The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - April 17, 2024


Alberta refuses to be bribed by Trudeau

Hosted by
Isaac Lamoureux
Guests
Alberta Seniors Community
Mentioned
Rachel Emanuel Justin Trudeau Austin Jason Nixon Alberta Roundup Danielle Smith Jody Gonnick Jones
Smith pushes back against the feds Smith responds to guilty verdict for Coutts 3

Episode Stats


Length

13 minutes

Words per minute

213.75

Word count

2,818

Sentence count

146

Harmful content

Hate speech

1

sentences flagged


Summary

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

In this episode, Alberta Seniors, Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon joins me to talk about the Alberta Priorities Act, which could see blanket rezoning in certain areas of the province. Mayor Jody Gonic and I discuss the proposed legislation, and how it could impact the housing shortage in Alberta.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Rachel Emanuel brings the news each day on Alberta Roundup. She has her say.
00:00:12.500 Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Alberta Roundup. I'm your host, Rachel Emanuel.
00:00:16.300 Today, we are going to be looking at the Alberta Priorities Act, and I am joined by Alberta Seniors Community and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon.
00:00:25.140 Minister Nixon, thanks so much for joining us today.
00:00:27.480 Thanks for having me on, Rachel. Great to see you.
00:00:28.900 So we know that your government had kind of hinted at this legislation for a little while.
00:00:33.780 But before we get into the actual legislation and what it's going to do, this came after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew to Calgary, announced a bunch of money through a housing fund about $6 billion.
00:00:46.100 Your government came out and they took issue with some of the money and the way that it was going to be spent.
00:00:50.360 And then you also announced the Provincial Priorities Act, which should hopefully prevent the federal government from working directly with municipalities without your government's sign-on.
00:00:58.900 One of the ways that municipalities appear to be eligible for this funding is through rezoning, things like duplexes, triplexes, four-unit housing.
00:01:07.180 I know that we're experiencing a housing crisis even here in Calgary.
00:01:10.760 You know, everyone I talk to, they're having a hard time finding housing, and it is so expensive.
00:01:14.900 That said, a lot of people spend their lifetime investing in their home.
00:01:17.660 They pick a neighbourhood they specifically want to live in, that they value and cherish, that meets the needs of their family, that feels safe to them.
00:01:24.680 And right now in Calgary, we're looking at a situation where there's blanket rezoning.
00:01:28.000 People are so upset about this.
00:01:29.660 Now, I know that we need the housing on the one hand.
00:01:31.460 On the other hand, people really care about their neighbourhoods, and they're really upset about this blanket rezoning.
00:01:36.200 What are your thoughts?
00:01:36.800 Do you think that blanket rezoning is something that we need to see in Calgary, or are you concerned about it's really going to change the fabric of some of these neighbourhoods?
00:01:44.020 Yeah, look, I mean, my viewpoint, first of all, the federal government has no business stepping in and trying to blanket rezone anything.
00:01:49.760 They don't have any business stepping in and zoning anything.
00:01:52.100 You know, municipalities are solely the jurisdiction of the province, of the provinces in our country, under our constitution.
00:01:58.440 And it certainly is federal overreach for them to go anywhere near zoning issues.
00:02:03.100 You know, my belief is that we have 300-plus municipalities in our province.
00:02:06.600 All of our communities have different needs.
00:02:08.480 My hometown is sundry.
00:02:09.880 We'll have to deal with zoning issues in very different ways than Calgary will, for example.
00:02:13.620 And so, this is why we have elected municipal councils to go through that process, to hear from their local communities, to make decisions on what's best for each neighbourhood.
00:02:22.360 I also don't think that blanket rezoning actually solves our housing problem.
00:02:26.880 We certainly want to be able to deal with some zoning issues, increase permit speeds in many cases to be able to make sure we can build more houses.
00:02:36.060 But it's also about making sure that we zone still in the right places.
00:02:38.640 So, just saying, hey, we zone an entire city is not going to solve the problem.
00:02:41.420 So, I'll give you an example.
