Madam Speaker: Does the honourable member for Sturgeon Creek have leave to move the resolution on behalf of the honourable member for Gimli? [agreed]

Mr. McAlpine: I move, on behalf of the honourable member for Gimli (Mr. Helwer), seconded by the honourable member for Lakeside (Mr. Enns), that

"WHEREAS in recent years, Manitoba's overall economy has turned in a solid performance, generally ranking in the top half among provincial growth rates; and

"WHEREAS for 1996, the Conference Board of Canada estimates Real Economic Growth in the province at 2.8 %, which is well ahead of the national gain of 1.6 %; and

"WHEREAS the Conference Board expects growth in Manitoba to be 2.4 % in 1997, putting the province into fourth spot among the provinces, and seven major economic forecasts estimate real growth in Manitoba to be 2.5 %, which is also fourth best among the provinces; and

"WHEREAS there were 2,318 housing starts throughout the province in 1996, which was a gain of 18.1 % and above Canada's 12.4 % increase during the year previous; and

"WHEREAS in 1996, Manitoba had the largest gain of any province in housing starts in rural areas at 43.7 % compared with Canada's 7.0%; and

"WHEREAS substantial growth took place last year in the Rural Municipality of Gimli with $12.5 million in the construction of new homes, cottages, and businesses; and

"WHEREAS the R.M. of Gimli led the province in the number of new residences built in the Eastern Interlake Planning District last year with 33 new homes and 12 cottages, while the Town of Gimli saw the most new permits for commercial growth; and

"WHEREAS January 1997 marked the seventh consecutive month of strong job gains for Manitoba in which total employment in the province rose to 540,000 persons in January 1997, or 4,200 more jobs from the previous month; and

"WHEREAS 23,900 jobs were created in the province between January 1996 and January 1997; and

"WHEREAS exports to the United States, exports to all foreign destinations, new capital investment by Manitoba's private sector, manufacturing shipments, and retail sales have all increased substantially.

"THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba encourage the Provincial Government to consider continuing to enact policies and legislation that will attract businesses to the province and build an environment that will allow the economy to strengthen, while modernizing our social programs to make Manitoba the best place to live, work and raise a family."

Motion presented.

Mr. McAlpine: Madam Speaker, it gives me great pleasure, as the member for Sturgeon Creek and in representation of the good people in Sturgeon Creek who recognize the importance of the economy in the province of Manitoba, to be able to move this on behalf of the honourable member for Gimli (Mr. Helwer). In my role as legislative assistant to Industry, Trade and Tourism, it really gives me great pleasure to be able to speak to this resolution today and to be the mover of this resolution for this House.

As you know, since this government has come to office, we have worked hard to build a strong economy here in Manitoba. As the resolution has referenced, it is not only a matter of building a strong economy in Manitoba, I believe the important aspect is building the environment that enables the economy to generate and to be able to build on its own, because as we have learned on this side of the House, it is not enough to rely on governments to build economies or to strengthen economies. I think it is the environment that we create in our philosophies that will help the business community to create the opportunities for employment and to build and to prosper in the province, as the business community is.

Our government understands that the bedrock of a viable economy is fiscal responsibility and a positive business climate, and this is why we have added to the province's advantages by freezing the taxes for 10 consecutive budgets. We have made it illegal for any future government to run a deficit. What that does, Madam Speaker, is it gives a strong and powerful message to the business community that we are serious about creating the environment and supporting the business community out there to create the wealth and the wellness in the business community that the businesses are so capable of doing if they have the opportunity and the flexibility to build and to develop.

This is why we have added to the province's advantages by freezing the taxes for 10 consecutive budget years and why we have made it illegal for any future governments to run deficits, because we have seen those years of running deficits, spending money that we did not have or spending money that we are expecting to receive and oftentimes not receiving it, and then we would end up having to borrow more money and to run high deficits and high debts and would have to support that with high-interest payments.

This approach has won Manitoba consistently high ratings from the international bond-rating firms like Moody's Investor Services and Standard and Poor's, and, Madam Speaker, just last week the most recent labour force survey was released, and here in Manitoba the province's unemployment rate had fallen to 6.6 percent in April 1997, and our jobless rate is now at its lowest point in seven years.

Employment rose by 2,000 people in April 1997, and since April of last year our growth has totalled 15,000 jobs, a gain of 2.9 percent. This is the largest increase, Madam Speaker, among the provinces and nearly three times Canada's 1 percent gain over the same period. Manitoba's economy has added 17,700 jobs, new jobs, since last June, and this represents a 3.4 percent gain for our province, and, again, this is the strongest in the country.

