Province Législature Session Type de discours Date du discours Locuteur Fonction du locuteur Parti politique Alberta 16e 1re Discours du trône 15 février 1968 J.W. Grant MacEwan Lieutenant-gouverneur Alberta Social Credit Party MR. SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY: It is with much pleasure that I welcome you to this first session of the Sixteenth Legislature of the Province of Alberta. It is appropriate that I extend a special welcome to those new 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 that will justify the trust reposed in you by your electors. Together with the other Provinces of Canada, Alberta participated last year in the national celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation. Our citizens entered wholeheartedly into these celebrations and produced many public and private projects and programs of lasting significance and value. Alberta's major centennial project, the Provincial Museum and Archives, was completed during the year and will stand as a permanent memorial to Canada's Centennial. We enter our second century of nationhood conscious of our almost limitless opportunities and the magnitude of the responsibilities to be assumed and the problems to be solved. We cannot ignore the fact that serious strains are being placed on the ties of Confederation by conflicting racial, cultural, linguistic and regional interests within our nation. This situation call for wise understanding on the part of all Canadians and constructive leadership on the part of government if we are to preserve the basic foundations and assure the national unity essential to strong and enduring nationhood. My government shares the growing public concern engendered by rapidly rising costs in both private and the public sectors of our economy. These trends must be brought under effective control if a serious financial crisis is to be averted. This problem as it relates to the public sector cannot be solved merely by successive increases in taxation or by resorting to large-scale public borrowing without regard to the ultimate consequences. A concerted effort must be made to restrain public expenditures and greater emphasis must be placed on increased productivity. To this end, my Government will continue to encourage the further development of both primary and secondary industry and the maximum diversification of our provincial economy. You will be asked to examine the budgetary provisions for the ensuing year and all programs involving public expenditures with the strictest attention to these objectives consistent with your responsibility to provide adequately for the legitimate needs of all sectors of our society. Intelligent and constructive co-operation on the part of governments, management and labour and the public generally will make possible the successful solution of those problems and assure a continued buoyant and prosperous economy. During the past year, my Government initiated the Human Resources Development Program approved at the last session. The Human Resources Development Authority has been established and is engaged in assessing and co-ordinating departmental programs and policies in the field of human resources development. The Alberta Advisory Council and the Alberta Human Resources Research Council, proposed in the Government White Paper on human resources development, have been established. A vigorous effort is being made to embody in all Government policy decisions and in the administrative functions of government departments, the broad concept of total resources development with special emphasis on the individual human component. The study of mental health services and facilities proposed in the White Paper has been initiated and a report will be available before the next session of the Legislature. Progressive improvements in both facilities and services in this important field will be carried out during the ensuing year. Amendments to The Mental Health Act will be submitted for your consideration. The Alberta Health Plan has been expanded and is providing an acceptable type of prepaid comprehensive health care insurance on a voluntary basis. Over 90% of the population of the Province now is covered with health care insurance through the Government agency established at the last session, and other approved carriers. Adequate subsidization is being provided to ensure that the cost of such insurance is within the financial reach of all citizens. Education, both academic and technical, will continue to receive special attention in the total concept of human resources development. To provide necessary additional facilities and meet steadily rising costs, increased funds will be requested. The Board of Post-Secondary Education is making a detailed examination into the college concept in expanding higher educational opportunities and will report their findings and recommendations in the near future. You will be asked to approve amendments to The School Act to authorize School Divisions and Counties to appoint local school superintendents. Legislation bringing the terms of The Teachers' Retirement Fund Act into closer conformity with The Public Service Pension Act will be submitted for your consideration. Efforts will be made, in consultation with Alberta Indians, to obtain an agreement with the Federal Government that will permit Indians with Reserve status to be fully integrated into the elementary and secondary school system of the Province and enjoy the status of electors in school affairs. The Minister of Youth will submit for your consideration a number of programs designed to assist and encourage young people to assume an active role of constructive leadership in their respective communities. These programs will include the development of an outdoor leadership centre and the provision of greater support for youth service agencies. Special attention will be paid to the requirements of native young people and their role in contemporary society. A five-year program will be proposed to assist municipalities in the development of municipal recreation programs, including more extensive consultative services. The first phase of a major recreation survey will be undertaken to determine the need for leisure time activities throughout the Province and the best procedures for meeting such needs. The Alberta Service Corps will be expanded to provide concerned young people with more opportunities to become constructively involved in the solution of social problems. Special attention will be given during the ensuing year to programs in the field of preventive welfare, designed to improve the ability of citizens to remain self-supporting and to assist in the rehabilitation of those who are currently dependent on social welfare. In the field of physical resources development, greater emphasis will be placed on agriculture as a business and a science devoted to food production. Efforts will be continued to improve farm management and extend the application to proven new production techniques. Crop insurance will be extended and greater assistance provided in disease prevention and control. To assist in the solution of marketing problems, a bill will be introduced to amend The Marketing of Agricultural Products Act to