Juno News - Smith's pitch for highspeed rail

00:00:00.880 Rachel Emanuel brings the news each day on Alberta Roundup. She has her say.

00:00:11.540 Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup. I'm your host, Rachel Emanuel.

00:00:15.460 Last week, the Alberta government announced the launch of its passenger rail plan to help support Alberta's population, which is growing.

00:00:23.440 They have already committed $9 million to support the development of this plan.

00:00:26.700 Joining us today to discuss is fan favorite and the Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Chris Sims.

00:00:33.740 Chris, thanks so much for joining us today.

00:00:35.360 Thanks for having us.

00:00:37.660 So, starting off, let's take a look at what this plan promises to do.

00:00:41.420 It would create a regional line between Calgary and Edmonton, rail lines connecting Calgary and Edmonton to Banff and Jasper.

00:00:49.220 There would also be a commuter connection to Calgary International Airport and surrounding communities and to the city's downtown core.

00:00:55.240 It would be the same thing in Edmonton.

00:00:57.080 You'd be able to go from the Edmonton airport to the city and the downtown community and the surrounding communities.

00:01:02.460 And then there would also be a provincial rail system connecting Calgary and Edmonton.

00:01:06.400 And interestingly enough, there would also be a rail line connecting Fort McMurray and Grand Prairie,

00:01:11.200 which isn't necessarily places I would have thought that would have a ton of foot traffic.

00:01:14.200 But that's essentially what the plan promises to do.

00:01:17.080 And the premier has said that it will really help people who are in those morning commutes bumper to bumper.

00:01:21.820 Let's actually play that clip now of the premier talking about how this will help people in the morning who are, you know, hundreds of people commuting.

00:01:28.400 There's so much traffic.

00:01:29.600 Let's see what she had to say about it last week.

00:01:31.020 We see the value in a commuter passenger line that connects folks in those communities to the Calgary airport and then on to the downtown core, in the case of Airdrie, for a more streamlined and relaxed commute.

00:01:44.640 And we believe that a solution like that will also work in Edmonton and the entire capital region.

00:01:49.760 That is the starting point.

00:01:51.400 But we also want to open up direct access to our breathtaking and adventure-rich national parks.

00:01:56.560 So the Alberta government is saying that Alberta's population now, 4.9 million people, will reach 7.1 million people by 2051.

00:02:04.700 And that's a big part of the reason why they're pushing this railway plan to support all those people.

00:02:08.760 Now, first and foremost, is this railway line something that you see people asking for right now, Chris?

00:02:14.180 That's a great question.

00:02:15.140 It kind of surprised me when I saw the announcement.

00:02:17.960 And so the answer is no.

00:02:19.540 We hear from supporters of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation,

00:02:23.060 who are, by the way, by and large, pretty big fans of Premier Daniel Smith.

00:02:27.360 So they're quite often on her side.

00:02:29.160 I hadn't seen one email in the last two years asking for this sort of a thing.

00:02:34.540 If I can take off my CTF hat for a second and put on my fangirl hat, that's a really cool shot.

00:02:40.300 Seeing Premier Daniel Smith in front of an old school train, it reminded me of Atlas Shrugged and Dagny Taggart.

00:02:46.040 And I know she loves that book, too.

00:02:48.660 But the thing there with Atlas Shrugged is that that is private money.

00:02:52.200 So that is not government money.

00:02:54.340 It's not taxpayers' money.

00:02:56.080 And to see this kind of taxpayers' money being earmarked for another rail plan, it's a little bit concerning.

00:03:03.940 So you mentioned we already have $9 million earmarked.

00:03:07.400 These sorts of plans have a really nasty habit of ballooning into way more money.

00:03:13.480 Now, $9 million is still a lot of money.

00:03:15.660 That's nothing to sneeze at.

00:03:16.880 They could have used that for other things like tax relief. 0.89

00:03:19.140 Again, we're open to the idea of this being a good idea, but we would rather see private investment get behind it.