* (1710)

Overall, much of the job growth has been in the private sector which bodes well for the overall economy, rather than relying on government to fill any void as far as job growth is concerned. I think it is healthy when the business community can provide the economic spin to these very viable and important and sensitive job opportunities, creating the employment and the need for employment. I am told, Madam Speaker, by some of my rural colleagues that it is hard to even find people to fill positions in rural Manitoba. It is so difficult for people who are running businesses to find people who can actually fill the positions that they need. So I think that says a lot for the province of Manitoba.

The private sector employment for the first four months has averaged 538,700 people, a gain of 17,300 over the same period last year that gives us a 3.3 percent growth rate, the highest of any province, and more than three times Canada's 1 percent growth rate so far this year. Did you know why our job figures are among the best in the country? It is because this government is committed to spending taxpayers' money wisely, and the business community recognizes that. We are committed to creating a strong economic environment in Manitoba in order that business and industry can prosper and create jobs, and the business community recognizes that, too, Madam Speaker.

Our stable and secure finances have opened up new avenues for all Manitobans to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them. Manitobans are seeing the benefits of our recharged economy through an abundance of jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities. This was even mentioned in the April 28 edition of Time magazine, and I would urge all members to read that because it is good reading, and every Manitoban and every member of this Chamber who is proud to be a Manitoban would certainly glean delight in reading this and be very proud, as I am proud, to be a Manitoban and to make the reference because Time magazine quotes this type of news. It is a Canadian magazine and it is usually very accurate. I mean, they do a lot of research.

But, Madam Speaker, let me quote from Time magazine, April edition in 1997. It says that it is happening all over Canada, and it is happening more and more. Companies that faced extinction or did not even exist in the '80s are making their mark in global export markets as never before. Take a look at Manitoba, for instance, once known almost exclusively for its exports of unprocessed natural resources and agriculture products. The easternmost prairie province is transforming itself into a major production platform of manufactured goods for the U.S. market. Everything from computer buses to women's and children's clothing to bedroom furniture is beginning to flow south down a route through Chicago and the U.S. Midwest to as far as Mexico, and local visionaries called the NAFTA superhighway after the North American Free Trade Agreement. At the Manitoba-U.S. border, 500 trucks a day queue up to ferry goods south because of the swelling volume. U.S. Customs has been forced to upgrade its facilities there. Since 1990, Manitoba's exports have doubled to just under 4.3 billion last year, and wheat has been bumped from the top of the list by motor vehicles and auto parts.

Madam Speaker, I think that there is other good news in this article, and they go on to reference Manitoba and Winnipeg in many respects, and I commend the honourable members to look at that and to gain some understanding of Time magazine and the research that they have done.

Madam Speaker, we have built up the most diversified manufacturing sector in the province, and we are among the top in western Canada. This diversity means that the manufacturers can source many of their inputs from other firms and draw on a large pool of skilled labour. Manufacturing is the driving force behind our economy and has been for a number of years in the province of Manitoba, and it is developing a proactive economic development strategy to sustain the strength of manufacturing in the province. A number of taxation and other financial incentives from businesses expanding or relocating operations in Manitoba have been introduced.

Taxation is an effective tool, as I have referenced before, Madam Speaker, that can be used to advance economic growth and development. As a government, our objective is to remove the barriers to growth created by uncompetitive taxes or excessive regulations and to nourish a climate that encourages people to buy a home, to hire more people or to start a new business.

One of the easiest things to do in this province today is to start a new business. It can be done with very little investment, and I think that too often people--and I think we are seeing more of this all time--when they are feeling insecure in their jobs or in the future of their jobs that they have maybe been in for 10, 12 years, and in some cases it is not even that long, they do not feel they can continue to go on and to provide the welfare for their family and the security for their families. So what they will do is they will start small businesses. There is certainly an opportunity to be able to do that in this province. That is one of the things that I am proud to say that, as an entrepreneur and proud of it, this province lends itself to business opportunities, and we certainly encourage that.

I think that is the trend of society today that we are getting away from the opportunities or the jobs when we left high school and 30 years later we retired from the same position. I mean, those days are gone. They are just not available in our society, and I do not think we will ever see that again. I think that we have come full circle, Madam Speaker, and I challenge everybody to look at that and to take advantage of the opportunities that are available as entrepreneurs or small-business people. You do not have to have a multimillion-dollar business or go out and invest a lot of money to be in business today.

I just want to reference very briefly, there were 166 housing starts in Manitoba urban centres during April 1997, which was a 133.8 percent gain over the same month last year. This is the largest provincial increase as well as above Canada's 44 percent growth over the same time frame. The current Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation forecast is about 2,550 dwelling starts in all areas of Manitoba this year, and if this forecast holds it should mean growth of about 10 percent for Manitoba this year.

