Mr. Gerry McAlpine (Sturgeon Creek): I want to inform the members that a couple of weeks ago Metropolitan Kiwanis Courts, a facility in the constituency of Sturgeon Creek, had the official opening. I had the pleasure, along with the Minister of Housing (Mr. Reimer) and the Minister of Health (Mr. McCrae), to attend this event. The Kiwanis Courts is a senior complex located in the constituency of Sturgeon Creek at 2300 Ness. The Kiwanis Courts has been providing secure and affordable nonprofit housing for those in their retirement years for over 30 years.

Building on this unparalleled tradition of service and with an eye towards the future, the complex was completely renovated and upgraded. The reconstruction of this building will ensure that it continues to serve those in their retirement years for many years to come.

The building is already fully rented, and there is currently a waiting list for future occupants. I think this shows the fine reputation that the staff of the Kiwanis Courts have helped to build. It is also an acknowledgment of the comfort and security that the residents receive at Kiwanis Courts.

Many of you are aware of the challenges I faced with it in trying to get this facility reconstructed in order that seniors could benefit. I know that members across the way were doing their very best to try and stop any progress and improvements that I was trying to make for the seniors in Sturgeon Creek. I know that the members opposite will particularly be disappointed to learn that all things are well and good in Sturgeon Creek.

I would like to go on record on behalf of the residents of Sturgeon Creek and thank the Minister of Health (Mr. McCrae) and all my colleagues in the government in supporting me in providing these well-deserved seniors with a tremendous facility. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Ms. Becky Barrett (Wellington): Madam Speaker, on Wednesday, October 16, the president of the Manitoba Society of Seniors, Mary Pankiw, and I attended the 21st annual convention of the Minnesota Seniors Federation in Freeport, Minnesota. Over 300 seniors renewed friendships, debated resolutions and heard from representatives of the U.S. senatorial candidates. The Minnesota Seniors Federation will be concentrating on three areas of concern over the next year, health care reform, prescription drug costs and social security, issues that are of deep concern to Manitoba and Canadian seniors as well.

Mary Pankiw and I found the Minnesota seniors to be warm, friendly and very interested in our health care issues. They travelled to Winnipeg in 1995 and again this summer to publicize the need for prescription drug reform in Minnesota. This year, they also participated in the home care strike. The Minnesota seniors were extremely pleased when we told them that the home care system was largely public, due in no small part to their participation in the home care strike.

I know all Manitoba legislators wish the Minnesota Seniors Federation good luck in their continuing fight for a safe, healthy and secure future for Minnesota seniors and will recognize that their fight is our fight. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Madam Speaker: Order, please. I wonder if I might ask all those members having private meetings to do so either in the loges or outside the Chamber.

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Madam Speaker, I would like to recognize in the House today a very special event that happened in London, England, this morning, which I feel deserves our recognition.

This morning, Mrs. Kathleen Brown, Chief of Protocol for the Province of Manitoba, and someone who is known and respected by all members of this House, was awarded the honour of the Royal Victorian Order by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in a special ceremony at Buckingham Palace. This is the 100th anniversary of the Royal Victorian Order established in 1896 by Queen Victoria and it is an award conferred for extraordinary important or personal service to the sovereign or members of the royal family. Mrs. Brown is the first Manitoban to ever receive the award and she was also the only Canadian named to the Queen's Birthday Honours List announced in June.

On behalf of all members of this House and indeed the people of Manitoba, I would like to congratulate Mrs. Brown on receiving this very prestigious award.

Ms. Jean Friesen (Wolseley): Madam Speaker, we witnessed in recent weeks the tragic spectacle of a government which will not take responsibility for its mistakes. When that happens, the parliamentary system is diminished and the respect of citizens for a fundamental democratic forum is lost. So there is a great deal at stake in the Premier's refusal to request the resignation of the Minister of Justice (Mrs. Vodrey).

We know that the Minister of Justice knew in May that there was no space in Manitoba's jails for people sentenced to intermittent jail sentences. The minister's error was in not informing all parties to the justice system: Crown attorneys, defence lawyers and, most importantly, the judges who must pass those sentences. Some defence lawyers knew; most Crown attorneys and judges did not. We had, therefore, in Manitoba unequal justice and that is a most serious matter. If an accused person cannot be guaranteed equal justice, then there is no justice.

The minister and the Premier have tried to evade responsibility. They blame it on the Headingley riots, but this cannot excuse the minister's error. It does not explain the existence of unequal justice. They have argued the minister made mention of the difficulties of accommodation during Estimates, but reading Hansard is not required of judges or Crown prosecutors and it cannot be reasonably expected that they would have known of the changes from this. Hansard is not the official gazette, nor does it carry the weight of a ministerial written notification. The minister's argument does not exonerate her from being responsible for unequal justice in the courts of this province.

Finally, Madam Speaker, the minister has tried to pass off responsibility for her error to her civil servants, naming them by position. This is unacceptable. Civil servants are bound by confidentiality oaths; they cannot respond publicly to the minister's accusations. Not only has the minister betrayed their trust, but she and the Premier have in so doing undermined the fundamental role of the civil service, and that is to be able to speak truth to power. Can any civil servant in Manitoba now be secure that the minister will not use him or her to evade what is in parliamentary practice ministerial responsibility?

Madam Speaker, I will conclude with the words of Monique Begin, when she wrote to the Krever inquiry. Justice is offended, she said, if people at the top of government in bureaucratic structures are not held responsible for their actions but employees at less senior levels of the hierarchy are. Moreover, public ethics requires that those at the top be accountable.

I believe the Minister of Justice--

Madam Speaker: Order, please. The honourable member's time has long expired.

* (1430)

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Inkster): Madam Speaker, I just wanted to take a couple of minutes to extend congratulations both to the federal minister and the provincial minister with respect to the immigration bilateral agreement that has been achieved. Over the years, it has always been a very important issue for the provincial caucus because we have recognized and acknowledged the importance of the bilateral agreement or at least to achieve that bilateral agreement.

Manitoba, indeed, will benefit tremendously by achieving this particular agreement and hopefully what we will see is a government that is aggressive in terms of trying to match the needs of the province of Manitoba with the many different immigrants throughout the world that want to be able to contribute to Canada, in particular to the province of Manitoba, and provide opportunities for those people while at the same time allowing the social fabric and the economic fabric of Manitoba to do that much better as a direct result of this particular agreement.

So I applaud all those individuals that have participated in ensuring that this agreement was achieved today. I have not read over the details. I know I have some very strong opinions in terms of the numbers that I would have liked to have seen. Personally, I had liked the idea of 1 percent for the province of Manitoba based on our population, and hopefully, Madam Speaker, we were successful in achieving what is in Manitoba's best interest. Thank you.