Western Standard - United Conservatives present plan to improve public safety

00:00:00.000 Karen Kempc.

00:00:18.280 Karen Root. 0.89

00:00:25.400 Karen Kempc.

00:00:27.960 Karen Kempc.

00:00:28.900 Thank you.

00:00:58.900 Thank you.

00:01:28.900 Thank you.

00:01:58.900 Thank you.

00:02:28.900 Thank you.

00:02:58.900 Thank you.

00:03:28.900 Thank you.

00:03:58.900 Thank you.

00:04:28.900 Thank you.

00:04:58.900 Thank you so much for joining us.

00:05:28.880 for joining us here today in downtown Edmonton.

00:05:32.040 My name is Mike Ellis,

00:05:32.960 and I am the UCP candidate in Calgary West.

00:05:35.700 I'm joined here today by our UCP leader, Daniel Smith,

00:05:38.760 as well as a number of candidates,

00:05:41.960 Syed Ahmed, Dr. Terry Ivanka, Melissa Crane,

00:05:45.560 Richard Wong, Amid El-Zain, Miles Berry, Ali Hamor,

00:05:50.660 Luke Suvanto, and Slava Kravisenko.

00:05:54.740 Hope I got that pronunciation correct,

00:05:56.260 and I apologize if I did.

00:05:57.940 We're also honored to be joined by our incredible advocate

00:06:01.120 here in downtown Edmonton, Holly Ma,

00:06:03.280 who's here to my left,

00:06:05.280 past president of the Chinatown BIA.

00:06:08.960 Today, we are here to talk about an important topic

00:06:11.840 that is top of mind for many Albertans,

00:06:14.480 from those right here in the downtown core

00:06:16.820 to families in remote rural communities

00:06:19.320 right across this province.

00:06:21.340 Public safety and taking meaningful action

00:06:23.780 to address social disorder.

00:06:26.160 As the Minister of Public Safety

00:06:27.760 emergency services, I have had the incredible opportunity to engage with Albertans from all

00:06:32.720 walks of life. I've had the opportunity to listen to their concerns and share the strong and effective

00:06:39.280 action that the UCB government has taken to tackle issues like organized crime, violent offenders,

00:06:45.120 and supporting our law enforcement. And as I have traveled across the province, diverse Alberta

00:06:51.680 communities have shared our stance when it comes to proposed policies

00:06:57.680 from the left that enable criminals to terrorize our neighborhoods. And quite frankly, ladies and

00:07:03.360 gentlemen, enough is enough. We have seen that these soft on crime activists are quick to tell

00:07:10.320 Albertans that they have to make a choice, a choice between compassion and addressing public safety.

00:07:17.040 But folks, as I have told those I've engaged with as the public safety minister from Edmonton's

00:07:23.760 Chinatown to families down in Lethbridge, you do not have to choose one over the other.

00:07:30.720 With our UCP's comprehensive public safety plan, we can do both. We can support our most vulnerable,

00:07:38.000 we can support our most vulnerable communities, and we can also be tough on crime. For more on

00:07:44.240 the UCP's plan for public safety, I'm now going to pass it on to our leader, Danielle Smith. Thank you.

00:07:53.760 Thank you, Mike, and thank you all for being here today.

00:07:59.760 I'm pleased to be joined by Mike Ellis, United Conservative Party candidate in Calgary West

00:08:04.560 and former police officer.

00:08:07.540 Almost every day, Albertans wake up to news that someone in their city or community has been attacked

00:08:13.460 or even worse, just yesterday, Edmonton Police Chief Dale McPhee spoke about the horrific murder

00:08:20.280 of a mother and her 11-year-old child in broad daylight.

00:08:23.760 Chief McPhee expressed great frustration that the accused was well-known to police,

00:08:29.480 having a history dating back to 2009 that included multiple charges.

00:08:35.260 Victims of crime are people's daughters, sons, parents, friends, and loved ones.

00:08:39.340 And most often the perpetrators of these crimes have been released on bail.

00:08:43.600 Some, multiple times.

00:08:45.640 In Edmonton in the last two years, 26 homicides were committed by criminals out on bail.

00:08:51.180 and in Calgary, 23 of the 45 people charged with homicide in 2021, 2022, and 2023 so far

00:08:59.660 were out on bail.

00:09:01.220 Seven of those were bound by firearms prohibitions.

00:09:05.180 The Liberal NDP soft on crime approach is costing lives.

00:09:08.760 And Albertans and all Canadians deserve better.

00:09:13.040 The United Conservative Party stands with our provincial partners demanding the federal government

00:09:17.500 end the system of catch and release plaguing our communities and reform our bail system.

