Juno News - Trudeau visits Alberta and snubs Smith

00:00:00.000 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew to Alberta this week, but you might not have heard because

00:00:03.940 he completely snubbed Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. The Prime Minister flew out west and

00:00:09.260 instead of extending an invitation to Premier Smith to meet, as is custom, he simply appeared

00:00:14.300 on a podcast and then left, without any official business and all on the taxpayer dime. It's clear

00:00:20.400 to anyone with two brain cells to rub together why the PM is so unpopular here in Alberta.

00:00:25.380 So I guess that means Justin Trudeau himself is left wondering. I'm Rachel Emanuel and this is the

00:00:31.220 Alberta Roundup. Taking a look at our first story here, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says that Prime

00:00:46.120 Minister Justin Trudeau flew to Alberta to attack its energy sector and never even let her government

00:00:51.600 know that he would be here. In a statement, Smith said, quote, next time the Prime Minister visits

00:00:56.260 Alberta, I hope he calls my office to arrange a meeting as he did with the premiers of Ontario,

00:01:01.380 British Columbia and Manitoba. I await his call. Here's what Trudeau had to say about it.

00:01:06.040 And on the issue of provincial government talking with the government, the premier today put out

00:01:10.600 a statement saying that it's unfortunate that you did not invite her to sit down and talk today.

00:01:15.640 You're in Edmonton. She's here. So why didn't you sit down and invite her to talk?

00:01:22.400 I am always happy to meet with any premier whenever they ask me to meet. So she should have asked for

00:01:29.700 meeting then. The Alberta government is reminding the feds that its carbon tax has raised the cost of

00:01:35.420 everything amid Ottawa's attempt to rebrand the tax as a rebate. Federal Minister of Labour and Seniors,

00:01:42.080 Seamus O'Regan, announced that the climate action incentive payment would now be called

00:01:47.400 the Canadian carbon rebate. Take a listen. So earlier today, the Minister of Finance released

00:01:53.900 the amounts that households will be getting back every three months through what is now

00:01:58.500 officially called the Canada carbon rebate. As tax season kicks in, Canadians should know that

00:02:06.500 they are getting this money in their bank account every three months. Beginning in April,

00:02:11.000 a family of four will begin receiving the rebate in various amounts depending on which province you

00:02:15.660 live in. In Alberta, you would receive $1,800 or $450 quarterly. In a joint statement, Alberta Premier

00:02:23.000 Danielle Smith and Environment Minister Rebecca Schultz called the move an act of desperation,

00:02:28.740 saying, quote, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Stephen Guibault and Prime Minister

00:02:33.460 Justin Trudeau have the audacity to try and rebrand the carbon tax, a cynical and desperate ploy that will

00:02:40.240 fail. No rebrand will save the federal government from its dwindling poll numbers. No speeches or

00:02:46.700 soundbites will make a difference. Canadians will see it for what it is. Attacks on the fuel that they

00:02:51.960 use to drive their kids to school. Attacks on the food they buy. Attacks on the businesses they run.

00:02:57.320 Attacks on everything. Another big provincial story coming out of Edmonton this week,

00:03:02.040 Premier Smith gave a look ahead to next week's budget. The Premier said that spending cuts won't be

00:03:06.920 needed, but that restraint must be shown due to lower than initially forecasted resource revenue.

00:03:12.840 As well, promised income tax reductions will be delayed till next year. You likely remember that

00:03:18.680 big campaign promise from the spring general election. The Premier spent most of her time

00:03:23.600 urging the province to wean itself off of budget volatility based on oil prices. Rather than raising

00:03:29.900 taxes to deal with that volatility, she says it's time to utilize the Heritage Fund more effectively.

00:03:35.700 Take a listen. During the current budget year, we hope to invest and reinvest approximately $3 billion

00:03:41.320 of surplus and investment income back into the Heritage Fund, increasing its value to almost $25

00:03:47.640 billion. That's up from $17 billion just a couple of years ago. This puts us back on the right track.

