Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to Depictions Media Radio. Welcome to
Speaker 1: Policy and Rights the show. Ups. Welcomer Policy, Human Joy,
Speaker 1: Welcome back to Policy and Race. Here depictions of media Radio.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Michael Clogs. So I got or I
Speaker 1: should say, I've found this real from a person I follow.
Speaker 1: She's here in Canada and she's speaking about something that
Speaker 1: Donald Trump was supposed to write an executive order about
Speaker 1: pharmaceuticals and medication, and he was going to write this
Speaker 1: executive order that would force all the pharmaceutical companies to
Speaker 1: cut their prices to the people of the United States
Speaker 1: by thirty to eighty percent. Okay, there's a couple problems
Speaker 1: with this one. Between the US and Canada that well
Speaker 1: nine of medical research is done between the two countries.
Speaker 1: One of the reasons why between the United States and
Speaker 1: Canada that we have some of the highest races in
Speaker 1: pharmaceuticals out there the rest of the countries. What they
Speaker 1: what what a lot of countries actually do around the world,
Speaker 1: with the exception of the United States, is they the
Speaker 1: government buys the medication and then mass distributes it to
Speaker 1: hospitals and pharmacy and pharmacies. Uh thereafter, Thus forcing the
Speaker 1: pharmaceutical companies to pay a bulk buy an a bulk rate,
Speaker 1: which means that whoever this country is gets a massive
Speaker 1: discount on over and above what Canadians and Americans actually pay. Well,
Speaker 1: the the issue has been for years, who should actually
Speaker 1: be paying for this research and shouldn't some of this,
Speaker 1: the these costs of of of health research be spread
Speaker 1: around the world. Well, while the United States and Canada
Speaker 1: team to team to bear to the back of the
Speaker 1: backbone of that, it has been silently decided that well
Speaker 1: the citizens of the United States and Canada should also
Speaker 1: bear the backbone of the cost of all that research.
Speaker 1: Which case, we usually get the most cutting EDDS research
Speaker 1: in our in our healthcare to to to begin with,
Speaker 1: we get it before anybody else in the world has
Speaker 1: a chance at it. And there are some other reasons
Speaker 1: of government slowdowns and things like that. But let's get
Speaker 1: back to Donald Trump and his executive order. Well, I
Speaker 1: put both posted a comment back to my friend's video.
Speaker 1: They said, well, one, Donald Trump seems to have forgotten
Speaker 1: something and that forgivefulness is that the United States has
Speaker 1: a decentralized federal system. Yes, folks, it is true, Donald
Speaker 1: Trump can rate all the executive orders they want in
Speaker 1: each and every state has the right to ignore each
Speaker 1: and every one of them. Oh but wait, if your
Speaker 1: pharmaceutical company sits inside of a state that has decided
Speaker 1: to ignore that executive order, you know I have to
Speaker 1: pay any attention to it. Kind of interesting that way.
Speaker 1: But when we go all the way back to the
Speaker 1: three men who created the United States the Thirteen Colonies,
Speaker 1: which is Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams, one
Speaker 1: of the biggest issues that they had with the crown
Speaker 1: was how everything had to be centralized. They were at
Speaker 1: the time, it took almost a month to get a
Speaker 1: letter to go back and forth. So Parliament was deciding
Speaker 1: what was happening in the colonies three months months after
Speaker 1: the fact of something actually happening. So they wanted more
Speaker 1: immediate action. Well, one of the ways to get that
Speaker 1: immediate action and to ensure that communication would for a
Speaker 1: particular territory or state would be more efficient, was to
Speaker 1: decentralize the federal government so that each and every state
Speaker 1: could decide on what they needed to do because of
Speaker 1: their own living conditions. Thus, two hundred is some years later,
Speaker 1: mister Donald Trump decided that he is going to write
Speaker 1: an executive order that is broad sweeping and expecting it
Speaker 1: to be forced across the country by his federal minions
Speaker 1: or maga people is unconstitutional. It's unconstitutional because one, it
Speaker 1: is written in the Constitution how each state is supposed
Speaker 1: to decide its own fate based on what is happening
Speaker 1: within that state. Each state has its own conditions, there's
Speaker 1: own living conditions, its own happenings that didn't need to
Speaker 1: be addressed by that state. Okay, so what he's doing
Speaker 1: violates what these three men want in place. And as
Speaker 1: far as parties are concerned, it's like that was the
Speaker 1: beginning of partisanism right there. These three had to figure
Speaker 1: it all out. There were some other things that were
Speaker 1: written into the US Constitution that they want it written
Speaker 1: into the US Constitution and build into the government. That
Speaker 1: would eliminate the US Supreme Court. There wouldn't be have
Speaker 1: There shouldn't have been one, because they didn't want a
Speaker 1: broad court deciding over the fate the entire country each
Speaker 1: without having each individual state being able to decide for itself.
Speaker 1: Mister Trump, if you would have paid attention in physics class,
Speaker 1: and I should say in Civics class. You would have
Speaker 1: known this. You would know that. Oh, that's right. I forgot.
Speaker 1: When Donald Trump is asking about defending the Constitution, He's like,
Speaker 1: I never took an oath to defend the Constitution. So
Speaker 1: he doesn't even know that he has that he's supposed
Speaker 1: to defend the Constitution. He doesn't even acknowledge that really
Speaker 1: did the document actually even exist? So everything I just
Speaker 1: said is moved. Anyway, Let's move on. We're going to
Speaker 1: go back to Canada and uh, we're gonna talk. We're
Speaker 1: gonna hear from two premiers to the top premiers of
Speaker 1: the West, shall we say, mister David eb and Danielle Smith. Uh,
Speaker 1: the premiere of British Columbia and the premiere of Alberta. Okay, Alberta. Hey,
Speaker 1: their resource drilling literally drilling and mining province. That is
Speaker 1: their thing. More specifically with their biggest operation in the
Speaker 1: drilling and mining is the tar Sans, which produces beechamen,
Speaker 1: which is a form of crude oil develop by steam
Speaker 1: blasting the tarzans until the oil is actually released. Okay,
Speaker 1: it does sound like an environmental nightmare. That's what you're thinking, right,
Speaker 1: It is that Alberta releases tons of carbon into the
Speaker 1: air every year. Matter of fact that Danielle Smith and
Speaker 1: her Minister to the Environment have come up with a
Speaker 1: plant that would actually cap off how much carbon each
Speaker 1: company would pay for at about ninety five million tons.
Speaker 1: I believe it was. Let me look that up to
Speaker 1: be certain. Yeah, they're freezing the price at ninety dollars
Speaker 1: per ton of emissions. I've kind of got that wrong.
Speaker 1: Simply simply put that businesses have to be able to
Speaker 1: operate and believe it or not, as far as the
Speaker 1: petroleum itself is concerned, the world actually does need it.
Speaker 1: Everybody concentrates their focus on the petroleum needed to be
Speaker 1: turned into fuel. But one of the biggest uses of gasoline,
Speaker 1: yes I did say gasoline. You know that petroleum mixture
Speaker 1: that we pump into the cars. One of the biggest
Speaker 1: uses for it is actually creating ny lone polyester fibers.
Speaker 1: Next biggest use for it before we even get to
Speaker 1: using it as fuel. Next biggest one is plastic. Different
Speaker 1: types of plastic resins are developed, again using refined petroleum gasoline,
Speaker 1: so that we have the plastics that we need to
Speaker 1: create the things that we have in our society. Yes,
Speaker 1: take a look at your cell phone. The plastic in
Speaker 1: it was developed from gasoline. Thus the tarsands is always
Speaker 1: going to be needed as long as we need to
Speaker 1: keep creating plastic. It doesn't matter if you're going to
Speaker 1: try to recycle it or not. It's going to be there.
Speaker 1: So we need to add, Yes, albert and Nice to
Speaker 1: control their emissions. They need to make sure that the
Speaker 1: companies that are actually doing this work are actually controlling
Speaker 1: their emissions and keeping them down. Yes, absolutely true. And
Speaker 1: if you ask Danielle Smith, he will tell you that
Speaker 1: that is absolutely true. If you ask their their Ministry
Speaker 1: for the Environment, they will again tell you that that
Speaker 1: is absolutely true. It has to has to stay under control.
