Juno News - June 15, 2024


Western Canada's immigration woes


Episode Stats


Length

16 minutes

Words per minute

200.8767

Word count

3,330

Sentence count

186

Harmful content

Hate speech

10

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

The federal government announced this week that it would be giving Quebec $750 million to deal with immigration pressures, which Western Canada says they're feeling too. But Western Premiers say they don't get the same support from Ottawa and are asking for more.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Alberta NBC had strong words for the federal government this week after it once again favoured
00:00:05.340 a seat-heavy eastern province to the tone of three quarters of a billion dollars. The federal
00:00:10.740 government announced this week that it would be giving Quebec 750 million dollars to deal with
00:00:15.500 immigration pressures. Pressures which western provinces say they're feeling too but won't
00:00:20.800 receive a dollar for. Those pressures are also being felt by you and I or anyone who's paid
00:00:26.040 attention to the cost of living for the last four years. Not to mention the wait times for a doctor
00:00:30.780 or hospitals. Now I could give some platitudes about the different responsibilities for different levels
00:00:35.460 of government which is how Ottawa responded to this latest criticism but instead why don't we just
00:00:40.460 address the elephant in the room? We don't have the infrastructure to support the number of people
00:00:45.360 being let into Canada and it's happening at the expense of Canadians. Hard-working ones who've
00:00:50.960 lived and paid taxes here for years. But it's young people. People who can't afford the house 1.00
00:00:56.600 they grew up in or anything remotely like it who are paying the highest cost. I'm Rachel Emanuel
00:01:02.040 and this is the Alberta Roundup.
00:01:05.700 Okay everyone, taking a look at our first story here, western premiers are frustrated after Ottawa
00:01:19.960 handed Quebec 750 million dollars to deal with the pressures of immigration coming up empty-handed
00:01:26.320 for western Canada. BC Premier David Eby and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith took aim at the federal government
00:01:32.180 at the western premiers conference in the Yukon this week. Their comments came just hours after Ottawa
00:01:37.700 inked a deal with Quebec to help pay for a surge in temporary immigrants to the province. We'll go now to
00:01:42.980 Premier Eby speaking about the western premiers frustrations with Ottawa at the press conference on Monday.
00:01:48.360 So to see a single province agreement with Quebec is an underlining of a sense of frustration that I
00:01:56.140 heard around the table and I won't put this on anyone else but I'll say for British Columbia
00:02:00.380 how frustrated we are to see the money being showered down on Quebec and Ontario and us
00:02:08.100 grappling around for what's left over. It's not acceptable. It is not okay. And part of the pressure
00:02:15.620 that these young people are seeing is a lot of federal resource time and energy money tax credits
00:02:22.660 effort going to those two provinces at the expense in my opinion of the west.
00:02:27.860 Eby also said that 10,000 newcomers arrive in BC every 37 days. He said that his province and
00:02:33.920 especially young people looking to purchase homes are feeling the pressure. Meanwhile he said the
00:02:39.500 province is housing refugees and homeless shelters. Premier Smith also chimed in saying that 20%
00:02:44.580 of newcomers to Canada are choosing Alberta and that her province also has not seen support from the
00:02:49.080 federal government. Take a listen. That being said we also are host to 70,000 of the newcomers from
00:02:56.720 Ukraine, the Ukrainian evacuees and we have not seen the same kind of support for those new arrivals in
00:03:04.180 the same way that Premier Eby has talked about. Federal Immigration Minister Mark Miller was quick to
00:03:09.500 counter the Premier's comments saying that Premier Eby is confused about the facts and that if western
00:03:15.200 provinces want more federal dollars they should take in more asylum seekers. Take a listen.
00:03:20.040 I think first and foremost the disproportionate flow of asylum seekers has in fact occurred in
00:03:27.200 Quebec and Ontario. If you look by population BC has had fewer. It doesn't mean that they are not
00:03:35.640 entitled to assistance from the federal government when they see their numbers go up. I think perhaps
00:03:40.300 there was some confusion on the Premier's behalf as to what this money was for. The suggestion was it
00:03:45.960 was for a temporary residence. That is absolutely not the case. It's to compensate Quebec for two fiscal
00:03:50.300 years of costs they've incurred with respect to the disproportionate flow of asylum seekers. So
00:03:55.280 you know we need provinces like British Columbia to step up when it comes to actually apportioning
00:04:01.480 asylum seekers. It doesn't come without financial support from the federal government. So there you
00:04:05.400 hear Mark Miller saying that the Premiers are confused about the facts and that the money is
00:04:08.520 actually for asylum seekers not temporary residents. But Miller's comments are ironic at best and