Small- and medium-sized businesses are among the most important generators of jobs especially for young people in Manitoba. I think that when we consider that the small-business community represents about 80 percent of the employment in this province, I think we have to as a government look and support the opportunities for the people in small businesses because that is the future, that is the economic driving force of this province and this country. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

* (1720)

Mr. Tim Sale (Crescentwood): Madam Speaker, I am pleased to put some remarks on the record in regard to this resolution, which ignores the realities of life that face a great number of Manitobans.

The Atlantic Monthly wrote a very interesting article in November of 1995. The article was: If the GDP is up, how come America is down? It was a very interesting article, and I commend it to members opposite because what it examines is the growing contradiction between the official numbers that country's cite in terms of growth of GDP, growth of employment, and the experience of real people in those countries which increasingly seems to make people feel fairly depressed about their prospects.

I would ask members opposite, if things are so good in Manitoba, why is it that when you survey Manitobans, as the government does through its surveys and as other groups do, Manitobans tell you they are very, very concerned about jobs, they are very concerned about the security of their employment, they are very concerned about the chances and opportunities of their children and that they see the very real possibility that the increased insecurity they have experienced in their lives as adults will be multiplied for their children.

So, Madam Speaker, I think that this is an important resolution, but it is important for some fairly negative reasons. It attempts to put on a picture that most Manitobans understand to be troubled, the spin of all is well and good news is increasingly just pouring in every day.

There has been growth in exports. That is absolutely true, and many of the manufacturing industries that Manitoba is home to have done very well. Ford New Holland, for example, has produced some world-class products and has a world mandate in a number of the tractors that it builds. It is a very good story. [interjection] Palliser Furniture, for the member opposite, certainly has a strong record of exports and a rapidly growing export record. There are other success stories, and I think that members on this side take pleasure in those stories just as members in government do. When there are good jobs and when Manitoba's ability to provide for all its citizens is enhanced, we celebrate that as much as government does.

But, unfortunately, at the same time, for example, during the period of 1996 and into the first part of this year, there were some 5,601 layoffs, loss of jobs. These were in companies that provided long-term stable employment, Eaton's for example--we are going to see a very large number of long-term career employees of Eaton's looking for somewhere else to work--VIA Maintenance, Rice Sportswear, St. Boniface head nurse positions, Portage Manufacturing, Woodstone, P & H Foods, Rogers Sugar, Manitoba Telecom Services, CBC, Richardson Greenshields, CPR Weston Shops and so forth. I will leave a few of those for others to add to the record.

What we have seen here, and I apologize to my friend from the Interlake who is getting anxious that I am stealing his thunder here, is the real record of job creation in Manitoba. Yes, there have been new jobs, and we hope there will continue to be new jobs, but what jobs are they? The manufacturing industry, for example, of which the government is so proud employs fewer people today than when they came to office, approximately 4,000 fewer. Those were good jobs. Those jobs have been lost. They will probably not come back if the recent track record is anything to go by.

There is no question, Madam Speaker, that the manufacturing industry is exporting in dollar terms a higher volume of products, but they are doing so with fewer employees. We have deskilled a large number of industries, and what we have replaced those jobs with are jobs in the service sector.

Madam Speaker, those of us who have had children or friends go to work in some of these new jobs can tell you what they are like. For example, in the telemarketing industry, I was visiting with a person the other day who works in one of the new telemarketing centres. This person told me that, for example, the total training involved in this so-called high-skilled job was to read a paper manual for a couple of hours and then be placed on the board to start selling. The same person told me of situations where people who were trying to sell over the phone, and those of us who have been the recipients of those calls have some sense of the frustration, trying to sell widgets to people who did not want to buy them. There are supervisors on the floor, of course, who track every call and every sale, and if you do not make in your shift eight sales in this particular company, your name goes up on the board, and if a second day you do not make your quota, you do not get notice, you do not get training, you do not get additional support to find out what you are doing wrong. You get fired. You were not producing, you are out of here.

Madam Speaker, in the same new telemarketing centre which gains lots of positive press, if you are more than one minute late coming back from a break, whether it is a bathroom break or a coffee break or a lunchbreak, your chair is taken away from you and you have to stand for an hour like you were some kind of grade school pupil. If you are not making your quota partway through the day, your name goes up on a board where everybody can see that so and so is not making their quota.

