Madam Speaker: Prior to Oral Questions, I would like to draw the attention of all honourable members to the Speaker's Gallery and adjoining public gallery where we have with us today 39 teachers from Thailand visiting Manitoba under the sponsorship of AFS Interculture Canada. These visitors today are under the direction of Mrs. Nesta Becker, a teacher at Victor Mager School.

On behalf of all honourable members, I welcome you this afternoon.

Mr. Gary Doer (Leader of the Opposition): Madam Speaker, as I stated yesterday, all of our primary and priority concerns must be the safety of our citizens and particularly our children who are most vulnerable in this crisis situation we are facing. The novelty of dikes in many rural and urban communities and the water that is now lapping up to those dikes presents a real danger to children and young people who are spending some time on those dikes.

I would like to ask the government, the provincial Premier, whether the EMO is aware of this situation where kids are on these dikes. Are they aware of the danger that would represent to them, and what specific EMO action has been taken to enforce those dikes to ensure that no children are on them and that we can be sure of their safety?

Hon. Frank Pitura (Minister of Government Services): Madam Speaker, we have been advised of the specific areas where there are dangers that are imminent to young children or younger children being on the dikes and the possibility of something happening to them in regard to accidents. Our Emergency Measures staff have relayed those concerns to the authorities in the city. We hope that by doing that kind of a co-ordination that type of a situation will not happen in the near future.

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Mr. Doer: Last year we had a tragic death of a young person from the Mulvey School, and then following that there were courses implemented on safety of our river systems at some of our school divisions. Yesterday the government answered questions dealing with the safety programs that are in our schools and the co-ordination in our schools. Again, we have the very, very unfortunate tragedy at the school in the northwest quadrant of Winnipeg.

I would like to ask the Premier--yesterday he reported that the Minister of Education reported that the deputy minister was meeting with all "stakeholders" in the system. Can the government report on the standards of safety training in schools and in school curriculums to do as much as we can on this very, very treacherous situation?

Hon. Linda McIntosh (Minister of Education and Training): I thank the member opposite for the question. Indeed, yes, the deputy did meet yesterday with the superintendents, school trustees, teachers and school business officials to discuss a wide variety of topics related to the imminent flood and to the flooding that is already beginning to occur in Manitoba.

The prime concern, of course, was safety of our students, and that involves a number of things. As the member has correctly indicated, some schools already have in place teaching on safety, particularly water safety around rivers, but as well, superintendents and teachers in classrooms have been making a special point in these last few days and weeks of talking to students about their own personal safety where water is concerned, and for that we commend them and thank them and encourage them to continue in those efforts.

Other facets of the discussion concerned other aspects of learning and instruction, the first concern of course being, as the member has correctly identified, personal safety.

Mr. Gary Doer (Leader of the Opposition): People across the province are phoning about the map, and they are phoning about sandbags to members of this Legislature. Yesterday I asked questions about sandbags. On Scotia Street, Kingston Crescent and Ritchot there was a shortage of sandbags as reported to us by volunteers that are being involved in those sandbag lines. We also have had calls from Lorette and La Salle about the fact that their communities are not on the map that was reproduced in some of our newspapers today.

Will the government be upgrading their map to reflect the present forecasts of flooding, and will there be again under EMO a more concentrated effort to make sure that volunteers can get sandbags? I know it is a "municipal responsibility" but it is a collective responsibility and a community responsibility to ensure that volunteers have the bags to make sure those dikes are built, Madam Speaker.

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Madam Speaker, with respect to the maps, the maps are updated on a continuous basis. What is not done, of course, is to be able to identify areas of flash floods on tributaries or where a culvert could block and it could back up into an entire field or sections of land. Those things are not possible to be able to identify, because those things are unpredictable and the consequence of unique and often freak local circumstances.

