Western Standard - BC UPDATES with Reid Small： Two hospitalized after another Vancouver machete attack...

00:00:00.000 happening out on the wet coast in bc there we've got reed small he's been very prolifically

00:00:04.440 reporting out there hey reed how's it going it's going good thank you i appreciate you joining us

00:00:10.620 today you've got a lot of stories on the go uh one ever said just popped up onto the site maybe we

00:00:16.340 want to start there what's going on uh yeah the bc government just released its new uh climate uh

00:00:24.560 it's the climate preparedness and adaptation strategy uh which is supported by uh more than

00:00:30.260 500 million dollars uh 513 to be exact uh most of that funding has already been announced over the

00:00:37.340 last year uh but they've released the strategy now to more or less show where it's going to be

00:00:42.880 allocated uh and that's going to be uh various actions to uh reduce uh the future impact of

00:00:49.720 uh wildfire um flooding impacts uh they mentioned the heat dome that uh supposedly killed more than

00:00:59.220 600 people last summer uh so yeah i mean we all remember uh the fall of of 2021 when you know

00:01:06.620 there was the abbotsford merits uh you know more than 45 000 people uh evacuated uh as a result of

00:01:14.720 these uh weather events uh over the last year and uh yeah the new plan basically just uh it aims to

00:01:22.800 tackle all of that but it uh it focuses on um i guess what you could call anthropogenic climate change

00:01:29.440 uh so so the idea that uh you know carbon emissions are are uh impacting uh these weather events in some

00:01:36.920 way and so uh like for example last last week the federal government just announced it was going to

00:01:42.600 give uh lytton uh 77 million dollars uh most of which is going to go towards building uh

00:01:48.080 net zero uh buildings so yeah there's a there's a big focus uh from the province uh in agreement with

00:01:56.740 uh the the federal government on uh sort of these net zero policies uh to address uh wildfire flooding

00:02:04.940 waves that kind of thing well you guys are getting a good deal i mean with a province the size of bc

00:02:10.400 it's only 500 million dollars in calgary alone we're going at 87 billion dollars with gondex plan

00:02:16.420 here so so you guys really got to catch up on the climate change race yeah yeah no kidding it's uh

00:02:22.540 yeah it's it's it there's a lot of the like a lot of people are are raising concerns particularly

00:02:30.240 towards uh you know the wildfire situation they're saying that uh you know there are more

00:02:35.140 obvious things that can be done um to prevent uh like things that happened in in places like lytton

00:02:43.060 uh without you know this focus on the need to you know have x amount of you know zero emission

00:02:51.080 vehicles by 2030 or something like that you know people will focus on they'll say well look at the

00:02:55.920 forest management system you know uh they'll say uh you know we're cutting down all this deciduous

00:03:02.560 growth which is naturally fire resistant we're we're planting pine which is highly flammable

00:03:07.500 um and we're wondering why wildfires are getting worse uh each year uh but there's no there's been a

00:03:15.120 no there's been no addressing of uh of anything regarding uh the forest management industry it's all

00:03:22.100 about uh anthropogenic climate change um and the need to uh reduce carbon emissions yeah it's it's

00:03:30.700 they're always hung up on that but uh we'll just watch them continue hopefully we get some realism

00:03:34.660 and yeah forest management i i talked about that last week i mean uh we've got to get realistic and

00:03:39.320 there's a lot of people in forestry who are pointing that out and they're trying to tell them

00:03:43.280 that but they're focused on climate change so uh well i guess we gotta see a little more burn yet

00:03:47.960 uh let's see some other stuff you had going on the bc liberals have uh called on bc to suspend

00:03:53.800 vaccine mandates yeah yeah they are uh they're suggesting that the province follows the uh federal

00:04:00.900 government's lead uh by uh suspending uh vaccine mandates they didn't say they wanted the vaccine

00:04:06.740 mandates to end they were very careful to to repeatedly use the word suspend uh much like

00:04:12.740 uh the federal government um and so yeah kevin falcon um the bc liberals uh have have openly

00:04:20.640 supported uh mandatory vaccination for health care workers uh provincial workers uh in the past but

00:04:28.160 now that they they're saying that uh those were supposed to be temporary and uh and therefore it's

00:04:33.000 time to lift them um and of course people are kind of rolling their eyes and going well you know what

00:04:38.180 did you expect to happen uh when you you know you brought these in in the first place did you

00:04:42.380 really think that they were going to uh you know easily just just let them go but uh yeah kevin

00:04:49.260 falcon is now uh speaking out uh in contrast to his uh previous stance on the vaccine requirements

00:04:55.280 well i guess the suspend is getting closer to getting rid of but everybody's covering their

00:04:59.880 butts it's unfortunate we can't see much courage politically that often but take what we can get

00:05:04.800 i guess uh let's see what else we got in your story scroll uh a crazy machete attack going on in

