Juno News - Alberta refuses to be bribed by Trudeau

00:00:00.720 Rachel Emanuel brings the news each day on Alberta Roundup, she has her say.

00:00:12.720 Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup. I'm your host Rachel Emanuel.

00:00:16.240 Today we are going to be looking at the Alberta Priorities Act and I am joined by Alberta Seniors

00:00:22.000 Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon. Minister Nixon, thanks so much for joining us today.

00:00:27.280 Thanks for having me on Rachel, great to see you.

00:00:29.440 So we know that your government had kind of hinted at this legislation for a little while,

00:00:33.600 but before we get into the actual legislation and what it's going to do,

00:00:37.360 this came after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew to Calgary, announced a bunch of money through a

00:00:43.600 housing fund about six billion dollars. Your government came out and they took issue with

00:00:48.240 some of the money and the way that it was going to be spent and then you also announced Provincial

00:00:51.760 Priorities Act which should hopefully prevent the federal government from working directly with

00:00:55.600 municipalities without your government's sign-on. One of the ways that municipalities appear to

00:01:01.040 be eligible for this funding is through rezoning, things like duplexes, triplexes, four-unit housing.

00:01:07.120 I know that we're experiencing housing crisis even here in Calgary, you know everyone I talk to

00:01:11.520 they're having a hard time finding housing and it is so expensive. That said, a lot of people spend

00:01:16.160 their lifetime investing in their home. They pick a neighbourhood they specifically want to live in,

00:01:20.400 that they value and cherish, that meets the needs of their family, that feels safe to them and right

00:01:25.040 now in Calgary we're looking at a situation where there's blanket rezoning. People are so upset about

00:01:28.960 this. Now I know that we need the housing on the one hand, on the other hand people really care about

00:01:33.360 their neighbourhoods and they're really upset about this blanket rezoning. What are your thoughts? Do you

00:01:36.800 think that blanket rezoning is something that we need to see in Calgary or are you concerned about

00:01:40.560 it's really going to change the fabric of some of these neighbourhoods?

00:01:42.960 Yeah look, I mean my viewpoint, first of all, the federal government has no business stepping in and

00:01:48.000 trying to blanket rezone anything. They don't have any business stepping in and zoning anything.

00:01:51.920 It's, you know, municipalities are solely the jurisdiction of the province, of the provinces

00:01:56.880 in our country under our constitution and it certainly is federal overreach for them to go

00:02:01.200 anywhere near zoning issues. You know, my belief is that we have 300 plus municipalities in our

00:02:06.000 province. All of our communities have different needs. My hometown is sundry. We'll have to deal with

00:02:10.800 zoning issues in very different ways than Calgary, for example. And so this is why we have elected municipal

00:02:16.000 councils to go through that process to hear from their local communities to make decisions on what's

00:02:20.960 best for each neighbourhood. I also don't think that blanket rezoning actually solves our housing

00:02:26.160 problem. We certainly want to be able to deal with some zoning issues, increase permit speeds in

00:02:33.760 many cases to be able to make sure we can build more houses, but it's also about making sure that we

00:02:37.120 zone still in the right places. So just saying, hey, we zone an entire city is not going to solve the

00:02:41.040 problem. So I'll give you an example. The best spot probably to do some real high density housing

00:02:45.920 in Calgary will be along the existing already train lines, which actually has not much impact

00:02:50.880 on existing neighbourhoods. We can already build on some of the existing infrastructure footprints

00:02:54.880 that are in place that likely will work for many communities. And that's why, you know, cities should

00:02:59.200 go through that process with each neighbourhood and their constituents to get it right. But, you know,

00:03:03.120 we want to build more houses. We already are. I've got to stress that. I mean, Alberta is the only place

00:03:07.120 since having any real significant positive numbers when it comes to residential construction, which

00:03:12.080 I think shows already that our pro industry red tape reduction methods in our province are working.

