Tuesday, March 5, 1968

but still and all, the living costs in this Province are just as high, if not higher than any other Province and our laboring people are paid far less than they are in any other Province, so we must ask this Government for its promise, before it came into power, that we would have a great raise in wages of this Province. We must try and have better working relations between labor and management if we are to keep our young people in this Province as they cannot exist on the wages they get today along with the education they have and no opportunity for good wages or advancement. Co-operative housing, co—operative housing has been important in this Province for quite some number of years, Mr. Speaker, but we are not going far enough ahead with housing in this Province as I see it, Mr. Speaker. This is a very serious situation as it mostly affects our young people as I’m very concerned for our young people in the Province and their housing situation, Mr. Speaker. There are some of them who have to have new homes and the only way they get homes Mr. Speaker, in this Province, without some plan whereby those young people earl obtain their own homes without paying rent over a number of years and then still be no farther ahead in a period of twenty years when they should have been paying on their own homes. But the co-operative housing situation is not just as bright, Mr. Speaker, as they would have us to believe because I do not think when those groups meet togther that they are told all the facts and figures of what it costs to build and pay interest on loans today. Those people should be well informed and I would like to attend any housing meeting if possible that takes place as I am sure at this time there is a group in Montague considering co-operative housing which started out as a group of eighteen, I think it was, eighteen or nineteen and at the present time it is down to a group of eight. They are younger couples, Mr. Speaker, and not too high wage rate and they must understand before they go ahead and I think the Government or the Province today should be giving some considera— tion to help those people out to obtain those houses, where the strain will not be all on the couple that are raising a small family. This is a great problem, Mr. Speaker, with the young people today. We must help the young people out to obtain better housing or they will not be in the Province when we need them and we’ll need them very soon, Mr. Speaker. I am very pleased over the past year that the Minister of Housing has co-operated and we have a fine chronic care home in Mon- tague. During the past year this home has beeen opened as has a home, a chronic care home, in Alberton. I had the opportunity to attend both of those openings and very fine places they are for our aged people to get the care they deserve. Every- one should visit those homes and see. We had the opportunity yesterday to visit the home in Montague where the chapel was dedicated and the care they are taking of those people is really wonderful. It is really a sight to see the care that those people are given in those homes. Now, twenty-three on this Speech, Mr. Speaker, I am very, very interested in twenty-three as this is hospital services. The Govern— ment says, “every assistance possible to improve the standards of hospital services and facilities throughout the Province.” Now, Mr. Speaker, as we are preparing, or hope to start a new hospital in Montague in the very near future I am sure every- one in this Legislature will be fully behind us to the best of their ability to help us out as we will need all the help that anyone can give us with this project. It is a big project for a small area of Kings County and part of Queens. This is a big project as we hope to have better facilities for our hospital care as all the doctors, I’m sure, will agree that we need this hospital. Mr. Speaker, I do not know whe- ther all the doctors in the House agree that we should have medical care or not but the Government just less than one year ago promised us in this Legislature that Medicare would come in to the Province on July lst, 1968. Now, Mr. Speaker, we find that this is not going to take place and I’m sure that the people of Prince Edward Island deserve just as good a care as any place else and I’m sure that we could find the money somewhere to go ahead with this project because it’s not going to get any cheaper in the years to come, Mr. Speaker, it’s going to cost us more. Road projects, Highway Dept, Mr. Speaker, we agree that we need good highways on Prince Edward Island to move our produce to market as the cost of transportation today, Mr. Speaker, is getting greater and greater all the time. We find at the present time the cessation in the Causeway from Prince Edward Island and the freight rates are going up and up and up each year but due to the highway construction in this Province we must continue on with a highway project. But we must not go beyond our means in this project but to consider of having the best we can at the least possible burden to the people at bottom but we must carry on and make representation and more representations to Ottawa to continue this cross-

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