00:03:27.040 And we're really leery about a ton of taxpayers' money being poured into plans that don't go anywhere.

00:03:33.140 Like, for example, in eastern Canada, they've been talking about having a high-speed rail corridor between Quebec City and Windsor since before I was born.

00:03:43.280 Rachel.

00:03:43.640 And this is starting back in the 70s.

00:03:46.060 And so, yeah, it was a little bit surprising to see this plan.

00:03:49.580 I'm open to being surprised if they manage to do this under budget and with private money.

00:03:53.900 That'll be awesome.

00:03:54.700 But right now, we're just not seeing the demand and the reason for using taxpayers' money.

00:03:58.720 So, when we talk about government money being used here, there's already been $9 million earmarked for it.

00:04:04.500 The government said that will be used for a cost-benefit analysis, which will include things like looking at the governance and delivery model,

00:04:10.600 and will take into account future population growth and technology like hydrogen powertrains.

00:04:14.820 We know the premier is so excited about hydrogen all the time.

00:04:17.320 So, that $9 million, that's really just being used for the study.

00:04:20.540 Nothing's actually being built at that point.

00:04:21.960 Is that correct?

00:04:22.800 Yeah, that's my understanding, too.

00:04:24.460 And that seems like a pretty heavy-duty price tag to do a cost-benefit analysis.

00:04:28.700 Again, they already have people that are supposed to be on staff within the bureaucracy that are good at this kind of stuff.

00:04:36.060 Now, the joke's on us if they're actually good at that sort of thing.

00:04:39.360 But $9 million just to figure out if this is worth the money, that's an awful lot of dough.

00:04:44.580 And so, we've put in some freedom of information requests with the Alberta government trying to find out what they're anticipating.

00:04:50.560 Like, are they making any guesses as to what this might cost if they see it fully put forward?

00:04:57.400 I was surprised.

00:04:58.320 I didn't know about the Fort Mack element.

00:05:01.340 I thought this was more just between the major commuter centers of Calgary, Edmonton, and a bullet train out to Banff for the fancy tourists.

00:05:09.340 Didn't know about the Fort Mack part.

00:05:10.980 But don't know if it's worth it for the amount of population density.

00:05:14.780 Quite often, just speaking anecdotally, and I don't know if this has been the case with the Alberta government, of course,

00:05:18.880 when I have friends who typically work in big industries or government and they go to Europe for a long time,

00:05:25.120 they come back in love with trains.

00:05:27.800 And they're like, why can't we have that here in Canada?

00:05:30.380 Well, Canada's gigantic and we have a really low population density compared to Europe.

00:05:36.540 And so, this is where often it doesn't fit.

00:05:38.580 Again, if they can pull this off and it's under budget and they're not using taxpayers' money to a great extent

00:05:44.060 and they've got a lot of private investment, power to them.

00:05:46.580 That would be really cool, especially something like a train out to the airport.

00:05:50.120 I know a lot of people would use that.

00:05:51.980 But again, we're really leery and really hesitant no matter which government is doing it.

00:05:57.700 I can definitely see the argument for a train to the airport.

00:06:01.160 But I think one thing I think about is, you know, taking a train out to Banff or to Jasper.

00:06:05.500 What are you going to do when you get there?

00:06:06.920 If you're there, it's the winter, it's negative 20, negative 30.

00:06:09.500 You're not exactly going to be wanting to wait around for city transportation.

00:06:13.080 I think for most people, they'd rather have their own vehicle there and be able to get around, especially in those cold temperatures.

00:06:18.300 I don't know if I really see the argument for this being utilized in places like Banff and Jasper.

00:06:22.500 What do you think?

00:06:23.440 That's a great question.

00:06:24.500 And then, of course, we get into the questions of what happens when you get off the train in Banff

00:06:28.620 and then you want to go fancy skiing or fancy sightseeing up in the mountains.