00:03:18.080 But to be clear, we think that communities should have the individual zoning conversations and make

00:03:23.200 sure that they get it right. And then we can work together to speed up construction.

00:03:26.960 When we talk about communities actually having that say with their municipal government about what they

00:03:31.200 want their neighbourhood to look like and whether they're going to allow for this rezoning. I mean,

00:03:34.560 the federal government is kind of coming here and they're dangling a stick in front of Calgary.

00:03:37.680 They're offering a lot of money. Are you concerned that the municipal government here in Calgary,

00:03:41.920 Mayor Jody Gonick, isn't going to take residents' concerns seriously because there's just so much

00:03:45.840 money on the table for them? Yeah, well, this is one of the reasons why we're bringing in the new act

00:03:51.360 to be able to prevent the federal government from going directly to those municipalities is because it was

00:03:55.280 becoming very clear two things. One is that only mayors were getting attention from the federal

00:04:00.400 government that seemed to have a relationship with the current federal government or shared their

00:04:04.240 left-wing ideology. And so you saw, you know, situations where Edmonton and Calgary were getting

00:04:10.240 money for the federal government, but places like Cochrane, which is one of the fastest growing

00:04:13.840 communities in the country, were not even getting a phone call. And so we really saw a need to step in

00:04:19.040 to be able to make sure that we're distributing money across the province where it's needed.

00:04:23.040 And then second, it was very clear that they were willing to, you know, to change rules or to sell out

00:04:29.520 their own constituents to be able to get to that money. And we were mostly concerned, the premier and

00:04:35.040 I, you know, in the last couple of weeks that the federal government was indicating that you would

00:04:39.040 have to do one or two things, or two things specifically. One is to do blanket rezoning,

00:04:44.000 which we, you know, as you just covered, is challenging to do it that way. But second was

00:04:48.880 to sign onto the green building code, which we, you know, what exactly that means from the federal

00:04:52.880 government. They were light on details, which is not abnormal, but given the history of this federal

00:04:58.480 government, when it comes to the green ideology, is deeply concerning about what that impact could

00:05:02.400 be on our construction history and the cost to Albertans to buy a house and to ultimately rent

00:05:07.120 houses as well, because it would raise the price in both sides of the market. And so that's why we

00:05:13.040 stepped in and said, we're done. The federal government needs to deal with the province. We

00:05:17.040 have jurisdiction in this area. We're going to enforce that jurisdiction. It'll be us who works with

00:05:22.400 our municipalities because we don't tend to be bribed with our own money by the federal government to

00:05:26.880 bring in Justin Trudeau, you know, Justin Trudeau's ideological agenda on things like green building

00:05:31.600 codes. Now, I know you said that they were light on the details, not unusual for the federal government,

00:05:36.400 like you mentioned, but what are some of the specific building codes that you were worried

00:05:40.720 they might force municipalities to implement with this green agenda that you've been talking about?

00:05:45.440 What specifically? Well, one of the big things that there's been musing about at the federal level,

00:05:50.160 again, both Premier and I have spoken about this recently, is, you know, the possibility of saying that

00:05:54.720 houses cannot connect to natural gas and that we'd have to go with, you know, solar or wind or

00:06:00.320 different type of electricity sources to be able to get to that funding. That would astronomically

00:06:05.600 increase the cost of construction. I mean, I think would be catastrophic in our market here in Alberta

00:06:12.320 for a variety of reasons. But, you know, that'd be one example. But even simple things like if they were to

00:06:18.400 increase insulation requirements beyond what you would see elsewhere in North America,

00:06:23.600 you know, you're just going to see the cost go up astronomically. And again, it's not their jurisdiction.

00:06:29.600 The province is responsible ultimately for setting a building code. We can sign on to a national

00:06:34.640 building code. That's up to us if we want to. But we're not going to sign on to a building code that

00:06:39.440 is more extreme or unknown in exchange for money from the federal government.

