Mr. Edward Helwer (Gimli): Recently, I had the pleasure of attending the official opening of the new 30-bed Fisher Branch Personal Care Home. This was a very special event for the people of Fisher Branch because there was a great desire among the residents to have a personal care home in their community, and they took the initiative to turn this vision into a reality. With a population of just over 1,000 people, the community was able to raise $400,000 towards the capital costs of the approximately $4.2-million facility. The province committed about $3.4 million, and the remainder of the funding came through a federal employment grant.

The new personal care home has three 10-bed units, each with independent activity and dining areas. This unique design will provide a home-like atmosphere and will help the staff to provide the best possible care to the residents. A total of some 26 new jobs are being created with the opening of this facility.

I would like to take this opportunity to again express my congratulations to the many volunteers in the community who worked very hard to ensure the building of this facility. I am sure that it will serve the people of Fisher Branch and area for many, many years to come. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Mr. Clif Evans (Interlake): Madam Speaker, I, too, on Thursday, June 3, had the honour of participating, along with the member for Gimli and the M.P., Mr. Hilstrom, at the grand opening of the 30-bed Fisher Branch Personal Care Home, and along with over 400 residents and people, many of whom have waited and worked for over 10 years to achieve this dream, to have this facility in place so elderly people could stay at home and be supported by their families and still receive the much-needed care and the service that this facility will be providing for many years to come.

There are many names that come to mind, and I, too, want to congratulate the efforts of many of those people who worked hard and volunteered, met with government over all these years so that the seniors in the Fisher Branch community area could have such a personal care home that was much, much needed, people such as Mr. Ray Dion, Mr. Fred Packulak, Mr. Morris Meilleur, Mr. Bert Vandersteen, all these people who brought the idea to fold over 10 years ago.

One other such person I want to commend is Mr. Tom Magnusson who chaired this board for many years, who fought diligently and worked very, very hard in seeing this dream come true. Unfortunately, Mr. Magnusson passed away a little over a year ago and was unable to be with us and see the reality that he worked so hard for.

I just want to say, Madam Speaker, this personal care home is unique and is the first of its kind in Manitoba as it was planned, designed and constructed using the chez nous concept, translated as our home. To all the residents, all the hard work in the community, I congratulate them on a job well done.

* (1430)

Mr. Peter Dyck (Pembina): Madam Speaker, it is my honour to rise before the House today to offer congratulations to Dr. Ed Kenaschuk on receiving a meritorious scientist award from Canada's Deputy Minister of Agriculture in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Canadian agriculture.

Dr. Kenaschuk has worked at the research station as a scientist in the Morden research station for the past 34 years, and during that time he has developed and released 50 new varieties of flax. Today, the majority of flax grown by farmers in Manitoba and across Canada is of varieties developed by Dr. Kenaschuk. This includes the Norland variety, which was released in 1982 and accounts for one-quarter of the flax grown in Manitoba, and the newer-released AC Emerson, which accounts for close to one-fifth of Manitoba's flax crop.

Dr. Kenaschuk's work with flax varieties has made an enormous and positive impact on agriculture in Canada and has contributed to the Morden research centre's international reputation of excellence in agriculture research. It also reminds us of the importance of supporting agricultural research initiatives here in Manitoba.

Once again, I would like to congratulate and commend Dr. Ed Kenaschuk on his contribution to Canadian agriculture. Thank you.

Madam Speaker: Order, please. I wonder if I might ask those members having little meetings if they could do so quietly either in the loge or outside the Chamber. I am having difficulty hearing the members with their members' statements.

Mr. Leonard Evans (Brandon East): Madam Speaker, during the Question Period I raised the matter of the Breast Screening Program as it affected the women in the Westman area and the concerns that these women had with the particular operation of the program and the limitation to the ages of 50 to 69 years.

I received a letter signed by 80 women who live in various parts of Westman, and they believe that the discrimination that is now existing is totally unfair and that they believe that they should be able to go to the Breast Screening Program as it now exists in Brandon. They give some reasons for this. They want to be in a clinic that is relaxing and where they sit with women and not hospital patients. They want to be educated with the breast self-examination video. They want to receive their results in the mail, and they want the excellent follow-up that is provided from this program. So what I am stating here are the views of these women who are primarily in their 40s.

So they have signed this letter, which I have tabled and made available to the minister, that all women over age 40 who require a screening mammogram should have their mammogram at the Manitoba Breast Screening clinic where it is combined with the clinical breast exam and that this limit, now 50 to 69 years of age, should be abolished and it be made available to these people.

So I put this on the record, and I would surely hope that the Minister of Health (Mr. Stefanson) will review this matter. I have given him a copy of the letter. I have given him a copy of the signatures, and I trust, the sufficiency of the argument, especially the fact that the machine in Brandon hospital is only being used three days a week and 50 more women could be screened each week if they were permitted to utilize the Breast Screening Program. Thank you.

Mr. Ben Sveinson (La Verendrye): Madam Speaker, on Thursday, June 3, 1999, the electorate of Ontario spoke, and with that voice they sent Premier Mike Harris and the Progressive Conservatives of Ontario back to Queen's Park with 59 seats for the PCs, 35 for the Liberals and nine for the NDP.

An Honourable Member: How many?

Mr. Sveinson: Nine. Premier Harris and his common-sense revolution won a resounding second mandate. According to The Globe and Mail, Premier Harris's success last Thursday was due to ordinary folks standing by Harris. It would appear that ordinary people want their government to reduce spending, lower taxes and create an atmosphere where the economy can flourish. Mr. Harris did all three and then some. While he had his detractors, in the end there was only one true measurement, election day. It is clear, Madam Speaker, that on election day the people of Ontario remembered the economic turmoil caused by Bob Rae's former NDP government. Despite attempts to reinvent themselves and their party, Ontario's NDP failed to achieve even official party status.

Madam Speaker, my congratulations go out to Premier Harris on his and his party's victory. Standing tall in the face of ceaseless opposition, rhetoric is never easy. But with the people of Ontario firmly behind him, it may be somewhat easier during his second term in office. Congratulations to them. Thank you.