Province Législature Session Type de discours Date du discours Locuteur Fonction du locuteur Parti politique Ontario 26e 1re Discours du Trône 26 janvier 1960 John Keiller MacKay Lieutenant Governor Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario Mr. Speaker and members of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario: It gives me great pleasure to inaugurate the first session of the Twenty-sixth Parliament of Ontario and to welcome you today as you take up your duties. I extend a special welcome to those members who are here for the first time, knowing that they will uphold the great traditions of this Legislature. The past year has been one of outstanding economic achievement. Our population income, output and volume of consumer spending were all higher in 1959 than in the previous year. Employment increased more rapidly than the labour force and unemployment was reduced. Production and living standards reached their highest levels in the history of the province. The results achieved have fully justified the confidence that we expressed a year ago. Turning to 1960, we are advised that nearly all economic indicators suggest a year of continued expansion and progress, which will carry us to new heights of prosperity. This session is important not only because it is the first of this Parliament, but also because it is the first of a new decade, decade which promises to surpass all others in development and in improvement in the well-being of our people. There is, of course, no room for complacency. The opportunities of today will be the challenges of tomorrow. Rapid population and industrial growth impose heavy responsibilities and demands for services. Notable as our accomplishments have been, we cannot stand still, we must press ever forward, mastering problems, overcoming difficulties, stimulating expansion, providing better services more economically and, at the same time, raising the money to do the job. This has been the foundation upon which the program for this session has been built. This is our creed. As our program unfolds you will find, among many other matters, proposals for raising standards and extending the benefits of education, for bettering health and welfare, improving conditions of employment, reinforcing municipal institutions, enhancing the efficiency and safety of motor vehicle traffic and of agricultural operations, strengthening democratic parliamentary procedures, raising the efficiency of government operations, and last but far from least, for upon its success depends the fulfillment of all other policies, promoting the sound economic development of our province. The very complete and far-reaching re-organization of The Department of Municipal Affairs, which you will be asked to approve, will facilitate the consideration and settlement of municipal problems. It will also transfer to The Department of Municipal Affairs many of the present functions of the Ontario municipal board. Reports will be given to you as to the nature, extent and progress of winter work. To assist the municipalities it is proposed to vote an additional amount of provincial revenue for municipal purposes. Additional improvements in the province's grants structure for education will require substantially larger appropriations. The growth need factor, which was introduced in the school grants formula to give special assistance to rapidly expanding school areas, will be refined and improved. Among other things--effective January, 1959--a contribution will be made towards the cost of sites of new schools. You will be asked to vote funds to extend facilities for an increase in teacher supply together with the maintenance and improvement of present standards. With the unprecedented growth in the number of school children and the demand for teachers, extraordinary measures have been adopted. A new teachers' college will be commenced at the Lakehead and existing colleges will be expanded. To provide further opportunities for the recruitment and training of teachers for our secondary schools, the Ontario College of Education, with the co-operation of Queen's University and the University of Western Ontario, will operate summer courses at Kingston and London this year. As has been predicted the enrolment in our universities has begun its rapid climb. Through our assistance, the universities have been mobilized to meet the need. New universities have been established; others are expanding. Plans to avoid the wastage of student talent are being broadened and extended and to insure that every student of ability and ambition who wishes to proceed to university will have the opportunity. So successful has the new scholarship plan for grade 13 students been that you will be asked to approve funds to make similar awards in 1960-1961. The committee of university heads has recommended a formula for the payment of Queen Elizabeth II scholarships from the $500,000 contributed by the province last year. In addition to scholarships, the province will again provide several million dollars in bursaries and loans. Last year, the appropriation for these purposes was doubled and this year additional funds will be requested. These various educational programs will require appropriations totaling nearly double the entire budget of the province just 15 years ago. The growth in superannuation and old age security plans has been a notable advance in human betterment. Many people have been spared the anxiety of financial distress in their declining years through superannuation and pension benefits. On the other hand, the actuarial requirements of many company and institutional pension plans constitute a serious barrier to the employment of men and women in middle life, at a time when their powers of accomplishment are frequently at their peak. This is not only a grave social injustice but constitutes an intolerable economic wastage of human talent. To overcome this disability the government has encouraged the adoption of transferable or vested pensions where employees change jobs. The government is, however, conscious that much remains to be done, and has appointed a special committee of technical officials to study and make recommendations leading to a solution. The extension of portable pensions is one of the foremost aims of this government. Studies in geriatrics and methods of adjustment of elderly citizens to their environment will be carried out. Homes for the aged are being expanded. The year 1960 will see a number of important expansions in