00:06:43.200 When you talk about one of your fears being that the federal government could say,

00:06:47.280 we want, you know, these buildings to have solar and power be generated by solar and power energy.

00:06:51.120 Is that something that we're even in a place where we're ready for in this province?

00:06:53.840 It's my understanding that we're looking to actually get more baseload.

00:06:56.960 All the people moving here, we actually have higher electricity demands.

00:07:00.320 Well, like most of the federal policies, as you know, Rachel, I spent many years as

00:07:04.240 Alberta's environment minister. So I'm very familiar with this issue. And most of the federal green

00:07:10.240 policies that they're trying to push forward in this country are impossible, like actually impossible.

00:07:15.600 And if we were to try to implement them in the timelines that have been laid out by the federal

00:07:19.840 government, you would end up with mass blackouts, people not being able to heat their homes.

00:07:24.480 We already saw some of those circumstances this year where it was really cold, which shows some

00:07:28.160 of the challenges on Canadians electricity grid. And so that that's exactly right. It's just it's an

00:07:33.360 impossibility. But you know, when you're dealing with Justin Trudeau and the federal government on this

00:07:37.680 issue, the possibilities don't seem to register with them. They just continue to drive forward and not

00:07:42.320 want to have this conversation in a resemblance of reality. And, you know, that's unfortunate.

00:07:48.560 But when it comes to our housing issues, which is one of the biggest issues in the country right

00:07:52.960 now, it's certainly one of the biggest issues in the province about making sure we have enough

00:07:55.680 housing stock. We just cannot let that happen because at the end of the day, all it will do

00:08:00.560 is increase the cost of construction, which ultimately will increase mortgages and will increase rent.

00:08:06.080 And our main focus right now has to be to create more supply to keep those, you know,

00:08:10.160 keep affordability both within the rent in the mortgage market in our province.

00:08:14.560 So on the Alberta Provincial Priorities Act specifically, that's going to be ensuring that

00:08:18.720 the federal government receives the UCP's government sign off on any projects that they

00:08:23.440 hope to strike with municipalities. Now, when we're looking at this six billion dollars for housing

00:08:27.680 specifically, is this legislation when it passes, is it going to stop any money that was promised

00:08:33.280 to municipalities in its track? Or is it too late? And is that deal going to go ahead?

00:08:36.320 So our intention right now is not to be retroactive on, you know, if deals have been signed, we want

00:08:42.160 to continue to get work done. But going forward, and certainly for this latest round of announcements

00:08:48.160 that are associated with the federal budget, this legislation will be applicable and it will force

00:08:54.320 the federal government to come to the table like they did in Quebec and in BC and make a deal with the

00:08:59.200 province. And then we would work with our municipalities to be able to build houses where and when they are

00:09:03.920 needed within our province. But going forward, what will have to happen is the federal government

00:09:09.120 cannot go to a municipality or any other entity that is created by the provincial government or is

00:09:15.360 over 50% funded by the provincial government without the permission of the provincial government.

00:09:20.000 So what essentially that does is it forces the feds to come to the table of the province to make a deal.

00:09:24.560 And we saw this in Quebec. Quebec was the first province because they have this law

00:09:28.000 that was able to get a housing deal in the country. And that's because the feds had no choice but to come 0.99

00:09:33.360 have a conversation with the provincial government. One other thing I wanted to ask you about is

00:09:38.240 obviously your government has been working hard on the Alberta is Calling campaign trying to attract

00:09:42.560 new skilled workers to the province. Do you think that there's maybe a time where we would want to

00:09:46.080 put a pause on this campaign? I know the premier says, look, we're really trying to attract skilled

00:09:49.200 workers, even construction workers. But you know, a lot of these people are moving to bigger cities.

00:09:52.720 We're seeing a little bit of a housing crisis here. I'm not quite sure that demand is keeping up.

00:09:56.400 I know that there's a lot of new houses up and coming, but right now we're really feeling that pinch.

