00:03:04.240Will you say that on the record right now?
00:03:06.940No, I want to have some time to think on that.
00:03:09.120Okay, well, that's me. Have a great day. And I will be speaking out against this meeting because you are clearly not ready to have this.
00:03:16.900So I'm not going to be added to the list of meetings that you are going to have with people where you say, well, I met this person and this person.
00:03:26.100You can't say I've had these consultations and use that as justification for you to work your way back into caucus, which is why we know you're really here.
00:03:35.240This meeting is only happening because you're on Twitter, in the Twittersphere, and people are debating whether or not you're going to be led back into caucus, and Premier Smith is debating that.
00:03:51.060Unless you can tell me right now that you believe that I, as a trans woman, right now, right here, am a woman, then we don't have a lot to work on here.
00:04:01.660You want to talk about listening to the community?
00:04:03.460If you can't start with that basic foundational principle that we are who we say we are in our bones, then I don't think we're on the same page for working forward.
00:04:28.500But I will be speaking out against this meeting 100% if you can't say that right now, because I'm not going to have you add my name to the list of meetings that you've had to show that you're, quote, doing the work.
00:04:43.100You're learning what you're allowed to say in public and what you're not, so you don't get in the situation again, because you got caught saying what you really thought.
00:05:30.480Open your PC Optimum app to get your coupon.
00:05:32.600Despite various local pride societies releasing a joint statement slandering Johnson, she did not bend the knee.
00:05:42.920Some people celebrated her for not capitulating to the woke mob.
00:05:47.320Johnson's return to caucus follows conservatives from across the province pleading with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith to reinstate her.
00:05:54.060In Wednesday's press release, the party said that Johnson's reinstatement actually follows an internal caucus vote.
00:06:00.780Over the past 17 months, MLA Johnson has done a very good job as a local MLA.
00:06:06.180After having a very thoughtful discussion with our caucus team, our MLAs voted to acknowledge her hard work, recognize her efforts, and welcome her into the government caucus, said Chief Government Whip Shane Getzen.
00:06:17.440Johnson had been sitting as an independent since her removal from the party, but her status as United Conservative MLA is in effect immediately.
00:06:25.680So now we're going to move over to the news we've seen coming out of Jasper over the last few weeks, and yes, it is a lot of information.
00:06:33.520I spent many hours this week researching clips and testimonies coming out of the House of Commons this week, but honestly, it still wasn't enough.
00:06:41.760The Conservatives are now setting forward a motion that calls for additional testimony from forest management experts, stakeholders, Indigenous communities, and impacted individuals during the four additional meetings that they are calling for.
00:06:55.640Conservative MP Dan Mazier wrote a post to X where he shared the motion, and he said,
00:07:01.820Over the last two weeks, an alarming amount of evidence has been released at the Environment Committee that shows Minister Guibo was negligent in protecting Jasper.
00:07:10.600Mazier runs through a few of the key developments, one being that Guibo's senior officials were found discussing the cancellation of prescribed burns for, quote,
00:07:20.420political purposes months before the fire, which caused nearly $1 billion in damage and destroyed a third of the town.
00:07:28.180Yes, this resulted in over 360 square kilometers of burned or partially burned area and 358 destroyed structures.
00:07:35.820Mazier said the investigation also revealed that the top officials at Parks Canada could not say how many hectares of dead pine remain in Jasper.
00:08:22.780And of course, True North's previous exclusive featured Peter Schultz, who was hired by Parks Canada in 2008,
00:08:28.900and he estimated that by last summer, close to 40% of Jasper National Park trees were standing deadwood killed by pine beetle infestation.
00:08:37.380Another shocking revelation that recently came out of the investigation was that Parks Canada turned away firefighters who arrived on the scene to help fight the fire.
00:08:48.52050 firefighters and 20 fire trucks were turned away by Gibo's office when they arrived in Jasper to help fight the fire.
00:08:55.720President of Arctic Fire Safety Service, Christopher Livam, testified that they were deemed, quote,
00:09:01.580non-essential and were ordered to leave by Parks Canada.
00:09:05.040He also revealed another shocking development, which was that Parks Canada ordered hydrants for Jasper with different threading than those used in Alberta and British Columbia municipalities,
00:09:16.240which meant that only seven compatible adapters were available for firemen to use.
00:09:21.600At one point, Livam said that his crew was forced to watch structures burn because they could not connect to the nearby hydrant due to its incompatible threading.
00:09:30.820The statement that I provide today will provide a shocking example of how it must manage the Jasper Fire of Wise by Parks Canada
00:09:38.740and should warrant a deeper investigation into this agency's fire management and overall role as guardians of Canada's most important and cultural assets.
00:09:46.240The next thing that happened with Livam is insane.
00:09:49.180At one point, the committee chair stopped him from testifying, arguing that the interpreters could not interpret him.
00:09:55.820However, various people testified in French directly after him and had no issues with interpretation.
00:10:49.340I was very surprised to hear that all of the resources weren't there to fight fires.
00:10:54.580And I imagine that there must be certain structural problems with regards to management and with all the different organizations.
00:11:03.000But I can't really pronounce myself more than that.
00:11:05.320But, like us, you must have been shocked and outraged to hear that there are firefighters who are there willing to fight.
00:11:15.520Yes, well, we've got over four minutes.
00:11:18.160Maiden Taylor-Royce, it's your turn now.
00:11:20.640Separately, Alberta's Minister of Forestry and Parks, Todd Lowen, testified that Alberta increased the firefighting budget by 55% from $101.4 to $155.4 million.
00:11:33.380The province also increased its contingency amount from $1.5 to $2 billion, a 33% increase.
00:11:40.580He said that the Liberals' Minister of Emergency Preparedness, Harjit Stajan, was not opposed to Alberta being in the Unified Command and in a decision-making position.