LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA
THE STANDING COMMITTEE ON PRIVATE BILLS
Monday, August 19, 2013
LOCATION – Winnipeg, Manitoba
CHAIRPERSON – Mr. Clarence Pettersen (Flin Flon)
VICE-CHAIRPERSON – Mr. Gregory Dewar (Selkirk)
ATTENDANCE – 11 QUORUM – 6
Members of the Committee present:
Hon. Mr. Swan
Ms. Blady, Messrs. Briese, Caldwell, Dewar, Gaudreau, Helwer, Pettersen, Mmes. Rowat, Stefanson, Ms. Wight
APPEARING:
Hon. Jon Gerrard, MLA for River Heights
Mr. Jake Harms, Legislative Counsel and Assistant Deputy Minister of Justice
PUBLIC PRESENTERS:
Bill 209–The Special Olympics Awareness Week Act
Mr. Simon Mundey, Special Olympics Manitoba
Bill 301–The Jewish Foundation of Manitoba Amendment Act
Mr. Lawrence Cohen, Mark and Dorothy Danzker Perpetual Trust Fund
MATTERS UNDER CONSIDERATION:
Bill 204–The Manitoba Human Trafficking Awareness Day Act
Bill 209–The Special Olympics Awareness Week Act
Bill 300–The Brandon Area Foundation Incorporation Amendment Act
Bill 301–The Jewish Foundation of Manitoba Amendment Act
Bill 302–Les Franciscaines Missionnaires de Marie Incorporation Amendment Act
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Clerk Assistant (Mr. Andrea Signorelli): Good evening. Will the Standing Committee on Private Bills please come to order.
Before the committee can proceed with the business before it, it must elect a new Chairperson. Are there any nominations for this position?
Hon. Andrew Swan (Minister of Justice and Attorney General): Yes, I nominate Mr. Pettersen.
Clerk Assistant: Mr. Pettersen has been nominated. Are there any other nominations?
Hearing no other nominations, Mr. Pettersen, will you please take the Chair.
Mr. Chairperson: Our next item of business is the election of a Vice-Chairperson. Are there any nominations?
Mr. Swan: I nominate Mr. Dewar.
Mr. Chairperson: Okay. Mr. Dewar has been nominated. Are there any other nominations?
Hearing no other nomination, Mr. Dewar is elected Vice-Chairperson.
This meeting has been called to consider the following bills: Bill 204, The Manitoba Human Trafficking Awareness Day Act; Bill 209, The Special Olympics Awareness Week Act; Bill 300, The Brandon Area Foundation Incorporation Amendment Act; Bill 301, The Jewish Foundation of Manitoba Amendment Act; and Bill 302, les français en mission et le ma–incorporation amendment act.
How long does this committee wish to sit this evening?
Mr. Swan: I suggest we sit until the work of the committee is through.
Mr. Chairperson: Okay. We have two presenters–oh, I'm sorry. Is that agreed? [Agreed]
We have two presenters registered to speak today, as noted on the lists of presenters before you.
Before we proceed with presentations, we do have a number of other items and points of information to consider.
First of all, if there is anyone else in the audience who would like to make a presentation this evening, please register with staff at the entrance of the room.
Also, for the information of all presenters, while written versions of presentations are not required, if you are going to accompany your presentation with written materials, we ask that you provide 20 copies. If you need help with photocopying, please speak with our staff.
As well, I would like to inform presenters that, in accordance with our rules, a time limit of 10 minutes has been allotted for presentations, with another five minutes allowed for questions from committee members.
Also, in accordance with our rules, if a presenter is not in attendance when their name is called, they'll be dropped to the bottom of the list. If the presenter is not in attendance when their name is called a second time, they will be removed from the presenters' list.
Prior to proceeding with the public presentations, I would like to advise members of the public regarding the process of speaking in committee. The proceedings of our meetings are recorded in order to provide a verbatim transcript. Each time someone wishes to speak, whether it be an MLA or a presenter, I first have to say the person's name. This is the signal for the Hansard recorder to turn the mics on and off.
Thank you for your patience. We will now proceed with public presentations.
Bill 209–The Special Olympics Awareness Week Act
Mr. Chairperson: I will now call Sumon Mundey, Special Olympics Manitoba–[interjection] Simon? Oh, okay. I'm sorry, Simon. It's spelled wrong.
