Mr. Gary Doer (Leader of the Opposition): Madam Speaker, my question is to the First Minister (Mr. Filmon). Over the last three budgets, lottery revenues have grown in the Province of Manitoba to exceed the corporate income tax revenue in the budget lines. Last night on ABC News, a show called Primetime Live, it was reported that computer gambling machines had been programmed to have deceptive features to entice gamblers to continue gambling, to keep playing.

I would like to ask the Premier, are deceptive features a program in the computer gambling machines of Manitoba?

Hon. Eric Stefanson (Minister charged with the administration of The Manitoba Lotteries Corporation Act): Madam Speaker, to the best of my knowledge, no, but I will certainly take that question primarily as notice and get back with detailed information for the member opposite.

Mr. Doer: Madam Speaker, as the minister of gambling knows, VLT revenue has grown from $8 million before he became Minister of Finance to some $123 million for VLT computer machines alone.

Mr. Gordon Hickman, a former employee of the Nevada Gaming Commission, along with others, has documented the practice of having one-third of the computer runs have near misses and included in those near misses allegedly is the company IGT, a company that was brought to Manitoba and produced the VLT machines here in the province of Manitoba.

I would like to ask the Premier (Mr. Filmon) have they investigated the allegations dealing with IGT and the deceptive gambling practices of the computer machines?

Mr. Stefanson: Madam Speaker, again, I will take that question as notice and get back with some detailed information for the member opposite.

Mr. Doer: Madam Speaker, Mr. Baker, a person who was in press releases with the Premier, from IGT, a person obviously well known to members opposite, did not deny the practice and said this was not contrary to the regulations in the state of Nevada. Now, I find this practice of deceptive programming of machines insidious.

I would like to ask the government have they discussed this matter with Mr. Baker, a person who was obviously an acquaintance of the Premier when he was bragging about bringing IGT to Manitoba, a company I believe that has now left the province?

Mr. Stefanson: Madam Speaker, I have indicated to the Leader of the Opposition, on his specific questions I will get the details and provide him with the information. I want to assure him that we take the whole issue of gaming very seriously. I think the challenge for governments right across Canada is to strike the right balance in terms of having gaming accessible for the residents of their provinces but also being sure that it does not become a problem within all of our provinces. We now have VLTs in virtually every province in Canada. We have casinos in most provinces in Canada, irrespective of what the political stripe is of the government in those provinces.

The company that he refers to, IGT, provides machines in other provinces within Canada, but I do want to indicate here today that when it comes to dealing with this issue, we are the only province in Canada that has had two studies done on the whole issue of problem gambling by Dr. Rachel Volberg, one of the foremost specialists in that area. We provide a million dollars today to the Addictions Foundation to deal with the very important issue of education and dealing with any people who do have problems.

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Ms. MaryAnn Mihychuk (St. James): Madam Speaker, clearly, we have a serious issue when the gambling machines which are already horribly addictive may be stacked and be even more addictive.

My question to the Minister of Consumer Affairs, who is to overlook the gaming activities in Manitoba, is can the minister assure Manitobans, which he must do at this time, and this House, that the Gaming Commission which he recently appointed and which is personally tied to himself and the Premier (Mr. Filmon), how can he assure Manitobans that this commission will be fair and independent when reviewing such a critically important issue?

Hon. Mike Radcliffe (Minister responsible for The Gaming Control Act): Madam Speaker, I would like to thank the honourable member for the opportunity to advise my colleagues today as to the nature and quality of the individuals in the Gaming Commission that we have appointed, because she makes an allusion as to the background of these members. I would like to point out to the honourable member that we have one individual who is a single mother of aboriginal background who is a police constable. We have a member of the clergy who has worked on the commission that investigated the lotteries issue. We have people from the urban section of Winnipeg and from rural Manitoba, from all cross-sections of life, and these are people--[interjection] I am sorry, I am receiving a little abuse from the front benches, the opposite side. I would try to tell my colleagues that in fact we have individuals on this commission of the highest academic quality, the highest professional and administrative quality who will be setting policy on this issue. I would like to assure the member that I have nothing but the highest confidence in these individuals, and I look forward to the operation of this commission.