00:04:14.900 disingenuous at worst because here's Quebec Premier Francois Legault himself speaking about the deal
00:04:20.320 when it was announced. Legault said quote what is urgent is to substantially and quickly reduce the
00:04:25.880 number of temporary immigrants in Quebec. At least the federal government is telling us they recognize 1.00
00:04:30.420 there's a problem. They even recognize that they have to act quickly in the short term in a
00:04:34.900 significant way but they refuse to give numbers. So there you hear at the Quebec Premier who is
00:04:40.020 getting the 750 million dollars himself says it is for temporary immigration. So it looks like the
00:04:45.360 Western Premiers are not confused after all. Premier Smith had more to say later on in a tweet on X
00:04:50.200 writing quote if they want us to be able to make sure that newcomers are being matched the jobs that are
00:04:54.900 available in our economies then they've got to give us more latitude to do that. We certainly want to keep
00:05:00.060 the doors open in Alberta. We want to make sure that we are properly supporting the people coming to
00:05:04.580 our province. I just want to take a moment to address this because I did open my show by criticizing
00:05:09.080 immigration. Our numbers are far too high. They are not sustainable. We are all paying the price for 1.00
00:05:13.900 that as I mentioned in my monologue. That said here we see you know the provinces of BC and Alberta saying
00:05:18.420 they would like more federal dollars to help with the pressures that they are seeing because of all the
00:05:23.980 newcomers coming to their provinces. I think it would actually be far more effective if they just said to
00:05:29.120 Ottawa it's time to turn off the taps on immigration. There's too many people coming here. We don't have 1.00
00:05:33.300 the infrastructure for them but we're not seeing that. I don't believe that is the Premier's
00:05:37.440 ideological response or belief on this issue. I know that Danielle Smith has been talking about
00:05:41.860 wanting all these people to come here. Obviously we still have the Elberg is Calling campaign.
00:05:45.800 She even said that they would like to see a million people moving to Red Deer. I don't think people
00:05:49.620 of Red Deer want a million people to live there. I think people in Red Deer kind of like living there
00:05:53.100 because it's you know a smaller city. It's not as busy as places like Edmonton and Calgary. I have to say
00:05:58.340 that Premier Smith's response to immigration whether that's newcomers to Canada or the Alberta
00:06:02.580 is Calling campaign which attracts people from other provinces. Probably one of my biggest
00:06:07.220 criticisms of her. I think it's time to turn off the taps of all sorts of immigration and provincial 1.00
00:06:12.020 and newcomers to Canada. We do not have the infrastructure to support these people and 1.00
00:06:17.260 everyone's quality of life is actually declining because we're seeing so many new people coming here 1.00
00:06:23.040 that we aren't ready for. I think let's just turn off the taps of immigration for the next three to five 1.00
00:06:27.840 years get caught up so then we can re-evaluate what we want Canada to look like and if we still want to
00:06:32.680 continue bringing over millions of newcomers. But right now I think Premier Smith's response
00:06:36.940 to immigration isn't strong enough. Premier Eby, he's a left-wing Premier. I don't expect him to take
00:06:41.200 a strong stance on immigration but I think the Conservative Premier of Alberta could and should be
00:06:45.420 doing a better job on this issue. Taking a look at our next story here, the cost of the carbon tax
00:06:50.160 has been $20 billion to the Canadian economy according to modeling data released by the Government of Canada
00:06:56.020 this week. According to the Globe and Mail, the country's GDP is expected to be about $25 billion
00:07:01.280 lower in 2030 due to carbon pricing than it would otherwise be. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation
00:07:07.300 Federal Director Franco Terrazzano said in a statement, quote, once again we see the government's
00:07:11.980 own data showing what hard-working Canadians already know. The carbon tax costs Canadians big time. The
00:07:17.860 carbon tax makes the necessities of life more expensive and it will cost our economy billions of
00:07:22.540 dollars. Alberta Premier Daniel Smith also had strong words for the federal government saying, quote,
00:07:26.840 it's time to stop punishing Canadians and scrap the carbon tax. Moving into our next story here,
00:07:31.640 I just wanted to take a quick look at this one. Alberta's Minister of Seniors, Community and Social
00:07:36.080 Services, Jason Nixon, says that Alberta is setting new records and continues to lead the country
00:07:41.580 in fastest permit approval times and fewest roadblocks to building homes. Nixon said that permits for single
00:07:47.740 detached homes are up 36%. In a statement to X, he wrote, quote, we will keep building momentum and go
00:07:54.020 from permits issued to shovels in the ground to new homes ready for Albertans. Okay, I talk about the
00:07:59.720 cost of living crisis all the time. I talk about the cost of renting and purchasing a home a lot as
00:08:06.120 well, but I need to play the devil's advocate on this issue. We are rushing to get all these homes
00:08:11.080 built to deal with all the people moving to Alberta from other provinces and outside of Canada,
00:08:15.760 but how many people have actually stopped to take the time to consider how well these homes are
00:08:20.880 actually being built? I was living in a new built. It wasn't even a year old and there was water damage
00:08:27.000 coming in through my ceiling. Now, I was renting because I was renting. Of course, the issue never
00:08:31.080 got fixed because my landlords just couldn't be bothered to get around to it. Not a huge issue.
00:08:36.300 It didn't greatly impact my quality of life. I was not there for very long, but you do have to kind
00:08:43.260 of scratch around and wonder where Russia can get all these houses built. Construction companies
00:08:47.040 working to get homes built have such an incentive to get as many homes built in a small period of
00:08:51.580 time because they are making so much money right now. It's just something that's been on my mind.
00:08:55.500 I don't think all the homes that are being built are good quality. I doubt that all of them will
00:08:59.120 stand the test of time. I don't think this is Minister Nixon's fault. I think the Alberta
00:09:01.980 government is doing what they can with the cards that they've been dealt. But again, I think it just
00:09:06.300 speaks to the need to really slow down the numbers that we're seeing with immigration,
00:09:09.940 the volume of people coming here. All right, everyone, moving into the controversy of the
00:09:13.220 week. An Alberta NDP and notly Eric cabinet minister has announced her intention to resign
00:09:18.880 next month, appointing figures at what she calls bonkers conservatives. Lethbridge West
00:09:24.260 MLA Shannon Phillips told the Globe and Mail she will step down on Canada Day. Phillips said she's
00:09:28.940 been worn down by her opponents and claimed that the quote crazy unquote right will make it
00:09:34.060 increasingly difficult to find people willing to serve in office. She said, quote, Jesus Christ
00:09:39.540 himself couldn't have kept me. She continued, quote, these conditions are not improving.
00:09:44.560 The right is only getting more crazy and more bonkers and disinformation is just getting worse.
00:09:49.920 And that is going to have an effect on people's desire to do this work.
00:09:53.880 Phillips was elected in 2015 and served as the Minister of Environment and Parks in 2019.
00:09:58.940 In that role, she was responsible for accelerating Alberta's phase out of coal fired power plants.
00:10:04.560 While she was a minister, two members of the Lethbridge Police Service,
00:10:07.480 who opposed her politics, surveilled her. Those officers were found guilty of violating the
00:10:12.340 police act. But Phillips was informed in May that the Provincial Prosecution Service declined to
00:10:17.080 pursue criminal charges. Her resignation opens a seat for former Calgary Mayor Nahed Nenshi,
00:10:22.080 should he win the NDP's leadership contest as expected on June 22nd.
00:10:26.180 Finally, moving into what we're watching in the weeks to come. Let's take a look at the water
00:10:30.940 crisis still unfolding in Calgary. I feel so sorry for those of you who are living there right now.
00:10:35.360 Just to actually put in the comments below, I'm curious what it has been like to you. Have you felt
00:10:38.980 very restricted by the water limitations or has it not impacted your day-to-day life too much?
00:10:44.920 Before we dive into that story, there's something that's come out of us that I think a lot of people
00:10:48.760 sort of expected. Calgary is now considering permanent watering restrictions for the city's
00:10:53.920 residents. Never let a good crisis go to waste. Let's dive into the details here. Calgary City Council
00:10:59.220 is set to discuss amendments to the wastewater, stormwater, and water utility bylaws next week.
00:11:04.560 The proposed amendments include a watering schedule, allowing Calgarians to use sprinklers for just
00:11:10.280 three hours a day, two days a week, between 8pm and 8am. Currently, Calgary's water restrictions
00:11:17.940 start at voluntary water conservation before escalating to stage 1-4 restriction levels.
00:11:23.940 Stages are determined by risk of drought conditions. Stages 1-2 are normally implemented when it is very dry,
00:11:30.000 and stages 3-4 are implemented when it is extremely dry. Signs for violations during stage 1 begin at
00:11:36.720 $400, rising to $600 at stage 2, $1,500 in stage 3, and finally up to $3,000 for stage 4 violations.
00:11:45.720 That's watering when it is extremely dry. If the changes are implemented, the voluntary water
00:11:51.220 conservation phase will be replaced with the outdoor watering schedule, which will be permanently in
00:11:56.720 effect. Just taking a look at what's proposed here, you'll be allowed to use sprinklers three days
00:12:01.640 a week between 8pm and 10am. So overnight. So you can't put a sprinkler on for your kids to run around
00:12:08.920 and play in, which is like what childhood is. Again, you guys, I went on a long rant to put this on my
00:12:14.360 show, midweek show, which exclusively covered the water crisis, which basically the sum of it was I
00:12:19.500 don't want to live in Calgary anymore. Go back and listen to the full thing if you want me to break
