Juno News - An ATTACK on the free press

00:00:00.000 Rishi Nagar, news director and host for Calgary's Red FM 106.7, addressed the media on Tuesday for

00:00:06.460 the first time since being assaulted by two men on the streets of Calgary over his reporting on

00:00:10.940 extortion and crime. I was at the media event, where Nagar described the attack as one on

00:00:15.920 the freedom of the press and the integrity of journalism. I'm Isaac Lamoureux, your host of

00:00:21.360 the Alberta Roundup. To this point, I've been tracking which week this was hosting the show,

00:00:36.380 but I've already lost track. I'm pretty sure we're at the one month mark, so it seems as good a time

00:00:41.060 as any to stop tracking. I'll have to think of another way to introduce the show. Maybe something

00:00:47.580 like, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup, the one and only show you need to keep up to date

00:00:53.220 on the province's happenings. Perhaps if I'd been in the business since 1999 like Rishi Nagar,

00:00:59.020 I'd have established a good introduction by now, but let's just jump back into that story.

00:01:03.500 The assault on Rishi Nagar, which occurred on Sunday, is believed to be connected to his

00:01:07.920 reporting on extortion and criminal activity within the South Asian community. However,

00:01:12.720 he said he did not believe the attack to be politicized because Canadians have freedom of

00:01:17.180 speech, press, and expression. Nagar addressed the media on Tuesday with a bandage wrapped around

00:01:22.960 half of his face covering his eye. He said he hoped not to be seen as a victim, but as a voice for the

00:01:28.760 integrity and necessity of journalism. These injuries are for sure painful, but what wounds me more deeply

00:01:34.740 is the intent behind this assault, said Nagar. A clear attack on journalism and on the free press.

00:01:41.080 This was not a personal attack on me alone. This was an assault on the very principles that bind us

00:01:46.640 as a free and democratic society. The journalist, who as I mentioned has been in the business since

00:01:51.180 1999, said he has spent most of his career reporting on the extortions and criminal activities

00:01:56.660 affecting South Asian communities, which he added continued to grow. He said, quote,

00:02:01.760 I want to make one thing abundantly clear. I will not be silenced. These cowardly actions will not

00:02:07.560 deter me or my colleagues from continuing our work, nor will they dissuade the press from reporting on

00:02:12.860 matters of public interest. They can break my eye. They cannot break my resolve. Journalism is the

00:02:19.220 cornerstone of a free society, and without it, corruption, crime, and injustice would go unchecked.

00:02:24.960 Nagar revealed that the doctors told him he risks retinal detachment and coroidal rupture in his eye

00:02:31.020 because there is so much blood inside of it. He said he'll get a further update on October 8th.

00:02:35.700 He was attending a political event at a banquet hall when he stepped outside to take a phone call.

00:02:40.920 Two men, quote, sneakily followed him and eventually approached him for a brief conversation where

00:02:45.840 they complained about his past reporting, alleging that it was untrue. He knew one of the men and at

00:02:50.200 no point expected to be attacked. However, the other man allegedly attacked him and continued doing

00:02:54.920 so when he fell to the ground. Eventually, two other random pedestrians pulled over to care for Nagar.

00:03:00.000 They helped him come to his senses and call the police.

00:03:02.960 I thank God that the attackers fled like cowards, further strengthening my resolve,

00:03:07.400 Nagar wrote in a Facebook post shortly after the attack.

00:03:10.900 I am especially thankful to Mr. Burhan Khan, who came to my aid and rescue at that moment.

00:03:16.280 He said that he is not the first person and will not be the last to face intimidation and violence.