Ms. Mihychuk: This is a very serious issue, and I feel like the minister is making light of the whole issue.

Will the minister please come forward and assure Manitobans that it will be a fair review? In fact, how can he do so when one of the contributors, or many of them on the commission are actually tied in through Tory contributions and are personal friends of the minister?

Mr. Radcliffe: I do not accept any of the preamble that the honourable member for St. James has had the temerity to present, because what she is implying by innuendo is that, No. 1, our friends are automatically suspect or that they may be bereft of any ability.

I want to assure the honourable member that in fact the people on this commission, and I say this in all sincerity, are of the highest quality and that we are working very assiduously at this point to get this commission up and running.

We have advertised for an executive director. We have had over 60 applications, and we are working at this point, compiling all the necessary attributes to get this commission up and running. It would be presumptive of me at this point now to tell the honourable member or the colleagues in this Chamber what we are going to do until the commission is up and running. I am sure that there will be, pursuant to the act of which I am sure the honourable member is aware, many regulatory and licensing affairs, but I would hesitate to say because I think it would be out of order and perhaps political interference, which maybe the member for St. James wishes to indulge but I would refrain from doing so.

Ms. Mihychuk: How can this minister assure Manitobans that the Gaming Commission will be independent and be perceived as independent on this very serious issue, especially when the government has the fortune of receiving millions of dollars of revenues?

I am asking the minister, given that the Gaming Commission is stacked with Tory appointments, how can Manitobans be assured independence?

Mr. Radcliffe: Again, I do not accept the innuendo or the salacious attempts by the honourable member opposite to inveigh against the quality and expertise which is on this commission. I want to assure the honourable member that we have an act of the Legislature which sets out the parameters of responsibility, the mandate for this job.

There will be an independent budget established for this commission, and I can assure this honourable member that I will step back, and I will not politically interfere. If that is what our honourable member is suggesting opposite, then I must advise with regret that I will refrain from interfering politically, because this commission has its job of setting policy, determining licensing, ascertaining registration and doing appeals from complaints in this environment, and I want to assure the honourable member that this commission, the staff that will be mandated to this commission will be of the highest quality. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

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Mr. Gregory Dewar (Selkirk): Last fall this House passed The Contaminated Sites Remediation and Consequential Amendments Act. My questions are to the Minister of Environment.

When will the minister be releasing the regulations of this act, and when will this act be proclaimed?

Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Environment): Work is underway to make preparations for the regulation and for the proclamation of this legislation, and that will be forthcoming very soon.

Mr. Gregory Dewar (Selkirk): Madam Speaker, since the minister hopes to reduce the current 1,120 contaminated sites down to just 20, will the minister release to the House today information regarding these 20 contaminated sites that fall into his new definition of contaminated sites, and what action is he taking to remediate these sites?

Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Environment): Our contaminated sites legislation has been hailed by many not only for the process used to achieve it but also for what is in the legislation itself. From some of the things that have been learned in that process, Madam Speaker, the remediation will go forward. This contamination did not happen overnight. Some of it has been around for many years and is a very troublesome problem, but I think we have all of the right minds at work on the issues and we will deal with that contamination in an appropriate and sustainable way.

Mr. Gregory Dewar (Selkirk): Madam Speaker, in my previous question I asked the minister to release information regarding those 20 sites; he failed to answer that question.

There are 1,100 sites that do not fit into his category. Who will be responsible for those 1,100 sites that do not fit into the minister's new category?

Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Environment): I did not mean to be unresponsive, Madam Speaker. I will review the information the honourable member is requesting.

Ms. Becky Barrett (Wellington): Madam Speaker, it is not the first time that there has been a critical juncture in the future of downtown Winnipeg. In 1983, there was just a rumour that The Bay and Eaton's might be closing. The provincial government immediately took a leadership role in working with the other levels of government and the private sector that has led in the last years to a revitalization of downtown. Immediate action was taken by the provincial government.