What Natural Resources is attempting to do, and I know the member opposite has seen the map, is to identify, based on currently expected levels, what would be the reach of the water within the Red River Valley. With respect to the second aspect and the availability or at least the distribution of sandbags, there has to be a process and a system in place that cannot be run out of my office. It cannot be run out of the minister's office. It cannot be run out of EMO's office. It has to be delegated to local authorities.

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The responsibility of EMO is to get the bags to the municipalities in the quantities that they require as quickly as we can respond. If you cannot have the local authorities tell you how many bags they need and then proceed to have that flow take place, then this is not something that can be done out of an office in Winnipeg so the bags that are available are sufficient to meet the demand.

In fact, we just identified today another million bags that are being moved to us from the United States. So it is not a question of quantity, it is a question of distribution. The question of distribution has to be in the hands of the local authorities, and that is where the people should be calling. They should not be calling the minister's office; they should not be calling, with all due respect, the Leader of the Opposition's office. They should be calling their local Emergency Measures co-ordinator who would then get the bags to them.

I will emphasize one thing, and that is that all of us have a responsibility as much as possible to calm people's nerves and to calm people's attitudes. I have been engaged in the last few days discussing with people, and I know that people are stressed to the max. There are some people who have not slept since last Friday. There are people certainly within our own public service who have been up late hours day after day after day. We have to try and do our best to calm people's nerves, to reassure them that the resources are available to them and to ask them to go through the right channels to get the services that they require. The only correct channel is the local Emergency Measures co-ordinator. For the city of Winnipeg there is a number, for each municipality there is a location and a person to be contacted, and for Manitoba there is obviously the central EMO number which is known to everybody.

It is through that process that we should be operating, and it is in that way we should be referring people as opposed to trying to make it the responsibility of a minister or a Premier or somebody else to take care of a need on a particular street at a particular time.

Mr. Gregory Dewar (Selkirk): Madam Speaker, my questions are for the Minister of Natural Resources.

The constant upgrading of the flood forecast is creating concerns in both Winnipeg and rural Manitoba. Yesterday the minister issued a media release which stated that the water levels in Selkirk will be similar to 1996. This morning I spoke with officials in Selkirk, Water Resources staff in Selkirk, and they suggested that the level could in fact be two feet higher than it was last year.

My question to the minister: Will he confirm that when the Red River does crest in Selkirk, presumably on May 3 or May 4, it will be two feet higher than it was in 1996? If that is the case, has he alerted municipal officials to prepare for even more widespread flooding than we had last year?

Hon. Glen Cummings (Minister of Natural Resources): Madam Speaker, as the member is aware, we very often have excessive levels in the Selkirk area because of ice dams. We are again aware that we are going to have enormous amounts of water going through. We believe that the ice situation is better this year than last year. I am not going to second-guess the member on the levels. Certainly, if there is a discrepancy in the levels, the department will be notifying the municipal officials, because these are intended to be the best forecasts of the levels coming through the Red River.

We should all be aware, and I think this is something that is important for anyone in the flood plain, as the Premier (Mr. Filmon) said a few moments ago, that localized intensive water levels can be caused by a local influx of water, but I am concerned that he suggests there may be a discrepancy in the numbers and we will certainly check that.

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Mr. Gregory Dewar (Selkirk): Madam Speaker, two feet higher than last year could cause some serious problems in the Selkirk area. What contingency plans does the Minister of Government Services (Mr. Pitura) have in place to deal with the fact that water could be higher than it was last year?

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Madam Speaker, with all due respect, I think we ought to verify the numbers that we are dealing with so that we do not create panic. I have this morning's projection from Manitoba Natural Resources. They indicate that the maximum flood stage in Selkirk at the PTH No. 4 bridge, for instance, was 727.50 last year, and the range that is still being predicted for this year is between 726 and 727.50. So I do not think we should deal with the speculation that somehow this is higher than last year when in fact this is the best advice that we have available to us from Natural Resources. I would prefer to have the Minister of Natural Resources (Mr. Cummings) verify those figures and find out whether or not what the member is bringing to the House is accurate.

