Mr. Jack Penner (Emerson): Madam Speaker, last evening my wife, Dora, and I, in the company of the honourable Government Services minister (Mr. Pitura) and his wife, Evelyn, had the pleasure of attending a banquet in Morris. The event was in honour of an exchange program between the Morris and St. Jean Baptiste hockey teams and the La Baie, Quebec, 14-and-under hockey team under the direction and supervision of Denis Desmarais [phonetic] .

As part of the exchange program, a young team of Francophone hockey players from La Baie, Quebec, and their chaperones have had an opportunity to visit Manitoba. After arriving in Manitoba last Thursday, they were billeted with host families in Morris and St. Jean. In addition to playing hockey, La Baie players have taken part in a wide variety of activities. They visited Morris schools, St. Jean Baptiste schools and the Lowe Farm school. They attended a Manitoba Moose hockey game and also saw the Canadian women's Olympic hockey team take on the American team at the Winnipeg Arena. They had an opportunity to view the flood video Red River Raging and today will visit the flood gates at Winnipeg.

This young team is also, as most of you know, from a town that experienced a disastrous flood in the same year that we did, and they found the devastation that we incurred very similar to theirs, although theirs might have been even a bit more traumatic when whole homes were swept away.

Today these players are also visiting a number of rural businesses, providing them with the exposure to a strong agricultural Manitoba community. Their visit will also include stops at Roy Legumex Inc., special crops contractors in St. Jean, as well as tours of the Paterson elevator company at Morris and Westfield Industries in Rosenort. We welcome these young hockey players. We know that our teams out of Morris and St. Jean Baptiste, when they travel to La Baie, will be afforded the same welcome as we afforded these youngsters.

Mr. Steve Ashton (Thompson): Madam Speaker, earlier today we saw an example of just how much our health care system has deteriorated in this province. We saw case after case after case of people who are facing unacceptable waiting lists for surgery and other procedures. What I found interesting was the fact that the Minister of Health (Mr. Praznik) blamed everyone except the government. He kept trying to blame the previous government, but I point out for the record that not only the previous government but the previous, previous government as well. Maybe after nine and a half years it is time for them to be put on the opposition benches and put in a government, an NDP government, that can rebuild our health care system.

I would like to stress the degree to which we face shortages. I made reference to a situation in my own community that people had problems with referrals, in particular a need for a personal care home in our community. By the way, for the Minister of Health, I was proud to be part of the NDP government that brought in the first seniors' centre, was instrumental in bringing that into Thompson, and quite frankly, I would say, after nine and a half years of this government, we should be looking at a personal care home in our region in northern Manitoba. But the bottom line is after close to 10 years of Conservative government, you will not hear the Premier talking in his state-of-the-province address about our health care system because you ask one simple question to Manitobans today, after nine and a half years of Tory cutbacks, you know what answer you will get if you ask them: are you better off in terms of your health care today, Madam Speaker? The answer is no. If you ask them: all right, do you have a better education system today, the answer is no. If you go even further and ask them about our economic circumstances, ask them if their children have better opportunities today than they had nine and a half years ago, the answer again is no.

We have seen close to 10 years of failure on behalf of this government. I say this government is out of touch. It is time to move on, and we look forward to the next election when we will bring in true health care reform in this province.

Mr. Marcel Laurendeau (St. Norbert): Madam Speaker, I would like to invite my honourable colleagues and friends to volunteer for Operation Red Nose this year. It is in its third year of operation. For those of you who are unaware of Operation Red Nose, it is a volunteer effort that provides free rides for people who have had too much to drink and cannot drive home during the holiday season. They will not only drive you home, but they will drive your car home. Last year, this service was available in the cities of Brandon and Winnipeg, and we would like to welcome this year The Pas in their efforts in 1997.

There is no formal fee for the schedule for this service. However, a donation is encouraged to the Manta swim club in Winnipeg or the Kiwanis Club in Brandon. Last year approximately $13,000 was raised in Winnipeg and $5,000 was raised in Brandon. The Pas will be raising funds for the Rotary Club this year.

In 1996, there was a total of 1,709 people driven home in Winnipeg and Brandon. With the growing awareness of this program, I am sure that the numbers of passengers will increase. I would like to applaud the efforts of the 200 Brandon volunteers and 300 Winnipeg volunteers who gave their help to stop drinking and driving.

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We are not expecting people to refrain from drinking over the holiday season. We are saying: if you drink, do not drive. Since the introduction of Operation Red Nose in 1995, there has not been one fatality due to impaired driving on the nights this service was offered. Together, MPIC and the local community organization are educating the people of our province that drinking and driving do not mix. If we can educate Manitobans that drinking and driving is a fatal combination, then there is hope that one day there will not be an impaired driver on our streets.

So, Madam Speaker, if we must drink, call Operation Red Nose, and they will get us home safely. Thank you.

Mr. Tim Sale (Crescentwood): Madam Speaker, last week we made public in this House the fact that many families have waited as much as 12 years to receive benefits from the Workers Compensation system, and 10 more families still await benefits from the deaths of their spouses because of pancreatic cancer. Had it not been for the efforts, the very strong efforts of the Occupational Health Centre, a very important project of the Manitoba Federation of Labour and of this previous government which we put in place, then this case would never even have begun to go to appeal.

Had it not been for the very fine efforts of Dr. Anna-Lee Yassi to find funding not from the Workers Compensation Board but from other sources to undertake a very careful epidemiological study, had it not been for her professionalism and her skill, the science needed to finally prove the linkage would never have been undertaken. Had it not been for the very good efforts of the worker advisors in this case, and particularly August Bairos, who was the advisor who carried the case to the medical review panel after a great deal of effort, this would never have resulted in benefits for these families.

Let it not be thought that this is the Workers Compensation Board working well. This was the Occupational Health Centre; this was Dr. Anna-Lee Yassi; this was the worker advisors doing their utmost to appeal to a board which had received the wrong advice and had used the wrong act and the wrong criteria to turn down these widows incorrectly. It was only after a great deal of effort on the part of worker advisors, Dr. Yassi, the Occupational Health Centre and the widows and families themselves who continued for years to be the advocates for their own cause, that they finally got justice, Madam Speaker.

Mr. Edward Helwer (Gimli): Madam Speaker, this past Friday, along with the Premier, the Honourable Gary Filmon, and also the Honourable Linda McIntosh, the Minister of Education, I had the opportunity to attend the official opening of the R.W. Bobby Bend School in Stonewall. The addition to the R.W. Bobby Bend School is quite impressive and will benefit the nearly 500 students, teachers and staff there. The expansion includes four new classrooms. This has allowed the school to add an extra grade, Grade 4, which is in keeping with the philosophy of the early years education. The addition of the Bobby Bend School also involves a new library, so students will no longer have to use a converted classroom as their library. Also, the creation of a multipurpose room frees up more room for special programs such as the choir. There is also expanded room and a quieter space for special needs children.

Over the past few years we have seen an increase in the numbers of students in the Gimli constituency, especially in the Interlake school division. There has been an impressive amount of expansion in the Stonewall area, and as more and more families move into this region and enjoy all that this vibrant community has to offer, Stonewall and area residents have a great deal of respect for the value of education, and I know they will benefit from these expanded facilities. So I would like just to take this opportunity to once again congratulate the students, teachers and staff of the R.W. Bobby Bend School and to wish them much success in their newly expanded school. Thank you.