I was told by numbers of people that routinely people's pay cheques are mysteriously short as much as a hundred dollars. Of course, when they go to complain and they hand in their hours and say, look what I was paid, look what I worked, the manager says, oh my goodness, there has been an error, we will have to correct that. Of course, we will not be able to correct it for a couple of weeks because your next pay cheque is not due for a couple of weeks, but we will correct it. And the next pay cheque comes out and my goodness, there is the $100, it has been added back, but the pay cheque is still short $100. Oh, my goodness, you know, there has been another error. Now, is that not frustrating; we will have to correct that.

What happens all too often, Madam Speaker, is that the turnover of these companies is such that people leave with wages owed to them, and they never get those wages, and, you know, I do not think those companies donate that excess to charity.

Madam Speaker, the quality of the jobs that are coming to the economy is not always low. There are some good jobs being developed, and I will not deny that, but if you look at the statistics of where the job growth has been, all, absolutely all of the job growth in Manitoba in the last seven years had been in the service sector. There has been no job growth in telecommunications, no job growth in manufacturing, none in primary industries, none in any of the secondary fields, none in the financial sector, none in the public sector, of course. That shrunk. All of the growth has been in the service sector. These jobs are characterized by high turnover, low benefits, low skills and seasonality.

You cannot make an investment in an economy; you cannot make a commitment to a family; you cannot buy a house; you probably cannot even buy a car on the kind of wages that are paid in the service sector. That is why so many of our families still have kids living at home, because they can make enough money to feed themselves, or they can make enough money to rent an apartment, but not both. So, unfortunately, or fortunately, perhaps, if you like extended families with teenagers who are now 29 or 30 years old living at home with you, that is what we have in our economy.

* (1730)

Now, Madam Speaker, the member talks about employment growth. The member for Dauphin (Mr. Struthers) and I had the opportunity last year to have some meetings in the Grandview area, and I remember members of the government staff and members of Canada Employment talking about the unemployment situation in the Parkland Region as a whole, and we said, what do you think the unemployment really is up here? We know what it is provincially according to the surveys, but what do you think it is here? They said, well, I do not know, 18 to 20 percent. We both kind of said, yes, that is probably true. That kind of shakes you up a bit though; 18 to 20 percent in an area as big and as economically important as Parklands is.

Madam Speaker, Saskatchewan and Manitoba are the only two provinces in Canada that have a very significant proportion of their population that is Status aboriginal. Stats Canada does not even count these folks as unemployed, but they live here; they are citizens here. They need health care. They are in our education system. They use our provincial infrastructure. They contribute to our life, but they do not count.

They do not count for statistical purposes, so there are no surveys of unemployment among Status aboriginal people, and those of us who know the survey business know how very hard it is to survey somebody who does not have a telephone. My honourable friend the member for Point Douglas (Mr. Hickes) can tell us how many people in his constituency either do not have phones, have not had phones or have had to give up their phones because the costs of having one, having a simple phone, have gone up so much in the last few years.

My partner works in an inner city drop-in centre, and, increasingly, she reports to me that people in her centre are giving up their telephone because they cannot afford to keep it. It is going to be very hard for StatsCan to survey unemployment by phone among folks who do not have phones.

They do not survey aboriginal people on reserve. They do not survey very often into areas where they do not get much response because it is hard to do that.

So Manitoba and Saskatchewan--obviously, I say both because one is an NDP province and one is a Conservative province at this point--both have far, far higher real unemployment than reported unemployment. Ontario's unemployment rate of 9.2 percent or 9 percent now includes only a very small proportion of Status aboriginal people who are not surveyed.

Perhaps if they were surveyed, that rate might rise half a percent, because in proportion to the workforce of Ontario, aboriginal people are a small proportion, but in proportion to the workforce in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, they are a very major proportion, something in the order of 9 or 10 percent, and the average unemployment is between 50 and 80 percent. So if you allowed even 50 percent unemployment in 10 percent of your workforce, that is another 5 percent on our unemployment rate.

So really Manitoba's unemployment rate is not 6.6 percent. In terms of its productive citizens who would like to be in the workforce, our unemployment rate easily exceeds 10 percent and probably is as high as 12 to 13 percent.

What does that also not count, Madam Speaker? Well, that does not count the people who have voluntarily withdrawn from the workforce because they could not find anything that made any sense for them to do. It does not count the discouraged workers. It also does not count the 70 percent of part-time workers who would like to be working full time. Those folks are not counted as unemployed or underemployed. We do not have any numbers on underemployment.

Madam Speaker, what is a job in Manitoba in StatsCan's view? Well, a full-time job is anything over 30 hours a week. That is full time. Part time is under that. What has happened in the last few years in Manitoba is that wealthy people and capital--that is, not the capital of manufacturing companies and retail shops and whatever--has done very well. There have been jobs generated in the service industry, in the service sector, but ordinary people have not done very well. Their real wages have fallen by some 8.6 percent since this government has been in office. The real wages of average Manitobans are not bigger; they are smaller. Yet there has been real economic growth according to the GDP.