00:02:43.420 The best spot probably to do some real high-density housing in Calgary will be along the existing already train lines, which actually has not much impact on existing neighbourhoods.
00:02:52.140 We can already build on some of the existing infrastructure footprints that are in place that likely will work for many communities.
00:02:57.860 And that's why, you know, cities should go through that process with each neighbourhood and their constituents to get it right.
00:03:02.460 But, you know, we want to build more houses.
00:03:04.300 We already are.
00:03:04.820 I've got to stress that.
00:03:06.040 I mean, Alberta is the only place that's having any real significant positive numbers when it comes to residential construction, which I think shows already that our pro-industry red tape reduction methods in our province are working.
00:03:18.060 But to be clear, we think that communities should have individual zoning conversations and make sure that they get it right, and then we can work together to speed up construction.
00:03:26.020 When we talk about communities actually having that say with their municipal government about what they want their neighbourhood to look like and whether they're going to allow for this rezoning, I mean, the federal government is kind of coming here and they're dangling a stick in front of Calgary.
00:03:37.800 They're offering a lot of money.
00:03:39.140 Are you concerned that the municipal government here in Calgary, Mayor Jody Gonic, isn't going to take residents' concerns seriously because there's just so much money on the table for them?
00:03:47.020 Yeah, well, this is one of the reasons why we're bringing in the new act to be able to prevent the federal government from going directly to those municipalities is because it was becoming very clear two things.
00:03:56.960 One is that only mayors were getting attention from the federal government that seemed to have a relationship with the current federal government or shared their left-wing ideology.
00:04:06.360 And so you saw situations where Edmonton and Calgary were getting money for the federal government, but places like Cochrane, which is one of the fastest growing communities in the country, were not even getting a phone call.
00:04:17.020 And so we really saw a need to step in to be able to make sure that we're distributing money across the province where it's needed.
00:04:23.040 And then second, it was very clear that they were willing to, you know, to change rules or to sell out their own constituents to be able to get to that money.
00:04:33.100 And we were mostly concerned, the Premier and I, you know, in the last couple of weeks that the federal government was indicating that you would have to do one or two things, or two things specifically.
00:04:41.640 One is to do blanket rezoning, which we, you know, as you just covered, is challenging to do it that way.
00:04:48.360 But second was to sign on to the Green Building Code, which we, you know, what exactly that means from the federal government.
00:04:53.560 They were light on details, which is not abnormal.
00:04:56.800 But given the history of this federal government, when it comes to the green ideology, it's deeply concerning about what that impact could be on our construction history and the cost to Albertans to buy a house and to ultimately rent houses as well.
00:05:07.960 Because it would raise the price in both sides of the market.
00:05:12.040 And so that's why we stepped in and said, we're done.
00:05:14.620 The federal government needs to deal with the province.
00:05:17.140 We have jurisdiction in this area.
00:05:19.980 We're going to enforce that jurisdiction.
00:05:21.760 It'll be us who works with our municipalities because we don't tend to be bribed with our own money by the federal government to bring in Justin Trudeau, you know, Justin Trudeau's ideological agenda of things like green building codes.
00:05:32.640 Now, I know you said that they were light on the details, not unusual for the federal government, like you mentioned.
00:05:37.180 But what are some of the specific building codes that you were worried they might force municipalities to implement with this green agenda that you've been talking about?
00:05:45.660 What specifically?
00:05:46.980 Well, one of the big things that there's been musing about at the federal level, again, both the premiums and I have spoken about this recently, is the possibility of saying that houses cannot connect to natural gas.
00:05:57.840 And that we'd have to go with, you know, solar or wind or different type of electricity sources to be able to get to that funding.