00:05:09.560 vancouver yeah that's actually the second uh machete attack to happen in east vancouver uh the last one

00:05:16.280 was only 19 days ago um this this one in particular uh a police officer was waved over to the emperor's

00:05:24.940 hotel on uh main and haste near main and hasting streets uh and he saw a guy uh waving a machete

00:05:30.740 around um that's why he was called over uh and then as it turned out uh two people that were loading

00:05:37.540 their luggage into a vehicle were just randomly uh and unexpectedly uh slashed uh by this guy with the

00:05:45.040 machete uh both of them ended up in hospital with pretty serious injuries uh to the head and neck

00:05:50.300 but they will uh they're expected to make a full recovery and the one that happened only 19 days

00:05:56.960 prior to this one was also uh a man had to be hospitalized due to head and neck injuries he was

00:06:02.780 also stabbed in the back with the machete it's and this was just one uh one incident uh in vancouver

00:06:09.440 over the weekend it was a particularly violent uh father's day weekend uh we're still seeing an

00:06:14.600 average of uh according to the vancouver police uh four uh random assaults every day on average

00:06:20.980 and uh yeah there was a few other stabbings uh someone was bear maced uh someone had a

00:06:27.920 uh an airsoft gun held to their face um just a bunch of random things popping up here and there

00:06:37.380 as far as violent crime goes so is this mostly gathered though you know east hastings king's way

00:06:42.420 you know the areas we kind of anticipate this to happen or is there issues kind of popping up all

00:06:46.340 over the city it's all over the city um uh for example they there was uh the guy with the the

00:06:54.240 airsoft gun incident that was held to him the guy was pretending it was a real gun uh that happened uh

00:06:59.740 i believe it was near stanley park like right by the seawall there in the west end which is

00:07:04.100 supposed to be uh you know a nicer neighborhood i lived in the west end for a while and uh i remember

00:07:09.740 after the first uh lockdown during that first wave i remember going uh up to the shoppers drug mart it

00:07:17.000 was around midnight and uh you could just feel there was a different vibe all the small businesses were

00:07:22.560 closed and just kind of some of the characters that were hanging around uh nearby it just had a

00:07:29.100 a different vibe and and sure enough the security guard at that shoppers was uh was stabbed about 20

00:07:34.340 minutes after i left that night i remember reading the news the next day and being like wow wow i would

00:07:38.880 i missed that by you know 20 minutes um and uh and then the stats reflect that there's been more than

00:07:47.040 a seven percent increase in violent crime in vancouver uh compared to to pre-covid levels yeah the world's

00:07:54.540 getting a little crazy i mean a lot of it without uh we're seeing in calgary as i was talking earlier

00:07:58.460 about our transit system and uh linda savody and put out a story on the how well decriminalization of 1.00

00:08:03.700 drugs worked in oregon it sounds like they've had a 700 increase in overdoses unfortunately we're just

00:08:08.780 going to see a lot more mayhem until we can figure out how to get this addiction epidemic under control

00:08:13.620 yeah yeah well yeah there there as as we all know uh bc is going to be uh decriminalizing uh small

00:08:22.060 amounts of drugs personal possession under 2.5 grams uh so we'll see how that plays out um i don't know

00:08:29.080 how much of a difference it will really make uh because no one was we're getting arrested for for

00:08:35.240 small possession anyways uh the whole the whole idea is that it's supposed to just uh de-stigmatize it

00:08:41.660 uh the use and and i guess the theory is that that will make people feel more comfortable to seek help

00:08:49.180 and whatnot um but uh you know if well hopefully uh you know it doesn't end up like uh like what's

00:08:59.340 going on down in oregon there we'll see yeah the commenter june marie saying see portland yeah

00:09:03.740 unfortunately it's turned into a failure i mean again we're looking for realistic solutions if they'd

00:09:07.560 done that in portland a couple years ago holy cow it was working like a charm and they're getting

00:09:11.080 people into treatment and survival rates are going up but hey bring it on let's have it up here but

00:09:16.100 it it seems to be a catastrophe so uh i don't know they don't seem to again we're getting ideology

00:09:22.380 blinding things from reality i'm afraid yeah for sure and it's you know i'm reading your uh twitter

00:09:28.720 timeline it sounds like things are pretty bad in calgary right now as well a lot of drug use going on

00:09:34.180 on buses and sky trains and that kind of thing so um yeah it's a different world you know and i'm uh

00:09:40.480 considerably older than you but i mean i i remember you know drug use was always around but nothing like

00:09:45.780 this nothing at all i mean east hastings it always was kind of north america's heroin capital and it was

00:09:51.580 kind of noteworthy because it'd be like a three block area where you would kind of see that and now

00:09:56.340 it's across the country it's every city is dealing with this uh the new kid on the block there is that

00:10:02.500 fentanyl i mean it's not that new but getting out to the public and people hooked on it and of course

00:10:06.300 how horrifically dangerous it is for for overdoses uh i think i'll kind of segue that into a story

