Western Standard - Cory Morgan Show. Premier Smith’s successes go nearly unreported

00:00:00.000 Thank you.

00:00:30.520 Good day. Welcome to the Corey Morgan Show. As again, I am Corey Morgan and this is my weekly production here with the Western Standard. We cover political issues, social issues, just whatever's kind of hitting the news or whatever's getting under a burn in my saddle at any given time and I get it out of my system. We also have interesting guests, news updates and all that good stuff. This show is running live when we record it anyways. And I know some of you are picking up it in a recorded setting.

00:00:59.840 As well. So by all means, if you're watching the live version, guys, throw those comments in there. I appreciate them. I see them all. I won't necessarily read them all out, but I do like seeing them. And hey, feel free to chat with each other on things as well. Just, I know it's easier said than done sometimes, guys, but let's keep it civil there.

00:01:18.240 So good to see you checking in there, Paradoxie Night Shift and somebody talking about my haircut and no tie. Yes, I got out of wearing a tie around here. The haircut, I don't know. I'm a little mixed on it, but you know, I've never been much of a fashion maven. I'm too hung up on the issues.

00:01:32.020 So in a little while, I'm going to have my guest for today is Dr. Dean Voss of the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Center. I've really been looking forward to this. I've covered addiction issues, treatment issues a lot over the last few years.

00:01:44.620 You know, I've had a direct experience in some ways. I am a recovering alcoholic. I've always been open about that. It doesn't make me an expert in these issues, but it does make me understand and certainly empathize when you've got something that's taking you in a direction you don't really want to go, a self-destructive sort of path.

00:02:01.460 And how I understand how important it is to have support and help to get yourself out of that. So talking to somebody who works and specializes in helping people get out of that awful cycle of addiction is going to be something very good to look forward to because we've had that discussion hitting the Alberta election lately.

00:02:18.300 Premier Daniel Smith has announced, which he's kind of called a compassionate intervention and possibly examining having compelled treatment or bringing people in to treatment versus I think some of the other options such as jail or other areas.

00:02:32.140 Just we've really got to try and get this under grips. So it'll be it'll be a really good conversation.

00:02:37.120 So I'm going to stay on that theme a little bit in some of the politics and the Alberta election with one of the things that's got me wound up today.

00:02:43.820 So again, it's regarding Daniel Smith. So last weekend, we had some health care statistics quietly released with a little fanfare.

00:02:52.640 You know, when they drop it on the weekend, they're not really looking for people to pay much attention to it.

00:02:56.840 And today, Legacy Media, of course, has already forgotten those statistics.

00:02:59.940 And it's a pity because the dramatic improvement in waiting times for ambulances due to new policies implemented by the UCP should be making headlines right now.

00:03:08.380 As recently as last fall, Albertans were dying, literally dying while waiting for ambulance services.

00:03:14.400 One of the worst cases was an elderly woman who bled out after a dog attack just minutes away from Calgary's largest hospital.

00:03:21.780 She had to wait 40 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.

00:03:24.660 We had red alert periods in Calgary and Edmonton where there were no ambulances available at all. It was commonplace.

00:03:29.940 Meanwhile, rural ambulances would get pulled into urban centers and then rural firefighters and police officers had to take on paramedic rolls as they desperately tried to transport injured people to hospitals.

00:03:41.480 Paramedics and citizens have been raising concerns about this issue for years.

00:03:45.540 We've had multiple governments paying lip service to the problem, but none have done really anything aside from tossing more money at the issue.

00:03:51.780 And it didn't have much effect until now.

00:03:54.360 Daniel Smith raised the EMS crisis as an issue while running for the UCP leadership, and she promised to act upon it when she became premier.

00:04:02.360 Well, last December, the Smith government announced changes that were going to be made to improve EMS response times.

00:04:08.300 To begin with, vans were going to be equipped and contracted for use in non-emergency transfers of patients.

00:04:13.780 Ambulances and trained paramedic teams have been doing that for up to 75 trips a day when they weren't really in need of emergency services, these transports.

00:04:20.900 Meanwhile, of course, emergencies are happening.

00:04:22.500 The NDP predictably responded with hysterics and accused Smith of wanting to harm patients by using Ubers instead of ambulances.

00:04:29.840 In those cases, despite the hyperbole from the NDP, Uber actually is often a more appropriate option than a fully equipped ambulance for a non-emergency patient transfer.

00:04:39.080 Smith also vowed to increase physicians, nurses, and other resources for triage in emergency rooms to reduce the time paramedics are stuck doing hallway care because the hospitals weren't admitting the patients being dropped off.

00:04:50.440 And we've had at times as many as 20 ambulances piled up outside of hospitals as paramedics can't find hospital staff willing to take the patients.

00:04:58.580 NDP health critic David Shepard panned the plan saying,

00:05:01.500 I can't see this announcement being anything but an incredible disappointment to Alberta's paramedics and frontline health care workers.

00:05:07.640 The UCP government also started to set timelines for emergency rooms to take patients.

00:05:12.520 Then again, the NDP accused the government of forcing paramedics to dump and run with patients, which was utterly untrue.

00:05:18.840 Hospitals were expected to admit patients from ambulances in less than 40 minutes.

00:05:22.920 That's not an unreasonable request.

00:05:24.640 So now it's been a few months and the numbers are in and they look fantastic.

00:05:30.300 In November of 2022, so just last November, Alberta, well, Calgary was in a state of EMS red alert for 4.2 hours.

00:05:37.620 In one month, 4.2 hours, the city of Calgary, 1.4 million people had no ambulances.

00:05:43.200 Last April, that number was down to four minutes.

00:05:45.820 Four minutes, that was it.

00:05:47.280 That's quite a reduction.

00:05:49.140 Ambulance response times last November, they averaged 22 minutes in urban areas and 64 minutes in rural zones.

00:05:55.420 That's a pretty long time if you're in serious, serious condition.

00:05:58.680 Well, last April, those response times had dropped to 12 minutes in urban areas and 40 in rural areas.

00:06:04.580 This is life-saving, folks.

00:06:06.160 And the silence on this success is deafening.

00:06:08.780 There's no doubt about this.

00:06:10.060 Lives are going to be saved thanks to the changes made by the UCP to EMS policies.

00:06:14.200 We should be shouting this from the rooftops and examining more common-sense approaches to healthcare bottlenecks in the system.

00:06:20.860 Unfortunately, partisan loathing of Daniel Smith has rendered the establishment and legacy media outlets incapable of crediting Smith with doing something right.

00:06:29.820 The bloated Alberta Health Services bureaucracy has created an inefficient healthcare system incapable of embracing change or innovation in care.

00:06:37.120 And in firing the inept board of the health services and forcing common-sense solutions to the problems, Smith's actually managed to bring about quick success with a crisis that hadn't seen improvement in over a decade.

00:06:48.980 Now, Smith is taking a strong, no-nonsense approach with taking on the addiction epidemic as well.

00:06:54.620 She's surrounding herself with treatment specialists and recovered addicts rather than listening to the usual suspects in the establishment who insist on further enablement policies.

00:07:02.960 Enablement policies for addicts have failed and they're failing throughout North America.

00:07:06.260 Overdoses are continuing to climb while the number of addicted people keeps growing.

00:07:10.600 We need results-based policy rather than aspirational ideological PAP.

00:07:15.260 Smith seems to be willing to cut through the BS and impose policies that work rather than pursuing policies that feel good.

00:07:21.740 If Smith loses the election due to an establishment that refuses to accept positive changes, the healthcare system and the addicts in need of treatment will all suffer for it.

00:07:30.000 If we can't credit a success, we're never going to see more of it.

00:07:34.040 And that's what's kind of got me wound up, guys.

00:07:35.640 I mean, really, you know, what I'd like to almost see even is have some NDP supporters or just former conservatives who can't stand Premier Smith saying,

00:07:45.340 I can't stand her, I still won't vote for her, but hey, she did something right and we need more of that.

00:07:50.880 So we'll embrace that policy.

00:07:52.440 I mean, you can give a backhanded compliment at least, but don't just suppress this.

00:07:57.520 Don't ignore this.

00:07:58.760 It's so rare when we see policy successes in anything, it seems, you know, with government.

