Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Pictures Media Radio Welcome to
Speaker 1: Policy and rights show US welcomer policy that human joys.
Speaker 2: Last night, you drones from Russia violated Polish airspace. Our
Speaker 2: air defenses were activated and successfully ensured the defense of
Speaker 2: NATO territory as they are designed to do. Several allies
Speaker 2: were involved alongside Poland. This included Polish F sixteen's, Dutch
Speaker 2: F thirty five's Italian AOX, NATO Miltonal Tanker Transport, and
Speaker 2: German Patriots. I command, the pilots and all who contributed
Speaker 2: to this quick and skillful response. The North Atlantic Council
Speaker 2: met this morning and discussed the situation in light of
Speaker 2: Poland's requests for consultations under Article four of the Washington Treaty.
Speaker 2: Allies expressed solidarity with Poland and denounced Russia's reckless behavior.
Speaker 2: A full assessment of the incident is ongoing. What's clear
Speaker 2: is that relation last night is not an isolated incident.
Speaker 2: The Supreme ADOT Commander will continue to actively manage our
Speaker 2: deterrence and defense posture along the entire Eastern flank. Allies
Speaker 2: are resolved to defend every inch of Allied territory. We
Speaker 2: will closely monitor the situation along our eastern flank, our
Speaker 2: air defenses continually at the ready. This only reinforces the
Speaker 2: importance of NATO and the path to which Allies agreeted
Speaker 2: our summit in the Hague earlier this year. We need
Speaker 2: to invest more in our defense, ramp up defense production
Speaker 2: so we have what we need to deter and defense,
Speaker 2: and we need to continue to support Ukraine, whose security
Speaker 2: is interlinked with our own. A Lepic conclude by saying
Speaker 2: that Russia is raising a dangerous war of aggression against
Speaker 2: Ukraine that continually target civilians and civilian infrastructure. Allies I
Speaker 2: determined to step up their support for Ukraine in the
Speaker 2: face of Russia's escalating campaign.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to policy and right here in Depictions Media Radio,
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Michael Kloggs. So you just heard a
Speaker 1: brief statement from Mark rad the Secretary General for NATO,
Speaker 1: the North American North Atlantic Treaty Organization, after several Russian
Speaker 1: drones crossed into Polish air space. Mind you, I'm going
Speaker 1: to toss in the illegal crossing of Russian drones into
Speaker 1: Polish air space this was an active aggression or not,
Speaker 1: it did activate defense mechanisms which were designed for such
Speaker 1: a thing to allow NATO forces to take action against attacks.
Speaker 1: And while it did do all those things, the question
Speaker 1: is why did those drones cross into Polish airspace to
Speaker 1: begin with? There are no clear cut answers about that.
Speaker 1: But you did just hear that statement from Mark Rutt
Speaker 1: about that, and we will actually have a full press
Speaker 1: conference from European NATO leaders about what has happened with
Speaker 1: the drones Russia, Poland and NATO. There was a tragic
Speaker 1: death in the United States. Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk was
Speaker 1: a very very conservative, very radically conservative. Some would even
Speaker 1: say that Charlie Kirk was racist, going by the rhetoric
Speaker 1: that he produced, the content that he produced, and some
Speaker 1: of the things that he actually said about minority people
Speaker 1: in the United States, such as that they haven't earned
Speaker 1: their right to certain things, and that black people are
Speaker 1: too busy looking for handouts in order to move forward
Speaker 1: with their lives, and that they are not deserving of
Speaker 1: any type of government bailouts or anything like that. The
Speaker 1: thing of it is is no matter if you think
Speaker 1: that Charlie Kirk was a racist, white supremacist, or any
Speaker 1: of those things, or rather you wholeheartedly agreed with everything
Speaker 1: that Charlie Kirk had to say. The point, the bottom
Speaker 1: line point is is that Charlie Kirk was shot and
Speaker 1: killed by another person for whatever the reasons are, and
Speaker 1: that person now needs to be brought to justice and
Speaker 1: answer for the crime that they have committed, because what
Speaker 1: they have literally done at this point is whatever Charlie
Speaker 1: Kirk had to say has they have now turned him
Speaker 1: into a martyr for the cause of racism. That we
Speaker 1: can no longer debate Charlie Kirk as a person. We
Speaker 1: can only debate Charlie Kirk by his writings and his
Speaker 1: content that he has left behind. And that's not exactly
Speaker 1: a good thing that we should be able to debate
Speaker 1: Charlie Kirk. And from my point of view, my personal
Speaker 1: point of view, this is me speaking as Michael Cloggs,
Speaker 1: not as founder of Policy and Rights or a director
Speaker 1: of one of the directors of Depictions Media. There's not
Speaker 1: me speaking as as that person. Charlie Kirk now no
Speaker 1: longer has the opportunity to find out if he was
Speaker 1: right about things, if his rhetoric was right or wrong.
Speaker 1: He has no chance to live to see it through
Speaker 1: and that's a shame that we all should have that
Speaker 1: ability to live out our rhetoric to see, hey, did
Speaker 1: we get it right? And Charlie Kirk no longer has
Speaker 1: the opportunity. That opportunity was tragically taken away from him
Speaker 1: and instead he was handed a bullet. There are other
Speaker 1: issues around Charlie Kirk, with Donald Trump trying to politicize this,
Speaker 1: trying to offer him a posthumous metal, all sorts of things,
Speaker 1: calling him a great American for his rhetoric, trying to
Speaker 1: trying to make make his life his work more than
Speaker 1: what it may actually be. Then again, Donald Trump may
Speaker 1: actually agree with everything that Charlie Kirk had to say
Speaker 1: and thus giving him a posterous metal is a very
Speaker 1: presidential thing to do. Then, But the thing is, the
Speaker 1: bottom line is is that Charlie Kirk should be alive
Speaker 1: right here, right now to debate his rhetoric, to debate
Speaker 1: what he is that he believes. As a human being,
Speaker 1: he should have that right to debate and defend it,
Speaker 1: and someone took that from him, and that person should
Speaker 1: be found brought to justice, to be held accountable for
Speaker 1: what it is that they did and be given the
Speaker 1: proper due process, through to finding out why they did
Speaker 1: what they did and to find out how we could
Speaker 1: do better as human beings so that it doesn't happen
Speaker 1: to it doesn't necessarily we're not in all this. We're
Speaker 1: not just talking about that he was a conservative. He
Speaker 1: was an outspoken person, and outspoken people could be put
Speaker 1: into harm's way no matter which side of the coin
Speaker 1: you're looking at. Okay, So moving back to Canada, we
Speaker 1: are going to hear from Tim Hodginson as he is
Speaker 1: is in Edmonton talking about railways and federal support for
Speaker 1: Alberta Railways. Alberta railways are very important things. I can
Speaker 1: tell you right now that the Alberta Railways, the the
Speaker 1: the train, the freight trains that actually moved from Alberta
Speaker 1: towards BC Ports carry Alberta Tarzan Beachaman, and that Beachman
Speaker 1: is important to Canada in general because it is being
Speaker 1: sold to Asia for whatever the price may be. But
Speaker 1: it brings a profit back to Canada, brings a profit
Speaker 1: back to the people of Alberta, It creates jobs, and
Speaker 1: it does a lot of good things for the local authorities,
Speaker 1: the local municipal governments as well as provincial governments right
Speaker 1: on up to federal governments because it is worth quite
Speaker 1: a bit of money as a petroleum product. So we
Speaker 1: look forward to hearing from hearing what Tim Hutts has
Speaker 1: to say about Canada railways and especially coming from Alberta,
Speaker 1: and how they plan to spend one hundred million dollars
Speaker 1: on these railways. So why don't we get started, and
Speaker 1: we're going to hear from the World Food Program as
Speaker 1: you're giving a report about food programs and how successful
Speaker 1: they are around the world. Sorry about that, History decided
Speaker 1: that she wanted to chime in on UH on the conversation,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna hear from the representative from the World
Speaker 1: Food Program and they're going to tell us how things
Speaker 1: are going for that because with some of the funding
Speaker 1: cuts that have happened from the United States. In the
Speaker 1: United States, UH federal programs cutting back on several charities.
Speaker 1: How it is affecting the capabilities of the World Food
Speaker 1: Program as they do work delivering food to many hotspots
Speaker 1: in humanitarian efforts around the world.
Speaker 3: How much you have to ask you to stay for
Speaker 3: our UH guests UH from the World Food Program who
Speaker 3: are here to present the report on.
Speaker 4: Nutrition. Uh, so we will go right to them.
Speaker 3: If you want to go ahead, go ahead and start.
Speaker 3: We will no there there, everybody's online, if we could
Speaker 3: put them, if we could put the briefers online, and
Speaker 3: then we'll start with Carmen. Thank you, go ahead, yes,
Speaker 3: go ahead, and I really I apologize to both, to
Speaker 3: both you and Professor Bundy for their delay. But news
Speaker 3: gets in their way unfortunately of important things.
Speaker 5: Of course, no problem. Very happy to be in the
Speaker 5: New York briefing room again. Thank you so much for
Speaker 5: your intentions.
Speaker 6: And obviously after.
Speaker 5: The very sobering news that we just heard from the
Speaker 5: from the UN headquarters, I'm glad to say we're here
Speaker 5: to give you some good news, which is hard to
Speaker 5: come by these days. The World Food Program is launching
Speaker 5: today it's fourth State of School Feeding worldwide publication. This
Speaker 5: publication comes out every two years and is the major
Speaker 5: monitoring report on this massive policy area that is very
Speaker 5: important for governments. I promise some good news, so I
Speaker 5: will go ahead and give you the highlights of the report. Today.
Speaker 5: We are announcing that four hundred and sixty six million
Speaker 5: children are receiving meals in schools. This is the largest
Speaker 5: food assistance program for children worldwide. The good news is
Speaker 5: that over the last four years, an additional eighty million,
Speaker 5: eight zero eighty million children have received meals compared to
Speaker 5: where we were in twenty twenty. This is unprecedented progress.
Speaker 5: We have not seen a scale up of a program
Speaker 5: of this magnitude in at least a decade, and most
Speaker 5: of it is due to government mobilization and domestic investments.
Speaker 5: There's more good news. Of those eighty million children that
Speaker 5: are being reached in in addition to what was already
Speaker 5: done in twenty twenty, about sixty percent of those are
Speaker 5: in low income countries, which tell us that even through
Speaker 5: fiscal crises and through financial hardship, low income countries where
Speaker 5: children need these programs the most, are making enormous efforts
Speaker 5: to make sure that their children are protected during crises
Speaker 5: and their futures are secured. Africa is the continent with
Speaker 5: the most impressive progress. More than twenty million children are
Speaker 5: additionally receiving meals and schools in the continent. We want
Speaker 5: to highlight success stories in Kenya, in Ethiopia, and Rwanda,
Speaker 5: only to name a few. Beninas another country. This is
Speaker 5: really thanks to presidential leadership in the continent, and we're
Speaker 5: very glad to see Africa stepping up on the fight
Speaker 5: against hunger and also guaranteeing a better future for its children.
Speaker 5: We also know that this scale up, this massive scale up,
Speaker 5: is thanks to impressive funding increases. Global funding for school
Speaker 5: meals has gone from forty eight billion, forty three billion, sorry,
Speaker 5: forty three billion dollars in twenty twenty to eighty four
Speaker 5: billion dollars in the last estimates that we have. Now
Speaker 5: what's also impressive is that ninety nine percent of the
Speaker 5: investment is coming from government budgets. This means that this
Speaker 5: is a program, this is a global priority funded primarily
Speaker 5: by governments. Donor support accounts only for one or two
Speaker 5: percent of global investment in these programs. Again, this means
Speaker 5: that this is not a donor supported or reliant effort.
Speaker 5: This is a government backed agenda. These are presidents, prime
Speaker 5: ministers and ministers that are prioritizing the well being of
Speaker 5: their children and the future. We are also announcing in
Speaker 5: the publication that a large part of success is owed
Speaker 5: to the political mobilization of the School Meal's Coalition, which
Speaker 5: was launched in twenty twenty one under the leadership of
Speaker 5: President Macron, the government of Finland and later President Lula
Speaker 5: of Brazil. The coalition now has more than one hundred
Speaker 5: countries that have joined, most of them at presidential level,
Speaker 5: that have committed to ensuring that every child receives a
Speaker 5: healthy meal in school, and as you could see from
Speaker 5: the numbers we are publishing today, many many of them
Speaker 5: have mobilized towards that big goal. The World Food Program
Speaker 5: has mobilized and has evolved its own role to support
Speaker 5: this government mobilization. The organization is the secretariat of the
Speaker 5: School Meals Coalition and also the largest UN agency supporting
Speaker 5: this massive policy priority for governments. I want to end
Speaker 5: by saying, of course, that NOLAD is not all is
Speaker 5: rosy news. We are also identifying gaps that need to
Speaker 5: be filled for the future. Even though low income country
Speaker 5: have expanded their coverage, they still lag behind overall when
Speaker 5: compared to high income countries. So at this moment, only
Speaker 5: thirty percent of children and low income countries have access
Speaker 5: to these programs compared to eighty percent of children in
Speaker 5: high income countries. Moving forward, we are calling on all
Speaker 5: governments to expand access to these programs, which are so
Speaker 5: vital and the Professor Bundy is going to tell you
Speaker 5: why in a second.
Speaker 6: These programs are vital for many reasons, and it is
Speaker 6: unsustainable and not acceptable that children and low income countries
Speaker 6: that are the most.
Speaker 5: Vulnerable have the least access to these programs. Professor Bundy,
Speaker 5: can you please complement what I've just mentioned. As a
Speaker 5: co author and co editorial member.
Speaker 7: Of the report October, thank you so much, Carmen, go ahead,
Speaker 7: Thank you very much.
Speaker 8: For this opportunity to talk on these issues, and thank
Speaker 8: you Vament for this some good news this evening. I
Speaker 8: want to also reinforce here the point Carmen was making
Speaker 8: that this is part of this work is coming from
Speaker 8: the School Meals Coalition, and that the School Meals Coalition
Speaker 8: has placed extreme emphasis on the quality of the evidence.
Speaker 8: So these are data that we want to feel are reliable.
Speaker 8: And I want to make the point that we've taken
Speaker 8: a very special approach here, something new in looking at
Speaker 8: global evidence, making this country lead and really bringing in
Speaker 8: the experts working in countries, those who are already advising governments.
Speaker 8: We have an academy, as we call it, of nearly
Speaker 8: of more than one two hundred professors and practitioners from
Speaker 8: one hundred and twenty four countries who are part of
Speaker 8: the way we're looking at and analyzing this information. And
Speaker 8: I wanted to emphasize that the message that there are
Speaker 8: some key messages resulting from this stronger understanding of the
Speaker 8: potential benefits of school meals programs, and it is this
Speaker 8: better understanding of the of the benefits that has led
Speaker 8: to them becoming public policy in so many countries, policies
Speaker 8: policies that are owned by the countries, paid for by
Speaker 8: the countries, and implemented by them. This extraordinary increase of
Speaker 8: eighty million in coverage since the COVID pandemic, and so
Speaker 8: there are really the key messages that have come out
Speaker 8: of this are a threefold. The first is that the
Speaker 8: well being of school children is critically important for their
Speaker 8: learning outcomes. I often think this is a this is
Speaker 8: something that parents always well understood, but governments and agencies
Speaker 8: really didn't. And it's only now that we're really recognizing
Speaker 8: that well being, the well being of school children and
Speaker 8: adolescents is he to their learning ability and that providing
Speaker 8: them with a good education and the world spends about
Speaker 8: three trillion dollars on educating its children needs the leverage
Speaker 8: of well being amongst those children at the same time,
Speaker 8: and we're seeing real political change here. The most widely
Speaker 8: given example of this is the recent election in Indonesia,
Speaker 8: where the president's manifesto specifically highlighted investing in the next
Speaker 8: generation what he called the Golden Generation in Indonesia, based
Speaker 8: on the concept that that generation by twenty forty will
Speaker 8: be the will be larger than the dependent population. So
Speaker 8: that this is investing in human capital as a priority
Speaker 8: for public policy in a country, and that the second
Speaker 8: key message that's come out of this is that school
Speaker 8: meals really are one of the best ways to establish
Speaker 8: good dietary references for life, and we're seeing that emphasized
Speaker 8: in much of the research, So that what we're saying now,
Speaker 8: what countries are saying now, is that school meals programs
Speaker 8: our main streams way main stream ways of ensuring three
Speaker 8: important outcomes. The first of that those is human health.
Speaker 8: And we heard we heard in the opening remarks there
Speaker 8: that the new UNISEP report has shown that school age
Speaker 8: children in particular have now now levels of nine percent
Speaker 8: of obesity, and that addressing obesity an obesity that leads
Speaker 8: to what we call cardiometabolic diseases or noncommunicable diseases in
Speaker 8: middle age, diabetes, heart disease, blood pressure and so forth.
Speaker 8: Those things are directly linked and that all of the
Speaker 8: management processes that we have in place have not worked
Speaker 8: with those and it's prevention that's likely to be the
Speaker 8: key way forward.
Speaker 4: So that's human health.
Speaker 8: But also if you change the way children relate to food,
Speaker 8: and if you change the way young people think about food,
Speaker 8: they will lifelong change their dietary preferences and will they
Speaker 8: will select foods on a rational, rational basis. One is
Speaker 8: to improve their own health, but the other is to
Speaker 8: improve planetary health. And I think all of us have
Speaker 8: seen that in children ourselves, that they're choosing foods now
Speaker 8: that also are ones that favor sustainability in our environments
Speaker 8: and connected to that. And the third point is that
Speaker 8: agric cultural production of food has has ruined soil health
Speaker 8: in many parts of the world, and there's a real
Speaker 8: movement now towards regenerative and agroecological approaches to farming to
Speaker 8: fix that. And one of the ways of achieving that
Speaker 8: is again by changing the dietary preferences of people. And
Speaker 8: it's these roles human health, planetary health, and soil health.
Speaker 8: Those changes are key too, are driven by school meals
Speaker 8: programs in a very realistic way. And my final point
Speaker 8: is to talk about school meals programs in the relation
Speaker 8: to their role in crisis situations or their their relevance
Speaker 8: in crisis situations. And I'm just going to say here
Speaker 8: that the example of Ukraine is the most salient I
Speaker 8: think here that Ukraine created a food reform program called
Speaker 8: the Food Reform in a time of war, that specifically
Speaker 8: about ensuring that the children of Ukraine are fed despite
Speaker 8: everything else that's going wrong, and that they are fed
Speaker 8: if they go to school. So children who reach the
Speaker 8: school in Ukraine are now being fed, and over the
Speaker 8: last two years we've worked with them and now one
Speaker 8: and a half million children a day are being fed
Speaker 8: in that way.
Speaker 2: So those are the.
Speaker 8: Positive messages that are coming out out of the school
Speaker 8: meals programs, And these are the positive messages coming out
Speaker 8: of this new state of school feeding worldwide report published
Speaker 8: by the World Food Program.
Speaker 7: Thank you, Thank you so much to both of you.
Speaker 7: Let us now open for questions, EDI go ahead.
Speaker 9: Thank you both very much. On behalf of the United
Speaker 9: Nations Correspondence Association for doing this briefing. My name is
Speaker 9: Zita Flutter from the Associated Press. A couple of follow
Speaker 9: up questions. Can you tell us how many countries in
Speaker 9: total were covered in this report? And I know you've
Speaker 9: mentioned some of the least developed and developing countries. Were
Speaker 9: there any of the developed countries mentioned? And was the
Speaker 9: United States included at all? Noting that President Trump has
Speaker 9: cut off funding for the World Food Program and on
Speaker 9: the quality of school meals. I know the professor just
Speaker 9: mentioned that this is a way to instill healthy eating
Speaker 9: habits in children. Is that any kind of a requirement
Speaker 9: or is that or up to individual governments and school
Speaker 9: districts to carry out? Thank you, you.
Speaker 10: Can take the first I can take the first question,
Speaker 10: and maybe just to say that over the years that
Speaker 10: we've published this report, the number of countries that are
Speaker 10: in our database has also increased, as has the quality
Speaker 10: of data.
Speaker 5: As Professor Bundy was saying, so we are extremely proud
Speaker 5: that this report now includes data from one hundred and
Speaker 5: seventy four countries. That includes countries from high, middle and
Speaker 5: low income status. That includes information from the US for
Speaker 5: most of Europe, and as you can see from the number,
Speaker 5: this is quite a representative sample of global of the
Speaker 5: global situation. I should say also, as I mentioned before,
Speaker 5: that the other thing that we're announcing today is that
Speaker 5: by enlarge, these programs, which are not insignificant investments, are
Speaker 5: being born and carried paid by primarily by governments. And
Speaker 5: so although donor funding is very important primarily in fragile countries,
Speaker 5: in low income countries, by and large these programs are
Speaker 5: being supported and sustained by governments themselves. Professor Bundy, maybe
Speaker 5: on the quality question.
Speaker 8: Sure, thank you very much, Can I and I also
Speaker 8: just thank Edy for welcoming us in that way. That's
Speaker 8: very touching. Can I also say that, you know, we
Speaker 8: worked recently with the European Commission on this issue, and
Speaker 8: twenty six out of the twenty seven countries in the
Speaker 8: European Commission see school meals as a key contributor to
Speaker 8: equilibriating the opportunities for children in the European Union that
Speaker 8: we've recently seen. Canada and Copenhagen are two countries which
Speaker 8: inv is not historically at national school meals programmed decide
Speaker 8: that they are going to implement them. So so it's
Speaker 8: it's by no means only low income countries that are
Speaker 8: interested here. This is a this is any country that's
Speaker 8: interested in the future of its children is paying attention
Speaker 8: to this issue. And of course you're right, the quality
Speaker 8: of the food is key. Any old food is not
Speaker 8: the is not is not the answer. But understanding of
Speaker 8: what food is important is very well developed. And food
Speaker 8: standards f AO, WFP, who all are playing key roles
Speaker 8: in in raising what those what those standards are, and
Speaker 8: countries are recognizing this is the this is the key
Speaker 8: thing that country led programs are really recognizing the need
Speaker 8: to to stand up and to improve, to improve their standards.
Speaker 8: And and let me just say briefly that that that
Speaker 8: improving the standard the quality of food in the schools
Speaker 8: often means they're buying more food locally from local farmers.
Speaker 8: So it has all kinds of virtuous cycle effects. Good questions.
Speaker 11: Thank you.
Speaker 7: Let me go to the back and then we will
Speaker 7: make our way back towards that.
Speaker 12: Thank you.
Speaker 13: Thank you for the briefing. This is Kareem were from
Speaker 13: the Magabara Press News Agency. I want to go back
Speaker 13: to the progress made in Africa. As you mentioned, did
Speaker 13: the civil society and NGOs play any role in this
Speaker 13: and what can be done to maintain this progress in
Speaker 13: the years to come.
Speaker 5: Thank you, Thank you so much for that question because
Speaker 5: it allows me also to amplify the data a little bit.
Speaker 5: I mentioned that only in the last two years there's
Speaker 5: been an increase of twenty million children additionally, which brings
Speaker 5: the total in Africa of seventy one point five million
Speaker 5: children receiving me also as Sub Saharan Africa. Again, this
Speaker 5: is really impressed numbers. The region is the one that
Speaker 5: has made the most progress in scaling up these programs
Speaker 5: and most of it is because of government efforts. Now
Speaker 5: agencies and NGO civil society are crucial partners for governments
Speaker 5: to be able to achieve these milestones. NGOs and the
Speaker 5: UN system in general are there both supporting this operationally.
Speaker 5: There is a very important role to play in helping
Speaker 5: these governments reach these children, particularly in hard to reach
Speaker 5: areas or in conflict affected areas, but also in providing
Speaker 5: technical assistance, in sharing best practice, in helping countries connect
Speaker 5: to each other. So there is a growing network connected
Speaker 5: to the School Meals Coalition that is consolidating or connecting
Speaker 5: partners to those governments as they scale up based on
Speaker 5: their commitments. So I just wanted to also shout out
Speaker 5: and say that as part of the School Meals Coalition,
Speaker 5: there are more than one hundred and forty partner organizations
Speaker 5: that are now committed to this cause, which is also
Speaker 5: a sign of important momentum also from civil society, from
Speaker 5: think tanks, academia, un agency's, multilateral development banks and others.
Speaker 8: It's just expanded.
Speaker 2: That's likely to say that.
Speaker 8: That within the African context, of course, community organizations are
Speaker 8: key to this. That the government policy is can be
Speaker 8: a very important driver, but just as common was saying NGOs,
Speaker 8: but literally community organizations organizations of parents can also be
Speaker 8: vitally important in this. But also in this context, it's
Speaker 8: really interesting to look at the history here and to
Speaker 8: recognize that the Malibo Declaration of the African Union, it
Speaker 8: was two thousand and four very specifically talks about homegrown
Speaker 8: school feeding as a key issue for Africans, implying two things.
Speaker 8: One that the school feeding was a necessary part of
Speaker 8: investing in children's future, which it absolutely is, but also
Speaker 8: that homegrown food, developed food grown in countries and food
Speaker 8: particularly food grown locally by family farmers was the key
Speaker 8: to making this healthy and available food. So it's again
Speaker 8: a virtuous cycle that I think fits very well with
Speaker 8: people's understanding of how our world works.
Speaker 7: Thank you, Nori. No do we have more questions in
Speaker 7: the room?
Speaker 14: Do we have?
Speaker 7: I don't see additional questions online, so thank you so much.
Speaker 7: We were joined today by Carmen Barbano. It's very nice
Speaker 7: to see you on screen, Carmen, it's been a very
Speaker 7: long time. She's WFP's director of School Meals and Social Protection.
Speaker 7: And also we were joined by Professor Donald Bundy, who
Speaker 7: is the co editorial lead for the report. Thank you
Speaker 7: so much to both of you for joining us today,
Speaker 7: and thank you so much for your patients. Thank you,
Speaker 7: thank you so much.
Speaker 15: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us.
Speaker 15: Let me very quickly introduce our colleagues today. So from
Speaker 15: the Larsen Cosmisk, Director of International Security Policy, you will
Speaker 15: know the minister, the Italian Minister for Defense, Scido Crosschetto,
Speaker 15: the Sexuary of State for Defense, John Healey, YenS Plutner,
Speaker 15: German State Secretary for Armaments and Innovation, and Alice Rufo,
Speaker 15: the French Director of International Policy. Our session today, I'm
Speaker 15: going to ask each of them to do a short
Speaker 15: opening statement about what they have discussed today, and then
Speaker 15: it will be questions. We've agreed with some journalists which
Speaker 15: questions to ask. If we have a short amount of time.
Speaker 15: There are many trains to catch, so I hope to
Speaker 15: get through them all. Apologies if we don't. Two of
Speaker 15: our colleagues, Alice and Martine, will not be taking questions
Speaker 15: as they are policy officials and not ministers. But without
Speaker 15: further ado, let me ask Secretary of State for Deference
Speaker 15: John Healey to begin.
Speaker 16: Thank you, good afternoon everyone. So today in London here
Speaker 16: we held our fifth E five Defense Minister's Meeting. What
Speaker 16: has become a significant moment in European security. We face
Speaker 16: a new era of threat were in Europe rising Russian
Speaker 16: and Russian and last night Putin hit a new level
Speaker 16: of hostility against Europe. We saw across NATO's eastern border
Speaker 16: a serious violation of Polish airspace deep enough for Warsaw
Speaker 16: Airport to be closed, and NATO jets shooting down Russian
Speaker 16: drones in what is the first defensive action of its
Speaker 16: kind since Putin launched his full scale attack on Ukraine.
Speaker 16: And just at the same period as Russia's attacks on
Speaker 16: Ukraine intensify, and as the Prime Minister Starmer said this morning,
Speaker 16: these moves, he said, only served to remind us of
Speaker 16: President Putin's blatant disregard for peace. So together we the
Speaker 16: Five totally condemn these attacks. Russian's actions are reckless, They're dangerous,
Speaker 16: They're unprecedented. We see what Putin is doing yet again,
Speaker 16: he is testing us. Yet again. We will stand firm
Speaker 16: and Defense Minister Coosgniac Kamesh rightly return home to Poland
Speaker 16: in the very early hours of this morning to deal
Speaker 16: with this unprecedented situation. And we pray tribute to the
Speaker 16: Polish and NATO personnel involved in such a rapid and
Speaker 16: effective defensive action. And my message to Martian and the
Speaker 16: Polish people as this as your NATO ally, we will
Speaker 16: support you, our Polish friends. As your NATO ally, we
Speaker 16: will play our part to help secure the safety of
Speaker 16: your people. And following our discussions today, I've asked our
Speaker 16: UK armed forces to look at options to bolster NATO's
Speaker 16: air defense over Poland. Today is FI nations. We say
Speaker 16: to President Putin, your aggression only serves to strengthen the
Speaker 16: unity between our NATO nations. Your aggression only serves to
Speaker 16: strengthen our determination to stand with Ukraine, and your aggression
Speaker 16: reminds us that a secure Europe needs a strong Ukraine
Speaker 16: and that the security of Europe starts in Ukraine. So
Speaker 16: I'm proud that the five of us were joined today
Speaker 16: by Ukrainian Defense Minister Shamal.
Speaker 2: As.
Speaker 16: Ukraine remains at the forefront of our discussions. Following the
Speaker 16: Ukraine Defense Contact Group which I chaired from London yesterday
Speaker 16: with over fifty nations attended by Secretary General Mark Rutur
Speaker 16: and also US Secretary Pete Hegseth. We will continue to
Speaker 16: ramp up our support for Ukraine because we not jeopardize
Speaker 16: peace by forgetting about the war, just as we plan
Speaker 16: for that piece through the UK French Coalition of the Willing.
Speaker 16: And I know I speak for all of us when
Speaker 16: I pay congratulations to our good friend and colleague Sebastian
Speaker 16: Lukornu being named now as Francis new Prime Minister. So
Speaker 16: in today's discussions, we also discussed our work together to
Speaker 16: counter Russia's malign influence in the Western Balkans. And in
Speaker 16: the week that our UK government published its Defense Industrial Strategy,
Speaker 16: we discussed how we make defense an engine for growth
Speaker 16: across our economies, more cooperation, more joint production, more jobs
Speaker 16: in all of our communities. And we leave here today
Speaker 16: as E five nations, Europe's top defense spenders, more united,
Speaker 16: more determined to front this new era of threat, to
Speaker 16: step up further for Ukraine, and to continue to boost
Speaker 16: our defense spending as we increase wolf fighting readiness. We
Speaker 16: do this to make our citizens and to make Europe
Speaker 16: secure at home and strong abroad.
Speaker 15: Thank you, Thank you, Secretary of State. If we could
Speaker 15: ask the Italian Minister for Defense, Guido Crochetto.
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Speaker 4: Someone is trying to frame us until our names are cleared.
Speaker 4: My future district like Bonnie and Clyde with better next.
Speaker 4: When you said you want to go to get away,
Speaker 4: this is not what imagine.
Speaker 17: You are so German, sexy, stupid.
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Speaker 4: Thank you very much.
Speaker 15: If I could ask Jen's plotner to provide his owning statement.
Speaker 12: Thank you very much. Good afternoon. Also from my behalf.
Speaker 12: First of all, Ministry, I want to thank you for
Speaker 12: your warm hospitality and excuse the absence of Boris Pistorios.
Speaker 12: Would have loved to have been here, but parliamentarian duties
Speaker 12: required his presence in Berlin. I do not want to
Speaker 12: repeat what two ministers said. I fully agree with the
Speaker 12: points they made, but I would like to add my own,
Speaker 12: in Germany's own firm condemnation to yours about what happened
Speaker 12: in Polish airspace last night. It is inacceptable. It is
Speaker 12: a targeted provocation, and it is a provocation not only
Speaker 12: against our Polish neighbors, friends and allies, but against NATO
Speaker 12: as a whole, we stand altogether firm side of our
Speaker 12: Polish friends, and I think the message we would like
Speaker 12: to send is a message of strength, of unity and
Speaker 12: of not letting us be provoked into hastened actions. It
Speaker 12: is good that this is being discussed now at NATO
Speaker 12: and this must find a common answer of all of
Speaker 12: us to Moscow about the meeting today, the substance has
Speaker 12: been exposed. Let me say that I feel that today
Speaker 12: we send a message of unity of unit in our
Speaker 12: support stepfast support for our Ukrainian friends. It's very good
Speaker 12: discussion with the Minister Schmihal, but also a message of
Speaker 12: unity when it comes to our own efforts to bolster
Speaker 12: our defense readiness and to work closer together in order
Speaker 12: to do so. This group of five, the fifth meeting
Speaker 12: has proven from our point of view, to be a
Speaker 12: catalyst for for new ideas and a motor of of change.
Speaker 12: And somewhat in that spirit I would like to on
Speaker 12: behalf of Bob was Pistio's extended invitation to you, Minister's
Speaker 12: colleagues for Bilin for the next meeting. Towards the end
Speaker 12: of this year. Thank you very much for your hospitality.
Speaker 4: Ye and thank you very much Alice Alice Rufo, Thank you.
Speaker 18: Very much, Defense Secretary, and we switch to English. Do
Speaker 18: la bando Sebastiania. Papetrola parskill preis a diversive provo falicitation
Speaker 18: on KAJMO. Thank you for for having me in this
Speaker 18: very important meeting. My minister was committed from the very
Speaker 18: beginning to this format and I like the words used
Speaker 18: by Yance, it's a motor for NATO, for our European defense.
Speaker 18: It's very important to have this room to discuss strategically
Speaker 18: and to have this impulsion together. I will as well
Speaker 18: add that what happened yesterday in Poland was totally unprecedented
Speaker 18: and unacceptable. As mentioned before, we are collective answer was
Speaker 18: effective and we need to continue to work together. And
Speaker 18: of course France tand ready to support you, and we
Speaker 18: are as well looking options in a coordinated way on
Speaker 18: reinforcing your air defense on Ukraine. I think we had
Speaker 18: in one week and a half the meeting of the
Speaker 18: Coalition of the Will at the leaders level the UDCG
Speaker 18: with successful and concrete results. And I think what we
Speaker 18: had as well today showed that Europe is stepping up,
Speaker 18: ready to support Ukraine in the short term, ready to
Speaker 18: offer Ukraine security guarantees for the future and to achieve
Speaker 18: peace through strends, and that now Russia needs to understand
Speaker 18: that it should come to the negotiation table and stop
Speaker 18: this war. Thank you as well for the very good
Speaker 18: discussion on industry. We all are in face of the
Speaker 18: same issues. Ramping up accelerate and I'm sure that with
Speaker 18: all this very pragmatic approach we had today will do
Speaker 18: progress together. And thank you as well for the interest
Speaker 18: on the baggans. I think it's important for this group
Speaker 18: to work together and to strategize on this region because
Speaker 18: we are very much committed through NATO and EU and
Speaker 18: by that running to the stability of the region.
Speaker 4: Thank you very much, Alice, thank you very much. Massin Kasmerski,
Speaker 4: thank you very much.
Speaker 17: And as you, as you just heard from the Defense Secretary, Heally,
Speaker 17: the deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense had
Speaker 17: to live unfortunately had to skip the second day of
Speaker 17: the meeting due to the attack. I think it is
Speaker 17: it is the best way to describe it, the drawn
Speaker 17: attack that took place last night over the meeting, we
Speaker 17: confirmed the importance Poland attaches to the E file format
Speaker 17: as a platform platform for discussing issues of importance of
Speaker 17: great importance for the European security, transatlantic relations, the war
Speaker 17: or the Russia's aggression of Ukraine and support or assistance
Speaker 17: for Ukraine. That was definitely confirmed. This is something that
Speaker 17: we wanted to as a Poland developed, as I just said,
Speaker 17: as a platform for not only discussing things, but also
Speaker 17: looking for specific initiatives in the areas I just mentioned.
Speaker 17: When it comes to what happened over Poland last night,
Speaker 17: as you just heard, solidarity was expressed. Conviction that we
Speaker 17: need more as an alliance, as a NATA, we need
Speaker 17: more coherence, more unity. That we should look also in
Speaker 17: practical terms how to make not only Poland but all
Speaker 17: the flying countries better able to cope with the threats
Speaker 17: we had to cope with last night. And as it
Speaker 17: was also already mentioned, the response was collective in a manner.
Speaker 17: Not only Polish assets, Polish aircraft, but also those of
Speaker 17: some other allies were involved in it, activated or used
Speaker 17: and it is the best example of solidarity of unity
Speaker 17: and we as a Poland we want to discuss we
Speaker 17: would like to discuss this issue farther within the NATO
Speaker 17: framework to be sure that we as a NATO that
Speaker 17: we are able to that we will be able to
Speaker 17: in the future to respond to such threats in the
Speaker 17: best possible way. Thank you very much, Astin.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 15: Just to remind them us in analys will not be
Speaker 15: answering questions, but the minister as well, Carl Dinnan.
Speaker 19: My name is Brian Corning. I'm the President CEO of
Speaker 19: can Do railm Terminals. The reason why we're here today
Speaker 19: actually is to give thanks to CIV Canada Infrastructure Bank.
Speaker 19: You know we own We own sixty two locations across
Speaker 19: Canada and US. We have thirteen terminals across Canada. We
Speaker 19: have the largest terminal, privately owned terminal here in Sturgeon County,
Speaker 19: just up the road, over six hundred acres. When we're
Speaker 19: building the second part of that what we call Sturgeon
Speaker 19: East Sturgeon West, I apologize what we call Sturgeon West
Speaker 19: now the twining off it. There's always things regard to
Speaker 19: the supply chain and investment decisions along that line. When
Speaker 19: a particular client made a decision to postpone some of
Speaker 19: their investments. We looked at is this still something that
Speaker 19: we want to do? Is this still a viable investment
Speaker 19: for us? It's an investment that the Province of Alberta requires,
Speaker 19: It's an investment that the Imperial Oils, the Sun Cores,
Speaker 19: all those companies who are shipping product. It's an investment
Speaker 19: that they require. But is it an investment that should
Speaker 19: be funded by us? We had numerous conversations with CIB
Speaker 19: and they were great. In the discussions, we explained that
Speaker 19: we're looking.
Speaker 4: To de risk our investment.
Speaker 19: Going through the calculations, we came up with the concept
Speaker 19: that they can bring us to the table one hundred
Speaker 19: million dollars off the two hundred million dollars investment. It's alone.
Speaker 19: It is something we will pay back over the next
Speaker 19: couple of years. But it helped us to de risk
Speaker 19: the project. So instead of us looking at it and
Speaker 19: saying we'll delay our investment for two years, no, we
Speaker 19: went live. In fact, we broke ground there two weeks ago.
Speaker 19: We will go live on that particular project again, a
Speaker 19: two hundred million dollar investment. It will be up and
Speaker 19: running November twenty twenty six. Would it have happened without
Speaker 19: the funding from CIB. That's always a tough decision. Like
Speaker 19: any company in the world, we have finite resources and
Speaker 19: one of those resources is access to capital. It's a
Speaker 19: finite resource. So looking at and partnering with CIB was
Speaker 19: really really helpful in saying yes, let's go live. Now
Speaker 19: we'll go live. We will be live November twenty twenty six.
Speaker 19: The project will be up and running, and then when
Speaker 19: some of the clients go live in twenty seven, twenty eight,
Speaker 19: we're there, ready and willing. So I want to thank
Speaker 19: CIB very very much. It helped derisk the project. It
Speaker 19: is one hundred million dollars off to two hundred million
Speaker 19: dollar investment. It is a loan for the next four years.
Speaker 19: With that being said, though, I'm going to hand it
Speaker 19: off to Minister Hodgson, who I'm sure has no requirement
Speaker 19: for me to introduce him in that sense.
Speaker 4: So Minister, thank you.
Speaker 1: Very much.
Speaker 20: And can do what better, what better backdrop for what
Speaker 20: we're talking about today. Good afternoon in Boujeour thank you
Speaker 20: for the kind introduction and for beginning our program today
Speaker 20: with acknowledgment that we are in the heart of Treaty
Speaker 20: six territory in Alberta, in the homeland of the Mateen nation.
Speaker 20: I'm pleased to be here today along with the CA,
Speaker 20: Canada Infrastructure Bank, Candy Rail, and other distinguished guests. As
Speaker 20: the Prime Minister has often said, Canada is currently standing
Speaker 20: at a hinge moment. In response to this shift, our
Speaker 20: government has elected to build stronger, more resilient, and transform
Speaker 20: our industries, diversifying our trade and making Canada an energy
Speaker 20: and natural resources superpower.
Speaker 4: In support of our job to retool our.
Speaker 20: Economy into one that can keep Canadians competitive for decades
Speaker 20: to come. That is why we move quickly to pass
Speaker 20: the One Canadian Economy Act, tearing down internal trade barriers
Speaker 20: and resetting how we build major projects in this country.
Speaker 20: And last week we officially stood up our Major Project's
Speaker 20: Office on un stop shop for provinces, territories, proponents and
Speaker 20: indigenous peoples to access the federal government. This means Canada
Speaker 20: can spend more time building like here and less time
Speaker 20: with bureaucracy. The Major Project's Office will be based right
Speaker 20: here in this province, a province that exemplifies that can
Speaker 20: do mentality of the projects of national interest. Did you
Speaker 20: guys trademark can do There's no better place that exemplifies
Speaker 20: the can do spirit than in Alberta's industrial heartland, five
Speaker 20: hundred and eighty two square kilometers that hosts more than
Speaker 20: forty different companies that have invested over fifty billion dollars
Speaker 20: in capital to build an area that serves fuels, fertilizers, power, petrochemicals,
Speaker 20: hydrogen and more and delivers it to customers around the world.
Speaker 20: As Canada's largest hydrosing a hydrocarbon processing region, the most
Speaker 20: advanced carbon sequestration hub, the Heartland stands at the intersection
Speaker 20: of economic resiliency and environmental leadership. As the Prime Minister
Speaker 20: has promised, we will have more to say about specific
Speaker 20: projects soon and to bring it back to today, the
Speaker 20: Canadian Infrastructure Bank will be playing a key role in
Speaker 20: helping to unlock the financing needs to build large infrastructure
Speaker 20: projects across the country, including but not limited to projects
Speaker 20: of national interest. The Infrastructure Bank has already demonstrated great
Speaker 20: value in its mission to build Canada strong. The cib's
Speaker 20: mandate allows us to take risks that the private sector
Speaker 20: alone would need to take more time to do. This
Speaker 20: helps us get big projects built, contributes to our GDP
Speaker 20: creates good paying jobs, boosts productivity, and moves US faster
Speaker 20: on behalf of all Canadians. This one hundred million dollar
Speaker 20: loan to Candy Rail to expand the rail capacity is
Speaker 20: a perfect example of the kind of investments Canada needs
Speaker 20: more of. Through the cib's Trade and Transportation Financing tool,
Speaker 20: this investment will catalyze stronger, more efficient trade cords that
Speaker 20: help Canadian business stay competitive at home and abroad. This
Speaker 20: investment in the Sturgeon West Terminal is expected, as we heard,
Speaker 20: to double the terminal's capacity, adding up to twenty five
Speaker 20: hundred new rail car storage act spaces and up to
Speaker 20: one thousand and fifty spaces on arrival and departure tracks.
Speaker 20: In addition, this investment will help to create up to
Speaker 20: fifty new local, good paying jobs right here in Edmonton
Speaker 20: and contribute to twenty two point three million annually of
Speaker 20: GDP for the area. Supporting strategically important rail corridors is
Speaker 20: essential to our strategy to build Canada strong. These corridors
Speaker 20: ensure Canadian commodities move quickly and efficiently to ports and
Speaker 20: global markets, reinforcing our reputation as a reliable trading partner
Speaker 20: and allowing us to diversify our global customer base. I
Speaker 20: would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Canada
Speaker 20: Infrastructure Bank and Canada Rail for achieving financial clothes on
Speaker 20: this project. By working together, you are significantly enhancing critical
Speaker 20: supply chain that will bring greater prosperity and economomic opportunity
Speaker 20: in the West through a strong public private partnership. This
Speaker 20: is exactly the kind of progress our government is committed
Speaker 20: to delivering a stronger, more resilient economy that works for
Speaker 20: Western Canada and for all Canadians for not just the
Speaker 20: next four years, but the next forty years. Thank you
Speaker 20: very much, Mercy.
Speaker 19: Thank you.
Speaker 21: Minister is the miclife it is thank you. My name
Speaker 21: is John Kassola and I'm the candidate for Special Banks
Speaker 21: Chief Investment Officer. It's my extreme pleasure to be here
Speaker 21: today at Edmonton to join Minister Hodgson and Brian and
Speaker 21: the entire CANDO team to really celebrate the completion of
Speaker 21: a very important project. Minister, thank you for being here
Speaker 21: and for your continued support of the CIB, and thank
Speaker 21: you Brian for taking time away from a busy investor day.
Speaker 21: We have been part of that since this morning so
Speaker 21: we know everything that's going on. Much appreciated. As a
Speaker 21: minister mentioned, the Candida Infrastructure Bank came to the table
Speaker 21: with one hundred million dollar investment for can Do and
Speaker 21: we recently closed the deal and there's work underway at
Speaker 21: the terminal. We saw that firsthand this morning when we
Speaker 21: got a tour. Fantastic to see lots of skilled trades
Speaker 21: people are moving stuff around with big, heavy machinery. No
Speaker 21: sign of city slicker here and you can see the
Speaker 21: actual progress being made. At the end of the day,
Speaker 21: the new West facility means more haulage and storage capacity
Speaker 21: for producers operating in the Alberta's industrial heartland. This is
Speaker 21: where I will I will straight from the script because
Speaker 21: a lot of it's already been said, but I do
Speaker 21: want to say that having listened to Brian and his
Speaker 21: investor presentations this morning, is very passionate, I think, in
Speaker 21: thoughtful remarks on can Do strategy to date, the success
Speaker 21: they've achieved and the plans for future success. It really
Speaker 21: gave us a strong feeling that we made a very
Speaker 21: positive investment that's going to result in positive outcomes.
Speaker 20: Because at the end of the day, what.
Speaker 21: I'm convinced of after listening and speaking listening to and
Speaker 21: speaking with management, touring the facility, learning more firsthand about
Speaker 21: their operations, it's pretty evident to me that a strong
Speaker 21: and successful can do means strong and successful companies in
Speaker 21: Alberta's industrial heartland, means jobs, means strength to the economy.
Speaker 21: At the end of the day, all of that means
Speaker 21: it's good for Canada. So anything we could do to
Speaker 21: help accelerate the timeline means getting goods to market faster
Speaker 21: in a more economical and efficient way, and that's just
Speaker 21: a win for everybody. So thank you again for involving
Speaker 21: us in the proceedings today, and we look forward to
Speaker 21: touring the terminal again when it's completed.
Speaker 19: Thank you. Okay, I'll take that. So, actually it's a
Speaker 19: combination of both.
Speaker 4: Were totally frank with you.
Speaker 19: So when you look at the it was a delay
Speaker 19: on their investment, which was for internal reasons if you
Speaker 19: read the public statements in that sense. We looked at
Speaker 19: it and they made a decision to delay it for
Speaker 19: two years. I don't want to get into confidential information
Speaker 19: or anything along that line, but I do see it
Speaker 19: as a delay of two years. So push aside all
Speaker 19: the plastic pellets that they wish to send up through
Speaker 19: Prince Rupert and everything else along that line we can export.
Speaker 19: There are other customers, Imperial Oil itself, Suncore Pamena is
Speaker 19: right next door. When I look at Fort Saskatchewan and
Speaker 19: Sturgeon County, when I look at the possibility of a
Speaker 19: blue hydrogen location being built there. So when we map
Speaker 19: through it, and I think, this is what's most important,
Speaker 19: and this is where most people forget. Our infrastructure is
Speaker 19: minimum fifty years and really truly it's here for one
Speaker 19: hundred years. Publicly traded companies may do things for quarterly
Speaker 19: statements and everything else. We're a private company. We look
Speaker 19: at it and we say we're here for forty or
Speaker 19: fifty years. So while there's a delay, that's fine. We
Speaker 19: work through that delay with that particular customer the other customers.
Speaker 19: And what's interesting is when we make our financial decisions,
Speaker 19: it is what is my payback, when is it coming in?
Speaker 19: How can I work through it? So my financial team,
Speaker 19: my commercial team has already worked through that. Yes, the
Speaker 19: cib loan did help de risk the project in that sense,
Speaker 19: but still it will be customer paid for in the
Speaker 19: next X number of years. Whatever XS in that sense,
Speaker 19: did they answer you a question. I'll hand that off
Speaker 19: to John for his internal thank you thanks.
Speaker 21: It's an interesting question. We actually engaged with can DO
Speaker 21: some time ago. We knew what they were doing. We
Speaker 21: realized the importance of these types of facilities and wanted
Speaker 21: to do more to help where the help was needed.
Speaker 21: Emphasis on where the help was needed. So we engaged
Speaker 21: in some discussions with the can Do team, and at
Speaker 21: the time that was before the Dow decision to delay it,
Speaker 21: and so effectively we came to the mutual decision that
Speaker 21: there was really no need for that kind of help
Speaker 21: from the Government of Canada and from CIB because the
Speaker 21: Dow contract would essentially have paid for it and didn't
Speaker 21: need us, and our mission is to basoft to where
Speaker 21: there's a need, and so we all agreed that didn't
Speaker 21: make sense in that case. Fast forward to Dow's decision.
Speaker 21: All of a sudden, you heard Brian talk about de
Speaker 21: risking there They're then said his decision was, we can
Speaker 21: delay this thing for another two years, or we can
Speaker 21: take a little bit of a risk that it'll come
Speaker 21: on and hopefully the candidate Infrastructure Bank will help us
Speaker 21: with that and in the meantime, serve the existing customers
Speaker 21: where there's existing demand and lots of room for expansion.
Speaker 21: So that's the risk that was created by the delayed decision,
Speaker 21: and that's when we stepped up to try and be helpful.
Speaker 21: I hope that answers your question.
Speaker 19: That was.
Speaker 20: So I I learned a long time ago. I don't
Speaker 20: I don't keep my job if I get out ahead
Speaker 20: of my boss. A reporter has reported something. You haven't
Speaker 20: heard that from the government. You have not heard that
Speaker 20: from the federal government. I'm not going to get out
Speaker 20: in front of my boss.
Speaker 5: A lot of words, I mean.
Speaker 20: Stute, So I want to be clear. I'm not going
Speaker 20: to comment on whether there's a pipeline on the list
Speaker 20: tomorrow or not. What I can tell you is that
Speaker 20: all of the premiers and the Prime Minister are committed
Speaker 20: to growing Canada. We have talked extensively, starting back in
Speaker 20: Saskatoon at the First Minister's Conference, about a whole range
Speaker 20: of projects to build Canada strong. It covers everything from
Speaker 20: rail roads, ports, renewable energy, conventional energy. I could keep going.
Speaker 20: We have to focus, ladies and gentlemen. We're in a
Speaker 20: hinge moment. The United States has decided to change the
Speaker 20: way the world trades. We are going to integrate into
Speaker 20: the global economy. We have to respond to that. We
Speaker 20: didn't ask for this trade war, but we need to
Speaker 20: respond to this trade war. And that's exactly what we're
Speaker 20: doing by taking our destiny into our hands. A project
Speaker 20: like this is the perfect example. I've been coming to
Speaker 20: Alberta for business for thirty five years. This is the
Speaker 20: most entrepreneurial place in the world. There are more people
Speaker 20: figuring out how to do business around here than anywhere
Speaker 20: else I've ever been.
Speaker 1: This is a can do place.
Speaker 20: And I think you said your motto isn't this is
Speaker 20: just a name, It's an attitude. That is an attitude
Speaker 20: in this province. Because another country decides to disrupt the economy,
Speaker 20: because another country decides to charge for access to their market,
Speaker 20: we're not going to let them slow us down. So
Speaker 20: when you have a project to do that, somebody else's
Speaker 20: actions is causing a disruption. If we can step in
Speaker 20: with a solution that gets that built, so Alberta can
Speaker 20: get on with doing more, and instead of having forty
Speaker 20: companies in the heartland, have sixty companies or eighty companies
Speaker 20: that's what we're going to do.
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