Mr. Simon Mundey (Special Olympics Manitoba): Thank you to the committee for allowing Special Olympics to speak on Bill 209, The Special Olympics Awareness Week Act.
When you hear the words Special Olympics, I think you would think that they're pretty household words, and, on the face of it, you would be right; they are. Recent research would indicate that 95 per cent or more Manitobans know the words Special Olympics. That same research, though, indicates that less than 35 per cent know what it is that we do.
So, when you think of Special Olympics and–the words that come up are, when are the games? Special Olympics is so much more than just games. We're in 28 communities throughout the province, we service over 1,600 athletes provincially. And there is Special Olympics going on, with the exception of their traditional holidays, every day of the year in a community throughout Manitoba.
Yes, we do do games, and athletes have an opportunity to do games from the local right up to the international level. As a matter of fact, in 2014, we will have our national summer games in Vancouver, followed by our international games in Los Angeles in 2015. This past summer, we just held our own provincial games. So yes, we do do games, but we are so much more than games.
The second sort of misconception or myth is, how are you guys getting prepared for Sochi? How did you do in London in 2012? We are not Paralympics; we are Special Olympics. There's a very minimal connection between the two organizations. Special Olympics is an international organization in 170 countries around the world just like the Olympics are in a lot of countries around the world, but we are different. Whereas the Paralympics do heats, quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals, we do divisioning. Every athlete submits a time and then the heats are done and all heats are final. That's the biggest difference between Special Olympics and the Olympic movement; it's in that divisioning concept.
So what is Special Olympics? Well, I can tell you firsthand. I've been in this organization now for 25 years, but I started as a coach. And I think we've all heard the stories of Special Olympians and what Special Olympics means to them. And the stories are best told, absolutely, by the athletes and the parents themselves, but as a coach I can tell you what happens is there's a transformation of an individual's life. I've had the opportunity to have athletes under my auspices who have developed into outstanding citizens in the community because of Special Olympics. It's not about me; it's about Special Olympics and the organization that we are.
So, for example, my first exposure to Special Olympics was quite a negative one. I walked into a program, got introduced to an athlete. First night went great. Second week, not so good. Athlete pulled my glasses off my face and stomped on them. I had two choices at that point. I could walk or I could find out why, and I found out why. That individual, today, is a contributing member of society.
Had that–the opportunity to coach high-performance athletes. We prepared for two years to go to the world games in 1991 in Minneapolis. My goaltender comes up to me the night that we're leaving and says, I'm going on vacation. Really? You're going on vacation. We just spent two years preparing for this, and our motto was, go for the gold. It wasn't about going on vacation; it was about the work that he had put in over the period of time.
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His parents had said to me at the outset when we started that he was living at home. They were scared. They were worried about where he would go. Could he work? Could he live independently? Could he survive on his own?
That was a huge learning moment for that particular individual when I said, you're not going to Minneapolis. The eve of getting on the bus and going down to Minneapolis, he wasn't going to go. I told him that, obviously, with the support of his parents. And that individual today is not only gainfully employed, by a Crown, I may add, but he's also living semi-independently on his own.
Those powerful stories are the stories that we have to tell. There's many, many stories, many powerful stories of what Special Olympics means to the athletes and their families. And we need to tell them, and by having this awareness week, we can do that. We can change the myths of who we are. We can bump that percentage–of less than 35 per cent of the people that know what we do–up, and we can tell the stories about Special Olympics and what it means to individuals and communities throughout this province.
So I thank you for allowing us to be here tonight. I thank you for allowing us to have a wonderful reception and an opportunity to speak with the MLAs back in June, and I look forward to moving forward as an organization with the support of the government, and I will, if this is the right time, answer or entertain any questions that anybody may have.
Mr. Chairperson: Thank you for your presentation.
Do members of the committee have any questions for the presenter?
Mrs. Heather Stefanson (Tuxedo): Mr. Mundey, I just want to thank you for your presentation tonight. I think you bring forward a very good point, that it's so much more–Special Olympics Manitoba is so much more than just about the games; it's all of what you do as an organization for people in Manitoba.
