Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 06, 1978, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press. Thursday. July 6.1978 11 legislative briefs Las give approval in principle to government omnibus tax Bill dutch Elm disease is spreading to areas outside Winnipeg and Brandon and has recently been spotted in the area of St. George and great Falls man., two communities along the Winnipeg River 75 Miles Northeast of Winnipeg. Environment minister Briu Raison told the legislature wednesday this May have some effect on the City of Winnipeg because there is always the possibility that infected Wood May be transported from those areas Back to the to contain a spreading of the disease near St. George and great Falls the government plans to remove any infested Trees Ransom said. Agriculture minister Jim Downey said his department which is responsible for fighting the disease has a Public awareness program with the City of Winnipeg that involves signs on buses. He added he would Check with his department to see if a similar program can be started in the two Winnipeg River communities affected by dutch Elm disease. Agriculture minister Jin Downey of Manitoba said wednesday he will be asking for a refund from beef producers enrolled in the government s beef stabilization plan who Market finished beef above the guaranteed 1978 Price of 48 cents a Pound. The plan was started when the Price of beef was Low and the province paid Farmers the difference Between the actual Market Price and the guaranteed Price. Now that the Price has increased sold 22 cents a Pound above the guaranteed level in june opposition members Are urging the government to get Farmers to pay Back any Money they got for beef sold at above the guaranteed Price. T health minister Bud Sherman has again poured cold water on suggestions that the government step up its involvement in family planning services. Sherman told opposition Leader de Schreyer he plans no definitive answer in the near future to a report tabled last week by the government s family planning advisory Council because it advocates a much More heavy handed role for the province in the Field. The minister said he particularly opposes the establish ment of a family planning directorate within his department since Field services and dissemination of information on the subject has been adequately supplied by private agencies. However Sherman refused to agree with Schreyer that the report was a dead letter saying he would discuss it with family planning experts Las and others before forming a final opinion. The province should free up some of its million private sector employment program to stave off cancellation of a summer tour by the actors showcase theatre for children Wilson Parasiuk nip Transcona said wednesday. Parasiuk charged that the tour which staged Between 60 and 90 performances for Manitoba children last year was cancelled because of conservative government funding cutbacks to the Manitoba arts Council. The theatre group failed to win a Grant from the Council last month. Tourism minister Bob Banman said he would Check into the situation but ignored Parasiuk s request that the tour be re instated immediately. Banman admitted the arts Council had received less funding this year in keeping with Overall government restraint measures but said the arts Council screened its own Grant applications and set its own priorities. The Manitoba Telephone system included a printed in the . Advertising pamphlet in this month s Bills to its sub scribers because they were provided free by a Winnipeg phone assembling company consumer affairs ministered Mcgill said wednesday. Mcgill told la Saul be rata nip St. Johns the pamphlet extolling the Virtues of a new trend line also includes a message from the Telephone system printed by a local firm and paid for by the assembler. The minister later agreed with nip members that a Cost is involved in some Way to the system but said the Winnipeg assembler is seeking a Canadian manufacturer for the phone s component parts. The Manitoba legislature approved in principle wednesday an omnibus tax Bill which includes a series of fiscal measures which finance minister Donald Craik says will Benefit Manitoban and add a few million Dol Lars to provincial coffers. But before a vote on second Reading of the Bill was taken wednesday the opposition criticized Craik for diverting million from the Manitoba Public insurance corporation to the province s general Revenue account. This amount is expected As a result of a two cent in crease in the Price of a gallon of gasoline. The measure was announced in the Craik s budget address in april. Saul Cherniack Johns said the Transfer of this Money which was meant to keep aut Opac rates Down is to make up for revenues that were lost when the province eliminated sue Donald Craik cession duties last year. The omnibus tax Bill includes a temporary reduction to two per cent from five in the sales tax in accor dance with a Federal plan aimed at stimulating the Economy. The reduction is scheduled to end sept. 30. Also the Bill provides provincial sales tax exemptions for Mobile Homes increases exemptions to from for companies under the corporation