BC UPDATES： Staff shortages force more ER closures in BC...
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Summary
In this week's episode, we discuss the growing problem of unvaccinated nurses in British Columbia, a man caught with a massive amount of meth in his possession, and the ongoing battle against opiate addiction in Canada.
Transcript
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The staffing shortage in BC's health care system, which is not an exclusive problem to the province
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of BC, but rather pretty much the entire country. It's particularly bad in western provinces.
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The east coast hasn't been as bad, but BC has been particularly bad. A significant shortage
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of nurses, ER rooms closing for 12 hour periods at a time. A million British Columbians without
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access to a primary care practitioner. It's been, and again, this has been a slow building
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issue for many years, but the last couple of years have particularly accentuated the issue
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due to the pandemic. So it's really bad. And the provinces, it says it's going to address
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the issue by bringing in more foreign trained nurses. So they're working on a marketing campaign
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to quote, make the province a more desirable location for foreign trained nurses. And they've
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allocated $12 million to streamlining the process of bringing in foreign trained nurses. Because
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usually it takes a couple of years to get licensed and registered to work in BC, but they're streamlining
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that process. And also they haven't provided a timeline on when they're going to allow the
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province's unvaccinated nurses to return to work. Yeah. That's another big kind of elephant in the
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room for a lot of those people. I mean, we've got vaccine mandates hanging in some of the province
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or some of the health authorities or different facilities even. But I mean, it's getting pretty
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bad and showing almost the ideological hang up. It seems that some of these facilities have on
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vaccination when you're in the midst of a staffing crisis, but you still will not let the unvaccinated
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employer workers come back to work to ease it. And again, when it's been shown that at least the
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vaccination doesn't stop spread. So I mean, it doesn't make a difference at this point, guys,
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get off the horse and let these guys get back to work. I mean, I don't understand if vaccination
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stops spread. Okay, that's different. But how bad? Yeah. And there are multiple legal challenges in the
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courts right now, a few of which I'll be covering this week. And some are a little more promising than
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others. Some I would expect to be thrown out and not get anywhere. But there are some some legal
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challenges underway that are, you know, being taken very seriously. So we'll see how that goes.
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Yeah. So getting on to your more recent stories as well. So there was a big meth bust. Unfortunately,
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we have the dubious honor of being the hosts of this guy and Albertan looks like was bringing
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a trying to bring a massive amount of meth into BC there. Yeah, yeah, man was hiking on Vancouver
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Islander. He claims he was hiking, according to American documents. And a man approached him,
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who he had never met before, offered him $1,000 to drive a boat to Washington, spend the night and
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then drive it back with what he called luggage. And he maintains that he did not know what was in
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that luggage. And so he supposedly and according to to these American documents took the offer,
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stayed in a hotel for the night returned to the boat the next day. On his way back, he was about half
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a mile from being back in Canada, and he was picked up by American officials. And now he's,
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he's, he's being investigated by Homeland Security, because the Americans certainly don't take these
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issues lightly when it comes to drug trafficking. Yeah, just a side note, since there's a commenter,
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Gail asking, asking if I said the vac stop spreading. No, I said vaccination does not,
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in the case of COVID. Just to clarify, because I get some people, you're a pro vac, you're a monster,
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I'm unsubscribing, blah, blah, blah. No, not in this case. I'm still pro vaccination, but I'm pro
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choice. But no, I'm not trying to claim stuff spread. Okay, back to, I like to interact with the
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commenters is important. I mean, if something's unclear. So but I mean, that amount of math, I mean,
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BC's addiction crisis is even more acute than Alberta's right now. 650 kilograms. I mean,
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aside from this guy's flaky defense or whatever, that's, that's very, very potent drug. I mean,
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that's a massive amount that that unfortunately, could and would have killed and addicted a countless
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number of people. But that's just the one they caught. Yeah, yeah, that's just the one they caught.
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I mean, as we all know, BC has a very, very significant drug problem. Lots of meth, mostly
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opiates, though. I mean, more than 150 people are dying every day in this province. Or sorry,
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every month, rather, it's about six people a day dying from illicit drugs in BC. So yeah, this is
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definitely contributing to that problem. Although it is meth, so less people are overdosing on that,
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but it's still contributing to, you know, violent crime and, and whatnot. The province is working on
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decriminalizing meth, and cocaine and heroin and all of these hard drugs, they, they want to work on a
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a decriminalization process and create what they call a safe supply. Because, you know, in theory,
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according to the government, that will prevent the demand for the illicit drug trade.
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Yeah, the government feels that the drug dealers are dangerous. So if the government gets into the
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drug business, they'll do it better, because they've always been with that. I'm pretty sure there's no
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such thing as safe meth. But what do I know? Thankfully, I don't take it. I mean, those poor
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people would get hooked on it. It's as you said, it's meth isn't the one that's typically causing
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the overdoses. But for those unfamiliar with a lot of addiction, meth is the one that kind of slowly
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eats them alive, though, when you see somebody so skinny and covered in sores and just sort of a
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walking zombie or freaking out. Often, that's a matter of somebody who's been on meth for a while.
