Juno News - Ottawa denies Alberta’s drug hunt scheme

00:00:00.000 If you've been to a city lately, you've seen the suffering. People curled up on benches,

00:00:04.860 in parks, and under stoplights, where they come right up to your car and ask for money.

00:00:09.940 It didn't used to be this way. When I was a kid, you'd see the occasional homeless person

00:00:14.400 on a rare trip to the big city. Today, it's commonplace. It seems that everywhere there's

00:00:20.340 a stoplight or public transit, there's also homelessness, or should I say the unhoused.

00:00:25.740 It's gotten so bad that the problem has stretched from city's downtown course to what were once

00:00:31.100 considered safe, even boring, family-friendly neighborhoods. And it's not just in places

00:00:36.340 like Edmonton and Calgary. It's also bad in Red Deer and Lethbridge, maybe even worse.

00:00:42.400 When I lived in a condo in Red Deer, I used to watch them run out of the forest and jump into

00:00:47.000 the trash bin out back, looking for anything they could use, eat, or sell. It got so bad that you

00:00:52.460 had to double-check the bin before throwing your trash out. How did this happen? We can have the

00:00:57.760 discussion about fentanyl from China, but our federal government has responsibility to bear

00:01:02.700 for the record level of addiction that we're seeing. For two years during the COVID-19 pandemic,

00:01:08.080 you couldn't go to work, and you couldn't even get a beer with your friends, but you could get drugs,

00:01:12.740 lots of them, and for free. At least one Canadian province is taking this problem seriously.

00:01:17.760 The Alberta government has prioritized recovery-based care. And this week, they announced

00:01:23.000 they want to track Ottawa's safe and free drugs to see what impact it's having on the streets.

00:01:29.080 Of course, the federal government rejected this proposal. The government that wants to impact

00:01:34.140 every single sphere of private life said this is a bridge too far. Now that doesn't come as a

00:01:39.580 surprise to me or to you. For all of its talk about empathy and inclusivity and acceptance,

00:01:44.260 this is a government that offers assisted suicide in place of healthcare. And this is a government

00:01:49.400 that will leave behind a legacy of death. I'm Rachel Emanuel, and this is the Alberta Roundup.

00:02:03.780 Okay guys, taking a look at our first story here, the Trudeau government has rejected a proposal from

00:02:08.580 the province of Alberta to add a unique chemical identifier to drugs offered under the safe supply

00:02:14.560 program so that authorities could track street sales. Alberta Mental Health and Addictions Minister

00:02:20.060 Dan Williams asked Federal Health Minister Mark Holland for hard evidence that safe supply programs

00:02:25.420 were having a positive impact on Canadians. Williams also said that a unique chemical identifier

00:02:31.260 should be required of drugs offered under safe supply programs so that authorities can track

00:02:36.640 when safe supply drugs are being diverted and to wear. Federal Mental Health and Addictions Minister

00:02:42.580 Yara Sachs said that while she shares the province's concerns regarding substance diversion,

00:02:48.560 she thinks adding a chemical identifier presents its own issues of impracticality. Sachs said,

00:02:54.360 quote,

00:02:54.460 It is unclear how this would work in practice, given these drugs are not manufactured specifically for

00:03:00.140 these programs and are also used for other medical purposes such as pain management.

00:03:04.560 Sachs also said she believes that there are misconceptions and misinformation regarding

00:03:09.600 the safe supply program, adding, quote,

00:03:12.040 The idea that these programs are simply handing out drugs to anyone is false. Since the government

00:03:16.800 began collecting data on the crisis in 2016, over 40,000 people have died as a result of Canada's

00:03:23.680 opioid crisis. The majority of recorded deaths last year involved fentanyl. British Columbia became the

00:03:29.200 first province to offer users pharmaceutical alternatives, which is now referred to as safe

00:03:34.560 supply programs. Alberta Premier Daniel Smith has refused to follow suit and has instead prioritized

00:03:40.580 recovery-based care, as did her predecessor, former Premier Jason Kenney. Moving into our next story here,

00:03:46.740 this isn't Alberta specific, but I know that you guys will be very interested in this subject matter,

00:03:51.160 as we learn that child vaccination rates are dropping rapidly. This from the Angus Reid Institute.

00:03:56.460 As some diseases such as measles and polio, thought to be worries of the past, have been breaking out

00:04:01.820 globally and in Canada, many Canadians are expressing concern, even alarm, about waning

00:04:07.160 vaccination acceptance in their country. New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds 7 in

00:04:13.040 10 Canadians, or 71%, feeling the anti-vaccination movement is going to lead to unnecessary illness and

00:04:18.980 suffering in the population. This comes as there appears to be growing skepticism about vaccine

00:04:23.640 efficacy among Canadians in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among parents with

00:04:28.400 children under 18. 17% of parents of minors say they are really against vaccinating their kids.

