P.Smith:Alberta Update" episode to hear about topics that are trending

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P.Smith:Alberta Update" episode to hear about topics that are trending.
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It was the compassionate care announcement. There will be a debate or the building in the legislature at the press conference. There were several people who know all too well the impact that addiction can have on the family. - Here is Amy Shifter. She is a mother of a young man who is suffering from addiction, as she feels very hopeful that these new measures may finally provide an avenue for her child to get the treatment, but he needs memory that haunts me every single day. - My heart shattered as my son stepped away from the sanctuary of harm, choosing the grip of drugs or the stability of her home, family, and school in the future.
 - Each night, the silence of his absence pressed down on us as we lay awake, overwhelmed by worry and fear of where he might be and whether he was safe. - I found myself making the unbearable call that no parent ever wishes to make: report that their son is missing.
 - The days turned into a desperate search as downtown Calgary came through homeless shelters and chased down any lead.
 - For igniting weeks or lives were engulfed in a suffocating uncertainty, the dread of not knowing if he was even alive. - When he amassed, he responded to a young male overdosing on a train, as when I finally found him. - I picked him up from the hospital and jumped into action again, desperately seeking IT programs, both familiar and unexplored, grabbing at anything to help him. —and yet we found ourselves trapped in a real endless cycle of setbacks, each more devastating than the last. - He's attended numerous detox centres and residential treatment and it is essential to understand that those suffering from severe addiction may not be able to choose treatment rationally; the notion of choices is almost non-existent as everything important pales in comparison. Such an impactful law clips a press conference with something else.
There's the mountains responsible for all this, the minister of joining us down. Williams, a minister, said it was, as I said, a very impactful day. The compassionate care legislation tells us how capacity or intervention works, so it was announced recently, and the clip you saw from a press conference was an investment of one hundred eighty million dollars in compassionate care. - intervention facilities one for northern Alberta one for southern Alberta and if passed and budgeted for twenty twenty-five, we're going to start work on it right away. - Compassion intervention, Bruce, the idea that - When there are overdoses, who's an addict that's public and on display in Alberta? It's not at all Canadian to be so compassionate as to just leave our family members and friends to suffer addiction continuously, facilitating it as we see in Vancouver with the BC NDP policies they have there and across the country. - Taking the stand that says no to facilitating an addiction health care should be healing and not harmful is a better bold statement to make today in the addiction space and Canadian politics. It shouldn't be in compassion interventions. An extension about it says for those who are the worst articulation of addiction once, RICA. - Absolutely captured when they're harming themselves or others because of the drug use or their addiction, then we have a responsibility to intervene if they're likely to cause harm to themselves or the community, and so are these photos of play a part about the legislation I'm hoping to introduce very soon that follows, enabling the legal mechanism for us to say -for example this hundred eighty seven eighty six time overdose or - We've had one individual in the province overdose a hundred and eighty-six times; bare minimum, last year was not every overdose recorded by the provincial health authority, and so we know this individual is one breath away from death every time they overdose. It is horrific to think of the hardship that that individual, the offence. 
- To their dignity and the potential of a family member caring for that individual, they need to have serious supports. I don't want that hundred and eighty-seven times of overdose to be the last time that they get a chance to live for that in my life, so it is just an unbelievable example. Listen, I - Can't fathom it, but anybody walking around the streets of her cities has seen an increase in the use of drugs. You've led the way in trying to put a stop to this, Minister Michaelis, and in resourcing our police departments and trying to deal with it. How do you balance, I guess, individual rights and freedoms with this act? I mean, damn, the case you're describing. - He makes perfect sense. You've got to do something about that, but there will be a balance for us and for life. 
- Law enforcement agencies as well, yeah, that's exactly right. Now I'm a conservative, and I believe in civil liberties. It's a part of why I'm in my political and personal DNA, so I want to make sure that we get this right. But if you walk down the streets right now in downtown Edmonton and Calgary and Jasper Avenue, or you take a seat on the train line in Calgary, or heck, even in my community, Peace River, or - Or other secondary comes across the province; there's no way anyone can concede that we've got the balance right right now. - There's a public addiction crisis, and you have a right not to inhale secondhand smoke. You have a right to be safe if somebody speeds in math and fentanyl; they're either unconscious, unfortunately, or perhaps acting erratic and violently as you're trying to get him to the rec centre with your family, and deeply, deeply appropriate, and it's our responsibility. - He to make sure that we provide safe public spaces for families and Albert and Sullivan and so this is not a new problem.
