. The proceeds from this year's charity ball--as it has in the last 10 years--go to the Children's Hospital Research Foundation. In that time, the Winnipeg Police Association charity ball has raised over $116,000 for the Winnipeg Children's Hospital. This is especially gratifying to me as I spent almost a year in hospital when I was six years old. I know the fine work done at the hospital and I know the need for those funds, so it was with pleasure that I did take part.
Also present were the Deputy Minister of Justice, Bruce MacFarlane; the Commissioner of Protection, Parks and Culture, Loren Reynolds; and also the new Chief of the Winnipeg Police Services, Dave Cassels, was there. It was a very enjoyable event. The Winnipeg police band performed there. I think, as Jack Haasbeek, the president of the Winnipeg Police Association--it is an example of community policing in effect, that it was actually the police together with members of the community who raised these funds to benefit the children of our community.
I would ask all members to join with me in congratulating the Winnipeg Police Association for the wonderful work they did. Thank you.
Manitoba Telephone System--Privatization
Mr. Steve Ashton (Thompson): Mr. Deputy Speaker, my statement today is on the Manitoba Telephone System which again released its report, the '95 annual report, which documents the many important aspects of Manitoba Telephone System, not only for rates but also for the economy of the province of Manitoba. We are talking about more than $500 million that is put into the Manitoba economy and close to 4,000 jobs, jobs that are important to many communities across this province which are created by the Manitoba Telephone System.
I want to indicate I am very concerned about statements that are now being made by senior officials at MTS indicating that once MTS is privatized, we are most definitely going to be looking at some closures of offices in rural Manitoba and indeed staff reductions. I am particularly concerned that the government has never once acknowledged this fact.
To give some indication, I would encourage members of this House to look at how many communities in Manitoba have MTS offices and to ask the question whether we are going to continue to see, for example, operator services in Boissevain, if we are going to continue to see operator services in Minnedosa, but even more importantly, to ask whether we are going to continue to see many of the local and regional offices because, at a recent meeting that took place involving staff of MTS with senior officials, questions were asked about whether there will be losses. The bottom line was, the response was, most definitely under privatization there is going to be a reorganization and it will occur because the government will no longer be in a position to ensure through its influence that there is decentralization throughout the province of Manitoba in terms of jobs from MTS.
So the bottom line, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I ask the provincial government and I will be continuing to ask them to put on the record what the impact will be on jobs for MTS, particularly in rural and northern Manitoba, under privatization.
Balanced Budget
Mr. Tim Sale (Crescentwood): Mr. Deputy Speaker, during the election campaign the government ran hard and long on its promise to balance the budget. For years the Provincial Auditor had made the case that income earned during a period ought to be attributed to the period in which it is earned and not accrued into trust funds. He had made that case and she had made that case over and over again.
Finally in 1996-97, this government saw the wisdom and the correctness of the Auditor's suggestions and agreed to change their accounting practices to attribute all the lottery revenues to the year in which they were earned.
Now, those members opposite who read a balance statement will know that when you change your accounting practices, you have to go back and make adjustments to prior years so that you can have a comparable basis from which to look at each year in sequence.
The Auditor will be doing that. He will go back, he will make the corrections for the previous years, he will provide a table reconciling the real deficits for the years that they were claiming deficits that were larger than they really were. The Auditor will show that the balanced budget is a sham. It was not balanced, it is not balanced, and in fact at the end of the '95-96, on a Volume 3 basis, Public Accounts, there will be a deficit of $50 million.
This is a government that misled Manitobans during the election campaign in terms of its commitment to MTS, that misled Manitobans in regard to its commitment to home care, to Pharmacare, to vision care, to hospitals and to a balanced budget. They misled them all the way. Manitobas will not make the same mistake again.
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Manitoba Hydro-Centra Gas
Joint Venture
Ms. MaryAnn Mihychuk (St. James): Mr. Deputy Speaker, the decision of the provincial government to have Manitoba Hydro merge billing, power and energy marketing and consulting along with other services with Centra Gas is another indication of the plans to sell Manitoba Hydro piece by piece. Manitoba Hydro was split up into three separate divisions last month, just as previously occurred with MTS. MTS had their cable TV network sold off at a fire-sale rate along with other questionable actions, from forcing it to sign a $47-million telemarketing deal to dropping profitable activities to weaken its base.
MTS has the second-lowest residential rates in North America, while Manitoba Hydro has the lowest residential rates in North America. It is no accident that this government sees no contradiction in having a Crown entity which is a competitor of Centra Gas work with that company on joint power and energy marketing.
Increasingly, the government sees Crown assets as simply something to sell off. This government has lost any sense of planning or public policy being used, using our assets for public good. This government trashed both the energy conservation unit and the energy marketing divisions because it did not see their use.
We have seen that when it comes to election promises, their words mean nothing. They promised last year to protect health care. Instead, Pharmacare was gutted and eye exams were eliminated. Home care and hospitals have been threatened. MTS is being sold off and other assets are being put on the block. The Provincial Auditor has confirmed that even the so-called balanced budget of the election was a hoax.
The similarity between this collection of Conservatives and the former Mulroney Conservatives grows daily. Manitobans deserve better. It is time this government kept their election promises instead of just keeping their private promises to friends of the Conservative Party.