Mr. Dewar: Madam Speaker, it was Water Resources staff in Selkirk that offered those numbers to me.

Mr. Gregory Dewar (Selkirk): My final question is to the Premier. Will the government now act--and this is a very urgent matter in Selkirk--would he act to get armed forces personnel in Selkirk to sandbag and to prepare sandbags in case the fact that the two-feet number is a valid one? Will he act to get armed forces personnel in Selkirk?

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Madam Speaker, we will act to ensure that the information that we are dealing with is correct, and based on that information and assurance, we will take the appropriate action.

Ms. Becky Barrett (Wellington): As the Premier has stated today, these are trying times for all of us and most particularly for the thousands of volunteers here in the city of Winnipeg who have been spending day and night working to shore up their properties and properties of their fellow citizens against the coming effects of the Red River flood. Inevitably, in situations of this magnitude, there will be problems that occur. We have all heard problems with sandbag quantities and distribution, people not being given information as to how to correctly put their dikes together so they have had to take them down, information not flowing from the centre to the local spots where things are actually taking place.

I would like to ask the Premier what the province is doing to assist in the co-ordination of information and supplies being sent and given to people so that that will help calm the situation down, which the Premier was right in saying we need to do.

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): As a result of inquiries that are coming to all of our offices, coming to the offices of various of our members and obviously members opposite, most of which I might say have to do with the city of Winnipeg, the Minister of Natural Resources' office has contacted the City of Winnipeg to convey the concerns about the integrity of the dikes that have been built, the quality of the dikes that have been built, and perhaps the lack of supervision and/or instruction in the dike construction process. My understanding is that there was a commitment by the City of Winnipeg to go and inspect those dikes and to satisfy themselves of the quality of construction and perhaps to reinforce if it were deemed necessary.

Again, with respect to the availability of sandbags, our inquiries produced a response from the City of Winnipeg. They are not short of sandbags or materials to fill the sandbags, so again that is a distribution problem that remains in their hands and that we must entrust them to fulfill. What we need to do is ensure that resources, including the people, are properly allocated. The City of Winnipeg has a very extensive works and operations department with a larger workforce than we would have to deploy to the situation. They have engineers far in excess of the number of engineers we would have to bring to the task of supervision, instruction, inspection and all of those things. We must expect that they will take the responsibility to deploy those people and make them responsible for the construction that is going on.

Ms. Barrett: Is the province prepared to do anything more than convey concerns to the city and talk about the need of the city to take responsibility for the situation? I am asking the Premier if the province has plans in place to take a more active role in dealing with the situation in the city of Winnipeg. It is time to stop the jurisdictional disputes or lines and work together.

Mr. Filmon: Madam Speaker, there is no dispute. The City of Winnipeg knows, and I will repeat for the benefit of the member for Wellington, we will offer our assistance and our resources wherever they are needed. That is what EMO's responsibility is. That is what our co-ordination with the federal government produces, is that if they are short of manpower personnel, if they are short of equipment, of anything, we will do our best to make it available to them. The one thing they understand very clearly is that we have no dispute as to jurisdiction. They are in charge of the deployment of the resources and the fulfilment of the requests because they have the material available to them, they have the equipment available to them, they have the resources available to them. They have to ensure that they get to the point where they are needed.

We cannot go in over top of them and say: Get out of the way, send all of your people home, your hundreds of employees home, we are taking over. That does not work. It does not work in southern Manitoba in the rural municipalities, it does not work in the towns and the villages and it does not work in the City of Winnipeg. What does have to work is that they have to follow the plan, the emergency preparedness plan, and that makes them the front-line responders. We supply the material and the resources when they are required.

