The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - December 02, 2023


Smith invokes Sovereignty Act to “protect Albertans” from Trudeau gov


Episode Stats

Length

8 minutes

Words per Minute

168.81525

Word Count

1,423

Sentence Count

85


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup. I'm your host, Rachel Emanuel.
00:00:03.860 We are back to our regular programming. If you haven't had a chance to see my episode
00:00:08.240 from last week yet, head over to YouTube and give that a watch. You won't want to miss
00:00:12.960 True North host Andrew Lawton's insights onto the province of Alberta and some of the major
00:00:18.300 news stories that I missed while I was away. That being said, we have a great show for you
00:00:23.440 guys today. A lot of big things happening in the province. Here's a look at what we'll be
00:00:27.160 discussing today. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has invoked the Sovereignty Act for the first
00:00:31.920 time. There's also been some positive changes regarding PhotoWriter and a huge investment
00:00:38.040 into the province, which will create thousands of jobs. Finally, you won't want to miss the
00:00:43.660 Alberta politics funny moment of the week. All that and more happening now on the Alberta Roundup.
00:00:57.160 Okay guys, up first, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she's invoking the Sovereignty Act
00:01:03.260 for the first time to challenge Ottawa's regulations, which would require a net zero
00:01:08.820 electricity grid by 2035. No doubt you remember that Danielle Smith first pitched the Sovereignty
00:01:14.620 Act during the United Conservative Party leadership race. It was very controversial at the time.
00:01:20.040 Of course, she won that race and it was her first piece of legislation as Premier. The bill
00:01:25.220 was pitched as a mean to bar federal legislation deemed harmful to Alberta and its interests.
00:01:30.700 In this case, Smith said she invoked the act to show that she was serious about challenging Ottawa's
00:01:35.300 energy regulations, which would wreak havoc on Alberta's natural gas-based grid. Here's what
00:01:41.620 she had to say about invoking the Sovereignty Act to reporters on Monday.
00:01:44.980 We developed this legislation to shield the province from federal intrusions, and we're using it now
00:01:50.900 because the consequences of this particular overreach would be so severe. Alberta will bear
00:01:57.180 the largest share of the expenses required to meet these absurd targets, and consumers and businesses
00:02:02.900 will see their bills soar. If the federal government has its way, many people will be left without
00:02:08.980 electricity that they can pay for on a power grid that will fall short or even fail in a typical
00:02:15.300 Alberta winter or summer.
00:02:16.640 I'm sure this won't come as a surprise to you all, but Environment Minister Stephen Gaubeau
00:02:20.680 doesn't appear to be taking the Premier seriously. Here was his response to the news that she would
00:02:26.580 be invoking the Sovereignty Act for the first time to challenge his government.
00:02:30.320 We will continue moving ahead with this. There is no legal basis for what Alberta is doing,
00:02:37.540 and we feel that we're on very solid ground. And the fact that we already have some provinces
00:02:41.740 who are on board with us, as well as a number of private companies and investors who say that
00:02:46.140 this is the way to the future.
00:02:47.400 Under the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, the Premier put forward a motion,
00:02:53.360 which would require the Alberta government to take several actions. Most notable among the actions,
00:02:58.580 it would compel Alberta regulators and officials not to comply with regulations,
00:03:03.480 so long as they are not breaking federal law. Those regulations are still in draft,
00:03:09.100 but they are expected to be enacted soon. The motion also calls Alberta to look into creating
00:03:14.500 a Crown Electricity Corporation. Now the purpose of this Crown Corporation would not be to compete with
00:03:21.200 Alberta's private electricity power system, but rather to look into generating electricity in the
00:03:27.680 case of a shortage. Moving into the controversy of the week, the Alberta government has banned
00:03:32.600 photo radar on ring roads around Edmonton and Calgary. It says it will instead allow the cities to move
00:03:39.340 those photo radar cameras to places like construction zones, schools and playgrounds.
00:03:44.300 There are currently eight photo radar cameras on Calgary's ring road and a whopping 22 cameras in
00:03:50.380 Edmonton. When making the announcement last week, Alberta Transportation Minister Devin Drieschen said,