00:03:22.120 Let this unfortunate incident serve as a reminder of the risks many journalists face daily,

00:03:26.640 especially those who dare to speak out against extortions, organized crime, corruption, and

00:03:31.540 injustice. Let it also be a call to action for greater protection of free press, not just here,

00:03:36.660 but around the world, said Nagar. I remain committed to my work and to the principles of truth,

00:03:41.500 justice, and transparency. No act of violence can change that. Journalism will prevail and the truth

00:03:46.620 will continue to be told. Now hopping into a Danielle Smith story. So hopping into the next story here,

00:03:52.060 Premier Danielle Smith has been taking some heat for some recent comments she made on chemtrails

00:03:57.260 at a recent UCP event when she was asked about it. The best I have been able to do is talk to the

00:04:03.720 woman who is responsible for controlling the airspace. And she says no one is allowed to go up 1.00

00:04:08.560 and spray anything in the air. We have a, she's told me, the other person told me that if anyone is

00:04:15.220 doing it, it's the U.S. Department of Defense. And you know, like I have some limitations in what I

00:04:20.440 can do in my job. I don't know that I would have much power if that is the case, if the U.S.

00:04:24.800 Department of Defense is as frank as. So I would do what I can to investigate, but I, everywhere I'm

00:04:31.940 going on, I have found no evidence that there's any private sector company involved. My

00:04:36.240 environment department is involved. My airports tell me that they have a record of every single

00:04:42.860 plane that goes up. So I'm kind of dead-ended here. If you have some specialty that you want

00:04:48.560 to give me afterwards, please let me know and I'll drag it down. Smith has been criticized

00:04:53.100 by some left-wing ministers and Canadians for the very reason so many people love her, which

00:04:59.020 is that she kept it real. Personally, I don't know that the Premier should have commented on

00:05:03.380 such a controversial topic, but frankly, I can't find myself too angry with her for, as

00:05:08.540 I mentioned, keeping it real. Some Liberal ministers felt differently. One of them was Employment

00:05:14.000 Minister Randy Boissonneau, who might have relished at the opportunity to deflect some heat after

00:05:19.180 allegations of conflict of interest and the other Randy scandal against him. Boissonneau

00:05:27.700 went on to say that when he's door-knocking, people won't talk to him if they think he's

00:05:31.840 a conservative, suggesting that Albertans don't want to hear from or vote for the conservatives,

00:05:37.180 which of course we know, based on every poll, is not even close to reality, showing that the

00:05:41.660 conservatives in Alberta would easily win a majority, and so too would their federal counterparts.

00:05:47.080 I wanted to chat with everybody today about Alberta, and I think it's becoming increasingly

00:05:51.920 obvious that Premier Smith is using her office to peddle conspiracy theories. This week it's chemtrails

00:05:57.300 and misinformation about the RCMP. I simply don't get it. We've got a lot of issues in Alberta right

00:06:02.880 now in a growing province. We've got an education system that needs more money for the teachers that

00:06:07.380 are already there. We gave them $25 billion for a health care system that needs to be fixed.

00:06:11.660 We've got an opioid crisis and a homelessness crisis. We simply need the Premier to do her job, 0.99

00:06:16.360 and talking about chemtrails simply doesn't do the work.

00:06:18.800 How are you not doing your job? Why are you running against the UCP?

00:06:22.900 Well, I can tell you when I'm on the doors, people see me in a white ball cap and they say,

00:06:27.980 if you're blue, we're not voting for you. So get off my doorstep. And so I take off my hat and

00:06:31.600 say, oh, it's you, get up here. There is deep frustration with Premier Smith and her government

00:06:36.920 in Edmonton. We're still waiting for our $370 million offset payment that she gave to Calgary

00:06:43.020 to build their new arena. She is simply not doing her job and she's going off and soaking fears about

00:06:48.160 somehow the US putting chemtrails in the air. It's simply bonkers. 0.84

00:06:51.380 Environment Minister Stephen Guibault also took aim at Smith for not standing up to conspiracy theories

00:06:56.640 and launching accusations against the US government. Guibault said, quote,

00:07:01.860 it's a very sad day for Canada and certainly very sad day for Alberta. I'm sure that's the way many

00:07:07.640 Albertans feel anytime they have to listen to Guibault speak. The chemtrails fiasco for Smith

00:07:13.680 followed shortly after she offered her most recent and in-depth view on a few pieces of upcoming

00:07:19.020 legislation, focusing on a few pieces around transgenderism and gender dysphoria. Smith's roughly

00:07:25.520 six-minute video posted to X features some of the exact legislation that will be tabled.