municipal-provincial establishments. The proposals of the department concerned will be submitted to you. You will be asked to approve a grant to the Ontario branch of the Canadian Association of Consumers to assist them in their work of providing services to the consumers of this province. Significant advances have been made in finding opportunities for employment for our expanding Indian population, and in providing education for those who will give example and leadership to other members of their community. The program of modernizing mental health care and treatment is being intensified. The re-organization authorized last year is well under way. Very great progress has been made in modernizing and fireproofing our Ontario hospitals, and you will be asked to vote substantial additional amounts for this purpose. While older facilities are being modernized, notable progress is being made in expanding new facilities. This year will see the completion of several hundred beds at the Cedar Springs Hospital, which will be devoted entirely to I the care of children. This is a year earlier than was planned. An equal number of beds will come into use at this hospital next year. The new infirmary type of hospital will be proceeded with at Goderich, Palmerston and Owen Sound. These new hospitals are designed to relieve institutions such as Orillia of patients have grown elderly, and permit these fine institutions to be devoted entirely to the care of children and, where possible, to fitting them for normal lives. Special measures are being introduced to provide for a large increase in the number of nurses and nursing assistants. Included in the list of new projects, for which funds will be required, will be a two-year training course for nurses, which will commence next September. The certified nursing assistant program is being doubled, and over 1,100 will be trained in our hospitals this year. There will also be an expansion of training schools in hospitals. The objective will be to train more nurses and nursing assistants more quickly without lowering standards. The Ontario hospital services commission has completed its first year of operation. The distinguished success of the program reflects the careful planning that went into it as well as the insight, understanding and co-operation of the physicians, the hospital boards and administrators, the insurance companies and, of course, the administrative skill of the commission itself. Ninety-four per cent of Ontario's population is now protected from the financial hazards of hospitalization. This plan is the greatest of its kind in America and full details of its operation will be given to this House. Hospital insurance has added to the financial strength of our hospitals. The implications of out-patient services are being considered and plans to promote the convalescent type of hospital will be developed. You will be asked to vote funds to permit special grants to be made to hospitals for capital and debt retirement purposes. Supplementing our extensive health services a new physical fitness program will be inaugurated. This is a complex subject and an important one. It embraces many individuals and organizations. Our objective will be to co-ordinate efforts and to establish practices that are conducive to good health and physical fitness. The House will be asked to approve of an inquiry into the cost of drugs used in Ontario public general hospitals and in Ontario Hospitals as well as other institutions operated by the province. Further steps will be taken to widen treatment for alcoholism, a subject in which Ontario is well in the lead. Funds will be requested for experimental projects involving group therapy for first offender drug addicts. Progress has been made during the year in revamping the province's reformatory system. The program to be placed before you will provide for additional reforms to meet the specific needs of the offender. Amendments will be made to The Industrial Farms Act, The Andrew Mercer Reformatory Act, The Reformatories Act and The Training Schools Act. During this session, there will be an opportunity to give further expression to our interest in the betterment of mankind everywhere. This has been evidenced by our acceptance of world refugees suffering from tuberculosis and by our activities in a variety of other fields, including technology, science and education. A system of student exchange in our teachers' training institutions is already in effect and it will be extended to include other countries. Many students are attending Ontario universities under the auspices of the Colombo Plan. Indeed, under Ontario's university system, we are now providing educational facilities and training for 1,500 students from other countries. Amendments to The Labour Relations Act will be placed before you, which are designed to strengthen the organization and machinery provided by the Act for the settlement of disputes and the provision of good labour management relations. The workmen's compensation board will adopt a new schedule enabling widows under The Workmen's Compensation Act to be paid the same compensation; Legislation will be introduced to regulate private employment agencies. The report of the committee on the organization of government will be submitted to you and full opportunity will be given for a discussion, not only of the committee's recommendations, but also of aspects of the problems, which are of importance to individual members. Several of the committee's recommendations have already been implemented. A re-organization of The Department of Municipal Affairs, the Ontario municipal board and The Department of Agriculture has been carried out, while that of the treasury board is under way. The answers to our problems concerning the preservation of parliamentary procedures, executive responsibility and administrative efficiency must come from the experience and the thoughtful contribution of many people. It was to further these processes that the committee was given its highly important duties. In this examination of the workings of our form of government and our administrative processes, Ontario has given strong leadership. Members will have the opportunity of discussing and advancing proposals for strengthening our democratic way of life and for improving the efficiency of our form of government. Funds will be required to enable the Ontario watt r resources commission to continue its rapid progress in assisting municipalities to obtain adequate water and