capital tax act raises tobacco and Gaso line tax and offers tax exemptions on fuel for vehicles operating in forests. Higher gasoline prices will yield an additional rail lion higher tobacco tax an other million but Craik said the other tax measures will offset the additional in come and Over All the prov Ince will collect Only a few million As a result of the tax Bill. Cherniack said during Sec Ond Reading debate the two cent a gallon tax increase should end up in the accounts of the Manitoba Public insurance corporation and not in general Revenue of the provincial government. Cherniack added other tax measures Benefit the Rich not the poor such As the Bill to reduce the provincial income tax rate to 54 per cent of the Federal rate from 56 per cent. That Bill was Given third and final Reading wednesday with nip members along with the legislature Lone Liberal Lloyd Axworthy fort Rouge voting against. The final Vole on the in come tax reduction Bill was 30 to 16. The omnibus tax Bill received second Reading on a vote of 31 to 13 with a worthy voting in favor of the Bill. Craik said the omnibus Bill provisions Are All Benefi Cial taxes to the people of Manitoba and charged the opposition was trying to con Manitoban into think ing that the government is implementing them for the Benefit of the Rich. Mobile Home Park in Cornwallis i Brandon annexation voted Down Manitoba had no role in Energy plan Craik by John Sullivan Manitoba was t consulted in Advance about a million Federal plan announced tuesday to encourage alternate Energy finance minister Donald Craik said wednesday. Craik minister responsible for Manitoba Hydro and chairman of the Manitoba Energy Council said he was informed of the plan just hours before Federal Energy minister Alastair Gillespie announced it. Craik said he had written Gillespie two weeks ago urging Federal funding for a solar Energy Centre in Manitoba after hearing rumours of the program but received no commitment from Ottawa. Gillespie said tuesday the government will spend million during five years to encourage a Domestic solar Industry and fuel recovery from solid waste and forests. Ottawa will step up its purchases of solar heat ing equipment and try to double Wood and Urban wastes contribution to Energy supplies by 1985. Craik said he has no idea How much of this Money will filter into Manitoba but said million a year could be expected if the funds Are apportioned by population. In the legislature wednesday Liberal la Lloyd Axworthy fort Rouge said several provinces had already won Federal Aid under the program for special joint Energy projects and urged the government to make specific proposals. Industry minister Bob Banman said the Manitoba Energy Council and the provincial research Council were considering several projects for funding including research into Wood Gasi fiction. The biomass pro Gram was already Cost shared by the two govern ment Levels he added. Opposition Leader de Schreyer called Gillespie s plan the first serious Effort in Canada to take research beyond the Laboratory to the Pilot project Manitoba legislators voted 29 to 18 wednesday against an amendment to the City of Brandon charter which would have paved the Way to extend a Mobile Home Park on land to be acquired from the adjacent Rural Munici Pality of Cornwallis. Len Evans Don sponsor of the Pri vate member s Bill later said he did t know what the next move would be for 10 families who must seek new accommodation for their Mobile Homes As the result of the june 30 closing of a Park in the City. I Don t think Las appreciate the local crisis that exists. I think the Ball rests in the government s Evans told reporters. Consumer affairs ministered Mcgill who represents Brandon West was among the 18 supporting the Bill while All other Western Rural Las and municipal affairs minister Gerry Mercier voted against it. Evans said he suspected Rural members objected to the expansion of communities into Rural municipalities. He said he was concerned about people Dis placed who Don t have any where to go unless they leave the 10 families were Dis placed when Lark Hill Mobile Home Park closed. Originally the Bill would have permitted annexation to the City of 37.5 acres from Cornwallis. Subsequently Brandon City Council and the Munici pal Council agreed the City should acquire the land. But an amendment to the Bill demanded by Cornwallis would have prevented Brandon from rezoning both the 37.5 acres and the existing Bren Twood Village Mobile Home Park for at least 10 years. Mercier who originally supported the Bill said he reversed his stand because of the zoning amendment. He claimed that since the two municipalities had agreed on acquisition of the Viand its zoning should be up to the municipal governments. This he suggested could also be done by agreement. Former nip municipal affairs minister Howard Pawley Selkirk agreed it was bad practice for the legislature to set zoning policy. He suggested referring it to the provincial land use com Mittee. However in the final vote Pawley supported the amended Bill. In his final attempt to push through the Bill Evans re called that legislative coun Sel Rae Tallin had pointed out the two municipalities