Province Législature Session Type de discours Date du discours Locuteur Fonction du locuteur Parti politique Nouvelle-Écosse 48e 5e Discours du Trône 9 Février 1967 Henry P. Mackeen Lieutenant-gouverneur PC Nova Scotia: Speech from the Throne, Fifth Session of the 48th General Assembly, February 9th, 1967 I am pleased to welcome you to this the fifth Session of the 48th General Assembly convened in the Province and I extend my best wishes to each of you. This year Nova Scotians will join with Canadians everywhere in celebration of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of our country. My Government notes with some pride the part Nova Scotians have played in the founding and continuing life of Canada, and looks forward with confidence to a growing sense of national unity and the increasing importance of Canada in world affairs. My Government is encouraged by the growth of employment in Nova Scotia during the past year but recognizes that some segments of our economy face severe difficulties. My Government and the Government of Canada have agreed to the establishment of a crown corporation to operate the coal mines of the Dominion Steel and Coal Company Limited and its subsidiaries and to encourage the economic development of Cape Breton. You will be asked to vote funds for this purpose and to replace federal aid now granted to market coal from our so-called independent mines. Rapid change in the traditional occupations of the countryside has created difficulty for many of our rural people. The Department of Agriculture and Marketing, with the assistance of ARDA and in cooperation with other departments of my Government, proposes, as a complement to its agricultural policies, to introduce a program of rural manpower mobility and development to assist rural people who wish to do so to enter new avenues of training and employment. The ARDA Task Force will shortly be submitting a comprehensive plan and recommendations for the improvement of conditions in the nine northern and eastern counties of the province. My Government looks forward to considering this plan and these recommendations with the Government of Canada with a view to implementing helpful policies. You will be asked to provide funds to replace those being withdrawn by the Government of Canada from its support of the limestone policy, and to increase the scope of the fertilizer assistance policy to encourage the greater production of forage crops and feed grains. A bill will be placed before you to exempt from municipal taxation livestock and farm production machinery, and to provide compensation in lieu thereof to municipalities which are now deriving tax income from such property. A measure will be proposed to provide financial assistance to encourage farmers to improve their production facilities in order to strengthen the agricultural economy. With a view to increasing the productivity of our forests, my Government proposes that forest nurseries be expanded, that crown holdings of forest lands be further increased and consolidated, that the program to improve stands on crown lands be accelerated and that the Forest Improvement Act become more widely effective. My Government intends to continue financial support towards the organization of small woodlot owners. My Government will propose to you that in lieu of rebate of tax on gasoline used by forest operators off public highways, grants will be provided to help build forest access roads to make more accessible to operators, forestlands which might not otherwise be developed. The Voluntary Planning Board has under consideration the formulation of a policy for the stabilization of the sawmill industry. The fishing industry of the Province is modernizing and diversifying rapidly. My Government recognizes that this is creating problems as well as opportunities, requiring flexible credit policies and training programs if the maximum number of people is to benefit. Legislation will be introduced to relieve the boats and gear of inshore fishermen from municipal taxation; and to compensate municipalities which are now receiving taxes from such property. My Government believes that during the next few years’ efforts to help the tourist industry should emphasize the improvement and expansion of facilities and services even more than promotion. Among other measures, the resort hotels owned by the Province will be improved and additional provincial campsites will be developed. My Government has broadened its credit arrangements to encourage the improvement and expansion of tourist facilities. My Government will continue its efforts towards additional and improved ferry services between western Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and New England. Despite difficulties in coal mining, the value of mineral production in Nova Scotia in 1967 is expected to be at least equal to that in 1966, a record level, being about ten per cent above 1965. The rate of mineral exploration greatly exceeds all previous records and a number of discoveries are encouraging. The Nova Scotia Power Commission will undertake a program of heavy investment in new generating and transmitting facilities, the early commissioning of a thirty-eight thousand kilowatt addition to the Seaboard plant in Glace Bay, the placing in service of 94 miles of new transmission lines, the completion of hydro generating facilities on the Sissiboo River, the commencement of an eighty thousand kilowatt thermal generating plant at Point Tupper and, with the assistance of the Atlantic Development Board, the commencement of a one hundred and fifty thousand kilowatt thermal generating plant at Trenton. My Government's program for the vigorous promotion of industry through the Department of Trade and Industry and Industrial Estates Limited will require the provision of additional capital through government credit facilities during 1967. The provision of Capital for development and for the various public works programs proposed for the coming year will require more borrowing by the Province than has been the case in any year to date, and you will be asked to authorize this. You will be asked to consider the annual report of the Nova Scotia Voluntary Planning Board which will give a review of significant private and public developments towards implementation of the first plan of the Board. You will be asked to consider measures to provide further protection for consumers and greater protection for persons depositing funds with and buying securities of Trust and Loan Companies. Legislation will be introduced to provide improved minimum vacation benefits for employees and to provide for better safety of construction workers. Planning for the adoption of a method of providing medical services in Nova Scotia by July 1968 with the financial assistance of the Government of Canada will continue under the direction of the Medical Care Insurance Advisory Commission. Consultation will continue with the Government of Canada and the Governments of the other Atlantic Provinces with reference to the most effective use of the Health Resources Fund for the development of teaching and research facilities. My Government is concerned as to the availability of adequate professional personnel in all areas of health services and is pressing for early decisions. Because of the limited availability of Federal Grants for the construction of hospitals and the limited duration of this Federal program you will be asked to consider a measure for some further assistance towards the construction of hospitals in respect of which there does not now seem to be any prospect of Federal construction grants or equivalent assistance from the Government of Canada. My Government is pleased that a