00:09:22.940 Voices in Alberta and Canada are growing stronger. Momentum for change is building. I'm here to tell you

00:09:30.220 enough is enough. We will not wait on the federal government. We will take action to ensure Albertans

00:09:38.940 feel safe again and we will do whatever it takes to ensure they do. So today I'm announcing the

00:09:44.300 the United Conservative Party's Safe Streets Action Plan, a comprehensive set of measures to restore

00:09:49.960 safety to Alberta's cities, communities, and public transit. This plan will crack down on criminals

00:09:55.680 with ankle bracelet monitoring of dangerous offenders out on bail and deploying sheriffs to

00:10:01.000 monitor them. It will mean 100 more patrol officers on the streets, brand new anti-fentanyl and anti-gun

00:10:07.140 tracking teams, as well as more funding for internet child exploitation and gang suppression

00:10:13.200 units. It will also make it easier for moms and dads to know the whereabouts of violent and sexual

00:10:19.460 offenders and make investments in women's shelters and sexual assault counselling. The Safe

00:10:25.380 Streets Action Plan will build on some of the United Conservative government's successes in keeping

00:10:30.220 our streets and communities safe. In early February, we deployed the Alberta sheriffs to Edmonton

00:10:35.480 and Calgary to work alongside the Edmonton and Calgary police services to respond to crime and

00:10:41.360 In the first weeks of the pilot programs in

00:10:43.400 Alberta's major cities, more than 4,500

00:10:46.400 outstanding arrest warrants were executed

00:10:48.400 and close to 400 charges were laid.

00:10:50.400 That's why a re-elected UCP government will

00:10:52.400 extend the pilot projects to the end of the

00:10:54.400 year and beyond that if necessary.

00:11:00.360 Having more boots on the ground, patrolling our

00:11:02.400 streets and communities is working and we know

00:11:04.400 that more boots on the ground are needed to

00:11:06.400 continue protecting Albertans which is why

00:11:08.400 our United Conservatives will keep our

00:11:10.360 keep our commitment at 100 more officers to help edmonton and calgary address chronic and worsening

00:11:15.240 crime particularly in downtowns and on transit their sole duty will be to patrol streets to

00:11:21.000 ensure people are protected and we know alberta sheriffs have the skills and ability to further

00:11:25.720 help in the protection of alberta families and the safety of alberta streets and that's why in

00:11:30.520 addition to extending the pilot project we'll expand the use of alberta sheriffs in the 24 7

00:11:35.720 and bail monitoring process for higher risk offenders

00:11:39.480 released on bail.

00:11:40.980 With the assistance of the Alberta sheriffs,

00:11:43.360 we will ensure that criminals out on bail

00:11:46.160 when they shouldn't be have more eyes on them.

00:11:48.600 There is no free pass in Alberta.

00:11:51.660 And to better monitor violent or sexual offenders

00:11:54.080 out on bail, a re-elected UCP government

00:11:56.160 will provide ankle bracelets.

00:11:58.000 A re-elected United Conservative government

00:11:59.940 would establish specialized

00:12:02.300 sheriff-led anti-fentanyl

00:12:05.440 and anti-gun trafficking units to target illegal supplies coming across the U.S. border.

00:12:12.060 Fentanyl is a scourge on our families and our communities.

00:12:15.620 Alberta has a world-leading approach to addictions and mental health,

00:12:19.600 and the United Conservative Party is here for any Albertan trapped in a deadly and destructive spiral

00:12:24.240 so that they can heal and reach their full potential.

00:12:27.060 But we need to be able to stop drugs before they reach Alberta's streets,

00:12:31.920 and that's why these units are so crucial.

00:12:35.000 Specialized teams have the ability to focus on a single priority instead of being pulled in multiple directions.

00:12:40.880 And that's why United Conservatives are also committed to increased funding for specialized gang suppression units

00:12:46.040 through the Alberta law enforcement response teams or ALERT.

00:12:50.160 Because gang violence isn't just a threat to individuals, it's a threat to our communities and to our children.

00:12:55.820 As part of this increased funding, the UCP will look to create a provincial cybercrime unit,

00:13:00.180 a provincial DNA lab

00:13:02.180 and help Alert increase its monitoring

00:13:04.280 of expensive catalytic converter

00:13:06.420 thefts which is increasingly

00:13:08.140 used to fund gang activity

00:13:09.780 and will provide additional funding

00:13:12.000 to Alert's internet child exploitation

00:13:14.080 team to ensure fewer children are victimized

00:13:16.500 and offenders are brought to justice.

00:13:18.900 Albertans should be able to walk

00:13:20.440 downtown and walk in their communities

00:13:24.240 without having to look over their shoulders.

00:13:26.460 This is non-negotiable.

00:13:27.500 And we have a right to take public transit without fear of crime and open-air drug use.

00:13:33.200 We will address gang violence, expand access to mental health and addiction treatments,

00:13:38.100 and keep violent and sexual offenders off our streets.

00:13:41.340 We are putting criminals on notice that Albertans will no longer tolerate being harassed and frightened or victimized.

00:13:48.500 We will do whatever it takes for Albertans to feel safe on their streets, in their homes, in their communities, and riding public transit, period.

00:13:54.540 And the United Conservative Party's Safe Streets Action Plan will do just that.

00:13:59.200 Thank you.

00:13:59.760 And I'd now like to invite Holly Ma of the Chinatown and Area Business Improvement Association to say a few words.

00:14:12.580 Thank you, Leader Smith.

00:14:14.040 And good morning, everyone.

00:14:16.140 Chinatown is suffering.

00:14:18.240 We are experiencing unprecedented safety issues. 1.00

00:14:22.800 You are witnessing the demise of a Chinatown that wants to survive. 1.00

00:14:28.000 Safety is the most integral part of this survival.

00:14:32.400 We have started to see the positive effects of the Healthy Streets Operations Center,

00:14:37.600 but recognize that boots on the ground are spread too thin.

00:14:42.240 Our seniors are afraid to come down to buy groceries.

