The House met at 10:45 a.m.

Mr. Speaker: O Eternal and Almighty God, from Whom all power and wisdom come, we are assembled here before Thee to frame such laws as may tend to the welfare and prosperity of our province. Grant, O merciful God, we pray Thee, that we may desire only that which is in accordance with Thy will, that we may seek it with wisdom and know it with certainty and accomplish it perfectly for the glory and honour of Thy name and for the welfare of all our people. Amen.

Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much for your patience this morning.

Mr. Kelvin Goertzen (Official Opposition House Leader): Just for the record, Mr. Speaker, I know there's been a bit of delay starting this morning because of the sound system.

We're certainly willing to just use the remaining 12 or so minutes for private members' bills to deal with the Bill 300, the member for Emerson's (Mr. Graydon) bill, and then proceed to private member's resolution at 11 o'clock as scheduled.

Mr. Speaker: Is there leave of the House to use the remaining time between now and 11 a.m. for consideration of private bills and then proceed directly to private members' resolutions? [Agreed]

Leave has been granted. I thank honourable members.

ORDERS OF THE DAY

PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

SECOND READINGS–PRIVATE BILLS

Bill 300–The St. Charles Country Club Incorporation Amendment Act

Mr. Speaker: So, under orders of the day, private members' business, second readings of private bills, we're ready to proceed with Bill 300, The St. Charles Country Club Incorporation Amendment Act.

Mr. Cliff Graydon (Emerson): Mr. Speaker, I move, seconded by the member for La Verendrye (Mr. Smook), that Bill 300, The St. Charles Country Club Incorporation Amendment Act, be now read a second time and be referred to committee of this House.

Motion presented.

Mr. Graydon: Mr. Speaker, the purpose of this bill is to permit a proxy voting on issues by the club members at meetings of members. Currently, the legislation requires members to be in attendance to vote except for money-borrowing motions, which can be voted on through proxy voting. The amendment act will permit proxy voting on all motions that arise at a members meeting.

Special changes of subject 4(3) gives each member one vote in person or by proxy with respect to the election of governors and all other questions voted on at meetings of the members, and subsection 10(2) allows for proxy voting with respect to the club's borrowing money.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Hon. Andrew Swan (Minister of Justice and Attorney General): That was one of the most shortest and concise speeches that we can [inaudible]. I congratulate the member for Emerson. As we move towards the end of the session, perhaps we're all interested in letting people play through to bring forward legislation.

Certainly, Mr. Speaker, growing up in St. James, the St. Charles Country Club was actually a bit of a place of mystery down at the end of Country Club Boulevard. I'd never actually had the chance to set foot in the place until I joined my law firm, and then because there were members who were prepared to sign us in, I was able to golf at St. Charles Country Club, where I realized very quickly that if I was going to play any light sports, probably running and curling would be much smarter sports for me to play than golf. I don't pretend to be any kind of expert on that.

And I've had the chance to go back to that beautiful clubhouse about once a year when my former law firm now has an annual dinner and it's a good chance to connect with many great people, obviously, of all political stripes and all different backgrounds, and hang out at that quite spectacular clubhouse.

* (10:50)

It is interesting learning a bit about the history of St. Charles Country Club. It celebrated its centennial back in 2004, I believe. The land for St. Charles Country Club was purchased back in 1905 for the princely sum of $20,000. There were then debentures issued by the original founding members of that club to start building first a shed and then a clubhouse, then to hire an architect and start building the golf course.

If you read through the list of the founding members of the St. Charles Country Club, they truly were the, I suppose, the captains of industry, if you were, at that time. There was grain traders, brewers–of course, a very important business–as well as a number of professionals–accountants, doctors, lawyers–who were all part of getting St. Charles Country Club off the ground.

Since that time, of course, it's been recognized as one of Canada's premier golf courses. It has three nine-hole courses, each of which have a distinctive flavour of the architect; three different architects who designed those portions of the course, which gives it kind of a different feel. Although, again, for a duffer like myself, not much comfort in trying to get around the course. I don't expect I'll be playing St. Charles any time soon and I'm sure nobody there will be disappointed to hear that.

I also understand that a century ago when they first got the club going, memberships for men cost $25 for the year and memberships for women cost $10 a year. I don't know what the membership fee is now, but I do believe it's probably appreciated something beyond that.

So, Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to put a few words on the record, you know, that St. Charles Country Club is a long-time fixture in the west part of the city. I understand this amendment will make it easier for those members who leave Manitoba in the winter to escape our rather harsh winters to still be actively involved in the operation of that country club year-round.

So we're certainly prepared to have this go to committee. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker: Is there any further debate on Bill 300?

House ready for the question?