00:08:04.420 And this was really not a long, and that was the difference this time.

00:08:08.160 She didn't go into saying, we're going to strike a committee and listen to some results and talk and discuss it for the next two years.

00:08:13.480 You know, she didn't say we're going to have another commission or have another study.

00:08:17.000 She said, here's the problem.

00:08:18.560 Here's a few solutions.

00:08:19.560 And here's what we're going to do.

00:08:21.460 She didn't dither and mess around. 1.00

00:08:23.820 And now we're seeing a quick positive outcome from it.

00:08:27.700 Hey, if it had been a failure, you know, you know, we would certainly be hearing a lot about it.

00:08:33.060 All I want to see is results-based policies.

00:08:37.200 I honestly will vote for who will get me results.

00:08:41.020 If Smith's policies fail, I wouldn't vote for Smith.

00:08:43.740 If Rachel Notley, I'm not an NDP fan, but if she's putting forth policies that work on things like that, health care or addiction and saving lives, that's the sort of thing that's going to win my vote.

00:08:54.300 We just don't seem to allow ourselves to give credit to somebody else when they get something right.

00:08:59.200 And that's not good for any of us.

00:09:01.620 We're not going to get more positive solutions.

00:09:03.360 We don't encourage our politicians to get positive things done.

00:09:06.300 And it's also an indication of just how slanted, unfortunately, our establishment and legacy media have gotten.

00:09:13.020 I mean, they did report that initial story, and it was a very good article.

00:09:16.860 It was in the Herald.

00:09:17.800 I'll give credit where that's due.

00:09:19.320 But then that's all you heard about it.

00:09:20.780 Like, this should be a big deal, and it's already being forgotten.

00:09:24.300 Not good.

00:09:25.100 Not good for any of us.

00:09:28.640 Let's see where we're going to go here.

00:09:30.860 I'm going to talk about another thing.

00:09:32.020 This is something that disturbed me a little bit.

00:09:33.420 I saw some poll numbers that came out in Canada, across Canada.

00:09:36.240 I had a guest on.

00:09:37.820 He was one of the first proponents.

00:09:39.120 He was a lawyer from way back in the days with Sue Rodriguez, for folks who remember that.

00:09:43.120 That was assisted suicide.

00:09:44.500 It was a big issue.

00:09:45.360 Now we've got this medical assistance in dying, is what we call it, MADE.

00:09:50.880 And, you know, it's where you're going to have medical intervention that helps somebody pass away if they've, you know, chosen to.

00:09:56.360 And I think a lot of people don't have a problem with that, as long as the person is, I guess, terminal in their right mind and makes that decision, you know, personal decision that that may be, that possibly that's something they can offer.

00:10:10.460 But it's already getting far and beyond, I think, what anybody reasonable would expect of it.

00:10:15.520 I mean, we were talking about using medical assistance in death for people with nothing aside from a mental health issue.

00:10:22.480 Well, hang on a minute.

00:10:23.600 That's not somebody who's in their right mind.

00:10:26.300 This is not somebody necessarily making a rational decision.

00:10:29.780 And this is problematic.

00:10:30.760 And when I spoke with that lawyer who talked to us, he says, yes, you know, when he was out there with Sven Robinson and talking about Sue Rodriguez, who had a terminal physiological problem going on, a painful one, a debilitating one.

00:10:40.940 That's what they were looking at.

00:10:42.360 Not somebody who's suffering from chronic depression or some of those, again, very debilitating conditions, absolutely.

00:10:48.200 But these are not people who are in a good position to choose whether they want to live or die.

00:10:53.600 I listened to one bizarre statement from a federal cabinet minister when he said, don't worry, we will never apply this.

00:11:00.440 We'll never allow medical assistance in dying to somebody who's suicidal.

00:11:05.200 Wait a minute.

00:11:06.280 Think about that for a second.

00:11:08.100 We won't give somebody the choice to choose to end their life if they plan to choose to end their life.

00:11:13.940 Talk about pure liberal baffle gab.

00:11:15.840 So I'm not talking about throwing out the whole medical assistance dying.

00:11:19.540 I'm just saying we've got to be careful with it.

00:11:20.800 Now, this poll, getting back to it, this is from a research company poll.

00:11:24.060 One third of Canadians, apparently, are fine with prescribing assisted suicide for no other reason than the fact that the patient is poor or homeless.

00:11:33.520 Folks, really?

00:11:36.620 Really?

00:11:37.380 I mean, so is that where we've come to when you see it's so hopeless because somebody's poor or homeless that we're just better off just to let them end it all rather than try to pursue recovery and bring them back up on their feet and get them rolling?

00:11:49.980 One third of Canadians thought that was an acceptable path for people in that condition.

00:11:56.520 I hope this poll's an outlier.

00:11:58.680 I hope this poll is wrong.

00:12:01.820 I hope it was phrased poorly to the people who answered it because that's horrible, guys.

00:12:09.000 One third of us thinking, hey, well, gee, that guy's homeless.

00:12:12.480 He's in such terrible condition and everything, and he looks so miserable.

00:12:15.200 Yeah, you know what?

00:12:16.460 We'll offer you a way out.

00:12:18.240 Here you go.

00:12:19.340 We're not going to help you get on your feet, get a job, get a home, get your mental health issues in order.

00:12:24.180 But, hey, we can take you to your grave.

00:12:27.900 That's really one third of people think that's all right.

00:12:30.980 I sometimes weep for society.

00:12:33.700 You know, I'm crabby.

00:12:34.780 I'm negative on here a lot, but I try to maintain some degree of positivity.

00:12:38.560 I mean, I guess two thirds of Canadians realize that, no, this is not a good idea.

00:12:44.720 But I just would have thought that'd be the kind of poll question where, you know, you're talking 5%, 10% maybe, and you're always going to get some people calling for ridiculous things.

00:12:53.700 But a third, again, where have we come to where we just rather let people die than try to things get better?

00:13:03.040 You know, so I'm looking at some of the comments here, and it'll help bring things up.

00:13:07.200 What we're talking about when people think things are beyond hope, they aren't.

00:13:10.360 And there's fantastic success stories all over the place.

00:13:13.040 There are.

00:13:13.580 So, I mean, medically assisted death for anything other than a physiological terminal condition is not a success.

00:13:21.500 That's a failure.

00:13:22.700 That's an avoidance.

00:13:24.220 That's a horrific approach to something.

00:13:27.580 I see a commenter, Kiera Brady.

00:13:29.660 I could be mispronouncing that.

00:13:31.160 I'm brutalized.

00:13:31.780 People's names on this show on a regular basis.

00:13:33.540 Saying compassionate intervention without question saved my son at 17 when we almost lost him.

00:13:38.440 I'm so grateful that at last someone has finally had the courage to address this issue.

00:13:41.600 Kids are dying, and they are dying.

00:13:44.400 They're dying a lot, and they're everybody's kids.

00:13:47.500 Don't just think just because you're doing all right that it can't happen to you or it can't happen to your nieces or nephews or your father or uncles.

00:13:55.080 This addiction epidemic is getting everybody.

00:13:57.780 And I've said it before on this show, and I've been shocked.

00:13:59.720 Maybe it's part of the age I'm at.

00:14:01.180 You know, most of my contemporaries have kids that are either into their teens or early 20s.

00:14:06.640 Now, I know three different people who have lost sons to overdoses.

00:14:12.660 Three.

00:14:13.940 One was methadone.

00:14:15.780 One was, yeah, methadone isn't necessarily safe, guys.

00:14:18.380 It can be very dangerous if misapplied.

00:14:20.480 And two more with drugs.

00:14:22.220 You know, they call them poisonings.

00:14:23.240 It's overdoses.

00:14:24.200 And these were fine kids from stable families.

00:14:26.980 They just, whatever, for whatever reason, got into the crap, and it led to the worst possible outcome.

00:14:33.160 And we need to intervene.

00:14:34.500 This is growing.

00:14:35.160 This is getting bad.

00:14:35.980 I shouldn't have to know three people who have had to suffer that.

00:14:39.700 I wish I never knew anybody who had to suffer that.

00:14:42.300 And it's growing.