00:14:46.320 Our parents are reluctant to bring the children down for Chinese school.

00:14:50.000 our businesses keep their doors locked during operating hours our community has experienced

00:14:58.000 the random murders of our shopkeepers entire businesses have been destroyed by arson

00:15:04.380 broken windows and damages in the millions building after building leveled by arson

00:15:12.100 through the city we have incidents on our public transportation last week the random

00:15:19.180 murders of an innocent mother and child. This all must stop. I'm here because I love my community

00:15:28.140 and we want to see the suffering on our streets come to an end. We need help. We need action.

00:15:36.860 Thank you.

00:15:42.540 And Mike Ellis will take the podium again. Thank you.

00:15:49.180 Well, thank you very much, Holly. As many of you know, prior to being in politics, I spent over

00:15:56.100 10 years as a police officer on the streets of Calgary. A lot has changed in law enforcement

00:16:00.820 since my time on the streets, and as we've seen, a segment of the population aim to villainize the

00:16:06.800 men and women of our police services who put their lives on the line every day and every time they

00:16:12.500 answer a call to service. At the same time this villainization has been happening we've seen crime

00:16:20.020 especially violent crime increase. This villainization is unacceptable. Albertans know it

00:16:26.820 and the UCP know it especially during a time of increased social disorder in our communities.

00:16:32.980 That's why I'm concerned about the number of quote defund the police unquote candidates

00:16:38.420 running in this election and that's also why i'm so proud of this announcement today and a follow-up

00:16:45.220 announcement by some of my my fellow candidates the ucp understands that the government has a

00:16:51.860 role to play in keeping our families and communities safe that role includes effective

00:16:57.540 and meaningful policy changes like the ones that we have taken over the past four years

00:17:03.140 we've made strong legislative changes including the introduction of claire's law

00:17:06.820 further work to protect survivors of human trafficking and preventing convicted sexual

00:17:13.220 and dangerous offenders from being able to legally change their names the important role

00:17:19.060 of government also includes actual supporting our law enforcement and not just talking about it

00:17:26.740 you know i was humbled to take a significant action on this over the past six months with the

00:17:33.140 creation of the new teams and increased funding for existing units and the UCP is committed to

00:17:39.300 continuing this work. We expanded the mandate and powers of Alberta sheriffs for effective law

00:17:46.020 enforcement across the province and further redeployed sheriffs in of course downtown

00:17:50.980 Calgary and Edmonton. It was our UCP government that also took tangible action with the creation

00:17:58.980 of the gang suppression units and firearms investigative units and launching a fugitive

00:18:04.740 apprehension team united conservatives will do whatever it takes for albertans to feel safe in

00:18:10.500 their homes in their streets and their communities and what we're promising today will build off

00:18:17.460 those earlier steps it is no secret that fentanyl has devastated the lives of thousands of albertans

00:18:25.380 Those on the left would look to completely decriminalize the incredibly dangerous drugs such as fentanyl.

00:18:32.380 And let me be clear, this would only empower organized crime.

00:18:37.380 It would empower the criminals and it would hamper the efforts of our law enforcement community.

00:18:43.380 Criminals are profiting off the addiction and of course the death that is caused by this drug.

00:18:50.380 And it's time that we say, as a community, no more.

00:18:54.380 more. A new anti-fentanyl team led by the Alberta sheriffs will take the fight right to our

00:19:01.260 U.S. border to stop these drugs from crossing into our province. And they'll be joined by an

00:19:08.460 anti-gun trafficking team that will work to stop illegal guns from making their way into the hands

00:19:14.780 of the criminals and the gang members. Because while the federal government targets legal gun

00:19:20.580 owners we know that the gun violence being perpetrated on alberta streets come from

00:19:27.860 illegal sales and trades of guns and people whose first thought unfortunately is violence

00:19:36.420 i'm going to give you a small slightly anecdotal story i had the opportunity to walk the streets of

00:19:43.060 Vancouver a few times over the last several years. I recommend people not go and walk the streets of

00:19:51.220 Eastside Vancouver. It is extremely dangerous. Those are not just my words, those are the words

00:19:56.980 that were coming from the law enforcement community in that particular area that I was speaking with.

00:20:01.380 But I want to talk to you about a young fellow by the name of Colin. Colin was out with us. Colin's

00:20:06.900 Colin's in recovery. Colin is a young gentleman who has spent a good portion of his life in jail.

00:20:14.900 If you looked at Colin, you would probably be intimidated by Colin.

00:20:20.900 He has a serious history when it comes to being part of a gang, and he certainly has a serious history of incarceration.

00:20:32.900 But Colin and I got to know each other and we talked.

00:20:36.120 And, you know, I asked him how long he had spent in jail.

00:20:40.400 And he had indicated that he had spent probably over, you know, in and out of jail for probably well over eight years.

00:20:45.360 And, of course, in Canada, that's actually a significant amount of time.

00:20:49.660 Because of his addiction, I believe that I made an assumption that he was, you know, doing petty thefts in order to, you know, assist with his habit.

00:21:01.440 Usually it was fentanyl or, quite frankly, crystal meth or a combination thereof.

00:21:08.660 And Colin very sheeplessly put down his head and he's like, no, sir, Minister, that's not the crimes I was committing.

00:21:17.940 I said, oh, wow, okay.