I would like to ask the Minister of Urban Affairs if the Urban Affairs Committee of Cabinet has met to discuss how to address the current serious situation regarding the review of the downtown Eaton's store.

Hon. Jack Reimer (Minister of Urban Affairs): Madam Speaker, I share the same concerns, to a degree, with the member for Wellington as to the state of the downtown and the enhancement of the city of Winnipeg, and anything that would be to a detriment we are all concerned about. It is very unfortunate that the Eaton's store--or the Eaton's company, I should say--is in a position where they are considering closing some of the major department stores here in Winnipeg. We have not had any type of discussions or confirmation that this is going to happen. From all indications, these are some of the parameters that Eaton's is going through in their evaluation of their store, but as to a plan or a discussion, we have not implemented any type of talks with Eaton's at this time.

Ms. Barrett: That is very interesting. I wonder if the government then, since they have not had any discussions about this, the potential problem with the closing of a major department store in downtown Winnipeg, has not even met to discuss this issue, has not talked with other players in this, what are you waiting for? Are you waiting for the store to close before you decide that there is a problem?

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Hon. James Downey (Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism): Madam Speaker, I want to make sure that the opposition is fully aware that that question would probably be properly directed to myself as Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism.

Our department has been in discussion with the people at Eaton's, and we have relayed to them our concerns. I also want to indicate clearly, Madam Speaker, that Eaton's has indicated to them that they will be getting back to us. I am also in the process of preparing a communication to make sure that all those people who are involved in Eaton's, that we as a government can do what we can short of putting in any financial resources, but we truly do want to make sure that that retail business survives.

Madam Speaker, retail sales in the province of Manitoba are at a very extreme high, and I do not believe it is the economy or what is happening within the government. It is other problems that have caused the things to go the way they have with Eaton's.

Ms. Barrett: Has the government looked at the impact on the economy, not only of Winnipeg but of Manitoba, of 800,000 square feet of office and retail space going on an already glutted market and the loss of up to a million dollars in business and property taxes on the people of Manitoba and Winnipeg if the government does not work right now to keep Eaton's here?

Mr. Downey: Madam Speaker, the member's questions are highly speculative at this particular time. We understand that there is a considerable amount of work that is being done to try and save the stores, to save the business as it relates to Eaton's. I think we have to also acknowledge that there are other new retail stores opening.

In fact, in the manufacturing sector today, if one were to read the Free Press, you would see 400 new jobs at Palliser Furniture, so it is not that the provincial economy is not performing well. It is not that retail sales are not up. There are other difficulties which Eaton's is going through. We will continue to work to the best of our ability to make sure that the stores in whatever capacity are providing services to the people of Manitoba.

Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Inkster): Madam Speaker, my question is for the Minister responsible for Lotteries. The NDP and the government will talk about the value of the commission; we recognize the commission as nothing more than a political farce. In fact, the government is using the commission in order to be able to hide behind so that they cannot be held accountable for their actions of getting addiction at an all-time high in the province.

My question to the minister responsible is will the minister do what their counterparts in Alberta have done and recognize that if communities want to get rid of the VLTs, that they will acknowledge that through referenda?

Hon. Eric Stefanson (Minister charged with the administration of The Manitoba Lotteries Corporation Act): I am sure the member for Inkster has had an opportunity to read the Lottery Policy Review report chaired by Mr. Larry Desjardins with some 14 individuals from across Manitoba from a broad cross-section of our community, municipalities, law enforcement and so on.

One of the recommendations in that report, I am sure he will recall, was that communities be able to have plebiscites within their jurisdictions and that those plebiscites in fact be honoured. That committee also recommended that if a community voted not to have VLT machines that they also not share in the revenue.

What we have done with that recommendation--[interjection] The member for Thompson (Mr. Ashton) seems awfully interested in this topic; he cannot keep quiet.