Is it the pleasure of the House to adopt the motion? [Agreed]

So, moving on with second readings of public bills, are we ready to proceed with Bill 213?

Some Honourable Members: No.

Mr. Speaker: No.

Mr. Speaker: Are we ready to proceed with Bill 202?

Some Honourable Members: No.

Mr. Speaker: No. Are we ready to proceed with Bill 207?

Some Honourable Members: No.

Mr. Speaker: No. Are we ready to proceed with Bill 212? [Agreed]

Debate on Second Readings–Public Bills

Bill 212–The Child and Family Services Amendment Act

Mr. Speaker: So we'll now call Bill 212, The Child and Family Services Amendment Act, standing in the name of the honourable member for Tyndall Park, who has three minutes remaining.

Mr. Ted Marcelino (Tyndall Park): I better make use of my short time quite intelligently.

This bill that was proposed to amend and add more red tape to the current situation in Child and Family Services is anachronistic.

What I would say that should have been done is to propose a resolution that would appraise those workers of the CFS and all the other agencies dealing with children's care, that they are doing a gigantic job, almost impossible to even imagine in the western world.

What we have is a continuing job to do. The safety and well-being of children is of paramount importance to all of us. They are our future and they are the same offspring of our generation that we will rely on during those times when we are in our pensionable years. And a generation of workers and leaders and maybe legislators will come from that pool of kids, boys and girls, whom we should take care of with our–with all our affection and all our love to give them a good upbringing coated with respect and devotion to the values that keep our society going for the last 1,000 years and in the future of 1,000 more years.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Matt Wiebe (Concordia): Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to put a few words on the record with regards to this particular amendment, and I'm appreciative that I have the opportunity to follow the member for Tyndall Park (Mr. Marcelino). You know, even though his time was short, I think his sentiment was very accurate and certainly something that I think all of us in this Chamber can appreciate and can agree with that. Of course, children are a No. 1 priority, of course, not for–only for our own government but for all members of this House, so I appreciate the opportunity, when we get a chance, to speak about this issue.

And as somebody who's a young father, I have two young children at home and I, you know, we spend a lot of time with our children, different activities, different things that we do with them and, you know, we put a lot of our efforts and our time into our children. And so we know–my wife and I know just how important it is that we have–that we give that time and that we have the opportunity to do so. But we know that that's not always the case, and so this is where, when we get an opportunity to talk about children who are less fortunate, it just gives us that much more appreciation for the kind of efforts that are put out by all involved to try to give those children an opportunity for the best life that we can give them.

I know quite a few foster parent families in my own constituency, and I've actually had a chance to sit down with them on–at their kitchen table, in their living rooms. I can say they're–from my experience, have been pretty hectic households, lots going on. But they're giving people, they're generous people, they're people who are giving of their own family time and their own love and their own affection to give kids this opportunity to actually have a better life. So it really hits home, Mr. Speaker, when we get a chance to talk about just how important these foster families are and how vital it is that we give them the supports that we can to ensure that they're able to actually, you know, best give that care and that they're not feeling alone, they're not feeling like they're all by themselves in this process.

So, Mr. Speaker, I'm very proud that our government has prioritized foster families, and has given them some of these supports and continues to work with them to give them the support that they need. And it–I really appreciate and I just want to take a few seconds to talk about how much I appreciate those foster families and the experiences that I get to have with them and sitting at their kitchen table and experiencing their home life. It's an inspiration to me, because we know that, you know, life is hectic enough that, in many cases, these folks have their own families and they have their own obligations, so when they're able to actually give of their homes and give of themselves to these kids, it's so inspiring, and, you know, I guess I kind of gravitate to these kind of folks who are so giving of themselves, and I take a lot inspiration from them. I take a lot of advice from them and they've given me a lot of advice about, you know, what they see as priorities with regards to foster care and how we can best support them, and so it's very important to me that we do that.

* (11:00)

Mr. Speaker: Order, please.

When this matter is again before the House, the honourable member for Concordia (Mr. Wiebe) will have five minutes remaining.

* * *

Mr. Speaker: The hour being 11 a.m., it is time for private member's resolution, and the resolution that we have under consideration this morning is entitled 10th Anniversary of Same-Sex Marriage in Manitoba, sponsored by the honourable member for Assiniboia (Mr. Rondeau).

Hon. Andrew Swan (Government House Leader): Yes, Mr. Speaker, could you canvass the House to see if there's leave to have this private member's resolution which is in the name of the member for Assiniboia actually introduced by the member for St. Vital (Ms. Allan)?

Mr. Speaker: Is there leave of the House to have the resolution introduced by the honourable member for St. Vital in place of the honourable member for Assiniboia?

Some Honourable Members: Agreed.

Some Honourable Members: No.

Mr. Speaker: I hear a no.

