The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - Western Canada's immigration woes

00:00:00.000 Alberta and BC had strong words for the federal government this week after it once again favored

00:00:05.320 a seat-heavy eastern province to the tone of three quarters of a billion dollars. The federal

00:00:10.780 government announced this week that it would be giving Quebec 750 million dollars to deal with

00:00:15.520 immigration pressures. Pressures which western provinces say they're feeling too but won't

00:00:20.820 receive a dollar for. Those pressures are also being felt by you and I or anyone who's paid

00:00:26.080 attention to the cost of living for the last four years. Not to mention the wait times for a doctor

00:00:30.820 or hospitals. Now I could give some platitudes about the different responsibilities for different levels

00:00:35.500 of government which is how Ottawa responded to this latest criticism but instead why don't we just

00:00:40.480 address the elephant in the room? We don't have the infrastructure to support the number of people

00:00:45.400 being let into Canada and it's happening at the expense of Canadians. Hard-working ones who've

00:00:51.000 lived and paid taxes here for years but it's young people people who can't afford the house they grew 1.00

00:00:57.100 up in or anything remotely like it who are paying the highest cost. I'm Rachel Emanuel and this is

00:01:02.680 the Alberta Roundup. Okay everyone taking a look at our first story here western premiers are frustrated

00:01:18.940 after Ottawa handed Quebec 750 million dollars to deal with the pressures of immigration coming up

00:01:25.780 empty-handed for western Canada. BC Premier David Eby and Alberta Premier Daniel Smith took aim at the

00:01:31.620 federal government at the western premier's conference in the Yukon this week. Their comments

00:01:36.040 came just hours after Ottawa inked a deal with Quebec to help pay for a surge in temporary immigrants to

00:01:41.640 the province. We'll go now to Premier Eby speaking about the western premier's frustrations with Ottawa

00:01:46.720 at the press conference on Monday. Take a lesson. So to see a single province agreement with Quebec

00:01:51.960 is an underlining of a sense of frustration that I heard around the table and I won't put this on

00:01:58.620 anyone else but I'll say for British Columbia how frustrated we are to see the money being showered down

00:02:04.580 on Quebec and Ontario and us grappling around for what's left over. It's not acceptable. It is not

00:02:12.780 okay and part of the pressure that these young people are seeing is a lot of federal resource time

00:02:20.540 and energy money tax credits effort going to those two provinces at the expense in my opinion of the 0.64

00:02:27.560 west. Eby also said that 10,000 newcomers arrive in BC every 37 days. He said that his province and

00:02:33.940 especially young people looking to purchase homes are feeling the pressure. Meanwhile he said the

00:02:39.540 province is housing refugees and homeless shelters. Premier Smith also chimed in saying that 20% of

00:02:44.840 newcomers to Canada are choosing Alberta and that her province also has not seen support from the federal

00:02:49.300 government. Take a listen. That being said we also are host to 70,000 of the newcomers from Ukraine

00:02:57.160 the Ukrainian evacuees and we have not seen the same kind of support for those new arrivals in the same

00:03:04.480 way that Premier Eby has talked about. Federal Immigration Minister Mark Miller was quick to counter the

00:03:10.080 premier's comments saying that Premier Eby is confused about the facts and that if western provinces want more

00:03:16.500 federal dollars they should take in more asylum seekers. Take a listen. I think first and foremost the

00:03:23.000 the disproportionate flow of asylum seekers has in fact occurred in in Quebec and Ontario. If you look

00:03:30.420 by population BC has had fewer it doesn't mean that they are not entitled to assistance from the federal

00:03:37.340 government when they see their numbers go up. I think perhaps there was some confusion on the premier's

00:03:42.740 behalf as to what this money was for. The suggestion was it was for temporary residents. That is

00:03:47.780 absolutely not the case. It's to compensate Quebec for two fiscal years of of of costs they've incurred

00:03:53.020 with respect to the disproportionate flow of asylum seekers. So you know we need provinces like British

00:03:58.960 Columbia to step up when it comes to actually apportioning asylum seekers. It doesn't come without 1.00

00:04:02.980 financial support from the federal government. So there you hear Mark Miller saying that the premiers are

00:04:06.800 confused about the facts and that the money is actually for asylum seekers not temporary residents. But

00:04:11.920 Miller's comments are ironic at best and disingenuous at worst because here's Quebec Premier Francois

00:04:18.420 Legault himself speaking about the deal when it was announced. Legault said quote what is urgent is

00:04:23.920 to substantially and quickly reduce the number of temporary immigrants in Quebec. At least the federal

00:04:28.900 government is telling us they recognize there's a problem. They even recognize that they have to act

00:04:33.620 quickly in the short term in a significant way but they refuse to give numbers. So there you hear

00:04:38.900 the Quebec Premier who is getting the 750 million dollars himself says it is for temporary immigration.