00:07:31.160 She said that the legislation will be tabled in less than a month and will ensure that children

00:07:35.180 have to wait to adulthood to physically alter their bodies for gender transition. Additionally,

00:07:40.340 Smith said that this legislation will strengthen parental rights and ensure women and girls can

00:07:44.800 compete in female-only sports divisions. The Premier said that the legislation follows extensive

00:07:49.960 consultations with parents, educators, healthcare professionals, sporting organizations,

00:07:54.860 and members of the transgender community. Smith said, quote, while these are sensitive topics,

00:08:01.560 our government believes these measures are in the best interests of children and we will proceed

00:08:06.020 with these changes without delay. She invited all Albertans to join the conversation so that

00:08:11.600 transgender children know they are cared for and supported. Smith took a really compassionate

00:08:17.020 approach throughout the video and ensured transgender children that she was on their side.

00:08:21.400 Just take a look into this clip here. We believe it's vitally important to preserve the time you

00:08:26.080 have as a youth to gain sufficient amount of knowledge, experience, and perspective so that you can fully

00:08:32.660 understand who you are, who you want to be, and what opportunities you may want to have as an adult

00:08:37.560 before making permanent life-altering decisions related to your body. That is so very important to

00:08:43.740 understand. And anyone who claims that these rules were designed to target or somehow harm you in any way

00:08:49.240 are mistaken. Although questioning or disagreeing with these new policies is any person's democratic,

00:08:54.740 right? Adults who choose to tell children and youth that these policies were designed to hurt them

00:08:59.640 or marginalize them, that kind of rhetoric is irresponsible and harmful to the young people

00:09:04.760 involved and it is entirely false. I sincerely hope that we adults can debate the proposed legislation

00:09:11.540 with maturity and compassion rather than question each other's motives at the expense of the children

00:09:16.680 and youth who will be listening to the debate. Some of the specific legislation highlighted were

00:09:21.760 protecting future choices of children. So licensed doctors are prohibited from performing gender

00:09:26.560 reassignment surgery on youth under 18 in Alberta. Puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors under 16

00:09:32.400 will be prohibited unless treatment is already started. Parental psychologist and doctor approval is

00:09:38.240 required for 16 and 17 year olds to access puberty blockers or hormone therapy. Parental notification

00:09:44.940 will be required for a teacher or staff member to change a name or pronoun of a student or use it at

00:09:51.520 school. 16 and 17 year olds can make their choice on pronouns and gender identity, but parental

00:09:57.200 notification is still required. Parental opt-in is required for each instance a teacher wishes to discuss

00:10:03.100 gender identity, sexual orientation, or human sexuality. Materials or presentations related to these subjects

00:10:10.000 must be approved by the Ministry of Education. Those born biologically male are prohibited from competing

00:10:16.240 against women and girls in competitive sports and this will apply to all Alberta sporting organizations

00:10:21.680 including schools and post-secondary institutions. I'll let you listen to Smith's conclusion.

00:10:28.080 In closing, I again sincerely ask that as we discuss and debate this proposed legislation both before and

00:10:34.080 after it is tabled that we do all we can to depoliticize the discussion and focus on the well-being of the

00:10:40.080 children and youth most affected by these policies. They each need to know that although adults may

00:10:45.160 strenuously disagree on what policies are in a child's best interest, each of us loves and supports them

00:10:51.360 in becoming the person they want to be regardless and will be there for them if they ever want to talk or

00:10:56.220 need our support. That commitment and care by all of us for these children and youth should not be

00:11:01.540 questioned by either side of a political debate. Jumping back into a Calgary story, the city is

00:11:06.880 considering reintroducing a municipal census in 2027 in response to Calgary's rapid population

00:11:12.680 growth and the strain on services from immigration-driven population growth. The biennial census was last

00:11:18.360 conducted in 2019 but was eventually cancelled during the pandemic and has not since been reintroduced.