00:10:00.160 I talked to a lot of people trying to buy, a lot of people trying to rent. There's very little on

00:10:03.440 the market. Do you think that there's maybe a need to put a pause on something like that? Or do you

00:10:06.960 think there's just always a need to bring as many people to the province as possible?

00:10:10.560 Well, we want to obviously keep our economy going, but you're right. I mean, we have to be able to

00:10:14.240 house everybody that comes to our province. I think what we're focused on with Minister Jones,

00:10:19.840 who's a lead on Alberta's Calling, the Minister of Jobs and Economy in our province,

00:10:23.760 is actually adjusting Alberta's Calling to be very much focused on specific

00:10:28.960 trades and specific careers that we need filled within our province. So nursing,

00:10:34.000 for example, obviously anything that is medical and then residential construction being one of

00:10:38.000 the highest priorities. And so he, you know, he'll have more details on that as this progresses.

00:10:43.760 But the work that they're going to be doing is be really focused on attracting some of the trades

00:10:48.080 that we need to be able to make sure that we can build the houses to be able to keep fueling our

00:10:51.920 economy's growth. So you're right. I mean, at the end of the day, we have to be able to make sure that we're not

00:10:56.240 just having people move to Alberta for just for the sake of moving to Alberta, if there's nowhere

00:11:00.480 to live. And so the logical spot right now to focus on is the people that we need to be able

00:11:04.400 to continue to build all the homes that we need, but also all the commercial real estate we need

00:11:09.040 in other areas where we're short professionals. Minister, just the last thing I want to touch on

00:11:14.320 here, your son, Austin, we know that he was in that horrible car crash about four months ago,

00:11:18.000 a horrible rollover with his twin sister. He was in the hospital. We know he came home about two

00:11:22.080 weeks ago and he's working on his rehabilitation. I know my audience has been pretty interested in

00:11:25.840 this and very concerned for your family. I'm just wondering if you'd be able to give us a quick

00:11:29.200 update as to how he's doing and how your family's doing. Well, first of all, thank you for asking

00:11:33.920 to your audience and to all Albertans. My family has been very well supported and we really appreciate

00:11:39.440 all the prayers and thoughts that went through Austin's experience. He spent almost a month in a

00:11:42.960 coma, which was obviously very traumatic for us. But you're right. He came home about two weeks ago.

00:11:48.240 He's walking and he's talking now. He's probably about 75%. He's got about a year or longer of

00:11:54.000 very serious physical and mental recovery ahead of him. But he's up to the task and we're just very,

00:11:59.280 very grateful to be on this journey. I can tell you before Christmas, it didn't look like we were

00:12:02.960 going to be on this journey. And so we're just excited to continue to work with Austin and try to

00:12:07.680 try to get him all the way back to normal. Thank you for that. Well, we'll continue to keep him in our

00:12:12.080 prayers and that he has a speedy recovery and that the rest of your family is able to really move past

00:12:16.880 us. I can't imagine how difficult that must have been. Minister, thank you so much for joining us

00:12:20.560 today. For the rest of you, I'll be back on Saturday with a special episode for you guys

00:12:23.920 this week. I am interviewing Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. So you'll definitely want to

00:12:27.920 tune in on Saturday to catch that. I hope that you guys have a great rest of your week. I'll see

00:12:31.680 you on Saturday. God bless.

00:12:46.880 You guys 11th Street Fighter MINIST 2013

00:12:47.840 2nd

00:12:52.080 4th, 3nd

00:12:59.920 5th, 3rd, 4th, 3rd, 4th, 4th, 5th,

00:13:01.360 5th, 4th, 5th.

00:13:03.540 I, 5th, 6th, 5th, 6th.

00:13:06.440 God bless.

00:13:07.520 14th, 46th, 25th, 66th, 26th, 5th, 36th, 6th, 7th, 6th, 7th starts.

Juno News - April 17, 2024

Alberta refuses to be bribed by Trudeau

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