00:10:12.480 there you i see denise martin saying yeah two and a half grams of fentanyl is enough uh for 25 000

00:10:17.740 people perhaps yeah it's just crazy how powerful that stuff is she's absolutely right yeah some bc fentanyl

00:10:23.920 was tied to american navy deaths uh yeah yeah that was down in uh in georgia uh in 2017 uh two u.s

00:10:33.280 navy servicemen uh died of uh of a drug overdose uh and the the packaging that was found was linked

00:10:40.680 uh to uh a vendor called canada one uh which was a dark web uh drug selling vendor uh based out of

00:10:50.640 north vancouver uh and so that led to uh a several year long uh investigation uh with rcmp uh and uh

00:11:00.500 authorities uh in the u.s and that led to the arrest of uh of a north vancouver man as well as a uk man

00:11:06.640 that was uh living uh in north vancouver at the time these guys were were shipping fentanyl out uh around

00:11:13.200 the world um and uh they were ordering it in from hungary and china and then selling it uh through

00:11:20.160 their vendor to whoever wanted to buy it and unfortunately uh two of those people were u.s

00:11:27.120 uh servicemen and they died as a result of taking the fentanyl yeah so it's uh just just awful stuff

00:11:34.640 and and we're all tied together it's integrated as i say such tiny amounts can be so potent so i mean

00:11:39.280 it's difficult to stop the smuggling of it because a small package is pretty easy to hide and get

00:11:44.160 across a border that big uh yeah and unfortunately too uh in vancouver um when someone dies of uh of a

00:11:52.720 drug overdose uh users will uh as one drug dealer put it when i was talking to him a former drug dealer

00:12:00.240 uh will flock to the source uh because it indicates a strong supply um you know obviously this isn't the

00:12:07.760 case with you know wealthier college kids that are partying you know doing cocaine that kind of

00:12:13.920 thing but uh you know the street users that are addicted to opioids uh if they if they hear someone

00:12:19.760 someone dies they'll they're going for that supply it's really a sad situation yeah well we're going

00:12:27.680 on something i guess a little more frustrating but a little lighter the uh bc museum that's a big

00:12:32.960 issue we hear about in here and now and then i mean on a couple of fronts for one the old museum

00:12:37.040 apparently was too offensive to the woke so they just had had to tear it down there was no fixing

00:12:40.960 it uh but the new one is going to cost a fortune and it doesn't sound like bc uh citizens are all

00:12:45.920 that thrilled with the idea yeah yeah the uh the majority of uh bc citizens according to the angus reed

00:12:52.560 poll are uh opposed to that museum which is going to cost uh as most people know by now uh nearly 800

00:13:00.080 million dollars um so we'll we'll see uh if if they're going to proceed with it it seems like

00:13:06.720 uh the government will um and as we talked about last time uh kevin falcon initially said he was going

00:13:11.920 to scrap the plan if elected uh but uh according to the timelines set forth in the the business case

00:13:19.200 for the museum uh demolition will begin uh before the next provincial election so um it looks like it's

00:13:27.040 going to go forward uh regardless of whether uh british colombians support it or not they're going

00:13:31.920 to be paying for it uh and that's about that yeah i don't know i mean when they move with these things

00:13:38.800 they they seems to work though right ignore the people it doesn't matter they get upset but election

00:13:43.440 time now they get back in so we'll see what happens i guess i hope they stay somewhat within

00:13:47.680 budget these things rarely do unfortunately yeah well yeah they claim that uh the uh the price of uh

00:13:55.520 tearing it down and rebuilding uh is actually uh substantially more affordable than renovating

00:14:02.160 the current museum um which also we have talked about before uh so i won't get too uh deep into that

00:14:09.600 but uh yeah i mean there's there's a bunch of schools that need upgrading this is kind of what people are

00:14:15.600 pointing to they're like look our healthcare system's broken we've got schools that need to be seismically

00:14:20.800 upgraded uh of course the the ndp government is saying that that's one of the main reasons

00:14:25.520 they want to rebuild the museum is because that it's seismically unsafe uh so yeah oh we'll see

00:14:32.480 what happens before i let you go you got anything else uh coming up to look forward to in the news

00:14:37.200 the next day or so yeah i'm gonna be putting out a story later today on uh concerns of uh price

00:14:43.120 gouging in uh in uh at various gas stations in in bc okay well you guys are paying your share of prices

00:14:50.400 as it goes out there it'll be uh interesting to see that the root of all that as a truck driver

00:14:55.280 as a truck driver it's been uh it's been a rough couple of months yeah well it cuts right into your

00:15:00.320 your your profit margin all right well thanks for coming in to check in with us today reed and thanks

00:15:05.440 for keeping up all that uh good news content out there in bc for us right on thanks very much corey

Western Standard - June 21, 2022

BC UPDATES with Reid Small： Two hospitalized after another Vancouver machete attack...

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