An Honourable Member: On a point of order, Mr. Speaker.

Point of Order

Mr. Speaker: The honourable Official Opposition House Leader, on a point of order.

Mr. Kelvin Goertzen (Official Opposition House Leader): Mr. Speaker, I've not had the opportunity to speak personally with the member for Assiniboia this morning. I'm not sure what the issue is, if he's–why he's either unable or unwilling to move this resolution.

Perhaps the Government House Leader (Mr. Swan) and I can have a discussion about a future date, but in the absence of being to speak to the member, we are not able to proceed without knowing what the reason is.

Mr. Speaker: The honourable Government House Leader, on the same point of order.

Mr. Swan: On the same point of order, Mr. Speaker, I understand the member for Assiniboia (Mr. Rondeau) is not able to move his resolution this morning. We do have the member for St. Vital (Ms. Allan) who's quite ready and quite prepared to speak on this.

Of course, this is a resolution, we think, of some importance, and it's difficult to conceive why there would be a problem unless, of course, we consider the history of this particular issue and other issues in the province of Manitoba.

Of course, we know that when same-sex marriage was introduced in Manitoba, we know that it was the Progressive Conservatives who bitterly opposed that. It's disappointing if they want to continue fighting that fight some 10 years after the goal posts in Manitoba have been moved.

I know back in 1987, when the Human Rights Code was brought in to provide protections for people based on sexual orientation, I know that every single member of the Progressive Conservatives opposed that. I'd hoped as well that we had moved the goal posts a lot in the past 25 years, but unfortunately we haven't. We know that even last year the members of the Progressive Conservatives opposed Bill 18, which is intended to prevent–or to protect children in our school system.

So it's disappointing to see the Progressive Conservative caucus has not moved one iota, even as the rest of society in Manitoba has moved tremendously over the past 25 years. I'm disappointed in the member's position today, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. Speaker: Just in case I neglected to put on the record that leave had been denied to the earlier request, I want the record to clearly indicate that.

And with respect to the point of order raised, I didn't hear that there was any particular breach of any rule, and I note that there was a fair amount of debate. Perhaps there's an opportunity between the House leaders to have some discussion about this at a future opportunity, and I don't want to delay the business of the House any further since leave has already been denied.

And therefore I must respectfully rule that there is no point of order because I did not hear of any particular rule that had been breached.

* * *

Mr. Speaker: Now, there's obviously some decision of the House here that has to occur.

I'm imagining that we'll be, then, proceeding with the resolutions that are currently listed on the Order Paper and that I'm assuming, then, that we're prepared to start consideration on debate on resolutions starting with resolution 1, that had been sponsored by, I think, the honourable member for Concordia (Mr. Wiebe), entitled Cultural Diversity, standing in the name of the honourable member for St. Paul (Mr. Schuler), who has seven minutes remaining.

So do we want to proceed, then, with resolution 1?

Some Honourable Members: Agreed.

Some Honourable Members: No.

Mr. Speaker: I hear a no.

Are we ready to proceed with resolution 2?

Some Honourable Members: No.

Mr. Speaker: I hear a no.

Are we ready to proceed with resolution 3?

An Honourable Member: No.

Mr. Speaker: No.

Are we ready to proceed with resolution 4?

An Honourable Member: No.

Mr. Speaker: I hear a no.

Are we ready to proceed with resolution 7?

An Honourable Member: No.

Mr. Speaker: No.

Are we ready to proceed with resolution 8?

An Honourable Member: Yes.

An Honourable Member: No.

Mr. Speaker: I hear a no.

Are we ready to proceed with resolution 9?

An Honourable Member: No.

Mr. Speaker: I hear a no.

Are we ready to proceed with resolution 10?

An Honourable Member: Yes.

An Honourable Member: No.

Mr. Speaker: I hear a no.

Are we ready to proceed with resolution 11?

An Honourable Member: No.

Mr. Speaker: I hear a no.

Are we ready to proceed with resolution 12?

Some Honourable Members: Yes.

An Honourable Member: No.

Mr. Speaker: I hear a no.

Are we ready to proceed with resolution 15?

An Honourable Member: No.

Mr. Speaker: I hear a no.

Are we ready to proceed with resolution 19?

An Honourable Member: No.

Mr. Speaker: I hear a no.

Are we ready to proceed with resolution 21?

An Honourable Member: No.

Mr. Speaker: I hear a no.

Mr. Swan: On House business, you might find–

Mr. Speaker: On House business.

Mr. Swan: –agreement by this House to call it 12 o'clock.

Mr. Speaker: Is there a will of the House to call it 12 noon? [Agreed]

Seems to be leave, so the hour being 12 noon, this House is recessed and stands recessed until 1:30 p.m. this afternoon.