Mr. Gerry McAlpine (Sturgeon Creek): Madam Speaker, I would like to expand on the Canadian Federation of Independent Business survey discussed by one of my government colleagues not long ago. We announced that hiring activity among small firms in Manitoba is expected to lead the nation, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business jobs study.

As we stated last week, the CFIB conducted a comprehensive study on job creation. The results were drawn from 18,000 survey responses and gave greater insight into youth employment, wages and the sector which is the major employment generator.

With respect to Manitoba, the study found that more firms in Manitoba have either hired in the past 12 months or plan to do so in the next year than in any other province in Canada. Specifically, over 78 percent of small business and medium-sized firms in Manitoba have either hired or plan to hire. Also, over one-third of hiring in Manitoba is due to business growth, the highest percentage in Canada; 11.1 percent of firms hired or plan to hire professional employees, again the highest percentage in Canada. Almost two-thirds, that is 64.9 percent of Manitoba's small firms employ youths between the ages of 15 to 24 years, second only to Quebec.

This province is leading the way in job creation in the private sector. Our economy is also on track for 2 percent growth this year, slightly better than the national average.

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Madam Speaker: Order, please. I am experiencing great difficulty hearing the honourable member for Sturgeon Creek.

Mr. McAlpine: We expect activity to accelerate to 2.8 percent in 1997. This proves that Manitoba is a great place to live, work, invest and raise a family. Madam Speaker, thank you.

Mr. Gregory Dewar (Selkirk): I want to use my opportunity here to once again urge the government to withdraw Bill 67 and to hold hearings throughout rural Manitoba. This government is breaking a solemn promise that this government made and their candidates made across this province during the last provincial election, before, during and after the election, that MTS was not for sale.

What the government has done since then is they have put out this $400,000 massive advertising campaign. That campaign is designed to try to counter the issues that were raised by small coalition throughout this province. The coalition in Selkirk, for example, raised $157 at a public meeting. Not one cent of public money was spent on that campaign in Selkirk. And what did this government do to try to counter that campaign and campaigns like that throughout the province? They spent $400,000 of taxpayers' money. That campaign should not have been paid for by the taxpayers. That campaign should have been paid for by the Manitoba Progressive Conservative Party, not the taxpayers and not MTS.

They sent out this campaign trying to convince Manitobans that privatization is good for us, Madam Speaker, a campaign that has failed miserably. We urge that the government cancel those ads, take that money, use that money to hold hearings, public hearings on this issue throughout rural and northern Manitoba. I have participated in several of the hearings that have been held in this building and the government feels that they have the public support. Well, I challenge them to go out there into rural and northern Manitoba and ask them. I was in Gimli last night. I was in Teulon last night. There is no support for this privatization. If this government feels that this is the right course to take, find the courage, leave this building, go out to rural and northern Manitoba and ask Manitobans what they feel on this issue. Thank you very much.

Mr. David Newman (Riel): Today is Take a Child to Work Day, and I have the pleasure of sharing my workplace with three Grade 9 students, Courtney Zaster and Walter Eisbrenner from Victor Mager School and Angela Dahl from Hastings School. Take a Child to Work is an extremely valuable program which allows students to experience a specific job. The benefits for the students include the potential to be inspired to set career goals, the ability to select appropriate courses and the opportunity to fully realize the importance of applying oneself to school work.

Young people know that the world of work is all around them and that some day they will become a part of it, but they seldom think about what exactly it is that their parents do at work all day. Often, they do not understand fully the link between education and work and how important successful work is to their futures. With an opportunity to view the work that adults do, students gain understanding and appreciation for the challenges people face daily and the accomplishments they achieve. They begin to think about the choices they will have to make and the path they must follow to meet their career goals.

The students who are with me today have spent time in class preparing for this day and will be discussing and evaluating their experiences afterward. I am proud to have these students with me today, and I hope they learn a great deal about the workings of government and the legislative process, as well as the many jobs present in this Legislative Building.

I would also like to take a moment to thank all the conscientious youths and adults from the St. Vital area who participated in a safe neighbourhood workshop yesterday afternoon and evening at Hastings School. I thank Chief Cassels and the community constables, Mr. Wyman Sangster of the Justice department, the St. Vital School Division, Neighbourhood Watch and the various community clubs that participated. Thank you to Linda Cherenkoff and Ray Houssin, the principal and vice-principal of Hastings School, the student facilitators from Glenlawn Collegiate and all student and adult workshop participants who worked together to make the workshop such a big success. Thank you.

Mr. Conrad Santos (Broadway): Madam Speaker, Manitobans from all walks of life are angry and frustrated about the sale of MTS to private interests because it constitutes a betrayal of public trust and responsible stewardship of the resources of this province. This 92-year-old tradition of a public utility Crown corporation had served Manitoba quite well for almost nine decades. It had kept up with technology and advances in recent communication and, in fact, it had shown profit in the last fiscal year. It has afforded Manitobans a reasonable, efficient and accessible public service telephone communication system and yet this government, which promised one thing during the election, did the opposite after the election. They had no mandate to sell the Crown corporation, which was established by the Tory government themselves.

This Crown corporation, if sold to private interests, would mean that there will be a loss of affordable rates of the users of the services, particularly the seniors of this province. A recent study from Ontario showed that privatization will cause and result in no less than 9.75 percent increase in the rates of telephone services and MTS itself had shown that by the year 1998 there will be at least 80 percent increase in some rural communities as to the rest of the services. The sale of MTS will also result in a loss of accessibility to telephone facilities in most rural and northern areas of this province because the private corporations, if taking over these services, will no longer be able to be willing to sustain the expenses involved in maintaining the rural lines because of expenses. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Ms. Marianne Cerilli (Radisson): Leave for a member's statement?

An Honourable Member: You do not need leave.

Ms. Cerilli: I do not need leave.

I want to talk today about the sale of the Manitoba Telephone System. I think when history is written, this will go down as one of the largest scandals and affronts to democracy in the history of Manitoba.

Not only did this government mislead Manitobans during the last election when they said they had no plans to sell MTS and said that there would be public consultation before they made the sale, when they were lying, or they have changed their minds after the election, with no internal studies done and after only two days of review of a proposal that was released, which was riddled with conflict of interest by the people who will be selling the shares for the Manitoba Telephone System. It is important to know that these studies were conducted after the election.

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The other thing that is scandalous is that they are trying to tell us that there is no difference between a publicly owned company or having Manitobans buy shares in the privatization of MTS when we know that only one out of 10 Manitobans will be able to purchase these shares. It is scandalous that they have shut down the public hearings and public debate on this process. They broke their word again when they told Manitobans that all people listed for the public hearings on this bill would be heard, but they closed down this morning the public presentations. I want to read into the record the message from the Clerk's Office of November 5 to presenters on Bill 67. The message that was left for people who had registered to speak said: Good evening, this is the Clerk's Office. I am calling to let you know that, in addition to the meetings being held at 6:30 tonight, another meeting will be called for November 6 at 9 a.m. in Room 254 at the Legislative Building, if necessary. Thank you.

We know that there were people there this morning. They were not able to make their presentation because this government turned them down and turned them away. I want to ask if the members opposite, the Premier and the minister will state in this House that, if the rates on MTS phone service go up greater than the rates that have occurred in the last number of years, they will resign. If they are so convinced there will not be any increase in rates--

Madam Speaker: Order, please. The honourable member's time has expired.