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Madam Speaker, the issue has been referred to the new independent Gaming Commission, because to do justice to that issue there should be discussion with the municipalities, with municipal organizations like the Union of Manitoba Municipalities, like the Manitoba Association of Urban Municipalities, like the City of Winnipeg and to do additional work and research in that area. That would be one of the first orders of business of the new independent Gaming Commission.

Madam Speaker: The honourable member for Inkster, with a supplementary question.

Mr. Lamoureux: My question to the Minister of Finance is that we are asking the minister not to hide behind the commission, to make a strong statement to Manitobans in the communities that if the communities want to get rid of the VLTs, that this government will honour it. Stop hiding behind the commission is what we are suggesting.

Mr. Stefanson: Madam Speaker, it is not a matter of hiding behind the commission; it is a matter of doing the things that are necessary to come to the proper decision. I am sure the member for Inkster does not oppose having consultation with municipalities, with municipal governing bodies. I am sure he does not oppose doing any research that is available on those kinds of issues and looking at other jurisdictions. I would think that would be the prudent way to deal with the issue before a final decision is made.

Mr. Lamoureux: I guess what we are trying to do is get the Minister of Finance to acknowledge the negative social consequences of his gambling policy which is based on revenue generation. I would ask the minister to respect the will of what the people want who live in the communities, that this government does not have the right to hide behind a commission which is politically appointed, which should not even be there in the first place.

Mr. Stefanson: Madam Speaker, the member for Inkster seems to forget that we are the only jurisdiction in Canada that has done two studies of the issue of the potential problems of gaming. We provide $1 million to the Addictions Foundation to provide counselling, to provide education.

On the heels of the Desjardins committee report, we announced and removed 650 VLT machines from throughout Manitoba, 15 percent of the number of machines in Manitoba. It is an issue we take very seriously. We have taken a series of steps to deal with it.

The challenge for all governments, whether they are Liberal, NDP or Conservative, is to strike the right balance, because many people do want to participate in gaming. The majority do it in a very responsible way, and I think the last situation any province would want is to have all of our residents who want to participate going to Ontario, going to Saskatchewan, going down to the United States, taking that money out of our economy but still being left to deal with any problems that might arise here within Manitoba.

Will the minister confirm that the government is again changing the Pharmacare program so that drug programs provided by centres like the Health Sciences Centre, cancer treatment centre, cystic fibrosis groups and other organizations are now to have their programs subsumed into the Pharmacare program with the result that sick patients will now have to pay the higher Pharmacare deductible?

Hon. Darren Praznik (Minister of Health): Madam Speaker, I am not going to accept that question or supposition from the member for Kildonan.

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Mr. Chomiak: Just to be clear, will the minister whose government has destroyed the Life Saving Drug Program indicate to this House--will the government who grandfathered the Life Saving Drug Program and is downsizing the Life Saving Drug Program so that it no longer affects Manitobans--will he confirm that the government is contemplating the subsuming of all of the drug programs including those offered by the Health Sciences Centre, cancer treatment institute, cystic fibrosis and other groups and will have those subsumed into the overall Pharmacare program with the patients having to pay the higher deductible?

Mr. Praznik: Madam Speaker, no, I will not confirm that.

Mr. Tim Sale (Crescentwood): Madam Speaker, on April 16, 1996, I rose to challenge the low and misleading revenue estimates of the 1996-97 budget. These figures were deliberately understated so that the Filmon government could pursue its agenda of mean-spirited cuts to education, children's food allowances, Pharmacare and other services.

Does the Minister of Finance still actually believe that with all the known prior-year adjustments that he talked about in his third quarter statement, 1996-97 tax revenues are actually going to fall $35 million over last year's revenues? Do you still believe that?

Hon. Eric Stefanson (Minister of Finance): Madam Speaker, as I explained to the member yesterday, if he looks at our Third Quarter Report, while we are pleased with the significant growth in our revenue of some $118 million, approximately $90 million of it was attributable to prior-year adjustments on our personal and corporate income tax pertaining to our 1995 tax year. That is all good news for Manitobans. It is all a part of our economy performing amongst the best in the country in terms of job creation, export growth, retail sales growth and so on.