00:06:32.980 Is there going to be a train that takes you up there?

00:06:35.180 Is there going to be some sort of taxpayer-funded bus service that uses hydrogen?

00:06:38.720 Like, there's all sorts of kind of knock-on effects and cascading effects that can come from this sort of thing.

00:06:44.220 Again, Alberta is beautiful and taking a train is really pretty.

00:06:48.820 It's a very pretty way to travel.

00:06:50.720 And so I can see the attraction from a tourism standpoint of having that happen.

00:06:55.080 You know, in fact, about 100 years ago, the, you know, come to Canada sort of posters,

00:06:59.980 especially that we had for the Western provinces,

00:07:02.460 often showed some beautiful train cascading through the mountains and it looked gorgeous.

00:07:06.820 The problem is, is yes, those images are really nice, but what is the final price tag?

00:07:12.880 And again, spending $9 million already to find out how much it's costing,

00:07:16.940 we have a lot of caution lights.

00:07:18.600 They're not red lights, but we have some caution lights here.

00:07:21.380 Yeah, I just think this isn't maybe the right time for an announcement like this.

00:07:24.320 I am consistently getting, you know, emails and messages from people who are saying,

00:07:28.120 we're about $100 away in my family every month of not making ends meet.

00:07:32.200 I know you deal with these people every single day.

00:07:34.100 This is, you're always receiving calls about this,

00:07:35.760 but there's a lot of people who are really feeling that crunch right now.

00:07:38.160 And I think that they're hoping for some relief from the government.

00:07:40.540 We know things like the income tax relief that was promised, that's been delayed.

00:07:44.520 The government is promising maybe it won't even be the full extent of what it was.

00:07:47.200 We're still waiting to see relief on the fuel tax,

00:07:50.260 even though we know gas has been high for the past couple of months.

00:07:52.680 So it just seems like for a lot of people,

00:07:53.880 I expect this announcement is probably falling on deaf ears,

00:07:57.320 but you would probably have a better line on that.

00:07:59.500 What do you think?

00:08:00.020 We're getting exactly the same sort of messages as you guys there at TrueNorth, Rachel.

00:08:04.340 And so, and you're right.

00:08:05.440 It's not just us anecdotally getting these really tough messages that we're getting phone calls and emails.

00:08:10.720 MNP, which is basically a financial accounting and analysis firm.

00:08:16.380 Okay.

00:08:16.720 Every few months they put out a big analysis and they say that around 50%, give or take,

00:08:23.000 a little bit of variability across provinces,

00:08:25.180 but around 50% of Canadians are within $200 every month of bankruptcy,

00:08:32.400 meaning not being able to make the minimum payments on all their bills.

00:08:37.240 So that's really rough.

00:08:39.900 It's very similar here in Alberta.

00:08:41.860 Yes, we are more affordable when it comes to things like housing

00:08:44.920 and the fact that we don't have a sales tax, which is very good,

00:08:48.020 but things are still really tight.

00:08:50.280 And this is for working people.

00:08:52.400 And the statistic that gets me all the time,

00:08:55.740 and I'll try not to cry because I got mascara on,

00:08:58.020 is the language of working families are increasingly depending upon food banks.

00:09:04.360 What that really means in normal people talk is that a parent who's holding down a job

00:09:09.620 is counting on donated jars of peanut butter to feed their kid.

00:09:13.120 That's what that means, working families relying on food banks. 0.96

00:09:17.380 And that is not a stranger here to Alberta.

00:09:20.080 It's still happening here in Alberta.

00:09:21.840 So yeah, affordability is key right now, like really, really key.

00:09:28.080 And you touched on that.

00:09:29.560 So I will put some pressure on the UCP government here.

00:09:33.000 When they were campaigning during the last election,

00:09:35.260 they said tax cuts for all Alberta.

00:09:37.920 Okay, they pushed hard on reducing our baseline income tax rate.