Ms. Barrett: While the responsibility for the implementation is the city's, there are growing concerns on the part of residents in the city of Winnipeg, not only of the people who are directly affected by the potential of a flood but the people who have been working night and day helping those people. It appears to many of us that the co-ordination efforts of information, of supplies, of resources is not working to the optimum. While the city has the responsibility and no one is suggesting that they do give up the resources, it seems to us that it is essential that the province take a more proactive role in helping with the co-ordination of these concerns, of the problems; otherwise, the people in the city of Winnipeg are going to suffer greatly. The province has the ultimate responsibility here.

Mr. Filmon: Madam Speaker, I accept that the member opposite wants to resolve the problem and so do I. That is why the Minister of Natural Resources (Mr. Cummings) made direct contact to the city to ensure that they knew the resources that were available to them and that we conveyed these concerns to them. I guess the only other thing that the member could do would be again to directly call the city, whether it is her councillor, whether it is the commissioner, whether it is the mayor, and convey her sincere concerns about this issue because it is in their hands to solve the problem. They have the resources.

Ms. Marianne Cerilli (Radisson): The public's reliance on the government giving them accurate and honest information is always crucial. Given that the Communications Secretariat of some $300,000 is a division of the Premier's Office operating as government's political media machine, and we know how it is controlled by the Premier's Office in their centralizing of public relations, I have some questions for the Premier. Did the Premier and his message makers write or approve of the news release that was released from the Ministry of Housing on April 15, 1997, with regard to the demolition of the Behnke Road properties?

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Madam Speaker, I received a copy of it from Information Services, as probably the member opposite did. I do not preapprove those news releases.

Ms. Cerilli: Madam Speaker, given that this is an anonymous news release, that it has no contact person listed on the bottom of the news release, I want to ask the Premier: Is the misinformation in this news release a result of the spin doctors in his Communications Secretariat when they seem to be more interested in political spin than giving accurate information on behalf of the Ministry of Housing?

Mr. Filmon: Madam Speaker, I think that the member opposite speaks nonsense, but I will look into it and attempt to find a better answer for her dilemmas.

Ms. Cerilli: I want to ask the Premier, the First Minister, to also see if Information Services who are supposed to ensure factual and fair information, if they reviewed this news release, or did the government make a mistake, or is it that they thought that they could get away with this.

Mr. Filmon: My assumption is none of the above, Madam Speaker, but I will look into it.

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Mr. Kevin Lamoureux (Inkster): Madam Speaker, my question is also for the Premier.

There have been some concerns with respect to the number of sandbags and availability and so forth. At other times there is a concern with respect to volunteers. I guess it is a fairly straightforward question that I have of the Premier in asking him: Does the Premier believe to date that we do have an appropriate number of volunteers, that the resources are in fact there today?

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): To the best of my knowledge, yes, Madam Speaker, and we do have, obviously, access to military personnel and others on an urgent basis to supplement the resources that are available.

Mr. Lamoureux: Madam Speaker, I am wondering if the Premier might look at--I understand Manitoba Telephone System has actually allowed for their staff to leave and receive pay in order to assist in the flooding scenario, in the flooding problems. I am wondering if the government is prepared to do likewise and find if there are individuals within the civil service who are prepared to go out and assist in resisting this flood or helping out with the flood, that they would in fact be paid if need be. Is that a resource which the Premier has looked at?

Mr. Filmon: Madam Speaker, the Minister of Labour (Mr. Gilleshammer) has written to all of the senior management of government to outline the essence of the policy that we must attempt to implement as a government and that is to try and balance between the necessity to carry on the public services of government to the people of Manitoba in the midst of this time of crisis and challenge. We need to have the assurances that government can continue to offer through all of its offices all of the services, whether they be in health care, whether they be in social services, whether they be in other things such as just providing for them to renew their driver's licence or anything else. We cannot shut down the offices of government.