I am certainly prepared to spend more time with him at any opportunity to explain to him how a budget is prepared and how we arrive at all of our estimates. I think he knows when you are dealing with the current budget when it comes to personal and corporate income tax, those are numbers provided by the federal government that we review and analyze in terms of their accuracy from our perspective. When we look at our own revenue sources, Madam Speaker, we work from the previous year and look at what is reasonable growth against those revenue sources.

Mr. Sale: Madam Speaker, the minister knows I took the prior-year adjustments into account in my first question.

Madam Speaker, how does the minister defend these phoney numbers when the federal fiscal monitor published in February of this year shows that federal tax revenues are up some 7 percent, personal income tax, 12.5 percent, corporate income tax, overall up over 8 percent year over year, yet he is trying to tell Manitobans his bottom line is they are going to fall? He brags about our economy, brags about our jobs, and yet he is trying to get us to believe so that tomorrow he can get up and mislead us again about the revenue estimates for Manitoba.

Mr. Stefanson: Madam Speaker, we have gone through this before with the member for Crescentwood, and when we take the time to spend with whomever wants to find out accurate information relative to our revenue projections, relative to our expenditures, each and every time the member for Crescentwood is wrong. He never gets his facts right on his numbers. I think he hallucinates when it comes to many of the adjustments that are taking place in our economy. We know what his real game is. He wants to go back to the old days of the early '80s: tax, spend and run up the debt. Those are the days that Manitobans do not want anymore. They want balanced budgets. They want us to start paying down the debt. They want a responsible government, unlike they saw in the early 1980s under the NDP.

Mr. Sale: Last year his surplus was $157 million and he projected only $48 million. He was wrong last year; we were right last year, and we are going to be right again this year, Madam Speaker.

Will the minister commit today to using properly revised 1996-97 revenue estimates in his Budget Address tomorrow, so that Manitobans can judge for themselves whether or not the budget truthfully reflects Manitoba's real financial situation?

Mr. Stefanson: I assure all members of this House that the budget presented tomorrow will truthfully reflect Manitoba's financial and economic situation--

Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.

Madam Speaker: Order, please. The honourable Minister of Finance, to complete his response.

Mr. Stefanson: What members opposite seem to forget--they now are pleased to stand up and talk about our strong economy and the job growth and the manufacturing investments and so on. One of the main contributing factors to all of that is we stopped the massive deficits being run under the NDP. We stopped the quadrupling of the debt that happened under the NDP. Our debt servicing costs for the first time in many years are actually going down, Madam Speaker. Those are all part and parcel of the reasons that interest rates are as low as they are today and our economy is performing as well as it is today.

Mr. Steve Ashton (Thompson): Madam Speaker, if they ever do a sequel to the "On the Take" book on the Mulroney government, it will be the Filmon administration in Manitoba where political favouritism and cronyism runs to the core of this government.

Nothing could be more obscene than what we see in the personal care homes where we are being deluged with calls by people who are disgusted that while their personal care home private operators have given $50,000 to the Conservative Party, they had to scrape for the most basic supplies. They are saying what we are saying, and I want to ask the Premier (Mr. Filmon), because he has to be accountable to those patients, why will he not do the right thing, ignore his political friends and call a public inquiry into the terrible situation in many of those private nursing care homes?

Hon. Darren Praznik (Minister of Health): Over the last number of days in which this has been discussed, what we have seen is one exaggeration upon another exaggeration upon another. Today, where we hear about hundreds or many, many phone calls coming to the opposition, I can tell you the number of complaints or calls that we have had in my office certainly nowhere mirror that that is happening. Madam Speaker, as I have said, one exaggeration after another.

An inquest has been called by the Chief Medical Officer with respect to the incident that occurred some time ago. Part of that mandate is to look into a number of these issues, and we will await--I await with great interest--the results of that inquiry.

