Province Législature/Legislature Session Type de discours/Type of speech Date du discours/Date Locuteur/Speaker Fonction du locuteur/Function Parti politique/Political party Ile du Prince Edward Island – Prince Edward Island 53 4 Discours du Trône/Speech from the Throne 10-03-1977 Hon. Gordon L. Bennett Lieutenant-governor Liberal P.E.I: Speech from the Throne, Fourth Session of the Fifty Third General Assembly, MARCH 10th, 1977 Today, in the name of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, I am happy to welcome you to the Fourth Session of the Fifty Third General Assembly of the Province of Prince Edward Island. I especially welcome the new Members who have been formally installed today, and have taken their seats in this Legislative Assembly. On the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of Her Majesty the Queen, I would like to extend to her heartfelt greetings from the people of Prince Edward Island. 1977 marks the Centennial of the Town of Summerside. Many events have been planned to celebrate this anniversary, and we would like to convey our wish for the success of these celebrations, as well as the continued prosperity and happiness of the citizens of the community. Also this year, we look forward to welcoming and receiving fifteen thousand Boy Scouts from across Canada, and from other countries as well, who will be attending the 1977 Canadian National Jamboree in our Province. We should like to recognize the outstanding success of the young athletes from our Province over the past year. More recently, wide and favourable publicity has been brought to Prince Edward Island by the performance of the Prince Edward Island Junior Curlers who through their skill have captured the World Junior Curling Championship for 1977. MR. SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY: We are entering the eleventh year of our present administration. It has been a period of much progress and many changes; a time that has required the government to exercise great flexibility without compromising the ideals for which we stand. Within the framework of its experience, my Government realizes that the next decade will not see a diminishing need for this flexibility. For although we are now experiencing a greater awareness of the roots of our past, out citizens must still have the opportunity to obtain suitable employment and ~o earn an income for their families that is adequate to cope with rising costs of shelter, fuel and food. My Government will continue to do its utmost to preserve the best of the past while striving for the best in the future. MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY: To this end my Government will advance for your consideration its ambitions and objectives and will indicate means to achieve them in the year ahead. They are grouped in relation to three important attributes of Prince Edward Island society: I Our sense of personal independence and our need to be productively employed. II Our sense of community and our Island way of life. 111 Our sense of social justice. I With regard to our need to be productively employed, my Government is increasingly concerned over the need for more year round jobs in the private sector of the economy, and has noted the concern of our citizens over unemployment, the anti-inflation program, and wide variation of activity in the provincial economy from year to year. The provincial government has developed and has been following a policy to strengthen and diversify the provincial economy. However, my Government is of the opinion that changes must occur in our Island society generally, respecting our view of work. There must be a reinforcement of the work ethic. We must consciously do more to increase our awareness of the importance of individual enterprise and to cultivate in ourselves and in our children a pride of accomplishment that was exemplified by our forefathers. For its part, my Government will continue to take steps to create a climate of stable economic activity so as to provide opportunities for Islanders to learn skills and work productively. My Government will endeavour to accomplish this by: - Continuing to attract small industries to the Province that will provide Islanders with opportunities to learn and use new skills. - Staffing and equipping a metals industry technical support centre to assist our efforts to develop a high technology metal working industry. - Providing more industrial space by constructing an industrial mall in Summerside and a second mall in Charlottetown, by building multi-purpose industrial buildings for rent to manufacturing industries, and by extending the concept of industrial sites to several new areas within the Province. - Taking steps to develop an efficient transportation and distribution system throughout the Island. - Developing and expanding programs that facilitate marketing and merchandising of Island products. - Diversifying tourist travel and settlement by building new tourist facilities at Mill River and a new Interpretive Centre in Prince County. - Bringing to a fruitful conclusion negotiations with the federal Ministry of Transport to enable construction to begin this year to renew the Charlottetown Airport. - Implementing a schedule for the construction of provincial government projects. During this year the construction of a new Court House and a new Correction Centre will begin. - Sponsoring a summer student employment program that will provide jobs for over six hundred Island students. - Modifying legislation and regulations relating to labour relations. - Bringing forward an Island manpower policy. II My Government is anxious to maintain and improve upon the high standard and quality of life in our Province, and is committed to the strengthening of our rural communities. Initiatives within its Community Development Strategy are as follows: - A program for municipal development that will enable smaller communities to upgrade existing housing, generate new housing starts and establish projects for land assembly and land banking. - Extending the solid waste disposal program to Summerside and environs. - A proposal to develop Regional Utility Services to ensure the protection of the environment. - Proposals to assist communities involved in the North Shore Planning Project to work towards orderly development of their area in a manner that is congruent with the capabilities of their land and values of their people. - An education program that will place greater