00:03:55.520 Alberta's are concerned that these photo radar cameras are not being used because of safety,
00:04:00.960 but rather to generate revenue for the cities. Here's what that sounded like.
00:04:05.240 Now, some Albertans believe that municipalities operate photo radar solely to generate revenue
00:04:11.660 and is not for the improvement of traffic safety. So there's a lot of concern over fishing holes that we've
00:04:19.340 heard from Albertans. Now, since then, we've now had years worth of data to review, and we have come to the
00:04:26.400 conclusion that some photo radar sites are indeed designed to generate revenue, not to improve safety.
00:04:31.760 So let me be perfectly clear. This will end here in the province of Alberta.
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00:04:49.140 to get your coupon.
00:04:52.800 The Alberta government will now work with law enforcement to remove all fishing hole locations,
00:04:57.900 referring to cameras where there is no safety concern. Now, the reason I put this story as the
00:05:03.540 controversy of the week because while it is trending in the right direction, it does not
00:05:08.300 quite go far enough. Comment below if you agree that it is time for Alberta to ban
00:05:13.820 photo radar entirely. Perhaps more importantly, email your city councillors and let them know that you hate
00:05:19.780 these policies. And while we're at it, let's do away with those stupid drive safe vehicles. I cannot stand this
00:05:26.540 program. I couldn't believe it that shortly after moving to Alberta, I received a ticket in the mail
00:05:31.720 for $120 for going 10 kilometers over the speed limit. An officer would never ticket you that much.
00:05:38.940 They probably wouldn't even pull you over for going 10 kilometers an hour over the speed limit. At least
00:05:44.140 in Ontario, it's generally considered that the speed limit is just 10 kilometers an hour over whatever
00:05:49.940 is posted. So it's one thing if you get pulled over fair and square, then it's up to you to reason your way
00:05:56.540 ticket. But I really don't agree with these policies. I don't like that the government is
00:06:00.940 watching all our actions, constantly finding new ways to monitor us, and then penalizing us if we
00:06:08.340 don't comply with their regulations. Comment below if you agree. Moving into what we're watching in the
00:06:13.880 weeks to come, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and Federal Finance Minister Christopher Land this week
00:06:19.360 announced a $8.9 billion investment by Dow into the province's Fort Saskatchewan area.
00:06:26.340 That will become home to Dow's Path Zero facility, the world's first net zero scope one and two
00:06:32.480 greenhouse gas emissions integrated ethylene cracker and derivative site. Now for those of
00:06:37.460 you who thought that was a little bit of word salad, here's the great takeaway. It will create
00:06:41.300 6,000 construction jobs and 400 to 500 permanent jobs once the site is operational. In an announcement
00:06:48.260 on Wednesday, government officials were joined by Dow CEO Jim Thetterling. He said products made at this
00:06:54.720 facility will have greenhouse gas footprints less than half of products made at other plastic
00:06:59.900 alternatives. He added quote, we intend to take that to zero. Chrystia Freeland said the investment
00:07:05.840 is evidence that her government's plans are working. Here's what that sounded like.
00:07:11.000 We said that those tax credits would create great careers for Canadians, for people like the great
00:07:16.980 Canadians who are here with me, that they would build stronger communities and help reduce our emissions
00:07:23.980 at the same time. Today is proof that it's working. Moving into the Alberta politics funny moment of the
00:07:33.580 week, you guys are going to love this. Transportation Minister Devon Driesen was being interviewed by 630
00:07:40.000 Chad host Stacey Bratzel about his photo rater when she asked him about the Alberta Sovereignty Act,
00:07:45.500 reminding him that his former boss and former Premier Jason Kenney once called the Sovereignty Act
00:07:51.800 illegal, cockamamie, and said it would turn Alberta into a banana republic. Here's Driesen's response.
00:07:59.080 But your old boss called it cockamamie and illegal and would turn us into a banana republic, so
00:08:04.280 I guess that's politics, right?
00:08:08.980 And I wonder what he's doing now, yeah.
00:08:10.620 Oof, that's gotta hurt. Okay, guys, that's everything we have for you today. Thank you so
00:08:15.920 much for tuning into the Alberta Roundup. As always, if you're able, please consider supporting
00:08:20.680 our work over at donate.tnc.news. I will see you all next week. God bless.