00:12:22.860 down what's going on in the water crisis, but also to explain how things are probably worse than they
00:12:27.080 initially look, because what the mayor has revealed during her updated briefings is that the
00:12:32.700 infrastructure in the city of Calgary, the infrastructure that gets us water from one place
00:12:37.420 to another, from treatment facilities to reservoirs and finally into your home, is basically falling
00:12:41.740 apart. I'm actually going to play a small clip for you guys now to see some of the sum of what I was
00:12:45.680 saying was about. Take a listen. So just to sum up, there's been a break in a major water feed
00:12:50.120 that officials still don't know when is going to be fixed. While that was happening in the city of
00:12:54.580 Bowness, there was also another break in a water main in the city of Bowness, a smaller one unrelated
00:12:59.980 to the first incident, as if that's supposed to reassure us somehow that things are running very
00:13:04.860 smoothly over at the city of Calgary. Then an access point to the major water feed also needed to be
00:13:10.820 fixed so that officials could get down and fix this issue in the first place. And while all of this is
00:13:15.840 going on, the mayor of Calgary is not able to come out and say that this incident was a one-off.
00:13:21.380 Instead, she tries to reassure us by saying that regular maintenance was being done on this. If
00:13:26.640 regular maintenance was being done on this, how did this incident happen in the first place?
00:13:29.880 You think this is something officials would have been able to catch before it turned into the massive
00:13:34.060 citywide crisis that is happening right now? Just ridiculous. Here's a little update on the water
00:13:38.560 crisis itself. Here's Mayor Gondek speaking about the crisis at one of her updates on Thursday.
00:13:42.640 This is not a decision that was made lightly, but as we shared yesterday at 5 p.m., the investigation
00:13:48.520 of the broken feeder main pipe revealed that there are five more areas that are in need of repairs.
00:13:54.020 Our city operations team has shared these necessary repairs mean that we are looking at another three
00:14:00.500 to five weeks before water is flowing as it normally would in our city. That's three to five more
00:14:06.760 weeks of your best water conservation efforts. Okay, everyone, just because I did my Wednesday show
00:14:12.240 on the water crisis and there were some really great comments in the comment roundup. I'm going to dive
00:14:16.300 into what you are all thinking about the situation in Calgary right now. User at TCZ says, quote,
00:14:24.260 maybe rather than declaring a climate emergency on her first day, she, meaning Gondek, should have 0.94
00:14:29.400 declared an infrastructure emergency and use taxes accordingly rather than on her pet will projects.
00:14:35.820 Seeming right now like that would have been a very good idea. As I explained in my show last week,
00:14:39.420 and I just plan for you guys now, the infrastructure in Calgary is in a precarious state. Clearly,
00:14:44.880 clearly there needs to be investment into that so that Calgarians can expect basic services like water.
00:14:51.480 User Pat's garage shed 200 repairs a year is insane. That's almost one a day or so every time.
00:14:58.400 This is what happens when you spend money on woke garbage instead of infrastructure.
00:15:03.280 Honestly, when I initially recorded that episode, I didn't even really think about how many repairs
00:15:06.980 a year. That way she sort of explained it as 200 a year. You know, that's pretty normal. That does 0.99
00:15:11.000 seem like an insane amount. This person's right. There's 365 days a year. It's not quite a repair
00:15:14.980 a day. That's maybe a little bit hyperbolic, but it's an insane amount of repairs. And because this
00:15:19.440 person's username is Pat's garage, I just think they know what they're talking about. And finally,
00:15:23.980 moving to this comment from the at Bombay company says, quote, saw this on Twitter, can't fix a pipe,
00:15:29.600 but can change the climate. When Tucker Carlson was here for his events in January,
00:15:34.220 the one in Calgary, and then one up in Edmonton. The one thing he said that really stuck with me
00:15:37.980 was how we need to laugh at our idiot leaders. We need to laugh at Justin Trudeau and his policies.
00:15:43.720 And I think what this says is exactly that. It's pointing out the hypocrisy in what they're saying.
00:15:48.780 They're telling us we can be responsible for fixing the climate change, but our government
00:15:51.940 results millions of dollars. We can't even, we can't even fix a pipe. So you know how it goes.
00:15:57.020 One rule for thee, another rule for me, the wealthy and the billionaires, they're going to fly around
00:16:02.140 on their private jets, but you can drink from your soggy paper straw. Okay, everyone, that's all we
00:16:07.320 have time for today. Thanks so much for tuning in. Please subscribe to True North so you don't miss
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00:16:22.680 Day to all the dads out there. We appreciate you. Society needs good dads. Don't let anyone tell you
00:16:28.500 otherwise. I hope that you enjoy celebrating with your family and feel very loved on Sunday.
00:16:33.180 Have a great rest of your week. God bless.