emphasis on agricultural and vocational skills in high schools. - An expanded driver education program that will make driver education available to a greater number of high school students. - A "Back to the Basics" program for elementary students, emphasizing the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic. - The expansion of French Language Immersion Programs in schools. - Plans to complete the construction of St. Eleanor's Elementary School and Hampshire Senior High School, and commence the construction of other facilities as identified on the construction priority list for the Government. - An expansion of Mental Health Services and Alcoholic Treatment Programs. - An enlargement of the Homemakers Program in the Province. - A proposal to include private dentists in the Children's Dental Care Program. - A plan for the construction of a new General Hospital in the Charlottetown area. - An increase of support for Heritage and Cultural Programs. An important concern of my Government has been an apparent increase in the use of alcohol among our young people. In response to this, my Government will introduce a Resolution to give you an opportunity to participate in a full and complete discussion of this problem. Another important concern of my Government relates to the means used to deliver government services to Island communities. Much of the government structure is physically located here in Charlottetown. Over the past few years plans were made and implemented to decentralize this system into Regional Services Centres and efforts in this direction will continue. But my Government has learned through experience that physical relocation of personnel is only one aspect of decentralization. Of equal importance is the necessity of decentralizing control over those who work in the service of the public. In an effort to pursue as vigorously as possible a policy of decentralization, my Government will this year undertake discussions with agricultural and fisheries organizations with a view to the transfer of a substantial number of public servants now providing extension and planning services from the control of line departments of government to the direct control and supervision of representative agricultural and fisheries organizations, and in the case of community planners, under the control of affiliated community and municipal organizations. Under such a plan, the government would fund these groups and they in turn would hire and direct the work of the professional and technical personnel who now operate within government. III An essential aspect to both personal and societal development is a sense of justice. Prince Edward Island follows a long tradition of ensuring that our political systems do not suppress the growth of the individual citizen. In keeping with this tradition, you will be asked to consider: - New legislation in regard to matrimonial property. - An Act to give the public access to government information and public documents. - An extension to the Rent Control Act. - Legislation relating to fair business practices. - A new Condominium Act. - A new Police Act. - Proposals for the inauguration of a Small Claims Court. In addition to the measures already specified, you will be asked to consider other legislative proposals. You will be asked to appropriate the funds required for the services and payments required by this Assembly. The public accounts and reports of the various departments of my Government for the year ending March 31, 1976, will be tabled for your information. The interim report, forecasting estimated revenues and expenditures for the fiscal year ending March 31, 1977, and estimates for the fiscal year beginning April 1, 1977, will also be presented for your consideration. MR. SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY: Although few in number, we the people of Prince Edward Island are closely linked with fellow countrymen though they well across a continent that stretches from sea to sea. Such a reality, dreamed of in this very building more than a century ago, is now being tested. An important aspect of self sufficiency in our Province relates to the availability and conversation of energy. My Government is pleased that negotiations with the federal government over the past year have been productively concluded, resulting in programs of home insulation, industrial conservation, and research. My Government welcomes the commitment undertaken by the federal government enabling this Province to continue programs of conservation, such as Enersave, as well as to pursue research into alternative sources of energy, as is being carried out by the Institute of Man and Resources. In addition, my Government will continue to improve upon the success it has achieved with the conservation measures it is implementing in its own buildings. Critical to the economic well being of our Province are the agricultural and fishing industries. My Government will assist farmers this forthcoming year by: - Expanding the grain elevator in Kensington and construction of a new one in West Prince County. - Assisting growers to market grain by developing a grain marketing system. - Opening the West Prince Veterinary Clinic in O'Leary. - And by restoring a program to assist farmers to purchase limestone. In addition, my Government will continue its support to such worthwhile programs as: - The Elite Tree Breeding Program - Sheep Breeders Program - Livestock Genetic Improvement Program - And the important Farm Development Program and the New Farmer Program. New and ongoing programs will be implemented to compensate for the current decline in naturally occurring fishery resources and to increase and stabilize incomes of our fishermen. These include: - A Lobster Vessels Certificate Retirement Program; - Rehabilitation of the oyster fishery and expansion of production to new areas; - Development of suitable techniques for rearing quahogs from seed stock to marketable size; - Investigation into the possibility of introducing non native species of scallop suitable for propagation and culture in the inshore bays and estuaries of Prince Edward Island; and - Testing the feasibility of rearing trout and salmon from fingerling to market size in salt water enclosure. Through our deeds we must demonstrate the resolve we hold in our hearts, that we will do our utmost to preserve and protect the unity of the Canadian family we cherish so dearly. May Divine Providence guide your deliberations. ??