Mr. Ashton: As a final supplementary, Madam Speaker, what does it take for this government to understand the problem? They have received literally dozens of letters; we have raised this issue in Question Period. When will this Premier (Mr. Filmon) say no to his political friends and do the right thing, call a public inquiry that will look at everything including the increasing role of privatization to benefit the friends of this Conservative government?

Mr. Praznik: Now we are getting down to some facts. We are getting dozens of letters. Well, I can tell the member we get dozens of letters in the course of a year about complaints about nonproprietary care homes, public care homes, care homes run by nonprofit organizations. And, no, I am not denying there are problems. There are problems that happen from time to time in the system; they are investigated. If there are problems with management in a facility or the delivery of service, the department works hard to correct those to ensure that people are safe and secure. But if you use the logic of the member for Thompson, it should mean we should take over all the nonproprietary, all the ones that are run by organizations for which there are dozens of letters too, Madam Speaker. Silly.

Ms. Jean Friesen (Wolseley): In January this year there was a blizzard in parts of Manitoba, just as there was last year. Students on both occasions were faced with the unfairness of having some students write an exam in Grade 12 and others who were marked on a completely different basis because they were not able to take the exam.

I wonder if the minister could tell us why it is that she learned nothing from last year's experience. Why was there no contingency plan for weather conditions in Manitoba, and could she tell us what contingency plan she has for next year's blizzard?

Hon. Linda McIntosh (Minister of Education and Training): We have in the course of bringing in examinations written eight examinations in January over the course of the year since 1992. We had last year, with the English language arts exams, a small number that could not write it. We put in place a contingency plan which was the backup plan in consultations with superintendents and the field which was acceptable to the field and is modelled on other places in Canada, that being that if students did not get to write the provincial exam because of weather, their provincial mark would apply on the report card. That is the same model used in Alberta, for example, where if less than 25 percent did not write the exam, the provincial mark applies.

We have never had that large a number. This year we had 19.5 percent of students not able to write the math exam, and the procedure that was in place last year was the procedure to be used again this year. Unfortunately, some students did not do well on that exam, causing concern in divisions, so we are preparing an alternate method of how to display those marks for this year only and that will be provided to the field very shortly.

Ms. Jean Friesen (Wolseley): Could the same minister explain why she has institutionalized unfairness in the Grade 12 exams by providing for some students to be marked on a different basis and as well as having institutionalized the unfairness in having summer school students not write the exam at all, ever?

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Hon. Linda McIntosh (Minister of Education and Training): I indicate to the member that we are not instituting unfairness as she implies or as she states. She does not imply it, she states it. We are following a format that is available in other provinces. We have already indicated that next year we will be preparing backup exams so that, in the event that a student cannot write an exam, the first day of clear weather an alternate exam can be written.

The exam results here in Manitoba have provided us with invaluable information. The test results we had last year indicated to us that problem solving was an area that needed to be worked upon; ergo, we were able to do that this year. Those kinds of pieces of information will help ensure the raising of standards.

I know the member is philosophically opposed to standards. These problems that she is identifying are not insurmountable problems. They are easily resolved, and we will continue to work to ensure that standards and assessments in Manitoba become the norm rather than the exception she would like them to be.

Mr. Oscar Lathlin (The Pas): Madam Speaker, my questions are directed at the Minister of Health. Just before the last election, Dr. Postl completed and released a report, The Health of Manitoba's Children. This government immediately shelved that report even though it contained several important recommendations.

The dentists in The Pas right now are refusing to see clients who are on social assistance. The majority of those clients are from Easterville, Moose Lake, Cormorant and Grand Rapids, and they are Metis people, aboriginal people.

My question to the minister is what is the minister prepared to do in order that social assistance clients from those communities can continue to receive dental services just like everybody else does?