Speaker 1: But and here's the caveat is it also has they
Speaker 1: have to be able to operate. So there are some
Speaker 1: things that carbon capture technology. Alberta is one of the
Speaker 1: front runners in that carbon technology. If we look at
Speaker 1: China and we look at the sunrise in China, in
Speaker 1: the all day sun in China, you see this literitybitty
Speaker 1: dot like it's a forest fire forever happening. That's the sun.
Speaker 1: If you go to Alberta and you look up in
Speaker 1: the sky you will see bright sunlight, which means that
Speaker 1: these companies are acting responsibly, that they are doing what
Speaker 1: they're supposed to do in order to capture that carbon
Speaker 1: so it doesn't keep getting released into the air. They
Speaker 1: are acting as clean as possible. It's dirty work. Okay,
Speaker 1: so I'm defending the Alberta a little bit. But anyway,
Speaker 1: the folks Alberta, and you're gonna hear more from the
Speaker 1: Minister of the Environment for Alberta as she also explains
Speaker 1: a little bit more about that. So it's dirty work.
Speaker 1: It needs to it needs to be cleaned up. Yes,
Speaker 1: the environment that is left behind for with the tarzans
Speaker 1: does need to be reinhabrable so that, hey we get
Speaker 1: we have trees being able to grow again. All right.
Speaker 1: Next announcement that we're gonna hear from from the western provinces,
Speaker 1: of course, British Columbia, the furthest most western province. And hey,
Speaker 1: you gotta love British Columbia because they also have control
Speaker 1: of a large bit of the seaports that actually help
Speaker 1: traffic goods across Canada. So pretty cool province, uh, Premier
Speaker 1: Mister David Ebe He's making some announcements and what they're doing.
Speaker 1: There is a healthcare crisis in the British Columbia, not
Speaker 1: enough doctors and nurses. Some of that is due to
Speaker 1: due to the fact that there was a big argument
Speaker 1: during COVID over well now all the doctors and nurses
Speaker 1: agreed with the vaccination programs, so they spoke up, they
Speaker 1: got fired and which created even more of a shortfall
Speaker 1: than what there was in British Columbia before the pandemic.
Speaker 1: So now they're trying to catch up. And one of
Speaker 1: those things that they're not going to do is rehire
Speaker 1: those who fought against them about the about the vaccines
Speaker 1: to begin with, there's some pros and cons to that.
Speaker 1: We'll say that for another commentary. But what they are
Speaker 1: looking to do and what and what they're going to
Speaker 1: make an announcement about is is they're looking to hire
Speaker 1: nurses and recruit nurses from the United States to come
Speaker 1: to British Columbia and help shore up that shortfall of nurses.
Speaker 1: Which that's a pretty good program because to become a nurse, well,
Speaker 1: I'm a former engineer and in the nineteen eighties when
Speaker 1: I got my degree, I had a debt load of
Speaker 1: over a quarter of a million dollars for it. So
Speaker 1: nursing is a science degree, and like all other science degrees,
Speaker 1: it comes with a boatload of debt. And so recruiting
Speaker 1: nurses from the United States and offering them a way
Speaker 1: to get a job right away so that they can
Speaker 1: start paying off that huge amount of debt is a
Speaker 1: great idea. So we're gonna hear hear that. And we're
Speaker 1: also going to hear from a nurse from the United
Speaker 1: States as she's talking about some of the benefits that
Speaker 1: it would have to both the United States nursing programs
Speaker 1: as well as British Columbia healthcare system, that there would
Speaker 1: be a larger supply of nurses to come in. The
Speaker 1: next thing, I would hope to see that they would
Speaker 1: do the same thing for doctors to get more people
Speaker 1: into the system. And let's face it, the way things
Speaker 1: are going with the United States and Donald Trump, who
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to understand the do no harm of the
Speaker 1: hippocratic o, and it keeps putting up walls and rope
Speaker 1: blocks that would disable the doctor to stop from doing harm.
Speaker 1: They would leave doctors facing criminal charges for issues around
Speaker 1: women's healthcare, especially First Columby is a great place. Come on, guys,
Speaker 1: come up here, be a real doctor, be a real nurse,
Speaker 1: really help people, be on the cutting edge, and welcome
Speaker 1: to Canada. So anyway, let's go ahead and listen to
Speaker 1: what both premiers and their guests actually had to say
Speaker 1: as they make the announcements about hey, finding finding a
Speaker 1: new new source for nurses from the United States and
Speaker 1: ensuring that the environment of Canada stays as clean as possible.
Speaker 2: Good morning, everyone, and thank you so much for joining
Speaker 2: us today.
Speaker 3: My name is Sizzy Chanton.
Speaker 2: I'm BC's Parliamentary Secretary for Senior Services and Long Term Care,
Speaker 2: and before we begin this morning, I would like to
Speaker 2: acknowledge with respect the history, customs and culture of the
Speaker 2: Lacongan people known today as the song Gees and as
Speaker 2: Quimalt nations on whose traditional lands and home we meet today.
Speaker 2: It's great to see so many people here in support
Speaker 2: of today's announcement, and I'd like to take a moment
Speaker 2: to introduce our special guest today, David Ebe, Premier of BC,
Speaker 2: Josie Osborne, Minister of Health, Rachel Taylor's Rachel Smith Taylor,
Speaker 2: nurse from who is joining us today virtually Louise Ertz,
Speaker 2: acting Registrar and CEO, and the BC College of Nurses
Speaker 2: and Midwives, Doctor Melissa Duff, the Family Physician Board Chair,
Speaker 2: Victoria Division of Family Practice. I also note that Minister
Speaker 2: Gibson and Mayor also are here in our group. So
Speaker 2: without further ado, I would like to invite Premier David
Speaker 2: eb to the podium to make an exciting announcement.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Thanks Susie.
Speaker 4: It's great to see everybody, and really nice to see you,
Speaker 4: Mayor Alto, and congratulations to Victoria for such a beautiful
Speaker 4: clinic here supporting so many people. Mister Osborne will be
Speaker 4: going into some detail about the clinic, but I just
Speaker 4: want to congratulate everyone who's involved in this. Doors opened
Speaker 4: about a year ago and they provide critical TEAMV team
Speaker 4: based care supporting family physicians in delivering care to British Columbians.
Speaker 4: Really glad for the work that happens here. What I
Speaker 4: am going to speak to about, though, is something a
Speaker 4: little bit different. It's about how we get the doctors
Speaker 4: and nurses to be able to staff places like this.
Speaker 4: Hospitals and healthcare sites across the province and one of
Speaker 4: the big opportunities that we've seen is recruiting health professionals
Speaker 4: from the United States. The uncertainty that's currently a president
Speaker 4: in the United States related to the Trump administration presents
Speaker 4: a significant opportunity for British Columbia in an array of
Speaker 4: areas to recruit Americans, but particularly in the healthcare sector.
Speaker 4: We believe that by recruiting American healthcare workers into our system,
Speaker 4: they're able to hit the ground running with their experience
Speaker 4: and a system that's very similar to ours, and they'll
Speaker 4: help less in our goal of delivering more care to
Speaker 4: more British Columbians faster. Now. Some of the factors that
Speaker 4: are driving increased interest in British Columbia that we're seeing include,
Speaker 4: we believe our commitment and our support for science and
Speaker 4: the evidence that science directs us to around everything from
Speaker 4: healthcare to climate change. That we are jurisdiction that respects
Speaker 4: reproductive rights and acts to protect reproductive rights for British Columbians,
Speaker 4: and then we take care of people regardless of how
Speaker 4: much money they have through our universal public healthcare system.
Speaker 4: So these are proud and competitive advantages for us, and
Speaker 4: it is driving interest from American healthcare professionals, and we
Speaker 4: have some increased evidence for that. Just in early April,
Speaker 4: we made significant changes to how American trained nurses are
Speaker 4: able to get to work in British Columbia, cutting the
Speaker 4: weight for nurses from up to four months to a
Speaker 4: matter of days being able to get to work here
Speaker 4: in the province. Since that early April implementation date, we
Speaker 4: have seen some significant impacts. Applications from US trained nurses
Speaker 4: to British Columbia are up one hundred and twenty seven percent.
Speaker 4: One hundred and seventy seven nurses have applied since the
Speaker 4: implementation of this new program, and one hundred and thirteen
Speaker 4: have been granted registrations already. Since March, just before the
Speaker 4: implementation of this new program, we've had twelve hundred doctors, nurses,
Speaker 4: and allied health professionals that have expressed interest in working
Speaker 4: in British Columbia. It could be attending a webinar or
Speaker 4: accessing information about how to apply to work here. We're
Speaker 4: going to continue to ramp up these recruitment efforts, including
Speaker 4: direct ad campaigns down the West coast of the United
Speaker 4: States through Oregon, Washington, and select cities in California. Our
Speaker 4: goal is to ensure that we're not missing this opportunity
Speaker 4: to ensure that we're strengthening our healthcare system for all
Speaker 4: British Columbians. This recent development in relation to nurses builds
Speaker 4: on work that we've already done to recruit internationally trained
Speaker 4: health professionals. We have recruited over nineteen hundred international medical
Speaker 4: graduates that have registered in the province between January twenty
Speaker 4: twenty three to April twenty twenty five, and over sixteen
Speaker 4: hundred internationally educated nurses have registered from January twenty twenty
Speaker 4: three to the end of last year. Over the last
Speaker 4: two years, we've added one thousand new family doctors, connecting
Speaker 4: hundreds of thousands of British Columbians to the primary care
Speaker 4: that they need. Now, we know there's a lot more
Speaker 4: to do, but we also know that there's an opportunity
Speaker 4: here to really ensure that people get the care that
Speaker 4: they need. We're continuing our efforts to recruit and retain
Speaker 4: and train healthcare professionals, including at the new Medical School
Speaker 4: at SFU Surrey. My message to Americans who are watching this,
Speaker 4: it's very straightforward. In British Columbia, you will be valued,
Speaker 4: your principles will be respected, and you will have the
Speaker 4: opportunity to provide care to people, not based on how
Speaker 4: much they earn, but based on the level of care
Speaker 4: that they need. You will be part of building healthy
Speaker 4: communities in the best place on Earth, and you are
Speaker 4: very welcome here. I say, just briefly, President Trump's loss
Speaker 4: is British Columbia's gain. With that, I'm going to pass
Speaker 4: things back to Parlimentary Secretary Chant.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Premiere Ebe. What an amazing way to commemorate
Speaker 2: National Nursing Week.
Speaker 3: And International Nurses Day.
Speaker 2: As a registered nurse myself, I know the dedication and
Speaker 2: invaluable contributions that nurses bring to our healthcare system, and
Speaker 2: I'm thrilled to see that all the US trained and
Speaker 2: certified nurses, nurse practitioners, doctors and aled health workers that
Speaker 2: are interested in coming to British Columbia. Next, I'd like
Speaker 2: to invite Minister Josie Osborne to the podium.
Speaker 5: Thank you so much, Susie. Thank you to everybody for
Speaker 5: having us in this beautiful space. It's great to see
Speaker 5: everybody out with us, and I totally agree with Susie,
Speaker 5: this is a terrific announcement to be talking about during
Speaker 5: National Nurse Week and International Nurses Day. So you've heard
Speaker 5: from Premiere EB about the progress that we've made even
Speaker 5: in this past month since April fourth, and it's so
Speaker 5: exciting to see. Streamlining the registration process is indeed going
Speaker 5: to help us strengthen our publicly funded healthcare system here
Speaker 5: in BC. And like Premier EB said, what used to
Speaker 5: take on average four months is now done in just.
Speaker 6: A few days.
Speaker 5: Having a US based nurse come to British Columbia and
Speaker 5: receive the license to be able to practice here. It's
Speaker 5: a huge win for all of the nurses out there
Speaker 5: who've been dreaming of building a.
Speaker 6: Life here in BC. And it's a huge win.
Speaker 5: For patients and communities across British Columbia as well. But
Speaker 5: it's not all. We are working closely with health authorities,
Speaker 5: with the regulatory colleges, with health Match BC and other partners,
Speaker 5: with a real team BC approach to this. We're going
Speaker 5: to support U trained healthcare providers through a dedicated set
Speaker 5: of webinars, a place where they can learn more about
Speaker 5: living and practicing in BC, the steps that people need
Speaker 5: to take to move here, to live here, to raise
Speaker 5: their families here and be part of our public healthcare system.
Speaker 5: So we are guiding them step by step, and that
Speaker 5: means credentialing and immigration, and it's so important that they
Speaker 5: feel welcomed and supported in every step of that process.
Speaker 5: We're soon launching a marketing campaign and we will be
Speaker 5: marketing in Washington and Oregon and California, letting people know
Speaker 5: about what the opportunities are here in BC. And this
Speaker 5: is just the kind of bold and solutions based actions
Speaker 5: that our province is taking, and we're really proud to
Speaker 5: be leading the way. For the nurses who arrive here
Speaker 5: in British Columbia. The opportunities are just tremendous. They are
Speaker 5: able to care for patients throughout our province and in
Speaker 5: a really wide variety of settings, so whether it's a
Speaker 5: hospital or long term care home or health clinic. One
Speaker 5: example is where we're standing right now, and that's the
Speaker 5: Victoria Primary Care Network Allied Health Center, a center which
Speaker 5: opened in this location on April twenty fourth. It is
Speaker 5: a terrific example of our team based primary care strategy
Speaker 5: which we launched in twenty eighteen for healthcare professionals here
Speaker 5: in Victoria who are part of the Victoria Primary Care Network.
Speaker 5: It means they are part of a team where they
Speaker 5: can use their skills to provide the highest level of
Speaker 5: care to people.
Speaker 3: In the region.
Speaker 5: For patients, it means a more comprehensive and wrap around
Speaker 5: a set of healthcare supports, better support for these people.
Speaker 5: It is very clear to us that US professionals are
Speaker 5: looking for something better and here in British Columbia we
Speaker 5: are offering just that. So together, it's part of building
Speaker 5: a better healthcare future and we can't wait for all
Speaker 5: the nurses out there to be a part of it.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, back Team City, Thank you so much,
Speaker 2: Minister Osborne. The TMBC approach that we've been taking is
Speaker 2: so important because it leverages the expertise of everyone so
Speaker 2: we can better support the healthcare workers who've made the
Speaker 2: decision to move over here. Nurses will be supported from licensing,
Speaker 2: through immigration and recruitment. Thank you to Premier eb and
Speaker 2: Minister Osborne for their leadership in these bold efforts. To
Speaker 2: talk a little bit more from a nurse's perspective, we
Speaker 2: have Rachel Smith Taylor joining us from the US via zoom.
Speaker 7: Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for the opportunity to
Speaker 7: share my experience. Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting Nanaimo,
Speaker 7: British Columbia, where I was deeply moved by the community's
Speaker 7: warmth and hospitality. From the moment we arrived. Locals eagerly
Speaker 7: welcomed us, offering to show us around, showing us sites
Speaker 7: about the area, and even providing rights to me and
Speaker 7: my partner while we were there. The staff at Nanaimo
Speaker 7: Regional medic Regional General Hospital were equally gracious, offering us
Speaker 7: informed tours and sharing their dedication to their patient care.
Speaker 7: The experience reinforced my aspiration to contribute to Canada's healthcare system.
Speaker 7: As a registered nurse and as an internationally educated nurse
Speaker 7: from the United States, I'm actively pursuing licensure through the
Speaker 7: British Columbia College of Nurses and Midwives. I'm encouraged by
Speaker 7: the province's initiatives to streamline this process, including the financial
Speaker 7: support for credentialing assessments and bridging programs. My goal is
Speaker 7: to bring skills and dedication to British Columbia's health care sector,
Speaker 7: supporting communities like Nanaimo, and I look forward to the
Speaker 7: opportunity to serve and grow within Canada's dynamic health care environment,
Speaker 7: and I am deeply blessed to have had this opportunity
Speaker 7: to share my experience with you all.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Rachel. I'm so happy to see
Speaker 2: your excitement to come and work in our province. Next,
Speaker 2: I'd like to invite Louise Ertz to the podium.
Speaker 8: Thank you, Parliamentary Secretary, and thank you to Minister Osborne
Speaker 8: for inviting me to this great event. It's also wonderful
Speaker 8: to have Premier MeV with us today. I'd like to
Speaker 8: begin by respectfully acknowledging the land on which we gather
Speaker 8: as the traditional territory of the Lagonkans people known today
Speaker 8: as the Esquimalt and Song these nations. I give thanks
Speaker 8: to this territory and recognize that the laws, governance and
Speaker 8: medicines of these lands and waters have existed here for
Speaker 8: over nine thousand years. As a representative for a provincial regulator,
Speaker 8: I also acknowledge and affirm the inherent rights to health
Speaker 8: and wellness held by all First Nations, Innui and Mayti people.
Speaker 8: BCCNM has worked collaboratively with the government and other partners
Speaker 8: for several years now to improve the application process for
Speaker 8: internationally educated nurses. It's a complex process, but in this case,
Speaker 8: a simple solution has created a big impact. By focusing
Speaker 8: on the similarities between nursing in Canada and the US,
Speaker 8: things like education, scope of practice, regulatory exams, and by
Speaker 8: leveraging an existing system, we've streamlined the application process for
Speaker 8: American nurses without sacrificing patient safety. Before this, we needed
Speaker 8: other nursing regulators and credentialing agencies to confirm a US
Speaker 8: nurse's registration history and education, which often resulted in delays.
Speaker 8: But through collaboration with our US counterparts, we can now
Speaker 8: confirm this information through nurses a licensure database that gives
Speaker 8: us the information we need when we need it. This
Speaker 8: change has expedited registration decisions as has been shared, but
Speaker 8: maintains the safeguards to ensure that a nurse can practice
Speaker 8: safely and competently. In BC. It's a win for applicants
Speaker 8: and for British Columbia. I'd like to thank the Ministry
Speaker 8: for their partnership in this important work and we look
Speaker 8: forward to continuing to collaborate ensuring we have a strong,
Speaker 8: competent nursing workforce in BC.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Louise, and thank you to the
Speaker 2: BC College of Nurses and Midwives for making it easier
Speaker 2: and faster for registered nurses, trained and certified in the
Speaker 2: US to come to our beautiful province. This is very
Speaker 2: important work and I'm happy to hear that it's already
Speaker 2: bringing results. Next, I would like to invite doctor Melissa
Speaker 2: Duff to speak about this great place where we are today,
Speaker 2: the Victoria Primary Care Network Allied Health Center.
Speaker 9: Thank you, good afternoon everyone on behalf of the Victoria
Speaker 9: Division of FE Family Practice Board. I'm excited to see
Speaker 9: the upgraded Victoria Primary Care Network Allied Health Center fully operational.
Speaker 9: This is more than just a building. It's a game changer.
Speaker 9: It secures and expands access to culturally sensitive, patient centered
Speaker 9: team based care for years to come, and that matters
Speaker 9: a lot for two key reasons. First, physician led team
Speaker 9: based care is the future for better patient health outcomes.
Speaker 9: It helps more patients get the support they need more
Speaker 9: quickly from the clinician best equipped to help. And second,
Speaker 9: team based care increases the number of family physicians in
Speaker 9: our community. It allows family doctors to focus on what
Speaker 9: we do best, delivering high quality, relationship based medical care.
Speaker 9: This kind of work setting attracts new family doctors and
Speaker 9: most importantly, it helps them stay. This upgraded center expands
Speaker 9: access to team based care by accommodating and attract acting
Speaker 9: the Allied Health professionals we need on the Victoria Primary
Speaker 9: Care Network team. It's a big win for patients, physicians, clinicians, and.
Speaker 6: Our entire community.
Speaker 9: We're deeply grateful to everyone who helped bring our shared
Speaker 9: vision of sustainable team based care to life. This milestone
Speaker 9: is a testament to the power of physician led innovation
Speaker 9: within a strong community of practice, all made possible through
Speaker 9: meaningful partnerships and trusted community relationships. We look forward to
Speaker 9: continuing to work together to advance primary care in Victoria.
Speaker 7: Thank you, Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2: Wonderful applause, and thank you doctor Duff, and thank you
Speaker 2: so much for hosting us in this beautiful health center.
Speaker 2: The expanded Allied Health Center strengthens team based care and
Speaker 2: is tailored.
Speaker 3: To the needs of the community.
Speaker 2: This is a win for our medical professionals who can
Speaker 2: do the job that they are best trained for, and
Speaker 2: for the patients in their communities. Thank you to everyone
Speaker 2: for joining us today and Premier Ebe and Minister Osborne
Speaker 2: will now take questions.
Speaker 10: Thank you to everyone for joining us today. Just a
Speaker 10: reminder to all reporters on the line to press Star
Speaker 10: one to enter the key. We're going to start with
Speaker 10: one question in one follow up from reporters in the room,
Speaker 10: Richard Sussman, Global News.
Speaker 11: Premier, you've mentioned the number of people who have shown
Speaker 11: interest in coming to British Columbia. Do you have any
Speaker 11: numbers on exactly how many Americans have been hired so
Speaker 11: far to work in our system? And have there been
Speaker 11: any concerns raised about salary matching. A lot's been made
Speaker 11: that in the US healthcare system, a for profit system,
Speaker 11: that doctors and nurses can often make more money than
Speaker 11: they would make here, especially with the dollar. Have there
Speaker 11: been any concerns raised around ensuring that you can find
Speaker 11: a salary that works.
Speaker 4: Thanks Richard, We have someone that has specific numbers in
Speaker 4: the Okay, we'll have to get you those specific numbers, Richard.
Speaker 4: On the number of Americans in the system. The numbers
Speaker 4: that we have are for people who have applied to
Speaker 4: be able to practice here. Since the big changes in
Speaker 4: April which I've indicated are up one hundred and twenty
Speaker 4: seven percent over her previous numbers. The overall interest that
Speaker 4: we're seeing from Americans coming to practice in British Columbia
Speaker 4: is the ability to practice in universal healthcare system, the
Speaker 4: ability to match lifestyle that they're looking for in more
Speaker 4: rural communities, often an outdoor lifestyle. When I was in
Speaker 4: Grand Forks, one of the big attractors for healthcare workers
Speaker 4: to come to work in Grand Forks was mountain biking,
Speaker 4: for example, and skiing and other types of lifestyle attractions
Speaker 4: here in British Columbia. And so what we're seeing is
Speaker 4: Americans making that decision about how to balance the life
Speaker 4: that they want to live and where they want to
Speaker 4: live with the work that they do and the impact
Speaker 4: they have in community. And for many Americans, the balance
Speaker 4: is coming up that they want to move to British Columbia.
Speaker 10: Do you have a follow up?
Speaker 11: Prime Minister Carney will be unveiling a cabinet tomorrow morning.
Speaker 11: He's probably already made his selections. But if you were
Speaker 11: to give him advice, what would you like to see
Speaker 11: on behalf of British Columbians.
Speaker 4: Well, it's certainly an important, critical job of the Prime
Speaker 4: Minister to choose a cabinet that's going to advance his agenda.
Speaker 4: For British Columbia's agenda. What we see is that our
Speaker 4: province has the capacity to be the economic engine for Canada,
Speaker 4: for the vision that the Prime Minister has of a
Speaker 4: Canada that stands on our own two feet, that's less
Speaker 4: dependent on the United States. You know, our ports phase
Speaker 4: two thirds of the world's population. We have the critical minerals,
Speaker 4: we have the energy that can really drive this. We
Speaker 4: have the cheap electricity and the clean low carbon products
Speaker 4: the world is looking for, and we have amazing people here.
Speaker 4: The critical piece for us is that there are cabinet
Speaker 4: ministers around the table who understand that, who are coming
Speaker 4: from British Columbia, who understand both the challenges and the
Speaker 4: opportunities that this province represents, and will enable the Prime
Speaker 4: Minister to realize his vision by seeing and understanding how
Speaker 4: critical British Columbia to that vision of Canada.
Speaker 10: Katie DeRosa, CBC.
Speaker 12: You said the registration process is now down to four days,
Speaker 12: But what's the timeline for when those nurses and doctors
Speaker 12: would actually arrive and why does the pressurelease largely focuses
Speaker 12: on the number of nurses, but is it not the
Speaker 12: same for physicians. It seems like there's less focus on
Speaker 12: physicians or are you having less traction on that side.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Well, today's announcement is about the work that we've
Speaker 4: done with the College of Nurses and Midwives to be
Speaker 4: able to accelerate that process for registered nurses and other
Speaker 4: types of nurses in the province, and work that they've
Speaker 4: done around triple tracking so you can be assessed about
Speaker 4: being a registered nurse and an LPN and a healthcare
Speaker 4: assistant assists with international nurses. But the work that's really
Speaker 4: showing the traction is this fast tracking around Americans. Because
Speaker 4: of the very similar system. We're doing similar work with
Speaker 4: the College of Physicians and Surgeons. We're going to have
Speaker 4: more to share about that work that we've been doing
Speaker 4: with the College separate from today's announcement. I don't know
Speaker 4: if the Minister has anything specifical she wants to add
Speaker 4: about that in terms of I don't know if our
Speaker 4: representative from the College has anking to share about the
Speaker 4: actual experience of nurses coming up and when they get
Speaker 4: to work versus when they register. I don't know you're
Speaker 4: able to Okay, I mean really, once you're registered, you're
Speaker 4: able to practice here in British Columbia, and so that
Speaker 4: just means the only decisions you have to make is
Speaker 4: where you're going to work and how to get yourself
Speaker 4: and your family up here.
Speaker 13: Well, good morning everyone, and thank you for joining us.
Speaker 13: I'm here today with the Minister of Environment and Protected Areas,
Speaker 13: Rebecca Schultz, to talk about our important step Alberta is
Speaker 13: taking to protect our province's economy and help our businesses
Speaker 13: stay competitive. The current tariffs being imposed by the United
Speaker 13: States are increasing costs, disrupting supply chains, and creating uncertainty
Speaker 13: for industry, making it challenging to operate efficiently and stay
Speaker 13: globally competitive. Our government is committed to supporting Alberta businesses
Speaker 13: and industry and doing everything we can to ensure they
Speaker 13: remain competitive across global markets. We will continue to take
Speaker 13: action to make Alberta one of the most business friendly
Speaker 13: jurisdictions in North America by removing burdensome red tape, eliminating
Speaker 13: unnecessary regulations, and keeping taxes low. Our industry from energy
Speaker 13: to agriculture not only empower our economy, but the wealth
Speaker 13: that they generate allows us to provide Alberta's with the
Speaker 13: essential services they rely on, from healthcare to education. That's
Speaker 13: why it's so important that we listen to industry concerns
Speaker 13: and help develop a business environment where they can thrive.
Speaker 13: And what we have heard from industry is that any
Speaker 13: further increases to the industrial carbon tax past one hundred
Speaker 13: dollars per ton would be detrimental to their businesses and
Speaker 13: would diminish their competitiveness in the market. As why today
Speaker 13: we're announcing that, effective immediately, Alberta is freezing the industrial
Speaker 13: carbon tax under Alberta's Technology and Innovation Emissions Reduction System
Speaker 13: or TIER, at ninety five dollars per ton of emissions.
Speaker 13: This price was set to increase to one hundred and
Speaker 13: ten dollars per ton next year and continue increasing to
Speaker 13: one hundred and seventy dollars per ton by twenty thirty. Now,
Speaker 13: let me be clear, Alberta remains committed to reducing emissions
Speaker 13: through the development and implementation of new technologies, not unrealistically
Speaker 13: high taxes, while responsibly powering the world for decades to come.
Speaker 13: Alberta's Industrial Carbon Tax system TIER has been in place
Speaker 13: since two thousand and seven. Our approach has reduced emissions
Speaker 13: in intensity by over twenty two percent and reduced overall
Speaker 13: emissions by an estimated seven point two percent while production
Speaker 13: increased by ninety percent.
Speaker 3: We have a reasonable system in place that's.
Speaker 13: Working, but any additional increases passed one hundred dollars per
Speaker 13: ton will wipe out any of the benefits we've seen.
Speaker 13: That means fewer jobs for Alberton's, less revenue to invest
Speaker 13: in our public services, and decreased innovation across our industries.
Speaker 13: But instead of supporting our industry, Ottawa wants to increase
Speaker 13: their industrial carbon tax to one hundred and seventy dollars
Speaker 13: per ton by twenty thirty. Now, if industry told us
Speaker 13: that any increase passed one hundred dollars per ton would
Speaker 13: be harmful, you can imagine what one hundred and seventy
Speaker 13: dollars ton industrial carbon tax would do to our industry.
Speaker 13: That would be devastating to Alberta's economy. This is yet
Speaker 13: another example of Ottawa overstepping into our provincial jurisdiction with
Speaker 13: reckless policies that damage our industry. This is on top
Speaker 13: of the anti industry and antidevelopment policies passed by Liberal
Speaker 13: and NDP politicians in Ottawa to cat production landlock Alberta's resources,
Speaker 13: destroy our reliable and affordable electricity grid, and ultimately to
Speaker 13: put Alberton's out of work and ruin our economy. With
Speaker 13: the change in government south of the border, it is
Speaker 13: essential that we have a reasonable carbon pricing system, not
Speaker 13: one that will price our industries out of global markets.
Speaker 13: By freezing Alberta's industrial carbon price, we are acting in
Speaker 13: the best interest of all Alburtons. We are providing certainty,
Speaker 13: stability and economic relief to the businesses that contribute so
Speaker 13: much to all of Canada, and we are supporting the
Speaker 13: energy producers whose expertise and innovation are quite literally shaping
Speaker 13: the world's energy future. But this freeze doesn't just benefit
Speaker 13: our energy industry. It's also agriculture, forestry, petrochemicals, and other
Speaker 13: industries that make the products the world needs, that contribute
Speaker 13: so much to our economy and create jobs that enable
Speaker 13: hard working Albertons to provide for their families.
Speaker 3: We will stand up for.
Speaker 13: Our province, support our industries, and protect Alberta's Alberton's livelihoods,
Speaker 13: but make no mistake. Our government will always do what
Speaker 13: is right for Alberta no matter what Ottawa says. Thank you,
Speaker 13: and I'll turn it over to Minister Rebecca Schultz to
Speaker 13: provide more details.
Speaker 14: Thank you very much, Premier. The world wants our energy
Speaker 14: and resources. Energy demand is soaring and countries around the
Speaker 14: world are seeking the petrochemicals, minerals, timber and other products
Speaker 14: that we produce every single day. But for the past
Speaker 14: ten years, our province has faced a tidal wave of
Speaker 14: anti energy, anti agriculture, and anti resource policies from the
Speaker 14: federal government. They've added costs, increased delays, and effectively hung
Speaker 14: a close for business sign on Canada's door, whether for LNG,
Speaker 14: oil and natural gas, or the many other resources that
Speaker 14: we are blessed with. For years, this environmental agenda from
Speaker 14: Ottawa was telling Canadians and Albertans that if they just
Speaker 14: paid more in taxes and punitive regulations, the tradeoff would
Speaker 14: be that we're reducing global emissions and helping the environment.
Speaker 14: Somehow we would be better off as a Canadian economy. Instead,
Speaker 14: this federal platform delivered a stalled economy and increased costs
Speaker 14: for everyday Canadians and Canadians have started to ask why
Speaker 14: while the entirety of our country contributes just one point
Speaker 14: five percent of global emissions, and yet it wasn't too
Speaker 14: long ago when we were paying over thirty four percent
Speaker 14: of the entire world carbon taxes because of this approach,
Speaker 14: the largest share of any country. As Premier has mentioned
Speaker 14: many times, it has been a litany of antidevelopment policy
Speaker 14: that's only made us a less attractive place to invest
Speaker 14: and sent that capital elsewhere. It's been a long time
Speaker 14: for Canada to focus on It's been long time for
Speaker 14: Canada to focus on a common sense approach like we've
Speaker 14: done through our tier system here in Alberta.
Speaker 6: Of course, the tariffs.
Speaker 14: Imposed by the potential tariffs imposed by the United States
Speaker 14: are making it even harder for Alberta industries to compete
Speaker 14: and expand costs. Arising materials are harder to get and
Speaker 14: more expensive when they arrive. Supply chains, of course, are
Speaker 14: less predictable, and we are already seeing the impacts companies
Speaker 14: are delaying hiring, pausing investment, or pushing major capital spending
Speaker 14: into the future during tough times. Competitiveness is the difference
Speaker 14: maker our industries, whether they drill mind, manufacture, process or
Speaker 14: build are among the best and most productive in the world.
Speaker 14: Cannot risk falling behind, and we cannot continue to put
Speaker 14: jobs in our economy at risk with the uncertainty of
Speaker 14: US tariffs coupled with ideological policy. Over the past months,
Speaker 14: we have been engaging with industry on the future of
Speaker 14: our tier program. We know that regulation is up in
Speaker 14: twenty twenty six and we wanted to hear how industry
Speaker 14: felt about what's working well and what presents a challenge. Certainly,
Speaker 14: concerns were raised about the impacts of a carbon price
Speaker 14: reaching over one hundred dollars per ton. That is why
Speaker 14: effective immediately, we're freezing the industrial carbon price. This will
Speaker 14: provide a stable, predictable and effective environment for companies to
Speaker 14: operate and remain competitive. It will also benefit sectors across
Speaker 14: the economy, including agriculture, forestry and manufacturing, helping reduce costs,
Speaker 14: grow industries.
Speaker 6: And of course keep Elburton's working.
Speaker 14: We're keeping Alberta competitive, standing up for our workers or
Speaker 14: industries and our economy. We are absolutely a leader when
Speaker 14: it comes to energy and resource development, but also when
Speaker 14: it comes to emissions reductions. This is our jurisdiction not Autawa's.
Speaker 14: And if the federal government wants to work together to
Speaker 14: keep our economy strong, respect the constitution and do the
Speaker 14: right thing for the environment, they can follow the path
Speaker 14: forward that has been outlined by the Premiere over the
Speaker 14: last couple of weeks. Thank you, and we are happy
Speaker 14: to answer any questions that you may have.
Speaker 15: Awesome, Sure, we'll start off here with questions on the floor.
Speaker 15: Of course, one question one fall up before making our
Speaker 15: way to the phones, and i'll see you show of
Speaker 15: hands from the room. We'll start off with Janet, then
Speaker 15: go to Shay.
Speaker 1: Our question for the Premier.
Speaker 16: So previously you'd said that you couldn't comment or presuppose
Speaker 16: any potential referendum question put to the populace. The Alberta
Speaker 16: Prosperity Project this morning released the question that they intend
Speaker 16: to move forward with, which is do you agree that
Speaker 16: the Province of Alberta shall become a sovereign country and
Speaker 16: cease to be a province of Canada. And so they're
Speaker 16: waiting until they can get about six hundred thousand matures
Speaker 16: before pushing forward with the petition.
Speaker 1: So, if any.
Speaker 17: Referendum question has to respect.
Speaker 16: The treatise, would you be willing to put that question
Speaker 16: on a ballid to.
Speaker 13: Alvertens well, As I mentioned, there is a citizen initiated process.
Speaker 13: Having people sign up on a website saying that they
Speaker 13: will ultimately sign a petition is one thing. Getting the
Speaker 13: physical signatures signed up is another. That's why we have
Speaker 13: to wait for the process to play out. We haven't
Speaker 13: yet passed the legislation, and so as the legislation passes,
Speaker 13: it will be pretty clear what the timeframes are. I
Speaker 13: know that there are several groups out there that are
Speaker 13: proposing different timelines different questions, and so I'll wait to
Speaker 13: see which one garners enough signatures and actually gets a
Speaker 13: petition campaign going before I would comment on that. But
Speaker 13: I've made my position clear. I support a sovereign Alberta
Speaker 13: with any United Canada, and it's my job to see
Speaker 13: if we can get a new deal with Ottawa so
Speaker 13: that I can convince more Elbertons to feel the same.
Speaker 16: Whose job is it to determine whether or not a
Speaker 16: question being put to Alburton's is constitutional or respects the Charter?
Speaker 16: Is it the government's job to say we don't.
Speaker 1: Think that's a legal question.
Speaker 16: Is it elections Alberta's job.
Speaker 13: Well, I think it was the Supreme Court's job, and
Speaker 13: so the Supreme Court and their Clarity Act gave some
Speaker 13: pretty clear ideas about what you needed to do, which
Speaker 13: prompts a negotiation if something like that was ever to
Speaker 13: be successful. So I think that the Clarity Act and
Speaker 13: the constitutional or the court discussion around it gives a
Speaker 13: pretty clear path that wasn't just to apply to one province.
Speaker 13: So I think that no one's asking these questions in Quebec,
Speaker 13: even though they do have the party in Quebecco up
Speaker 13: pulling higher than anyone else and they've just elected twenty
Speaker 13: four separatist MPs. So I think that perhaps maybe talking
Speaker 13: to some of the scholars in Quebec, because they've obviously
Speaker 13: worked through that and they're much further ahead in the
Speaker 13: discussion than any other region.
Speaker 15: Awesome, and we'll go to Shay and then Jackie's kind
Speaker 15: of epibility next.
Speaker 9: Go ahead.
Speaker 6: Thank you so much for doing.
Speaker 9: Your questions for the premiere.
Speaker 18: We've heard you talked to earlier today about economic stability
Speaker 18: and relief. I've heard from some economists who say that
Speaker 18: any plan for Alberta to separate from Canada is not
Speaker 18: economically viable. And they fear that investment would flee from
Speaker 18: this province as a result of that instability. I know
Speaker 18: you said that your government is not putting forward this
Speaker 18: referendum yourself, but you are leaving the door open. So
Speaker 18: are you risking economic stability by.
Speaker 13: Jamizel well we as I said, we support citizen initiated referenda.
Speaker 13: The whole purpose is to see have a process for
Speaker 13: citizens to be able to put those questions forward. I
Speaker 13: would say that would be a question for any of
Speaker 13: the groups that are leading that because we aren't. We're
Speaker 13: leading the effort to have a strong and sovereign Alberta
Speaker 13: within the United Canada, and that.
Speaker 3: Will be what I would be advocating for.
Speaker 18: But by lowering the threshold, you're leaving the door open.
Speaker 18: And you yourself acknowledged talking with Bashi Capello's last week
Speaker 18: that you needed to provide an outlet or also could
Speaker 18: create a new party.
Speaker 5: So therefore, I guess are you.
Speaker 18: Worried about fractures within your own part As a result
Speaker 18: of this, we're seeing new groups, whether it's the albert
Speaker 18: Prosperity or the Republicans, saying that they're hearing a lot
Speaker 18: of support on this I.
Speaker 13: Think single issues should be put on a single question
Speaker 13: on a ballot if citizens want it to be. Our
Speaker 13: political party has dozens, if not hundreds of policies, and
Speaker 13: so I don't intend for the United Conservative Party to
Speaker 13: become a single issue party. We intend to continue to
Speaker 13: support their founding documents, which that we are supporting constitutional
Speaker 13: sovereignty within the United Canada. So once again, I think
Speaker 13: that those questions are for the various groups that are
Speaker 13: putting forward the referendum questions.
Speaker 15: Then we'll go to Jack. Then we'll take a couple
Speaker 15: from the phones before coming back.
Speaker 1: To the room.
Speaker 19: Jack wrote with the Canadian Press, how long is the
Speaker 19: three us going.
Speaker 13: To be in place?
Speaker 20: Work?
Speaker 1: For now?
Speaker 6: It's indefinite.
Speaker 14: The point is is that when we went out to
Speaker 14: talk to industry the carbon tax. Of course, industry is
Speaker 14: feeling the pinch right now. We are in an agreement
Speaker 14: with the federal government to ensure that we can continue
Speaker 14: to manage this on behalf of Alberta industry. But the
Speaker 14: price going above one hundred dollars does make us wildly uncompetitive,
Speaker 14: which is not a common sense approach at a time
Speaker 14: like this, where the threats from outside our borders are
Speaker 14: so great, and the world is looking for Canadian energy
Speaker 14: right now, for energy security, energy affordability, and of course
Speaker 14: to meet their environmental goals. So right now we are
Speaker 14: implementing this freeze and definitely it will likely, as Premier
Speaker 14: said in her speaking notes, spark a conversation with the
Speaker 14: federal government. We're hoping that, just as we heard a
Speaker 14: message about economic growth and nation building throughout the campaign,
Speaker 14: that this Liberal government is going to take a different
Speaker 14: approach when it comes to energy production and emissions policy.
Speaker 19: And then as a fall up to that, if I'm
Speaker 19: not mistaken, like the escalating price was the point of
Speaker 19: carbon tax schemes, right, Like you're supposed to with the
Speaker 19: esplating price to incentivize businesses to invest in their own
Speaker 19: emissions reduction. Freezing the price kind of seems contrary to that,
Speaker 19: but it also kind of actually, in my head, breeds
Speaker 19: instability because an indefinite freeze is something that will change,
Speaker 19: and they knew that businesses knew when the price was escalating,
Speaker 19: So how was that?
Speaker 13: I would say that the fact that the first action
Speaker 13: that Prime Minister Mark Carney took was to eliminate the
Speaker 13: retail carbon tax shows you that that price had gotten
Speaker 13: too high to bear, and I think that it's reasonable
Speaker 13: to expect that it's a parallel in the business community
Speaker 13: that the price has gotten too high to bear. If
Speaker 13: you have a timeframe of going out to twenty fifty,
Speaker 13: there's no reason to try to front end loan everything
Speaker 13: by twenty thirty. That's been foundational to the dispute we're
Speaker 13: having with the federal government is let's coordinate around a
Speaker 13: twenty fifty target so that you can have a reasonable
Speaker 13: time frame to implement technology, develop new solutions, see the
Speaker 13: retirement of equipment. That's foundationally why we're having the dispute
Speaker 13: with Ottawa the one to seventy. Could it have been
Speaker 13: possible if the Americans were following suit. I don't know,
Speaker 13: but you may have noticed there's a change of direction
Speaker 13: in the United States since November, which has caused a
Speaker 13: massive recalibration of everything in Canada. And if we want
Speaker 13: to be able to compete and integrate with our largest consumer,
Speaker 13: then we've got to have a reasonable level of increase. So,
Speaker 13: as you've seen, we're not proposing it goes to zero.
Speaker 13: We're just proposing that it stays where it is. Well,
Speaker 13: we have some kind of recalibration about how this is
Speaker 13: going to impact the business community. What we have heard
Speaker 13: from the business community is that it's too high. And
Speaker 13: I think if you look at Quebec's carbon price, Quebecs
Speaker 13: carbon trading price is lower than this, and so that
Speaker 13: is also one of the reasons why we're frustrated with
Speaker 13: the federal approach is that.
Speaker 3: It doesn't apply equally to all of the provinces.
Speaker 13: That was absolutely true on the retail tax and it's
Speaker 13: certainly true on the industrial pricing as well. So this,
Speaker 13: I hope will prompt a conversation for us to get
Speaker 13: in sync with the federal government. That's what we've been
Speaker 13: asking to do ever since I talked to Markcartney's predecessor,
Speaker 13: and it was I mentioned this in our first conversation.
Speaker 13: And it may be as you go forward that there's
Speaker 13: a tolerance to increase it, but I can tell you
Speaker 13: I think that the business community has reached its limit.
Speaker 13: And why does it matter. We're competing for capital with
Speaker 13: the United States. Those dollars can flow anywhere, and if
Speaker 13: they if we get too far ahead of where the
Speaker 13: Americans are, then all of those billions of dollars of
Speaker 13: investment will not come here and that will impact our economy.
Speaker 15: So thanks Shachran. Take a few questions from the phones
Speaker 15: now operator. Could you put through our first color please.
Speaker 2: Chris Varco with Calgary Herald.
Speaker 7: Buy.
Speaker 21: These are questions for the Premiere Premier. What would you
Speaker 21: say to companies like Dow or Air Products or sell
Speaker 21: that have made and announced investments in the decarbonization projects
Speaker 21: in this province based on the carbon price going up
Speaker 21: to one hundred and seventy dollars a carbon price that
Speaker 21: your government agreed to back in November of twenty twenty two.
Speaker 3: Well, we will talk with them.
Speaker 13: I mean, what I've been noticing is that the price
Speaker 13: being signed on contracts for differences is eighty six fifty
Speaker 13: and so that was one of our considerations is that
Speaker 13: that's kind of the guaranteed price that businesses were anticipating.
Speaker 13: And so we feel like by being about that, we've
Speaker 13: got a little bit of a give on that. But
Speaker 13: I'll turn it over to the minister to see she
Speaker 13: has anything more to say.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's a great question.
Speaker 14: And just last week I met with a number of folks,
Speaker 14: including Dow, Nova Chemicals and others and signaled that this
Speaker 14: is the direction we were moving in, given it is
Speaker 14: a very different time that we're in right now than
Speaker 14: we were back in twenty two, both in terms of
Speaker 14: what the federal government was campaigning on at that time.
Speaker 14: It was a far more activist agenda. We just came
Speaker 14: out of a federal election where the Prime Minister was
Speaker 14: campaigning on protecting the Canadian economy and building nation building projects,
Speaker 14: so that is different. The other is the threats, of course,
Speaker 14: an uncertainty that we're seeing south of the border, and
Speaker 14: so those industries understood the decision we were making, again
Speaker 14: recognizing I think that it's unfair to artificially increase a
Speaker 14: carbon tax to benefit a small amount of projects and
Speaker 14: then leave the entire rest of industry in a position
Speaker 14: where they're oncompetitive that is what freezes out investment. As
Speaker 14: the Premier said, they understood and did not oppose the
Speaker 14: direction that we were moving in, and we have been
Speaker 14: very frank with industry over the last number of months
Speaker 14: just to address the competitiveness and certainty piece. We didn't
Speaker 14: want industry facing additional uncertainty at the provincial level, so
Speaker 14: we've been very transparent about the options we're looking at.
Speaker 14: The feedback that we've been getting on tier, including freezing
Speaker 14: this price. It was specifically based on the feedback that
Speaker 14: industry provided to us.
Speaker 21: And Premier just to follow up on that, What will
Speaker 21: this do to the province's plans to reach carbon neutrality,
Speaker 21: to get twenty fifty? What does this do for your
Speaker 21: own emissions target?
Speaker 13: Well, I hope that it is supportive of it, because
Speaker 13: that's what we've always said, is that we believe that
Speaker 13: the price is only one aspect, but the innovation is
Speaker 13: another aspect. And Minister Schultz has done a tremendous job
Speaker 13: of supporting a wide variety of projects through.
Speaker 3: Emissions Reduction Alberta.
Speaker 13: That has seeded a number of amazing innovations, including geothermal,
Speaker 13: doing analysis of small module or nuclear. We've got a
Speaker 13: direct air capture facility doing pilot projects in central Alberta.
Speaker 13: She could probably go on and mention many more. So
Speaker 13: those are the kind of things that I think are
Speaker 13: going to get to success for us. It also gives
Speaker 13: us the timeframe to twenty fifty to rekickstart the Pathways
Speaker 13: project with the new government, and if we can get
Speaker 13: a decarbonized Bitchumen, I think that that also sends a
Speaker 13: message to the world about our commitment to that. There's
Speaker 13: three aspects to that. One is, of course, the carbon
Speaker 13: capture component. The other part is the deployment of small
Speaker 13: module or reactors, which is probably ten years out. And
Speaker 13: then the third kind of last mile approach is having
Speaker 13: the direct or capture that would allow for us to
Speaker 13: be able to get whatever missions cannot be abated or
Speaker 13: captured at source. Those all take time, So I'm feeling
Speaker 13: pretty optimistic. I mean, I always look back at what
Speaker 13: was the technology twenty five years ago. I think we
Speaker 13: were still using I don't think rotary phones had completely
Speaker 13: been phased out at that point, and look where we
Speaker 13: are today. So if you give industry enough of a
Speaker 13: time frame so that they can continue to invest in
Speaker 13: those step up or stage step improvements, then I think
Speaker 13: that we have every reason to believe that twenty fifty
Speaker 13: is achievable. It also allows us to help deploy some
Speaker 13: of our techno. Remember, another part of our strategy has
Speaker 13: been to have an export of LNG so that we
Speaker 13: can displace higher emitting fuels internationally.
Speaker 3: There's been lots of stories that have been done on this.
Speaker 13: I think if we displaced twenty percent of the coal
Speaker 13: fleet in China with lenng that was the equivalent of
Speaker 13: what our emissions are for Canada as a whole on
Speaker 13: an annual basis. So using those arts Article six provisions
Speaker 13: are really important to us as well. It's a holistic
Speaker 13: approach and I think it's still achievable, but we have
Speaker 13: to be working with the federal government on having reasonable
Speaker 13: timeframes as well as reasonable prices.
Speaker 3: Otherwise you'll end up killing the industry that is going
Speaker 3: to be able to achieve these investments. Did you have
Speaker 3: more want to add on that?
Speaker 6: Well, I think Premier you got it exactly right. And
Speaker 6: Premier was just in Japan. I was in Japan at
Speaker 6: the beginning of February. And you know, when we are.