00:14:43.020 So with all that buildup, I'm going to bring in my guest.

00:14:45.420 He knows a heck of a lot more on this subject than I do.

00:14:48.280 And he's dedicated decades to helping people get out of that cycle addiction.

00:14:52.340 And that is, I'll just bring my scroll up here to make sure I don't mess it up, Dr. Dean Voss of the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Center.

00:15:01.260 So, Dr. Voss, thank you very much for joining us today.

00:15:05.120 My pleasure.

00:15:06.960 So, I guess, you know, we've seen something of a turning point with this coming into the election.

00:15:13.480 I mean, Premier Smith has talked about this issue a lot, and I've been happy to see that.

00:15:16.780 But with her recent press conference, she's broached the issue, I guess, of imposing treatment upon people.

00:15:26.460 But maybe I'll back up a bit before we get to that.

00:15:28.360 You've worked, of course, for decades in treating youth and treating people with addiction.

00:15:33.500 And you've had a great deal of success stories.

00:15:35.500 Like the fact that somebody who has received treatment is certainly much more likely to break free of addiction than somebody without.

00:15:42.600 We'll start from there.

00:15:43.340 Yeah, thanks for having me and carrying this message.

00:15:49.120 I came to Calgary 33 years ago, and I started on the reserves of Saskatchewan and Kamsak and the Coday Reserve and had the highest suicide rate in Canada.

00:16:02.620 I went and worked in the States, and I started my doctoral work out of Cincinnati.

00:16:07.240 I was living in Vancouver, and I came here 33 years ago, and the research was not good about reaching youth.

00:16:15.920 And that's what I speak to.

00:16:17.000 I don't speak to adults, although we treat families, but I'll speak to the youth issue.

00:16:22.420 The youth were dying.

00:16:24.540 It was a pandemic.

00:16:25.800 And I didn't know if we could really help these kids because from the academic research and programs to reach these kids, they just weren't available.

00:16:36.320 So I spent five years with an incredible doctoral team before we even got out of the chutes developing our model.

00:16:43.820 So 33 years later, came to believe, came to know that there's a solution, and we can reach these kids.

00:16:53.960 It's just like you said, the most agonizing thing I've ever faced is a parent losing their child.

00:17:00.620 And that includes, like, from the Coday Reserve.

00:17:04.760 Today, Coday Reserve has the highest HIV rate in Canada.

00:17:08.520 What's changed?

00:17:09.880 Well, what's changed for us in Calgary and the kids we treat, we came to believe, came to know that we can help these kids.

00:17:17.960 But it's tough.

00:17:19.140 It's complex.

00:17:21.220 It's the toughest thing I've ever done.

00:17:23.780 But I want to tell you, it's also the best thing I've ever done.

00:17:27.640 But it's labor intensive.

00:17:28.900 It's high risk.

00:17:29.660 And who wants to wade into these kids that don't want to stop, and they're dying?

00:17:37.600 And so that's where I've spent 33 years seeking a solution to help those kids, 365, 24-7.

00:17:46.900 It's a tough business.

00:17:48.140 But the majority of our kids, and I've sent this to you, and I can show you this, is the research.

00:17:54.900 Like, when you talk about, I can have the anecdotal stuff, which is very powerful.

00:17:58.380 I keep saying to my kids and parents, you not only have a message, you are the message.

00:18:05.000 But to validate what we're doing, I've had to look at the legal aspects of it.

00:18:10.380 I've had to look at the clinical aspects.

00:18:12.620 How do you deliver a program?

00:18:14.140 How do you raise the money to keep it going?

00:18:16.360 How do you access government support?

00:18:18.900 It's very complex.

00:18:20.020 But we've never varied, Corey, from our primary purpose of reaching that kid every day.

00:18:27.080 And we believe, came to believe, came to know.

00:18:30.760 We know how tough it is.

00:18:32.840 We know it's high risk.

00:18:33.900 But we know that we have a solution.

00:18:36.620 So I can get going on this.

00:18:39.700 But I think what Danielle Smith and Marshall Smith and these guys have done is given us a voice to share our message that there is a solution for these kids.

00:18:51.600 But you've got to raise the bottom.

00:18:53.500 They are so sick.

00:18:55.320 They are so mentally ill that they cannot stop. 0.81

00:18:59.460 And there's nothing more painful than a parent watching their kid deteriorate in front of them.

00:19:04.900 And it's hopeless.

00:19:06.820 But to help them, that's what we work on every day, Corey.

00:19:11.300 Yeah, and it's a big, long-term thing.

00:19:14.320 And it's not simple.

00:19:15.420 I mean, treatment for somebody when they're heavily addicted can take, I believe, three to eight months, typically, with what you guys offer.

00:19:23.340 And sometimes the results you're looking at over 50% will stay clean.

00:19:27.420 But some people say, well, boy, then half aren't making it.

00:19:30.280 But, I mean, it's far, far better than people who don't get treatment at all.

00:19:33.440 And that's what people have to understand, that if left alone, the outlook for a person who's heavily into addiction is not good.

00:19:41.960 Well, I think what's the success rate of these kids in 1989-90 was very, very low.

00:19:49.880 It wasn't 50%.

00:19:50.440 In fact, we know from our research, I had to go outside of the province to go to the Treatment Resorts Institute, for instance, with Dr. Winters and Dr. Area to validate academically our program.

00:20:05.260 Like you talked earlier about results.

00:20:07.360 I'm into results.

00:20:09.140 Otherwise, 33 years, I'm looking.

00:20:12.820 I want success.

00:20:13.640 My job is for that kid in the first chair who doesn't want help, that's really sick, that's addicted to drugs.

00:20:20.520 I want to see results.

00:20:22.680 So, with our research, I've had to validate ARC, fight this in our own community and province to show academically that the majority of our kids stay clean and sober.

00:20:34.560 That's a ridiculous number.

00:20:37.820 But I've had to go outside.

00:20:39.440 I can provide that research.

00:20:40.820 The other research, there's our research, Dr. Winters, Dr. Area, which is published, that our average length of stay in treatment is 277 days.

00:20:52.920 It's not rehab.

00:20:54.200 It's habilitation of taking a kid and setting them up to win.

00:20:58.180 Treat the addiction.

00:20:59.580 We have a psychiatrist.

00:21:01.080 We have multiple people that will help this kid.

00:21:04.640 It's labor intensive.

00:21:05.480 So, we know that it's the average day, it's going to take time.

00:21:11.380 So, why do those kids stick around ARC?

00:21:13.540 Why do those kids stick around for 277 days?

00:21:17.900 Because they know they can win.

00:21:19.660 Now, some don't, but the majority do.

00:21:21.860 The other part, our research from Patton in 2004 and Winters and Area, three studies say that eight out of ten kids that start the program finish.

00:21:32.480 Now, that's 277 days.

00:21:36.520 These kids are in treatment.

00:21:38.360 Level three and four, they go out to school.

00:21:40.360 They go out to their community.

00:21:41.620 We habilitate them.

00:21:43.240 The number one predictor of success in the research of kids that are sober after treatment doing good in their life is called retention.

00:21:53.900 So, 80%, we've got two major studies that say 80% of our kids complete treatment and have a better chance of making it out in life.

00:22:03.580 And we're treating kids that nobody wants to treat because we've got to raise the bottom because they can't see they're so sick.

00:22:11.780 They are killing themselves.

00:22:13.420 So, what's the option?

00:22:15.040 Let them die?

00:22:16.780 And so, I have a parent that says, yeah.

00:22:19.880 I'm sorry to interrupt, but yeah.

00:22:21.060 I see a couple of the commenters.

00:22:22.480 It sounds like they're children and have gone through your program and they really appreciate it.

00:22:26.160 And they're using that term compassionate intervention because that seems to be the part that some people are hung up on is you have to intervene.

00:22:32.400 Even if the person initially perhaps isn't necessarily willing to go into treatment, they've had the parents intervening on their behalf or other loved ones.

00:22:40.160 And then you aid with that.

00:22:43.100 And as you pointed out as well, it's a mental health issue.

00:22:45.540 So, I mean, they're not necessarily making good choices initially.

00:22:47.640 You need to stabilize their thinking.