00:21:18.960 What crimes were you committing?

00:21:21.020 I was committing armed robberies right across Canada.

00:21:24.000 getting firearms, going to banks, other institutions, hopping on top of the tables and

00:21:31.860 the desks, pulling out a gun, and basically saying, give me all the money. And he was doing

00:21:37.240 that in order to feed his habit. Now I can tell you, I asked Colin, I said, Colin, I said, where

00:21:44.560 did you, where did you lawfully purchase that firearm? I said, he looked at me with very stunned

00:21:51.060 amazement. He said, Minister, what are you talking about? He said, I didn't lawfully

00:21:58.120 purchase this gun. He says, we get it because it's smuggled across the border from the United

00:22:03.140 States. And that's the point I'm trying to make. The evidence that comes, whether it

00:22:08.320 be through anecdotal stories, or whether it becomes through our folks in the Alberta law

00:22:12.660 enforcement response teams, will tell you that these illegal firearms, which are creating

00:22:17.560 havoc in our communities are not coming from lawful gun owners. They are coming from the United States 0.62

00:22:24.080 or they are coming from lawful gun owners who have been robbed. That's the fact. Now, I must

00:22:32.580 give credit to Colin as well. Although he's lived a very tough life, his addiction, he's overcome his

00:22:38.480 addiction. And as a result of overcoming his addiction, he is leading a very productive life.

00:22:43.780 So recovery, to ladies and gentlemen, for anybody listening, and you all know that I was Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, recovery is possible, and that's why we put all these supports in place.

00:22:53.820 So folks, I just want to let everybody know that United Conservatives, we're putting criminals on notice.

00:23:00.940 And our message to those who prey on our most vulnerable in our communities is quite simple.

00:23:06.460 Enough is enough.

00:23:08.120 Albertans are no longer going to tolerate being harassed or frightened or victimized.

00:23:13.120 We're the only ones with a credible plan that puts families at the centre of safety.

00:23:18.640 Because as citizens, you have rights too.

00:23:23.460 You have a right to live in your community, free of violence and social disorder.

00:23:28.200 You have a right to take transit to school or work without harassment.

00:23:34.880 And your children have a right to play on the streets without fear.

00:23:39.100 the UCP is committed to protecting those rights and we look forward to being able to continue

00:23:46.540 that important work and with that we will turn it over to questions. All right thanks everybody

00:23:53.020 they have quite a few questions today and so everybody please just line up the mic if you

00:23:57.340 have a question please your name and your outlet and we will be taking one question so we can get

00:24:02.700 get through as many as we can. Go ahead. Hi there, Janet French from the CBC for the Premier.

00:24:08.460 Question about evacuation payments. Some evacuees are telling us that this wildfire situation is very

00:24:13.340 different than the Fort McMurray wildfire situation. That they're being displaced multiple

00:24:17.900 times and would therefore not qualify for the evacuation payment under the current structure.

00:24:23.420 How much wiggle room is there to reconsider changing the payment program so that more evacuees

00:24:27.980 would qualify you know we're going to have a telephone town hall tonight with anyone who's been

00:24:33.260 evacuated so that we can get some feedback from them on what is working and what where they might

00:24:39.660 need more support the uh the policy that had been passed in 2020 was related to uh those who had been

00:24:47.260 displaced for seven days or longer it initially was only for uninsured losses so things like floods

00:24:55.500 we we made the decision to have that exemption right away that was one of the reasons why we had

00:25:00.460 our emergency management committee meet so that even those who might be able to get insurance

00:25:05.820 would be would be covered and the importance of that is as as i talked to insurance companies

00:25:10.220 i discovered that many of them have deductibles and so we wanted to make sure that people were

00:25:13.580 supported plus red cross had three days that they were providing for hotels i i recognize that might

00:25:19.580 be particularly challenging I do believe evansburg and whistle have returned home so we'll get

00:25:26.140 feedback on this and depending on what I hear I will certainly take that back to our cabinet for

00:25:31.820 discussion I think we all realize though that if somebody's been out displaced for seven days or

00:25:37.340 longer it's pretty clear they're going to need additional support so that was the the thinking

00:25:41.420 behind it but we started with an initial policy made an amendment and if we need to make further

00:25:46.700 amendments well I'll bring that back to my my emergency cabinet um my question is about military

00:25:55.980 help from the federal to help fight wildfires in Alberta do you know when that help will be coming

00:26:01.420 and in your opinion is it coming fast enough uh you know I would say that the federal uh interagency

00:26:08.940 support has been there from day one uh my forestry parks and tourism minister Todd Lowen said that

00:26:16.220 may 1st is when we first made contact and requests of the canadian interagency forest fire

00:26:23.260 center that has been an operation when i spoke with the prime minister he said it's been operation

00:26:27.420 since 1982 and as we continue to have more of these events it becomes faster and faster and more

00:26:33.020 integrated it's part of the reason we already have teams arriving from ontario quebec british

00:26:39.180 columbia part of the reason we already have calls out for 1100 more firefighters including

00:26:44.220 internationally. So I want people to understand that that mechanism of federal, provincial

00:26:49.600 cooperation already exists, already been activated, and we're already getting a ton of

00:26:55.140 help. The additional resources was whether we could ask the Canadian Armed Forces who

00:27:00.500 are stationed here if there was internal firefighting capacity. We've been given differing