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So it's more slow death than the fentanyl, but it's still a horrible death.
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It's a common sight in Vancouver. It's all over the place on the downtown east side there. It's,
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you know, people from out of town, they'll be walking in Gastown, and they'll just walk the
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distance of one block. And suddenly, it's like, you know, like you're in a zombie movie.
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Yeah, at least Hastings in that area has always been notorious. I mean,
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yeah, into the 80s, early 90s, when we go out there, but I haven't been there in some years now,
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but I've heard it's, of course, gotten much worse, even.
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Absolutely. And I think that would actually be a good transition into the
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nearly billion dollar museum project that's going on in BC, because liberal opposition Kevin
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Falcon has been criticizing the government for bringing forth this project, while there is such
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a problem of drugs, violent crime, the nursing shortage, the doctor shortage,
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I feel like it's relevant to bring up. I've been covering quite a few stories on that since the
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news was announced earlier this month, and more will be coming.
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So to frame that a bit, from what I know about this one, this is the big Royal BC Museum. They've
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basically declared the old one to be so colonial and so tainted and everything else that it just can't
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be salvaged. We've got to get rid of it because it's inherently evil. And they're going to replace
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it with, well, they're saying, what, 800 million dollars. But we know with government projects,
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that'll probably come in well over a billion for, I'm just going to guess, to be a monument to wokeness.
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Yeah, yeah, that was sort of the the focal point to begin with, was more of an identity
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politic focus. But that's transitioned in response to criticism to a focus on, you know, the seismic
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danger. They're focusing on that, that it needs to be seismically upgraded, that it's prone to flooding,
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and that it's riddled with asbestos. And they're saying that the proposal that they've set forth
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is actually three million dollars, no, actually the number, yeah, three million dollars cheaper than
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upgrading the existing building. So they might as well just tear it all down, build a new one.
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And Kevin Falcon said if he's elected as premier, he'll scrap the project. But according to the business
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case that the NDP government released last week, the demolition process will begin in March of 2024,
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which is seven months prior to the next provincial election. So it won't make a difference. Even if
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he says he'll scrap it, by the time he gets into office, if he will, the building will already be
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torn down. Yeah, that's too bad, because a lot can be lost. And as others are pointing out too,
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these are times when things are getting tight. I mean, Jennifer Schofield and commenters saying,
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you know, try free rehab instead of free drugs. Well, you know, you can spend a lot of money with
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800 million dollars on rehabilitation facilities or there was Cheryl, I think it was brought up,
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you know, 800 million could hire a heck of a lot of nurses back as well. Like as you wonder about
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the priorities with some things. But as you said, I mean, I can understand that some old buildings
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actually can't be rehabilitated or it's expensive. That happened in Calgary, the general hospital,
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we had to blow it up. And you know, the left still goes wild about that. Oh, you blew up a hospital.
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This thing was so ancient and out of date, though, that it just wasn't worth fixing. That might be the
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case of the museum. But a lot of what we heard on shutting down the old one wasn't based on that.
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They're kind of pivoting. It was more all well, it's a symbol of colonialism. And that's right.
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Right, right. And yeah, the the business case that they that they released last week was heavily
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redacted. Much of it was was blacked out. So we don't really have a lot of detail on it, just a
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timeline and, you know, a rough cost, which they maintain is still going to be significantly
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cheaper than seismically upgrading it. But a lot of people have pointed out a lot of critics have
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also said that if you're going to be consistent with the need to, you know, seismically modernize
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buildings, then they should address, you know, the elementary schools that need to be seismically
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upgraded because there's a bunch of schools in BC that that are waiting for their funding to renovate
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for that exact reason. So that's what critics are saying, at least.
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Well, again, yeah, it's a matter of priorities. I mean, it'd be horrible to see. But if they're,
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you know, Vancouver could, every seismologist says it could have a very big earthquake at some point.
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And I'd rather we deal with a bunch of squashed artifacts in a museum than a bunch of crushed
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children in a school. So yeah, it's first. So going a little further, I guess, getting on to
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municipal crazy governments, just seeing down your stories there, it looks like the Vancouver's looking
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to punish gas stations if they don't have a electric vehicle charging setups.
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Yeah, by 2025, Vancouver gas stations, right now they pay a business license fee of $253 a year.
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And that will raise to $10,000 a year in 2025, unless if they haven't put in one EV charging station
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of 50 kilowatts. And then commercial parking lots pay a slightly cheaper annual fee. And that will
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also be raised to $10,000 if they don't put in a minimum of four charging stations with a minimum
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of 26.6 kilowatts per station. I can't imagine these stations are very cheap to install.
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No, no, they're the the gas stations are looking at a minimum of $100,000. Or sorry,
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the commercial lots are looking at $100,000. The gas stations are looking at at least $130,000.