00:06:03.640 That would astronomically increase the cost of construction.
00:06:07.660 I mean, I think it would be catastrophic in our market here in Alberta for a variety of reasons.
00:06:13.620 But, you know, that'd be one example.
00:06:15.940 But even simple things like if they were to increase insulation requirements beyond what you would see elsewhere in North America, you know, you're just going to see the cost go up astronomically.
00:06:27.040 And again, it's not their jurisdiction.
00:06:28.980 The province is responsible ultimately for setting a building code.
00:06:32.960 We can sign on to a national building code.
00:06:35.320 That's up to us if we want to.
00:06:37.140 But we're not going to sign on to a building code that is more extreme or unknown in exchange for money from the federal government.
00:06:43.260 When you talk about one of your fears being that the federal government could say, we want, you know, these buildings to have solar and power, be generated by solar and power energy.
00:06:51.260 Is that something that we're even in a place where we're ready for in this province?
00:06:54.120 It's my understanding that we're looking to actually get more baseload.
00:06:57.100 All the people moving here, we actually have higher electricity demands.
00:06:59.240 Well, like most of the federal policies, as you know, Rachel, I spent many years as Alberta's environment minister.
00:07:05.440 So I'm very familiar with this issue.
00:07:08.480 And most of the federal green policies that they're trying to push forward in this country are impossible, like actually impossible.
00:07:14.780 And if we were to try to implement them in the timelines that have been laid out by the federal government, you would end up with mass blackouts, people not being able to heat their homes.
00:07:24.620 We already saw some of those circumstances this year where it was really cold, which shows some of the challenges on Canadians' electricity grid.
00:07:31.700 And so that's exactly right.
00:07:32.980 It's just it's an impossibility.
00:07:34.140 But, you know, when you're dealing with Justin Trudeau and the federal government on this issue, the possibilities don't seem to register with them.
00:07:40.320 They just continue to drive forward and not want to have this conversation in any resemblance of reality.
00:07:46.580 And, you know, that's unfortunate.
00:07:48.520 But when it comes to our housing issues, which is one of the biggest issues in the country right now, it's certainly one of the biggest issues in the province.
00:07:54.880 But making sure we have enough housing stock, we just cannot let that happen.
00:07:58.780 Because at the end of the day, all it will do is increase the cost of construction, which ultimately will increase mortgages and will increase rent.
00:08:06.040 And our main focus right now has to be to create more supply to keep those, you know, keep affordability both within the rent in the mortgage market in our province.
00:08:14.420 So on the Alberta Provincial Priorities Act specifically, that's going to be ensuring that the federal government receives the UCP's government sign off on any projects that they hope to strike with municipalities.
00:08:24.700 Now, when we're looking at this $6 billion for housing specifically, is this legislation, when it passes, is it going to stop any money that was promised to municipalities in its track?
00:08:34.560 Or is it too late? And is that deal going to go ahead?
00:08:37.140 So our intention right now is not to be retroactive on, you know, if deals have been signed, we want to continue to get work done.
00:08:44.400 But going forward, and certainly for this latest round of announcements that are associated with the federal budget, this legislation will be applicable and it will force the federal government to come to the table like they did in Quebec and in BC and make a deal with the province.
00:08:59.940 And then we would work with our municipalities to be able to build houses where and when they are needed within our province.
00:09:06.480 But going forward, what will have to happen is the federal government cannot go to a municipality or any other entity that is created by the provincial government or is over 50% funded by the provincial government without the permission of the provincial government.
00:09:20.220 So what essentially that does is it forces the feds to come to the table of the province to make a deal.
00:09:24.760 And we saw this in Quebec. Quebec was the first province, because they have this law, that was able to get a housing deal in the country.
00:09:31.200 And that's because the feds had no choice but to come and have a conversation with the provincial government.
