The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - C-18’s hidden cost to taxpayers

00:00:00.000 hey everyone welcome back to the alberta roundup i am joined by chris sims the alberta director of

00:00:15.320 the canadian taxpayers federation today we are going to talk about bill c18 everyone's favorite

00:00:21.240 piece of legislation not obviously chris we are very concerned about c18 over here in the media

00:00:26.760 there's a lot of uncertainty about exactly what it will do but we do know that facebook and now

00:00:32.720 google have said they are just simply not going to allow link sharing to news platforms which is of

00:00:38.360 course a big problem for us then of course heritage minister pablo rodriguez stepped in and said don't

00:00:44.480 worry if you guys are not able to have money from this legislation like we said it would do we will

00:00:50.600 step in and help you out chris can you explain why that's a problem well i think a lot of us saw

00:00:57.820 this problem coming and it was interesting to see people from the so-called left and right all pleading

00:01:03.900 with the federal government at the same time saying uh this is a disaster waiting to happen so big tech

00:01:09.160 giants typically like google and facebook don't stay up at night worrying about whether or not

00:01:14.640 canadian uh newsrooms are getting per click revenue that's just a rounding error really when it comes

00:01:21.040 to their bottom line so it doesn't seem like they're super interested in paying for links and so now

00:01:28.000 like you said the heritage minister piped up and said oh don't worry we need to make sure that these

00:01:34.520 newsrooms stay open who's we the government i guess and we are going to make sure that you have the

00:01:41.260 resources you need now resources of course is government speak for taxpayers money this is a

00:01:47.680 huge problem for two major reasons one as a long time lifelong journalist myself it's wrong for

00:01:55.500 journalists to be paid by the government period you cannot hold a government to account if you're

00:02:01.540 counting on that government for your paycheck so that doesn't fly and two there's no way that

00:02:07.900 taxpayers should be on the hook to fund media companies and keeping newsrooms open that is not

00:02:13.980 the role of the taxpayer here and so we're coming after this for two major reasons one is accountability

00:02:19.560 and the second is the cost when we're talking about the cost we know that taxpayers are already doing

00:02:26.980 so much to keep these failing legacy media outlets afloat we have the just under 600 million dollar

00:02:34.140 bailout that the federal government promised to journalism companies we know that's been paid

00:02:38.860 out over the past couple of years do you know what the cost of that actually boils down to per newsroom

00:02:43.940 that's a great question so it was canadaland that actually sat down and did the math so credit to them

00:02:50.160 they worked it out and they said on average it boils down to about 13 000 per journalist that is taking

00:02:58.140 it now i gotta stress not all media outlets were taking this money but the problem as you well know

00:03:04.840 with journalism is the perception right it's the perception of bias it's the perception of ethics

00:03:11.320 that erodes trust so if everybody just assumes that say a broadcaster a mainstream network broadcaster

00:03:18.900 is taking taxpayers money they're going to go with that and they're going to think that and that's going

00:03:23.440 to erode trust and let's get down to the exact cost here with 13 000 imagine that you are a journalist

00:03:30.020 on parliament hill you're part of the parliamentary press gallery it's your job ostensibly to hold the

00:03:36.060 government to account the government pays 13 000 of your salary it could be a deciding factor whether or not

00:03:44.020 you have a job the opposition wants to scrap that program how on earth are you supposed to call that

00:03:52.100 game straight like no human being would be able to and even if you tried again the perception is there

00:03:59.460 that you're being paid by the government the perception is a huge issue and i just find it so

00:04:05.280 frustrating as a taxpayer myself and i know that other canadian taxpayers feel this way we've seen such a

00:04:11.020 decline in trust in media and yet we're being forced to basically boost these canadian companies

00:04:17.240 that we don't support their work we see the propaganda and it was so obvious during the

00:04:21.580 covid 19 pandemic here in alberta it was very obvious during the recent alberta election and so

00:04:27.400 we're being forced to pay these salaries through our taxes and it feels just very wrong and it feels

00:04:32.120 very discouraging and i think the only way that we would see a change in it is a change in government

00:04:37.180 as you've mentioned the conservatives don't want to continue this policy but we have a media that

00:04:41.740 seems to be actively campaigning against the conservatives and it's hard not to draw that

00:04:45.960 parallel when you're saying well you know some of you guys might go under if we had a conservative

00:04:50.720 government and this is exactly the problem with taking money as a journalist from the government

00:04:56.160 this is the problem you're either directly on the payroll so you're either part of the cbc

00:05:01.640 which gets 1.2 billion dollars from the government every year and by the way throws a little fit when

00:05:08.540 twitter labels them government funded media they are they are if they have a problem with being called

00:05:14.940 that there's a real simple solution they can stop taking government money they can stop taking

00:05:18.920 taxpayers money and then on top of the cbc now we have this so-called media bailout and this is exactly

00:05:25.620 the pickle we're in right now and it's to his credit mainstream columnist for the globe and mail

