▶️ Watch the most recent "Alberta Update" episode to hear about topics that are trending and affecting Albertans, such as:
Support for Individuals Facing Addiction
✅ Establishing New Schools in Alberta
✅ US Tariffs and More!
Live reporting:
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- -Hi there, and welcome to the Alberta Update, a firsthand look at what's happening in your province with your government. I'm your host, Bruce McAllister. Thank you for being with us today. Well, the minister of education is going to join us.
There is a massive and historic school build underway in Alberta. We'll talk to him about that, the minister. - Mental health and addiction will be here to talk about new efforts to help those struggling with addictions but first are welcome in the premier to say good day and chat about all the things that premier Thanks for thanks for papa by good to see you get to see eras. We were off and running with another session of the Alberta legislature. I know the budget isn't - released until Thursday; however, there was a scoop, I think, because a reporter, Rick Bell, was reporting on a possible tax cut for L. Burton that might be coming. Can you speak to that and maybe what we might see Thursday? Well, as you know, I can't confirm anything until the budget does come down, but we have heard from Melbourne that the - Yeah, they're hurting, and we need to address issues of affordability, especially with the threat of terrorists hanging over us. If there is a twenty-five percent tariff that comes in, even if it is less for our energy products, we still have a large number of agriculture producers and manufacturers, those in the timber and lumber industry, who are going to be heavily impacted. - and we to make sure that individuals have more dollars in their pockets to be able to deal with what might happen on an increase in prices, so although the finance minister will reveal more on Thursday, we were very mindful that people have been asking for an acceleration of the tax cut that we promised during the last election and our were - Era, you'll see on Thursday how it is that the finance minister tends to deliver on that, or we'll talk more about it next week, but as you and I both know, the Dinger rebel rarely gets it wrong, so it's interesting to see what he has to report on. Hey, there's so much legislation coming that we could talk about Butterworth Huggable, one that I know was near and dear to your heart, and you did at a press conference. - Earlier this week with Minister Dan Williams talking about the Compassionate Care Act. - Tell us more about this legislation and why you think people know that we have seen an acceleration in the number of opioid doses, especially during COVID.
We're finally seeing them come down on the other side, and there's really two ways that you address that crisis: one is through policing, and that's part of the reason why we're adding more sheriffs to the streets, or - Having special interdiction teams at the border with sniffer dogs and drones to make sure that we can catch any of this illegal product or its precursors coming into the country or going out of the country. Think of some poor, not only for us but also to preserve our relationship of trust with the United States. You can't just focus on the law enforcement side; you also have to focus on the people who - Where the victims are those individuals who get addicted to this deadly drug, and so what we've discovered is that there are some people who can make the choice to go into a recovery pathway on their own, that there are many, many people who have not been able to. I think the press conference told the story of somebody who overdosed one hundred. - Navy six times last year, and that's just not compassionate for a community to sit around and watch people slowly killing themselves and harming others and not being able to get their free agency in their lives back, so compassionate intervention is going to intervene in the creative process to order those people into care. - So they can get the treatment that they need to get clear-minded, have their brains heal from their addiction, and hopefully set them up for a lifetime of success in sobriety, so that will be coming, and his framework for that later in the spring, and we will also be constructing special purpose-built facilities that will be ready in twenty twenty-nine. - And we're working on how we'll be able to identify beds in the interim in northern Alberta and southern Alberta so we can get started on that right away, such as the important work of Premier, you'll be happy to know, Minister Williams joining us on Twitter, the program, a couple of minutes, will flush and settle, but more for people. - So much more legislation we could talk about. We'll do it in the weeks ahead, but I'd want to or want to pivot a bit to the situation with the U.S.
President Trump's administration has said tariffs are coming, I guess, any day now. - the changes somewhat debating what press conference he gives but we we do know that they're coming kid is is there any way to say what kind of an impact are going to have and how are we preparing his It's really difficult because it seems to me that there are three different tariff regimes that have been put on the table. One was that twenty-five percent tariff that he initially threatened to bring into - effect on February fourth that we got a reprieve on, and those are connected to showing that we're serious about matching their effort on dealing with this deadly crisis of fentanyl trafficking and the cartels, and I think the initial steps that the federal government took were not sufficient, and so seeing that there's no one appointed sentinels is an additional two hundred and - million dollars invested towards border security as well as declaring these cartels to be terrorist organizations. I think that that matches the kind of expectation that the US president has. That being said, we may end up still seeing those terrorists come in on March the fourth, and everybody is watching to see the second types of terrorists are the - a steel and aluminium Steel and aluminium are essential products if you're going to have a strong economy and a strong manufacturing base and be able to have been out of the backbone for your defence industry, and that's part of the reason why I think the Americans are very concerned about some of that being hollowed out, so we're going to have to make sure that - We find new markets for a product. Maybe we should be buying more from each other to be able to support our own spiel and aluminium industry so that that's the ones that are supposed to come in and march the twelfth, and then he beats the third type of terror.
He just goes to all the nikolay little trade irritants that America has with the United with that Canada, whether it's - There are five percent GST, which the president looks at these value-added taxes as akin to a tariff. They're irritated by the digital services tax. You don't think it's fair that Canada and other countries are taxing some of their big tech companies? They're irritated by supply management and also that the president has talked about wanting to go - More of the auto industry to return to the United States, so those are going to be a longer-term discussion, I think, probably through a renegotiated Canada-US free trade agreement, but we need to get to an election first because we need to have somebody who's sitting at the table saying, You know what? You're stuck with me. I got a four-year mandate. Let's - Deal, and let's get some of these results. Bit by bit, not having that stability at the federal level, I think it's really harming our ability to get to some kind of agreement to resolve those trade irritants. Well, you have your lead, and my last question and premier was going to be to address that. It looks like the liberals are getting closer to electing a leader; they're certainly getting rid of candidates fast. - That said, he really is what we need, is he not? Somebody with the mandate to go to the United States to deal with the present Trump and his administration? Yeah, I've been saying that for some time. When it looked like the current prime minister was in trouble in December, he said, You know what? He thinks he can get a new mandate and go for it. Let's get an election and get a mandate for -someone so that we have somebody to sit at the at the bargaining table with a president who does have strong for your mandate as well as having the support of the of us congress to be able to to get things through so i i think is more important than ever now it looks to me like we've got a justin trudeau will be done in some around twelve days the new leader is going - To be chosen by the liberal party on March the ninth, I'm very hopeful that they will go into an immediate election.
Let's get that issue resolved, whether it's the current government that is able to continue on or there's going to be a new government that comes in. We need to make sure that we have somebody who can set the table with a strong mandate one way or the other. - Or, the sooner that gets results, the sooner we can get onto having some really constructive conversations with her, their American counterparts, and hopefully, resolving these trade issues so that we continue to maintain a virtually, like, ninety-nine percent error-free relationship with the United States.
That's what we should be aiming for, that no tariffs on anything. - I'm going one way or the other because we mutually benefit from this integrated economy that we have here. Here, Premier, thanks for this. We'll do it again next week in the project time. You bet. Thanks. Restart their is or premier Daniel Smith on the Alberta up. They will Alberta as the premier Luna is an international leader when it comes to treatment and recovery. - Murray, and that is driven largely by what is known as the Alberta model. the Alberta recovery model .The Alberta government has prioritized investment into treatment capacity and taking it to the next level and taking the next steps in ensuring that all Burtons have access to the care and the treatment that they - Need to overcome addiction, as we just mentioned. The premier minister and Williams made a significant announcement earlier this week
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