The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - December 23, 2023


Smith trashes Trudeau’s EV mandate


Episode Stats

Length

10 minutes

Words per Minute

186.31757

Word Count

1,881

Sentence Count

107

Hate Speech Sentences

2


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Hey everyone, welcome back to the Alberta Roundup. I'm your host, Rachel Emanuel.
00:00:04.220 We have a great show for you guys today. I thought there wouldn't be a lot of news headed
00:00:08.260 into Christmas, but there is never any shortage of controversy in Alberta.
00:00:13.020 Taking a look at what we're going to be talking about on today's show.
00:00:16.420 A Medicine Hat High School is receiving backlash after students sought instructions
00:00:20.140 for how to safely prepare illicit substances for consumption. The chief of Edmonton Fire
00:00:25.160 Rescue Services says there's an unacceptable number of serious injury-causing and even
00:00:30.380 fatal fires in the city's homeless encampments. And finally, Canada will have to be zero emissions
00:00:35.860 by 2035 under a new electric vehicle availability standard. And you better believe that Alberta
00:00:42.000 Premier Danielle Smith has some thoughts. All that and more happening now on the Alberta Roundup.
00:00:55.160 Starting with our first topic here, a Medicine Hat school is receiving backlash after students
00:01:01.200 were given pamphlets informing them how to safely consume illicit substances. Pamphlets included
00:01:07.280 information on quote, safer crystal meth smoking, safer crack smoking, and safer snorting. The material
00:01:15.140 was made available by a booth from Safe Link Alberta, a harm reduction organization. The pamphlet was
00:01:21.820 among several distributed at a wellness booth at the school earlier this month. Sarah Anderson,
00:01:26.780 a parent at the high school, told Chat News she was disappointed with the pamphlet, adding that she
00:01:31.300 was so mad and that the information was inappropriate for high school students. Safe Link said pamphlets were
00:01:36.820 not actively handed out and were removed from the booth after a request by school administrators
00:01:42.020 within an hour of the start of the event. In a letter addressed to parents, Principal Dean Brown
00:01:47.140 apologized. He said quote, to be clear, we are not okay with content being shared in our school
00:01:53.260 and we are committed to doing better. We want to share a sincere apology with our students and
00:01:58.840 families. In a statement, Safe Link said that students using amphetamines is not uncommon across
00:02:04.360 Southern Alberta. Safe Link said quote, in sharing this information, our intention is not to promote
00:02:10.500 substance use, particularly in youth. Instead, Safe Link said they hope the information would be used by
00:02:16.200 students who are already using to prevent disease transmission and overdose deaths. Mark Davidson,
00:02:22.480 the superintendent of the Medicine Hat School Division, said the pamphlet came as a surprise.
00:02:27.780 He said quote, as a father, educator, superintendent, and member of our community, I was angered by the
00:02:33.700 materials Safe Link displayed for students. He said the materials were not reviewed ahead of time by high
00:02:39.020 school staff and that they will now work harder to make sure they screen what comes into schools.
00:02:44.240 He added quote, as a result of this incident, we are redoubling our efforts to ensure all outside
00:02:50.040 agencies understand the need for caution, respect, and sound judgment when they are guests in our
00:02:55.660 schools. Moving into our next story here, the Edmonton Fire Rescue Services says there is an
00:03:00.520 unacceptable number of serious injury-causing and even fatal fires in the city's homeless encampments.
00:03:08.060 Joe Zatlany described the camps as extremely unsafe for the people living there,
00:03:12.340 as well as for the fire rescue service and the surrounding neighbors. Zatlany said there are
00:03:17.640 issues of crime and safety, particularly in the camps that are close to the river valley or near
00:03:22.600 buildings. He described what it's like for the fire rescue services when they have to attend an
00:03:27.420 incident in one of these encampments, saying quote,
00:03:30.080 They're made of materials not meant to build, tents and structures. There's all sorts of storage and
00:03:36.180 materials and items that can easily explode in these structures. People are cooking in them and
00:03:41.360 they're struggling with all sorts of issues, right from addictions to mental health. And it is an
00:03:46.180 extremely unsafe situation and presents many challenges for our first responders. Our firefighters
00:03:52.340 have risen to this challenge and continue to do incredible work for our most vulnerable. He said the
00:03:57.420 people living in these structures need more resources and the encampments need to be taken
00:04:02.040 down immediately. Alberta Premier Daniel Smith responded to the chief's comments, saying they are
00:04:06.940 another example of how, quote, organized crime operating drug markets is making encampments
00:04:11.640 dangerous for our most vulnerable and the surrounding community. Moving into what we're watching in the
00:04:16.020 weeks to come, the federal government has announced that it will appeal the federal court's decision to
00:04:20.560 overturn its plastic span. Alberta Premier Daniel Smith said her government will keep fighting for what's
00:04:26.400 right. Here's what that sounded like. So Alberta will keep standing up for what's right. And in this
00:04:31.760 case, what's right is the fact that plastics aren't actually toxic. If they were, they wouldn't be in
00:04:37.640 nearly every product product in the economy. And Alberta can't regulate or and Ottawa can't regulate
00:04:42.800 whatever it wants by arbitrarily classifying something as a toxic substance. But we shouldn't be
00:04:47.960 surprised by this, which should come as no surprise to Ottawa that we intend to continue pushing back on
00:04:53.820 their unreasonable and unconstitutional orders. We were interveners in the original case, and we will
00:04:59.020 stay involved throughout the appeals process. The stakes are too high to do anything less. If Ottawa's
