Province Législature Session Type de discours Date du discours Locuteur Fonction du locuteur Parti politique Alberta 15e 5e Discours du trône 9 février 1967 J.W. Grant MacEwan 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 Fifth Session of the Fifteenth Legislature of the Province of Alberta. The year 1967 is of special significance as we join with fellow Canadians from sea to sea in celebrating the centennial of the Confederation of the Provinces of Canada. Many activities and projects to fittingly commemorate this historic anniversary have been planned throughout our Province and my Government commends to all Albertans active personal involvement in this national celebration so that 1967 will be truly a year to remember and a fitting beginning to Canada's second century of progress. My Government's major centennial project, the Provincial Museum and Archives, will be officially opened later this year. Many other new cultural and recreational facilities built by municipal governments with assistance provided under the Federal-Provincial Centennial Grants Program will contribute new enrichment to our Canadian way of life. Special centennial projects include: The Confederation Train; the Confederation Caravan; The Voyageur Canoe Pageant; Festival Canada; The Armed Forces Tattoo, and the University Second Century Week. Alberta Performing Arts on Tour, including Symphony Orchestras, Ballet, Folk Arts and Theatre, will highlight Centennial Year for many of our smaller communities. To further enrich the festive occasion, many private individuals, associations and business firms, have planned their own projects and celebrations. In keeping with the commencement of Canada's second century of progress, my Government will initiate this year a comprehensive program of human resources development and conservation. To this end, you will be asked to approve legislation creating a human resources authority to co-ordinate and supervise programs pertaining to human resources development. A Bill will be introduced establishing a Human Resources Research Council, whose functions will embrace educational research and related spheres pertaining to the intellectual, cultural and social progress of society. While educational research will be one of the major disciplines receiving the Council's attention, it will also be involved with such social sciences as economics and sociology. An integral part of the human resources development program will be the work of the Department of Youth, established in July 1966. Amendments will be proposed to The Department of Youth Act, providing for the establishment of an advisory committee of young people and adults to give direction for future development of departmental programs. A Recreation Development Act will be introduced to permit the expansion of present recreation programs and to broaden the base of both individual and team participation. Recreation area consultants and regional 4-H specialist assistance will be increased to support district youth representatives and recreational directors working throughout the Province. Special studies are proposed in the area of senior adolescents and young adults for the purpose of examining the needs of this segment of society and developing programs which will effectively meet these needs. Community development projects will play an important role in human resources development and special attention will be paid to the needs and problems of our citizens of Indian ancestry. Alberta's basic industry, agriculture, experienced a record year in 1966 with total income exceeding that of 1965 by almost one hundred million dollars. Favorable livestock prices, combined with above average crop yields, were the major factors responsible for increased farm income but the basic problems confronting Canadian agriculture remain largely unsolved. Farm operating and capital costs continue to increase at a more rapid rate than average farm incomes with the result that many farm units are no longer economic operations. Notwithstanding these disabilities, the rapid growth in world population is creating increased demand for food products and will ensure greater stability and more equitable prices for agricultural production in the future. The greatly increased food production necessary to meet future world requirements gives to agriculture a unique status and imposes an inescapable onus on those areas capable of producing the basic food products essential to human survival. My Government has instituted programs to provide increased laboratory services and more scientific research for livestock producers. Increased attention is being given to the business management aspects of agriculture and to problems relating to the production of cereal and forage crops, economics and marketing. Funds will be requested to support an expanded program of water resources evaluation, development and conservation. My Government will appoint a special committee to enquire into all phases of agricultural extension carried out by various government, educational, industry and producer agencies, and to recommend such changes as may be deemed necessary, in order to integrate, co-ordinate and administer existing and future programs to best serve the interests of the farm people of Alberta. In line with recommendations of the Special Committee on Administrative Boards and Tribunals tabled at the last regular session, Bills will be introduced to provide a right of appeal to the Courts for compensation orders of the Board of Arbitration under The Right of Entry Arbitration Act and also to provide a right of appeal to the Courts from orders for the performance of work issued under The Surface Reclamation Act. Implementing a further recommendation of the