00:22:50.680 So, where do you begin intervention?

00:22:53.160 Well, I think going back to this, parents have rights.

00:22:58.040 And I'm talking about youth.

00:22:59.900 And the issue is capacity.

00:23:01.960 When they're mentally ill, the parent has a responsibility and the right to help them and protect them.

00:23:07.960 And so, legally, it comes down to capacity and a parent having rights here to save their kid.

00:23:15.180 They've been everywhere by the time they get to me.

00:23:18.000 They've been through the system.

00:23:19.540 So, where do you start?

00:23:21.100 You start by talking to other people, I guess.

00:23:23.860 That's the best referral to me is other parents that have gone through this, that have been shattered, that found hope, put their families back together.

00:23:32.080 It's the same thing with my staff.

00:23:33.740 I work with a team of miracles.

00:23:35.920 They've all been through it.

00:23:36.960 Now they're getting masters and getting educated.

00:23:41.380 They know there's a solution.

00:23:43.580 And so, where do you start?

00:23:44.920 Well, I've been there 33 years, Corey.

00:23:47.080 There's nothing I haven't seen.

00:23:48.940 There's nothing.

00:23:49.700 The attacks, trying to access government support.

00:23:54.580 What Danielle Smith is doing, I am astonished at her stepping in and having the courage to step in.

00:24:02.680 And it is compassionate.

00:24:04.060 These parents love their kids.

00:24:07.280 That's compassion.

00:24:08.140 It's compassion for us.

00:24:10.100 We care about those kids.

00:24:11.700 They will ultimately get better because they'll tell you they know we care.

00:24:16.700 And it's in our simple actions of stepping into that disease with a solution.

00:24:22.460 Hope is in human form at Arc.

00:24:24.440 That's my whole staff of carrying that message.

00:24:27.900 Not only the staff, but the parents.

00:24:30.920 They get their results.

00:24:33.640 And that's what's kept us alive over all these years.

00:24:36.340 Now the government stepped up, which I think is incredible, to support us in helping intervening with kids and raising the bottom and helping them get help when they don't want help.

00:24:48.440 Because they can't see it, they're too sick.

00:24:51.740 Yeah, so something that unfortunately has gotten very politicized and, you know, we've really kind of polarized this, unfortunately, rather than just looking at results, is issues of safe supply or harm reduction.

00:25:02.900 Like I'm kind of on the fence with some of that.

00:25:04.800 I mean, if an addict is dead, well, we can't help them.

00:25:07.300 So if we could, you know, keep them from dying on the street and hopefully get them into treatment soon, there's a role for harm reduction.

00:25:14.540 But some people seem to see harm reduction as if it's an end or that you can facilitate an ongoing addiction and it can be functional.

00:25:20.220 And I think that's where the trouble starts beginning.

00:25:21.980 Well, I'm not against harm reduction.

00:25:24.700 And you're looking at the continuum of care and the continuum of recovery.

00:25:28.640 So certain people, if they don't have to come to ARC and they can cut down and not destroy their lives, I'm all for harmful reduction.

00:25:38.020 But when you reach a point, and there's many, many kids, our research is showing, these kids have passed the stage of harmful reduction.

00:25:47.300 They will use till they die.

00:25:49.340 You step in front of their disease, it's going to be nasty because they're addicts.

00:25:54.400 So ours is abstinence.

00:25:57.660 I don't, you know, I've been at this 35 years.

00:25:59.740 I don't see any other solution for my kids.

00:26:02.480 I've seen kids go back.

00:26:03.860 Some majority of our kids make it.

00:26:05.880 Some go back out.

00:26:07.000 They die because they start using again and they progress back right back into the disease.

00:26:13.740 So it's very difficult to treat them.

00:26:16.000 But when you have the majority of the kids getting better, like I have, I just had my gala, 31 years.

00:26:23.480 How many of those kids are contributing to society?

00:26:27.740 The best part of my job, Corey, to me, because I'm a senior citizen now, is watching my graduates be parents of their kids.

00:26:36.460 And they're good parents, and they're good people, and they know that they have a solution.

00:26:44.800 So they're the best message I have.

00:26:47.000 On the other part, I have had to look at the academic stuff.

00:26:51.360 Our results speak for themselves.

00:26:53.060 It's high-end, solid research from outside people.

00:26:56.120 The other part is looking at the legal part.

00:26:59.200 Parents have rights.

00:27:01.340 Kids are sick.

00:27:02.120 So that's the stuff that gets all thrown into the part of a kid that's so sick.

00:27:10.080 They don't have the capacity.

00:27:12.000 And a parent has, I believe, the right to step in and do what's going to help that kid or give them a chance anyway.

00:27:18.880 That's what we're doing.

00:27:19.740 We're giving them more of a chance.

00:27:21.040 We're giving them hope.

00:27:22.080 But it's hope in human form.

00:27:23.940 Because the kids that you may have seen or talked to, they'll tell you, without an intervention, they're dead.

00:27:30.400 And so what have we got to lose, Corey?

00:27:33.780 Oh, absolutely.

00:27:34.740 It's well thought out.

00:27:35.980 It's not just we're throwing this at you.

00:27:38.980 It's 33 years of research and experience, and we have a message.

00:27:42.720 Now we have a government.

00:27:43.760 And I hope, whether it's Danielle or Notley, come and support us, man.

00:27:48.440 We're saving kids.

00:27:49.460 It's not even a political issue.

00:27:50.800 It's an addiction issue.

00:27:52.340 That's right.

00:27:53.300 It shouldn't be.

00:27:54.200 And as you pointed out, I mean, still, it's a very resource intensive.

00:27:57.220 You guys have been fantastic with your gala and fundraising and things.

00:28:01.000 But it's still never quite enough.

00:28:02.440 I mean, with a government, hopefully, that seems, no matter which government, more inclined to help fund these spaces.

00:28:07.400 Because that's what you need.

00:28:08.340 And the resources and the professionals to help.

00:28:11.900 It's so important.

00:28:12.800 I mean, we shouldn't look at it as an expense.

00:28:14.340 I think it'll look at it as an investment because, as you said, of sober grown children, we have a much better world for it all around.

00:28:23.020 So I knew 15 minutes wouldn't be long enough.

00:28:25.140 I know I'm going to have to talk to you again sometime down the road.

00:28:27.660 Anytime.

00:28:28.360 Anytime.

00:28:30.100 But you sent me some fantastic studies and statistics and documents.

00:28:34.300 Where can they find those online and where can they find your organization if they want to donate or if perhaps they need help or anything like that?

00:28:39.620 Just look up Alberta Adolescent Recovery Center.

00:28:41.980 We have a website.

00:28:43.200 Same thing with the research.

00:28:45.040 I think that's very important, Corey, is the research of validating that this program, after 30 years, is showing pragmatic, real results.

00:28:57.740 But that just allows me to go in there today, which we're doing, to carry the message and save kids.

00:29:03.700 When we get people behind us, and I've never seen this in 30 years, what Danielle and the UCP are doing.

00:29:11.300 And hopefully, NDP, Notley, that can see that we have valid results academically, but most important is the families.

00:29:20.760 If we did an economic study of all those kids that are out in the community, working, going to school, 30 years, it's a huge investment in our youth.

00:29:29.620 But I want to just clarify, and I get going on this, but saving a life, there's nothing better, but this is tough, hard business.

00:29:40.920 Those parents love their kids.

00:29:42.420 They're committed to come walking in the door of ARC.

00:29:45.820 And that's the model.

00:29:46.940 We've created a unique model that's working.

00:29:49.860 So now let's get out and carry it to other communities.

00:29:53.400 Best thing we do is do what we're doing here today, carry the message.

00:29:57.920 So thanks for having me.

00:29:58.980 I appreciate it.

00:29:59.960 All right.

00:30:00.240 Thank you very much, Dr. Voss, and for the work you do and for sharing that with us.

00:30:03.720 And I really do hope we get to talk again soon.

00:30:06.040 Thank you.

00:30:06.480 So again, guys, that was, yes, Dr. Dean Voss of the Alberta Adolescent Recovery Center.

00:30:15.660 And, you know, it's powerful, right?