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Yeah, and that really depends on the gas station. I mean, some might have a big parking area where
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perhaps they could find a couple appropriate spaces. But if you've got a small one, you might
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not even have room to stick that on your lot. And the other thing I don't know about Vancouver,
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but we've got charging stations all over the city of Calgary, you can tell where they are,
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because there's no cars in front of them. Right, right. Yeah, exactly. And I actually,
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I forgot to mention, the gas stations, regardless of the size, will be subject to this coming policy.
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But commercial parking lots that have fewer than 60 parking stalls will be exempt.
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Well, I guess that's a small relief. I mean, you know, that's a big investment for a smaller
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parking lot, but still. Yeah, it's part of Vancouver's climate emergency plan that was set
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forth in 2020, which aims to reduce the city's carbon emissions by 50% of 2007 levels by 2030.
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And also by 2030, it wants to ensure that 50% of all kilometers driven
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in the city of Vancouver are done so in zero emission vehicles.
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Yeah, good luck with that. But well, I guess if they bankrupt enough people,
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you know, there'll be a lot of people walking and riding bikes, and they won't be able to
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reach their targets that way. I just, well, you're in the land of the woke, I guess.
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We're not immune. What we see in Vancouver this year is what's coming here in three years. So,
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are there any core challenges pushing back on that again? I mean, this is the sort of thing that
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honestly, for some smaller businesses could actually break them.
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Pushing back on the EV charges? Yeah. Not that I'm aware of at this point, I haven't seen any,
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any court cases pushing back on that. Again, you know, at least 60 70% of the gas stations already
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have chargers. I mean, I've, it's, it's become pretty widespread recently. So
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I don't know the exact number of how many gas stations do not have EV chargers in Vancouver
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right now, but they're definitely in the minority. I mean, there's not that many gas
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stations in the city to begin with. I think it, I think it's less than 70.
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Oh, really? Okay. Like most are out towards getting into Abbotsford and Burnaby and all through there.
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66 to be exact. Okay. So people kind of move more to the suburbs to fill up anyways. But still,
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even a small amount being abused is too many in my view, as far as businesses go, but okay,
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we'll wrap up. Let's up a little more light and from the world of the bazaar. And you can see at
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the bottom of the story there, everybody's favorite transgender activist, Jessica Yaniv is,
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her court's finished. She's been found guilty of assault.
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Yep. Yep. She has been found guilty of assault. Jessica Yaniv, formerly Jonathan Yaniv,
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uh, biological male transitions goes by, uh, uh, actually she calls herself Jessica Simpson. Now,
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uh, she legally changed her name to that striking. So I can see people getting that mixed up.
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Yeah, I actually did genuinely get it messed up at first. Uh, I needed to be corrected. Um,
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but, uh, yeah, so that court case wrapped up, that was a former rebel news, uh, journalist,
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Kian Bext. Uh, he, uh, he was covering a court case, uh, that, uh, uh, uh, Yaniv was, uh, leaving
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from, uh, regarding, uh, weapons charges. Uh, so he started asking her questions. Uh, she then attacked
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him, uh, and the camera went sideways, but you could see in the video that's embedded there, uh,
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you could see what looks like punches were being thrown. And, uh, yeah, the judge did, uh,
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uh, did find, uh, Yaniv guilty of assault. Um, and, uh, Yaniv will actually be in court again
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next month, uh, for, uh, I don't know if you're familiar with billboard, Chris, uh, Chris Elston.
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Um, he's, uh, he travels around the country with a sign saying, uh, children cannot consent to
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puberty blockers. Uh, and, uh, yeah, he was also attacked, uh, by, uh, Yaniv, uh, a couple of years
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ago and that, that will, that hearing will take place next month. So I'll be covering that.
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Okay. Well, as much as we kind of look at it as a bit of dark comedy, honestly, it appears that
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Miss Yaniv has some, some mental issues to be dealt with. I hope actually perhaps in sentencing,
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they can, uh, get her some help because she's actually got some, some serious problems going
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on that one, but it's, uh, it's hard not to turn away from that accident sometimes as you're watching
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it go. So, uh, for her sake and everybody else, hopefully this is a closure and moving on to a better
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part of her life, I guess. Um, so before I let you go, is there anything you're, you're working
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on you want to let us know about or things coming up? Uh, yeah, just stay tuned for, uh,
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decisions that will be coming out, uh, regarding, uh, constitutional challenges to, uh, previous, uh,
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COVID related orders. Um, a lot of those are, are, you know, concluding in, uh, in a, in a close
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timeframe right now. Uh, so we're, we're going to be expecting a big decision, uh, possibly this week,
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um, you know, within a couple of weeks at the latest, uh, regarding the legality of, uh, the
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vaccine passport system in BC, uh, chief justice of the Supreme court, uh, is he'll be releasing
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his decision on, uh, whether it was constitutionally sound in the coming days. Great. Well, we're looking
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forward to it. So thanks for that extended update on the wet coast there, Reed. Always good to talk to
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you and keep up the good work. Likewise. Thanks very much, Corey.