00:27:05.980 information on that. When I met with the head of PPCLI yesterday, when Brigadier General

00:27:12.600 Graham introduced me to him. He said that they do have 300 individuals who are within that unit

00:27:20.440 that are trained in firefighting. They were meeting at 9.30 this morning to talk about how

00:27:26.040 they would be able to integrate them into the response. There is just so many little hot spots

00:27:33.400 that need to be extinguished and so I had asked our forestry minister to give us an update on how

00:27:39.000 that's going to go tomorrow but i can tell you um after i made the call with the prime minister

00:27:44.840 military was on site for our briefing yesterday and they're already talking about integration

00:27:49.480 as of 9 30 this morning so that's pretty fast uh arthur green western standard my question is

00:27:56.200 for the premier um i was told that the edmonton council is putting out their safety plan uh today

00:28:02.200 for safe streets as well um we talk about left wing we talk about right wing can you just tell

00:28:07.640 me how left-wing safety policies differ from right-wing safety policies i can i can only tell

00:28:13.560 you from what i have observed in um in vancouver east side and all down the coast of of california

00:28:22.760 is that i think the the problem associated why those communities end up in the state that they

00:28:28.840 are with the the tent cities and the increasing amount of drug addiction and the increasing amount

00:28:33.400 of social disorder is that there isn't a pathway and a support for additional mental health

00:28:39.740 support. It's why we have taken a two-pronged approach. We'll have more to say about our mental

00:28:44.620 health approach. But it's become known as the Alberta model. People are coming from around the

00:28:49.380 world to see what it is that we're doing. It builds on some of what we've seen in Portugal

00:28:53.360 where you support harm reduction but harm reduction as a pathway to get into treatment.

00:28:59.140 It's why we, when Rachel Notley was premier, she had a $40 per day charge on mental health beds.

00:29:06.500 We immediately removed that service fee, that user fee, so that we had free access to publicly funded treatment beds.

00:29:13.240 We increased our amount of treatment beds.

00:29:15.680 We now have the capability to treat 29,000 people per year.

00:29:21.560 And it's because we have that foundation of a pathway to recovery, building 10 recovery communities.

00:29:27.920 The first one is I have already opened, one in Red Deer.

00:29:30.740 It's because we have that pathway to recovery that we now have the ability to also augment that with the policing response.

00:29:38.100 There are, anytime you can confront somebody on the street, there's sort of two different pathways.

00:29:44.280 Some really do have a mental health addiction or healthcare concern and crisis.

00:29:50.280 And we have to have a pathway to help those folks.

00:29:53.020 but there are others who are preying on them

00:29:56.240 through organized crime and gangs

00:29:58.480 and there are others who are really bad dudes

00:30:00.580 who are hurting people

00:30:02.120 and we have to be able to differentiate those two

00:30:04.920 have a pathway for both

00:30:06.140 that's what I think is missing in the

00:30:07.960 sort of a more left-wing response

00:30:10.300 I don't think that they're tough enough on either

00:30:12.080 I don't think that they give enough

00:30:13.940 access to treatment

00:30:15.420 and I don't think that they give enough

00:30:17.280 enforcement on those who mean to harm us

00:30:21.020 and that's why we have such a different policy

00:30:22.760 And I think our policy is going to work.

00:30:24.500 You can already see the results.

00:30:26.800 The third aspect to this, which is really alarming to me,

00:30:30.400 which I certainly do not want to see in Alberta,

00:30:32.160 and we've taken a strong stance against it,

00:30:34.100 is what has become known as safe supply.

00:30:37.380 And I must tell you, I don't think there is such a thing

00:30:39.680 as safe supply of heroin or fentanyl or crystal meth.

00:30:43.140 We will not be providing government-funded drugs to people.

00:30:47.180 We will be finding a pathway for them to be able to get off

00:30:50.280 those harmful drugs.

00:30:51.300 and you can already see the results in Vancouver they took the safe supply

00:30:55.540 approach about two months ago and they have they are now getting the last story

00:31:00.480 I saw on this 45 calls a day of people who are overdosing that's that's up

00:31:05.880 double in two months so that's what I would say there's sort of three big

00:31:09.400 aspects about what's different between our approach and what we would see with

00:31:12.620 a left-wing approach.

00:31:14.700 Sure and Catherine Grakowski Alberta today we're going to be seeing more

00:31:19.100 frequent and intense natural disasters whether it be wildfires or flooding and I'm hoping you can

00:31:25.420 tell me what your long-term mid to long-term climate resilience plan is is it more emergency

00:31:30.960 contingency funding is it flood mitigation projects what's the mid to long-term plan well

00:31:36.300 there's a there's a couple of aspects I'm sure you saw our emissions reduction and energy

00:31:41.560 development plan that was released a couple of weeks before the election call and that charts

00:31:46.740 a pathway for us to align with the federal aspiration of being carbon neutral by 2050.

00:31:51.980 So we are going to work with federal counterparts in order to reduce emissions in a way that's

00:31:57.380 logical, practical, affordable, and makes sense for our province, which means having a transition

00:32:03.860 to reduce emissions but continue to rely on bitumen beyond combustion, hydrogen, having a

00:32:10.980 geothermal lithium development, having export of LNG, as well as ultimately introducing small modular reactors.

