Wednesday, March 27, 1968 of these institutions through General Welfare Assistance . So now thev WelfarT1 Department of Health, but paid for by the Department of Leo F. Rossiter: This has nothing to do with the psychiatric end of it? Hon . M Lome Bonnell : The psychiatric end of it, Mr. Speaker , is a health problem and it does not come in under Welfare, and it does not come in under Hosnital Insurance. It is a 100% provincial cost. p J. Cyril Sinnott : Do I understand that this will not come under Hospital Services Commission? Hon . M. Lome Bonnell : Which? J. Cyril Sinnott : Some years ago there were negotiations conducted between the Government of P.E.I , and the Government of Canada in regard to mental health in general, including Riverside Hospital and General and so on as a shareable cost under the Hospital Services Commission whereby the Province'would gam a lot more because the contribution of the Federal Government would be much greater. Do I understand you to say that this is not the situation at the present time, that this hasn't happened as yet. Hon . M. Lome Bonnell : Well, Mr. Speaker , I had the privilege of being the Minister of Health at the time that the Hospital Insurance Agreement was signed, and I went to Ottawa to see the then Minister of Health and Welfare the then Honourable Mr Monteith , who signed the agreement with me, and I took with me on that trip to Ottawa the present leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, Mr. Robert Stan- field, Nova Scotia , the Minister of Health from New Brunswick and the Provinces asked specifically to have this added to the Hospital Insurance program, we were unable to do so and no government since then has done it. J. Cyril Sinnott : What I was referring to, what I meant to say, and perhaps it is not fair, that negotiations were continuously carried on between the Government of P.E.I , for several years with the Federal Government insisting that this be done and never got it. I was just wondering if these negotiations were being pressed still further? Because there is no reason why the mental health institutions on Prince Edward Island or in any other Province should not be included with the Hospital Services Commission. Hon . M. Lome Bonnell : Mr. Speaker , for the first time, I think, since this young gentleman came into the Legislature he and I are going to agree. I think that the Federal Government should be sharing in the cost of mental and tuberculosis con¬ trol in this Province as well as the other Provinces of Canada , and the whole should be under Hospital Insurance. Now, Mr. Speaker , I would like to tell you some of the things that we propose to do in the Department of Tourist Development. Tourism continues to be the stable commodity in our overall economic structure. In these days of depressed prices for potatoes and other agricultural products, and the fluctuating markets in lobsters, and some of the other fisheries we are fortunate to possess a healthy and expanding tourist trade. L. George Dewar : They cut your budget. Hon . M. Lome Bonnell : The other day, Mr. Speaker , my honourable friend, whom I have great respect for, from the of Queens quoted some figures where¬ by in his opinion the tourist trade did not increase in Prince Edward Island to the extent that I had quoted from our statistical review. And while I don't argue with the gentleman, I think every man is entitled to an opinion. One of the fact that he quoted to substantiate his argument, and I am saying it is true facts, I don't have any fault to find with his facts, that at in Halifax there was a 100% increase approximately over other years in the amount of tourists that visited the Citadel last year. He was showing that we had gone up only 4.2% in our Province. It was a peculiar thing about our tourist trade last year, Mr. Speaker . Our tourists last year seemed to make a special effort to visit tourist attractions. Not only in —329—