00:05:31.080 andrew coin said we're going to wind up seeing the government as grantsmen this is putting us

00:05:37.040 in an unending conflict of interest and you brought up the issue of trust and i recently wrote a piece

00:05:44.140 i don't know where it's going to eventually get printed but i keep tabs on something that's called

00:05:49.140 the trust survey or the trust index it's been going on for 30 years it's a major survey of most

00:05:55.860 countries including canada rachel it just took my breath away because a couple of years ago around

00:06:03.140 40 percent of polled canadians thought that journalists were quote deliberately trying to

00:06:09.660 mislead them with things they know to be false so i'm not talking mispronunciation accidental numbers

00:06:15.500 screw up typo none of that that still keeps journalists up at night or it should none of those

00:06:20.760 accidents i went back and checked that stat the most recent one that's there more than 60 percent

00:06:27.780 of canadians now think that journalists are actively trying to mislead them with statements

00:06:34.140 they know to be false like that's just shattering if you think about all the different types of jobs

00:06:41.760 that journalists have you can cover city hall you can be covering like brutally difficult court cases

00:06:47.820 where you have to be accurate even things like you know massive weather warnings of oh my goodness

00:06:52.880 like there's a tornado warning things like that of your day-to-day now 60 percent of canadians

00:06:57.780 think that they're telling a fib this is a really major crisis and from the taxpayers perspective

00:07:04.620 two of the major elements that need to change here are no government funding because that will save us

00:07:11.800 money but also no government funding because we need to try to get some of that accountability and

00:07:17.540 trust back it's the family and friends event at shoppers drug mart get 20 off almost all regular

00:07:25.300 priced merchandise two days only tuesday february 24th and wednesday february 25th open your pc optimum

00:07:32.220 app to get your coupon yeah those numbers are absolutely staggering but honestly not terribly surprising

00:07:40.440 canadians aren't just jumping to these conclusions on their own they actually have reason to believe them

00:07:45.020 i myself have spoken and written publicly about the censorship i experienced during the coven 19

00:07:51.180 pandemic trying to cover things that were critical of lockdowns and of vaccine mandates this of course

00:07:56.740 was while i was still working within the mainstream media and in recent months we've had you know the

00:08:01.440 inquiry into the coven 19 pandemic we've had a lot of journalists that worked at big legacy media

00:08:06.660 outlets like global and cbc say there was censorship and we were told to cover these things from a certain

00:08:11.700 way with that way of course being pushing the government narrative so canadians are educated

00:08:17.220 and they are coming to these conclusions based on the evidence that's all around them and unfortunately

00:08:21.660 with legislation like c18 it's going to make it harder for canadians to find trusted and reliable

00:08:27.680 news sources so certainly something we will be keeping a very close eye on well i have you chris i also

00:08:34.140 wanted to talk to you about the clean energy regulations the clean fuel regulations rather that came

00:08:39.220 into effect on canada today happy canada day everyone we have a new tax for you from the

00:08:44.920 liberal government of course you know it just seems crazy to me that we're having more of these standards

00:08:49.780 put in place we know it's going to drive up costs for canadians and every single person i know is

00:08:54.400 struggling right now young families are really struggling it's so disheartening what does this new

00:08:59.000 tax mean for albertans it's just disgusting uh i straight up had a guy phone me out of the blue

00:09:05.180 because they see you know see us having these conversations rachel and they think that we're

00:09:09.280 government people or can help somehow right because they don't know um he was out of food

00:09:13.800 he was completely out of food he and his diabetic wife and he clearly didn't have a lot of access to

00:09:19.280 information and means and stuff and so i phoned the calgary food bank and i made sure to get a hamper

00:09:24.300 out to him and stuff and he was really at his wit's end um and that was surprising that was the first

00:09:29.720 one i've gotten like a hot call here in alberta in a year in british columbia i used to get those calls

00:09:35.520 all the time it was brutal from working people and i'm circling back to bc for a reason because bc has

00:09:42.980 had two carbon taxes now for years they have had the highest first carbon tax in all of north america

00:09:48.940 and they've got the highest second carbon tax in all of north america the second carbon tax is a form

00:09:53.980 of government fuel regulation that basically uh fines energy companies for the content of carbon

00:10:02.620 in their product so what that means is if the company can't reduce its carbon content it gets a fee

00:10:09.640 or a fine coming from the government they then take that cost and pass it on down to the consumer

00:10:15.580 which makes things like gasoline and diesel cost more at the pump in british columbia right now

00:10:21.120 on average it makes it cost around 15 cents extra per liter of gasoline and around 17 cents extra per

00:10:28.880 liter of diesel layered on top of the first carbon tax prime minister justin trudeau took a look at the

00:10:34.840 situation in bc and said huh that's super cool i'm going to duplicate that across the whole country

00:10:40.700 like i'm not really kidding he said so that he's using it as a template and so now as of july 1st

00:10:47.380 we now have a clean fuel standard we now have a second carbon tax coast to coast it's across canada