bring cattle and sheep within the scope of this legislation. An amendment to The Utilization of Lands and Forests Act will be proposed, authorizing the Government to guarantee loans for agricultural land improvement. The Agricultural Rural Development Assistance programs will continue to play a combined role in physical and human resources development with more active participation by local citizens in the planning and implementation of programs designed to increase rural incomes and improve living standards. An Agricultural and Wildlife Laboratory, now nearing completion, will introduce for the first time in Canada a true multi-disciplined approach to technical and scientific problems in agriculture and wildlife management. The Farm and Home Management program will be extended by the addition of new district offices, equipped to give guidance and assistance to rural families developing farms and homes in the newer areas of the Province. Continued support will be provided for the Provincial Water Resources program, designed to conserve and develop available water resources to meet both the short and long-term needs of the Province. You will be asked to consider a new consolidated Irrigation Districts Act, including necessary amendments to permit the phased implementation of recommendations in the Irrigation Policy Study Report. My Government will continue to promote the orderly development of multi-purpose projects, including hydro power, within the concept of the Alberta water conservation plan. The Department of Lands and Forests is proceeding to implement the recommendations of the Legislative Committee on Problems Confronting Commercial Fisheries in Alberta. Negotiations are under way with the Federal Government and other Provinces involved, to implement the recommendations of the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Freshwater Fish Marketing. Tree and forest nursery operations will be expanded to provide seedlings to replant cut-over pulp and timber areas where natural regeneration has not occurred. The sale of long-term timber quotas will continue if the demand for lumber in Canada and the United Sates increases in excess of the present production supply. Negotiations for the establishment of an additional pulp mill in the Grande Prairie area will be carried on during the ensuing year. To reflect the increased importance of the tourist industry to the economy of Alberta, the Department of Industry and Development will be renamed, "The Department of Industry and Tourism". Vigorous tourist promotion programs will be undertaken during the ensuing year. An active industrial development program will be continued and expanded to include a management advisory service to small business. My Government will continue to encourage the development of high-labour content secondary manufacturing. The demand for Alberta mineral production continues to grow and substantial increases in both domestic and export sales of natural gas and related products are assured. To enable greater assistance to be rendered to Alberta marketing associations, you will be asked to raise the present ceiling on guarantees extended under The Marketing Associations Guarantee Act. Amendments to The Alberta Labour Act, to meet the modern requirements of industrial growth and present-day circumstances in the field of labour-managment relations, will be submitted for your consideration. 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. A new Municipal Act, consolidating and up-dating existing statutes pertaining to municipal administration, will be presented for your approval. A new Act relating to local government elections will be recommended. Amendments also will be proposed to The Planning Act aimed at encouraging the further development of general plans on a region-wide basis and to provide a greater measure of local autonomy in planning matters of purely local concern. My Government is giving serious attention to the current housing shortage and the excessive cost of home acquisition. A revision of The Alberta Housing Act to assist in resolving this serious problem will be introduced. A comprehensive program to provide better rural communication facilities will be continued by the Alberta Government Telephones Commission. The buried cable system already serves over 22,000 rural subscribers and will reach 7500 additional subscribers in 1968. A major addition to the exchange and equipment facilities of the Telephones Commission at Edmonton will be undertaken during the ensuing year, to meet rapidly expanding urban and long-distance telephone service requirements. Construction will be commenced on a new central administration building to permit the consolidation of the Telephones Commission administrative offices. You will be asked to provide the funds necessary to enable the Department of Public Works to complete the extensive program of public buildings already under construction. Planning and design work will continue on necessary new projects but actual construction will be started only on those projects essential to meet the requirements of the immediate future. An examination will be conducted into the adequacy of facilities and programs at Alberta correctional institutions with a view to designing more effective programs for the rehabilitation of both juvenile and adult offenders. My Government's comprehensive program for the extension and development of Alberta's highway system will be continued during the ensuing year. The program of motor vehicle inspection, recommended at the last session, has been implemented. A complete revision of The Fuel Oil Tax Act will be submitted for your approval. Favorable weather conditions have permitted the construction of The Alberta Resources Railway to proceed well ahead of schedule. The railway will be completed to Grande Prairie during the ensuing year, which will enable farm produce from the Peace River area to move to seaboard at lower freight rates. To assist in financing this remaining phase of construction, you will be asked to approve an amendment to The Alberta Resources Railway Corporation Act to extend the borrowing powers of the Corporation. A new Act to incorporate The Civil Service Association of Alberta, and a revision The Public Service Act, will be submitted for your approval. Having regard to the substantial shift in population throughout the Province, due to increased urbanization, my Government proposes to inaugurate a general redistribution of electoral constituencies. It also is proposed to establish a special committee of the Legislature to recommend amendments to The Alberta Elections Act and to report to the Assembly before the prorogation of this session. A new Treasury Department Act and amendments to The Municipal Financing Corporation Act will be recommended. The Public Accounts for the last fiscal year and the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the ensuing year will be presented for your most careful scrutiny. I leave you now to the business of the session, confident that you will apply yourselves to your responsibilities in a manner which will redound to the best interests of all the citizens of this Province. I pray that Divine Provindence will guide and direct your deliberations.