And so, just wanted to thank you for that, and we're hoping that with the passage of this bill, that, of course, we can have the opportunity to share more of those stories on an annual basis and, indeed, even beyond that. But having that Special Olympics Awareness Week, I think, will be an important part of the awareness of Special Olympics Manitoba moving forward.
So thank you for being here tonight and taking time out of your schedule.
Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): I just want to say thank you for your dedication, for your enthusiasm and for what you do for a lot of people who are part of the Special Olympics movement. Thank you.
Mr. Chairperson: Thank you, Mr. Mundey.
Hon. Andrew Swan (Minister of Justice and Attorney General): Thank you, Mr. Mundey, for coming down and presenting. And–spoiler alert–the NDP caucus will be supporting this bill and we'll move it through committee tonight.
Certainly, I know, within my own family and my own community, how valuable Special Olympics are. As we talk about full citizenship for all Manitobans, your organization is certainly a big part of that. So thank you very much.
Mr. Chairperson: Thank you, Mr. Mundey.
Is there any other questions?
Bill 301–The Jewish Foundation of Manitoba Amendment Act
Mr. Chairperson: I'd like to call at this time Lawrence Cohen. Organization is Mark and Dorothy Danzker Perpetual Trust Fund.
Do you have any written materials for distribution for the committee?
Mr. Lawrence Cohen (Mark and Dorothy Danzker Perpetual Trust Fund): No, I don't.
Mr. Chairperson: Okay. Please proceed with your presentation.
Mr. Cohen: May I take off my jacket?
Mr. Chairperson: You sure can.
Mr. Cohen: Thank you.
My name is Lawrence Cohen. I am the trustee of the Mark and Dorothy Danzker Perpetual Trust at the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba. I've been asked to speak here today. And joining me, behind me, is Marsha Cowan, the chief executive officer of the foundation, and Ian Barnes, the chief financial officer of the foundation.
I'm not going to talk about the bill, per se, but I'm going to talk about the operation of one of the trusts at the foundation. The Danzkers were long‑time citizens of Winnipeg, and I'll leave questions pertaining to the Danzkers for the question period, should you have any, but the–during his lifetime, Mr. Danzker had established a fund at the Jewish Foundation, and upon his passing, once his estate was settled–and I was a co-executor of the estate–we negotiated with the foundation and set up the Mark and Dorothy Danzker Perpetual Trust.
One of the terms of his will was that the residue of his estate would be turned over to the foundation and that his trustees would direct the foundation as to where the income from the trust went on an annual basis. My co-trustee passed away three or four years ago and I am the sole-surviving trustee.
Over the years we have sort of looked at the broad community and said the Danzkers were citizens of Winnipeg and although Jewish causes were of importance to them, we felt that the broad city and province of Manitoba was equally as important.
And I just want to give you a sort of smattering of where the money has gone over the, probably, decade and a half since the Danzkers have passed away. We've evolved into what I will call three pillars: (1) scholarship; (2) the Combined Jewish Appeal, which is the United Way of the Jewish community in the province of Manitoba; and (3) the United Way itself.
Over the years, I think every major–or every hospital in Winnipeg was a recipient for their foundation for funds from the Danzkers and some of them have continued to be recipients of grants to the–from the Danzker trust.
The campus–the Asper campus on Doncaster boulevard was a significant recipient when the building was being built, so the capital campaign received grants from the Danzker trust.
The hospital foundations, as I mentioned, have all received.
The Canadian Museum of Human Rights we've deemed as being a worthy project and something that all Manitobans should be proud of when it finally opens in 2014. And over the years numerous grants have been made to the Canadian museum.
The Assiniboine Park 'conservacy'–Assiniboine Park is something that I sure we have all used in our lifetime, either as kids or as adults where we've taken our kids, or as retired people such as myself where I can go out and listen to jazz at the Leo Mol Sculpture Garden. So Assiniboine Park 'conservacy' has certainly received money.
One of the other areas that are deemed to be of importance given the state of our economy and the number of people in our community who have difficulty finding enough food to eat, we have sort of focused on the feeding of–what I will call the underprivileged. Winnipeg Harvest, Siloam Mission, Agape Table, Salvation Army, have all been significant receivers of grants from the foundation. And last year, The Winnipeg Foundation has a program called nourishing potential and the Danzker trust donated money in that area.