00:04:44.860 So it looks like the Western Premiers are not confused after all. Premier Smith had more to say

00:04:48.960 later on in a tweet on X writing quote, if they want us to be able to make sure that newcomers are being

00:04:53.800 matched the jobs that are available in our economies then they've got to give us more latitude to do that.

00:04:59.180 We certainly want to keep the doors open in Alberta. We want to make sure that we are properly

00:05:02.940 supporting the people coming to our province. I just want to take a moment to address this because I did

00:05:07.520 open my show by criticizing immigration. Our numbers are far too high. They are not sustainable. We are all 1.00

00:05:13.140 paying the price for that as I mentioned in my monologue. That said here we see you know the provinces of

00:05:17.560 BC and Alberta saying they would like more federal dollars to help with the pressures that they are seeing

00:05:23.420 because of all the newcomers coming to their provinces. I think it would actually be far more effective 0.99

00:05:27.480 if they just said to Ottawa it's time to turn off the taps on immigration. There's too many people coming here. 1.00

00:05:32.580 We don't have the infrastructure for them but we're not seeing that. I don't believe that is

00:05:36.400 the premier's ideological response or belief on this issue. I know that Danielle Smith has been

00:05:41.440 talking about wanting all these people to come here. Obviously we still have the Alberta is calling

00:05:44.660 campaign. She even said that they would like to see a million people moving to Red Deer. I don't think

00:05:49.440 people of Red Deer want a million people to live there. I think people in Red Deer kind of like living

00:05:52.960 there because it's you know a smaller city. It's not as busy as places like Edmonton and Calgary.

00:05:58.000 I have to say that Premier Smith's response to immigration whether that's newcomers to Canada

00:06:01.640 or the Alberta is calling campaign which attracts people from other provinces. Probably one of my

00:06:07.040 biggest criticisms of her. I think it's time to turn off the taps of all sorts of immigration and 1.00

00:06:11.720 provincial and newcomers to Canada. We do not have the infrastructure to support these people and 1.00

00:06:17.280 everyone's quality of life is actually declining because we're seeing so many new people coming here 1.00

00:06:23.080 that we aren't ready for. I think let's just turn off the taps of immigration for the next three to 1.00

00:06:27.680 five years get caught up so then we can reevaluate what we want Canada to look like and if we still

00:06:32.480 want to continue bringing over millions of newcomers. But right now I think Premier Smith's response in

00:06:37.060 immigration isn't strong enough. Premier Eby he's a left-wing premier. I don't expect him to take a 0.55

00:06:41.340 strong stance on immigration but I think the Conservative Premier of Alberta could and should

00:06:45.340 be doing a better job on this issue. Taking a look at our next story here the cost of the carbon tax

00:06:50.200 has been 20 billion dollars to the Canadian economy according to modeling data released by the

00:06:55.440 government of Canada this week. According to the Globe and Mail the country's GDP is expected to be

00:06:59.400 about 25 billion dollars lower in 2030 due to carbon pricing than it would otherwise be. The Canadian

00:07:06.380 Taxpayers Federation federal director Franco Terrazzano said in a statement quote once again we see the

00:07:11.600 government's own data showing what hard-working Canadians already know. The carbon tax costs Canadians

00:07:16.700 big time. The carbon tax makes the necessities of life more expensive and it will cost our economy

00:07:21.740 billions of dollars. Alberta Premier Daniel Smith also had strong words for the federal government

00:07:25.960 saying quote it's time to stop punishing Canadians and scrap the carbon tax. Moving into our next story

00:07:31.400 here I just wanted to take a quick look at this one. Alberta's Minister of Seniors, Community and Social

00:07:36.120 Services Jason Nixon says that Alberta is setting new records and continues to lead the country in

00:07:42.160 fastest permanent approval times and fewest roadblocks to building homes. Nixon said that permits for single

00:07:47.780 detached homes are up 36 percent. In a statement to X he wrote quote we will keep building momentum and go

00:07:54.040 from permits issued to shovels in the ground to new homes ready for Albertans. Okay I talk about the cost

00:07:59.960 of living crisis all the time. I talk about the cost of renting and purchasing a home a lot as well but I

00:08:07.000 need to play the devil's advocate on this issue. We are rushing to get all these homes built to deal with

00:08:12.000 all the people moving to Alberta from other provinces and outside of Canada but how many people have

00:08:17.220 actually stopped to take the time to consider how well these homes are actually being built. I was

00:08:23.420 living in a new built it wasn't even a year old and there was water damage coming in through my

00:08:27.820 ceiling. Now I was renting because I was renting of course the issue never got fixed because my landlords