00:32:18.820 So we know that there has to be some work on that side.

00:32:21.600 But I think what more practically what people need to see is that as long as we're going to have severe weather events,

00:32:28.560 and we do, we've had numerous severe weather events.

00:32:32.220 My experience when I was last in politics was the southern Alberta floods.

00:32:36.820 We saw the Fort McMurray fires not too long ago

00:32:38.860 and now we are experiencing this again.

00:32:40.860 Just to put this into context because I

00:32:42.860 toured the emergency management agency

00:32:44.860 yesterday and talked to one of the experts

00:32:46.860 who are monitoring the forest fires.

00:32:48.900 How does this compare to a typical year?

00:32:50.900 In a typical year, he said maybe you would

00:32:52.940 have 30,000 hectares burned.

00:32:54.940 We have already had 390,000 hectares burned.

00:32:56.980 So it is already 10 times the typical fire year

00:32:59.980 and we are really just trying to figure out

00:33:01.980 what we are doing.

00:33:02.980 We are really just trying to figure out

00:33:04.940 the typical fire year and we're really just getting started so it's an it's an extraordinary

00:33:09.500 unprecedented event which is which is i think what we have to be prepared for in future so we have a

00:33:14.860 number of programs for doing fire smarting of communities i know that back in 2005 george

00:33:20.780 greneville did a flood report where he identified communities that were at risk and i i think that

00:33:25.900 what we're going to have to see is more coordination and i hope that comes out of this

00:33:30.140 coordinated province-wide

00:33:32.240 response that we have right now

00:33:34.340 of helping to assist our

00:33:36.340 municipalities and ensuring that

00:33:37.840 they have all of the

00:33:39.920 measures that they can take in

00:33:41.480 place in order to have

00:33:43.120 avoidance so that we don't have

00:33:44.760 these kinds of instances.

00:33:46.160 But I think we will always have

00:33:47.720 to be a lot more nimble as

00:33:49.660 we've had in this case to

00:33:51.320 making sure that the province

00:33:52.700 steps in with their resources

00:33:54.000 as soon as a fire gets out of

00:33:55.440 hand.

00:33:56.340 For small municipalities it

00:33:57.700 can exhaust the resources

00:33:58.700 very quickly and so i'm i'm just so pleased to see the level of coordination that we have but i

00:34:03.500 i think we have to to go back and realize that we we may not be able to stop these kind of ins

00:34:09.260 of severe weather events and we have to do a lot more to protect communities so everybody feels safe

00:34:15.660 hi audrey never had to canada the canadian press reported this morning that the former some former

00:34:21.340 firefighters report that your government's eliminating of the rappel firefighting program

00:34:25.660 is making it harder to fight fires right now because they can't be stopped early on so how

00:34:30.700 much of this current emergency give you pause to reconsider restarting this program look we're

00:34:36.300 going to have to make sure i mean as i said having a 10 times worse fire event from what we've ever

00:34:42.700 seen ever seen historically is obviously going to have to make us analyze what what it is that we

00:34:47.580 need to have for baseline support especially since we have the interagency forest fire center that

00:34:53.260 allows for us to provide additional support to other provinces and internationally so i've already

00:34:59.100 raised that with the with the civil service that let's let's make sure that we do an assessment

00:35:03.820 so that we know what our base level should be make sure that we can handle a typical fire year

00:35:08.940 and and and do that assessment i i know that because this was extraordinary it's pretty

00:35:15.500 difficult to be able to to um to manage this without the interagency help it just um i don't

00:35:21.580 know that that would be a reasonable expectation that we'd be able to manage this all on

00:35:27.260 our own which is why I'm grateful that we've been working so hard for so many years on developing

00:35:31.740 that interagency support so to give you some idea we have over 700 firefighters and we've made

00:35:36.380 a request to have 1100 come in from other parts of the country and we're continuing to make requests

00:35:42.300 we've identified 300 additional firefighters that are trained up through the canadian military

00:35:49.500 that are as I said are being talked to now to see if we can recruit them in and yesterday we did a call as well to ask if individuals who had firefighting experience in the private sector would be willing to be embedded with our teams just to email us so that we would be able to see if we could also integrate them so at this moment it's all hands on deck and we'll have to do the assessment in future years about how we make sure that we have everything that we need to manage a typical fire year.

00:36:19.500 Hello, Danielle. It's Duncan Kinney from the Progress Report. Oh, you all right?

00:36:24.620 Haven't had a chance to chat with you since your radio show days, so good to catch up. Hi, Duncan.

00:36:28.940 Yeah, so this could be a Mike Ellis answer, could be your answer, but I've got a freedom

00:36:34.060 of information request that shows that just as visits to supervised consumption sites were

00:36:38.380 dropping like a stone due to COVID, that calls for service to EMS for drug poisonings were spiking.

00:36:45.180 UCB government didn't release this information, had to get it through a FOIP,

00:36:48.940 and then the ucp government then shut down supervised consumption sites anyway knowing

00:36:53.180 this information of what was happening to the ems system do you think you your chief of staff

00:36:58.060 perhaps mike ellis you think you owe paramedics an apology for doing what you did to the supervised

00:37:02.940 consumption sites and knowing what it would do to the ems system as well as to the workload of

00:37:06.700 paramedics i i already hear mike ellis saying no behind me so i know he wants to jump in and answer

00:37:11.340 your question so i'll let him do that duncan duncan we have the same amount of supervised

00:37:15.020 consumption sites is when we took government in 2019. We're looking at opening up more supervised

00:37:22.220 consumption sites in the Edmonton area and that work has continued to be ongoing. So look, I mean,

00:37:28.380 as I've said before, you know, this fentanyl overdose is a very, very complex problem.