00:30:17.720 And as you can see, it's so much work.

00:30:19.380 And I see a lot of the commenters, people have been looking forward to hearing from it.

00:30:22.300 I mean, it's just such a good sign right there.

00:30:23.780 You can see there's people who that center has helped.

00:30:27.180 It's helped their children.

00:30:28.120 It's helped them.

00:30:28.620 Night Shift saying Dr. Voss saved his family.

00:30:33.280 Tony Brady saying AARC saved my son and family.

00:30:38.360 What a team.

00:30:38.940 And that's the other thing, you know, to be mentioned, there's a whole bunch of people involved in that.

00:30:42.220 A whole, and what a tough job.

00:30:43.660 I mean, it's like nurses in any other medical ward or doctors or health professionals.

00:30:48.860 I mean, you have to be so strong to deal with when things don't go the way you want and still get up in the morning and get in there and keep working on it.

00:30:56.300 And this is so, so worthwhile.

00:30:59.580 Jamie Johnson, after 12 overdoses and multiple suicide attempts.

00:31:02.400 My son's not talking about a future, including university.

00:31:05.040 Thank you to the doc and his staff.

00:31:07.080 Melody James, compassionate intervention saved my son's life.

00:31:10.720 Dr. Voss and his team taught him and my family the way out.

00:31:13.980 Like the comments are just coming and coming.

00:31:16.400 And, you know, Desiree Pressey, most of his staff have been through treatment.

00:31:19.220 They're living examples of what recovery looks like.

00:31:21.940 And that's another thing.

00:31:23.340 And that's what with a lot of recovery groups and organizations, you know, it starts to become anecdotal.

00:31:30.540 And sometimes you see the academics poo-pooing that or pushing it aside.

00:31:33.400 But, no, there's a reason you see things like, again, yes, I'm a member of Bill W.'s group.

00:31:39.960 We're talking about groups where you can get together with other people who have suffered through the addiction you have because that's how you can lend support to each other.

00:31:46.780 Because somebody who hasn't endured that, while they might mean the absolute best and might have all sorts of things they can help, you can't beat having somebody who's directly known how to deal with that.

00:31:57.320 It's very important.

00:31:58.880 And every situation's a little different, too.

00:32:00.660 Some people have harder times.

00:32:01.680 Some people have easier times.

00:32:03.220 It's just such a, there's no cookie-cutter approach.

00:32:06.100 And you need as many all-hands-on-deck.

00:32:09.840 And Karen Mitchell's saying rehabilitation's better than jail or the grave.

00:32:12.900 And that's some of the stuff I wrote about before because people talk about, when they're talking about intervention, whether it's adults or whether it's children,

00:32:18.900 see, we've got to maintain the dignity of folks in addiction and we can't infringe on their liberty.

00:32:25.000 Well, when they've hit the streets, when it's gotten that bad, that bad, that far along, are they really at liberty anymore?

00:32:32.940 No, they're a slave to their addiction. 0.51

00:32:35.200 They don't have liberty.

00:32:36.200 They can't think for themselves any longer.

00:32:39.020 And, you know, that's the path.

00:32:42.320 Unfortunately, as Karen pointed out, if there's not an intervention or treatment or something once it's hit that point, chances are they probably will end up either dead or in jail or in hospital.

00:32:53.080 You know, it's just bad all around.

00:32:55.500 We've got to try.

00:32:56.780 And seeing successes, that's what we need to hear and that's what we need to talk about.

00:33:01.160 And this is results-based policy.

00:33:03.560 This ties into what I was talking about with the ambulances and things like that.

00:33:06.580 I just want to see what works.

00:33:09.060 And Dr. Voss has shown a 30-year plan that works, not for everybody, but for the majority.

00:33:14.820 We know what doesn't work.

00:33:16.240 And that's facilitating, enabling, or sitting back and just letting it happen because that's kind of what some people think is going to work.

00:33:23.220 Kathy Terpstra, my 15-year-old daughter was in the depths of heavy drug use.

00:33:26.700 I reached my bottom and found AARC.

00:33:29.380 They taught my daughter how to live a sober life and how to live as well.

00:33:33.040 I mean, that's part of it, too.

00:33:35.400 Again, I'm more familiar with the alcohol end of things.

00:33:38.100 You've got to help the family.

00:33:39.600 You've got to help the loved ones.

00:33:40.500 It's bigger than just the addict.

00:33:42.800 There's Al-Anon you've probably heard of.

00:33:44.620 Well, the reason for that is because it's not just the alcoholic who needs help.

00:33:48.640 It's now the people who have been impacted by that alcoholism.

00:33:51.460 It's a huge, overwhelming thing.

00:33:54.340 And it does, though, lead to a payoff.

00:33:57.000 Jolene Steenson, my mom put me into AARC at 17.

00:33:59.920 I wanted to use drugs until I died.

00:34:01.600 I'm grateful they stepped in front of me.

00:34:03.260 Even when I didn't want the help, now I've been sober for 10 years and I'm in university.

00:34:06.580 See, we all win.

00:34:07.820 And if you want to be a cold, calculating, true conservative like they talk about,

00:34:12.280 oh, you're just the, you know, heartless, you're just looking at the dollars and bottom line,

00:34:16.020 fine, fine, look at it that way.

00:34:18.040 Let us be that way.

00:34:19.500 We are already spending a whole pile of money on untreated addicts because they're in the health system.

00:34:24.860 They are in the social services system.

00:34:27.080 They're in the prison system.

00:34:28.600 They're in our mental health facilities.

00:34:30.460 So you're already paying.

00:34:32.020 So let's pay to have people recover.

00:34:34.200 Let's pay to have them out and feeling better and living and being happy and having a job

00:34:39.380 and paying taxes and putting back in.

00:34:42.120 But they've got to have help and you've got to have intervention.

00:34:45.620 So it's been so good.

00:34:48.520 I mean, again, I know, I mean, I run an opinion show, so I'm biased.

00:34:52.980 But I mean, I don't care who does it.

00:34:54.900 I want to see recovery in this.

00:34:58.120 And if Premier Smith brings that in successfully, really brings it along,

00:35:02.300 we're all going to win with that because we haven't seen a Premier.

00:35:05.100 You know, I'll credit Jason Kenney with some of it.

00:35:08.080 He started talking about expanding treatment spaces.

00:35:11.160 And then nobody really had been talking about that that much.

00:35:13.320 And when he was finished, they'd been up to 8,000 spaces available.

00:35:16.760 BC only had, I believe, 3,600.

00:35:19.280 And that's a province with more people and definitely a much more acute addiction problem going on than ours.

00:35:25.120 And we've got more treatment ability.

00:35:29.820 Last January, Alberta actually saw a reduction in overdoses.

00:35:33.660 No other province could say that.

00:35:34.960 Everywhere else, this is a problem.

00:35:36.260 It's growing.

00:35:37.320 And that's because we've had more treatment ability, but we still need more.

00:35:40.700 I mean, you only have to go out in the streets, ride a train,

00:35:43.100 or talk to friends, family, and loved ones because everybody seems to know somebody who's in this condition

00:35:46.500 who needs to be helped, who needs to be fixed up.

00:35:50.000 So, Dora, I'll finish the comments and get on to more subjects here.

00:35:56.280 Dora, well, I'm so sorry.

00:35:58.880 I'm so awful with names.

00:36:00.260 There's where I need an intervention.

00:36:01.420 I get people that teach me how to pronounce names.

00:36:03.680 I said, AARC saved two of my kids, saved our family and my marriage.

00:36:07.020 If not for AARC, my kids would be dead. 0.97

00:36:09.160 And there, as Dora said as well, not just the kids, but the marriage and the family.

00:36:15.000 This is big.

00:36:15.880 This is big.

00:36:16.580 This tears families apart.

00:36:17.920 This can be terrible.

00:36:19.620 So, I'm just glad to see the message of positivity and hear so many success stories.

00:36:23.980 I know there's a lot of stories that unfortunately didn't lead to a success.

00:36:29.320 Something I've talked about on the show as well, I mean, I went through recently,

00:36:32.860 because, of course, we're getting a lot of the experts, you know, experts,

00:36:36.020 you put that in quotes whenever you talk about it,

00:36:38.700 talking about intervention and saying you can't force somebody against their will.