did t have the right to zone an area for 10 years by agreement. As a Resul legis former nip attorney general Howard Pawley wednes Day strongly endorsed one of family Law related Bills As being Good legislation. The reason he told the legislature was that the Amend ments to various acts related to marital property was a copy of the nip legislation mainly changing the devolution of estates act. Under the changes passed last year and repeated this year the spouse of a person dying without a will would inherit the first of the estate instead of the first tax free with the remainder of the estate being divided equally Between the surviving spouse and the Chil Dren. Formerly the remainder of the estate had been divided on a one thirds two thirds basis respectively. I Don t know Why there was a Brand new said Pawley. He speculated that perhaps the present govern ment wants to take credit for the legislation passed last june which was progressive Pawley also said he would support amendments to the Queen s Bench act allowing judges of the Eastern judicial District to perform certain functions related to the new marital property legislation. The amendments he said were necessary mechanical changes even if we do have an unsatisfactory marital property the two Bills cleared second Reading and were sent to committee for detailed study. Municipal affairs minister Gerry Mercier said wednesday Manitoba s municipal act will undergo a review in the next couple of years. He also called a helpful suggestion former nip municipal affairs minister Horard Lawtey s suggestion that the government should develop a Small Urban centres act because the Charters governing a number of such centres in the province have inconsistencies and have been dealt with on a Patch work basis. The Exchange took place As the legislature gave final Reading to an act to Amend the Portage la Prairie charter and another act respecting the City of Brandon. The Portage la Prairie charter amendment would allow that City to Levy funds to meet its Parks Board requirements. The legislation will be retroactive to Jan. The City of Brandon act would allow the City Between the years 1979 and inclusive to Levy an amount equal to i per cent of the City s total operating budget excluding the education Levy for the use of Brandon University. Speaker Harry Graham faced a dilemma in the legislature wednesday when he called for a vote on a private members by l which would Amend the Brandon charter to allow annexation to the City 38 acres of land from the Cornwallis of to be zoned for a 1ft year period for a trailer school renovation bids being taken by John Sullivan tenders have been called on Long awaited renovations to the East Grove Wing of the Portage school for Retar dates where fire took the lives of eight persons in april 1977. Manitoba Public works minister Harry Enns said wednes Day about will be spent to bring the building into line with provincial fire code standards the first phase in an Overall upgrading Effort. Enns said tenders for the work will be accepted until july 20 and the renovations expected to give the school additional dormitory space should be completed by Early next year. The minister said the East Grove site will be comple Tely renovated including All electrical beating and plumbing Walls will be rebuilt and a new inner ceiling added using a fire retardant material. Enns added that the building will have a new advanced fire alarm system As Well As a sprinkler system. The building is composed of four Large rooms linked by an open corridor and lounge area. The conservative government ordered a review of All upgrading recommendations on government buildings by the provincial fire commissioner three Days after Tak ing office. The action came in response to a court inquiry into the Portage fire which urged extensive new safety features at the school. The former conservative opposition had attacked the previous nip government s failure to spend on us school to implement 1974 recommendations by the fire commissioner. In the voice vote the ayes and nays Sova ded eco Fly Load to Graham who then tried to Call for a vote however. Get i House Leader Warner Jory Pusod and several oppose Tim Feid Graham according to die he hmm Cave to cast Hie teen Kcf veto Graham voted vote. The Toft was Defeated m an 88 to 2 Cut two across past Inkster gardens sales announced by Johnston about 15s serviced lots in the Ink Ster gardens subdivision in North Winnipeg have been sold since the government announced a trial mortgage subsidy program in mid june. Housing minister j. Frank Johnston told the legislature wednesday that 25 lots have been sold to individuals and 131 to contractors leaving about 109 parcels or per cent of the subdivision the Market. Those sold include 111 lots zoned re single family and three blocks of rpm multiple Boosing land. Sale of he lots ranging a Price from to depending on frontage is pan of a subsidy program eventually designed to enable Al Manitoban with in comes of Jess than s18jw a year to is ski or Bey their own the program will provide interest free second Mort gages ranging from Row for a Lamity ears Sig to for gift a Home Sujit Jess. Jato ski stressed that ;