Western Standard - July 10, 2024


CMS： Nenshi desperately needs a seat


Episode Stats


Length

47 minutes

Words per minute

180.75092

Word count

8,627

Sentence count

598

Harmful content

Misogyny

3

sentences flagged

Hate speech

9

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi is without a seat in the Alberta legislature, and he's not happy about it. Will he be able to find a way to get back into the chamber, or will he continue to wait for someone else to take his seat?

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Thank you.
00:00:30.000 Thank you.
00:01:00.000 Thank you.
00:01:30.000 Hey, I live rural. I raise bees. It's kind of a livestock, isn't it? I'll use that as my excuse. Anyways, good to see you guys checking in on the live anythings. A whole bunch of J's. 1.00
00:03:00.000 I expect a honeymoon with the electors and maybe even a bump in support, but this hasn't happened with the head Nenshi.
00:03:34.360 I think a gray will serve as the leader of the opposition while Nenshi remains on the outside looking in. 0.97
00:03:38.980 Many Albertans don't know who Nenshi really is. If a person isn't an avid CBC viewer or didn't live in Calgary during his reign as mayor, they really aren't too familiar with the guy, actually.
00:03:48.500 And it's going to take more than flipping some pancakes at rodeos to get people to know him.
00:03:52.020 The legislature is the natural place to establish himself as an opposition leader and potential future premier.
00:03:57.260 It's where Nenshi can hold the premier's feet to the fire on policies and where he can promote NDP motions.
00:04:02.020 It would keep him in the news scroll and establish him in the minds of Albertans as a possible premier in waiting.
00:04:07.380 But alas, for now, the best Nenshi can do is hang around the legislature atrium after sessions and hope that a reporter wants to speak with him.
00:04:15.120 With media outlets getting smaller, few, aside from the Western Standard, of course, have the resources to keep a reporter on site in the legislature full time.
00:04:22.460 Those other outlets garner their information from debates on bills and get video clips from the legislative session.
00:04:27.100 They don't sit in groups to scrum party leaders in the lobbies they used to.
00:04:29.980 Nenshi's a canny political player. He knows he's at a terrible disadvantage as a leader without a seat.
00:04:34.900 But for now, there's not a bloody thing he can do about it. It's beautiful.
00:04:37.920 Normally, somebody within a party would be willing to step aside from a safe seat for a new leader.
00:04:43.160 Clearly, right now, nobody within the NDP caucus is willing to do that for Nenshi.
00:04:46.860 Part of the problem is that Nenshi can't offer great incentives for an MLA to fall on their sword and give them their seat.
00:04:53.180 A party in power can offer all sorts of appointments to ensure an MLA taking one for the team has a soft landing.
00:04:57.780 A party in opposition is kind of limited when it comes to such political horse trading.
00:05:02.200 The safest seats for the NDP are in Edmonton.
00:05:04.680 There may be an MLA or two up there willing to step aside and make room for Nenshi, but it wouldn't be ideal for him.
00:05:09.380 If the NDP can't make gains in Calgary, they don't have a chance of winning the next election.
00:05:13.400 They want to keep Nenshi in Calgary where they hope to build a more solid base of support.
00:05:17.420 In Calgary, there are a few seats that would be considered safe, but the MLA sitting at them aren't going to move over for Nenshi.
00:05:22.700 This indicates Nenshi isn't as popular within the party ranks as some people might think.
00:05:26.500 I mean, sure, he won the leadership with an astounding level of support, but to get a seat, he needs some love coming from the old NDP stalwarts, and it doesn't appear to be there.
00:05:34.260 While Lethbridge West is open and will be holding a by-election soon, it's far from a safe seat for Nenshi.
00:05:38.700 He could possibly run and lose down there, but that would cause some pretty deep embarrassment.
00:05:43.360 He's better off to bide his time than take such a risk.
00:05:45.900 It's still going to be more than three years until the next general election, and Nenshi's surely going to find his way into the legislature before then.
00:05:50.820 But he isn't riding the wave of popularity that the legacy media implies, though, and he needs every advantage he can get.
00:05:57.220 With every month, he sits forlornly outside the legislature begging for attention, while another MLA serves as opposition leader.
00:06:04.520 Nenshi's just going to look weaker and weaker.
00:06:06.200 Being seatless right now is an inconvenience for Nenshi, but the quest for his seat is going to turn into one into desperation pretty soon if he doesn't get a chance to pursue it soon.
00:06:13.180 So, sit back and watch. Let's see if he can buy the love of another NDP member soon.
00:06:18.540 All right, that's enough out of me.
00:06:20.020 Oh, by the way, just a hat tip to the folks at the barbecue I was at last night for the Banff-Canon-Ascos constituency.
00:06:27.020 That's where I live, and it was amazing.
00:06:28.680 There had to be at least a dozen MLAs and a couple of MPs there.
00:06:32.560 Unfortunately, we're a rural seat, but we do have an NDP member, and as we can see, though, the party is trying very hard to change that around.
00:06:39.700 Banff and Canmore are the hardest parts to do it.
00:06:41.340 Met some great folks from Banff and a few others there, so we'll see what happens.
00:06:45.120 All right, let's turn to see what else is going on in the news.
00:06:46.900 We've got Jen Hodgson in the studio today, as Dave couldn't make it, but that's fine.
00:06:51.220 And, yes, you've been hard at it.
00:06:52.840 What are the top stories dominating the Western Standard site these days, Jen?
00:06:56.920 Hey, Corey.
00:06:57.700 So, hard at it, but not too hard at it since it's the opening days of the Stampede, so...
00:07:02.200 Where's your cowboy hat?
00:07:03.200 I left it in the newsroom.
00:07:04.860 I should have dashed out at the last minute.
00:07:06.760 This is Calgary blasphemy.
00:07:07.620 I'll be putting it on later when I head out and go down to the grounds.
00:07:10.580 So, today we have Trudeau.
00:07:12.920 He's visiting with NATO.
00:07:14.540 He was speaking at an event at the Canadian Embassy during the NATO Summit this week,
00:07:20.580 and he was talking about climate change and how that is actually Canada's most, quote, existential threat,
00:07:28.060 not just because of the environment, but also the security issues that are around that.
00:07:32.460 But, speaking of security issues and NATO, Trudeau simultaneously is raked through the coals at NATO by U.S. Senators, UK media,
00:07:42.480 for failing to meet the 2% pledge that, as a NATO member country, Canada is expected to meet this requirement of having 2% of the GDP.
00:07:52.880 So, there's a lot of scrutiny internationally, unfortunately, faced at Canada because we have failed to meet up to that,
00:08:00.440 and Trudeau is still trumpeting how well our defense spending is going,
00:08:05.680 while Minister, Defense Minister Bill Blair, he actually inflated the numbers for the defense spending.
00:08:13.860 Yeah, they can promise all they like.
00:08:15.700 They've actually got to cut a check at some point.
00:08:18.060 Yeah.
00:08:18.420 And he's not willing to do that.
00:08:19.660 I mean, he's not afraid to spend money on things he likes.
00:08:22.500 When he's dragging his heels on this, his little pointy heels,
00:08:26.180 he honestly just doesn't want to invest in defense.
00:08:28.160 Well, you would think as defense minister, that would be something he likes.
00:08:31.160 Yeah.
00:08:32.220 Well, his boss is stuck on walk issues.
00:08:35.260 That's right.
00:08:36.460 Well, and so, speaking of problematic Liberal MPs,
00:08:39.680 we have another Liberal MP who is being investigated for conflict of interest.
00:08:44.760 We have the Ethics Committee calling a special meeting next week,
00:08:48.540 even though Parliament is on summer session,
00:08:51.580 to investigate Liberal MP Randy Boissoneau.
00:08:57.280 Boissoneau is a major shareholder in a medical supply,
00:09:01.380 a medical supplier that was contracted by the federal government
00:09:04.920 during the pandemic era.
00:09:06.980 And some partners, the business partners,
00:09:09.700 were discussing Randy in text messages,
00:09:13.000 although Boissoneau denies that it was actually him
00:09:16.300 and says, well, it must be some other Randy.
00:09:18.460 Well, there's so many Randys.
00:09:19.560 So many Randys, yeah.
00:09:21.440 I'm sure his company has at least 20 Randys with him.
00:09:23.420 Oh, that's right.
00:09:24.100 Especially a company of maybe about 20 people in itself,
00:09:27.220 all named Randy.
00:09:28.300 And so, going on as well to the spy scandal,
00:09:34.320 so that we saw recently on Parliament Hill last month
00:09:37.300 that conveniently when summer session went on break,
00:09:42.580 the subject wasn't as animatedly discussed.