00:09:43.480 So what that means is here in Alberta, your first $140,000 or so of salary is taxed at 10%.

00:09:50.480 That's actually pretty high.

00:09:52.780 If you're moving here from another province, and you're making around $100,000,

00:09:57.360 say you're a plumber or a police officer or something like that,

00:10:00.520 you're going to notice your paycheck will be lower here in Alberta.

00:10:04.100 That is because our income tax is relatively high.

00:10:06.680 So what they promised to do is take that first bracket and drop it down to 8%

00:10:13.160 for the first $60,000 of pay.

00:10:16.040 What that means is you're probably going to save around $750 per worker here in Alberta

00:10:22.700 when and if they do that.

00:10:25.000 The key here though, Rachel, is that they've kicked that can hard.

00:10:28.460 Like it's landed all the way down the street.

00:10:30.560 And now they're saying, oh, by 2026, we'll bring it down to 9% if we have the money to do so.

00:10:37.100 That's not what they said during the election campaign.

00:10:40.140 They made it sound like this was going to happen in a hurry.

00:10:43.460 And they don't seem to be in a hurry to give us income tax relief.

00:10:46.300 To your point also, I will point out on the fuel tax.

00:10:49.840 Yes, Premier Daniel Smith did get rid of the provincial fuel tax fully for a year.

00:10:54.520 That was awesome.

00:10:55.720 We praised her to the stars for that.

00:10:57.780 It saved Albertans around a billion dollars over that year or so, right?

00:11:01.980 Give or take on how often you fuel up.

00:11:03.540 Now, it's all the way back up to 13 cents per liter of gasoline and diesel.

00:11:09.020 And people are noticing it.

00:11:10.280 Right now, I don't know what it is in your neck of the woods.

00:11:12.160 But when I left Lethbridge, it was $159.9, often $162.9.

00:11:17.400 And so that's pretty high.

00:11:18.740 When I visited Ottawa a few weeks ago, it was cheaper in Ottawa.

00:11:22.780 I had never seen that before comparing it to Alberta.

00:11:26.120 So yeah, people are really not seeing the affordability and savings happening here.

00:11:30.620 And so I think this announcement for a cool new train was a little bit mistimed.

00:11:36.440 Again, we're open to it.

00:11:37.920 If private investment comes flooding in and people love it and it's awesome and it's not

00:11:41.640 costing taxpayers money, that sounds really, really cool.

00:11:44.840 But right now, we really need to see the details and the evidence of that.

00:11:49.280 And we talk about the fuel tax relief.

00:11:52.260 The government has said, listen, we can't cancel the tax entirely unless we see the price of

00:11:57.120 WTI exploding again.

00:11:58.700 And I believe they said if WTI was over $90 a barrel, they would partially remove the

00:12:03.040 tax and they would continue to lower the tax as the price of oil went up.

00:12:06.960 So the price of oil has been high.

00:12:08.440 We haven't seen that tax come off yet.

00:12:09.820 I know I asked the premier about this in my interview with her about two weeks ago after

00:12:13.240 speaking with you.

00:12:14.260 And you said, we're going to take a look at this as well.

00:12:16.720 Are you guys putting pressure on the government?

00:12:18.260 Are you hoping this tax is going to be coming down soon?

00:12:20.780 I know the premier had said at the time, you know, we need to have some consistency.

00:12:25.300 But it's been high for a while.

00:12:26.980 People are feeling the effects of that.

00:12:28.140 Yeah, they really are.

00:12:29.440 And we absolutely are putting pressure on this government.

00:12:31.800 And so we're hearing a lot from our supporters saying, hey, where's my relief at the fuel

00:12:35.460 pumps?

00:12:36.240 Why is it when I visit Manitoba and the NDP government led by Wob Canoe has taken 14 cents

00:12:42.480 off completely?

00:12:43.920 Yeah.

00:12:44.280 So just newsflash.

00:12:46.180 The NDP government of Manitoba has 14 cents off per liter of gasoline and diesel.