sewage works and to abate pollution. The province in partnership with the federal government and the municipalities will engage in additional land assembly and rental housing projects. You will be asked to make provision for nearly 1,600 public housing units now under construction and others that are in the planning stage -- including assistance to municipalities in the redevelopment of blighted urban areas. During the coming year, motor vehicle registrations will exceed two million. You will therefore be asked to authorize improvements to the Queen Elizabeth Way and the extension of highway No. 401. The Ontario section of the Trans-Canada highway will be open by the end of this year. Plans and agreements with adjoining states for major bridges and skyways, such as the new bridge over Pigeon River, the international bridge at Sault Ste. Marie, the skyway over the Welland canal at Homer, and the causeway over Rainy Lake, will be placed before you. Members will be asked to approve an agreement with the federal government for a 5-year program of resource road construction in northern Ontario and also additional mining, forestry and community access roads. A very significant part of our highway and road budget you will be asked to approve will go to the municipalities to enable them to improve their facilities. Increasing emphasis will be placed on minimizing motor vehicle accidents and saving lives. The driver examination system is being strengthened. Amendments to the highway laws will be submitted to keep pace with the new concept of traffic and administrative requirements, including the provision that by next year Ontario drivers will be assigned a permanent driver's license number. At the present session it is proposed to appoint a select committee to review the present provisions and operation of the unsatisfied judgment fund and to examine into protective automobile insurance and other related plans. To insure that Ontario agriculture will be in the forefront of progress, a number of changes are being affected. The administration of the department is being strengthened. As a result, in part, of the studies of the agricultural marketing inquiry committee of Ontario -- whose interim report will be available for consideration at this session -- there will be a co-ordination of all research in the province relating to the production, handling, transportation, storage and marketing of agricultural products. A research foundation for this purpose will be established at the Ontario Agricultural College. Experiments and innovations in other jurisdictions, including the United States, will be closely observed with a view to keeping Ontario agriculture competitive at home and abroad. Action will be taken to provide at the Ontario Agricultural College and its affiliated institutions the best possible education and service for Ontario's farm population. Marketing organization and problems will receive renewed attention. The matter of crop insurance will be submitted to the committee on agriculture for review. Safety practices related to actual farm conditions will be further extended. There will be increased emphasis on sound farm methods calculated to increase efficiency and the net return to farmers. Remarkable strides have been made in extending Ontario's parks system. To the 85 provincial parks now established, authorization will be sought for an additional 10 this year. Some 8 million visitors and 500,000 campers used the province's parks facilities last year and arrangements are being made to accommodate an even larger number this year. Funds will be requested to provide more conservation areas suitable for small parks and green belts. Measures will be introduced to assist municipalities to establish parks complementary to provincial parks. Ways and means are being studied to give greater encouragement to tourism and tourist organizations. Plans are being made to establish an inland reception centre in Ontario adjacent to highway No. 400 near Barrie to serve central, northern and northwestern Ontario routes. On all fronts the scientific management of our forest resources is forging ahead. The second 10-year plan to re-survey our forest resources has now been started. Funds will be required for additional field parties and for the special commission that is examining all land disposal and land use policies. Approval will be sought for holding various recreational Crown lands and numerous small harbors on our Great Lakes in safekeeping for the benefit of our people. Appropriations for forest management and research into the biology of fish and wildlife will be requested. A scientific census will aid in establishing seasons and quotas. The new Wilderness Areas Act passed at the last session is enabling forward steps to be taken to preserve large tracts in their original state. Efforts will be made to assist trappers through the extension of licensing and advice on marketing. Meetings are scheduled with the federal government for conferences on conservation and resource management. The development of the northern and northwestern parts of the province will receive fresh impetus from policies such as the selective land use for forestry and agriculture; new geophysical surveys; the provision of electric power, natural gas and nuclear energy; and the creation of a seaport at Moosonee. Here surveys arc being undertaken; accommodation for 800 people is underway; and all this is but the beginning of events that will shape the destiny of the North Country. The government will make a submission to the Royal commission on transportation. Proposals are again being submitted to you for a large-scale construction program involving an extensive variety of public buildings and works, including hospitals, administrative buildings and conservation projects. Long-range plans are being made that will permit Ontario's legislative and administrative office needs to be met as required over the next 25 years. The acquisition of a large block of property in the Queen's Park area is designed to permit the centralization of departmental activities in the proximity of the Legislature for greater efficiency and the convenience of the public. The Department of Energy Resources, set up at the last session, is keeping under review the current and future energy needs of the province. In addition to the present code covering inside gas installation, a new gas safety code governing outside installations is being established. A committee is being appointed to examine and