00:09:46.160 However, the Quebec RCMP is very interested to find out more
00:09:50.480 about the Chinese foreign interference.
00:09:53.520 And they put out a release yesterday
00:09:55.640 saying that they're looking for the public's help
00:09:58.840 to really narrow down
00:10:01.000 where is this Chinese interference coming from.
00:10:03.740 So anyone who's being harassed
00:10:05.760 or threatened by Chinese agents,
00:10:08.840 they're asked to report it to the police.
00:10:11.520 And also law enforcement in Montreal and Long Gai
00:10:15.580 are hosting open forum meetings next week.
00:10:21.180 Or actually, it might even be this week coming up already
00:10:24.300 to inform the public more
00:10:27.180 about the threat of China on Canada.
00:10:29.100 So at least the Quebec RCMP is at least talking about it.
00:10:32.320 We haven't seen as much from our politicians.
00:10:34.140 That's what it's down to.
00:10:35.060 The Quebec RCMP, well, at least somebody's paying attention.
00:10:38.220 Yeah, that's right.
00:10:39.380 At least someone.
00:10:39.900 I was thinking the same thing.
00:10:41.060 And a couple other things.
00:10:42.840 So there's been a global privacy sweep
00:10:45.100 of various apps and websites.
00:10:47.920 Alberta Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner
00:10:50.960 was in on that sweep.
00:10:52.300 And it actually found many deceptive patterns
00:10:55.280 in the way that websites and apps
00:10:58.340 try to get people to put in their personal information.
00:11:02.700 So they'll complicate the process
00:11:05.260 for accessing privacy policies.
00:11:08.120 They'll delete accounts, logging out,
00:11:09.820 and you'll have to add more personal information
00:11:11.840 to restore your account.
00:11:13.460 So some problems with that.
00:11:15.080 And finally, Corey, our Alberta power supply.
00:11:17.960 We're looking at another threat this week.
00:11:20.200 It's been a hot week here in Calgary for the stampede.
00:11:23.400 And so now there's some warnings out from the government
00:11:25.680 to lower your use of energy.
00:11:28.540 And this comes right on the heels, of course,
00:11:30.740 as we all know of the water crisis
00:11:33.280 that we faced in recent weeks
00:11:34.860 and the warning of rolling blackouts this past January.
00:11:38.100 It says a lot, you know, we're the richest province
00:11:40.480 in the country in many, many ways,
00:11:42.140 but yet we're suffering these shortcomings.
00:11:43.620 That's right.
00:11:44.180 And Stephen Gabor was trumpeting,
00:11:46.120 look at that, Alberta has stopped coal use early.
00:11:48.980 Yeah, and now we have blackouts, you pinhead.
00:11:51.540 Yeah, that's a great example, doesn't it?
00:11:53.620 What not to do.
00:11:54.620 Yeah, I mean, hey, we want to ease off things,
00:11:56.900 but it's just never enough for the climate obsessed.
00:11:59.600 Oh, well, interesting times.
00:12:01.400 People in Calgary are getting pretty grouchy.
00:12:02.860 You can't have your air conditioning,
00:12:03.940 can't have your water,
00:12:04.920 can't flush your toilet more than once.
00:12:06.700 Well, I think they've improved that now.
00:12:08.220 Yeah, now finally, yeah.
00:12:09.620 You can set the brown down, that's nice.
00:12:11.600 But boy, what a summer.
00:12:13.420 Yeah, what a summer.
00:12:14.300 Thanks for the updates.
00:12:15.300 I'll let you go find your cowboy hat
00:12:16.700 and carry on with the coverage.
00:12:18.800 Thank you, Corey.
00:12:19.400 All right.
00:12:20.940 So that was Jen Hodgson. 1.00
00:12:22.300 Yes, you look, see those very prolific stories
00:12:24.320 from Jen all over the site there.
00:12:26.720 Jonathan Bradley and others, of course,
00:12:28.220 are always putting lots out there.
00:12:29.720 And Sean, we'll be checking in with him
00:12:31.080 in a little while.
00:12:32.000 The reason we can do that, guys,
00:12:33.360 the reason we can afford to
00:12:34.500 is because you've been subscribing.
00:12:36.300 We're subscriber-based, not subsidy-based.
00:12:38.660 So we don't ask for tax dollars.
00:12:40.360 And you know, the government's not really
00:12:41.480 in a rush to offer them to us.
00:12:42.700 But all the same, that makes us accountable to you.
00:12:45.420 So if you haven't subscribed yet,
00:12:47.340 come on, guys.
00:12:48.100 Get on there.
00:12:48.780 Westernstandard.news slash subscription.
00:12:50.660 Take one out, $9.99 a month,
00:12:52.080 $100 a year,
00:12:53.040 just like when you used to get the newspaper
00:12:54.180 to your door.
00:12:54.980 Then you can get past that pesky paywall
00:12:56.940 and get to all those stories
00:12:58.460 and coverages going on out there.
00:12:59.740 So if you subscribed already,
00:13:00.880 thank you very much.
00:13:01.580 We really do appreciate it.
00:13:03.660 It keeps us independent
00:13:04.440 and it keeps us rolling on these things.
00:13:06.840 And again, if you haven't subscribed yet,
00:13:08.280 I'm going to keep nagging you
00:13:09.040 because that's how we pay those bills.
00:13:12.720 All right.
00:13:13.180 Yeah, we got...
00:13:14.160 I don't know.
00:13:15.380 It's just dark comedy
00:13:17.220 watching Justin Trudeau
00:13:20.100 with his behavior in NATO.
00:13:23.840 He knows.
00:13:24.640 I mean, he has to know.
00:13:26.060 They've been upset with him for years.
00:13:27.880 And I said in a recent piece I wrote,
00:13:30.240 I mean, this was prior to Justin Trudeau even.
00:13:33.540 Canada's been neglecting to pay its fair share
00:13:35.640 into defense spending for years
00:13:37.800 for multiple governments.
00:13:39.180 And we're not talking about
00:13:40.360 sending more money overseas to other nations.
00:13:42.960 We're just talking about spending that much
00:13:45.100 on our domestic defense
00:13:46.320 so as to be a properly contributing member of NATO.
00:13:50.320 And I know some people get upset with things
00:13:51.920 and everything.
00:13:52.220 I'm not going to go into that whole debate.
00:13:53.840 But I tell you what,
00:13:54.720 NATO is important.
00:13:55.620 Russia is on an expansionist trip right now.
00:13:59.300 And the best defense is to have
00:14:01.420 a strong number of allies
00:14:03.880 properly invested
00:14:04.960 with decent defensive capabilities
00:14:08.440 to at least stand as a deterrent.
00:14:14.040 But right now, Canada is at like 1.3% of GDP.
00:14:17.320 And what does Trudeau do?
00:14:18.520 He gets up there and gives them a lecture
00:14:20.120 on climate change.
00:14:22.060 They don't care.
00:14:23.280 I don't think anybody in Ukraine really cares 1.00
00:14:26.320 about what the temperature is tomorrow.
00:14:28.060 They're worried about getting blown into obliteration.
00:14:31.400 But no, Trudeau lectures him.
00:14:33.040 And that tone,
00:14:33.920 oh, if you really want to torture yourself,
00:14:35.540 listen to his presentation.
00:14:36.840 That wasn't what they wanted to hear.
00:14:38.740 And he's getting pilloried by the UK,
00:14:41.240 by the Americans.
00:14:42.180 Even Cocaine Mitch put a tweet out
00:14:44.220 saying Justin Trudeau and Canada,
00:14:46.540 you know, their northern neighbors,
00:14:47.700 need to step up and spend
00:14:49.780 what they're obligated to
00:14:51.620 if they want to take part in NATO.
00:14:53.260 Jordan is saying NATO's done for.
00:14:55.120 Whatever.
00:14:55.940 You know, the bottom line is,
00:14:57.340 I know there's a lot of debate on that.
00:14:58.480 There's some people who cuckily think
00:14:59.660 that Putin's not a lunatic.
00:15:02.000 But all the same,
00:15:03.400 even if we want out of NATO, fine.
00:15:05.940 But we still should be keeping
00:15:07.640 our defensive forces properly funded
00:15:09.700 and modern and so forth.
00:15:11.740 All right, well, let's get on to our guest
00:15:12.760 and on to something different
00:15:13.460 where we've really been making
00:15:14.420 a nice mess nationally, too.
00:15:15.740 And that's with Safer Supply.
00:15:17.500 I've got Adam Zivo back.
00:15:18.620 I've been looking forward to it.
00:15:19.500 Thank you very much for joining us again today, Adam.
00:15:21.640 I'm certain we'll be able to hear
00:15:22.800 each other this time, right?
00:15:24.100 Yeah, I can hear you just well.
00:15:25.300 Thanks for having me back on the show.
00:15:27.360 So, I mean, I've been watching
00:15:29.280 with interest on social media.
00:15:30.360 Boy, you cover a lot of things
00:15:31.720 and it's fantastic out there.
00:15:33.480 But the one I do want to discuss
00:15:35.060 has been the safer supply,
00:15:38.740 almost, I say it is a cult-like advocacy.
00:15:41.540 I mean, the people who are pushing for this,
00:15:43.640 just the advocates are getting so extreme,
00:15:48.280 I mean, to the point of looking
00:15:49.340 to sabotage conferences,
00:15:51.120 coming after you,
00:15:52.960 and just a refusal to look at
00:15:54.680 the consequences of these policies.
00:15:57.000 What's going on out there, Adam?
00:15:58.700 Well, I mean, it's a long story,
00:16:00.540 but what I have to say is that
00:16:01.640 addiction policymaking in Canada
00:16:03.460 is dominated by a clique of activists