00:37:35.020 There is no one single silver bullet solution to this problem. You know, there's some people

00:37:40.140 that want to believe that the only answer is supervised consumption sites and as I've said

00:37:44.220 before and I'm pretty sure you have been in the room is that it is part of the continuum of care

00:37:49.660 it is just not the answer to a very very complex problem sorry just answer the ask the question

00:37:56.940 again about paramedics okay well I would say this that um the the issue of this fentanyl crisis

00:38:14.220 is worse than I've ever seen we've got stats going all the way back to prior when when fentanyl

00:38:19.900 entered the the picture and the level of overdoses have not returned to what they were before and

00:38:25.820 that's why I think fentanyl that's why I say I don't think there's such thing as a safe supply

00:38:29.740 it's very very serious when it comes to paramedics I feel very proud of what we have done in the last

00:38:36.140 four months to improve support for our paramedics we uh we've ended the system where they were

00:38:43.100 waiting 15 to 20 ambulances deep at all of our major acute care facilities we have a drop and go

00:38:48.860 system we have got nurses on site to receive patients and at any given time we have 10 to 15

00:38:57.020 trained ambulance units ready to respond in calgary and edmonton we have effectively ended

00:39:03.980 the ems code reds ems red alerts we we almost always have ambulances available and these have

00:39:11.900 been the remarkable changes that have happened since dr john cowell became the official

00:39:16.780 administrator i would encourage you duncan to to go and ask some paramedics about what the current

00:39:21.260 state of the ems system is because it is one of the biggest success stories and one of the biggest

00:39:26.460 reasons why i feel so proud that that we we made a different approach on alberta health services

00:39:32.140 and put dr john cowell in there okay let's go to lisa and then i have to hit the phone lines

00:39:37.420 thank you hi it's lisa johnson from the edmonton journal i have some questions just about the

00:39:40.860 specifics of this announcement um the press release noting that you plan to make it easier

00:39:45.980 for moms and dads to know the whereabouts of violent and sexual offenders i'm wondering if

00:39:50.380 that relates to the bracelet monitoring program or what specifically that is and i'm also wondering

00:39:56.220 if you can clarify what this other clause means make investments in women's shelters and sexual

00:40:02.060 assault counseling because we saw obviously with the budget the association of alberta sexual

00:40:06.620 assault centers services uh called your budget a snub it was 10 million dollars lower than

00:40:13.020 than their request they'd requested 14 million dollar increase to deal with the demand and i

00:40:17.900 think 4.2 million is is what uh what the budget saw increased um to them and as you know that

00:40:25.740 kind of preventative service obviously prevents homelessness addiction some of the things we're

00:40:29.820 talking about today so i'm wondering if you have that means the ucps plans to increase that budget

00:40:34.780 So the $4.2 million increase we did end up giving that to other services the particular agency that you were talking about we had told them that we stood by on the ready to be able to write the check to them but they declined it and so we did find other ways to be able to support the sexual assault center community and we'll continue to find ways to work with those different communities in order to support that.

00:41:03.000 The ankle bracelet monitoring is going to be very important.

00:41:08.080 The main difference that we're going to see is that if the federal government does not address the issue of the catch and release, we know we have to step in.

00:41:17.700 That's why we will be using the ankle bracelets in order to be able to monitor.

00:41:21.360 And I think you've seen as well that when dangerous individuals are released into the community, the police often send an alert out to the community.

00:41:28.580 So rather than just sending an alert, we'll have those two things together.

00:41:31.480 I'll see if Mike has anything he wants to add.

00:41:33.180 Yeah, excellent answer, Premier.

00:41:35.780 The only thing I would just add to that is that

00:41:37.680 we were talking about the mothers and fathers

00:41:39.600 and people that, you know,

00:41:42.640 the policy would be similar to Claire's law, right?

00:41:46.940 Except for as it pertains to serious violent offenders.

00:41:50.420 Again, no different was what the Premier had noted.

00:41:53.560 The police will typically put out a warning

00:41:56.400 if somebody is certainly going to be a risk

00:41:58.700 to the community.

00:41:59.600 So that's where that policy would come in.

00:42:01.480 All right. Operator, let's go to the first caller, please.

00:42:06.480 Dave Kaiser, Global News.

00:42:13.480 Good morning. Sorry about that. I was trying to unmute there.

00:42:16.480 My question for the UCP leader, Ms. Smith, I've seen numerous

00:42:20.480 recordings now from Take Back Alberta gatherings making claims

00:42:24.480 that they put you in that Premier's chair and they have people in your office

00:42:28.480 to ensure decisions which they approve of

00:42:31.420 they're made.

00:42:32.880 So the question is simple.

00:42:34.660 Does take back Alberta have control of you

00:42:37.160 or the UCP do you think about decisions

00:42:39.560 and if not, why is this group claiming otherwise?

00:42:42.700 Well, look, I mean, we are a one-member,

00:42:45.500 one-vote party.

