The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - Ottawa denies Alberta’s drug hunt scheme

00:00:00.000 If you've been to a city lately, you've seen the suffering. People curled up on benches,

00:00:04.880 in parks, and under stoplights, where they come right up to your car and ask for money.

00:00:09.980 It didn't used to be this way. When I was a kid, you'd see the occasional homeless person

00:00:14.440 on a rare trip to the big city. Today, it's commonplace. It seems that everywhere there's

00:00:20.360 a stoplight or public transit, there's also homelessness, or should I say the unhoused.

00:00:25.780 It's gotten so bad that the problem has stretched from city's downtown course to what were once

00:00:31.120 considered safe, even boring, family-friendly neighborhoods. And it's not just in places

00:00:36.380 like Edmonton and Calgary. It's also bad in Red Deer and Lethbridge, maybe even worse.

00:00:42.440 When I lived in a condo in Red Deer, I used to watch them run out of the forest and jump into

00:00:47.040 the trash bin out back, looking for anything they could use, eat, or sell. It got so bad that you

00:00:52.480 had to double-check the bin before throwing your trash out. How did this happen? We can have the

00:00:57.800 discussion about fentanyl from China, but our federal government has responsibility to bear

00:01:02.720 for the record level of addiction that we're seeing. For two years during the COVID-19 pandemic,

00:01:08.100 you couldn't go to work, and you couldn't even get a beer with your friends, but you could get drugs,

00:01:12.760 lots of them, and for free. At least one Canadian province is taking this problem seriously.

00:01:17.800 The Alberta government has prioritized recovery-based care. And this week, they announced

00:01:23.040 they want to track Ottawa's safe and free drugs to see what impact it's having on the streets.

00:01:29.120 Of course, the federal government rejected this proposal. The government that wants to impact

00:01:34.180 every single sphere of private life said this is a bridge too far. Now that doesn't come as a

00:01:39.620 surprise to me or to you. For all of its talk about empathy and inclusivity and acceptance,

00:01:44.300 this is a government that offers assisted suicide in place of healthcare. And this is a government

00:01:49.420 that will leave behind a legacy of death. I'm Rachel Emanuel, and this is the Alberta Roundup.

00:02:03.780 Okay guys, taking a look at our first story here, the Trudeau government has rejected a proposal from

00:02:08.600 the province of Alberta to add a unique chemical identifier to drugs offered under the safe supply

00:02:14.580 program so that authorities could track street sales. Alberta Mental Health and Addictions Minister

00:02:20.080 Dan Williams asked Federal Health Minister Mark Holland for hard evidence that safe supply programs

00:02:25.460 were having a positive impact on Canadians. Williams also said that a unique chemical identifier

00:02:31.300 should be required of drugs offered under safe supply programs so that authorities can track

00:02:36.680 when safe supply drugs are being diverted and to wear. Federal Mental Health and Addictions Minister

00:02:42.600 Yara Sachs said that while she shares the province's concerns regarding substance diversion,

00:02:48.580 she thinks adding a chemical identifier presents its own issues of impracticality. Sachs said,

00:02:54.480 quote, it is unclear how this would work in practice, given these drugs are not manufactured

00:02:59.220 specifically for these programs and are also used for other medical purposes such as pain management.

00:03:04.580 Sachs also said she believes that there are misconceptions and misinformation regarding

00:03:09.640 the safe supply program, adding, quote, the idea that these programs are simply handing out drugs to

00:03:14.740 anyone is false. Since the government began collecting data on the crisis in 2016, over 40,000 people

00:03:21.860 have died as a result of Canada's opioid crisis. The majority of recorded deaths last year involved

00:03:27.400 fentanyl. British Columbia became the first province to offer users pharmaceutical alternatives,

00:03:32.880 which is now referred to as safe supply programs. Alberta Premier Daniel Smith has refused to follow

00:03:38.580 suit and has instead prioritized recovery-based care, as did her predecessor, former Premier Jason

00:03:44.980 Kenney. Moving into our next story here, this isn't Alberta-specific, but I know that you guys will be

00:03:49.240 very interested in this subject matter as we learn that child vaccination rates are dropping rapidly.

00:03:55.140 This is from the Angus Reid Institute. As some diseases such as measles and polio,

00:03:59.200 thought to be worries of the past, have been breaking out globally and in Canada, many Canadians are

00:04:04.440 expressing concern, even alarm, about waning vaccination acceptance in their country. New data

00:04:10.060 from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds 7 in 10 Canadians, or 71%, feeling the anti-vaccination

00:04:16.680 movement is going to lead to unnecessary illness and suffering in the population. This comes as there

00:04:21.440 appears to be growing skepticism about vaccine efficacy among Canadians in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic,

00:04:26.600 especially among parents with children under 18. 17% of parents of minors say they are really

00:04:32.340 against vaccinating their kids. That's a four-fold increase from 2019. There has also been a

00:04:38.160 simultaneous 15-point decrease in the proportion of Canadians who support mandatory childhood

00:04:44.220 vaccination in schools. That policy is in place in Ontario and New Brunswick. Opposition to this idea

00:04:49.940 has risen correspondingly from 24% to 38%. 52% of people with children younger than 18 say that it

00:04:57.180 should be the parents' decision whether to vaccinate. That proportion drops to 32% for those who do not

00:05:02.480 have children under 18. It almost is like something traumatizing happened to Canadians to make them so 0.96

00:05:07.360 skeptical of vaccines. Huh, I wonder what that could be. I'm actually interested in this. Comment in the

00:05:12.780 video below if you guys believe in child vaccination. And I'm also curious how many of you have seen

00:05:18.080 Candace Owens' series, A Shot in the Dark. Just comment in the video below. I'm just curious.