00:12:51.380 And again, that's not just those of us commuting with our minivans and our kids.

00:12:54.520 That's truckers saving that kind of dough every time they're filling up their big rig trucks. 0.96

00:13:00.080 So yeah, we are pushing them there.

00:13:02.080 Again, to be fair, Manitoba's got a big deficit here in Alberta.

00:13:05.620 We have a balanced budget, right?

00:13:06.940 So we have to pick our pick our wins and losses.

00:13:08.960 But we are urging the government to find these savings as fast as they can.

00:13:13.420 That was an excellent interview that you did with Dan from your Daniel Smith, because

00:13:17.240 it got her on record about exactly how this fuel savings works.

00:13:21.200 My concern, though, is that what happens if we stay high for our West Texas International?

00:13:27.360 What if the price of a barrel of oil stays high all this time?

00:13:30.780 And then in the two weeks leading up to their quarterly update, which I think should be July

00:13:36.440 1st, should be the next one that they're analyzing.

00:13:40.200 What if it suddenly drops for the two weeks leading up to that announcement?

00:13:43.820 Are they then just going to pocket all of that excess cash and then say, no soup for

00:13:48.900 you, it's technically not above this amount, and we're not going to give you fuel tax relief?

00:13:53.580 We do not want to see that.

00:13:55.320 So to your point, the price of oil has stayed high now for quite a while, past several weeks.

00:14:00.580 We expect it's probably going to stay around that amount leading up to July 1st.

00:14:04.900 But we really, really want to see that gas price, that gas tax come down when they do

00:14:10.800 their quarterly update, as they promised.

00:14:13.820 Okay, Kristen, just ending on a lighter note for you and for all of my viewers, you guys

00:14:17.500 had your Teddy Waste Awards over at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation last night.

00:14:21.640 What were the highlights of the night?

00:14:22.920 Who did some of the awards go to?

00:14:24.480 Oh, it was a really tough competition at the federal level, as you can imagine.

00:14:28.060 So for folks who don't know what we're talking about, the Taxpayers Federation, we've been

00:14:31.400 around since 1990 before the internet was a thing.

00:14:34.020 And one of the things we do is we hand out spoof golden pig statues to politicians and

00:14:40.280 bureaucrats who waste your money in the most spectacular way. 0.94

00:14:43.120 Now, some people might wonder, why is that funny?

00:14:45.260 It's not funny.

00:14:46.360 It's funny because when we mock them, they hate it.

00:14:51.360 They can take our yelling.

00:14:53.640 They can take people getting an angry email.

00:14:55.640 But when you ridicule and mock these desk rulers, they get really huffy really fast.

00:15:00.220 They think they're super important. 0.86

00:15:01.460 So we have a huge award show every single year to honor the ridiculous waste of our money.

00:15:06.940 So at the federal level, it was a super tough competition.

00:15:09.800 It was really down to the wire between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau blowing a million dollars

00:15:15.220 on his affordability retreats for his cabinet.

00:15:19.600 Very Orwellian term there.

00:15:21.260 So yeah, he blew a million dollars.

00:15:22.940 And CBC CEO Catherine Tate begging for more money at the parliamentary committee hearing

00:15:30.080 while handing out massive bonuses to their executive team.

00:15:33.800 And so in the end, it was a squeaker, but Catherine Tate took home the hardware. 1.00

00:15:39.380 So I will remind people that the CBC CEO is paid between 400 something thousand dollars

00:15:44.840 and 600 something thousand dollars every single year.

00:15:49.100 And the CBC takes 1.4 billion dollars from us every single year.

00:15:55.020 To put that kind of money into perspective, Rachel, instead of spending that on the CBC,

00:15:59.660 that would pay the salaries of 7,000 cops and 7,000 paramedics every year instead of paying

00:16:07.100 for the CBC.

00:16:07.940 So this is my little friend here, my stuffed pig I brought with me.