00:11:24.420 City officials emphasize that the federal census, which is conducted every five years, is insufficient to

00:11:29.780 address the immediate needs of a city experiencing a population boom the size of Calgary's. The study

00:11:35.320 read, quote, Calgary is experiencing rapid growth and the five-year interval between federal census

00:11:40.700 collections is not frequent enough to provide the required information needed to inform delivering

00:11:45.660 municipal services. The city of Calgary first conducted a civic census in 1931. It continued periodically

00:11:53.740 until 1958 when an annual population count was introduced which continued until 2019. However,

00:12:00.600 the 2020 civic census was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Later that year, in November 2020,

00:12:08.000 funding for the civic census program was eliminated during budget adjustments. Migration to Calgary skyrocketed

00:12:14.160 due to the city's affordable housing which became an area of concern in August 2023 after receiving over

00:12:20.100 100,000 immigrants in the past four years and the expectation of an additional 110,000 in the

00:12:25.860 subsequent four. All four of Alberta's biggest cities saw interprovincial net gains between July 2022

00:12:31.260 and 2023. Despite becoming a desirable destination for interprovincial migration, even one quarter of

00:12:37.800 Calgary's residents said they considered moving because Calgary homes became too expensive in a July 2024

00:12:43.540 survey by the Angus Reid Institute. Calgary could develop a census internally, utilize licensed software,

00:12:50.080 or contract the census to external providers. Each has varying costs but the city's documents noted

00:12:56.540 that the contractor-supported census is preferred. It would cost around $10.7 million between 2025 and

00:13:03.400 2030. The Executive Committee recommends that the City Council reinstate a biennial municipal census

00:13:08.920 starting in 2027 and presents census funding requirements for consideration in the 2027 to 2030

00:13:15.660 budgets. The report highlighted that the census would help improve the city's social, environmental,

00:13:21.540 economic, and service and financial implications. The two risks underscored were the cost-benefit

00:13:27.540 analysis and data privacy. Some members of the public may believe that the benefits of a more detailed

00:13:33.820 and more frequent population data is not worth the cost of delivering a municipal census, reads the report.

00:13:39.680 However, if a municipal census is not supported, administration can only use federal census

00:13:45.400 information which is insufficient to help guide decisions in response to Calgary's rapid growth

00:13:50.360 and change. It added that the city's administration could implement privacy risk mitigation in line with

00:13:56.420 the Freedom of Information and Protection Privacy Act and other legislation. Despite being generally more

00:14:03.240 pro-immigration than some other premiers, Alberta Premier Daniel Smith has recently taken a stance against the

00:14:09.200 Liberals' immigration policies after announcing emergency education funds to counteract record

00:14:15.140 immigration. Her province's Alberta is calling campaign was never available to international migrants, however.

00:14:21.540 Alright people, this is the section you've all been waiting for. Since we did two Calgary stories today,

00:14:27.200 I think it's only fair that we sneak in an Edmonton one for the last story that we're going to discuss today.

00:14:33.060 So the NHL season starts on October 8th, for those who didn't know, which is this coming Tuesday.

00:14:37.440 And the Edmonton Oilers play their first game on Wednesday the 9th against the Winnipeg Jets.

00:14:42.640 A recent story dropped of the Oilers' captain, Connor McDavid, being highlighted for asking the coach

00:14:48.360 to play more games. Despite the many serious injuries we've seen across the league this preseason.

00:14:54.960 If McDavid gets his wish, he'll have played five of eight games.

00:14:59.000 That's why he's our leader. He leads by example. Said veteran, Corey Perry.

00:15:03.420 Everybody knows he's not the loudest guy in the room, but those little things, they help.

00:15:08.440 However, I don't know if any of you saw, but the upcoming Amazon show did drop a sneak peek

00:15:13.340 on just how loud McDavid can be, which some of you may have seen circulating on the internet.

00:15:18.600 If not, I encourage you to give it a watch. It's basically just McDavid screaming swears at his

00:15:23.520 teammates for not trying hard enough in the Stanley Cup finals. But it is a rare look into what goes on

00:15:29.720 behind closed doors. Oilers fans will remember the dreadful start the team got off to last season

00:15:34.440 starting 2-9-1. Obviously it ended okay getting to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals, but still.