committee, a Bill will be introduced to establish the office of a Provincial Ombudsman. A committee of the Legislature will be established during the current session to recommend to the Assembly a qualified individual for appointment by the Assembly to this important office. In the field of education, a third university campus for Alberta, situated in Lethbridge, has been approved by my Government during the past year. Plans are being prepared for the establishment of a fourth campus to be located in the Edmonton area. You will be asked to approve substantially increased appropriations for the Provincial Foundation Program Fund and to meet higher university operating costs. Revisions have been made in the Foundation Program to help offset the rising construction costs of public and high schools throughout the Province. Assistance will be extended to local agencies to carry out certain pilot projects in educational television, including the establishment of an educational television station at Edmonton and a closed circuit in Calgary. Experimental educational television also will be carried out in at least three Counties and Divisions. Programs are being prepared to upgrade instruction in smaller high schools as part of an overall effort to maintain equality of education for Alberta's rural children. The report of the Legislative Committee appointed at the last regular session to study school centralization will be tabled during the present session. In the field of public health, my Government will place before you legislation to improve and simplify the subsidized health care insurance provided under the Alberta Health Plan. A comprehensive study of mental health facilities already under way will be continued with the objective of developing a master plan for each mental hospital so that complete modernization of wards and treatment facilities may be achieved in an orderly manner. Construction will begin this year on a modern admission building at the Alberta Hospital, Edmonton; a new infirmary building at the Alberta Hospital, Ponoka; and a nursing staff residence and occupational and recreational therapy building at the Alberta Hospital, Claresholm. In keeping with my Government's policy in providing regional mental health facilities, construction will be started this year on the Alberta Hospital, Calgary, which is designed as a community mental health centre to provide comprehensive out-patient and residential treatment services for both children and adults. Plans also will be developed for a mental health centre to be built at a later date in the City of Lethbridge. The Division of Sanitary Engineering will be renamed the Environmental Health Services Division, in recognition of the growing importance of the over-all environment involving air, water, and soil in our increasingly urbanized and industrialized society Programs for water pollution control will be expanded, including the provision of a continuous sampling and analyzing station for use in assessing the degree of water pollution in rivers. The air pollution control program is being enlarged to provide for detailed assessment of atmospheric conditions with particular attention to the metropolitan areas of Edmonton and Calgary. In the field of alcoholism preventive and treatment services, a more comprehensive public information and educational program will be undertaken and in-patient treatment facilities will be provided to assist in the rehabilitation of those requiring more intensive care. The Preventive Social Services Act, passed at a previous session of this Assembly, has been favorably received by municipal authorities and an encouraging number of preventive social service programs are being undertaken. The Department of Public Welfare will extend its activities in this area with emphasis on the preventive approach and the encouragement of self-help for actual and potential welfare recipients. An amendment to The Public Welfare Act will be introduced to simplify the determination of residence to establish jurisdictional responsibility for welfare recipients. During the past year a special committee was appointed to examine the feasibility of the consolidation of various statutes pertaining to municipal administration. The committee, after consultation with municipal authorities and with the Provincial-Municipal Advisory Committee, has reported that such a consolidation is both feasible and desirable. A comprehensive statute consolidating legislation relating to municipalities, accordingly will be submitted for your consideration. My Government proposes to refer this Bill to the Committee of the Whole Assembly to afford an opportunity for interested municipal authorities to make such recommendations as they deem desirable. My Government will recommend, following the Committee hearings, that the Bill not be enacted into law until the next session of the Legislature, to afford all interested parties an opportunity to become thoroughly familiar with its provisions and to permit such amendments, as may be approved, to be prepared. Amendments to The Municipal Financing Corporation Act will be submitted for your consideration, together with a Bill for a new Act authorizing the Government to make loans to Municipalities to assist in the acquisition of land for the development of freeways and expressways and for urban renewal. Amendments to a number of others Statutes affecting municipal administration will be placed before you for your approval. Amendments to The Game Act will be submitted for your consideration to permit a person to be classified as a resident after residing in the Province for a period of three months prior to the date of his application for a license. The Legislative Committee on Commercial