Wednesday August 20th

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is VOCM Open Line calls seven oh nine two, seven,
three fifty two eleven or one triple eight five ninety
eight six two six of viewsing opinions of this programmer
not necessarily.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Those of this station. The biggest conversation in Newfoundland and
Labradors starts now. Here's VOCM Open Line Host Paddy Daily.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Well, all right and good morning to you. Thank you
so much for tuning in to the program. It's Wednesday,
August the twentieth. This is Open Line. I'm your host,
Patty Daily. David Williams, He's produced the program. You'll be
speaking with David when you pick up the phone to
give us a shout to get into the Q and
on the air. If you're in the Saint John's metro region,
the number of dialists seven zero nine two seven three
five two one one. Elsewhere a toll free long distance

(00:46):
one eight eight eight five ninety VOCM, which is eighty
six twenty six. All right, So, I guess the weather
compromised many of the outdoor events yesterday at the Canada
Summer Games. Generally in the morning, while I'm opening up
by computer, I'll go to the Canada Game site and
get one of the Reek Apps. No recap from yesterday,
so really not sure what's going on. But in the
world of volunteers, so they had a massive recruitment effort

(01:07):
looking for five thousand. I think they ended up with
like some fifty two hundred. But the word out there
is that some of the volunteers aren't taking any or
any pardon me, aren't taking any shifts. So volunteer name
oment is probably not great. If you signed up and
you got your kid, maybe just maybe chip into the
massive monumental effort it is to keep the Games Roland.
A couple of random notes in the sporting world, certainly

(01:28):
some of these athletes will be looked up to by
all of the competitors at the Canada Summer Games. On
this day, two thousand and eight, Hussein Bolt from Jamaica,
of course, wraps up to one hundred meter and the
two unre meder double in style a new two hundremeter
world record nineteen thirty and that's at the Beijing Olympics,
and it was back in twenty sixteen the inaugural women's
golf event at the Olympics, won by South Korean golfer

(01:48):
inb Park sixteen under power five strokes ahead of Lydia
Coe from New Zealand and shen Shan Fang from China
at ten all right, so it didn't get an update
on the game. It's no big deal. But I can't
see on the government website as to whether or not
there's going to be a wildfire press conference, as there
has been many days now at ten fifteen, so I
don't think it's coming. One of the issues we found

(02:10):
out yesterday is the estimates about the numbers of structures
lost that it is absolutely heartbreaking. An estimated two hundred
and three structures now been destroyed by the out of
control Kingston fire. Of course Conception Bay, North oh Boy.
So they base that estimate on the number of structures
that lost power, so isn't necessarily all homes could be
sheds or gradges or whatever that actually are hooked up

(02:31):
to power. But here's the breakdown. Twelve lost in Kingston,
thirty three in small Point Broad called Blackheads, Adams Cove,
eighty six in Western Bay, fifty nine in Okapic Cove,
thirteen in Northern Bay. And this is just one fire.
So we know that the fires burning across the province
have absolutely devastated at decimated communities. But those numbers are

(02:51):
absolutely off the charts. So let's give the evacuation alerts
and the orders as well, because it really does paint
a clear picture just how big this is. Evacuation orders
remain infect for Small Point, Broad Called black Aat, Adams Cove,
Salmon CoV, Western Bay, Kingston, Perryscove, Oukrapekkov, Burnt Point, Gull Island,
Northern Bay. Alerts remain in place Victoria Job'scove fresh Water.

(03:17):
Thousands of people have been displaced, so unfortunately, you know,
there's plenty of terrible information floating around and some pretty
troubling comments and opinions being offered. Number one, I feel
terrible for everyone who's been displaced, and it's heartbreaking to
know that some of you have lost your homes. Then

(03:37):
they'll talk about the notification process, which can be tangled
different departments responsible for different notifications. So until you've get
a notification, you need bother filing your claim with your
insurance company. But of course the insurance companies are feeling
a ton of inquiries and understandably so it's about the evacuees.
So with multiple government agencies, multiple charitable organizations, multiple volunteers

(04:02):
who are just chipping in their time, and people who've
opened up their homes. It's about how and where people
are being sheltered. If you look across the country at
natural disasters wildfires included, it's quite common for community centers
and schools to be the shelter during this tourism season.
Here's the question I'll ask, and this is specifically for
evacuees I suppose or anyone can chime in, is if

(04:25):
these multiple government agencies and charitable organizations and other volunteers
are doing everything they can to take care of you,
roof over your head, some meals and food and clothing
and amenities and the like, what is not being done
in people's opinions? You know, I've seen people go to
the great lengths to blame it on immigrants. I mean,

(04:45):
almost every hotel, room, Airbnb, and ben Breakfast pretty booked
up at this time of year. So I'm not so
sure what people think can be done that's not being done.
I would imagine if you call the people at the
Canadian Red Cross and the Salvation Army to see how
stretched thin they are in an effort to do everything
they possibly can for every single person who's been evacuated.

(05:07):
So I get it. It's troubling times, There's no doubt
about it. It is hard on the head. And that's
coming from me living in the east end of town
in no real jeopardy at this moment in time, you know.
And I'm not going to belly ache about a bit
of smoke in the area, even though it can be
compromising people's overall health based on a variety factors. But
what's not being done that people think canon should be done.

(05:29):
I guess I'll make it that broad question. And I
know it might be a little bit early to talk
about what happens next, because we're not out of the woods,
so to speak. The fires, many of them are still
burning out of control, and bravo to everyone who's trying
to do their level best to keep them under control
and to put them out. Eventually, and we will get
past this and the fires will be put out. Then

(05:50):
it's the whole conversation about rebuilding. This feels a little
bit premature, but I would imagine that's the thought going
through many people's heads. So I read a story this morning,
and this is commentary coming from a forty year veteran
of the construction industry for starters, even just the cleanup
is going to take weeks, and we to have a
safe assessment with boots on the ground to see exactly

(06:11):
what has been lost or the extent of damage, whether
it be the capital academy, the school in Western Bay,
or people's own personal homes, shelds and gradges, whatever else
may have been decimated by fire. Is how and where
to rebuild and how long is it going to take.
So this forty year veteran of the industry says, if
you want to build turn key homes, it'll probably take

(06:34):
partly a year to build a couple of homes. To
do one hundred homes, that would be next to impossible
with the amount of labor that's available. Then they say
reaching out to other companies different parts of the province
or country to chip in on the rebuilding effort. And
of course he goes on and say that many of
these companies already plenty busy. So yes, we know that
the government and others recognize the extent of the damaged

(06:56):
And I don't want to talk about just one fire,
but when we look at that Kingston fire, the size
of it and the number of communities impacted. It is
an interesting focal point, and so the cabinet. There has
been a cabinet committee convened to deal with it, multiple
ministers from multiple portfolios. But what does that rebuild look like?
I think, Look, if you're someone who has been notified

(07:17):
you've lost your home, this is a no way for
me to make a dire situation even worse. But the
conversation regarding how and where to rebuild is obviously ongoing
at every level in people's individual minds, conversation with their
family and their friends, and at the government level. And
if you want to talk about it, we can do it.
Hurricane or Aaron, which is a Cat three hurricane at

(07:41):
this moment in time. Thankfully, the models look like it's
going to steer south of US. No landfall impact in
the Atlantic provinces, but they do talk about riptide and
big waves and the lake. But thankfully no landfall predicted
as of now. That's what the models are saying. Good news.
That's quite the story. Coming from Sunnyside. Their water reservoir
drive up like a bone. The water has now been

(08:02):
brought back. But I think you know, depending on where
you live There's plenty of communities with water conservation orders
in place, and they vary from community to community. And yes,
a little bit of rain in the last couple of days,
but with the dry the extended dry conditions that we've
all experienced, it's probably worthwhile going to your municipality to
see what the conservation orders may be and possibly if

(08:25):
you can is to abide by them so you don't
end up in a particularly Like the good folks in Sunnyside,
we're happy to have the mare on if you'd like
to talk about what they saw and what they've done.
It still remains in a state of emergency all the same. Okay,
let's move on. Some five hundred thousand travelers have been
impacted by the Air Canada flight attendant striking. We all
know the story about defining the back to work orders

(08:47):
and all the rest of it. Here's something that is
really hard to accept. The jobs Minister federally Patty Heydo.
She put out a statement says she's glad the two
sides could work out a deal on their own. Here's
the direct quote. I'm relieved that the artis agreed to
meet together. Last night, Heydo directed the Canadian Industrial Relations
Board to mandate the flight attendants back to work, so

(09:08):
it's kind of hard to have it both ways. Now,
it's what's going to happen next to clear up the backlog.
Some flights have already resumed, and QP is asking their
flight attendants to cooperate in full with reinstatement of flights,
and I'm sure they will, but to clear up this backlog,
it's still going to take a week or more before
any normalcy of operations come to pass. A little bit

(09:29):
of what we know about the deal, so apparently the
tentative deal, which has not been ratified by the members
as of yet, they're going to get paid at least
sixty minutes of ground pay before each flight at a
rate of fifty percent of the flight attendant's hourly rate,
even though they demanded one hundred percent. That rate increases
five percent per year. Pay increases twelve percent for flight
attendants with five years or less service so they are Canada,

(09:50):
eight percent for those who worked at the airline longer
than that, and then sallers would increase three percent in
the second year, two point five percent of the third year,
and two point seventy five percent in the fourth year.
West Jet their flight attendants contract is set to expire
at at the end of this year as well, So
I guess the stage has been set for what they
think is going to have to happen for west Jet
flight attendants. And there you go. Okay, we see the numbers.

(10:14):
We understand the stats regarding mental wellness, mental health, and
mental illness in this country. This is something that I
read yesterday and was produced by a doctor, a pediatric neurologist,
talk about what this person calls a silent tragedy unfolding
in our homes today. Here's what the doctor goes on
to say, our children and our inner devastating emotional state.

(10:35):
Over the past fifteen years, researchers has gifted us increasingly
alarming statistics about an acute and steady increase in childhood
mental illness and that is now reaching epidemic proportions, so
says this doctor. And here are the stats. One in
five children has a mental health problem. A forty three
percent increase in ADHD has been reported, a thirty seven

(10:55):
percent increase in teenage depression has been reported, a two
hundred percent in the increase of the suicide rate in
children aged ten to fourteen has been reported, So the
question is what's going on. The doctor goes on to
say children today are being overstimulated and overgifted with material objects,
but are deprived of the fundamentals of a healthy childhood,
such as and this not me given parental advice. This

(11:16):
is reading from a doctor. Emotionally available parents, clearly defined boundaries, responsibilities,
balanced nutrition, and adequate sleep, movement in general, but especially outdoors,
creative play, social interaction, and unstructured play. On the other hand,
in the last few years have been filled been filled
with children of digitally distracted parents. And look, it's a

(11:37):
busy life, it's a busy world. I totally get it.
For giving a permissive parents who let children rule the world,
they'll be the ones who make the rules. A sense
of entitlement, of deserving everything without earning it or being
responsible for getting it. Poor sleep, unbalanced nutrition, a sedentary lifestyle,
endless stimulation, technological nannies, instant gratification in the absence of
dull moments. So they go on to talk about what

(12:00):
we can and should do. But if we're talking about
those numbers over the course of the past fifteen years,
just fifteen years staggering one or five children a mental
health problem, a forty three percent increase in ADHD, a
thirty seven percent increase in teenage depression, two hundred percent
increase in the suicide rate of children between the ages
of ten and fourteen. It's a lot to read, and

(12:22):
it's a lot to say, and I'm sure for folks listening,
it's a lot to hear. But getting involved here with
these epidemic proportions based on the numbers reported by this doctor,
a pediatric neurologist, is staggering stuff. If you want to
talk about it, we can, and we absolutely should do it.
This is an interesting story. You hear me refer to

(12:44):
Paul's I take them with a grain of salt, snapshot
in time kind of stuff. But this, this conversation has
been floating around for quite a long time, and there
was a recent Angus Reid poll talking about what they
refer to as mandatory service. So let's get into it.
This is just for the purpose conversation. At least seven
to ten people responding to a recent Angus reed, Paul

(13:04):
reported the idea of one year of mandatory public service
for Canadians under the age of thirty and here's what
that means. They're talking about tutoring kids or working in
national parks. There was a question about mandatory military service,
which I think is ridiculous personally. I mean, it's not
South Korea, so there's actually forty three percent in support
and forty four percent of post. Now, I think it's

(13:26):
a terrible idea to make it mandatory to serve in
the Canadian armed forces for a variety of reasons. For starters,
not everybody's built or equipped to be a member of
the military, but things may tutoring kids, working in national parks.
I mean, this was a big move in the United States, say,
for instance, some fifty sixty years ago. Is there an

(13:46):
upside to it because we just gave you the numbers about,
you know, children without a sense of purpose and children
that don't have structure, and what it's meant for the
increases that I mentioned just a couple of minutes ago,
So mandatory service. I thought that conversation had died on
the vine, but apparently not. So just to get into
it a little further, that did the weather be things

(14:07):
like the pandemic, inflation, labor shortages. Canadians over fifteen years
old who volunteered for charities or nonprofits dropped from forty
one percent to thirty two percent between twenty eighteen and
twenty twenty three. That's a massive drop in folks volunteering.
So that concept of structured community work, I'm not going
to call it community service, but I suppose it is.

(14:30):
But what do you think of that? That kind of
caught me off grab when I saw this morning, all right,
inflation numbers. Good news on the national front, Ish, so
cost of living decreased by one point or pardon me,
to one point seven from one point nine, but in
the province it went from one point two to one
point six. They talked about lower gas prices. Gas is
down on the average sixteen percent, of course, largely do

(14:52):
with the elimination of the carbon tax. But here's the
stubborn part. Groceries again, three point four percent annual increase growth.
So how does this genie get stuff back in the bottle?
You and I as shoppers, we see it. So we're
paying more for a product that has less weight less
actual product they're in in the tin or in the wrapping.

(15:14):
So what happens here, don't take it from me, take
it from the competition. Bureau of Canada. It's not just
about how overwhelming we're dominated by just big five retailers.
It's not just at the shop front where we see
this impact. They also talk about distribution because the big
players have their thumb on the distribution scales. Then we
still see stories about interrupted supply chains, fires and floods

(15:37):
and droughts and into insects. So what happens to groceries?
You and we all know that things can increase in
costs quite rapidly coming back down to worth not so
much so. While we can see some relief on some
of these inflationary issues, and you can't eat inflation. But
I think regardless of who we all support politically or otherwise,

(15:59):
we all have to eat, and we all either have
to go to the grocery store, and the unfortunate numbers
of Canadians relying on food banks, whatever the case may be,
that grocery issue is going to persist in the future.
And what the answer is, maybe we should learn a
lesson from the Competition Bureau and maybe do a little
bit more on that front. Don't take it from me,
take it from them, all right. Oh, just some export

(16:22):
numbers that are relatively new that we can have a
look at, and a lot of this is based on
the unnecessary, unjustified tariffs. So the Americans, they remain the
largest import or Canadian goods, although total imports to the
United States or exports to the United States have decreased
by one point five percent, so almost three billion dollars
worth of goods compared to the same period in twenty

(16:44):
twenty four. Why don't we talk about diversifying marcas, which
is going to be critically important into the future. We
no longer have a reliable trading partner, as we can
all see with our own two eiys. So trade is
up with other countries. China a nine percent increase, that's
totally about almost four billion dollars worth of goods more
than compared two a year prior. Mexico up seven percent,

(17:05):
about one point six five billion dollars worth of additional goods.
South Korea of five percent, four hundred and eighteen million
dollar increase. So while we know we're still apparently trying
to hammer out some sort of updated trade deal with
the United States, because that relationship looks pretty tattered at
this moment in time. But the good news, I guess
is more trade with other nations, which we're going to

(17:25):
have to do into the future, as we all know,
and we're not going to drop. You know, there's so
much going on and so much focus on certain areas.
The economic update that we got a couple of days
ago is still worth keeping on the front burner. Some
good news on housing starts, you know, approaching record highs,
some good news on retail spending, and yes, for a
lot of this province the economy is actually doing very well.

(17:48):
Not for everybody, but for many people. The economy is
chugging along. But the issues regarding the increase almost more
than doubling of the depth sit and still the headline
for me is and always will be, we are going
to borrow four point one billion dollars this year. The
let the level of sovereign net debt in this province

(18:08):
is staggering if you break it down to a per
capita number. So while we are going to the polls
at some point in the probably not too distant future,
that whole concept. We can't control a ton of the
revenue side, but we sure can on the expenditure side.
You want to take it on, let's go, we're on
Twitter or VOCM upenline follows there. Email addresses open on

(18:29):
at VOSM dot com. When we come back, Ridge wants
to talk about it at the hospital. And oh, the
mayor of Sunny Side is Roger Snokey's in the que
to talk about their reservoir dried up, state of e mercy,
some water supply back on site. We get exactly what
we have for details from the mayor right after this.
Don't go away, welcome back to the show. Let's be
get down. Line number two Sagamore to the mayor at Sunnyside.
That's Roger Snook, Mayor Snook, you're on the air.

Speaker 4 (18:51):
Good morning, mister Daily.

Speaker 3 (18:52):
How are you not too bad at tall sir? How
about you?

Speaker 5 (18:56):
Good?

Speaker 6 (18:56):
Good, good good?

Speaker 3 (18:57):
What a state of affairs out in your community? Tell
us what's going on?

Speaker 4 (19:01):
Well, Saturday, we knew the reservt waiter was getting little
last week we were on water con conservation the town was.
But Saturday it went completely dry and there was no
water coming out of the taps.

Speaker 3 (19:19):
So water has been reinstated to what level? What do
we know this morning?

Speaker 4 (19:24):
Right now, we're still on the state of emergency. I
haven't lifted that band yet. We are getting water flowing
from the taps. People can get a shower. We're still
under conservative order. People can get a shower, they can
wash their dishes, I guess, but not in the dishwasher.

Speaker 3 (19:43):
Just minimal, minimal use understandably. So what exactly is entailed
in a state of emergency other than water consumption, whether
it be for quick shower, flush and twilter, what have you.

Speaker 4 (19:56):
Well, the first thing we had to do was make
sure that we had an full supply of water on hand.

Speaker 7 (20:02):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (20:03):
Through a government grant, we were able to get monetary assistants.
We we UH. We had five hundred, five hundred cases
of water. We had a which we distributed throughout the
town to the seniors and the residents. We also had
thousand leader tote we had up in the back of

(20:23):
the truck. We were going around the people's houses, uh
delivering water. And we just took care of our residents
the best we could.

Speaker 3 (20:32):
I'll get you to react to a comment from one
of the business owners in your community. Where are our
government officials? They've left it to the counselors. Your thoughts.

Speaker 4 (20:41):
Ah, Well, I'm so glad I saw that interview last
night on CBC with Carolyn Stokes.

Speaker 8 (20:46):
I believe.

Speaker 4 (20:48):
And I'm so glad that you asked me that question.
Our hand met Ja Jeff Twyer has been in contact
with me at least twice every day since this happened,
and our and our new Full of Fairs leader, Chris Stamp,
He's been in contact with me every other day, checking
in on us, seeing how we were doing, what he
could do for us. So that's that.

Speaker 3 (21:12):
So into the future, we can only hope that we
get an off rain and hopefully this winter will get
more snow and more run off to keep the reservoir full.
Are there any long term plans considering that this might
happen again? I mean, the way the temperature and the
weather and the climate has changed, this is a potential
possibility into the future for the reservoir to drive again.
So any initial conversations about maybe some plan bees Plan

(21:36):
B is.

Speaker 4 (21:37):
There's a couple There's another pond on the side of
the first that the water level went really low. That
pond is what we call the turd Long Pond. We
are currently in the process of coming up with a
plan to run pipes from that pond, which is a
huge pond. It's almost the size of probably I don't

(21:58):
half the size of Gander Lake, and uh, we're gonna
we're gonna utilize that time to feed into our reper system.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
How do you manage capital costs for that? Is there
any initial understanding about how much it would cost to
add that supply to the system.

Speaker 4 (22:14):
We're having discussions on that this afternoon and tomorrow. We're
gonna see if see if there is any grants available,
any funding, any emergency funding for something of that nature
in case this happens again in the future, which likely
it could. You know, Uh, we're still under the water
conserveservative order. Even the surrounding towns of Sunnyside, irolnds called

(22:39):
come by chance, Uh, a little harber Southern Harbor, even
Clarenville is under water conservative order right now.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yes, as we are in Paradise, Tour Bay, Saint John's
and a variety of communities this neck of the worlds too.
Is there any understanding about how long the board order
advisory might remain in place?

Speaker 4 (22:59):
Uh, until we feel that the water is the reservoir
is going to maintain its levels without any issues, then
we'll decide to take in the order off.

Speaker 3 (23:12):
When you have more information you let to share with
your residents. You're more than welcome back on the program
and any final thoughts this morning, Mrsnook, Yes, sir, I.

Speaker 4 (23:19):
Would just like to tank all the volunteers that came
forward on Saturday, with phone calls and people leaving their
numbers to come in and help. We had the Junior
rect Association going around to the town passing out the
cases of water to residents. We also received monetary gifts.

(23:39):
I'm not going to say how much from Fort McMurray.
People got to get her collected the collected money and
sent it to our council office. That's amazing, that's overwhelming.

Speaker 6 (23:50):
You know.

Speaker 4 (23:50):
I'd like to say the Newfoorlanders in the face Newfoundlanders
and Laboradorians in the face of adversity, we take care
of each other as we should.

Speaker 3 (23:59):
And I'm glad that's the case for you in the
residence of Sunnyside. I appreciate the time here, Snook, Thank you, sir.

Speaker 4 (24:05):
Thank you for having me. Patty have a great day.

Speaker 3 (24:07):
The very same too. Bye bye. Yeah, and I mentioned
you know off the top that the water conservation orders
are in place and it's a little bit surprising, especially
when we're in the midst of that extended amount of
super dry conditions, that municipalities weren't putting that reminder out
to the residence. For instance, in the city of Saint
John's there's been a year round water conservation order in

(24:27):
place since twenty twenty two, and so I don't know
how many people actually know what it is or abide
by it because and I'm not here. I'm not going
to open up the rat line for someone who's got
the sprinkler on when they're not supposed to because they're
on one side of the street and it's not Tuesday.
I'm not interested in that. But knowing that the issues
can indeed become problematic in one community or another, like

(24:50):
I mentioned, it's probably worthwhile checking in with your own
municipality see what the water conservation orders are, because the
worst case scenario is if people don't understand them, then
they might find themselves close to or in the exact
same predicament as the folks out in Sunnyside, which is
amazing And again you think about it, twenty twenty five
modern day Canada, there's somewhere in and around one hundred

(25:12):
and seventy communities right now in this province that are
living under a boiler order advisory. Some of them have
been under board order advisories for decades, which is remarkable
when you think about it out loud. All right, I
want to make sure Reggie gets adequate time quick checking
on the Twitter box for VIOSM, open line follow us here,
email addresses, open linefiosem dot com. Today's good day to
get on the program. It's a two part of me

(25:33):
seven oh nine two seven three five two point one
here into the metro area totally long distance one eight
eight eight five ninety VOCM, which is eighty six twenty six.
Were taking a break in them or coming back? Welcome
back to the show. Let's go to LNE number one,
Redge around the year, host Dog Parer, Welcome to the show.

Speaker 5 (25:54):
Reg Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 9 (25:57):
I'm gonna be hard for boiler and I'm dealing with
g OPD and PTC. And last night I was here
waiting for supper, which is you know, usually covers around
Pultrary Siege. Never got up to seven the pat patty
and it wasn't a fifty give to a dog.

Speaker 3 (26:17):
And so which hospital are you in? Rech cabin there
in cabin air, So describe as best you can what
was finally delivered at seven o'clock for supper.

Speaker 7 (26:27):
I don't know.

Speaker 9 (26:28):
It was green and red and white and I'll tell
you a bit of white beat and everybody else is
green red. I mean, it's deplorable. And I've been here
four or five times now, this has been the worst,
you know, I mean, whatever to go dowmage kitchen. I
don't know the other staff. You couldn't ask for any

(26:51):
better but the kitch yourself and something to be talked about.

Speaker 3 (26:56):
And of course the staff can only prepare the food
that they're given to prepare. But this has always been
an interesting question for me, is if someone's in the hospital,
it's in there because they're sick. Who needs good nutritious
food more than people who are sick in the hospital.
It's it's always been remarkable to me as to why
the food is not absolutely top quality in hospital in

(27:17):
particular long term care facility is another place like that.

Speaker 9 (27:20):
Yeah, you know, my wife, my son and has leave town,
takes up thirty fours away and bring me some of these.

Speaker 3 (27:29):
Ridiculous It is ridiculous. So what's the timeline you're looking
for at Regter be still in the hospital in Carabonair.

Speaker 9 (27:38):
I don't know if I've got a breaking problem or
we've got a fool problem. Cop one thing and I
retired fire things. You have to fade over here. I
got PTSD. Besides that, well, maybe I haven't a higher
toilet medically. If I would get over this building probably

(28:01):
changed to come a lot easier right down.

Speaker 3 (28:05):
Rech. How long were you a firefighter?

Speaker 9 (28:08):
Twenty years?

Speaker 3 (28:09):
Twenty five years? Were you a volunteer firefighter or so
called paid firefighter?

Speaker 10 (28:15):
Oh?

Speaker 9 (28:16):
John, I had to retire. I had to retire after
fifteen years, so only you know, wasn't my idea and retired.
But at that time you need your food, the spread
or he.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
And of course the medical help you need with your
COPD and whatever else. My dahlia is one thing. But
in so far as the world of PTSD, what sort
of supporter counseling do you get for your PTS?

Speaker 9 (28:45):
Was learning? No, No, I was there with Chase thir
things about time to go with that time that that
really got out my mind right, and then I was
zero our time saving me facities. I got killed and
perfect killed Roy and others a few words. Actually, Patty,

(29:08):
any actions is really going to have a head power
later on, arbitrator.

Speaker 3 (29:16):
That makes sense to me for folks who are first responders,
because of course I'm not one, but I hear the
stories about what they see, you know, whether it be
responding to a failed collision on the highway or fires
or everything else under the sun that people see, and
we all take it for granted. You know, we called
nine to one one and the first responders get dispatched

(29:37):
and we don't see what they see. It's one thing
for me to hear the story. It's quite another for
you when other people ask first responders what you see?
And I can't imagine the mental toll it takes.

Speaker 9 (29:46):
You don't know, Patty, I don't know. Agree. Another thing
that really clicks three off. You go to a shopping
mall and the package phases. You see young people in wheelchairs,
spots hoping on theos going in her gamery. I'm just
damn shang ron with them. I am why wave was

(30:08):
just cancer? I'm sick and we're going to the face.
Were starting doing the gauary. We take it the face
the back.

Speaker 3 (30:16):
Yeah. Now, sometimes people might have a disability you can't see.
But I tell you what irritates me, and I've there's
someone who I actually know and they're the son of
a The father has a disability parking blue sticker in
the windshield, but he'll use that his dad's car and
go shopping, especially busy times at Christmas at the mall
and parking disabled spots. It drives me nuts. And we've

(30:37):
had words about it before because I just think it's
really insulting.

Speaker 9 (30:41):
It is insulting. There's nonely works, you know, there's ridiculous people.

Speaker 10 (30:45):
Just think.

Speaker 3 (30:49):
Sometimes regis that's all too common and all too true.
I hope you're going to be okay, hope you're not
gonna be in the hospital too long, and we'll continue
talking about, you know, the need to have healthy, nutritious,
easy to decipher food for patients in every hospital, every
long term care facility.

Speaker 5 (31:05):
Nice.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
I appreciate your time. I wish you well, rech take care,
Bye bye. Remember it's not that long ago that we
would talk to say, for instance, Josh me the CEO
at Food First, there wasn't an initiative they were working
on to do what they can in the world of
produce to get locally grown produce into all of the
hospitals and all of the long term care homes, all

(31:26):
of the personal care homes. I don't know what the
status update might be on that front. But when I
asked Reche to describe what was eventually delivered for supper
at seven pm last night, and he couldn't, He couldn't
tell us what it was it was. Why do you
think he said? Red, green, and white. That's not good.
It's not good at all. And I'll put it out
through one more time because it just kind of makes
sense in my mind anyway. Is that if you're in

(31:49):
a hospital, means you're sick or recovering from something, whether
it be surgery or otherwise orthopedic or whatever the case
may be, but you are recovering, hopefully recovering. So wouldn't
that be the place where you would expect a healthy,
nutritious meal three times a day. Why, Because you're sick

(32:12):
and one of the pathways back to recovery is to
eat properly. So I'll put it out there, but I
would be curious to get an update from Josh or
whoever about where that initiative stands about trying to get
locally grown produce into and oh I've forgot it, not
only hospitals, long term care facilities, personal care homes, but
also into the province of schools. On that front, school's

(32:32):
only a couple of weeks away and a lot of
work has to be done. Is there an update from anybody?
And please do chime in if you know where we
are and trying to implement the school lunch program. It's
fun to have the announcements and the discussion about how
much money. Not every school has created equal not every
school has the cafeteria, not every school has a kitchen.

(32:53):
So where are we on the implementation of the school
lunch program in the schools that did not have it
last year? Let's go to line number one, collar around
the air. Yes, good morning, good morning to you.

Speaker 11 (33:07):
I like free to explain if you could explain some
of the rules for an ATV on the road.

Speaker 3 (33:13):
Okay, what's the specific question you might have?

Speaker 11 (33:17):
Well, I don't understand if you're not in the fire zone,
if you can ride them or not.

Speaker 3 (33:23):
Okay, So the restriction that is in place gets reviewed
this evening at eleven fifty nine Island time. So currently
what it says is if you are in an area
that has a fire index that's either high, very high
or extreme. You cannot operate your off road vehicle in
those forested areas. So that includes ATVs, quad side by sides,

(33:45):
Druk bikes, many bikes in the lake. So you have
to check the region's fire index to find out the
answer to your question. And that's an easy one. Do
you use the computer? No, where do you live?

Speaker 6 (33:58):
It's some Tella Islands on Bell Island.

Speaker 3 (34:00):
Let me see if I can find it for you
really quickly.

Speaker 12 (34:03):
Here.

Speaker 3 (34:03):
I think you're in the low zone, so I think
you're able to use it. But it'd be great if
I could find that, oh dashboard, let's see here. All right,
you are in a low risk area, so you can
operate your ATV.

Speaker 11 (34:20):
A thank you, some good questions, no problem.

Speaker 3 (34:24):
Appreciate your time, good luck you too, bye bye, thank you.
And see that is the issue, right You have to
understand there the fire index risk where you live, because
that's exactly what governs the ability or not to operate
the aforementioned ATVs in four scenarios. And you know, keep

(34:45):
getting the same questions about what constitutes of four scenario
and the number one question I get, or the most
frequently asked question is cabin country. And the shorter answer is,
if you're in cabin country that has a fire index
at high or above, you're not allowed to operate your
ATV in a word area finds have been handed out.
So yeah, I guess you'll do as you see fit,
but it just makes some It makes sense to try

(35:08):
to mitigate risk as much as possible as we see.
And it just for context about some of the fires
that are continually continue to be active. Kingston Fire as
of yesterday ten seven hundred and eight hectors, Patty's Found
Fire three hundred and eighteen hectors, Martin's Lake Fire seventeen
hundred and seventy hectors. So there still a lot of

(35:28):
work to be done out there the control of the fires.
And once again I think there's some misunderstanding about who
decides where resources will be deployed, whether it be firefighters
on the ground or resources in the air. It's done
on site by fire duty managers. You know, people keep
telling me that one politician or another is making the
air the water bombers or the helicopters or the firefighters

(35:48):
on the ground be deployed. One fire or another close
by their constituents, but they're not making the decisions. And
we're told that by fire duty managers. And I don't
imagine they're covering up for politicians. We're on Twitter or
viosim you know, ViOS up online. You know what to do,
email addresses, open anafiosm dot com. When we come back,
there's a caller in the que on line number two.
What that person wants to talk about, I don't know.
We'll all find out right after this. Welcome back to

(36:09):
the program. Let's go to lineer A far sec On.
It's a good friend of the program, Doctor Janin Hubbard,
Doctor Hubbard around the air. Good morning, Patty, welcome back
to the show. Nice to speak with you. Well, like
what so, I rattled off some troubling numbers earlier which
we won't approach today. I know we're both going to
do a little bit more, as they say, research before
we dig into those. But let's talk about the anxiety

(36:30):
being felt in the fear or worry about people impacted
by wildfire. Even if you're not in the general area
of a fire, under an alert or at order, it
can still play mind games with individuals. And you've been
directly impacted yourself as a resident of Paradise, Right, I
have again.

Speaker 13 (36:46):
Fully acknowledging privilegion, luck and all the rest of it.
I'm fine, everything's fine. But and you know I had
abilities to, yeah, stock the car and you know, all
the things that make dealing with a difficult situation at
least a little bit easier. So it's interesting because I've
spoken about wildfire's a lot, but I think this is

(37:09):
going to be a bit of a turning point for
the province. I kind of have joke because you have
to use some humor. I'm well prepared on what to
do if there's a blizzard coming or a hurricane coming,
hoping and figuring out what to do with a wildfire
alert or potential is very, very different. And I think
there's going to be some major lessons learned, you know,

(37:31):
on a personal level, on a government level, you know,
on many ways that because unfortunately, this is going to
be a reality for us moving forward. So at least
kind of looking at lessons learned, things that we could
do differently moving forward. But a big message I want
to give is trauma and trauma responses. First of all,

(37:53):
my adrenal system still has not calmed down, even though
you know, things have been stable since we've got the
announcement on Saturday. Everybody's nervous system is activated, that hypervigilance,
that constantly paying attention to the news, you know, the
I mean not to mention the lack of sleep and

(38:14):
poor air quality, so people were having a hard time
with the heat and lack of sleep anyway. But trauma
isn't just I've lost my house, I've lost my belongings.
Trauma can happen anytime you are at potential risk, which
means anyone in this province has been feeling that experience

(38:35):
over the last couple of weeks, and I think that's
going to have some long lasting impact. They've seen that
up to about a year. People continue to have some
levels of some of those responses, and most people, like
most of us, it should settle down in kind of
four to six weeks if you weren't directly impacted or
you know, you were on alert. But things are settling down.

(38:58):
But this time next year, I guarantee you we'll all
be having, you know, again, sort of exaggerated reactions to
a lot of things.

Speaker 3 (39:06):
It's an interesting set of circumstances here, because with certain
things that are quite traumatic that people get quote unquote
triggered by in the news. I mean, we can look
at war and famine and all of the really upsetting
stories and you can indeed tune them out. But times
like today, when we're talking about wildfires and alerts and
orders and updated information, you kind of have to tune in.

(39:27):
So we don't quite have that luxury of tuning out
at this moment. So how do you suggest we either
regulate our intake or how we go about getting the
information because you can't avoid it because you don't.

Speaker 13 (39:38):
Oh, definitely not. I would say, if you're someone who's
feeling so and listen, I did exactly the opposite of
the advice I give people, at least the first two days,
pretty much constantly on social media. But at the same time,
social media is how I heard about the Patty Pond
fire in the first place, and so I was. I

(39:59):
actually had everything packed and ready to go into the
car by the time we had the government briefing. But yeah,
spent far too much time and didn't Some of it
was helpful, some of it wasn't. What then became really
helpful was realizing, Okay, I can set up a few alerts,

(40:20):
or I can set up a buddy system. And actually
that was what helped with sleep for I think a
number of us. Was if something happens, that's important because
I had, you know, a couple of friends in the area.
We'll text each other, we'll reach out so that none
of us are going to miss something that's essential. But
it also means that we can step away for a

(40:44):
little bit. And as scary as that evacuation notice was,
you know, I mean, we've all had those before and
kind of gone, ah, you know, it's that big arm.
I knew I wasn't going to sleep through that, and
even if I had, for some reason, I had friends
who were going to be calling up a buddy system.
If you're finding it really really difficult or taking turns,

(41:04):
maybe today's your day to kind of keep a closer
eye on things, and then tonight somebody else is going
to do it. So figuring out ways that you can
take breaks. It's been hard for a lot of people
to do their normal coping, whether that's no dire exercise
because the air quality. It's funny, I joked a little bit.
I've never wanted a class of wine quite as badly

(41:27):
as you know early on.

Speaker 7 (41:29):
Uh.

Speaker 13 (41:30):
And again, I'm just a very occasional drinker. So if
you're someone who does have issues with substance use, don't
be shy about, uh reaching out for help. But also
if you are really feeling that you you know, need
to be using, making sure that you have a safety
plan in place, that you let somebody know that I'm
not going to be able to drive myself out of

(41:51):
here tonight. I need a buddy system. Again, It's that
reaching out but not being ashamed. I think biggest thing
right now is if you were really struggling with this,
even if you're not immediately impacted, don't be ashamed at
reaching it for help. Go to one of those information
sessions and LHS is offering call. You know, we've got
all the doorways, we've got the one one, we've got

(42:13):
you know, all of the lines to call. But don't
feel you're not justified in calling if you're struggling because
I hear from a lot of people, well, it's just
I've been in town and I smell smoke. You know,
I know I'm not immediately impacted, it can still trigger
a whole lot of trauma and anxiety responses, so please
don't be shy.

Speaker 10 (42:33):
It was.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
The next question coming out of my mouth is about
it's okay to feel one way or the other, whether
be anxious or word or whatever the case may be,
because when we suppress it, it has a funny way
making it worse and in.

Speaker 13 (42:44):
This case, having conflicting dual feelings. So I'm using the
yes and as part of the discussion. Yes, I'm very
grateful for the first responders, and you know all the
efforts that have been done, and you guys in the
media and government, and I can be very appreciative of
that and still devastated. You know, if you've lost property,

(43:09):
you can, yes, I you know, know that I am
in a place of privilege and have a vehicle and
am able to gas up the car, you know, all
of those kind of things, and it's still really stressful.
So it's okay to have those mixed feelings because people
often feel like, well, I, you know, I have to
feel grateful or and for people who have had losses,

(43:33):
it's really difficult figure out how to address that and
not sound you know, overly cheerful or you know, that
toxic positivity.

Speaker 4 (43:42):
Of that's okay.

Speaker 13 (43:43):
Things can be replaced. No, give people time. Yes, I'm
grateful that there's been no loss of life, and this
is still devastating. It's okay to have both of those feelings.

Speaker 3 (43:53):
Yeah, the buddy up system is not only pragmatic, but
it can be helpful to your mental well being. I mean,
just know that you know, whether it be your neighbor
in Paradise or wherever the case we be, whether it
be tag team in looking at social media, whether it
be things like making arrangements if you had to go
to work and you're living in an alert area, might
not be able to go back. What about your teenage
kids and we need to get out. What about your dog?

(44:14):
What about your cat? What about if you have those
plans with someone else. It just gives you that sense
that you are not alone, because sometimes that's the number
one it is for me anyway, is I get most
anxious if i feel like I'm isolated, and that can
happen to me and I'm living and working in a building,
and I've got a family, and I've got friends, and
i got golf buddies, but it's easy for that to
seep into your mind. So just that fundamental of I

(44:36):
got your back and you got mine. That is sometimes
for me just eliminates that feeling of being alone or
in it on my own or whatever the right phrase is.

Speaker 13 (44:45):
Oh for sure. And we even did some problem something
of what haven't I thought to pack? Because you again,
this is weird, this is a different kind of preparation,
and I had the epiphany. I went down in the
basement and with Christmas tree ornaments. That's something that for
me represents childhood and is something that I hadn't thought of.

(45:07):
And so fortunately they were all in a little box
and I hid space in the car, so they got
tucked away. That wasn't something that was on any of
those lists. And again I know I have the luxury
of having that space. But so even between the group
of us, a little bit of humor, but also just
some of that problem solving of what haven't I thought of?
Because we don't think clearly when we're stressed, so rely

(45:30):
on others. And like I say, we not to sound
overly optimistic, we will get through this. This brings out
the best in people, it also brings out the worst
in people. But Newfoundland and Labrador as a community, we rally,
we support we help to rebuild. This is different and

(45:51):
we're going to learn some lessons and we'll move forward
from it.

Speaker 3 (45:54):
For issues like what we're dealing with today, when it
brings out the best in people, that's really encouraging. And
for those that brings the worst out of I know,
we can't. You know, I don't know if this is
the right strategy, but this is what I do, and
it works for me. I just I just try to
ignore them as best possible, even though people think I
should jump in and try to correct them on this
or that it's not my job. And I feel better

(46:14):
when I ignore the folks that really really lose their
mind here with the commentary that they offer. I mean,
folks are struggling. When it brings out the worst, it's
maybe a time to have a little quick look in
the mirror yourself, Oh for sure, And I look at that.

Speaker 13 (46:28):
You know what, at the moment, we are all on
kind of limited emotional capacity because of everything we're processing
and dealing with. Why am I going to give up
some of my very limited resources to something that's not
going to be helpful And I'm not going to you know,
change their mind. So let me focus on the things
that are helpful. And wildfires create hopelessness, they create lack

(46:52):
of control. So focus on the things you can control,
and whether that's helping with donations, whether that's you know,
figuring out things that you can do, and sometimes it's
okay if you don't have that in your capacity, and
just getting up and getting through your day is what
you were able to do. That's amazing.

Speaker 3 (47:13):
I'm never really sure what I'm able to do until
I close my eyes try to reflect on the day.
Doctor Hubbard. I really appreciate your time as usual. We'll
talk again soon.

Speaker 13 (47:22):
Absolutely, Thanks Patty, and hang in there, everybody.

Speaker 3 (47:25):
Absolutely, thank you. Bye bye, doctor Jeanine Hubbard. Always helpful.
Let's take a break for the news. I'll we come back.
There's a call or two on the wild fires. Chris,
let's talk about the fixed link. Love that conversation, and
Bev has an update to share as well, and then
tons of time left for you. Don't go away. Welcome
back to the program. Let's begin this segment on line

(47:45):
number two. Good morning, Chris, you're on the air.

Speaker 10 (47:49):
Yeah, good morning, Patty. I'd like to talk about the
fixtion link. You know, I have a business myself and
when I go into a customer's house, what I have
to do is I have to explain the features and

(48:09):
sell the benefits. It's not like I'm trying to sell
somebody something, but they want the service that I have.
So where I'm going with this is what we had
to do as Newfoundlanders is we have to explain the
features of a fixed link to mainland Canada, to Mark

(48:38):
Kearney in the future.

Speaker 6 (48:43):
You know, with the talks of.

Speaker 10 (48:47):
The major projects that they're talking about across Canada, we
had to be one of those. We have and in
order for us to be one, then we as new
planet we had to explain the benefits and of having

(49:10):
this fixed link. And to add to what I said
in the past, I just found out that for you
to turn off at dearly and go up the Northern
Peninsula you lose five hours. But I also found if
you travel on Route three eighty nine that Quebec is

(49:34):
proposing to take from the mouth of the tunnel and
bring it into Quebec and then you can go down
to New Hampshire. And I don't know everything. I mean,
there's people with more knowledge than what I have. But

(49:54):
where I'm going with this is okay, another just last
my train of cock there. But just look at, for instance,
what was just on the news there before I came
on about hurricane season is at its peak. Do you
think that a person is going to book a very

(50:17):
ride no one that we're going into the peak of
hurricane season.

Speaker 3 (50:24):
It's an interesting question. I would imagine people who have
to travel will travel. But folks who you know, it's
not mandatory that they go to one place or another
during a hurricane, they probably won't travel, regardless if it's
through the tunnel and or through a marine Atlantic. I
suppose you mentioned Quebec and the highway that would need
to be completed there. That's Route one thirty eight. The
most recent numbers from ARAP that updated the twenty eighteen

(50:47):
research done by Hatch. They say that that number has
not belonged to three billion dollars to complete one thirty eight,
and that's relying on the province of Quebec to actually
do it, which is a complicated factor, I would think.

Speaker 10 (51:01):
But the other thing too is the five hours that
you lose from Deer Lake to the entrance of the tunnel,
you'll gain it from the other end of the tunnel
into Quebec. My understanding, you'll lose it.

Speaker 14 (51:21):
And gain it.

Speaker 10 (51:22):
And if you know and you know where the problem
comes into is marine Atlantic like coming ninety miles across
in windy conditions, it's you know, it's out of our control.
It's a hostile environment. We're going from a hostile environment

(51:46):
into a controlled environment. And what they are we're doing
is selling that it's a feeling of security no one
that you can leave the province and go where you
like the part of the rest of Canada. I mean,
if I had the time, I mean, I devote my
whole life to it, but I got to work for

(52:09):
its toly. So it's it's critical to opening up Newfoundland.
And you know, I mean the benefits are unreal, and
I know that lots of people in Newfoundland got benefits
up the sleeves to talk about this just laying the
money ahead of it. The money, but the money will

(52:30):
calm once you get it started, and the benefits have
to be sold to Mark Carney to include us into
the major projects.

Speaker 3 (52:42):
Just a couple of thoughts there. I think the decisions
will be made based on money, I really do. Like
I mean, for stars, we don't really know what a
tunnel building company will propose, you know, whether they stick
with the eighteen kilometer rail tunnel, which has been the
preferred option by both reports from twenty eighteen and from
ARAUP in twenty twenty three. So I think money is
going to be part of the conversation. And let's just

(53:04):
dig into time and travel. Here's what we have found
out here. So the Arab report said Travis and the
Neufland from Quebec City would shave two hours off their
trip using the tunnel. Travers from Winnipeg wol save an hour.
But anyone come and say from Halifax or Boston would
be for a logger trip using the tunnel compared with
the ferry itself. And you talk about Mark Carony and
nation building projects, you don't need me to say it.

(53:27):
The Liberal government themselves have said exactly that they say
in mandate letters to successive ministers, is that support nation
building projects would benefit people across various regions, connect their
country and improve life, including the Newfoundland Labrador Fixed Transportation Link.
That's what the federal government has already said. They put
it in the hands of the Canadian Infrastructure Bank, calling

(53:48):
it a nation building project. Just last year between the
infrastructure back and this province, they spent five hundred thousand
dollars to advance it. What was achieved, I have no idea,
but the Liberal government has already called it nation building project.
Whether or not people listening to the show, I think
it's a good idea, a bad idea, a dumb idea,
or a wise idea. The fact of the matter is
the current government has called it exactly what you just

(54:09):
called it yourself, nation building.

Speaker 10 (54:12):
And I've been in construction all my life, and I've
been around the world and I've seen a lot of
big projects, including the White West Rose project. I mean,
the engineers can come out with this big study, but
at the end of the day, nobody got a crystal ball.
And I have not seen it in my life a
project that has come in on these big projects coming

(54:36):
on budget. So the statistics from the study that was
done from the engineers, you know, I don't I don't
even heed it really because the thing is and I know,
like money is important and all the study and everything,

(54:57):
but I have never yet seen a construction. Uh, call
me in on budget and on time. You know you
can you can put out a proposal, and you can
come close. But the thing is to get this, to
get it started, is the thing. But it's not going

(55:19):
to happen unless we explain the benefits and they got
to be real and not false. They got to be real.
Is it a benefit and we cannot even perceive what
the benefit will be to open Newferland of the Canada.

Speaker 3 (55:37):
Yeah, well we'll have to use some educated best guesses
about what travel and traffic might look like. Given there's
going to be an operating expense that has to be
paid for, like if it's like the Confederation Bridge, and
the toll will be based on traffic volumes to pay
the people, because it's going to be a P three.
If whatever does happen, I would think then it's the
upgrade of the highway network on the Great Northern Peninsula,

(55:58):
which would have to happen if the traffic volume is
the rosy set of circumstance that Hatch portrayed. So I
guess I'll put that out there. I think you're right.
The vast majority of these mega projects come in over
budget and over time, or they beat they don't beat
their schedule. But you know one major project that did
come in on budget, on time. The Maritime Link amera

(56:20):
no a s quetial power. They built that five hundred
megabat maritime link for one point five billion dollars. They
completed it early. I'm not trying to refute your point,
but that's one of the fascinating projects that actually got
done on time and on budget, but we can't seem
to pull it off.

Speaker 10 (56:35):
Okay, So I'm going to ask you the question.

Speaker 15 (56:37):
Now.

Speaker 5 (56:37):
I know that you and.

Speaker 10 (56:41):
And the other guy that filled in for you while
you're on vacation is in favor of this. It's what
was his.

Speaker 3 (56:53):
Name, and that's me Germaine.

Speaker 10 (56:54):
Yeah. Yeah, he's excited about this and he's on board
with this. So my question to you personally is why
are you in favor of it?

Speaker 3 (57:06):
I've never said I am.

Speaker 10 (57:09):
Well, the tone of your voice there when you were
talking about me coming on top and fixed link indicated
to me that you were in favor.

Speaker 3 (57:21):
No, I enjoy I enjoy talking about it. I just
think it's one of those fascinating projects. Look, we've been
talking about this for decades, right, there was a big
body worked on two thousand and four, and then hatchet
it in twenty eighteen. Then app did it again in
twenty twenty three with much different numbers. So I haven't
said one way or the other whether or not I
think it's a good idea. In fact, given the Air Report,

(57:43):
which is the most current numbers we have, it doesn't
look like it's financially a very smart thing to do.
So I've kind of hesitated to be all in or
all out in this particular project versus what I try
to use is the most recent numbers we have, And
what I've also gotten on to say every single time
is the only logical next step now is to go
to the market, see what the market thinks. Get a

(58:03):
company in that has some expertise in building these types
of tunnels, whether it be from Norway or wherever else
in the world. Let them tell us, because they're only
going to get involved if they think there's money to
be made, and they will put financial forecasts on the table,
just like Hatch dig, just like Rap did. So I'm
not in a all in or all out. The only
comment that I made that made probably makes me sound

(58:24):
like I'm all in is and I was just using
the Liberal government themselves their own words. They've called it
a nation building project and if the Prime Minister is
talking about fast tracking nation building projects. His government has
already called this one, so that might give people the
perception that I'm in total favor. But the kurt the
most recent numbers we have, it doesn't look like it's
financially very wise to do. That doesn't mean that those

(58:45):
numbers might not change in the future.

Speaker 10 (58:48):
So the other thing too, is you talked about a
real why already considering going with a rail versus just
getting in your car and drive and through the tunnel.

Speaker 3 (59:00):
It's an interesting question. Yeah, apparently some of it has
to do with safety, which I guess I kind of understand.
Even though you can have a median, you know that,
just like on Pitts Memorial Drive, I'm not going to
have a head on collision because there's a barrier there.
So I'm told it's about safety and efficiency. And I
can't really answer that question with any authority because I'm
not entirely sure.

Speaker 10 (59:24):
Yeah, okay, that's basically I like have to say this morning.

Speaker 6 (59:28):
Yeah, we'll just see if anybody else I hope they
do what.

Speaker 3 (59:31):
I appreciate your time, Chris, thanks a lot, Okay, take
care of you. Okay, I just what I generally say
leading into is I simply do enjoy the fixing conversation
because we only get the numbers out there. The decision
will be any based on numbers. You gotta believe, because
if this ever happens, given the fact we're building hospitals
and long term care facilities and prisons under the private

(59:54):
public partnership something like this, you gotta believe it's going
to be that as well. Right right, let's take a break,
look away, cool, Welcome back to the show. Let's go
to LNE number five. Good morning, Tony, you' around the air.

Speaker 14 (01:00:06):
Yes, good morning. I was just wondering if there's any
updates from the government to give funding because of their
wildfire in Western Bay.

Speaker 3 (01:00:15):
Update from the government down what Tony, Sorry.

Speaker 14 (01:00:18):
For the for the funding for the wildfire in Western
Bay in the lost of homes.

Speaker 3 (01:00:23):
Funding, Yes, no, not yet. I mean they're still not
entirely sure exactly what's been lost. You know, they're basing
some of the estimates on the structures that have lost power.
So there's no funding update as of now. I mean
for starts the Adams called fire. There are months ago
and the government was talking about funding for people who
lost their homes. There are still no ane euncement down

(01:00:44):
that front, so certainly nothing about the CBN fire or
the Kingston fire yet. Okay, there we go, No problem, Ton,
no problem, appreciate your time, Thanks buddy, Thanks, thank much,
Bye bye. Just a couple of notes on the notification process.
It is a bit disjointed or splintered, and it is
a little bit complicated for starters. The municipalities, they take

(01:01:08):
the lead when they talk about notifying residents and structure
losses in their community. But if an area is unincorporated,
then it becomes the responsibility of the Department of Justice.
When we talk about cabins, they become the responsibility for
notification for the Department of Forestry, which is a bit
of a disconnected system, but that's the case. Let's go

(01:01:30):
to line number three. Tommy around the air. Good morning, Patrick,
doing okay? Thanks? How about you?

Speaker 12 (01:01:36):
Not to bad, Patty. I want to comment to the
fire issue. That's where I was raised, of course, the
school that burned down, that's that was built on the
side of my old high school. So the whole area,
of course is where I was raised, where I did
my crazy things, and I was only advised last night

(01:02:00):
two of my family members lost their homes. So it's
of course very difficult times were everybody. And and I
was thinking this morning when I was listening to you
that my very first job, the very last job I
had what I was in the Air Force, was that
I was the officer responsible for, while I was in Europe,
all of the children who remained in Canada while their

(01:02:25):
family members, the military members, were transferred to Europe. So
you know, I had to look after the payments for
their private schools and things which they were allowed to do,
and to arrange the trips between the parents and the
family members who they could visit, so you know, and
I was thinking about that this morning, and thinking about
all the children that are going to be displaced as

(01:02:47):
a results of their schools being burned out, and I thought,
you know, all the things I experienced dealing with parents
and children when they were separated and all those things,
and you know, I started to think about it, and
I said, you know, it is something I could possibly
do to help people and help these kids. And I

(01:03:09):
was saying, well, you know, I got an eleven year
old and you could probably hear him in the background
now because he's got two of his friends over for
sleepover last night, and they're going crazy with video games
and things. And some of these kids, they are, in fact,
all of these kids are now going to have to
go to different schools. They're going to have to travel
a long periods of time, probably as much as a

(01:03:30):
nowur of a day on the school bus to get
to either carbon the or Old Perlican. And I was saying,
you know, and a lot of these parents don't have
homes anymore, so where they're staying. So I thought to
myself that you know why I got a home. I
got an extra bedroom. I got my kid here who
would love the company. And any parents who are troubled

(01:03:54):
and worried about having your kids travel on buses and things,
you know, they want to board them at my house.
And again, this a lot of money issue. This is
simply me saying in some way I can help and
they can stay with us and just company. For my
eleven year old, he could go to school at Hazel
with where he goes.

Speaker 15 (01:04:12):
I know who.

Speaker 12 (01:04:13):
It's a difficult decision for parents to make, but I'm
sure there's not only me, but probably a lot of
people that have kids and have a spare bedroom in
your house, and at least it gives the parents a
chance to find a place to live and get settled
and gives the kid. The kids is going to have
to go to a different school anyway and meet new friends.

(01:04:33):
So I just thought i'd throw it out there so
everybody I think knows me and knows that. You know,
I have a pretty good home for kids who live
in and if karents want to consider that, they can
certainly call me and would love to have a child
here for the short term to see if we can help.

Speaker 3 (01:04:50):
That's very kind and generous of you. Tom's good on you.
You know, back to school is in a couple of weeks,
and to not really have contingency plans are understood by
the parents and the kids has got to be pretty unsettling.
On top of everything else there, their school is gone.
They're not even sure if the province is even going
to consider rebuilding Capital Academy out in Western Bay. So

(01:05:11):
until people get some actual information about where their children
are going to be going to school, yours is a
kind offer. I don't know what anyone's going to do
about it, but boy, be sure nice to know. And
I know this is a complicated issue, and it's hard
to make a plan for a school burning down in
August when the kids go back to school in September.
But there's a lot of uncertainy. I hear from some
of those parents and they are really up in arms.

(01:05:34):
I don't think they're mad at anybody, They're just really worried.

Speaker 12 (01:05:38):
Oh, I understand. You have to understand that we all
have children. We know what this time of the year means,
trying to get your kids ready for school and all
those things. And when you've lost your home, you can't
go back to your community. You're just living on a
camp cut and all those things. And even after you're
able to go back to your home, you don't may

(01:05:59):
Or and I'll have a home to go to. But
for the children's perspective is that we're going to go
to school. So you know, that's why I thought if
this could help, you know, and I'm willing to meet
with any parent to assure them that my intentions are
sincere and not This is not a money grab of
any stretch of the imagination. We would feed the child

(01:06:20):
and bring them back and forth to school and do
all those things until the parent gets settled, and it's
a huge, huge thing for a child to do, would
be but with social media, you know, and their cell
phones and all those things, they're in contact constantly anyway.
So I just throw it out there that if there's
any parent and everybody in that area knows me and

(01:06:40):
they know who I am, so it's there, they know
how to contact me and if they want, just give
me a call and we can certainly talk about it.

Speaker 3 (01:06:48):
Appreciate this, Tom, thanks for doing it. Okay, take care
of bye bye. Yeah, And look, I don't have a
plan for those children. How pus these student enrollment had
to he counter Capital Academy. I believe it was sixty, right,
We just think about the complications associated with that. We
talk about class size and schools that are already at

(01:07:10):
max capacity. Are there schools in the area that app
can actually absorb and maybe several different schools will be
hopefully be able to absorb these sixty now displaced students.
But is that how realistic is that? And what's going
to happen? And even when asked Bernard Davis, Minister Davis
not even sure if the government is going to rebuild

(01:07:30):
Capital Academy. So and I get we don't want to
wish our summer away, certainly I don't. But the back
to school plan, so, whether it be updates on the
twenty million dollars that was set aside by the province
to hire four hundred additional people working in the CADED
twelve system, where we are on that, whether it be
with speech pathologists or student assistants or teachers or whatever

(01:07:51):
the case may be, because that's a lot to consider.
Even if you want to go back down the road
of Larry's Brook and Larkle Academy and the school proposed
for ken Mount Terras, don't take it from me, take
it from the government's own numbers and the actual enrollment
numbers that we see in these feeder schools. We're going
to build a school for eight hundred and fifty students
when it looks like there might be as many as
eleven hundred that need to go to that school. So

(01:08:13):
and then it's of course things like reflecting back on
how the cell phone backed band worked inside the Province
of schools and how it was enforced and what the
reaction was amongst the student body and the teachers. Anything
in the education portfolio, let's get it out there because
we're going back to school. Let's take a break when
we go back. I had mentioned not so long ago
about the attempt or the initiative to get locally grown

(01:08:35):
produce into the province's hospitals, maybe long term care facilities,
maybe personal cares, maybe schools with food personnel CEO Josh
Me right after this, don't go away, welcome back to
the show. Let's go to Len number three. Take them
to the CEO at food first. Then l that's Josh
Me Joshure on the air. Good morning, Teddy, welcome to
the show.

Speaker 15 (01:08:56):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (01:08:57):
Nice hear it's spurred on conversation about healthy food and
hospital because I call her earlier talked about what he
considers me terrible food in the hospital and carbonair, which
led me to think about, you know, the initiative that
you guys were working on locally ground produce into hospitals,
long term care homes, personal care homes and schools. Where
are we with that.

Speaker 6 (01:09:14):
There's a bunch of things happening, so thanks for asking.
So there's been a project going mostly most of the
pilot's sites have been actually up in Labrador around this
and where we started was getting local food both locally
grown food and wild food into long term care. For
a couple of reasons, long term care is kind of

(01:09:36):
the low hanging fruit on this because the long term
care facility is a bit smaller, they do more of
their cooking on site. And also we heard a lot
from people who are living in long term care that
they were really looking for a little bit more kind
of the familiar foods that they grew up with, right,
So it took a little bit of navigating figuring out,
for example, how to get a wild partridge onto the

(01:09:58):
menu onto someone's plate long term care facility. But it's
been sorted, which is the cool thing actually, So there's
a set of procedures. We figured out the pathway. So
how so that you can do wild foods, you can
and you can do local foods, at least in long
term care. It'll be a longer walk to figure it
out for patient trays in bigger hospitals, just because there's

(01:10:20):
more rules and regulations about kind of where the food
comes from, about the some of the on farm food
inspection stuff. So that's kind of the next step is
pushing this along. But there is now like a real
clear pathway for folks in long term care and for
folks making food in long term care to be able
to use much more local stuff. The other side of

(01:10:41):
this is supply right, like figuring out how to get
the local food in the right quantities predictably. So that's
the other the thing that we're working on right now.

Speaker 3 (01:10:51):
What had to be overcome to get wild food into
the care homes because we know, like trying to get
into food bank said to have approved avatoires be part
of the the change. So what what was what was
involve for you guys to do what you've done.

Speaker 6 (01:11:04):
Yeah, similarly, it was it was always possible, it just
wasn't clear that it was. So it was mostly a
bit of coordinating with folks at f FA and Service
and l about what the what the process would be,
and where things had to be documented and what it
had to be, what it had to look like. So

(01:11:24):
in this case, it wasn't a situation where any big
rules had to be changed, But what we actually just
really had to do was poke at it a while,
do some research, talk to people, and so now we've
got kind of a written written guide and if anyone's
interested in that, they can reach out to food First. Actually,
because we've got a like a written set of procedures
of how to do it, which is like, that's about

(01:11:45):
my biggert I don't I couldn't tell you all the
different steps there, but it's written down now. Uh, and
so now there's just like it's easier for other places
that are interested in doing that to copy it.

Speaker 3 (01:11:56):
What made care homes the low hanging fruit, to use your.

Speaker 6 (01:11:59):
Words, Uh, they're cooking in their own kitchens more so,
you know, if you're in a h and they're cooking
more from scratch, like you know, stuff a kitchen in
a long term care home looks a little bit more
like what's happening in that kitchen looks a little bit
more like what might be happening in your home kitchen,
where you're bringing in something just like whole ingredients and
turning them into meals, whereas in some bigger institutions, stuff

(01:12:20):
is coming in a little bit more pre processed, right Like,
if you're serving up a meal in a big hospital,
it might be coming in pre cut. It might even
be coming in in those kind of steam package thingies,
steamlessly I think they're called. And so those ones one
of the challenges still locally for those bigger institutions. Is
that we don't have that many companies in Newfounland Labrador

(01:12:44):
who have the equipment to can process things to the
size and spec that that those bigger those bigger facilities need,
and our producers are sometimes small, so it's hard to
get orders in enough volume. So there's a bit of
coordinating that to happen to make it easier for those
big institutions to buy local. But for the small ones,

(01:13:05):
there's fewer people and it's and they're doing more of
their their own shopping as it were, you know, so
there's a little bit of an easier pathway to get
that free in there.

Speaker 3 (01:13:13):
What's the process for bringing say, hunters into the process
for the wild game and for local farmers to bring
their local products. How does it work?

Speaker 6 (01:13:21):
Yeah, it's going to depend on the institution. So for
the way we did it was we worked with worked
with local hunters. So we're not buying their their meat
per se, right, but we worked with local hunters. We
were able to support the costs of them getting out
on the land and doing the hunt and then donating

(01:13:44):
the result of the hunt in So I think a
lot of it with hunters and involves kind of the
institution needs to build a relationship with with local hunters
in their region. So that's the first step. That can
go a couple of different ways. But I think, like
most of us know some folks who who are really
want to be out of the land, really reliable and

(01:14:07):
take good care of what they catch and all that
kind of thing. So it's really ends up being pretty
relationship based. And similarly for local producers, I think like
if you're running a smaller institution, you can do a
little bit of relationship building. But then the other way
it goes is that you know there are the bigger,
the bigger companies in the mix, you know that that

(01:14:29):
are doing on site food service at big institutions, and
and we know those folks are also they have you know,
they're looking I think, to buy local where they can,
and so one of the things we're doing at Food
First actually to try and make this a little bit easier.
That's one of the reasons we're building up these food hubs.
We've got one in Western We're about to launch one
in and around Saint John's, which you know, we have

(01:14:51):
as many local food producers that want to join, and
we can take online orders and handle the logistics of it.
But one of the reasons that we do those food
hubs is so that we can do a bigger order.
So you might have someone who needs, say, I don't know,
five hundred pounds of carrots, but there's no individual producer
who can deliver that, but maybe they can divide that

(01:15:11):
five hundred across a few and that what's needed is
that someone in the middle to do that aggregating, right,
And that's also something that's like a little bit missing
but getting built up, including by some of the nonprofit
programs like ours.

Speaker 3 (01:15:24):
Yeah, great stuff. Anything else you want to tell us
on the food first front before we let you go,
Oh well.

Speaker 6 (01:15:30):
I just think on this topic. You mentioned school food
off the hop. You know that's the other big piece
is that you know, there is a universal school lunch
program coming. You know, that's getting built up right now.
We're trying to help. We just finished a big round
of consultations on it. We're writing a big report on this.
But I think that's going to be a real spur
because the National School Food Policy, the kind of what's

(01:15:51):
guiding this, really encourages local food in the school food mix.
So I think there's going to be a huge opportunity
to get more local to those institutions there.

Speaker 3 (01:16:01):
Yeah, I really need an update on the national school
lunch program because like, for instance, where my boys went
to elementary school, no cafeteria, let alone no kitchen, So
how is this actually going to work into the different
schools which are not all created equal? Josh, as usual,
I really appreciate the time the work you're doing.

Speaker 6 (01:16:17):
Yeah, thanks Patty, thanks for checking it.

Speaker 3 (01:16:19):
Stay in touch, Bye bye, Josh me the CEO had
food first and l all right, Bev, you stay right there.
Appreciate your patients as we do, Everett. A couple of
interesting topics coming up. Everyone wants to talk about salmon hatcheries,
of which there are many here in the province, whether
it be Saint Albans or Mary'stown or I guess you
would have to include some of the agricultural sites, so

(01:16:39):
everyone wants to talk about that. And Beb has an
update on her son. I'm pretty sure I'm familiar with
Beb's story. But we'll get that update and then tons
of time left for you. Don't go away. Welcome back
to the show. Let's go to line number two. Good morning,
Everett around the air.

Speaker 16 (01:16:53):
Hey, good morning to you, Patty. Good morning Patty. This morning,
I'd like to pacifically talk about the wild Atlantic fish hatchery,
so specifically the lack they're off of my opinion, okay,
and thank you for giving me the opportunity to do so, Patty.
I would say that the U and I and basically

(01:17:17):
everyone else in Newfoundland and Larbrador who care about the
future of the Atlantic salmon would argue that the recreational
salmon fishery is very important to Newfoundland Larbrador, providing both
social and economic benefits. And I think we'd also argue

(01:17:37):
that Newfoundland and Larbrador is one off the last frontiers
for the Atlantic salmon in the world. I don't know
if you'd like to comment on that.

Speaker 3 (01:17:48):
Well, it's the report that we the wild Atlantic salmon
is the strongest salmon stock in the world. Now, the
concern would be for people on the island is salmon
returns to the rivers, because you know, we have not
had a commercial salmon fishery in a long long time.
There's a relatively small commercial salmon fishery in Iceland and Greenland,
a very small one for Sant Pierre mickeloon, but there

(01:18:09):
has been one here for New Ftlander's laboratories for decades,
and the salmon return numbers are crystal clear these stock
is in trouble.

Speaker 16 (01:18:17):
You are exactly right. I'm not advocating this morning that
we would have a commercial salmon fishery.

Speaker 3 (01:18:26):
No, no, no, I didn't mean to imply no, no.

Speaker 16 (01:18:28):
Okay, okay, Patty. I think we'd also say too that
the construction of fish passage facilities, fish hat trees, and
allocating new areas for expanding salmon migration and adequate enforcement.
You know, they are all very important when determined the
growth or decline off the Atlantic salmon stocks in our province,

(01:18:51):
and Patty and those, of course, there are many other
factors that would have to be considered today, I'd appreciate
the opportunity US fish hatters with you, and maybe some
other times we get Dobton, we might zero in on
some of the other points that I just made there, Paddy.
Last night I googled No Piles fish hatchery, and although

(01:19:16):
I've heard off the Thatchy hatchery before, I didn't realize Patty,
how important the hatchery was. And for the benefit of
your listeners, i'd like to give just a brief history
a few points off that particular hatchery, if I may.
In nineteen sixty seven, the NOA poles Broke Incubation Facility

(01:19:38):
was started with salmon from the Humber River being used
as broodstock. In nineteen seventy four, DFO set up a
collection facility below Grand Falls to collect and transfer broodstock
to the No Pause facility. In nineteen eighty one, one

(01:19:58):
point four million sam fry were transferred from the Noah
Path facility to Lloyds River. In nineteen eighty two, the
Exploits River Management Association was farmed, now known as the
Environment Resources Management Association IRMA. In nineteen eighty seven, three

(01:20:21):
point eight six million salmon fry from the Noapath facility
were released throughout the x Floits River watershed system. In
nineteen eighty eight, an additional four point nine million salmon
fry from the no Path facility were distributed throughout the
Exploits River watershed. But Patty sadly, in nineteen ninety three

(01:20:47):
the No Paulsbrook Incubation Facility was closed. Now Patty, in
my opinion, that facility should have never closed. It should
have been used to release salmon fry to other rivers
in Newfoundland and Larbra Door es, basically those where salmon
returns were and is a concern. I'm very pleased to

(01:21:10):
say today that the Conservative Member for Central Newfoundland and
Larbra Door m P. Clifford Small has recently stressed the
importance of salmon hatcheres in our province and I one
hundred and ten.

Speaker 3 (01:21:28):
Percent degree And of course it's a provincial responsibility. Just
so people know what you're saying is no, it's Noel Paul.
So it's two words. I just want to make sure
people know what we're talking about. So it's n Oe
L one word, p a u L another world, No
Paul Brook. I mean, I believe that facility was primarily

(01:21:48):
responsible for bob stocking what they I don't know what
they call it now, but red Indian leg right for one.

Speaker 16 (01:21:56):
Yes, as far as I'm concerned, I believe, Yes, you're right.
You know that was part after reason why the Noah
Paul facility was built in the first place. Okay, yes,
for sure, Paddy, I respectfully asked this morning that every

(01:22:17):
salmon association and every concerned salmon and anger angler, every
city town community stand shoulders shoulder with mister Clifford Small.

Speaker 3 (01:22:29):
M P.

Speaker 16 (01:22:30):
Clifford smile. We need to make sure that an innugate
number of fish hat trees are built in Newfoundland Labrador.

Speaker 3 (01:22:40):
Yeah, and then well, look, I mean the preservation of
the Atlantic wild salmon is of course important, and there's
a variety contributing factors there. Whether we talk about migratory
patterns that are changing, and water temperature and return numbers
on the rivers which are different in Labrador than they
are on the island, then it's the complication associated with aquaculture.
Then it's the complication associated with you know, hook and

(01:23:03):
release and retention and all those things. So I think
there's a lot to it, but certainly hatchery is are
part of the conversation. Of course, of course should be
Thank you very much.

Speaker 16 (01:23:12):
Anything else this morning, ever, No, sir, that's that's fine.
I just wanted to discuss that way you this morning
get the message out that I think we shouldn't be supporting.
MP Clifford Small.

Speaker 3 (01:23:22):
I appreciate your time, Thanks for doing it.

Speaker 16 (01:23:24):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 3 (01:23:25):
You're welcome. Eburh babye, pardon me as I clear my throat.
Line Number one Bevy on the air.

Speaker 17 (01:23:33):
Hi, good morning, Patty.

Speaker 7 (01:23:34):
How are you.

Speaker 3 (01:23:34):
I'm doing okay. How about you?

Speaker 18 (01:23:36):
I'm doing okay too. I just wanted to call in.
I wasn't going to call him, but I've done more
think into it, and I thought, like, you know, it's
it's sad. I remember our call last year when I
was speaking to you, how I said, you know the
system is failing us.

Speaker 17 (01:23:48):
Should come out.

Speaker 18 (01:23:49):
You don't get help, you end up back in for
those you know with addictions, you might ever else. So
I thought last year for six months to get my
son finally into the Waterford and Andy and he was
actually in voluntierly admitted by the doctor and when he
was released, he was transferred to another part of the
h of the Waterford and treated by another doctor because

(01:24:10):
he was no longer a part of the HMP. And anyway,
a week before he was he was he wasn't good.
He was you know, he was pasting. You could tell
he was no sam mind and they had him mind
this medication that they had to change. But you could
see him coming around, like I go visit him, and
you know, I was hopeful. And anyway, a week before
they were to move into the new hospital. They released him,

(01:24:33):
so we had no medication with him.

Speaker 17 (01:24:35):
I did not well. Actually I had to.

Speaker 18 (01:24:37):
Track him down for two weeks because he was just
a bit lost and he was staying intent because he's
afraid to go downtown, praid to get beat up his
buddy to hold me. But again his mind wasn't totally there.
He needed longer treatment because my plan was to actually
once he was finished deb treatment, to put him into
rehab and uh, you know, probably a safe home. But anyway,

(01:24:57):
so he I finally got him into a house and
he was doing well. I was bringing down for his
methodone every day. I could still see like he was
bringing up stuff like that made me think that, you
know what, you're still not well, like you're you know,
all the stuff hoses you've been through and maybe bipolar,
I don't know, but like he was still saying he
was being radiated, that he had radiation and he went.

Speaker 17 (01:25:15):
To the hospital to get blove worked one.

Speaker 18 (01:25:18):
So the reason my call is to day to say,
you know what, assistant failed us again, So here I am.
He Uh, three weeks ago, he got arrested again and
he was worse this time. I never heard from him.
I called down to the HMP, and I'm being blocked
like all was the last time, because classification officers can't
tell you nothing. I said, I just want to know
he's okay. I said, like I went through a lot

(01:25:38):
last year trying to help him, and I said, he's
back to the same.

Speaker 9 (01:25:41):
Spot he was.

Speaker 18 (01:25:42):
And anyway, I reached out to her boss at the thing,
I reached out to a citizen's representative and I got
to witness the first hand in court on Monday. I
knew he wasn't well, and I found out later that
he's at the segregated unit in isolation again. And when
I called down again yesterday, I was told the same
story again.

Speaker 17 (01:26:01):
Oh doctors are treating him, I said. I was told
that last year, two I said, And.

Speaker 18 (01:26:04):
I said, six months later, I finally got him into
the wire for so I'm just lost. You know, I
don't understand, like you know, part of the reason why
our prisons are the arts, because we have all these
people that are there because of your addictions, not because
in their mental health, not just because your criminals, and anyway,
you know, it's failing us. And I hope that you know,
with the rally coming up in September that you know

(01:26:25):
it will help us make a difference. Now there is
safe homes coming that you're aware of. Finally on a
corner book is the first one that just opened up.
But I just wanted to say just you know, because
I'm sure there's people that are going through the same
struggle I am that you know you're doing what you
can for your child and you know the system is
failing us.

Speaker 3 (01:26:40):
Yeah, I'm not sure what that might do for operations
in the penitentiary system, but I think the understand your point.
This is not a question with any intention to embarrass
or what have you. But what's what's he being arrested for.
What's what's going on?

Speaker 18 (01:26:56):
Well, he was I think what happened the last time
he ended up he was clean. He was just do
a methodone program and I think what happened is the
medicine that they must have had. This is this is
just an observation because I experienced it. But as his
time was when he was saying he was clean, I
could see like different things Like I said to you
about he's like saying he was radiated and he got
money from somewhere because he was cleaneder his own marks

(01:27:19):
not onney germs, and I went away on holidays for
a week, and yeah, he must have got his hands
on money. And I don't think he done any illegal
break and entry in me that there, but he did
take my car.

Speaker 17 (01:27:31):
He did, you know, he.

Speaker 18 (01:27:33):
Smashed the window on a front window. But that's when
I called the police on him. But I could hear him.
He was like a wounded animal. They're crying on the road.
And I called the police right away, and Constable I'm
not going to tell you his name, called me back
and said, you know, miss Murphy, I'm going to recommend.

Speaker 17 (01:27:47):
Some psychological assessment firm because he said.

Speaker 18 (01:27:50):
I got I know him right, So so that's it.
I think it's just not you know, being in being
in an addiction and not getting the proper health care
and not just the diction of it itself. I think Mitchell, ope, sorry,
I think he was put in psychosis that so long
that you know, it doesn't take a month to recover.
I think you need more of a you know, a
line of retreat in the program and to be on

(01:28:11):
a medication that keeps you level. So when he was released,
they didn't give him no prescription, so he went back
to his doctor and he got oh and and yeah,
that was the other side of it. The h he
was put on a Method one program and doctor, his
doctor at time down on Market Road, prescribed them with Brettno,
which would induce psychosis. So I took the bills and

(01:28:32):
I used to get in to myself mind him. I
wouldn't even let him take the WHO battle because I
knew what it would do to him and that could
have been a trigger to I didn't think about that, Patty.

Speaker 17 (01:28:41):
I mean, he could have.

Speaker 18 (01:28:42):
He got his subscription lots done, so maybe he took
als of them one time.

Speaker 17 (01:28:45):
I don't know. I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:28:48):
I really don't know.

Speaker 5 (01:28:49):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:28:49):
It's sad state of affairs though, So just for clarification,
because there was a lot to the conversation. Right now,
he's in the segregation unit at HMP, yes, okay, able
to speak with them.

Speaker 7 (01:29:01):
No.

Speaker 18 (01:29:02):
I asked him to get him to calm me. But
he's That's why I knows he's not well. I know
he's not well because he's not calmeding. He would always
call me, so he's probably not in a good mind state.
And I see him on camera on Monday last Monday,
and I could tell he wasn't well because he was
painting his hair, turned around the chair like he was
really fidgety. And the last time he's just walked a
quarterback and fort pull on his hair. And Wednesday he

(01:29:23):
had another quarter again and they couldn't bring him up
because they said he was agitated.

Speaker 3 (01:29:29):
Bath. I wish you well. You're always welcome.

Speaker 18 (01:29:33):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 5 (01:29:33):
Patty.

Speaker 6 (01:29:34):
You're welcome, oh, Patty, yes, can I act.

Speaker 17 (01:29:36):
To that though?

Speaker 18 (01:29:36):
For the rally, I just want to say that, descend
and say rally we have gone on the Guardians of
Recovery for September eleventh, from twelve to two. We actually
have nine main communities, nine main areas of the province
that participating with us, so hopefully that will help make
a difference to all that we're all going through for
our families and loved ones.

Speaker 3 (01:29:54):
Appreciate this, PEV. Stay in touch, okay, take care bye
you too, by boy. All right, just take a break
for the news. Alex and Judy, you stay right there
and then plenty show left for you. Don't go away.

Speaker 2 (01:30:05):
You were listening to a rebroadcast of VOCM Open Line.

Speaker 1 (01:30:09):
Have your say by calling seven oh nine two seven
three fifty two eleven or one triple eight five ninety
eight six two six and listen live weekday mornings at
nine am.

Speaker 3 (01:30:22):
Welcome back to the show. Let's go to line number three. Alex,
you're on the air.

Speaker 6 (01:30:27):
Very good Mark, so mister Williams and all this best.

Speaker 3 (01:30:31):
Thank you.

Speaker 6 (01:30:33):
I wonder if I'm a little embarrassed by his call.
But I'm no farmer. I should say up front, I'm
gonna make it obvious. I met my son's in here
on the avalon and is a property here which we
love out in the country. Will become obvious and like

(01:30:54):
a lot of people who've got a girl, no frank,
if your potato and carrot in term, it's so on.
There's a couple of goats which are running the old
man off his feet, acruss me and uh, but I'm
becoming worried about Uh. You do have chickens, there's uh.

(01:31:15):
Well people locally they just refer to them as layers.
So they laid the eggs and it's wonderful. And in
order to keep them well, I figure mentally healthy, Uh
make the animal comfortable. So they got a little pin
to go run around the garden all day and have
bows and being happy and uh, that seems to be

(01:31:39):
working great. And there is some sort of netting we
just recently put over top of them, uh to make
sure or critter. Well, they were flying out and out
dards small put them back in so now they don't
get out. Well that was great. And but there are

(01:32:02):
another crowd down below, which they were referring to as boilers.
In other words, they're just grown for cooking and eating.

Speaker 5 (01:32:13):
Uh.

Speaker 6 (01:32:14):
But they have their own a little garden fenced in
because the foxes became a problem. So they're got a
lovely fox in area to run around, pick bows and
have a good day. And yesterday, to my astonishment, we
were sat in the graduate kind of in between these
two groups of chickens, which isn't huge, but still and

(01:32:38):
all of a sudden, of course my hair and being
gone permanently. But my young fellow and my fiance, they
are all of a sudden happy what has going on?
I was just shaking chicken draw all the tired on men.
So they went scrambling out near what's going on here?
And he looks there's a great big bald eagle perch

(01:33:00):
three right, BESI I don't micro so it's all everybody
running note and it took off, so no, well it
knows they're there now they're not they'll be back.

Speaker 3 (01:33:14):
So the worry is that an eagle is going to
snatch one of the chickens. Is that what we're talking about?

Speaker 6 (01:33:19):
Absolutely? And I said, well, I don't have a solution
for that. Today I'm walking around the garden like a
scarecrow trying to make sure. I'm sure you can see
a leffer and I can unless I'm walking around. They
were here and everything intimidating it from grabbing a chicken.
It certainly will I figure out that maybe if I

(01:33:42):
call some pine hearted person farmery and overlook family owners
and we experience my stay here, here's what you need
to do. We haven't got a clue what to do, sir.

Speaker 3 (01:33:55):
It's an interesting question. But you know what, for some reason,
I've actually dealt with this issue in the past. So yeah,
with someone who's got a uh what do they call it?
A hobby farm up the southern shore. So for he
actually looked at it a couple of different ways, and
of course eagles require a perch, so basically he put

(01:34:18):
just one strand of barbed wire along the top of
the fence to eliminate the fence for being the perch. Secondly,
you know what he did that actually helped so as
opposed to simply the traditional scarecrow. If you can picture this, say,
for instance, outside of car dealership or something or other
where they got those big floppy dancing men, you know,
with the airs blown into them. They're the big thing

(01:34:39):
with the two arms and they flop around stuff. He
put one of them out there, no problem since.

Speaker 6 (01:34:45):
Well, thank you, so you know what much appreciate that's
going to take away it off my mind on top.
But I don't run around the area all. They thank
you so much.

Speaker 3 (01:34:57):
Yeah. So those two things. It's a funny question for
you to bring to me because someone did this number
of years ago now, but one strand of barbar wire
and the eagles wouldn't perch on the fence any longer.
And that big floppy air driven thing that you see
outside of dealerships what have you? That seemed to work.

Speaker 6 (01:35:13):
Oh, I guarant John, I have one today. Thanks so
much for today all. I'll have a beautiful day.

Speaker 3 (01:35:18):
The same to you, Alex. Good luck, bye bye. Of
all the things I haven't dealt with in the past,
how to keep eagles away from And it was chickens,
the same question that Buddy asked their number of number
of years ago. And now I can't remember, but I'm
pretty sure that was the solution. That between the jigs
and the reels and looking around at what may or
may not work, he bought one of those big floppy

(01:35:41):
things floppy men that you see balloons outside of one
retail chaper another to dry to garner the attention of
the passer by general public. How about that a question
about how to keep the eagles away from the chickens?
All right, Judy, you stay right. There's fourteen after and
twenty five seconds. So we're going to make sure you
get enough time to talk about whatever's on your mind.

(01:36:01):
Let's check it in on the Twitter box or VIDEOSM
open line. You know you can follow us. Theyre email
address is open line at viosem dot com.

Speaker 5 (01:36:08):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (01:36:08):
I told this fellow I would give him a shout
out on this particular issue, So why don't I do that?
All right? This is I'll leave these name out of it.
He's organized a road race in Stephenville Crossing happening this Sunday,
August the twenty fourth. He's asking me to put out
public noses beware of runners, walkers, volunteers and mercy vehicles,
barriers and signage. With permission from the newfound Laborador Department

(01:36:29):
of Transportation Infrastructure and the Town of Stephenville Crossing. The
streets of Hospital Road, Main Street, Vectors Memorial Drive, and
Brook Street will be used for this Amazing Prairie Classic
road race. On the twenty fourth. The Hospital Road be
close to all down local traffic from nine am to
nine thirty am. All other roads remain open. We asked
the motors to drive with caution and expect an increase

(01:36:50):
in traffic and pedestrians. So there you go. That's the
upcoming road race, the Amazing Prairie Classic Road Race Sunday,
August twenty fourth in the town of Stephenville Crossing. When
we come back, Judy's in the Q to talk about
nurse practitioners. Don't away, Can I welcome back. Let's go
to line number four Judy or on the air.

Speaker 15 (01:37:07):
Good morning, Good morning, Yeah, No, I'm phoning. Well, just
sort of commercial about the nurse practitioners. What I was
wondering about, like when they're part of these family care
units they have established, like MCP covers their salary when
they work at the emergency department, MCP covers or salary

(01:37:32):
when they have their own private practice MCP does not cover,
does not cover them with such a shortage of doctors.
And that I just can't understand why the difference or.

Speaker 3 (01:37:45):
Me neither and well put, because if I see nurse
practitioner at the emergency or in the collaborative care clinic
go over on Monday Pound Road, I don't get built.
MCP gets built. So the thought is that if the
nurse practitioners were able to hang out their own ship
and bill MCP, that more and more nurse practitioners would
leave the public sector where they have, you know, already

(01:38:06):
a shortage of and if you lost more and more
to the private sector, then it would compromise the public sector.
But my thought on that one is, Look, I don't
think people listening to this program this morning care whether
or not they have to go to a private clinic
on Rolle Palk Lane or go to Saint Clair's the
see a nurse practitioner. As long as they see and
get the help they need, that's what people need. So

(01:38:28):
if I don't go to Saint Clair's, but I go
to Elizabeth Avenue. I'm still getting my primary care. That's
the ultimate goal here. So I don't understand why the
government is so hesitant to allow that to happen.

Speaker 15 (01:38:38):
Well, that's that's the same point. I mean, there's such
a shortage of doctors, and you know, I mean they
are excellent in their field. I just it just blows
in my mind. I can't really understand why it is
or if they're working on anything to overcome it or not.
I don't because people can't afford to go and pay

(01:39:02):
their own way, and I think like a lot of
the insurance companies don't even cover a visit to a
nurse practitioner.

Speaker 3 (01:39:11):
Yeah, I'm not sure about people's individual insurance. I mean,
for many, if not most, occasions, when people need primary care,
a nurse practitioner might be absolutely the perfect person to
go see. Not everybody needs to see a medical doctor
for every single ailment. It's absolutely true.

Speaker 15 (01:39:29):
And you know, like you said, if comes up while
they all refer you to a specialist or whatever, like.

Speaker 3 (01:39:37):
You know, exactly right. A nurse practitioner can diagnose, order
and interpret tests. They can prescribe medication. They can be
fully responsible for managing patient care. So if there's a
need for something that arives that a nurse practitioner cannot address,
then you're one hundred percent right. You simply get it
work or along to a doctor.

Speaker 15 (01:39:58):
And like you said, there's so many people but with
doubt family doctors. I you know, just so I I
just can't understand it at all.

Speaker 3 (01:40:07):
Yeah, And we see nurse practitioners working in a variety
of areas public health and in hospitals and clinics and
long term care facilities and the rest. So I think
you're an here, Judy. Now I was told I had
misinterpreted it, But here's what it felt me like. What
the federal government saying was then federal Health Minister Mark
Holland talking about the province's need to have their provincial

(01:40:29):
insurance cover nurse practitioners operating outside the public sector. What
they said is if they don't, for every dollar people
of the province are charged for access to a nurse practitioner,
they would take that out. They would back that amount
out of federal healthcare transfer dollars. So I have a
funny feeling that this, But you and I are both
on side with I think it's coming. I don't know when,

(01:40:49):
but I have a feeling that that's going to be
one of the moves we see soon.

Speaker 15 (01:40:53):
Yeah, I mean it makes perfect sense. I mean there's
thousands in I don't have a family that for myself,
but you know, there's so many without him, and this is,
you know there, I see it. Hopefully they'll work something
out sooner than later.

Speaker 3 (01:41:10):
I'm with you one hundred percent. We haven't talked about
that in the recent past. I'm glad you brought it up.

Speaker 15 (01:41:14):
Great, Okay, thank you very much, Bye bye.

Speaker 3 (01:41:19):
I think there's actually such a thing too as nurse
practitioners that specialize in certain things. I don't know if
I have an example of dermatology. So of course they
would have a broad base of knowledge the extensive training
that a nurse practitioner does. And look, this is not
diminishing the importance of other professionals licensed practical nurses, nurse
practitioners of course, medical doctors, GP, GPS, and otherwise. But

(01:41:44):
Judy's right, there's no real good argument for not allowing
a nurse practitioner to hang out their own shingle, open
up their own clinic. I mean they do it already,
but people have to pay cash on the barrelhead for
that appointment, as opposed to like shoot, he said, if
I see nurse practic petitioner at the Health Science in
the mergency room, I don't have to pay, So I
should I have to pay if they opened up and

(01:42:04):
claim they got mere avenue. It's one hundred percent the
right thing to do in my opinion. That's got a
lot of number one and second one or two. Yet
another one of the candidates running in the upcoming municipal
election here in War two the city of Saint John's.
That's Philip Barton. Phillip, you're on the air.

Speaker 9 (01:42:19):
Oh, hello, hello, So.

Speaker 7 (01:42:23):
I guess I'll start with introducing myself. So again, my
name is Philip Barton. I am I run all startup
marketing firm in the city. I also to I'm a
volunteer at the RUSE and I also do work with
the food bank bridges to Hope. I guess I'm running

(01:42:47):
because I feel like there's been a lot of false
promises and a lot of false like hope. When I
worked for an organization which is sends closed down back
into nineteen they were nonprofits for immigrants and refugees, and
during that time period they started cutting funding for nonprofits.

(01:43:08):
They said basically, we're going to cut everything, and that
was right at the time on the cusp of COVID
when people need public services, just like now, it feels
like a lot of services are getting cut right when
we need them. With all these tariffs and with job losses,
especially within the government, myself included.

Speaker 3 (01:43:28):
I was a layoff.

Speaker 7 (01:43:29):
I used to work for CIRA and I was a
part of a huge layoff that it seems like there's
less money for services when we need them. And that's
why I'm running. I'm running basically to get the government
to try and keep their promises. You know, in this city,
I mean, accessibility to things like food banks are very difficult.
They're only in a few select areas. They're mostly in

(01:43:53):
War two, to be honest, and we get people coming
from all the way from like keel Bride to get
like go to the food bank. That shouldn't be the case.
It should be more accessible. Senior shouldn't have to come
all the way downtown to you know, get food if
they need it. So that's the main reason why I'm
running is just to try and make services in this
city more accessible and try and bring a voice to

(01:44:15):
people who really haven't been heard or have been listened
to for a long time.

Speaker 3 (01:44:21):
Fair Enough, some of that responsibility might be above the
municipal level. So what exactly do you think should be
the role of the city in the circumstances you describe.

Speaker 7 (01:44:31):
Well, I think it's more like bringing the services to people.
So for example, when people plan out you know, affordable housing,
or when people plan out things like we're zoning and
things like that, they can determine where somebody's going to be. Right.

Speaker 11 (01:44:48):
So if if you have a huge suburban.

Speaker 7 (01:44:51):
Area, let's say, well, there's less chances to have those
services there because they don't have a designated zone for
maybe those services, right, So the you know, municipal governments
can make those decisions to allow those things to happen, right.

Speaker 2 (01:45:09):
Fair.

Speaker 7 (01:45:15):
So yeah, but you know, you go ahead.

Speaker 3 (01:45:19):
No, I was just thinking that that's a fair observation
and fair points. So what does it take to make
that happen? Because municipalities might make access easier, but then
for the most part, it requires, whether be not for
profits or charterbor organizations to actually be the delivery mechanism
on the ground.

Speaker 7 (01:45:39):
Yes, it does require those organizations, and of course that
does require government to bring funding to these places. But
as a community, supporting these places is an important role
that municipalities making sure that people know where they are
and how to use them as also a city related right.

(01:46:01):
A lot of people don't even know about a lot
of the services that are available. You know. Oftentimes you
tell people, you know you can get this for free,
of that for free, and they don't even know.

Speaker 3 (01:46:11):
That's also very very true. That's so given that I
will take an opportunity to pump the tires of the
folks that work at two one one. If you're ever
wondering about what's available where you live one resource or another.
There's a real great umbrella catch all two to one one.
So if you dial that number, you can ask them

(01:46:31):
almost anything in a bunch of different languages about where
to access one service or another, and they are terrific
at what they do. Philip, have you ever taken another
shot at politics in the past, No, I have not.

Speaker 7 (01:46:49):
My Actually, my grandfather he ran under the Liberal government
back in early two thousands. Okay, so I guess like
he kind of gave me the bug to kind of run.
But other than that, no, I haven't. I haven't run
for politics for I just I was just a concerned

(01:47:12):
citizen that thought I could bring something to the table.

Speaker 3 (01:47:15):
I good for you. So as a first time or
do you have many people actively physically supporting you, whether
it be dropping off door hangers or knock on doors
with you or for you? What does the team look like?

Speaker 7 (01:47:28):
Well for me, I mean I'm getting help now. Early on,
I was just kind of doing myself. I did probably
over five hundred houses by myself, just going to door
to door to door talking to people, just to kind
of build up support. But I am getting a little
bit more support and getting help, you know, from family

(01:47:48):
and friends. But yeah, I can definitely use more. If
anybody wants to reach out.

Speaker 3 (01:47:54):
How can they contact you that, Philip?

Speaker 7 (01:47:57):
Oh, they can contact me at vote at DFI Design
dot c A, or they can go to the social media.
So all my social media's Instagram and Facebook are vote
fill up wards two good.

Speaker 3 (01:48:16):
Man, Phellip, I appreciate your time. Good on you're for
throwing your hat in the ring, and I wish you
good luck. Well, thank you very much, my pleasure. Take
care that's fell a pardon. He's running to be the
War two counselor let's see here. Time for the news
will make you back tons of time left for you.

Speaker 2 (01:48:31):
Don't go away the Tim Power Show. Join the Conversation
weekday afternoons at four pm on your VOCM.

Speaker 3 (01:48:39):
Welcome back. Let's go to line number two. Brent, you're
on the air.

Speaker 8 (01:48:43):
Oh, I was the rest of it in the quadline.
They said they're going to continue until Wednesday, but I
haven't heard a thing about it. This is Wednesday, and
I want to go very baking, and I'm wondering about
my fundamental freedoms. Are they gonna restore the fundamental freedom
today or are they're going to continue on with this
and not say anything about it. What's going on?

Speaker 3 (01:49:04):
Well, I'm not sure if it's a fundamental freedom issue,
but the ban is in place until eleven fifty nine tonight,
so I guess an update would be tomorrow as to
whether or not the off road vehicle restrictions remain in place.
So yeah, there's they're opening updated until tomorrow on that one.

Speaker 8 (01:49:21):
Okay, Patty, that's the main reason why I call that's
my opinion of the fundamental freedom which the Yes, we
could talk on for hours about that. There's one more
thing I wanted to throw in, if you'd be so kind.
That's on the there's a run, an annual run the
Grand Falls on Motorcycle on the twenty third. We're leaving

(01:49:42):
twelve o'clock at the the Tim Horton's on the highway
and that's the annual run. So I just wanted to
throw that in there if I could sure what Tim Hortons. Yeah,
Tim Horton's on the transcounter the highway on Saturday, Saturday
at twelve o'clock.

Speaker 3 (01:50:01):
Okay, and I've just there the Tim Mores on the
highway in which community in Gander? Okay? In Gander?

Speaker 8 (01:50:06):
Okay, Yes, thank you? EMS. No fees, no rules, Just
a bunch of guys, havn't.

Speaker 3 (01:50:12):
Been fun, just local And what what club organizes this one?

Speaker 8 (01:50:17):
Just a local hell Razors motorcycle gang right now?

Speaker 3 (01:50:20):
What kind of bike you?

Speaker 8 (01:50:21):
We're not an MC, you were an MG. Local guys
haven't been fun?

Speaker 3 (01:50:27):
Yeah? Cool? What kind of bike do you have?

Speaker 8 (01:50:29):
I got? I got a Harley Davison. I got a
Chopper which is licensed on the shore, but haven't had
it out. This is so far this year, it seems
like the interest is dying in the motorcycle tray, seems
like it's going downhill.

Speaker 3 (01:50:42):
Really cousin St. John's. There's more motorcycles here than ever before.
It's unbelievable, good, good, good, huge sales in the street.

Speaker 8 (01:50:50):
It's a good industry, and it's good for the mechanics
and it's good for the salespeople.

Speaker 3 (01:50:55):
Just out of curiosity. So what kind of Harley? Are
you a fat boy?

Speaker 8 (01:50:58):
Or I've got a big twin chopper and I've got
a sportster cool? Yeah, yeah, right on, Okay, okay, yeah,
they thank.

Speaker 5 (01:51:10):
You kindly, my pleasure.

Speaker 8 (01:51:11):
It's good to be able to call in. I'll hear
about the very picking the law because I'm the Internet
that says there's no hiking. It says no hiking, or
so I don't really understand what's going on.

Speaker 3 (01:51:22):
It's kind of yeah, that's not here. People are allowed
to go into the woods there.

Speaker 8 (01:51:26):
Okay on the internet that says no hiking.

Speaker 3 (01:51:30):
Yeah, there's places like Nova Scotia have some of these
very severe restructions in the place. But here now you
can walk into the woods and pick berries or look
at the birds or whatever you're into.

Speaker 8 (01:51:40):
Okay, okay, okay, thank you kindly, no.

Speaker 3 (01:51:43):
Problem, take care, bye bye.

Speaker 10 (01:51:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:51:46):
Look, I mean, I do think that there's clear examples
of what people will constitute to be government overreach. Look,
I get that people are trying to keep more and
more people out of the woods during the tinder box conditions.
You know, at the exact same time we're told that
there's nothing quite like the cure of the great outdoors
to deal with some of the anxiety and the worries

(01:52:07):
and are just overall mental well being. So the restriction
imposed in parts of the country where you can't even
go for a walk in the woods, it feels like
a lot much to me. I do I mean, the
ATV issue, we can have that conversation and I'm up
for it. And you know, even the premium sself said
when we talked about the first imposition of these ATV
restrictions was this is the premier zone words. He said,

(01:52:30):
there's no evidence that says that an ATV or sparked
from whether it be from the exhaust and or just
the hot exhaust going through tall grass, whatever, there's no
evidence that any of the fires have been caused because
of that but it was always going to boil back
to just how many resources are being utilized to combat
the number of fires that are ongoing. I'm a little

(01:52:52):
bit confused as to why there's not an update today now.
I only listened to the updates to be armed with
enough information to do what I do for a living
here on the program, to answer questions as best possible.
I can't answer them all because I don't have all
the information and or understand everything. But is there some
sort of briefing that I hear that out of the
corner of my ear from Sarah Strickland, that there's some
sort of afternoon briefing on something or other. I don't know,

(01:53:14):
but the normal course of business has been ten o'clock
or ten fifteen in the morning, there would be a
press conference with said updates out a variety of fronts.
And yes, the ATV restrictions, you won't hear anything about
it today because they aren't scheduled to be reviewed or
a decision to extend them or to remove them until
after eleven fifty nine island time this evening. So that's

(01:53:37):
the issues on that particular one. All right, See, let's
keep going. Let's go to line number one. Collar you're
on the air. Good morning, line number one, you're on
the air.

Speaker 4 (01:53:49):
I just went to a board of moose sighting south
of Fistials on Park to such access.

Speaker 3 (01:53:58):
Fair enough and like everything, but when we talk about
a specific moose sighting, I'm glad to report it so
that folks in the area, you know, to keep their
eyes peeled. And it's probably worth reminding people that you
never know where you're going to possibly see a moose today,
So I appreciate you giving us that heads up here today.
So it's just outside Fitzgerald's Pond on the Placentia Road
Central Highway. Good Man, thanks for doing it, Thanks goodbye.

(01:54:21):
And of course he would have made that call on
a cell phone, not surprising. But the number of people
that chime in about cell phone service, like every time
I bring it up, it does get some traction because
it's a real thing, you know, whether we talk about
the perennial dead spots in the province and even some
of the spots that were at one point pretty reliable

(01:54:42):
and now not so much. Yes, it's an inconvenience, and
yes it's a problem with paying a bill for something
that is unreliable. Or spotty, but it really is a
public safety issue. Like if anyone listening to the show
this morning is in that neck of the woods on
the Placentia Highway and heard about a moose outside Fitzgerald's pond,
that's a pretty proper public safety heads up. So yes,

(01:55:03):
we're happy to take it on. Last year the government
had a pilot project down the Burgioe Highway about expanding
a hotspot. There was ten said hotspots supposed to be
done this year in the form of these pilot programs.
Once again, where they are I'm not sure. I'll try
to find the information because I hear from people all
the time. In addition to that, you know, when we're

(01:55:23):
told you simply need to check in with reliable sources,
the government website and what have you. If you live
somewhere where you don't have reliable high speed broadband or
you don't have reliable cell coverage, it's easier said than
done to check some of these websites, whether it be
the government of Newfland, Labrador or otherwise. And I'll put
this out there not to bemoan it, but for the

(01:55:45):
life meaning, I can't understand why people would be so
quick to put out unverified information about something as tricky
and as dangerous and as upsetting as wildfires. You know,
it probably is an excellent idea to get information from
the verified sources. Get information from the people that actually

(01:56:05):
hold the information, the fire duty managers, those working in operations,
who I assume are the people providing it to the Premier,
Minister Haggey and others, because there's just too much at stake,
there's too much on the line. Last one on that front,
still getting concerns from people who are in the evacuational
alert areas about just how disconnected the timing was for

(01:56:25):
one person versus another person living in the same community
about when they got the alert. Because timing does matter,
you generally speaking, will have a fair bit of leeway
between the possibility of an evacuation order on the heels
of an evacuation alert. But how can it be that
everyone doesn't get it at the same time. I don't
really understand why that would.

Speaker 10 (01:56:44):
Be the case.

Speaker 3 (01:56:46):
Seems kind of weird to me. If you're a registered
to get an alert provincially and the alert goes out,
why wouldn't it be like the federal alerts where we
all get them at the exact same time as far
as I know. All right, chair, final break in the morning.
When we come back, we're hopefully the speak with you
in the queue to talk about whatever's on your mind.
And the reminder, it doesn't have to be about wildfires.
It doesn't have to be about one thing or another

(01:57:06):
you heard me bring up or a caller bring up.
If it's of interest to you, it's of interest to me,
don't go away. Welcome back to the program. Let's go
to line number one. Good morning, we're on. You're on
the air.

Speaker 5 (01:57:17):
Hi party, long time, no speak.

Speaker 3 (01:57:20):
Welcome back to the show.

Speaker 5 (01:57:22):
Yeah, I'm trying to be as concise as possible here.
The first day of the Patti pon Fire of label
was last Monday, Okay, yeah, about three in the afternoon.
I was leaving CBS and coming out the highway, you know,

(01:57:42):
the past the path the t intersection there and from
Manuel's Bridge to the TCA intersection. Took me an hour
and twenty minutes due to a goodlock in traffic, right
and those fifteen hundred two thousand cars that you know

(01:58:03):
that just staves basically in that section, and well, I
finally got to the highway intersection. I asked the flag person,
I said, do you give any thought to suspending operations
like construction for the rest of the day, Joe to

(01:58:25):
the fires, because all the way out I never heard
of sovereign and there was construction as usual. There was
nothing that I saw that made the delay. Yee to
the fires. You know, I said, you got fifteen to
fifteen hundred two thousand cars, good luck if the wind

(01:58:46):
changes in the big Way or some with lanes close,
how are you going to get this this area evacuated?
To me, it was like an old brainer. The Boddy
didn't know about to say, you know, I said, very politely, look, I, oh, yeah,
you got a job to do when it's frustrating, but
at the end of the summer, we're all happy with
the results. So I wasn't picking on the guy at all.

(01:59:08):
I just posed that question to me. It was an
old rainer.

Speaker 7 (01:59:12):
You know.

Speaker 5 (01:59:13):
It wasn't a result of that any fire containment. It
was just construction as usual.

Speaker 8 (01:59:20):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:59:22):
Yeah, No, I don't know who would. I guess the
contractor is unlikely to cease operations. I guess that direct
if it was coming from anybody, would come from the government.
If they thought it was an important thing to do,
what do you think, Well, yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:59:36):
Could be married of reasons for it, But I was
more curious that did anybody take that the hurt, you know,
and did a construction ever stop anywhere later on during
any firefighting operations.

Speaker 3 (01:59:55):
I don't know. It's a good question, and I don't
know what the criteria would be for in the government
make that type of decision. But you're right, when there
is an evacuation alert or an evacuation order, you would
think that everything we can do to keep the highways
as free and as passable as possible, it should be
something we can at least consider.

Speaker 5 (02:00:12):
Yeah, you know, because that day, you know, it was
black smoke. Who was the first day to Patti Sto
on fire. Everybody had the windows up and you could
taste the smoke in your throat, you know, like there
was no danger per se, but the wind had changed.
Who knows what happened when you got all those cards
blocked in, you know. That's all I got to say

(02:00:34):
on fair.

Speaker 3 (02:00:36):
Enough, It's it's an interesting point. I didn't really think
about it, to be honest.

Speaker 5 (02:00:40):
Yeah, right, a lot of people live, but I'm sure
everybody in the car off there was thinking about it
because they were just hoping that the wind wouldn't change,
you know, including me.

Speaker 3 (02:00:50):
I totally get that. Boy, it's been a long stretch. Yeah, okay,
thanks again, appreciate your time. Thanks Royn, bye bye. And
I could ninue to get questions on road work and
the road work season and all that kind of stuff,
and one of the biggest ones is about busy sections
of whether it be highway or busy sections of the city,

(02:01:12):
and why we don't do night work because it happens
elsewhere As people rightfully point out, in the city of
Saint John's there's actually a city by law that says
you can't do it. So you know, you talk about
through fares like tops of the road or come out
road or whatever the case may be. The fact of
the matter is the City of Saint John's has a
BiLaw says no roadwork can be done at night. The
province did entertain a pile of project we're regarding roadwork

(02:01:36):
on the highways there a few years ago, and the
results were pretty clear based on a variety of different factors,
it costs about thirty percent more to do with the
work at night. Versus in the day. So while we're
all while some are worried about debt and deficit and
the overall expense for government operations, saving thirty percent on
highway work projects sounds like a reasonable idea to me

(02:01:58):
as much as just like you, I'm pretty frustrated when
I'm stuck in a logjam going wherever on the highway,
whether I'm going out to Ganner to see the young Feller,
whatever the case may be, it can't be frustrating. But
thirty percent more is a lot of additional cost to absorb.
And still remember people still do travel at night as well.
Then it's the issue about getting value for money spent.

(02:02:21):
Every time I think about and talk about how much
money the province says they're going to spend on roadwork,
bridge work, guardrails, all that kind of stuff. The question
that we don't generally ask is what kind of value
we're getting for the money we're spending. And this year
we're talking about hundreds millions of dollars on roadwork. We
actually had a civil engineer from Memoria University on this
program a number of years ago. I remember that day.

(02:02:42):
If we had Buddy on, he was really quite good
talk about we have a bit of an antiquated approach
to roadwork. There was a language barrier that made it
maybe a little bit difficult for everyone to fully hear
and to understand. So how long the roads last? And
I go back to this one budget lock in at
Confederation Building, I'd say twenty fifteen, twenty sixteen, whatever it was,

(02:03:04):
and the finalanced Minister of the day was talking about,
you know, just how much roadwork is getting done for
money spent, and we're getting more kilometers done for less
money than in the years past, which right off the
bat just made me feel like, is that really a boast?
Because isn't the question about how long the roads last
versus how many klimbors get done? Because you can do

(02:03:26):
ten kilometers this year and if you have to redo
them in five years from now, then I'm not so
sure we got the value for the money. So, whether
it be different approach taken by government when they're letting
these contracts or put out their RFPs about certainly, Look,
I'm not working in the civil construction world, so I
don't know, but a bit more attention to road the
prepping of their bed and or our comical composition and

(02:03:49):
or a thickness of ash fault, and then how long
we need to keep vehicles off the road before we
allow them back on. Because you've seen it as much
as I do. It really feels like, and I've driven
right across the country a couple of times, it really
feels like roads get pocked up and rotted and potholed
quicker here than elsewhere. I hear the same old argument,

(02:04:10):
it's the freeze and thought. But look, it's Canada. There's
freezing thought right across the country. Two different severities, of course,
But it can't be just that. You know what I've seen,
Like even close by where I live on the Outer
Ring Road, there has always been a couple of notorious
spots where it's just it's always seems to be busted up.
And so you know whether that be some unavoidable issues

(02:04:31):
regarding springs underneath, I mean water springs underneath, what have you.
But you know, it's not necessarily only about how many
kilometers get done. It's about how many clambers get done
and last for the expected amount of time. I told
this fellow I'd give a shout out to a fundraiser.
They have gone tonight in an effort to help the
folks impacted by the wildfires. So it's Alex Taylor is

(02:04:54):
the organizer. We've had Alex on the show in the
past to promote this one and of course other concerts
he's done for a different charity over the years, so
good on him. So it's tonight. Let's see. It's tonight,
August the twentieth, at seven pm. It's going to be
at the Parish of the Ascension on fifty eight small
would drive in the city of Mount Pearl. Fifty to
fifty tickets two bucks each, three for five. All the

(02:05:16):
money goes to the Red Cross. Admission is twenty dollars
each is non refundable. To organize a ticket, you can
give him a call at seven zero nine six' nine
one forty. Twenty and the performers include Not, Fit they're probably,
alright not, Fit Alex, Taylor christ And Jesse, Connelly brian
And natalia dober Or, duboor pardon, Me daughters of The,

(02:05:36):
Rock paul Pearcy Xander, Wright George power Outto pike And Ed.
Breen good Do Alex taylor and friends for pulling off
this concert once. Again all R let's see what's happening
on The twitter box before we wrap it, up or
video sim up on. Nine you can follow us. There
email addresses ViOS is what is? It It's Open line
off vieos him dot. Com you THINK i know it
SINCE i say it every single? Day all, right let's see.

(02:05:58):
Here you ready to? Go sarah? Good all, right pretty
good show, Today big thanks to all, hands the, callers the,
listeners the emailers and. Tweeters you're all. Right we will
indeed pick up this conversation again tomorrow morning right here
ON vocm And Big land of FM's Open line on
behalf of the Producer David. Williams i'm your, Host Patty.
Daily have yourself a, safe, fun happy. Day we'll talk

(02:06:18):
in the morning by about

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