00:08:33.240 just couldn't be bothered to get around to it. Not a huge issue it didn't greatly impact my quality of

00:08:39.240 life. I was not there for very long but you do have to kind of scratch around and wonder where

00:08:44.600 rushing to get all these houses built. Construction companies working to get homes built have such an

00:08:48.720 incentive to get as many homes built in a small period of time because they are making so much

00:08:53.440 money right now. It's just something that's been on my mind. I don't think all the homes that are being

00:08:56.940 built are good quality. I doubt that all of them will stand the test of time. I don't think this is

00:09:00.640 Minister Nixon's fault. I think the Alberta government is doing what they can with the cards that they've

00:09:04.740 been dealt but again I think it just speaks to the need to really slow down the numbers that

00:09:09.160 we're seeing with immigration the volume of people coming here. All right everyone moving into the 1.00

00:09:12.600 controversy of the week. An Alberta NDP and Notley Eric cabinet minister has announced her intention

00:09:18.420 to resign next month appointing figures at what she calls bonkers conservatives. Lethbridge West

00:09:24.300 MLA Shannon Phillips told the Globe and Mail she will step down on Canada Day. Phillips said she's been

00:09:29.120 worn down by her opponents and claimed that the quote crazy unquote right will make it increasingly

00:09:34.720 difficult to find people willing to serve an office. She said quote Jesus Christ himself couldn't have

00:09:40.520 kept me. She continued quote these conditions are not improving. The right is only getting more crazy

00:09:46.360 and more bonkers and disinformation is just getting worse and that is going to have an effect on people's 0.64

00:09:51.940 desire to do this work. Phillips was elected in 2015 and served as the Minister of Environment and Parks in

00:09:57.660 2019. In that role she was responsible for accelerating Alberta's phase out of coal fired

00:10:03.300 power plants. While she was a minister two members of the Lethbridge Police Service who opposed her

00:10:08.640 politics surveilled her. Those officers were found guilty of violating the Police Act but Phillips was

00:10:13.920 informed in May that the Provincial Prosecution Service declined to pursue criminal charges. Her resignation

00:10:19.140 opens a seat for former Calgary Mayor Nahed Nenshi should he win the NDP's leadership contest as expected

00:10:24.680 on June 22nd. Finally moving into what we're watching in the weeks to come let's take a look at

00:10:30.180 the water crisis still unfolding in Calgary. I feel so sorry for those of you who are living there right

00:10:35.120 now. Just actually put in the comments below I'm curious what it has been like to you. Have you felt

00:10:39.020 very restricted by the water limitations or has it not impacted your day-to-day life too much?

00:10:44.920 Before we dive into that story there's something that's come out of us that I think a lot of people

00:10:48.800 sort of expected. Calgary is now considering permanent watering restrictions for the city's residents.

00:10:54.680 Never let a good crisis go to waste. Let's dive into the details here. Calgary City Council is set to

00:10:59.800 discuss amendments to the wastewater, stormwater, and water utility bylaws next week. The proposed

00:11:05.840 amendments include a watering schedule allowing Calgarians to use sprinklers for just three

00:11:10.700 hours a day, two days a week, between 8 p.m and 8 a.m. Currently Calgary's water restrictions start at

00:11:18.540 voluntary water conservation before escalating to stage one to four restriction levels. Stages are

00:11:24.540 determined by risk of drought conditions. Stages one to two are normally implemented when it is very dry

00:11:30.020 and stages three to four are implemented when it is extremely dry. Fines for violations during stage

00:11:35.980 one begin at $400, rising to $600 at stage two, $1,500 in stage three, and finally up to $3,000 for

00:11:44.480 stage four violations that's watering when it is extremely dry. If the changes are implemented,

00:11:49.760 the voluntary water conservation phase will be replaced with the outdoor watering schedule which

00:11:55.520 will be permanently in effect. Just taking a look at what's proposed here, you'll be allowed to use

00:11:59.880 sprinklers three days a week between 8 p.m and 10 a.m. So overnight. So you can't put a sprinkler on

00:12:08.160 for your kids to run around and play in, which is like what childhood is. Again, you guys, I went on

00:12:13.360 a long rant about this on my show, midweek show, which exclusively covered the water crisis,

00:12:18.060 which basically the sum of it was I don't want to live in Calgary anymore. Go back and listen to the

00:12:21.640 full thing if you want me to break down what's going on in the water crisis, but also to explain how

00:12:25.580 things are probably worse than they initially look because what the mayor has revealed during her

00:12:30.860 updated briefings is that the infrastructure in the city of Calgary, the infrastructure that gets us

00:12:36.600 water from one place to another, from treatment facilities to reservoirs and finally into your

