• Making Manitoba a Better
  Place Now and in the Future
• Working to Improve
  the Local Area
• 
  Building Community
• 
  Jim's Bio
  

• 
  Being Accessible
• 
  Supporting Seniors
• Creating Recreational
  Facilities
• Improving Local
  Infrastructure

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour of speaking about a hardworking, caring, dedicated individual from Assiniboia. I am proud to inform members of the Legislature about the tremendous impact Don Maye has had on the community and at Golden West Centennial Lodge.

Mr. Speaker, Don came to Winnipeg in 1993 from St. John's, Newfoundland, to be director of spiritual care at the Salvation Army Grace Hospital. In that position, he continued to develop their Bereavement Care program and served on several committees regarding palliative care and ethics. It was very appropriate to see him at the opening of the Grace Hospital Palliative Care Centre this weekend.

While director of spiritual care, Don also was a member of the directors of pastoral care committee of Winnipeg. He was involved in the Manitoba association of interfaith pastoral care, including two years as vice-president and two years as president. Don was a member of the Canadian Association of Pastoral Practice and Education and actively represented Manitoba on the national board of that organization for two years.

In 1998, Don was appointed executive director of the Salvation Army Golden West Centennial Lodge. In this position, he was involved and concerned about the improvement in residential care through a variety of initiatives. Don led the restructuring of nursing programs to provide more consistent care for residents and better communication with resident families. He also implemented electronic charting and worked to build a beautiful outdoor garden accessible to all the residents. I have been pleased to volunteer to work with the auxiliary, barbecuing on this wonderful outdoor area on a number of occasions. Under his leadership, Golden West Centennial Lodge was awarded three-year accreditation on two occasions from the Canadian College of Health Services.

Besides his excellent record of leadership in the workplace, Don Maye believes community involvement was essential. He has served for five years as a member of non-profit terminal health care. In spite of this busy schedule and community and workplace involvement, Don has always been accessible to residents and their families and continues to serve on the board of Hope Centre. He also has made Golden West Centennial Lodge a home for guests, volunteers, staff and residents. It feels just right. He knew everyone by name and took great time to share a few words and memories with many people. I will always remember the image of Don singing to residents on many different occasions. He really cared. He made a difference for a community and Golden West Centennial Lodge. Thank you very much.

Literacy is a very important issue in our society. Literacy correlates directly to health, wellness, employment, income and the ability to function within our society. It tends to perpetuate over generations. So I am very pleased to talk about Raise a Reader program that Global, the Free Press and others put on today. CanWest with Gail Asper, Cindy Dowse and a number of people there raised money for family literacy programs. I am very pleased that, along with 280 volunteers, 6 fellow MLAs from Fort Garry, Gimli, Minto, St. James, St. Norbert raised $18,000 today in addition to other sponsorships. I think this was wonderful. I praise CanWest Global and all the partners that ran this wonderful program, and I hope the literacy continues. The Free Press was also a very, very important sponsor in this program.

It is nice to see co-operation with business, community and all the volunteers to raise literacy and the profile.

I would also like to bring all members' attention to a wonderful event that occurred on Saturday. The Assiniboia Optimist Club, the Member for St. James (Ms. Korzeniowski), Stevenson-Britannia Adult Literacy Program and I sponsored a literacy day barbecue at Ness Middle School. Silver Heights Choir, Buchanan School Choir, John Taylor Jazz Choir, the Literacy Partners Speakers Bureau and the Optimists all put on, joined together and created a wonderful function.

Approximately six cases of good children's books were collected for elementary schools and day cares. Four cases of school supplies and about $500 was donated to help kids in their work in schools. This money went to kids in Assiniboia that would not normally have the ability to do this.

I would like to thank all the partners who made this possible. By continuing to work together we will make our community a better place to live in, increase the literacy and improve the standard of education in Manitoba. Thank you very much.

I am pleased to inform all members today that it is World Literacy Day. Along with a number of my caucus colleagues, I had the pleasure of attending a breakfast with the Honourable Jane Stewart, Minister of Human Resources and our own Minister of Advanced Education and Training (Ms. McGifford) to commemorate this day. The breakfast was sponsored by the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce and Pricewaterhouse, which demonstrates their commitment to this cause.

Illiteracy affects us all. The average salary for a Manitoban with less than a high school education is only $19,000. Studies have shown that people with low literacy experience greater unemployment, increased difficulties with health and, in particular, reading prescriptions and prescription errors. Knowing what your prescription says and getting it right is very, very critical.

Illiteracy tends to perpetuate over generations. We need to stop this cycle. It is a cycle of ill health. It is a cycle of poverty. In the information age that we now live in, good literacy levels are essential.

I would like to commend the Literacy Partners of Manitoba, its board and executive director, Marg Rose, for organizing this event. I am proud of our Government over what we have done. We have increased the funding for literacy by $100,000 again this year. In 2002, there were 2100 people involved in literacy programs. This year there are going to be 2400, an increase of 300 people. We have done a lot as far as bringing up parent-teacher programs in literacy, child reading programs, and in Assiniboia itself, they did a great job as far as summer reading programs. Myself, the Optimist Club of Assiniboia, the Member for St. James (Ms. Korzeniowski) and Stevenson-Britannia are holding a literacy barbecue on the 20th to gain resources for literacy programs and gain school supplies for needy students. I invite all honourable members to do this type of organization to improve the literacy in our province.