Province Législature Session Type de discours Date du discours Locuteur Fonction du locuteur Parti politique Saskatchewan 14e 3e Discours du trône 22 février 1962 Frank Lindsay Bastedo Lieutenant Governor Co-operative Commonwealth Federation It is my privilege to welcome you to the Third Session of the Fourteenth Legislature of Saskatchewan. The rate at which the national economy expanded during 1961 was not significant. This resulted from a slowing down of capital investment in Canada relative declines in consumer expenditures and crop failures in certain areas. The most important single feature which affected the economy of our Province last year was the failure of the 1961 harvest. Wheat yielded only 8.3 bushels per acre--the lowest per acre yield since 1937. Net farm income was less than one-half the 1960 figure. Higher Canada Wheat Board and Prairie Farm Assistance payments and substantially larger livestock marketings accounted for an increase in farm cash income. The almost total failure of the hay crop required emergency action to be taken. Special incentive payments were made to encourage the harvesting of cereal crops for fodder. A programme to assist farmers to transport haying equipment, fodder and feed grain was initiated. As a result there was no serious liquidation of cattle herds. My Government appreciates the co-operation of the farmers, local government officials and the publicity media as well as the financial contribution made by the Government of Canada. Indications of the growth of the non-farm sector of the provincial economy are plentiful. New industries were established. Expansion of a number of established companies took place. Manufacturing output was well above the level reached the previous year. The total value of mineral production increased. The Saskatchewan Power Corporation met the increased demand from home and industry for more electric power and more gas. Electrical generating output increased by more than twenty-one per cent. Thirty per cent more natural gas was consumed. More than nine thousand new telephone installations were made. Saskatchewan has not escaped the impact of chronic unemployment which has plagued Canada in recent years. Although there are fewer persons in Saskatchewan unemployed than there were one year ago, some twenty-seven thousand of our labour force are without work. Far-reaching action on the part of the Government of Canada is needed to create employment in all regions. My Government has deliberately followed, wherever possible, a policy of creating and maintaining general employment. It has attempted to alleviate the hardships which unemployment imposes on families and children. Government construction contracts provide for work to carry on during winter months. Community work creating campaigns are encouraged and assisted. Municipalities have been urged to take advantage of financial assistance available for the construction of public works projects in off-season periods. Technical and vocational training facilities have been expanded. Additional classes have been established to enable unemployed workers to improve their educational qualifications. The past, year has seen notable advances in the development of our natural resources. Excellent progress has been made on the South Saskatchewan River Project. Construction of the main dam and reservoir proceeds on schedule. Detailed planning of the most suitable land for irrigation development is advancing. Plans for the development of the five hundred mile reservoir shoreline for recreation and other purposes are receiving attention. Proposals for further substantial provincial investments in this multi-purpose project will be submitted for your approval. Emphasis continues to be placed on the conservation and development of our agricultural resources. Additional community pastures have been established. Additional acreage has been prepared for irrigation projects. To meet a water shortage emergency special crews were engaged to locate sources of water and to fill farm and municipal water reservoirs. You will be asked to approve amendments to the Department of Agriculture Act to facilitate the study of prospective water development projects. The Roads to Resources Programme has been responsible for the opening up of resource areas. The Otosquen Road will be completed this year. The Lake Hanson Road is now open to winter travel, During the past year the Governments of Saskatchewan and Canada shared the cost of an aeromagnetic survey over nineteen thousand square miles at the north end of our Province. This programme will continue on the same co-operative basis. More than a million acres of forest land were ravaged in the worst fire season experienced in our history. Timber operators arc co-operating in salvaging some thirty-five million board feet of timber damaged in the fires. The growth and development of our Province has demanded the further improvement and extension of highway and municipal roads. At the present time approximately sixty-five per cent of provincial highway traffic is carried on dust-free roads. Through the Municipal Grid Road Programme, Rural Municipalities have received assistance to construct more than seven thousand miles of all weather roads. New regulations fixing higher load limits for trucks will improve the efficiency of the trucking industry. Rural Saskatchewan has become a better place in which to live. The electrification of farm homes and smaller communities has contributed more than any other single programme to increasing the standard of living of people in the rural areas. Few farms enjoyed the use of electric power when this programme began in 1949. Today electricity is available to virtually all occupied farms in the settled portions of the Province. One hundred and twelve communities have been served with natural gas Provision will be made to extend the gas system to serve additional communities. Materials and services required for water and sewer systems were made available to almost three thousand five hundred farmers under provisions of the Family Farm Improvement Programme. In 1961 twenty-six urban communities were assisted in the installation of community water and sewer systems. The programme to improve and modernize telephone service advanced further in 1961. Grants available from the Province enabled rural telephone companies to improve their standard of maintenance and to replace existing lines. A revised Rural Telephone Act will be presented for your consideration and approval. Emphasis continues to be placed on providing additional and improved recreational areas in the Province. Plans for the further development of newly created provincial parks will be submitted for your approval. During the past year over one hundred municipalities participated in the establishment of fourteen Regional Parks. You will be asked to appropriate funds which will continue to assist in the development of local recreational areas. Amendments to The Provincial Parks and Protected Areas Act will be introduced. The co-operative movement continues to grow and serve the needs of the people of Saskatchewan. Of special interest is the growth of co-operative activity in the northern part of the Province. Last year forty-four co-operatives and credit unions in this area did a combined sales and service business in excess of two-million dollars. Good progress is being made in the transfer to co-operative ownership of provincially owned fish filleting plants and trading stores in the north. Credit Unions continue to expand. The twenty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the