report on drilling for oil and gas in Ontario. It will pay special attention to the impact of off-shore drilling in the Great Lakes. The Ontario Fuel Board Act will be superseded by a new Act to enable the board to concentrate on rates and other quasijudicial matters. Other functions previously performed by it will be transferred to The Department of Energy Resources. These and other matters will be submitted for your consideration. Ontario Hydro's peak load is expected to rise about 6 per cent. Annually over the next several years, necessitating continuing large capital expenditures. Part of this program consists of a 20,000 kilowatt nuclear power generating plant on the Ottawa River and a 700,000 kilowatt nuclear electric station near Kincardine for which the necessary credit will be required. A re-organization of justice administration to provide a better distribution of the work and to relieve county and district court judges and magistrates of administrative functions will be undertaken. Leadership is being given in the formation of a national committee to further efforts to prevent the sale of obscene and pornographic material. Plans for a police college for the training of all ranks will also be submitted. A new look at federal-provincial taxation and fiscal relations has become imperative, and therefore two meetings of the Ministers of Finance and Treasurers of the federal and provincial governments were held during the past year, and a plenary conference of the Prime Ministers is to be held in Ottawa this summer. During the past year, considerable progress was made in obtaining a better understanding of some of the complex questions, which beset our federal-provincial relations. Various studies were made by the continuing committee on fiscal and economic matters for the consideration of the Treasurers and for their respective governments. These studies will form the basis for discussions, which are to be held at the plenary conference this summer, at which time we will strive for a fair and equitable settlement of our outstanding problems. There is no doubt that both the province and the municipalities need additional tax J room or revenue in order to carry out their operations. Since the end of World War II the major burden of expansion has fallen upon them and upon their revenues, which are not nearly so responsive to economic expansion as those of the federal government. Accordingly, both the province and the municipalities must have additional funds if they are to provide the services for an expanding economy. The requirements of our country, arising from our economic expansion, which must continue, into the future, demonstrate the need for a more positive approach by federal and provincial governments to the very real problems brought about by our development. It is more than necessary in this important clay of our country's development that there should be full federal and provincial co-operation in a national economic program, the aim of which is to fully develop Canada's great opportunities in this part of this century. A re-organization of civil defense services will be made. Much has been done by my government during the past year to improve the well-being of our civil servants for whose devotion and faithful service appreciation is expressed. New salary and wage schedules have been adopted. Provision has been made for the establishment of a grievance board, composed of two members of the civil service and two part-time qualified members from outside the service, who will hear the grievances. The joint advisory council has also been reorganized. There will be a number of bills creating new Acts introduced for your consideration among which will be The Land Compensation Act, The Dead Animals Disposal Act, The Wild Rice Harvesting Act and The Agricultural Crops Insurance Act. In addition, there will be a number of complete revisions of existing Acts, among them, The Telephone Act, The Professional Engineers Act, The Crown Witnesses Act and The Employment Agencies Act. Many bills will be submitted too for your consideration amending existing Acts. Among them will be The Liquor Control Act, The Liquor License Act, The Bills of Sale and Chattel Mortgages Act, The Bulk Sales Act The Certification of Titles Act, The County Courts Act, The County Judges Act, The Evidence Act, The Fire Marshals Act, The Judicature Act, The Juvenile and Family Courts Act, The Interpretation Act, The Mechanics' Lien Act, The Land Titles Act, The Loan and Trust Corporations Act, The Summary Convictions Act, The Negligence Act, The Public Trustee Act, The Registry Act, The Short Forms of Conveyances Act, The Short Forms of Leases Act, The Short Forms of Mortgages Act, The Wages Act. There will be the Ontario Fuel Board Act, The Department of Energy Resources Act, The Highway Improvement Act, The Department of Highways Act, The Highway Traffic Act, The Public Health Act, The Mental Hospitals Act, The Cemeteries Act, The Boilers and Pressure Vessels Act, The Farm Products Marketing Act, The Farm Products Grades and Sales Act, The Milk Industry Act, The Protection of Cattle Act, The Weed Control Act, The Teachers' Superannuation Act, The Department of Education Act, The Public Schools Act, The Schools Administration Act, The Secondary Schools and Boards of Education Act, The Separate Schools Act, The Public Libraries Act, The Tourist Establishments Act, The Power Commission Act, The Crown Timber Act, The Forestry Act, The Lakes and Rivers Improvement Act, The Provincial Parks Act, The Public Lands Act, The Surveys Act, The Trees Act, The Mining Act, The Territorial Division Act. There will be The Municipal Act, The Assessment Act, The Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto Act, The Municipal Unconditional Grants Act, The Conservation Authorities Act, The Planning Act, The Day Nurseries Act, The Child Welfare Act, The Homes for the Aged Act, The Public Works Act, The Provincial Aid to Drainage Act, The Ontario Water Resources Commission Act, The Hospital Services Commission Act, The Corporations Act, The Vital Statistics Act, The Succession Duty Act, The Corporations Tax Act, The Financial Administration Act, The Ontario Municipal Improvement Corporation Act, The Hospitals Tax Act, and The Public Service Act. The public accounts for the fiscal year ending last March will be presented as well as the budget statement of the Treasurer and the estimates of the various departments. I pray that Divine Providence may guide your deliberations.