00:16:12.280 But we gave out the golden award to Catherine Tate here quickly in Alberta, actually the provincial

00:16:18.000 category.

00:16:18.780 It was the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

00:16:21.280 They won it for the provincial category here in Alberta because they gave something like

00:16:26.380 $30,000 to an Alberta artist who drew a painting that Franco Terrazano described as ants on a

00:16:34.040 pop tart is what it looked like.

00:16:35.860 That was in New York.

00:16:37.040 And another performance she did was in South Korea, which was I think about eight minutes

00:16:41.300 long and it was a video.

00:16:42.800 And it was her on one of those lawn chairs, you know, the ones that fold up like a lounge.

00:16:47.140 And she was rolling around on it for like eight minutes. 0.86

00:16:52.280 So yeah, she won.

00:16:54.060 Obviously, I'm in the wrong industry.

00:16:55.740 I could definitely roll around on a lounge chair for a couple minutes.

00:16:58.520 That's what Franco said.

00:16:59.620 He said, just videotape me next time.

00:17:01.320 I'm relaxing in the backyard.

00:17:02.860 I'll do it for free.

00:17:05.080 Give the money back to the taxpayers.

00:17:06.920 Yes, exactly.

00:17:07.640 So that was about 30 grand.

00:17:08.860 And again, and not, you know, picking on the artist individually. 0.87

00:17:10.980 It's the government's fault for giving out these ridiculous grants.

00:17:14.420 People want to go watch that kind of art, like hour to them.

00:17:17.080 Don't make taxpayers pay for it, though.

00:17:19.500 Yeah, those are some stunning figures.

00:17:21.280 And I'm remembering correctly, didn't Catherine Tate also lecture MPs about how they're worrying

00:17:25.020 too much about their own bonuses while awarding herself around half a million dollars? 0.89

00:17:30.500 Yep, yep.

00:17:31.540 And it's one of those strange tone deaf things where she just keeps on saying, yeah, everything's

00:17:36.460 fine.

00:17:36.780 So much so, and I will, I thought I was asleep.

00:17:39.420 I didn't believe this.

00:17:40.360 You might remember back in, I think, December or January, that the national anchor, Adrienne

00:17:45.860 Arsenal, on CBC, had her boss on her show and was grilling her about these bonuses and

00:17:52.960 citing the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

00:17:55.500 Never did I ever think that I would see the CBC anchor actually doing that.

00:17:59.380 But if it's already trickling down to the rank and file, you know, reporters that work for

00:18:03.400 that outfit, boy, oh boy, they got to have some reform, which is, again, why we want the

00:18:07.500 CBC defunded.

00:18:08.480 If people want to donate or have a subscription to something like CBC Radio for remote locations,

00:18:13.560 that's a whole nother kettle of fish and they can use their own money for it. 0.84

00:18:16.480 But it is not worth $1.4 billion per year.

00:18:21.000 Sounds like if we defund the CBC, then we solve our healthcare crisis right there.

00:18:25.160 Lots of money to hire all the new staff that we need all across the board.

00:18:29.200 Chris, thank you so much for joining us today.

00:18:30.700 This was really great.

00:18:31.420 Always a pleasure to have you on.

00:18:32.780 Thanks so much.

00:18:33.380 And the audience, I'm curious to hear from you guys.

00:18:36.460 What do you think about this passenger railway line?

00:18:38.920 Is it something that you're excited about?

00:18:40.180 Do you think you would utilize it a lot or is it maybe not the best time for it?

00:18:43.780 Comment under the video below.

00:18:44.900 I'm definitely curious to hear what everyone else thinks about it.

00:18:47.920 And I will be back on Saturday with our regular programming.

00:18:50.240 I hope that you guys have a great week.

00:18:51.780 I'll see you soon and God bless.

00:19:03.380 I'll see you soon and God bless.

Juno News - May 08, 2024

Smith's pitch for highspeed rail

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