There's legislation for protecting children from abusing drugs that has been in Alberta for decades, or we have some experience in terms of how to make sure we bounce back. We have the Mental Health Act in Alberta and across every other province in this country that allows mandatory treatment for a project diagnosed with mental -illness where you're likely to cause harm to yourself or others - So this is parallel to some of that structure to make rebalancing civil liberties and also protecting the community and the dignity of those who are suffering from addiction, and so there will be a commission with a member at large public, there will be a legal expert and a medical expert with multiple touchpoints to be able to make sure that we are going through the right steps, and of course all of it will be subs. - back to judicial review - Okay, and two compassionate intervention centres are being built, and schools are taking time to build those, yeah, so that so - What do you do in the interim? - But how do you have steps that you're taking to help those individuals in the interim? Right, so we're continuing to build out that continuum of care. We've added close to twenty thousand treatments since we got to the government in twenty nineteen, as well as a fifty percent boost and/or treatment capacity that we've seen, whether it be detox or locked-on treatment, on the eleven recovery community's part. - during with indigenous communities summer in the process - That the entire way along, making sure that we're meeting people who are getting them into recovery, but that's not even the end of it when it comes to compassion to mention I'm working to identify beds in Edmonton and Calgary that can be used with this legislation before we complete the facilities with existing beds in our facilities that we have, we know that we can make - Some of this work is for the most dramatic and most directly affected and addicted members, and so we're not going to wait until these facilities are completed. When you start implementing this policy in the meantime, it's become known as the Alberta recovery model. - There's another philosophy of theirs shared by a bit and other governing parties, and they talk about harm reduction approaches.
The target talks about safe supply and supervised consumption sites. What are your thoughts on that approach and why you're taking it on a different path? - I thought my thoughts were that those approaches failed. It started off with good intentions, started off as harm reduction when you talk about unsafe supply, government-supplied heroin, when you talk about drug injection sites and consumption sites on every street corner, and the only solution is more of it all the time, causing public chaos and indignity to every - Body suffering from addiction It stops being about harm reduction and becomes harm production itself, and that's where the federal-level government and the NDP have done in British Columbia. Vancouver, for example, is where they themselves are the source, the genesis of the harm about reducing any of the produce in it, and I think that is just absolutely -unconscionable for government responsible to care for most vulnerable as ours is to see a neighboring governments instead of caring for most vulnerable facilitating to very slow tragic death i i just seems like such a treating this thing to do in a really moral sense with the responsibility and the resources the power the you been given -elected by Canadians and British Columbia, it's deeply wrong, and so our government won't do that. -Well, it takes courage to do the right thing, and you're certainly walking in the right direction. I know a lot of other provinces are starting to follow your lead, Minister Dan Williams. We appreciate your time. Thanks. She worked. Thanks.
Bruce Chatwin, you said that will be a major boost for Albert as the aerospace industry, as a global aviation giant, is making a major investment. - Lufthansa tactic Canada is setting up a cutting-edge maintenance and repair facility at Calgary International Airport specializing in next-generation LEAP engines. Now, with only five certified operators worldwide, Calgary is now on the aviation map in a big way. - Last year he was already on board the airline, just signing a massive fifteen-year, multi-billion-dollar deal to keep its fleet in top shape right here at home. The facility is said to break ground in twenty twenty-five and be fully operational by twenty twenty-seven. - did - A massive school construction project is underway in Alberta. We're going to welcome in Dimitrios Nikolay, the education minister in the province of Alberta. Get a minister. - Good, everything's for revenue on - Hey, let's talk a bit about her. - What's prompted the government to announce this? I think it was for almost nine billion dollars, wasn't that the total amount of the announcement? I guess it can answer my question to a point, but unprecedented, really, what you've done here. - Yeah, you're right. It's been now just shy of nine billion eight point six billion dollars that the premier announced in September to add more spaces to our education system, so of course, admins are building new schools, modernizing existing schools, and replacing ones that need replacement. Adding more modular is pulling out all the stops. - Actively so that we can achieve our goal, which is to add two hundred thousand spaces over the next seven years. So it's a very aggressive, very historic program that will add a lot more student bases in every corner of the province.
Building schools takes time, I know; I don't have to tell you that. So how do you address the enrollment pressures? - in the shorter - Yeah, you're right. When a project is ready for construction, it typically takes about two to three years for the project to be completed, so we get pressures right now, and we do need to take steps immediately to help address the pressure as part of the reason why in the eight-point-six billion we are also expanding our modular or prefab classroom. - program as of course Prefabricated classrooms are built in a warehouse building, a factory. - You can be built very quickly and then are put on the back of large trailers and brought to a school site, and he can connect on - or to the school site and add additional space very quickly, so we are making a larger investment into that program so we can dispatch more of those - Those prefabricated classrooms in a much faster time are not a permanent solution, but they are an immediate solution. The permanent solution, of course, is building schools, which also makes sense. Listen, we need to staff those schools with teachers and support staff. Are we going to be able to do that? Will we have a pool big enough to fill those positions? - it - Yeah, absolutely, funding is tied to enrollment, so whenever in Rome, and it looks like in the province, you know, we provide a level of funding to that level of room, and so as our population grows, as our student moment grows, the amount of funding that's been allocated to education will also increase, of course, in a corresponding wage. Slavery can hire more teachers. - Your educational systems and other staff so we will absolutely be taking steps to ensure that they can be adequately - minister One of the things that your government did was provide capital funding for charters and independent schools. There was some pushback to that, but I think a lot of people in the province were glad that you did it. Tell us why that was so important to you. - Yeah, absolutely, we wanted to make sure that we're taking advantage of every opportunity to build spaces. Yeah, of course, our public and Catholic school divisions are seeing a lot of pressure, but so too are our charter providers and independent providers. They also see huge weightless.