00:12:40.440 home, is basically falling apart. I'm actually going to play a small clip for you guys now to

00:12:44.260 see some of the sum of what I was saying was about. Take a listen. So just to sum up, there's been a

00:12:48.740 break in a major water feed that officials still don't know when is going to be fixed. While that was

00:12:53.520 happening in the city of Bowness, there was also another break in a water main in the city of Bowness,

00:12:58.940 a smaller one unrelated to the first incident, as if that's supposed to reassure us somehow that things are

00:13:04.220 running very smoothly over at the city of Calgary. Then an access point to the major water feed also

00:13:10.200 needed to be fixed so that officials could get down and fix this issue in the first place. 0.95

00:13:14.960 And while all of this is going on, the mayor of Calgary is not able to come out and say that this

00:13:19.980 incident was a one-off. Instead, she tries to reassure us by saying that regular maintenance was being

00:13:25.300 done on this. If regular maintenance was being done on this, how did this incident happen in the

00:13:29.220 first place? You think this is something officials would have been able to catch before it turned into the

00:13:33.700 massive citywide crisis that is happening right now? Just ridiculous. Here's a little update on the 0.97

00:13:38.380 water crisis itself. Here's Mayor Gondek speaking about the crisis at one of her updates on Thursday.

00:13:42.680 This is not a decision that was made lightly, but as we shared yesterday at 5 p.m., the investigation

00:13:48.540 of the broken feeder main pipe revealed that there are five more areas that are in need of repairs.

00:13:53.840 Our city operations team has shared these necessary repairs mean that we are looking at another three

00:14:00.540 to five weeks before water is flowing as it normally would in our city. That's three to five

00:14:06.580 more weeks of your best water conservation efforts. Okay, everyone, just because I did my Wednesday show

00:14:12.240 on the water crisis and there were some really great comments in the comment roundup, I'm going to dive

00:14:16.340 into what you are all thinking about the situation in Calgary right now. User at TCZ says,

00:14:23.520 quote, maybe rather than declaring a climate emergency on her first day, she, meaning Gondek,

00:14:28.840 should have declared an infrastructure emergency and use taxes accordingly rather than on her pet

00:14:34.660 will projects. Seeming right now like that would have been a very good idea. As I explained in my

00:14:38.780 show last week and I just plan for you guys now, the infrastructure in Calgary is in a precarious

00:14:43.580 state, clearly. Clearly there needs to be investment into that so that Calgarians can expect basic

00:14:49.480 services like water. User Pat's garage shed 200 repairs a year is insane. That's almost one a day

00:14:56.780 or so every time. This is what happens when you spend money on woke garbage instead of infrastructure. 0.94

00:15:03.300 Honestly, when I initially recorded that episode, I didn't even really think about how many repairs

00:15:07.000 a year. That was she sort of explained it as 200 a year. You know, that's pretty normal. That does seem 0.78

00:15:11.180 like an insane amount. This person's right. There's 365 days a year. It's not quite a repair a day.

00:15:15.800 That's maybe a little bit hyperbolic, but it's an insane amount of repairs. And because this

00:15:19.460 person's username is Pat's garage, I just think they know what they're talking about.

00:15:23.460 And finally, moving to this comment from the at Bombay company says, quote, saw this on Twitter,

00:15:28.380 can't fix a pipe, but can change the climate. When Tucker Carlson was here for his events in January,

00:15:34.420 the one in Calgary and then one up in Edmonton, the one thing he said that really stuck with me was how 1.00

00:15:38.620 we need to laugh at our idiot leaders. We need to laugh at Justin Trudeau and his policies. And I think 1.00

00:15:44.260 what this says does exactly that. It's pointing out the hypocrisy in what they're saying. They're

00:15:48.900 telling us we can be responsible for fixing the climate change, but our government results

00:15:52.580 millions of dollars. We can't even, we can't even fix a pipe. So you know how it goes. One rule for

00:15:57.740 thee, another rule for me, the wealthy and the billionaires, they're going to fly around on their

00:16:02.360 private jets, but you can drink from your soggy paper straw. Okay, everyone, that's all we have

00:16:07.520 time for today. Thanks so much for tuning in. Please subscribe to True North so you don't miss any of

00:16:11.900 my content or that of my colleagues and give this video a like. If you're able to, please head over

00:16:17.040 to donate.tnc.news to show us some support for our work. And also happy Father's Day to all the dads

00:16:23.580 out there. We appreciate you. Society needs good dads. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. I hope

00:16:29.560 that you enjoy celebrating with your family and feel very loved on Sunday. Have a great rest of your week.

00:16:34.240 God bless.

00:16:41.900 God bless.

The Alberta Roundup with Isaac Lamoureux - June 15, 2024

Western Canada's immigration woes

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