CancerCare Manitoba Prostate Cancer Support Group, Riverview Health Centre, Gwen Secter seniors' centre on Main Street. At the Rady centre there is a program that runs every winter from the middle of January to the middle of March called Music 'N' Mavens, and we have supported that with a grant probably for the last, I'm guessing, six years.
Various arts groups: Manitoba Theatre Centre, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.
Within the major areas of grants that we've given, I mentioned scholarship; there are numerous scholarship programs in the city of Winnipeg and the province of Manitoba and even further afield that we have supported.
First one, I would like to say, is within the Jewish community there is a general scholarship program which gets a very nice grant every year to provide scholarships in the amount of probably $500 up. There is one senior scholarship that that we give under the Danzker name in the amount of $10,000 and it goes to a Jewish student doing post‑graduate work in their chosen field. And each year I've been more impressed than the year before with the recipients of that scholarship.
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Folk Arts Council has a Folk Arts Council scholarship; the Danzker trust provides $5,000 every year to the Folk Arts Council to give five $1,000 bursaries, scholarships, whatever they want to call it. They do all the selection. I have nothing to do with the recipients other than coming to their dinner at the end of the season after Folklorama's over and presenting the recipients with their scholarships. And I can tell you the first time I was invited I was literally blown away at the quality of these students who were trying to achieve an education here in Manitoba. After numerous years of issuing the five $1,000 scholarships, I determined there should be a Danzker $2,500 postgraduate scholarship at Folk Arts Council as well, and we've had that going now for, I believe, three years.
Various other scholarships have come and gone, but I want to talk about one other one and that would be at the University of Winnipeg. There are some Native students who are working in Winnipeg School Division No. 1, Seven Oaks School Division, and one or two others who are working as teaching assistants, and in the off hours in the evening, on Saturday and for a period from May to August, I believe, they attend classes at the University of Winnipeg and achieve or are working towards achieving their bachelor of education degree. And the first graduates of that program who are now fully licensed and accredited teachers have graduated. I started out providing $3,000 worth of scholarship money, telling them they could divide it up any way they want, and they chose primarily to do it on six $500.
At the end of the three-year period that I guaranteed, they had a little meeting at lunchtime, and I presented the cheques or the envelopes for those recipients, and the director of the school appreciated the fact that the three-year commitment was up. And I said, unfortunately I can't continue on the basis that we've done it; I think we have to raise it to $5,000 and everybody was joyful.
I guess there're probably two dozen little projects aside from the major pillars that I've identified that I would say have been the benefactor of money over the years, and I’m going to talk about one last one and that is the Misericordia Foundation. Dorothy Danzker and Mark Danzker lived on Middlegate in the Gates area, and every day or every second day Dorothy would walk down the street to the Misericordia Hospital where she volunteered in the gift shop and she was the recipient, I believe, of an 18-year award of service to the Misericordia. And I felt that something further should be done in Dorothy's honour, and I approached the foundation, asked them whether they had any projects that they were looking for funding.
And the person that I was talking to came up with three projects. I selected one and it was in the area of palliative care. They wanted to set up a palliative-care program where a person who was in his last hours or last days could have a loved one in the room with them and they needed a bed–they needed a chair that was portable that would fold down into a bed, and I funded that. And they wanted a blanket-warming machine, which I provided for, and then there were some other soft costs, a cart where it could be wheeled into the patient's room and they could have a CD or a notepad or a variety of other things that were going to be stocked on the cart. And we attended, Marsha and I–Marsha Cowan and I attended the dedication of the donors' board when they updated it, and the Danzker name has rose on the board and was prominent there, and we've maintained a good relationship with Misericordia.
I'll stop there and say if you have any questions I would be happy to answer them pertaining to anything the trust does or who the Danzkers were.
Mr. Chairperson: Thank you, Mr. Cohen. Thank you for your presentation.
Do members of the committee have any questions for the presenter? I recognize Mr. Cohen.
An Honourable Member: No.
Mr. Chairperson: I'm sorry, Ms. Blady, okay. We'll get it right yet.
Ms. Sharon Blady (Kirkfield Park): Yes. No worries.
Thank you so much for being here, Mr. Cohen.
