Province Législature Session Type de discours Date du discours Locuteur Fonction du locuteur Parti politique Alberta 15e 1re Discours du trône 13 février 1964 J. Percy Page Lieutenant-gouverneur Alberta Social Credit Party MR. SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY: It is with much pleasure that I welcome you to the First Session of the Fifteenth Legislature of the Province of Alberta. I would especially welcome those members who for the first time are present as representatives of the people of their constituencies. I am confident you will carry out your legislative duties in a manner justifying the trust placed in you by the electors. As legislators, your foremost responsibility will be to advance the social and economic development of Alberta in the best interest of all our citizens and to safeguard their individual and collective rights. It also will be your task to define the proper division of responsibility as between governments and individual citizens in those areas where the provision of essential social services is involved. My Government is aware of the growing public concern engendered by steadily rising costs of government resulting from the present trend for governments to assume more and more financial responsibility for services which previously individual citizens provided for themselves. Unless a proper balance is established between government and individual responsibility the consequences will be inevitable increases in taxation and public debt and the further loss of individual initiative and personal independence. You will be asked to give careful attention to these factors when considering the programs for the social betterment of the citizens of this province which my Government will place before you during this session. The Annual Report of the Department of Agriculture will indicate that for the second successive year agriculture production in our province approached all-time records. Reduced yields as a result of drought, frost damage and insect pests, were limited to relatively small areas while large scale export sales of wheat contributed substantial to the buoyancy of the over-all farm economy. To further improve conditions in sub-marginal areas, my Government will continue to participate in the Federal Agriculture Rehabilitation and Development Program and you will be requested to approve additional funds for ARDA programs during the ensuing year. An amendment to The Co-operative Marketing Associations Guarantee Act will be recommended to permit government guarantees to be extended to co-operatives established for the purpose of purchasing farm machinery. Legislation to establish a crop insurance program in cooperation with the Government of Canada will be submitted for your approval. A comprehensive survey of irrigation and water control will be proposed for the purpose of obtaining information necessary for the development of sound, future irrigation policies. Continued emphasis will be placed on the further expansion of rural electrification, including power installations on Indian Reserves, and arrangements whereby established farmers in Métis Colonies will be enabled to obtain electric power in their homes. Public interest in the important field of education continues at a high level. The Special Survey Committee on Higher Education, appointed by my Government in 1961, has continued its work during the past year with particular attention to the development of a sound system of financial support. The committee also has considered ways and means to encourage the establishment and expansion of public and private Junior Colleges. A bill for a new act embodying the recommendations of the committee will be submitted for your approval. Amendments to The University Act will be recommended by my Government to provide for separate General Faculty Councils at the Edmonton and Calgary campuses and for a Co-ordinating Council, having authority over professional Boards of Examiners, affiliations, and the coordination of high school and university curricula, including admission requirements. Provision will be made to give the Chief Executive Officer at each campus the status of President. A complete revision of The University Act will be undertaken during the ensuing year to meet the changing conditions resulting from University growth, to provide the maximum practical level of local autonomy, and to enable the two campuses to be governed under parallel arrangements with an appropriate over-all authority to achieve co-ordination of services and financial support. Having regard to the present and projected public expenditures necessary to provide and operate adequate University facilities throughout Canada and the serious financial burden these expenditures will impose on the taxpayers of each province, my Government proposes to invite the Governments of the other provinces to participate in a joint examination into present and future University requirements with a view to developing a realistic co-ordinated program to meet essential needs within the taxpayers' ability to pay. Amendments to The School Act, including a revision of the mill rate for the Foundation Program of School Finance, will be introduced for your consideration. The Special Study Committee on Public Expenditures and Revenue forecast at the last session has been appointed and is engaged in a factual study of public expenditures and the manner in which they can best be controlled and the means whereby essential projects can be financed, having regard to the best interests of all our people. To afford Alberta citizens a greater opportunity to participate in the commercial and industrial development of the province, you will be asked to approve legislation to establish an Alberta Investment Fund. In the field of public health, my Government will introduce legislation to establish a comprehensive program of nursing home care, under which eligible patients will qualify for a government subsidy to pay part of the cost of the care they require. Provision will be made for municipalities, church and benevolent organizations, as well as private investors, to participate in providing bright, cheerful, modern facilities where an adequate level of nursing care can be provided to patients at a cost within their ability to pay. A representative committee of lay and professional personnel has made a comprehensive study of mental health legislation in Alberta and other jurisdictions and my Government will present for your consideration a new Mental Health Act designed to modernize the procedures for handling patients suffering from mental illness. My Government will continue to provide and improve required hospital facilities and services as the public need requires. A Medical Research and Education Foundation Act will be introduced which will set up a Foundation and Board of Trustees to administer funds donated to the Foundation which will provide research and educational grants to qualified individuals engaged in mental and other public health fields in Alberta. The construction of homes for senior citizens will be continued as the need for additional accommodation is demonstrated. You will be asked to ratify increases in maximum pensions, payable to those in receipt of Old Age Assistance, Blind Person's Allowance and Disabled Person's Allowance, which already have been made effective, retroactive to December 1st, 1963. This adjustment was made to conform with revisions which the Federal Parliament made in pension payments at the last federal session. Forest protection and management measures will be extended with full advantage being taken of grants available for this purpose under the Federal-Provincial Forestry Agreement. Amendments to The Public Lands Act will be submitted to align land settlement policies with current public and economic needs. The development and administration of provincial parks will be sustained to accommodate increasing public requirements. An active program will be pursued by the Northern Alberta Development Council with a view to further advancing the economic development of Northern Alberta. A pilot project for community development in selected areas of Northern Alberta will be commenced during the year for the purpose of exploring ways and means of assisting and encouraging our people of Indian ancestry to meet their special social and economic problems. An extensive program of modern highway construction will be carried out during the ensuing year, including additional four-lane divided highways and the extension of the network of district and local roads aided by provincial grants to local authorities. An appropriation well be requested to provide recreational facility grants for towns, villages and active rural centres which did not previously qualify and where there has been a continuing community organization. An agreement has been signed between my Government and the Federal Centennial Administration under which centennial grants for local projects of lasting nature will be provided. A centennial committee, under the chairmanship of the Provincial Secretary, has been established and municipalities are invited to submit projects to the provincial committee for approval. Your endorsation will be sought to cover preliminary planning for the establishment of a provincial museum and archives. Preliminary work in preparation for the establishment of a force of trained police personnel, to be made available under contract to municipalities requesting this service, is well advanced and you will be asked to appropriate funds necessary to meet the cost of recruitment and training under this program during the ensuing year. A complete revision of the Special Areas and the Improvement Districts Act, together with amendments to other statutes affecting municipal administration will be submitted for your consideration. Other important statutes to which amendments will be recommended include: The Alberta Labor Act, The Right of Entry Arbitration Act, The Pipe Line Act, The Oil and Gas Resources Conservation Act, The Liquor Control Act and The Liquor Licensing Act. The Landlord and Tenant Act, of which the Legislature was advised at the last session, has been redrafted and, with your approval, will be enacted into law. A revision of The Land Titles Act is still in the process of completion and an interim report will made to the Legislature during this session. In keeping with established practice, a special committee of the Legislature will be set up during the present session to conduct public hearings and review all matters relating to workmen's compensation and to submit to the next session of the Legislature recommendations for amendments to The Workmen's Compensation Act. During the ensuing year, an extensive further development program will be undertaken by the Alberta Government Telephones, including the provision of direct distance dialing service to a substantial number of additional communities. Your approval will be sought for the design and construction during the ensuing year of essential public works, including a comprehensive program of University buildings to meet the rapid increase in enrolment at both the Calgary and Edmonton campuses. The program of planning and construction of future buildings necessary to make government services readily accessible to the people of the province will be carefully designed on a twelve-month basis to provide the maximum measure of employment during winter months. Additional facilities will be constructed At the Belmont Institution for Girls and a minimum security prison will be provided in Northern Alberta to reduce crowding at present institutions and eliminate the need for transporting convicted persons from northern areas. The Public Accounts for the last fiscal year and the Estimates for the ensuing year will be submitted for your scrutiny and approval. I leave you now to the business of this session confident that you will apply yourselves to your responsibilities in a manner that will ensure the best interests of all our people. I pray that Divine Providence will guide and direct your deliberations.