00:10:53.640 we don't know how much it's going to cost right out of the chutes so like i explained there's like

00:11:00.640 international credit trading systems and stuff we're going to have to wait and see how much cost is

00:11:06.460 actually being passed down to the consumer to figure out what it's going to be extra at the pump

00:11:11.380 but within the next seven years it's going to be the same amount as it is in bc and this is coming

00:11:18.560 from the parliamentary budget officer so an independent officer of parliament has done all

00:11:23.600 the math on this you can go find his study it's going to be about 14 cents extra per liter of gas

00:11:29.840 and around 17 cents extra per liter of diesel and keep in mind diesel is the lifeblood of the economy

00:11:36.900 right now we don't have dilithium crystals right now i wish we did like tomorrow that'd be great

00:11:42.380 we don't diesel is our mode of power it moves our trucks and it moves our trains which carry all of

00:11:48.380 our stuff which then makes everything cost more searchlight pictures presents in the blink of an eye

00:11:55.440 on hulu on disney plus a sweeping science fiction drama spanning the stone age the present day and

00:12:01.640 the distant future about the essence of what it means to be human regardless of our place in history

00:12:07.000 the film is directed by oscar-winning filmmaker andrew stanton and stars rashida jones kate mckinnon

00:12:12.560 and david diggs stream in the blink of an eye now only on hulu on disney plus sign up at disneyplus.com

00:12:20.140 yeah so the costs of everything are obviously going to increase and it just seems like

00:12:26.020 with this policy as well with everything else the liberal government does we don't really know what

00:12:31.920 the cost is going to be we don't really know what the impact is going to be we do know what's going

00:12:36.160 to drive a cost we do know what's going to drive business out of canada same with c18 we don't

00:12:40.580 really know what's going to happen it's just seems pretty crazy to me that we have a government that's

00:12:45.260 so carefree with passing legislation without being exactly sure of what it's going to do i don't know

00:12:51.280 how that happens but it just seems to be the common thing nowadays we're passing all this legislation

00:12:55.320 it's very unclear how it'll be achieved and you know when we look at this new fuel standard that's

00:13:00.060 going to drive a cost about 14 cents back when i was in ontario i thought you know at some point

00:13:04.680 maybe i will turn to having an electric vehicle but that's just not something people at alberta are

00:13:09.180 interested in they don't think it's going to be reliable for the winters it's not something they're

00:13:12.960 considering doing whatsoever so this is really just driving up costs without a real solution for

00:13:17.820 people unless they're just going to give up driving altogether which we know the liberal government

00:13:21.680 would love and this is another element you brought up the issue of electric cars and like i said i mean

00:13:26.620 i think a lot of people would switch if they could trust that there's going to be an affordable

00:13:30.360 alternative dependable energy source but this is a really interesting stat so let's use even bc as an

00:13:37.020 example okay which is super keen on the idea of electrification if everyone say santa brought

00:13:43.680 them a free electric car boom it's in your driveway just for that personal transportation and bare bones

00:13:50.640 home heating like just enough to keep your pipes not frozen forget like transport industry separate

00:13:56.860 that personal use for personal use only the staff that i was told by an expert on energy was that bc

00:14:05.180 would need nine new site c dams nine of them i was shocked because anybody who's familiar with energy

00:14:16.680 in british columbia knows that site c has been like a 25 year long planning project it's a massive

00:14:23.420 hydroelectric dam up in the interior and the idea that the amount of juice that they would need based on

00:14:29.120 our current technologies would be nine new ones tomorrow if we all switched so this is the other

00:14:35.620 element and the other part of the equation that the government just isn't answering because they're

00:14:40.180 saying well just trust us here's a rebate here just trust us get an electric car and people are

00:14:44.120 going oh where's the energy coming from and how much is it going to cost me and there's so many

00:14:48.980 unknowns there and getting back to the fact that you know the the trudeau government seems bent

00:14:55.120 on punishing especially western canadians it was the parliamentary budget officer that did the

00:15:00.100 math rachel the two the two combined carbon taxes within the next seven years are going to cost around

00:15:08.140 thirty nine hundred dollars extra for alberta families that's with rebates factored in net it's going to

00:15:16.480 cost us almost four grand per alberta family well chris certainly some dark news stories here i don't

00:15:23.860 imagine people are feeling super you know lifted up and enlightened after this it is very difficult

00:15:28.440 unfortunately we do need to be aware of these things and we so appreciate the work that you are

00:15:32.980 doing to really crunch the numbers and bring all the facts to light as we mentioned there is a lot

00:15:37.860 of unknown but certainly the work at the canadian taxpayers federation is shining a bit of a light

00:15:42.320 in what seems to be a lot of darkness and uncertainty right now so we really appreciate that

00:15:45.940 and we appreciate you coming on the show today and we'll talk to you soon thanks chris thank you

00:15:53.860 you

The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - July 04, 2023

C-18’s hidden cost to taxpayers

Episode Stats

Summary

Transcript