00:36:45.000 Well, under the Alberta Mental Health Act and every other province,

00:36:47.900 so we're getting on to the adult stage of it, perhaps.

00:36:50.160 I mean, it's different with a minor because the parents, as Dr. Voss pointed out,

00:36:53.020 have some rights and they can intervene.

00:36:54.360 With an adult, you don't quite have those rights.

00:36:56.260 But under the Mental Health Act, I had to have a family member committed about a month ago.

00:37:00.340 I've talked about that on the show.

00:37:01.720 And it's a process and it's not easy, nor should it be.

00:37:03.920 You don't want somebody frivolously committed, not by any means.

00:37:06.480 If they haven't committed a crime, you don't want them restrained.

00:37:10.040 But if it's evident they're going to harm themselves or others, that's where the bar is.

00:37:14.920 Then for their sake and everybody's sake, we have to take them in and try and help and deal with this.

00:37:20.140 That applies with addicts in the late stages.

00:37:22.920 If we can do this with somebody whose schizophrenia has gone out of control or a bipolar disorder,

00:37:29.100 well, if they're heavily addicted to fentanyl or methamphetamines or something like that,

00:37:32.640 I don't see why it's unreasonable to say this person is going to harm themselves or others

00:37:36.340 and we have to take them in to try and deal with it.

00:37:39.200 That's not an unreasonable ask.

00:37:41.140 I understand some people, I mean, I have a large libertarian audience

00:37:44.940 who very much don't like to see people's liberties infringed upon.

00:37:48.600 Of course not.

00:37:49.100 I don't want to see it either.

00:37:50.120 It's a last resort.

00:37:51.180 It's a last resort, but we have to have that last resort.

00:37:55.600 And, you know, because otherwise the path is bad.

00:37:59.960 All right.

00:38:00.880 So I'm going to turn pages on this.

00:38:02.700 We're going to talk about this more, of course.

00:38:04.120 You know, it's always been a subject that has been big with me and will certainly follow up more.

00:38:07.820 And I really hope to see more success and more discussion of it.

00:38:10.400 I really hope to see the NDP just starting to look at things such as the numbers from Dr. Vasta,

00:38:15.020 the press conference that Premier Notley did with chiefs from First Nations,

00:38:18.740 patients with recovered addicts, people like that, to show this can be a success

00:38:22.880 and have Notley say, yes, we can do the same thing.

00:38:26.200 And hey, they're campaigning, they can say we can do it better.

00:38:28.160 Okay, good.

00:38:29.140 Just as long as somebody's doing it.

00:38:30.540 I don't care who does it.

00:38:31.720 I really don't.

00:38:32.640 So let's just keep pushing on that, guys, even if you don't like the current government.

00:38:37.020 Fine, then push the other party to push more onto a treatment-based thing.

00:38:42.640 All right.

00:38:43.700 Let's see.

00:38:44.060 I got to cool things down, maybe, or at least in a different way.

00:38:46.860 It still gets the blood pressure up.

00:38:49.200 Let's go through some news items before we get on to the agricultural check-in and stuff like that,

00:38:54.740 because as we can see, I can go on about this, and there's lots to go on about for a while.

00:38:58.500 So Governor General Mary Simon, yes, you know, boy, speaking of ways,

00:39:01.940 speaking of money that could be better invested elsewhere,

00:39:05.380 she billed $38,000 for her wardrobe in the last 16 months.

00:39:10.520 Yes.

00:39:11.240 Clothing.

00:39:12.300 Clothing.

00:39:12.740 You know, again, we've got addiction centers that need money,

00:39:14.880 but we're giving our Governor General $38,000 for silk jackets, cocktail dresses, accessories.

00:39:21.340 Her salary is $342,000 to be Canada's chief ribbon cutter,

00:39:29.440 because she's just a ceremonial position.

00:39:31.080 That's it.

00:39:32.480 And she can't buy her own bloody clothes.

00:39:34.860 She gets a free house.

00:39:35.780 She gets free travel.

00:39:36.520 And while she travels, she spends $90,000 for food catering for her and her entourage on a one-week trip.

00:39:42.840 I wish I was making those numbers up.

00:39:44.440 And she's also dinging us $38,000 for clothing.

00:39:52.720 Yes, we should be upset.

00:39:54.320 There are better things to spend our money on.

00:39:57.020 This country is a mess.

00:39:58.660 Speaking of people wasting money, then, let's look at our finance minister, Christia Freeland. 0.79

00:40:02.960 People watching the federal scene have seen there's been the budgets being pushed through,

00:40:06.860 the filibustering that's going on.

00:40:09.680 There's people, you know, the conservatives are trying to hold it up

00:40:12.720 because it's a massive spending budget yet again.

00:40:15.980 Freeland testified for 90 minutes at the finance committee to try and break the filibuster.

00:40:19.940 But she says the debt charges are absolutely handleable.

00:40:22.700 We've got over a trillion dollars in debt now.

00:40:28.660 So we're talking 50, I believe, getting close to 50 billion a year we're going to spend just on interest.

00:40:34.760 You know, we're running out of money for very important things.

00:40:37.640 I'll throw another commenter in there, Tom Muzkia.

00:40:40.260 I'm probably ruining your name again.

00:40:41.360 Sorry, Tom.

00:40:42.060 But thank you for commenting, saying, yay, RC, save my kids' lives.

00:40:45.140 It's a huge commitment, but a small price to pay to save my kids' lives.

00:40:47.740 See, we have money in this country.

00:40:49.160 We have resources.

00:40:50.920 But we're letting our inept or indifferent, wasteful politicians piss that money away.

00:40:58.660 On things like outfits for the governor general or just borrowing and throwing money blindly at programs

00:41:03.920 or subsidizing things while we spend, again, we're going to get up to 50 billion a year on interest payments.

00:41:09.380 Imagine what we could do for our country with that 50 billion dollars then.

00:41:14.140 Let's look at what we're going to talk about.

00:41:15.740 Again, addiction and mental health.

00:41:17.000 That would be 5 billion a year you could give to every province in the country just to spend on addiction and mental health.

00:41:25.720 Could you imagine how positively that would impact crime rates, health care rates, you know, tourism even?

00:41:33.920 Seriously, I mean, downtowns and cities and cross Canada right now, you can't go into them.

00:41:38.000 In Toronto, you know, the stab-a-thon on public transit is unbelievable.

00:41:42.340 Likewise, in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, 50 billion a year, though, we're flushing on interest.

00:41:48.340 There's one of those cognitive dissonance things I see with socialists that don't seem to understand.

00:41:52.900 They hate big business.

00:41:54.020 Oh, they can't stand seeing corporate institutions making money out of the taxpayers.

00:41:58.920 But they don't have a problem spending 50 billion in interest.

00:42:02.680 Well, who do you think that interest is going to, guys?

00:42:05.800 Small business?

00:42:06.920 You think it's the mom-and-pop government lender down the road?

00:42:10.840 No.

00:42:11.940 That 50 billion dollars is going into the pockets of big-money folks, guys.

00:42:17.760 So quit borrowing.

00:42:19.060 Quit spending on stupid things, such as the governor general's little trips and wardrobe.

00:42:27.100 Easier said than done.

00:42:28.180 And I don't know.

00:42:29.380 I mean, we let politicians buy our love.

00:42:30.820 We're seeing that in Alberta.

00:42:33.380 And to be fair, one of the areas that, you know, Premier Smith has been getting a lot of critique from,

00:42:37.860 and I'm critical of it as well, of course, is they're doing the usual thing of campaigning

00:42:42.780 and just promising, spending, spending, spending, spending, spending, buying our love.

00:42:46.800 It's our fault.

00:42:47.460 We respond to it.

00:42:48.240 The reason they do that is we vote for whoever's going to blow the most sunshine up our keisters 1.00

00:42:51.620 and whoever's going to spend the most on it.

00:42:53.900 So, of course, you know, our budgets get unsustainable, and Premier Smith's budget hasn't been looking

00:43:02.360 terribly conservative by a lot of measures, and we've still got another 10 days left.

