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Third Session – Forty-First Legislature of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba DEBATES and PROCEEDINGS Official Report (Hansard) Published under the authority of The Honourable Myrna Driedger Speaker Vol. LXXI No. 29 - 1:30 p.m., Monday, April 9, 2018 ISSN 0542-5492 MANITOBA LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY Forty-First Legislature Member Constituency Political Affiliation ALLUM, James Fort Garry-Riverview NDP ALTEMEYER, Rob Wolseley NDP BINDLE, Kelly Thompson PC CLARKE, Eileen, Hon. Agassiz PC COX, Cathy, Hon. River East PC CULLEN, Cliff, Hon. Spruce Woods PC CURRY, Nic Kildonan PC DRIEDGER, Myrna, Hon. Charleswood PC EICHLER, Ralph, Hon. Lakeside PC EWASKO, Wayne Lac du Bonnet PC FIELDING, Scott, Hon. Kirkfield Park PC FLETCHER, Steven, Hon. Assiniboia Ind. FONTAINE, Nahanni St. Johns NDP FRIESEN, Cameron, Hon. Morden-Winkler PC GERRARD, Jon, Hon. River Heights Lib. GOERTZEN, Kelvin, Hon. Steinbach PC GRAYDON, Clifford Emerson PC GUILLEMARD, Sarah Fort Richmond PC HELWER, Reg Brandon West PC ISLEIFSON, Len Brandon East PC JOHNSON, Derek Interlake PC JOHNSTON, Scott St. James PC KINEW, Wab Fort Rouge NDP KLASSEN, Judy Kewatinook Lib. LAGASSÉ, Bob Dawson Trail PC LAGIMODIERE, Alan Selkirk PC LAMOUREUX, Cindy Burrows Lib. LATHLIN, Amanda The Pas NDP LINDSEY, Tom Flin Flon NDP MALOWAY, Jim Elmwood NDP MARCELINO, Flor Logan NDP MARCELINO, Ted Tyndall Park NDP MARTIN, Shannon Morris PC MAYER, Colleen St. Vital PC MICHALESKI, Brad Dauphin PC MICKLEFIELD, Andrew Rossmere PC MORLEY-LECOMTE, Janice Seine River PC NESBITT, Greg Riding Mountain PC PALLISTER, Brian, Hon. Fort Whyte PC PEDERSEN, Blaine, Hon. Midland PC PIWNIUK, Doyle Arthur-Virden PC REYES, Jon St. Norbert PC SARAN, Mohinder The Maples Ind. SCHULER, Ron, Hon. St. Paul PC SMITH, Andrew Southdale PC SMITH, Bernadette Point Douglas NDP SMOOK, Dennis La Verendrye PC SQUIRES, Rochelle, Hon. Riel PC STEFANSON, Heather, Hon. Tuxedo PC SWAN, Andrew Minto NDP TEITSMA, James Radisson PC WHARTON, Jeff, Hon. Gimli PC WIEBE, Matt Concordia NDP WISHART, Ian, Hon. Portage la Prairie PC WOWCHUK, Rick Swan River PC YAKIMOSKI, Blair Transcona PC Vacant St. Boniface 1075 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA Monday, April 9, 2018 The House met at 1:30 p.m. Nipawin, who immediately responded, leapt into action and provided a place to gather and support to Madam Speaker: O Eternal and Almighty God, the families who were waiting desperately for news from Whom all power and wisdom come, we are of their loved ones. assembled here before Thee to frame such laws as may tend to the welfare and prosperity of our Thank you to the medical staff in the hospitals province. Grant, O merciful God, we pray Thee, that who did everything they could do. Thank you to the we may desire only that which is in accordance with crisis workers who continue to provide much-needed Thy will, that we may seek it with wisdom and know support to the families and the communities of those it with certainty and accomplish it perfectly for the so affected by this horrible tragedy. glory and honour of Thy name and for the welfare of Thank you also to the 70,000-plus donors from all our people. Amen. Canada and from around the world, who have Please be seated. Good afternoon, everybody. donated more than $5 million to the team's GoFundMe page. That number will grow, and it ROUTINE PROCEEDINGS stands as a testament to a country and a globe where Madam Speaker: Introduction of bills? Committee we are united in our grief and we are also determined reports? Tabling of reports? to help. MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS I am reminded of the Prayer of St. Francis: O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek / Madam Speaker: The honourable First Minister, to be consoled as to console, / to be understood as to and I would indicate that the required 90 minutes understand, / to be loved as to love. notice prior to routine proceedings was provided in accordance with our rule 26(2). The resolve shown by the people of Saskatchewan during this tragedy serves to renew Would the honourable First Minister please our faith and is a testament to their resilience. The proceed with his statement. way that communities have come together is Humboldt Broncos Condolences awesome in its inspiration. Hon. Brian Pallister (Premier): Madam Speaker, I Madam Speaker, I ask for a moment of silence, join Canadians from coast to coast in remembering following the comments of my colleagues who wish the victims of this weekend's devastating collision in to speak to this issue, in order that we might Saskatchewan. Our hearts break for the 15 families appropriately honour the memories of those who who lost their loved ones; the 14 families whose have passed. May God bless them all. loved ones were injured, many critically; players; Mr. Wab Kinew (Leader of the Official coaches; the bus driver; the media staff; players who Opposition): I want to send my condolences to the hail from Saskatchewan, from Alberta, from BC, survivors and to the families of those lost in the one from Winnipeg, who miraculously survived, Humboldt Broncos bus crash over the weekend. Our Matthieu Gomercic. hearts also go out to Matthieu Gomercic, Manitoba This is every parent's worst nightmare, but in the player who has survived this tragedy. midst of this devastation and loss, we see emerge the Our nation and the Prairies are in mourning. For true character of the Canadian people. We witness many of us, hockey is life. And this past weekend, generosity and love, true compassion and real my first thoughts in reaction to this tragedy were as a assistance to the families of those who perished and parent. I thought about the many parents and all the to those who were injured as well. time that they spent with their kids. I thought about We say thank you to the first responders who the joys that they would have felt watching them demonstrated professionalism and courage in the score their first goal, win their first game, lift their most trying of circumstances. Thank you to the local first cup at the end of a tournament. I also thought community centres, the churches of Humboldt and about the more challenging moments those parents 1076 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MANITOBA April 9, 2018 would have spent when the games didn't go their It's heartbreaking and difficult to speak to a kids' way and they had to help them learn how to tragedy like this. As a Canadian and a Manitoban, lose; thought about all the time that they would have each of us knows a bus full of hockey players. These spent coaching Timbits, flooding backyard rinks and could have been our boys or our girls, which is why waking up early on Saturday mornings to drive their this loss hits so hard. kids to those freezing barns in the countryside where Naomi and I are parents of a son and a many of us learned how to skate and shoot, and all daughter-in-law who were involved in a tragic bus those memories and all of that time invested in these accident in which eight people died. Bus accidents young people. are not only an issue here in Canada, but globally. That came to a sudden halt this weekend. It's a My son Tom and his wife Nadine were in Cambodia, tragedy. on their honeymoon, when the tragedy occurred. Madam Speaker, many of our faith traditions, They survived, but like Matthieu Gomercic, a from the Book of Job to the Anishinabe legend of former Manitoba Junior Hockey League player with Kiiwishkwebishki, have sought to answer the sort of the Steinbach Pistons and the Winnipeg Warriors, questions that we're left with at times like this. Why along with the other passengers present on both do bad things happen to good people? How is it that buses who survived, the legacy of memories lives on a loving God or a Creator can see fit for something to be shared and endured. like this to happen on our earth? On behalf of the Liberal caucus we offer our And the answer that generations of wise people condolences to the family, to friends, to teammates, have come up with to date is, we don't know. We and to the community of Humboldt. We pray for weren't there when the Creator made this world, and healing and comfort in this time of their tremendous we won't be here when it ends. But what we do know loss. is that we have to be there with those who suffer in I hope and I ask the Premier, in light of this times like this. And that's why so many people went tragic event, that the province will consider entering to the vigil. That's why so many people have into discussions with New Flyer and the Winnipeg expressed their sympathies. And that's why so many Jets and others to fund an initiative to improve the people donated to the GoFundMe page. safety design for all buses. You know, hockey is our national pastime, and Leave a hockey stick out tonight for the boys every single kid who picks up a mini stick is part of and the girls who play hockey, and please add to the that tradition. Maybe that's why this loss cuts so donations still being accepted on Sylvie Kellington's deep, because we all feel as though we lost someone GoFundMe site for the families of the Humboldt that we're connected to this past weekend. Broncos. But in a very real way, it's the parents, the Thank you, merci, miigwech.