00:03:54.820 In addition, I have instructed our finance minister to limit government spending to below the legislated

00:03:59.760 great cap of inflation plus population growth, not just during lean years with lower oil prices as we

00:04:06.380 expect next year, but also in years when high oil and natural gas prices result in billions of surplus

00:04:12.620 provincial dollars. Instead of spending all that non-renewable surplus cash on the wants of today,

00:04:18.380 we will be fiscally disciplined, invest in the Heritage Fund annually, strategically pay down maturing debt,

00:04:24.960 and slowly but surely wean our province's budget off the volatile roller coaster of resource revenues.

00:04:31.380 Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner says the federal government's chief actuary report

00:04:35.600 revealing what Alberta would be owed if it left the Canadian pension plan is expected this fall.

00:04:41.220 In a statement last week, Horner said the number will be critical as Alberta decides whether leaving

00:04:46.400 the Canadian pension plan for a provincial one will be in the province's best interest. He said,

00:04:52.000 quote, during the first phase of our engagement on a potential provincial pension plan,

00:04:56.620 we heard loud and clear that Albertans want more information on the value of the asset transfer

00:05:01.520 Alberta would be entitled to if we were to withdraw from the Canada pension plan. The preferred method

00:05:06.580 of the chief actuary involves convening a panel to interpret the asset transfer formula in the Canada

00:05:11.900 Pension Plan Act. The interpretation will inform the chief actuary's calculation. Horner said the federal

00:05:17.420 government has indicated that the panel's interpretation will be available this spring

00:05:21.480 and the actuary's calculation will be given to Alberta in the fall. Alberta's own report projects

00:05:26.740 that by January 1st, 2027, the province's share of CPP assets would be an estimated $334 billion

00:05:34.220 or 53% of the CPP's assets. That's significantly higher than Alberta's relative population size within

00:05:41.460 the CPP framework. And the federal government has rejected this analysis. Here's what Deputy Prime

00:05:47.040 Minister Christy Freeland had to say about it last year. In terms of the number, as the Prime

00:05:53.000 Minister said in his letter, as the CPPIB also said, we don't think that that number is right.

00:06:08.940 And I would note that the Ontario Finance Minister, Peter, in his letter focused on the need for

00:06:17.400 rigorous analysis, and I agree with that. As Canada's inflation rate dropped lower than analysts

00:06:22.240 expected last month, prices increased in Alberta of all places, leading all Canadian provinces.

00:06:28.340 According to Statistics Canada's latest consumer price index, the national inflation rate cooled to

00:06:33.580 2.8% in January, while Alberta's rate of inflation rose to 3.4%. The report said Alberta's January

00:06:40.220 inflation rate was partly due to a 119.9% jump in electricity prices compared with January 2023.

00:06:48.500 Chief Economist with Alberta Central, Charles St. Arnault, said the doubling of electricity prices

00:06:53.380 in data is because of a base effect following a government-imposed cap on electricity rates last year.

00:06:59.500 He told Global News, quote, in January last year, we had the rebate on electricity that was put in

00:07:05.140 place by the government that drove electricity prices down. We don't have that decline this year.

00:07:10.260 Higher utility rates also played a role in Calgary's inflation rate, which rose to 4.1% in January.

00:07:16.240 That's the highest of all major Canadian cities. According to the City of Calgary's analysis of the

00:07:22.060 January inflation numbers, unprecedentedly high rental prices have also played a role in the city's

00:07:27.760 growth in inflation. Statistics Canada said that shelter rates rose to 12.2% over January 2023,

00:07:34.100 with rented accommodations increasing 14.4% and owned accommodations rising to 9.5%.

00:07:41.440 City News hit the streets to ask some Calgarians how they feel about the rising inflation. Take a listen.

00:07:46.340 You know, I've got children and grandchildren and I can see they're struggling with groceries and they

00:07:52.360 weren't as recent as five years ago. As interest rates go up, rents are going up, which I think is

00:08:00.640 eating into everybody's cost of living. And I think the groceries just add on to that. The utilities have

00:08:06.200 really gone up a lot. That's my major, the major thing. I'm quite surprised at how much they've gone up.