00:05:22.380 Moving into our next story here, the 2024 Alberta budget was tabled this week.

00:05:26.680 Here's Alberta Finance Minister Nate Horner speaking about it on Thursday.

00:05:30.500 This responsible plan strikes the right balance between investing wisely to meet the needs of

00:05:35.980 Albertans today and ensuring those services remain sustainable to support the next generations.

00:05:42.140 And we're going to take a quick snapshot of what this budget promises to do.

00:05:45.420 It's poised to bolster the province's status as Canada's economic powerhouse and forecasts a $367

00:05:51.800 million surplus for the fiscal year 2024 to 2025. Despite the technical surplus, the province is

00:05:58.320 projected to borrow $19.8 billion and that will go to refinancing maturing debt, new funding for the

00:06:04.320 capital plan and year-end cash adjustments, and to repay debt maturities. The province justified the high

00:06:10.340 amount of debt by saying that it needs to borrow in advance of its immediate cash needs.

00:06:14.200 The fund raise in advance will be held in a designated debt retirement account. That cash will

00:06:19.220 be invested in high-quality bonds to the maturity dates of the existing debts, ensuring the province

00:06:24.020 is positioned to repay bonds as they come due. Alberta's revenue of $73.5 billion is offset by total

00:06:30.500 expenses of $71.2 billion and an additional $2 billion for contingency and disaster expenses.

00:06:37.660 While the revenues have decreased since last year, the expenses increased, leading to a lower surplus

00:06:43.580 compared to the $5.2 billion in 2023 to 2024. And moving into our controversy of the week, as part of the

00:06:50.780 budget, the Alberta government announced that a $200 tax would be applied to electric vehicles as early as

00:06:56.440 January 2025. The tax would be paid when owners register the vehicle and will be in addition to an existing

00:07:02.400 registration fee. The tax rate is in line with the annual fuel tax paid by drivers of gas vehicles, says the

00:07:08.660 province. The tax will not apply to owners of hybrid vehicles. Moving into what we're watching in the

00:07:13.720 weeks to come, the Trudeau Liberals are moving ahead with their national pharma care plan and the

00:07:18.300 governments of Alberta and Quebec have already chosen to opt out. Final details of the plan have

00:07:23.000 yet to be ironed out before the scheduled deadline of March 1st. Still, Alberta Health Minister Adriana

00:07:28.580 Lagrange said that the province would not participate. Take a listen. We want to avoid the

00:07:33.380 bureaucracy. I don't think the federal government understands that provinces do have processes in

00:07:39.380 place. They have suppliers. They have an administrative network already set up. Lagrange said that Alberta

00:07:46.240 would use extra pharma care cash, which should be given since Alberta is opting out of the federal

00:07:50.740 program, to enhance its own birth control and diabetes programs. Take a listen. Absolutely willing to

00:07:56.900 enhance those programs. All we need is the federal government to provide those dollars to us and we

00:08:02.200 will make sure that we enhance the programs. Federal Health Minister Mark Holland said everyone needs

00:08:06.640 to take a pause. Everybody just needs to take a pause. You know, for provinces to say whether or not

00:08:11.660 they're going to participate in something or not when they don't even know what it is, is a little

00:08:15.260 premature. Finally, moving into our weekly comment roundup. Last week, I covered that Prime Minister

00:08:20.420 Justin Trudeau came to Alberta and snubbed Alberta Premier Daniel Smith and most of you thought that was a

00:08:25.700 good thing and said good for the Premier that she didn't have to spend any time with Trudeau. User

00:08:31.140 Jerry Smith said he's got a bigger sub coming from the majority of Canadians. It does certainly seem 1.00

00:08:36.380 that the polls are trending that way. We might finally have a conservative government within a year,

00:08:41.840 maybe a year and a half. User at WorshipWarrior12 said the carbon rebate is dang near useless.

00:08:47.860 Everyone knows our cost of living has skyrocketed in the last eight years under JT. He's a disaster from

00:08:54.020 start to finish. No argument there. All right, everyone, that's all we have time for today.

00:08:58.240 Thank you so much for tuning in. As always, please like this video and subscribe to True

00:09:02.000 North so you don't miss any of our content. I hope that you guys have a great rest of your

00:09:06.000 week. I'll see you all on Wednesday. God bless.

The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - March 02, 2024

Ottawa denies Alberta’s drug hunt scheme

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