Mr. Leonard Evans (Brandon East): I want to take this opportunity to discuss the bottom line in the budget, which I would maintain, Madam Speaker, has become a meaningless figure. The question of whether we have a surplus or a deficit in this province is meaningless because of the shell game that is going on with the Fiscal Stabilization Fund. If members would look at the financial statements as reported in the budget, you will see a footnote that $60 million has been added to revenue, just a little footnote. It is not on the line where it usually has been over the years, but there is a footnote there adding $60 million. If that $60 million had not been added, we would not have had a $23-million surplus but rather a $37-million deficit. So now you see it, now you do not.
The interesting thing is, after putting in the $60 million to be able to show a $23-million surplus, what happens to the $23-million surplus? It is then put back into the Fiscal Stabilization Fund. So you take $60 million out, and then you put $23 million back in. So the music goes around and around and it comes out here. You can look at this. You can see this on the end of document here. Here it is: $23-million budget surplus going back into the fund after you took $60 million out to make the books look good. If you were really increasing the spending on health care by $100 million, if that was another real $100 million, we would be showing, just as it stands now, a $77-million deficit, instead of a $23-million surplus. So, Madam Speaker, I say categorically, this is a political document, a political budget. It is misleading to the people of Manitoba, and it is becoming more confusing as the years go on.
There has been a lot of history here, where we have seen the government do this in the past, but this year, above all, it is just totally fraudulent in the way it has been presented to the people.
Mr. Ben Sveinson (La Verendrye): Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my extreme disappointment with the federal Liberal government in relation to the AECL lab in Pinawa. A critical deadline in the commercialization process passed last Monday when the federal government failed to present their formal plan of action for the facility. Upon news that the federal government intended to shut down AECL, the Filmon government took immediate action to try and reverse that decision. Our government recognized that if AECL were closed down, it would be a tremendous loss to Pinawa and all of Manitoba.
During the fall session of 1996, I introduced a private member's resolution calling on the federal government to provide a long-term commitment to the Whiteshell Laboratories. In the course of that debate, members opposite repeatedly referenced their numerous trips to Pinawa and the importance of the facility in our economy, but they failed its 1,800 employees by talking the resolution out. Madam Speaker, even the Liberal members of this House acknowledged the need to pass that resolution, and I thanked them for that.
For over two years the employees of Whiteshell Laboratories and the residents of Pinawa have been put through the uncertainty and trauma of not knowing whether they would have a job or a source of income for the future. This has had a very significant effect on the health and well-being of those affected and on the community. The survival of the community of Pinawa and the significant economic contribution of Whiteshell Laboratories to Manitoba are at a critical juncture. The commercialization of this facility must be completed in the near future and provide the foundation for the future growth and development of eastern Manitoba.
Earlier this week the Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism, the Honourable Jim Downey, wrote to the federal Natural Resources minister and requested an immediate meeting to discuss the crisis which threatens the future of Whiteshell Laboratories, its employees and the community of Pinawa and the economy of Manitoba. I strongly urge the federal minister to take action. Thank you.
Mr. Steve Ashton (Thompson): I mentioned earlier in Question Period that this government is increasingly aloof, arrogant and out of touch, and most noticeably the comments made again by the Premier (Mr. Filmon) in this Chamber show that he has no idea that Manitoba's health care system is in crisis. In fact, Madam Speaker, I challenge the Premier to go and visit some of our hospitals, to go visit, like we did, at St. Boniface, to talk to the staff at the St. Boniface Hospital, to talk to the patients. They will tell the Premier that his health care policies are not working and that there is a crisis in Manitoba health care.
I want to say, Madam Speaker, that there is a crisis for the increasing number of people who are being bumped from elective surgery, so-called elective surgery, because of the mismanagement of our health care system--people like Alice Larson who came from the isolated community of Thicket Portage, arrived in Winnipeg, went down three days later and found that her surgery had been cancelled and ended up having to stay in Winnipeg for a week because of that; people like a constituent of mine today who had surgery cancelled at Misericordia, along with eight other patients; people like Fred Cordell from Pikwitonei who has been told time and time and time again he is going to have to wait for cataract surgery.
Madam Speaker, the reality is that we are in a crisis situation, and it is in very large part because of this government's policies. In 1988 they promised a plan for health care; in 1990 they promised a plan for health care; in 1995 they promised a plan for health care, and today we have the Premier saying, well, there will be massive improvement, noticeable by probably the middle of next year. I want to suggest the only way we are going to get improvement in health care by the middle of next year and hopefully earlier is if there is an election and we elect an NDP government that is concerned about health care.
Mr. David Faurschou (Portage la Prairie): This morning, I, along with the Minister of Justice (Mr. Toews) and the mayor of Portage la Prairie, attended the official grand opening of Portage la Prairie's new Crime Prevention Office. I would like to congratulate all those involved in this initiative, especially Ms. Marie Barrett, our crime prevention co-ordinator, for working so hard in finding this location.
Ms. Barrett has spent many hours with the RCMP detachment in Portage la Prairie, and I am confident that she will be very successful in her position. The importance of having a civilian crime prevention co-ordinator cannot be overstated. Ms. Barrett will, in her capacity, free up time for the local RCMP members so they can put their energies forward in time more efficient and as well enhance the operation of the community crime prevention programs.
As a member of the Neighbourhood Crime Watch, I know that crime prevention begins in our own homes. Many of my neighbours are Block Parents, members of the Neighbourhood Crime Watch and active in the Citizens on Patrol program. I am pleased that our government recognizes the importance of these projects by contributing $86,000 over the next two years. Our government's partnership with the City of Portage la Prairie has made this project a reality. Portage la Prairie is the first rural community to undertake such a project, and I believe we can serve as a model for all communities in Manitoba. Thank you, Madam Speaker.
Madam Speaker: Order, please. The rotation today is two members of the official opposition, two members of the government and one member from the independent. However, in order to expedite the process, I would suggest that members be a little bit more alert and on their feet a little more quickly so as to avoid the confusion.
Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Inkster): Madam Speaker, I thought maybe what I would do is take advantage of members' statements just to add a little bit to the question that I had asked earlier. There is a very serious inequity, as I have pointed out, with respect to the way in which education is in fact being financed. I look at education, in most part, in the same way I do health care. We have a publicly financed health care system. Equally, we have a publicly financed educational system. I believe, ultimately, that it would be wonderful to see that education system financed through general revenues, but recognize the fact that that is something that has to come over time, that you cannot do that overnight.
What really concerns me is that over the years what we have seen is a gradual increase in the reliance of financing public education on the property tax and the portion of the property tax which is most inequitable, and that is the portion in which the school divisions collect for funding of education, to the extent where we have some residents of school divisions paying literally hundreds and hundreds of dollars more just because they happen to live in a certain area of the province of Manitoba. To me, that is not fair and the government needs to recognize that inequity and has to deal with it. This government has not dealt with it, and it is their responsibility. They cannot pass it off on, well, it is the school division, school divisions provide different programs and so forth, because one could use that same sort of a logic, if you like, for health care. There are certain regions in the province that require more health care services, yet no one is penalized, no certain area is penalized geographically in the city of Winnipeg.
With those few words, Madam Speaker, I thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak.