The News Rundown

N.L.'s Liberal premier calls for emergency meeting with PM as anti-carbon tax protests snarl highways

Premiers Smith, Moe, Ford, Higgs, and Furey of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland have called for a First Ministers meeting of Premiers to discuss the carbon tax with Justin Trudeau and the federal cabinet.
The calls first surprisingly came from Anthony Furey following the April 1st rise of the carbon tax.
Jokes aside on April 1 a series of protests spread across the country against the carbon tax.
At various points throughout the country, not just in Alberta, we saw protests along highways to raise awareness of the price increases.
The protests drew the interest of the RCMP who in some cases appeared in full riot gear donning semi-automatic rifles.
The RCMP’s reaction and our past reporting of how the RCMP views Canadians should concern everyone and provinces considering ditching the RCMP should consider their options - but that’s what the media wanted us to talk about.
The media initially tried to focus on the demonstrations and play up concerns that we may be headed to a repeat of the Ottawa protests of two years ago but that did not materialize.
Instead Furey was joined by Premier’s in a call to discuss the carbon tax to the point where Ford said “he needs to sit down with us” and that either the carbon tax had to go or Trudeau himself had to go.
It has gotten to a point where even Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie has said that if the Liberals are elected there will be no carbon tax in Ontario.
It is expected that Premiers like Smith and Moe will oppose the carbon tax but Ford joining in speaks volumes as is the case with what Manitoba NDP Premier Wab Kinew had to say.
Kinew wants the carbon tax dropped in Manitoba. He has plans to propose an alternative that is simply Manitoba’s path to net zero.
He cites Manitoba’s hydroelectricity and potential credits to help individuals meet net zero but the plan is going to remain private until his government decides to make it public.
This spurred Justin Trudeau to come onto the scene saying that in his view carbon has to come with a price and any alternative needs to have a “price signal.”
This means of course that in the PM’s view there must be some cost that consumers pay at the end of the day if they are engaging in activities that are not green.
It is this discussion where we see Premiers asking for the carbon tax to be removed with the fact that all provinces have plans for net zero by at least 2050 and industrial emitters which are by far the largest sources of pollution in Canada are regulated.
The federal carbon tax applies in 8 provinces and all 8 provincial Premier’s where the carbon tax is in effect has caused for pauses to be put in place or the tax suspended completely.
Interestingly enough with the recent changes in carbon pricing as of April 1, the cost per tonne is now higher in these 8 provinces, and BC with their own, compared to what Quebec pays.
This has led to the obvious question, why is Justin Trudeau and his environment minister Steven Guilbeault going to war with the provinces when their own province pays less?
This has caused Trudeau to go on a crusade saying that Premiers are engaged in short term thinking, to say they are misleading Canadians, and to say they aren’t telling the truth.
The Prime Minister has gone out and accepted the confrontation with the Premiers and it raises the question of whether the goal is actually leading the country or if he’s itching for a fight and campaign.
This has since shaped the media narrative in the favour of the Prime Minister with discussions focused on whether or not Trudeau is getting ready for an election.
The reality though is that it looks as though Justin Trudeau would rather be a Premier of a province than a Prime Minister.
In the eyes of the media this has opened an opportunity for the government to highlight that over 80% of Canadians would get more in rebates than they pay from the tax!
The other point was that the Conservatives including Pierre Poilievre have shown that they don’t have an alternative to reduce emissions in their view.
But the reality at the end of the day is that we are still feeling the effects of years of inflation and things in general from housing to food have become more expensive. Anything that can provide relief is a benefit.
The reporting from the media also highlights, though briefly, that with the increase of the carbon tax over time net incomes will grow less than they would otherwise, further increasing the impact of the carbon tax.
There is the discussion that there may be no alternative or it may not be enough but let’s ask the question, how are we doing?
Provinces are looking at investing in nuclear energy and have plans to reach net zero electricity by 2050 or earlier.
Industrial emitters are regulated and have been in many provinces since the early 2000s.
On the technology front our energy industry is consistently improving and growing while reducing emissions.
Factoring in all of these and given the massive amounts of pollution and garbage put into the air by countries like China and others, are we really doing that badly?
Given where we stand and the path we’re on and what we have to gain, does the carbon tax make sense?
Canadians will decide that in the next election - whenever that may be.
Supplementals:

It's fair to say that BC has a drug use problem. With overdoses skyrocketing over the past decade with laxer rules towards drug use, it's clear that decriminalization has had a major impact on our downtowns in the province, and our homeless populations.
Now it's even impacting our already beleaguered hospitals and health system. A memo from officials in Northern Health was leaked, causing a major stir in the legislature Thursday, as it said decriminalization is linked to rising open drug use inside hospitals, and it instructed nurses to both allow it and not intervene.
The memo read, in part, “patients can use substances while in their rooms,” and that staff should “not call RCMP to go through personal belongings for a patient and do not call security to do the same.” The memo adds: “Staff do not remove personal items from the patient’s room, even if there is a knife or something considered as a weapon under four inches long…”
B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said the memo was worded poorly and that no drug use or weapons are allowed in hospitals. Still, the issues persist, and nurses have said they have to walk through toxic plumes of fentanyl from people smoking drugs, and it got so bad that one Island nurse was told not to breastfeed her child out of fear that the milk may be contaminated from drugs she had been exposed to at work.
A Victoria General nurse and union steward who spoke with CHEK News on Thursday said the issue has gotten progressively worse since decriminalization. Laura Martin says: “I can definitely tell you [drug use in hospitals is] happening daily. I have people in tears on a daily basis talking to me about their exposure incidents and the incidents of violence and the impacts that has had on them, whether today or last week,” she said. “And the fear of reporting, because when they have reported nothing has changed.”
On Thursday, the premier said he was unwilling to concede there was a link between decriminalization and the issues in the hospital system. Eby said: “That simply because we understand addiction and want to give these people opportunities does not mean you can use drugs anywhere you want. That’s why we introduced a new law to restrict drug use around places that everybody would expect, around the doorways of business, around parks, bus stops and certainly the rules apply in hospitals. You can’t smoke in hospitals,” he said.
Eby pointed out this isn't new to BC, or even the region of North America as a whole: “There is a serious addiction epidemic in this province, down the West Coast of the United States and growing in other places like Alberta that we are coming to terms with. Decriminalization did not cause the epidemic.”
And still the issues persist. Open drug use has become more and more seen in places one would not suspect, mostly because enforcement is slow to react, or is non-existent. A week ago, a video posted online showing open drug use in a Maple Ridge, B.C., Tim Hortons generated an uproar.
A group of men are seen smoking drugs in a booth, right next to two women who are seemingly unaware of what’s happening. Staff at the Tim Hortons said the fumes from the drugs forced them to evacuate the restaurant.
In March, the B.C. Court of Appeal refused to grant the province leave to appeal an injunction blocking Bill 34, the Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act. That bill was passed in the legislature in November, allowing for fines and potential imprisonment for people who refuse police orders not to consume drugs in certain public places.
In December, the B.C. Supreme Court issued an injunction pending a legal challenge, blocking the legislation until March 31, 2024, ruling it could cause “irreparable harm” to drug users at risk of a fatal overdose.
The province said the possession or consumption of drugs remains prohibited at schools and child-care facilities, or within 15 metres of playgrounds and pools under other provisions separate from Bill 34.
Maple Ridge councillor Ahmed Yousef said the behavior in the video was shocking and disturbing: “And this is what [people living in Maple Ridge are] being exposed to at our local Tim Hortons, right in the heart of our downtown. It’s utterly unacceptable, and it is a direct result of these provincial policies that need to be revisited.”
Yousef said more businesses are closing than opening in Maple Ridge. Next to the Tim Hortons is Gold Rush Jewellers, whose owner said in February that he has made the decision to close his shop and find a new location due to rampant drug use, threats and crime on the street.
It's clear that more than ever drug use needs to be dealt with before our cities are irreversibly ruined. Whether or not the BC government's fight with the BC courts is to blame, the BC NDP set us down this path by allowing decriminalization in the first place, and allowing the now supremely unpopular former mayor of Vancouver and former NDP MP Kennedy Stewart, who is now out of politics, to have such a sway over drug use policy in this province.
Supplementals:

https://globalnews.ca/news/10392434/maple-ridge-video-drugs-smoking-tim-hortons/

Tight supply': 20K in Edmonton hit with rolling blackouts after grid alert

Alberta again suffered a power grid alert emergency on Friday.
That led to rolling blackouts in half hour increments for people in Edmonton and Calgary.
The drop in power was caused by a planned outage during the shoulder season period of lower demand while other generators were being serviced the day before.
The wind forecast also changed where wind generation came up 900MW short.
And a gas generator went offline at 8:49am causing a drop of 400 MW.
With simple math it’s at least 1300MW that were forecast for the day that didn’t materialize.
The same situation took place in January where the province made the decision to issue an emergency alert during the deep freeze to have Albertans conserve power.
Between 2006 and 2017 there were 3 level 3 alerts and since 2021 there have been 19 which signifies that our power generation capabilities are being pushed to the limit.
Energy economists have said that our system isn’t designed to bring power in from other sources quickly to offset shortages.
Others have said that it comes down to ensuring a consistent reserve supply.
Premier Danielle Smith said that she wants more base load power. In discussing what her goal for the situation was, she said, “What we’re trying to do is match our natural gas to jack up and go down on the basis of whether sun jacks up and goes down, and wind jacks up and goes down, and it’s creating these gaps.”
What hasn’t changed though is the goal to focus on natural gas and expanding natural gas generation for reliable power.
Our biggest natural gas plant is capable of producing close to 500MW of power.
Wind in Alberta is also a safe bet with the biggest wind plant producing 300MW.
To maintain supply and reach net-zero by 2035 we would need over 10,000 more wind turbines built at a rate of 3 per day or over 211,000 acres of solar panels, equivalent to over 540,000 NHL sized rinks.
With that, the focus on gas is obvious but what about nuclear?
Earlier this week the Premier and energy minister Brian Jean spoke at the Small Modular Reactor Summit in Calgary.
We’re still about 10 years away from the first nuclear plant in the province but the province has announced another $600,000 in funding to study the feasibility of repurposing a fossil fuel generating site for nuclear power.
The funding comes from the TIER program otherwise known as the Technology Innovation and Emissions Reduction program which is effectively Alberta’s industrial carbon tax.
Birch Hills County north of Grand Prairie is looking to bring nuclear energy to the region.
The reason: the oil and gas industry as well as mining has been slowing down so the region is questioning, what’s next?
It’s clear at this point what’s next is reliable energy for all Alberta which means gas and of course nuclear.
Any net zero push for 2035 or 2050 needs to include that or else rolling blackouts will become the norm.
Supplementals:

Firing Line

Canadian Lawmaker Testifies Chinese Students Were Bused In to Elect Him

The public hearings on foreign interference received a bombshell when MP Han Dong, now sitting as an independent but elected as part of Trudeau's Liberals, testified that he did receive help from high school students from China who were transported by bus to vote for him in the Liberal's party election, but that he did not know who had chartered or paid for the bus on the day of the election.
A Canadian intelligence report disclosed during the hearing said there were indications that a “known proxy agent” of the Chinese Consulate had provided the students “with falsified documents to allow them to vote” even though they did not reside in Mr. Dong’s electoral district. Noncitizens over the age of 14 can register and vote in party elections as long as they show proof they live in an electoral district.
According to the report, there were also indications that the Chinese Consulate had coerced the students to back Mr. Dong by issuing “veiled threats” related to their visas and their families back in China.
Dong denied receiving help from the Chinese government during his campaign for Parliament in Canada’s 2019 general elections. Asked whether he believed that the Chinese government has interfered in Canadian politics, Mr. Dong said, “I’ve never seen any evidence of it.” When pressed, he added, “It’s possible.’’
In recent years, Canadian intelligence officials have issued public warnings about China’s intensifying efforts to sway votes in the populous suburbs of Toronto and Vancouver, which are home to Canada’s biggest Chinese diasporas.
Under President Xi Jinping’s aggressive foreign policy, China has tapped into its diasporas worldwide to try to influence local politics, according to intelligence officials, academics and diaspora members. Other nations like Australia have tried to curb China’s influence, including by establishing a registry of foreign agents.
Trudeau — whose Liberal Party candidates were generally favored by China — has long faced criticism for not doing enough to combat foreign meddling. Trudeau steadfastly opposed a public inquiry into the topic, but, facing increasing attacks by the opposition and leaks to the news media, agreed to one in September.
The inquiry has also raised questions about the conclusions of former Governor General David Johnston’s probe into the issue. Johnston, who Trudeau appointed as special rapporteur on foreign interference, ruled out calling a public inquiry last May.
Had Johnston’s recommendation been accepted, a trove of national security documents released this week by the Foreign Interference Commission would have never seen the light of day.
The new information, submitted by CSIS, highlights allegations of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) “highly capable and motivated” activities against Canada’s democratic process and institutions.
Some of that information appears to directly challenge Johnston’s interpretation of top-secret intelligence and the extent of foreign interference operations – principally by Beijing – in Canada.
Late Thursday afternoon, David Vigneault, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), revealed they had intelligence that alleges that Beijing tried to funnel approximately $250,000 to interfere with the 2019 general election.
While CSIS offered no evidence that money changed hands, the summary it put forth suggests the money was intended to be disbursed through an alleged interference network including an influential community member, a staff member of a 2019 federal candidate, and an unnamed Ontario MPP. The intelligence suggests the money was meant to benefit 11 campaigns, including seven Liberals and four Conservative candidates.
Johnston dismissed those allegations as untrue and called the reporting “inflammatory.” Now we're finding out just how true those may actually be.
Meanwhile, the inquiry heard for the first time that Chinese Communist proxies targeted Greater Vancouver candidates such as NDP MP Jenny Kwan in the 2019 federal election by gate-keeping them away from vote-rich Chinese community events, and that Ottawa also knew a United Front Work Department group evidently supported Kwan’s Liberal opponent in 2021 with an extravagant “free lunch” event for voters, but failed to inform Kwan.
Two of the Conservatives attacked in Beijing-funded media schemes in 2021 that reportedly originated in Toronto — former Vancouver-area MP Kenny Chiu and former party leader Erin O’Toole — told Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue that hearing evidence proves Canada’s government failed to protect its last election and the Chinese diaspora heavily targeted by Beijing.
Chiu said as an immigrant to Canada he feels especially betrayed by leaders in Ottawa that have demonstrated inaction.
Chiu testified: “I was deeply troubled that I was exposed and the government doesn’t seem to care. And now I have learned they knew all about it. It is almost like I was drowning, and they were watching. In my view the buck stops with the Prime Minister. He let me down.”
Trudeau has already said there was no impact on elections in Canada, and yet, the allegations persist, and likely will long after the next federal election. It's been found that he was alerted to the Han Dong allegations before he was even elected as MP, and yet he did nothing and said nothing about it.
So we're finding more answers today and still questions remain. We will learn more as time goes on, but it's clearer than ever that foreign interference has taken place in Canada, is taking place in Canada, and will continue to do so as long as our federal government turns a blind eye.
Supplementals:

Quote of the Week

“I was deeply troubled that I was exposed and the government doesn’t seem to care. And now I have learned they knew all about it. It is almost like I was drowning, and they were watching. In my view the buck stops with the Prime Minister. He let me down.” - Former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu on the foreign interference from China that caused him to lose his seat.

Word of the Week

Intelligence - the collection of information of military or political value

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Show Data

Episode Title: Intelligence Blackouts

Teaser: A majority of Canada’s premiers align against Trudeau’s carbon tax, BC sees open drug use in hospitals, and Edmonton’s rolling blackouts show Alberta’s energy vulnerabilities. Also, MP Han Dong’s testimony shows the extent of Chinese foreign interference.

Recorded Date: April 6, 2024

Release Date: Aprill 7, 2024

Duration: 55:49

Edit Notes: None

Podcast Summary Notes

Duration: XX:XX