Hon. Darren Praznik (Minister of Health): Madam Speaker, I appreciate the question from the member for The Pas because it is one of great concern to him and his constituents, as it is to us on this side of the House. From what I understand in information provided to me by my colleague the Minister of Labour (Mr. Gilleshammer) and from what I know of this particular issue, there is currently a fee dispute going on between those dentists or in their association and the department who supplies or pays for that--I believe that is the Department of Family Services--and so alternative provision of care has been arranged through Flin Flon. Regrettably, I appreciate the distance involved but what we are really talking about here is a fee dispute, and I hope it can be resolved in short order.

Mr. Lathlin: Madam Speaker, I would like to ask the minister if he is aware that those social assistance clients who are not able to see the dentist in The Pas are being transported to Flin Flon where they are able to see the dentist, and the transportation costs are being covered by Family Services. In a majority of the cases, the costs that are being borne by social services to transport these patients to Flin Flon and back are in fact more than what it would have cost to see the dentist in The Pas. It does not make sense to us.

Mr. Praznik: Madam Speaker, I certainly appreciate the comments of the member for The Pas, and, needless to say, it is something that does not particularly make sense on the surface of it. I understand from the Minister of Labour as well that the dispute is a province-wide dispute, but it was only these particular dentists in The Pas who refused to continue to provide service. So although it has caused great inconvenience for his constituents there, it is a provincial matter. Those are the three doctors, I understand, who have refused to provide the service.

The settlement of the issue, needless to say, and I am sure the member appreciates this, cannot be done on an individual community or dentist basis but has to be resolved between the department, the government and the association for the province as a whole.

Mr. Lathlin: My last question to the Minister of Health is why has he not done anything, because I understand this arrangement stopped quite awhile ago? Could he advise the Assembly as to whether those discussions are going on right now, and when might we expect an agreement to be reached between the Manitoba Dental Association and his government?

Mr. Praznik: Madam Speaker, as the member may appreciate, this is a particular matter between the Department of Family Services and the Dental Association for the provision of care to social allowance recipients for dental services. It is not one that the Department of Health is directly involved in. I would hope that this arrangement or a suitable agreement can be reached as soon as possible, but it is a provincial-wide issue and the only three dentists who have refused to provide service are, regrettably, in The Pas. I understand, as the member has pointed out, that alternative arrangements have been made, I appreciate at great inconvenience to those citizens, while this dispute remains unresolved.

Ms. Marianne Cerilli (Radisson): Madam Speaker, Manitobans are astounded to learn that of over 1,100 contaminated sites, only 20 are going to be listed as contaminated in the government's new registry for contaminated sites. Also concerning is the fact that there are merely guidelines to delineate these contaminated sites.

I want to ask the Minister of Environment, why is it that there are no regulations being brought forward to include these, and why, even further, were these categories not stipulated in the legislation that was passed in the former session?

Hon. James McCrae (Minister of Environment): Madam Speaker, we would be extremely concerned about any contaminated site which posed a hazard to our health, our safety or our environment. I think it must be noted that after many, many years of the regime that did not adequately deal with this issue, we have brought to the public of Manitoba contaminated sites remediation legislation which is a result of a process that has involved stakeholders and those responsible for the contamination, those who can assist in remediating that contamination. We have a much better scenario today than we have ever had, and for that Manitoba has been singled out perhaps internationally but certainly across this country for recognition.

Ms. Cerilli: Madam Speaker, given that staff in the department claim that this new form of having only 20 contaminated sites highlighted as contaminated sites will allow a focus of staff resources in the department, and I know from personal experience in Transcona that the Domtar site has had as many as 15 staff on a technical advisory committee, how many staff in his department are going to be responsible for following these 20 sites that are in the top 20 of those more than 1,100 contaminated sites?

Mr. McCrae: I will make that information available to the honourable member. I have passed on to officials working on discussions related to the Domtar matter my wish that the matter be brought to a satisfactory resolution very soon. This matter has been going on for a long, long time.

The honourable member failed in her question to give credit to the honourable Minister of Natural Resources (Mr. Cummings) for having brought to us the contaminated sites legislation that we have which is a model for everyone in this country to emulate.

Madam Speaker: Time for Oral Questions has expired.