00:43:07.460 So, if we want to see more conservatism, I think we're going to have to get better at it, aren't we?

00:43:14.260 Here's another beauty, you know, with our programs.

00:43:15.740 It shows the inefficiency of them.

00:43:17.360 The Canada Greener Homes Grant.

00:43:18.840 You know, this is the one that's going to make everybody green.

00:43:20.420 And let's see, this one's supposed to support 700,000 homeowners with grants for retrofits.

00:43:28.960 You know, make your place a little greener, save a little on energy.

00:43:33.180 Well, if it's free money, if it's five grand each, whether you like it or not, most people say,

00:43:38.120 yeah, I'll go in for that.

00:43:39.240 But somehow, even though they launched this thing two years ago, only 41% of the target

00:43:44.840 ever actually applied for it.

00:43:46.340 And, you know, of those, yeah, so it's 287,000 applied and only 60,000 qualified.

00:43:53.380 But, I mean, we're talking about these numbers.

00:43:55.300 They were looking to support over to 700,000 people with $5,000 each.

00:43:58.660 This is a lot of money for a program that doesn't appear to be doing a damn thing,

00:44:02.340 except for employing thousands and thousands of pointy-headed bureaucrats who get a heck of a lot 0.99

00:44:07.840 of money to keep talking about this and moving paper from here to there and there to here,

00:44:12.880 whilst not actually getting any decent outcomes or results from it.

00:44:16.340 So, yeah, we've got money to spare, guys.

00:44:20.860 We just need to spend it better.

00:44:22.680 But, again, you know, if my aunt had testicles, she'd be my uncle, right?

00:44:27.600 I mean, you can wish for things, but it doesn't necessarily mean they come about.

00:44:31.940 But we'll keep pushing and keep hoping for some responsible things.

00:44:34.540 Okay, let's pivot a little.

00:44:35.920 I've been ranting quite a bit for a while.

00:44:37.240 I'll let my blood pressure come down a little bit and check in with Jim Bousicum and see

00:44:44.500 what's happening out on the agricultural front.

00:44:46.680 Hey, Jim, how are you doing?

00:44:48.080 Hey, doing great.

00:44:48.940 How are you doing today, Corey?

00:44:50.120 Oh, pretty good, actually.

00:44:51.360 I had a fantastic interview just earlier.

00:44:53.620 You know, kind of hard subjects, but very worthwhile.

00:44:57.080 Good, good.

00:44:57.700 There's always lots to cover, isn't there?

00:44:59.740 That there is.

00:45:00.540 That there is.

00:45:01.120 So your area of coverage is the agricultural world and trying to track those geopolitical

00:45:06.620 issues and impact prices.

00:45:09.280 Yeah, so we'll start there today.

00:45:11.280 So on the ag side, especially with the wheat trade, the news is that Russia has renewed

00:45:17.880 their grain corridor that will continue to allow Ukraine to export through the Black

00:45:23.020 Sea region.

00:45:24.440 So the result of that this morning is markets have definitely moved lower.

00:45:27.860 We had a move of 15, 20 cents per bushel U.S. lower on the wheat market.

00:45:34.560 You know, this follows days of uncertainty where there was actually a lot of chop in the

00:45:37.820 markets, some fairly good increases as well, because there was, again, that, and really

00:45:46.580 still is, there's still that uneasiness of what's actually going to be able to ship out

00:45:50.700 of those regions.

00:45:51.440 So, you know, so there's some speculation about whether, you know, why Russia does this,

00:45:57.160 but, you know, I mean, really, the wheat's probably going to come out of that region

00:46:04.220 one way or another.

00:46:05.120 There's plenty of buyers looking for wheat across the world, and they're buying it from

00:46:10.860 Ukraine, they're buying it from Russia, they're buying it from Canada.

00:46:13.280 And it's really a price sensitive market.

00:46:16.580 Now, furthermore, if we take a look at the weather markets that have shaped up here, we're

00:46:21.980 at the start of a growing season.

00:46:23.560 Farmers have finished planting their crops or just busy finishing right now.

00:46:30.340 And as you notice, looking out the window, it's a little hot and dry and a little bit

00:46:34.540 smoky in the air.

00:46:35.560 So certainly with it, farmers are worried about moisture conditions, the ability to grow

00:46:41.040 a crop if it stays dry.

00:46:43.940 Right now, it's still early enough on the calendar.

00:46:46.560 It's only May 17th.

00:46:49.300 Two weeks from now, three weeks from now, if it's still dry, I hope it's not smoky in

00:46:53.540 two, three weeks from now.

00:46:54.400 But it'll certainly look a lot different on grain production if we move into June, especially

00:47:00.420 middle of June, without any significant moisture, then we would be certainly talking drought.

00:47:07.880 Well, I guess, you know, weather is one of the things you watch for.

00:47:10.900 But as you're kind of saying, don't quite sweat it yet.

00:47:12.820 It's still pretty early.

00:47:13.720 And that might turn around yet in the next few weeks.

00:47:16.540 Absolutely.

00:47:17.220 Yeah, that's it.

00:47:18.060 We tend to, especially on the farm side, we tend to forecast what will happen if weather

00:47:26.920 stays dry rather than what it's doing today.

00:47:28.780 Right now, it's actually still fine.

00:47:30.560 Everything's looking pretty good as far as Western Canada goes.

00:47:34.760 Great.

00:47:35.000 Well, thank you very much for the update this week.

00:47:37.740 And we look forward to talking to you again to see what's happening on the markets next

00:47:41.240 week.

00:47:41.880 100%.

00:47:42.320 Thanks, Corey.

00:47:42.860 Take care.

00:47:43.460 Great.

00:47:43.740 Thanks.

00:47:44.540 Yeah.

00:47:44.780 Bye-bye.

00:47:45.680 Jim Buzicum of Marketplace Commodities, guys.

00:47:47.940 Check them out, marketplacecommodities.com and get more detail on all those important issues

00:47:52.800 with your ag business.

00:47:54.720 So, yeah, let's get on to a few more news items before I wrap things up quickly.

00:47:59.800 I want to talk a little more on the provincial stuff.

00:48:01.680 Some we've been seeing, we're going to talk a little bit about, by the way, the pipeline

00:48:04.260 is our show that comes on a little later on Wednesday nights as well and gets done.

00:48:08.900 And the polls, the Alberta election, boy, the polls, you know, they're all over the

00:48:14.620 map.

00:48:15.140 They are, including even when the Western Standard was involved in.

00:48:18.000 But, I mean, we've got some polls saying it's NDP leading by eight points.

00:48:22.420 We've got some polls saying the UCP is leading by seven or eight points.

00:48:25.660 I honestly don't know what to believe.

00:48:27.360 Polls, we always love to wrap ourselves around the ones we like and then dismiss the

00:48:32.100 ones we don't.

00:48:32.940 I'm trying to dismiss the whole works because, you know, when you see basically if you take

00:48:36.340 the outliers on each edge of what's gone on with these polls, you're seeing as much

00:48:40.300 as a 14, 15 point spread.

00:48:42.640 Well, somebody is pretty bloody wrong, aren't they?

00:48:45.580 But we make so many news stories about these polls and try and read into it.

00:48:49.000 I mean, we want to.

00:48:49.600 The polls are important.

00:48:50.480 You want to speculate.

00:48:51.660 You want to see what's working, what's not working, I guess, for campaigns and what's

00:48:54.600 moving along.

00:48:55.300 But, man, they are something else.

00:48:57.780 And I worked on two different campaigns in the old days of the Wild Rose Party when I was

00:49:01.620 managing a couple of campaigns in 2012 and 2015.

00:49:07.160 Both times the polls showed in the ones I was working on, leading by a whole pile for

00:49:12.200 the Wild Rose.

00:49:12.800 We're doing great.

00:49:13.440 We're doing great.

00:49:14.220 Election day came.

00:49:14.920 We got slaughtered.

00:49:16.320 The municipal polls, I believe those years were terrible, too.

00:49:19.260 They weren't worth a crap.

00:49:22.220 So we will still keep talking about them.

00:49:25.260 We report on them.

00:49:26.640 But, boy, we just can't rely on them.

00:49:29.240 I mean, still, you see them bouncing around.