00:42:46.940 We have 120,000 members.

00:42:49.440 We have a variety of different individuals

00:42:52.880 who have a variety of interests and get involved

00:42:55.000 with us for a variety of reasons.

00:42:56.980 But we don't have specific caucuses or dedicated positions in our party for anyone, unlike the NDP.

00:43:05.560 I mean, the NDP has dedicated positions on the provincial council for every union, including the Alberta Federation of Labour.

00:43:14.000 They have dedicated delegate positions.

00:43:16.060 They have a dedicated vote for their provincial leader when they have leadership contests.

00:43:20.820 and the membership in the NDP

00:43:23.480 means that the Alberta NDP is the

00:43:26.200 provincial wing of the federal NDP.

00:43:28.520 So I guess I would say that when you look

00:43:31.500 at the two-party structures, one member,

00:43:33.600 one vote in our case, versus the embedded

00:43:36.060 structure of the federal NDP and the unions

00:43:38.500 in the NDP, I would think that Ms.

00:43:40.880 Notley has more to answer for on that.

00:43:43.500 Please.

00:43:46.340 .

00:43:50.820 Hi, for the Premier, shortly after your elected UCD leader, the UCD board disqualified Livingstone

00:44:00.360 McLeod candidate Nadine Wellwood, who had made some social media posts comparing public

00:44:05.000 health measures to oppressive Nazi Germany policies and was now heard comments that you

00:44:09.420 made in 2021, where you compare Alberta's COVID-19 vaccine supporters of Adolf Hitler.

00:44:15.360 So I am wondering if the standard set with your party's handling of Nadine Wellwood,

00:44:19.360 which applies to yourself and if not, why?

00:44:22.660 Look, COVID was a really difficult and frustrating time for everyone, including me.

00:44:32.020 And I don't think that there is a single one of us that wasn't deeply impacted in some way.

00:44:41.240 Sometimes I let my frustrations get to me during that time.

00:44:45.860 I clearly shouldn't have.

00:44:47.060 But when I got elected, I vowed to put those dark days behind all of us.

00:44:56.120 It's part of the reason why a few weeks ago, when I went to a Red Deer prayer breakfast,

00:45:02.640 one of the things they asked when they were saying that, what do you want us to pray for?

00:45:08.380 I said, you know what, let's just pray for every Albertan that each of us can get over the trauma of the last three years in our own way.

00:45:19.820 Every single Albertan was hurt over that period of time.

00:45:25.620 And that's why I vowed when I got elected that we were going to put it in the past,

00:45:30.260 that we were going to look forward that we were going to make sure that this was a place where everybody from every walk of life felt valued and respected and optimistic about the future.

00:45:43.500 And that is what I'm going to continue to do.

00:45:46.060 All right, operator, let's go to our last caller.

00:45:50.980 Hi there.

00:45:55.820 This is just in regards to the evacuated

00:45:59.620 They were evacuated by the First Nation and not the province.

00:46:04.660 Are they eligible for supports and do they go about it in the same way?

00:46:08.660 Yes, they are eligible for supports.

00:46:11.640 We have always, whenever we've had one of these payment programs,

00:46:15.640 made sure that First Nations communities were included in it.

00:46:19.640 I did indicate to the Prime Minister that that was the case as well.

00:46:23.640 There is a little bit of a complication in First Nations communities

00:46:27.620 communities and our Métis settlements in that I've been told by our Indigenous Affairs Minister

00:46:33.980 Rick Wilson that there are some individuals who don't have bank accounts and so the way in which

00:46:40.840 we normally would do these kinds of transfers is a very simple sign-up system and then we would do

00:46:45.980 an e-transfer. In these cases I've asked the department to work directly with First Nations

00:46:51.940 leaders to make sure that we have the ability to provide charged cars. We've done that in the past

00:46:58.060 where we've got chargeable cars so that people have the ability to get access to the dollars if

00:47:02.960 they don't have a bank account. So it might take a little bit more work in Fox Lake to do that.

00:47:08.400 Certainly our East Prairie Métis settlement is another one where we know that we may have to do

00:47:12.920 that also. It's why we've got a two-pronged approach. One will be through signing up online,

00:47:20.200 getting the bank account information

00:47:22.540 and getting the deposits directly.

00:47:25.680 And the other will be for those who need it.

00:47:28.000 We've got the registry offices

00:47:29.400 through Alberta Social Services to do that.

00:47:32.880 The number to call for anything related

00:47:35.380 to wildfire is nice and simple.

00:47:37.520 We're going to keep it the same way.

00:47:39.020 310-4455.

00:47:41.020 And anyone who needs assistance

00:47:42.620 with evacuation payments can call that number

00:47:44.660 and be able to get some support.

00:47:46.860 Minister Ellis, our public safety minister,

00:47:49.200 made that line available as of 8 o'clock last night, 24 hours, and so we're going to continue to

00:47:54.960 provide that support across the board. As I mentioned, we're also going to have a town hall

00:47:59.620 this evening and continue with town halls for evacuees so that all of this information becomes

00:48:06.020 available to everybody and that they don't have to work unreasonably hard to try to find the

00:48:13.060 information. We want to make it as easy as possible for people. Thanks, everybody.

00:48:16.740 Is that it?

Western Standard - May 10, 2023

United Conservatives present plan to improve public safety

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