00:16:05.860 and activist-minded researchers
00:16:07.580 who for 20 years
00:16:09.300 have been championing
00:16:10.440 this radical harm reduction ideology
00:16:12.900 that has helped,
00:16:15.920 well, I mean, facilitated countless deaths
00:16:18.500 because we're really not solving
00:16:19.740 this addiction crisis.
00:16:20.960 They claim to be evidence-based.
00:16:22.800 They're often not.
00:16:23.680 Their definition of evidence
00:16:24.720 is quite questionable.
00:16:26.360 For example, many of the studies
00:16:27.880 that they have,
00:16:28.480 which support safer supply,
00:16:30.120 amount to just interviews
00:16:31.360 with drug users
00:16:32.520 who are on this program.
00:16:34.560 And then the answers
00:16:36.620 given to those interviews
00:16:37.360 are framed as objective proof
00:16:39.500 that it's working.
00:16:40.620 So imagine, for example,
00:16:41.400 you go up to a drug user
00:16:42.420 who is receiving free opioids
00:16:44.060 and we say,
00:16:44.700 oh, you know,
00:16:45.220 do you like this program?
00:16:46.140 Is it benefiting you?
00:16:47.440 Are you selling the drugs?
00:16:48.600 And the guy says,
00:16:49.240 oh, yeah, it's great.
00:16:50.080 It's wonderful.
00:16:50.800 Of course, I would never sell the drugs.
00:16:52.200 And if I do,
00:16:52.620 it's only out of compassion.
00:16:53.420 There's no downsides.
00:16:54.480 And the researchers say,
00:16:55.600 oh, yeah, you know what?
00:16:56.580 We're going to believe him
00:16:57.400 and we need to expand safer supply
00:16:59.760 because this is evidence
00:17:00.920 that this is true
00:17:01.800 and this is evidence-based policymaking.
00:17:04.260 And it's just absurd.
00:17:05.260 I mean, if it worked,
00:17:05.940 if we could see results,
00:17:06.840 if we could see people's lives
00:17:08.380 really being saved,
00:17:09.360 if we could see a decline in overdoses,
00:17:11.540 a reduction in addiction,
00:17:13.280 I'd support it too.
00:17:14.720 But we're just not seeing it.
00:17:16.400 We're really not.
00:17:17.140 And here's the thing
00:17:18.040 is that the largest study
00:17:19.980 ever conducted on safer supply
00:17:21.600 was published in January
00:17:24.460 and it was published
00:17:25.340 in the British Medical Journal
00:17:26.340 and it claimed
00:17:27.340 that safer supply led
00:17:29.180 to a 55 to 91% reduction
00:17:31.460 in overdose deaths.
00:17:32.600 But I reviewed the evidence
00:17:34.260 and the underlying data
00:17:35.380 with a team of six physicians,
00:17:36.820 all who have a background
00:17:37.960 in addiction medicine,
00:17:39.220 all of who are distinguished.
00:17:41.020 And we realized
00:17:42.020 that the researchers
00:17:43.000 actually fudged
00:17:44.700 their interpretation
00:17:45.600 of this data
00:17:46.460 and that when you actually did,
00:17:48.580 when you actually fully filtered out
00:17:49.940 confounding effects
00:17:50.860 and measured long-term outcomes,
00:17:53.240 safer supply
00:17:53.860 had no statistically significant
00:17:55.940 impact on death.
00:17:57.920 So essentially,
00:17:59.300 these researchers
00:18:00.000 found this robust data
00:18:02.300 that showed that
00:18:02.960 safer supply didn't work
00:18:04.240 and then they misrepresented
00:18:06.460 the data to imply
00:18:07.320 that it did.
00:18:07.980 And I think that
00:18:08.420 that's deeply unethical.
00:18:10.320 Absolutely.
00:18:11.160 But what I don't understand,
00:18:12.880 as I said,
00:18:13.240 is the almost religious
00:18:14.620 like hang-up advocates
00:18:16.080 have with it
00:18:17.220 to the point of,
00:18:18.400 again,
00:18:19.020 I was just shocked
00:18:19.660 when you wrote that piece
00:18:20.840 about they were looking
00:18:21.380 to even dye the water
00:18:23.240 in a fountain red
00:18:24.660 or do things like,
00:18:26.060 where are these people
00:18:27.240 coming from?
00:18:27.840 Why are they so fixated on this?
00:18:30.320 I mean,
00:18:30.640 I understand compassion
00:18:31.900 and concern,
00:18:32.640 then why aren't they
00:18:33.480 looking at evidence-based
00:18:34.640 instead of this strange
00:18:36.680 obsession with this?
00:18:38.040 Well, I mean,
00:18:38.380 there's different groups here,
00:18:39.300 right?
00:18:39.660 So I feel the most compassion
00:18:41.580 for the grassroots organizers
00:18:42.940 who are dealing with addiction
00:18:45.020 every single day
00:18:45.900 and who are watching
00:18:46.800 their friends
00:18:48.300 and associates die.
00:18:49.980 That's really traumatizing.
00:18:51.260 We've seen such a rise in death
00:18:53.840 over the past 10 years
00:18:55.080 that it's understandable
00:18:56.940 that these activists
00:18:58.180 are desperate in a way
00:18:59.460 and they are searching
00:19:00.740 for anything
00:19:01.560 which could potentially
00:19:02.480 save their friends' lives.
00:19:04.680 But when you're
00:19:05.680 in that kind of mind space,
00:19:07.480 sometimes you're willing
00:19:08.440 to make compromises
00:19:09.580 and you are willing
00:19:12.580 to believe,
00:19:13.580 to really delude yourself
00:19:16.200 into thinking
00:19:16.700 that something like
00:19:17.420 Safer Supply
00:19:18.120 is an effective intervention
00:19:20.580 when in reality it's not.
00:19:22.560 I think also
00:19:23.460 there's a lack
00:19:25.120 of understanding
00:19:25.900 of the weakness
00:19:27.360 of the evidence-based
00:19:28.320 and Safer Supply
00:19:29.080 many Safer Supply
00:19:30.480 advocates think
00:19:32.260 that these studies
00:19:33.320 are legitimate
00:19:33.860 but once again
00:19:35.160 when you break them down
00:19:36.080 you find that oftentimes
00:19:37.120 they have really
00:19:38.000 weak methodologies
00:19:38.980 or really strange
00:19:40.740 interpretations of data.
00:19:42.740 Yeah, and some of the stuff
00:19:44.780 we can see is anecdotal
00:19:45.760 but people getting out
00:19:46.620 and being on the streets
00:19:48.360 paradoxically,
00:19:48.960 one of the commenters saying
00:19:49.740 and yeah,
00:19:50.020 and Calgary's Beltline.
00:19:51.020 I mean, it's just horrific.
00:19:52.020 It's dystopian.
00:19:53.340 And we know that Vancouver
00:19:54.360 of course has really been
00:19:55.500 the epicenter of it
00:19:56.420 but the failure
00:19:58.300 unfortunately
00:19:59.000 of current policies
00:20:00.100 and I don't think
00:20:00.620 anybody's really found
00:20:01.200 a solution yet
00:20:02.180 but we just know
00:20:02.860 there's a tragic
00:20:03.760 horrific problem
00:20:04.620 of addiction
00:20:05.060 going on out there
00:20:05.980 but some of it's been exposed.
00:20:08.260 I mean, there was a recent piece
00:20:09.220 I'm forgetting
00:20:10.060 which one it was now
00:20:10.820 it was I think from the UK
00:20:12.080 but I mean,
00:20:12.700 it was some photojournalism
00:20:13.880 and some fantastic work
00:20:14.940 just to bring it home
00:20:16.040 for people who perhaps
00:20:16.900 don't get out of the suburbs
00:20:17.840 or don't get out of rural areas
00:20:18.980 just to see
00:20:19.760 how awful
00:20:20.920 and terrible
00:20:22.140 this addiction epidemic is.
00:20:23.620 I mean,
00:20:23.800 how it's eating people
00:20:24.720 alive out there.
00:20:25.560 Well, I mean,
00:20:26.220 that's the thing
00:20:26.700 is that we have to all
00:20:27.580 recognize the fact
00:20:28.400 that this is a real crisis
00:20:29.620 that is taking thousands
00:20:31.040 of lives every single year.
00:20:33.820 Overdose is now
00:20:34.740 drug-related death
00:20:35.800 like the leading cause
00:20:37.120 of death
00:20:37.600 for youth in BC
00:20:39.940 and our governments
00:20:42.240 are saying
00:20:43.020 that they're taking this seriously
00:20:44.440 but they're not.
00:20:46.520 We don't have significant investment
00:20:48.320 into treatment capacity
00:20:49.300 in BC, for example.
00:20:50.760 It takes a very long time
00:20:51.960 to get into detox.
00:20:53.160 It takes a very long time
00:20:53.780 to get into a rehab center.
00:20:55.980 Same thing in Ontario.
00:20:57.420 In Alberta,
00:20:58.120 it's much better
00:20:58.660 because the,
00:21:00.120 well, Daniel Smith
00:21:00.700 has been investing heavily
00:21:02.080 into treatment services
00:21:03.620 but it's still not
00:21:04.260 where it needs to be.
00:21:05.960 So we constantly talk about,
00:21:07.600 you know,
00:21:07.880 this illicit drug crisis
00:21:09.440 and all of these overdoses
00:21:10.500 but it's really rhetoric.
00:21:12.120 There's no real action here.
00:21:14.220 And even these big interventions
00:21:16.400 like, you know,
00:21:16.920 safe supply.
00:21:17.760 People say
00:21:18.200 it's the compassionate thing.
00:21:19.980 Unfortunately,
00:21:20.420 it is actually
00:21:21.860 just the lazy solution.
00:21:23.320 It is the cheap solution
00:21:24.340 because getting people better,
00:21:27.200 giving them
00:21:27.680 the comprehensive supports,
00:21:29.820 the housing supports,
00:21:30.800 the employment supports,
00:21:32.200 the counseling
00:21:32.860 needed for them
00:21:33.920 to reclaim their lives
00:21:35.160 is expensive
00:21:36.460 and complicated.
00:21:37.700 It's much easier