If the GDP is up, how come Manitobans are down? Well, they are down because the rewards of the growth have gone disproportionately to the top percent, whether it is 10 percent or 20 percent, and to capital. The rewards of that growth have not gone to ordinary working people, and, in fact, ordinary working people have contributed to the profits of capital over the last eight years by having their real wages fall by 8.4 percent.

So this is not a good-news story, no matter how the government would like to spin it, Madam Speaker. Manitoba's economy has produced wealth for few and falling standards of living, falling confidence, falling family security, falling sense of future opportunities and possibilities, and that has been replaced with insecurity and fears on behalf of both parents and younger people that they will not have a future which as Canadian citizens in this wealthy country they ought to have if chances were being reasonably and fairly shared about.

Hon. Eric Stefanson (Minister of Finance): I am pleased to rise today to support this resolution, not surprisingly. I think, for the benefit of members opposite, particularly the member for Crescentwood (Mr. Sale), it might be worth taking some time to actually look at some facts and see just how Manitoba's economy is performing relative to the rest of the provinces in Canada, Madam Speaker.

In fact, the member for Crescentwood himself not long ago on an open-line radio program on Friday, March 17, he himself acknowledged that we are in a period of record growth and jobs and employment, quite different than the story that he is attempting to tell here today, and that was only a month and a half ago, Madam Speaker, that he made those comments.

I want to take one minute to talk about the 1980s which were a different climate, a different environment at the time, and some would argue that some of the choices were easier during that era because of the growing revenues and the double-digit increases in revenues.

What kind of a strategy did we have from the NDP government of the day back in the 1980s? Well, their strategy really consisted of two parts. The first part was to tax and spend, and the second part was to borrow and spend.

In fact, in their last three full years in office, 1985, 1986 and 1987, the NDP had the distinct pleasure--

Madam Speaker: Order, please. The honourable member for Interlake, on a point of order.

Mr. Clif Evans (Interlake): Madam Speaker, we hear the minister quoting from some TV or radio show, whatever it was, quoting the member for Crescentwood (Mr. Sale). He only made a quote of one sentence. I would appreciate it if there is more to that quote, would he read the rest of it so we know exactly what was said and not just what the minister wants us to hear?

Madam Speaker: Order, please. The honourable member for Interlake does not have a point of order.

Mr. Stefanson: Well, Madam Speaker, I am sure the member for Crescentwood can provide his colleague with a copy of the transcript at any time. I am sure he probably has a framed copy in his office where he acknowledges that we are in a period of record growth and jobs and employment. It is certainly nice to hear the member for Crescentwood acknowledge what all Manitobans know and all Canadians know, that Manitoba's economy today is performing amongst the best in all of Canada.

So what did that $1.6 billion of debt in just three years buy the NDP in those days? What actually did they get for that $1.6 billion? Well, job growth that was consistently below the national average in each of those last three years. In fact, in 1987, the last full year under the NDP, Manitoba's job growth rate on an annual basis was 0.8 of 1 percent compared to 2.7 percent for Canada in spite of massive deficits of over $500 million a year and quadrupling the debt of Manitoba during the 1980s.

* (1740)

But let us put some actual facts on the record, Madam Speaker, and let the facts speak for themselves. I will take the time to provide to members opposite and all members of this House some of the facts on Manitoba's economy, because I think it is important that we look at the facts.

Let us look at the first four months of 1997. [interjection] The member for Dauphin (Mr. Struthers) wants to hear about the first four months of 1997 when we talk about employment, because for that period in Manitoba, Manitoba has averaged 538,700 people, a gain of 17,300 over the same period last year. Using statistics, that is a growth of 3.3 percent, the highest of any province in Canada and more than three times Canada's 1 percent growth rate so far this year. That is a fact, Madam Speaker.

Let us look at other aspects of the job growth. All of Manitoba's job growth so far this year has been in the private sector. Private sector employment for the first four months of 1997 actually averaged 427,400, a gain of 20,600 jobs over the same period last year. That is a 5.1 percent gain for Manitoba, the best of any province in all of Canada and far ahead of Canada's 1.6 percent increase.

Let us look at another statistic. Nearly 70 percent of our year-to-date employment growth has been in full-time jobs, close to 12,000 jobs. That gives us a 3 percent growth in full-time jobs so far this year, the second-best performance of any province in all of Canada and much stronger than Canada's growth of 0.7 percent.