00:04:34.200 That's a fourfold increase from 2019. There has also been a simultaneous 15-point decrease

00:04:40.420 in the proportion of Canadians who support mandatory childhood vaccination in schools. That policy is in

00:04:47.000 place in Ontario and New Brunswick. Opposition to this idea has risen correspondingly from 24% to 38%.

00:04:53.620 52% of people with children younger than 18 say that it should be the parents' decision whether to

00:04:58.920 vaccinate. That proportion drops to 32% for those who do not have children under 18. It almost is like

00:05:04.600 something traumatizing happened to Canadians to make them so skeptical of vaccines. Huh, I wonder what that

00:05:10.180 could be. I'm actually interested in this. Comment in the video below if you guys believe in child

00:05:14.680 vaccination. And I'm also curious how many of you have seen Candace Owens' series, A Shot in the Dark.

00:05:20.220 Just comment in the video below. I'm just curious. Moving into our next story here, the 2024 Alberta

00:05:24.800 budget was tabled this week. Here's Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner speaking about it on Thursday.

00:05:30.460 This responsible plan strikes the right balance between investing wisely to meet the needs of

00:05:35.960 Albertans today and ensuring those services remain sustainable to support the next generations.

00:05:41.580 And we're going to take a quick snapshot of what this budget promises to do. It's poised to bolster

00:05:46.620 the province's status as Canada's economic powerhouse and forecast a $367 million surplus for

00:05:53.160 the fiscal year 2024 to 2025. Despite the technical surplus, the province is projected to borrow $19.8

00:05:59.960 billion and that will go to refinancing maturing debt, new funding for the capital plan and year-end

00:06:05.660 cash adjustments and to repay debt maturities. The province justified the high amount of debt by

00:06:10.940 saying that it needs to borrow in advance of its immediate cash needs. The fundraise in advance

00:06:15.820 will be held in a designated debt retirement account. That cash will be invested in high quality

00:06:20.460 bonds to the maturity dates of the existing debts, ensuring the province is positioned to repay bonds

00:06:25.400 as they come due. Alberta's revenue of $73.5 billion is offset by total expenses of $71.2 billion

00:06:32.760 and an additional $2 billion for contingency and disaster expenses. While the revenues have decreased

00:06:39.080 since last year, the expenses increased, leading to a lower surplus compared to the $5.2 billion

00:06:45.320 in 2023-24. And moving into our controversy of the week, as part of the budget, the Alberta government

00:06:51.800 announced that a $200 tax would be applied to electric vehicles as early as January 2025. The

00:06:57.880 tax would be paid when owners register the vehicle and will be in addition to an existing registration

00:07:03.000 fee. The tax rate is in line with the annual fuel tax paid by drivers of gas vehicles, says the

00:07:08.520 province. The tax will not apply to owners of hybrid vehicles. Moving into what we're watching in the

00:07:13.560 weeks to come, the Trudeau Liberals are moving ahead with their national farmer care plan and the

00:07:18.120 governments of Alberta and Quebec have already chosen to opt out. Final details of the plan have

00:07:22.920 yet to be ironed out before the scheduled deadline of March 1st. Still, Alberta Health Minister Adriana

00:07:28.520 LaGrange said that the province would not participate. Take a listen. We want to avoid the bureaucracy.

00:07:34.200 I don't think the federal government understands that provinces do have processes in place. They have

00:07:40.200 suppliers. They have an administrative network already set up. LaGrange said that Alberta would use extra

00:07:46.920 pharmacare cash, which should be given since Alberta is opting out of the federal program,

00:07:51.480 to enhance its own birth control and diabetes programs. Take a listen. Absolutely willing to

00:07:56.760 enhance those programs. All we need is the federal government to provide those dollars to us and we

00:08:02.040 will make sure that we enhance the programs. Federal Health Minister Mark Holland said everyone

00:08:06.280 needs to take a pause. Everybody just needs to take a pause. You know, for provinces to say whether or not

00:08:11.480 they're going to participate in something or not when they don't even know what it is, is a little premature.

00:08:15.720 Finally, moving into our weekly comment roundup, last week I covered that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

00:08:21.000 came to Alberta and snubbed Alberta Premier Daniel Smith and most of you thought that was a

00:08:25.720 good thing and said good for the Premier that she didn't have to spend any time with Trudeau.

00:08:30.680 User Jerry Smith said he's got a bigger sub coming from the majority of Canadians. It does certainly 0.93

00:08:35.960 seem that the polls are trending that way. We might finally have a conservative government within

00:08:41.240 a year, maybe a year and a half. User at WorshipWarrior12 said,

00:08:44.920 the carbon rebate is dang near useless. Everyone knows our cost of living has skyrocketed in the last

00:08:50.600 eight years under JT. He's a disaster from start to finish. No argument there. All right, everyone,

00:08:56.840 that's all we have time for today. Thank you so much for tuning in. As always, please like this video

00:09:00.920 and subscribe to True North so you don't miss any of our content. I hope that you guys have a great

00:09:05.400 rest of your week. I'll see you all on Wednesday. God bless.

Juno News - March 02, 2024

Ottawa denies Alberta’s drug hunt scheme

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