Fisheries has recommended policy changes which will be made during the ensuing year. The McIvor Commission Report on the Inquiry into Freshwater Fish Marketing has been considered and my Government supports, in principle, the establishment of a Fish Marketing Board. A major assessment of the potential of our provincial parks will be made during the ensuing year and development of the Tillebrook Provincial Park will be commenced. A quota system for the continuous yield harvesting of Alberta forests has been adopted and will result in an increase in marketable lumber of approximately one hundred million board feet, partly due to the utilization of timber stands in northern Alberta not previously considered economical. In the future, reforestation will be required in all areas considered permanent forest land where timber is cut under either the quota or lease system. Five new grazing reserves will be developed during the coming year and three additional reserves are in the planning stage. Your approval will be sought for a new Power Commission Act, which, in addition to the provisions of the present Act, will bring about uniformity in power corporation accounting and reporting and clarify the Commission's powers to regulate power companies. The Alberta Government Telephones will carry out an extensive capital development program during the ensuing year, including the conversion of 41 exchanges to dial operation and an enlarged program of underground cable telephone service to bring to rural communities a communication system comparable to that enjoyed in urban areas. Substantial funds will be requested for the construction of essential public buildings, including extensive additional facilities at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, and the University of Calgary. Construction of new institutional facilities for the Departments of Public Health, Welfare, Educational, Agriculture and the Attorney General's Department will be proposed. A complete revision of The Vehicles and Highway Traffic Act will be submitted for your consideration. A program designed to ensure comprehensive vehicle inspection will be presented for your approval and you will be asked to endorse the principle of reciprocity in granting license plates for vehicles belonging to out-of-province university students whose home jurisdiction grants students from this Province similar privileges. A further major highway construction program is planned for the ensuing year with emphasis on the conversion of select routes to freeway status where traffic warrants. The final contract has been let to complete the David Thompson Highway to the grading stage between Nordegg and the Banff Park boundary. The Highway Department's program of replacing river ferries with bridges will be continued. You also will be asked to approve a new program to assist Towns and Villages in street and road construction. Contracts have been let for the construction of the Alberta Resources Railway to the Smoky River, a distance of 111 miles, of which over 90 miles of grade have been completed and 29 miles of steel laid. To encourage continued individual development, greater economic diversification and successful adaptation to modern technological progress, greater emphasis will be given to programs designed to advance scientific research. The Northern Alberta Development Council has continued its active encouragement of northern development and its program for the ensuing year will include the acceleration of road construction in Northern Alberta, the completion of the Sir Winston Churchill Park causeway, the provision of additional air strips and the development of Northern Provincial Parks. To implement a resolution approved at the last regular session of this Assembly, a Bill will be introduced, providing for the rebate of estate taxes remitted to the Province by the Government of Canada in cases where the deceased was a bona fide resident of Alberta. A Bill for a new Trust Company Act will be introduced, providing for extensive revision of existing legislation and authorizing more rigid supervision of Trust Company operations. A Bill for a new Securities Act will be submitted for your consideration, designed to achieve more uniformity in the field of securities legislation across Canada, as recommended by the Federal-Provincial Conference on Securities Legislation. My Government has explored, with the Law Reform Committee of the Law Society of Alberta, the matter of providing some form of compensation for citizens injured by criminal acts on the part of others or while aiding law enforcement officers in the discharge of their duties. A formal study will be undertaken to determine what is required to best meet this need and the feasibility of implementing such a program in Alberta. Last year, my Government entered into a new Federal-Provincial policing contract and, since its inception, 51 Municipalities with a population of 1500 or less, -have been provided with Royal Canadian Mounted Police services, and three Municipalities, between 1,500 and 15,000 population, have entered into policing contracts. Construction of the Peace River gaol will be completed during the ensuing year, providing accommodation for 160 persons. Plans are currently being prepared for a new Juvenile Boys' Institute to be constructed in the Edmonton area. The report of the Special Legislative and Lay Committee on Preventive Health Services also will be submitted for your consideration. The Public Accounts for the last fiscal year and the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the ensuing year will be presented for your careful scrutiny and approval. I leave you now to the business of the 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.