Speaker 14: Working with other nations around the world to deliver our safe, affordable,
Speaker 14: responsibly produced energy, the question is how does your country
Speaker 14: have such a nonsensical approach to policy.
Speaker 6: Your natural gas will help us as.
Speaker 14: Energy consumers reach our emissions goals, So why would you
Speaker 14: be capping production and putting such high taxes on your producers.
Speaker 14: It doesn't make any sense. In fact, I think the
Speaker 14: question was we know Alberta and BC have lots of
Speaker 14: natural gas.
Speaker 6: We know that we want it. But where is Canada?
Speaker 6: What can you do there?
Speaker 14: This doesn't make any sense, and so it would be nonsensical,
Speaker 14: as Premier said, to take an approach where we're shutting
Speaker 14: down industry instead of allowing our industry to displace emissions
Speaker 14: elsewhere around the world.
Speaker 15: Great, thanks, and we'll go to our next caller operator
Speaker 15: to put them through.
Speaker 6: Please Kevin Orland with Bloomberg News.
Speaker 20: Hi, thanks for taking my questions falling on on Pathways.
Speaker 20: Have you spoken to them when you were formulating this
Speaker 20: freeze or is this something that they were pushing for.
Speaker 20: I mean, that's a project that obviously is more financially
Speaker 20: viable the higher the carbon price goes, and was actually
Speaker 20: seeking guarantees of certain all those carbon prices from the
Speaker 20: federal government. So I'm just curious how you see this
Speaker 20: move affecting that project, which you just mentioned.
Speaker 13: Well, I think a lot of the Pathways project is
Speaker 13: going to require a commitment from the federal government to
Speaker 13: continue to support them in the way that they had
Speaker 13: intended to under the previous government. They were going to
Speaker 13: have fifty percent of the capital cost covered contract for differences,
Speaker 13: we've come forward with our twelve percent refundable tax credit
Speaker 13: upon completion, and we're looking at ways that we can
Speaker 13: use our tier approach to be supportive of their goals.
Speaker 3: We still some of the feedback.
Speaker 13: That we got from them is what's shaping this policy
Speaker 13: today as well, so we know that that tier is
Speaker 13: going to be an important part of their overall economics
Speaker 13: on that package. But I would say that the strong
Speaker 13: indicator that I got was that ninety five dollars was
Speaker 13: probably the limit?
Speaker 3: Did you want to sure?
Speaker 14: I reached out to Pathways as well as individual companies
Speaker 14: last and I can tell you overwhelmingly, and this would
Speaker 14: have been echoed in the letter to the new Prime
Speaker 14: Minister from a number of companies that we saw come out.
Speaker 14: I think that was just last week or two weeks ago.
Speaker 14: That industry values the system that we have here in Alberta.
Speaker 14: They would love to see Alberta continue to manage this
Speaker 14: as it is so closely linked with our energy production.
Speaker 14: We've taken a common sense approach. They're very appreciative and
Speaker 14: not surprised at all. There's likely more coming more changes
Speaker 14: to tier based on the feedback we've been gathering. For now,
Speaker 14: this is a price freeze, but I think that there
Speaker 14: is very much a real opportunity to ensure that this
Speaker 14: is still a destination for those capital dollars to come
Speaker 14: where we can continue to be not only that energy producer,
Speaker 14: but leader and innovation and technology as well. And so
Speaker 14: more to come on that in the coming months, But
Speaker 14: for now, what was unequivocal is that a carbon price
Speaker 14: too high will just drive away investment and hurt our
Speaker 14: economy at the worst possible time.
Speaker 20: Thanks and to follow up, I think what we've been
Speaker 20: seeing is that the alburn of carbon credits are right
Speaker 20: now trading it around forty dollars per ton, a little
Speaker 20: bit less even. Can you talk a little bit about
Speaker 20: why the freeze was necessary when the carbon credits are
Speaker 20: already so cheap and training so far below where the
Speaker 20: current carbon price is.
Speaker 14: Again there, well, this is complex in terms of there's
Speaker 14: also a formula that indicates how many credits and versus
Speaker 14: how much of a financial obligation companies can use to
Speaker 14: meet their obligations within the tier system. The complexity is
Speaker 14: one of the things that we are definitely going to
Speaker 14: be looking at addressing in the coming months here. But again,
Speaker 14: the concern was about this escalating carbon price for the
Speaker 14: last number of years, I would say we have heard
Speaker 14: growing concern around the increase to one seventy. As Premier mentioned,
Speaker 14: even the federal government themselves were striking contracts for different
Speaker 14: agreements at eighty six fifty, and so I think somewhere
Speaker 14: there the federal government must have known that a carbon
Speaker 14: price of one hundred and seventy dollars isn't good for anybody,
Speaker 14: and so we will continue to maintain our competitiveness. But
Speaker 14: when it comes to the value of carbon credits, again,
Speaker 14: there are a lot of factors there too, not just
Speaker 14: the schedule and the allowance of how many credits those
Speaker 14: companies are able to use, but how many credits are
Speaker 14: within the system.
Speaker 6: And that's something that's going.
Speaker 14: To be addressed a little bit more so by future
Speaker 14: policy changes that we make. We just need a little
Speaker 14: bit more engagement with industry to make sure we would
Speaker 14: get that right.
Speaker 15: Thanks Minister, and we just have time for one more
Speaker 15: question today. We're going to come back to the room.
Speaker 15: Here we'll go to Manuel.
Speaker 17: You said you reached out to that ways to industry.
Speaker 17: Did you reach out to people or where you're not
Speaker 17: going to meet your emissions target and felt that this
Speaker 17: industrial current tax was a good way alverted to meet
Speaker 17: it submission target.
Speaker 14: Yeah, as I mentioned, I reached out to a number
Speaker 14: of folks last week and the week before, and largely
Speaker 14: people were supportive.
Speaker 6: I had one one proponent.
Speaker 14: Say that they would really like to see potentially a
Speaker 14: carbon price of somewhere from one oh five to one ten.
Speaker 14: And again my response is this, we can't make the
Speaker 14: entirety of industry uncompetitive to save one specific project. But
Speaker 14: then again, I think obviously there are some changes we
Speaker 14: can make to tier to ensure economics and support for
Speaker 14: industry on both sides of that equation. Again, we are
Speaker 14: leaders in emissions reduction. We are proud of our environmental record.
Speaker 14: Countries around the world see us as that as well,
Speaker 14: and so instead of punishing our industry, we want to
Speaker 14: allow them to grow, thrive, continue to increase production and
Speaker 14: reduce global emissions all at the same time.
Speaker 6: We can do that.
Speaker 14: That's what we're committed to, and we sure hope that
Speaker 14: Ottawa feels the same way.
Speaker 17: And there was also a way to fund projects and
Speaker 17: to fund R and D for all these new technologies
Speaker 17: you mentioned, carbon capture, air culture, whatever. So there will
Speaker 17: be less money in the pot now that it's not increasing.
Speaker 17: How do you expect that Alberta will get these two
Speaker 17: technologies going that can make industry.
Speaker 14: You know, even over the last couple of years, we
Speaker 14: have streamlined the investments that we're making in TIER to
Speaker 14: make sure that they are also focused on some of
Speaker 14: our bigger environmental challenges. Again, the amount of money in
Speaker 14: the TIER fund has also fluctuated based on whether or
Speaker 14: not companies choose to meet their obligations through credits or
Speaker 14: through paying those obligations, and.
Speaker 6: So that fluctuates greatly.
Speaker 14: We've certainly felt that at the Treasury Board table explaining
Speaker 14: how these fluctuations take place and why they fluctuate so
Speaker 14: much from one budget year to the next. And so
Speaker 14: there was already some fluctuation within that I call it
Speaker 14: the bucket of money that we call TIER, and then
Speaker 14: use that to reinvest into technology and innovation. In fact,
Speaker 14: this year we've been able to even increase some of
Speaker 14: our investments and the calls for proposals that we've been
Speaker 14: making in partnership with Emission's Production Alberta because there were
Speaker 14: extra dollars in the fund. And so I think some
Speaker 14: of that fluctuation is normal. Again, the most important piece
Speaker 14: has to be economic competitiveness for our industry perfect.
Speaker 15: And that's all the time we have a questions. Thanks
Speaker 15: everyone for joining us.
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