00:05:04.680 approach ultimately wins, it will be a disaster for Alberta's and Canada's economy. It would destroy our
00:05:10.540 petrochemicals industry, driving away tens of billions of dollars in investment and eliminating tens of
00:05:16.020 thousands of jobs. And it will harm the progress that's occurring in plastics reuse and recycling.
00:05:21.140 Ottawa should listen to these objections. They come from the courts and the constitution
00:05:25.860 and the provinces and the people Ottawa claims to serve. And finally, moving into the controversy of
00:05:31.180 the week, the federal government has announced that all new vehicles in Canada must be electric
00:05:36.320 vehicles by 2035. That falls under its new electric vehicle availability standard. The federal government
00:05:43.100 is pitching the program as a means to ensure that EVs are available quickly for people who want to get
00:05:48.660 them. Which is interesting when you consider how little uptake there's been on electric vehicles
00:05:53.460 in Canada. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said her government will do everything within its legal
00:05:58.800 jurisdiction to thwart implementation of the unconstitutional regulations in the province.
00:06:04.500 She added, quote,
00:06:05.300 In another show of total disregard for the well-being of Canadians, the federal government has unilaterally
00:06:11.880 imposed an unconstitutional edict with a bizarrely impossible timeline that will result in massive
00:06:18.180 increases in the cost of vehicles and utility bills, vehicle rationing and wait lists, increased cost
00:06:24.720 to businesses, and elevated difficulty and safety risk for hundreds of thousands of Albertans and Canadians
00:06:30.180 just trying to get to work and family activities in our unpredictable and often cold climate.
00:06:36.260 Later on, while speaking about the announcement on the Sean Newman podcast, Premier Smith said that
00:06:41.620 soon, Canadians will have to put their name on a list at the beginning of the year in hopes of being
00:06:46.820 able to get a new vehicle. Take a listen to her comments for yourself.
00:06:50.520 I'm beginning to wonder what in the world, why this federal government has handed over all of the
00:06:55.600 brains of decision making to somebody who is so clearly destructive, destructive to national unity,
00:07:00.520 destructive to our economies. I was on a show on the weekend and I said, you know, maybe the rest of
00:07:05.060 the country doesn't have a lot of sympathy for Alberta because we have been a major oil and natural
00:07:09.960 gas producer and it has caused tension because we are so wealthy. But if they allow Gibault to come
00:07:15.700 and kill our principal industry, it'll be their industry next. And we're seeing it. They're about to set out
00:07:21.260 on destroying the auto manufacturing industry with aggressive targets that everyone is going to have
00:07:26.540 buy electric vehicles as their new vehicle by 2035. There's no way to force people to buy electric
00:07:33.880 vehicles. It just means what they're going to do is start ratcheting down the amount of production they
00:07:37.500 do on regular cars. We're entering into a world where we're going to literally have to sign up at the
00:07:42.660 beginning of the year because they're going to ration the number of vehicles that are sold into a
00:07:47.460 given market. This is crazy. Okay. And finally, you guys moving into our weekly comment roundup.
00:07:53.340 Jim BD said, I am in complete agreement with Premier Smith's assessment of Gibault. He is a zealot,
00:07:59.280 an extremist, and he hasn't changed from his days in Greenpeace. On top of that, he and his crowd are
00:08:04.960 dead wrong about the imminent threat of climate change. Yes, it is a problem, but not one that
00:08:10.340 threatens our immediate future as Gibault and his band of climate alarmists would have us believe.
00:08:15.240 User KT Jane wrote, great job, Rachel. I am so tired of the woke BS. I've watched both those
00:08:22.520 documentaries and Aaron Gunn has done an incredible job in reporting what's really going on. I live in
00:08:28.020 BC and it's horrible what is going on here at so-called safe supply. What a joke. Don't have
00:08:34.280 a favorite song and not really an X-mas person. Sorry. I agree that we need prayer and lots of it.
00:08:39.300 For those of you who missed last week's episode, I encouraged all of you to go watch Aaron Gunn's
00:08:43.540 documentaries. I believe you can get them for free on YouTube. Canada is dying and Vancouver
00:08:48.140 is dying is a two I recommended. Now, those are not necessarily some light material for Christmas,
00:08:52.900 but nonetheless, I always encourage you guys to stay educated and I think that you would all
00:08:56.780 really appreciate the information you can find in the films if you haven't seen them already,
00:09:01.300 especially if you're wondering why our cities are looking so badly right now with the many homeless
00:09:05.960 encampments that we're seeing and the extreme rise in violent crime. Lastly, I just want to thank
00:09:10.960 you guys for your Christmas song suggestions. You guys really understood the assignment and I have
00:09:16.160 some great additions to my new playlist. Also, just a shout out to the person, I don't remember who it
00:09:19.980 was, who recommended Boney M, Zion's Daughter. I've been listening to Boney M since before I could speak.
00:09:26.320 I listen to them every year. One of my favorite Christmas albums for sure. My brother kind of makes
00:09:30.520 fun of me for that. He doesn't think they're very good. Actually, I noticed that last year and this year
00:09:35.060 they performed in Alberta, so I'm wondering if they do that every year. I had hoped to go,
00:09:39.060 but I actually can never find anybody who wants to go with me. So let me know if you're a big
00:09:42.980 Boney M fan. Maybe we'll have to make that arrangement to go together next year.
00:09:46.960 Okay guys, that's all I have for you today. Thank you so much for tuning into the Alberta Roundup
00:09:50.660 so close to Christmas. I hope that you all have a very blessed Christmas celebrating with your
00:09:55.520 friends and family. As always, if you enjoy our work over at True North, you can support us over
00:10:00.520 at donate.tnc.news. Thank you so much. Have a great weekend. God bless.