00:49:31.700 You see them wrong.

00:49:32.400 But often they're all kind of wrong the same way, consistently, you know.

00:49:35.080 So they'll all be saying, oh, such and such party is going to win by this amount.

00:49:38.680 And then the election comes on.

00:49:39.620 It turns out almost all of them were totally wrong.

00:49:41.820 In this case, though, they're bouncing around like ping pong balls.

00:49:44.720 And they're giving different numbers all over the place.

00:49:46.500 So I don't know who might be doing, you know, winning.

00:49:53.420 It would not.

00:49:54.440 Charlie Bow is saying polls mean nothing.

00:49:55.660 Those Dominion voting machines are going to mean everything.

00:49:57.180 Yeah, they're not using those in Alberta.

00:50:02.040 But, as he said, please vote in person.

00:50:04.140 It's a good idea.

00:50:04.940 Get in there.

00:50:05.480 Get in and vote.

00:50:06.620 Put your ballot in.

00:50:08.380 Speaking of that, you know, I was listening.

00:50:09.980 There's an NDP.

00:50:12.140 I won't even name them.

00:50:13.540 Just basically a blog.

00:50:15.000 It gets a lot of money from the NDP and the Broadband Institute.

00:50:17.460 And they call themselves a media outlet.

00:50:19.200 They've been going on about it.

00:50:20.400 I mean, the conspiracy theories.

00:50:21.580 The conspiracies are now really coming from the left these days.

00:50:24.520 And there's a group that was out there pushing for using scrutineers.

00:50:29.480 They're holding webinars talking about how to scrutineer during elections.

00:50:33.780 For people not familiar with it, volunteers go in.

00:50:35.840 You can go in.

00:50:36.480 I've talked about it, I believe, on this show before.

00:50:38.880 If you're with a party, you can register.

00:50:40.560 You can go in in the morning when they open up the ballot box, show you it's empty, tape it shut.

00:50:45.660 You can be there to watch every vote all day.

00:50:47.980 You can put people in on shifts, and then you can be there the whole time when the boxes are reopened and those votes are counted.

00:50:54.120 It's actually a very good system.

00:50:57.160 And it allows you to go in and see with your own eyes whether things have looked questionable, aren't questionable.

00:51:02.180 You can ask things.

00:51:03.160 You can, you know, you can't get in people's ways.

00:51:04.980 You can't intimidate or anything like that.

00:51:07.160 But you can be there to supervise.

00:51:09.400 And it's a very important part of the democracy.

00:51:11.420 None of that counting should happen behind closed doors without you being able to, you know, supervise that.

00:51:17.080 But we don't necessarily get out and do it.

00:51:19.820 So perhaps if there is misdoing or misdeeds in the elections, well, it's happening because we have to take part.

00:51:30.720 And Charlie's saying those need to be reinstated at every polling station.

00:51:32.620 Yeah, the scrutineers are still there.

00:51:35.480 They can be.

00:51:36.260 It's just up to you.

00:51:37.160 But this is reported on by press progress.

00:51:38.880 Like, this is a conspiracy.

00:51:39.920 This is bad.

00:51:40.400 These guys are tied in with election conspiracy theories.

00:51:43.160 They're not good.

00:51:43.560 No, they aren't.

00:51:44.020 They're just telling people to go out there and take part in the process.

00:51:47.180 And it reminds me again of the conspiracies being spread about Take Back Alberta in Alberta.

00:51:52.000 They've been doing their thing, getting on the ground, holding their meetings.

00:51:55.360 And David Parker runs that.

00:51:57.400 He's more socially conservative than my tastes land.

00:52:00.480 But what I'm impressed with is his message isn't about his views and social conservatism.

00:52:06.160 It's just saying, get off your butt, use the process, get out there and do it.

00:52:09.600 He's not asking about anything secretive or untoward.

00:52:13.420 And that's what's got them scared, though.

00:52:15.820 You see, the establishment thrives on our apathy.

00:52:18.400 It makes it by us, due to us sitting on our butts, due to us being indifferent, due to us not getting out there and taking part in the parties or taking part in things like scrutineering during an election.

00:52:30.580 So, I mean, when Parker says, hey, get out there and take part in the nominations, get out there and take part in the electing the board of your party or your school board or things like that.

00:52:40.860 Why is that controversial?

00:52:43.260 I'd be scared of the person who says that's controversial.

00:52:45.900 Why do you thrive on people not using the democratic tools at their disposal?

00:52:51.420 That, that scares me.

00:52:54.000 So either way, that's the latest conspiracy.

00:52:55.520 Oh, my Lord, scrutineers are somehow going to screw up the process.

00:52:59.020 Sorry, guys.

00:52:59.700 No, scrutineers are an integral part of the democratic process.

00:53:04.520 Okay, well, there'll be lots more coming, guys, and lots more coverage.

00:53:07.820 By the way, there's going to be coverage of the debate starting tomorrow at the Western Standard at 540 for those of you guys watching live.

00:53:15.100 It's going to be special coverage covering all of that.

00:53:17.220 Don't forget election night, too.

00:53:18.240 We've got a huge thing going on.

00:53:19.900 I've got another show before that happens.

00:53:21.560 But tune in here.

00:53:22.740 Don't waste your time on CBC and all those other outlets.

00:53:25.640 We'll have it here in full and give you good coverage of the whole thing.

00:53:32.160 Don Sharp saying, is the NDP going to force paramedics back into the hallway?

00:53:34.960 Because the United Nurses Association is complaining about having to work? 1.00

00:53:38.300 Yeah, probably if they get the chance.

00:53:39.500 So let's not give them the chance.

00:53:41.280 Okay, everybody.

00:53:42.420 That was a really packed show.

00:53:43.940 Thank you.

00:53:44.260 And thank you for all that feedback.

00:53:45.620 It was really good, guys.

00:53:46.800 I like those questions.

00:53:48.000 Keep them coming every show.

00:53:50.100 I will be back again next week at this time with a whole pile of new stories, another guest, and, of course, lots more issues to discuss.

00:53:57.100 So thanks for tuning in, guys.

00:53:58.360 And I'll see you in a week.

00:53:59.440 Here's an update on commodity prices in Lethbridge for today.

00:54:03.320 Cash barley is steady at $4.07.

00:54:05.640 Feed wheat remains at $4.08.

00:54:07.720 And corn is down $2 at $3.88 per metric tonne.

00:54:11.400 In the milling wheat markets, July Minneapolis futures are lower $0.1075 at $8.68 per bushel.

00:54:17.000 With local hardwood spring bid for May movement at $10.30 per bushel.

00:54:22.080 Looking at canola, nearby futures slip $10.20 at $7.19 per tonne.

00:54:27.180 With delivered vies for May movement at $1.608 per bushel.

00:54:30.900 In the pulse markets, nearby red lentil prices are trading at $0.34 per pound.

00:54:35.600 And yellow peas are lower $0.25 at $1.125 per bushel.

00:54:39.680 And in the cattle markets, June live cattle are up $0.85 at $1.64.73 per hundredweight.

00:54:45.280 For more information on pricing or picked up options, give me a call at 403-394-1711.

00:54:53.160 I'm Matt Busiekum at Marketplace Commodities.

00:54:55.780 Accurate, real-time marketing information and pricing options.

00:54:59.700 Canadian Shooting Sports Association.

00:55:01.940 Without the CSSA, our gun rights would have been taken long, long ago.

00:55:06.500 These guys are on the front lines, helping to draft smart and intelligent firearms,

00:55:11.700 regulations and legislation in Canada.

00:55:13.720 And more importantly, educating the public about how we keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people.

00:55:19.480 We've become a member.

00:55:20.400 It's absolutely worth every penny.

00:55:22.260 We'll be right back.

00:55:39.260 We'll be right back.

00:55:44.060 We'll be right back.

00:55:45.700 We'll be right back.

00:55:46.740 We'll be right back.

00:55:48.560 We'll be right back.

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00:55:50.920 We'll be right back.

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00:55:51.440 We'll be right back.

00:55:52.260 You

Western Standard - May 17, 2023

Cory Morgan Show. Premier Smith’s successes go nearly unreported

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