00:15:40.300 I'm sure the team wants to have a better start than last year, but I don't imagine that'll be too hard

00:15:45.000 considering the record they have to beat. But starting flat certainly won't be the method to do so.

00:15:50.500 Let me know if you're excited for the NHL season to start in the comments. I know I've certainly missed

00:15:55.100 sports in my life given the dreadful baseball season from the Toronto Blue Jays. Speaking of

00:16:01.240 comments, let's hop right into the comment roundup. Most of the comments from last week involved either

00:16:06.160 thanking Smith or myself, so without getting too much into those, I'd like to thank everyone for

00:16:10.880 their comments and especially their compliments. Coming in with the first comment from

00:16:14.740 at RebelGran underscore zero one who said, Albertans are so lucky to have Danielle Smith for

00:16:20.740 their premier. I wish Ontario had a premier who stood up for the people of Ontario instead of

00:16:25.320 lining his pockets. While I don't know anything about the last part of your quote, I decided to

00:16:29.460 highlight this because a few Ontarians commented similar lines of thought. The most recent report

00:16:34.880 from the Angus Reid Institute on October 3rd highlighted this phenomenon in Ontario.

00:16:39.640 Interestingly, more than four in five Ontarians think Ford has done poorly on health care, cost of

00:16:45.200 living, and housing affordability. Furthermore, Ford has a negative approval rating of minus 33,

00:16:51.000 however, based on the same polling, the progressive Conservative Party of Ontario would win the

00:16:55.860 election by a large margin. I think this might speak to Canadians turning against wokeism pushed

00:17:01.360 by the NDP and the Liberals. Even when they dislike the leader of the Conservative Party, they're still

00:17:06.520 deciding to vote for them. The next comment comes from at Barbara McKenzie 1263 who asked where the

00:17:12.620 $67 million for the federal guns buyback program went. Considering the program still has yet to collect a

00:17:18.620 single gun, the money has been entirely spent on bureaucracy. When I spoke with Wes Winkle,

00:17:23.680 the president of the Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association, he told me that he expects

00:17:28.580 bureaucracy costs to end up costing, quote, considerably more than collecting the guns themselves.

00:17:35.380 And this is hardly the first time we've seen this. With this federal government, you can almost

00:17:39.580 imagine that with anything they do, bureaucracy will end up costing more than the projects

00:17:43.920 themselves. Winkle said, quote, like everything the government does, the bureaucracy runs amok.

00:17:50.300 And now we end up with these huge cost overruns because of the bureaucracy running amok.

00:17:54.760 The last comment today was a tough one to choose, and I struggled between selecting a few, but

00:17:59.040 we'll go with what at VX Coco XV said, which was,

00:18:02.980 What I wanted to discuss here was when, when and how, did it ever become acceptable for anyone to

00:18:21.820 ask you about your medical history. I think this certainly would not have been accepted prior to

00:18:25.700 the pandemic when it became socially acceptable. Someone's medical history is among their most private

00:18:31.140 business and nobody else's business. It's like when people ask me who I voted for. I'm sure you

00:18:36.220 all could take a guess, but one of the vital key elements of democracy is the ability to vote

00:18:41.420 privately without anybody else knowing about your business. So yes, I hope that employers butt out of

00:18:48.040 our medical history and personal health along with everyone else. In closing, I'd like to thank

00:18:52.980 everybody for staying tuned throughout the entirety of this Alberta Roundup, whichever number of the episodes

00:18:58.580 it may have been that I've hosted thus far. Whenever I get into a lull or down throughout the week,

00:19:03.660 I like to go through your comments and see all the nice things you are saying, but also the compelling

00:19:08.420 points and anecdotes that you raise. Thank you very much. God bless and have a great week. Also,

00:19:14.320 good luck to your hockey teams, whoever they may be, unless they're playing the Oilers.

00:19:28.580 you

Juno News - October 05, 2024

An ATTACK on the free press

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript