Alternate page number, consecutive for the 17th Legislature, 1st Session: page 391 LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ALBERTA Title: Tuesday, March 14, 1972 2:30 p.m. [The House met at 2:30 pm.] PRAYERS [Mr. Speaker in the Chair.] head: INTRODUCTION OF BILLS Bill No. 19 The Department of Education Amendment Act, 1972 MR. HYNDMAN: Mr. Speaker, I beg leave to introduce a bill, being The Department of Education Amendment Act, 1972. Among other changes, the bill will delete and reduce the powers and prerogatives of the Minister of Education in respect to authority he now has under legislation to appoint temporary and part-time staff. In addition, it will delete the regulation-making power of the minister regarding the establishment, operation, and administration of vocational and technical schools or institutes, the responsibility for which is passed to the hon. Minister of Advanced Education. [Leave being granted, Bill No. 19 was introduced and read a first time. ] Bill No. 22: The Coroners Amendment Act, 1972 MR. LEITCH: Mr. Speaker, I beg leave to introduce a bill, being The Coroner’s Amendment Act, 1972. It contains several amendments of a technical or procedural nature. [Leave being granted, Bill No. 22 was introduced and read a first time.] Bill No. 5 The Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Amendment Act, 1972 MR. HARLE: Mr. Speaker, I beg leave to introduce a bill, being The Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Amendment Act, 1972. The most important amendments concern claims under $500, to allow the administrator to permit the claim to be made without a judgment. Another amendment defines more specifically the duty of a judge hearing an application, and the other amendments are of a procedural nature, including one important amendment concerning the naming of the administrator in legal proceedings. This gentleman unfortunately now has a poor credit rating. [Leave being granted, Bill No. 5 was introduced and read a first time.] Alternate page number, consecutive for the 17th Legislature, 1st Session: page 392 9-2 ALBERTA HANSARD March 14th 1972 MR. COPITHORNE: Mr. Speaker, I move that The Motor Vehicle Accident Claims Amendment Act, 1972 be placed on the Order Paper under Government Bills and Orders. MR. SPEAKER: Is there a seconder for the motion? MR. COPITHORNE: It is seconded by the hon. Len Werry. [The motion was passed without debate or dissent.] head: INTRODUCTION OF VISITORS MR. TAYLOR: Mr. Speaker, I have great pleasure in introducing to you and through you to the hon. members of the legislature, Warrant Officer David Gleed of 700 Wing. Through your courtesy, Mr. Speaker, he is seated in Mr. Speaker's Gallery. Warrant Officer David Gleed has served six years in the Royal Canadian Air Force Cadets. He is a member of 700 Wing RCAFC of the City of Edmonton. He has earned his wings and did this in a Cessna 150. He has participated in the Senior Leaders' Course in 1969 in Quebec, and in 1971 he won the Gordon E. Taylor Trophy for the top flying cadet in 700 Wing. It's my pleasure to welcome Warrant Officer David Gleed, an outstanding young man, who is emblematic of what can be done by the Royal Canadian Air Cadets and it's my pleasure to welcome him now to the Legislature. MR. FARRAN: Mr. Speaker, I have the honour to introduce a distinguished group sitting in the gallery behind me, who are the Greenland athletes who have recently been competing in the Arctic Winter Games at Whitehorse. I think I 've been chosen for this honour because I represent Calgary North, and I have some erstwhile connections with the north of Ireland. Anyway, I'd like to read the names of these distinguished athletes from Greenland, if they would please rise and be recognized: Miss Olga Andreassen; Karl Steffensen; Torben Larsen, Sr.; Uvdlo Jakobsen; Joergen Zethsen; Kurt Tittussen; Tobias Heeimann; Ludvig Ingemain; Vittus Hiemann; Otto Berhelesen; and their leaders, Mr. Lars Chemmitz, Mr. Hans Hoim; and their guide, Mr. Conway from the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. MR. CRAWFORD: Mr. Speaker, I take pleasure in introducing through you to the Assembly this afternoon 62 students along with their teachers, from two Grade IX classes in Mt. Carmel school, located in the constituency of Edmonton Parkallen, in south central Edmonton. Mr. Holzman and Mr. Paquette are the two teachers who are with the students today. They are in the members' gallery. I would like to congratulate them, both teachers and students, on the interest they have taken in our legislative process, and hope that they enjoy the proceedings this afternoon. I would ask them to stand and be recognized. MR. PURDY: Mr. Speaker, I beg leave to introduce to you and through you to the hon. members of this Assembly, 31 Grade V students from the Alternate page number, consecutive for the 17th Legislature, 1st Session: page 393 March 14th 1972 ALBERTA HANSARD 9-3 Spruce Grove School, accompanied again today by their teacher Mr. Ibsen and the bus driver, Mr. Gerry Breithaupt. This is the second class that Mr. Ibsen has brought into the Legislature in the past few days, and I would like to congratulate him for taking the time to bring these children out to see the Alberta Legislature in session. I'd ask the teacher and the bus driver and the students to rise at this time so they can be recognized. head: FILING RETURNS AND TABLING REPORTS The following reports were tabled by the members as indicated: 1970-71 Annual Report, Department of Public Works — Dr. Backus 1970 Annual Report, Alberta Housing Corporation — Mr. Russell Regulations under The Alberta Gas Trunk Line Act — Mr. Lougheed. head: ORAL QUESTION PERIOD Victoria Charter MR. STROM: Mr. Speaker, I would like to direct a question to the hon. Premier. Before stating my question I would just like to make a point of clarification that I am aware of the reply that the hon. Premier gave to my hon. colleague in regard to the Prime Minister's letter to the Province of Quebec, of which I believe the hon. Premier has a copy. My question to the hon. Premier is that in view of the fact that this may well be one of the most important concessions made to any province since the beginning of constitutional discussions, is the hon. Premier prepared to give us a detailed outline of the province's position on this matter? MR. LOUGHEED: Mr. Speaker, first of all I think I should correct something. Perhaps the hon. Leader was not fully aware that the Prime Minister, in fact, wrote individual letters directly to the premiers of all the provinces with regard to the request that is certainly something that we recognize in importance and significance as I mentioned in my remarks yesterday. We're taking immediate steps to follow up as I described it yesterday, I believe, the crack in the door relative to a much larger provincial role in manpower centres and occupational training, in particular. We also recognize the broader nature that's involved in the alteration of thinking by the federal government. As far as an overall position on this matter, it would certainly be ,my intention to deal with it after we have completed our assessment. Whether or not that's something I can specifically say would occur during the course of this session, I'm not in a position to respond to that directly, but we do recognize the importance of the matter. And as I say, there are going to be some specific initiatives followed up by our government on the matter. I'll repeat again the position I took yesterday. The Progressive Conservative government did not, either at or about the time of the Victoria discussions of last June, take a definitive position with regard to the proposed Charter, and when the government of the Province of Quebec concluded that it was not satisfactory to them, we didn't at that time feel it was necessary to do so. It's now apparent as a result of the change that has occurred and the response that we've had -- and we've had some formal discussions as well with other provincial governments in the last 29 hours -- that the situation has altered. We will therefore, commence an assessment of the provisions of the Victoria Charter as to whether or not the provisions as therein contained are adequate as far as the new government of Alberta is concerned. Alternate page number, consecutive for the 17th Legislature, 1st Session: page 394 9-4 ALBERTA HANSARD March 14th 1972 MR. STROM: Mr. Speaker, a supplementary question. Did I take from the reply that the hon. Premier gave just now that we could not expect a statement before the end of the session? MR. LOUGHEED: No, Mr. Speaker. I wasn’t saying we would not make a statement, I was merely saying that I was not prepared today to commit ourselves to one until such time as we have had further opportunity to consider the nature of the document and its implications. MR. STROM: I'm wondering if the hon. Premier could give us some indication of how soon we might expect an indication of when a statement might be made. I can appreciate the requirement of time, but again I simply make the point that it is one of the last discussion points that was outstanding with the provinces, and I am a little concerned as to the federal government wishing to take positions. This leads me to the second part of the question then - is the Prime Minister suggesting to the provinces any date for future constitutional conferences? MR.