00:21:38.660 and much cheaper
00:21:39.760 just to give people
00:21:41.080 a bottle of pills every day
00:21:42.400 so they can go
00:21:43.020 kill themselves slowly.
00:21:44.740 Yeah.
00:21:45.340 And then
00:21:45.720 not only is it not effective
00:21:47.300 in getting people,
00:21:48.520 you know,
00:21:48.880 off of their addictions
00:21:49.940 that are slowly killing them.
00:21:51.860 When we get diversion of these,
00:21:53.840 the risk now
00:21:54.580 and there's evidence
00:21:55.340 starting to show
00:21:56.220 that it's actually causing harm.
00:21:58.540 It's creating new addicts
00:22:00.100 which is even more devastating.
00:22:01.840 I mean,
00:22:01.960 it's bad enough
00:22:02.340 to have a policy
00:22:02.880 that's ineffective
00:22:03.500 but this policy
00:22:04.720 could very well
00:22:05.700 be making things worse.
00:22:07.040 Oh yeah,
00:22:07.320 no though,
00:22:07.640 the safer supply policy
00:22:08.860 is obviously exacerbating
00:22:10.500 the addiction crisis
00:22:11.320 in Canada.
00:22:12.620 And so for viewers
00:22:13.760 who haven't been following
00:22:14.600 the safer supplies
00:22:15.380 this idea
00:22:15.860 that we give out
00:22:16.780 pharmaceutical alternatives
00:22:17.840 to elicit street drugs
00:22:18.900 let's say Corey gets addicted
00:22:20.900 to fentanyl
00:22:21.900 because he's really stressed,
00:22:23.060 you know,
00:22:23.320 running this show.
00:22:24.480 He needs something
00:22:25.180 to take the edge off.
00:22:26.560 So Corey,
00:22:27.420 you're addicted to fentanyl.
00:22:28.420 You buy your fentanyl
00:22:29.160 off the street.
00:22:29.900 It could be contaminated
00:22:30.800 with xylazine,
00:22:32.420 with other forms of fentanyl
00:22:34.260 like car fentanyl
00:22:35.100 which is much stronger.
00:22:36.400 The dosage is unpredictable.
00:22:38.160 So there's easily,
00:22:39.720 you could easily die
00:22:40.580 from buying drugs
00:22:41.320 off the street.
00:22:42.300 So the idea here
00:22:43.360 is that we give you
00:22:44.460 drugs of a known potency
00:22:46.380 and of a known purity.
00:22:48.020 So pharmaceutical drugs
00:22:49.380 to keep you alive
00:22:50.400 until you're ready
00:22:50.980 to seek treatment.
00:22:52.120 Sure.
00:22:52.800 That sounds great in theory.
00:22:55.040 In practice though,
00:22:56.540 the drug we give,
00:22:57.660 hydromorphone,
00:22:58.420 it's as potent as heroin.
00:23:00.900 But fentanyl
00:23:02.240 is 50 times stronger.
00:23:04.140 So Corey,
00:23:04.760 if you get a bottle
00:23:05.720 of hydromorphone
00:23:06.400 and you take it,
00:23:07.120 it's not going to do
00:23:07.700 anything for you.
00:23:08.420 It's too weak.
00:23:09.760 And so you do
00:23:10.720 the rational thing
00:23:11.820 that any person
00:23:12.500 would do in the situation.
00:23:13.940 You sell your hydromorphone,
00:23:15.360 at rock bottom prices
00:23:16.900 because you got it for free
00:23:18.060 and you use that money
00:23:19.380 to buy your drug of choice,
00:23:20.620 which is fentanyl.
00:23:21.860 So not only
00:23:23.200 is this program
00:23:24.100 not mitigating
00:23:25.380 the illicit fentanyl market,
00:23:27.000 it's subsidizing it.
00:23:28.520 And it would actually
00:23:29.320 make more sense
00:23:30.440 for us just to give you cash,
00:23:32.620 right?
00:23:33.740 But to buy your fentanyl.
00:23:35.560 But at this point,
00:23:36.740 because you're selling this,
00:23:38.300 you are flooding communities
00:23:39.640 with hydromorphone.
00:23:40.640 So essentially,
00:23:41.560 government heroin.
00:23:42.320 And then because
00:23:44.260 experienced drug users
00:23:45.260 don't want it,
00:23:46.000 it goes to people
00:23:46.600 who are opioid naive.
00:23:47.860 It goes to kids.
00:23:49.100 It goes to people
00:23:49.740 in recovery.
00:23:50.980 The kids will take it
00:23:51.980 because they don't know
00:23:52.620 what it is.
00:23:53.620 You know,
00:23:53.840 it's a pill at a party.
00:23:55.040 They're told it's a
00:23:55.760 prescription pain medication.
00:23:57.420 It's safe.
00:23:58.140 It's from the government.
00:23:58.980 Then they get hooked.
00:23:59.840 Then they graduate
00:24:00.520 onto fentanyl
00:24:01.160 and it kills them.
00:24:02.160 This is an absolute disaster.
00:24:04.600 And something else,
00:24:05.440 Jordan,
00:24:05.780 one of my commenters
00:24:06.480 pointed out,
00:24:07.060 which is another thing,
00:24:07.840 you know,
00:24:07.940 we're getting hints of
00:24:08.800 there might be some people
00:24:10.300 with a vested interest
00:24:11.200 in business interests
00:24:12.860 in being part
00:24:13.940 of the dispersal
00:24:15.320 of the safer supply.
00:24:16.580 I mean,
00:24:16.700 that's kind of a different
00:24:17.340 rabbit hole to go down.
00:24:18.480 But unfortunately,
00:24:19.060 some people are finding
00:24:19.740 themselves with a financial
00:24:21.160 interest in the status quo,
00:24:22.520 which is morbid,
00:24:23.800 but another thing
00:24:24.780 to look into.
00:24:25.940 Well,
00:24:26.080 I mean,
00:24:26.240 the problem here
00:24:27.040 is that like clinics
00:24:28.700 can make a lot of money
00:24:29.560 by prescribing safer supply.
00:24:31.000 You have people coming in.
00:24:31.960 You have your patients
00:24:32.800 coming in all the time
00:24:33.940 to get their safer supply
00:24:34.740 prescriptions
00:24:35.320 versus if you put them
00:24:37.280 on sublocate,
00:24:38.000 for example,
00:24:38.480 which is a once a month shot.
00:24:39.720 The pharmacies are making
00:24:41.180 an absolute killing
00:24:42.420 because they dispense
00:24:43.540 the safer supply
00:24:44.480 every single day.
00:24:45.340 So you're paying,
00:24:45.860 you're charging a dispensing fee
00:24:47.000 every single day
00:24:48.100 for every single patient.
00:24:49.820 One doctor I spoke with
00:24:51.080 estimated that a single pharmacy
00:24:52.780 can make $1 million a year
00:24:55.040 off of 100 patients.
00:24:57.840 So yeah,
00:24:58.480 Shoppers Drug Mart,
00:24:59.240 for example,
00:24:59.840 gave about $2 million
00:25:00.800 to the BC Center
00:25:02.020 for Substance Use
00:25:03.080 to encourage them
00:25:05.280 to create like training programs
00:25:06.860 for safer supply.
00:25:07.580 And I think that's a huge
00:25:08.200 conflict of interest.
00:25:09.720 Purdue Pharma,
00:25:11.260 which was the,
00:25:12.700 you know,
00:25:13.040 really awful company
00:25:14.160 that was behind
00:25:15.320 the OxyContin crisis
00:25:16.420 and started this whole
00:25:17.680 opioid addiction
00:25:18.200 in the first place,
00:25:19.100 this crisis.
00:25:21.000 They produce Dilaudid,
00:25:22.960 which is the brand version
00:25:24.200 of hydromorphone.
00:25:25.240 So they are making
00:25:26.120 a lot of money
00:25:26.680 off of this as well.
00:25:27.760 And I'm aware of the fact
00:25:29.080 that they are currently
00:25:29.860 lobbying some governments
00:25:31.560 about safer supply.
00:25:33.180 I still need to fully
00:25:34.040 investigate that.
00:25:35.640 So yeah,
00:25:36.360 there's a lot of pharma
00:25:37.280 money involved here,
00:25:38.120 which I think
00:25:38.500 is really concerning.
00:25:40.300 And I guess something
00:25:40.940 that has to be,
00:25:41.720 you know,
00:25:41.860 you put it out as well.
00:25:42.780 I mean,
00:25:43.080 full treatment,
00:25:44.060 the counseling,
00:25:44.840 the housing,
00:25:45.660 the time,
00:25:46.320 it's very expensive.
00:25:47.700 You need facilities,
00:25:49.160 you need trained staff,
00:25:50.280 you need resources.
00:25:51.780 Alberta's working
00:25:52.440 along that course,
00:25:53.500 but I actually have
00:25:54.960 a family member
00:25:55.680 who's been in and out
00:25:56.500 of rehab once now
00:25:57.640 and it didn't work.
00:26:00.400 It could take multiple visits
00:26:01.960 and they say,
00:26:03.540 yes,
00:26:03.780 you certainly are addicted,
00:26:05.240 you would qualify,
00:26:06.340 come back in 30 days
00:26:07.420 and we'll probably
00:26:07.900 have a bed for you.
00:26:08.760 But unfortunately,
00:26:09.460 living on the streets
00:26:10.340 for 30 days,
00:26:11.980 you know,
00:26:12.780 your chances aren't
00:26:13.520 looking very good at all.
00:26:15.820 But I guess people
00:26:16.320 have to realize
00:26:16.880 that the investment
00:26:17.540 in these facilities too,
00:26:18.580 as expensive as they sound,
00:26:19.700 we're still paying
00:26:20.580 because the person
00:26:21.140 I'm speaking of
00:26:21.760 was in and out
00:26:22.540 of conventional hospitals,
00:26:23.800 chronically,
00:26:24.400 in and out of shelters.
00:26:26.100 Often people are
00:26:26.880 in and out of jail.
00:26:27.900 We're paying anyway.
00:26:29.420 So we can spend
00:26:30.420 those dollars better
00:26:31.240 if we're trying at least,
00:26:32.480 even if there's
00:26:33.100 a limited success rate
00:26:34.380 in rehab.
00:26:36.000 But hopefully,
00:26:37.040 we're starting to realize that.
00:26:38.380 I mean, in BC,
00:26:38.940 they've gotten rid of the,
00:26:40.260 you know,
00:26:40.460 reality seems to be
00:26:41.720 sinking into that government.
00:26:43.140 Yeah.
00:26:43.460 Well, that's the thing.