When we had the opportunity to discuss this bill in second reading debate, we all spoke, those of us that partook in the debate, about all the great work that was done and I–by the foundation and by various trusts within the foundation, and I can tell you that, as much as we thought we were sharing with the Chamber the work that is done by way of the foundation and the various trusts and endowments there, you outdid what we did in an hour within your 10 minutes. The kind of work that is seen in this trust alone is phenomenal. It is hard, and just going through that list that you say is an edited version, to try to find some part of this province, this part of the city which you haven't touched in some way, shape, or form. And that is what made–it's that kind of–not–again, it's not just philanthropy; it is that idea of tzedakah [charity], and the idea of being able to do the service that we are expected to do to make the world a better place, that this is embodied, and I really appreciate you taking the time to come out.
I'd like to thank Marsha Cowan and Ian Barnes for being here as well because I think you have truly enlightened us about the work, and it is because of this that I am so thankful that I was given the opportunity to sponsorship–sponsor this legislation so that you can keep doing the work that you do and keep touching the lives that you do on behalf of the Danzkers, because I know that the work that you're doing is, I'm sure, even more than they could have imagined. This is–the gift that they left and the legacy that they left for the rest of us you are managing to a level that is just phenomenal. So thank you for your dedication and your generosity to their memory.
Mr. Chairperson: Further questions?
Mrs. Heather Stefanson (Tuxedo): Yes. Just briefly, Mr. Cohen. I wanted to thank you for coming out on this warm summer night and enduring the committee process and just sharing with us everything that you do with the Danzker trust fund and all the wonderful things that you're doing for our community. Very much appreciate that. I want to welcome Marsha Cowan and Ian Barnes here as well with you and thank them for being here tonight as well.
Hon. Jon Gerrard (River Heights): Yes. I want to personally thank you for all the effort you've put in on behalf of the Danzkers and recognizing the importance of contributing to the community and providing recognition for the legacy that they left behind, to recognize the foundation for its good work as well. And I'd like to give you just a moment or two to talk about the impact of the bill and what it will mean moving forward in terms of what will happen to the fund.
Mr. Cohen: Yes. I can't really talk about the bill per se, but there's a little bit that I have discerned about what the bill is intended to do, would be to allow the foundation to advise me as a trustee of a fund at the foundation as to what my distributable income will be, and right now, when we started this fund, the markets were a little better than they have been in the last five years and we were allocated a 5 per cent of the capital amount as distributable.
Since that time, we dropped to 4 and a half; we dropped to 4; now we're dropped to 3 and a half. And they have to be careful on the encroachment of capital; they have to be aware of where they can transfer funds from if they want to maintain the 3 and half, and that's the prescribed rate, as I understand it, by Canada Revenue Agency.
So, I can only hope that in time it will give the foundation greater flexibility to be able to give me the flexibility to spend the Danzkers' money in the way they want it spent.
Mr. Drew Caldwell (Brandon East): Mr. Cohen, thank you very much for your presentation. It was fantastic. Could I ask you to put on the record–can you tell us a little bit about Mark and Dorothy Danzker?
Floor Comment: I can tell you a lot about them.
Mr. Caldwell: Please.
Mr. Chairperson: Mr. Cohen, go ahead.
Mr. Cohen: Thank you. Dorothy Danzker was a housewife, born in Manitoba, as far as I remember, lived with her husband, Mark, for, I don't know, probably 50-plus years, probably 60-plus years. Mark was born in Eastern Europe. His parents settled in southern Manitoba just post the turn of the century, and I can't give you an exact date, but they settled in Winkler, Manitoba.
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Mark was, I guess, a student who was anxious to get out in the world. And I don't believe, and I don't have this accurately, but I don't believe he achieved much more than a grade 8 or 10 education–certainly never went to university.
And Mark, in his lifetime, was a risk-taker. And I remember him telling me that he owned a drugstore in Lac du Bonnet. I knew he owned part of a hotel on the present site of the Richardson Building on Lombard avenue. I think the name, if my memory serves me right, because I can remember the hotel being there, I think it was the Grange Hotel. I may be wrong. But he was an owner of that. He was involved with Dorothy in a business called Danzker Dress. They were manufacturers' agents that travelled across western Canada in a mobile home with their samples and sold to the storekeepers in small towns in western Canada. When they got acquainted with Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Mark noticed there were oil wells all over the place, back in the '50s. Mark bought up a bunch of oil royalties. Some of them were worth $2 a year; some of them were worth several hundred dollars a year. But he owned oil royalties.
I became a young stockbroker in 1966 and employed at Richardson's, and I didn't know Mark Danzker other than his public image. He was on city council. He was on city council, I believe, for 12 years. He was chairman of the finance committee. He was the driving force that got the Winnipeg football stadium that just got torn down as of last week–he was the guy there that helped got it–get it built. He was the driving force with Jim Daly and others who went to Sao Paulo, Brazil, and got the Pan American Games for Winnipeg in 1967. This was in his council days.
He was very, very active in the stock market. He was a risk-taker. And in 1967, short time after I became a licensed broker in this province, there was an it–an issue by Canadian Pacific Limited of a spinoff of theirs called Canadian Pacific Investments. And I knew Mark's reputation, and I've never met the man personally, picked up the phone, and I phoned him and I offered him 500 shares of CP Investments. And I can hear the words in my ear today: Why are you phoning me on this? You know, that's a tough issue to get a hold of. I said, Mr. Danzker, I says, I'm a young broker looking to establish a practice; I didn't say there were any strings attached. Are you interested in 500 shares of CP Investments? And his answer was: I got no business to give you, but, of course, I'm interested in it. He wanted them. I had to open up an account in his name, and we started doing business at that point.
Within three, four months, I was his major broker. The relationship developed to the point where I was asked by both he and Dorothy if I would consider being an executor of their estate and trustee of their estate, and we developed a very close relationship. Mark and Dorothy ate dinner at my house many times. They certainly knew my kids. They knew my wife. And there was an interchange within the community of what we did. Mark was also the original owner of the Winnipeg Goldeyes back in the 1950s. And I remember Dorothy telling me, got to have the boys have clean uniforms for the next game. After each game, she would take the uniforms, take them home, launder them and bring them back. That was the dedication. I'll leave it at that.
Mr. Chairperson: Thank you, Mr. Cohen.
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Mr. Chairperson: That concludes the list of presenters I have before me.
Are there any other persons in attendance who wish to make a presentation? Seeing none, that concludes public presentations.
In what order does the committee wish to proceed with clause-by-clause consideration of these bills?
Mr. Swan: I suggest we just proceed in order they're listed on the notice of meeting.
Mr. Chairperson: Does everybody agree to that? [Agreed]
During the consideration of the bill, the table of contents, preamble, the enacting clause and the title are postponed until all other clauses have been considered in their proper order. Also, if there is an agreement from the committee, the Chair will call clauses in blocks that conform to pages, with the understanding that we will stop at any particular clause or clauses where members may have comments, questions or amendments to propose. Is that agreed? [Agreed]
We will now proceed to clause-by-clause consideration of the bills.
Bill 204–The Manitoba Human Trafficking Awareness Day Act
Mr. Chairperson: Bill 204, clause-by-clause script.
Does the bill's sponsor, the honourable member for Burrows, have an opening statement?
Ms. Melanie Wight (Burrows): Yes, just brief. I'd just like to thank everyone here, the opposition, for supporting the bill and for all of those who came down as well. Really looking forward to seeing this pass like Salvation Army and TERF and a number of those folks. It's really important to them that this go through, and I know it's important to all of us, I believe. So, as well, it's–the more we can increase the awareness of human trafficking, I think we all agree that that's extremely important and I'd just like to offer thanks. That's it.
Mr. Chairperson: Okay, we thank the member.
Does any other member wish to make an opening statement on Bill 204?
Clauses 1 through 3–pass; preamble–pass; enacting clause–pass; title–pass. Bill be reported.
Bill 209–The Special Olympics Awareness Week Act
Mr. Chairperson: Does the bill's sponsor, the honourable member for Tuxedo, have an opening statement? Yes, Mrs. Stefanson.
Mrs. Heather Stefanson (Tuxedo): Just briefly, I just wanted to thank Simon Mundey for being here tonight, for presenting and for all the members of the committee for supporting this tonight. I think this is going to be a great thing. As we heard from Simon's presentation tonight, there's a lot about Special Olympics Manitoba that we don't know about, and I look forward to working with Simon and Special Olympics Manitoba and ensuring that we do get that awareness out of the organization, everything that you do. So thank you very much again for being here tonight.
Mr. Chairperson: We thank Mrs. Stefanson.
Does any other member wish to make an opening statement on Bill 209?
Clause 1–pass; clauses 2 and 3–pass; preamble–pass; enacting clause–pass; title–pass. Bill be reported.
Bill 300–The Brandon Area Foundation Incorporation Amendment Act
Mr. Chairperson: On Bill 300 we will first hear a report on the bill from Mr. Caldwell–Jake Harms, Legislative Counsel, in accordance with rule 158(1).
Mr. Jake Harms (Legislative Counsel and Assistant Deputy Minister of Justice): As required by subrule 158(1) of the rules of the House, I now report that I have examined Bill 300, The Brandon Area Foundation Incorporation Amendment Act, and have not noted any exceptional powers sought or any other provision of the bill requiring special consideration.
Mr. Chairperson: We thank Legislative Counsel for that report.
Does the bill's sponsor, the honourable member from Brandon East, have an opening statement?
Mr. Drew Caldwell (Brandon East): I would like to thank the Brandon Area Community Foundation for their decades of good work in philanthropy in western Manitoba. I'd also like to thank Laura Kempthorne, executive director, and Phil Weiss, vice-chair, who attended during second reading of the legislation in the House a short while ago.
Organizations like the Brandon Area Community Foundation build this province. They build philanthropy in our communities throughout the province and help us become a better place for all people to live, and I am very humbled to have been able to bring this piece of legislation forward to the Manitoba Legislature.
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I also want to note in the remarks that Patrick O'Sullivan from Meighen Haddad was very important in formulating this legislation over the last year and a half, and I'd also like to thank Legislative Counsel for being so assiduous in working with Mr. O'Sullivan to bring this legislation forward, so, thank you very much for that. It was truly a very good piece of co-operative work between the community and the Manitoba Legislature. And, with those brief remarks, I will return to the Chair.
Mr. Chairperson: We thank the member.
Does any other member wish to make an opening statement on Bill 300?
Clauses 1 and 2–pass; clauses 3 through 7–pass; preamble–pass; enacting clause–pass; title–pass. Bill be reported.
I understand there is a motion for the refund of fees with regard to this bill.
Mr. Caldwell: I move
THAT this committee recommends that the fees paid with respect to Bill 300, The Brandon Area Foundation Incorporation Amendment Act; Loi modifiant la Loi constituant en corporation « The Brandon Area Foundation », be refunded, less the cost of printing.
Mr. Chairperson: The motion is in order–oh–it has been moved by Mr. Caldwell–
An Honourable Member: Dispense.
Mr. Chairperson: Dispense. The motion is in order.
The floor is open for questions.
Shall the motion pass? [Agreed]
Bill 301–The Jewish Foundation of Manitoba Amendment Act
Mr. Chairperson: On Bill 301 we will first hear a report on the bill from Jake Harms, Legislative Counsel, in accordance with bill 158(1)–rule 158(1), sorry.
Mr. Jake Harms (Legislative Counsel and Assistant Deputy Minister of Justice): As required by subrule 158(1) of the rules of the House, I now report that I have examined Bill 301, The Jewish Foundation of Manitoba Amendment Act, and have not noted any exceptional powers sought or any other provision of the bill requiring special consideration.
Mr. Chairperson: We thank the Legislative Counsel for that report.
Does the bill's sponsor, the honourable member for Kirkland field park, have an opening statement?
Ms. Sharon Blady (Kirkfield Park): Yes. Well, I would just like to, again, thank the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba for giving me the opportunity to sponsor this legislation. I was aware of the work of the foundation before, but it was only the tip of the iceberg. And so thank you to Marsha Cowan and Steve Kroft, the past president, for offering me that opportunity, to Ian Barnes, as the director of finance and human resources, for enlightening me further on the work of the foundation and, again, for the ongoing work that you do. And to have Mr. Cohen this evening, as I said, just furthered so much more all the reason why that this kind of enabling legislation that allows the foundation to continue doing the work that it does and sometimes have to do so in the–in exceptional times where the financial circumstances of the larger global economy can have a negative impact on the kind of work that the foundation wants to do.