growing number of municipalities are participating in studies of urban renewal and the development of land assembly and housing projects. Proposals will be laid before you for the substantial improvement of our social and humanitarian programs with the assistance of the Government of Canada. These will include supplementary benefits up to a maximum of twenty-five dollars per month to recipients of Old Age Assistance, Disabled Persons Allowances and Blind Persons Allowances; higher maximum payments to Disabled Persons under the Social Assistance Act of seventy-five dollars per month; increased payments to certain recipients of Social Assistance receiving less than $150 a month; larger grants to Children's Aid Societies towards the costs of services; and a program of rehabilitation services for recipients of public assistance and persons being cared for in homes for the Aged and Disabled. It is proposed that the Interdepartmental Committee on Human Rights become a Commissiom on Human Rights with public in addition to departmental representation; and served by a director. It is proposed to establish an Interdepartmental Committee on Youth and to appoint a director thereof to promote and develop improved programs and services of benefit to youth. A provincial Conference on Aging will be held this year to make recommendations on programs to assist aged persons. You will be asked to provide for the Province assuming responsibility for the operation of the Maritime Home for Girls and to change the name thereof to the Nova Scotia Home for Girls, effective April first 1967. Legislation to provide for the inspection and licensing of Day Nurseries will be introduced. My Government, in co-operation with other levels of government, will continue to expand the education facilities in the province. Substantial changes in the Foundation Program are proposed, effective on the first of August next. The Comprehensive School System will be implemented in the elementary and secondary grades. Construction will begin this year of seven regional vocational high schools, and expansion of vocational schools in Cape Breton and Kings Counties will begin this year. An increasing number of schools will include commercial departments. With the assistance of the Government of Canada, my Government plans to expand rapidly the programs for vocational training and retraining of adults in all parts of the province. Additional adult training centres will be provided. Courses of training in co-operation with industry will be expanded. The program of bursaries to students at colleges and universities will be extended in the next academic year to include students in their final year and students attending postsecondary technical courses. Assistance to universities will be increased. You will be asked to provide increased funds to carry out the highway program. In view of the progress made on the Trans Canada Highway, greater emphasis will be placed upon the improvement of the trunk roads in the western part of the province. Accordingly funds will be requested to accelerate substantially the engineering and construction to make Routes 1 and 3 high standard highways. The reduction of vehicle weight limits on main arterial traffic routes during the spring thaw period is becoming inconsistent with the general Economic development of the province. The intention of my government is to proceed as rapidly as possible with the improvement of such routes to make seasonal weight reductions unnecessary for traffic on such routes. Work on the Sydney by-pass will proceed at an accelerated rate. Improvement of secondary roads will be increased and the program of resurfacing worn pavements and replacing obsolete bridges will continue. My Government will continue its efforts to increase safety on the highways, with emphasis upon law enforcement, driver qualification and education and upon vehicle inspection. My Government proposes to establish a Municipal Services Plan to provide financial assistance towards police and fire protection, street lighting, garbage collection, street paving, and sewer and water services, to enable our communities to achieve a reasonable standard in these basic services; such assistance being related to the ability to pay of the respective municipalities. You will be asked to increase the grants to rural municipalities from twenty-six cents to one dollar and twenty-five cents per capita. My Government also proposes to make grants in lieu of taxes upon certain property owned by the Province. The Nova Scotia Power Commission proposes during this year, after discussions with the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities, to begin paying grants in lieu of taxes to municipalities from within which it derives revenue from retail customers, such grants to be related to revenue. Discussions will be held with representatives of the Nova Scotia Union of Municipalities with a view to making an equitable arrangement to distribute to municipalities the additional rebate of Federal Income Tax which will be received from the Government of Canada in respect of Income Tax paid by the Nova Scotia Light and Power Company Limited, such distribution to be made among those municipalities from within which that company derives retail revenue. In addition, it will be proposed that the Social Assistance Act be amended to increase the amount of money available to municipal governments for the administration of Municipal Social Assistance; and my Government proposes to relieve municipal governments of their present share of financial responsibility for the children of unmarried mothers who are made wards of the Director of Child Welfare or of a Children's Aid Society. Legislation will be introduced providing for a joint Council consisting of representatives of my Government and the Civil Service Association to consider terms and conditions of employment and to provide for arbitration in case of disagreement. My Government proposes to provide for minimum payment of one dollar and twenty-five cents an hour for employees of the Government or Boards, Commissions or Agencies of the Government and under contracts of construction entered into by my Government, subject to exceptions similar to those under the Canada Labour (Standards) Code. You will be asked to consider amendments to the Teachers' Pension Act and the Public Service Superannuation Act, including an amendment concerning minimum pensions. My Government proposes to commission a study of the feasibility of relating pensions under the Public Service Superannuation Act and the Teachers' Pension Act to changes in the cost of living. A Committee will be established through the Attorney General to inquire into the adequacy of legal aid services now available in Nova Scotia; to investigate systems of legal aid in other jurisdictions and to make such recommendations as it deems appropriate. It is proposed to publish this year a consolidation of the Public Statutes of the Province including enactments of this session. Legislation will be introduced to amend the Consumers Protection Act, the Motor Vehicle Act, the Assessment Act, the Child Welfare Act, the Adoption Act and other public statutes of the Province. The Public Accounts of the Province for the fiscal year ending March 31st, 1966 will be placed before you. An interim statement showing revenues and expenditures for the current fiscal year as presently estimated will be furnished to you. Estimates for the fiscal year to begin on April 1st, 1967 will be presented to you for consideration. To these and all other matters which may come before you, I ask your most careful attention, praying that Divine Providence may guide you in all your deliberations and decisions.