On the other hand, there will be demands placed upon people in these special circumstances. One is to try and respond to the crisis needs that may be there for their own families. There may be people who have to all of a sudden go and evacuate, help evacuate family. I know of one of my staff people who had to go out to Dominion City and evacuate his mother and do other things very, very recently, yesterday. So there has to be discretion. Managers have to be able to say, yes, this is a legitimate situation that you should respond to. There will be others who will say: My brother-in-law's house is in danger of going under; I need to go out there and sandbag. Again, we are saying that should be something to be responded to.

I have a letter from Peter Olfert, the president of MGEU, who in essence has offered co-operation to perhaps bend the normal rules of our collective agreement and other issues, and we are saying this is a good thing. We want to be able to utilize this kind of flexibility, but the managers will be given the authority to be able to try and balance these two necessities. One is to provide services to the public, and the other is to respond to unusual, unexpected demands for people to go out and participate in the flood-fighting efforts.

Mr. Lamoureux: Just to clarify, the Premier is indeed then saying if the need is there in nonessential government services, employees then will be allowed with pay to go and assist with respect to flood control. If that is the case, we believe that it is a very positive thing and applaud that particular action.

Mr. Filmon: That is what I am saying, Madam Speaker.

Hon. Glen Cummings (Minister of Natural Resources): Madam Speaker, in order to make sure the public has the most current information, I wonder if I might have leave to respond to a question I was asked earlier in more detail about the flood levels at Selkirk.

Madam Speaker: Does the honourable minister have leave to respond to questions posed earlier? [agreed]

Mr. Cummings: I appreciate the concern of the member for Selkirk (Mr. Dewar) to bring his most recent concerns to the Chamber, but because this is being broadcast to a large number of people who are very concerned about their situation, I want to assure them that today's levels are not increased and that the forecast as of today and as having just been reconfirmed by the department is not expected to fluctuate. The two-foot level that he indicated is not verified by numbers that we have today.

Mr. Dave Chomiak (Kildonan): I wonder if the Premier (Mr. Filmon) can inform the House whether or not any provincial institutions, specifically St. Boniface Hospital, Riverview or any other health centre, have been served with any notices of evacuation or potential notices of evacuation.

Hon. Leonard Derkach (Acting Minister of Health): On behalf of the Minister of Health (Mr. Praznik), I will take that question as notice, and he will get back to the member as soon as possible.

Mr. Chomiak: My supplementary is if the minister can advise the House whether any contingency plans have been put in place today that are presently to deal with potential bed shortages in hospitals, because I am aware as we speak, in fact, patients are in the hallway of St. Boniface Hospital and there could be an increased demand on the hospital sector in the city of Winnipeg as well as pressures from outlying regions as of today.

Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): Madam Speaker, because we are anticipating all sorts of demands that are unexpected, unusual and unprecedented in our health care system that will result from many, many closures of hospitals and personal care homes in the Red River Valley, I believe there has been identified some 1,700 available beds for people to be moved to. They are identified. That is within the city of Winnipeg, and then there are rural areas. For instance, Steinbach has already been accepting people from its immediate area and so on. I do not have the specifics, and I will get the specifics to the member as quickly as possible. That has been part of the process of attempting to go throughout the system and identify areas where people could be moved to.

Mr. Steve Ashton (Thompson): I want to continue in terms of some questions that were raised about provincial staff. I also want to indicate that while negotiations have not been complete, I know we have had discussions between House leaders which would move beyond the current situation where we essentially have an acceptance of the fact that some members may not be able to attend all sittings of the House, to a point where we may during the flood emergency not sit on Fridays and certainly this Friday, because we feel that it is getting to the critical point and people should be out in their communities and helping other communities.

I am just wondering if the Premier would be willing to go further than the commitments he made earlier in terms of provincial staffing and make it a government policy similar to the Filmon Fridays, where that was a decision of government in that case to save money by having people take time off, in this case to actually make the full weight of the provincial civil service available to fight the floods. I realize the talk of senior-level management, but I think what we really need here is a clear commitment from the province itself and from the Premier saying the No. 1 priority of the civil service outside of all the other essential services it provides is to fight the floods. Will he give that commitment as a matter of government policy?

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Hon. Gary Filmon (Premier): I hope that the member opposite is not trying to make this a political issue of one-upmanship. What we want to do is to take our responsibilities as seriously and as thoroughly as we can. We have two responsibilities. One is to not further disrupt people's lives by not having services that they depend upon available to them. We could talk about things like health care; we could talk about Corrections; we could talk about so many--[interjection] Sorry, the member for St. James (Ms. Mihychuk) has something to say.

We could talk about all of these different things and go through the process, but people do have needs each and every day that they depend upon government services for. To start an ad hoc process of saying, well, we will close down Fridays or we will close down Mondays or we will open Wednesdays or we will do that, we believe that we have ultimately a responsibility to serve the needs of the public in a whole host and variety of ways that government is mandated to do.

At the same time, we believe that we have to do everything that is reasonable to free up people where there is a reasonable request to fight the floods. I frankly, in my own assessment of the situation and my discussion with my colleagues, do not believe that it is in the best interests of anybody to start making ad hoc decisions to close down government on Friday or any other particular day, but it is in our interests to try and do what is reasonable to allocate resources to fight the flood.

So we are trying to be in the position of carrying out two specific mandates. One is the provision of government services that people depend upon, and the second is freeing up people where it is reasonable to do so to go and help in the flood-fighting efforts in this time of need.

Mr. Ashton: Indeed it is not a question of political one-upmanship, and I want to indicate, Madam Speaker, I hope that the Premier is not suggesting that these are being raised in a political sense. The reason I mentioned Filmon Fridays was not to get into that political debate, but there was a government decision and offices were closed down--

An Honourable Member: Question.

Mr. Ashton: --essential offices remained open, and I am not suggesting that the same model be used exactly, but what I am asking, given the urgent nature--

An Honourable Member: Question.

Mr. Ashton: I realize I am not following the normal rules here, but we have also been fairly co-operative to the member for Portage (Mr. Pallister), I think, in this House in dealing with flood-related matters and to the member, who probably will not be here next week to worry about this, some of us want to make sure that our intent is clear.

Mr. Brian Pallister (Portage la Prairie): I suggest to the member that the only people who are concerned about this flood are not the people in this room right now, and for him to imply that I will somehow have less concern about the people of Manitoba whether I am in this Chamber or not is a ridiculous and sad implication. This is a time for understanding and a time for co-operation. This is not a time to score political points. The member should remove his comment and apologize to me. I would appreciate it if he did that.

Madam Speaker: The honourable member for Portage la Prairie does not have a point of order.

Madam Speaker: The honourable member for Thompson, to quickly pose his question.

Mr. Ashton: The only reference about the member not being here next week was the fact that we are all expecting a federal election to be called. We know he is running. I think the member should develop more of a thick skin in dealing with some of the comments. I want to say, Madam Speaker, I was simply saying to the member--and I wish he would not have heckled me in terms of the fact that I had exceeded the normal preamble. I know I have done that, but we are dealing with the flood here, and it is a very serious circumstance.

I am just wondering if the Premier will, if necessary, and we may disagree on what is needed now, but if we do hit a critical situation, will he make the commitment to do what we have done in other circumstances and that is to free all resources of the provincial government.

I realize the local governments are co-ordinating and that was the answer earlier, but if we start hitting the crunch, and when we have seen some of the circumstances of just this past week with the rapidly escalating flood forecast, and we know what happened to Fargo and Grand Forks and what has happened in Emerson and communities in our own province where unexpected circumstances happen, will the Premier give that commitment, that the No. 1 priority of the provincial government is to make sure we use every available staff for fighting the flood?

Mr. Filmon: Madam Speaker, this may come as a surprise to the member opposite, but this government has been expending a great deal of time and effort and all of its focus on this flood for a considerable period of time.

Madam Speaker, the member opposite wants to make references to Filmon Fridays. This was an issue that was the product of many, many months of preparation, surveys that identified for us when perhaps we had some availability of time, when there was less demand on government offices, and we picked certain specific times based on that review of the lack of demand. We also provided for staff to be able to provide services to people or alternate arrangements to be able to be made when a last Friday of the month was a time for renewal of licences and all sorts of things that took a great deal of time and preparation. They were not something that took place as a result of somebody coming up with what they thought was a brilliant idea in the middle of Question Period. Quite honestly, I do not want to belittle the member's efforts, but this is not a time to try and score political points. This is a time for planning. This is a time for--

Some Honourable Members: Oh, oh.

Mr. Ashton: On a point of order, Madam Speaker, this whole week we have been asking questions on the flood. We have made every possible accommodation. We respect the fact that the government is doing a lot of work on this. Every individual MLA is. This is not about scoring political points. It is about making sure that we do the best job possible in this province to fight the flood, and I hope the Premier will withdraw that.

There is no politics in the flood. The bottom line is we are all interested in the same thing, and that is to fight the flood and do the best for the people of Manitoba.

Madam Speaker: The honourable member for Thompson did not have a point of order.

Mr. Jim Maloway (Elmwood): I have a question to the Deputy Premier, and it concerns Mike Bessey's involvement in the ManGlobe project.

Madam Speaker, yesterday the minister admitted that Mike Bessey was involved in getting funding for ManGlobe. Given his close personal connections with the ManGlobe president, did he absent himself from all votes on this matter when it came to Treasury Board?

Hon. James Downey (Deputy Premier): Madam Speaker, I would ask the member to give further clarification to his question. I am not quite clear as to what he is asking.

Mr. Maloway: Madam Speaker, I am simply asking the minister to confirm that Mike Bessey absented himself on all votes when he was chairing Treasury Board that dealt with the ManGlobe project.

Mr. Downey: Madam Speaker, first of all, Mike Bessey did not chair Treasury Board and did neither vote at it either.

Mr. Jim Maloway (Elmwood): I would like to ask the minister, several times I have asked this minister to provide the salary for the president of ManGlobe. Will he confirm that the ManGlobe president's salary was $240,000 as indicated in the ManGlobe submission to his department?

Hon. James Downey (Deputy Premier): Madam Speaker, first of all, the ManGlobe project is a research and development project carrying out work for the further development of the communications industry in the province of Manitoba, and, no, I cannot confirm that that is the salary that the individual took.

Mr. Jim Maloway (Elmwood): My final supplementary to the same minister is this: Can he confirm that taxpayer money advanced by his department was diverted to settle past lawsuits, and would he table a copy of the Canada-Manitoba Communications Agreement with ManGlobe virtual which clearly indicates that it is improper to use R & D money to settle these past lawsuits?

Hon. James Downey (Deputy Premier): No, Madam Speaker, I will not confirm that.

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Mr. Doug Martindale (Burrows): Madam Speaker, on several occasions the NDP caucus have introduced a private member's bill to require the Children's Advocate to report to the Legislature. In view of the fact that just yesterday the Children's Advocate reiterated his recommendation that he report to the Legislative Assembly instead of the minister and in view of the fact that in other jurisdictions this is the case, will the Minister of Family Services listen once again to this recommendation and not only listen but act on it and amend The Child and Family Services Act so that the Children's Advocate is given more independence by reporting to the Legislative Assembly?

Hon. Bonnie Mitchelson (Minister of Family Services): Madam Speaker, I thank my honourable friend for the question, but I kind of question where he is coming from. He happens right now to be part of a process and a committee that is looking at the office of the Children's Advocate, listening to the public and going to come back to the Legislature with recommendations for changes. He wants to preclude the public from making representation and make a unilateral decision. Shame on him.

Madam Speaker: Time for Oral Questions has expired.