Province Législature Session Type de discours Date du discours Locuteur Fonction du locuteur Parti politique Alberta 15e 2e Discours du trône 18 février 1965 J. Percy Page Lieutenant-gouverneur Alberta Social Credit Party MR. SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY: It is my privilege and pleasure to welcome you to the Second Session of the Fifteenth Legislature of the Province of Alberta. Two weeks ago our province was shocked and saddened by the sudden tragic accidental death of the Honourable Norman A. Willmore. Mr. Willmore gave many years of faithful public service to the people of Alberta and was a capable and conscientious minister of the Crown. On behalf of all our citizens, I wish to pay tribute to his memory and express deepest sympathy to Mrs. Willmore and to all members of the family. It also is appropriate on this occasion that we should voice the heartfelt sorrow of all our people in the loss humanity has sustained through the recent death of Sir Winston Churchill. His indomitable spirit and courageous leadership will remain for all time a challenge and inspiration to each new generation. During this session, you will be called upon to deal with a substantial number of proposals designed by my government to further enhance the good and welfare of the citizens of Alberta and to ensure continued economic development and social progress in all phases of provincial affairs. Having regard to the national political instability and the gravity of the many issues which remain to be solved in the field of international affairs, you will, I am confident, apply yourselves to your tasks with a deep sense of responsibility and a firm resolve to give statesmanlike leadership in discharging the duties assigned to you by the citizens of this province. I pray that Divine Providence will guide and direct your deliberations. During the past year, unanimous agreement was reached between the Government of Canada and the governments of all the provinces on a procedure to domicile The British North America Act in Canada and on a formula for the enactment of future amendments to the Act without reference to the Parliament of Great Britain. A resolution approving this historic recommendation, which my government believes is in keeping with Canada's status as a sovereign nation within the Commonwealth, will be introduced early in the session. Throughout 1964, Alberta's economy remained buoyant and practically all phases recorded substantial gains. Natural resources development continued as a major factor in our economic growth. The value of mineral production increased by more than ten per cent over the previous year. Natural gas production, which in 1955 was valued at eight million dollars, will exceed one hundred million dollars in 1965. Farm income for the first six months of 1964 was approximately twenty-five per cent higher than for the same period the previous year due, mainly, to increased sales of wheat on the export market. Various agricultural services will be enlarged and improved and you will be asked to approve the increased appropriations necessary for such expansion. My government will submit plans for your approval to permit Alberta to participate in the International Hydrologic Decade while additional studies on irrigation and drainage problems will be continued from which more efficient and improved programs will be developed. An agricultural and biological laboratory will be established to consolidate services now carried on by various branches to permit greater efficiency in providing such services in the interests of the agriculture industry. An expanded ARDA program will be carried out under a new agreement with the Government of Canada. Amendments to various statutes affecting agriculture will be submitted for your consideration, including The Marketing of Agricultural Products Act. Statutory provision will be made to afford municipal districts and counties a greater measure of participation in local programs affecting agriculture. My government's special Survey Committee on Higher Education will table a further interim report during the present session. The committee will continue its study of the complex problem of how best to meet the ever growing educational needs, having regard to the factors of service, cost, type of institutions, and population distribution. Plans for further expansion at the Southern and Northern Institutes of Technology are well advanced and will be implemented during the ensuing year. Special attention will be given to the provision of training which will upgrade the academic background and technical skills of unemployed and other workmen desirous of taking advantage of this opportunity. The special committee, established by the University Board of Governors to recommend the most desirable form of administration applicable to both the Calgary and Edmonton campuses of the University of Alberta, will not complete its work in time to make specific recommendations for a new University Act during this session. Only such amendments as are necessary to meet interim requirements will be submitted, pending the introduction of a new University Act at the 1966 session. A number of important matters relating to public health will be presented for your consideration. It is proposed to extend the benefits under the Alberta hospital plan to include out-patient service at hospitals throughout the province. This will provide diagnostic and emergency treatment services and will help reduce the demand on in-patient service, thereby freeing more hospital facilities for those requiring in-patient care. Alberta's subsidized medical services insurance plan has completed successfully its first year of operation. The soundness of the principles upon which the plan is based has been demonstrated and similar plans are now being adopted by other provinces. During the ensuing year the plan will be examined carefully in the light of the experience gained to determine what further improvements and extentions of benefits are desirable to ensure maximum coverage at costs within the financial reach of all citizens. A new program to provide improved and additional health services to isolated areas of northern Alberta will be submitted for your approval. You will be asked to establish a combined legislative and public committee to make a thorough study of existing preventive health services and report at the next session of the Legislature with recommendations for improved services and better utilization of professional personnel. A careful study is being made of the needs for new mental hospital facilities in the southern part of Alberta. Plans will be prepared during the ensuing year for a new 300 to 400-bed mental health hospital clinic to be built at the Foothills site in Calgary. My government has inaugurated a program of community development to assist our native people of Indian ancestry to improve their social and economic position. The Federal Government has subsequently agreed to join with the province in this effort. An expanded program in this field will be outlined during the ensuing year. You also will be asked to approve an amendment to The Alberta Election Act extending to Indians, as defined in the federal Indian Act, the right to vote in provincial elections. The construction of five senior citizen's homes during the ensuing year will complete the government's original undertaking to provide accommodation for 4,000 senior citizens. As the need arises, provision will be made for the construction of additional units. A special committee has been appointed under The Child Welfare Act to make a thorough investigation into present adoption legislation, procedures and practises, and to make recommendations for the future guidance of the Legislature. Only such interim amendments to The Child Welfare Act as are necessary will be submitted at this session with a complete revision to be undertaken following the receipt of the committee's recommendations. To reduce the number of persons remaining for a long period of time on public welfare, special attention will be given to developing programs designed to prevent welfare dependency and to assist in the rehabilitation of welfare recipients. An interim report by the Public Expenditures and Revenue Study Committee, appointed in November 1963, will be tabled for your perusal. The committee's final report will be submitted prior to the next session of the Legislature. To implement an alteration in the income tax collection agreement with the Government of Canada allocating a larger share of personal income tax to the province, amendments to The Alberta Income Tax Act will be introduced. Amendments to The Alberta Investment Fund Act and The Alberta Municipal Finance Corporation Act also will be submitted for your consideration. A new act to provide an alternative procedure to private bills for obtaining exemptions from municipal assessment and taxation of property of non-profit, charitable, religious, educational, or welfare organizations, will be recommended for your approval. A complete revision of The Housing Act will be proposed to conform to extensive amendments recently made by the Parliament of Canada to The National Housing Act. Amendments to assessment legislation will be submitted to provide an exemption from assessment of buildings and improvements of manufacturing processing concerns until construction is completed and the plant is in operation. Amendments to The Forests Act 1961 to allow established timber operators to secure supplies of timber at an assessed value will be introduced. Allotments of timber in each forest management unit will be governed by sustained yield under controlled forest management. In view of changes in land administration policies, a revision of The Public Lands Act will be submitted for your approval. A progressive program to expand and improve provincial parks will be recommended to keep pace with public demand. You will be asked to approve the establishment of a special legislative committee to study the problems confronting commercial fisheries and to make recommendations for the solution of these problems. Having regard to the increasing importance of northern resources and northern community development, my government has approved a comprehensive program, recommended by the Northern Development Council, to accelerate the construction of roads, air strips and such other facilities as are required to service existing communities and open new areas of development. This program will include a pilot project under which new land to be opened for settlement will first be provided with roads and other essential facilities and services. The first commercial development of the Fort McMurray oil sands will give substantial impetus to northern industrial growth during the ensuing year with total expenditures in excess of two hundred million dollars being committed for the construction of plant, bridges, town site and other auxiliary development. Supplementing this large scale industrial development in northeastern Alberta, my government believes that far reaching additional economic benefits would accrue if the resource areas in the western portion of the province north of the man National mainline were served by rail transportation linking those areas with the existing Canadian National Railway outlets to seaboard. You will be asked to provide legislation under which my government can assure that such facilities will be provided. A multi-purpose pilot plant will be constructed during the ensuing year for the Research Council of Alberta in the Clover Bar area, supplementing the laboratory facilities already available at the new Research Council building adjacent to the University campus. The new plant will be available for the investigation of new industrial processes and manufacturing techniques and already has been leased for private research of recently developed iron ore refining processes. A comprehensive highway program will be submitted for your consideration and will include substantial grants for the construction and upgrading of roads in municipalities and local improvement districts. Safety factors in highway construction and in the control of highway traffic will continue to receive high priority. The Legislative Committee, established at the last session to review The Workmen's Compensation Act, will submit its report during the present session, together with its recommendations for such amendments as it deems to be in the public interest. The committee appointed by the Legislature last year to review procedures for collective bargaining between school trustees and teachers will submit its report for your consideration. A substantial reorganization of the provincial penal system has been carried out and a program to improve present facilities and provide necessary new institutions will be undertaken during 1965. These projects include: construction of a new provincial jail at Peace River; improvements to the Calgary and Fort Saskatchewan jails and also to the institutions at Bowden and Belmont. The program of forestry camps for prison inmates has proven successful and will be expanded during the ensuing year. The Department of Public Works will submit an extensive program for new construction at the University campuses in Edmonton and Calgary together with recommendations for numerous public buildings throughout the province to meet the need of Alberta's expanding population. Contracts for this program will be let progressively throughout the year to provide a proportionate amount of winter employment. An expanded program of assistance to Rural Mutual Telephone Companies will be carried out by Alberta Government Telephones to improve standards in this field of communications. To this end, amendments to legislation under the Alberta Government Telephone Commission will be submitted for your consideration. The Public Accounts for the last fiscal year and the Estimates of revenues and expenditures for the ensuing year will be submitted for your careful scrutiny and approval. I leave you now to the business of this session with full confidence that you will discharge your responsibilities in a manner that will justify the trust imposed in you by the citizens of Alberta.