00:26:44.360 As you said,
00:26:45.380 our capacity here
00:26:47.540 is quite limited, right?
00:26:48.480 So if someone has to wait
00:26:49.400 30 days to get into rehab,
00:26:50.980 then that's going to be,
00:26:52.120 that's going to make it
00:26:52.580 very hard for them
00:26:53.280 to get better
00:26:53.780 because you make that decision,
00:26:55.080 you want to get better,
00:26:56.000 but then you have to,
00:26:56.660 you have to wait 30 days
00:26:57.740 while you're going to start
00:26:58.340 using during that period.
00:26:59.640 And then in 30 days,
00:27:00.600 you may not want to go to rehab.
00:27:01.740 Um, it costs a lot
00:27:03.860 to do all of this.
00:27:05.040 Uh, as you said,
00:27:06.700 we're already paying a lot.
00:27:08.600 You know,
00:27:08.860 our healthcare system
00:27:10.440 is strained to the max.
00:27:12.620 And part of it
00:27:13.640 is because we have
00:27:14.320 a small number
00:27:14.920 of severely addicted people
00:27:16.360 who are visiting hospitals
00:27:18.480 again and again
00:27:19.520 and again and again.
00:27:20.660 So it would be
00:27:22.520 fiscally responsible
00:27:23.800 for us to put them
00:27:25.900 in a treatment center instead
00:27:26.880 and could also
00:27:28.380 improve healthcare access
00:27:30.420 for everyone else.
00:27:31.080 It just makes sense.
00:27:33.300 Yeah, well,
00:27:34.200 it's, it's a large
00:27:35.000 and complicated problem.
00:27:36.380 I mean, part of it too
00:27:37.140 is at least letting people know
00:27:38.420 so they can let their
00:27:39.500 representatives know,
00:27:40.760 I mean, how acute it is
00:27:41.940 and, and, and encourage them.
00:27:44.420 I mean, I, I think
00:27:45.140 most compassionate people
00:27:46.120 when they realize
00:27:46.720 just how bad it's getting
00:27:47.820 would support the investment
00:27:49.180 in, in rehab
00:27:49.940 and, and a results-based policy.
00:27:52.620 But I mean, it takes exposure.
00:27:54.100 It takes letting people know,
00:27:55.020 as I said,
00:27:55.380 if they live in the suburbs
00:27:56.200 and don't get downtown,
00:27:57.360 they might not realize
00:27:58.060 how bad it is
00:27:58.900 until it costs them directly.
00:28:01.120 So, I mean, just kind of,
00:28:02.280 you know, to wrap things up,
00:28:03.320 you've been fantastic
00:28:04.140 in, in covering this
00:28:05.320 and exposing it.
00:28:06.100 Where, where can people
00:28:06.680 find your work
00:28:08.140 and, and keep track
00:28:08.980 of what you've been writing on?
00:28:10.460 Well, I mean,
00:28:10.840 I'm a columnist
00:28:11.320 of National Post,
00:28:12.000 so I think you should
00:28:12.620 subscribe to the paper.
00:28:13.520 It's great.
00:28:14.280 There are also many
00:28:15.300 other great writers there.
00:28:16.240 And then on top of that,
00:28:18.120 I run a nonprofit
00:28:19.120 called the Center
00:28:19.900 for Responsible Drug Policy.
00:28:21.440 And we have a little
00:28:22.440 sub stack
00:28:23.160 called Breaking Needles.
00:28:25.280 So you can go find us
00:28:26.400 at www.breakingneedles.com
00:28:28.480 or responsibledrugpolicies.com.
00:28:30.680 Either will give you access
00:28:31.880 to all sorts of
00:28:32.720 great material on addiction
00:28:33.900 that challenges
00:28:35.340 some of these,
00:28:36.240 you know, narratives
00:28:37.260 of radical harm reduction
00:28:38.580 that have ruined our country.
00:28:40.900 Well, that's it.
00:28:41.720 I mean, you know,
00:28:42.220 just applying some comments,
00:28:44.280 answer, looking for results.
00:28:45.300 I had a doctor,
00:28:46.380 Monty Goshon.
00:28:47.880 He specializes
00:28:48.520 in addiction treatment.
00:28:49.720 And you talked about,
00:28:50.820 you know,
00:28:51.080 we don't have time
00:28:51.720 to go into the whole thing
00:28:52.460 of consumption centers.
00:28:53.740 There was this horrific case
00:28:54.900 of a Vancouver one.
00:28:55.700 I saw it look like
00:28:56.380 an opium den of old
00:28:57.940 with what it turned into.
00:28:59.680 But the effectiveness
00:29:01.100 of safe consumption
00:29:01.980 is typically only good
00:29:03.140 for about 500 yards,
00:29:04.980 he said,
00:29:05.400 from where the attic is.
00:29:06.840 Otherwise,
00:29:07.080 they're not going
00:29:07.440 to travel that far.
00:29:08.740 And we just don't have
00:29:09.740 the resources to set one up
00:29:10.800 every 500 yards
00:29:11.540 in every major city.
00:29:12.480 So we've got to think
00:29:13.260 a little harder on it.
00:29:14.540 Yeah.
00:29:15.300 If we're going to spend
00:29:15.820 the money,
00:29:16.200 like rather than spend
00:29:16.880 the money on putting
00:29:17.460 a safe consumption site
00:29:18.380 everywhere,
00:29:18.680 we should be spending
00:29:19.400 money on building
00:29:20.420 up treatment capacity.
00:29:23.160 You know,
00:29:23.680 it's a better investment
00:29:25.100 to get people better
00:29:26.020 than to enable
00:29:26.800 their addictions
00:29:27.420 and let them
00:29:27.920 slowly kill themselves.
00:29:29.520 Absolutely.
00:29:30.040 Well,
00:29:30.200 thank you very much
00:29:30.880 for joining us today,
00:29:31.800 Adam,
00:29:31.980 and for the work
00:29:32.560 you've been doing
00:29:33.040 and exposing this.
00:29:34.780 I really appreciate it.
00:29:36.080 And I hope we can
00:29:36.800 have you on again
00:29:37.380 sometime soon
00:29:38.040 to talk again.
00:29:38.940 Likewise.
00:29:39.440 Thanks for having me
00:29:39.880 on the show.
00:29:40.680 Right on.
00:29:41.300 Thanks.
00:29:41.600 So that was Adam's Evo.
00:29:42.800 As he said,
00:29:43.360 with the National Post,
00:29:46.020 you can see the columns there
00:29:47.340 and he's prolific
00:29:48.340 on a number of other sites
00:29:49.540 and on X,
00:29:50.200 if you're on there,
00:29:51.400 all the links
00:29:52.140 are available
00:29:52.720 to find the groups
00:29:53.900 and things
00:29:54.280 that Adam's been involved with.
00:29:55.480 It's just such an important
00:29:57.360 and complicated issue.
00:29:58.980 There's no easy answers.
00:29:59.980 That's part of the problem.
00:30:01.560 You know,
00:30:01.780 there's no magic bullet.
00:30:03.920 You know,
00:30:04.620 rehab alone,
00:30:05.920 as I said,
00:30:06.840 it's a difficult thing.
00:30:08.860 You know,
00:30:09.100 people can go in
00:30:09.940 and out of it.
00:30:11.480 It doesn't always work,
00:30:13.880 but it's the best hope we got.
00:30:15.980 And just continuing
00:30:17.080 to maintain,
00:30:17.920 continuing to pretend
00:30:18.940 and act as if
00:30:19.900 these addictions
00:30:20.360 are sustainable.
00:30:22.060 It's not a rational way
00:30:24.200 to approach it.
00:30:26.260 Excuse me.
00:30:27.580 We'll get back to that,
00:30:28.360 though.
00:30:28.460 I see out there,
00:30:29.580 I was going to get a check-in
00:30:30.540 from Sean Polzer,
00:30:31.500 one of our,
00:30:32.100 he writes on our business
00:30:33.040 and a number of other things,
00:30:34.080 speaking of prolific writers.
00:30:35.360 He's out on the Stampede grounds
00:30:36.860 and I know it is roasting hot
00:30:39.380 out there.
00:30:39.880 You can see him drinking the water,
00:30:41.220 getting ready there.
00:30:41.940 So maybe we'll get to Sean there
00:30:43.700 and get an update
00:30:44.300 from the grounds
00:30:45.060 and let him get back
00:30:46.580 into somewhere cooler soon.
00:30:47.760 Hey, Sean,
00:30:48.240 thanks for joining us there.
00:30:49.540 How's it going out there?
00:30:50.480 I'm doing all right.
00:30:51.640 I'm staying hydrated, Corey.
00:30:53.520 There's a scorcher down here.
00:30:55.380 Oh, my God.
00:30:56.620 Oh, and that hot asphalt
00:30:57.960 and the radiating smell
00:31:00.240 from the carnies.
00:31:01.040 I mean,
00:31:01.280 it's a difficult thing
00:31:02.600 to be on the midway
00:31:04.620 on a hot day.
00:31:05.380 So the corn dogs,
00:31:08.340 the smell of the corn dogs
00:31:09.220 is over the top,
00:31:12.040 my friend.
00:31:12.800 There's always that.
00:31:13.860 So you just came
00:31:14.600 from a presser there?
00:31:16.560 Yeah,
00:31:16.960 there's a press conference
00:31:18.240 a little later this afternoon
00:31:19.500 with Agriculture Minister
00:31:21.180 RJ Sigurdsson.
00:31:22.980 Apparently,
00:31:23.360 they're going to announce
00:31:23.900 some funding for cattle
00:31:25.060 producers in Alberta.
00:31:28.740 I'm here at the Nutrient Center,
00:31:30.960 which is all things agriculture.
00:31:32.340 It's been taken over
00:31:33.200 by the Alberta Ag.
00:31:34.580 And you'd be pleased
00:31:35.700 to know that there's
00:31:36.380 a display on bees
00:31:38.440 and honey, Corey.
00:31:39.960 You're handing out
00:31:40.880 samples of honey.
00:31:42.800 Well, I've got enough
00:31:43.540 of that for myself,
00:31:44.420 but for others,
00:31:45.040 absolutely.
00:31:45.720 Beekeeping's a fun hobby.
00:31:47.340 Which is to say
00:31:48.560 that we're here
00:31:51.200 ostensibly
00:31:51.740 to talk about business,
00:31:52.760 right?
00:31:53.580 The $250 million
00:31:54.480 that the Stampede
00:31:55.780 brings into the city.
00:31:57.240 But a lot of people
00:31:57.780 don't realize
00:31:58.180 that it's also
00:31:58.900 a major agricultural fair
00:32:00.460 and a celebration
00:32:02.300 of agriculture
00:32:02.880 in Alberta,
00:32:04.160 which is also
00:32:05.040 a huge business,
00:32:06.460 as you know.
00:32:07.680 And cattle especially.
00:32:08.820 80% of the cattle industry
00:32:09.860 is in Alberta.
00:32:11.140 We're talking,
00:32:11.920 I don't know
00:32:12.320 how many billion dollars
00:32:13.100 at last count,
00:32:14.360 but it's in the tens
00:32:15.340 for sure.
00:32:16.920 Absolutely.
00:32:17.600 So what else
00:32:18.120 have you got to update us
00:32:19.000 on in the business world,
00:32:20.080 John?
00:32:20.200 Well, we had
00:32:22.960 the interesting story
00:32:24.360 about KFC
00:32:25.440 switching over
00:32:26.320 all its products
00:32:26.900 to halal,
00:32:28.960 which seemed to kind
00:32:30.060 of get an interesting
00:32:31.120 response.
00:32:32.300 It's being ruled out
00:32:33.100 in Ontario,
00:32:33.680 but they have plans
00:32:34.640 to spread it out
00:32:35.680 to the rest of the country
00:32:36.440 here by the end
00:32:36.900 of the year.
00:32:39.380 And keeping
00:32:40.520 with the agricultural
00:32:41.200 theme,
00:32:41.680 that entails
00:32:42.280 a whole reworking
00:32:43.460 of the supply chain
00:32:44.360 for chicken
00:32:45.800 and those various
00:32:48.360 meat products
00:32:48.880 that they use.
00:32:51.020 Yeah.
00:32:52.180 It's bizarre,
00:32:53.760 I guess,
00:32:54.420 well,
00:32:54.840 I don't know,
00:32:55.280 it's a business
00:32:55.900 decision on their part,
00:32:57.060 but I don't know
00:32:57.320 if it's really been
00:32:57.840 well received
00:32:58.440 by everybody
00:32:58.940 in general
00:32:59.360 when they hear about it.
00:33:01.060 Well,
00:33:01.500 apparently it is
00:33:02.260 quite common
00:33:02.900 and I didn't know
00:33:03.860 this,
00:33:04.120 but some other chains
00:33:04.900 like,
00:33:05.380 for instance,
00:33:06.200 Popeyes is supposed
00:33:07.000 to be halal already. 0.86
00:33:08.200 I don't know
00:33:08.840 if it's certified.
00:33:09.640 Normally,
00:33:09.940 they put their
00:33:10.480 little certified mark.
00:33:12.280 If you go to the UK, 0.54
00:33:14.620 UK is one of the few
00:33:16.480 countries in Europe
00:33:17.120 where people do eat
00:33:17.980 a lot of fried chicken,
00:33:18.920 but they do tend
00:33:19.580 to be Muslim.
00:33:21.260 So,
00:33:21.900 that sounds like
00:33:22.980 it's coming over here.
00:33:24.420 Another interesting story,
00:33:25.920 we've got
00:33:26.540 this anti-woke activist,
00:33:31.400 Starbuck,
00:33:32.440 Robbie Starbuck,
00:33:33.680 down in the States.
00:33:34.400 He's already taken down
00:33:35.580 Tracker Supply
00:33:37.120 and now he's going
00:33:37.600 and now he's going
00:33:37.620 after John Deere
00:33:38.360 for their DEI policies
00:33:41.040 and what is it?
00:33:42.820 The HRS scores
00:33:47.380 or whatever it is
00:33:48.300 that they do.
00:33:49.860 So,
00:33:50.460 in case you missed
00:33:50.980 the story last week,
00:33:53.920 Tracker Supply
00:33:55.500 was forced to back down
00:33:56.540 on green energy,
00:33:58.860 diversity,
00:33:59.700 inclusion,
00:34:00.400 hiring,
00:34:00.800 all those various
00:34:02.300 initiatives.
00:34:05.040 They get
00:34:05.800 a CEI score,
00:34:08.760 which is
00:34:09.400 inclusion for
00:34:10.960 LGBTQ people.
00:34:15.820 John Deere scored
00:34:16.540 95 out of 100.
00:34:18.120 If you didn't know,
00:34:19.540 John Deere is one
00:34:20.040 of the oldest
00:34:20.540 publicly-trained corporations
00:34:22.080 in the United States.
00:34:23.080 It was founded
00:34:23.540 in about 1837,
00:34:24.880 so the company itself
00:34:25.820 is actually older
00:34:26.400 than Canada
00:34:26.960 and it is
00:34:28.420 among the largest
00:34:29.600 manufacturers
00:34:30.460 of agricultural equipment
00:34:31.680 around the world.
00:34:32.460 They're in South America, 1.00
00:34:33.200 they're in India,
00:34:33.760 they're all over.
00:34:35.460 Yeah,
00:34:35.960 well,
00:34:36.080 I found it interesting
00:34:36.700 because I think
00:34:37.060 the only thing dumber
00:34:37.960 than going woke
00:34:38.840 for Budweiser
00:34:39.580 is going woke
00:34:40.340 for people
00:34:40.840 who use tractors
00:34:41.840 because if you want
00:34:42.320 the least support
00:34:42.940 for DEI
00:34:43.720 and woke garbage
00:34:44.500 and gender pronouns
00:34:45.720 and emails,
00:34:46.680 it's probably
00:34:47.340 agricultural producers
00:34:48.380 who are buying
00:34:49.060 those tractors.
00:34:50.740 Well,
00:34:51.120 all I have to do
00:34:51.640 is look around here,
00:34:52.740 Corey.
00:34:53.620 Well,
00:34:56.780 crazy times,
00:34:57.540 but it's good
00:34:57.860 to see a pushback
00:34:58.660 at least.
00:34:59.120 I mean,
00:34:59.500 I think for most consumers
00:35:00.520 it just,
00:35:01.180 just give me my product.
00:35:02.520 I don't care
00:35:03.200 about all the other stuff.
00:35:04.680 Just,
00:35:04.940 just,
00:35:05.160 just,
00:35:05.480 just sell me
00:35:06.480 a decent product.
00:35:07.780 Sure.
00:35:08.400 Another interesting story
00:35:09.460 that I followed
00:35:09.940 earlier this week
00:35:10.780 was Alberta government's
00:35:12.680 announcement
00:35:13.040 with Shell and ACCO
00:35:14.460 to license
00:35:15.560 the forest base
00:35:16.580 for carbon sequestration.
00:35:19.120 So,
00:35:19.520 for those who are
00:35:22.300 familiar with the oil patch,
00:35:23.620 oil companies lease,
00:35:25.840 you know,
00:35:26.320 the subsurface rights
00:35:27.180 to pull the minerals
00:35:28.580 out of the ground.
00:35:29.860 And in this case,
00:35:30.460 what they're doing
00:35:30.840 is they're leasing
00:35:31.360 the subsurface
00:35:32.040 to take the captured gases
00:35:35.280 from the Scottford refinery
00:35:37.020 and put them underground.
00:35:39.760 So,
00:35:40.080 it's kind of a major shift
00:35:43.560 and whether or not
00:35:44.760 you agree with carbon capture
00:35:46.180 or not,
00:35:46.660 the jury is still out
00:35:47.740 on how expensive it is
00:35:49.740 or what the business case is.
00:35:51.360 But,
00:35:51.780 you know,
00:35:53.120 if Shell
00:35:53.540 seems committed
00:35:54.560 to spend $15 billion
00:35:55.800 on it
00:35:56.540 and Alberta government
00:35:57.700 is talking about
00:35:58.520 a $45 billion industry
00:35:59.920 by 2030,
00:36:01.740 there's supposed to be
00:36:02.340 about two dozen more
00:36:03.600 of these projects
00:36:04.220 lined up in the queue.
00:36:05.940 We're talking
00:36:06.920 some pretty substantial
00:36:08.460 investments
00:36:08.920 in some pretty good scale,
00:36:10.380 something like
00:36:10.800 50,000 jobs.
00:36:12.680 So,
00:36:13.000 I don't know.
00:36:14.260 Those sound like
00:36:14.680 pretty good numbers to me.
00:36:16.040 Yeah,
00:36:16.300 well,
00:36:16.560 time will tell
00:36:17.080 if it's effective.
00:36:17.920 I mean,
00:36:18.140 we're a producer
00:36:18.640 but we've got to keep flexing
00:36:19.700 because we're just embattled
00:36:21.500 on every direction
00:36:22.180 for what we produce.
00:36:23.480 Well,
00:36:23.860 and the comment was made
00:36:25.320 is that customers
00:36:26.660 are demanding this.
00:36:27.700 So,
00:36:28.260 it'd be like
00:36:28.580 if you're going
00:36:29.160 to McDonald's
00:36:29.860 and,
00:36:30.400 you know,
00:36:30.660 people are getting tired
00:36:31.320 of your watered-down Coke
00:36:32.280 and your greasy hamburgers,
00:36:33.580 maybe you've got to come up
00:36:34.360 with something new
00:36:34.920 to try and keep
00:36:36.240 that business,
00:36:36.920 right?
00:36:38.240 Could be.
00:36:39.480 All right.
00:36:40.540 Well,
00:36:40.980 is that all you got
00:36:42.200 for us today there,
00:36:43.080 Sean?
00:36:45.220 Off the top of my head,
00:36:46.720 unless you just want
00:36:47.480 to talk some numbers
00:36:48.240 here down at the Stampede,
00:36:49.280 I'm not sure
00:36:49.700 how many people are here
00:36:50.320 but they're breaking
00:36:51.140 attendance records
00:36:51.900 like crazy.
00:36:52.560 I think there was
00:36:52.980 150,000 the other day.
00:36:55.280 Today's Kids Day
00:36:56.100 so the midway
00:36:57.040 is absolutely packed.
00:36:57.940 This is one of the few
00:36:58.640 quiet places
00:36:59.280 that I could find
00:36:59.980 and also one of the few
00:37:01.220 shady places
00:37:01.860 that I could find
00:37:02.500 to actually come to.
00:37:04.480 All right.
00:37:05.220 Well,
00:37:05.400 I appreciate the check-in
00:37:06.620 and I'll let you get back
00:37:07.800 to the ag world
00:37:08.880 and get that corndog 0.85
00:37:09.720 into you
00:37:10.140 so that smell
00:37:10.640 doesn't tempt you
00:37:11.200 much longer.
00:37:11.940 So thanks,
00:37:12.920 Sean,
00:37:13.220 and we'll see you
00:37:14.160 in a while.
00:37:15.220 Thanks a lot.
00:37:17.020 That was an update
00:37:17.860 from Sean Polzer
00:37:19.100 and yes,
00:37:19.520 he writes in a lot
00:37:20.000 of our business
00:37:20.480 and energy issues
00:37:21.460 which are very important
00:37:22.840 in the West
00:37:23.580 and in Alberta in general.
00:37:24.900 So yeah,
00:37:25.440 the Stampede
00:37:25.860 is a big,
00:37:26.920 people forget that.
00:37:28.160 If you go to the ag corner 0.97
00:37:29.640 of it,
00:37:29.920 sometimes people skip
00:37:30.760 that section
00:37:34.160 and they just go
00:37:34.780 to the midway
00:37:35.360 or they go to the rodeo
00:37:36.980 or the grandstand show
00:37:37.860 but no,
00:37:38.220 it's still an old school fair.
00:37:39.640 There's still cows
00:37:40.700 and sheep
00:37:41.280 and livestock up
00:37:43.380 for competition
00:37:44.300 and things like that.
00:37:46.320 There's a lot more to it
00:37:47.480 if you get down there
00:37:48.100 and have a look around.
00:37:49.480 So yeah,
00:37:50.200 it's pretty hot weather
00:37:50.860 but there's still time
00:37:51.520 if you're in Calgary
00:37:52.120 to get down there
00:37:53.080 and have a look.
00:37:54.360 Oh,
00:37:54.520 you know,
00:37:54.660 I want to get back a bit
00:37:55.460 to some of that talk
00:37:56.720 now about addiction
00:37:57.540 because I just,
00:37:59.060 as I said,
00:37:59.800 I got a personal connection
00:38:01.880 going on right now
00:38:02.640 with this
00:38:02.940 and it's problematic
00:38:03.700 and difficult
00:38:04.240 and it's so rooted
00:38:06.980 and there's so many problems,
00:38:08.260 there's so many facets.
00:38:09.220 As I was saying,
00:38:09.800 there's no magic bullet,
00:38:10.620 there's no one solution.
00:38:12.040 One of the things
00:38:12.500 that really started it
00:38:13.440 and I got to see it firsthand
00:38:14.580 though,
00:38:14.900 it really took it off.
00:38:16.220 You know,
00:38:16.360 they called it hillbilly heroin.
00:38:17.780 It was the Oxycontin
00:38:19.980 that was going around.
00:38:21.640 Years ago,
00:38:22.320 I used to survey a lot
00:38:23.460 in the States
00:38:23.860 on oil and gas exploration projects.
00:38:26.060 I was working down,
00:38:27.220 maybe about 10 years ago maybe,
00:38:29.020 in West Virginia.
00:38:30.160 Yeah,
00:38:30.360 it is a special part of the world
00:38:31.820 and it's earned its reputation
00:38:33.340 but I'd actually,
00:38:34.600 I'd messed up with a chainsaw
00:38:35.820 and got a big thorn
00:38:36.660 driven into my forearm.
00:38:38.180 Very uncomfortable
00:38:38.880 and it went in deep
00:38:39.580 and I couldn't get it out
00:38:40.300 and you could feel it under there.
00:38:41.420 It was a pretty big thing.
00:38:42.720 So I went to a clinic
00:38:43.720 in West Virginia.
00:38:45.620 What was the name of that town?
00:38:47.360 Weirton?
00:38:48.180 I'm not sure now.
00:38:48.920 It was just a little one
00:38:49.620 on the Ohio River
00:38:50.380 across from Steubenville
00:38:51.340 and I see this doctor
00:38:52.540 and I'm waiting
00:38:53.420 and I get in
00:38:54.940 and the first thing,
00:38:55.920 this doctor finally comes
00:38:56.680 into the room
00:38:57.420 and looks at it and says,
00:38:58.020 what's your pain level
00:38:58.580 on one to 10?
00:38:59.200 I said,
00:38:59.680 it's not bad.
00:39:00.800 You know,
00:39:00.980 I don't know,
00:39:01.540 three or four.
00:39:02.060 I just want this thing
00:39:02.640 out of here
00:39:03.000 and he looks at it
00:39:03.640 and it's just,
00:39:04.360 I can't do anything with that.
00:39:05.660 You got to go to see
00:39:06.520 an orthopedic surgeon.
00:39:07.840 I don't have time for it
00:39:08.720 and then before he leaves the room
00:39:10.140 he says,
00:39:10.360 what's your pain level
00:39:10.960 on one to 10?
00:39:11.480 I said,
00:39:11.700 it's like two or three.
00:39:12.700 I'm fine.
00:39:13.100 So he just hustled out of the room,
00:39:14.640 said he couldn't do anything about it
00:39:15.600 and I left.
00:39:16.400 As I was filling out
00:39:17.240 the insurance forms
00:39:17.920 because I was in the States
00:39:18.760 in the front,
00:39:20.200 I kind of finally realized
00:39:21.420 what this clinic was about
00:39:22.300 because while I was
00:39:22.740 in the waiting room,
00:39:23.760 people were coming
00:39:24.520 and going constantly
00:39:26.240 just in and out,
00:39:27.040 in and out,
00:39:27.620 quick visits.
00:39:28.740 The guy was a pill pusher.
00:39:30.540 He was,
00:39:30.880 sure he had his,
00:39:32.240 you know,
00:39:32.520 he was a medical practitioner.
00:39:34.320 He had no interest
00:39:35.200 in actually practicing medicine.
00:39:36.500 He was making his money.
00:39:37.760 These people were all coming in 0.97
00:39:39.000 and getting their
00:39:40.140 Oxy prescription slips
00:39:41.420 and he could quickly charge for that
00:39:43.440 and because the people
00:39:45.240 coming and going,
00:39:45.820 you can see they weren't sick,
00:39:46.580 they weren't injured
00:39:47.000 though they were,
00:39:47.820 you know,
00:39:48.020 again,
00:39:48.260 looking like your usual
00:39:49.300 troubled addicts
00:39:51.400 and this was the crap
00:39:52.380 that was going on in the States.
00:39:53.320 This was where they were pushing
00:39:54.260 this opioid-based pills
00:39:57.620 and I mean,
00:39:58.700 that's all he kept asking me.
00:39:59.820 If I had said my pain level was eight,
00:40:01.160 I'm sure he would have given me
00:40:02.140 a prescription for Oxy
00:40:03.540 or something of the sort
00:40:04.360 quickly enough Vicodin,
00:40:05.340 God knows what,
00:40:06.380 and help create more addicts.
00:40:08.320 That started to give the base
00:40:09.640 of this North American
00:40:10.620 addiction epidemic really
00:40:11.900 and as Adam was talking about,
00:40:14.280 when you're an addict,
00:40:15.200 it's always increasing.
00:40:16.600 You don't get enough of your buzz
00:40:17.700 and it gets more expensive
00:40:18.580 and now part of the problem
00:40:20.600 is people realize that,
00:40:21.660 you know,
00:40:21.880 and Pfizer and some companies
00:40:22.820 got sued.
00:40:23.840 They got hit hard
00:40:24.940 because of how they were pushing
00:40:26.580 this as a non-addictive substance
00:40:27.880 for the problem
00:40:28.340 but the addicts didn't go away
00:40:29.940 and now they couldn't,
00:40:31.200 you know,
00:40:31.360 the doctor pill pushers
00:40:32.300 are still out there
00:40:32.940 but they're not as quick,
00:40:33.920 as many as there used to be.
00:40:35.380 So what do they do?
00:40:36.100 They turn to the streets,
00:40:37.060 of course,
00:40:37.620 and what do you got?
00:40:38.200 You got fentanyl.
00:40:39.240 Now fentanyl,
00:40:40.000 as Adam said,
00:40:40.580 I mean,
00:40:40.740 this is a freight train
00:40:41.540 way more powerful than heroin,
00:40:43.600 cheap,
00:40:44.660 plentiful,
00:40:45.660 easy to find
00:40:46.220 and of course,
00:40:47.340 terrifically dangerous,
00:40:48.960 very addictive
00:40:50.880 and it just keeps spreading.
00:40:53.360 It just keeps spreading
00:40:54.200 and it's funny,
00:40:55.020 we joked about,
00:40:55.780 you know,
00:40:56.280 I might take fentanyl
00:40:57.440 to ease the stresses of this
00:40:59.640 but I did,
00:41:00.700 they gave me a fentanyl
00:41:01.700 and something else mixed
00:41:02.600 when I had a,
00:41:03.960 well,
00:41:04.220 I'll say it,
00:41:04.680 I call an oscopy a while back
00:41:05.960 and I tell you what,
00:41:06.760 I mean,
00:41:06.920 under medical supervision,
00:41:07.800 it's a very,
00:41:08.840 very effective drug
00:41:10.080 and,
00:41:10.380 you know,
00:41:10.520 in proper application.
00:41:12.460 I mean,
00:41:12.660 boy,
00:41:12.880 that zonked me out.
00:41:13.640 I mean,
00:41:13.780 considering what they had
00:41:14.480 to go up there
00:41:15.020 and do and take care of
00:41:15.880 and me not remembering
00:41:16.940 a bit of it,
00:41:17.900 that's really effective
00:41:18.880 but,
00:41:19.800 I mean,
00:41:20.080 if you start self-applying
00:41:21.200 something that potent
00:41:22.420 and that powerful,
00:41:24.100 you're into a catastrophic problem
00:41:26.620 and,
00:41:27.560 yeah,
00:41:28.720 you know,
00:41:28.900 Paradox is saying,
00:41:29.580 yeah,
00:41:29.680 BC is suing Pfizer
00:41:31.200 for pill mills
00:41:32.280 and,
00:41:32.540 and you see,
00:41:32.940 these are things,
00:41:33.740 yeah,
00:41:33.940 and at the same time,
00:41:34.680 buy safe supply from Pfizer.
00:41:36.340 We've got this closed loop
00:41:37.760 of selling these drugs.
00:41:39.960 It's not going to come easily,
00:41:42.620 the solution to this,
00:41:43.460 this nightmare,
00:41:44.100 this problem
00:41:44.840 but,
00:41:45.820 for people unfamiliar
00:41:46.700 with addiction,
00:41:47.920 addiction is bloody tough.
00:41:49.660 You've got to remember,
00:41:50.740 I mean,
00:41:51.080 you see people saying,
00:41:51.840 oh,
00:41:51.980 just buck up and stop.
00:41:53.180 Look,
00:41:53.360 guys,
00:41:53.640 it's not like that.
00:41:55.660 It's not.
00:41:56.220 You have to reprogram your brain.
00:41:58.700 You have to change things.
00:42:00.440 Addiction is,
00:42:01.660 by its very nature,
00:42:02.860 irrational.
00:42:04.180 It controls the person.
00:42:06.340 It took me many,
00:42:08.700 many false starts
00:42:09.420 to stop drinking
00:42:10.120 and I still will crave
00:42:12.800 a drink now and then.