00:08:12.700 Moving into our controversy of the week, Lynx Air says that it will file for creditor protection

00:08:17.840 as its final flights will take place on Sunday. That's less than two years after the low-cost

00:08:23.840 airline took to the skies. The Calgary-based company says it has faced significant headwinds

00:08:28.900 this year, including rising operating costs, high fuel prices, exchange rates, increasing airport

00:08:34.440 charges, and a difficult economic and regulatory environment. In a news release, the company touts

00:08:39.840 that it has grown its fleet a number of destinations while doubling its passenger volume in the past two

00:08:44.780 years. Despite that growth and efforts to explore a sale or merger, Lynx Air said that the challenges

00:08:50.460 facing the company's businesses have become too significant to overcome. The company added that

00:08:55.280 efforts are being made to assist passengers affected by the move, with those who have existing bookings

00:09:00.540 advised to contact their credit card company to secure refunds for pre-booked travel. Ultimately,

00:09:05.700 this is a bad thing. Less competition means that existing airlines will be able to drive their prices up.

00:09:11.300 I also kind of like that Lynx flew to the Hamilton Airport. As many of you know, I'm from Niagara,

00:09:16.840 so whenever I go to visit family, I always try to fly into the Hamilton Airport. It's so nice to be

00:09:21.700 able to bypass Toronto with Pearson Airport. Of course, being the worst airport in the world,

00:09:26.380 I think we can all agree to that. That said, my family has had some pretty bad experiences with

00:09:31.080 Lynx Airline. They certainly aren't the most reliable, as often happens with budget airlines,

00:09:35.340 you kind of get what you pay for. Despite that, I ultimately think it's a bad thing for us,

00:09:39.060 the consumer, because less competition means that existing airlines can drive up their prices.

00:09:44.740 And finally, taking a look at what we're watching in the weeks to come, I know you guys will be

00:09:48.180 super excited about this story. Chick-fil-A is opening three new locations in Alberta, of all

00:09:53.780 places. Construction begins this month at a new location in the West Edmonton Mall,

00:09:58.760 and they'll be opening another location at Edmonton as well, at South Edmonton Common.

00:10:03.100 In Calgary, there will be a location on McLeod Trail. The Alberta locations will be Chick-fil-A's

00:10:07.820 first restaurants in Canada outside of the location. It opened in Toronto, Ontario, in 2019.

00:10:13.700 I'm sure some of you remember the protests at the time. I wonder if we're going to see some protests

00:10:17.280 down here in Calgary. I almost hope we do just so I can go cover them. It's always hilarious talking

00:10:22.040 to those people. I have to be honest, I do not eat a lot of fast food, but I will definitely be

00:10:26.400 making a couple trips to Chick-fil-A. Their food is so good, and I just love those waffle fries.

00:10:30.660 And finally, moving into our weekly comment roundup, user Wyniska says,

00:10:34.700 we need a recall petition for the mayor of Edmonton. I definitely suggest you get started

00:10:38.740 on that. However, because the bar is so high with the recall petition, make sure you're ready to hit

00:10:43.160 the ground running. Have your teams ready to go from the get-go. Don't be scrambling to get

00:10:47.320 volunteers together once the petition is launched, because you only have 60 days to get all those

00:10:51.880 signatures. End user at 40miledesertrat said, someone please save us from idiot politicians 0.99

00:10:57.440 and bureaucrats. I have some bad news for you. The only people who can save us is ourselves. 1.00

00:11:02.100 We have to organize and get rid of bad politicians. Unfortunately, when we look at those efforts

00:11:07.340 federally or even just for the Ontario government, the GTA is really screwing that up. But there's

00:11:12.180 still a lot we can do here in Alberta provincially and with the local politicians, especially with the

00:11:16.680 recall legislation, even though, as I mentioned, it is very difficult. Okay, everyone, that's all we

00:11:20.900 have time for today. Please like this video and subscribe to True North if you haven't already.

00:11:25.260 And if you want to support our work, you can head over to donate.tnc.news. I hope that you guys

00:11:29.740 have a great weekend. I'll see you next week. God bless.

Juno News - February 24, 2024

Trudeau visits Alberta and snubs Smith

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