Let us look at the outlook for 1997, because, once again, it remains strong. The Conference Board of Canada expects Manitoba to add another 12,000 new jobs in 1997. A recent survey by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business found that Manitoba's small- and medium-sized businesses are expected to lead the nation in hiring this year. These are some of the facts, Madam Speaker, that show the performance of Manitoba's economy.

Let us look at our seasonally adjusted unemployment rate. It fell to 6.6 percent in April, the third lowest of all provinces and down from 7 percent in March. Our jobless rate is now at its lowest point in seven years. The last time it was that good was in April of 1990 when the rate was also 6.6 percent. So, once again, when you look at our unemployment rate, if you look at it for the first four months of this year, it has averaged 6.9 percent, the third lowest in the country, a full 2.5 percentage points below the Canadian average of 9.6 percent.

Let us look at youth unemployment for the first four months of 1997, average 13.4 percent. I think we would all agree that that is too high, but if you compare it to the rest of Canada, it is the second lowest in all of Canada and more than 4.5 percentage points lower than the national rate of 18 percent.

Those are just some of the facts when it comes to jobs and unemployment rates in terms of how well Manitoba is performing, and that has been indicated in all kinds of articles and all kinds of publications from the local media saying, Manitoba's economy full-steam ahead; Optimism reigns in Manitoba.

It reigns throughout Manitoba. The only place where optimism does not reign is across this Chamber amongst members in the official opposition. Another headline: Manitoba economy alive and well; Job market catches fire in Manitoba. The list goes on and on in terms of how Manitoba's economy has been performing and the acknowledgment of all Manitobans in terms of how well Manitoba is performing.

Look at the list of announcements throughout Manitoba, whether it has been J.R. Simplot in Brandon or Isobord Enterprises in Elie or McCain Foods or Canadian Agra or Schneider corporation or Midwest Food or Palliser Furniture or New Flyer Industries or Purolator Courier, just to list a few of the companies that have made significant investments and job growth in Manitoba in the last several months, Madam Speaker.

Let us look at some other economic indicators. I know the members opposite, they accept these numbers amongst the best job growth in Canada, one of the lowest unemployment rates. But let us look at other economic indicators. They might say I am being selective. Well, I will not be selective. I will look at exports. I will look at retail sales. I will look at private sector investment. I will look at manufacturing investment. I will look at manufacturing and shipments, and I will show these members opposite that when you look at all of these economic indicators on an all-inclusive basis, Manitoba today is performing on an overall basis the best in all of Canada, because in all of those areas we are amongst the top two or three provinces consistently in terms of our performance. I hope the members pay attention, and probably reread this again tomorrow so they have the opportunity to let all of this good news and all of this important information sink in.

I know sometimes it takes people a few times to read things and to look at them, and I would encourage the member for Interlake (Mr. Clif Evans), tomorrow when he has a free moment and he is having his cup of coffee that he read Hansard again, and read these important statistics for Manitoba, because our economy is performing very well. I am sure if he takes the time, if he enjoys his cup of coffee and reads these comments that he will recognize and he will agree that Manitoba's economy today is something to be very proud of. Indeed, all Manitobans are proud of that.

Let us look at exports. Let us talk about exports for a minute. Manitoba exports to the United States, they total $4.47 billion in 1996, a 12.6 percent gain. One of the best performances. Again, above Canada's gain of only 6.9 percent. Madam Speaker, 40 percent of Manitoba's total growth in exports to the United States last year was due to the manufacturing sector. Last year, though, marked the fifth straight year of double-digit increases for Manitoba exports to the United States. In that time our exports to that very important market have grown by 141.7 percent, the second best export performance amongst all provinces in Canada and well above the national gain of 102.9 percent. Those are the facts in terms of how Manitoba's economy is performing in exports to the United States.

Let us look at exports to all destinations, because we are fortunate, we do not only export to the United States. We export to countries throughout the world, Madam Speaker. So let us look at how our overall exports are performing. Well, again, our exports to the world total $5.99 billion, up 9.7 percent. Again, in terms of the performance to other provinces, the third best performance in all of Canada, and more than twice Canada's international export gain of just 4.1 percent. Those are the facts in terms of exports to all foreign destinations.

But let us look at another important statistic. I think members opposite would agree that one of the best indicators of private sector confidence is private sector investment. I am sure the member for Interlake knows that, having run a business in Riverton. That is a true test of the confidence that individuals have if they are prepared to take their own hard-earned money and invest it in the business or go out and sign and borrow money to invest it into the business. Well, let us look at private sector investment. Let us look at that. 1997 looks very good. Our growth in 1997 is forecast at 8.6 percent. Again, above the national increase of 7.8 percent. But the most important statistic is that Manitoba has now had six consecutive years of growth in private sector capital investment, something that no other province in all of Canada has done--six years of growth in Manitoba. No other province can match that performance. Since 1991, private sector capital investment has grown by 44.5 percent, more than two and a half times above the Canadian growth. That is the confidence of private individuals that the private sector has in Manitoba.

What would you say is one of the best tests of consumer confidence? I talked about private sector, private sector investment. What is one of the best tests of consumer confidence? I think most would say retail sales, retail trade. It is a good sign of consumer confidence. Are people out there spending their money, buying items that they require, buying appliances, buying clothing, whatever they might require? What kinds of things are they spending their money on? Well, let us look at our retail trade numbers over the last period of time. The total value of retail trade reached $7.8 billion in 1996, a 6.2 percent increase above 1995. It was the third highest growth rate among the provinces and more than twice the national growth rate of 2.6 percent. Last year was the fifth consecutive year of steady growth for Manitoba retailers and the second time in as many years that Manitoba again outperformed the Canadian average. They outperformed the Canadian average in 1996. We outperformed the Canadian average in 1995.

What has happened so far in 1997? For the first two months of 1997, the first two months we have the statistics for, again our growth in that area is up another 10.3 percent, the second best performance in Canada and well above Canada's growth of only 6 percent. Those are the facts, Madam Speaker, when it comes to retail sales and consumer confidence.

What are some of the other economic indicators? Let us look at manufacturing. Let us look at manufacturing shipments. Manitoba and manufacturing shipments were $121 million higher during the first two months of 1997 compared with the same period last year, fourth highest growth among the provinces and again, well above Canada's growth of 6.3 percent. Manitoba is now into its third consecutive year of outperforming the Canadian average when it comes to manufacturing shipments. In fact, we are two and a half times Canada's increase over that period of time in 1996 alone. Again, those are the facts when it comes to what is happening in our manufacturing sector.

I am sure members opposite see it, whether it is New Flyer bus and the full order book that they have shipping buses throughout North America, whether it is Palliser Furniture. The list goes on and on in that sector, the amount of activity in terms of shipments and in job creation that is taking place in the manufacturing sector.

* (1750)

Manufacturing capital investment, another test of confidence. Our performance this year will be the third best provincially and five times above the Canadian growth. Since 1991 new capital investment by manufacturers in Manitoba has more than doubled, growing by 139 percent, the second best performance in all of Canada.

Madam Speaker, those are just some of the facts, and I know time will not allow me to go through all of the economic indicators, but I would welcome the opportunity to do just that at any future date. Those are the facts in terms of how our economy is performing today. Everybody is acknowledging we are performing very well. It should be something that we should all be proud of.

Members opposite, just because they are the opposition, I would like to think, should be pleased to see the jobs being created, the opportunities being created in our province, because if we go back during the '80s, even during the late '80s, even during the early part of our mandate, a concern has been the issue of out-migration, that we were losing people to other provinces.

Today, we still have an out-migration amount of about 1,400 or 1,500 people. We now are into our seventh year of decline, the most sustained reduction in three decades. We are down from a high of about 10,000 to 11,000 in the late '80s. Why is that? Because young people are now finding jobs right here in Manitoba where they want to be and staying in Manitoba for their employment opportunities. In fact, today we are attracting people from seven other provinces, including the province of Ontario, by the way. People are migrating from Ontario to Manitoba, because of the opportunities and the job opportunities that are created here in our province.

These are just some of the facts. I believe that the facts, Madam Speaker, speak for themselves, that our economy is performing very well obviously as a result of all of that. This resolution deserves the unanimous support of this House. I would encourage members opposite to do just that, to show the positive aspects that are happening here in Manitoba that Manitobans recognize. All of us should unanimously support this resolution.

Mr. Stan Struthers (Dauphin): Madam Speaker, I really, really feel bad that the Finance minister did not have more time to talk about all the facts, because, as he has said, he has put some of them on the table out for discussion today. What I plan to do is help the Minister of Finance get all the facts out here so that we listen to them. I am sure if the Minister of Finance had more time, not just the 15 minutes we are allocated here, he could have gone into a little more detail on private sector investment confidence by telling people about the layoffs in the private sector that have taken place in the province of Manitoba just recently.

I will put out some of the facts here to back up some of the things that the--just to fill in those spaces that the Minister of Finance conveniently forgot to add to his list. Now, right off the top, 120 people were laid off by Eaton's. There is a good example of the confidence that the private sector has in this government's ability to govern this province. Let us go through--Rice Sportswear laid off 72 people recently in this province. There is private sector confidence in showing their confidence in this government's ability to govern this country. Let us keep on going. How about Rogers Sugar? Eighty-two people laid off. Here is Manitoba Telecom Services. Here is one, when it was a publicly owned entity, it employed a lot of people in this province. It becomes a private sector entity, and what does it do? It lays off 170 people. Now that is confidence. That is the private sector showing confidence in this province's economic plan that it has set out. I am amazed, Madam Speaker, that the Minister of Finance (Mr. Stefanson) did not include that as part of the facts that he was talking about.

The CPR Weston Shops laid off 275 people. Richardson Greenshields laid off 200 people; Dairyworld 22 people; Manulife Financial, 300 people laid off. There is the confidence that the Minister of Finance did not have time in his 15-minute speech to bring up. I am sure he would have if we had given him leave to continue on and talk about the whole story, all the facts, not just some of the facts that the minister is pretty good at throwing out there for people, but all the facts, the whole story.

London Life laid off five people; the CN at Transcona, 350 layoffs; Dylex, 316 layoffs; Beaver Lumber, 200 layoffs. I mean there is a lot more on this list that I could go through, but the point that I want to make is that the Minister of Finance should not stand here and tell the people of Manitoba that the opposition is simply opposing for the sake of opposing just because we are in the opposition, but there are some facts out there that the Minister of Finance needs to think about. He should not just give part of the story. He should not give part of the comments that the member for Crescentwood (Mr. Sale) made. He should learn to tell the whole story and tell everybody what the facts are, not just some of the facts.

Housing starts--I think the minister would probably agree that that is another way that the economy is gauged. In 1987, on the minister's list--and the minister will not mind me putting these out for public debate, putting out into the public the facts, as he refers to them--there were 8,174 housing starts. In 1989, once this government came along, that fell to 3,147 housing starts. In 1995, there were 1,963 housing starts. The minister did not tell us that. The minister did not tell us all those facts. The minister told some of the facts that he would like us to hear. He would like some of the facts to be thrown out there for people to debate but let us try all the facts. There has been a tremendous drop in housing starts in this province, and the minister knows that, the government knows that. Let us deal with all the facts, not just some of them.

Madam Speaker, another fact that the minister throws out there, he says he wants to talk about the whole story so he throws out all the facts on export. Well, why does he not throw out some facts on imports? One good way to gauge the economic health of the province is to compare your exports to imports and see if you do have a positive or negative balance of trade. Well, the fact is that our imports outstrip our exports, which gives us a negative balance of pay. It gives us a negative balance of payment, negative balance of trade. Why does the minister not tell us the whole story when he talks about exports and imports? Why would he not do that? Because it does not fit into his argument. It does not fit into his sunny, rosy plan for the province. It does not fit into the 18th Century view that this government takes in economics. It does not fit into that Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Ronald Reagan, Brian Mulroney, Jean Chretien style of government when it comes to the economy. It is outdated. It does not work. It is policies that have failed in the past. The trickle-down theory did not work elsewhere; it is not going to work in this province. It does not produce a fairer distribution of wealth, and do you know what? It does not even create wealth to begin with to be distributed. So I would wish that the government would steer away from just telling some of the facts. Tell us the whole picture and provide us with some kind of definition of what it means by a full-time job, what we are experiencing out there in the real world, not just a statistical world of the Department of Finance.

What we are experiencing in Manitoba's society right now is a situation where full-time jobs are becoming very scarce and some part-time jobs are being created. Now the obvious difference there is that a full-time job is a lot better for the economy than a part-time job. That is a fact I think the Minister of Finance would recognize. It is a lot better for the person who actually is going out and getting the work, you get some benefits. It is easy for the wealthy of the country to put bread and food on the table, but there are a lot of poor people out there who cannot survive on part-time jobs that this government is bragging up. We need full-time employment. We need a strategy from this government. We need a strategy from this government to bring in full-time jobs rather than all those part-time jobs that they keep pointing to.

The policies of this government have not worked in the past. I would suggest that no matter how much spin this government puts on all of the facts that it puts out, that they are not going to convince people that this economy is steamrollering along, as the spin doctors would say, on behalf of this provincial government, the spin doctors actually that this government employs to get its message out, a somewhat warped message that differs greatly from what is reality out there in the province of Manitoba. I would suggest that one of the very few areas of growth under this government is actually the number of spin doctors that they have hired on to take their message and spin it out to the people of Manitoba.

Madam Speaker: Order, please. When this matter is again before the House, the honourable member for Dauphin (Mr. Struthers) will have seven minutes remaining.

The hour being 6 p.m., this House is adjourned and stands adjourned until 10 a.m. tomorrow (Thursday).