And, if this legislation makes it that much easier to keep, not just the vision and the goals alive, but to keep the passion for this kind of sharing with the community alive, the–I guess what always impressed me was the intergenerational work too; the idea that youth are being influenced and educated so that they know how important it is to give back to their community, and, if this legislation allows that to happen, and especially allows that to happen at a time when maybe those that are on the receiving end of the generosity of the foundation and its funds really require it.
Again, I really–I thank you for the opportunity and the hard work that you do on a regular basis because this is what does make this province a phenomenal place to live. The province of Manitoba would be a much different and a much darker place were it not for the rich Jewish community that we have here, and, I believe, the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba really exemplifies the strength and passion and generosity of that community.
So thank you for your work and thank you for letting me have a very small part in it.
Mr. Chairperson: We thank the member.
Does any other member wish to make an opening statement on Bill 301?
Clause 1–pass; clauses 2 through 5–pass; preamble–pass; enacting clause–pass; title–pass. Bill be reported.
I understand there is a motion for a refund of fees with regard to this bill.
Ms. Blady: Yes. I move
THAT this committee recommends that the fees paid with respect to Bill 301, The Jewish Foundation of Manitoba Amendment Act; Loi modifiant la Fondation dénommée « The Jewish Foundation of Manitoba », be refunded, less the cost of printing.
Mr. Chairperson: It has been moved by Ms. Blady–
An Honourable Member: Dispense.
Mr. Chairperson: The motion is in order.
The floor is open for questions.
Shall the motion pass? [Agreed]
Bill 302–Les Franciscaines Missionnaires de Marie Incorporation Amendment Act
Mr. Chairperson: Bill 302 will be our–first to hear a report on the bill from Jake Harms, Legislative Counsel, in accordance of rule 158(1).
Mr. Jake Harms (Legislative Counsel and Assistant Deputy Minister of Justice): As required by subrule 158(1) of the rules of the House, I now report that I have examined Bill 302, Les Franciscaines Missionnaires de Marie Incorporation Amendment Act, and I have not noted any exceptional powers sought or any other provision of the bill requiring special consideration.
Mr. Chairperson: We thank the Legislative Counsel for this report.
Does the bill sponsor, the honourable member for St. Norbert, have an opening statement?
Mr. Dave Gaudreau (St. Norbert): I do.
Mr. Chairperson: Go ahead.
Mr. Gaudreau: Yes, I just want to thank everyone here tonight, both opposition and our members, for coming out and supporting this bill.
And I think it's really important to recognize that this organization's been around for over a hundred years and the fine work that they do in our community and will continue to do. And I think that the amounts–the reason we're doing this bill is the amounts of–back in 1901, when it was first considered being, $9,000 for property doesn't go very far nowadays, so I think it's more of a–it's a lot of a housekeeping thing, and I thank everyone for coming out and supporting this one tonight.
Mr. Chairperson: We thank the member.
Does any other member wish to make an opening statement on Bill 300? Oh, 302–I'm sorry.
Clause 1–pass; clause 2–pass; clauses 3 and 4–pass; preamble–pass; enacting clause–pass; title–pass. Bill be reported.
I understand there is a motion for a refund of fees with regard to this bill.
An Honourable Member: Yes.
Mr. Chairperson: Mr. Gaudreau.
Mr. Gaudreau: I move
THAT the committee recommend that the fees paid with respect to Bill 302, Les Franciscaines Missionnaires de Marie Incorporation Amendment Act, be refunded, less the cost of reprinting. [interjection] Oh, okay. Sorry–la Loi modifiant la Loi constituant en corporation Les Franciscaines Missionnaires de Marie, be refunded, less cost of printing.
Mr. Chairperson: It has been moved by Mr. Gaudreau–
Some Honourable Members: Dispense.
Mr. Chairperson: The motion is in order.
The floor is open for questions.
Shall the motion pass. [Agreed]
* * *
Mr. Chairperson: The hour being 6:49, what is the will of the committee?
Some Honourable Members: Committee rise.
Mr. Chairperson: Committee rise. Okay.
COMMITTEE ROSE AT: 6:49 p.m.