00:09:36.480 One other thing I wanted to ask you about is obviously your government has been working hard on the Alberta is Calling campaign, trying to attract new skilled workers to the province.
00:09:44.520 Do you think that there's maybe a time where we would want to put a pause on this campaign?
00:09:47.340 I know the premier says, look, we're really trying to attract skilled workers, even construction workers.
00:09:51.200 But, you know, a lot of these people are moving to bigger cities.
00:09:52.900 We're seeing a little bit of a housing crisis here.
00:09:54.720 I'm not quite sure that demand is keeping up.
00:09:56.620 I know that there's a lot of new houses up and coming, but right now we're really feeling that pinch.
00:10:00.360 I talked to a lot of people trying to buy, a lot of people trying to rent.
00:10:02.680 There's very little on the market.
00:10:03.980 Do you think that there's maybe a need to put a pause on something like that?
00:10:06.940 Or do you think there's just always a need to bring as many people to the province as possible?
00:10:11.480 Well, we want to obviously keep our economy going, but you're right.
00:10:13.680 I mean, we have to be able to house everybody that comes to our province. 0.84
00:10:16.520 I think what we're focused on with Minister Jones, who's a lead on Alberta's Calling, the Minister of Jobs and Economy in our province,
00:10:23.820 is actually adjusting Alberta's Calling to be very much focused on specific trades and specific careers that we need filled within our province.
00:10:33.160 So nursing, for example, obviously anything that is medical, and then residential construction being one of the highest priorities.
00:10:39.220 And so he'll have more details on that as this progresses.
00:10:43.740 But the work that they're going to be doing is be really focused on attracting some of the trades that we need to be able to make sure that we can build the houses to be able to keep fueling our economy's growth.
00:10:53.220 So you're right.
00:10:54.280 I mean, at the end of the day, we have to be able to make sure that we're not just having people move to Alberta for just for the sake of moving to Alberta if there's nowhere to live.
00:11:01.560 And so the logical spot right now to focus on is the people that we need to be able to continue to build all the homes that we need,
00:11:06.840 but also all the commercial real estate we need in other areas where we're short professionals.
00:11:12.760 Minister, just the last thing I want to touch on here.
00:11:14.720 Your son, Austin, we know that he was in that horrible car crash about four months ago, a horrible rollover with his twin sister.
00:11:19.720 He was in the hospital. We know he came home about two weeks ago and he's working on his rehabilitation.
00:11:24.060 I know my audience has been pretty interested in this and very concerned for your family.
00:11:27.740 I'm just wondering if you'd be able to give us a quick update as to how he's doing and how your family's doing.
00:11:32.360 Well, first of all, thank you for asking to your audience and to all Albertans.
00:11:35.860 My family has been very well supported and we really appreciate all the prayers and thoughts that went through Austin's experience.
00:11:42.200 He spent almost a month in a coma, which was obviously very traumatic for us.
00:11:46.020 But you're right. He came home about two weeks ago.
00:11:48.300 He's walking and he's talking now.
00:11:50.940 He's probably about 75 percent.
00:11:52.580 He's got about a year or longer of very serious physical and mental recovery ahead of him.
00:11:56.980 But he's up to the task and we're just very, very grateful to be on this journey.
00:12:00.980 I can tell you before Christmas, it didn't look like we were going to be on this journey.
00:12:04.600 And so we're just excited to continue to work with Austin and try to get him all the way back to normal.
00:12:10.340 Thank you for that.
00:12:11.020 Well, we'll continue to keep him in our prayers and that he has a speedy recovery and that the rest of your family is able to really move past us.
00:12:17.280 I can't imagine how difficult that must have been.
00:12:19.340 Minister, thank you so much for joining us today.
00:12:20.980 For the rest of you, I'll be back on Saturday with a special episode for you guys this week.
00:12:24.420 I am interviewing Alberta Premier Danielle Smith.
00:12:26.980 So you'll definitely want to tune in on Saturday to catch that.
00:12:29.740 I hope that you guys have a great rest of your week.
00:12:31.640 I'll see you on Saturday.
00:12:32.660 God bless.
00:12:33.100 God bless.
00:12:41.020 God bless.