Credit Union movement in Saskatchewan will be observed this year. Congratulations are due to those leaders and members who have made it possible for this movement to grow and to contribute so much to our Province. A new Credit Union Act will be introduced for your consideration. My Government has decided to proceed with development of boundaries for the use of all units of local government. In developing policies on local government, the Province has worked closely with the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association and the Saskatchewan School Trustees Association, all represented on the Local Government Council. Legislation relating to new forms of local government will be introduced. In recognition of the increasing standards and costs of education you will be asked to vote a larger sum than ever before for school grants. The Legislature will be asked to approve plans to maintain the Grade Twelve Scholarship and the Teachers, Scholarship programmes. Provision will be made for the erection of additional modern school buildings in Northern Saskatchewan. With the continued expansion of the Province's resources skilled tradesmen and technicians are required in greater numbers. The Government is taking advantage of assistance under the Federal-Provincial Technical and Vocational Training Agreement to meet this need by developing new programmes and facilities. Greater attention will be given to the need for vocational training in agriculture. My Government is continuing to give string emphasis to the importance of preventive medicine and public health services. The entire area of the Province is now being served by full-time public health personnel. Saskatchewan's mental health programmes have resulted in the modernization of mental hospitals, the establishment of training schools for mental defectives and the addition of psychiatric wards and mental health clinics to certain general hospitals. Important psychiatric research supported in large part by government funds is being carried out at the University. This record of achievement has had international recognition and has gained for our Province a reputation as a leader in the field of mental health. During the public hearings in Saskatchewan of the Royal Commission appointed by the Government of Canada to examine the need for health services, my Government urged the establishment of a federal programme for the provision of comprehensive health services including the provision of medical care benefits on a prepaid insurance basis. The Saskatchewan Medical Care Insurance Commission was appointed early in January and is proceeding as expeditiously as possible with preparations for the introduction of a plan of medical care insurance. This plan will represent an important social advance for our people. Saskatchewan welcomes the increase which has been granted to recipients of the Old Age Security pension. Provision will be made to share the payments of Old Age Assistance, Blind Persons' Allowance and Disabled Persons' Allowances up to an amount of sixty-five dollars for those persons eligible. The Province, through construction and maintenance grants, continues to assist local organizations to provide adequate housing for their senior citizens. At the beginning of this year there was accommodation in self-contained housing units and hostels for nearly four thousand persons. Construction had been started on additional projects providing similar accommodation. The second report of the Royal Commission appointed by the Government of Canada to study transportation problems has been made public. This report will be studied in detail in order to ascertain the effect which changes recommended by the Commission would have on Saskatchewan. To assist in this study the Government will seek the co-operation of farm organizations, the co-operative movement, the business community and local governments. During the past year the Government, the University of Saskatchewan and the City of Regina engaged the services of a renowned Architect-Planner to prepare a proposal for the development of approximately one thousand acres surrounding Wascana Lake in our Capital City. This proposal provides a unique concept for an area for government, education, recreation and the cultural arts. Legislation will be introduced at this Session to establish a Wascana Centre Authority to implement these proposals. Saskatchewan will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary in 1965. In 1967 our nation will celebrate its centennial year. These are occasions which the people of Saskatchewan will wish again to commemorate the achievements of the past on which an even greater future can be built. Legislation will be introduced establishing a committee to assist and encourage the adequate observance of these events. It is gratifying to note that the possibility of establishing a grid for the long distance transmission of electric energy from one province to another is to be the subject of a conference involving the Governments of Canada and the Provinces. Saskatchewan's proposals in this field, which have been formulated over the past several years, together with the experience acquired in exchanging power with Manitoba, will be made available to this conference. As the area of public activity increases there are occasions when all levels of government must acquire an interest in property owned by the individual citizen. In some cases resort must be had to the machinery of expropriation many procedures of which have remained basically unchanged since constitutional government was first established. My Government proposes to review these procedures during the next year, and in doing so will seek to enlist the cooperation of various professional and community organizations with a view to evolving uniform and fair procedures for determining and protecting the property rights or the individual citizen, when expropriation become necessary. The Mechanics' Lien Act was first passed in the Province in 1907. My Government believes that it is now appropriate to review this legislation in the light of modern economic conditions. The Honourable Harold F. Thomsoe has been commissioned to hold hearings on this question and to formulate recommendations. My Government has taken part in a series of conferences with the Government of Canada and the other provinces for the purpose of seeking a means of amending our constitution in Canada. It is hoped that some mutually acceptable formula can be devised to make this possible. My Government views these negotiations as an opportunity and a challenge to devise a constitutional framework which will guarantee human rights, give due recognition of the two cultures in Canada, and upon which we can build social and economic progress. My Government believes that any proposal to incorporate a new amending formula into our Constitution should be made known as widely as possible among the citizens of our country and should be proceeded with only after they have had ample opportunity to consider and discuss such proposals. For the second year in succession My Government has introduced a new technique for obtaining capital for its construction programmes. Each week the Province is selling one million dollars of ninety-one day Treasury Bills, the first time that any Canadian province has undertaken the regular issue and sale of such securities. The Province will repeat in 1962 the sale of Saskatchewan Savings Bonds. The Public Accounts for the last fiscal year, together with estimates for the year beginning April 1, 1962 will be submitted.