I was recently at Edmonton Islamic schools. —which has a significant wait list and/or the other charter schools that provide custom programming. I know there's one encounter that is an example of a charter school that provides you with programming for gifted students. All of these schools are seeing pressure, so we want to help expand spaces in those institutions as well and - Especially select parents who are looking and need more customized programming for the kids are able to get it, and I suppose it ties into your or your government's belief in school choice. - Yeah, absolutely, school choice is another central pillar for us to advance.
We fundamentally believe that parents, not politicians, know what's best for their kids and know what their kids need in terms of their education. I believe it's our responsibility to make sure those two surveys are done and then parents can make an informed decision about what the best wishes are for the child. -or listen one more It's been five or six months, maybe five months now, since you announced your euro. - Your initiative to build more schools How many projects have moved forward in that time? I mean, can you give us an indication as to how fast this process works? Yeah, we've been able to move twenty-two projects forward, and that's one of the interesting pieces about the new program. - We have three stages that a school project must go through: planning, design, and then construction. In the past, a project could only move from one stage to the other at budget time, so once a year, there was this: once you have your window for the project, for now, however, those projects are able to move forward whenever there - Ready, and a couple of weeks ago I was in northeast Calhoun to allow the announcement, and eleven projects that were in the design phase have completed the required work and are ready to begin construction, so they're able to get a several-month head start on construction, and it would have typically been the case if we waited until the budget. Well, so many communities are grateful for the growth. - Pressures they're experiencing, yeah, for sure. Minister, listen, thank you. Appreciate your time and your efforts on this file as well. There is Education Minister Demetrius Nikolay.
This on the Alberta update: the Alberta government is investing fifty-five million dollars to help businesses develop technologies that create jobs, lower costs, and reduce it. - Missions: This funding will help fifteen projects develop cutting-edge edge technologies that could one day be used to -access and provide services across canada and the world and the funding will support projects to reduce energy costs and lower emissions across the economy including in the energy in the water treatment dairy and forestry sectors alberta is a globally or thanks to our industry and developing new technologies to - Reduce emissions while, of course, providing safe, affordable, and reliable energy to Canada and the world for decades to come. Our resources, our people, and our entrepreneurial spirit are second to none. It is estimated that these projects will reduce emissions by one hundred and nineteen thousand tons. - each year and creator almost - Sixteen hundred jobs and jack two hundred and thirty-seven million dollars into Albert's GDP by twenty twenty-seven. - While this month, Alberta rolled out its new tax on electric vehicles, and those with electric vehicles will now be charged two hundred dollars when they register their vehicles and when they renew their registration each year. - The province is saying this aligns with what gas-powered car owners typically pay in fuel taxes.
The Alberta government is saying this is a fair way to ensure that all drivers are contributing to the maintenance and upkeep of roads and highways throughout Alberta. -as part of ongoing efforts to help Albertans and save more on their electricity bills, the Alberta government is encouraging residents to explore their electricity options and ensure they know they don't have to settle for the rate of last resort. You may have heard that in the news headlines, the rate of last resort. - There are three options when you purchase electricity: the rate of last resort, a competitive contract for a variable rate, or a competitive contract for a fixed rate. And nice, a new door of the minister of affordability and utilities says there is a new proof process in place to notify costs. - drummers - The new rate confirmation requirement means that every ninety days the utilities consumer advocate will contact all customers who are still on the rate of last resort to confirm if they'd like to remain on the default rate and encourage them to explore other options that they have available to them. tens of thousands of - Burton's households made the switch from the rate of last resort. - to a competitive contract, saving them hundreds of dollars in charges -and that does it for this episode of the Alberta Update. It's a firsthand look at what's happening in your province and what your government is up to as they resume sitting in the Alberta legislature. A reminder: you can find us on YouTube. You can also now find us on Rumble and all of the social media sites as well. And a reminder: we will be back every week that the legislature - You're sitting so - That does it for this week, and we will see you again next time. Thanks for watching.

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