00:42:13.920 You've always got to be on guard
00:42:15.040 and that's just liquor.
00:42:16.220 I didn't deal with something
00:42:16.940 like fentanyl
00:42:17.680 or meth
00:42:18.620 or some of the other stuff
00:42:19.500 going on out there.
00:42:20.480 It takes a long period of time.
00:42:22.580 It takes a lot of therapy,
00:42:23.780 a lot of work,
00:42:24.800 a lot of help
00:42:25.760 and stability.
00:42:27.540 There's one of the areas where,
00:42:29.260 I mean,
00:42:29.600 again,
00:42:29.880 you see the activists
00:42:30.560 kind of get it
00:42:31.180 and they kind of don't
00:42:31.940 where they talk about
00:42:32.420 the housing first strategy.
00:42:33.540 We've got to get the addicts housed
00:42:34.940 before we can treat them.
00:42:36.460 So we need more houses,
00:42:37.440 more houses,
00:42:37.880 more houses.
00:42:38.320 Well,
00:42:38.500 not exactly.
00:42:39.740 You're half right.
00:42:41.500 I mean,
00:42:41.860 you can't treat an addict
00:42:42.940 if they're living behind
00:42:43.920 a dumpster
00:42:44.980 or if they're in a tent
00:42:45.900 in a city park.
00:42:46.880 It's very difficult,
00:42:48.140 you know,
00:42:48.380 while they wait
00:42:49.020 to get into a treatment center.
00:42:51.340 Their chances
00:42:52.140 of defeating the addiction
00:42:53.580 when they're living
00:42:54.280 in those circumstances
00:42:55.120 are very slim.
00:42:56.700 But when you're talking
00:42:57.620 about long-term housing,
00:42:58.720 because that's what
00:42:59.080 these activists talk about,
00:43:00.820 no,
00:43:01.100 they aren't ready
00:43:01.580 for that either.
00:43:02.860 I mean,
00:43:03.140 if you stick
00:43:03.720 a fentanyl addict
00:43:05.100 in an apartment,
00:43:06.040 they're going to rip
00:43:07.180 the copper wires
00:43:08.700 out of the walls
00:43:09.280 and sell them
00:43:09.860 to get their next fix.
00:43:10.820 They aren't in position
00:43:11.840 for that yet either.
00:43:13.540 We need treatment centers
00:43:14.940 and we need access
00:43:15.920 and we need it fast.
00:43:17.720 That's the thing.
00:43:18.420 When an addict
00:43:19.420 has hit that point,
00:43:20.520 when they've hit that
00:43:21.120 part in their life
00:43:22.360 where they say,
00:43:22.740 God,
00:43:22.980 I've got to change this.
00:43:24.100 I've got to get out of this.
00:43:25.320 Somebody help me.
00:43:26.180 Please help me.
00:43:28.000 And then they say,
00:43:28.720 yeah,
00:43:28.960 just hang on 30 days.
00:43:31.400 It's not going to work.
00:43:32.560 Very few of them
00:43:33.280 will make it that long.
00:43:34.420 But if the facility
00:43:35.440 is there,
00:43:36.920 if you can get them in,
00:43:38.840 you've got a chance.
00:43:40.460 You've got a chance
00:43:41.320 and a much bigger chance.
00:43:43.480 After treatment,
00:43:44.200 I believe it depends
00:43:45.220 on which ones.
00:43:45.800 You're looking at some
00:43:46.460 after, say,
00:43:47.200 a 90-day program.
00:43:48.120 Yeah,
00:43:48.220 that's how long it takes
00:43:49.060 to really do it.
00:43:50.560 And you're looking
00:43:51.060 at like 45%
00:43:52.260 stay off it for good.
00:43:54.380 And people say,
00:43:54.920 well,
00:43:55.080 you've got 55%
00:43:57.400 aren't.
00:43:58.400 True.
00:43:59.060 But if they're on the streets,
00:44:01.080 their chances of getting off
00:44:02.040 it are darn near zero.
00:44:03.860 And they're probably
00:44:05.280 going to die. 0.95
00:44:06.720 And as well,
00:44:08.640 it's not without cost.
00:44:10.200 Like some people say,
00:44:10.820 well,
00:44:11.060 I mean,
00:44:11.380 I've seen some pretty
00:44:12.280 cold statements.
00:44:13.040 Well,
00:44:13.240 that's the way it goes.
00:44:14.100 You know,
00:44:14.260 Darwinism.
00:44:14.700 Well,
00:44:14.920 no,
00:44:15.400 actually,
00:44:16.060 they're all sons,
00:44:17.220 daughters,
00:44:17.660 cousins,
00:44:18.140 fathers,
00:44:18.920 sisters.
00:44:19.760 They have loved ones.
00:44:21.100 They were people who,
00:44:22.260 you know,
00:44:22.820 came out
00:44:23.380 and got into
00:44:24.240 the wrong rut.
00:44:25.440 And we want to,
00:44:26.220 compassionate conservatism
00:44:27.740 means saving them.
00:44:29.260 And if you want to be
00:44:29.720 a fiscal conservative,
00:44:30.880 it still means treating them.
00:44:32.420 As we said,
00:44:34.440 you got,
00:44:34.940 you know,
00:44:35.680 they're costing anyways.
00:44:37.040 It's very expensive
00:44:37.880 to have an addict in jail.
00:44:39.420 It's very expensive
00:44:40.180 to have an addict
00:44:41.400 in a regular hospital,
00:44:44.100 as well as the shelter system
00:44:46.080 and many other areas.
00:44:47.240 They're still costing.
00:44:48.760 So if we're going to spend
00:44:49.540 all the money,
00:44:50.560 let's try to get them
00:44:51.360 into the places
00:44:51.920 where we can treat them
00:44:53.100 and get them
00:44:54.060 off of that,
00:44:55.500 even if it's only
00:44:56.280 half of them succeed,
00:44:57.440 it's a heck of a lot better
00:44:58.800 than the success rate
00:45:00.580 if they aren't.
00:45:01.320 And it's huge
00:45:02.060 and it's growing.
00:45:03.520 Ian Leslie saying,
00:45:04.260 I'm surprised you haven't
00:45:04.840 looked into the roots
00:45:05.420 of fentanyl sources.
00:45:06.220 I have,
00:45:06.580 but that's a whole
00:45:07.000 separate show.
00:45:08.120 We can only cover so much.
00:45:09.520 That's what I mean.
00:45:10.080 It's complicated.
00:45:11.360 I mean,
00:45:11.620 reducing the supply
00:45:12.640 and where it's coming from
00:45:13.620 and who's benefiting from it
00:45:14.780 and who's profiting from it,
00:45:15.820 that's another facet
00:45:16.960 of the whole thing as well.
00:45:18.380 Absolutely.
00:45:18.740 But the more immediate
00:45:22.100 and pressing thing
00:45:22.840 are the current addicts,
00:45:24.180 the people you see,
00:45:25.420 the ones on the streets.
00:45:26.780 And there's a lot
00:45:27.360 that you don't see.
00:45:28.480 They haven't hit
00:45:29.220 the streets yet.
00:45:30.160 They're still at home.
00:45:31.060 They're still somewhat
00:45:31.840 functioning with their jobs.
00:45:33.560 But an addiction
00:45:34.440 is a progressive disorder.
00:45:36.080 It's going to get worse
00:45:36.840 and worse and worse.
00:45:37.720 And they're going to end up
00:45:38.480 either dead
00:45:39.040 or on the streets
00:45:40.220 if they don't get treated.
00:45:42.560 So we need rational discussions.
00:45:45.440 We need outcome-based discussions.
00:45:46.880 We need to quit talking about,
00:45:49.740 as Adam said,
00:45:50.380 you know,
00:45:50.520 just feeding it along
00:45:51.580 and pretending
00:45:52.380 we can maintain
00:45:53.440 the addiction for the people
00:45:55.540 and people can maintain a life
00:45:56.860 while still taking that stuff
00:45:58.420 as long as they get good drugs.
00:46:00.220 There's no good meth.
00:46:01.660 There's no good fentanyl
00:46:02.560 outside of a clinical environment
00:46:03.920 under the supervision
00:46:04.920 of an actual medical professional
00:46:06.620 for a procedure,
00:46:08.060 not for maintaining an addiction.
00:46:10.000 Let's have those discussions.
00:46:11.600 We're paying that price.
00:46:13.180 We're losing people.
00:46:14.540 And it's time
00:46:17.140 that we stop listening
00:46:18.020 to the loony activists
00:46:18.920 and they are nuts
00:46:19.660 and start looking
00:46:20.920 at what might actually work.
00:46:22.040 And these guys need help.
00:46:22.980 These gals need help. 1.00
00:46:24.280 But we need to help
00:46:24.880 in the right way,
00:46:25.360 not just give them
00:46:25.840 more bloody drugs.
00:46:27.280 Stupid.
00:46:28.260 God.
00:46:29.120 If they gave out shooters
00:46:30.060 in my AA meetings,
00:46:31.060 I never would have made it.
00:46:32.820 All right.
00:46:33.240 That's it for today, guys.
00:46:34.400 Let's check it out again.
00:46:35.100 Western Standard.News
00:46:36.440 slash subscription.
00:46:37.340 Take out a subscription.
00:46:38.220 Share the links, guys.
00:46:39.500 Get it out there.
00:46:40.760 Let's beat legacy media
00:46:42.720 and have good media sources out there.
00:46:44.500 I appreciate you all
00:46:45.140 tuning in today.
00:46:46.320 Tune in a little later.
00:46:47.120 We're going to have the pipeline.
00:46:48.700 We'll break down
00:46:49.180 a lot more issues.
00:46:50.140 I had a good discussion
00:46:50.860 with Minister Todd Lohan
00:46:51.980 a little while ago.
00:46:52.620 There's going to be a video
00:46:53.240 going out about that
00:46:54.060 with the ability
00:46:55.940 to hunt problem grizzly bears
00:46:57.600 in Alberta.
00:46:58.060 It's a bit of an interesting issue
00:46:59.160 going on out here.
00:46:59.940 So thank you all for tuning in.
00:47:01.760 Come back again next week.
00:47:02.880 I promise I won't insult your eyes
00:47:04.160 with more Western wear.
00:47:05.120 We'll be back to normal
00:47:05.960 and we'll cover a whole bunch
00:47:07.180 more new issues then.
00:47:08.080 So thanks again.
00:47:08.700 We'll see you then.
00:47:09.160 We'll see you then.
00:47:12.720 We'll see you then.
00:47:42.720 Bye.