Hon. Glen Cummings (Minister of Natural Resources): Mr. Deputy Speaker, I would like to report that the levels of the Red River have declined from half a foot to one foot at Ste. Agathe to Lockport in the last 24-hour period. The large decline in levels was due to strong northerly winds which has reduced outflows from Lake Morris. Levels at Morris and St. Jean remain unchanged from yesterday. The level at Letellier, however, has risen half a foot due to wind action. Strong wind action is pounding heavily on dikes today, especially those dikes that are not sheltered from the north side.

At Selkirk, we have seen a drop of about a third, but at Breezy Point the strong northerly wind is causing some increased levels. At Grande Pointe, the wind is helping to reduce the water levels, and they have seen it recede by three-quarters of a foot. With yesterday's rainfalls, the level of the Red, however, will continue to fall. Their influence will not be noted. Additional rainfall could occur, however, on Saturday and Sunday with another incoming weather system. If the rainfall from this disturbance exceeds one inch, many smaller streams in the Red River Valley and east to the Ontario boundary could rise but should remain below the extreme levels that we have experienced recently.

As a note of interest, Mr. Deputy Speaker, I would like to point out that the flows at Emerson today are still 6,000 cfs more than they were at the peak levels last year. I think for the general populace, that puts in context the enormity of the volumes of water that have been coming north in the Red River. Levels of the river continue to rise slowly mainly as a result of yesterday's 20 millimetre to 40 millimetre rainfall in the Winnipeg river system. We are seeing some concern. Nutimik Lake this morning was at 906.7, which is only one and a third feet lower than the crest that they experienced in 1992. It is possible that this lake could rise to 907 by Sunday, and cottagers along this river are reminded to take appropriate action to protect their docks and their boathouses. Of course, we want boaters to stay off of this river particularly because of the dangerous currents and the debris that are in the river.

Hon. Frank Pitura (Minister of Government Services): Mr. Deputy Speaker, just an update for the members.

With the Manitoba Emergency Management Organization, as part of their recovery process, the MEMO disaster financial assistance office is operational. Inspectors are in the field, and office staff are responding to inquiries and accepting applications for assistance.

Canadian Armed Forces that are involved in part of the recovery and re-entry process will be supportive in areas of re-entry and recovery. In re-entry, representatives of the Red Cross, Salvation Army, Mennonite Central Committee and Manitoba Government Services will take the lead role in co-ordinating the activities of the flood relief committee. A meeting has been scheduled for today, and I understand that meeting is now completed. The re-entry committee now liaises regularly with the flood relief committee.

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Evacuees: The total evacuees as of May 7 was 25,115 of which 18,816 received assistance from reception areas. For the Roseau River First Nations, limited access is now available to Roseau utilizing a ferry, a military raft capable of carrying 30 persons. The armed forces and the Highways engineers have inspected the 800 metres of damaged section of road and have established that any kind of temporary bridge would not be possible at this time, so the ferry process will continue until work can be done on the road.

Consumer and Corporate Affairs have now started to take a role in the flood recovery process, and they have taken the following actions to reduce the probability of consumer scams: They have prepared and distributed public information material on potential scam artists, and they have also released advice on action a consumer may take to ensure credibility of a contractor. They have issued media releases warning the public.

In Agriculture, Agriculture is presently identifying those farmers and the financial needs which may not be covered under the DFA.

With MEMO, the Manitoba Emergency Management Organization is continuing to operate its office on a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week basis.

Under disaster financial assistance, a committee comprised of representatives from Finance, legal counsel, Rural Development and MEMO is reviewing and developing criteria for issuance of advance funds for hardship cases. The local authority will have direct involvement in confirmation and identification of individual applications.

That is my update, Mr. Deputy Speaker.

Mr. Stan Struthers (Dauphin): Mr. Deputy Speaker, just briefly to add our voice to the support that this Legislature shows to the people who are actually out there doing and participating in the monitoring of dikes and the eventual cleanup of the mess that will be left in the wake of the flood of 1997. I noted in the update provided by the Minister of Government Services the number of evacuees that have been affected by this flood, and it brings to mind the number of volunteers who have worked with these evacuees to make their transition back and forth out of their homes into temporary residences and back into their homes again so much easier.

I also noted two cautions on behalf of the Minister of Natural Resources (Mr. Cummings) that I would like to add our voices to, and that is that one to the boaters and the people who will be using the Red River in the near future. For their own safety, I would hope that they would heed the caution from the minister in terms of boating. Not only is there debris and such things on the river that could be dangerous, but I think we have enough problems with the wind and the waves without exacerbating that problem. I would hope that people do heed the warnings of the minister in that case. Mr. Deputy Speaker, that is all I think I need to say at this point.